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2 - Strike!

LANCE

It's Keith!

The realisation struck him in the middle of the movie, startling Lance to the point that his knee gave a small jerk, nearly tipping the bag of popcorns over as a result. Lance caught it in time, otherwise the burly man in front of him would throw a fit. His muscles were itching to move his head sideways, at where the boy with the mullet – Keith – sat. His mouth was basically bubbling with words, all of them at the verge of spilling. No doubt that he'd be badgering Keith with questions should he let his jaw drop.

He'd sat there and mulled over long enough to finally locate the nearly faded memory of names – Keith's name. It had been there all along, like a dim light spilling through a fissure in the wall of rocks, dangling by a thread. Lance was, in all honesty, very bad when it came to remembering names. Be that as it may, an individual with a distinct appearance would have their features ingrained in his brain for eternity should they ever come face to face with him – even if it had occurred only once.

Especially Keith with his mullet hairstyle. It was like the boy originated from a universe where haircuts – or proper hairstyle – failed to touch a mind.

Not that the boy looked hideous with it. In fact, Lance was certain Keith was the only person in this 2010's era who could rock the retro hairstyle.

They'd gone to middle school together before Keith moved out in eight grade, due to some disciplinary issues – not to anyone's surprise back then, really. He could still distinctly remember witnessing a brawl breaking out during PE class between Keith and James Griffin. Hunk mentioned that Keith had thrown the first punch after James mocked his parents ("Well he did nail a touchy subject – I can't blame Keith," had been Lance's response). Still, Lance couldn't help but be intrigued by the boy's background.

Even now.

Sitting here, with Keith Kogane's unforeseen presence beside him, it was a challenge for Lance to maintain an unruffled posture. Does he remember me? he wondered, considering the boy had been quite of a loner back in middle school. He doubted Keith even had a close friend. Should he be surprised that the boy turned up to the movie theatre alone at all?

And to speak, it seemed as though Keith had arrived here on a last-minute decision as well – much like Pidge's last-minute cancellation. He didn't have any drink or popcorns with him, and had been sitting with his arms crossed ever since the movie started, almost as though he was on someone else's will. Every now and then, he'd extract his phone from his pocket, peeving Lance to an extent. The light was blinding the corner of Lance's eyes, and he had a hard time trying to focus on the movie.

"Can you put your phone away? Please?" He eventually hissed with more spite than he'd intended when Keith fished out his phone for the seventh time that evening (Lance counted). "It's bugging me."

"The movie's boring,"

Lance's jaw dropped, fairly offended. "Your taste is horrible, then"

"Just my opinion,"

"Then why'd you even come—"

"Shh!" someone hissed, shutting Lance up.

He sighed. "Just – put your phone away,"

"Fine,"

Lance was relatively surprised to hear the submission. He'd expected the boy to snap – a reason as to why he'd kept quiet, fearing Keith might break his neck or something. Would've told him off sooner, he thought, sinking back into the seat and digging his hand into the bag of popcorns.

From the corner of his eyes, Keith let out an almost inaudible huff. The boy was obviously bored, judging by the way he kept bouncing his knee and shifting his position on the seat. And as for why he was here in the first place, Lance doubted he'd receive a forthright answer.