Keith pulls out his earbuds, "What did you say?"

"I said, my friends and I are going out tonight, and you're welcome to join." Dawson, his classmate, smiles.

"Oh uh, no thanks." Keith puts his earbuds back in and resumes scrolling through his phone. He feels a jab in his ribs and he glares up at Pidge.

Pidge rolls her eyes and grabs the cord of his earbuds giving it a yank. Keith rubs his ears and makes a grab for his earbuds. "You're such a grouch."

"What? I didn't want to go." Keith shrugs.

"That guy was totally shooting his shot with you!" Pidge groans.

"I don't even know him." Keith grimaces.

"Exactly why he was inviting you to hang out, so you can get to know him." She smacks the back of his head.

Keith rubs his head with a scowl. "Sounds like too much work."

"You're going to die alone and whiny and I won't feel a smidge of sympathy for you." Pidge grumbled.

"You say that like it's a bad thing. I die happy, alone, and sleeping on whatever side of the bed I want." He snatches back his earbuds.

"You're impossible." She makes a motion like she's going to strangle him.

"That's the point." He goes back to scrolling. They're sitting in the lounge of their dorm and Pidge is waiting on her friends to get out of class because they have plans to meet up for lunch. Pidge is Keith's only friend really, and he likes it that way. She's cool and doesn't take shit from anyone.

She's invited him multiple times to hang with her friends, but he always comes up with an excuse. Today's excuse is that he wants to work while he eats. Pretty lame one, though he's running out of ideas. "Ah, they're done. I'll see you around." She gathers her things and heads out.

Pidge meets up with Lance and Hunk just outside the science building and they walk to the dining hall. Lance is blabbering on about the crazy date he had yesterday but claimed he isn't going to call back. "She flashed the waiter and got us free dinner, I mean it was totally sick, but wow."

"Lance, you always claim to have all these people throwing themselves at you. Yet, you're still as single as ever. It's all talk." Pidge shakes her head. "Admit it, you're not as much of a ladies man as you say you are. You're a hopeless romantic."

"I am not!" Lance sets his tray of food down and glares at her. "I'm the hot stud who can make anyone fall in love with me."

"That sounds rehearsed." Pidge smirks proudly at getting Lance riled up.

"It's true! I could get anyone in this room's number. I'm a ladies man! A heart breaker!" Lance slams his hands down on the table.

Pidge shakes her head, out of the corner of her eye she sees Keith sit down on the other side of the cafeteria. "I don't know about that, Lance."

"Let's make a bet. Fifty bucks I can get anyone in this rooms number. You pick the person, and if I bring back their digits you pay up." Lance smiles cockily.

"I wanna make some adjustments." Pidge grins. "Let's up it to $100. You get the digits of whoever I choose in this room, and you have to get them to go on at least three dates with you. If they break it off before that, you lose."

Lance frowns. "Sexual orientation in mind, you can't pick a lesbian or a straight guy or something."

"I wouldn't dare. Cross my heart." Pidge holds out a hand and Lance shakes it.

"Okay, who?" Lance looks around the room rubbing his hands together.

Pidge makes a whole show of looking around at everyone. "Hmm, what about professor McKeagen?" She rubs her chin.

"Pidge!" Lance grumbles.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'll play fair." Pidge looks around again and her eyes fall on Keith. "Him." She points.

"Him? Moody loner over there?" Lance squints.

"Yup."

"How do you know he's not straight?" Lance folds his arms still starting down the boy across the room.

"He's in my physics class. He's gay and single." Pidge pokes at her food. Maybe involving Keith isn't the best idea, but someone has to knock Lance down a peg and Keith is stubborn enough about being single to do just that.

"Hmm, mullet... kinda edgy... but hot. I can work with that. Definitely would let that guy rail me. This is about to be the easiest $100 bucks I ever make." Lance runs a hand through his hair and smooths down his eyebrows. "Hunk check me."

Hunk, who watched the whole exchange looked at the two disapprovingly. "I don't like this. But you look fine—nothing is in your teeth."

"Watch Hunk as Pidge prepares to stick her foot in her mouth." Lance pats his friend's back. "Any more info on this guy? What's his name?"

"You don't need to know that Loverboy Lance, you said you could get anyone, that means on your own." Pidge smirks.

"Fine." Lance pouts and sets off for his target across the room.

Keith sat peacefully reading his textbook and taking notes, that was until something blocked out his light. Keith looks up to see some guy standing rather close to his table. "Can I... help you?"

"You bet you can." He guy winks and sits next to him a little close for comfort.

"Right." Keith closes his textbook and slides his stuff back in his bag.

"You see, I forgot my library card, do mind if I still check you out?" Lance smiles smoothly.

Keith looks at him mortified. "Sorry, no card, no checking anything out." Keith stands up and pulls his backpack on.

"You're a stickler for the rules, I like that." Lance laughs nervously following after him. "I was thinking I should file a complaint to Spotify."

Keith gives him a confused look over his shoulder. "What?"

"Well, I just think you should've been named this weeks hottest single." Lance grins.

Keith pauses and lets out scoff. "What exactly are you trying to accomplish?"

"Well getting your number would be a great start." Lance plants his hand on the wall and tries to do a cool lean with his hand on his hip.

"Oh, well that sucks for you." Keith turns around and keeps walking. Lance follows him all the way to dumping his tray and setting it on the conveyer belt to be cleaned.

"You should really feel my shirt, it's so soft—made out of boyfriend material." Lance says undeterred as he catches up to the guy.

"Really? it looks a little too clingy and hard to maintain." Keith glances at the shirt and gives Lance a smug look.

Lance laughs and rubs his chin. "Actually, I'm pretty sure we had a class together last semester, chemistry right?"

"No, I think it was history. Which is what you should be right now." Keith grumbles and keeps walking.

"I think there's something wrong with my eyes, I can't take them off you." Lance speeds up and moves in front of Keith, giving a dashing smile.

"Really, I think there's something wrong with mine too. I can't see you getting anywhere with me." Keith moves to go around him.

"Oh come on, please? Give me a shot! Those were some of my best lines." Lance pleads.

"Get better lines." Keith keeps walking.

"Wait, before you go! When I text you later, what number should I use?" Lance calls.

Keith pauses and turns around. "If I give you my number will you stop violating my ears with awful pick up lines?"

"Scouts honor." Lance salutes.

Keith grabs Lance's arm and frustratedly writes his number in pen. "Don't abuse it."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Lance smiles happily and admires the numbers on his arm.

Keith rolls his eyes, "I mean it." And then he's walking away.

Lance sits back down with his friends and barely acknowledges them. "Earth to Lance!" Pidge waves a hand in front of his face.

"What?" He looks up from his arm.

"So you got his number," Pidge states the obvious as Lance has been staring at it since the moment he sat down.

"Yeah," he says wistfully.

"Looks like you did a lot of begging..." Hunk observes with a smile.

"He definitely made me beg," Lance rests his chin on the back of his hand. "Do you think he likes me?"

"I don't know. From here it looked more he was getting ready to file a restraining order against you." Hunk turns his head to the side.

"Yeah, I think he likes me too." Lance says in a daze.

"Pidge you broke Lance." Hunk frowns.

"The first step in fixing him." Pidge concludes.

That night, Keith sits in his dorm and plays music quietly while he works on homework by lamplight. His phone dings and he reaches for it expecting it to be Pidge.

'Remember me?'

It's an unknown number and Keith quickly recalls writing on the goofball's arm earlier that day.

'No, there was more than one guy today who chased me out of the lunch room with terrible pick up lines.' Keith answers sarcastically.

'Really? Well I was the handsome one.'

Keith scoffs at his phone and taps his desk thinking of a response. 'Oh, then you couldn't have been the one I was thinking of.'

'All I got from that is that you were thinking about me.'

Keith huffs, 'You're shameless. You don't even know my name do you?'

Keith waits for a response and sees the three little dots appear and disappear a few times. Keith smugly sets his phone down and resumes his work.

And then his phone is ringing. Keith picked it up and blinks at the number. Is this guy calling him? He shouldn't answer. He clicks the green button and holds the phone to his ear hesitantly.

"So I totally realized I screwed that up. I didn't even introduce myself and—ah shit. Um, my name's Lance McClain and I swear I was raised better than this." This guy—Lance—rambles through the phone.

"That's one hell of an introduction McClain." Keith blinks.

"Well, I made an impression. Good or bad, doesn't matter." Lance chuckles nervously. "And uh, your name?"

Keith admires the way the playfulness pauses and his voice lowers when he asks the question, like it's something really important. "Uh, it's Keith."

"Keith. Huh, I like it. You have a last name Keith?" Lance asks, his tone low and sweet.

"Kogane." He answers before his brain could catch up and tell him he really shouldn't tell a stranger that much.

"Ooh, that sounds cool. What's the story there?" Lance hums.

"Not much of a story. It's Japanese and I think it means gold." Keith picks at his desk as he speaks, and he can't place why he's so nervous.

"Wow, sounds fitting. I found a treasure," It rolls off Lance's tongue smoothly.

"Don't ruin my name." Keith frowns.

"Don't worry, if you ever decide you don't like it, you can always have mine. But I wouldn't exactly mind having gold for a last name." Lance answered.

"What'd I say about the pick up lines? I'll block you so fast it'll make you dizzy."

"You already make me dizzy." Lance chimes, "That was the last one! I mean it! I'm done."

"My finger is hovering over the button. I won't hesitate bitch." Keith made the empty threat.

"Did you just quote a vine and expect me not to notice?" He could hear Lance smiling. "Whatcha playing? I can hear music."

"Uh, Goth Babe." Keith checks his laptop.

"Ah, nice choice." Lance praises. "It's cool that your roommate is chill with music. Mine has a stick up his ass." There's a muffled yell on Lance's side and some shuffling. "Said roommate just hit me with a pillow, sorry."

"It was probably justified." Keith smiles. "And I don't actually have a roommate."

"Ah no way, that's sick! I'm wishing I'd done that." He hears the bite in Lance's words, clearly aimed at his roommate. "Anyway, whatcha up to?"

"Homework," Keith closes his textbook.

"Ah man, I'm totally interrupting aren't I?" Lance whines.

"No, no, it's not a big deal. I was just about to call it quits actually." Keith lies, and then he's standing up and pacing.

"Oh good. You see, I actually knew that. Telekinetically. That's why I called when I did." Lance jokes.

Keith laughs and shakes his head, "I think the word you're looking for is telepathically."

"Right. That. Speaking of homework, what are you studying?" Lance asks.

"Aerospace engineering with a minor in astrophysics." Keith realizes how nerdy that sounds and blushes.

"Holy shit, that is so fucking metal." Lance breathes into the phone. And Keith finds himself warming at the comment.

"What about you?" Keith asks.

"Nope, I can't follow that up." Lance laughs.

"Just tell me." Keith huffs.

"What's this? If I didn't know any better Keith, I would think you're interested in me." He can hear the smugness in Lance's voice.

"Never mind, I don't want to know." Keith backtracks.

"Aw come on Keithy, I know you want to know!" He teases.

"Nope, keep it to yourself." Keith scratches his head irritatedly.

"Hey, uh, my roommate wants to go to bed I should let you go." Lance says distractedly.

"Oh- uh..." Keith starts.

"The town fair is opening tomorrow, would you like to go with me?" Lance springs the question without warning.

"No." Keith says by instinct.

"What time does your last class end?" Lance hums.

"Like threeish?" Keith pauses glancing at his phone a little confused.

"Cool, I'll pick you up around four. Text me your dorm number. Goodnight!" And then Lance hangs up leaving Keith speechless.

The next day, Keith returns to his dorm from his last class. He drops his bag and flops back on his bed with an oof. He isn't going on a date with Lance. He opened his phone and looked at the text he sent giving out his room number. Lance had responded with a gif of SpongeBob giving a thumbs up.

If Lance shows up, he'll just turn him away, Keith reasons. He's not going on a date. He checks the time and sees it's 3:45. He bolts up from his bed and starts rummaging through his clothes for something to wear. He settles with a pair of nice jeans, a black shirt with two skeletons dancing, and a red jacket. He paws around his hair in the mirror and grabs his toothbrush and toothpaste and runs to the bathrooms down the hall.

He walks back into his dorm with minty breath, a better fit, and his wallet in his back pocket. Just a moment later there's a knock at the door. He opens it and he's face to face with Lance. The guy looked good, his coco brown hair looked soft, eyes bright and blue, and he was wearing flattering jeans with a white shirt and blue jacket. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he smiled nervously. "Hey, ready?"

"I told you no." Keith stands in the doorway.

"But then you sent me your dorm room. If you don't want to go to the fair, we can always hang out in your dorm just the two of us." He winks.

"You get two hours." Keith steps out into the hall, closing the door behind him.

"I thought that would convince you," Lance smirks.

"Whatever," Keith grumbles.

They step outside the dormitory and apparently Lance drove over and parked up front so Keith didn't have to walk far to get to his car. But when Keith makes eye contact with the car he can't help a small string of laughter that bubbles out of him.

"You have an old lady car."

Lance makes an offended noise. "She is not an old lady car."

"She?"

"Her name is Berniece." Lance unlocks the car proudly.

"Berniece is an old lady name too." Keith opens the passenger side door and climbs inside.

"Excuse me, Berniece is my... grandma's name," he starts laughing as he realizes the lost argument. He hands Keith a cord and looks at him expectantly.

"And what am I supposed to do with this?" Keith inspects it.

"I'm giving you AUX." He beams.

Keith felt himself go a little warm in the cheeks with the way Lance is looking at him. He blushes and plugs it into his phone, pressing shuffle on his playlist. He's not into Lance, but admittedly, that was pretty cute.

"I'm so ready for some funnel cake," he says pulling out of the parking lot.

"Funnel cake?" Keith tilts his head.

"Yeah! You've never had funnel cake?" Lance gasps.

"I never really went to these things as a kid." Keith takes a glimpse at Lance who is smiling brightly.

"Well, fear not Keithy, I'm an expert on fairs. I'll show you the ropes and make sure you get the full experience."

Keith can't stop the butterflies from coming and he feels excited about the date. Lance parks in the lot which is just an extensive field of cars and Keith can hear screams and laughter even from the distance they're at.

Keith looks down at Lance and he struggles to hide that he's actually curious about the theme park. They make it to the entrance and Lance hands them the tickets, having already ordered them online prior. It occurs to Keith that Lance really expected him to come despite his answer being no. And that is slightly endearing.

They receive two wristbands and Lance put on Keith's for him. So naturally he returns the favor. Carefully, he peels the sticker and makes sure it's secure. And then they're free to roam the theme park to their heart's content.

They first enter a maze of mirrors and Keith notes that it only took 1 minute and 47 seconds for Lance to get lost. "Like lost lost?" Keith calls out.

"Yeah, like I'm pretty sure I'm just in a box. A box of mirrors. There's no escaping." Lance says dramatically, his voice echoing.

Keith chuckles and slowly passes through the maze. "Stay where you are, I'll find you."

After a minute, he sees Lance's reflection in a few mirrors. "Keith!" Lance disappears from the mirrors running and then there's a bang. Keith rounds the corner and finds Lance, the real Lance, sitting on the ground with a hand over his nose.

"You ran into a mirror didn't you?" Keith crouches down next to him smiling and holding back laughs.

"Yeah, apparently all those no running signs are kind of worth a damn." Lance pulls his hand back and a small line of blood dribbles down his face.

Keith makes Lance pinch his nose and tilt his head back. "I can't see though." Lance frowned

"I'll find the way out." He rolls his eyes. He grabs Lance's free hand and puts it on his shoulder so Lance can follow without losing him.

A few wrong turns later and they're finally out of the devil maze. Keith sits Lance on a bench and disappears to get napkins and a slushy. He hands Lance the napkins and while he cleans his nose, he says, "This is actually part of the experience. It's not a true trip to the fair if someone doesn't get hurt."

"I believe you," Keith presses the slushy to his face. Delicious and doubles as an ice pack. Lance takes it and keeps it pressed to his face, pulling it down for the occasional sip. "Let me see," Keith looks at his face. He looks at his nose at first, but then he notices details in Lance's face he didn't earlier. From this distance, he can see the faint freckles dusted atop Lance's cheekbones and a small scar only a centimeter or two long and barely noticeable on his temple. Or the way Lance's blue eyes seem to have a little gold in them. "Uh, good news, it doesn't look swollen, bruised, or broken."

"In that case, what would you like to do next?" Lance smiles.

"Hm, well, let's avoid the more hardcore rollercoasters for now lest we start another nosebleed." Keith finds himself smiling back.

"I know just the one." Lance jumps up happily and Keith follows, enthralled by the boy.

Keith notices the way some girls were looking at Lance and he feels strangely possessive. He reaches out and takes the soft hand in his own. Lance looks at him and grins, leading him to... the love tunnel.

Keith stares at the lame roller coaster and then looks to the lame boy. "Come on! It's like fair 101! You can't not be on a date at the fair and just not go through the love tunnel. And this will be my first time going on it too, so it will be like we're losing our love tunnel virginity together."

"I hate you and how you said that." Keith says as he gets in line. Lance joins him eagerly and links his arm with Keith's.

Keith looks down at their locked elbows and blushes with embarrassment. This looks so cheesy. And even worse... he kind of likes it.

They sit in the boat and it moves slowly through the tunnel. There's a ton a fake flowers and awful murals of pink trees and bunnies with heart eyes and just too many hearts.

"I will admit, this is significantly more lame than I pictured as a child." Lance smiled rubbing his neck.

"Well, it's not all that bad, it could be worse. They could play super cheesy songs during it." Keith nudged him.

Lance smiled and moved a little closer. "So... what about your family? What are the rest of the Kogane's like?"

"Gold is relatively rare right? I'm the last one left that I know of." Keith rests his elbows on the front of the cart and leans forward as he talks to Lance.

"You mean like...?" Lance bites his lip.

"Yes Lance, they're dead." Keith answers like it's the most normal thing.

"Like... all of them?" Lance asks quietly.

"As far as I know. Mom died when I was little, my dad died when I was nine. And I don't have any siblings. Though my distant cousin kind of took me in after that. Takashi Shirogane, he's a professor at Altea University, that's kind of why I wanted to go there."

"Oh Shiro! I had a class with him a few semesters ago, he's great!" Lance perks.

"He's something, that's for sure." Keith leans back in his seat. "What about you?"

"My family? Well, it's kind of the opposite. We're a full house all day every day. Holidays are pure chaos in the McClain household. Aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, grandparents, grandparents' siblings, graunties, gruncles, mother's sister's husband's father's mother-in-law twice removed. Plus we're Cuban so there's a lot of aggressive Spanish getting thrown around. Bringing home friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, none of them liked my family really. I mean I get it, they can be a bit much and it's a little uncomfortable when there's a lot going on, but family is family." Lance laughs.

"They sound great," Keith smiles.

Lance gives him a fond look and slips his hand into Keith's. "I have nine siblings, and my sister Veronica and I are twins."

"You have a twin?"

"Yup, and she never lets me forget that she's a minute and a half older," Lance rolls his eyes and Keith chuckles.

"Do they live here in state?" Keith feels surprisingly relaxed. The conversation is natural and he hangs on Lance's answers answers.

"They live a couple hours away, I usually go up on long weekends or breaks. Maybe you could join me one of these times..." He says nervously.

Keith recoils. Meeting families? Love tunnels? Holding hands? This is what he set out to avoid. Then again, maybe Pidge is right about a thing or two. Maybe he is just being a grouch and protecting himself is really hurting himself too. "Yeah, maybe."

Lance clears his throat, "Oh, cool, um... so uh..."

"Look, we're at the end!" Keith sees the light at the end of the tunnel.

The love boat comes to a complete stop and Keith is the first to get out. He turns around and extends a hand to help Lance out to which he takes. But when he's out of the boat, neither let go.

"Ooh, we should go on that next." Keith stops in front of the Gravitron.

"Oh god, we meet again." Lance glares at the ride. "The last time I was on one of these, I was eleven and I just downed a slushy, funnel cake, Cotten candy, and two blue snow cones. You can assume what happened."

"Come on," Keith pulls him into the line, "you're running on an empty stomach this time right?"

"Besides the slushy, yes."

"I'll just sit on the opposite side, in case." Keith teases.

"Wha! No way!" Lance pouts, "What if I hit my head and need mouth to mouth?"

"Good thing I don't know mouth to mouth." Keith shakes his head.

"I do." Lance says flirtatiously.

"I'm never seeking medical attention from you." He retorts as they enter the ride. It's like a circular room with slanted walls, but do not be fooled, the contraption spins—fast.

They stand along the wall and wait, and Keith gets impatient as people slowly file in. He taps his fingers on the wall excitedly.

"Are you ready for your organs to shift in ways you never thought they could?" Lance gave him a nudge.

"What? What exactly does this thing do?" Keith gives him a wild look.

"Well, I've never really been good at physics, but it's going to spin—like really really fast." Lance leans back on the wall and puts his hands behind his head.

"Oh, I see. Due to the centripetal force, we'll be stuck to the walls." He examines the room. "Oh, and the operator is on a swivel chair in the middle so he won't be effected by any of the G-force."

"Centripetal... what now?" Lance tilts his head.

"Centripetal force is a pseudo-force. It's a result of an object's tendency to move in a straight line." Keith explains.

Lance blinks at him. "Well, centripetal force, do your thing!" He flattens himself on the wall.

The operator runs a few cheesy lines and tries to hype them up, but Keith's just ready to get down to business. Finally the ride starts spinning and Lance 'whoops'. The speed keeps building until they're pinned to the wall.

"Oh my god this is sick." Keith laughs out.

And then, the panels of the wall slide up and they're no longer touching the floor. "Holy shit," Lance laughs out and grabs Keith's hand.

"Keep that slushy where it is." Keith yells out over the loud music.

"Working on it. Kinda hard when my stomach is where my lungs should be." Lance yells back.

Finally the ride starts slowing gradually and the panels lower back down. Keith is happy to have his feet back on the floor, and by the looks of it, Lance is even more so. They hurry out and Lance cups a hand over his mouth.

"Are you going to puke?!" Keith follows after him.

Lance stands for a moment and a burp slips. "Nope, no puke. I officially made the Gravitron my bitch."

Keith laughs and gives Lance a nudge. "Sure, whatever makes you feel better."

"Ooh! Let's play darts." Lance drags Keith to a booth. He slips the guy two dollars and receives five darts. "I'm totally gonna win you something."

"You look like a prize all by yourself." The guy running the booth smiles flirtatiously and leans on the counter. He's tall—not as tall as Keith—and has blonde hair and nice brown eyes. Keith shifts uncomfortably at the comment.

Lance laughs nervously and picks up the darts. He gives it a good try, except, he has shit aim. He hits one low-point balloon out of all five attempts. Lance deflates at the result.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't mind still giving you a little something." The guy winks pointing at the stuffed animals.

"No thanks, we'll win it fair and square." Keith steps in between them and slams two dollars on the counter.

The blonde gives him the darts and looks at him skeptically. But then, the unthinkable happens. Keith throws every dart and hits each balloon dead center, all high-points! And Lance is losing his mind.

"Holy shit Keith! You're good at this! How are you good at this?!" Lance is jumping up and down, and grabs Keith by the arm shaking him.

"I used to throw knives as a hobby." Keith shrugs and turns to the booth guy, "I think we'll take that one." He points to the shark stuffed animal.

The guy grabs it and hands it to Keith distastefully. Keith then hands it to Lance and the boy's eyes light up. "Keith you're so fucking metal," Keith laughs as Lance holds up the stuffed animal. "How'd you know I wanted the shark?"

"Just had a feeling." He shrugs.

Lance grabs his hand and as they're walking away he looks over his shoulder and sticks out his tongue at the booth guy. "Well, now we're gonna do something I'm good at." He pulls Keith to the water gun booth. You have to aim for the clown's mouth and fill it until the balloon pops.

Lance hands the booth attendant four dollars and the two boys sit down to compete. As soon as the lady says go, the two are spraying the water as best they can at the clown. And Lance wasn't lying when he said he's good. His aim never wavers from the clowns mouth and his balloon was expanding fast.

Keith was struggling a little. "You picked a fight with a master," Lance laughs. Keith sticks his hand out to cover Lance's eyes and the boy howled. "You're cheating!" He grabs Keith's hand and pulls it away, continuing his relentless fire. The balloon pops and Lance jumps and hollers.

"Okay, you win, you win," Keith laughs loudly.

"I want the hippo please." Lance leans on the counter excitedly. The lady obliges and grabs animal handing it to him.

Lance presents the stuffed hippo to Keith proudly. "How'd you know?" Keith takes it happily.

"Just a feeling." Lance beams.

From then, they go on ride after ride. The tilt-a-whirl was an experience, they decided to make it go as fast they can and left clinging to each other and dizzy. And one after another, they left each ride laughing and having the time of their lives.

"Keith Kogane, I present to you, your first ever funnel cake." Lance holds out a plate with the fried dough treat. It was covered in powdered sugar, strawberries and chocolate.

"It looks like diabetes," Keith grabs his fork and happily takes a bite, "I love it."

The sun sank in the sky as they shared the treat. And when it was gone, Lance smiled. "It's dark."

"Yeah?"

"That means it's finally time." He pulls Keith along to the Ferris Wheel. "It's not a true carnival experience without going on the Ferris Wheel at night."

The two file into the small cart and are ascended into the air and it stops when they're on top. And it's beautiful. The city light are shining and the stars are out and the moon is bright and Keith can't help but look to the boy next to him. "Lance?"

"Yeah?" He hums.

"I just wanted to say thank you. This has been... I'll never forget this." He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

And Lance is looking at him in such a way that he can't help staring back. It's all too much, too great, too perfect, and Keith can't help but still want more. He could stay on top of the Ferris Wheel with Lance all night, listening to his cheesy jokes and embarrassing stories. And then his lips are meeting Lance's and they're kissing.

Keith's hand raises to cup Lance's face and Lance's arms are around his neck. Someone below whistles teasingly at them and they break apart blushing deeply at someone having caught them.

They chat the whole way back and Lance walks Keith to his dorm as they continue their conversation. It's only about 9:00 at night and the dorm is still lively. They make it to Keith's room and he opens the door but doesn't go inside.

"I'll text you. Or you'll text me, whatever happens first. Um..." Lance shifts nervously.

Keith leans in and kisses Lance, the boy's eyes fluttering closed. And then Keith is pulling away, "See ya around Lance."

Keith retreats back to his room and Lance is practically floating down to his car. Best date of his life.