A Special Gift || Klance

Chapter 4

Keith couldn't stop thinking about what had happened at the pool, his mind was so muddled at breakfast that he'd poured his milk in before his cereal. Absolutely disgraceful. Lance however seemed completely fine, if anything he seemed completely unfazed by what had happened the night before. He'd even insulted Keiths mullet. Typical. Maybe the whole thing was a fluke, Keith should've known better than to think Lance might actually think of him as more than a friend. It didn't matter though, he still had to get Lance a gift, that fact hadn't changed.

The team had mandatory training in the afternoon, Shiro liked to make sure the team stayed in shape even on down time. Keith didn't mind much, he enjoyed the feel of a sword in his hand.
Lance and Hunk were less enthusiastic, but they trusted in Shiro's leadership so if he made a decision they listened. It was nice for the whole team to spend time together, especially around Christmas.

Training left the entire team feeling beat, seemingly Shiro was the only one feeling mostly unaffected. He congratulated them on a job well done and said his goodbyes before heading out to talk with Allura. They had recently discovered a Galra supply route and were eager to sabotage the entire operation. Pidge said she was going to test some modifications on Green and headed out soon after. That left Hunk, Lance, and Keith panting on the training room floor.

"That was brutal, Shiro really put us through the ringer," Lance complained as he layed back on the cool training room floor. "I'm gonna have no energy left to celebrate Christmas with!" He raised his arms in indignation before letting them fall to his sides. Keith couldn't help but smile, Lance was completely ridiculous.

"You're telling me man, no matter how much we train it still kicks my butt everytime," Hunk looked to Keith. "You're doing pretty well though, must be all that extra training, I don't know how you do it."

Hunk was right, the extra training did help, but Keith didn't think too much of it, there's only so much training can prepare you for. "It's nothing special, I think we could all use more."

Lance scoffed loudly, making an extra show of it. "You're crazy Keith, we're all doing great, we kick galra butt all the time," just as soon as the words left his mouth his face lit up. "We should enjoy our downtime, how would you two like to join me in a Mario Kart tournament? Winner gets to ask for anything they want." His eyes were alight with challenge.

"Dude how did you even get Mario Kart? We're literally in space." Hunk raised his brow in suspicion.

"You'll have to take that up with Pidge, she made me promise to never reveal her secrets," Lance said with a shrug before flashing a scheming grin. "The real question is are you guys in or out?"

"As much as I'd love to lose to you, really it's my favorite activity, I've gotta find Pidge, I promised we'd work together on Yellow later," Hunk said with mock regret. "Besides, Keith's got you covered," before Keith could protest Hunk was hightailing it out of the room.

"Whatever Hunk, you're missing out on a great time!" Lance called after him. He stuck his tongue out in dissatisfaction before turning to Keith, a smile playing on his lips. "I hope you're not backing out on me."

Keith had no intentions of backing out, in fact playing Mario Kart with Lance seemed like a pretty okay way to spend an afternoon. However, he still wasn't over the cold shoulder Lance had given him at breakfast. What were Lance's intentions? One day they could be having a bonding moment in the pool, and the next it's like they barely know each other. He really didn't get Lance.

"Are you sure you wanna play with me, you're not worried my 'bad attitude' might ruin a good time?" Keith knew he shouldn't take Lance's flippant nature personally, but damn it was really hard not too. Especially when all he wanted was to have a genuinely good time with him.