Chapter Text
In their first year of over thirteens competitions, Keith and James were both in team MFE. Then, Keith was kicked out of Texas and moved to Louisiana. He kept changing clubs after that - whoever was willingly to take him to competitions, despite his negative reputation, was enough for him.
It was around the time that Lance and James became friends and exchanged numbers to talk to each other outside of gymnastics. Nadia became good friends with the twins, too, and the four started to go out together every weekend a competition was on. Lance had hated Keith from his Texan days, but having James around didn’t helped - there was no one in the world that hated Keith Kogane more than James Griffin.
However, when the three of them were seventeen, Keith disappeared from competitions, and James and Lance made Team USA without their rival by their side. James found out he’d moved to Japan, and told Lance that he’d been adopted by his godparents. They didn’t seen him, until the international competition season, and by then, they had all grown up and changed.
Lance hardly recognised him. Not only had Keith gone through a glow up, but he acted different, too. The first few times they interacted were strange, and it took a while to get back to where they were before, but the way Keith treated him was still different. He wasn’t as mean, and he shouted less, and he was only a pain in the ass when his old teammates were around. Lance felt like a fool for not realising sooner.
Why hadn’t he seen nicer Keith as a sign? He could’ve stopped associating him with negative thoughts ages ago. They could’ve been friends! ’You are friends.’ A small voice in his head replied. If Keith thought they were friends, then they were and maybe one day, they’d be more than that, too.
…
Lance strapped James’s wrist, pulling back to keep it tight. “This okay?” He asked.
“Yeah. Thanks, Mclain.” James replied. They stood at the side of the warm up gym, trying to prepare themselves for the all around final. “If I don’t…make the podium, I want you to do it.” He told him.
“Ditto, dude.” Lance smiled, giving him a high five. “Let’s get America another win.”
”Five minutes before the opening ceremony. Five minutes before the opening ceremony. Please make your way to the performance gym.”
“I guess this is it.” Lance sighed.
“Yeah…I guess it is.” James agreed. Lance had never seen him so nervous at a competition before. “I’m going to go.”
” Cinq minutes avant la cérémonie d'ouverture. Cinq minutes avant la cérémonie d'ouverture. Veuillez vous rendre à la salle de sport de performance.”
“I’ll meet you there.” Lance told him, looking over his teammates shoulder to see Shiro leaning against the pommel horse. The Japanese athlete gave him a wink.
“Don’t miss the entrance, okay?” He asked, patting Lance on the back as he left him in the gym.
Lance sighed, smiling at the floor as he walked up to Shiro. “Hey Shiro, are you ready?” He asked.
“Yeah. We just need to find Keith.” He replied.
Lance gasped. “You lost Keith!” He exclaimed.
Shiro huffed, crossing his arms. “I didn’t…lose Keith - he went to the changing rooms to get something out of his locker. He just never came back..?”
“Dude, we need to go find him.” Lance replied. “Now!”
“Okay, okay, let’s go.” Shiro chuckled.
They walked through the warm up gym, exiting the double doors and walking down the corridor to the men’s changing rooms. Lance pushed open the door, walking inside and looking down each row for a guy with a mullet. “Ugh! I can’t see a mullet anywhere!” He groaned.
Shiro laughed.
“What?” Lance snapped.
“Nothing.” Shiro replied.
He sighed, walking to the end of the room and kicking open the toilet door. “Show yourself, Keith Kogane!” He exclaimed, stomping down the line.
“God, Lance! Don’t surprise me like that!” He yelled. He opened the door and walked past him to get to the sinks. “Next time, can you please let me go to the toilet in peace?”
“Next time, can you please get to the competition on time?” Lance mocked.
Keith huffed. “I’m not late.”
“Yet.” Lance told him.
“Enough.” Shiro snapped, making the two boys turn around in surprise. “Can we go, now?”
”Two minutes before the opening ceremony. Two minutes before the opening ceremony. Please make your way to the performance gym.”
“Thank you!” Lance exclaimed.
…
Achieving bronze should’ve felt amazing, but Lance wasn’t amused. He’d done everything he could to make it to the podium and once again, everything he could wasn’t enough to beat Keith Kogane. It was silly, considering how he’d started to think of the other boy as his friend, but two days could never destroy all the pain the mullet-haired gymnast caused him at competitions. It didn’t matter where he was, or what event they were performing in, Keith always managed to bring Lance down on himself. Of course Shiro would get gold, but it hurt when Keith got silver because it only confirmed that Lance was still worse than him.
After dealing with the press and showing up to celebrations, Lance snuck away and locked himself in his hotel room. His mouth hurt from all the fake smiles and he was exhausted with all the pretending that he was okay. In a way, he felt selfish. Whining over only getting bronze was an arrogant thing to do, and coming third place in an Olympic event was an incredible achievement - being overly upset made Lance feel like he was acting like a sore loser.
The way Lance thought was messed up, and he knew it, but it was hard to break out of habits. For almost four years, his self worth had always depended on if he was better than Keith because Keith was the best at everything and if Lance wasn’t the one best at everything, he wasn’t worthy of anything - Keith was worthy. Lance wanted to think Keith liked him and he wanted to act on his crush, but the demons of the past refused to let him. Spending time with Keith would always end negatively and now he’d started to like him, it only hurt more.
Instead of celebrating his win, Lance spent the night sobbing into the pillow of his bed. His mind split up between his desire to blame Keith for his mental health and all the problems in his gymnastic career and his desire to love, support and worship him, Lance took a long time to finally fall asleep. However, before he did, he decided the healthiest decision was for him to avoid his rival, until he was feeling better. There was no point interacting with him when he was the only making him feel miserable. The girls all around final was the next day, so there wouldn’t be any men’s heats ; it made Lance’s decision easier knowing there was no reason that he would have to be in the same room as him.
It might have been silly for Lance to hate his medal, but it didn’t seem silly to him.
…
Veronica sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed. “You’re going to have to get out of bed today, Hermano.” She told him. Lance pulled the cover over his face and hid beneath it. “Your friends are waiting for you. Rachel was worried when you didn’t come down for breakfast.”
“No tengo hambre.” He replied.
“Tendrás más oportunidades de vencer a Keith. No es el fin del mundo, Alejandro.” She murmured, pulling down the cover.
“Este es el fin del mundo. Nunca venceré a Keith!” He exclaimed. “I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!”
“You don’t mean that.” Veronica sighed. “Estoy tan orgulloso de ti. Hiciste todo lo que pudiste. Deberías estar orgulloso de tu bronce, hermano.” She told him. She groaned as Lance grabbed the cover and threw it over his face. “Stop acting like a child!” She snapped. “You are a very silly boy, Alejandro. You cannot continue to act like this every time you lose a competition to Keith Kogane - it is not healthy. I thought you were getting better at dealing with it.”
Lance let out a cry. “Pero no es justo. Quiero ser importante.” He exclaimed.
“You are importante, muy importante.” She told him. Veronica moved further back onto the bed, taking the cover off her brother to cuddle him. “Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, okay Hermano?”
“Okay, Vee.” He murmured.
“Are you ready to get dressed now?” She asked him, stroking her hands through the curls of his bed hair. Lance shook his head. “Fine.” She sighed to herself.
…
“Come oooon, Lance!” Rachel moaned. “You can’t stay in here all day!” She exclaimed. The Holts had disappeared and with Ryan and James watching Nadia and Ina in the Girls All Around, Rachel was the only one left to deal with her brother. At least he had showered and gotten dressed after Veronica left him to mope alone, but he was back into bed, hypnotised by the screen of his phone. “Laaaaance!”
He ignored her, tapping away on his phone and turning on his side.
“Really”She huffed. “Is this how you want to play?” She walked to his bed and grabbed his feet.
“Ra—“ Lance began. She pulled, heaving her brother onto the floor. “Rachel!” He yelled.
“Stand up. We’re leaving.” She told him. “I can do this all day.”
Lance sighed, picking up his phone and putting it into his short’s pocket. He stood up and joined her. “You’re not nice.” Lance replied.
“Don’t care, let’s get something to eat.”
“But I got room service, earlier.” Lance whined as Rachel opened the door and marched out into the corridor.
“That was your breakfast. Hours ago. We’re getting lunch.” She replied.
Lance locked the door with his keycard and speed-walked to catch up to her. “But what if Keith is there?” He asked her. “If he comes up to me, I’m coming back to my room.”
“Good thing he’s in the gymnastics centre then. The whole Japanese team went to support the girls in the all around.” Rachel explained.
“Bu—“
“Come on, Alejandro.” His sister moaned. “Stop moping around and move on! We can’t keep doing this every time you’re beaten by Keith. I thought you were over this. I thought you liked him.”
“I do like him!” Lance exclaimed.
Rachel sighed. “You told Veronica you hated him.” She argued.
“Yeah, but that’s because I hate it when he beats me.” Lance huffed. “I like him as a person, and I like his eyes, but I don’t like his hair, and that stupid mullet.”
“You like his eyes?” She smirked, teasingly.
“Shut up, and let me appreciate his eyes in peace.” He replied, crossing his arms.
“What if I want to appreciate his eyes with you?”
“Oh, no you don’t - he’s my gay bean!” Lance exclaimed. Realising the stares he attracted, he blushed, going quiet and Rachel laughed.
“Gay bean?” She muttered with a smile.
Lance elbowed her in the hip and huffed. After a while, he whispered a reply - “I call him my bean because he’s small.” He told her.
“You’re so cute.” Rachel smiled.
He sighed. “Lunch?” He asked, realising they’d passed the dining area and stopping in the middle of reception.
“Shit.”
…
Lance moved into the splits and stretched his arms out in front of him. With Keith and Shiro not entering the heats, Lance had more time to sort out his emotions. However, he was up against Lotor, the guy he beat to third in the all around, and that meant trouble. Lance pulled his legs together pointed them in front of him, holding his feet with his wrists and hiding his head in his arms.
”Fifteen minutes, until men’s floor exercise heats. All athletes to the performance gymnasium in fifteen minutes.”
“Quinze minutes, jusqu'à l'étage des hommes. Tous les athlètes au gymnase de performance en quinze minutes.”
Lance sighed, standing up and walking over to the mat. He ran, diagonally, into a front handspring and joined it with a double twist. He landed without a wobble and smiled - he was going to be okay. Lance swung down into a handstand and moved his legs into the splits. He held it for five seconds, before moving his legs back into a handstand and transferring his body into a bridge. Lance stood up and took a couple of deep breaths, before doing two aerials down the side of the mat.
“Hey, dude.” Matt called as he walked up to the mat. “How long do you need before you’re ready?” Ryan was concentrating on pommel horse and James had decided not to enter anymore competitions, so it was only the two of them taking part.
Lance joined him at the edge of the mat. “I’m warmed up, but I need to get my equipment bag and talk to coach.” He replied. Iverson wanted to talk to him about the recent improvements they had added to his routine.
“I’ll come with you. After what happened yesterday, I’ve been really nervous about performing.”
“You did the best you could.” Lance told him. Matt had only gotten bronze in the men’s vault, while Shiro achieved gold and Bandor, from team GB, got silver. “We’re going to do great, today. I just know it.”
Lance was right - good luck was on their teams side when Lance qualified first and Matt qualified third. Of course Lotor was annoyingly perfect as usually, ranking second, and with Bandor qualifying seventh, the floor event would be another battle between team USA and team GB.