lance has to tell himself it's NOT A DATE. it's just manly carbo-loading... with his best friend.

the school year ends as fast as it came.

and they hang out over the summer, they do the summer workout plans given to them by their coach together. they weight lift, and carbo-load, and even run some local 5K's together. it's competitive, but fun and takes lance's mind off the official scores.

the next fall season rolls around, and lance is a senior. and he gets second in time trials.

keith gets first.

and lance... is okay with that.

he and keith become captains together and everything seems to be falling into place until--

"do you have a girlfriend?" keith asks. they're sitting in keith's pickup truck after practice one night, with the idea of studying, but in reality, just talking and stargazing.

"uh... no," lance replies sheepishly.

"well do you want one?" keith asks again. he's looking up at the stars, not looking at lance's face go through every emotion.

how was lance to tell keith that no, he doesn't want a girlfriend, because he wants... keith???

"i uh... well i like someone," lance says...

/yeah that was good,,, no gendered pronoun to keep in nice and neutral, good going lance./

"yeah me too," keith kind of hums. and lance freezes.

"oh ok," he replies as casually as he can.

they sit in silence. and then time flies, they talk about other stuff, and then keith drops lance off at his house.

TO BE CONTINUED IM TIRED NOW