Chapter Text
The woods were really different from the desert. There were trees, for one thing, and for another there were a lot of them. Cacti existed but they were definitely way more sporadic and it wasn’t smart to climb them unless you were a bird. Lizards could maybe climb up cacti, too, if they were really careful since they were kind of small. The trees didn’t dry up because it wasn’t as hot in this place, either, so everything was a lot more green. And with so many trees so close together there was also a lot of places for people and animals to hide.
Or people-animal cryptids.
“We have to go!” Keith was trying to explain to his new older brother, Takashi. His dad had told him that they were officially brothers last week and so far Takashi had “officially” been a huge let down when it came to exploring and hunting monsters. “We need to find The Truth!”
“Keith, no,” Takashi finally responded. He kept pretending that he was too focused on his bicycle repairs to have heard Keith, but the five year old was nothing if not persistent. “My mom gave us strict instructions to stay in the front yard and driveway, remember? I’m sure your dad will love to take you out exploring when he’s not working but until then just… fix your big wheel, or something? Or do you want to play catch, maybe, like other kids your age?”
Keith huffed and turned around to grab his sword instead of verbally answering. It wasn’t a real sword, but it did have light up flames on it so it was at least cool and was a good practice sword for subduing monsters to study. His dad had so far only promised him his own motorcycle when he could drive. Apparently swords were harder to come by, even though Keiko had one, but insisted it wasn’t for use, only for decoration.
She had at least assured him that should it ever be needed she knew how to use it.
That was what got Keith’s approval for her marrying his dad. So far things had been fine if not boring because certain supposed older brothers would rather pretend to fix their bike than explore for the greater good. He really needed his priorities straightened out. Why Takashi was wasting his time doing nothing all because he was hoping that white haired girl down the street would come by when there were so many other important things to do was beyond Keith’s understanding.
“Takashi!” Keith heard said girl exclaim from behind him He didn’t need to turn around because he most certainly was not going to acknowledge her presence. She was the cause of his frustrations, after all.
“Oh, Allura, hey,” Takashi responded. Keith rolled his eyes at his casually surprised greeting. “What’s up?”
“Ah, just trying to find something to do,” Allura continued. “I’m stuck babysitting my little cousin, Lance, here, since him and his family just moved in with us. They all went shopping for a bed for him so guess who gets to be responsible?”
Takashi laughed way too loud and long at that.
“Yeah, I’m starting to find out what that’s like with Keith over there.” The five year old in question went over to put his sword into his bag by his big wheel. He needed to get out of there. “We’re trying to figure out what to do, too, so I figured we’d mess around with our bikes since he and Jim seem to like doing that.”
Keith was tempted to correct Takashi in that they like actually riding their bikes and getting stuff done, but his step brother was clearly a lost cause. Hence why he was formulating a plan to ditch him. Except, he wasn’t allowed to leave the house or yard on his own. That had always been a rule even before moving with Keiko and Takashi, and his dad made a good point that every good explorer needed someone to watch their back. It was good to have a buddy.
The only problem was that Keith didn’t have friends in Texas, so he definitely didn’t have friends in a place he hadn’t even lived two weeks in. His dad also made a point to assert that, no, stuffed animals and action figures did not count as explorer buddies as they are not sentient beings. Or at least they weren’t supposed to be.
“Ah, Lance!” Allura suddenly yelled. “No vayas a ensuciarte mientras juegas, no quiero tener que volver a bañarte, okay?”
Confused at whatever Allura had just said, Keith finally turned around to see what was going on. Allura herself was kneeling next to Takashi by his upturned bike. But then there was another kid in overalls and a shirt that both looked way too big for him since they were all cuffed and still sliding off of him. At the moment, he was picking at the grass, specifically the yellow flowers, and completely ignoring Allura.
Intriguing.
He looked about Keith’s age and had skin similar to Allura’s in that it was definitely darker than Keith’s. He had brown hair, though, and also wasn’t wearing any shoes. He must have been that Lance kid Allura had mentioned, her cousin or something. He looked bored. And Keith needed an Exploring Buddy, so perhaps this could work in his favor.
The true obstacle was not sneaking away from Takashi’s watch because his eyes were only on Allura, being all mushy and gross, but figuring how to “make friends” like Dad was always encouraging him to do. It wasn’t Keith’s fault that he was more goal oriented than other kids. But he was also determined. Therefore, he made sure to gather up all of him determination and dedication to cryptozoology and bottled it into approaching this kid.
With a deep breath, Keith slung his bag of supplies and his sword onto his back and marched up to his target. Stopping directly in front of him, Keith crossed his arms over his chest to assert himself and said, “My name is Keith and you’re going to be my friend!”
The boy, Lance, looked up from his grass picking project with wide blue eyes and responded, “…Qué?”
‘Kay? Keith thought. Like… “okay?” He said okay?!
It was official: Keith had made a friend. His dad was going to be so proud.
Not wasting any time, Keith ignored the happy fluttering in his chest and grabbed Lance, aka his new best friend, to haul him over to his big wheel. Luckily the seat had enough room for two people, so he quickly put his supply bag, complete with Flaming Sword, around the back of the chair before gently placing Lance on the seat itself. Then he grabbed his dad’s aviator sunglasses that he may have taken without asking. It was okay, though, since with so many trees there was a lot of shade unlike the desert, and Keith needed them more in order to show how cool he was.
He was pretty sure Lance thought he was cool since he was looking at him with big eyes and wasn’t saying much. Obviously he was too awe struck to say anything. Keith proudly puffed his chest out as he got in front of Lance, grabbed a hold of his handle bars and backed out of the driveway, Lance’s hands gripping his hoodie as they wound around Keith’s stomach.
As the two rolled down the driveway and past Allura and Takashi, neither of whom spared them a glance, Keith for the first time since moving to this new town thought that maybe things will turn out as great as his dad had claimed after all.
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“Wow, Takashi, it’s really cool that you can fix your own bike!” Allura gushed. Takashi ducked his head, acting like he was tightening a nut on the wheel, even though it was tight enough about ten minutes ago. “I wouldn’t be able to do much if my bike got busted.”
“I mean, I can’t say I’m a professional or anything but if that happened I would definitely try for you,” he said.
Allura smiled brightly and Takashi could feel his heart thumping so loud he was sure she could hear it. By far, the move had been hard but Allura had made it much better, quickly becoming his first friend there. He was hoping she could be more, though he wasn’t sure how to go about it. Then again, since she now had a cousin living with her who was Keith’s age, maybe that could be a good excuse to be over at her house?
Speaking of…
Takashi glanced over to where Keith’s big wheel was last parked since that was what he assumed was what was keeping the kid so quiet, in that he was messing around with it. Or that light up sword he liked to swing around. His pounding heart quickly went into overdrive, however, when he saw that not only was the big wheel gone but also Keith, his legal little brother of barely a week as well as his responsibility for at least an hour and it had only been around twenty minutes.
Whipping his head around to face Allura, she shared a look of equally dawning horror on her face with him, telling Takashi all he needed to know: Keith had kidnapped Lance and he was never going to date Allura now because Jim was going to kill him.
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