Chapter Text
Lance really shouldn’t have been so surprised when he found out that both Hunk and Pidge were not so secret lovers of the horrendous art form of Country Music.
It wasn’t even an art form!
So when Pidge and Hunk offered him a weekend trip to a full blown Country Music Festival, Lance promptly laughed. Laughed his was away from the conversation and to his bed, laughing far enough into his dreams that slowly turned to nightmares about guitars, late afternoon beers, trucks, young love, and girls, and girls-
And suddenly Lance’s dream turned good again.
But sadly, Hunk had won two tickets to this country music festival thing. He was going to ask Pidge but the little genius had already been planning on going, meaning Hunk had an extra ticket for free. And as a student going to University, Lance could never pass up anything ‘Free’ in the title. It would have been an abomination. Also, what kind of roommate would he have been if he let his best friend ever, Hunk, go to some horrible festival alone?!
Yeah! Not a very good one.
So he could suffer through the abhorrent country events for the free viewing of hot girls in jean short shorts and cowboy hats.
The buff cowboy guys in tight, checkered shirts were also a nice touch.
Yeah, Lance could suffer through it.
“Ughh, how much longer!” he whined like a child, full body splayed out in the back of the Hunk’s Mom’s Mini Cooper Countryman.
… Their small car even had the word ‘Country’ in it. Lance couldn’t believe it. The signs had been there all along.
“We’re almost there man, take it easy.” Hunk offered, completely hunched over in the front, cautiously driving 10 miles under the speed limit. The soon-to-be engineer was too big for his seat, but he had somehow found enough inner excitement to get him through the five hour long car ride, even with Lance continually moaning loudly in the back begrudgingly.
“You know, if you hate country so much, why did you say yes to coming?” Pidge asked, typing away on her computer. She was creating a very detailed, very precise and organized plan of each day that was to pass. She had each moment scheduled down to a ‘T’. There were just too many things to see and experience and she didn’t want to miss out on a single thing.
“Because you see Pidge, these tickets were for free,” was Lance’s chide response.
“Via Hunk,” Pidge interrupted with a quip, but Lance easily ignored her.
“And how could I say no to all the pretty guys and gals who would miss seeing this pretty face had I not shown up?” He offered a sly grin and wink towards Pidge’s direction, even though she kept her eyes locked on the screen in front of her and therefore not Lance. At the tone of his overconfident tone, she couldn’t help but groan and roll her eyes, just knowing the lewd gestures he made.
The absolute worst thing, Lance thought while he shoved his hand into an opened bag of Doritos, was that Hunk made six lengthy playlists for their road trip. This was excessive to start with. The problem? Every playlist featured only country music.
How his friend even knew and better yet liked six playlists worth of country tunes was beyond Lance. Way beyond him.
How were he and Hunk still friends?
Lance shuddered.
“Turn left at exit 26a, Hunk.” Pidge called out.
“So who’s even performing anyway?” Lance inquired with a soft expression, looking out the window. They were in the flatter lands now of America now; there was no ocean, desert, or mountains in sight. He sighed, never liking the change as they further progressed into the prairies. He lived by the ocean for a reason, always had. He honestly missed the smell of salt and moisture in the air.
“Huh?” Hunk asked, watching out for the oncoming exit. He found it with a sort of anxiety-ridden exhale, and slowly pulled away from the highway. He was just thankful to finally be away from the fast paced traffic.
“Who’s playing? It is a country music festival, isn’t it?” Lance readdressed, more Doritos in his mouth.
“Oh, well, I think tomorrow night it’s Keith Urban, Band Perry and Garth Brooks. I think, don’t take my word on it, but I know Tim McGraw and a bunch of others are playing on Sunday as a grand finale. But, yeah, that’s only at night, dude.”
“What? What kind of music festival only holds shows at night? That’s bogus!”
Hunk hunched his shoulders more into himself, looking sheepish. “Well, umm, Lance, that’s because it’s not really a music festival. It’s Country Fest! Meaning it’s celebrating everything Country: music, food, events, et cetera! I know there are a bunch of rides and there’s also two nightclubs, I think.”
“Yeah, there’s Rotary House and Nashville North. The second one is more for our age.” Pidge said, looking at her computer screen with a frown. “At least that’s what Matt said when he went with Shiro and Allura last year.”
Hunk hummed in acknowledgement. “Are we still meeting up with them all this year?”
Pidge simply shrugged in retort. “I think so. I know we’re meeting up with Matt later tonight. I don’t know about Allura and Shiro, though. Apparently they have to help set something up first? But we’ll see.” Pidge said, singing the tune of the song softly underneath her breath. Noticing what was playing, she saved the file and put her laptop back in its place. Pidge then switched the song back to the beginning and started playing air guitar with her elongated fingers. Lance muttered desperately to himself, begging for some kind of merciful God to kill him right then and there.
“I hope we’ll see them this evening,” Hunk responded, ever so kind. “It’s been over a year since I last saw them. And Allura is engaged to him now, right?”
“Yup,” Pidge said with a pop. “Shiro asked her after she won that award for her thesis last semester.”
“Wow,” Hunk marvelled. “I still can’t believe that our babysitter Allura got engaged, and to our old TA and your brother’s roommate no less. It’s perfect!”
“Yeah, nice guy, indeed. Did I tell you that he saved my grade when he edited my final paper? Best. TA. Ever!” Pidge called out, still playing air guitar with her fingers.
“Wait, what was that about clubs?” Lance asked again, coming in late about the conversations about nightclubs/God's gift to humanity. Lance spoke loudly over the atrocious song currently being played about Summer and Forever by a Dallas something or other.
Lance hated it either way.
“Yeah, there’s two nightclubs on the venue. Apparently Nashville North is the one we're supposed to try.”
Lance nodded, taking his chin into his pointed, slim fingers.
“Okay, so here’s the plan, team. We get to our hotel by 8, freshen up, and then hit up the town! Oh yeah! They already did the grand opening right?”
Pidge nodded, picking her glasses up. “Yeah, the opening parade was earlier this afternoon.”
“Awesome!” Lance laughed, faking an exuberant cheer. “So Country Fest will just barely be ready to take on the Lancenator. Pew Pew!” He shouted, making gun noises with his fingers and an exaggerated wink.
Hunk and Pidge simultaneously groaned from their front seats.
***********
Pidge had figured that the best way to shut Lance up from his hatred of anything country was via alcohol, so she predictably placed ‘Night Club’ as their first activity for the roadtrip.
Lance was forever grateful for this inceptive decision.
Inside the club and closing in on midnight, Lance took his third shot of tequila after his fourth failure of hooking up with someone.
“Hunk, what’s wrong with me? Am I not wearing these clothes right or something?” Lance begged the question, looking down to his unfamiliar outfit. He thought he looked good, with boot legged washed out jeans and a blue flannel shirt. The flannel was purposely left unbuttoned at the top to show off the black muscle shirt underneath. He'd been spending extra time in the gym, his chest looking extra muscley as of late. Lance thought he looked hot, boots and all.
But apparently everyone else here didn't agree since no one was interested, or already taken, or was just here for fun (and not the makeout/one-night stand kind of fun, either).
“I think it’s just your luck. I mean, you’re going for people in your league.”
Lane whistled, alcohol evident in his speech. “Jeez, thanks Hunk.”
“No problem! But yeah, I think it’s just your luck that no one seems to be single. Maybe this is a Couples Club and we just didn’t know?”
Hunk. Ever the Optimist.
“Yeah, if that were the case you would have brought Shay instead…” Lance pouted meekly, falling into a lifted chair against a railing in the corner, away from the dance floor.
“Well, I would have, but you know she’s away on field work this week for Dr. Paulson. I couldn’t have asked her. She’s been so excited about the job since the beginning of semester.”
Lance groaned loudly, pained at Hunk's lack of understanding. Hunk was painfully taken. Lance was painfully not.... He needed to get laid.
He made grabby hands for Hunk’s beer, and took a quick swig of it before getting up and making his way to the dance floor.
“Well, guess you’re off then,” he heard Hunk say in the distance as he moved.
Lance felt a tinge of guilt for leaving Hunk, but the alcohol was starting to hit him in all the right places. So the feeling passed by smoothly and left little in its place save the perfect amount of dizziness and energy.
Even though the music was undeniably Country, Lance happily made his way to the center of the floor and began enjoying himself. He moved his hips to the rhythm of the guitar beat, underneath the blue and white flashing strobe lights that fell over his body like warmed halos. He could do this. He could enjoy this by himself.
Who needs someone anyway?
Lance rolled his head back, biting his lip with closed his eyes, trying to get into tune. It was difficult, but Lance tried to make do. He felt someone come up behind him, rub against his ass. Only with minor interest due to the many rejections he’d suffered, Lance decided to slowly test the waters. He pushed his ass back against the touch, but soon the hand quickly disappeared, a quick ‘oh, sorry’ being called out before it too drifted away.
This happened a few more times, every possible intrigued touch just ending up as an accident and backing off immediately. Lance was getting kind of annoyed. And hurt. Seriously, did he smell?
A little while later a smaller girl made his way beside him, grinding against his thigh while she danced with her friend. She was wearing adorable short shorts, her long blond hair perfectly kept in two braids as she swirled in her cowboy boots.
Lance was about to try and make the move when she called out, “I love this song! Isn’t Tim Mcgraw just the greatest? I love him so much!!”
Lance turned around and walked out of the dance floor back to Hunk, who remained watching from the corner. He muffled a laugh as Lance approached, sipping at his beer while he leaned against the counter like he was the hotshot in this scenario.
"So no luck then?" Hunk giggled.
“Yup, nope, can’t do it. You know, all these country kids are hot, but I don’t like anything they do. How am I supposed to even pretend to like the same things?! Ughhh!”
He fell back in his seat grabbing at Hunk’s beer, sipping at it again as he wallowed in his own self-pity. He laid his head in his hands with a sigh, tuning out the dreadful music.
And soon enough he felt a smaller body splay across his back, and he let out a muffled sound of discourage for the newcomer.
“Awwh, what’s the matter, baby. Nobody going for your lame icebreakers?” Pidge teased, nursing a glass a water in her hand. She did not want to spend the next day in hangover hell and miss the perfection of the many festivities. She saved up for this festival for a reason.
“You know, with all the guys and girls in here, I thought you’d have better chance of getting someone. You have twice the amount possibilities as everyone else does!”
"Not how bisexuality works, Pidge!” Lance cried out from between his arms.
“Come on, Pidge, be nice. Can’t you see he’s upset?” Hunk patted Lance's arm, and the Cuban boy let out a miffed whine underneath Hunk’s large hand. Pidge sighed, yet ignored Hunk, always one for being in favour of teasing Lance.
“So when’s Matt going to be here?” Hunk addressed Pidge while she took the empty seat beside their debby downer friend. She brought out her phone, checking the time.
“Ohh, he should actually be here any minute now-“ And as though it was perfectly timed, Hunk heard the ring of her phone, informing her of a text and Pidge instantly perked up, looking around. Her eyes roamed the floor before she started pointing with excitement, “Oh, there he is! Hey Matt!” Pidge all but screamed across the floor, noticing her brother hanging out by the coat check. She jumped off her seat, running towards the taller Holt sibling.
And that’s when Lance felt Hunk elbowing his side quickly, continually, harshly, trying to grab his attention.
“Ugh, what, Hunk??! Can’t you see that I need some time to dwell from the existence that is my horrible life?!”
Hunk rolled his eyes, grabbing Lance’s head in his hands and turning the other to look at the coat check, right beside Matt and Pidge.
And. Oh.
Okay.
Well then.
Who.
The.
Hell.
Was.
THAT?!
Lance’s jaw near dropped to the floor, looking at the creature who could not possibly be human. Maybe it was the tequila hitting him (it was totally the tequila hitting him) but the guy was gorgeous. Like, beyond gorgeous. Like, Greek and Roman and Egyptian Pharaoh Gods level of gorgeous.
And Lance wasn’t exaggerating with this simile at all, always remaining 100% accurate and truthful at all times. Yup. That was Lance.
The brown haired boy gulped, noticing as the man of interest walked underneath the fallen light of the hall. And Lance almost whole-heartedly believed his God analogy, because the kid was actually glowing.
He wore a red flannel shirt that was left unbuttoned at the top of his chest, showing off his well defined upper pecs. Unlike Lance, he wasn't wearing an undershirt, rather showing off his bare chest proudly. The flannel sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, his hair brought back in a low ponytail, enough so that his bangs and fringe fell tousled forward. He had deep, beautiful lavender coloured eyes, which only drew Lance deeper into the void.
What didn’t escape Lance was his dark washed jeans which were thin at his thighs. When he turned just slightly to the side, slouching with a bent knee, Lance could tell that they cupped his ass in all the right ways. The jean legs stretched out at his ankles, kind of like Lance’s loose bell bottoms but much more subtle, as they just barely covered his well-worn cowboy boots.
Yes. This God wore cowboy boots. And he was currently with Matt. And Pidge. And Shiro and Allura and oh no now they were walking over and they were getting closer, so much closer, and okay, okay Lance you can do this, just calm yourself down buddy, it’s okay, he’s human just like you, maybe, probably not, that’s actually not helping at all, so shut up brain and just breathe, ohhhhhhhhmygod he’s so close, he’ll notice something’s up, be cool, be cool, be cool and-
3.
2.
1…
“Well, hello Gorgeous.” Lance offered with his side grin and bedroom eyes. He saw from the side how Shiro’s eyes comically popped open. He was about to open his mouth and say something but Allura touched his chest to drag him out of his reverie, laughing instead at Lance’s awkward nature.
The God in human form lifted his eyebrow. “Actually, the names Keith.” He said straight to Lance, unimpressed. He then turned to the rest of the group, passing easily over Lance’s settle attempt at flirtation. “Howdy everyone, I’ve heard a lot about you guys,” he said, tipping his head to everyone as though he wore a straw hat.
Lance could barely get his jaw from off the floor as the guy, Keith, said his name in such a deep, raw, and dare he say erotic tone of voice. There was a slight accent hidden beneath the words, barely missed if Lance hadn’t been paying as much attention as he was. Was- was that a Texan accent?
“There’s a singer with that name.” Lance said out loud before thinking, and immediately wished he could regurgitate his own response.
Yeah, that third shot of tequila was not his best idea.
But Keith seemed to find it funny because he let out a small chuckle and a side eyed glare.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of guys with that name. I’m one of them.”
“So it appears.” Lance continued, unaware to the underlying tone. “But I have to say, I prefer the name ‘Gorgeous’.” Lance tried again with his faux-suave appearance, all the while trying to calm his rapidly beating heart. This guy was danger.
Keith’s eye twitched a little alongside Shiro’s, but he remained lofty and cool.
Like a cat hunting its prey, Lance tipsily thought.
“Uh huh, so now that we’ve established my name, what’s yours? Or should I just call you Idiot?”
“Keith!” Shiro reprimanded.
“What?” Keith asked, looking at Shiro. He crossed his arms in defiance, anger resonating over his sharp yet quaint features. Lance felt his heart thud a little, being so close to the aforementioned beauty. “Listen, I didn’t come here to just be hit on by some lame ass dude. I knew I shouldn’t have come, Shiro, I have to be up early for practice, anyways.” He ranted, turning on his heel to apparently leave.
And Lance blinked.
No! He couldn’t leave, not now! Not on Lance’s watch!
“Hey! I’m not a lame ass!” Lance fought back loudly and Keith stalled, halted completely. He slowly turned to Lance again, confused.
Lance counted this as a half win.
“Based on what you’re wearing, yeah you are. Sweet. Heart.” He clicked his tongue against his own words, the condescending nature present while he rolled his vocabulary together, blending the yeah into something that sounded like ‘yah y'ar’. Even so, the accent was only mildly there.
Pidge sighed, grabbing for Matt and Hunk’s arms.
“Okay, I’m done with this. Anyone want a drink? I may be rethinking my plan of staying sober for the evening.” She offered, and soon they had all disappeared save Allura and Shiro.
“What’s wrong with my outfit?!” Lance argued, actually hurt by that particular comment.
“Keith, take it easy, alright? I’m sure Lance didn’t mean anything by it.” Shiro peacefully requested at the same time Allura said, “Lance is just really tipsy.” Keith seemed entertained at the mention of Lance’s name, the confident and lustful gaze embedding over his features.
“No one wears light blue out here, boy. What, never fallin’ in the mud after being bucked by a bronc before?"
…
What was this guy even saying?
“Ahh, no, compadre. Obviously that’d get the outfit dirty, duhhh.” Lance chastised, very proud of his argument. He crossed his arms and grinned from what he thought to be a successful victory.
Keith tilted his head and offered a knowing smile. “Point proven.”
Lance furrowed his eyebrows and let his mouth hinge open. ‘Pompous Fuck’ he thought.
The engaged couple looked at each other and then back to the heated pair of roaming eyes with a sigh. “Wanna go get a drink?” Allura asked.
“Thought you’d never ask.” Shiro said, running his hand over the white piece of fluff on his head.
“You boys play nice." Allura called, grabbing for Shiro’s arm and dragging the larger man away. While walking towards the bar, Lance could hear the beautiful woman giggle.
“Don’t they kind of remind you of us when we first met?”
“Allura please don’t say that.”
And that left Lance and Keith alone, staring the other down with an intense heat, both waiting for the other to rise to the bait of a challenge.
Underneath the blue and white flashing lights and the goddamn guitar solo that never seemed to end, Lance only watched as Keith's eyes seemed to dilate, a look of pure want becoming visible within those beautiful pair of intense violet. Lance coyly bit his lip, mirroring Keith's own lustful expression.
The two remained silent, strong, and staring, and it was then that Lance noticed how Keith was trying to hold down a faint blush.
Or flush. Lance guessed that he heard the slight slur of Keith's words when he spoke, obviously detailing the night of pre-drinking to avoid the costly drinks at the club.
So, the dick was smart too.
And you know what? Yeah, Keith was a dick. That was the best way to describe him, Lance thought.
A dick. A complete dick. A gorgeous dick, but still a dick.
… A dick he’d like to have, in all honestly.
Lance decided to be open about his wants.
“So, wanna get out of here, Gorgeous?” Lance asked, tugging at Keith’s hand.
Keith looked to Lance with the same lewd expression and a vicious grin, one that really should have told Lance to run. “You know it.”
Lance was rather proud to admit that he spent the rest of his night against the cold wall outside, while the gorgeous dark haired boy rested on his knees as his bruised lips wrapped around Lance’s heated cock.