Chapter Text
As Lance gripped harder, he desperately climbed onto the last hope he had. Kick! He had finally won. Wait, he won…? He won…! He won! With all the buttons that he had pressed, his PlayStation remote was probably in need of rest. He huffed to the screen in front of him, “Again.”
The controller was pulled up into his lap again, pressing the “X” button, the pulsing rays of the screen lit up and the character was once again dragged across the screen, flighting for their life, “Die, die, die, die, die!”
From outside, he could hear a conversation between (from what Lance had presumed to be) two young adults: one being male and the other being female walking through the alleyway in the front of his house. Tired, he grunted to himself, reassuring himself that he would probably get a girlfriend one day, “I don’t need some pervert outside my house telling me what I have and don’t have…”
On the side of him, a black-haired boy who was curious as to what he was doing. He leaned into the controller on all-fours, looking down at the buttons, “What are you even talking about?”
Lance turned his head and rolled his eyes as he scoffed at the curious teen, “I said, I’ll get a girlfriend one day, I know it!”
The boy next to him got off of his arms and sat down next to him, “Yeah, yeah. Keep telling yourself that. Maybe it will come true, but then again, you don’t talk to any girls in the first place. That idea is kind of stupid, think about how you’re even going to get a girlfriend in the first place!”
Lance realized what was going on as he tried to focus back to his game, holding onto the two sides and lifting it up in the air, causing the black-haired boy besides him to push himself back. He didn’t want to get hurt after all, he probably wasn’t going to apologize for that, “S-Shut up! I’ll totally get a girlfriend, Keith! I don’t need you nagging me all day about it as well!”
Keith rose a brow, “Ah? ‘As well’? You mean to tell me that you have some other friends?”
The controller flung out of his hand, crashing into the wall and falling onto the bed. The boy next to Keith, with tanned skin and brown hair, had his face lit brightly, blood rushing up quickly. He put his hands down and glared at him, “Next time, I won’t miss.”
Black hair swayed as he sighed and laid back down on his back, staring at the ceiling, “That’s the second time you’ve said that. Are you going to actually hurt me with that?”
Lance could feel his face increasing with heat, “I-I… Of course not! What kind of gentlemen would I be if I hit you with this?”
The small and playful giggle that came from below him made him think that maybe getting a girlfriend was a slightly bad idea, “Maybe you would be a better man if you made some food now? I’m hungry.”
“Can’t you make your own food?”
“Isn’t your mom coming home soon?” Never mind, maybe a girlfriend would be a good idea.
“I-ah, okay, fine. Ramen sounds good, right?”
“Put the egg in it. I told you last time to put it in, you didn’t. H-hey!”
Brown tufts of hair were already bouncing, feet scuffling to the kitchen. Another pair of feet joined and ran down the hallway, “I said, hey! Can’t you at least listen?!”
Once they were in the kitchen, Keith peered over Lance’s shoulder, almost like he was haunting him, “Egg, egg, egg, egg, egg-“
“Yeah, yeah! I hear you, loud and clear! Stop chanting about your stupid egg,” grabbing the egg from the counter, hitting it against the pot, and pushing it open with one hand is a tough skill to be able to use when you have such an annoying guy next to you. He pisses Lance off sometimes- no- most of the time. Yet he still manages to deal with him, somehow. Pretty impressive, if you ask him!
The door opens but Keith doesn’t pay attention to it, “Hey, Lance. Watch the food and don’t burn yourself!”
Grabbing onto his tanned hand with his own pale hands, he jerked it away from the pot full of boiling water and ramen noodles with its soup base, “Watch what you’re doing!”
The brunette looked down at the pot and cried out in surprise, “It’s going to boil over if I don’t stir it!”
“What are you yelling at?” Another voice came from behind the two. The pair’s heads turned around to see Lance’s mom, Rosa, standing at the doorway. She had probably just came back from her morning errands. Two plastic bags were at her feet.
Keith was the first to react to what she had said, “Lance isn’t paying attention to the food.”
“I’m just talking to myself, mom. I wasn’t paying attention to the food and it started to boil over.”
She gave out a small smile and a chuckle, “Oh dear, watch the food better next time, okay?”
“I’ll be sure to knock some sense into him next time!”
“Alright mom! Do you want some too?”
As she walked to the dining room with four chairs surrounding a table, she sat down and sighed loudly, “Yes, please! Thanks a lot! Be sure to put those groceries away!”
“No problem!” Lance smiled to himself before turning to Keith with a glare, “Keith, I swear…”
Keith didn’t pay much attention to Lance’s comment. He quickly reached out for the knob of the stove and turned it to the “off” setting. He then put the chopsticks in Lance’s hands into the empty and clean bowl and pulled his hand closer to him once again. Turning it over, he could see a red spot that covered the entire side of his palm, “Lance! My God, pay attention once in a while, alright?!”
With a grumble, the other boy hummed in annoyance and agreement. His other hand reached out to the faucet and turned it on, rushing his own hand to the cold water. The burn wasn’t settling but the water seemed to help. So, it wasn’t that bad.
“I can’t believe that I have to do this all the time. Are you trying to kill me or something? I don’t know how you even end up with half of the things you come back home with!”
“Keith, I can take care of myself, you know…”
“Right now, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Uhm, the ramen’s getting cold-“
The other teenwidened his eyes as he moved his hand away from Lance’s and tried grabbed onto the handle of the pot to quickly pour in the ramen and eat some of it.
Sighing once more, Lance took the pot handle before Keith could grab it and started to pour it slowly. He pretty much knew that Keith was probably going to spill a bit on the counter. He didn’t want to be bothered with cleaning the counter too. A game was upstairs just waiting to be played.
“Finally! I’m starving!”
“Hold on, I got to carry it to the living room. Mom! This first one’s yours! I’ll make mine now!”
“Hurry up, Lance! We don’t have all day-”
“This one is for mom. Just wait a second, okay?”
Red tinted the teen’s face as he looked back at the dining room, “Fine, I guess…”
~
Two bowls set out in front of the table with four chairs, one bowl on each side with the fresh steam piping. As Lance sat down, the other boy looked at the table and the food. He couldn’t be bothered by Keith right now, this phenomenon was too strange.
“W-Wait a minute,” He had noticed the weight on his legs and looked down. He probably would have been taller if it weren’t for-
“Hand over those chopsticks, I’m eating if you’re just going to be lost in thought.”
“Just get off,” He whispered into his ear, “It looks really weird.”
Ignored, he sighed and pushed himself closer to the table, starting to eat over his shoulder. Keith continued to complain to Lance about him getting off the seat instead but it was soon drowned out by his own thoughts. Summer… Summer is going to be long this year…
~
The temperature was just right, hands gripping onto the sides of the brown bark. His teeth clenched and a few drops of sweat beaded down his face. Looking down, he saw all his friends. They looked up at him in shock, just a tinge of fear was hidden in their expressions. Almost… there…
The bark underneath blue shoes fell down to the ground. A few gasps of fright and a shriek were thrown out. He kept climbing on. Up, up, up to the top of this branch.
“Be careful, idiot!” A childish yet dark tone came from the bottom, causing the boy to look down.
Once he had regained his balance, climbing up to the top wasn’t so hard. A grin started to form as all the others below him stared at him with widened eyes that were filled with awe. Several different expressions were worn between the children, mostly filled with surprise.
“Did you get it?” Another voice, higher pitched, rang out through the forest.
“Yeah! I got it!” Giggling, he started to climb down the tree.
~
“Woah, it’s huge!” Allura, someone who he considered a sister in addition to their already equally-as-large families, shouted out.
Lance squeezed the bug between his fingers, not too hard and not too soft so it couldn’t run away and not be smashed by him. Usually, kids and teens alike would be grossed out by the idea of even touching a bug. These kids weren’t fearful of some mere bugs; they were actually infatuated with capturing and collecting these scrawny and wriggly insects.
“Be careful with those bugs! They might jump into your eyes!” One of the two teens shouted out from the back of the group. His sister didn’t show any emotion in her face at this comment, she only gripped his hand tighter in hidden fright.
“Stop scaring the kids, Matt,” Shiro, the leader of their small group, lightly tapped his shoulder. The other boy next to him tensed and looked back at the leader. Pidge, the last of the Holt siblings, tightened her grip and the teenager knew that he was- a feeling that can only be described as- dead.
A shorter kid, not as short as Keith or Pidge, but just below the average of the group, ran all the way to the leader of the group, “Shiro! Matt’s bein’ mean!”
With a laugh, he shook his head and removed his hand from the other teen’s shoulder, “I think Lance won. He has the biggest bug.”
“So cool…! B-But are the bugs gonna jump on us?” Hunk, a bit chubby but a good guy, hugged onto his friend’s leg.
Shiro laughed and pat his head, “Nah, they’re not gonna jump on us. Matt’s just messin’ with you.”
As the children laughed and talked about their own worries and joys, two were left in the background. The red and yellow jacket that was too large blew into the smaller boy’s face. Keith gulped, “Hey, Lance?”
“Yeah? What’s up?” His eyes lit with excitement. The boy in front of him rarely talked and he only really talked to Shiro, his brother. If his brother was missing, then he was usually with him. He wanted to know more about him, and he sounded like he was going to say something important. So he listened.
“I… have a wish.”
~
As Lance looked back at the steam (at first, he thought it was there. It wasn’t there anymore.), he groaned and realized that his mother was gone. There was still something familiar there, though…
He looked down at his lap and widened his eyes once more. It was a dream, at least, he thought it was. Why was this weight still on his lap? His mind was probably not fully awake from that memory. It looked like he had passed out. The heat must have gotten to him.
Shifting weight, tensing up, and relaxing once more. The predicament he was in was a big one. It must have been his mind. It was just playing tricks on him. Why was he being tormented this summer? It didn’t make any sense. Trying to understand any of this was confusing. This was probably just all of his stress and trauma. It took shape into the form of… well, whatever was right in front of him.
Some of the pressure on his lap was lifted up as Keith moved his head up to see Lance. He had fallen asleep as well, it had seemed. The red from the embarrassment of the moment came, wiping his eyes and pushed the chair back. Trying to stand up made this particular situation worse. As the chair leaned back, Lance’s hand reached out and pulled the black haired boy close to him.
Hitting your head is painful. Hitting your head on wooden floorboards is worse. Another problem added to this summer’s list of things that were problems. An aching head and a forming lump. It’s alright, though. Seeing Keith physically hurt was probably more painful than anything he could have thought of. Probably not.
“Hey, Keith?”
“I-I wasn’t sleeping, that’s just your imagination!” He whined out. Of course he would whine at this situation, he was more aware of how anyone would perceive this.
“You’re just something I came up with, right? It’s probably because of the stress…”
Silence followed from what he was saying. Even though this moment of falling off the floor couldn’t possibly be real, it still felt real. If it was, everything would be better again.
“Also… why are you back… more mature…?” Keith held his hand over his mouth to stifle the laughter that he could barely contain.
“What are you talking about? You think I have any more of an idea why I’m back looking older?” He laughed, pushing off of Lance and rolled over to his side, “Hey, I’m probably back because… I still need that wish granted.”
The brunette widened his eyes, “Your wish? What was your wish? I remember you telling me that you had one, but you never actually told me what it was.”
Pale skin reached down to Lance’s face and smiled, “I have absolutely no idea.”
“Are you kidding me?” He took his hand and pulled himself up anyways, “How are you supposed to have your wish granted if you have no idea what it is!?”
Another moment passed by, “I think it might be ‘cause that’s the point of being here? Sending you on a wild goose chase sounds fun. But, seriously, I think that you have to find the wish. You have any ideas?”
“How am I supposed to know!?”
“I guess that makes sense, I think you would remember if I told you.”
Lance’s thoughts trailed off again as Keith threw ideas at him. This was the manifestation of all the stress and trauma he’s been through so far. The summer beast that haunts him, everyday. This shouldn’t be happening, so, why is it? It would have been better if he had went to his brother or someone else. Why did he have to be haunted with this annoying-
No, it’s not fair. Not at all. He sighed and pulled up the chair once Keith had let go of his hand, “Just, try to remember what your wish was, alright?”
Keith smiled up at him, “I do remember one thing, though. Everyone has to be there to grant my wish.”
Lance gasped in shock of what he had said, “Everyone…? What do you mean-”
The doorbell had interrupted their conversation. Keith shrugged before walking off to the front door. Shortly after, the other teenager followed. Before he could tell Keith to stop, he swung the door open and widened his eyes in shock once more.
“A-Allura…?”
“Allura!” Keith smiled and looked at Lance, “Did you invite her?”
“No I didn’t, dumbass.”
“Who are you calling ‘dumbass?’ And what do you mean by ‘you didn’t?’” The girl with the angry expression questioned. She had changed, a lot. Her fashion style had improved and she had become popular after a while of being friendly with everyone at school, as well as summer school. Her hair grew out to be really long. When they were younger, she always used to complain about having long hair, since she had seen some really weird hairstyles that people used to go for when they were little. She looked like she grew out of that ‘long hair means crazy hair’ faze.
He wouldn’t call the feeling of seeing her after so long ‘refreshing’, it was more so a feeling of ‘relaxation.’ This feeling was probably from the fact that he once knew this girl so well. Then again, the fact that Keith was even here made more sense to him than the reason as to why Allura was at their doorstep, “No! I’m not calling you a dumbass! I’m just… talking to myself. Also, uh, I mean I didn’t expect you to come here.”
Keith jabbed his elbow into his side and looked up at Allura. She was still stunning, even to this day. She was probably even more beautiful than when they were kids. He could remember all the times when they would hang out together and have boys from their school asking her out when they got into third grade and up. They just ended up being turned down, but he had fun watching those boys and Allura.
The realization kicked in, Allura couldn’t see either. So all this summer stress was only placed on him. Great, just great.
“Allura, it’s so great to see you, really,” Red moved by and gripped onto her hands. He was so relieved to be able to see Allura again. He used to do this with the girl when they cheered each other up or just when they were alone together. She really loved to grab onto his hands when they were kids, claiming that Keith’s hands were so soft. To the boy, it was just like a hug between the two.
“I think I’ve been doing too much work. I think my hands are going numb.”
His eyes widened as he started to let go, “You… can’t see me?”
“A-Ah, why are you here anyways?” Lance cut into the boy’s thoughts. Also, he was actually curious as to why she was here.
“Oh, right,” She paused and opened her bag to take out a folder with his name written on it, “Mr.Iverson told me to hand these off to you. Tell your mom I said ‘Hi’ and ‘Get Well.’”
“My mom? She’s still really sick- Hey! Wait a minute! Why are you giving me this homework? Doesn’t Mr.Iverson know about my mom?”
“I don’t care that Mr.Iverson knows or doesn’t know. Look, I have to go now.”
“You should have just thrown this out. I know you don’t want to even be seen near me.”
“I don’t even care about being seen with you or anything like that. Right now, you’re acting like a jerk,” She pushed the flimsy folder with a considerable amount of papers into his hands and slammed the door shut.
“Lance, what the hell!? Why are you so pissed off?” Keith balled his hand into a fist, clenching his teeth together.
“Keith, just leave her alone. She’s changed, we all have. It’s no use to try and get her.”
As the teen walked away from the house, she looked down at her hands. The memories of her childhood with the boy passed into her mind. Shaking her head, she walked away.
~
“You could have told her about my wish, you know! It was supposed to be everyone, too,” The red jacket that fit snug onto his peach skin was almost torn off as he rolled it into a ball and threw it at the other boy’s tanned skin.
“Keith, I’m serious. She’s changed, hypocritical jerk.”
“There’s no way Allura’s a jerk! Wasn’t she kind enough to give you your homework?”
“That sounds like something an enemy would do.”
“Listen to what you’re saying! She was always one of the nicest people I’ve ever known and I doubt that she’s ever changed from that!”
“She hates everyone from our old group now, especially me. We’re not even friends anymore, so-”
“No!” Keith shouted out, louder than he probably should have, “M-Maybe you’re the one who’s changing. You should go tell her you’re sorry, Lance!”
It ran through his ears and his eyes, for a second, showed him the familiar dirt path and the forest to his right. The river down the mountain was threatening. He gulped and tightened his grip onto the red jacket.
“Fine,” Black hair bounced as tears welled in his eyes from anger. The other boy sighed and looked down at the haunting red and yellow jacket, “You’ll see it for yourself, then. Everything from back then has changed. It’s all different now.”
~
“Lance, hurry up!” He already had his jacket on. It felt so weird for it to not be fully covering his hands and more. That small fact probably doesn’t matter now.
“Coming!” Once he pulled his own jacket on, he slowly stepped down the stairs and started to walk to the door.
“Oh, sweetie. Are you going out?” Rosa poked her head out from the kitchen.
“Yeah, I’m going to Allura’s house-”
“Allura!? I haven’t seen her in forever! Tell her I said hi!” She was probably cooking dinner tonight, even though she was probably too weak to do it all in one hour.
“I will, take a break if you need to. Love you!” he slipped his shoes on and opened the door, noticing two ladies outside. It was pretty pathetic, but his response was to put his head down and smile nervously. The other boy was already outside.
“Come on already, you’re so slow!” He took a moment to think about whatever was on his mind, “You called me a dumbass earlier! You’re the dumbass!”
“Shut up!” The ladies ended up looking away from their conversation. Scared, they started easing back into their conversation once more. Shit… He forgot.
Stomping away made the other boy irritated, so he followed right behind him in silence. They ended up walking the other way from Allura’s house, but they were both too irritated at each other to say anything about it. The brunette knew where he was going; a different, longer route usually cooled him off after some argument with one of his classmates in the past.
With the thought of his old classmates, there they were. He hadn’t dropped out of high school, he made sure to keep up with the bare minimum to get a decent job when he grew older, but he was gone throughout most of the year. The health of this boy’s mother was getting severally low, so he had to stay home to make sure she was alright.
They passed each other and the students beside him didn’t seem to notice. He sighed in relief until Keith spoke up, “Were they friends of yours?”
“Nope,” He decided to avoid the idea of making new friends ever since the group had broken apart. Ahh… who cares anyways? Even the girl that they were supposed to see sooner or later told him that she didn’t care either.
“Freedom…” The two teens stood at the front of a white picket-fence, with the railroad tracks on the other side, “It really does smell like summer.”
“I see that you haven’t changed.”
“What was that?”
“I said ‘I see that you still bug me.’” That response was only said to irritate Keith.
“You-! You’re annoying as well!” With crossed arms, he pouted and turned his head the other way.
Laughing made these moments more enjoyable, even if they were smaller now. This curse was evil and great. A figment of his impossible imagination was standing right in front of him. It tore Lance to shreds.
“Hey, I can still balance on this. I thought it would have broke by now,” A head turned and saw a beautiful scenery. Something that he would never admit out loud, Keith was stunning in this orange faded sunlit background. With arms stretched out, taking a couple of steps on the fence didn’t seem so bad.
Though, this illustration that his mind had made up was placed here because of his feelings for the boy whose jacket was way too big for him and who was so dependent on him. This probably wouldn’t be here right now. It must have been the summer heat that brought this on.
“Woah!” A foot had slipped. A flash in his eyes revealed him in his room, sitting on the floor instead of his bed. His mother had ran upstairs and opened the door.
“Lance! Keith… Keith has-”
Now he was on the floor next to pale feet. His tanned hand was stuck out, reaching. Looking up, the boy was confused, “What the hell, Lance?”
“I’m fine,” He groaned and rubbed his head. Another painful headache started to form. Pushing his arms up to sit up straight, he looked up at Keith and sighed, “Are you alright?”
“You seem to be in a worse condition than-”
“Lance…?” A voice rang out from behind the boy. He turned around and looked up at the three figures. Two of them were wearing regular clothing while the last one was wearing a uniform from that prestigious school, “What… are you doing… on the floor?”
The three people who were standing in front of the three widened his eyes, gasping in shock.
~
Currently, the floor was littered with clothing, empty bags of packaged chips, and other things. White hair moved as the person rolled to their back, groaning.
“Allura!” A muffled voice came from beyond the door. It was soon cracked open to reveal a ginger man with a laundry basket in his hands, “Did you go to Lance’s house today?”
“Can you knock next time you come in?!”
“Ah, I didn’t? Well, that doesn’t matter now. Did you-”
“Yes, Coran! I stopped by, but I don’t think that matters now!” She pulled herself up and looked at the man in front of her.
“Actually, I do care. I need you to stop by again and give him the croissants I made. Doesn’t Rosa like croissants?”
“She likes any type of bread with butter, everyone does.”
“Please? It’ll just take a moment and his mom is really unhealthy again.”
“Can’t you take them yourself?”
“Oh, someone’s going through puberty!” Before she could reply to this comment, the door was already slammed shut.
She yelled out in defeat and laid back down on her bed, looking up at a picture of all her childhood friends, “You’re not the jerk. I am.”
~
“Hey, Lance,” The girl looked up at him and nodded.
“Hey, Pidge,” She looked so much older now, with her hair tied up in a long ponytail. They all could remember ten years ago, where she barely spoke at all and always held onto her brother’s hand. Now she had grown up, independent and her looks had changed. Everything about her had changed, in fact. Instead of loving the outdoors, now she enjoyed programming and staying indoors a lot.
“We just picked up her up from summer school,” The other male spoke out. The leader of their once formed group, Shiro. He had a job at a office building and was the leader of most of their projects as well. A born leader, but it wasn’t enough for the fall of their group.
“She’s already preparing for college!” Her brother, Matt, laughed at his own comments and smiled down at his younger sister. He worked in the same office, the lead programmer.
“Are you okay?” Shiro asked, seeing how he just fell down from probably tripping over his own feet.
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine. Well, I guess I’ll be going now!” He smiled and waved, turning around and seeing Keith’s face.
He was so happy at this moment, he teared up and looked past Lance’s shoulder, “They’re all there… Shiro, Matt, Pidge…”
He moved past Lance and hugged onto Shiro in a gentle hug. He knew he wasn’t going to be seen, but this was his brother.
“Let’s go!” His voice seemed to throw daggers at nothing but himself.
“Who are you talking to?” Pidge asked while biting onto what seemed to be store-bought cookies.
“W-Well Keith-”
“What are you talking about?” Shiro questioned at his brother’s name.
“Uh, no, that’s not what I meant…”
“What do you mean ‘Keith?’” Matt looked up at Shiro and saw his eyes darken. It made him turn away and look down at the floor. The teen couldn’t answer that question but the black haired boy pulled away from his hug, “Are you still talking about him?”
“Shiro…” His brother looked up at his face. Scrunched up with wrinkled lines, he seemed to be truly furious. He at least understood why.
“Using his name so carelessly?”
“Shiro!” Pidge shouted at him. They all had some form of trauma from what had happened, but Takashi had been affected the worst. Worrying about his family’s safety ever since the accident, he had started to get so stressed that his hair had started to show noticeable signs of white hair at the young age of 21. Now that he was 25, his hair had much more white in it.
Everyone there knew that Pidge didn’t really know Keith as much, but she sure had memories of him left from that age. She barely remembered anything from the age of five, but she did remember some things. She could easily bring up the time where they all played tag along the side of this fence because that was the time where Lance had to carry Keith on his back (He had hurt his ankle at the time) the entire game.
“Get over it, Lance. It’s been ten years and you’re still acting like a child.”
“Shiro, please,” Matt put his hand on his shoulder, holding a firm grip on it. Although this was his best friend’s brother he was talking about, the man still didn’t want to see him fall apart. The accident affected everyone, but he still wanted to keep his friend and his co-worker calm.
Lance couldn’t respond to this. He knew he sounded insane and he was acting like a child in their eyes. It really wasn’t fair. Why was he the only that was able to see him? Why could it have been the one who really wanted to see Keith the most? He just wanted to live calmly and peacefully. As his fist tightened, he took off in the other direction.
“You dumbass,” The boy mumbled under his breath and turned around, running after him.
“Why’d you get so worked up over Lance talking about him?” Pidge spoke out from the back of the two.
“Katie-” Matt looked behind him and noticed the cookie crumbs still on the corners of her mouth.
“He’s not the only one who’s thinking about Keith, Takashi.”
“I’m his brother, it’s a different story,” Shiro continued to walk along the path that they were supposed to walk.
“Katie, you have cookie crumbs on the sides of your mouth.”
“Shut up,” Maybe it was best if they avoided the topic.
“Don’t let yourself get picked on by your brother,” Now that the twinge of anger was out of his voice, it seemed to be okay.
~
Cars passing by on the streets, a distant beep, heavy and fast footsteps. The two of them crossed the street and continued to run.
“Lance, wait up!” Keith called as they ran over to a nearby park. They soon grew tired and slowly stopped running, “Lance-”
“Now do you get it?” The other boy stared at him, not sure of how to respond, “Everyone’s changed. I’ve probably changed the most, though.”
“Lance.. I-”
“Hey, you’re my stress, right? Please, just give me a break. When you’re around, I remember… I remember things that I really wouldn’t like to remember. It gets really annoying, you know.”
As the boy in front of him continued forward, he felt like his legs couldn’t move. He was frozen in place; nor could he speak. It was currently fustraighting, having this happening to Keith.
“Lance…” It wasn’t fair. Totally not fair.
~
At home, it felt cooler than it did outside as the dark took over the house. His mother must have been in her bed by now. He slipped off his shoes and leaned his back against the hallway wall.
The summers back then were much more peaceful than they are now.
~
The sun’s warm rays touched the trees as they swayed under the wind’s command. Hot was the summer, but the sound of footsteps kept going. Up to that abandoned shed at the top of the trail.
“I got it!” He barged into the building and raised his hand in the air.
“You brought something?” A girl standing at the front of the room questioned. She pushed the strands of white hair out of her face.
“We can be called ‘Voltron!’” He moved his hand down, his finger pointing at the group.
One of the smallest of the boys jumped up and smiled, “Woah! That’s so cool!”
The oldest looked at the boy, “‘Voltron?’ What does that mean?”
It took a moment for him to think, “We can save the peace! We’ll be so strong!”
Another teen with light brown hair who held onto the youngest of the group’s hand questioned, “The peace of what?”
“We’ll save the peace of everywhere! The entire universe can be saved!” He pointed to the air and smiled. The rest of them stayed silent, the name had a slight ring to it.
“Lance,” A shy boy next to him looked up, “I like the name.”
“I don’t mind it,” The youngest agreed.
“If Katie likes it, I’ll stick with it.”
“Well then, it’s settled. We’ll call our group ‘Voltron.’” Shiro nodded and put his hands on his hips in approval.
“I think Shiro should be the leader. He’s been good at that so far,” Allura smiled and looked up at the oldest.
“Shiro should be the leader,” Keith looked at him fondly.
Lance wanted to be the leader, but he had to agree, Shiro was a natural leader. Someone who could hold the group together. Plus, everyone else was agreeing, so it was a decision made, “Yeah, go ahead!”
Of course, everyone had followed Shiro. Even on that day, they still followed him.
“Hey, Lance,” Allura, sitting on the ladder to the storage floor of the base, said, “Do you… like… Keith?”
Keith gave out a surprised gasp and looked at Lance, while the other did the same, “Wh-what are you talking about?!”
Shiro tightened his hand that was in his pocket for a small bit, “Just admit it. I won’t allow any secrets in our group.”
“Shiro!” Lance yelled at him, his face flushed with red. Although he acted like he didn’t, he really did.
The teen didn’t want his brother to have his heart broken all because of something that the boy wasn’t going to admit.
“Say it! Say it!” Hunk cheered and giggled.
“Ah, you too?!”
“Knock it off,” Pidge rolled her eyes.
“I have to agree with you, though. Just admit it!” Matt laughed and shook his head.
“Not what I mean.”
“W-Who would like an ugly boy like-!” He stopped himself. Even though Keith looked tough, he was prone to cry sometimes.
He looked away and gave out a small smile, not really knowing what else to say.
This made Lance blush even more, so he turned away and stood up. As the sun was still shining bright and positioned high in the sky, he started to run out of their secret base and down the dirt path once again. He couldn’t bring himself to face him right now.
“Wait, Lance!” With no response, Keith called out again, “Lance!”
Once he stopped running, he found himself in front of his mother and his house, “Oh, sweetie. You’re already home? I’m going to visit your father. Make sure you warm up your food, okay?”
Walking inside, he sighed and unwrapped the food. Unknowing to him, that smile would stick in his mind and heart. It would linger like a whisper of a treasured secret. He probably could have apologized the next day, since they would meet up tomorrow anyways.
That day never came.
~
The streetlight flickered once more, shining down its beaming bright light. Underneath that light was Keith, standing at the front of a gate that was between him and a house. He stared at the gate and looked to the side. He started to climb.
When he got closer to the door, he could smell the familiar smell of home. The aroma of the house smelt like his favorite meal, curry. He took ahold of the handle and turned it, pushing the door open.
He peaked in and saw his father on the couch, reading the news paper. Once he pushed the door enough so he could squeeze through, he looked around. He was surprised to find someone familiar who still bore a smile. His younger brother, who looked to be around fourteen, Ryou was sitting at the table on his phone.
“Hey, Ryou, can you close the door?” Keith’s father spoke out.
“Aren’t you closer?”
“H-Hey, Ryou! You’ve gotten so much bigger!” Keith smiled at his brother. He looked over at his dad when Shiro came out from what he presumed to be the bathroom. He moved his hand to Ryou’s shoulder.
He really couldn’t help it. Even though he was mad at him before, this was one of those fond moments that those two brothers shared. Keith ended up smiling at them.
A ringing starting to come from an empty room with a dresser and a metal bowl. There were also candles added to it’s decor. He looked up at who was ringing at the metal bowl. His mother, tall and beautiful. She had another bowl placed next to her.
“Mom,” A voice from Keith’s left had a sharp tone to it, “Just stop it already. It’s annoying to watch you give him curry everytime you make it.”
“Ryou-”
“Shiro, stop. You know what I’m saying is right.” There was no reply.
“But, Ryou. This was his favorite dish.” Her voice sounded strained. There was a hint of stress and nervousness to her tone.
“Dead people don’t eat, mom.”
“Don’t say things like that, Ryou. He might be hearing us. You know, Keith was so much into his own adventures with you and Shiro that he probably doesn’t even realize that he’s dead.”
“I already know that,” Keith’s voice came out as a whisper. His eyes filled with tears as he continued to smile at his family. It didn’t feel right, though. The house felt broken even though it seemed to have everything it needed. It seemed dead, “I’m… I’m dead. I died. I know.”
He stumbled back while he was consumed in his own thoughts. The table made a thump, which shocked the others in the household. Water quickly started to drip on the floor. The cup must have been knocked over.
“Did you knock over the cup again?” Keith’s father seemed to give an annoyed tone.
“I didn’t! The cup moved on it’s own! Ask Shiro.”
“Well, no one knocked it over and no one bumped into the table.” Shiro lightly chuckled and shrugged.
“Keith…?” Krolia asked to herself. Being the mother of the household, she could sense that her son near.
“Just clean it up, okay?” Keith’s father pointed to the roll of paper towels in the kitchen. No one had heard Krolia, though.
The door was creaked open once more.
~
Grabbing onto the refrigerator door and pulling it open, he found it empty.
Lance had opened another packet of ramen. The boiling water signaled it was time to put the hard, raw noodles into the pot.
Lance thought about what happened in the past once more. After they had “saved” the peace, the children had started to drift away from each other. Shiro, their brave leader, had left first. Next it was Matt and Pidge, the two siblings who could never be separated. A little while after that, Allura, the girl who was so kind. Hunk, the child with just a little too much energy had also left. It was just Lance who would go up to that base. Even he had left that special place they had called their “secret” base.
As the teenager picked up his egg and was about to crack it, he widened his eyes and looked at the egg. A voice from the past (which was from just this morning) came back to him, “Put the egg in it. I told you last time to put it in, you didn’t.”
It was his haunting voice once again. Damn, it should have been easier to keep him out of his mind. His face scrunched up in anger, eyebrows furrowing and narrowing his eyes. He put down the egg and turned off the stove. He started to run out of the house.
Lance ran. He ran, and ran, and ran. Searching everywhere for the boy. Where? Where, where, where? He thought to himself and sighed, he knew where Keith was. He picked up the pace.
His feet took him to the bridge. A large red bridge that was built above an equally as large river. Lance, who was so minuscule to the world around him, so insignificant, ran like it was the end lf the world and it was chasing after him.
Of course, even today. Ever since the day had happened, he wanted to apologize to Keith. Even when it didn’t mean anything to the boy, he wanted to say he was sorry.
~
He looked down at the pair of gloves, just big enough to fit a child’s hand, but way smaller than his own. Shiro was sitting at his desk, the moonlight shining through the curtains that were supposed to block the light. Staring down at them, he gripped his fist onto the clean pair of fingerless gloves.
“Keith…”
~
Matt tapped his pencil on the shared desk. He looked up to his younger sibling, Katie. She looked up at him as well, giving each other a painful look. Even to this day, they still thought the same way at the exact same moments.
They looked down at their own work, knowing what each other were thinking.
~
There were more lamps outside, and she was standing underneath them. Looking down at her bright pink phone, she didn’t seem to notice just how bright these shining lights were. How beautiful the moon looked. Voices came from her left and she knew she had to look up at her friends. Allura smiled and watched them coming up to her with joy on their faces. She had started to walk up to them instead.
~
That must be it…! He continued to climb up the mountain trail. The trees all looked the same when they were little, but Lance didn’t care at this point. He just had to keep going forward on the dirt path.
He wanted to believe his thoughts. He wanted to believe that in his own stress and trauma, he had created Keith so that he could apologize to him for once. Of course, that must have been the reason!
Looking up is what made the teenager stop in his tracks. Their precious, secret base that no one had been in since they were children, had light coming from the inside. There shouldn’t have been light in the base, but Keith must have turned it on. But how would the light be continuing to shine? They had never put light bulbs in there.
Someone had to be up in that shed. He kept running up to the top. He just figured that Keith had found some stray light bulbs and found out how to put them in.
He had a firm hold on the door, and slid it open, “Kei-”
What he saw there was not his stress-induced version of an older Keith, no. It was not. In fact, there was no one standing in front of him at all. Once he had started to poke around at the place, he found several empty “Cup Ramen” cups that seemed to be new.
Forcing himself inside, he seemed to poke around at the place some more, only to find some boring and already finished word cross puzzles left on one of the small table set-ups the children had once used.
“Geez, people still… play these?”
“Of course people still play these!” The voice that replied was unexpected, making Lance turn around to see who was joined by him, “Heck, some of these are actually really fun!”
“...Hunk?” Lance had found a familiar presence in this mystery person.
“Lance? That’s you?” He had guessed correctly and Hunk seemed to be just as confused as the teen.
In a spur of the moment, his mind went back to one of the familiar and most memorable memories with the younger boy.
~
“Hey, let’s carve our group’s name here, Hunk!”
“Alright! But I can’t reach it, can you write it instead?” The boy looked up at the older one, eyes filled with joy and excitement.
“Okay! We’ll have our name written right here!” He giggled and looked back at the rest of the group. The one he seemed to take notice of was one of the smaller boys, looking up at him from where he was standing. Being on a stool made him seem a lot taller, but Keith just stared at him with hidden excitement and enjoyment.
He looked back at Hunk swiftly and smiled, “Vol… tron! There we go!”
“Woah! That’s so cool!” Hunk cheered from the stool and smiled, “We should do a lot more fun things like this again!”
“Yeah! We totally will!” Lance laughed along with him and held up his hand to give him a short high-five.
~
“What are you doing here?” Hunk had snapped him out of his memories. He was a lot older now, although they were the same age, he had grown even taller than Lance.
He couldn’t reply, instead, looking back at the carved “Voltron” that was still there. The wood had grown old and weak, but it was still enough to hold this shed together. The signature of the children was still engraved into this pillar beam, along with the signatures of each other the kids.
In Lance’s mind, the time from that day just might have started moving once more.
~