Chapter Text
Ten Years Ago
"Keith..."
"Waat Lance!"
"Whaaat's your favorite animaaalll!" Lance whined.
"I told you already, I'm not saying!" Keith crossed his arms over his chest.
"WHY NOOTT!?"
"Becaaaaausse, it'll make me look like a babyyy!" Keith blushed.
"Soooo, I told you mine!"
"Yeah, but yours is cool and manly!"
"What? Noooo, it's just a shark, and why does it matter!?" Lance landed a fist on top of Keith's head.
"OUCH! I dunno, but my foster dad says it matters!" Keith exclaimed, rubbing his head.
"Hmmph." Lance huffed.
"...fine..." Keith whispered, not meeting Lance's eyes. Lance whipped around smiling brightly.
"I like hippos."
Lance stared at him blankly and then let a "neat" slip out from his mouth, emotionless. Keith stared at him in confusion obviously expecting a different reaction.
"That's it?" Keith co*cked his head like a curious puppy would.
Lance was fixated on tracing his cursive 'L' now and all he replied with was a small hum. He looked up at Keith and then mirrored him, tilting his head in confusion as well.
"What were you expecting, this?" At those words Lance smirked and then abruptly stood up from his small red plastic chair, waving his arms frantically and flailing limbs. Keith watched him, eyes wide and smile beginning to form.
"AAAUGGHHHH!!! KEITH YOU LIKE THAAT ANIMALLLL!?" Lance screeched at the top of his lungs, scaring all of his other classmates and nearly sending his teacher into cardiac arrest.
"LANCE!" Ms. Haggar yelled "WhAt, was thAt for!?"
Lance smirked, Keith was holding back a laugh in his chair. Lance opened his mouth to speak but all he got out was a "ah..." before Ms. Haggar interrupted him.
"Actually never mind, I don't want to know/ Lance go to Mr. Zarkon's room."
"WHAT! NOOOO!"
"Then quit screaming in class, and distracting everyone with your nonsense, sit down."
Lance sat back down, next to an almost bursting Keith.
"Dumb poophead" Lance whispered into Keith's ear, Keith giggled.
Present Time
Lance stared at Keith from across the club room after school, arms crossed and mouth tucked neatly into a frown, leaning against the wall. Hunk, who was sitting cross legged on the floor next to him, looked up at him and squeezed his ankle gently when he noticed Lance's facial expression. Lance looked down and tilted the corner of his mouth up slightly as if to just acknowledge Hunk's gesture.
"What's up man?" Hunk tugged on Lance's pant leg, who slid down the wall to sit next to him. "You've been staring at him angrily since Pidge decided to let him join the club, not to mention not even telling us, your ghost hunting buddies, that our childhood friend can see them!"
Lance frowned harder, "it's really nothing, just the last time he was here his ghost seeing abilities really f*cked some sh*t up for me." Hunk raised an eyebrow, he'd never received such a vague answer from Lance before. Usually Lance would spill every little detail, seeing as the two were very close.
"So then why did you help organize our ghost hunting club if you hate them so much?" Hunk questioned, eyebrow higher raised than before. Lance flinched "I dunno... I guess I just wanted to figure out if they really are real or if..." Lance trailed off. Hunk frowned, catching on "or if Keith was just toying with you?" He finished.
"Yeah...BUT I KNOW HE'D NEVER DO THAT! Hunk don't look at me like that... I know, I know I guess I just wanted something tangible to blame."
Hunk didn't say anything for a minute and then silently turned away from Lance and stared at Keith, who was now very excitedly looking at the cool gadgets Pidge kept handing to him. Hunk hummed "...Just... keep that in mind bud." Lance huffed and then he turned to look at Hunk "sorry... I sound like an ass and I didn't even tell you my problem." Hunk smiled "Lance you're fine, I assume it's about last summer?"
Lance stared at Hunk wide eyed, amazed at his brilliant guessing abilities "ah... yeah." Hunk frowned and then turned to face Lance again "it'll be okay now Lance, we're all here this time." Hunk held his arms open and Lance fell into them, Lance smiled as Hunk hugged him "thanks Hunk." Hunk poked his cheek "yeah."
Keith suddenly came walking up to the two of them, he smiled and even though it wasn't that large Lance knew that was just Keith's way of being ecstatic.
Lance sighed "you wanna join don't you?" Keith frowned "is that bad?" Lance laughed "...n-no..."
Suddenly Pidge was next to them "Whatcha talkin' 'bout fellow gays?" Lance was the one to answer "nothin' so... what's up we lettin' this dweeb into the club?" Lance sent a thumb behind him to point at Keith who simply scowled.
"UM! HELL YEAH! He's like the coolest asset for the club... and Keith you're like our childhood friend and whatever so like we kinda have to." Pidge threw her arms into the air above her head, frantically waving them around.
"Keith, you down?" Hunk said, now looking at Keith with a look in his eye Keith couldn't quite figure out. Keith smiled, which made Lance feel sick knowing his answer already.
"Hell yeah."
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"Keith, in order to maintain organization in the club and make sure everyone follows the rules, we have this form you have to fill out." Pidge explained to him as the whole group was sat at a table in a restaurant across from the High School, this was where they were having an after school treat.
"Mmmph!" Keith mumbled, mouth full. Pidge passed him the paper and Keith took it, along with the ballpoint pen she handed him, and read it very carefully. He raised an eyebrow and made a sound, swallowing what was in his mouth.
"You will be expected to pay for breaking equipment... okay.
You cannot miss any hunting trips unless there is a valid excuse... okay.
We are not responsible if you become possessed... um okay... thought we were ghost hunters not demon, but yeah okay.
No flirting/ romance between you and the undead... uhh...?"
Keith immediately looked at Lance with an unimpressed look, "what are you looking at me for- yeah okay it was me but to be honest the ghost wailed really hot." Keith looked like he had sucked on a lemon "Lance you're nasty." Lance put his arms up defensively "don't judge."
Keith looked back at the paper and nodded, "yeah okay, seems reasonable, I should be able to be there everyday... unless Shiro needs me home." Pidge nodded "yeah I figured we could let you slide 'cause Shiro would need you're help sometimes."
"Thanks Pidge."
"Yeah, no problem."
Keith smiled and took a bite, reading the rest of the paper, when all of a sudden he was an inch from the same face he had seen earlier. It was the ghost that had popped up in front of him in class this morning, she had her face where Keith's paper was and the rest of her body was under the table. As if she was just sitting inside the table. This time however she stayed where she was and Keith knew he hadn't hallucinated earlier, he had just met this girl
"Oh my God." Keith's eyes were wide and it startled the rest of the table.
Lance looked at him surprised and then frowned slightly, slumping in his seat "another gho-"
"Yeah she's the same one I met earlier." Keith said, but his voice wasn't calm like it usually was. Lance was the only one to catch that because he had known Keith for so long.
"...Keith w-what's wrong?"
Keith stared at the girl in front of him, ignoring the astounded stares of Hunk and Pidge and the fear that coursed through Lance's tone.
The girl stared right back at Keith, her bright green eyes filled with the same amount of terror that Keith's did. Her short blonde hair that was dip dyed pink slowly swayed with each breath she no longer took.
"Anya"
As soon as Keith said her name she disappeared in a flash.
"What!?" Lance was grasping for any sort of answer. Keith didn't give it to him and only took his pen and signed his name at the bottom of the sign up sheet.
"I'm in."
