Lance and Hunk made their way to their dorm, walking happily in the light snow that fell from the grey sky above. Classes were over for the day and Christmas break was on its way- the only thing blocking its arrival being finals. 

Lance groaned, throwing his hands up in frustration- "I swear to god, if Professor Coran gives us one more assignment this week, I will literally end it all." Lance was majoring in Biology and was enjoying his classes so far, but his favorite teacher, an Australian professor with a secret love for space, was giving him and his class an agonizing amount of work the week before finals started.

"It can't be that bad," Hunk tried. He was doing fine in his undeclared major, taking the necessities and a few side credits that he was interested in.

Lance sighed, pouting. Learning came naturally to Hunk. It was a little infuriating sometimes how easy the young man caught onto things. Meanwhile, Lance had trouble paying attention with his ADHD and he found it even harder to sit down and write papers.

But if there was one thing that Lance was, it was determined. 

So when a cold, hard object hit Lance in the back of the head, poofing immediately into white flakes that coated Lance's hair and neck, he naturally got competitive. 

"What the shit?!" He yelled loudly, whirling around just in time to see the pompom of a hat disappear behind a snowbank.

Hunk frowned, cracking his knuckles. Lance stared at the snowbank with intensity, his nerves alight. 

In a flash, a gloved hand had wound back above the snowbank and sent another snowball flying towards the two students. Lance was able to dodge, grimacing as the snowball hit the brick wall behind him.

"Hunk. Dumpster." Lance and Hunk dove behind the giant trashcan they'd just passed on the sidewalk and, in unison, scooped up two piles of snow from the ground, rounding the snowballs in their bare palms. 

"Again!" They heard someone shout from behind the snowbank across the street from there. "Get the Alteans!"

Two more snowballs hit the wall by the dumpster. 

"They must be from Galra U!" Lance seethed. He and Hunk's school was called Altea College and their rival was Galra University. The two schools were tied in sports, academics, clubs, and whatnot, and the students were always pranking those from the opposite school. 

"You guys are going down!" Hunk yelled loudly and he and Lance unleashed their own snowballs.

It went on like this for several minutes, volleys of snowballs passing between the two groups until someone popped up from behind the snowbank, their hands up in surrender. 

"Pidge!" the other someone hissed. 

But Pidge stood firm, calling across to the dumpster, "My hands are cold! I give up." Pidge was wearing a puffy green coat and had brown hair, cropped short. They tugged up their accomplice. 

This student was tall (but not as tall as Lance) and was wearing a scarf and hat with the Galra U's colors in plaid- indigo, dark grey, and purple. 

Lance felt his snowball drop from his hands. The boy had silky-looking dark hair and a thin, pretty face, his curious eyes trying to peek around the dumpster at Lance and Hunk.

Hunk was the one to leave their hiding spot first, walking forward to meet the opposers with a happy smile. "Hi! I'm Hunk!" 

Pidge smiled up at him, their amber eyes framed with circular glasses. "I'm Pidge and this is Keith."

Lance nearly snorted. Keith? What sort of name was that? But, with grace, he smoothed down his hair and stepped out from the dumpster as well, walking with ease and confidence to stand next to Hunk, facing Keith.

"And I'm Lance," he said smoothly, shooting Keith a smile. The boy looked a bit perplexed and Lance wished that it wasn't so cold so he could see if Keith was blushing or if he was just cold.

"It's nice to meet you," Keith finally said politely, immediately shifting his gaze from Hunk to Lance to his shoes to Pidge.

"The pleasure's mine," Lance sighed, anticipation growing in his chest.