Chapter Text
The forest is quiet as the group sneaks between trees, stealthy feet making barely a sound. Weapons are drawn and at the ready. There is a rustle in the brush and the rogue at the head of the group pauses, raising a hand to signal the rest of the party to stop.
He blinks, but is not surprised when a hellhound leaps from the bushes towards him. A cry rings out amongst the party and two more hounds converge on them. The cleric, small as she is, casts a spell over them without warning.
“Check!”
The spell flutters into place, providing the group the advancement they need to make the first move on the hound closest to the rogue. He has had his slingshot drawn since they entered the forest and his first strike hits the hound hard in the chest. The beast howls, but is hit once more in the side with an arrow. Its skin is tough, though, and it merely growls again. The cleric can tell that this hound is taken care of and focuses her attention on the one that has appeared next to her. She casts a fireball in its direction and clips its shoulder. The fire singes its fur, and it whimpers as it continues to burn.
“Katie, I’m home!”
The cleric groans and flips down her GM board. The whines and shouts of annoyance ring across the table. “Matt, I told you not to call me that! And you interrupted a campaign! Again!”
Matt blinks from his spot in the entryway to the small apartment. “Whoops. I thought you were going to be done by now? It’s almost midnight.”
Pidge rolls her eyes away from where Lance has flung himself across the table to pout and Hunk is clutching his head in shock.
“Oh my God that roll was horrible, I’m so sorry Lance I thought I had it! It’s so close to you I didn’t want to hit you! Oh, crap what if I fail the next one! Pidge gimme a reroll!”
Pidge decides to ignore him. “We were supposed to, if Lance hadn’t made me reroll his charisma until he could get busy with the barmaid.” She flips her head around to glare at Lance, who is still stretched out across the dungeon board but is glancing sheepishly up at Pidge.
“Hey, I got us that info to even get that mission from the senator!”
“Whatever, we didn’t even get to start until like nine-thirty!”
Matt heaves an audible sigh from where he is setting his backpack and notebooks down on the kitchen counter. “Sorry, guys. If it makes you feel any better Takashi sends his regards and in his words, ‘hopes that you continue to schedule campaigns on date night.’ It was actually pretty nice not being bugged at dinner about calculus or astrophysics.” Matt’s face takes on a wistful smile and Pidge hums disinterestedly.
She huffs. “Yeah well, you're welcome or whatever. Can we at least finish this battle really quick? It's three on three and one of them is burning."
Her brother nods and grabs a drink from the fridge before joining them at the table. He smiles as Lance sits back up with a groan and Hunk fiddles with his dice. "Speaking of your campaign, isn't it tough with only three of you?"
"Yeah, but it's not like we have a plethora of people lining up to play Dungeons and Dragons," Pidge sighs, standing her GM board up again and checking her notes, "The school won't allow us as a club anyway so there's no way to get the word out."
"Well," Matt starts, "Takashi said his little brother is coming to live with them again, I could extend the invitation to him for you? He's transferring schools so he won't know anyone. I figured I'd introduce you guys anyways but maybe he'll be interested in the campaign."
Pidge and Lance blink up at him, Hunk distracted by stacking his empty cans of soda on the edge of the table. "I didn't know Shiro had a little brother," Lance quips; he takes a swig of his energy drink to empty it and hands the can off to a grateful Hunk.
Matt nods. "Yeah, they got split up when their parents did so he's been in another state with their dad. Something happened at his old school so he's needing to change schools anyway and Shiro offered for him to live with him."
Hunk's tower of cans clatters to the floor in that moment and he groans, but turns back around to Matt with a smile. "It's up to Pidge since she's game master, but I don't see a problem with letting him join. Lance?" He glances over at his best friend, who shrugs.
"I'm cool as long as Pidge is cool and he's cool."
Pidge nods at her brother from over her board. "Send him our way when he gets here. What's his name?"
"Keith."
-
Pidge meets Keith the next weekend after their Friday night campaign session (the hellhounds were defeated in a couple of turns and now they are maneuvering through a maze; Lance's rogue decided to touch something so they are locked inside and had to cut the session off once it hit two in the morning). She goes over to Shiro's apartment with Matt to help the newly-reunited brothers with moving things around the apartment. It's spacious enough for them to live comfortably, but for the time being Keith is being put up on a futon in the second bedroom, which has spent its time as Shiro's office and mini-gym.
Her first impression of Keith is nice; he's a senior like Lance and Hunk, and spends most of his free time taking apart mechanical things and putting them back together, which is something she can appreciate. He's somewhat quiet, but polite to her and Matt, while reserving his backtalk for Shiro in typical younger-sibling fashion. Pidge likes him.
She is sitting on the floor underneath Shiro's desk in the second bedroom, plugging things back in and rearranging wires after they moved everything to make room for Keith's new dresser, when she decides to strike up a new conversation.
"Were you in any clubs or anything?"
Keith hums from where he is transferring clothes from boxes into the dresser. "I'm not really the extra-curricular type," he admits with a shrug, "I thought about joining robotics for a bit but I didn't like the crowd."
Pidge snorts. "What, the snotty nerd culture not enticing enough for you?" Keith laughs breathily.
"Nah. Chill nerd is more my type if I had to choose one."
"Well," she drawls, turning in her spot to grin at Keith, "if you ever get lonely, I know some pretty chill nerds. You know Lance and Hunk, that I told you about earlier?" Keith nods. "I run a D&D campaign we play on Friday nights. I can't say Lance is very chill but Hunk is, like, the epitome of it. We're short on members for the campaign, if you're interested?"
"Huh." The boy smiles lightly. "That sounds pretty cool, actually. I've never played but I've heard about it. Tabletop, right?"
"Yeah. I have some spare dice you could use to roll up a character and try it out. We're not those creepy basement types, though, I promise."
"Thank God," Keith says, laughing along with her, "Yeah, I'd like to try it out, if I can. I'm not horribly creative but I'm pretty good at bullshitting my way through things."
Pidge tosses him a thumbs-up. "That's all I ask, honestly. Oh, here." She scoots around to face him and pulls her phone out of her pocket; she has the SRD site bookmarked on her home screen so she pulls it up and taps through to the races and classes. "I can send you this later but I wanna give you some suggestions for character creation, 'cause I can definitely see you as a paladin or fighter. Do you like swords?"
Keith slides across the carpet, nodding, and looks down at Pidge's phone as she scrolls through walls of text and links. She lands on the profile for Fighters and hands the phone over to him so he can sift through the paragraphs of information on armor classes, alignment, and feats, none of which he quite understands. Pidge leans on one hand, lifting the other to count off on her fingers.
"I'm game master, so technically I don't need a character of my own, but I had to throw mine in there since we lost a couple of our members, so I'm in as a halfling cleric. Hunk's a half-orc druid, and Lance is an elf rogue. We really need someone with a hard-hitting combat, so if you choose something like a fighter, it would really round out the party." She stops when she sees Keith looking at her with a smirk and she blushes. "H-hey, don't give me that."
He shakes his head and hands the phone back to her. "I'm down. It sounds fun, honestly. Just tell me what all that attribute and ability stuff means and I'll join in."
Pidge pauses for a moment, looking for any form of mocking in the other's expression, but she sees nothing and backs down with a smile of her own. "Alright cool. We can work on your character and then work you into the game sometime soon."
Just then, Matt knocks on the door jamb and steps into the room. "Hey kid, you ready to go soon? You guys got school tomorrow and I know you have homework."
Pidge throws her head back, groaning at the same moment Keith does. "Why do you have to call me kid, though," she whines. Looking back forward, she frowns and unlocks her phone again to pull up a new contact. "Hey, let me get your number so we can talk characters and stuff."
Keith nods and adds his number into her phone; about ten seconds later, his phone goes off from where it's laying on the nightstand next to his makeshift bed.
"Bye, Keith," Matt calls from the doorway, "it was nice meeting you. Keep your brother in check for me, okay?"
The younger boy waves a hand at him with a small embarrassed smile. "Will do. Nice to meet you too."
"See you tomorrow," Pidge says as she pushes herself to her feet, kicking the mass of wires from the computer setup underneath the desk. "We can compare schedules but we'll at least see each other at lunch, yeah?"
He nods. "Yeah. See you guys later. Thanks for the help today."
Pidge waves and follows her brother out to the front of the apartment where they don their shoes and sweaters. She turns away when they step outside, rolling her eyes as Shiro and Matt exchange soft 'see you later' kisses before parting ways. "Alright, you nasties, let's go. Bye, Shiro."
The older man laughs, but waves them off.
-
As promised, Keith meets up with Pidge at lunch the next day. It's his first day in this school, but classes have been in session for a couple weeks; his move had put him behind, but he had found that he hadn't truly missed much. He would easily catch up with everyone soon.
He learns that Pidge is a junior despite her age, having been allowed to skip a year in elementary, and they share a calculus class during fourth period. She's crazy smart and really fun; Keith is glad that she's the first person he experiences here. She meets him in the lunch line and they chatter about their schedules and Keith's first day while they wait.
"Don't use the first stall in the guy's bathroom on the second floor," she warns him, "the pipes are jacked up so when you flush it it causes a leak in Mr. Iverson's classroom below it. He flips shit every time and he's been trying to get someone to fix it but they have to tear down a wall to get to the plumbing."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, but it's Iverson, he's a riot and a half to mess with anyway."
Keith laughs as they get their food and find a spot at a table towards the middle of the room. Pidge, however, doesn't start eating, but pulls a notebook, guidebook, and a box of dice out of her backpack excitedly. Keith blinks.
She grins at him from across the table. "Thought we'd get started, distract you from school stuff. I'm working on the outline for this week's session too so if we get your character done I can work you into the game."
He allows his mouth to open into an understanding 'o' and nods. "Makes sense. I was looking at the site you sent me last night and I did want to go with a fighter, but I wasn't sure on a race yet. I like the Drow but I didn’t know if I wanted to play it safe and be a human instead."
Pidge waves her hand passively. "Humans are boring, I'll let you go for the Drow. I've always wanted to roll one anyway."
"Sounds good." He takes the dice that she hands him and tells him to roll and add all four numbers together. He feels a bit odd, sitting in the lunchroom at school rolling dice, but there's no one truly there to judge him for it. Especially not now. He rolls the dice and ends up with a fifteen. Pidge whistles.
"Good one."
She writes down the score on her notebook, but the five turns into an eight as her hand is jarred by someone kicking the table. Keith jumps at the sudden shock, catching the dice before they roll off the table and turns to glare at whoever decided to mess with them; Pidge, however, has beaten him to the punch.
"Dammit, Lance! Don't do that!" she growls, flipping her hand under Lance's lunch tray while he laughs.
Keith pauses as he looks at the newcomers, obviously Lance and Hunk. Hunk is big and stocky, complexion darker than Keith's and the others' combined and dressed in a faded yellow tee and khakis. He pushes his elbow into Lance's arm, successfully pushing Lance himself to the side a couple of inches, before taking a seat next to Pidge.
Lance, Keith notices, is tall and lanky, tanned skin stretched over bony limbs with wide, strong shoulders. He's wearing a baseball tee with sleeves too short for his arms and skinny jeans that crumple into high-tops on big feet. One of his thin eyebrows raises at Keith when he decides it's a good idea to stop laughing at Pidge to consider the newcomer. Keith feels himself flush under the scrutiny.
Pidge groans and fixes her glasses. "Guys, this is Keith. Be nice."
Lance shrugs and drops his tray on the table beside Keith before settling in, legs astride the bench so he can lean on his elbow while facing the other. "That's a lot to ask, Pidge," he says in a grave tone, but turns to Keith with a shiny smirk. "Nice to meet ya, I'm Lance. Warn me if you overheat, alright?"
Keith blinks. "Why would I overheat?"
Hunk bursts out laughing from his side of the table and Pidge flings a tater tot at Lance, which bounces off his chest and to the floor. Lance's mouth is agape, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Because... I'm?" He growls in frustration and turns to toss a fry back at Pidge, who bats it away. "Nevermind."
"Uh-huh..." Keith breathes a laugh before switching his attention over to Hunk, who has stretched a hand across the table for them to shake.
"I'm Hunk. Welcome to the team. Matt told us about you the other day, thanks for joining us." Hunk smiles and throws a thumbs-up after they shake.
Keith nods. "Thanks for having me. I've never played but it sounds interesting. Pidge was letting me roll ability scores, right?" He looks to her for confirmation; they had texted back and forth for a bit the night before while she explained the basics of the game and how it was played, as well as what he needed in order to build a character, but he was still hesitant on some of the terminology.
She shakes her head enthusiastically. "His first roll was a fifteen, before someone," she pauses, eyeing Lance where he is squeezing ketchup over his fries and pointedly looking away, "decided to interrupt. Hunk is a pretty good lucky charm for good rolls, even though his rolls suck most of the time-"
"Pidge!"
"-so we can finish your base stats while he's here. You might end up with a really strong character."
Hunk sighs but shrugs and tucks in to his lunch while the others laugh. "What are you going for?" he asks through his burger, though Keith is surprised he can understand the words.
"A Drow fighter. She said you guys needed a heavy hitter."
Lance scoffs from beside him. "Drow are so overrated. Sure they're mysterious or whatever but they hate elves! Who hates elves!"
"Drow, apparently," Keith quips, smirking. Lance pouts and frowns at Keith, his cheeks turning pink.
"You're just mad 'cause you play an elf, Lance," Pidge supplies from across the table. She gathers up the four dice that Keith had been using and hands them back to him. "Just five more rolls. I'll let you re-roll if it's too low and then I'll level you up to where we are."
"How long have you guys been playing?" asks Keith before he takes a drink from his milk carton and rolls the dice again, ending up with an eleven.
This time Hunk speaks, allowing Pidge to write down the score and start on her lunch. "This campaign has been going on since I think April? So we've logged a few days worth on it. Pidge keeps her session notes on an online portal, if you want to read up on what's been happening."
"Yeah, she sent me the links to everything last night. I'll try to catch up before this week," Keith adds.
"Nice. This is the first time Lance and I have played, but Pidge's brother has been playing for years, I think at least since version four came out, right?"
"Nah, it was three-point-five, at least. You forget my brother is like almost as old as Shiro."
Keith has to laugh at that. "I didn't know there were so many versions. Does it change that often?"
Lance chimes in with a hum, his bottle of soda tipped up as he drinks. "They add stuff every few years or so to keep things interesting. The game's been out for decades, people would've stopped playing if they had to play the same campaigns over and over," he says after he sets his drink down.
"Hmm. Understandable."
Keith rolls the rest of his scores, the lowest being a nine that Pidge gratefully upgrades to a ten; none of their characters have stats below it at this point, and it is applied to his Drow's charisma since he can apparently upgrade it when they level up next anyway.
The remainder of their lunch hour is spent discussing Keith's new character and tossing around hilarious stories from the current campaign. Keith falls into the chatter easily, grateful for the sudden and friendly acceptance, but can't help feeling his skin warm up as Lance curls towards him when he laughs out loud.
-
Keith lays in bed that night after finishing the light amount of homework he had and opens the link to the portal that Pidge had sent him; she had said that it was an archive of their session stories so far and would be a good place for him to start to get used to how she expected everyone to play. He reads through the introduction and plot line – something simple, along the typical heroes-come-together-to-hunt-down-a-magical-treasure line – and gets through the first couple of sessions before he goes back to read the character backstories that are available. Pidge's Cleric is a magical advisor to a king, who convinces the rest of the party to go on a journey to recover a precious jewel that will be inlaid in the prince's crown for his upcoming coronation. Lance's Rogue is in the king's army and accepts the challenge, then recruits the other party members at a tavern in town.
The party starts out with Lance and Hunk's characters, but there is a human Barbarian and an elf Sorceress that join the party at the start that Keith doesn't remember hearing about. A few sessions in, after coming across a pack of Kobolds (lizard folk; Keith has to look them up to figure out what they are), the elf is killed in battle and the Barbarian parts ways with the others to continue on another quest. The divide in the party is sudden and tense, it seems, with the way Pidge has written it out. It raises a bunch of questions for Keith as he rolls over, thumbing through the rest of the sessions. The battles become stretched-out and harder the more he reads, a testament to how hard it was on the group to lose two players so suddenly.
He carries the question in the back of his mind through the rest of the week, forgetting it as he gets buried under more homework and finishing his own character outline for the game on Friday. Keith finds that he shares calculus with both Pidge and Hunk, and has Lance in his final period for government. It's reassuring to have his friends – he can call them friends now, right? - in at least some of his classes. His move had been necessary but sudden and though he didn't have many friends at his old school anyway, he had worried that he wouldn't have the comfort of seeing familiar faces in his classes.
Friday comes around and he and Lance leave their government class to meet up with Pidge and Hunk at the front of the school. They have agreed to meet at Pidge's place around seven; Matt and Shiro have pledged to schedule their date nights for session nights and Shiro will drop off Keith when he comes by to pick up Matt. It's a decent exchange that works in their favor.
Lance comes up behind where Keith and Hunk have met up ahead of him and pats them hard on their shoulders. "You guys ready for tonight?" With a spin, he moves to walk in front of them toward the buses. Their homes are spread out across the city, though Lance and Hunk have lived on the same street for years. Keith knows that Shiro's apartment is on the edge of the school district's area since he lives closer to the college, so his bus route is longer.
"I'm excited to get out of that maze," Hunk supplies, "Since you decided it was a good idea to flip that switch and we're stuck down there."
"Hey, I was curious. Pidge didn't say it would trap us in there."
"You're not supposed to know what happens, Lance," Pidge says, rolling her eyes, "So Keith, have any ideas of how you wanna play your guy?"
Keith nods. "A few."
Pidge grins at him and walks backwards to her bus. "Alright, I'll see you guys later. Seven sharp! And Keith, you can borrow some of my dice until we can get you some of your own. We’ll plan a shopping trip!”
“Sounds good, see you tonight!” he calls before she disappears onto her bus. He follows Lance and Hunk down to the last few buses, waving them off as they each wave.
"See ya dude!" Lance calls with a final salute.
-
The ride over to Matt and Pidge's apartment is quiet, with Keith in the passenger seat with crossed arms and Shiro driving, a hand on the drive shaft tapping along to the barely-audible radio music.
"Thanks for opening up to them," Shiro says suddenly, snapping Keith out of his reverie. He tucks his hands into the sleeves of his hoodie out of habit and huffs.
"No problem," he mutters, "But you don't have to do that. Just ‘cause I got kicked out doesn't mean I'm some emotionally-stunted weirdo."
Shiro laughs. "I know, but let me worry about my little brother, okay?" His dark eyes meet Keith's for a moment before he turns back to the road. "I know Dad kind of overreacted, I'm just glad I was able to take care of you."
Keith shrugs, looking out the window. It's not dark yet, the late fall sun still on its way down past the horizon. He's quiet for a moment. "I like them. A lot. I know... it's only been a week, but that's okay, right?"
"Of course. What do you think of them?"
"Pidge is awesome," Keith starts, "She's really funny. And Hunk is, like, the coolest guy ever. I mean, he's smart in that nerd way, but he's not like a bad kind of nerd? If that makes sense."
Shiro hums in agreement, slowing the car as they come to a stoplight. "And Lance?"
Keith wills his cheeks not to redden but they do so anyway and he has to look down at his hands curled in his lap and hope that his hair will cover his face. He clenches his eyes shut as Shiro laughs at him. "Stop it!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Shiro shakes his head. "So?"
"Um.... he's cool. He, uh, when we met on Monday he said to warn him if I overheat," Keith manages, then buries his face in his hands and groans. Shiro bursts out laughing again. "Shut up! I just got it yesterday!"
His brother continues to bark laughter and claps a couple times before having to put his hands back on the wheel and drive. "Oh man, that is definitely typical Lance."
Keith pouts, crossing his arms again. "How did you even meet them, anyway?"
"Ah, well," it's Shiro's turn to flush across his cheeks, "I met Matt at the university a few years ago, and Pidge by extension. She was still in seventh grade but she and the guys were in an advanced math class together so they studied at the house all the time. Hunk and Lance would ask Matt and I for help sometimes so it just kind of stuck. I think it's been, what, four or five years?"
"Wow. And you and Matt still don't live together?" Keith teases, watching Shiro's skin burn red as he focuses intently on driving.
"No. Keith." With a surprisingly solemn sigh, Shiro frowns. "It's tough regarding Pidge. She's told me before that Matt does want to... further things between us but he doesn’t want to abandon her, or something along those lines. Their parents travel a lot so he's really all she has as a support system. He wants her to have a steady home life until she at least graduates."
Keith turns back to facing the road; they are turning down into an apartment complex with covered parking and buildings squeezed together. Shiro pulls into an unmarked parking space and turns the car off. "I'm sorry if I make things worse," he manages.
"Keith, it's fine." He looks up to see his older brother smiling sweetly at him. "I'd rather you be here and safe. You're my brother. I love Matt but he and I understand each other's circumstances and our families come first."
Keith's cheeks warm but he nods. "Okay."
Shiro reaches over to ruffle Keith's hair, earning him a shout of protest, then gets out of the car. While fixing his hair, Keith follows suit and walks up to a first-floor apartment with an empty wreath hanger on the door. The mat beneath their feet is decorated with two owls wearing glasses and saying "Hoo's there?" Keith rolls his eyes as Shiro knocks on the door.
"It's open!" comes Pidge's muffled voice.
"Katie, stop it! You don't know who it is!" Matt's voice is further away but hurried footsteps follow and the door swings open to reveal the taller Holt sibling, a tired smile crossing his face. "Hey, guys."
They step over the threshold into a decently-sized apartment, though it is smaller than Shiro's. Matt closes the door behind them and Keith watches as he walks past a six-seat dining table, into what can be considered the living room, to grab his wallet and a sweater. Pidge is seated at the head of the dining table, which is decorated with a forest and castle mapped out on a butcher paper grid. The lower half of her face is blocked by a tri-folded board, but Keith can see where her glasses are lit up by the light of her phone.
"Hey Keith," she calls, not looking up, "You can sit anywhere, the guys'll move."
He nods and takes the seat to her left, removing his hoodie and hanging it on the chair behind him; his gaze travels over the grid on the table, the pile of reference books, and the box of dice sitting next to her. "Are they on their way?"
"Yeah. They provide the food and drinks since my house is hosting so they're probably stopping at the store." She finally looks up from her phone and turns down the board in front of her. "Here, I'll get you set up."
He watches as she digs through the box of dice and comes up with a set that shines a pearlescent red. The numbers are painted gold and they look untouched; Pidge says that Matt got them for a kitsune character he never got the chance to play, so they are still lucky. Keith rolls them out onto the table in front of himself, nodding along while she explains the number of sides and which ones are used for which rolls.
A couple moments later, Matt announces that he and Shiro are headed out and to not call out that the door is open the next time someone knocks, Katie! Pidge groans but waves him off in understanding.
"Have fun, guys," Shiro says, locking eyes with Keith before smiling. The door closes behind them and, as if to spite Pidge, the lock clicks into place. She looks over at it with narrowed eyes then sighs.
"Anyway," she continues, attention back on the dice, "this is the d20, it's basically your lifeline in the game. Keep it facing up on the twenty, otherwise it's bad luck."
Keith is quick to the turn the dice over. "It doesn't seem too complicated," he admits. He holds the d4 up, turning it over in his fingers to see the overhead light glinting off the polished sides.
"It really isn't. It takes some getting used to, but luckily I'm also a more chill game master than some people." Pidge crosses her arms and leans back in her chair, a smile on her face. "I don't make you roll to move a square or to talk to someone, you don't have to keep track of how much weight you're carrying, for example. Sometimes I let you reroll crit-fails, if I'm feeling up to it. Unless you're Lance. It's funny watching him come up with excuses."
Keith lowers the die in his hand to the table, his gaze following it down and cheeks warming at the mention of Lance. He tries not to acknowledge the smug Look on Pidge's face as she leans forward in her seat again.
He is spared a confrontation by a thud against the door. He distantly hears a "What the fuck" and then "The door is never locked!" Looking back at Pidge earns Keith a shrug, so he gets up and goes over to the door, ignoring the rhythmic knocking that has started. When he glances through the peephole and sees Lance and Hunk standing there with a plethora of bags in hand, he decides to mess with them.
"Who is it?" he calls through the door.
The knocking stops and Lance looks towards the peephole. "Keith! Buddy! Come on, let us in!"
Keith has to bite his lip to hold back his smile, but Pidge bursts out laughing behind him. "Sorry, I don't think I know you. Are you sure you have the right place?"
"Keiiiiith," Lance whines, "dude, these are heavy!" As if to prove his point, he lifts a bag that is straining against the weight of two liters of soda. Hunk starts laughing behind him. "Hey, don't encourage him!"
After letting the two bicker for a moment, Keith unlocks the door and lets them in, though he receives a tongue stuck out in his direction from Lance as they pass by. Hunk turns into the kitchen to drop bags on the counter, grabbing the rest from Lance as the taller boy removes his jacket and flops into a seat at the table.
"We miss anything?"
Keith wanders over to the kitchen to help Hunk, who is unearthing bags of chips and a platter of sandwiches. Hunk offers him a glass of soda and the sandwiches, which he accepts gratefully and carries over to the table where Lance is laying out a notebook and his own set of dice; they are a pretty deep blue with silver numbers.
"Not really," Pidge says, setting her GM board up again, "Just reminding him about the dice and such. We're just gonna play through the maze and he'll meet up with us at the end so he can watch us play."
"Sounds like a plan," Hunk pipes up. He hands another glass of soda to Pidge over her board, sets a third one down in front of the place he is taking at the table, and tosses an energy drink at Lance. "Are you gonna pull your girl out of the game?"
Pidge shakes her head. "Nah. I figured it'd be easier to stay in. It's not the best party-size but it's easier than trying to take down hellhounds with just three of us."
As Hunk settles into his seat and places his dice on the table – pearly gold with black numbers – Keith suddenly remembers his question from earlier that week. "Oh yeah, I read through all the session stories this week, who played that sorceress and barbarian from the beginning? They left really suddenly."
The room gets quiet, Hunk and Pidge sharing a look over her GM board and then turning to Lance. He is opening his drink with stiff hands and staring at the grid on the table. Keith instantly feels awkward. "Sorry, I was just confus-"
"It's fine," Lance says. He turns his gaze up to Keith, a pained smile on his face; it's not an expression that Keith finds that he likes. "They were a couple of old friends. We had a bit of a disagreement and they dropped the game. Pidge was able to write them out at the last session they were in."
Hunk grimaces from his place beside his friend but it seems he is holding back more than he can say. "Thankfully we weren't too far in so it was an easy fix."
Breaking out into a sudden laugh, Lance seems to jump out of the uncharacteristic mood he'd adopted and says, "Yeah, Pidge totally forgot to decrease the number of encounters and her cleric bit the dust in the next session. She had to roll a save to make sure she wouldn't stay dead!"
"I'll remind you that I crit that roll and blinded you guys when I came back to life, thank you very much," Pidge adds, eyes narrowing behind her drink, "Now, are we ready to start or what?"
All three boys nod eagerly and she claps her hands together. A small smirk makes its way onto her face.
"So, we left off in the depths of a maze which Lance was so kind enough to lock us in. The ground is dirt but the walls are stone and reach high above you. You can see daylight above, but the maze is foggy as you make your way through, so visibility is low. You've encountered dead ends, trap treasure chests, real treasure chests, and enough bats to last you a lifetime."
"I feel like I'm in a cave in Pokemon, nothing but Zubats," Hunk adds, earning a laugh from the others.
Pidge continues after taking another drink. "You feel like you're getting close to the center of the maze, but you've hit another dead end. You are surrounded on three sides by stone walls, and the one in front of you has an alcove at eye-level that is decorated with a burned-down candlestick. Do you want to turn back, or inspect?"
Keith sits on the edge of his chair, glancing between Lance and Hunk. He's surprised that Pidge was able to paint such a clear scene and now he really wants to know what the guys decide to do.
Lance finally looks up from the grid. "Well obviously there's a hidden door behind the candlestick, so we gotta pull on it and see what happens."
"Uh-uh," Hunk puts in quickly, "Last time you touched something in here you triggered a trap and the door shut behind us. Plus, just because there's a dumb candlestick doesn't mean it automatically leads to a hidden door." He crosses his arms and stares down Lance, who does the same. Keith glances over at Pidge and sees her biting back laughter.
Then, Lance turns to Keith and the sudden attention makes him flush. "What do you think, Keith? Should we test the candlestick or just turn around?"
Keith hesitates, looking between the other boys who are now staring at him instead of each other. "Um... honestly I kind of agree with Hunk? I don't know. I think Pidge is too smart to set it up so obviously."
"Aw, thanks, Keith."
Lance groans and throws his hands in the air. "Fine, we'll back up and find another pathway." Pidge sighs in amusement, reaching over with a marker to draw on the grid where their party has already explored in the maze.
"Alright guys. You back up, and continue on your way."
-
The game continues in a similar fashion for a few hours, with Lance, Hunk, and Pidge's characters making their way through the maze. They do test another precariously-placed candlestick and are let through to another pathway, but are still surrounded on two sides by stone walls. They encounter a small swarm of bats that are quickly dispatched by a fireball from Pidge's cleric, then finally find a small wooden door that opens into a large dungeon.
At one point, Pidge texts Keith from behind her GM board, telling him that his character will be coming in soon like they had discussed. He looks over at her to let her know he got the message and she smiles back at him through one of the sandwiches.
Lance's character has picked up a longsword that lays on a table in the dungeon when Pidge calls out for them to roll for initiative; Keith recalls his knowledge so far and knows that this roll determines who attacks first in a combat round. Lance makes a noise of protest but rolls his d20 anyway along with Hunk.
"Nine."
"And six."
Pidge rolls a die behind her board. "And I got a twelve. Alright. The sword you've just picked up shudders and releases black smoke, filling the dungeon and lowering your visibility. Hunk, because of your flaw, your darkvision is limited to five feet and Lance only has low-light vision. You guys are blind, but you can sense that there is something in this dungeon with you now."
A low whimper escapes Hunk and he grips his die in his hands. "Oh God I have to go first, don't I," he mumbles, frowning.
"Yup."
"Okay," he heaves a breath, "I turn away from where I know Lance is standing and draw my mace. Not gonna have a repeat of last time trying to shoot an arrow blind."
Pidge nods. "Do you want to attack or wait?"
"I'll wait."
Lance smirks, taking a swig from his second energy drink. "My turn, guys. Let a real warrior clear this smoke. I hold onto the sword and move forward, slashing at whatever it is that's in here." He picks up his d20 and rolls a fifteen, then a d6 and gets a four. "Fifteen, plus my attack bonus of three. Four damage?"
Pidge checks her notes and nods, grinning. "You hit it. But, it uses the screen of smoke and moves away from you." Keith is looking between them, still caught off guard at how quickly combat happens, when his phone buzzes again. Looking down, he sees it's another message from Pidge.
[Pidge]: You can choose to attack the thing to help them, or ignore them. Your Drow has darkvision up to 120ft so you can see that it's a dwarf.
I'll help them, he responds, tuning back in to catch Pidge's cleric cast a wind spell that only slightly clears the smoke. Lance and Hunk groan from across the table. Keith’s lips twitch into a slight smile as Lance picks up his d20 and rubs it vigorously between his hands. With the other boys distracted by Pidge playing out the dwarf's turn, Keith picks up his own die in order to roll for his upcoming turn. He and Pidge lock eyes for a moment, then he rolls the die onto the table. It lands with a clatter on the twenty.
Hunk has to turn away from the table to avoid spitting his drink out in surprise, and Lance's jaw has dropped as his eyes open wide.
“Dude you just crit your first roll ever,” Pidge says with a layer of smug pride over her words.
Keith flushes at the attention from all three of his companions. It isn't new to him, the scrutiny, but it's the first time in a long time that a peer has looked at him as if they're impressed.
“Uh, yeah… yeah I guess so.”
-
The session runs until after midnight; the fight with the dwarf is short lived once Keith destroys the creature in a couple of hits. His Drow is revealed in the dungeon, having been cursed to be trapped in the longsword that Lance's elf picked up. Lance’s face had lit up minutely when Pidge announced that Keith's character could have only been freed from the sword's curse by someone with a truly noble cause. Lance teases Keith's Drow for being ‘OP’ (“Overpowered, Keith, I'll teach you everything you need to know!”) but the small patches of redness on the other boy's cheeks are enough of a tell.
Once they call it a night after Shiro and Matt come stumbling back into the apartment, the rest of the weekend passes by in a flash for Keith, who continues to reset his life in Shiro's spare bedroom. He is setting his futon up for bed on Sunday – after organizing his school books and clearing a space on the desk to do his homework – when his phone buzzes from its place on the dresser. Glancing at the screen curiously, he sees it's from an unknown number.
[Unknown]: hey keith it's lance! sorry to bug u so late but i was wonderin if u did the packet for government yet
[Unknown]: i took ur number from pidge btw why would u not give ur best buddy ur number?? lameeeee
Keith feels his cheeks warm and he subconsciously checks the door to his room, ensuring that it's closed so Shiro won't be witness to his stupid crush. His fingers hesitate over the keys on his phone; he's surprised that Lance went to the trouble of asking Pidge for his number rather than waiting until they saw each other again. It is Sunday, they cross paths going to class in the morning anyway.
Trying not to dwell on it, Keith lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding and sends a text back.
[You]: i'm pretty sure i did, though. how else did pidge get my number?
[You]: and yeah i did, it's due tomorrow, isn't it?
[Unknown]: RUDE!!!?!?!
Keith laughs to himself, dropping onto the futon. He adds Lance's number into his contact list and wills his heart to stop jack-rabbiting in his chest.
[Lance]: anyway ya of course u did lol. whered u find the answer for #14? i cant find it in the chapter
[Lance]: like idk if im blind or stupid but i swear ive read this thing like 20 times and i cant find it
[Lance]: pidge would contest that i am indeed both blind and stupid but w/e she can bite me
[Lance]: nah I take that back pidge is cool
"Oh my god, Lance," Keith mutters to himself as his phone blows up with the swarm of Lance's messages. He gets up again to rummage through his backpack to find the packet he had finished the night before, messages Lance the page number he remembers finding the answer on, then lays back down on his bed as more messages bombard his phone.
[Lance]: wtf that’s not even the same chapter. thanks dude! idk how they expect us to find this shit when they mess it up like this
[You]: good ole education system, right?
[Lance]: YES!! like come on isnt it good enough ive made it through twelve years of this shit
[Lance]: anyway yeah thanks dude. good job on the game btw! i cant believe u crit ur first goddamn roll what luck. im kinda jealous
[Lance]: don’t try n one up me now dude u gotta follow the right steps of initiation
Lance's following message is a winking smiley face and Keith forces his smile from his cheeks. He reaches up to plug his phone into its charger, glancing up to where the desk lamp is still on with a pout; as creaky as it is, his futon is very comfortable after a day of rearranging workout equipment and catching up on required reading.
[You]: should i be flattered that your jealous of me? im not rly anything special either. the game was fun, ive never done anything like that before
[Lance]: what, like a rpg?
[You]: yeah, also the whole… hanging out with friends thing.
[Lance]: UM WHAT we need to remedy that stat. NURSE GET A DR IN HERE WE NEED 40CCS OF GOOD STRONG FRIENDSHIP HERE I AM NOT LOSING ANOTHER ONE ON MY TABLE
[Lance]: but forreal dude ur part of the gang now theres no going back. hope ur prepared for what happens next
Biting his lip, hesitating, Keith's thumbs hover over his phone screen.
[You]: and what happens next?
There's a pause. Lance's messages have been coming in rapid succession, but once Keith sends his text, it's like his response has stalled Lance over his own keypad. After a tense minute, in which Keith agonizes over the fact that Lance has spent the last thirty minutes texting him as if they had been best friends for years, his phone lights up with a new message.
[Lance]: u get to spend the rest of ur days with me bugging the crap outta u ;D
Keith outwardly groans, loud, and hears Shiro call to him from the living room.
“Keith? You okay?”
“I'm fine!” he shouts in response, rolling onto his back and covering his face with his hands; the light from his still-open phone blinds him when he opens his eyes to type out his reply.
[You]: i think i can handle it.