The seat of Keith's bike was already burning when he left his house the next morning. It seemed like the sun was exerting the rest of it's energy since the end of summer was so near. Today Keith was very unsettled.

He slid off his leather jacket and stuffed it in his compartment with his camera bag as he headed for Altea. As the engine roared to life and the tires purred, he could feel himself relaxing. But he knew that feeling would end soon.

It was Lance's fault of course. And his stupid comments on the group chat yesterday- honestly what was he thinking?? 

At least Matt said no homo...

And of course Keith knew it wasn't any deeper than Lance just trying to get Keith to come with them to the water park, but to Keith he had felt..

What exactly had he felt?

 Joy?

 Fear?

He settled on an equal mix of the two feelings, the only way to explain the soft fluttering in his heart when Lance had replied with those kind words. But he didn't want to feel this, at all. It was painful and gross, and even though it had only been a short burst of feeling, it brought Keith back to his sophomore year of high school.

There had been a two month period where Keith had crushed hard on Lance. It was the worst time of his life and he tried to never think of it. Lance never knew of course, but it almost seemed like he had a secret mission to make Keith's life utter hell. Everyday was a struggle to fend off Lance's jokes and fights, and every night Keith pushed his feelings deeper down, just for them to arise the next day when he saw those playful blue eyes. 

It took all of Keith's strength and mostly Lance's stupidity for Keith to get over it. Keith could honestly and proudly say he has only had 3 crushes in his entire life, but when someone asks about the most recent one he stalls.

Altea practically glowed, the sun shining off the pearly white exterior, as Keith walked in. Air conditioning had never felt so good.

He groaned, realizing today Lance would get his first outfit, and most likely become very talkative, as Nyma had when she would get new outfits for shoots. He easily shoved the questionable flutter in his stomach away and entered the studio.

To his surprise, Lance was already there, reading a magazine in the corner. He looked tired, with his usually fluffy looking hair curly at the tips and his eyelids drooping over his now dull blue eyes. Keith noticed the sun had brought Lance's freckles back out. 

"Hey," Lance said. Keith nodded back, and began unpacking his camera bag. 

He was sliding out his pack of lens' when he felt hot breath on his neck. He spun around quickly to see Lance on his tiptoes leaning over him. 

"Don't get so close Lance, what the hell??" 

The boy smiled bashfully and stepped back. "Sorry, I just wanted to see your equipment." 

Keith cocked an eyebrow at him and seeing his smile, shrugged. "Fine but be careful, she's valuable." he moved out the way so Lance could inspect the bag. 

"She?" Lance laughed and started inspecting the camera. Keith stopped him when Lance started roughly pulling out the lens'. 

"Yeah, that's enough." Keith glared at him. 

"Where's Alfor?"

Lance shrugged. "Dunno, but don't be so rude to me next time when I want to see your stuff."

Keith rolled his eyes. "I let you see it."

"You always have to have an attitude, mullet." Lance spat.

Keith narrowed his eyes and slowed his breathing. "You're always trying to pick a fight."

"And you fuel my fire, stop being so mean to me and maybe I'll be nice back."

Keith was beyond confused at this point, but was getting more annoyed by the second. 

"I'm not doing this, I'm going to find Alfor." He left without looking back.

Halfway down the main hall, he realized Lance had followed him and was trailing a little behind with his hands in his pockets.

 He was gazing at the pictures of previous models that had made it as far as front covers of magazines, and some even to runways. It was an incredibly hard feat to accomplish, but Keith had confidence he could get Lance up there.

If Lance stopped trying to fight.

In that moment, watching Lance gawk in awe at the multitude of successful models, Keith made a vow to himself.

A vow that he would do whatever it took to get past this "rivalry" he had with Lance, to get Lance on the runway. 

Even if it killed him. 

That look in Lance's eyes was all Keith had needed to finally believe Lance cared about this job. 

Keith also came to the conclusion that already he had been in his head too long today, and luckily he was nearing Alfor's office. 

Lance kicked open the door and cheekily held open the door for Keith with a wink. Keith crossed his arms as he entered the room, and added an eye roll for good measure. Try- hard 

 Alfor was sitting in front of a laptop at his desk when the boys came in. He stared at the screen with raised eyebrows, stroking his goatee.

"Ah, boys." He grinned. "I think I have something uh wrong with my...device here.."

Lance strolled over and leaned across Alfors desk to take a look. He tapped the screen before pointing out a button to Alfor. "Hah, Alfor the computers off-" 

Alfors cheeks turned pink as he furrowed his brow. "I- well- yeah, I knew that." 

Lance chuckled before returning to Keith. Alfor cleared his throat. "So what is it you two need?" 

Keith frowned. "Our assignment...we did the extra portfolio. Lance needs his outfits and I need my filter and category information." He thought this was already clear, what else would he be there for? To help Alfor catch up with modern technology? That's what Allura was for...

Alfor's eyes lit up. "Right- my bad heh," he slid across the slick floor in his rolling chair to a filing cabinet where he started going through papers. He had put on some wire rimmed glasses, that slipped to the edge of his nose. 

"Here we go." Alfor pulled out a thick manila folder with a plain yellow sticky note atop it. He handed it to Keith. Keith glanced over the sticky note.

101, second floor, Rizavi 

"What's this?" Keith asked Alfor, the sticky note on the edge of his pointer finger. Alfor squinted. 

"Looks like a room in the fashion department, probably where Lances outfit is." 

Lance's eyes lit up and before Keith could open his mouth, the boy was out the door with the sticky note, on his way to get his outfit. 

 Keith deadpanned as Alfor chuckled. 

"You're gonna have a lot of fun with that one." 

Keith nodded. "Sure," 

...

Lance skidded to a stop outside the door. He 'forgot' to knock and was panting as he looked around the room, a crazy grin showing the excited buzz of a mess he was. 

Two girls, one with a tight lipped smile, short blonde hair and freckles, and one with black hair, glasses, and a clipboard, looked at Lance. The room was covered in clothes, on and off racks, all the colors of the rainbow, with sequins and balled up paper, and glitter covering the never ending pastel carpet. 

"Yes?" The girl with the glasses spoke.

"Oh hey," Lance waved.

 "I'm Lance, and uh, yeah sorry for busting in like that. I'm just... really excited for my first outfit." 

She nodded, and Lance realized she was chewing bubblegum. "Well Lance I'm Nadia, Nadia Rizavi," she grinned and reached out her hand. Lance shook it and smiled back. Rizavi.

"This here is my partner in crime, Leifsdottir!" Rizavi jazz-handed herself over to the blond girl who quirked an eyebrow.

"Call me Ina." 

Lance nodded. "Hey, Ina." 

"So Lanceeee, I'm assuming you're here for the initial Youth Line shoot, correct?" Rizavi had disappeared into the clutter of clothes. 

"Yeah, I am." Lance carefully started to follow her, almost tripping over a floofy purple ballgown. 

"Well, I'd be excited for that too." She chuckled, going deeper into the room. "But I'm also content with my work here with Ina." 

"What do you guys do here?" Lance asked, pulling a pair of oversized jeans off his foot. 

"We design the clothes!" Rizavi grinned over her shoulder as she stopped at a clothes rack. 

"Rizavi draws and I work color schemes and final details." Ina's soft voice wandered over to Lance. 

"Oh, you guys must be pretty talented." Lance cracked a smile.

"Just Ina," Rizavi said. Ina shook her head, but she was smiling. 

"Lance, Lance, Lance.." Rizavi muttered to herself as she ran her hands through the rack of clothes. "Aha!" She chuckled as she pulled out a plastic hanger bag. She handed it to Lance. His eyes grew wide as he looked it over. 

"Have fun." Ina told him as he came out of the racks of clothes.

"Thanks, Ina. And Nadia." Lance said, heading for the door. 

"It's Rizavi!" She called after him as the door closed. 

...

"You got your outfit?" Keith asked when Lance finally returned. The papers in the manila folder had been strewn around Keith's stool, and his camera was currently disassembled. 

"Yeahhh, I met the girls up there too." 

Keith didn't even glance up. "Oh lord,"

"Hah, don't worry I'm not hitting on them. Though the Rizavi girl is kinda cute.."

Keith blinked at him, unamused.

"I'm joking with you! Lighten up a bit man." Lance playfully punched Keith on the shoulder but Keith leaned away. 

"Go get dressed." He muttered as Lance rattled off details about the modeling department and the girls he had met. 

After a tedious five minutes of Keith going over his filter/background arrangment directions, Lance reappeared. 

The boy had...well, simply put, transformed. 

His hair was extremely curly now, cuffing the tips of his ears. His cheeks were a soft pink blush, and the freckles on his nose had brightened, along with his eyes. He wore very very short blue jean shorts, and a long sleeved pink sweater that covered his hands. Keith's mouth went dry. 

Lance looked fucking adorable.

Keith silently cussed out Alfor for the innocent school girl look that had totally transformed his rival/ co-worker into a boy that made Keith's heart skip more than one beat. 

Lance watched Keith. "Do I look bad? They gave me directions for the makeup but I had a really small mirror.." 

Keith gulped and looked away. "You look fine." 

The familiar couch in the corner of the studio had been replaced with soft pink pillows and plush, probably changed out by the studio crew before Keith had arrived. Keith hadn't noticed the setting change much before, but now, with Lance barefoot and flat bellied, splayed across it... He couldn't help but notice.

Keith got through two pictures before the question eating away at his brain found its way to the surface.

"Hey Lance,"

"Yeah?" Lance blew a stray hair out of his face. The small motion didn't help Keith's supposed calm demeanor. 

"Why.." He coughed. "W-why did- why were you so nice. On the group chat yesterday?"

Lance cocked his head. "When..?"

"When I told you guys how I felt about wearing a bathing suit in public." Keith's voice was barely above a whisper. But he had to know.

Lance blushed, the tip of his ears turning pink, but Keith didn't see it because he was staring at his hands. 

"Oh." The thoughts in Lance's head were moving at a million miles per hour it seemed, but one fought its way above the other's: 

Act chill. 

Keith cleared his throat and finally looked up. "Why?"

Lance smirked. "Why not?" 

_________________________________________________________

GUYS IM SO SORRYYYYYYYYY

Everything has been so busy for me with the holidays, and friendship drama and basketball season and ughhhh I've had no time to update!! Plus writers block hit me hard about a week ago

I feel horrible and this chapter was kinda shit. I know

Ima try to do a double update tonight or get it out tomorrow to make up for everything

I apologize again and hope this chapter wasn't total ass--

Did u guys enjoy Rizavi and Leifsdottir's little appearance there? Hehe

I love you all and hope you guys have an amazing holiday!!!!

Qotd: number one wish for Christmas? 

<< if u celebrate, and if u don't, what's ur number one wish in general? >>

Aotd: to hang out with my gf ,,, haha or get a good phone XD 

((Also aotd for the first ever qotd [favorite Voltron character] mine is prob gonna be a hot tie between Shiro and Matt ,,,Keith or Lance a close second <33)) 

love u guys to the moon and back  {sorry for the long absence and the shitty update}

:)

cuteeeeee