Background Ships Hunk/Shay, maybe Matt/Shiro
Rating Teen, no explicit sexual content
Tags Warning for Canon Child Abandonment and Canon PTSD, Mild Anxiety, Insecurities, Mild Body Horror at parts. Fantasy AU, Everyone has Magical Powers, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Team as Family
Summary
An urban fantasy/pseudo super hero AU. Not everyone, but some people are born with special abilities, powers that allow them to connect with the magic running through the world. Sometimes they're called witches, sometimes mages. Either way, they are in turn both beloved and feared, depending on their powers and how they use them. They are an unknown entity to most, understood only by those with magic and a select few willing to try. While free to take on any job, many people with these abilities go to “schools” for those gifted in magic, where they learn how to use their powers to fight to protect against evil forces within the world. Lance, Hunk, Pidge, Allura, and Shiro are a magic squad under Coran, formed at their university a few weeks ago. Then Shiro's childhood friend Keith joins their team suddenly, despite having only started at the university at the beginning of the term. Keith has no known powers but excels at fighting and anti-magic weaponry. At first, no one thinks anything of it, since Keith is far from the only powerless student at their university. Lance though, suspects there might be more to the aloof boy than meets the eye. But what secret is Keith hiding from the rest of them and why?
Excerpt
Keith stares at Lance with those same blank eyes – too blank - Lance realizes after a beat. His gaze is empty, in a way that feels wrong for Keith who, despite his air of mystery, is one of the most emotional people Lance has ever met. Lance realizes this also isn’t the first time he’s seen Keith’s eyes like that, distant and empty and … are his eyes glowing? Lance takes a step closer, trying to investigate when Keith’s gaze snaps to attention. They’re not glowing now, if they ever were.
“Lance? What are you doing here?” Keith asks in a short voice, taking a step away from Lance and crossing his arms against his chest. Lance raises an eyebrow, pressing his lips into a tight frown as he stares over at Keith. Keith stares back, eyebrows slowly scrunching together and some of his anger fading into his other main emotion, confusion. Looks like Keith isn’t going to catch on after all.
“What am I doing here?” Lance says, blinking owlishly, pressing a hand against his hip as he leans in so there are only few inches between them. Keith crosses his arms a little more tightly around his chest, but doesn’t move. Neither of them have ever been the type to back down from a challenge. “This is the rooftop of our university.”
“Yeah, but you usually hang out by the pool,” Keith points out in a tight voice, taking a step back and then shifting around Lance, gaze glued on the door to the courtyard. His expression is so intense Lance almost misses the way his shoulders are trembling. Almost.
“Are you trying to tell me where I can hang out?” Lance asks after a beat when Keith says nothing else and also makes no move toward the door, as though he expects Lance to be the one to go. Lance takes a step toward him, reaching a hand out and then pulling it back when Keith swings around wildly. He doesn’t look angry so much as terrified.
“I – no, I just, it’s usually there,” Keith snaps as he presses his eyebrows together, throwing one arm out dramatically. Keith takes a few deep breaths, closing his eyes for a second before he looks back at Lance. His gaze is soft this time, pleading in a way Lance has never seen on the other boy’s face before. “Look, I just need to be alone right now, okay?”
“Why? You’re alone all the time,” Lance points out with a slow smile, trying to keep his tone light even as his curiosity eats away at him. He needs to know Keith’s secret, needs to understand what and why he’s hiding from them, even from Shiro.
“I – it’s different this time, okay?” Keith whispers just loud enough for Lance to hear, gaze downcast as he lets his bangs fall across his forehead. He’s trying to hide his eyes, Lance realizes, wondering what emotions are showing there that he doesn’t want Lance to see. He already knows Keith is afraid, and he can’t imagine there could be much worse than that for someone like Keith Song. Then Keith looks up at him, just for a second, and Lance feels his heart leap to his throat.
“Your eyes,” Lance mutters, raising his eyebrows as he stares over at Keith, who blinks owlishly at him. Keith cocks his head a bit with the same confusion from earlier. Normally Lance thinks it’s cute. “They’re just kind of purple.”
Keith snaps his eyes shut wordlessly. He doesn’t move. Lance leaves the roof with more questions than answers.
Notes