Chapter Text
Keith’s world came to a screeching halt. He stared at the fidgeting man before him, a small smile of disbelief on his face.
“Uh, what?”
Lance clasped his hands together and bounced on his legs, itching to spill everything that’s on his mind. “I know you’re Spider-Man. I mean, I knew you were Spider-Man from the beginning. If the bulge on the back of your mask from where you tie up your hair wasn’t obvious enough, it was definitely your bossiness. And fuck, I could recognize that ass anywhere. Like honestly, spandex? Best idea ever. Send my regards to Pidge, she’s a genius.”
As Lance rambled, Keith just froze in place, his eye twitching. Lance knew he was Spider-Man. Lance knew he was a superhero. Lance McClain thought he looked really good in spandex- No, that wasn’t important at the moment. He shook his head.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” his soft chuckles brought Lance back to earth. Keith gently pressed his hand to his mouth, hoping to hide his nervousness. “You think I’m Spider-Man? Me? I can’t even touch my toes, and you expect me to do all the backflips and somersaults he does when jumping from building to building? That’s rich, McClain. I think you’ve finally lost your mind.”
Lance had gone completely still, his mouth slightly agape as color rushed to his face. “I’m not crazy! Er, well I am, but that’s not the point! I know you’re him, Keith! You don’t understand!”
“No, you don’t understand,” Keith backed up towards the classroom door, his hand bumping into the door handle, “I’m not some sort of crime fighter. I’m as useless as the officers that watched as that thing threw my brother around.” He opened the door and stepped out of the classroom, tears rimming his eyes, “Goodbye, Lance.”
Keith slammed the door behind him, leaving Lance alone with his thoughts. Lance tilted his head up to face the ceiling, his hands placed firmly on his hips.
“Really? You didn’t tell me I’d have to face some goddamn Klangst .”
He ruffled his hand through his hair and sighed, muttering to himself about how he should be warned properly next time. He strode over to the door, hoping to catch Keith before he disappeared into the lunch crowd.
“Leave me alone, Lance.”
Keith had escaped him in the courtyard, quickly locating Pidge and dragging her to the library, one place he knew Lance would never find him. During class changes, Keith would have to dodge and weave through the busy hallway just so he could avoid the persistent Cuban boy.
When school ended, Keith parted ways with Pidge, promising to save her a bite of his sandwich after her Robotics meeting. He was cutting through an alleyway when a hand roughly grabbed his shoulder and pushed him against the wall. Before he could protest, a hand flew out and covered his mouth.
“ Jesus , you are a fucking fast walker.” Lance pulled his hand away and took a step back. Keith’s expression morphed into anger, his teeth grinding together as he prepared to lash out. Lance pressed a finger to Keith’s lips, pushing his head back against the wall.
“Nope, shut up, you’re going to give me a chance to explain myself.”
Keith rolled his eyes and crossed his arms against his chest, giving Lance permission to speak. Said man clasped his hands behind his back and began pacing back and forth.
“Where do I start? Maybe from the beginning? Well, on a cool October night, my mother and father decided that they wanted one more troublemaker running around their small, Cuban cottage. With the door locked and the lights dimmed, they-”
“No,” Keith pointed a finger at him, “I’m going to stop you right there. If you’re going to be weird, I’m leaving.” he pushed himself away from the wall and tightened the straps to his backpack, turning to face the other end of the alley. Lance leaped forward and grabbed both of Keith’s shoulders, stopping him in his tracks.
“Wait! I’m sorry, fuck, I’m bad at this.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, tugging on the ends, “I guess I should actually start with the whole claiming you’re Spider-Man thing.”
“We’ve already gone over this, I’m not him. I’m not Spider-Man.” he pushed Lance away once again, his patience slowly dwindling. Lance rubbed and dragged his nails down his face, equally irritated.
“God, I knew you were stubborn, but this is ridiculous.” he took a deep breath, “Really, if you knew who you were talking to, you wouldn’t be denying everything like a goddamn idiot.”
The hairs on the back of Keith’s neck stood up, his senses tingling. He caught Lance mid-sentence, his body slamming against his as a bullet whizzed past. Lance raised his eyebrows, an amused smile on his face as the shorter male pinned him to the wall.
“Geez, Keith. At least take me out to dinner first.”
Another bullet flew past, grazing Lance’s left ear. He shut up.
Keith threw off his backpack and ripped it open, wasting no time pulling out his two web slingers. He tugged the gloves on his wrist, adjusting the trigger and the base of his palm. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he stood up, he caught Lance throwing off his jacket and pulling his shirt up, exposing his chest.
“Whoa! Hey,” Keith shielded his eyes, a faint blush barely making its way across his cheeks, “It this really the time to be doing this?” he watched the opening of the alley, three burly men stood at the end, guns in their hands. One of the men stood empty handed, the taller of the three. He was bulky with a purple-ish tint to his skin, his eyes glowing a sickly yellow. Fur sprouted from his skin in patches, his body giving off mutated bull vibes. He huffed, his body aimed right at him. Keith cursed and turned his attention back on Lance, adrenaline beginning to make its way through his body.
Strapped across Lance’s torso were fully loaded guns and a few knives, all labeled with name tags respectively. Lance unholstered Genevieve and Tina, matching glocks that seemed to sit naturally in his hands. He pulled down his shirt, the bagginess in his tee the fact that he had fatal weapons under his clothing. Keith could only stare.
“Lance, what the fuck? Have you been wearing that the whole time?”
Lance checked Tina for ammo, reloading her cartridge with a serious look on his face. “Mhm.”
“Are you out of your mind?!”
He didn’t have time to answer. One of the three men came barreling down the alley, his body turned and prepared to body slam Keith into the wall. He dodged last second, backflipping out of the way as the man collided with the bricked surface, collapsing on the ground in the process. Lance whistled.
“Didn’t know you were one for theatrics, Kogane.”
Keith rolled his eyes, turning his attention back onto the other two men. One aimed his gun, firing off four bullets in succession. He dodged three of them, the fourth one catching the edge of his knee, barely scratching the skin. Keith clambered up the wall as Lance started firing at the two targets, paying no attention to the third that had started to stir.
Keith crouched a good ten feet above everyone, avoiding bullets and watching as Lance distracted. The third man finally got to his feet and shook the debris from his hair, his body shaking with rage. He dug his heel into the dirt and rolled his shoulder, preparing to charge at Lance. The man let out a roar and ran head first towards Lance, leaving him little time to react. Keith attached a web to Lance’s back and attached the other end to the end of a fire escape, yanking Lance off the ground and out of the way. He bounced a few times before stopping and dangling, his legs kicking out over the alley.
“Totally unnecessary! I could have taken care of him!” Lance pumped his legs, swinging himself back and forth. He holstered one of his guns and pulled out a knife, he then used his momentum to cut the web and slingshot himself towards the other two guys, glock and knife in hand.
Keith took it to himself to take care of the bull, landing right in front on the staggering man. He growled and swiped at him, but Keith easily ducked. His smaller form gave him an advantage against the lumbering figure, and he landed a quick punch in the nose. The man cried out and cupped his face, the same black blood the alligator had, dripping down his face. Distracted by the revelation, Keith found the man’s hand wrapped around his neck, those familiar yellow eyes grinning maliciously down at him. He clawed and pulled at the hand around his neck, black spots darting his vision. His nail caught onto a metal plate that was bonded in the man’s wrist. He stuck his fingers under it and pulled, ripping the tags from his flesh. He roared and threw Keith the the ground, black blood now flowing down his hand.
Keith rubbed the bruises around his neck and stood up, his knees bent, ready to make a moke any time. The two stood, eyes locked together, waiting for the other to strike. The bull-man - Minotaur, maybe? - lowered his body, ready to charge once again, but failed to, caught off guard by the bullets that tore into its back.
Lance was running from the two other men, bullet holes littering his body. Every time a bullet was shot at him, it would rip through his flesh and tear out the other side, then burying itself in the Minotaur. Keith watched dumbstruck as Lance’s wounds seemed to heal themselves immediately, the only time he’d seen someone heal that fast was when they had been thrown through a glass window by a radioactive reptile. He began to connect the dots, a lightbulb going off inside his head. Lance ran up the wall and jumped over the Minotaur, landing right next to Keith. He stretched his arms above his head and cracked his neck, bullets pushing themselves out of his skin. Keith’s jaw dropped.
“Lance, you’re Deadpool?!”
He grinned, Keith could image what parts of his mask would move just to mimic that exact expression, “The one and only.”
The bull-man roared once again, and the two split up. Lance began climbing the fire escape while Keith climbed up the wall on the opposite side of the alley, trying to avoid collision with the mutant.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were Deadpool?!”
Lance fired a few more shots at the three men and continued climbing up the stairs. “I tried! But you kept running away from me!”
A bullet grazed Keith’s cheek, earning a small hiss of pain from him. He rubbed the blood from his cheek and fired a web at the culprit, successfully plastering his gun the the wall. He continued climbing. “Well that doesn’t explain how you knew I was Spider-man.”
Lance got to the roof and strapped his guns back on. “First, you were pretty determined to save your brother from that monster,” Keith jumped from roof to roof, joining Lance’s side, “But really, you can’t hide a god awful mullet under a mask, hun. It was that first thing I noticed.”
Keith rolled his eyes and leaned over the edge of the roof, webbing their bags up to the roof with them. He tossed Lance’s bag to him and threw on his own pack. The fire escape creaked with the weight of the Minotaur, his steps heavy and loud. Lance and Keith looked at each other, both nodding in silent agreement at what they had to do. They clasped hands and ran towards the other end of the roof and jumped off the edge just as the man reached the top of the stairs. Lance wrapped his body around Keith’s as he shot a web towards a skyscraper a few blocks away, swinging them to safety.
“So, is anyone going to tell me what’s going on?”
Pidge sat in her normal seat at their table in Smashing’s , Keith sat across from her, Lance’s jacket wrapped around him to hide the dark bruises that wrapped around his neck. His leg bounced up and down anxiously, his eyes darting back and forth from the window to the door. Pidge sighed and slid her laptop onto the cramped table, pushing back baskets and chips bags into Keith’s lap.
“At least tell me why he’s here.” Her eyes darted to the third person at their table. Lance was slurping on milkshake, looking between Pidge and Keith. He had changed into his gym shirt, finding it inappropriate to go eat in a shirt littered in bullet holes and blood. He sent a smile in Pidge’s direction, who only stuck her tongue on in return.
Keith bit his thumb, brows drawing together in thought. He stared at the tag in front of him, GALRA CO. written in black lettering across it. “How did they find me?”
“What?”
“The Galra! How did they find me?” Keith pushed himself away from the table, the back of his chair hitting the wall. Lance placed his glass on the table and placed a hand on Keith’s leg.
“Hey, man. There’s no need to worry. It’s just how the story planned to progress on.”
“Uh…” Pidge stared at the hand on Keith’s leg and the concerned look Lance held for him. She she shook her head and went back to typing on her computer, pulling up the radioactivity radar. She whistled and leaned back in her chair, “You guys are glowing.”
Their attention was drawn to the screen that was turned towards them, large amounts of quintessences was radiating off the two points on the radar that signified Lance and Keith.
Pidge turned her computer back to face her, “Anyone with internet connection can track you guys. You’re radioactive.”
Keith turned in his seat and faced Lance, who stared at his milkshake to avoid eye contact.
“So, are you going to tell us what happened to you?”
Lance took a fry and swirled it in his glass, taking his time chewing on it. He shrugged, “It’s not really that important.”
“I’d say it’s pretty important.” Pidge closed her laptop, “There’s some mysterious corporation that wants to kill you, so I’d be a little concerned.”
“It’s not like I can be killed, anyways.” Lance laced his fingers behind his head, “You guys don’t have anything to worry about, either. Remember? There’s no major character death in the tags.”
“What the hell are you even talking about?!” Keith slammed his hands onto the table, the hood of Lance’s jacket falling off. “Can you make some sense for once?!”
Lance narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips into a tight line. “Fine. You want to hear my story? Well, here it is, mi amigos . It’s not a happy one.
“About a year ago, my family was in some serious debt. My parents worked five jobs all together. My dad cleaned tables during the day and worked in road construction during the night while my mom was a maid and nanny during the week, and a seamstress in her free time. Let’s just say some shit happened that lead to my parents being fired from half their jobs and they were struggling to support me and my siblings.
“Look, I’m the youngest, so the most I could do was babysit nieces and nephews. Yeah, I ran errands, offered to mow lawns, and pick pocketed one or two times. But once my mama asked where I was getting all this money, she made sure I never did it again.”
Lance stared out the window, his tongue running over his lips anxiously. He leaned forward in his seat, his voice shaking.
“I was looking through the paper, like people do, skimming the job listings for something that I could do. There was an ad for volunteers to test out a new procedure at Altea. You would have thought that maybe the lack of information given would have been a red flag, or maybe that the phone number listed did even go through the front office. But what can I say? They were offering to pay me and I needed the money.
“The day of, I didn’t even go inside the building. A guy in a dark robe took me through the back entrance and took me somewhere dark. The basement, maybe? I don’t know. What I do know is that I was a fool for not turning back. All I remember after that is a lot of goddamn pain. So much pain.”
His fingers dug into the table, prompting worried glances from Pidge and Keith. Lance started to laugh, the seriousness of his tone clashing with his giggles.
“Fuck, and then the voices started whispering, words started appearing, cuts and scratches started healing unnaturally fast, and then I knew. I knew that my life, your lives, everyone’s lives were just toys for others to manipulate and play with for their own enjoyment.”
Lance leaned back and placed his hands in his lap, shrugging as if it was no big deal. “Yep. That’s pretty much it.” He picked up another fry and raised it in the air before popping it in his mouth.
Keith stared in disbelief, his mouth hanging open. Lance opened a peppermint and stuck it in Keith’s mouth, pushing his jaw closed. He patted Keith’s cheek and stood up, his hands finding their way to the pockets of his jeans.
“Welp, mama’s getting off late tonight, so it's my job to make dinner.” He picked up his backpack and ruffled Pidge’s hair.
“And Keith? Keep the jacket. It looks good on you.”
Lance winked and leisurely sauntered to the door, whistling Disney songs on his way out of the restaurant.
Neither one of them said anything, their minds wrapping around the last few minutes. Keith gasped and pressed his fingers to his lips, a flustered blush spreading across his face. Pidge cleared her throat and nudged her glasses farther up the bridge of her nose, her eyes flickering back to her computer screen.
“Did you know that he runs at least four Spider-Man fan pages? What a weirdo.”
Keith stared at the seat Lance was just in, a faint blush barely dusting his cheeks. Pidge closed her laptop and tucked it under her arm. She pushed herself away from the table, rummaging through her bag to make sure she wasn't leaving anything behind. Certain that she had everything, Pidge stood up and shouldered her bag, looking down pitifully at Keith who just stared out into oblivion.
“You comin’?”
He slowly lifted his head and nodded curtly. “Yeah, let's go.”
Keith took his time getting up from the table, the feeling of Lance’s coat weighing him down. He tugged the jacket around him tighter, hiding the bruises the best he can. The longer they sat, the more grotesque they became. The greenish tint that bursts from the bruises expressed the pain Keith felt every time he swallowed. He grabbed his bag from off the chair and dragged it behind him, following Pidge out the door and towards the hospital.
The concerned look that Allura greeted them with was enough to cause Keith to sprint off into a panic. Allura sat in the front lobby, fingers playing with the hem of skirt nervously. When Keith and Pidge walked through the doors, she quickly got up, her hands outstretched to keep the atmosphere calm.
“Before you go and check on your brother, I should let you know that the nurses are facing some complications with Shiro’s diagnosis and-”
She didn't get to finish her statement before Keith broke out into a run down the hallway, his sneakers squeaking against the polished tiles. Along the way he lost his bag, his books discarded somewhere in the hospital. He threw the door open to room 106, disrupting the work of the nurses that huddled over the unconscious body of Shiro. Keith shoved his way through to the side of the bed, his eyes flickering over the white strands that sprouted out of the tuff of hair on the top of Shiro’s head. Security had to be called in to hold Keith back, for what he saw next caused him to go ballistic.
A nurse was rebandaging Shiro’s amputated arm, giving Keith only a glance of the damage. Growing from the scar at the end of his arm were dark veins, pulsating with black venom. His skin started growing a violet-ish tint, making him a sickly color.
Keith kicked and screamed, snapping at every guard that pulled him back. His fingers rested on the triggers of his web shooters that were still wrapped around his wrists, threatening to plaster a security guard against the wall. A pair of strong arms wrapped around Keith’s torso, trapping his arms against his side. Allura pulled Keith out into the hallway, her gripped shifted into a tight hug. Keith’s body shook against her own, unnoticed tears forming in his eyes. Not hiro. Not him too.
It was not known how long they sat in the hallway. Keith sat with his face buried in the the sleeve of Lance’s jacket, finally going quiet. Allura sat next to him on the floor, allowing him to lean against her. She spoke softly about random topics, straying away from what plagued everyone’s minds.
“Some of the offices aren’t complete, but our department has been repaired. Hopefully I can start working next week and our samples haven’t been ruined.” Allura pulled at the hem of her shirt, tugging on loose threads, “I know you probably aren’t ready to come back, but when you are, I spoke with my father and he and I agreed that the work you’ve done for us has been more than enough proof that you are a valued worker, and I hope you’ll accept the position of being my lab partner.” She paused and bit her lip gently. “And I know you only have two years of high school left and that you’re probably going straight to college, but I want you to know that no matter where you are or when you’ll come back, you’ll always have a place in the Altean family and—”
Allura was quieted by a sudden hug from Keith.
“Thank you…”
She slowly hugged back, a small smile gracing her lips, “You’re welcome, Keith.”
“Cool, see you in a bit.” Pidge paced into the hallway, pulling her phone from her ear. She glanced down at the two of them, eyebrow raised in confusion.
“Did I miss something?”
Allura laughed and shook her head, “So?”
Pidge pocketed her phone, “Well, I called my mom and explained the situation. As soon as I said Keith, she said she was already preparing the guest room. She’ll be here to picks us up in a few. Guess you’re going to be a Gunderson for a while, Keith!”
He knew this was going to happen. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was inevitable. Keith couldn’t live by himself forever. Coran could only offer him enough sandwiches before he went mad.
When he stepped into the Gunderson household (apartment-hold?), he felt a wave of unfamiliarity wash over him. He’s walked through that door a hundred times, but at the moment, he felt like a stranger, like he didn’t belong.
He walked robotically to the guest room, which was directly across from Pidge’s room. Usually when he stayed the night, he and Pidge would just share a room, making it easier for the two of them to have late-night chats and share conspiracy theories. Walking into the guest room felt foreign to him.
It was fairly small, by far the smallest bedroom in the apartment. The walls were painted off white, scratched and scuffed from the boxes that were moved in and out of it. It was quite obvious that the room had been used for storage before Keith’s arrival. He felt like another useless object that was being thrown into the room to be forgotten about.
He threw his bags onto the bed, a small twin size with a blanket with various blue stripes decorating it. The room also held a wooden desk, streaks of dust covering the top from where Pidge’s mother had quickly tried to wipe it down. On the desk were a few framed photos, all of Pidge’s family. Keith recognized the quirky grin of Matt, Pidge’s brother. His arm was around Pidge and their mother in every photo, smiling widely. With careful examination of the desk, Keith found old papers and notes within its drawers, and quickly drew together that this was Matt’s room for when he came to visit. The dust and storage boxes told him that he hasn’t visited in awhile.
Keith sat down on the bed, its mattress squeaking under his weight. He didn’t unpack his bags, deciding that he wasn’t going to be there for long. Shiro is going to get better, their lives will be back to normal soon enough.
He sat in silence for a few minutes but a knock came from his door. Pidge poked her head into the room, lips pursed as she made eye contact with Keith.
“Oh, good. You’re settled."
She kicked the door open, in her hands a tray with two mugs sitting on it.
“I know you’re probably not in the mood, but my mom doesn’t take no for an answer. Hot chocolate?”
Pidge balanced the tray on one hand as she pushed Keith’s things on the floor. She sat next to him on the bed and offered him a cup, which he took graciously. The two of them sipped on the beverage thoughtfully, the atmosphere around them relaxing.
Pidge nudged her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “You going out tonight?”
Keith stared at the wall in front of them, “I have to. If I don’t find this Sendak guy, who knows what will happen to Shiro.”
“Mhm.” Pidge took another sip from her mug, “What about Lance? Are you going to get him to help?”
“It’s not his fight.”
“Keith, I honestly don’t think there is a fight here to begin with.”She placed her mug on the bedside table and placed a hand on his shoulder, “Even if there is one, you can’t do it alone.”
Keith frowned, knowing that she was right. His silence was all that Pidge needed to know that she had got to him. Pidge stood up and took the empty cup out of his hands.
“Mom’s making spaghetti tonight for dinner, I hope you like Italian.”
She tucked the tray under her arm and carried the mugs towards the door. Before she closed the door, Keith stopped her in her tracks.
“Thanks, Pidge.”
She smiled, “No prob, Spider-Man.”
That night, Keith didn’t know where to go. He needed to find Lance, but the guy was so unpredictable. Keith swung from building to building, stopping at the water tower more than a few times, hoping that he would be there, waiting.
Keith ended up on top of the building across from Altea. The once towering skyscraper seemed frozen in time, cranes posed motionless over the building from the days work. He wasn’t used to all the lights being out. It was unsettling.
“Fancy seeing you here, Spidey.”
Lance sat himself next to Keith, pulling off his mask. His hair stuck up in different directions, his bangs plastered to his face with sweat. He ruffled his fingers through his hair, making his hair look even more ridiculous.
“God, it feels good out here. It really does get hot under the mask, don’t you think?” Lance faced Keith and smiled, a real smile. Not one of the teasing smiles Keith was used to seeing.
Keith nodded, but didn’t respond. Lance raised an eyebrow.
“What? You’re going to leave me hanging? Take it off! Take it off!”
Keith had to hold back a giggle. This was ridiculous, who would have thought he would be enjoying the fresh air with Lance McClain, of all people?
“Oh, my god.”
Keith was taken back by hands roughly taking his face. He gasped, heat rising to his cheeks. Lance’s fingers hooked under his mask and began to pull it up.
“Do I have to do everything for you? You’ve got to be burning up under there.”
He pulled Keith’s mask over his mouth, allowing the cool air to hit his face. Lance paused, his hands cupping Keith’s cheeks. They stared into each other’s eyes, Lance’s eyes blatantly flickering over Keith’s lips.
To Keith’s surprise, he was the first to move. He leaned towards Lance, their lips barely brushing before he stopped. In the corner of his eye, he saw a purple hue glowing from beneath Altea’s building. The light flickered and glowed, signifying activity. Keith pulled his face away from Lance’s hands and pulled down his mask, ignoring the disappointed look on Lance’s face. He got back to his feet and jumped over the side of the building, sliding down the face of it.
Keith ran towards Altea’s entrance, ignoring the thud of Lance’s feet landing behind him. Together, they entered the building and Keith made his way to the stairwell towards the basement.
The two of them were silent, unsure what they were going to see. They poked their heads out from the corner, spying on whoever was causing the mysterious violet light.
From between the computer stacks, the light glowed the strongest. Keith went to pull the stack back, but Lance grabbed onto his wrist, shaking his head no. Keith pulled his arm back and continued making an opening big enough that he could look into.
Inside, a large man was tending to the spiders. His skin was hued purple, but Keith couldn’t tell if it was from the light or not. He was carefully pulling the bioluminescent spiders from their webs, placing them into a glass container. Lance rested his head on top of Keith’s, eyes wide under the mask that he had put back on.
“Holy shit.”
Keith’s hand slapped Lance’s mouth before he could cover it. Four hands covered Lance’s mouth as they both stared at each other with wide eyes. Keith glanced back into the secret room, the man having not been disturbed by Lance’s exclamation.
He let out a sigh of relief, slowly removing his hands from Lance’s mouth. Lance rubbed his jaw and frowned, finding Keith’s aggression to be a little unnecessary.
Quietly, they scurried back up the stairs and out of the building, both going their separate ways without another word.