Criminal

Chapter 2

Lance and Hunk sat meekly in Allura's office as she paced in front of them.

"Did Lotor show you what you needed to know?!"

"Yes ma'am," they murmured.

"Did he show you the L wing and say, go ahead, free for all?!"

"No, ma'am."

"Did he specifically tell you not to go into the L wing?!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Are you two deaf, insane, or idiotic?!"

"No, ma'am."

"Then why, might I ask, did you go straight to the L wing?!"

"We... were curious?" Hunk offered tentatively.

Much as Lance decidedly hated Keith, ratting him out was nota cool thing to do. Also, it would make the roommate dynamic decidedly more hostile, and Lance rather liked his nose the way it was. So when Allura turned her fiery gaze on him, he merely nodded in sheepish agreement.

Allura inhaled deeply, her nostrils flaring. "Did it maybe, just possibly, occur to you that the rules are in place for a reason?!"

"We're sorry?" Hunk tried.

"What's wrong with the L wing?" Lance said at the same time.

Allura sighed. "The L wing used to be the science labs. Back when I was a freshman student here—I'd say about eight years ago—There was an explosion. A bad fire. The L wing has been off-limits ever since. It's unstable in there. You could get hurt. Do you two understand this?"

They nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"Okay. I'll let it slide this time. But if I catch you breaking the rules again, I will immediatelyturn you over to Sendak, our head of discipline. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. Now stay out of trouble."

They nodded frantically and were out of her office immediately. Once outside with a closed door safely between them and Allura, Lance let out a slow whistle.

"Whoever Sendak is, I sincerely doubt that he could do a better job disciplining a student than Allura."

"How come you didn't rat Keith out?"

Lance slumped down the hallway, hands in his pockets. "Ah, well, you know. That's a sneak thing to do."

The corner of Hunk's mouth twitched up. "And...?"

"And snitches get stitches," Lance snapped, "Do I have to spell it out? I don't want to wake up one night to find him standing over me with a knife!"

"Oh, come on, he wouldn't."

"If you think Keith wouldn't put either of us in a hospital, you're kidding yourself. He most definitely, absolutely would."

They opened the door to their dorm room, and there was Keith, on his bed, reading a book.

"Thanks a lot," Lance grumbled, "You left usto take the fall."

"You wouldn't have been falling if you had listened to me in the first place. You seem to be failing to remember that..." Keith looked up from his book. "Sorry, what was your name again?"

Lance's mouth fell open. "It's Lance! I'm Lance, and this is Hunk! Geeze. We're going to be living together for ten months, you'd better learn our names!"

"Yeah, sure." Keith went back to his book.

"We didn't rat you out," Lance grumbled, "You're welcome."