Lance, of course, woke early. So early it should've been illegal. He was the kind of person to fall asleep and wake with the sun. Even though he was tramping around the house and running around outside at 7 a.m., everyone else refused to leave their beds until at least 8:30.

Hunk and Allura helped an overly enthusiastic Lance prepare breakfast for everyone. And somehow, Hunk was able to make a classic pancake breakfast into a meal to die for that everyone ate in silence. It wasn't until Shiro finally broke the silence.

"So, what does everyone want to do today?" He asked, looking to everyone's tired faces.

Allura pondered for a moment. "I think it will be a little cold to be in the water today, but there's plenty of other fun things to do! There's a waterfall in the forest behind the cottage, plenty of room to play games on the beach, and I believe we have a few board games stored somewhere..."

"Ah!" Pidge squeaked. "Capture the flag!"

"The forest is perfect for it," Allura had to admit.

"Oooh," Lance liked the sound of capture the flag. "So what'll the teams be?"

"I want Y/N!" Pidge gripped the girls arm she sat beside and made her point very clear. "And...Lance and Hunk."

"Hey, then we're the team of three." Keith complained. Truthfully, he could care less what the numbers were, he just wanted to be on Y/N's team.

"Umm, yeah, but Shiro is worth like two of one of us so...It evens out." Pidge explained, rolling her eyes. Everyone had to agree with that statement because it was true. When it came down to basic skills like speed, strength and agility, Shiro was flying colours above everyone else.

Keith wasn't about to put up a fight in front of Y/N so he went along with it. Breakfast finished and everyone lounged around for a while. Slowly but surely they all got dressed, showered should they have needed to, and began to plot their plans of attack. Even though he should have been listening to his teammates, Keith couldn't help but look over to the others who were giggling, all hunched together in a circle discussing their plans. Y/N seemed to be fitting in pretty well so far, especially considering she'd just met the group yesterday.

While walking to their destination, Lance struggled to carry a conversation so he turned to last nights events. The pillow fight that ended in his annihilation. "You guys wanna rematch tonight?"

Pidge laughed to herself and sighed. "The probability of you beating us is beyond low, Lance. Why would you even try?"

"Because, this time Keith will be there to help me. Right Keith?"

"Uhh—" Keith darted his eyes around. "Sure."

"Say yes, or I'll tell them about how you kept sleep talking about Y/N." Lance warned, pointing a finger right in Keith's face. But, in a few seconds he dropped it, mouth falling agape at the realization of what he'd said.

Keith's mouth also fell open and his eyes went wide, pupils dilating. He could feel the heat rising his his face and his heart beating erratically against his ribcage, trying to escape. "I did not!"

Caught up in the moment, Lance couldn't help but argue back. "How would you know, mullet? You were sleeping!"

If it weren't for Y/N's laugher, Keith's fist likely would have ended up between Lance's eyes.

"Did I actually...you know? Talk about her in my sleep?" Keith whispered, his brows furrowed nervously, fists clenched.

Lance giggled to himself and pursed his lips. "Yeah. You were arguing with me at one point about having to carry something? I don't really remember. But it was hilarious."

Truth was, Keith did vaguely remember the dream. It was just after they'd all returned from the cottage and everyone was sickly tired. Y/N had fallen asleep in the car, so when they arrived at the Garrison, Keith had to pick her up and carry her to her dorm. Except, he realized he didn't know the code to her room. So, he took her to his. All without waking her, he managed to lay her down on the bed and cover her with the blankets. He remembered his dream-self sitting there on a chair, watching as the Y/N slept contently.

"Sounds...weird?" Keith tried to casually brush it off and tried to walk a little faster to distance himself from Lance before the Cuban boy began to pry at his brain. Keith wasn't even sure why he'd dreamt about her, especially so soon after meeting her. Maybe it was his brain's way of processing meeting new people. Either way, it was strange. Yet, at the same time, he sort of wished that dream was real.

Once everyone was organized and the flags were hidden, Shiro stood in a clearing in the woods, a line drawn in the dirt which marked the half way point. "One...two...three...GO!" His voice radiated through the forest and all of the kids burst forwards. In seconds, the forest was a flurry of madness as Keith and Lance tried to tackle one another to the ground and Shiro and Allura tried to tag Pidge.

"Y/N, c'mon!" Hunk whispered from behind a tree that didn't do a very good job at hiding him. "I know where their flag is!"

Quickly, Hunk ran off, stumbling over his own feet, and Y/N followed. After a couple of minutes of traversing the forest, trying to not trip on random tree roots and patches of uneven ground, Hunk slowed down.

"Shhh...listen." He put a finger to his mouth and kneeled down, scanning the woods carefully. Some twigs snapped about fifty yards away, the sound hardly audible this far away.

"Ok," Hunk looked to the girl with a pair of fiery eyes Y/N hadn't yet seen on Hunk. "You flank left and I'll go right. Meet in the middle near that tree with the huge trunk. That's where the flag is." He smirked before clumsily stumbling off into the forest once again.

Obviously with no other option, Y/N set off in the other direction. She ran as quickly as her legs would carry her, the sound of her steps muffled by the mix of sand and soft grass. Her pace slowed when the trees became more sparse, leaving her right in the open. But, there was no sign of anyone else so she continued to make her way forwards.

She took in a deep breath as she knelt down behind a bush, scanning the area for Hunk. She was near the big tree now, but couldn't see him anywhere. A couple more branches cracked to her right but she didn't see anyone so thought nothing of it. Seeing as how Hunk was probably caught or got himself lost, Y/N took a bold jolt forwards and began to sprint towards the large tree. Her feet carried her swiftly, eyes constantly flickering around to see if anyone was pursuing her.

Distracted by looking over her shoulder, she wasn't paying attention to what was ahead of her. Surely enough, her body was sent to the hard ground when she abruptly collided with someone. A heavy weight rest on her as she slowly opened her eyes, pain radiating from her skull where it had struck the ground.

"Hunk? What the—" Y/N whispered, her vision still trying to clear. The boy lay directly atop her and quickly put a hand on her mouth.

"Shh—" He muttered, trying to keep his head low. The boy's eyes followed someone running past and finally removed his hand once they were gone.

"Uh—hey." He muttered. Now that Y/N could finally see clearly she realized it definitely wasn't Hunk she'd collided with. It was Keith.

"Keith?" Y/N furrowed her brows and heat quickly flooded her cheeks. "What are you—"

The boy looked away shyly, his face turning two shades darker than it had already become from running. He placed his hands on either side of her head and lifted himself up.

"The flags over there, can I just?" She began before Keith interrupted her.

"Do you—um—want to hang out later? Maybe listen to—" He blurted out the words out as quickly as he could and winced, afraid of her response. He shook his head a little and his hair fell over his eyes slightly, shrouding his vision.

"Yeah, sure," She agreed quickly, laughing slightly. "Now can I...?"

"Ah, yeah!" He let out a couple of heavy breaths and awkwardly rolled to the side and stood up, dusting himself off.

Just before Y/N ran off, she turned back and looked to Keith curiously, a small smirk on her face. "Aren't you on the other team?"

Keith blanked. He was on the other team. He shouldn't be letting her go. It was his job to catch her.

"Double agent." He winked and jogged in the opposite direction, trying to escape the situation as soon as possible.

Almost immediately after his escape from one awkward situation, he fell right into another. He heard footsteps and didn't even have to look to know who it was.

"Here to harass me, McClain?" He turned to be met with a beet red faced Lance, and Keith was pretty sure it wasn't from the running.

"No! Well—maybe." Lance corrected himself. "Whatever. I saw you, uh, you two—y'know." He tried to explain.

"It was an accident," Keith grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Sure. But why'd you ask her to hang out later?" He asked. If Keith didn't know better, he'd say Lance was a little bit hurt or upset by him trying to spend more time with Y/N.

"Because," Keith sighed. "I suck at making friends, and Y/N seems like a nice person. So I'm trying. Trying really hard, ok?"

"You don't suck at making friends," Lance tried to assure. "You just..."

"You don't have to say it. I know I'm harsh, cold and hot-headed. But I'm trying to change. I'm trying to be better." Keith snapped. Making and keeping friends was impossible for Keith, and he knew it was all because of him. The only reason he was friends with everyone here was because Shiro was around to keep him in line. When it came to befriending people on his own? He just couldn't do it.

"Woah, Keith. Chill out. I was just curious." Lance said, taking a couple steps back.

Keith wanted to yell. He wanted to hit something. Wanted to walk off like he always did. But, he stopped himself. If he was going to change, he had to break old habits. "I'm sorry," He apologized, catching Lance off guard.

"It's ok, buddy—" Lance began before being cut off by a screeching Y/N careening through the forest with a red flag in her hand.

"AHHH!" She hollered like a mad man, Shiro and Allura right on her tail. She ran so fast, her mind was barely able to keep up with how fast her legs were carrying her. She flew past Lance and Keith who just watched her like a race car and she set her sight-lines for the line drawn in the dirt. On the either side, Hunk and Pidge were screaming her name. Not once did Y/N look back to see how close Shiro was because she could practically feel his breath on the back of her neck.

"Y/N HURRY!" Hunk screamed.

As she crossed the midline, she held the flag high in the air, a wide smile on her face as she turned around to meet a defeated, breathless Shiro. He shook his head in disbelief and smiled. New girl had skills.

The girls small team surrounded her, all laughing and cheering. Lance slung the girl over his shoulder and spun in circles, the sight only reminding Keith again of what had happened. The thought of having to spend time with her tonight now because he had asked burned away at his mind, making his stomach tighten nervously. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal for her, but for him it was. This was his chance to make a first, real, friend all on his own.

"Dishes are on you tonight, traitor." Allura ruffled Keith's messy hair teasingly and went to join the rest of the group with Shiro. After a couple of deep breaths, Keith did the same.