Chapter Text
“ Hey, Mullet! ”
Keith closed his eyes and slammed his head into his locker. Could he have one day without wanting to throw himself into traffic?
The hand that slammed itself beside his head told him his answer.
“Awfully quiet today, Kogane.”
Lance McClain was a dick, to say the least. He had to take the time out of his day to make Keith’s life a bit harder. Whether it was knocking books out of his hands, yelling ridiculous nicknames down the hallway, or just showing his stupid face and flashing that stupid grin that made Keith redden with anger.
That same grin was bearing down on him as two arms trapped him against his locker.
“Haven’t see you all day, are you avoiding me?”
Keith rolled his eyes, sarcasm dripping like venom from his words, “Oh no , I could never. You’re the highlight of my day.”
A growl fell from between Lance’s lips, “That’s rich from someone that looks like they’re from a bad 80’s movie.” he grabbed a fist full of black hair, tugging Keith’s head forwards and letting it slam back onto the locker. “Have you ever heard of this thing called a hair cut?”
Keith scowled and tucked his books under his arm, using his free hand to rub the bump that was forming on the back of his head. “You ever thought about working at a car wash? I heard the one on 12th street needs a new inflatable tube man.”
Lance’s nostrils flared, “It’s not my fault that you’re so fucking short !”
Keith smirked, hitting one of Lance’s sensitive spots: his lankiness. The boy was tall and lean, with long arms and legs. Keith couldn’t help that he could see him flapping around in the wind, advertising free car waxing.
Before Keith could spat something back, a hand grabbed the back of Lance’s shirt collar, tugging him back.
“Lance…” the name was said with warning from Lance’s best friend, Hunk. Keith had to admit, Hunk was a cool guy. He had 2nd period Chemistry with him, and Hunk usually took the time to play with the hot plate as Keith read. More than once, Hunk had made Keith breakfast when he noticed that Keith seemed particularly cranky that morning. What was a guy like Hunk doing with someone like Lance?
Lance shot one last glare at Keith before taking a few step back, accepting his backpack from Hunk. “Whatever. This isn’t over, Kogane.” He left with Hunk trailing behind him, whispering something that caused Lance’s face to redden.
“Wow, he’s never physically hurt you before.”
Keith finished putting his books away and threw his bag over his shoulder. “He’s an asshole, it’s what he does.” he slammed his locker shut and faced the person before him.
Pidge Gunderson, formerly known as Katie Holt. When her parents divorce, she ended up with her mom while her brother Matt went with her dad. After listening to her mom’s late night rants about how god awful her dad was, she decided to take up her mother’s maiden name. Pidge was an unfortunate nickname that was started in middle school from an incident with a flock of pigeons, a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and a ponytail that liked to get stuck to things. The name sort of just stuck, just like the peanut butter.
She was also Keith’s best and only friend.
Pidge readjusted her satchel and pushed up her glasses, “I dunno, dude. He could have gave you a concussion or something. Messed up your brain, made you dumber than you already are.”
He scoffed and ruffled her hair, messing up the double buns she had worked so hard to create. “Come on, let’s get something to eat before I have to head to work.”
Smashing’s was probably Keith’s favorite place to eat. The restaurant was a perfect midway point from school, to his job, and his apartment. No matter which direction he went in after leaving the place, in eight blocks Keith would be in one of those three destinations.
The place wasn’t exactly five star quality. It used to be an old corner drug store before it was bought and turned into the small restaurant. The place was cramped, half of the space taken up by the kitchen in the back. There weren't many tables, but the few that were inside were old and unstable, threatening to fall over any day now. The wallpaper was peeling and the whole place smelled of old cigar smoke, but to Keith, it couldn't be more perfect.
What really made the place was the owner and chef Coran. He was a pleasant guy that never failed to ask Keith how his day was, no matter how busy the restaurant was that day. There had been many nights that Keith had stayed late at the restaurant because his brother had a late shift and he didn't want to stay home alone, and Coran never failed to pull up a chair and offer Keith one of his famous mugs of hot chocolate as they waited for Shiro to get off work. It was like a second home to him.
The bell on the door alerted the arrival of customers. Keith inhaled the scent of bread being toasted on the stove top, a warm feeling rising in his chest. He pushed through the small line that had formed in front of the counter and claimed a small table that sat by the window. Pidge dropped her bag on the ground and slid into the chair that faced away from the door.
“God, I’m starving. If I don’t get something to eat soon, I’m going to literally die.” She draped her arm across her eyes and sighed dramatically, her stomach growling in agreement.
Keith rolled his eyes and sat in the chair across from her. He pulled out his laptop and placed it on the table, earning the attention of the whining girl across from him.
“Ooh, did you get an update?”
A few keys were pressed, then the laptop was spun to face her. “Altea inc.’s radiation levels have been stable,” Keith pointed to green cloud the surrounded the center of the radar, “But there seriously is something going on in the west wing.” A concentrated red blur pulsed on the radar map.
Keith turned his computer to face him, his hand covering his mouth as he thought. “I thought it would have gone away by now, but it seems to be getting stronger. I asked Allura about it, but she just brushed it off and said it was probably just the computers that were stored there. It’s just so weird. What could be producing such large and dangerous amounts of radiation?”
Pidge pursed her lips, “Maybe you should check it out today, just to see if there’s anything that could be a major concern.”
“Yeah…” Keith continued to stare at the radar, watching as the red cloud slowly became darker and darker. His attention was only pulled away from the screen when a basket was set in front of him, the parchment paper crinkling under the hand that held it.
“One turkey club with lettuce, tomato, provolone, and a fried egg, and one roast beef sandwich with crunchy peanut butter, mayonnaise, and extra pickles.” Coran sent a wink in Keith’s direction, “A strange order for a strange boy.”
Pidge scrunched her nose up in disgust, pulling her sandwich towards her, “I can’t believe you actually eat that.”
Keith placed his hand over his heart in defense, “What? It’s good!” he picked up the mess of a sandwich and took a bite, his eyes fluttering close as he savored the flavor. Coran chuckled and placed a hand on Keith’s head.
“How are you doing, my boy?”
Keith wiped his mouth on his sleeve and looked up, watching as Coran twisted his mustache, waiting for an answer.
“I mean, I got slammed against a locker, but what’s new.” He took another bite.
Coran patted his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “You’re a tough lad, you probably handled it. Besides, a few more years and you’ll be across the country studying, eating someone else’s sandwiches.” he wiped away a fake tear.
Keith rolled his eyes, “I haven’t even applied to the university yet. I probably won’t get in, anyways."
Pidge snorted, her face hidden behind an organic chemistry textbook. Coran pulled on Keith’s nose, earning a small “hey!” from him.
“Nonsense. You’re a brilliant boy, any school would be lucky to have you.” He pulled out a handful of mints and tossed them on the table, “Alright, I have to get back to work. Here are some mints, we don’t want you heading over to Altea smelling like pickles and peanut butter, do we?”
Keith smiled and shook his head, “Thanks, Coran.”
The older man smiled back, “It’s no problem. And take those with you, I ordered a whole bunch of spearmint mints because you complained that you hated the peppermint ones, and no one is taking them! I’m blaming this on you!”
The pair watched as Coran disappeared back behind the counter, laughing at his last statement. They finished their sandwiches and put their stuff back into their bags, shoving mints in their pockets in the process.
Altea Incorporated was started by Alfor Altea, the head researcher and scientist who discovered the rare form of radiation called quintessence, relatively harmless if exposed to humans, it could be concentrated enough to mutate specific cells. His best friend and business partner Zarkon was the one who talked Alfor into starting the company, hoping to help the world with their discovery. Their main focus was using that radiation to mutate cells to cure chronic diseases by hopeful reverting them back to when they were healthy, or tricking them into destroying other diseased cells.
Alfor’s daughter, Allura Altea, was the head of the cancer research center. She dealt with cancer cells exposure to the quintessence and how they responded to it. Keith worked in her department as her intern, mostly running errands and stuff, but he loved his job nonetheless.
Keith and Pidge parted ways after leaving the small sandwich shop. He headed towards Altea inc. while Pidge headed the opposite way back towards school. She had a robotics meeting that required her to hack into the opponent's hard drive and fry the software. Normal high school student stuff.
The familiar stench of disinfectant burned the inside of Keith’s nose, making the hairs on the back of his head stick up. He nodded towards the person at the front desk and weaved through halls to the back room. He threw his backpack into his designated locker and slipped on his lab coat. He checked the time on his phone before slipping it into his pocket. He threw his hair up into a messy ponytail and jogged towards the stairwell to meet up with Allura.
At first sight, most people would assume Allura is lost, and wonder what she is doing in the research wing of a multi-million dollar company. Who can blame them, she’s breathtaking. Allura was tall, her figure commonly described as an hourglass. She’s stopped on multiple occasions by people wondering if she was a model. Despite her perfect figure, she was still toned and fit, and sometimes Keith was worried that she’d break the door every time she slams it in frustration when a certain experiment doesn’t work. Her dark skin and bright blue eyes gave her an exotic look, earning a few unappreciated stares from men when walking down the street. But that could only be blamed on her, usually opting for a sundress or a pair of shorts for her daily attire, she causes her father’s blood pressure to spike every time they argue about Allura having to wear company issued scrubs to protect any exposed skin. She loved her father, but they always fought about regulations and safety. Both are equally impulsive (and with Keith in the mix, it can only end in disaster) but Alfor’s concern for his daughter is above everything else. When Allura started dying her hair, he panicked thinking the chemicals would react with the radiation. She had to reassure him that the worse that could happen would be the long term damage that the silver color and bleach would cause her hair. He still wasn’t keen to the idea.
When Keith walked into the lab, she was already busy running around balancing files and petri dishes in her arms. Strands of silver hair were falling from her bun, and her roots needed to be redone. Keith shook his head, deciding that that wasn’t important at the moment and rushed to catch papers that were falling onto the ground. He followed her around the lab before she stopped in front of her office door. She struggled to keep everything in her hands as she searched for her keys.
“Oh, quiznack.” Allura’s nose twitched when she uttered the made up curse, a detail Shiro never fails to point out when he comes and visits. She dropped the items in her arms on her desk, accepting the fallen papers Keith offered her. She offered a small smile in return.
“Thank you, Keith. As you can see, I’m a bit of a mess right now.”
He shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the desk, clearing a space to rest his arm. “I mean, when are you not? Every time I’m in here, it seems like you’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off.”
Allura collapsed in her desk chair and brushed a few stray hair out of her face. “You can’t blame me. It feels like certain people are determined to make my life harder.”
As she said that, the door to her office was slammed open, another box of papers being dropped on her desk.
“Speak of the devil…”
Lotor stood on the other side of her desk, his nose upturned as he spoke down Allura, who looked ready to cut someone.
“I need these organized and filed by Monday, it’s very important that they’re done on time.”
Allura raised an eyebrow and lifted the lid of the box, peering at the hundreds of messily stacked papers. “Why don’t you take these to Archives and let them deal with it?”
“Sorry, this is all sensitive information.”
Allura reached into the box and pulled out one of the papers, “Like the bills for your lunch orders that were charged to the company?”
Lotor growled and snatched the paper back, shoving it back into the box. “Just do it.”
Keith, who had been messing with the magnets on Allura’s desk, glanced into the box, “I can take care of them if you need me to.”
Looking as if he just noticed Keith was in the room, Lotor switched from a spiteful scowl to a soft grin. “Oh, hello Keith.” He scooped the box back into his arms, “Honestly, you don’t have to. I can have Archives handle it so you don’t have to go through that much trouble. We both know how much work Allura puts you through.” He sent a quick wink into Keith’s direction before turning on his heel and leaving the small office.
Allura and Keith exchanged silence glances, bursting into fits of laughter after Lotor left. Allura wiped a tear from her eye and patted Keith on the back.
“I wish you could use your charms every time Lotor decides to waltz in and ruin my day.”
Keith’s face twisted into one of disgust, his pale skin doing nothing to hide the rosy color in his cheeks.
Allura yawned and stretched her arms above her head. She grabbed one of the files on her desk and flipped it open. “Keith, be a dear and get a girl some coffee.”
He rolled his eyes and pushed himself away from her desk, “Yes, Princess.”
She smiled and waved him away, her attention back on her paperwork. Keith turned and rushed out of the office, careful not to run into any lab equipment. He checked his phone for the time; he may be able to check out the west wing without being gone for a suspicious amount of time.
The west wing wasn’t exactly a wing. It was more of the back side of the basement that usually held computers and spare parts. Keith believed it was haunted, always getting a weird feeling every time he was sent down there for whatever reason.
This time was no different. When he opened the door, he was met with a blast of cold air. He checked his phone one more time, confirming on his radar that this was where the high levels of radiation were coming from. He weaved his way through computers to where the coldest part of the room was. Nothing seemed out of place, except for a row of computers against the wall that seemed to be off. Keith stepped closer to examine them, taking note of the thin layer of spiderwebs that seemed to glow in the faint lighting of the basement. He brushed away a few of the webs and peered between computers, noticing another room hidden behind them
Now, at this moment, Keith probably should have turned back and told Allura about his findings. A secret room hidden under Alfor’s nose? Definitely suspicious. But, his curiosity got the best of him, and he stuck his fingers in the crevice and pulled open a space big enough for him to slip through.
The room was dark, the whirring of air conditioners filling the silence. Keith fished for his phone out of his pocket, his hands shaking as he found the flashlight button. He shone the light around the room, taken back from what he saw.
“What the-” Taking up at least thirty shelves, were nests of bioluminescent spiders. They were no bigger than his pinky nail, and they all seemed to be in some sort of torpor, inactive from what Keith assumed was the air conditioning. He stepped closer to one of the nests, noticing that the web they spun was the same web that coated the wall of computers. He reached out and pulled a strand of the web, noticing how tough it was to break free. Unknown to him, the heat from his touch caused the nest to stir, waking up one specific spider.
Keith didn’t notice the bug until he had squeezed back through the hole in the wall and sealed it back up. It was when he was in the elevator that the spider bit him, sending a searing pain up his arm and through his body. He cursed and swatted the arthropod, killing it in the process. He took a deep breath and examined the bruising that was forming in the crook of his elbow where the bite was, another string of curses falling from his mouth. The pain didn’t stop, feeling as if he was being burned alive from the inside out. Keith’s breathing became uneven as his body responded with burst of adrenaline, his vision becoming blurry. He stumbled out of the elevator and down the hallway, falling through the door of Allura’s office.
“Hey, what took you so long? Did you get the coffee- Keith?!” She dropped her phone, immediately losing the game of Frogger she was playing, and jumped out of her seat, catching his body before he hit the ground. He groaned and sat up, his body feeling like lead.
“I’m… I'm fine.” He managed to choke out. He pushed back his bangs that had started to stick to his forehead from his sweat, and managed a small smile. “I just had a small hot flash.”
Allura watched him with a concerned look, “Are you sure? Do you need me to call someone?” He shook his head and stood up, holding onto Allura for balance.
“No, really. I'm fine. Just a bit tired.”
Allura guided him to a chair and picked up her phone from her desk. “I'm going to call Shiro to come pick you up. I don't trust you walking home by yourself.”
He nodded, a wave of fatigue crashing over him. The last thing he heard was a “be right there” from the speaker of Allura’s phone before everything blacked out.
Keith felt a cool cloth being reapplied to his forehead. Trickles of cold water fell into his eyes, causing him to blink them open. He met concerned the concern black eyes of his brother. Shiro muttered a quiet apology, pulling the wet cloth back from his head.
He looked around, finding that he was in his room back at the apartment, the last bits of sunlight filtering through his blinds as night fell across the city.
“Hey, are you feeling alright?”
Keith sat himself up, pain shooting up his arm. Shiro helped him up, resting a pillow behind his back. Shiro still wore his uniform from work, his belts and pins still attached. The dark circles under his eyes told Keith that it had been a hard day at work.
“Did you have patrol today?” Keith’s voice was hoarse, his mouth parched. He took the glass of water offered to him and gulped it down.
Shiro leaned back in his chair, his hand running through his hair in exasperation. “Complaints, actually. I was dealing with people’s complaints today.”
Shiro was an officer in training. He spent most of his time at the New York Police Department, working his ass off just to provide for him and Keith.
Four years ago, their mother passed away from cancer. Though she was close with Keith and Shiro, her death really affected their father the most. He really loved his wife and without her, he found himself drinking himself half blind every night, neglecting his own children. Exactly one year after losing his mother, Keith lost his father too. He was 14 at the time. Shiro was a year from graduating college, attending school in New York. He found himself moving Keith from their small home in Texas to his even smaller apartment on campus. He was balancing classes, a pizza delivers job, and courses at the police academy. Three years later, Keith is in his junior year, and Shiro now had a full-time job on the force. They still call him in at ridiculous times, but he seems happy. Now, Keith just needs to figure out how to get his sorry ass to ask Allura out on a date.
Shiro patted his pockets, trying to locate his phone that was ringing. He stood up and left the room, giving Keith another worried look before closing the door.
Keith sighed and rubbed his eyes, his vision still slightly blurred. He blinked, his contacts suddenly becoming uncomfortable. He squeezed his eyes shut, his vision becoming even worse. When he found the feeling unbearable, Keith grabbed his phone and opened the front-facing camera, using it as his mirror as he fished out his contacts. He blinked his eyes a few times and glanced around the room, finding that he could see.
He could see.
Keith could see without his contacts. At first, he started to laugh. He was hallucinating, going crazy. There is no way that his vision suddenly became perfect in the few hours that he had been passed out. He picked up a textbook that laid on his desk and flipped to a random page, finding that he didn’t have a problem reading it.
That’s when he started to scream.
Shiro burst back into his room, eyes landing on Keith who was staring at his textbook and yelling at the top of his lungs. He let out a small sigh in relief and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder, quieting the younger male.
“Look, I know calculus is hard, but it’s nothing to scream about.”
Keith stared at his older brother for a few seconds before slowly nodding, his voice shaking as his spoke. “Er, yeah. Sorry. I just remembered that I had, uh, a math test tomorrow. Yeah. Forgot to study and all that.”
Shiro’s gaze softened. He ruffled Keith’s hair, earning a small whine from him. “Well, you don’t have to worry. You’re the smartest person I know.” he pulled on Keith’s cheek and gave him an apologetic smile, “They’re calling me in, something to do with a stray downtown or something. Will you be okay on your own?”
Keith swatted his hand away and rubbed his cheek, “I’ll be fine. I’m not a kid anymore.”
“You literally just passed out in Allura’s arms today.”
“You can’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing!”
Shiro’s face grew three shades darker. He gently shoved Keith’s shoulder and stood up. “Shut up. I have to go.”
Keith stuck his tongue out at him, “You know it’s true!” Shiro rolled his eyes and headed towards the door, Keith calling out behind him.
“Make sure you catch mothman for me!”
“Mothman is in Texas, Keith!”
“He might be on vacation!”
Keith chuckled when the front door slammed shut, ending their conversation short. He leaned back in his bed, holding his arm out in front of his face. The bite was fading, to Keith’s surprise, the pain becoming more bearable. He could actually bend his arm without half of his body feeling like it was on fire. He had decided a long time ago that those spiders were the ones causing the large spikes of radiation, but what he had yet to find out is who created them and why. Someone in Altea inc. was working right beneath Alfor’s company, and Keith had a sneaking suspicion that that wasn’t a good thing.
Keith spent a few more hours on his laptop finishing some homework that was due next week, checking the radiation radar, and sending random memes back and forth between Pidge. He finally fell asleep around 1 o’clock, the faint sound of cars driving by putting him to sleep.
When morning rolled around, Keith found himself on the ceiling. Like, actually hanging on the ceiling. When he opened his eyes, he was face to face with an upside down Gerard Way who usually towered over his bed in his signed My Chemical Romance poster. Keith’s was balancing on his toes and pads of his fingers, stuck to the ceiling above his bed. He gasped, his hands flying over his mouth to stop himself from screaming. Without the extra grip of his hands, he fell from the ceiling, flipped through the air, and landed on his back on his bed with a thud .
His heart was drumming in his ears, his fingers digging into his mattress.
What. The. Hell.
He laid in bed for another few minutes before his alarm went off, telling him to get ready for school. Keith gulped, peeling himself from his blankets. His legs wobbled as he made his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
Keith felt like he was missing something, having skipping his routine of meticulously putting in his contacts. His toothbrush had stuck to his fingers, and he had pulled the front door halfway off its hinges in his rush to get to school. The shock of it all had worn off, leaving him finding everything really inconvenient.
When he got to school, he saw Pidge sitting on the front steps from the halfway point at Smashing’s . She stood up when he rushed his way up to her, making a sound of surprise when he grabbed her arm and pulled her inside the building, into an abandoned classroom.
Pidge pushed him away and brushed the wrinkles out of her shirt, “First of all, ow. That hurt. I kind of like that arm. Second of all, what has gotten into you?!”
Keith glanced around the classroom, worried that someone would walk in any moment. “Something strange is going on, Pidge. I think I’m going crazy.”
She clicked her tongue, “Hun, you’re already crazy.”
“No, really! First there was my contacts-”
“What about them?”
“I don’t need them! My vision is perfect! I could see you from eight blocks away!”
Pidge crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing him.
“It’s true!”
“Right.” She pulled the strap of her bag farther up her shoulder, “I think you might of hit your head yesterday or something.”
“That’s not even the weird part!” Keith stripped off his backpack and his jacket, rolling his sleeves up his arms. “Check this out.”
Pidge sighed and put her stuff down, finding herself a comfortable spot on top of one of the desks. She waved her hand, signalling for him to continue.
Keith took and deep breath and stretched his fingers, crouching down in a running stance. He ran straight for the white board, jumping right into it. He extended his hands out, preparing to land on the board, but he miscalculated and crashed face first into the board.
Pidge popped her lips and slid off the desk. “That’s it. You’ve gone completely crazy. It was nice knowing you. I’ve visit you in the asylum.”
She was about to reach for the door handle and leave, when bumped foreheads with Keith. He was crouched on the ceiling, hanging low enough to block Pidge’s path. She jumped back, releasing a string of curses.
“Jesus- Keith, what the fuck?!”
He fell from the ceiling and landed on his feet in front of her, brushing off his clothes as if he didn’t just crawl across the ceiling like the exorcist. “I told you. Something weird is going on.”
Pidge stared at him, her eyes narrowed as thousands of thoughts filled her head.
“Okay, why don’t you start from the beginning.”
“Don’t you see what’s going on?”
The two of them were sitting in the courtyard, continuing their conversation from that morning. Keith had finished explaining how his new strength had cost them a door when the first bell rang. They went through their first three classes before meeting back up for lunch.
Pidge had her laptop out, her blueprint making program pulled up. “You’ve got crazy spider powers, dude. You’re practically a superhero.”
Keith picked at his sandwich, suddenly not feeling hungry. “I don’t know, it sorta feels like a curse to me.”
“Nonsense.” She turned her laptop to face him, “You’ve already got the strength and the ability to crawl on just about every surface. We just have to work on your web shooting skills.” She zoomed into the small box-like contraption on her screen, “I could totally make you some web shooters. You’ll just be in charge of the web fluid.”
“The web fluid?”
Pidge turned her computer to face her again, “Yeah, I emailed you a formula. You can easily mix it up in Chemistry tomorrow.”
Keith leaned back on his elbows, grass tickling his arms. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea. I mean, what if it’s temporary? What if in a few days the spider’s venom sorta just flushes out of my system?”
Pidge shut her laptop, “And what if it’s not? What if you have these powers forever? Are you really going to leave them to go to waste? Someone created those spiders for a reason, and I doubt it’s good. Maybe it’s your job to defeat him!”
“You’ve been watching way too many superhero movies.”
“C’mon, Kogane!” Pidge stood up and poked him in the forehead, “Where’s your heart at?”
Laughter caught their attention from across the courtyard. Lance was making his way in their direction, Hunk trailing behind him.
“Keith? Have a heart? I doubt it.”
Keith groaned and hid his face in his hands, “Can you not leave me alone for one day?”
“Nope.” He popped the p, a grin stretching across his face, “Besides, what would you do without me?”
“Have a will to live.” Keith responded, his face completely serious.
Lance’s smile faltered, taken back by his answer, “Er, what?”
Pidge stepped between the two, jabbing a finger into Lance’s chest, “Don’t you have something better to do than waste our time flirting with Keith?”
“WHAT?!” Keith and Lance yelled in unison, both blabbering excuses and reasons why that was absolutely ridiculous and how Pidge was wrong in the head. She only smirked and sat back down, pulling her laptop back into her lap.
Lance crossed his arms and huffed, stepping back next to Hunk. “Come on, it’s not even worth it, anyways.” He turned away and walked back towards the building, Hunk hitting his palm against his forehead as he followed behind.
Keith flicked Pidge in the ear, his face bright red, “Was that really necessary?”
She rubbed her ear and glared at him, “It got him to leave you alone, didn’t it?”
He rolled his eyes and hid his face in his hands. “I really hate you, you know that?”
“Yeah, I figured.”
Pidge and Keith spent the next few days building and tinkering the web shooters. The first day consisted of Keith mixing up the fluid and sneaking it out of school. Hunk didn’t even bat an eye as he mixed the components, too focused on the Bunsen burner in front of him.
Around the third day, Pidge had convinced him that he needed a costume. At first, he thought the idea was ridiculous. A costume? What was he, twelve? But the more he thought about it, the most he was starting to agree with Pidge. You can only imagine the look he got when he asked Shiro where their mom’s old sewing machine was.
“No, no, no. It has to be blue!” Pidge leaned across Keith’s bed, pulling his sketchbook towards her. “Blue totally screams good guy.”
Keith tugged the sketchbook back, tapping his pencil against the side, “I really like the idea of using red, though.” he pressed his lips together and colored in the bottom half of his sketch blue, adding a few accents on the sides and arms. Pidge nodded, approving of the blue and red color scheme. Keith smiled and finished drawing the mask, adding a dark outline around the eyes.
“Wow, alright. Calm down there, edgelord.” Pidge took the black pencil from his hand and turned the drawing to face her. She stuck her tongue out in concentration as she started adding lines to the drawing.
“What are you doing?”
“Well,” she turned the book back towards him, “I thought it should at least give some sort of spider vibe.”
Keith took in the spiderweb pattern that covered the whole costume, and the big spider emblem that sat on the chest. His bit back a smile.
“Well… that’s a lot of detail that we’re gonna have to add in.”
She punched his arm, “Shut up, you love it.”
He grinned and ripped the drawing from the sketchbook, folding it up and sticking it in his pocket. “How late does the fabric store stay open?”
They spent three days sewing. Having no experience with a needle and thread, the two sort of had some difficulty. They spent most of their time arguing with each other, and Keith almost stabbed a needle through his fingers on multiple occasions. By the end of it, they had ended up with something that looked like a suit a hero would wear. Keith complained that it looked like a leotard from the circus, but Pidge shushed him, assuring him that he would appreciate the flexibility.
Pidge was attaching the final touches: An earpiece in the mask so she could communicate with him, the web shooters and trigger in the gloves, and secret pockets (Though, Pidge was consider leaving them out so Keith would understand the struggle most girls went through. But she decided against it.). When the whole thing was finished, Keith was itching just to try it on.
Pidge sat on Keith’s bed, her laptop set out in front of her. She pulled up a radar that flashed where Keith’s location was on her screen and slipped a headset on. She gave him a thumbs up.
Keith sat crouched on his windowsill, staring at the street below him. He gulped, his suit suddenly feeling constricting on him. What if the shooters didn’t work? Would he survive the fall? Is this how he dies? Well, at least he wouldn’t have to go to school anymore. Keith pulled his mask on, the communicator crackling in his ears. He noted how uncomfortably his hair rubbed against the back of his neck, he’d have to fix that. He returned the thumbs up to Pidge and stood up, his hand pointed towards the building next to him. It’s now or never.
He pressed the trigger that sat at the base of his thumb, the web shooting and attaching to the top of the building. He jumped, thinking that he hesitated for too long he’d chicken out.
Keith screamed. When you’re plummeting from the ninth story window of your room with only man-made spider silk fibers holding you up, you’d scream too. The web pulled taut, swinging Keith forward. He tightened his body and propelled his weight upwards, landing himself on the edge of the building.
His heart was beating out of his chest, an impossibly large grin on his face. It worked. It actually worked! Pidge’s voice crackled in his ears.
“ Dude! You literally just soared through the goddamn sky! ”
Keith pressed the mic on the side of his mask. “I know. Awesome.” He heard a few keys clacking.
“ Do you think you can test the strength of the silk? ”
“What? Was being able to hold me up not a valid enough test?”
“ You don’t exactly weight that much, Keith. ”
“Hey!” He shot another web and swung to the next building, “Well, at least I’m over five feet!”
“ You leave my height alone! ”
Keith grinned. He hung off the side of the building, eyes scanning the streets. Parked behind an alley was two tractor trailers. The one parked in the front seemed to be getting ready to leave. Perfect.
He swung down and landed on top of the truck, attaching it to the truck parked behind it, still full from items being loaded into it. He then sat down with his legs crossed on top of the truck, his chest rumbling with the engine of the truck. It began driving forward, the web stretching a few feet before locking up, keeping the truck in place.
Keith hummed happily, noticing the second truck start to creak and get dragged forward, the web showing no sign of fraying. When he was absolutely positive that the web wasn’t going to budge, he jumped off the truck to the closest building, swiftly climbing up to the top. He pressed the mic on his mask.
“It’s strong af.”
“ Please don’t ever say that ever again. ”
Keith rolled his eyes and maneuvered his way back to his window. He climbed through, shutting it as quietly as possible. He ripped the mask off and jumped on the bed, tackling Pidge into a hug.
“I’m a fucking superhero!”
Pidge wrestled away from his death grip, pushing his headset off and putting it around her neck. “Not so fast, you gotta save some people first.”
Keith scratched the back of his head, “I mean, there isn’t much happening down the street.”
“Don’t you worry, my dude. I got this.” She typed a few thing on her keyboard, soon a police radio began speaking through her headphones.
“Isn’t that, like, illegal?”
Pidge shrugged her shoulders, “Nah.” She put her headset back on, motioning him back towards the window. “Now, hurry up. There seems to be a mugging on 24th. There were gunshots heard.”
Keith nodded and rushed back to the window, snatching a hair tie off his desk on his way. After putting his hair up, he pulled his mask back on and jumped out the window, shooting his web in the direction of 24th street.
“Look, we both know that this is only going to end one of two ways: you get the fuck out of here and turn yourself in, or I blow your fucking brains out.”
Keith sat crouch on the ledge of an apartment building, hidden by the shadows as he watched the scene below him.
A man in a red suit, swords (katanas maybe?) strapped to his back, was holding a gun to another man’s head, his other arm trapping the man against the wall. He was dressed in all black, a woman’s purse lying at his feet. The man in red pressed the gun harder against the mugger’s temple, his finger itching to pull the trigger. When the mugger refused to say anything, he shrugged, pulling back the safety.
“Alright. Blow your brains out, it is.”
Before could place his finger back on the trigger, Keith shot a web, plastering the gun to the wall. The action caught the attention of the man in red, allowing the mugger enough time to run away. The man in red placed his hands on his hips, making no effort to go after him.
“Oh, come on! You know the author wouldn’t have actually let me kill you!” When he received no answer back, he threw his arms up in the air in exasperation. “Loser.” He turned and faced Keith, the white eyes of his mask trained on him.
“You can come down now.”
Keith landed before him, his stance cautious. The man in red bent his head back and sighed.
“I’m not gonna do anything, I swear. You already glued Betsy to the wall.”
“You name your guns?”
“And you don’t?” He tilted his head, taking in Keith’s suit. “So what are you? Some patriotic insect?”
“I’m a spider . They’re not insects!”
“Ah,” He leaned against the wall and pulled a knife out of his pocket, cutting away at the threads that held his pistol to the wall. “So you’re some sort of spider man?”
Keith crossed his arms. “I’m not telling you.”
The stranger held his hands up, “Ooh, we got Mr. Mysterious here.” he went back to freeing his gun, “I’m Deadpool.”
Keith tilted his head, “That’s a stupid name.”
“Not as stupid as Spider-man.”
“That’s not my name-!”
Deadpool finally pulled his gun free and put in back in its holster. Keith could see that embroidered on the side was the name ‘Betsy’. “Besides, you should be careful about what you say. They won’t like it.”
Keith stared at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “‘They’?”
“Yeah, ya know. The readers. We’re supposed to fall in love.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
Deadpool sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “God, you’re just as stupid as the rest of them.” He gestured to the sky, “You see? It says right there: ‘m/m’, as in male slash male.”
Keith looked up to the sky, only seeing the night sky. He gave another confused look to the man before him. “I don’t…”
“Oh, baby. You got a lot to learn.” Deadpool was about to start his whole spiel about the author and how he pretty much knows what’s gonna happen because the tags do a pretty awful job at hiding the plot. Don’t get him started on the summary. He couldn’t believe how basic it made everything sound. Without his help and input, the summary would have been total garbage. Luckily, he came to the rescue. But all was interrupted by the static in Keith’s hood.
“ Keith? Keith! ” Pidge’s voice sounded urgent.
He spun away from Deadpool and hit the mic on his mask, “Yeah, what’s up?”
“ There’s an attack in front of Altea! Keith, it’s Shiro! Something’s happened! ”