Lance had to crouch down to pick up the yellow bag. He felt the individually packaged candied rings shift with his touch. His jacket was slightly damp from the scattered rain showers and his mind raced with nothing in particular.

A sudden loud sound made the soon to be doctor jump up and with slightly red cheeks as he realized it was his own phone. He didn't bother checking who it was before answering.

"Hello?" Lance balanced the phone between his shoulder and head as he fumbled with the bag of ring pops.

"Hi, Lance!" Shiro's voice came in through his speakers and Lance almost dropped his phone. He switched his phone to his hand in a sheepish manner.

"Hi." He stuttered out and wanted to smack himself because he had already used a greeting. "I just mean hi again." He rushed out trying to cover up his mistake but Shiro didn't seem to notice or he just didn't care.

"I'm calling you through Pidge's app! Isn't that amazing? I didn't even need your number." Shiro exclaimed and Lance nodded along before realizing that the older male couldn't see him.

"It is amazing but she's Pidge, you know?" Lance let out a small laugh with his words. "If we were to compliment one of her app features she'll either try to create something we'll love or destroy what we like. She's temperamental like a cat." For some reason, he imagined his best friend as a cat and couldn't suppress the grin that took over his features.

"That's putting it lightly," Shiro joked as Lance headed towards checkout. "So are you free today?" Lance felt his eyes go wide at Shiro's words. "I mean I saw that you're going to be starting rotations soon and I'm assuming you're going to the hospital close to the college, right?" There was a certain hopefulness present in Shiro's voice that made Lance's heart beat faster in his chest.

"Yeah! I mean it's easier than going out of the way..." Lance clarified. He didn't want to admit that he didn't have a car and that he'd be walking.

"Cool cool..." Shiro fell silent for a short moment like he was unable to find the words to say. "I know my way around there and know which doctors to avoid." There was a breathy laugh. "I could meet you for some coffee sometime or something?" Lance dropped the candy on the counter as he inwardly screamed. Shiro was so cool and he wanted to hang out with Lance! The Cuban male thought it might be a dream.

Lance freaked out because he wasn't sure how long he had waited to answer. "Yes, yes, a million times yes!" The cashier looked confused but scanned the confectionary anyway.

"I remember you liked coffee after all those late nights we spent at the Holts," Shiro added as Lance fished in his pocket from the total. He knew he had shoved a five in his jacket pocket.

"I didn't think you would've remembered hanging out with us... We were just friends of your best friend's sister." He found the bill and gave it to the cashier who began to count his change.

"Of course I do!" Shiro's voice was nice. Lance liked it a lot. "You were my favorite of Katie's friends." Lance flushed at his comment. Shiro cleared his throat. "Anyway I'm free today and can pick you up from your..." The older male trailed off since he didn't know exactly where Lance lived.

"Dorm. I'm in a dorm on campus..." The younger male laughed nervously. "I was actually on my way to visit Pidge's dorm if you wanted to pick me up from there," Lance added as he opened the door with his free hand and started his walk back to the campus.

"Sounds great." Shiro's calming voice came from his speakers. "I know exactly where her dorm is since I'm always giving Matt rides there..." There was a clear and present sigh in his voice and Lance stifled a laugh in his jacket sleeve. "I'll see you in a few Lance."

The way Shiro said his name made him smile. "Yeah... See you in a few. Drive safely!" Lance hung up with a breath of relief. It was unbelievably stressful talking with someone he adored. Lance walked the mostly empty sidewalks as his mind raced from the conversation. How was he going to keep his cool when he hung out with Shiro? The male sighed and trudged through the familiar halls until he happened upon his best friend's room. Lance knocked before entering.

"I don't want any of your Girl Scout cookies oh my–" Pidge stopped when she saw him. "Well, I don't want Lance McClain either so." She moved to close the door and he stopped it with his foot.

"Is that any way to treat your best friend?" Lance nudged his way into her room as she snorted at his statement. "Especially after they buy you your favorite candy?" He winked at her and she threw her arms around him.

"You're the best and I love you so much now give me my candy!" The way her eyes lit up as she shook with excitement made him happy and his slightly damp trip to the dollar store all worth it.

"That's what they all say." Lance fished in the white and green bag for the ring pops. "I hope you're happy."

"I am!" Pidge smiled at him and tore open the bag. "This honestly has been the highlight of my week. These Girl Scouts are literally harassing me because I won't buy their cookies, plus I might get a new roommate, and I didn't realize that I was such a shitty programmer until now. You would not believe how many bugs there are on the app!" She unwrapped a strawberry ring and slid onto one of her fingers. She sighed contently at the sight of the confectionary just sitting on her hand. "God I love ring pops."

"Well, then I'm glad." Lance sat down on her messy bed. Pidge dug through the bag and threw a ring pop at him.

"I have to retrain your tastebuds to recognize what good candy is." She laughed to herself and resumed her position at her desk. "So what'd you and Shiro talk about?"

Lance choked and cleared his throat in a fast recovery. "How'd you know we spoke?" He eyed her suspiciously.

"It's my app of course I know. I just can't listen in on your conversation." Katie pushed her glasses up her nose. "Are you guys going on a date?" There was a certain glimmer in her eyes that Lance didn't like.

"No, it's not like that!" Pidge's eyes gleamed mischievously, she knew that Lance had a crush on the older male since she introduced them all those years ago. "I don't think he'd ever ask me on a date. Look at me and then him. I should just be happy that we're friends." Lance sighed and tried to keep his sadness contained. "It's just coffee and he's offered his help during my rotations."

His best friend made a face. "Oh. I wanted a more juicy scoop. Give me my ring pop back."

"No way! I bought them, I at least get one." Lance argued back.

"You bought them for me." Pidge deadpanned.

"Here's a counterpoint, I don't care." Lance shoved the candy in his jacket pocket and crossed his arms.

"Good one. Gotta tell that to Allura so she can use that in court." Pidge grinned at him. "Oh, by the way, why are you still here? You could have just thrown the bag at me and left. I love you and all but seriously."

Lance smiled nervously. "Shiro said he's picking me up from here."

"Oh." Pidge winked at him. "Have fun."

Lance rolled his eyes. "Shut up. Fix your app and leave me be until Shiro gets here."

Katie made a noise that sounded like a mixture of a grown and scoff. "This is my room just so you know."

"Plenty aware of it." Lance teased. A small knock on the door made both of their heads turn.

"Your date is here." Pidge regarded the door nonchalantly and Lance nodded, psyching himself up. He tried to ignore her comment but it wove itself in between his rib and made its home in his chest. He was trying not to blush.

"I'm going now. See ya." Lance grabbed the doorknob and turned to see Pidge waving at him. He sighed and opened the door. Takashi Shirogone stood on the other side of the door. Small water droplets decorated his black hoodie and his eyes lit up when he saw Lance. "Hi." Lance wasn't sure why he was suddenly shy but he was.

"Hey." Shiro took a step toward him and called into the apartment. "Pidge, I'm borrowing your best friend for a bit!"

"No returns. You're stuck with him." Katie Holt called back with a chuckle.

"Hey!" Lance stuck up his nose defiantly. "I'm a person you know," Pidge mumbled something under her breath.

"I was under the impression that you were some robot that the Holts invented in their spare time." Shiro teased and Pidge snorted. "Ready?" His smile was gentle.

"Yeah," Lance mumbled and Shiro closed the door behind them. He settled next to the younger boy with his hands in his pockets and they walked together which Lance thought was a little unnerving but Shiro didn't seem to mind.

The car ride consisted of Lance flipping through the radio stations while Shiro made fun of all the songs that were being played. They both laughed and which allowed Lance to loosen up a bit. The doctor to be was sure Shiro did it on purpose to make him feel more comfortable and relaxed. The thing was it worked. Lance didn't feel nervous at all.

The coffee shop was small and mostly empty. Its quiet atmosphere was nice and Lance founded himself enjoying the time even though they had hardly done anything. "Do you know what you want?" Shiro's voice startled Lance from his thought. It was low and gruff like he didn't want the words to be heard by anyone else but the Cuban male. Lance hoped his blush wasn't that noticeable. "Since I practically dragged you out here I'll buy for you." There was a small twinkle in his kind eyes.

"Yeah uh, thanks." Lance wanted to smack himself. That was not as graceful as how he practiced in his head. "A small vanilla macchiato is fine." He stuttered out and Shiro smiled widely at him. "I'll take it hot too."

"Gotcha. I'll order it for you if you want to go sit down at a table." Lance took him up on that offer, even though they had driven there the younger male was still tired from the walks he took beforehand. He played around on Pidge's app as he waited for Shiro, trying to beat Hunk's score in Tetris.

Lance was startled when Shiro sat down across from him and gave him his coffee. "Thanks." The heat from the cup made his hand feel warm and Lance sighed contently. "So tell me about the hospital." He gave a loose grin which Shiro gladly returned.

Shiro explained some of the rules that the hospital had as well as a basic floor by floor layout of the different areas of medicine. He recounted his favorite specialties as well as their directors and then his least favorite rotations. Shiro broke him from his train of thought with a slight drum of his fingers on the dark tabletop. "So what's your first rotation? Your starting like next week so they should have pretty much sent you a solid schedule..." Lance swallowed down his coffee before he responded.

"My group decided we were doing neurology first, then psych, pediatrics, and the rest... I can't remember the exact order." Lance let out a little laugh and the older male joined him.

Shiro took a second to catch his breath before speaking seriously. He cleared his throat and folded his hands in a practiced and familiar way. He really did look like a doctor in that moment. "At all costs avoid Dr. Kaltenecker." Lance almost spit out his coffee and he struggled to breathe through his laughter. "I'm serious! He's the absolute worst. The neurology rotation almost killed me." Although he seemed serious Shiro smiled at him. "His dull voice practically haunted me even in my dreams."

Lance wiped the tears from his eyes. "Aren't you overreacting a bit?" Lance picked back up his coffee. "It's just one doctor. How bad can he really be?" He swirled the coffee in his cup to see how much he had left. Lance set the paper cup down.

Shiro rolled his eyes. "Once you get his rotations you'll understand exactly what I mean." It grew quiet and Lance noticed how tired he looked.

"How was your shift?" The younger male cleared his throat and tapped on the side of his cup. He hoped that his awkward changing of the subject would go unnoticed.

"Hard." Shiro sighed. "I knew that residency was rough but I just didn't realize how bad it actually was." There was a small laugh in his voice. Shiro was on his second year of residency. Soon Lance would be graduating medical school. The realization shocked him, he would have his internship and then he would be hoping and praying on Match day. His dream seemed so close yet far away at the same time.

"I read in one of the earlier logs that you wanted to go into emergency medicine." He gazed at Lance carefully like he was studying him and his reactions.

The younger male nodded cheerfully. "I pretty much knew going into high school that I wanted to be a doctor but by the end of freshmen year, I realized I wanted to be in the ER. Of course, I would like to specialize later. I'd really like to do a fellowship with pediatrics but that can wait. Have to become a doctor first." Lance waved away his small ramble with a small breathy laugh but Shiro seemed to take it all in like he generally enjoyed the conversation.

"I would like to do a fellowship later on too but I'm not sure exactly where. Emergency medicine just fits me. I don't see myself doing anything else." Shiro tapped his fingers on the table absentmindedly. "It's really amazing that you know what you want to specialize in and have already figured out that you want a fellowship. I didn't know this early. Good for you." Lance was blushing from Shiro's words. It felt like his hard work was finally being noticed and appreciated.

"Thank you." Lance put enough sincerity into the small phrase hoping that would somehow change the overall meaning of the two words. He was thankful, all Lance wanted was his efforts and accomplishments to be noticed. It was extra special since it was from someone he liked. Ever since they first met back when Lance was a sophomore he looked up to Shiro. He was humble and never looked down on Lance for being younger.

Shiro looked like he wanted to say more but his phone rang. He apologized quickly and answered the call. Lance didn't want to be nosy but he could hear the voice from the other side since they were practically yelling. "Hey, Keith..." Shiro pulled the phone away from his ear as Keith began talking again. "Can this wait? I'm kinda busy right now." Shiro smiled at Lance. "It's not the hard of an app to navigate." The person started talking and he seemed a lot calmer now but Lance could still hear the panic hidden in their voice.

Shiro nodded but then seemed to grow frustrated. "Seriously? How old are you?" Shiro sighed. "Just log in and hit chat. It'll put you in the chatroom and just start typing." There was an aggravated groan at the other end of the phone which made Lance snicker. He tried to drink his coffee to hide the fact that he was listening. "No, I get...Yeah, I'll log in...Just so you know you're ridiculous and I hate you." Shiro hung up and pulled up Pidge's app.

"What's wrong?" Lance asked as he shifted in his seat to get a look at the older male's phone screen.

"Keith is just being a drama queen and won't log in unless I'm there." Shiro smiled and looked up at him. "Sorry, this kinda interrupts things doesn't it?"

Lance shook his head as he fumbled for his phone. "I don't mind! I'll even join." Lance smiled as he opened his best friend's app. Shiro looked at him before entering the chatroom, trying to hide the growing smile that spread across his cheeks.