A, You're Adorable (Klance) [DISCONTINUED]

One: A is for Alphabet

There are, have been, and always will be twenty-six letters in the alphabet.

"Listen to this one," Lance chortled. "If I could rearrange the alphabet-"

Out of habit, Keith stopped listening for a moment, waiting for the stupid pick up line and laughter to pass. Ridiculous. The alphabet couldn't be rearranged. What was Lance going to tell little Maria, that suddenly "McClain, Lance" would come after "Kogane, Keith" or something?

The shortest meme dealer, Pidge, tapped away at her Pokéfarm as they goofed off. "Aw, heck yeah! I got a shiny through Wonder Trade!"

"Really? Lucky you. All I get are people's discarded Magikarps," Hunk pulled her away from crashing into a lamp post. "No offense, Magikarp-et the eighth, but it's time for a little variety."

Why did Keith hang around these weirdos again? He had no other friends, yeah, but sticking in a crew of kids who understood every 80s reference made by their teachers and traded outdated memes was not great for his growing reputation as the "edgy emo loner kid who sits in the corner by the window because he's cool like that". But, then again, this was coming from someone whose taste in memes erred toward 2007 and before, so Keith probably did fit with them.

And, you know, it was nice to be greeted in a new town by an entire squad of people praising the ancients that they had finally found someone who could properly be the Keith in their group with Voltron-themed names. That could be it.

The roving band of teenagers was not, unfortunately, loitering around town or terrorizing the senior citizens, but rather noisily ambling to high school. Sure, each of them was safe in their ironic roleplay group chat, but the educational institution contained adversaries worse than those of Supaidaman. Not that Keith had actually watched the show all the way through. He always fell asleep after two or three episodes. He just wasn't one for binge watching anime.

Pidge shoved her phone in her cargo shorts. She bent back and cracked her back, preparing for the hours of looking up at people that would have to follow. "Keith, we have Space Dad first, right?"

"Yeah. I heard it's open lab and he plays Spirited Away on the projector," he kicked at a rock and sent it skittering onto the road.

What was there to say about the school building? Absolutely nothing. It was a standard brick building with a flat roof and windows that barely opened despite the selectively functional A/C system. It was a death wish to touch the stair rails, which were covered in old gum and shady stains. You might get the plague, herpes, or some other gross infection if you did. Even the unironically dead inside upperclassmen used the freshman as buffers between the edges of the stairs. Keith had moved to the school at the beginning of sophomore year, but his height had caused some seniors to group him with the fish. He had been pushed into the newest stair rail in the building, but he still shuddered at the memory. Hunk had developed the habit of seating Pidge on his shoulders to keep her from being trampled underfoot and navigate for the group.

"'Sup, losers," she greeted their sardine-packed classmates. No one disagreed; they were all too tired and self-preserving to mess with a genius hacker senior. If there was a substitute wading through the chaos, they didn't say anything. The teachers were safely in their classrooms, finishing the last of their donuts and coffee before the flood.

Hunk set Pidge down outside the room and went with Lance to their class. Keith had stopped offering to hold the door for her. She waltzed in, only propping the door open enough for him to slip in before the masses crushed it closed again.

The Physics teacher answered to Mr. Takashi, Takashi-sensei, Shirogane-sensei, Shiro, Mr. Dad, Dad, and, on occasion, Space Dad. He was only a college education and an exploration mission older than his students, many of whom worshipped the ground he walked on because he had actually been to space. And, yes, while in space he had recorded and performed all sorts of stupid but highly entertaining experiments to use as classroom material. He was a stickler for proper unit labelling (which drove everyone nuts), but his class did teach pretty well.

They had finished a test last class, so Shiro indeed gave them an open lab class and put the Ghibli movie on as he worked his way through grading. Pidge started sloughing through her History work. Keith wanted to enjoy the movie, but a tall classmate sat in front of him and he was too lazy to move and attract attention. It was too early to split up from his only real friend in the class. He started doodling on a piece of scrap paper.

"Katie," someone called from behind them. Judging by the high pitch, it was Jennifer. Pidge sighed and turned.

"Katie, I need help with something," Jennifer glanced at Shiro before taking out her phone. She turned it on and handed it to Pidge. "I left my phone in my lunchbox and some watermelon juice seeped in. Is there anything I can do? Should I, like, dump it in rice or something?"

Keith didn't remember ever calling Pidge by her real name. Her preference was understandable. She didn't need to sound like a little kid when she was already two or three years younger than everyone else. No one cared enough to call her Pidge except their friend group and Shiro.

"Nah," Pidge tilted the phone, the screen of which was lit oddly due to the juice's distortion. "Rice could get stuck in the headphone jack. This one looks like a goner."

"Ah, I see," Jennifer took the phone back and went back to her work. Keith didn't feel sorry for her. Her parents were rich enough to buy her an upgrade without batting an eye.

The girl sitting to Keith's front right elbowed her friend, who was directly in front of him. "Quit staring at your phone," she hissed, "you're missing the movie!"

"I don't understand it," the girl whispered back.

"You don't understand your Kpop, either, Elizabeth!"

At the mention of K-pop, Keith instinctively slunk lower into his chair. One of Elizabeth's friends had approached him at one point and almost conned him into performing a dance routine with them. He shuddered. No matter how "Dope" BTS was, it was not happening. His mother would skin him alive if she heard him singing that one line from "Not Today".

Keith caught a glimpse of Chihiro receiving a salmon apron when the bell rang and the class stood to leave.