Chapter Text
Lance
“I don’t want to go out, and I don’t want to hang out with your stupid boyfriend or meet his stupid brother,” I groaned rolling over on my bed hiding my face in the pillow. I was going to start at a brand new school tomorrow, which meant I was going to have to try again. It had been a while since I did that. Everyday had consisted of reading, watching shows, and lying in bed. It had been great, I didn’t want anything to change.
“Can’t you just let me be a typical annoying teenager?” I whined.
“First of all you like Shiro plenty, don’t call him stupid. Second of all, Shiro personally invited you, so I would appreciate it if you were grateful and respectful of that,” Adam crossed his arms, which I knew was endgame for me. There was no way around Adam’s crossed arms.
“I just don’t feel like going out,” I said, my mind was wrapped up in new and old faces, what if I screwed up tomorrow like I always do? What if they kick him out again… I quickly picked up my stuffed shark and hugged it tightly, one of the few things I was able to bring from home.
Adam sighed and sat down on the bed, I quickly rolled over to avoid making eye contact, but Adam didn’t really care as he placed his hand on my shoulder, “Look I know these past few months have been really hard and I know you miss home. I wish life could be different for you, for us. Honestly I do, but since we can’t change our lives, why don’t you come over to my very nice boyfriend’s house. We can watch him fail miserably at cooking, laugh at him, maybe order pizza. And then when the night ends we will realize we spent so little time thinking about the bigger picture that all your troubles melt away. Sometimes you just need good people and good times to take our worries away.”
I closed my eyes tightly trying to make the tears go away. I knew Adam was right, and I was very grateful to have him. He was the only one who had been willing to help and support me. He has been patient and generous. He put up with my sobbing and crying and screaming. My locking myself in my room and little power incidents.
Yep, I was definitely being an asshole.
“Fine.”
“You have five minutes McBrooderson,” Adam said tapping my legs to encourage me to get out of bed.
“Ten,” I threw back.
“Seven,” Adam said, quickly rushing out of the room, “Final answer.”
I actually did like Shiro a lot. And to be totally honest, Shiro was the only thing that kept me going after I found out I was a legend. Yep, Shiro was that famous, The Champion, one of the biggest Heroes out there. Known even in my small town in Cuba. The Champion made me excited to have powers despite all the hate and teasing I got for them.
So when my family shipped me off to live with my cousin in the city to get ‘formal’ training I was quite surprised to learn that Adam was dating none other than said Hero. It was somewhat of a dream come true.
So when I met Keith, I was thrown for a loop, because there was no way my Hero and this emo brat were related, surely it was impossible.
“Keith come down and say hi to our guests, please,” Shiro yelled after giving Adam a kiss and me a friendly hair ruffle. It was comical really, watching Shiro try to figure out how to interact with me, the cousin of his boyfriend who just appeared out of nowhere a few months ago with no explanation.
“Keith!” Shiro said disappearing upstairs apologizing for his brother.
“I already know your boyfriend,” a muffled voice grumbled from the atop the stairs.
Seconds later Shiro was making his way down the stairs with a boy muttering “ow-ow-owow” as Shiro held tightly onto his ear.
I did a hard double take when Shiro let go, because Keith was nothing like his brother….nope, Keith was a dangly, mulleted, emo-dressed noodle. There was no way they shared genes. Shiro was huge, hot, and the full package. Complete with a big pretty, nearly goofy smile. Keith had a serious case of resting bitch face...so serious he might need to go see someone to get it fixed.
Keith
I was not happy when Shiro told me he invited his boyfriend over for dinner. Tomorrow was going to be the biggest day of my life. I was finally going to attend the Academy of Hero Legends, AHL. I needed to be well rested and focused for tomorrow. It was the most prestigious school a Legend could go to. It made the Heroes of the future, and I was ready.
I heard Shiro shout my name a couple times, but I was too far into the training videos on the AHL website. That would be me tomorrow, I thought dreamily.
“I already know your boyfriend,” I said when the door opened my eyes not coming off the screen. That was until Shiro grabbed my ear and pulled me out of the chair.
“Hey jerk, you need to eat dinner before your big day, and my boyfriend and his cousin are here and you are going to hang out with them while I cook,” Shiro said, and instead of agreeing, I needed to pick a fight.
“I don’t want to hang out with anyone Shiro,” I hissed back at him.
“I know, but you need friends, even if one of them is my boyfriend and the other is related to my boyfriend,” Shiro said before pulling me out of the door by my ear.
“Ow-ow-owow,” I said trying to make a scene, but it didn’t stop Shiro at all. When we reached the bottom of the stairs he finally let go. Adam was standing there with his usual little smirk and next to him, “Who is this,” I started to ask-
Wow. I did a double take, because Adam’s cousin was a sight for sore eyes. Golden brown skin, lean and tall body, chocolate brown hair with gentle waves, and most of all those blue eyes. Blue eyes that looked exactly like the ocean, so blue that I was sure they were fake.
I watched as he turned and faced Adam, a look of annoyance crossing his face, immediately throwing me off. I hadn’t even done anything yet? He already hated me? Great. Shiro was right I didn’t have any friends.
Adam shrugged to him, and before I knew it Shiro pulled me into a choke hold, “Sorry we are working on his manners.”
I looked at the ground confused before realizing my ‘Who is this,’ probably came off rude, but I was instantly occupied by trying to escape from Shiro’s death grip.
“Don’t treat me like a dog,” I whined trying to push him off.
“I wish you were a dog, at least they come when called,” Shiro retorted before finally letting him go.
Lance
Keith wouldn't stop staring at me and it was making me more than a little uncomfortable. Of course, I loved attention back in the day, but all of that changed when all the eyes and stares I got were because people thought I was dangerous. So to distract from Mr. RBF, I spent most of my time making conversation with Shiro, only that quickly got out of hand when Shiro began a mini interrogation.
We had spent some time together before this, but never in a private and intimate setting, which apparently let the floodgates open to question after question. My favorite color, favorite meal, what Cuba was like, what my old school was like, how I was liking Altea, how living with Adam was like, etc.
Dinner was surprisingly decent, Shiro admitted to having used pre-made meal options, but what mattered was Shiro put his heart into it and didn’t burn the house down. And true to the putting his heart into it he cried when he saw everyone eating his food. Despite being a fearsome Hero, Shiro was a giant softie.
Then Adam had to be well, Adam. That evil son of a bitch, “Lance why don’t you and Keith make some cookies, could give you some time to get to know each other. Shiro and I need to talk about some stuff anyway.”
“Oh, not sure if that’s a great idea, Keith is even worse in the kitchen than me-” Shiro just about finished when his hair poof bounced from Adam kicking him under the table.
“Well good thing Lance is here to help, Lance is great in the kitchen,” Adam said eyeing Keith heavily who barely looked up registering that the conversation had involved him. I rolled my eyes, could he really be so self-absorbed?
“Don’t set the kitchen on fire Keith, I am not calling the fire department again,” Shiro said as Keith got up. Again? Oh okay, so yeah we are doing this.
The thing was I could see straight through Adam. I am sure Shiro really did invite me, but I am sure that Adam was so persistent about it so that I could get to know Keith, someone my age. The only problem was I wasn't exactly interested in becoming friends with anybody. I didn’t want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt.
Keith
Okay, okay deep breaths. I have got this, I won’t burn the whole kitchen down or make a fool of myself in front of the most beautiful person I had ever seen. Oh great, my thoughts are starting to spin wildly out of control because I am gay and can't not be an idiot.
“So did you recently move here?” I asked, knowing that in the year that Shiro has dated Adam a cousin living with him has never been brought up until recently. I know that Shiro and Adam have talked about the situation with hushed voices, piquing my curiosity.
“Uh, yeah. I wanted to go to school in Altea so I left Cuba and moved in with Adam,” Lance said, looking uncomfortable. Curse my curiosity, but also the only way it wasn't going to be uncomfortable between us was to talk...
“Oh what school are you going to?” I asked, thinking that if he was coming to high school in Altea it must be AHL or AVL the two most prestigious schools in the world. That would mean Lance has powers...like me…
“Oh, just Altea City High,” Lance said before pushing the tray towards me. My job, so I don’t burn the kitchen down is just to put the tray in the oven and take it out.
“Why would you leave home just to go to a regular high school?” I thought aloud, only I didn’t realize it was aloud until Lance dropped the cookie scooper and disappeared into the bathroom. Shiro looked over at me from the dining room, a glare starting to form.
Lance quickly came back, “Oh sorry I was just blowing my nose. And your question; I just needed to get away from home, it's tiny and all. Plus bad relationships and such, but Adam offered me a place here with him. Plus Adam went to Altea City, and he is doing better than everyone else in our family.”
I watched as Lance peaked around the corner, Adam smiling at him. Hmm, yeah before I get anymore death glares from Shiro I better drop the issue. He had his reasons and that is what matters. Plus I imagine that Altea is probably a big change from small town in Cuba, I don't blame anyone for coming to the city just for a change of scenery.
“What about you?” Lance asked sitting down.
“Huh?” I said as I checked on the cookies.
“What school are you going to?”
My eyes probably lit up as I nearly dropped the pan of cookies, I saved it and dropped it on the counter before taking off the oven oven mitts, “Shiro got me an interview at AHL and we got the letter a couple weeks ago saying I got in!”
You see AHL had always been my dream school. The Academy for Hero Legends. I would be following Shiro’s footsteps, even though he didn’t go to AHL, but I would be starting hero training and one day, one day I would be rescuing people just like Shiro.
Lance didn't look nearly as impressed as I thought he would, I mean this was the AHL we were talking about, it was a newer school, but it had quickly rised to one of the most prestigious schools in the world. A place that actually trained people in powers, a means to teach and control. Lance looked over his brows slightly furrowed, “AHL, isn’t that the Academy for Heroes or something?”
“You don’t know what AHL is?” I said, jaw dropping.
“Well, it is the academy that the Hero Legend League trains new heroes at right?” Lance confused about what he said wrong, because no he didn't say anything wrong, but not knowing? I guess he really did come from a small town in Cuba.
“It is, it is, but the fact that you didn’t know about it already, it’s the most famous school in Altea, in the world. People come from around the world to go there,” I said my hands flying through the air dramatically as I tried to explain. He still didn't look all that impressed, but maybe once I actually went and had amazing stories to tell he would be impressed.
“Oh so that must mean you have powers right?” Lance said, now seeming slightly interested. His hands rested under his chin as he waited patiently for me to show off.
“Uh, oh yeah, um, well, it’s kinda weird, okay?” I said, taking in a deep breath and closing my eyes. I had been working for a long time to practice making it work without using extreme emotions and causing stuff to randomly disappear.
“Okay, let’s take this spoon,” I said grabbing one off the counter. Just a small one please . I concentrated on the dimensions around me and when I opened my eyes sure enough, a cup sized black hole appeared near my hand. “Now I am going to throw the spoon in it.”
“So you have the ability to make trash chutes?” Lance said eyeing me curiously.
“Just wait,” I said, my smile growing with my thus far success. I got this . I focused on the dimension that I put the spoon in and willed it to move to a position closer to my other hand. Open the rift. I reached my hand in the new rift and pulled the spoon out.
“Ta-da” I said showing him the perfectly good spoon.
He looked just as confused as he did when he called my power a trash chute, but fortunately Shiro and Adam came in applauding.
“You controlled that perfectly, I'm impressed, and so will the AHL tomorrow,” Shiro said resting a hand on my shoulder. I leaned in just a touch, as much as we fought I still loved him.
“And for the record Lance, it’s been coined as reality warping, Keith can manipulate the dimensional space around us,” Adam said from next to Lance.
“So technically you could be a trash chute,” Lance started. “But that is really cool. I look forward to you perfecting it. I imagine you’ll be able to do some sick things.”
I smiled, hopefully Adam would be bringing Lance around more often. Not just because he was pretty. I mean definitely a plus. But first and foremost I definitely needed friends, and Lance didn't seem so bad. Not like the other kids growing up who would only become my friend to say that they were friends with someone with powers. No Lance seemed interested not in my powers because they were powers, but interested in my powers because they were apart of me.