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Things have changed ever since Allura arrived.
At least, Keith noticed.
Lance was his everything, his universe. He was pretty sure he was that to Lance as well.
I mean he wasn't stupid, all of those glances, touches, jokes, smiles, he had to mean something right?
Well apparently not.
The day everything changed had started out as a regular day. He had come to school, eager to return home because what loser wants to go to school lmao. He had met up with Lance like any other day in the band room, assembling his flute as he chatted with Lance.
Suddenly, the door creaked open.
A girl walked into the band room, her white hair flowing behind her. She had this energy surrounding her, something that was unlike anyone else. She was beautiful, Keith had to admit.
He turned to Lance, about to comment on the new girl when he saw it.
Lance was staring at Allura. I mean, he stared at a lot of people. But this was different, the way he stared at her looked as if she hung the stars. He was mesmerized, who wouldn’t be? But as Lance stared at Allura, Keith couldn’t help but stare at him, wishing that Lance would look at him like that.
If Keith knew that after that day things would change, he would have grabbed Allura by the hair himself and tossed her out the window.
Allura and Lance got closer. As in, there would be shared glances across the room, a few small jokes here and there, and eventually they would get to talking.
Great, she even has a nice voice. He would bitterly think, glaring across the aisle as Allura laughed at something Lance said. She had a British accent for god’s sake, that has got to be cheating.
Slowly, this transitioned into eating lunch with Allura and her friends.
I mean sure, they were pretty nice, he had grown a liking towards Romelle and Acxa. But Keith preferred the lunches from before, the ones shared only with Lance.
Was it a little selfish? Sure. But he couldn’t lie, Keith cherished the moments he had alone with Lance.
The problem with this whole ordeal was that Allura was actually nice. As in, she would sit next to him during math, help him with studying, that sort of thing. So, Keith had no good reason to be pissed at her. In fact, this made him even more pissed.
But he definitely didn’t think much of it, I mean, it's not like anything would happen right.
Soon after, Allura told Keith that she liked Lance.
.....
No biggie, that didn’t mean anything whatsoever.
Yeah.
So Keith continued on, watching from afar as Lance and Allura grew closer and closer, while Lance and him grew farther and farther.
He ignored how Lance looked at Allura, and how Allura looked at Lance. He ignored how Lance stayed glued to Allura and how they would hold hands. He ignored how Allura would constantly rest her head on Lance's shoulder, and how Lance would immediately rest his head on Alluras.
What he couldn’t ignore, was the moment he caught Allura and Lance kissing.
He had stayed behind after band practice one day, it was very unlike him considering the fact that he would usually make a beeline for the doors at 5:00 pm. But today, he had stayed behind a little later to help Mr Wimbleton-Smythe with some of the marketing. While he organised he had innocently entered a practice room to grab some supplies, that's when he discovered Allura and Lance making out in the corner of the room.
Oh.
Oh.
He watched as they kissed, Allura wearing Lance's sweater, the one that Lance always used to give to him when he was cold. It was just polyester, nothing even too fancy. But he knew that Lance liked Allura better.
He had frozen in the doorway for just a second, before slamming the door and making a run for it. He heard yelling from behind but he ignored it, he would deal with it tomorrow if he had to. For now, he was going to go home to tend to his wounds.
***
Shiro’s head jerked up at the sound of a door slamming.
He turned around to see Keith rushing into the kitchen and flinging the fridge door open like he had a personal vendetta against it. He grabbed a diet coke and was about to go upstairs.
“What's up?” Shiro said, leaning against the counter as Keith paused with a sigh. The tone that Shiro used told Keith that there was no getting out of this.
“Nothing,” Keith said. “I thought Adam banned you from cooking.”
“Me when I lie.” (note: I was on call while writing this and I stole this from my lovely friend lmao) Shiro said, causing Keith to roll his eyes at how his brother was attempting to use “modern lingo.” Shiro waved it off. “And Adam isn’t here so shut up. Talk to me.”
Keith reluctantly sat at the counter, opening the can of diet coke and taking a sip.
“Uhm, I saw Lance kissing Allura today.” Keith mumbled.
Shiro’s demeanor shifted, his entire body now facing Keith.
“And you’re upset now because you like him.”
“Yeah I- what the fuck, how did you know?” Keith sputtered.
Shiro shrugged. “Me and Adam had a bet going, and sadly now I owe him $50.” Shiro muttered bitterly. Thankfully, he ignored the loss of his money and spoke to Keith.
“Whatever happens, just stay true to yourself.” Shiro said. “If Lance doesn’t like you, it's his loss.” Keith thought on this, and he finally took a deep breath.
“Thanks, Shiro.”
Shiro gave Keith a smile. “Anytime kid.”
Suddenly, the smell of smoke became evident in the air, the smoke alarm beeping as Shiro spun around to find whatever he was cooking to be burning.
“Shit-” Shiro quickly tried to fix his mistake as Keith laughed hysterically.
“This is why Adam banned you from cooking.” Keith said, practically wiping tears from his eyes.
***
The next day came way too quickly for Keith's liking.
He spent his entire day avoiding both Allura and Lance, which was working out fine, until Lance cornered him during lunch.
“You’ve been avoiding me.” Lance said.
Keith stared at Lance’s forehead, avoiding eye contact.
“No, I haven’t.”
Lance sighed, his blue eyes shined under the light.
Quiznak, someone has to get this boy some brown contacts.
“Look if this is about yesterday can we forget about that? I mean you have to admit it was pretty funny when you walked in on me and Allura-”
“It's not about that, I don’t even care.” Keith said with a forced laugh.
Lance looked at Keith, analysing every bit of his face, trying to figure out what was wrong.
“Seriously, you can tell me if something's up.” Lance tried to put a hand on Keith's shoulder but he shrugged it off, leaving Lance's hand stranded in the air, alone.
“What are we?” Keith finally said, cutting to the chase. Lance gave him a confused look.
“I don’t understand–”
“You know perfectly well what I mean, Lance.” Keith said, beginning to pace as he shot an accusing finger at Lance. “Don’t think you can just play off everything, as if nothing was there. I noticed, I noticed every glance, every stupid smile, every time you remembered something I offhandedly said months ago. Every time we were alone you would hold my hand, whisper fucking poetry to me. You met my brother, for god's sake!” He exclaimed. Lance could do nothing but stay silent and watch as Keith blew up. “I mean, I’m not stupid! So no. No. I need a clear answer right here, right now.”
Keith searched Lance's face as he caught his breath. Lance didn’t make one move to speak.
“I’m done.” He muttered, turning to leave.
“Wait-” Lance grabbed Keith's wrist and he spun around to face Lance once more.
“Oh my god Lance.” He muttered. “I mean, I get it. Why would you even kiss me? I’m not even half as pretty.” He scoffed, a tired smile on his face, as if he had already accepted Lance's silent rejection. “Come on, you gave her your sweater. I already know you like her better.”
Lance couldn’t stop Keith from slipping his wrist from his grip. Keith started to walk away again, stopping for only a second to look at Lance one last time.
“I wish I were Allura.”
After that, Keith separated himself from Lance, from Allura, from everyone. Suddenly the gap between Lance and Keith had grown into a canyon. He was now truly watching from afar as Allura and Lance's relationship grew public. He put an arm around her shoulder, now Keith got colder. It was obvious, she had Lance mesmerised, while Keith died.
Lance had made it clear as day, he had no feelings for Keith, not the ones Keith had for him. Keith decided then and there to not mess around with love anymore, he was sure he would get over this simple highschool crush.
But little did Keith know, with every glance he made towards the couple, Lance looked right back at him.
As the days grew while Lance dated Allura, Lance couldn’t help but notice Keith’s and Allura’s similarities. The way they both played flute, their shared interests and the way they would excitedly talk about them, and the way their eyes would shine in the moonlight.
He noticed the way his heart raced when he would talk with Keith, or when Keith would let out one of those rare laughs that Lance held too dearly.
He noticed the way Keith would tie up his hair, the way the corners of his mouth would twitch when Lance told a stupid joke. He noticed Keith's nimble fingers as he expertly played the flute. He noticed the way Keith comforted Lance whenever he complained, knowing that he was bad with feelings yet tried anyways.
Lance noticed how he so badly wanted to run his hands through Keith's stupid hair, how he wished to taste those chapped lips and hear that laughter once more.
But Lance had noticed too little too late.
He had lost Keith and there was no coming back from that. So instead, Lance kissed Allura. He looked into her eyes, those beautiful sparkly eyes, and pretended they were Keith’s.