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autisticlancemcclain · 4 months

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The ship was shaking like a kid holding a goldfish bag.

It was not, in case you were wondering, a good time.

Keith grit his teeth, planting his boots on the ground and half-walking half-climbing over to Allura, who was paler than Keith had ever seen her. The grip she had on her podium was tight enough to drain the blood completely from her knuckles. Despite his own fear, Keith’s heart softened for her.

“How is it looking?” he asked, shouting over the noise of a thousand asteroids and a million laser strikes. All while their lions sat, drained of quintessence, locked in their hangars

One goddamn thing after another. Jesus.

“It is looking bad,” Allura shouted, not taking her eyes off the space in front of her. “I can’t – Coran, I can’t hold it on my own!”

Coran looked back at her grimly. He had probably the most success keeping upright – seriously, was it posture or did he have a steel rod anchored to his back at all times – but even he was struggling against the whipping and shuddering of the massive castleship, attention focused on the controls. Trying to keep the shield up as well as possible, trying to get their own defenses running. Trying, as always, to keep the castle going, even when the odds were a million to nothing.

“You can,” he encouraged. The effect was less encouraging when a massive asteroid hit the side of the bridge point-blank, throwing him right off the controls and splat into the walls. Despite Lance and Allura’s cries of alarm, he made a startlingly dignified crawl back to the deck controls.

Hell of a man, that advisor.

He continued once he was steady, sweat beading on his brow but gaze soft and assuring. He waited for Allura to meet his eyes, then nodded, once. “Focus, girl. Hands on the spheres. Mind cool on the exhale. However we need to get out of this – you can guide us. Make your decision. Your team is behind you.”

“Yeah!” Pidge cheered, lifting her fist in emphasis from where Shiro held her steady, eyes trained on her computer screen. Blaring red lines of code Keith could not pretend to read flashing rapid speed in front of her, and she typed back at it just as fast, keeping their crackling systems at bay. “You got this!”

Allura breathed out. The tense line of her shoulders softened, just slightly, despite the ongoing chaos. She lifted her hands and rested them, gently, on the podium spheres as Coran instructed. They glowed.

“We retreat,” she decided, nodding to herself. “We’re already low on quintessence, standing to fight will drain us dangerously. We must get to safety if we are to survive with our home intact.” She bit her lip, eyes opening. “But, uh, full disclosure, I have enough strength in me to open a wormhole and that is About It. I will be out of commission the moment it closes.”

Hunk shrugged. “We’ll catch you, then.”

“Try not to wormhole us into a black hole,” Shiro suggested, smiling slightly. “We’ll manage anything else, Princess.”

She laughed slightly, thankfully, but within seconds called out for everyone to brace themselves. Keith did as she heeded, or he tried to – but the castle got hit as he tried to crawl back to his seat, sprawling him on the floor. He glanced over at Allura, panicked, but her eyes were already glowing, and the space in front of them was already starting to warp. He swallowed roughly, squeezing his eyes shut. The floor was shaking too badly for him to get his bearings. He couldn’t get his feet under him, couldn’t stand, couldn’t dream to crawl to his seat. He stilled, resigning himself – he didn’t know exactly what would happen if he wasn't strapped down and protected during a wormhole jump, but it couldn’t be good. He had to hope for the best.

“God,” sighed a voice to his left, “you’d die without me, Dropout.”

A hand clenched the back of his jacket and yanked, pulling him tumbling onto another body. Quick as lightning a seatbelt was stretched over him, clicking into place just as the space in front of the castle finally warped, bright blue, and the entire bridge lit up so bright Keith was blind with it.

When the light finally died down, Keith was half-convinced nothing had changed. The castle stopped shaking, but instead it was plummeting, hard and fast, controls dead and energy gone, towards the surface of a planet.

“Someone catch Allura!” Coran shouted, and on queue the princess’ eyes rolled up in her head and she slumped forward. Luckily, Hunk had been more prepared than the rest of them, seatbelt already off and arms extended to catch her. He carried her back to her seat, buckling her in carefully, and strapping himself in next to her. Wise move – trying to crawl back to his own seat, fighting against the G-forces, would be near impossible.

There was a click, and then a shove, and then Keith got to feel those G-forces firsthand.

“What the hell!” he demanded, barely managing to catch himself on the arm of the blue paladin’s seat. “I coulda brained myself!”

Lance shrugged, playing for innocent, but a smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth. Keith could’ve strangled him. “What? Thought I’d let you get back to your own chair. You're welcome for saving you, by the way.”

“Some saving, jerk! We're still falling!”

“Yeah. Personally, I would find somewhere to buckle up.”

“You’re so annoying,” Keith growled, and it was by spite alone that he managed to stomp back to his own seat and buckle himself in. He was bright red, anger making him hot – Lance always made him like this, so furious he could barely blink. One day they’d be making progress, working together like a dream, wiping the floor together, and the next it was like a switch was flipped. Like Lance was reminding himself that he and Keith could never get along. It was ridiculous, and Keith couldn’t for the life of him understand it. Was he so bad?

“Incoming!” Pidge shouted, shaking Keith back to himself. Her screen was now linked up with Coran’s, the only two things on in the entire castle – electronics seemed to come alive when Pidge touched them – and diagrams of the castle systems were blaring red, flashing with symbols Keith didn’t know, but recognised as bad. “The nav and power systems are down! It’s not safe to get anyone back there to force them back on manually, but I think I can get steering up in a sec. Shiro, I need your arm for power. Hunk, keep on Allura, make sure she’s upright when we crash, we don’t want a spinal injury. Lance, Keith, I’m turning steering over to you guys. Don’t fuck it up.”

Despite their bickering, both of them nodded. Neither of them particularly wanted to be turned into paladin pancake anytime soon, so they could collaborate for one thing.

Seconds after Pidge spoke, a screen flickered to life in front of Keith. Stats blinked back up, glitching rapidly as they translated themselves into words and symbols Keith could understand. The hologram shifted and expanded to its usual 3D model, joystick in the middle, thrusters and controls to his left, a screen with Lance’s comm line to his right. In his little screen, Lance met his eyes, eyebrows raised in question. Keith nodded. Together, they wrapped their hands around the joysticks, breathed out, and let their minds fuse.

As always, it was a freaky feeling. Imagine the weird, shuddery feeling you get when you say the same thing as someone at the same time, voices layering, tone mixing, for a moment your own voice and the voice of a stranger synching into one. The weird, deja-vu-but-not of it, the uncanny valley feel of recognising your own voice but…different.

Then multiply that freakiness by a hundred, and you still won’t quite get it.

On some levels Keith was aware that he was his own person. He knew his name, knew his hands, knew his history – or well, some of it. Nothing about himself had changed.

But at the same time, he was also Lance Esposita-McClain. He knew his name, knew his hands, knew his history, more of it than he could ever get from shared stories or mind melds. There’s no telling the way your sister’s arm feels hooked around your neck for the sixth noogie in as many minutes. There’s no explaining the way your breathing only gets calm with your feet in the saltwater. There’s no describing the curve of your mother’s smile. Nothing Keith was seeking out – no memories he would even know to look for – but they were there, simmering, triggered by a smell or the crook of his finger in a particular way. Memories stored in the body and the soul and the senses, not in the brain, shared when two consciousnesses become one.

Lance’s mind was hyperspecific. It complemented Keith’s well, with all his flitting, quick detail-oriented observance. As Keith jumped from angle to angle, noticing the planet’s curve, the pull of its gravity, the heat of its atmosphere, Lance zeroed in on an island, one of the only ones big enough for them to land. While Keith kept their craft in control, steering along the air currents, Lance kept them directed, single-minded focus on a stretch of rocky beach – not exactly a soft landing, but not a lot of living things for them to destroy when they crash. (Keith would’ve chosen to land in the meadow. Crushing frogs and bugs or whatever is never something on his top priority list of things to avoid. But he didn’t argue when Lance nudged them towards what is about to be a very bumpy landing.)

“Brace yourself!” he shouted, not daring to look away to make sure his friends were buckled. Trusting that they were, he held his position, letting them plummet, coming closer and closer to splatting on the planet’s surface before finally yanking on the joystick as hard as he could. He felt Lance’s strength twist and tangle with his own, and together the two of them levelled the castle almost parallel with the ground, letting them glide on their own velocity until they slowed down enough to let the bottom of the craft brush against the rocky outcrop.

It was the most turbulent landing Keith has ever felt, except maybe that time he and Lance crashed blindfolded into a sand dune, and every bump on the ground gave him whiplash. When the castle finally hit the ground for good, dragging them a gauge in the ground for several miles as friction finally slowed it to a stop, the leftover inertia yanked Keith forward so roughly the buckles of his seatbelt made something crack in his ribcage. When the castle finally stopped he got slammed back into his chair so hard he was almost surprised he didn’t fall right through the impenetrable material.

It took a minute for everything to hit. His connection with Lance had been severed the second they hit the ground, too focused on being, y’know, crashed to keep holding on. After the shock of being tossed around like dice in a cup wore off, which did not take long, Keith’s body made it very clear that yeah, no, armour actually only does so much, and crash landing is one of those things that’s just bound to hurt. His skull pounded. At least one of his ribs was most definitely cracked. His wristed and knuckles ached from the strain of holding up the entire weight of the castle as he’d steered it. He was alive, obviously, but – Jesus. Being alive sucked.

“Sound off,” croaked Shiro from somewhere left of him.

“Ugh,” groaned Pidge. “Screw you, Keith, I hate it when you drive.”

“Next time I’ll be sure to let us crash,” Keith responded flatly.

“Um, you did, bozo, I asked you to land us –”

“The castle was dead! What did you expect me to –”

“Allura and I are both fine,” Hunk interrupted. Amusement lined his voice. “She’s still out, but she’s breathing fine, and I didn’t let her hit anything on impact. She should still get checked out, though.”

“Roger that,” Coran agreed. “Ease your worries, Number Two, you did well. I will have her in the MedBay as soon as our systems are up and running again.”

“Oh, whew, that’s a relief, because I didn’t want to say anything but she kinda jammed her elbow into my sternum by accident and I’m not blaming her or anything since she’s unconscious but I think my spleen may be a little dead, not a huge deal I’m sure but –”

“Everyone quiet!” barked Shiro. “That’s six accounted for! Who’s missing?”

Immediately, heart pounding, Keith whipped to his right. His stomach dropped. The Blue Lion Command Chair was empty – seatbelt torn somewhere on the shoulder, cracked helmet overturned carelessly on the seat. The crisp blue and white lines were marred by a small splash of red. Panic clawed its way up Keith’s throat, and he was out of his seat before he could register unbuckling his own straps, looking frantically around the bridge.

“He’s here somewhere,” Pidge fretted, “he couldn’t’ve just disappeared –”

Coran had a gloved hand clenched in his hair. “The windows and walls should be almost impenetrable, there is no way the crash broke them enough to let someone in –”

“What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck –”

“Guys,” a soft voice interrupted, and Keith could’ve collapsed with relief. The castle has been flipped sideways during the fall, floor suddenly now 90 degrees, and standing at the side of the control board, now the very high top, was Lance. For whatever reason he had climbed it while they bickered, and now stood very still, gloved hand pressed to the glass of the windshield. Blood trickled from his temple, tracing a line down the side of his face, disappearing in the neckline of his armour. “We got company.”

Shifting gears – Keith was about to tear him a new one, when Shiro says sound off you sound off – but froze when he looked out the window, following Lance’s gaze.

Marching towards them, in numbers Keith couldn’t pretend to count, was an army.

— — —

part two

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georgeweasleyslostearhq · 1 year

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could u do xavier and reader being rivals and he’s always calling reader babe and says “step up ur game, babe” 🧎‍♀️

I MIGHT START TO THINK

pairings: Xavier Thorpe x Fem!reader summary: ^^^ warnings: light swearing notes: the reader is said to had telekinesis. this is kind of really long

Xavier sat across the room from you, watching as you wrote down in your book.

you two had no reason to not like each other, but it didn't stop you from tearing at each other's throats, throwing snarky comments and death glares at each other.

"so I've decided to set a goal for the class. over the semester, each week you'll be given different sets of tasks that you will need to complete. people who don't will get it done each week will be eliminated until only one stands and wins. He or She will win a prize" the teacher explained

"so it's a challenge to the best?" Xavier smirked at the teacher.

"exactly" she nodded

you looked back at Xavier as he turned to you again with a smug smile on his face

"these challenges will be set each monday and finish the following monday. they will be spread throughout all subjects, meaning some of you might have an advantage in some. they will include things like planting plants, training things, creating things and will be some that will involve studying and writing as well" the teacher announced

"what's our first challenge?" Yoko asked

"you'll be attempting to grow one of these flowers" she pointed to the ghost orchid in the case

"are there rules?" Enid questioned

"the only rule is no stealing each others work or plagiarism in the writing tasks. if you fail to do any of the work your will be disqualified. if your flower is dead or not yet bloomed it will be a fail and you are out" she replied with a smile

"each of you will be given one seed to grow. you will not be given another under any circumstances, they are all able to grow and if they can't it's because of you not the seed" she said, gowing around, handing a little zip-lock bag of a single seed in it to each student.

the bell rang for lunch and everyone got out of their seats

"see you next lesson!"

you walked out of the room, with a specific tall and long haired boy trailing behind you

"the game is on, babe" he winked when he walked past you, heading off with Ajax

you walked into class, holding your Orchid in a clay pot, seeing everybody else's

you saw Kent's and a few others wilted or hasn't blossomed orchids and smiled in your success in growing it

"mine looks better" his voice called from behind you, your rolled your eyes as you saw Xaviers flower

"it looks like it's about to die" you scoffed

"things are so much more beautiful when they're on the urge of death, it makes it more exciting" he remarked

"class! take your seats" Thornhill called, walking into the room. everyone took their seats and and she walked to each desk. telling people if their out or not

"well done, L/n" she nodded at you with an impressed look on her face. you turned behind you where Xavier sat.

"there's no way she'll except yours" you stated

"we'll see about that" he said before you turned around

she got to Xavier's table and looked at his orchid, she told him it looks good and that's he's still in before walke to the next person

"told you" he whispered, leaning over his desk to get to your ear

he made your blood boil.

Thornhill walked to the front of the room, explaining your next challenge for the people who were still in. the people who were eliminated had to 15 push ups

that went on for the whole semester. You and Xavier going at each other's throats, trying to get the best work in to make it better than the others

you would do better at some, he would do better at others. but this one who knew he would do better. there were 7 people left in the challenge and you were trying you best

it was a scavenger hunt with the ticket to be in the next round at the end.

you had been stuck on your third riddle for a few hours

"what could this mean?" you groaned, hanging upside down off your bed, talking to Enid who had gotten out in the fourth round.

"let me hear it again" she said

"I always stay as still as can be. I have the power to move, but not literally." you repeated for the millionth time

"still? a lot of things are still. but move? I'm not sure" she shrugged "i have the power to move, but not literally" she whispered to herself

"I thought trees at first but they can move in the wind" you stated

"that's true. what does it mean by it can move but not literally, if it can move, it can move. if it can't literally move then it can't move" she huffed

"I know"

you to sat there quietly while you thought

"well what if it's means you can move it but it can't move itself?" you suggested, getting some weird idea in your head

"that doesn't make sense though" she sighed

you looked at your desk, seeing a little figurine of a three headed dog

"A statue!?" you sat up on the bed and looked at her

she thought for a second, repeating the riddle before nodding her head

"that sounds right, but which one, there's a lot in our school" she pointed out,

"so I'll just look at all of them" you sighed before getting up, hurrying out the door, going the each statue

you got to your third one, the Poe statue, you looked around it, peaking around the legs and foot before you looked to what he was holding, a book with 5 envelopes, meaning 2 people already got it before you

"not too bad" you muttered to yourself

you grabbed the envelope, getting down and opening it, reading it to yourself

the second last clue.

I'm a bed without sheets, and I'm always dirty it read

"a dirty bed?" you thought to yourself, walking around the school

"you need to step up your game if you want to beat me. Babe" the familiar voice echoed throughout the room. you looked around but didn't see him, until you looked up, he leaned on the railings of the staircase

"stop calling me that" you huffed

"alright, babe" he smiled cockily

"are you holding a flower?" you questioned him confused

"why yes, do you want it?" he asked before dropping it, letting the small flower flow down to you.

you picked it up as it dropped at your feet. noticing the flower was ripped from the ground. you realised the answer to the riddle.

"thanks, Idiot" you laughed

"you're very welcome, babe" he smiled at you

you ran out and and went to the flowerbed in the yard of the school. you looked around everywhere for it but didn't find it anywhere. you questioned it before thinking of the other possibilities the clue could have lead to

"that doesn't make sense" you thought to yourself

you repeated your actions and looked over it again

"you look lost, babe. didn't think I was leading you to the answer, did you?" Xavier chuckled behind you

"it was the only reasonable answer" you rolled your eyes

"I would help you but I really want to win" he spoke disappointedly

"I don't need your help"

"sure seems like you do" he shrugged before walking off, past the garden beds where student grew some foods

your eyes lit up and you scurried over there, looking through the big lettuce, finding the last envelope, you thought for a second before taking the other one's too. throwing them away in the bin. there was no chance the other's would win this challenge without them, which meant more chance of beating Xavier

you read the letter

the building that has the most stories

you thought of the buildings in town, but there was no way she would make us go that far for it, and she said everything was on the premises, meaning it had to be in the school

you thought through

"stories, like history? like the most history it has to offer or tell?" Enid quizzed when you told her.

"maybe, but isn't a building, this is arguably the only building. so that doesn't help.

"what about rooms in the building? like the room that has the most history?" she lifted an eyebrow

"yeah, but what would that be? I would say the quad but that's not a room" you groaned

"what if the answer is really simple. like the history rooms?" she proposed

"I feel like it wouldn't be that easy. it had to be hard" you shook your head

"well stories are books, right? what about the library?" you thought

"that makes sense"

"thank god" you prayed, finding your ticket to the next round

"wow, didn't know you were this smart"

you turned around and saw Xavier

he walked up to you and reached over, grabbing his ticket and smiled down at you as he had you against the bookshelf of the open library

"though you're pretty stupid for leading me here, babe" he smirked down at you

"I didn't lead you here, you followed me" you glared up at him

"who cares, there's no rules" he whispered

"I'll beat you" you hissed

"i'm sure you will, babe" he pouted sarcastically

"you're an ass" you barked

"and you're a babe, babe" he winked

"get off me" you grunted, pushing him off you

"hey, hey, hey. don't resolve to violence, sweetheart" he chuckled softly

you walked past him. leaving the library

"good luck, babe!" he yelled out to you

only two remains in the challenge, you and Xavier

it was an in class test, Thornhill would say questions and you had to answer the fastest to get the point. they're questions of all topics

"what is a three headed dog called?" she asked

Xavier pressed his button "Cerberus"

"when was Jericho's first pilgrim settlement?"

"1625" you answered

"and who is Jericho's founder?"

"Joseph Crackstone" you answered first again

there's 50 answers in total. and the score is 23 both ways. 4 more questions to reveal the winner

"for the last questions, you will take turns answering, I'll ask you a question and if you get it wrong, you won't get the point and the question goes to the other person." Thornhill explains

"good luck, Babe. I'll go easy on you" he joked

"Xavier, what year was Ye Olde Fudgery established?" she asked

"1945" he said "that's wrong, mister Thorpe"

"you knew that one" you whispered to him.

"I know" he smiled

"Y/n, question goes to you"

you looked at Xavier before answering faulsley

"1955" you looked at her

"that's correct"

"alright then" he turned to Thornhill

"Y/n, what route are we located on"

you looked over at Xavier before purposely answering incorrectly

"route 54" you answered.

"wrong. Xavier" she turned to him

"route 22?" he replied, looking at you

"correct" she nodded

"Xavier, what do carnivorous plants reward their pollinators with?"

"sexual trickery"

"correct"

"the winner comes down to this last question" she paused "Y/n"

"yes" you nodded, ready for the question

"who was the artist who painted 'Mona Lisa?'" she asked

you took a deep breath before looking over at Xavier. you wanted to saw it, but something gold you not to. so you said someone else

"Michelangelo" you sighed

"that's incorrect. Xavier, same question"

he looked over at the regret on your face and didn't want to win if you were letting him

"Vincent van Gogh" he looked away from you as you stared at him

"we can't leave it as a tie. so we need another question"

"what are you doing? I was letting you win" you whispered

"I don't want to win" he confessed quietly

"Xavier? how many bones does an adult human have?" Thornhill questioned

"one hundred and fifty" Xavier answered incorrectly

"wrong, Y/n?"

"one hundred and ninety" you lied

this went on for a while, you two going back and fourth saying the wrong answers until Thornhill got disappointed

"alright then, both of you win" she sighed

"that's not how it works, there can only be one winner" you fought, looking at Xavier with a glare as you finished speaking

"then answer the question correctly, I know you know all of the answers" Xavier scoffed

"I know you do too" you crossed your arms

"that's enough you too. you both win"

---

"why'd you do that?" Xavier came up behind you

"what do you mean?" you blinked

"why did you try to let me win?" he threw his hand up in the air before dropping them to his sides

"you tried to let me win too" you laughed

"you did it first" he shrugged

"so you didn't need to continue it" you rolled your eyes

"you better stop doing that, babe. I might start to think you have a little crush on me" he smirked

"I might start to think that too"

"you wanna know what I think?" he looked at his feet

"let's hear it" you took a deep breath

"I think I like you" he confessed

"I think I hate you..." you said, his face slightly fell "...because I like you too much" you admitted

he smiled at you, showing his dimples

"scared me a little there, babe" he sighed

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