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32 - Midnight Cruise part II

A/N
:)

LANCE

The four of them had just exited the diner when fireworks erupted in the sky.

Explosions burst around them, showering the mute-black expanse with a plethora of brilliant sparks, accompanied by the hubbub of shouts and laughter in the distant. For a remote countryside, the place sure was alive. And Lance, Hunk, Pidge and Keith were propelled forwards; to the real time, with the real world. No more playing with the time machine.

It was what Lance always felt whenever he and his friends hung out during New Year's Eve; the satisfaction of being yanked back to reality. The irony of their motive to stay away sat with the fact that they ended up feeling the midnight toll themselves.

"Well, that's our cue," Lance broke the silence, his eyes cast skywards.

"Cue to what again?" asked Keith, sounding fairly nervous.

"Truth time," Hunk answered for him.

"Oh ... right,"

Lance caught Keith's eye and immediately averted his gaze, his cheeks warming up. "Everyone got their scripts ready?" he addressed the whole group instead, a smirk crawling on his lips.

Pidge's face burned with indignation. "That was one time!"

Laughing, Lance led them back to his car.

Once again, they hit the road while everyone was busy either locking it up or shaking the floor. The peak of night also happened to be the peak of the celebration. It wasn't that hard to miss, really. Not when brilliant fireworks kept shooting up like blooming flowers; not when every house they passed seemed to be rocking with unheard music.

At almost one a.m., Lance stopped the car and pulled the handbrake at a parking lot. Outside, snowflakes were drifting over the ground, making it a trial to look beyond the accumulating mass of white. Hunk pressed his nose against the window.

"An arena?" Pidge asked, squinting at the end of the parking lot where a sign was supported by a single bar.

"Gold Millenium Arena," Lance nodded. "Hasn't been used in a while."

"How'd you know about this place?"

"Found it last summer when I was looking for a place to train alone," Lance answered. "Pretty far, but pretty convenient. The back door's never locked. And no security prowling the place."

"You were looking for a basketball arena," Keith began, leaning forwards so his head poked between the driver's seat and the passenger seat, "in summer?"

"I can hear you being judgemental,"

"I just forgot you're kind of a jock,"

"I have dreams to live up to, Mullet," Lance pointed out, opening the car door. "C'mon, guys. Follow me."

Approximately ten minutes later, they had managed to get inside the arena. Well, break in was the most appropriate term for it, considering the back door – much to Lance's chagrin – turned out to be locked. The four of them had to scan the perimeter of the building, almost losing hope until Keith found one of the toilet windows unlocked. And the real hassle began, seeing as none of them were tall enough to reach the sill. In the end, Hunk offered to lift Lance to reach the window.

Inside was cold and pitch dark, its floors creaky and worn from years of being stampeded with rubber soles. Pidge fumbled with the switches and wirings and eventually managed to get a couple of the lights glaring down the court, with its painted lines fading from age and neglect. Dust swirled in the sudden flare of lights, as though provoked by the trespass of four teenagers.