Chapter Text
Lance had met Keith back when he was in elementary school. The couple across the street, Jill and Lacey Kogane, had been planning on adopting for a while and when they had told Lance that the child would be around his age Lance could not wait for their arrival. In the days leading up to the day he would be going home with the couple, lance planned all the games they could play and thought about the secret hiding places he would show them in the neighborhood. Lance was outgoing and loved meeting new people and because of this he was practically counting down the days till the kid arrived.
His ideas of how it would be were quite far from the truth. The first time he saw the kid he ran outside excitedly to meet him. He already saw that he was Asian, later he would find out from Korea, and he had short black hair and gray eyes that looked purple in certain lighting. Lance bounced and leaped across his lawn and ran across the street without even looking to the horror of everyone outside at the time.
“Lance!” Jill had screeched in horror, her head whipping around to see if there was any cars. When she saw non she sighed in relief. “Look before you cross please.”
“Sorry ma’am.” He said but he already had his full attention on the kid who was now hiding behind Jill. “Hello!” Lance said cheerfully and waved at the kid. “My names Lance. We are going to be friends from here on out!”
Lance had expected the kid to reply or even express gratefulness. It was always hard being in a new place and Lance figured at the minimum he was doing the kid a favor by being his friend. However, the kid’s lips pursed into a line and he looked the opposite direction as if he hadn’t heard him.
Lance tilted his head to the side. Was the kid deaf? He was about to turn back to Jill to ask when Lacey came up to him. She had her black hair pulled back into a bun and a big smile on her face. “Hello, Lance. I see you took no time to come over.” Lance shrugged as if to neither agree nor disagree. “This is Keith.” She put her hand on Keith’s shoulder. “You will have to excuse him, it’s a very big day for him.”
“Oh yeah sure.” Lance leaned over to try and catch the kid’s eyes but he looked away again. Lance frowned but figured that maybe he was just shy. His best friend Hunk had been a little shy at first when they had met in kindergarten, but now that they were in 4th grade Lances outgoing personality had rubbed off on him. Hunk was still reluctant at times but still went on Lances crazy adventures. Lance figured he would do the same for this kid too.
“Okay. Well it’s nice to meet you Keith.” He paused a moment to see if he would finally say something but he never even turned his head to look at him. So, with a slight pout, he waved goodbye to Jill and Lacey and took off back across the street with only a brief look each direction.
The next time Lance had tried to talk to Keith was only a few days later. He had showed up the last place Lance had thought to see him: His school.
“Jill! Lacey!” Lance cried out when he saw the two of them walking to the school office with Keith walking between them. “What are you doing here? Is Keith going to go to school here?”
“Yes he is!” Jill said with a smile and she ruffled Keith’s hair. He made a move as if to make her stop and lifted his hands to fix his hair even though he didn’t actually seem that upset by the action. “We hope that you will help him out when he starts attending class.”
“Of course I will.” Lance's little chest puffed out. “I’m the king of this school after all!”
Both Lacey and Jill laughed but Keith just heaved a sigh. Lance's smile fell a little bit at that but he tried not to take it personally. It probably wasn’t directed at him after all.
They both waved goodbye and they continued on their way to the office and Lance watched them go thinking once again he hadn’t gotten Keith to say a single thing to him.
That Friday after Keith had showed up at their School Hunk came over play. The two of them usually got together on Fridays since they were really the only close friend the other had. That specific day Lance had been telling Hunk all about Keith as they played the Lego Star Wars game on his play station 2.
“He wouldn’t talk to you though?” Hunk asked after hearing Lance’s whole store. He didn’t look at Lance as he talked, his eyes glued to the screen as he bit his lip in concentration. He was trying to use his Lego lightsaber to cut down the storm troopers coming into the room after them.
“No he wouldn’t! I’m thinking its cause he’s shy. The Kogane’s told me that he will be coming to school on Monday though so he’s going to have to talk to me then!” Lance was running around shooting boxes and collecting the Lego pieces despite the fact he should have been helping Hunk out.
“Yeah I’m sure that’s it.” Hunk said with a snort.
Lance paused the game, dropped the controller, and gave Hunk the most offended look with his hand pressed to his chest. “Excuse me what are you trying to say Hunk? My best friend in the world who would never imply anything bad about me.”
Hunk couldn’t help but laugh before he tried to answer. “No I’m not! You know you are my best friend! All I’m saying is that sometimes you come on a little strong. Did you get up in his face and talk rapid fire like you did with me?”
Lance crossed his arms at this point and turned his nose into the air. “I did not! I was very calm and composed.”
“Okay! I believe you! You are a perfect gentlekid. Can you unpause the game now?” Hunk bumped Lance with his shoulder which made Lance smile. He could never pretend to be mad at Hunk for long.
“Yeah sure. But you just watch. This Monday I’m going to have the kid begging to be my friend!”
Come Monday, that wasn’t really the case. Lance had sat down in his seat and instantly started bouncing. He was excited to finally get to meet Keith and he was already thinking about what they could do at recess. When Keith walked in he went straight to the teacher and Lance followed him with his eyes. He tried to wave but he never looked in his direction. Lance watched with a huff as he spoke to the teacher and then the teacher took him over to a seat that was at the group Hunk was in. Lance could see Hunk say hello and wanted more than anything to be over there too. Especially when Keith said a small hello back and sat down.
Lance was a little surprised to see how easily Keith had responded to Hunk but pushed it off figuring that he had just been shy the last two times and that he would respond the same to him.
“Hello class.” Their teacher said once everyone was in the room and sitting down. “As you may have noticed we have a new student today. His name is Keith and I expect you all to welcome him and help him with anything he needs to get caught up and be comfortable.”
“Yes Mrs. Emery.” The whole class but Keith chimed in response which put a big smile on her face.
After that class moved on and he kept seeing Hunk talking to Keith. Keith only spoke in short words or phrases from what Lance could tell but it still made him more and more jealous the more he saw the two talk. When it was finally time for recess Lance practically ran over to where they were sitting.
“Keith!” Lance called. “Do you remember me?”
Keith stared at him for a few seconds before he muttered. “Yeah.”
Lance felt like his whole body was glowing with how happy he felt to finally get Keith to say something to him. “Cool cool! Do you want to hang out at recess with me and Hunk today?”
Keith looked over at Hunk who gave him a reassuring smile before turning back to Lance. “With both of you?”
“Yeah of course! Me and Hunk are the best of friends! We play games together every recess with some other kids.”
Keith looked them both over again before he turned to Hunk completely ignoring Lance. “I don’t really feel like playing so I’m just going to talk to the teacher.”
“Okay yeah no problem, maybe next recess you can join us.” Hunk said without missing a beat but Lance was staring at them in complete shock. He had been the one talking to Keith, why had he ignored him to talk to Hunk?
“I’ll think about it.” He said before he stood up and went over to the teacher.
“What the heck was that?” Lance squeaked looking after Keith.
Hunk shrugged. “Not sure. But let’s go out before we miss any more recess.”
Exiting the room the two of them made their way to the playground and while Hunk had already seemed to put the whole thing behind him Lance was stuck.
“Maybe I intimidate him?” Lance said suddenly and Hunk was lost for a second before he caught up with Lance’s brain.
“Maybe? I don’t know. I don’t think you’re very intimidating.” Hunk was nothing but truthful and Lance usually liked this but he sometimes wished he would lie for the sake of his feelings.
“That’s cause you are like the most intimidating kid I know. You got the build of a bully from a cartoon.” Lance patted Hunk of his broad chest and Hunk looked down as if to confirm what Lance was saying.
“Do I?” he said in a small voice as he slowed down to almost a crawling pace.
“Yeah but down worry. You are too sweet and lovable to have anyone ever think you could hurt a fly.” Hunk seemed to be relieved at that and the pep was put back into his step. “But if it’s not that then why won’t Keith talk to me? Is he really that shy?”
“I don’t think he’s shy.” Hunk replied as they finally reached the grass field where the met the other kids from other classes. “I talked to him and he was actually very talkative despite the brief sentences.”
“Really? What did he tell you?”
“He told me that he moved here from a few towns over. I asked him if he had been adopted before and he told me he had moved from house to house for a while but this was the first time his situation was permanent.”
“Wait?” Lance's eyes blew wide open. “You guys talked about that kind of stuff? Why would he even move from place to place?”
“You don’t know a lot about being adopted do you?” Hunk said as if he was the expert and that made Lance blow his cheeks full of air a little angrily.
“No. why do you?” he huffed.
“Well, kind of. A few years back my aunt adopted an older kid. He’s like 17 now. I was only in second grade at the time but I had asked my mom a lot of questions and she told me about this thing called foster care. When no one wants to adopt a kid they get to stay with families for a little while till there is someone who is able to take them in forever.”
“Foster care?” Lance repeated slowly. He had never heard that word before but Hunk was a lot smarter than him so he decided to believe that he wasn’t just making it up. “Why did Keith tell you all that though?”
Hunk shrugged and took a step towards the group of kids that was now yelling at them to hurry up. “Who knows? I’m not him.”
With that Hunk ran off and Lance had no choice but to take off after him.
The game of the day was tag but Lance couldn’t get into it. He was too busy thinking about Keith and the mystery of why he seemed to be ignoring him. Lance was a popular kid. He was funny and he came up with fun games and he was friends with a lot of people. He wasn’t used to not being instantly liked. It was an understatement to say it was bothering him.
The rest of the day Lance tried to strike up a real conversation with Keith but nothing seemed to work. In fact the more Lance talked the less Keith responded to him. By the end of the day Lance felt on the edge of tears. He just wanted to be liked and he didn’t understand what was wrong with him.
On the bus home he sat with Hunk and looked around to see if Keith was on the bus but quickly figured that Keith was one of the kids who got picked up. When he got off on his stop waving goodbye to Hunk Lance found that Keith was already there. Instead of running over to talk to him Lance silently went into his house.
Days and weeks went by with Keith talking to him bare minimum. He continued to open up to Hunk and a few other kids in the class but he seemed to dislike Lance the most. The more this happened the more Lance got worked up about it. There was even one night after Keith had told Lance he didn’t want to do the reading together with him when he had asked to partner up that Lance went to his mom crying. He didn’t care at that point what his brother and two sisters thought or that they would probably make fun of him later. Lance just didn’t get why things were not going his way.
It was about four months after Keith had arrived that Lance went up to him at recess. “So you not like me or something?” He asked loudly for all the kids around them to hear.
Keith blinked at him for a few second before he responded flatly. “Yeah, I don’t like you.”
This had taken Lance back. His plan had mostly been to call Keith out on his bluff and after figuring out what was wrong they would become best friends. This was the exact opposite. “W-why?” Lance asked, his throat becoming clogged even though he tried to remain calm.
“You’re annoying.” Was all Keith said. It took all of Lance’s strength to turn around and walk calmly to the bathroom before he burst into tears. He had stayed there all recess despite Hunk trying to get him to come out. When recess was over Hunk had gone to the teacher and told her that Lance was in the bathroom. She had come in and finally got him to unlock the stall and took him to the office. After talking to him calmly she told the office ladies to send him back when he was calmed down completely.
It was from that day forth that Lance decided that Keith was his sworn enemy.
After that Lance took it upon himself to try and beat Keith in everything they did. He had to show everyone that he was better than Keith. Keith could reject him and say he didn’t care about him but he was going to make Keith wish he hadn’t refused to be his friend. It went from School work, to P.E., to recess, to even who could make it to the classroom first if they ran into each other in the morning. At first Keith had continued to ignore Lance and his antics but the more that Lance taunted him the more fired up and angry he got and the more Keith pushed back. By the time they were in 5th grade they were each others sworn enemy.
It was also in the fifth grade that Lance’s social life took a turn for the better. Lance had a lot of friends but none of them was the best friend material he was craving. Yeah Hunk was the best friend he could ask for but he wanted more. That came in the form of electronics.
One day his family got a new computer and the old one was given to the kids to use. Each kid got an hour a day and could do anything they wanted for that hour. This was when Lance was introduced to the wonders of Neopets. What ten year old didn’t want to make their own little customizable animal and spend all day playing mini games?
Lance played under the name TheCoolestKid728 and had picked a blue Kougra that pretty much looked like a blue tiger but Lance loved it saying it looked fierce. He named her TigreAzul which was just Spanish for blue tiger. When Hunk had asked about the name he had claimed it was unoriginal which got Lance ignoring him till he took it back.
Hunk, on the other hand, had chosen the handle Meat4life and picked a yellow Korbat who he had named Manapua which was Hunks favorite food that his mother made that came from their culture in Hawaii. There was a point that they both pointed out how lame each other’s names were but quickly moved on challenging each other to get better scores on the games.
It was in the messaging boards on there that they had run into a player named MotherbordDestroyer who had a green Eyrie named Rover. Neither of them knew what a motherboard was or how you would destroy it but the person behind the account not only had tons of money and the rare pets, they seemed to know all the little tricks and hidden things on the site. The three of them started talking and instantly became good friends. Even later when they found out the kid was a girl named Katie who was 3 years younger than them and somehow way smart for a second grader they didn’t mind.
At school Lance liked to brag about his cool internet friend and how they helped them get really cool stuff on Neopets. One day Keith had muttered how lame Neopets was which led to the two of them trying to fight on the playground before the teacher on duty broke them up.
Years flashed by much the same. Keith, Hunk, and Lance all ended up going to the same middle school and while they didn’t always have classes together they somehow managed to yell at each other and compete in the cafeteria, at recess, or on the bus now that his parents could no longer pick him up and drop him off.
When they got into high school Lance got a laptop for his 14th birthday. He had been begging his mom for ages after his 17 year old brother had gotten one. The very first thing he did was download steam. The old computer all his siblings had shared was incapable of keeping up with online gaming and Lance instantly downloaded Team Fortress 2. He loved playing scout and now with the new username MemeKing Lance dominated with Hunk as TheMasterChef who played heavy and Katie who asked to be called Pidge who went as BirdBabe and played as Spy.
The more the three of them played they started running into a three player team that went by SpacePrincess, TheChampion, and RedLion. The team was just as good as them and they found themselves going head to head a lot. The other players who got thrown into matches with them were always shocked at how hard they all went at each other.
Finally, in the chat one day TheChampion sent a message that read:
TheChampion: We should play on the same team some time.
The competitive side of Lance wanted to tell him no but Hunk could type faster than him and before he could even start it popped up.
TheMasterChef: Yeah sure! I’ll open a new game and invite you.
He was kicked out of the screen and before he knew it he was playing on the same team as them.
Lance wasn’t so sure about teaming up with these people at first. Especially not the RedLion. The RedLion and him had always seemed to go after each other. They liked to play as the sniper. Lance would just be running along when he would suddenly be shot out of nowhere. Even now as a team they sometimes started shooting each other which usually ended in their team losing. But after about a year of them all playing games together they lost their competitiveness.
The six of them got close enough that they had a Skype group chat they texted in all the time. Sometimes it was to plan times to play a game or just to talk about their lives and random things. Lance, living up to his name as the MemeKing liked sending memes in the chat which always made the RedLion send frowning emoji’s.
However, un-expectantly, the friends he had made online were the best friends he had made. He texted TheChampion when he was having troubles and he always had good advice. He talked about Fashion with SpacePrincess and she always chided him for the way he tried hitting on people. She always told him it was no wonder he was never able to get a date. And then RedLion and him confided in each other with things they felt that no one would understand. Lance trusted Hunk with his life. He had known him for 11 years for god’s sake, but that didn’t mean that there were some things it was easier to tell someone when you didn’t know their face.
He could remember one important conversation he had had with him a few months after they had become friends that had really concreted his trust in him.
MemeKing: Hey... can I tell you something that’s been on my mind for a long time?
RedLion: If you try to make this sound important and just send me a meme so help me God I will track you down and kill you.
MemeKing: First of all you know memes are great. The world could not function without memes.
MemeKing: But no this is actually really important. Like I’ve never told anyone else this before.
RedLion: …
RedLion: Not even TheMasterChef? I thought you guys were best friends.
MemeKing: No we are, but I just haven’t yet. Not because I don’t want to or anything. I’m just kind of scared to say it out loud?
RedLion: Okay yeah I understand. It’s easier to type something then say it. You can tell me anything.
MemeKing: Okay…here it goes...
MemeKing: I’ve been thinking for a long while and I think I like guys?
MemeKing: But I also like girls still.
MemeKing: Is that a thing?
RedLion’s little typing bubble had popped up and disappeared a few times as he tried to figure out what to type.
MemeKing: You’re killing me here dude. Please just say anything.
RedLion: Shit sorry.
RedLion: I was just trying to think if I should tell you in return.
MemeKing: Tell me what?
RedLion: Well first off let me tell you that liking girls and guys is totally a thing. It’s called being Bisexual. Have you heard that before?
MemeKing: Barely. I think I’ve seen it mentioned online before.
RedLion: Okay yeah well that’s what it is and it’s totally normal. I think you should look it up and read into it a little. That’s at least what I did.
MemeKing: What you did when?
RedLion: Well that’s what I was debating if I should tell you. But I guess at this point what does it matter?
RedLion: I’m actually gay.
MemeKing: You are? When did you figure it out?
RedLion: I was a lot younger. Probably 6th grade.
MemeKing: Wow. That was 4 years ago.
RedLion: Yeah well everyone is different. It doesn’t really matter how long it takes you to figure it out as long as you figure it out eventually. Right?
MemeKing: yeah… you’re right. Thanks for making me feel good about this. I was worried you would hate me or something. I think I’m going to go tell TheMasterChef now.
They had talked about it for a little while longer and then after that, with renewed confidence, Lance had gone and told Hunk. When that had gone super well he had then later come out to the rest of his friends. BY doing so he had found out that Pidge was asexual and that SpacePrincess was also bisexual. It had made Lance feel a lot better knowing that he wasn’t all alone.
Years later Lance was now a senior in High School. Lance had taken a fairly loaded schedule with advances classes to get college credits but not near as many as Hunk was taking. He had a lot of classes with Keith though and they still fought all the time. They battled to try and get better grades and to do the best in sports. Lance swam and Keith did Fencing and both tried to place higher than the other could in their own tournaments. Lance had tried to challenge Keith to online gaming but he had refused. Lance had wildly claimed it was because Keith was afraid but Keith had just rolled his eyes and told him if that’s what made him feel better.
However, despite their clear hatred for each other the two of them actually hung out. Lance was sure that it was mostly because Keith and Hunk were on friendly terms. Lance wouldn’t have even tolerated it but Hunk seemed to like it and the only time he actually had to deal with him was at lunch time.
Lance found their lunch conversations entirely boring too. Despite everything Keith was a reserved guy. He never went too deep into his life except talking about his moms and being an orphan for a while. He never talked about what he did in his free time or his likes and dislikes. Lance told himself he didn’t care about Keith all that much. Keith for sure didn’t care about him.
It was lunch in the middle of the week when Keith was throwing rude comments at Lance and Lance was throwing them back that he finally pulled away from the conversation and pulled out his phone to open his Skype app. He instantly pulled up the chat box with RedLion and started typing.
MemeKing: God the Asshole TM is at my lunch table again. He needs to stop trying to steal my best friend away from me.
RedLion didn’t always respond right away and this was one of those times. So instead Lance had pulled out some homework opting to do it then so he had more time for gaming when he got home. He got deep into the work and had almost missed the notification from RedLion when he finally responded.
RedLion: Shit him again? Why does TheMasterChef put up with him?
MemeKing: He’s never had to deal with his nasty side. No one could ever be mean to TheMasterChef. He’s too much of a big ole teddy bear. Plus… I’m man enough to admit I’m not the nicest to him either. TheMasterChef just tells me that if I’m nice to the Asshole TM that he will be nice to me.
RedLion: True. You are the biggest shit head I know. Not even I can stand you sometimes. But would he be?
MemeKing: NO!!!!!! I tried before. I went into the relationship trying to be nice but did he take that kindness and return it??? HELL NO!!!!!
MemeKing: I’m also ignoring the shit head comment because I know you love me and would miss me if I ever disappeared.
RedLion: Oh yeah right you told me about this.
RedLion: Also keep dreaming about that one.
MemeKing: HEYYYYYYYYYYYY you take that back!!!
MemeKing: say you would miss me!!!
MemeKing: Sayyyyyyy it.
RedLion: God fine okay.
RedLion: I would miss you.
RedLion: Happy?
MemeKing: :* of course thank you.
MemeKing: Everyone needs their daily dose of the MemeKing.
RedLion: I wish you could see me rolling my eyes right now.
Suddenly the bell rang and Lance realized that the lunch break was over. He looked up to see Keith sliding his phone in his pocket while he still chatted away with Hunk about some advance science class they were both taking together.
“See you later Hunk….Asshole.” He said to both of them before he turned to leave. He saw a flash of Keith’s middle finger and threw one over his shoulder in return as he took off.
God Lance wished Keith would just fall off the face of the earth. Or better yet if he just found a Clan of other Keith’s and they could all go to an island and sit around being dicks as they braided each other’s mullets. Lance would pay to see that happen.
Well whatever. Lance made it to class and pushed Keith out of his mind. He had much better things to think about. He had a game of Overwatch planned with the squad that night. Among other games throughout the years the six of them had continued to play team fortress two but when Overwatch had been released the six of them had made no hesitations to jump over. He remembered them forming a team the first time they had played and talking over the voice chat as they all tried out characters till they found ones they liked
Lance, of course, had picked Tracer as his main. He really did enjoy her cheer and the way she could zip around. It helped a little that she had been the character they had used to promote the game. Hunk had picked Lucio, Pidge used black widow, SpacePrincess used Mei, TheChampion picked Hanzo, and RedLion being the emo he was used Reaper. They made a pretty bad ass teamed no matter what character they picked.
The six of them actually had planned to play a game or two after dinner and Lance was excited to hear from his friends again. The only time they ever heard each other voices was when they played games. Lance had yet to actually see any of their faces or hear their real names even though it had been a few years.
He guessed there was a sort of charm of not actually knowing who they were but Lance yearned to have a really great group of friends and he knew that would never happen till he knew as much as he could about all of them.
Lance couldn’t wait until the day he got to meet all of them. He was sure that it would be the best day of his life.