YELLOW [[klance]] [[COMPLETED]]

keith.

i stay in bed most of the day.

here's my half-assed hypothesis: if i don't do anything at all but numb my mind with brainless, internet-related activities, i can ride the day out like a wave. go to sleep. wake up tomorrow. no little hiccups.

however. nobody else seems to share my mindset. mine includes sticking earbuds in my ears and stuffing inhuman amounts of red jello in my mouth while i absorb multiple hours worth of conspiracy theory videos.

everyone else's plan includes none of these things. lance happily walked in at one point, while i was still groggy with sleep and only on my second jello bowl of the day, carrying a plastic tub which he promptly dropped on the foot of my bed.

"what the fuck?" i said.

"stress balls, kinetic sand, play-do, and those weird squid-looking things," he announced, picking said 'weird squid-looking thing' up and squeezing it between it's quivering rubber fronds until it lit up multi-colored.

adam and shiro arrived dutifully maybe ten minutes after, with lots of cds, homemade pasta and some board games that made lance's eyes lit up in a devilish way that told me i was not getting any piece and goddamn quiet today.

"i was thinking we stay overnight," shiro said to me while adam and lance heatedly began to argue about the value and worth of candyland. "not to make a big deal out of anything, but it's been awhile and adam and i just wanted to spend time with you."

"okay," i said blankly. i mean, i didn't want to be an asshole about it, not when shiro was looking at me so earnestly with a plastic container of pasta and a velcro pack of cds in his hand.

so right now, we gather around a table in the rec room, lance perspiring dramatically as he moves his blue character five spaces, sticking his tongue in the corner of his mouth as he does so.

he pumps his fists in the air. "i'm still winning!"

"no you're not," i say, annoyed. "i'm in front of you."

"are not! look!" he points triumphantly. "you were one behind the little path. so unless you roll a yellow, i'm ahead of you." he grinned smugly at me.

i rolled my eyes. "whatever."

he kicks me under the table, to which i reply by flipping him the bird under the table in return. he wrinkles his nose at me and sticks out his tongue playfully. i look away quickly so as to hide my idiotic blush.

once i knock over a majority of the board multiple times and shiro has a near-mental break as he tries to decipher the meaning of the game, we decide to call it quits. (the last thing we need is to get kicked out of the rec room - though i guess the only thing to do around here other than argue about board games is either watch wheel of fortune with some grandmas or do building blocks with some fussy kids.)

just as i'm thinking this, lance's gaze flits to the kid corner and his face lights up like a lightbulb.

"one second," he says to us, as adam packs up the board games and consoles a sullen shiro (he got last place and still didn't understand the game).

"what are you - " i start, but he doesn't give me time because he's already bounding across the room, oxygen in tow. i sigh and reluctantly follow.

he kneels besides the many kids, watching them with a soft smile as a little girl attempts to stick two large, multi-colored jumbo legos together, to make what looks like a tower. it seems massive compared to her, nothing but a little five-year-old with a pink headscarf and an oxygen tank that dwarfs her tiny kid body. she squints her eyes in concentration as she sticks them together tightly.