WHO: Lance & Keith WHEN: Night of the ball WHERE: Tumbleweed and the road leading out of it WHAT: Keith is having some trouble dealing with new memories, so Lance decides they're not going to the ball, after all. PART ONE! Oooooh. Aaaah. WARNINGS: Teenager doofs
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“Turn left in five hundred feet and your destination will be on the left,” the phone chirped, as the GPS honed in on its selected destination.
Lance tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. Then, he looked over at Keith, who seemed to be mentally on another planet -- or at least more focused on whatever was outside the passenger window than the prospect of a date at a fancy ball. More than that, this wasn’t the first time that Keith was… well, in a mood of sorts. He went quiet more often lately. Disengaged.
A sigh escaped Lance as he peered ahead towards the building that he knew was their final stop; cars were already lined up on the street. There would be plenty of people. Lots of people.
Somehow, this didn’t feel right.
And so the building passed them by on the left. The car didn’t even slow.
“Rerouting. Take the next left onto --”
Which was when Lance flicked the screen to shut the navigation off. He stole a quick look at Keith, wondering if maybe the other boy would realize what had happened and come back to the present moment.
The fact that Keith wasn’t the biggest fan of these sorts of events really wasn’t a secret to anyone. Even if he hadn’t been vocal about it, the assumption just would’ve been made because of who he was. Loners didn’t do parties, right? He’d actually grown to not mind it that much though. There was the team to fall back on and Lance enjoyed the whole fancy affair. He could skate by on that. Or well, he could have before he had his head jammed full of memories he didn’t know how to deal with and that contradicted with the ones in his head from this world. It almost felt like he was standing on the middle of a teeter totter and couldn’t guess which end would tip down at any moment. It had to be some sort of personal growth or something that he’d managed to not just bolt considering how much the new memories had ramped up that old go to instinct.
Ok, so, he got lost in his thoughts a bit. It happened. He was still vaguely paying attention. Enough to register the GPS and the silencing of the GPS. With the amount of cars and the location reached, this was probably just a finding parking move. At least that’s what he assumed.
It wasn’t until a few minutes passed and they were still driving, but definitely not in circles around the neighborhood, that his eyebrows pinched together in confusion. Yeah, ok, those definitely weren’t any of the places they’d passed before… Frowning, he turned his attention to the boy in the driver’s seat.
“Uh… Lance?”
“Mmmhmm?” Lance hummed in return. He didn’t know where he was driving to. There was a dim awareness that the main stretch of Tumbleweed was in the direction he was guiding the car, but nothing much more than that.
So what if they were both dressed up for a party? In that last dozen feet, it had become apparent to Lance that what they both needed wasn’t a room full of people, but some time away. Somewhere. Maybe Keith more than himself, Lance considered. Whatever was stewing in Keith’s brain maybe just needed a place to air out a little? Which wouldn’t be a question answered unless they put some miles on.
The music was still turned down, but maybe that was best right now. A mellow jingle in the background just audible over the sound of tires on asphalt kept the car from awkward silence. Lance figured he could text the Voltron group later. They would understand. It wouldn’t be the first time a Paladin or two veered off on their own.
Keith’s expression eased from confused into wary at the nonchalant answer. No, not answer. Noise. Just a noise. Which had to mean that the Paladin was planning something. That’s the feel that he was getting right now. A plan had been put into motion and Lance was waiting for him to pick it up. Right? Alright…
“We’re not heading in the direction of the party,” he pointed out, figuring the obvious statement was the best place to start. Of that he could at least be certain, unless Lance was taking a really roundabout way to it that involved whizzing right by it and then circling back.
Lance gave a short shrug. At least Keith was snapping out of it now. When he slowed to a stop at a traffic light, it was easier to actually look over and get a sense of where Keith actually was as far as figuring out what was going on. And the wary, suspicious look Keith was casting was about right. Lance grinned in return.
“Do you want to go to the party?” Before Keith could answer, Lance poked a finger upwards into the air. “And I mean want to go. Not just letting the night happen because it was way less effort to plead out of it.”
Suspicion just amped up at that grin. Ugh, the other boy had Keith and, worse, Lance knew it. Proven even more by the interruption before when he opened his mouth to retort but hadn’t gotten any words out yet. He snapped his mouth shut with a scowl that then melted a bit into guilt at getting caught. Ok, the reason wasn’t fully true, but it hit close enough to make him feel bad.
He puffed out a sigh as he slouched in his seat, his arm crossing over his chest and his eyes training on the dashboard. “You want to go,” he countered. “That’s good enough for me.”
The light changed, and Lance had to pull his attention off Keith to mind the road again. It was a short pause before he answered.
“Yeah, not feelin’ it much, believe it or not. And we did two of these things already, so I’m pretty sure there will be another in the future.” One hand left the steering wheel to shoo off the notion of a night spent mingling and dancing. The more Lance thought on it, the more he was sure that this was the right choice.
“Besides…” Lance’s mouth tugged downward slightly. “It’s not about me. How about we get out of town for a night?”
His eyes trained over to Lance. Keith didn’t fully believe that. Maybe he could go for Lance’s excitement levels only being down to 75%, but anything lower? Although… the Paladin did have moments, right? Sneak off for a little. Get out whatever needed to get gotten out and ideally come back. That whole empathy thing he did, which…
Sighing, his head turned towards the window again. Yeah, that empathy thing… Only two people in the car and if it wasn’t about Lance… He shrugged before sighing again since Lance probably didn’t see the gesture. “Yeah, sure…” he mumbled before snorting in amusement. “So much for spending all that time getting fancy.”
Maybe it wasn’t the most enthused response, but Lance was fine with taking it. The car banked another turn and Lance could make out familiar stretches of shops now. What had been a loose idea was shaping up. There was a convenience store just before you broke the town limits and hit open highway.
“Don’t we have some t-shirts or whatever in the back? I know I threw some back there at some point…” The glance in the rearview mirror didn’t help at all. They’d have to actually stop and search, but that could wait. “Totally not important. Listen, I appreciate you being fancy. You don’t need a room full of people to do that. But what you do need is snacks. We’re gonna stop and get snacks because now I’m thinking about chips and a slushie.”
Keith gave a half-hearted look over his shoulder to the backseat. He had a better chance of spotting something, but with seats in the way, he couldn’t say for sure. He couldn’t remember too well either of what he might’ve thrown into the back. Maybe an overshirt or something, but if he’d chucked it, it probably was because it’d gotten too dusty or nasty during work. Ok, no, that wasn’t entirely true. His gaze flitted towards the glove compartment for a second. He did know for sure about one piece of clothing in the car, but swapping out his fancy clothes for that probably wasn’t a good plan…
Pushing that thought away, he stretched out in his seat, trying to get comfortable. “Maybe some jerky too. ‘Out of town’ is giving me a craving for it.”
And there it was. That little bit of give that was either resignation or relief -- Lance was fine with either. If it got Keith to ease up, then it was a step in the right direction. He’d just have to wait to pry a little more at that stubborn exterior, Lance knew. Trying anything right now meant Keith could back out of this. Or clam up. You know, Keith stuff.
The car pulled in to the convenience store right after that, and Lance more or less parked it between two lines before taking out the ignition key. He turned to look at Keith a little more intently, then, brows lifted. “You’re the jerky fan. I’m sticking with chips. Ready?”