Rivals (Klance)

Chapter 2

Lance was, surprisingly, quiet the rest of class. It was a bit of a shock to Hunk and Keith, causing one of the two to worry. A small hint, it wasn't Keith.

When the bell rang, Hunk had to wake up the sleeping boy. "Lance buddy? You good?" He asked, knowing that something wasn't right. He had known for a while, but Lance would always insist that he was fine.

The tired boy groggily lifted his head, looking around and realizing that class was over. "Huh? Oh yeah I'm fine, just a bit tired." He responded with a small smile.

Hunk dropped the subject. He knew how Lance got when it came to stuff like that. He would always deny help and support.

But he was always tired lately.

Hunk had no clue what was going on, but he hated seeing his friend struggling. He just wanted to help. "Want to come over after school? I made cookies last night." He offered, throwing in a small bribe.

Lance chuckled, tempted, but he couldn't. "I have detention and then I'm going over to Allura's. Sorry buddy." He said, frowning when he realized that that meant he wasn't going to get any cookies.

"Don't worry, I'll bring you some on Monday." Hunk promised, seeing as it was Friday. "Or you could come over tomorrow." He added, fully registering that it was indeed the weekend and they could hang out whenever.

Lance let his head hit the desk again. "I can't, my parents are leaving Sunday, so they want everyone home Saturday." He said, groaning at the fact he'd have to wait until Monday for cookies.

"Sorry about that." Hunk said with a nervous laugh. He knew that 'family time' could be hard for Lance, ever since-

"Oh crap! I have to get to detention before I get another one." Lance said, bolting up from his desk and scrambling to grab his things.

"Bye!" He called as he booked it out of the room.

"See ya!" Hunk called back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why do you always seem to be late?" Coran asked as Lance ran into the room, trying to catch his breath.

"It's a gift, really." Lance said in between gasps for air.

"Just take a seat and get some homework done." Coran said with an amused smile. He might be biased, seeing as he was best friends with his niece, but he had always liked Lance. Even with how much trouble he got himself into, he was a good kid.

"I have some teachers I need to speak with, so I will be leaving you two alone. You can talk, but if it escalates to a fight, you'll have many more detentions to look forwards to." Coran said with a clap and a smile, before taking his leave.

At that point, nothing their principal did surprised the two boys anymore. He was a very odd character.

Keith knew that if they interacted at all, they'd end up in a fight. Since he was very aware that Shiro was close to his breaking point with his behavior, he decided to read instead of giving Lance the time of day.

The Cuban boy loved a challenge.

"Whatcha reading?" He asked, leaning back in his chair and trying to get a peak at the book in Keith's hands.

Keith completely ignored him.

"Hey mullet." Lance said, trying to distract him, maybe provoke him a little bit.

Nothing.

"Yo, emo wanna be."

Lance sighed, usually that worked.

"Kogane, I just want to know what you're reading." He said, getting frustrated with the brick wall he was talking to.

"God, you are literally the worst person to be stuck in detention with." Lance said with a huff as he crossed his arms.

He wasn't holding the desk anymore as he rocked back. He had nothing to support himself as Keith stuck his foot out and kicked his chair over. Lance groaned at the pain in his back.

"You're an asshole." He said, slowly getting up.

Keith was sniggering behind his book. "You deserve it. You trashed everything in my locker." He pointed out, not taking his eyes off the book he had had to get from the library before coming to detention.

"What about the book! It looks perfectly fine!" Lance argued, setting his chair upright and taking a seat once again, this time keeping it firmly on all four legs.

"It's from the library dumbass." He said.

Lance decided he wanted to antagonize him even more. "You keep bringing up my ass, admire it that much, huh?" He asked, a suave smirk on his face.

Keith actually snorted at the remark. "As if, McClain."

There was a pout on Lance's face. He had been hoping for a better reaction. He went for a different approach. "I didn't realize you could read." He stated.

"Stop trying, it's pathetic to listen to." Keith said, once again not sparing him a glance.

Lance crossed his arms. "Why do you have to be such a dick all the time?" He asked.

Keith set his book down, surprising Lance. "Really? I'm the dick? You're the one who's been trying to start something this whole time." He said back, his tone sharp as he spoke. Lance knew how to push his buttons and piss him off.

"Well sorry for being bored out of my mind. We're both stuck here and you wouldn't even answer me when I asked what book you were reading!" Lance fought back, his voice raising slightly in anger.

"I was reading to avoid this exact situation! You can't have a civil conversation with me. You constantly have to twist it and start a fight. I'm trying to stay out of trouble." Keith fought back, fuming. He was getting more and more annoyed with Lance's attitude. The boy tried to start something every two seconds.

"Since when have you ever tried to stay out of trouble?! And I can totally have a civil conversation with you, you just always end up saying something stupid!" Lance said. They were both basically just yelling at each other at that point.

"Yeah, I'm the stupid one. Who's failing again?" Keith asked, poking fun at something he knew bothered Lance.

That pushed Lance a little to far, which in turn made him push Keith. The black haired boy didn't appreciate that, grabbing at the front of Lance's shirt and winding up to swing at the taller boy.

But he stopped himself. He couldn't get in trouble for fighting again. Shiro would kill him.

Lance's hatred filled eyes glared back at Keith. "Jesus, just punch me already." He growled, pushing Keith back again. He stumbled more that time, shocked by his words.

"You want me to hit you?" He asked, confused but still fuming.

"If you hit me, you'd get into trouble for fighting again. You've got to be close to getting expelled, right?" Lance asked with a teasing smirk.

Keith's fists were clenched as he made his way back to Lance. "Why you little-" He was poised to punch him again, when a voice cut in.

"You two were left alone for ten minutes."