Loud Mouth, Soft Smile (Klance/Voltron)

First Impressions

"My names Keith, Keith Kogane," the voice small was yet held a bitter tone. Lance noticed Keith's eyes scan the room, looking like he was trying to find a escape.Before anyone could move Mr. Kendrick's their gym teacher spoke again. 

"As you all should know we'll be doing our badminton course today, find a partner to compete with today. Any questions you know where to find me," he made his way back to the old wooden bench that leaned against the gymnasium walls, making a loud thud sound as he plopped himself onto it. 

Kids scattered around already going to their best friend's. Lance hated partner based events, he was either stuck alone or with whoever wasn't picked and there usually was a good reason for it. He looked around, happy faces were sprung about as friends chatted and fooled around with the badminton rackets but something, no someone caught his eye. Keith stood frozen where he had been at the beginning of class.

Lance sighed putting on his usual sly smile. As he grew closer he felt his heart pound a little faster, confidence slowly draining out of his system. He gulped tugging at his blue baseball t-shirt before speaking. 

"H-Hey," he mentally slapped himself for stuttering.

Keith looked up at him letting his hands droop to his sides. "We meet again," he said with a bit of attitude making Lance frown but quickly shrugged it off.

"Wanna be partners? Seems were both loners," Lance chuckled a bit at himself. Keith looked left to right looking at all the other partners who fooled around carelessly.

"I guess there's no other choice huh," he said with a small smile. Lance felt his chest grow heavy and cheeks colour a faint pink. He smiled back his old mindset kicking back in. Quickly he motioned Keith over to the rackets. They both grabbed one and a birdie. Lance couldn't help but giggle when he saw Keith looking dumbfounded at his badminton racket.

"Never seen a racket before?" his giggle had turned into soft laughter. Placing a hand over his mouth to stifle it as best he could.

"I've never been a sporty person..." Keith said with a small hint of sadness in his voice. Lance only managed a "oh" feeling the mood turn heavy.

"Well come on we'll need to get you to become a pro in about 10 minutes before we start this tournament!" Lance exclaimed throwing a over dramatic fist pump into the air. "I say bad and you say minton, bad!". Keith blinked a few times before opening his mouth.

"B-badminton?" Lance made a confused noise looking at him. 

"We'll work on it..." he sighed before turning and walking towards a empty space in the gym, he twiddled the birdie in his fingers. "Okay mullet first things first you need to get your battle stance right."

"Did you just call me mullet?" his face was a mix of anger and confusion. 

"Hey if you don't wanna be called it don't wear the look," Lance defended throwing up his hands in a surrender fashion, only to get a grunt from the clearly displeased boy. 

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Keith swung his racket aggressively missing the birdie entirely, only to face-plant right onto the cold floor. He laid there for a few heartbeats before springing back up, face more focused. "Another, hit me another," his voice held confidence but his body screamed otherwise.

"Are you sure man? You've fell onto the floor at least 20 times now...we can just take a break and hope for the best during the tournament. I'm sure we wouldn't come last," Lance rubbed the back of his neck looking at the other teams only to see them hit their birdies with ease, some playing mini games among each other. Oh how they were so screwed.