Song Of The Chapter:
Home II - Dotan
The next few days were slow.
Since Lance was still pretty immobile, Keith couldn't do much with him. He had no intention on paying his foster family a visit, so he he made up the spare time with Shiro practicing in the gym.
He had grown to enjoy company with the other male, connecting to him about shared interests and other topics.
When he was needed, Keith would go out and help the community.
But overall? It was a calm few days off.
By the second week, Lance had improved by a lot. His wounds were healing nicely, to the point where he didn't necessarily need bandages.
Keith insisted he kept them on anyway.
Not only did his wounds improve on extreme measures, but so did his weight. He was more stable, eating his normal meals.
In general, Lance was feeling better, mentally and physically.
Except for one thing nagging at the back of his mind.
He would have to rob a bank once he was fit enough for the job. He knew that would be soon, too, proven by his massive recovery over the past week. He was capable of walking now without wincing every step. He went to the gym every morning to stretch and practice the most he could. It would only be a matter of time before he was good as new.
"Do you want to do something?" Keith asked one of the mornings as they sat lazily around in the room. Lance was busy studying a single snowflake as it danced around his fingers. The brunette barely looked up to reply to Keith.
"Like what?"
Keith shrugged, attempting to amuse himself by looking out the window.
"I don't know. It's just... you've been inside for a few days now and I think it is a good time to finally get outside. It's a really nice day, too."
Lance's gazed over to Keith and said flatly, "You don't have to worry about me so much. Besides, it might not be a good idea for me to go out at the moment."
Keith's eyes were quizzical.
"What do you mean?"
Lance didn't reply at first. He wasn't sure it was a good idea to mention that his father was watching every move he made.
"What do you mean?"
Lance waved Keith's repeated question off. He didn't want to answer it.
But Keith was relentless in getting Lance to answer him. He sat up straighter, his full attention directed to his roommate sitting across the room.
"Lance, what do you mean it's not a good idea?"
Lance shook his head, no longer wanting to dwell on the conversation.
"Nothing, Keith. It's fine."
Keith was getting slightly frustrated.
"No Lance, don't do that 'it's fine' thing, because most of the time it isn't fine. I just thoug-"
Lance cut Keith off with an irritated sigh.
"Keith, I don't want to go out because I might be tracked, okay?"
Keith's gaze immediately softened, dropping to the floor.
"Oh."
Lance was quiet.
"Why don't we just stay on campus? Nobody should see us if we stay on school grounds."
Lance let out a long exhale of defeat.
Maybe a walk would be good.
"Sure, why not."
Almost as soon as the two left the building, they were accompanied by Pidge and Hunk. It was awkward for Lance to see Pidge besides her visits to check on him. There was a slight rift in their friendly relationship, he could tell. Pidge was more cautious around him, trailing closer to Keith or Hunk.
Lance felt the ache in his chest grow bigger, but he blocked it out with a smile.
It's what he's always done.
"Do you guys want to go see a movie or something tonight?" Hunk was slurping down a large homemade smoothie as the group walked aimlessly around the campus.
"I have to finish a report for one of my classes," Pidge commented with a frown. Lance laughed, stealing Hunk's smoothie to take a sip.
"Loosen up Pidge, it's only one night."
"Hanging out with you guys is not productive."
Lance rolled his eyes.
"Not everything has to be productive, Pidge. Come on, we can go see a movie, it will be fun."
Pidge let out an exasperated sigh.
"Fine, but someone else is paying for my ticket."
Lance winked. "I gotcha covered."
To Lance, maybe a night back together with his friends would help him reconnect to everyone, and take his mind away from his worries. How would one of his father's workers find him, anyways? It could have been a sheer coincidence that one of the workers was in the coffee shop. Either way, Lance planned to enjoy himself tonight, for old times' sake.
The three walked around talking and joking for a while longer before Pidge declared, "If we are going to a movie, I have to get a head start on the essay." Hunk nodded, checking his watch.
"We can meet up outside the dorm at 8:30 to get to the movie on time. Sounds good?"
They were at an agreement, so Pidge and Hunk split off toward the dorm, leaving Lance and Keith alone.
"Didn't you just say only a while ago that you were worried about going outside off campus? Why all of a sudden the interest to go see a movie?"
"I thought getting out of the dorm and hanging out with everyone was a good idea. If I go out it might be a little less obvious I'm hiding, too." Lance smiled faintly. "And I really can't say no to Hunk."
Keith was intrigued at the mentioning of Hunk. He could tell they were friends, but as Keith got to know Lance, he began to realise that Hunk and Lance were very close. Closer than Pidge and Hunk, but not by much. It surprised Keith on how self sacrificing Lance really was as a person. He was almost the opposite of selfish, and that is a good quality to have for any hero. So why was it that Lance chose a life of crime?
Or did he even really have a choice?
A light breeze picked up when Lance, Keith, Hunk, and Pidge left the dorm to go to the movie. Though Lance wasn't bothered by the cold itself, he was still slightly annoyed as it ruffled his hair. Pidge was shivering as she walked, clearly upset that she didn't bring something warmer out. With only a second's hesitation, Lance stripped off his own jacket and handed it to Pidge. She stared at him for a second, as if she was untrusting of him, but then smiled and took the jacket.
Lance looked away from her.
Just because I am him doesn't mean you can't trust me.
To ignore that factor, Lance chose to pay attention to the people around him. More than once he experience a split second of panic whenever he saw someone coming toward him in a trench coat, only to find them uninterested in him.
Relax, Lance said to himself. You're okay.
A shove to his side caused Lance to flinch, and he looked over to see Hunk's worried expression.
"You alright, Lance? Your looking a bit pale."
It took a brief moment for Lance to notice how deep he was digging his nails into his palms.
"Yeah... I'm fine. I just thought I saw something, that's all."
Hunk nodded, looking at Lance one more time before continuing his conversation with Pidge. Making sure nobody was looking, Lance raised a hand to inspect his palm.
He had drawn blood.
With a deep breath in, Lance glazed over the wound with ice. Then, he shoved his hands into his jean's pockets.
By that time, they were across from the theater.
"What movie are we seeing?" Keith asked Hunk, who told them it was a surprise.
"Only the best," Hunk said with a grin. "Marvel's Infinity War."
Pidge high fived Hunk for his choice, letting out a little whoop of excitement.
"I've been wanting to see that for so long!"
They all burst out into a conversation on what the movie would be like. Lance was both surprised and unsurprised that Keith knew so much about the Marvel universe. But, he figured it was because he was a hero himself.
As they crossed the road, Lance's gaze shifted to the car stopped to let them cross.
Something about it looked overly familiar, until he realized it was his dad's car.
He could recognise the dark van's license plate anywhere.
Lance looked up to the driver, making eye contact.
It felt as if time slowed down.
Their gazes locked, Lance's father's gaze narrowing. Even if it was a mere two seconds, it felt like eternity.
Lance blinked and ran off to join his friends.
He wouldn't let his father ruin this for him.
-
Keith had kept an eye on Lance on the way to the theater, making sure the other was okay. He could tell Lance was under some amount of stress, and he wanted desperately to comfort his friend. However, ever since the prison incident, Lance seemed closed off and unwilling to fully face Keith.
Upsetting as it was, Keith understood. Lance had every reason to have his guard up.
But Keith was willing to try and break the ice between them and let Lance understand that he wouldn't betray him. That he could trust Keith with his concerns.
"Keith!"
Keith blinked for a second, his thoughts coming back to him. In front of him stood Shiro. The group had made an agreement to let Shiro tag along earlier, since nobody had been formally introduced yet.
As everyone was shaking hands with Shiro, Pidge gave Shiro a narrowed eye stare.
"You're friends with Matt Holt, aren't you?"
Shiro was obviously caught off guard by the question and turned to face Pidge.
"Wh- Matt? Yeah, I am."
Pidge stuck out her hand.
"I'm Pidge. You might remember me as Katie."
Shiro's eyes widened. "Oh, Katie! Your brother used to talk about you a lot. Come to think of it, he still does. I recognise the name Pidge, too."
She smiled, pushing her glasses up.
"Hate to rain on your parade, but we should get our seats," Hunk interjected.
Shiro smiled. "Of course, let's go."
Keith walked near the back as they entered the theater.
His attention darted to Hunk when the bigger male called out to Lance and Pidge, "Whoever reaches the counter last has to pay!"
There was no hesitation between the three, and Keith already found himself watching Lance book it toward the counter. There was no way he would back down from such an easy challenge. Pidge was on his tail, beginning to run ahead. However a child ran in front of her and she had to pull awkwardly out of the way to avoid hitting the kid. She ended up running into Hunk in the process, and the two collided and fell to the floor.
In the end, Hunk ended up having to pay for Lance and Pidge's food.
The group came out with two large popcorns, sodas and icees, as well as a truck load of candy.
They were prepared.
On the way to the theater doors Lance tripped over his untied shoelace and spilled the popcorn.
At least there was free refills.
And before long?
The movie started.
A/N: smmooooooootth, Lance. Also I'm just gonna say Infinity War was so heart wrenching?!?!?!? Aaah my brain is dying, but I'm not gonna spoil. Except if you wanna chat, I have a ton of theories and stuff so yeah, hmu about it! Lmao I was sitting in the theater and at one point there was someone talking and at a really specific part I turned around to tell them to shut the hell up until I realized they were SOBBING.
He was like.... 25, too.
Lmao.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading, and the next chapter will be out next week either Friday or Saturday.
Ciao!
- Squemon <3