Dirty Laundry by Gibslythe

Day 6 Ch. 22

Wednesday, December 21st

5:21 P.M .

Lance was not pleased.

And Keith? Keith was embarrassed.

First of all, kissing Lance had been bittersweet. It was, in all honesty, everything he'd imagined it would be. He only wished it could've happened somewhere better, somewhere romantic, somewhere that wasn't a fucking lazer tag area. And it didn't help that now Rosa saw them as two horny college kids (which they most definitely were) and that her suspicions of them being sex-crazed were true. Which truly helped their poorly crafted boyfriend lie, but sure didn't help Keith win her approval in anyway.

The red team (aka Lance and Keith) came in last place and lost by over eighty thousand points. Rachel and Danny were the official victors, winning only because of that ridiculous stunt they'd pulled at the very end. Taking over a base, repeatedly shooting a vest, and not being attacked in the process tended to have its benefits.

"It was like stealing from a bank without any cops to stop you!" Rachel cried while describing Danny and her victory. The group had finished their game earlier, and were politely told to never come back to the lazer tag arena (they'd broken too many rules.) They'd made their way over to the restaurant part of the arcade instead, now piled into a round booth.

Lance banged his head down against the restaurant table, groaning loudly. "I can't believe I lost," He grumbled into the linoleum surface for the seventh time that evening. "Please. Please let me have another round."

Rachel laughed and took a slurp of the mint oreo shake she shared with Danny. "Nope, we can't. Your boyfriend over there broke his blaster."

"Because you ran him against a wall," Lance stated matter-of-factly, having moved his head up from the table. "and you blackmailed him into kissing me for a diversion. That's illegal."

"Illegal? Hardly. I know illegal."

Jaime looked beyond uncomfortable, and had stayed that way since they'd been kicked from the arena. Keith knew he was trying hard, and often he would push himself to smile or laugh along with the group's jokes. Jaime wanted more than anything to be supportive, which is why he'd agreed to the damn group date in the first place.

Keith was silent while he watched the family exchange, taking his own sip of the strawberry milkshake Lance and him shared. Lance had picked out the flavor (something about strawberries being the alpha fruit), and Keith agreed solely because he wanted to share. Sharing milkshakes was romantic, and cute, and equally gay. Keith considered himself to be all of those things.

"Anyway," Rachel began, dipping a fry into her shake. "Lance and Keith are nasty. Definitely just confirmed by me."

"Um, no," Lance began, pointing his finger at Rachel and Daniel accusingly. "Do you two remember a few years ago when it was Danny bringing home Rachel for Christmas? You were ten times worse. I almost died from PDA overload."

"And who was it that just made out in a laser tag arena? Not me." Danny said this pointedly, leaning over Rachel's food to stare Lance down.

Lance opened his mouth to defend himself, but Rosa interrupted him. "Oh, shush! I want to talk about the old days." Rosa began to chuckle, thinking back causing her sentimental heart swell. "Back when Rachel and Danny were in college! It was so long ago! You two were so cute, and Danny was constantly a blushing mess."

"I know someone else who's a blushing mess," Rachel muttered under her breath, only to earn an elbow jab from Lance. He was in fact blushing, and a maddening color of red too.