Dinner was spent with Keith and Lance bickering and Shiro just trying to get through it. He had to continuously ask for the potatoes for about five minutes before Keith finally heard him over Lance and himself.

"Both of you go back upstairs. I don't know what you were doing before, but keep doing it because it's apparently the only way you two get along." Shiro said with a sigh as he started to clean up dinner.

"You sure you don't want-" Keith tried to ask, but Shiro cut him off.

"Just go." He said, waving them off.

Keith and Lance exchanged a look and Lance just shrugged. They both headed back upstairs, Keith settling on his bed and Lance taking a seat on the floor again.

"Cookies don't equal friendship then?" Lance asked, digging his hand back into the container of cookies.

"Apparently not." Keith said, once again grabbing his book. He had just grabbed a random one from the library, hoping that it'd be good enough to get him through detention, but now he was enthralled by it. It was really confusing and he was just trying to figure out what was happening.

"Are you ever not reading?" Lance asked, slightly annoyed. Maybe they couldn't get along because every time Lance tried, it was like talking to a brick wall with a book in it's hand.

"I only read when I'm alone or around you. Do with that information as you please." Keith said absently as he flipped the page.

"You wound me mullet, you wound me." Lance said, placing a hand on his heart. When he didn't receive a response, he blew out a breath of air like a child and got onto his cot, scrolling through his phone.

A few hours passed like that, both boys silent and doing their own things. As time ticked on, Lance found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open. He glanced over and saw that Keith had fallen asleep, his book still in his lap.

He quietly chuckled at how much of an idiot he thought the other boy was. He pulled himself up, grabbing the book and bookmarking Keith's place and then set it aside. He didn't want t risk waking him up, so he didn't move him, just grabbed a blanket and pulled it over him.

Then he made his way back to his cot and settled in. He grabbed his phone again, not wanting to sleep just yet. He was hoping that if he stayed up late enough, he'd crash and have a dreamless sleep.

That wasn't the case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lance woke up panting, sweat dripping from his face as he took in the unfamiliar surroundings. It took a few minutes for him to recognize where he was and to steady his breathing. This time, he had been able to keep himself together and not break down in tears.

He checked the time, seeing that it was only five in the morning. He hadn't crashed until around two, so he could only guess that he got about two hours of actual sleep. It was going to be a sucky Monday.

The worst part would be seeing Allura. She would catch on right away that he hadn't gotten any sleep and she wouldn't stop fusing over him.

He sighed, laying his head back onto his pillow and wrapping his arms around it. He wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, but he didn't want to get up and wake Shiro and Keith.

About an hour later, Keith's alarm went off. The shorter boy groaned and rolled over to shut it off. He took note that his book was on his desk, definitely not where he had left it, and the Lance was awake and scrolling through his phone.

"How long have you been up?" Keith asked, rubbing his eyes and sitting up.

Lance looked up, amused by the disheveled sight of his nemesis. "About an hour." He said with a shrug.

"Why were you up so early?" Keith asked with a slight whine just thinking about being up earlier than he actually needed to be.

"New place, couldn't sleep the best." Lance said, not completely lying. New places did make it harder for him to sleep, but that was the main reason.

Keith nodded, accepting the answer and not double guessing it. "We'll probably leave in an hour, so just make sure you're ready by then." Keith said, dragging himself out of bed and starting to get ready.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Lance! I will leave your ass here if you aren't out of that bathroom in the next five seconds!" Keith yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Shiro had left early for work and Keith had his own car, so he was in charge of getting himself and Lance to school.

Lance take's a very long time to get ready in the morning.

In reality, it's just him trying everything he can think of to hide the bags under his eyes and trying to make himself more awake than should be possible with how much sleep he had been getting.

He let out a long breath, taking one last look in the mirror before letting a fake smile slip onto his lips. He strolled out of the bathroom and down the stairs, slipping on his shoes and not sparing a look at the fuming Keith.

"You're ridiculous!" Keith shouted as they both got into his red jeep. They had ten minutes to get to school before they were late to their first period and it look about eight to get there.

"Perfection takes time!" Lance argued.

Keith pulled out of the drive way and sped to the school. He was on thin ice with the school as it was, he couldn't afford a tardy slip. "You were literally up an hour before me! Why wouldn't you just get ready then?" Keith asked angrily. He was clutching the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles were turning white.

"I didn't want to wake anyone up! Sorry for trying to be considerate." Lance said, crossing his arms and turning away from the boy driving.

"Being considerate would mean being ready on time. I have to get you to school, so when you take forever you aren't just making yourself late, you're making me late to." Keith explained, still livid. It was his senior year and he was trying really hard to not get expelled. Last year had been especially rough for him and he knew that if he slipped up to many times this year, he was done for.

"When have you ever cared about being late, Kogane?" Lance asked with an eye roll. He had it in his head that Keith was just annoyed and trying to make Lance feel guilty for the fun of it. He didn't know just how thin the ice was for Keith.

"Since I'm being threatened with expulsion every time I set even a toe out of line!" Keith shouted, making Lance flinch.

He hadn't known that.

Sure they both get into trouble frequently for the pranks that they play on each other, a majority of them get out of hand, but Keith didn't just fight with Lance. He was seen as an outcast and had to literally fight his way through junior year.

Lance wasn't sure what to say. He just stayed quiet.

Keith sighed, relaxing his grip a fraction. "Getting that detention last week was fucking terrifying. The only reason I got off so easy was because you were there and the principal wasn't about to expel you, even though what you did was worse. The school needs the tiniest thing, the smallest infraction, and I'm gone. So please," Keith took a deep breath. "Just try to be on time."