Chapter 2.

"Lance and Hunk are not even dating for real. Lance and Hunk are not even dating for real," Keith muffled under his breath when he was trying to walk away his wrath. He even ate something at a coffee shop to ease himself but he was still very much upset, so he kept walking around.

He didn't understand why he was so upset. He knew for a while already that he liked Lance, a lot. He was already gay but every time Lance spoke to him he felt 15% gayer. The numbers were accurate, Pidge did the math.

And it was hard for him because he still wanted to fight him? punch his face? stop him for being such an idiot person and for making him felt in love like that. More than anything, he wanted to yank him on the floor and subdue him.

Both in the mean way and in the gay way.

He was so jealous of anyone who ever spoke to Lance, it was irreal. He was never the jealous type… Sure, he was the jealous type but it was because he didn't like when people touched his things. And he knew Lance was not a thing, he knew it, Lance could do whatever the fuck he wanted but… damn seeing him kissing with Hunk was awful.

He didn't particularly felt anything negative toward Hunk. He did think Hunk should not follow everything Lance does, but he trusted in him and it wasn't like if he was going to fall in love with him just because they were pretending to be boyfriends, right?

His imagination betrayed him.

The day is clear, the wedding was beautiful, everything is crafted Lance's style, meaning flamboyant and over the top for ten, yellow and blue themed. Hunk and Lance are dancing their first married dance, wearing white suits, and they look at each other like their are their entire world. Pidge suddenly stands up, wearing a beautiful black dress and starts a toast:

"I really love the story about how Lance and Hunk started to date each other. After many years, Lance's parents know the story, and I can finally tell it to everyone They're this stupid, listen up. They started fake dating because Lance is a jerk-"

"Shut up Pidge!" Lance screams, his face hidden in Hunk's shoulder, Hunk's hands were on top of his waist.

"You cannot silence the truth. Anyway, it all started that way. But I was there, watching them, slowly moving to greater things. The fake handholding and the fake kisses suddenly weren't so fake. You guys were disgusting, honestly, you never kept that pda to the minimum…" Everyone is laughing, Keith is about to die "But your love was genuine and seeing it turn into romantic love was actually... kind of cool. I hope you guys have a wonderful life together."

Keith is trapped, scared to dead, and apparently no one could see him there, because he is screaming, and no one cares. Everyone starts cheering for the couple and Lance and Hunk kiss one more time.

Keith shook his head, trying to get away of his daydreaming, and he started to run back.

He had to avoid Hunk and Lance falling in love with each other, Lance was his. Not in the creepy way, of course. Just in the "don't touch my future husband" way.

The elevator trip didn't do much to calm him down because it was only two floors, so when he reached the door he was still worked-up. He opened the door with his key and he tried to smile a bit, only to find Pidge alone, watching tv on the couch.

"What are you doing? Where is Lance and the rest?"

"Ah well, Lance's parents don't know the city so they went out on a 'double date' or something."

"Where are they?"

That was a… very concerning tone. He was eager to stop this madness and he couldn't , but he could at least… be around… to know what is happening between the two of them.

Pidge stood up, closing the space between them with apprehension.

"Why do you want to know?"

She decided to start there. Maybe she could convince him to stop. Because forcing him was out of the question, he was taller and stronger than her. Damn, she could use some fitness. Maybe she could get to a gym next monday. But then she looked at Rover, her beautiful laptop, and being away of them was going to be a painful, she loved her laptop and-

"Pidge, are you listening to me?"

"Yeah, of course, keep going."

"Anyway…. that's why I have to be with them. Lance and Hunk could fall in love with each other by mistake."

Pidge blinked.

"Repeat that."

"Look. I trust Hunk, I really do. But god do I know, I know that feelings are weird. I mean, liking Lance is a mistake-"

"So you finally admit you like Lance!"

Keith rolled his eyes. "I can't fool myself anymore. I wanted to kill Lance when he was kissing Hunk, and there is no other reason for that. I thought it was only physical but…"

"You have it hard."

"Pidge…"

"I'm sorry, keep going."

"Anyway. They could fall in love by mistake. I don't want that. That's shitty. I have to avoid that."

"You know Hunk has Shay right?"

"And? That shit happens? Oh god, see what Lance is doing? He's going to break my heart and Shay's. Lance, that little fucker. I have to stop him."

"Keith… I want you to think about what you're saying…"

"This things happens Pidge! They start to "fake dating", things start to turn not fake, they get together, and suddenly, it's their wedding day, no one can hear me screaming and you're dressed in a dress, giving a speech about their wonderful relationship."

"I can't allow that Pidge." He crossed his arms, ending his speech with a convincing nod, and the most serious eyes Pidge had ever seen him make.

She was wordless. Honestly, she wasn't sure where to start. Boi, Keith is reaching.

Keith was still looking at her intensely, and she didn't know how to answer. She put her hands in a prayer sign, and covered her mouth with them. She tried to speak several times but she kept bringing her hands back to cover her mouth.

"Aren't you going to tell me?!"

Pidge swallowed a laugh. Her face twisted in amusement and she bite her lips before saying:

"I can wear a dress. I like dresses. It's not that big of a deal."

Keith stared at her, and sighed. "You never wear dresses, though."

"Because I never go out to a nice place! I would use a dress in Hunk and Lance's wedding," Keith pouted at hearing that "Though on the other hand I could use a really rad suit. I mean, I'm ok with both, it's just clothes?"

"Pidge..."

"Keith… you have to calm down."

Keith sighed again. "I know."

"Are you going to calm down?"

"No."

Pidge sighed. Everyone was sighing lately. It was Lance's fault. She fixed her glasses and said:

"Look… You want to spy on them? Let's spy on them. But I can assure you, Lance and Hunk aren't going to fall in love with each other and marry! You're… making a big deal about this. He only asked him to be his boyfriend for a few hours. It's not even going to last enough to "become real" or whatever. Fuck!"

Keith pouted again, but he uncrossed his arms.

"You think?"

"I can bet!"

"But… they're very close already and… Lance and I are.. not that close and... "

Pidge uncrossed her arms too, her chest tightening at the confusion in Keith's eyes. She… she knew about Keith's problem with feelings. She felt ashamed of treating him like that. Of course, Keith's past didn't give him a free pass to act like an asshole, but she knew when to comfort one of her friends.

She closed their distance and planned to place a hand on his shoulder, only to find height as a problem. It was going to be an awkward position. She squinted her eyes and aimed to the side of his arm instead, touching him softly, trying to be reassuring.

"C'mon… listen to what you're saying. Are you honestly telling me Hunk would prefer the trainwreck called Lance over her adorable, sweet and intelligent girlfriend? Let's be real".

"Lance is smart … and he can be sweet too..."

"He is! He can! He's still too much of a work, isn't he?"

Keith's eyes sparkled with a "but he's worth it" that made Pidge's heart warmer. And also made her feel weird, what kind of awful cheesy fest was that? Coughing a bit, she started to wonder if it was time to take her hand out of Keith, who was still smiling to himself, looking at the floor.

"I think you're right…"

"You see? problem solved." She patted him, and then she made her way to the couch.

"But you still haven't told me where they are."

She was mid-way sitting when she raised again."What? I thought we left clear Lance and Hunk are not going to fall in love with each other."

"We say that, but I still want to check."

"You're impossible Keith! I won't tell you." She threw herself on the couch, crossing her arms and legs.

Keith didn't like to upset Pidge. He admired Pidge too much for that, out of those three, she was the most intelligent and the most level-headed, which it was a contrast to his own personality. He didn't want to look like a jerk in front of her.

On the other hand, his stomach wasn't stopping to swirl with jealousy and if Lance and Hunk were going to be touching and pretending to be a couple well they were going to do it right in front of his face.

"I'll clean your shop! All your shop. And your place too! If you tell me where they are."

Pidge looked at him to see, once again, the most serious expression in his face. She huffed, stood up, grabbed her keys and her backpack and directed to the door.

"I can't believe you're making me go to to the city center dressed like this! You owe me one, Keith. And you don't even know how to clean electronics!"

"I'll learn. But wait, why are you coming?"

She pointed at him. "If I leave you alone you're gonna cause a mess! Who knows what you'll be doing like that. I'll go with you."

"Thanks Pidge, I appreciate this."

"Yeah yeah, shut up."

Pidge didn't dislike Keith's motorcycle. It was actually fun. But she was terrified of accidents, and motorcycles were dangerous! Especially at the speed Keith was driving! She hugged him hard, cutting his breath, but she couldn't care less because she thought they were going to crash something.

"Are you ok, Pidge?" Keith screamed, and she nodded frantically before realizing she would probably have to scream too.

"Yeah just… could you-" Keith turned around and she had to hold him harder "go slower?"

"I'm in a good speed. Relax Pidge, I'm being careful. We're not gonna crash, trust me."

His voice was oddly calming, even when he was shouting. Pidge tried to breath, and when she raised her head, she realized she was overreacting. The city was beautiful after all, and being with Keith was fun. She tried to forget why they were hanging out together, because she didn't want to ruin her mood. She laughed at the wind in her face, and Keith smiled when he heard her.

"Keith… is your bike supposed to sound like that?"

"It's fine, do not worry."

Pidge let it slide. They arrived quickly, but Pidge had no idea where they went, and she said so when they were parking the bike.

"Lance said something about movies… maybe, but I think they just came to hang around..."

He rolled his eyes. That sounded so Lance. Specially the part about knowing the city by going to the movie theater. He shook his head. They decided to take a trip around and look at Lance's favorite places (and maybe even Hunk's).

Keith wondered how Lance Lance's family was. He grew up alone, with many many other children he spent his adulthood trying to forget, and he wasn't sure if people were supposed to be much like their other family members. Pidge and Matt were similar, they even looked like each other. Both were obsessed with memes and birds too, he thought while glancing at her.

But then he saw Allura and Coran and while they were similar in some aspects, as in that both were very loud, there were differences. He wasn't sure if he could call this people his family, or Shiro.

Shiro and him were similar, he supposed. He had years knowing Shiro, after all, they met when he was a teen and Shiro was doing some obligatory service in order to graduate. He never really listened to Shiro's advices, although he should, but he never wanted that therapy in the first place. He did follow an advice once, but that was many many years after that, and they weren't patient and therapist anymore, but friends. He told him that he knew the perfect people of his age, for he was a young man who had to spend more time with people of his age, or something like that.

He liked his friends, even Lance. Everyone was wonderful.

Still, he longed to know how family members were supposed to be with each other. How they resemble each other. Lance had a big family. Not everyone in his family could be a Lance, right? He wanted… He would be happy to know more about that, that's it.

"Keith… are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm perfect... We could go to that ice cream shop Lance loves so much."

"Wait a minute my phone is vibrating… never mind, I have like twenty of this. Man, I have to go to pokemon hunt seriously, this is not going well."

"Pidge, focus! Let's go" He said, grabbing her by her wrist.

They were indeed there. Keith was going to get much more closer when Pidge placed her arm on his chest to stop him.

"Have you never spied someone? Look, have this."

She handed him a pair of sunglasses and a hat, and had a pair for herself too.

"Why do you even have this? Have you ever spied someone?"

"A lady doesn't share her secrets. Now, be discreet!"

They sat in a bench that it almost looked to be perfectly designed to spy on the ice cream shop. Said shop was very adorable, comfy and rainbow colored, and it had some tables for the customer, one of them with their victims.

He didn't really understand why Lance liked the shop so much, the ice cream was nice but that's it. Well, considering he worked with children, it was fitting. He liked cute and comfy things.

Keith still insisted the ice cream of the shop close to his house was better, it had a a more delicious creamy ice cream. But did Lance ever listened to him? Of course not, he never did.

Lance and Hunk didn't look different than usual, they were sitting together but they weren't acting "like a couple", and they were all talking normally. Lance's father was very expressive when he spoke, and he could hear him sometimes at that distance. Pidge giggled and Keith smiled back. Lance's mom was calmer but equally expressive, and everyone was laughing.

He ignored the ache on his chest. Lance looked so happy, he never saw him smiling like that. It was weird, Lance sometimes complained about how much pression his parents put into his and his siblings' shoulders, but apparently he still loved them very much.

He stopped his musings when he observed Lance playing with Hunk's hand on the table. His stomach did some kind of flip, and he did a sound that made Pidge brace herself for the worst.

"He didn't do that! Lance! I can't believe it!"

"He did. I was very mad with him, but proud at the same time. It was wrong that he fighted with that kid, but I was very proud he defended his older sister like that," Robert said with a big smile, his eyes sparkling.

"She could defend herself though. It was just, that kid was being very rude with her!"

"In the end we couldn't bring ourselves to punish him," Lance's mom said with a smile.

"I never saw Lance as the type who would defend his sisters like that, but it does have sense".

"Hey, how can you even doubt my chivalry?" Lance said, winking, placing his hand on top of Hunk's.

Hunk started to sweat, but he tried to convey a smile.

"Just remember Lance, we're your parents. We don't have only nice stories about you" Mercedes said, winking,

The three laughed at Lance, who after a few blinks, joined them. They had to fight with laughter for a while, that kind of contagious laughter that doesn't really come from anywhere, that you have when you're having a really good time.

It was very easy to feel that way with Lance and his parents, Hunk could say.

"At least you're now dressed decent. Honestly, why people of your age are all so sloppy?" Mercedes scolded.

Lance was able to put some pants and a jacket before leaving the house. He was on vacation! And he told them so. They both rolled their eyes.

"Well… Hunk was actually dressed decent, which is weird for a young person. Good," Lance's dad said, giving him a thumbs up.

Hunk blushed, unsure on how to respond, and laughter kept coming and going with the three of them. He was still a bit nervous about Lance holding his hand. Specially because he was pretty sure those two persons hiding were Keith and Pidge.

Mercedes asked Robert in Spanish if he wanted to go with her for more ice cream and they both stood up. Lance looked at them go with a smile, and he turned to Hunk.

"We're doing fine! They totally love you if they told you that story. They usually tell the embarrassing ones… They already threatened with that though. And they even complimented on how you're dressed! This is good."

"Yeah, Lance that's cool but could you please not hold my hand like that?"

"Why?" He furrowed his eyebrows "We have kissed and everything. Are you uncomfortable because of my parents? Because trust me, my dad's homophobic side has been washed away with the years, not that any of us pay him much attention, and mom really doesn't care."

"It's not that! It's just… Keith and Pidge are here."

"What? Where? Where is Keith?" Lance said, searching from them. Hunk pointed him the place and he squinted. Both Pidge and Keith looked away, pretending to be someone else.

"Damn. Why are they here? What's the fucking problem with Keith?!"

"What's the matter, nene?"

"Nothing mom! Anyway… after this, want to see a movie?"

Lance's mom was too busy having a mind freeze because of her ice cream so her husband talked for her.

"Yes, we could… what about… the one with the four ladies, that one seems good"

"I'm fine with whatever," Mercedes answered now that she was better, her husband placed a reassuring hand on her back.

"That settles it!" Lance shouted.

Keith and Pidge were still pretending not looking at them, but Lance and Hunk were aware of the hate emanating from the guy. When Lance's parents ended their sweets they tried to move quickly.

"We already watched that movie though," Hunk said, trying to be aware of the spies' presence. They were totally still following them.

"Ah, it doesn't matter. The point here is losing those losers."