Operation: Time Out

~ Lance ~

In which Lance is shocked repeatedly, and apparently being an idiot is contagious

You felt like your face was on fire.

And it had everything to do with the fact that you were inching your way through an invisible maze that shocked you when you fucked up but you had no idea where you were going. This was the first time you had done this without someone in the control room guiding you through it. Your body being warm had everything to do with the fact that you were somewhere around your thirtieth shock, or maybe fortieth? Fifty? You had been shocked a lot, and you probably had just as much electricity running through your veins as you had adrenaline.

Your blush had absolutely nothing to do with a certain red paladin standing there watching every move you made.

Who were you kidding? Your blush had everything to do with Keith. You knew he was standing there, judging you, looking down on you, laughing at you every time you hit a wall. It made you so mad. You hated him watching you with that impassive face. You had such a hard time reading him and you hated it. You hated him. Keith, with his stupid perfect voice, and his stupid perfect face, and his stupid perfect mullet, and his stupid perfect smile that didn’t happen a lot but when it did it was like the clouds clearing and sun pouring through and making you feel all warm, too warm. He had no right to be that- that… perfect. UGH! Keith.

But you forced yourself to continue, pushing your way through the maze. You refused to give up. You had already started, and you sure as hell weren’t going to let Keith see you back out of it now. You’d make it to the other side and rub it in his stupid, smug, perfect face. He had even admitted that this wasn’t a bad idea, and you were determined to prove to him that you were right.

It was these thoughts that kept you going, kept you focused. But as time went on, and the more you got shocked, the more Keith’s silence started to grate on your nerves. It had been fine at first. Blissful even. He finally shut his stupid mouth, and you were able to focus on mapping out the maze in your head.

He had started out chuckling and snorting under his breath whenever you hit a wall of the maze. Which was super annoying, but the worst part was the way your stomach twisted and your chest tightened at the sound of it. He was watching you, and you were hyper aware of the fact that he was watching you, and you… you liked it. You hated that you liked it, but there it was. You liked having Keith’s attention on you, and you liked hearing his stupid breathy laugh. You liked being the cause of it. And you hated how much you liked it. Keith was your arch enemy from school. He was your chosen rival. He was annoying and frustrating and did everything you wanted to be able to do so well that it was obnoxious. You had hated him, but you had started to see him as a friend. He was your teammate, and you made a good team. He was still frustrating, but you got along nine times out of ten.

You had just wanted to be his friend. Like you were friends with Pidge and Hunk and even Shiro. You hadn’t wanted to like being the center of his attention. You hadn’t wanted to like being the one to make him crack a smile. You hadn’t wanted to be proud of making him laugh. You hadn’t wanted to feel… more. But you did. You felt a lot more than you had been expecting, and you weren’t ready for it.

Even now you were hyper aware of him. With every turn you made, you knew exactly where he was. Every breathy chuckle and amused snort sent shivers down your spine and made goosebumps rise on your arms. Part of you was pleased to be the cause of his amusement, but a bigger part of you was annoyed and frustrated that his attention on you was spent laughing at you and not because you were doing something worthwhile.