#vld 2

Aight forgive me, I just joined the fandom, but I need to rant about this scene a little (I’m sure it’s been done before, but bear with me).

Keith and Lance’s banter is surprisingly childish considering they’re in their late teens. It’s dialogue that one would find between a couple of 7-year-olds caught between a petty, territorial rivalry. But I think it’s deeper than that because of this.

The whole distance thing Keith keeps reiterating just adds to the strangeness of it. Here they are, fighting together and saving each other’s lives, being next to each other every step of the way. Now, when it comes to a pool, Keith decides that they should just stay far apart.

Very, very far apart.

This isn’t some fucking rivalry. This is tension.

What’s more interesting is that Keith’s comment...was unsolicited. Keith engages Lance in conversation and the first thing he says is basically “hey don’t worry about it, we’ll just not be near each other in the pool”. Keith’s remark is indicative of him voicing his own internal insecurities, perhaps about the relationship. He’s insecure and perhaps questioning what is going through Lance’s mind, and he immediately jumps to the conclusion, he’s uncomfortable. Keith assumes Lance is uncomfortable or tense because Keith IS uncomfortable and tense.  

Literally yall when you have crushes and one of those awkward, “oof” moments come up between yall, the first thing you do is to set up a defense mechanism. “It’s not like I like you”, “I’m not making this awkward. This isn’t awkward at all”, “it’s not like I’m acting interested”. It’s a way of regulating your internal doubts by externally voicing out assumptions that just exacerbate the fact you have those doubts in the first place. That’s Keith. Convincing himself he doesn’t feel awkward around a half-naked Lance.