"Remind me again why you are driving?!" Keith hollered, gripping onto the back of Pidge's chair for dear life. Y/N held the soccer ball close to her chest, eyes wide and petrified. Pidge, well, was screaming. "You're awful and going to get us killed!"

"Calm, down, Kogane." Lance assured as confidently as he could. Though, his white knuckles on the wheel said otherwise. "I've got this. Remember? They call me the tailor at the Garrison for how I—"

"THREAD THE NEEDLE—BUT WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WEAVING THROUGH TRAFFIC!" Pidge screeched as Lance rounded a sharp corner, sending everyone flying to the left. Y/N crashed into the window, Pidge nearly spilled into Lance's lap, and Keith toppled over right into Y/N's.

To avoid an awkward apology, or worse, Keith shot back up. "LAANCE!"

"It's ok!" Lance laughed nervously. "We're here!"

Everyone remained in the car, panting and holding onto anything and everything they could. Lance danced around in the parking lot, trying to catch Shiro, Hunk, and Allura's attention who sat parked a few metres away.

Y/N looked to Keith with wide eyes and he struggled to hold her eye contact, but he forced himself to hold on. Her eyes were bright with some kind of life Keith had never seen before and he found it beyond intriguing. She maintained the gaze as she began to speak. "Listen, I knew he was a bad driver..."

"But not that bad." Pidge finished Y/N's thought. Luckily for Keith, before things got too awkward, Y/N's gaze moved towards Pidge and the girls began laughing. Keith, for a brief second, caught himself staring at Y/N in admiration before he looked away timidly.

"No better way to get acquainted than a near death experience!" Lance sang, poking his head into car with Shiro at his side. "Right guys?"

"Right..." Shiro cringed at the sight of everyone's sickly faces and hands clenching the car. But, at least everyone was laughing. When they got out, Shiro approached the girl and held out his hand.

"Name's Shiro, nice to meet you!" He smiled and Y/N did the same back. Shiro was a tall, strong looking guy and Y/N was slightly intimidated at first, but his smile put her at ease. He seemed kindhearted, and was obviously patient because he was somehow friends with Lance.

The next person to approach was Allura, a tall and beautiful girl obviously older than the rest, just like Shiro. "And I'm Allura!"

"Nice to meet you," Y/N smiled. "Thanks for letting me tag along."

Before Allura could respond, another voice rang out and footsteps thundered behind her.

"Y/N?!" Hunk hollered out and ran at the girl, immediately taking her up in a suffocating hug.

"You two know each other?" Lance's face crinkled up in confusion as he looked between the unlikely pair.

"Yeah! We raid the kitchen at the Garrison together at night!" He laughed, ruffling Y/N's hair and she shoved him lightly. Everyone was slightly surprised, but Hunk was the easiest person on earth to get along with. And, when food was involved, friendship was inevitable.

"Who knew you were such a trouble maker," Lance crossed his arms and shook his head at Y/N teasingly.

It didn't take long before his focus shifted to an abandoned shopping kart and darted for it at the speed of light. Nearly tripping twice, he managed to bring it back to the group, a proud look on his face.

"Get in, Y/N. A special ride for our honorary guest!" He beamed.

"Looks like a death trap." She vetoed.

Lance pursed his lips and huffed, truly unimpressed. "Fine. You leave me no other option."

To everyones surprise, Lance was very quick. Almost too quick. Unexpectedly, he had Y/N lifted up in the air and was setting her down in the shopping cart, reeling towards the shopping centre doors. With a quick, effortless heel-click jump he let out a loud laugh and hollered out for his friends to follow. Even though Lance, at times, could be obnoxious and a little extra, he brightened everyones mood.

Inside the store, everyone was assigned a few supplies to gather before meeting back at the front where they dumped their loot on top of Y/N. The girl realized that there was no adrenaline rush greater than being stuck in a shopping cart with Lance being the one guiding it around. Around every corner, they nearly took someone out, he went too fast, and there was no anticipation like waiting for him to push the kart into Keith's heels one more time.

Y/N realized the dark haired guy was like a ticking time bomb. He had a fairly short temper and every time that kart rammed into the back of his legs, she could see his entire body tense. When she caught his gaze every so often, he never smiled. His grey eyes just pierced hers for a moment before he turned his attention elsewhere. Attempts were made to make him smile back, but it failed every time. Y/N figured Keith was either someone who was grumpy all the time or he just didn't like her. Whichever it was, the girl forgot about it pretty quickly and focused on befriending everyone else.

Keith, nervous for no reason, took out his phone and sneakily took a photo of the girl now trapped beneath the mass of food and other supplies while they waited in the checkout line. Even though he would never admit it, Keith was very sentimental when it came to memories. Things, moments in life, that made his heart warm and forced an uncontrollable smile on his face were rare. Therefore, when they arose, he needed something to remember them by. In this case, it was a photo of the girl that would always be a reminder of he and his friends grocery store fiasco. While everyone else laughed freely, Keith tried to force his smile down as much as he could. Seeming this happy around someone new wasn't the impression he wanted to give.

Once the group finally made it back to their vehicles and unloaded the supplies, Hunk helped Y/N out of the kart and wheeled it off to its return. Hunk would never let himself become one of those people who left a shopping kart abandoned in a parking lot.

"Shirrrooooo," Pidge whined. "Do I have to go with Lance?"

Shiro patted Pidge's shoulder sympathetically. "Yeah. You need to be his GPS, because otherwise he'll get lost."

"Hey!" Lance squeaked. "I can just follow you guys!"

"No you can't," Hunk stepped in. "The moment you see a field of cows you'll lose sight of us."

"Alright," Lance clenched his jaw. "You got me there. C'mon Pidge, I'll be careful."

"You'd better." She grumbled, pulling up the directions on her phone. Shiro, Allura, and Hunk said quick goodbyes before heading to their car and driving off.

"Ready for the best car ride of your life?" Y/N joked, jabbing Keith's side lightly with her elbow. That action caught him by surprise and he jolted to the side, sending a defensive look he didn't even mean to. He hit himself mentally for having reacted that way because he could see the discomfort and worry in Y/N's eyes. She was trying to get to know him better, but he wasn't reciprocating in the way she expected.

"Ha, totally." He mumbled, departing quickly and taking his place in the car. Ever since he was young, Keith struggled to get acquainted with new people. It wasn't because he was a bad guy or had insufferable social skills, it was because he was self-conscious, so overly focused on making a very specific impression that he never let his true self show. He wanted to be known as the tough kid, someone who wasn't in any way childish, having been hardened by his unfortunate past. But, deep down, he was the opposite. He wanted to sing with his friends in the car while they wove their way through the city. He wanted to let all of the laughter inside of him flow out at any thing he found remotely funny. He wanted to joke around, just like Lance always did, and be nothing but happy.

For some reason, he just didn't want people to see him that way. Yet, he wanted to act that way. It was a constant struggle between maintaining this character he'd made himself into and living life in the way he wanted.

When he looked at Y/N, he was envious. That's what made him so unsettled around her. She was the embodiment of the person he wanted to be. She was reserved, but not to the point where she was un-relatable or unapproachable. She had a contagious smile and sweet laughter that no one could evade, not even him. She was kind and friendly, yet obviously still strong and brave. Somehow, she was all these different things that fit together perfectly.

Throughout the course of the car ride, Y/N and Pidge somehow became nothing short of best friends by simply discussing creating cyphers for fun and favourite T.V. shows. Once the conversations died down, Lance turned the radio on low volume and rolled down his window. The highway they flew down was practically barren aside from Shiro's vehicle ahead of them.

Daydreaming, Keith had his face scrunched up as it rest against his fist, staring out the window. Trees passed by in a blur and the noise around him was fuzzy. That was until he heard a tune that caught his attention. The familiar beat made him raise his head and an involuntary smile to tug at his lips. This was the song he always turned to on his lowest days. Why it was this song, why it had this brightening effect on him and why he even liked it was beyond him. But, he'd heard it on one of the CD's Shiro used to play on Saturday nights and had never let it go since.

'Hey now call it a split 'cause you know that you will,'

That first line made Keith sit up a little straighter. He began tapping his foot lightly, almost out of uncontrollable impulse.

'Oh you bite your friend like chocolate.

You say, we'll go where nobody knows, guns hidden under out petticoats.

No we're never gonna' quit it, no never gonna' quit it no.'

He hummed as quietly as possible to himself. The reverberation of Lance's car was luckily fairly loud, just enough so Keith could get away with his humming without the others noticing.

'Now we run run away from the boys in the blue, and my car smells like chocolate.

Hey now think about what you do, think about what they say, think about how to think.'

The next piece of the song always got Keith. He couldn't stop himself anytime he heard it, he had to sing the part that followed. In some strange way, the song had a way of controlling him, forcing out the inner self he far too often hid.

'Pause it play it, pause it play it pause it...'

Keith patted his legs like a drum and began moving his head. He closed his eyes out of sheer elation and for once in his life, just let himself go. He let himself sing. Though he knew whatever left his mouth would be nothing short of embarrassing, he knew the lyrics, something no one else would.

That was until Y/N starting blaring the chorus at the same time he did.

'Oh we go where nobody knows, with guns hidden under our petticoats.

No we're never gonna' quit it, never gonna' quit it no.

Yeah we're dressed in black from head to toe, we've got guns hidden under out petticoats.

No we're never gonna' quit it, never gonna' quit it no.'

They'd sung in such perfect unison, Keith hadn't even realized she was singing along with him. When he finished and finally opened his eyes, he looked to his left to see Y/N staring in disbelief. Was his singing really that awful?

"You know this song?!" She scoffed, a bright smile painting her features.

"Uhh—" Keith blanked out and looked in the mirror to catch Lance's gaze who nodded him on encouragingly. Lance was like a parent sending their kid off to kindergarten, pulling the classic 'it's ok, you can say hello.'

"Yeah," He finally smiled. "The 1975, Chocolate."

"You're the first person I've met who knows it. It's my favourite—"

Keith interrupted. "Me too!"

Like it was timed perfect, the ending of the song was approaching and Y/N took the first line, eyes still on Keith the entire time.

'Well I think we better go, seriously better go,

Said it's better than hanging on.'

Keith was pretty sure this moment was a little too surreal. A girl whom he'd just met, was totally jealous of, and knew his favourite song was singing it right in front of him. He felt like Lance when he saw those surfboards this morning. He had to be dreaming.

The girl paused and urged Keith to sing the next line.

'Seriously better go, oh oh, well I think we better go.

Said it's better than hanging on.'

Then again, they sang the final two lines in unison.

'Said Rebecca better know,

Seriously better go.'