(You Can) Drop Your Façade ; klance

(You Can) Drop Your Façade

It took two people (Pidge and Hunk) waving their hands front of his face and a pinch to his side (from Pidge) for him to come back from the astral plane that was his subconscious.

A whine erupted from his throat as he massaged his side, glaring at the culprit. "Are you even listening?" She asked, raising her eyebrows. Lance shrugged.

"Shiro was talking about his brother," Hunk said, nodding towards the senior. "He says he might transfer here."

Lance furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at Shiro, confused. Since when does he have a brother?

"Yeah, he got kicked out from G-Tech for behavioral issues," Shiro said nonchalantly, continuing to eat his peach fruit cup.

The table quieted, everyone's eyebrows rose high. Shiro froze mid-chew, eyes widening when he realized what he had implied. "Oh my god, he's a good kid I swear! He's just a bit of a hot-head and a little short-tempered!" Shiro said, raising his hands in defense.

"I'm sure he's great, Shiro." Romelle replied sweetly, nudging at her girlfriend. "Right, Allura?" Allura only glared at the blonde before turning to Shiro.

"G-Tech? As in G-Tech, our rival school?" She questioned, crossing her arms.

As Shiro was about to answer, Adam quickly butted in, slapping a hand over Shiro's mouth. "Yes, G-Tech. And for the record, they're not our rival school just because your ex goes there." He said, giving Allura a pointed look. Allura rolled her eyes as Pidge joined the conversation excitedly.

"Oh god, G-Tech?! That's fucking crazy! Seriously?! You have to be some kind of prodigy to get in there!" She said, leaning over the table.

Adam scoffed. "I'll remind you that you have to be quote-on-quote some kind of prodigy to get into this school as well."

Pidge shrugged, stuffing another mozzarella stick into her mouth. "Details, details." She muttered. Lance almost laughed. Almost.

As the conversation began to drift off onto another subject, Lance found himself thinking about Shiro's mystery brother. How come he's never mentioned him before? How come they go to different schools? And G-Tech? He must be a fucking genius.

He had to admit, he was sort of jealous, and maybe sort of imitated by the mere thought of Shiro's brother. I mean, a G-Tech student transferring to Altean Academy? Unheard of.

"He's sorta got that edgy, emo, lone-wolf vibe going on. Oh god, don't tell him I said that, he'd probably knee me in the stomach." Shiro laughed. Ah, Lance must've tuned in when the conversation did a complete 360, the table now asking about Shiro's brother again.

"Will do," Pidge smirked. "But I bet he wears leather jackets and combat boots,"
The group erupted in laughter and Lance stifled a chuckle.

"I mean, yeah." Shiro agreed. Adam snorted.

"So, is he hot?" Pidge asked, plopping her chin in her hand. Shiro almost choked on his drink as Hunk and Romelle snickered.

"Pidge, you're gay." Allura pointed out, smiling wide.

Pidge shrugged. "So? I wanna know just in case lover boy here decides to make a move. Y'know, so I can prepare to witness the cringe and rejection." She joked, elbowing Lance's side. Everyone laughed.

Six months ago he would've blushed and told her to fuck off, or shut up, or something. But now he only sat there, hurt overcoming his features. Is that really all he's good for? Flirting and being the butt of every joke?

He glared at Pidge, crossing his arms defensively. He wanted to scream at her. At all of them. Tell them what amazing fucking friends they all were.

I don't fucking do that anymore, I don't. If you guys cared or fucking payed attention to me for once you'd know that. Are you guys really that fucking dense? Are you really?

As he was about to answer, about to speak for the first time in months, Pidge pressed a finger against his lips, smiling playfully. "Hush now Lance, y'know it's true." She said.

Lance's shoulders sagged as his hands fell into his lap. Any angry remarks he was about to shout instantly died on his tongue when she said it. That stupid fucking phrase. The one that lead him to stop. To stop flirting. To stop speaking. To stop being himself.

It was meant to be some sort of experiment. Admittedly, a rather twisted one, but an experiment nonetheless. He had not meant to take it this far, but unfortunately, he did.

Lance McClain has not spoken in over half a year. No one has noticed.

Lance didn't remember what exactly started it, but he did remember who did. "Hush now, Lance." Allura had said, before continuing to speak. Lance was rather shocked to say the least, no one had ever just bluntly told him to shut up before. He knew he talked a lot, and loudly, and sometimes too fast to comprehend, but it was just in his nature, really.

Sure, it was sorta stereo typical of him to blame it on being cuban, but it was the truth nonetheless. Have you ever met a "normal" speaking latino? I think not.

He knew he could be annoying sometimes, and maybe his jokes hit a little too close to home on some occasions, but he never intended to offend anyone. He always meant well.

He never thought about it too much because no one was really bothered by it, they were used to his talkative nature. At least he thought no one was bothered by it. Apparently he was wrong.

After Allura's ability to shut him up with three words was addressed by the group, "Hush now, Lance," seemed to have become some sort of inside joke. Anytime Lance would talk too much, flirt too much, or say something accidently offensive, someone would say "Hush now Lance," or even "Hush Lance."

It was amusing at first, the group would only use it when Lance got too out of hand with bad jokes or terrible flirting. It was humorous even. Lance would always laugh it off and roll his eyes. But, it suddenly became more than just a stupid joke.

Anytime Lance would try to say something, anything, he'd be cut off by one of them going "Hush Lance." At that point, Lance was annoyed by it, maybe even a bit hurt. All he wanted was to ask what they were doing later.

Lance had shrugged it off and pushed it into the back of his mind. He figured it was his fault for being too, well, Lance. Everyone just assumed he would crack a joke or say something stupid every time he would open his mouth.

So it was his fault. For being too predictable, too annoying. So it wasn't their fault, it was his. He didn't blame them for being sick of him and his god awful jokes. The point is, he is annoying, and he would try his hardest not to be from then on.

So he stopped talking as often, tried to speak quieter and tried to make less jokes. It worked, sort of, for a while. No one would groan when he tried to speak and no one would roll their eyes when he tried to engage in a genuine conversation.

But, that phrase still stuck. If it wasn't Allura, it was Pidge, if it wasn't Romelle, it was Hunk. He once tried to ask what time it was and all he got was Pidge grumbling a "Hush Lance," before glaring at him.

That's when he decided to conduct his experiment. He stopped speaking unless it was absolutely necessary. He only spoke when spoken to. It was only supposed to last a week. He just wanted to see if anyone would notice. Because they're his friends, they would, wouldn't they?

But after a week, no one said anything. After two weeks, nothing. But Lance was persistent, he kept going. After a month, two months; nothing but radio silence. At this point, Lance became discouraged, he stopped speaking all together. He started taking antidepressants.

They never noticed. It was the ultimate "fuck you."

Lance was taken away from his thoughts when Hunk shook his shoulders. "Lance, dude, the bell rang. Let's get to class." He said, starting to walk away. Lance blinked. Had he really zoned out that long?

He shook his head and stood from the table, quickly grabbing his bag from underneath it. He followed Hunk silently, towards their fifth period.