Hello! This is new for me. I've always written in the same fandom for the past... four? Five years? But I've been obsessed with Voltron since I was a little kid, so it was inevitable that I write a fic for it. Plus I am Klance trash. So, welcome to the new readers that may come along, and I'm hoping that some of my old readers read this as well. I'm sure they will. Voltron is such a big fandom.

So, I made this fic after just an hour or two of looking through several lists of au ideas and marking ones that I thought could fit together. It's not meant to be a long fic. Probably no more than 10 chapters. I'm in the process of turning one of my other fics into a book at the moment, and just needed something new to work on while I take care of all that. So I have one or two other short story ideas that I'll probably work on after this one. Probably also klance. I might also write Otayuri for the YOI fandom. But I suppose that's enough rambling. Onto the story!

Chapter 1

There were both pros and cons when it came to fall, at least for Lance. Pros included perfect weather, being free from his parents' watchful gaze, falling leaves to make diving piles—don't judge him—and a new school year to meet new people. Cons would include getting closer to winter and freezing to death, being away from his family, and having to go back to school. At least he wasn't living in a dorm room this year.

Speaking of new living conditions, one of Lance's roommates walked by the boy's door. "Pidge!" Lance exclaimed, rolling off his bed from where he was laying with his head off the side and reading the latest volume of the graphic novel he was reading. "Where are you off to? I'm bored."

Sticking her head back in, Pidge gave Lance a dull look. "Off to the library. Need to get a head start on my assignments."

"Your classes are already loading you down?"

Pidge adjusted her glasses as Lance came to lean against his door frame. "Lance, our classes have been back in session for a month now." Lance just gave her a blank look and scratched at his cheek. "Or have you forgotten?"

"No!" Red filled Lance's already tan cheeks. "I mean, I might have missed a few, but I can get the notes." He could already hear his mother scolding him for even missing one class. After letting his grades slip last semester, Lance's mother had only agreed to let him live in apartment if he kept his grades up. And she was probably paying Pidge to spy for her. "Where's Hunk?"

There was a quick glance at her phone before Pidge said, "At the library, I think. He said something about a semester-long project." She was practically bouncing on her heels, ready to get out the door. "He had to meet his partner there." Pidge eyed the graphic novel Lance was holding. "Is that the latest copy of Voltron?"

A smirk crossed Lance's lips as he showed the graphic novel to his friend. "Of course! Just got my hands on it last night. You want to borrow it when I'm through?"

"Definitely. But it'll have to wait until I'm caught up on my work."

Lance let out a groan as Pidge finally got tired of waiting and left their apartment. Alone again. This was normal for Pidge, though. Last year, when they were all freshman and living in the dorms, Lance and Hunk only saw Pidge for meals and the occasional hangout whenever the genius wasn't busy. He just wished that Hunk wasn't so busy now. Stupid group project. Stupid person hogging Lance's best friend.

This was just abnormal for Lance to be alone. Growing up, he had always been surrounded by his brothers and sisters, plus Hunk, and his parents. So Lance just didn't do well when he was alone and bored. There was always getting an early start on his own assignments...

Nah!

An hour seemed to pass by like an eternity. Lance moved back and forth between the living room, his room, and the kitchen. If he had still been at his parents' house, his mother would have nagged him to stop opening the fridge to just stare inside of it. He got hungry when he got bored. But nothing ever sounded good to eat either.

With much reluctance, Lance got himself a shower and changed into some clean clothes. Then he laid on his bed for fifteen minutes, then the floor, and then he moved to the couch, where he slouched into an almost unnatural position for anything other than a class. Maybe the yoga classes his older sister had dragged him to had paid off. He had already read through the graphic novel twice, and wanted adamantly to discuss it with someone. But he couldn't until his friends finished it. Unfortunately, they were both swamped with school work.

He was about to go insane when the front door opened. Sluggishly, Lance tilted his head back right as Hunk was pointing someone into the kitchen. Lance arched a brow as Hunk shut the door behind himself.

Both of Hunk's eyebrows raised as he took notice of Lance's awkward position on the couch. "Isn't that uncomfortable?"

"Not as uncomfortable as it's going to be for you when I steal the heart of your partner there." Lance craned his neck to try and peer into the kitchen. "Did you partner with Shay again?"

"Nah," Hunk replied as he waved a hand back and forth, "we don't have any classes together this semester."

A sly grin crept over Lance's face as he slipped up from the couch. "So... what you're saying is that I can call dibs on this lovely lady that you call a partner?"

"Actually," came a voice from behind Lance, "I'm a guy." Lance spun around to find... a mullet. And a scowl. "But thanks for the compliment on calling me lovely."

A dull look filled this other guy's eyes as he stared back at Lance, who felt his face heat up with embarrassment. Hunk was being a great friend by laughing at Lance's predicament. A+ friendship there Hunk. The other guy, however, didn't even seem amused by Lance's embarrassment.

Hunk was the first to break the silence between them. "Right. So, we were working in the library, but Keith here suggested we get a head start on some of our work. And it's going to take a few hours to sort through our research and assign things for each of us to read. That's when I suggested we come back here, so we could take a break for dinner later. Plus snacks."

Keith. Lance glanced back at the guy that was partnered with Hunk. The guy should really look into getting a haircut, he would look much better. Definitely trying to rock the punk or emo look with his red leather jacket that cut off just a little too short, fingerless gloves, boots, and pants that hugged his legs in all the right places. What? Lance had eyes and was bisexual. The only thing the guy needed was that haircut.

"Why are you staring at my hair?" Keith asked with a twitch of his eye.

Lance just narrowed his eyes as he leered at the guy. "Why do you have a mullet?"

Hunk snickered as Keith's face flushed. "It's not a m-mullet!" the boy shouted. Lance just smirked. "You must be Lance. Hunk was talking about you and Pidge on the way back here. Putting gender aside, I can only assume you're not the genius one."

"Damn," Hunk snickered under his breath.

Content to ignore Lance, Keith smiled at Hunk and motioned towards the kitchen. "Ready to get back to work?" he asked. Hunk smiled and waved at Lance as he retreated into the kitchen, leaving the boy to land on the couch with a pout. Keith tossed a wave over his shoulder as he followed after Hunk. "Have fun with your... whatever it is you were doing."

"I can have fun all by myself, thank you very much!" Lance snapped back.

Keith called from the kitchen, "I bet you can." Hunk cackled and Lance's face turned super red.

It was almost a week before Keith saw Lance again. But everything else was keeping them busy, and neither Keith or Hunk had managed to be free at the same time. Luckily, they had assigned research already, and Keith had been keeping up with his part. Keith popped his neck as he stepped into the campus coffee shop. He let out a groan and narrowed his eyes as his phone buzzed in his hand.

Not paying attention to anything in front of him, Keith slowly stepped towards the counter as he sent a text to Allura. I'm awake, he texted his friend. His stepbrother's girlfriend worried too much about him now that he was attending college with them. There was another text that he must have overlooked when he first woke up.

Don't forget your deadlines.

He ignored that text for now and looked at Allura's response, letting him know that she was proud of him. Proud of what? Proud of him getting out of bed on time? Allura was too supportive for her own good sometimes. This was just normal now, though, ever since Keith had come out to the family at the beginning of the summer. So supportive that Allura had talked Shiro into asking Keith to move in with them. Something that neither brother wanted. Shiro for the privacy, and Keith... he just didn't need to hear certain things from his brother's room at night.

"Well, well," came an all too familiar voice directly in front of Keith, "if it isn't mullet."

Keith felt his eye twitch as he looked up from his phone to find Lance behind the counter with an apron on. And how did he even look so alive in the morning? Like his skin looked fucking pristine! No dead look in his eyes or bags under them.

Keith slid his phone into his back pocket and crossed his arms as he looked up at the menu, ignoring Lance's gaze. He couldn't look at that face right now, not this early. He might punch it. "They actually let you out of the zoo to get a job?" Keith could sense the smirk forming on Lance's lips and could see him move in the corner of his peripheral vision. "You're not going to screw with my coffee, are you?"

"Me?" Lance scoffed. He had leaned on the counter with his hands propping his chin up. Keith felt heat rise to his cheeks. Why did the annoying guy have to be cute? "I wouldn't do that. Besides, you look dead already."

When it was time to pick up his coffee, Keith glared at his cup and then up at Lance, who grinned and finger gunned him. Instead of Keith's name, Lance had written "Mullet." It was very tempting to toss his coffee at Lance's smug face, but Keith depended on his morning coffee to get him through the day.

Instead he just flipped Lance off and headed out the door, stirring his cream into his coffee. And he managed to run into Shiro and Matt on the way to his first class. "Are you two sure you're not real brothers?" Matt commented with a grin between the two. "Because you both have the same look on your faces in the morning."

It was true, neither Shiro or Keith were morning people. In fact, Shiro probably would take much later classes... if he weren't dating Allura, who was a morning person. How Shiro had not gone insane from all the cheer he exposed himself to was beyond Keith.

Shiro—ignoring his best friend—said, "Allura wants you to come over for dinner tonight." Keith just grunted his acknowledgment and tilted his cup back to drink his coffee. Both Shiro and Matt's eyes widened a little, but neither said anything.

"What?" Keith asked.

Matt beat Shiro to it. "Is your coffee hot today, Keith?"

Frowning, Keith just took another sip. "Of course it is. Iced coffee is gross." He glanced at the side of his cup to see what they were looking at. Looked ordinary. "What the fuck is wrong with you two?"

"Nothing," Shiro snickered. "Matt must be running a... fever." Matt chuckled and elbowed Shiro. "No but really, is the coffee good?"

What the hell? His brother had lost his mind. Checking the time, Keith cursed under his breath. He didn't have time to deal with their nonsense. "I'll be there for dinner, just a little late. I have to work on my group project with my partner." Then he shoved his cup into Shiro's hand and bolted towards his class.

Later, when it was time for Keith to head to Hunk's place, he knocked on the door. It took a few seconds, but the door was finally opened. Keith felt an aneurysm coming on. Seeing Lance once today was enough. Sure he knew that the guy would probably be home, but Keith had hoped that Lance might actually stay in his room. Or just not be home. But there he was, answering the door, in shorts baggy enough that they threatened to fall off his thin hips and a sleeveless shirt that exposed way too much skin.

Color immediately flooded to Lance's cheeks as he realized who was at the door. Clearing his throat, Lance straightened his posture and said, "Sorry, I don't accept unsolicited callers. You'll have to put in an application and be put on the waiting list."

"Must be a very short list." It pleased Keith to see Lance stumble a bit. "I'm here for Hunk. We are supposed to do some more work on our project."

"Oh." Lance stepped aside and motioned inside the apartment. "He's still on his way home, but you can wait inside, if you want."

There was definitely some hesitation from Keith. Did he really want to be alone with Lance? Would the guy even shut up? Still, it did beat standing outside like a lame person. Plus it would be rude at this point, right? So, Keith just nodded and stepped past Lance to enter the apartment.

Inside, Keith felt on edge. It was like he was walking on glass. Lance just motioned to the couch before taking a spot on the floor and picking up a controller. As soon as he did, Keith became suddenly aware of the game on TV as noise blared from it. Mario Kart. And Lance had opted for Mario. How basic. But then Lance did something that Keith didn't expect.

He offered Keith a controller.

Keith's eyes darted from the controller to Lance, and then back again. Did he seriously want Keith to play with him? They barely knew each other. Calm down, Keith told himself, it wasn't like Lance was proposing to him or anything. Still, it didn't stop him from uttering the words, "Why do you want me to play?"

"Because... I'm bored?" Lance had a perplexed look on his face as he waited for Keith to take the controller. "I understand if you don't wanna play, it's okay to be scared."

There was not a time that Keith had ever sat down so fast in his life. He quickly scanned the characters and heard Matt's voice in his head from when he beat Shiro at this game. A smirk touched at Keith's lips as he locked in his character.

"Wario? Lame."

There was no point in responding to that, Keith figured. He just waited as the game loaded up. And then they were off. Lance held his controller up closer to his face and leaned with the turns as they went, trying to shake Keith from off his tail. But Keith wasn't about to budge. He just sat there, calmly, and waited.

And Lance was so busy trying to stay ahead that he did not notice what Keith picked up halfway through the race. He probably got too frustrated because Keith passed him early on and wouldn't give up his lead. So, Keith had to sit on his trump card until that circumstance changed. And it did, right at the last turn.

Lance pulled ahead and let out a whoop as he charged ahead of Keith. His finger slowly repositioned on the controller as Keith waited until Lance was just about to hit the finish line. With one push of a button, Keith crushed Lance and his chance of victory as he unleashed his secret weapon. The cry that followed from Lance was so loud and high-pitched that it risked breaking glass and almost made Keith go deaf.

"I can't believe you blue shelled me!"

As Keith put down his controller, he tried his best not to look smug. He failed. There was a snarky comment working its way out of Keith's mouth, but it fell short as someone said, "He would have beat you anyways."

Standing there was... "Matt?" Keith asked. It couldn't be. Matt was supposed to still be in class. But this person looked nearly identical to Shiro's friend. But wait, Matt said he had a sibling, right? "Wait, are you Matt's sister?"

"You know my brother?" The girl stood there with a mug of coffee and a pencil tucked behind her ear. "I'm Pidge. And you are?"

"He's Hunk's partner," Lance said before Keith could get out an answer.

Rolling his eyes, Keith just said, "I'm Shiro's stepbrother."

Lance was already playing another game now, not wanting Keith to join him in this one. "You two know each other?" He pouted, not taking his eyes off the screen. "And what do you mean that he still would have beat me?"

Grinning as she adjusted her glasses, Pidge said, "Same strategy my brother and I employ. Always pick Wario. He, statistically, has the better win rate on more than half of the maps." She shrugged at the dark look on Lance's face. "I'm going to assume Keith here learned from the many times my brother claims to have beaten Shiro with the same strategy."

"Well I want a rematch!" Lance exclaimed as the front door opened and Hunk walked in.

Saved. A smile was plastered all over Keith's face as he handed the controller back to Lance and got to his feet. "Sorry, looks like I'll have to get a rain check on that. Maybe next time."

Before he entered the kitchen, Keith looked back to smirk one last time at Lance. The boy seemed zoned out, but blinked and focused back on his game when he noticed Keith staring at him. Keith just raised a brow at Lance and sat down at the table with Hunk. This would definitely be an interesting semester. He just couldn't get too distracted by a cute face, because there were plenty of people that would kill him if he got behind on any of his work.

So this chapter is actually very short by my standards. I usually write 12 page chapters minimum. So the next one might be a little longer. I'm hoping that everything was okay, though. There will be some time skips here and there with the chapters, but not too drastic. I do want the fic to probably end in the spring maybe? And they are in like middle to late September right now. Winter break will probably be skipped over for the most part. I'm just hoping I do all right by the Voltron fandom.

But I will not drone on for a long time. I'm going to go. I have to finish with some cleaning, because I have a friend crashing at my place tonight, so he can drive out early in the morning and not have so far to drive. I'm not entirely sure when I will have another chapter for this yet. Like I said, it's something for me to do that is fresh and not related to the book I'm working on. Which, if any of you want to check out, can be found on here. It's titled "House of the Wicked" and just make sure that you choose that one, and not the old version that is titled the same, but has more on the title. More recently updated one. And I'm still writing it, so if any of you are interested, you can get a look at what I'm working on. I do write fairly fast, so don't expect a super long wait. Most likely, I'm going to either write another chapter for HotW or do some editing for the changes that need to be made in the first thirteen chapters. And then I'll do the other one. So after that I will be back to this. And I will probably just rotate all three of those things, unless I feel inspired for one over the others.

Farewell for now! I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, and feel free to leave me a review to let me know what you thought. See you soon!

PS: If you want to follow me on tumblr, I usually post when I'm working on, or about to publish, a chapter. Plus I reblog a lot of klance art. You can find me at xsonofhadesx on there.