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

Nineteen: S is for Sweet

No amount of sweets can diminish the salt and bitterness concentrated in my heart. Take your candy somewhere else.

The words on the page blurred together after a half hour of staring at them, but Shay persisted in her efforts to make the repetition interesting. Keith lay his head down on the table and counted the books on the shelf behind her. Five, ten, fifteen, seventeen; three, six, eleven. Freezing objects in a viewport was done with LAYFRZ. Extruding a sketch could cut holes. Sleep was for the weak. He imagined death often enough to make it a memory. Midterms were close enough to count the days on one hand.

"Keith," Shay prompted, "give me a problem about relative motion."

He had to lift his head to draw a diagram, ugh. This arrow was his velocity relative to the ground as he hurled himself into the void. That arrow was the velocity relative to the ground of the breeze blowing out of the void. Would he still end up in the portal to the void in this many seconds if the breeze pointed in this direction? What direction was his velocity relative to the breeze pointing?

"You wouldn't end up in the void, at least. The breeze isn't strong enough to push you, but you don't have enough time, either. You're a meter-per-second too slow. Come on, Keith, cheer up. After midterms, we can contract senioritis and relax all we want."

They knew all too well what a blatant lie that was. Slacking off in school, Keith? In Min-Su's good Korean house? If he dared to let his grades slide by a few points, his grandmother would cross back to the realm of the living to slap him silly. He couldn't afford to lose Shiro's lunch period, either.

Shay clasped her hands. "We just have to survive half of each day this week until Friday. Are you sure there's nothing left to go over?"

There was always more to review until their eyes glazed over, but Allura intervened. "Enough studying. You're making everyone on the floor miserable. Go home and put your books away. You'll do fine."

Keith had decided four times in his life that winter was the worst season. The Koganes had left Korea in winter. One Christmas, his father had given him a one-thousand-paged SAT prep book. Seven years' worth of winter mornings had reeked of Texan cattle feed, thanks to his uncle. During his first winter in New Jersey, he had slipped on some ice, which had left him in bed for two days with a cold and a sore back. Winter was the time of bare trees, biting winds, midterms, and other annoyances.

By the time he had finished grumbling, he had arrived home. His parents were out at an Asian party they had spared him from going to. The stupid heat had been turned off. It clicked back on after more complaining. At least he had Saturday afternoon to himself, sans prodding about his college major choices and non-completely-overbooked schedule.

Should he have chosen Chain Rule, grammar rules, or the small Minecraft server Lance had found? Regardless, here he was, digitally mining digital coal with a digital pickaxe on a digital island with only two other players online. The place Pidge and Lance had spawned on was isolated from all the other players, so there was no threat of his peace being disturbed by a stranger. Oh, that was enough to make a "stack" of coal.

Lancey_Lance popped in with a server-wide notification. With a slide of his mouse, Keith could see his tag above him. Ricardo and Maria often used Lance's Minecraft account, so Keith ignored the character's appearance and continued clicking until he received a Skype call.

"I made you a Minecraft cake," Lance chirped. "It's in the chest by your bed."

"Hi, Keith!" Maria giggled.

"That's sweet of you. Hi, Maria."

"Is it okay if I sell some of the stuff in the dirt chest?"

Keith's pickaxe broke the moment he responded. "Mm-hm. See if you have enough for a melon."

Maria yawned. "Ricardo found a melon yesterday. It's in his chest."

"Wanna practice with a bow and calculate its initial velocity?" Lance teased.

The Korean began making his way up to the surface. With the combined efforts of the Voltron squad, they would eventually mine out the interior of the island, but, until then, the mostly unmarked tunnels and staircases continued to be a maze. "Shay and I did a few general projectile problems in the library until she hit Allura in the head with the Squeeze Theorem homework."

"Might as well squeeze some practice in, though."

"Go sell some dirt."

Lance's mouse clicks were loud enough for the computer's mic to pick up. "You know, Keith, I'm pretty attracted to you."

Keith snorted. "Of course. We're dating."

"Yeah, even though our gravitational force is puny. Is it still too early to say-"

"It is," he interjected with a deep breath, tightening his fingers around the mouse.

"Maria's gone, you know. And you deserve it."

"Another day, sharpshooter."

The Minecraft trend ebbed and flowed, but its popularity had drained from their school. No one had the time to devote to playing, apparently. Pidge's under-the-counter tech support commissions and their collective accumulation of every bit of change they could find had funded their accounts, so the Voltron squad was not about to give up on the game. Lancey_Lance, xK0gan3x, Hunk, and p1dgeon's island niche in the little economic server was flourishing, despite the impending doom of exams.

Lance leaned back in his chair and considered the computer screen with half-open eyes. Keith worried about the future too much. Whatever happened would, and they'd cross the bridges as they came. He trusted that they would. "Y'sure you don't want to study?"

After a long pause, Keith confirmed, "I said I was sure."

"Aight. You should take a nap. You sound stressed."

"I will."

xK0gan3x has left the game. Lancey_Lance has left the game.

//

Author's Note

Wow, so much for "hold me accountable until Saturday". Thank you so much for your support, but I really need to get back on schedule. (I will take my time to relax, though! Don't worry.)

I'll try to continue posting weekly until I run out of drafted chapters. Then... well, we'll see. I'm currently struggling to finish chapter twenty-five, and then it's the home stretch.

Again, thank you for the views, faves, and all that jazz! I'm happy to say that this was somehow the 197th top story tagged for "klance". That's amazing! Y'all stay awesome.

Love, Fwizz.