Work Text:
“So, you tell two truths about yourself and one lie. Then, everyone guesses which one’s the lie.”
“And…this is entertaining?” Allura asked, eyeing Lance curiously.
“It’s great for team bonding!” Lance grinned. “Besides, what else can we do while we’re waiting on the rest of the team to come back with supplies?”
Keith rolled his eyes. “We could be training.”
“You and Lance could use a little team bonding,” Shiro commented, smiling slightly when Keith and Lance both shot him a glare.
Allura nodded. “You do have a point, Shiro.” She settled back in her seat. “So, we’ll play this game until the others return?”
“Or longer if you’d like,” Lance offered with a wink.
Allura grimaced. “Just until they come back will be fine.”
Shiro glanced over at the other three. “So, who’s going-”
Lance beamed. “I’ll go first. So,” he held up a hand and ticked off his fingers one by one. “One, I’m the oldest kid in my family. Two, I’ve broken my arm twice. Three, I’m the best kisser in the universe.”
“It’s two truths and one lie, not one truth and two lies,” Keith drawled. “Come on, Lance.”
Lance scowled. “Hey! You don’t even know which one’s the lie!”
“You’re not the oldest. And you’re definitely not the best kisser.”
“You don’t know that!”
Keith raised a brow. “We all saw that picture of your family. No way were you the oldest.”
“You-” Lance raised a brow. “Wait, you remember that?”
“Well, yeah.” Keith shrugged. “It wasn’t that long ago.”
“Okay, let’s just say Keith won this round and next time we stick to more objective statements,” Shiro intervened, sensing a fight was brewing if they returned to the comment on Lance’s kissing. “So, Keith, you can go next.”
“Okay.” Keith considered for a moment, then he spoke. “One, I never failed a class in school. Two, I had my wisdom teeth taken out when I was 16. Three, I hated playing sports as a kid.”
Lance scoffed. “Too easy. The second one’s the lie.”
Keith glanced over at him. “Maybe. Anyone else wanna weigh in?”
Allura shrugged. “Lance does seem fairly confident.”
Shiro smiled. “I know the first one’s true.”
Lance waved a hand. “Yeah, yeah. The second one was too specific. You’re a terrible liar, Keith.”
Keith scowled. “Really?”
“Yeah, if you really want to win, you’ve got to try harder than that.”
Shiro sighed. “Okay, Lance wins. Great work. I’ll go next.” Lance smirked, and Keith clearly fought the urge to suggest they take out some frustration in the training room. Shiro leaned forward. “Okay. One, I had to wear glasses as a kid. Two, I had an imaginary twin sister when I was young. Three, I’m the shortest of all my cousins.”
“Oh, it’s gotta be three,” Lance jumped in immediately. “You’re a giant! No way are you the shortest.”
Keith shook his head. “I’ve seen his cousins. That one’s true.” He spoke over Lance’s awed “seriously?” and asked, “Is it one? I don’t think I ever saw pictures of you with glasses.”
Shiro chuckled. “What do you think, Allura?”
Allura grinned. “I think it’s the second one.”
Shiro nodded. “Allura’s right. I had an imaginary pet dragon, actually.”
Allura cheered. “Yes!” She smiled over at Lance. “This is fun.”
“It’s your turn,” Lance pointed out with a smile of his own.
“Right. Hmmm…” She glanced down at the space mice perched on her lap. “Oh, I know! One, I’ve never ridden a wild yalmor. Two, I’ve only lost to the Gladiator five times. Three, my father once let me braid his beard.”
Keith frowned. “I’m going with the second one.”
Lance chimed in. “Seconded.”
“Shiro?” Allura asked.
Shiro raised a brow. “No, that one’s too obvious. I think it’s the first one.”
She laughed. “Shiro’s right! I have ridden a wild yalmor!” Her voice dropped. “Only…don’t tell Coran. It wasn’t exactly allowed.”
Lance and Keith chuckled while Shiro nodded. “Your secret’s safe with us, Princess.”
“I wish there was a picture of the king with his beard braided, though,” Lance said.
Allura nodded. “I do, too.” She looked over at Lance. “So, is the game over, then?”
“Not by a long shot!” He moved forward and counted off on his fingers once again. “One, I was pitcher for my neighborhood little league for three years. Two, I tried to teach myself how to be ambidextrous cause I saw it in a book when I was eight. It didn’t take. Three, I can French braid.”
“Three,” Keith answered. “Are you even trying?”
“Hey!” Lance shouted, turning on him. “You don’t know that!”
“You told us you missed being with your sister and you were sad you’d miss learning how to French braid her kid’s hair.”
“How do you remember that?”
“Like I said, it wasn’t that long ago,” Keith insisted.
Shiro leaned back in his seat. “That’s still pretty impressive.”
“Perhaps you and Lance are closer than you realize,” Allura suggested with a smile.
Lance shuddered. “Yeah, right.”
“Lance…” Shiro began.
“Guess I’m next,” Keith cut him off. “One, I was really into reading nonfiction as a kid. Two, I didn’t learn to swim until I was 12. Three, when I was a kid, I made my music teacher retire early because I was the worst violin student in the world.”
“That’s not objective,” Lance pointed out.
“Her words, not mine,” Keith clarified.
Shiro grinned. “You never learned violin. It’s the third one.”
Lance snorted. “You’re half-right. He never learned violin. But, no, it’s the first one.” Lance sent Keith a smug smile. “I bet you were obsessed with those old Star Fighters spin-off books, weren’t you?”
Keith’s eyes widened. “How do you…?”
Lance shrugged. “Hey, you weren’t the only one. I always thought I’d make a great Lucas Skyrunner.”
Keith snorted. “You would think that.”
“Great work, Lance,” Shiro said. “You’re really good at this.”
Lance smirked. “Well, Keith’s making it pretty easy.”
Keith grimaced, a sharp retort already prepared until Shiro spoke, “Okay, I guess I’m next, then. One, when I was a kid, I told everyone I’d be the drummer in a band when I grew up. Two, for a year in middle school, I dyed my hair blue.”
“Bet you pulled it off,” Lance muttered.
“I did, actually.” Shiro chuckled. “Three, I wrecked my first car driving over the mailbox the day I got it.”
“It was the third one, definitely.” Keith folded his arms over his chest. “I remember you bragged about driving the same car since the day you got your license.”
“You’re right.” Shiro rubbed the back of his neck. “I forgot I told you that.”
“Oh, come on, now Keith’s winning?!” Lance protested.
A soft ping sounded from the console and Allura walked over to tap the screen. “It looks like Coran, Hunk, and Pidge are on their way back.” She turned to them. “Just in time for one more round.” She sat back down. “So, I’ll finish this off. One, my favorite color as a child was pink. Two, I used to be fluent in 28 different languages. Three, the first time I picked up a crossbow, I shot Coran in the foot.”
Shiro chuckled. “For Coran’s sake, I hope number three is the lie.”
Allura smiled and glanced over at Keith and Lance. “What do you think?”
Keith frowned. “Number two. I think it was more than 28.”
“No, no, no. It’s the first one. Her favorite color wasn’t pink,” Lance said.
Allura nodded. “Very good, Lance.” She stood. “Now, let’s prepare to help the others bring in the supplies.”
“Wait!” Lance jumped to his feet. “But, Keith and I are tied! We can’t stop now!”
Keith sighed. “We’ll just call it a draw.”
“No way!”
After an entire evening of enduring Lance’s whining and assurances that he would totally have won if they’d only kept going for another round, Keith went straight to the training room to work off some of his annoyance. Unfortunately, no matter how many training bots he cut down, he couldn’t shake Lance’s words out of his mind. Part of him was caught on his competitive nature, wanting to prove that Lance was wrong and another part was still digesting the way Lance seemed so surprised that Keith noticed and remembered such little details.
Clearly, though, that didn’t mean anything. They were a team, and it hadn’t been that long. Of course Keith would have remembered.
He sighed. “End training sequence.”
Time to deal with this problem a little more directly. He grabbed a quick shower and went straight to the common room where Lance and Hunk were talking about the food they missed most from Earth.
“Ready to settle this?”
Lance jumped to his feet. “Of course! I’ll go get Shiro and-”
“No, just you and me.” Keith folded his arms over his chest. “We’re the ones tied, aren’t we?”
“Fine! Hunk can keep score.”
“I had a better idea.” He sat down on the other side of Hunk. “How about we go until the other person messes up? We say a fact and the other person says if it’s true or a lie. First mistake loses.”
“Fine by me.” Lance dropped back into his seat. “Who starts?”
Hunk glanced between the two of them, looking a little on edge now that he was caught between the two. “Well, since Keith suggested it, maybe he…should go first?”
Lance gasped. “Hunk, you traitor.”
“That’s okay. Lance can go first.” Keith smirked. “I’ll win anyway.”
“No, no. You know what? Fine. Keith can go first.” Lance settled back in his seat. “I’ll beat him. No problem.”
Keith shrugged. “Fine. When I was a kid, I had a pet snake.”
“Lie.” Lance was sure enough that he didn’t even pause. “When I was ten, I cried for a week because I couldn’t go to the same school as my older sister.”
“True.” Lance waved a hand for Keith to continue. “I wanted to be a firefighter when I was a kid.”
“Totally true.” Keith nodded, and Lance smiled. “My mom told me I’d make a great cook when I was younger.”
“Lie. You almost set her kitchen on fire.”
Hunk chuckled. “I remember that story.”
Lance scowled. “How did you know that?”
“You told us all when we were on that long trip to the Arusian outpost two months ago. Remember?” Keith answered.
“Oh, yeah,” Lance murmured.
Keith thought a moment. “Okay, I hate chocolate cake.”
“True. My favorite breakfast is eggs and toast.”
“Lie, you never eat breakfast.” By now they’d stopped waiting for confirmation, leaving Hunk in the middle of the rapid-fire competition. Keith said, “I never learned to ride a bike.”
“Lie.” Lance shot back. “I’m scared of escalators.”
“True. You still have nightmares.” Keith answered, adding on, “You hate airports.”
“Yeah? You love the mountains.”
“Um, guys?” Hunk tried to interject.
Keith shot back. “Well, you asked your second grade teacher to marry you!”
“This isn’t what you said you were doing,” Hunk said, eyeing them both.
Lance spoke over him, “You memorized the periodic table in high school to win a bike.”
“You tried to win your high school spelling bee to impress a girl!”
“You used to be scared of heights!”
Keith scowled. “You struck out with every girl in our class at the Garrison.”
Lance blushed. “You… You totally recognized me when we found Shiro!”
Hunk’s eyes widened. “Whoa.”
“And you actually like my hair,” Keith shouted, leaning in.
“Oh, come on.” Lance scoffed, looking at Hunk. “You know that’s a lie.”
Hunk raised a brow.
Lance sank back in his seat, his blush darkening. “Fine. I don’t hate your mullet. It’s a mullet, and I hate mullets, but for some reason, I don’t hate yours.” He shot Keith a glare. “You’re still annoying.”
“Yeah, so are you.”
“You need to learn to have fun.”
Keith scowled. “You need to stop flirting all the time.”
“Why? It’s not like you’re jealous.”
The trio fell silent, and Hunk tried his best to blend in with the couch as Keith pointedly looked away.
Lance stared. “Oh, quiznak, you are.”
Keith stood. “Well, I was right, I guess. This game was a waste of time, and I beat you.” He headed for the door, his shoulders and back stiff. “So now you can shut up about it.”
Lance sprinted after him the instant he left the room. “Wait! Keith, seriously? You’re actually jealous?”
“Try shouting a little louder. Maybe the whole castle will hear you.”
Lance winced. “Hold on, I didn’t mean-”
“What?” Keith turned to look at him, barely maintaining a neutral tone to his voice. “What exactly didn’t you mean?”
Lance looked down. “I just… I didn’t mean to force you into saying something you didn’t want to. So, look, I’ll pretend you didn’t, if you want, and I’ll tone down the flirting.” He chuckled. “Honestly, I’m just glad you actually knew who I was after all.”
Keith relaxed. “You don’t have to pretend I didn’t say it.”
“And you know Hunk won’t say anything.”
“I’m not worried about that.” Keith shook his head.
“Or I mean…” Lance shrugged, deliberately forcing a casual tone, despite how he fidgeted. “I could just flirt with you instead.”
Keith paused, his heart caught between flat lining and racing as Lance’s words hit home. “You could.”
Lance looked up and grinned when he saw the way Keith eyed him. “Okay. I will.” He winked. “Hot stuff.” He smirked and sauntered to his room.
Keith watched him, his bland expression hiding the way warmth spread through his stomach and his breathing hitched at Lance’s casual compliment.
Maybe the game hadn’t been such a waste of time after all.