Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hunk had been minding his own business, like he always was. Except for maybe those few times he had accidentally stumbled on Pidge’s diary or when he may have overheard a few conversations that he probably shouldn’t have heard. But other than that he was always minding his own business.

He had just been doing his algebra homework like a good student when it had all started. It was little things that he hardly noticed but in the beginning he chalked it up to the fact that his moms were out of town for the weekend and he was just noticing more noises than normal. Like when the stairs creaked or some creepy noises, like scratching or like someone was walking around upstairs.

“It’s just your imagination,” Hunk muttered to himself as he bounced his pencil in his hand. He was doing his best to work through a particular hard equation and was about to text Lance for help when his dog, Buttercup, started to growl.

“What’s wrong girl?” Hunk asked, looking down at the golden retriever in confusion, she had never once growled in all the seven years they had her.

She sat up and continued her low growling and now Hunk was beginning to worry because dogs don’t really tend to growl at nothing, especially his dog.

“Oh god is there someone in the house?” he muttered to himself as he reached for his phone. “Are they a robber? A kidnapper? Oh god is it a murderer?”

Hunk scrambled off the chair and ran into the kitchen, grabbing a knife out of one of the drawers and brandishing it in front of him. “It’s all good Hunk, if someone’s here you have a knife, you can protect yourself, unless they have a gun. Oh god what if they have gun?!”

Hunk was pulled out of his worry by the loud slam of a door. Yelping, he jumped about a foot in the air before pointing the knife out in front of him looking around wildly for something.

Buttercup was by his side, her hair standing up as she let out another low growl, staring at the opening to the kitchen.

“Oh my god what the heck is going on?!” Hunk cried as he felt his legs shaking. He just wanted to do his homework and this is how he gets treated? He’s never going to do his homework again if this is how it is.

Hunk’s about seconds away from just calling the police when one of the kitchen cabinets fling open, and then another, and another until all the cabinets are flung open and oh no, this was not some person doing this, oh no.

“Crap, crap, crap,” Hunk yelled as he ran out of the kitchen, looking over his shoulder the entire time as he saw plates and bowls being thrown off the shelves and across the room. He could hear glass hitting the wall and breaking but Hunk wasn’t about to stop.

He bolted up the stairs and into his bedroom with Buttercup at his heels. Flinging the door shut and locking it he dialed the only person he could think of.

“Oh my god Lance, listen there is some creepy stuff happening at my house, like out of the exorcist or something. Please come over here, oh and bring Keith, this is right up his alley. And hurry, I don’t know if it can get passed locked doors!!!”

/////

Lance loved this time of the year. October brought colder weather, perfect for sweaters and scarves, all things pumpkin spiced flavored, and not to mention Halloween, one of Lance’s favorite holidays, right after Christmas of course.

Normally if he was out walking at dusk at this time of year it was because he was enjoying the weather or scoping out this year’s trick or treating path. However, today he was trailing after an overly excited Keith and Pidge and was heading for Hunk’s house since his best friend was apparently fending for his life or something.

“It must be a ghost!” Keith cried as they turned down Hunk’s neighborhood, he was practically skipping at the prospect that his friend was apparently being tormented by a ghost which was giving Lance some conflicting feelings. He was worried for Hunk’s safety, but Keith looked really cute when he got that look on his face that screamed that he was going to doing something dangerous.

“Or a poltergeist,” Pidge chirped as she pulled something out of her bag. It looked like a tangle of wires and metal. “My brother made this senior year, he called it something sciency and fancy but in reality he pretty much just made a ghost detector.”

“Ooooh that’ll be helpful, I wasn’t able to stop by Allura’s for anything considering how scared Hunk is,” Keith said as he poked at detector.

“How could Allura help us?” Lance asked as they came to Hunk’s house. It looked peaceful from outside, like there was nothing unusual going on inside, though Hunk had only been calling him twenty minutes ago sounding like he was freaking out.

“I don’t know,” Keith said with a shrug. “I’ve never had to go to her for a ghost problem before. But she’s always been able to help me before so I’m sure she has something that could help us.”

“Uh huh,” Lance said as they walked up to Hunk’s front door. Keith still hadn’t told them much about how he found the shop and how he and Allura had somehow become friends of sorts. Lance was curious about it, why had Keith needed to find her shop in the first place, and why did he need to go back to it so often that he a usual payment to give her that wasn’t money? But Keith apparently not gone to see her since the Bigfoot incident over a month ago so apparently he hadn’t been in the cryptid hunting mood recently.

Keith knocked on the door and the trio waited for their friend to open the door. It took about a minute for Hunk to get to the door, and in that one minute they heard Buttercup’s loud barking, the sound of something crashing to the floor and heavy footsteps. The door flung open, almost hitting Keith right in the face to reveal a very frazzled, and out of breath, Hunk.

“Oh my god guys, finally!” he cried as he waved at them to come inside. “I thought I was going to die before you got here.”

“What exactly is going on Hunk?” Keith asked as he looked around for anything out of the ordinary all while Pidge turned on her weird doo-hicky.

“I was just minding my own business, doing my homework and I started hearing these weird noises. At first I thought it was my imagination-my moms aren’t home-but then Buttercup started growling and she never growls. Then I heard a door slam and then all the kitchen cabinets started to fly open and all the plates and stuff started to come flying out of them and it all just really freaked me out,” Hunk said, half of his words meshing together with how fast he was talking but Keith nodded his head in understanding while Lance though he needed to hear some of it again.

“Are you sure you didn’t just watch some scary movie and got freaked out, it is only two days until Halloween,” Lance said, shrugging his shoulders. It wouldn’t have been the first time his friend had a nightmare that had freaked him out, though Lance could figure out from the look Hunk was giving him that he was serious.

“Lance, buddy, I don’t think I can make up someone trashing my kitchen and the mess being there when I look in,” Hunk said as Pidge’s machine began to make noises.

“What is it doing?” Lance asked as he peeked over Pidge’s shoulder only for her to bat at him. Lance let out a whine but back up.

“It’s just picking up electromagnetic fields,” Pidge said as she moved it around, putting it in front of three of them, nodding her head when it made small noises every time it landed on them. “It’s working, so if there’s something in this house emitting an EM field I’ll find it.”

“Let’s go into the kitchen and see if it’s still there,” Keith said before turning and heading to the kitchen with Pidge on his tail. Lance hesitated a bit before following.

“You alright buddy? You sounded really scared on the phone,” Lance said, placing a hand on Hunk’s arm.

Hunk nodded his head weakly. “The noises stopped about ten minutes ago and now that there are people here with me I feel a little bit better. I mean I’m still pretty freaked out but at least there will be people with me if it happens again.”

“Don’t worry buddy, we’ll go all ghostbusters on this things butt until it leaves you alone,” Lance said, patting Hunk’s arm. “Now come on, let’s go make sure Keith and Pidge don’t get possessed or something.”

Hunk shook his head but at least laughed a little. “Can you imagine Keith getting possessed by a ghost? I think he’d be more happy than concerned.”

“I don’t know, Keith’s stubborn, do you really think he’d let a ghost control him?”

“You do have a point, but what if he let the ghost possess him?”

“You have a point,” Lance said as they walked into the kitchen and were faced with a huge mess. There were plates and bowels everywhere, apparently most of them had been made of plastic, but it looked like half of the glasses had been smashed into little pieces and littered the floor like diamonds.

“Watch out guys,” Keith said, putting his hand out in front of them. “We should probably stay away from the mess for now until we know for sure if the ghost is gone.”

“What, why? Do you think it would attack us?” Hunk asked, his face paling as he looked down at the glass and kept Buttercup from wandering into the kitchen.

“Well it did kinda wreck your kitchen,” Lance said as he gestured over to the mess that spanned the entire length of the floor.

“There was definitely something here,” Pidge said as she waved her machine around, it made little beeping noises and a few lights lit up on it. “But whatever it was it’s gone now.”

“So what, did it go back to where ghosts are from? Is it going to leave me alone?” Hunk asked.

“I’m not sure,” Keith said, crossing his arms as he glared at the air, like if he looked hard enough he could see something invisible. “But I doubt that it went away. It’s real close to Halloween, and Allura’s told me before that it makes the supernatural a whole lot stronger. So maybe you’re the victim to a ghost that’s using the extra energy to bother a human.”

“Ugh, why me though? Couldn’t they have picked a nice family of four to bother? Not some teen home alone!” Hunk cried, throwing his hands up in the air. “So what you’re telling me is that this ghost is probably lurking in my house right now waiting for the next time it can ruin my night?”

“Ummm, most likely,” Keith said, his face sympathetic as he offered Hunk a shrug.

“Oh my god, I can’t handle anymore creepy stuff!”

Lance watched as his friend started to panic and began to figure out a plan to help him out. He could always just let Hunk stay the night at his place, but the ghost would probably still be there in the morning…if there was a ghost. Lance felt bad for not fully believing his friend but after the whole Bigfoot incident he wasn’t really sold on the whole, there are still things we don’t know about. He could get behind mermaids because honestly, they had discovered less than five percent of the oceans, they could totally be out there, but ghosts? Lance more or less liked to watch Ghost Hunters just to make fun of them.

However, there was always the option that they could camp out at Hunk’s tonight and if nothing happen they could just say that the ghost must’ve taken Hunk’s advice and went to bother another household.

“Hunk, what do you say to a giant sleepover?” Lance said, throwing his hands up when he said giant.

“Like at your house or-“

“Nope, right here,” Lance said with a smile as Hunk grimaced.

“Could we maybe do it in a not haunted house? I’ve watched enough movies to know that a group of teens in a haunted house never ends well,” Hunk said, glancing over at Keith and Pidge, probably for help but Lance knew that those two would definitely be on board with the whole idea.

“Think about it Hunk, you won’t be alone so even if any more ghostly things happen we’ll be here to help you,” Lance said with a shrug. “Plus if nothing happens we can just figure that the ghost left.”

“That is a good idea,” Keith said, moving so that he was standing next to Lance. “If anything does happen we can write it down and tell Allura everything that happened so that it could be easier to figure out what kind of ghost it is.

“Wait, there are different kinds of ghosts?” Hunk asked, looking over at Lance. He looked a mix of confused and hesitant, and knowing Hunk he probably wanted nothing more than just leave his house until his parents came back home.

“Ummm, yeah, I don’t know the kinds but Allura’s mentioned it before,” Keith said with a shrug, and how often was he having conversations with Allura about ghosts and stuff?

“Don’t worry Hunk,” Pidge said, walking over and patting him on the arm. “We’ll be with you the entire time, and since I have this,” she waved her machine at him, “We could know about a ghost in a room before it even does anything.”

“So what do you say Hunk, one big sleepover?” Lance said, throwing an arm around Hunk.

Hunk looked at the three of them before letting out a sigh. “Alright, let’s do this.”

“Woo-hoo,” Lance said, pumping a fist into the sky. “I know some great movies that we can watch-“

“They better not be horror movies, Lance,” Hunk said, sending Lance a look that screamed, don’t make this worse than it already is.

“I would never make you watch you least favorite movie genre,” Lance said, placing his hand on his chest. “However, I would make you watch Halloweentown.”

They ended up assigning tasks after they had texted their parents that they were sleeping over at Hunk’s. Lance had made sure to add in his text that Hunk was a little on edge staying at home alone, and since his mother had practically adopted Hunk as her son he figured it would make it that much more likely that she would agree to the impromptu sleepover.

Lance and Keith ended up being the ones to clean up the kitchen. Lance put the dining ware that was still intact back into the cabinets while Keith swept up the glass and put it into a trash bag. Lance even popped a bowl of popcorn and rummaged around until he found the candy stash since he had a good feeling Hunk hadn’t eaten yet that night.
Pidge had been in charge of finding all the blankets and pillows in the house and building a giant blanket fort for them, with Hunk’s help after he had fed Buttercup and scoped out a few rooms for any other damage.

Within fifteen minutes they four of them were sprawled out in the fort with their snacks watching the first Halloweentown with all the sequels to follow, thank you very much Disney channel.

As Lance had expected nothing unusual happened during the first movies, except for when Keith had to make a comment about his taste in movies.

“I can’t believe that you’ve been telling me this is the best Halloween movie for all these years, and I actually believed you,” Keith said during a commercial break right before the end of the first one.

“Wait, so what you’re telling me is that despite me telling you that Halloweentown is the best Halloween movie, you’ve never watching it until right now?” Lance said, giving him the looks he used when he just couldn’t believe that Keith was like this, the last time the look was used was back in eighth grade when Keith told him that he hadn’t watched Star Wars before. He could still see Keith’s face when he told Lance that Shiro preferred Star Trek. Lance still hadn’t forgiven Shiro for that.

Keith shrugged and had the audacity to still look Lance in the face as he admitted to his betrayal. “Normally I watch horror movies on Halloween not….Disney movies.”

Lance gasped. “How dare you insinuate that this movie isn’t a classic!”

“It’s not a classic.” Keith didn’t even blink.

“That’s it, this friendship is over,” Lance said crossing his arms but his heart melted just a little bit when Keith started laughing.

“I’m watching it now aren’t I? And you’re getting to see my first impression.”

“Which is?” Lance was hopeful that Keith could redeem himself.

“Ehhh,” Keith said, waving his hand, a bored look on his face that quickly turned into a smile when Lance started squawking at him for having horrible tastes.

“Be quiet losers,” Pidge said, throwing a pillow and hitting Keith right in the face. “The commercials are almost done.”

Keith rubbed his noise but shut up, but not before he could send Lance a smirk.

Lance was a weak man who happened to think that whenever his friend so much as looked happy was when he was at his cutest and turned his stomach into knots. He almost missed five minutes of the movie thanks to Keith and his stupidly cute smirk.

By the time the third movie was ending it was past midnight and nothing had happened. Hunk had relaxed and lost most of the tenseness that had been in his shoulders earlier and looked about ready to pass out any minute. Pidge was still stuffing candy into her mouth and was glued to the TV. Keith had fallen asleep for about thirty minutes during the third movie and had just woken back up, stretching his arms above his head and looking far too cute for someone who had just woken up from a nap.

“Imma go to the bathroom,” Keith mumbled as he got up, scratching his stomach before heading off somewhere into the house.

“Soooo Lance, how you doing?” Pidge asked, peeking around Hunk to look at him.

“Umm fine? I’m hanging out with my best friends and watching my favorite seasonal movie. All in all it’s going pretty well,” Lance said, but he was cautious considering the teasing tone in Pidge’s voice normally meant that she was about to try and embarrass him.

“I guess Keith taking a nap on your shoulder is fine too then,” Pidge said with a shrug, though her smirk gave her true feelings away.

“P-Pidge,” he sputtered before whipping his head around to make sure Keith was still in the bathroom. “Be quiet!” He didn’t need her to be bringing this up now, with Keith so close. Couldn’t she tease him about his gigantic crush tomorrow?

“What?” Pidge said, batting her eyelashes innocently, she might as well be an actor with how well she can pretend. “I was just pointing how one of your best buds was using you as a pillow and drooled on you.”

“What, really?” Lance squeaked looking down at the shoulder which Keith had decided was an appropriate pillow only to find it drool-less.

Pidge laughed at the face he made at her before she turned back to the movie. “Keith better hurry up before the final one comes on.”

Lance was about to open his mouth in response when a loud crashing noise broke through the air, waking Hunk from his spell.

“What the heck was that?” Hunk muttered as Lance could hear muffled curses coming from the bathroom.

“Keith, you alright buddy?” Lance said, about to pick himself up off the floor when the bathroom door was flung open and slammed closed and Keith was standing in front of him looking like he had just sprinted from the bathroom.

“Um, uh, yeah everything is alright,” Keith said, he was trying to hide the squeak in his voice but Lance heard it, oh he heard it.

“Uh, you sure mullet? You look like you just saw a ghost or something,” Lance said, almost not noticing when everyone else in the room got quiet.

“Wait, did you see a ghost?” Hunk asked, scrambling to get up but Keith held his hands up to stop him.

“No, well maybe? I don’t know,” Keith said at that was enough to send Hunk into about hysterics.

“What happened?! Oh my god we should get out of here! What if it tries to kill us or-“ Hunk cried, looking around for any signs of a ghost before Lance butted in.

“Woah, calm down buddy, Pidge does your doo-hickey say that there’s a ghost in here?”

“Let me check,” Pidge said, reaching over to grab it when the lights flicked on and off, causing Hunk to whine.

“Wh-what was that? You guys?” Hunk cried, griping on tightly to Lance’s shoulder.

“Let me check my thing,” Pidge muttered but before she could even turn it back on the room seemed to drop about twenty degrees, leaving them shivering, and the TV began to flick through channels all on its own.

“Lance if that’s you I’m going to punch you,” Hunk whined as he kept Lance’s shoulder in an iron tight grip.

“Uh, no that’s not me,” Lance said, looking down at the remote by his thigh, nothing was touching it. What the heck was going on? Was it the wiring or-

Lance’s thoughts were cut off when the lights flicked off again and stayed off this time.

“We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die,” Hunk chanted next to him, his voice barely a whisper.

Lance felt something grab his hand and looked down to see it was Keith, who was looking behind them with a face as pale as a sheet.

Lance, against everything that his common sense was screaming at him, turned his head around to look behind them only to find nothing. But before he could ask Keith what he had seen he felt the blankets move beneath and jerked his head forwards again when he heard Pidge and Hunk scream.

The edges of the blanket were being pulled up into the air like someone was trying to lift them up as well. Lance scrambled to get up and off the blanket, dragging Keith with him as he climbed onto the couch and jumped over the back.

“Where should we go?” Pidge cried, looking around frantically from where she had rolled off onto the floor.

“Let’s try my room, it left me alone there the last time,” Hunk cried and that was all they needed before they were all sprinting up the stairs. At some point Lance and Keith’s hands disconnected and Lance let out a whine as he turned to look behind him at Keith who had seemed to pause halfway up the stairs.

“Come on mullet, stop trying to get yourself killed by the supernatural!” Lance yelled as he grabbed Keith’s hand and pulled him the rest of the way to Hunk’s room.

Once they were all in they slammed the door behind them and locked it. All four of them piled up against the door in some futile attempt at trying to keep whatever the hell that thing was out. Lance was suddenly a lot more open minded about the whole situation.

“Wh-what should we do?” Hunk asked between deep breaths.

“Le-let’s wait it out here until the morning,” Keith said. “And if it stays out of here we can go see Allura in the morning to ask for help.”

“O-okay,” Hunk said, nodding as he let his head hit the door.

“So are we going to take shifts in case the ghost comes in or-“ Lance began before Keith cut him off.

“I’ll take the first shift,” Keith said, raising his hand. “I’ll wake someone up when I start to get tired.”

They all agreed and Hunk offered to take the second one since he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to get much sleep anyway.

Lance hadn’t expected to fall asleep, especially for long, considered that they were still all pressed up against the door, just in case, but somehow he ended up knocking right out after a few minutes, must’ve been from his adrenaline coming down.

He did however end up waking up to sunlight shining in through the window all while in one big pile with his friends. Lance had ended up using Hunk as a pillow and Pidge had at some point slid down onto Hunk’s lap that night and Keith had his head rested on Lance’s shoulder again, was it actually that comfy? Lance wasn’t too sure since he couldn’t really test the comfort of his own shoulder, but wait-

“Oh thank god it left us alone for the night,” Lance muttered, looking between his friends to see all of them were asleep, and someone had apparently fell asleep during their shift.

“Hmmm, what’cha say?” came a groggy voice from his shoulder and Lance looked down to see Keith staring up at him, his eyes still slightly unfocused from sleep and his hair a mess and oh wow Lance’s stomach was doing funny flips.

“Nothing, just talking to myself,” Lance said, tearing his eyes away from Keith’s face before his blush could give him away.

“Hmmmm,” Keith hummed, and a few seconds later Lance felt the weight leave his shoulder. “Well let’s head out soon, the quicker we talk to Allura the quicker Hunk won’t have to worry about a ghost in his house.”

“Well for Hunk that’s a pretty important thing,” Lance said stretching his arms above his head and cracking his back, “Plus I need to go trick or treating tomorrow, I can’t be dealing with this ghost stuff.”

“You’re going…trick or treating,” Keith said, pausing in the middle of his sentence.

Lance turned to look at him and saw the confusion Keith’s face. “Uh yeah, I’m taking my nieces trick or treating so my sis and her husband can get a break, oh and normally Hunk tags along with me too,” Lance shrugged his shoulders, he had been taking them out since they turned three and could actually get into the whole getting candy for free thing.

“Oh,” Keith said, looking at Lance with a weird look on his face. “I was about to say, I was hoping you weren’t about to go trick or treating on your own.”

“And why couldn’t I? Who would stop me?” Lance asked, almost laughing at the face Keith made at him.

“Lance, you don’t exactly look the age for trick or treating.”

“Well I’m dressing up tomorrow and getting candy while you sit at home getting none so who’s the real loser here-wait, hold up!” Lance cried, noticing Hunk jumping slightly next to him before turning his full attention back to Keith, his plan whirling through his mind as a wide smile crossed his face.

“Oh no, what are you planning?”

“Keith, my buddy, my man, my mulleted friend-“

“Get to the point Lance.”

“You,” Lance said, pointing at Keith who was staring at his questionably with his brow raised, “Should come trick or treating with me tomorrow.”

“Uhhh I’m not so sure about that-“ Keith began before he was cut off by Hunk of all people.

“Oh my gosh, you should totally go man! It would be so much fun! Oooo and even Pidge could come too,” Hunk said, clapping his hands together and looking at Keith with a big smile on his face and Lance knows no one can say no to Hunk.

“I’ll, um, I’ll think about it,” Keith said glancing between the two. “But I don’t even have a costume-“

“It’s fine the girls can make you one, they make mine every year, they’re getting really good with glitter,” Lance said doing his best to containing his excitement because holy heck Keith might be tagging along with them and then he could meet his nieces and they were the best and for once Keith wouldn’t be holed up in his room watching zombie movies.

“Shouldn’t you ask Pidge if she agrees to this?” Keith asked, point over at their sleeping friend.

Lance shrugged. “She enjoys getting candy, plus she can pull off being a middle schooler so she’s all set.”

“Did I just hear someone make a joke about my height?” Pidge grumbled from the best she made on Hunk’s legs.

“Uuuuh, no, we would never-“ Lance began before he was cut off when Pidge threw the closest thing to her, which just so happened to be a big ass book.

“Pidge what the heck,” Lance cried after he duck, narrowly missing it. “You almost hit Keith too.”

“Talk shit get hit,” Pidge muttered, not even looking up at him.

/////

They finally managed to get out of the house without a single ghostly incident, and soon they found themselves in front of the shop again. However when they walked in and the bell chimed it wasn’t Allura that greeted them but rather a cheerful middle aged man with a mustache.

“Ahh Keith my boy,” the man cried as he hoped over the counter and opened his arms wide like he was waiting for a hug but when Keith shook his head he dropped his arms and let out a sigh. “One day I’ll get a hug out of you.”

“I’m sure you will Coran,” Keith said, rolling his eyes as he followed after the man up to the counter with the others in tow. It seemed like they were finally meeting Allura’s uncle, and the owner of the shop.

Lance didn’t know about the others but once again he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from looking all around the shop. It seemed like the shelves were filled with completely different things since the first time they had come in. The barrels were filled with pumpkins now and there seemed to be all kinds of vines and dried plants on the shelves closest to him.

“So,” Coran said, jumping up so that he was sitting on the counter, “What do you need my boy? I see you brought some friends with you, they must be the same that Allura told me about and that must be the ever so talked about-“

“Coran, we’re in kind of a rush,” Keith said, cutting Coran off. Lance thought he noticed a bit of a red tinge to Keith’s cheeks but it was probably just the weird light in the store, but man now Lance really wanted to know what Coran was about to say. “Like it’s an emergency.”

“What is it you all need then?” Coran asked, crossing his legs and leaning forward.

“We’re having a problem with a ghost,” Keith said, and just like last time he took no time just spitting out what the problem was with no lead up.

“Hmmmm, what kind?” Coran asked, tapping his chin as he stared down at the four teens.

“There-there really are kinds?” Hunk asked. “So like, not all of them want to kill you or whatever.”

“Why yes my boy,” Coran said, clapping his hands together and staring down at Hunk.

Hunk somehow knew what the man wanted. “Hunk.”

“Well Hunk, I suppose you must be the one with the problem, correct,” Coran said, sounding so sure of himself.

“Well yeah-“

“Tell me what this ghost is like, are you the only who’s seen it?”

“No, we’ve all seen it,” Keith said, crossing his arms and looking back at Hunk and when Hunk didn’t immediately start talking Keith jerked his head at Coran.

“Well umm, it moves stuff and opens and closes door, it made the lights flicker on and off and changed the channels on the TV,” Hunk began to list everything off on his fingers as Coran just nodded with each one.

“It sounds like a poltergeist,” Coran said with a nod. “They’re an easy fix, relatively harmless creatures; they just like to play pranks, shouldn’t be that big of a problem.”

“Oh and the room also got super cold when it came in and tried to like pick us all up in a blanket,” Hunk added quickly and Coran’s face scrunched up.

“Hmm that’s a bit odd, normally a poltergeist wouldn’t try to do something to affect a living being like that. Normally they just open and close doors and knock things over, things that could easily be brushed off as your imagination.”

“So does that mean it might not be a poltergeist?” Keith asked.

“Wait, so it might not be an easy ghost?” Hunk asked and oh no he was starting to sound scared. Lance couldn’t really blame him though, if it was the easier ghost it meant that he could go back to doing nothing for the weekend like he had planned.

“Well it could be something else but it depends on other circumstances,” Coran said, “Did anyone else notice anything odd?”

Lance suddenly remembered how the night before Keith had been staring at nothing like he could see something. “Keith, didn’t you see something?”

“Huh, Keith saw something?” Pidge asked, popping around from a shelf, apparently she had wandered off at some point.

“What did you see my boy?”

“Uh, well,” Keith said, glancing between everyone before letting out a sigh. “I might’ve seen something, like the ghost.”

“And?” Coran asked, a wide smile still on his face. “What did it look like?”

“It looked,” Keith glanced down at the floor and Lance was beginning to worry because whatever Keith had seen must’ve scared him real bad, “It looked like a person…but distorted, like it didn’t have eyes and it looked….really scary like something right out a horror movie.”

“Oh my,” Coran said, his smile falling and what looked to be a flash a fear cross his face. “That’s not good.”

“Wait, what does that mean?” Hunk whined, looking like he was about to start shaking at Coran’s reaction.

“Normally humans don’t see a ghost unless the ghost lets them, and if it’s a poltergeist it would just look like a glowing light-“

“So what did I see?” Keith asked and Lance noticed how his voice had raised in pitch and Lance wanted to do nothing more than reach out and comfort him.

“Well there’s only two types of ghost that reveal themselves in a human form and based on what you told me it sounds like a wraith, they’re tricky and cruel, they don’t tend to play nice with the living,” Coran said, his face was grim and his lips were drawn in a tight line like he was thinking long and hard.

“How do you get rid of them?” Hunk asked, his voice barely a squeak.

“You can’t, well you four can’t, only a magical being has a chance of getting rid of it,” Coran said, he hadn’t taken his eyes off of Keith yet though.

“So could you do it?” Lance asked, Keith had fallen silent next to him.

“I’m not the exact magical type for the job I’m afraid,” Coran said with a shrug. “Warlocks can’t mess too much with that kind of energy, Allura could though.”

“Allura could do what?” came a melodious voice and Lance turned his head around to see Allura looking as stunning as she did last time, plus with some dirt on her face and an armful of plants.

“We might be dealing with a wraith,” Coran said grimly as Allura came up and dropped the plants on the counter.

“Oh, that’s no good,” Allura said, crossing her arms before turning to them. “Hello Keith and friends, I suppose you all must be the ones with the problem.”

“Keith saw the wraith,” Coran said and Allura’s cheerful demeanor dropped like a rock.

“Oh no,” she whispered, pressing her hand to her mouth. “You didn’t.”

“Umm, who knows, maybe it was a figment of my imagination, I mean it’s close to Halloween-“ Keith didn’t get to say anything else since Allura was reaching out and placing her hands on Keith’s face.

“Keith how are you feeling?” Allura asked, getting all up into Keith’s face and Lance wanted nothing more than to tell her to give Keith some space because he hated when people got too close to him without warning but bite his tongue.

“Umm, normal,” Keith said and to Lance it looked like it was taking all his energy not to pull himself out of her grasp.

“Keith I don’t think you understand how dire this situation is,” Allura said, letting go of his face and dropping her hands to his shoulders so she could shake him. “Keith if you saw a wraith…” Allura said falling silent and looking at Coran for help.

“When a human sees a wraith it means that they are going to die, normally by the wraith’s hand,” Coran said, staring down at Keith with worry.

“If it’s a wraith I will do everything in my power to help you get rid of it,” Allura said, squeezing Keith’s shoulders before letting go. But Keith didn’t seem to notice, however Lance did considering how the minute he heard the word die he zeroed in on Keith because no, Keith couldn’t die. It had to be a mistake, it wasn’t like it had been violent to them, it was all just little pranks, right?

Lance decided to voice this thought. “But it hasn’t like, really tried to hurt us, all it’s done are things that I guess you could say are pranks.”

“That is true,” Coran said rubbing his chin. “It hasn’t tried to attack any of you. I suppose I could send you off with what you need to get rid of a poltergeist but if it doesn’t work then Allura can come over and get rid of it.”

“That sounds like a plan to me,” Lance said, placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder. The latter flinched slightly and Lance was about to pull his hand away when Keith turned to look at him and gave him a small smile.

“Yeah, okay,” Keith said, beginning to open his bag. “What do you need for payment?”

Coran held up his hand. “There’s no need for that boy, even if it does end up being a poltergeist I don’t want payment for helping out such a loyal customer.”

Keith rolled his eyes at that comment but Lance saw how he closed his bag. “So what are you gonna be giving us Coran my man?” Lance asked, almost laughing at his little rhyme.

“Well the best way to combat a poltergeist is an exorcism,” Coran said before listing things off on his fingers. “You’re going to need some anointed water, sage, salt, oh and some iron shavings just in case.”

While Coran listed off everything Allura stared to do the thing where she flicked her wrist and everything started to float up to the front.

“Now remember,” Coran said, holding up a finger as Keith shoved all the things into his bag and Lance tried to not think about the possibility that Keith’s life is in danger, “If this doesn’t work the wraith might be angry, and the only way to get rid of a wraith is an incantation.”

Oh wow now Lance was beginning to think about how Keith could die again.

“Which I will provide if you need it,” Allura added before waving after them.

The minute the shop door closed Lance was opening his mouth to say something comforting or at least reassuring to Keith considering the whole, hey you might have a ghost trying to kill, but was cut off by Pidge.

“Oh crap I forgot to ask Allura what kind of magical being she was!”

“I’m sure you’ll find out eventually,” Keith said with a shrug as they all headed towards Hunk’s car.

“But wait, why didn’t Coran use his magic to move the objects?” Hunk asked as he unlocked the car. “I mean, you did say he was wizard or something.”

“A warlock,” Keith corrected as Lance threw open the passengers door and jumped in. “And apparently magic varies from each type. Like a wizard needs something to channel their magic through, normally a wand, and with it they can do magic that affects the world around them-“

“What does that even mean?” Pidge asked as Lance couldn’t help but feel that Keith must’ve done a lot of research after finding out the Coran and Allura practiced magic.

“It means they can move things and make things within reason,” Keith said. “A mage can only use magic based on a one or two elements and a warlock only can only affect living things, which uh, I guess in simple terms it means Coran’s magic only really affects plants and, well, things that breathe. So he could have only affected the sage if he was going to bring anything over.”

“But wait,” Hunk asked as he stopped at a red light and asked the same question Lance was thinking, “Allura can’t be a wizard, mage or warlock then right? I mean all the things she used magic on were all in different categories.”

“Like I said, I don’t know what Allura’s magic is,” Keith said. “I only know Coran’s because he told me.”

“Hmmmm, and is he the one who told you all that stuff about magical beings?” Lance asked, turning his head around to look at Keith.

“Uh yeah, I asked him a question once and he just started rambling about how a warlock isn’t the same as a witch,” Keith said. “And after that whenever he was in when I came in he told me about a different type.”

“And he’s never said anything that sounds like what Allura is?” Pidge asked, she was already pulling her phone out of her pocket, whether to look up the different types of magic or to play a game, he was kinda surprised how she seemed more concerned about what kind magical being Allura was rather than the fact that Keith might be in deadly danger.

Keith shrugged and Lance almost laughed at the face he was pulling, like he was confused about why Pidge was asking so many questions. “I don’t see him that often, I talk to Allura more since Coran’s normally traveling.”

“Why does he travel so much?” Pidge was very curious about them apparently.

“You saw all the journals right,” Keith said, “He’s the one who wrote them and whenever he has a new focus he travels so he can collect all the information on it, I believe he was off traveling for sphinxes when we went in last time.”

“Seriously?”

“He’s always trying to expand his library,” Keith said with a shrug and okay, Lance wasn’t planning on mentioning the whole, Keith might die thing but he was beginning to feel that for his own piece of mind he needed to know that everyone else was also worried about this.

“So Keith, how are you feeling?” Lance asked, leaning his arm on the console to try and make his position more comfortable, his back was starting to hurt from twisting around in his seat.

“Um, fine?” Keith answered, though to Lance it sounded more like a question.

“Are you sure, I mean, you learned some pretty scary stuff in there.”

“Like I said, it was probably my imagination,” Keith said with a shrug but he shifted his eyes away from Lance and oh man he was definitely not okay. Lance knew for a fact that Keith never got scared watching horror movies he always sat straight faced through them and would point out how fake every scene looked. There was no way he could blame this on an overactive imagination.

“Keith, buddy, I don’t think you have the imagination to come up with that,” Lance pointed out and when Keith began to sputter at that Hunk added his own two cents.

“I mean Keith did manage to come to the conclusion that he was related to Mothman in, like, eight grade so I wouldn’t say he doesn’t have an imagination.”

Hunk, how was he supposed to get Keith to talk about his feelings when you were backing him up like this, what kind of best friend are you???

“Hunk does have a point,” Pidge said as Keith groaned over Hunk bringing up the embarrassing middle school memory, “But also, Keith never makes up scary stuff, only ridiculous cryptid stuff.”

“Thank you Pidge,” Lance said, pointing at her to show his support only for her to roll her eyes at his enthusiasm.

“But I’m not saying we should force Keith to talk about his emotions, we all know he had some problems talking about them,” Pidge said. “We should focus on the task at hand, getting rid of the ghost and yeah, if it does turn out to be some ghost out to kill Keith we can cross that bridge when we get there.”

Wow, great pep talk Pidge, Lance was now feeling one hundred percent worse. Time to change the subject before Lance started to feel worse about the whole thing, though he couldn’t imagine what Keith was feeling.

“So mullet, you’re definitely going trick or treating with us right?”

Keith shot him a piercing look before shrugging his shoulders. “We’ll see.”

Lance counted that as a win in his book. “Cool, do you have an costume preference than cause I’m sure my nieces would love a challenge, maybe you would be Mothman!”

“Lance,” Keith said in that warning tone that said not to push it.

“Sorry, I should’ve known better, you want to be Bigfoot, right?”

Hunk ended up yelling at them.

/////

They got back to Hunk’s house with only a few hurt feelings, or in Lance’s case a hurt back from when Keith kicked the back of his seat though at least Keith had apologized for about five minutes after he did it.

They started to set everything up after they had realized they didn’t have the faintest clue how and ended up texting Allura for help because apparently Keith had Allura’s phone number for some reason though according to Keith it was because she was worried about him going on his adventures on his own.

Keith set up the candle while Pidge and Hunk made the rings of salt and iron respectively; apparently this was to trap the poltergeist when it appeared in the middle. Lance lit the sage and then the four of them sat around the circle, each with some of the anointed water in hand, sitting in waiting for the poltergeist to appear and get itself trapped in the center of the circle because apparently the sage would draw it in or something.

However one gets bored sitting in silence for prolonged periods of time, and Lance is not one to break that rule.

“I’m bored,” he announced simply.

“That’s nice,” Pidge said, not even looking up from her phone, at least she could be entertained by simply her phone; Lance was not that kind of person. Her doo-hickey sat next to her flashing a light every so often.

When no one else started to say anything Lance decided it was time to take it to the next level, so he started making farting noises with his tongue because he knew for a fact that his friends could only take five minutes of it before they gave in.

“Oh my god what do you want to do?” Keith said, being the first to break in a record time of three minutes and four seconds.

“Hmmm I don’t know,” Lance said, tapping his chin. “Truth or dare probably isn’t a good idea while waiting for a ghost so how about twenty questions.”

“Lance-“

“But like an abbreviated version, we each get five questions,” Lance said, cutting Pidge off before she could argue.

“Okay fine, who wants to go first?” Keith said before turning and looking at Lance. “Lance?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” Lance said as he began to decide who he’d ask the question to and what that question would be. “Pidge-“

“Yes,” Pidge said, letting out a sigh. She knew him too well to know that this wasn’t going to end without someone getting embarrassed.

“Whose butt is the cutest in this room?”

“Hunk’s,” Pidge said with no hesitation and honestly the fact she didn’t even think to consider his should be a crime!

“What, why?!” Lance cried, truly hurt by this betrayal.

“Aw thanks Pidge,” Hunk cooed, clearly not affected by Lance’s utter disappointment.

“Hunk's the only one who wouldn't make it weird after I answered,” Pidge said with a shrug. “And it’s my turn right? Well I want to ask Keith-“

“Oh no,” Keith muttered.

“If he had to choose between kissing Mothman and Bigfoot who would he choose?”

“Mothman,” Keith said with a shrug. “You made that question too easy.”

“Oh my god you didn’t have to think about what cryptid you’d kiss?” Lance said, why where his friends so weird?

“Well she had my favorite in there sooooooo,” Keith said, tilting his head and shrugging. “My turn, Hunk I want to know what the secret ingredient is in your chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies?”

“Dude,” Hunk said with a groan. “That’s a family secret.”

“Answer the question Hunk,” Lance said because honestly that was a question they all asked often because no matter how many times Lance tried to recreate them they never tasted as heavenly.

“Love,” Hunk said and ignored his friends’ squawks of protest. “Lance, did you or did you not secretly love Keith’s hair back in middle school?”

“Aww come on Hunk, this is starting to become more like truth and dare,” Lance whined because how could his own friend try and out him like this.

“Answer the question Lance,” Keith said with a snicker, now he was practically mimicking Lance.

“Ugh fine, maybe I thought it was kinda cool, but this was also the lance that thought balloon pants were cool.”

“I knew you secretly loved my hair,” Keith said and honestly, if Lance had known that Keith would be smiling like that he would've told him that sooner.

“Fine, Keith I want to know-“ Lance began with a smile on his face when all of a sudden the lights started to flicker.

“Oh crap, oh crap, here it comes,” Hunk muttered, his eyes growing wide as he began to frantically look around the room. Lance began to subconsciously lean closer to Hunk as he waited for something crazy to happen so they knew when to start the chant.

The lights suddenly shut off sending them into the darkness with only the candle as their source of light and within seconds the room seemed to dangerously drop in temperature. Lance knew both he and Hunk were shaking, goosebumps forming on his arms and he could see his own breath in front of him. The ghost had to be right on top of them, and a lot stronger than the night before.

“Should we start the chant or-“ Lance said through chattering teeth when he was quickly cut off by an ear shattering shriek. Pressing his hands over his ears he tried to block out the noise only for it to seem to be unaffected by his hands, like the ghost’s wailing mouth was right next to his ears.

He could feel Hunk shaking next to him but he couldn’t see what Pidge and Keith were doing due to his eyes screwing shut in hopes that maybe the wailing would quieten if he wasn’t looking at whatever was making that awful noise.

He felt someone, or something, grab his arm and his eyes flew open since it was on the opposite side of Hunk. Without taking his hands off his ears he turned, half expecting to see nothing but instead saw Keith’s screwed up face. He was mouthing something at Lance, or was he speaking? Lance couldn’t be sure but he wasn’t about to take his hands off his ears, they already felt like they were about to start bleeding from the wailing, what would happen if he didn’t at least have his hands for some form of protection.

He shook his head at Keith who in turn looked exasperated and was opening his mouth again when a bowl flew between them. Turning away from Keith, Lance looked around to see all kinds of things floating and whizzing around in the air, including the sofa!

He turned to Keith with wide eyes who pointed at his ears. Lance hesitantly took his hands away from his ears half expecting the wailing to shatter his eardrums only for him to realize it sounded exactly the same.

“Tell Hunk we need to start the chant,” Keith cried, thought it sounded more like whisper to Lance. “The sage had stopped burning which means it’s in the center.”

Lance nodded his head before turning to Hunk and shaking him on the shoulder before he turned and looked at him. Hunk had tears in the corners of his eyes and looked about ready to just burst into tears and pass out, Lance was sure he wouldn’t be too far away from him if that did happen. He mouthed the word chant at Hunk and then held out his hand.

Hunk nodded slowly before he hesitantly took his hands off his ears, a surprised look passed over his face for a second when he must’ve realized it was the same volume.

Hunk grabbed Lance’s offered hand before turning in Pidge’s direction. Lance felt Keith’s hand slide into his and soon they were all holding hands and sitting a circle. Keith turned and nodded at Lance who then nodded at Hunk who turned and nodded at Pidge and a few seconds later they were all starting their chant.

“Absit iniuria, absit invidia, absit omen,” Lance chanted, hoping that maybe yelling it would have a bigger impact but as time moved on nothing seemed to be happening. The wind swirling around them was still going, the shrieking noise wasn’t going away and Lance still felt like he was outside in the coldest night in the middle of winter.

He eventually felt like he needed to say something. “I don’t think this is working!!”

“We have to keep trying!” Keith yelled before his face went pale, staring dead in the center of the circle and not taking his eyes away. Lance turned to look as well only to see nothing but before he could ask he heard Hunk scream next to his and rip his hand out of his.

“Oh my god I see it!!” Hunk yelled as he began to scramble backwards.

Lance wasn’t sure what was going on but then Keith was scrambling up next to him and running over to Hunk, grabbing his hand and dragging him to the door. Both Lance and Pidge took this as a hint that it was time to get the heck out of this house. They sprinted outside and Lance couldn’t help but feel like every puff of wind that brushed against the back of his neck was the ghost reaching out to grab him.

They burst out of the house and Lance slammed the door behind him. Turning wide eyed to Keith and Hunk who were sitting on the ground.

“What the heck happened in there?!” Lance cried, throwing his hands in the air because he was very concerned considering that only Keith and Hunk had seen whatever is was inside that circle.

“I saw, I saw that thing Keith described seeing last night,” Hunk wheezed as he clutched at his chest. “I don’t think it’s a poltergeist guys.”

“Wait, but why couldn’t you see it last night?” Pidge asked, her hair a mess from the wind, making it look more windswept than usual. “What changed?”

“I don’t know,” Hunk whined as he flopped onto the ground. “All I know is that it means it wants me dead!”

“I’m going to call Allura,” Keith said as he pulled out his phone. “You guys watch the house.”

Lance nodded his head before going over and sitting next to Hunk, throwing an arm over his shoulder and pulling him into a half hug, rubbing his shoulder. Pidge came over too and sat on his other side, patting his arm as the two of them stood watch while Hunk looked down at his lap and tried to stop his shaking hands.

“Okay, okay, I got it, get here quick, bye,” Keith said before turning back to them and digging into his pocket. “Allura’s on her way and should be here in a few minutes.”

“She can’t just, teleport here?” Hunk asked, and Lance couldn’t help but notice how raw his voice sounded. He really hoped that Allura could fix this.

“I mean, I guess but if she could that would take up a lot of energy that she needs to get rid of the wraith sooooo,” Keith said before cutting off. He pulled some weird marker looking thing out of his pocket and brandished it at them. “I need to go around the house and draw this rune thing Allura needs, I should be back before she’s here.”

Lance wanted to ask why he had that marker thing, and how did he know how to draw runes but Keith was gone before he could so much as open his mouth, so he instead used the time to comfort Hunk.

Keith was back about a minute later and a few minutes after that Allura appeared on the sidewalk.

“Okay everybody I know you all must be scared,” she said as she walked over to them, “But I need to ask Hunk some questions first if that’s okay with you Hunk.”

“Yeah, okay,” Hunk said with a shaking nod, his hands still hadn’t stopped shaking.

“Has your family changed something about the inside of your house recently?” Allura asked as she crouched down to look Hunk in the eyes, taking one of his shaking hands in hers and squeezing it reassuringly.

“No,” Hunk said, shaking his head.

“Have they changed the outside of the house?”

“No.”

“Not even the color or the yard,” Allura said, her gaze inquisitive as she stared down with Hunk.

“Well, my moms put in a rose garden in September, but that was a month ago,” Hunk said.

“That could’ve done it,” Allura said with a sigh and a sad shake of her head. “Wraiths are wrathful creatures who don’t start going after someone until they’ve disturbed their home, even the slightest change that they don’t approve of can send them off on a rampage.”

“So it’s trying to kill me because of some roses?!” Hunk cried, looking completely distraught.

“Most likely,” Allura said as she stood up and brushed of her knees. “Keith, take everyone onto the side walk so they aren’t in the rune, don’t want to accidently obliterate anyone.”

Keith didn’t need to tall Lance anything, he shot up and ran to the sidewalk with the others right on his heels. They all four stood together clustered on the sidewalk, watching Allura closely as she began to move her hands around, like she was calling on something and then suddenly whatever Keith had drawn around the house lit up and surrounded the house in an eerie white light.

The wraith didn’t seem to appreciate that since the wind outside began to pick up so quickly that it felt like they were in the middle of a tornado. The four fell to the ground in one big cluster and held on to each other as Allura began to chant something in a loud and clear voice that Lance could hear over the screeching.

“Adsum, a fortiori, a mari usque ad mare. Audi, vide, tace. Bono malum superate. Ego te provoco. Dona nobis pacem.”

The sky crackled with lighting and thunder boomed as Allura continued her incantation, getting louder and louder with each passing sentence. The clouds were swirling together in the sky over Hunk’s house and hopefully no one was looking out their window right now because it must look wild.

But finally the screeching turned into to what seemed to be like the sounds of a dying animal, the wind picked up and was moving them down the side walk and it felt like thunder was cracking right next to them and then suddenly, it all stopped.

Lance sat tense, not moving until Allura called out to them.

“It’s gone.”

The four detached themselves from their pile and ran over to Allura.

“Thank you so much,” Hunk said, clasping his hands together.

“It’s no problem,” Allura said, pushing back her hair that had fallen out of her ponytail. “Though, uh, I should probably warn you.”

“Warn us about what?” Hunk asked hesitantly.

“The incantation can have two outcomes.”

“And what are those two outcomes?” Lance asked, reaching out to grab Hunk’s shoulder because if one outcome was it came back bigger and bader Hunk was moving to Lance’s house.

“It either gets rid of it for good, ridding this plane of it-“

“Or?” Pidge asked.

“Or the wraith comes back to life as the undead,” Allura said with a tight smile.

“Oh my god!” Hunk cried.

“But if it does happen we’ll help you since it would’ve been my fault,” Allura said, holding her hands out.

“I’m sure you did fine Allura, you’re great with magic,” Keith said, and was Lance losing it or was Keith reassuring somebody.

“Thanks Keith,” Allura said before letting out a sigh. “Well, I better get back to the shop before Coran comes out here to check on me, I swear he’s such a helicopter uncle.”

“Thanks again Allura,” Hunk said. “Really, I do owe you.”

“No problem Hunk, you can just stop by and talk to me if you ever feel the need to repay me,” she said with a smile before heading off to where she had come. “Stay safe!”

“I really hope we don’t have to deal with zombies after this,” Hunk whispered between clenched teeth.

“Yeah, I’m not too hip on them either dude,” Keith said.

“Would you look at that, some mythical cryptid Keith doesn’t like,” Lance teased as Keith sent him a look.

“We almost died and you still continue to tease me,” Keith said with a huff.

“How about a make it up to you and get you a milkshake?” Lance asked, a smile on his face.

Keith pretended to think about it for three seconds. “I think that would make me forgive the horrible teasing I go through.”

“So what you’re saying Lance is that you’re buying milkshakes?” Pidge asked.

“I said for Keith only.”

“But you wouldn’t buy me one, your best friend that about died because his moms wanted a rose garden?”

“Okay fine Hunk I’ll get you one, but only because you’re my best buddy.”

“Lance,” Pidge practically screeched. “How could you leave me out of this? Think of all the embarrassing things you’ve said or done that I haven’t told people but I mean I could always let one slip one day.”

“….Fine, you’ll get a milkshake too.”

“Score, Hunk get your car we’re getting celebratory we’re not dead milkshakes!”

/////

They all got their milkshakes, and it came out of Lance’s wallet (except that they did get the milkshakes at the diner Hunk worked at so they did get a discount and Keith had covered the tip so maybe it wasn’t that bad.) The four of them just sat at their booth drinking their milkshakes and complaining about how Halloween should be a federal holiday and how they shouldn’t have to go to school tomorrow. They laughed at Hunk when he laughed so hard milkshake shot out of his nose and they all pretended they hadn’t been dealing with a murderous ghost less than an hour ago.

Hunk dropped everyone off before they made a detour at his own house, Lance had already offered for him to spend the night and Hunk had quickly agreed. While Hunk went to grab his stuff and check on Buttercup, Lance did his best to clean up their mess and the ghost’s as well. While it wasn’t perfect they could always just say that they moved some furniture around to make a blanket fort, which was at least half true.

It wasn’t until the two of them were sandwiched on Lance’s bed with the lights off and only the glow of Lance’s glow in the dark stars that Hunk started talking about it.

“I was so freaked out Lance,” Hunk said his voice barely a whisper. Lance didn’t turn his head to look at Hunk but he knew he was clutching at the blanket. “I mean, when I saw that thing I thought I was about to die right then and there. I mean, it’s like imprinted on my brain, like every time I close my eyes I see it again.”

“Hunk, buddy, we don’t blame you for being scared. Anyone would be freaked out of their mind after seeing that,” Lance said, staring up at his ceiling. “But it’s gone now, Allura got rid of it and I’m sure it’s not gonna come back as a zombie.”

“Bu-but still,” Hunk said with a sigh, “This whole thing really freaked me out, and it’s not like I can tell my moms what happened, they’d think I was losing it.”

“Well you have me, and Keith, and Pidge,” Lance said, thinking on it for a second before adding, “And Allura too. We’ll listen to you, you can tell us about it, when you need to.”

“I know that it’s just-“ Hunk said, cutting off and pausing for a second before continuing, “It’s just that Keith, man he saw that thing before I did and he just kept on going like nothing was happening, like he was barely even scared by it.”

“Listen Hunk, I can tell you that Keith was far from okay after seeing that thing, especially after we found out what it could be. Keith’s just good at hiding it, but listen, he was really scared but he isn’t like you. You’ve always been really honest with how you’re feeling and you’re never afraid to tell us how you fell. Keith-“ Lance paused, trying to think of the best way to word this. “Keith hides how he feels behind that impassive face, I mean yeah I was able to figure out that he was freaked about by how he was acting but that’s because I’ve known him for so long. Don’t feel like you can’t be scared because you think Keith wasn’t because guess what, he was, aaaaaaaaaand now I feel like I need to text him or something to see if he’s doing okay.”

Hunk was silent as Lance reached over him to grab his phone and send Keith a quick message, he could comfort two friends at once, he was a multitasker.

“Lance.”

“Hmmm,” Lance hummed as he finished his text to Keith and sent it. “What is it buddy?”

“Thanks, for, uh, that,” Hunk said. “I really needed to hear that.”

“No problem Hunk, I’ll always be here for you,” Lance said as his phone vibrated, Keith had texted him back.

“I still have one thing that’s really nagging at me.”

“And what is it?” Lance asked as he finished reading Keith’s message and sent him another one, telling him that he would always be there to talk if Keith needed it.

“Why did Keith see the wraith too?” Hunk asked. “I mean, I could see it because of the fact that my moms made the rose garden and I lived in the house. But Keith, what is the connection I mean, he saw the wraith before I did and I just, I just can’t figure out why the wraith would want him dead.”

“I-I don’t know buddy,” Lance said, biting at his lip because honestly Hunk brought up a good point, as usual. “Maybe it knew Keith was coming in to get it or something.”

“But all of us where, why just Keith?”

“Maybe it didn’t like Keith’s hair.”

“Lance, be serious.”

“Listen I don’t know, maybe it’s all some cryptid message or meaning and maybe it’s best if we don’t know because I think it’s easier for Keith to think that it just appeared to him just because,” Lance said as he got a text from Keith with a simple thanks and a smiley face. Lance felt his chest lighten just a little, maybe Keith was doing okay for now.

“I guess you’re right Lance.”

“I always am.”

/////

They all met up at Lance’s house after school and his sister dropped off his nieces about an hour later, along with all the costumes they had made.

“Thanks again for letting them design the costumes,” Grace, Lance’s oldest sister, said as they all watched the girls and James, her husband, bring in the costumes. “They’re both in their fashion designer phases and it’s so much nicer having them make something that’s going to be used rather than getting into their own clothes and changing them.”

“No problemo Gracie,” Lance said, opening his arms wide as Sophia and Lily ran up to him. “It’s going to help us out one day when they are designing clothes; we can say we wore some of their first designs.”

Grace shook her head before giving him a smile. “Thanks again for taking them out, and remember, they can’t eat the chocolate after eight.”

“Of course sis, don’t worry about, we’re all responsible here,” Lance said as he followed her to the door, Sophia wrapped around his leg while Lily was off babbling to his friends about what the first grade was like.

“Hunk, Hunk is responsible,” Grace said sending Hunk a wink when he looked over their way.

“Fine, Hunk will control us,” Lance said as he practically pushed her out the door so they could get on with getting the candy.”

“I’ll be picking them up a little after nine-“

“I know, don’t worry, go have fun on your date,” Lance said as he slowly closed the door on her.

“Fine, see you Lance.”

“See ya too,” Lance said before shutting the door on her. “Now,” Lance said, turning to face his friends, and well his nieces but they counted as his friends, “Let’s get ready.”

They girls had apparently decided on a theme for this year’s trick or treating extravaganza. Lily had showed up as a strawberry and Sophia as a cherry, and Lance had been hoping that maybe it was just a coincidence but no, alas when they presented them with their costumes Lance realized his hopes of looking like a cool superhero were dashed.

Pidge was presented with a kiwi costume, Hunk with an apple costume, Keith with a grape and Lance with a blueberry.

Lance was not going to make any comment though since after they all came out with their costumes his nieces faces lit up and they loudly proclaimed that they had the best costumes.

However his friends took this as an opportunity to make fun of each other.

“Hey Lance,” Pidge said, sliding up next to him after they had left the house and headed for the first house on their list, “You’re looking a little blue, are you feeling okay?”

“I feel fine Pidge, practically glowing,” Lance said as he ushered the girls up to the house, it always took them one house before they were in full crazy candy mode.

“That’s good, that’s good,” Pidge said with a sagely nod, “But I must tell you, that outfit looks absolutely blue-tiful on you.”

“I’m taking that as a compliment,” he said as the girls yelled trick or treat.

“Oh what lovely costumes,” the older lady at the door said as she dropped a few pieces of candy into their bags. “And you even got your siblings to match, how cute.”

The girls didn’t even mention that the four teens behind them were not their siblings, but rather their uncle and his friends, and instead chose to parrot a thanks back at the women before skipping back to Lance and the rest.

“Look at our candy Uncle Lance,” Sophia said, shoving her bag under his nose.

“Oh man you sure are starting to get a collection,” Lance said with a nod before ruffling both of their hair at the same time. “Now come on, let’s go to the next house.”

The night soon turned into the girls dragging them from house to house at hyper speed to get as much candy as possible. At some point Lance found Keith by his side.

“They remind me of you but smaller,” Keith said as they stopped in front of the last house for the night, they needed to start heading back to his house soon or else his mama would probably start calling him.

“Oh really?” Lance asked as he watched them ring the doorbell, Pidge had followed after them since Lance dared her to see if the person at the door would actually give her candy. Hunk had decided to turn in after the first hour, he had said something about wanting to spend some time with his moms since they were back but Lance had a feeling he just wasn’t up for walking around and seeing all the creepy costumes and decorations after what he had seen the previous day.

“Yeah,” Keith said with a nod. “It’s like they’re hyped up on sugar all the time.”\

Oh Lance could hear the smirk in Keith’s voice though he opted out of making a comment when he saw the man at the door hand Pidge a piece of candy, looks like Lance had been right, she could pass off as a middle schooler.

“Are you sure it isn’t their good looks that remind them of me?” Lance asked as he batted his eyelashes.

Keith rolled his eyes at that, and maybe Lance was losing his mind but he swore he saw Keith blush. “Whatever you say.”

“You didn’t deny it,” Lance said with a laugh as he bumped his shoulder against Keith’s.

“Hey be careful, I don’t want you to mess up their hard work,” Keith said but bumped his shoulder right back.

“Oh I see, you must want to wear this again right? Purple is a good color on you,” Lance said, he heard Keith sputter something as the Pidge marched up to Lance with a scowl.

“I can’t believe I look young enough to get candy without so much as a second glance,” she grumbled as she unwrapped the piece of candy and popped it in her mouth. “But it’s a reese’s cup so I guess it’s not all that bad.”

“See, aren’t you glad I dared you then? You got your favorite candy out of it,” Lance said as Pidge swatted at his arm.

“Oh be quiet,” she said before the girls started to ask her all kinds of questions since now they decided that they needed to make sure she really was as old Lance had claimed she was.

“So mullet, did you enjoy yourself?” Lance asked as they headed back, he wished this thing had pockets, he wanted to do something with his hands other than just letting them swing at his sides.

“I suppose it wasn’t too bad,” Keith said with a shrug. “It kinda beat sitting in my room watching movies, but only barely.”

“So does that mean you’d do it again next year?” Lance asked, he had decided to settle with crossing his arms thought it made him feel like Keith who seemed to have crossed arms as part of his resting part.

“Hmmm,” Keith said, and look there he was crossing his arms even if it looked ridiculous with him dressed up like a grape. “Maybe, I’ll think on it.”

“That’s exactly what you said this year so I’ll take that as a yes.”

“Heh, whatever you say Lance.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they followed after the girls who Pidge was currently trying to convince them of the existence of aliens. Maybe bringing some of his friends around them hadn’t been the best idea in hindsight since it sounded like the girls were getting very invested in Pidge’s rant and Lance would probably have to hear from his sister about how leaving them with him had turned them into conspiracy theorist. But it had been fun, and the girls had ended up with a mountain of candy that they would no doubt start to trade once they made it back to Lance’s house.

As the group walked back they were blissfully unaware of what was going on unnoticed at the Garret’s house.

If anyone had happened to look outside at the specific time of 8:03 they would’ve no doubt noticed the hand that shot out of the still new rose garden and the body that crawled out after it. But they were all blissfully unaware as the undead came up out of the rose garden and limped off into the night.