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Chapter 8
Operation Lovetron
“This is it. We are not failing this time. Alpha One is done with his meeting and he’s headed straight towards Alpha Two’s location.”
Lance hid around the corner from where Shiro was busy shaking hands with the men and women he’d been meeting with. He held his communicator up to his mouth, and when Shiro left the group he hit the talk button. “Alpha One is on the move. I repeat Alpha One is in play.”
He waited for a response.
“SushiGod, do you copy?”
Nothing. Lance sighed.
“Hunk? Are you there? You’re missing your cue.”
Finally, there was a crackle of static.
“Huh? Oh. Sorry. Forgot to hold down the button. Why are we using these old things again?”
“Never mind that … you need to head Alpha One off right now and lead him to Room 52. That’s a big 5-2.” Lance paused. “Periwinkle, has Alpha Two’s lecture concluded and has your glowering face chased every last participant out of the room?”
“My code name is not Periwinkle, Lance. And yes, the room is almost empty. Only one last straggler.”
“Good. Alpha One is headed your way.”
There was a long pause and then …
“Wait. We have a problem,” Keith said. “Curtis just invited the straggler to stay for a personal tutoring session.”
“What?!” Lance’s eyes bugged out. “Why would he do that?”
“The puffball alien can’t pronounce consonants, so Curtis is giving him some workarounds.”
Hunk’s voice interrupted. “Uh, guys? Alpha One has just … oh, hi, Shiro. Yup. Just hanging around the lecture hall. This? Ummm … testing out some new technology for Smidge. I mean, Pidge. Of course I meant Pidge. Pffft. It’s not like we’ve got code names or something.”
Lance raised clenched fists towards the gods. Hunk was blowing their cover!
“Whachadoin’?”
Lance jumped a mile. Great. Just great. Now Veronica showed up. Why, oh why, did this have to be so freakin’ difficult?
“Nothing,” Lance growled. “Our foolproof plan just went to hell. Alpha Two invited some alien to stay after his lecture for a personal tutoring session. Why would he do that?”
“Because he’s a nice guy who cares about the fate of the universe?”
Lance snorted.
Veronica shook her head. “Poor Lancey-Lance … you’re my baby brother and I care about your mental health. This really seems to be stressing you out. So many failures in a row, one on top of the other, day after --”
“Yeah. I get it, Veronica.”
“I’m just saying, maybe it’s time to call it quits. Just admit that you can’t get the job done. I mean, it’s been two weeks, and this is your fifth fool-proof plan that’s gone up in smoke.” His sister looked at him sadly. “It’s okay if this task is beyond your feeble abilities. No one will hold it against you.”
Lance glared, crossing his arms over his chest. She was being sweet and that was always suspect. “No way. Operation Lovetron will succeed.”
Veronica sighed, scrunching up her nose. “If you say so. But we’re going to launch in another two weeks, so if Shiro and Curtis haven’t had their date by then, I doubt it will happen on board the Atlas when Shiro is in full Commander mode.”
Lance was about to respond, but at that moment, Keith sauntered around the corner.
He’d abandoned his post!
“What are you doing here?” Lance demanded. “You should’ve held your position in case Alpha Two gets done with the lesson!”
Keith shook his head. “Sorry, Lance, but there’s no way I’m going to stand around watching Curtis and some puffball try to form consonants.”
Lance was still fuming when Hunk rounded the corner from the opposite direction. “Sorry man, but Alpha One just disappeared. One minute he was there and the next …”
“Aaarrrrggghhh!”
How hard could it be to get two people in the same room, all by themselves, and then lock them in? This was not rocket science. And even if it was, they had a rocket scientist on their freakin’ team.
Right on cue, Pidge showed up.
“So, how did it go?”
Hunk shook his head. “We had to abort the mission. Again.”
“Really?! But I wrote that whole algorithm to analyze their schedules! This was the perfect window of time when they’d be in close proximity and they’d both have openings post-engagements. We won’t have this kind of alignment again until next week!”
“That really sucks,” Veronica said. “You guys are trying so hard, and you just keep falling flat on your faces. I feel so bad for you.”
Lance narrowed his eyes. Did Veronica really feel bad for them? No. Of course not. Inwardly, he knew she was gloating.
“Maybe we should go back to Hunk’s dinner idea?” Pidge suggested. “I mean, they both have to eat, and what are the chances they’d bring extra guests again?”
Hunk had made an amazing Polynesian dinner, and he’d invited both Shiro and Curtis separately. They were supposed to arrive and then Hunk would get called away for an ‘emergency’, but somehow, both Shiro and Curtis had decided to bring friends, so it had ended up being an awkward party of five.
Then there’d been the time they’d managed to lock both of them in one of the simulation rooms, but somehow Shiro had been carrying a stack of paperwork and Curtis had found the exact tool that was needed to fix the malfunctioning door just lying around the Sim Room, so the entire conversation had ended up being, “Actually, I can fix this in no time, Commander.” Followed by, “Great. That’s a relief. Would you mind if I work on this report while you fix the door?”
There had also been innumerable instances where they’d set up accidental ‘run-ins’ but one of their targets would change plans at the last second.
Lance was pulling his hair out. It was almost as if someone on the inside was …
“Alpha One, Alpha Two … the coast is clear and SharpShooterGenius has reached maximum frustration. You are cleared for take-off.” Veronica spoke into a minuscule chip on the collar of her jacket.
“Wait a minute. Did you just--”
Shiro and Curtis emerged from the building.
“Are they … holding hands?” Hunk’s mouth dropped open and Pidge’s eyes bugged out. Keith just smirked, which was incredibly suspicious. Lance was going to have to interrogate him about how much he knew. Whose side was he on?
Shiro and Curtis continued walking as if they were oblivious to the group of paladins staring at them with jaws on the pavement. “Dinner tonight?” Shiro whispered seductively into Curtis’s ear.
Curtis batted his eyelashes. “Wouldn’t miss it. Your quarters or mine?”
Shiro scratched his chin. “Well, I do have the bigger bed, but yours is surprisingly sturdy.” He turned to the paladins as if he’d only just seen them. “Oh, hey guys. What are the chances we’d run into you here?”
“Apparently pretty good seeing as we’ve had a traitor in our midst,” Lance growled. “How long have you two been together?”
Curtis turned to Shiro. “I think it’s been … what? Two weeks now?”
Hunk face-palmed. “All of that cooking gone to waste.”
“Not to mention my algorithms.”
Lance turned to Veronica. “I hate you.”
She grinned. “I know.”
“We appreciate your efforts, guys,” Shiro said, “but don’t worry. Even though you didn’t succeed, Operation Lovetron has actually been incredibly helpful.”
“Really?” Pidge said. “How so?”
“I had no idea your covert ops skills were so lacking. As your commanding officer, I’d be negligent if I sent you back into the field without additional training. So, I spoke to Coran and Allura, and we’ve cleared your schedules for the entire day tomorrow. We’ll start nice and early. You can report to the obstacle course at 0500.”
“What?! That’s not fair,” Lance whined. “We were betrayed!”
“A betrayal you should have seen coming a mile away,” Curtis pointed out.
“He does have a point,” Hunk muttered.
Veronica patted Lance on the head. “Poor baby brother. When will you ever learn?” She turned to Hunk and Pidge. “As for you two, don’t you think the real love match should have been between Lance and Keith all along?”
Keith’s jaw dropped. “What the hell?”
Lance choked on his own spit. “Me and Keith?! Are you insane? We drive each other crazy! He’s … Mr. Grumpy Pants … and I’m going to ask Allura out. Any day now.”
Veronica shrugged. “Fine. Whatever. I’m just sayin’.”
“That’s it,” Keith said. “I’m outta here.”
“Yeah. Me too.” Lance stormed off in the same direction, changed his mind and turned around. “That way. I’m going that way.”
Veronica watched the two of them and sighed with pleasure. “He just makes it sooo easy.”
“So I guess that means Operation Lovetron is officially a bust?” Pidge asked.
“Yup,” Shiro confirmed. “That’s exactly what it means.”
“But you’re happy?”
Shiro and Curtis looked at one another, the softness in their expressions answering Pidge’s question. Shiro grinned. “Happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
“And Hunk,” Curtis added, “we would totally take you up on that romantic dinner now. Hated wasting the opportunity the first time.”
“Would it get me out of covert ops training?”
“Absolutely not,” Shiro said.
“Then you two are going to have to make your own romantic dinner.” He paused, glancing at Shiro. “Actually, let me rephrase that … Curtis is going to have to make you guys your own romantic dinner.”
Curtis laughed. “How about I cook for everyone? Now that we’re ready to share the news with our close friends, it would be great to hang out. Maybe we can even convince Lance and Keith to attend.”
An evil smile spread over Veronica’s face. “Convince them to attend and then one by one come up with excuses why we all need to leave?”
Now everyone was grinning.
“Last one out locks the door.”