Chapter Text
Lance woke up to the sound of rustling. His ear twitched, brows furrowing as he blinked the sleep from his eyes. It must just be the wind. In fact, he could hear it right now, whispering through the leaves. Whispering. Murmuring. Laughing.
Lance straightened up, jostling his sleepy companion. He glanced in surprise at the other boy, having forgotten that he had become the man’s pillow the night before. His captor merely groaned in his sleep, thick brows scrunching up in a way that was much too cute before he settled again.
The sounds had cut off, but after a few moments they resumed, a hushed murmur in the undergrowth. Lance’s ear flicked as he caught what sounded like a quiet snicker. There was no way that was just a breeze. He was turning to shake the other boy awake when it happened.
A figure burst from the bushes, grabbing him and dragging him to his feet. He yelped, his sleeping captor gasping after having being dumped so unceremoniously off of his shoulder. Lance glanced behind him to see the other boy sitting up, blinking in bleery confusion. Another person burst from the brush just then. Lance noticed the way his captor’s hand instinctively flashed down towards his dagger, but a boot stamped his wrist into the ground before he could reach. The next thing Lance knew, his captor was being yanked to his feet by his dark hair, the boy yelping in pain. Something bristled inside Lance at the sight.
“Hello, Keith,” the man holding him leered, snatching the boy’s dagger from its sheath and tossing it aside. “It’s been a while.”
“James,” Keith snarled. Another person stepped out from the trees. And another. Lance’s eyes flicked around. He counted five. His gaze shot back to the man holding Keith, a sword pressed against the other boy’s throat.
“I’ve got to thank you for delivering this bounty straight to us,” the man sneered. “Really, you didn’t have to go to all the trouble.”
“Like you’d get your hands dirty actually catching a criminal yourself,” Keith snapped.
The man, James, shrugged. “Work smarter, not harder. You find the criminals, I get the money. I rather like our little business arrangement.”
“You’re no better than them,” Keith spat, giving James a glare so heated that Lance would’ve flinched under that gaze.
James was just opening his mouth to retort when Lance interrupted him. “Seriously, guys, this is flattering and all, but I’m taken.” Every head turned towards him, the bandits or whatever they were almost looking baffled that he’d spoken.Keith was the only one who didn’t look surprised by Lance’s comment, merely rolling his eyes in the middle of the situation. “Finders keepers and all that.”
“So this one’s got an ego,” James finally said. Lance snorted at the irony of that statement. “Bet you’ve been loving that, Keithy.”
“Woah, woah, only I’m allowed to call him Keithy,” Lance retorted.
Keith’s face was twisted in a look somewhere between annoyance and pain. James merely stared at Lance for a moment, face surprisingly blank. “We’ll teach you manners soon enough, cat.”
Lance shrugged. “Whatever you say, swine.”
There was a pause. Then James nodded minutely to the henchman holding Lance. Before he could so much as blink, a fist collided with his stomach. Lance wheezed, almost falling to his knees before the hands holding him hauled him back up again.
“Lesson one,” James said, a nasty smirk on his face. “Don’t speak unless spoken to.”
“Leave him alone,” Keith snapped.
“Getting sentimental over your prisoner? Keith, that isn’t like you.”
“Careful, James,” Keith hissed. “Wouldn’t want to get your boots dirty in a real fight.”
Lance coughed quietly, the breath slowly starting to seep back into his lungs. He could hear the quiet threat in Keith’s tone, and honestly he was amazed this guy wasn’t running for the hills by now. Keith sounded positively murderous.
Instead, James mimed thoughtfulness, his expression mocking. “You know, that’s a good point. I think I’ll use the bounty on this guy to buy myself a new pair of boots. These ones still have blood on them from that time I broke your nose. Good memories,” James trailed off with a wistful look.
With a growl Keith spat right in his face, baring his teeth. For a moment nothing happened. Then James raised his hand, and the henchmen started forward.
So this whole bantering thing had been fun and all, but Lance could clearly see that now was the time for actions over words. In a flash he’d sprung up from his crumpled posture, twisting around enough to sink his teeth into the shoulder of the man securing him. The bandit yelped in pain, his grip relaxing enough that Lance could pull his bound wrists away. In an instant he flipped up into the air, landing behind the henchman and kicking the back of his knee so that his legs gave way beneath him.
For an instant he caught a glimpse of Keith. The man had gotten ahold of a sword somehow, perhaps taking advantage of the distraction Lance just caused. One bandit was already out cold on the ground, and Keith was currently fighting the three others at once. If Lance had to give a frank assessment of the situation, he’d say Keith was kicking ass.
Lance grinned, landing another kick to the back of his opponent’s head and sending him sprawling out on the ground. He was just stepping over him to go help Keith when a hand grabbed onto his ankle. Lance yelped as he hit the earth, being dragged backwards by his leg. He twisted around in the bandit’s grip, the man scowling down at him, a sizable lump forming on his head. Apparently he had a thicker skull than Lance realized.
Lance folded his free leg back before extending it straight to where the sun don’t shine between his attacker’s legs. The man groaned in pain, and Lance couldn’t help but wince in sympathy despite the fact that this guy was actively trying to re-kidnap him. Needless to say, his ankle was released as the guy buckled to his knees. Not good enough. Lance kicked off the ground in the same move he’d used to impress Keith the other day, landing back on his feet. He was only there for a moment before he leapt into the air again, thighs wrapping around the man’s neck. He swung his body around, using it’s momentum to bring his opponent crashing down. Lance finished it with another swift kick to the guy’s head. This time he waited long enough to make sure the bandit was really knocked out before doing anything else.
Once he was certain the guy wasn’t getting back up, Lance glanced up and winced. Okay, Keith was definitely not winning his battle anymore. He managed to take out another bandit, but the remaining two, one being the dipshit James himself, had disarmed him and were now beating the crap out of him. Lance glanced around frantically, eyes falling on the dagger taken from Keith earlier. He rushed over to it, grasping the hilt between his toes and angling it up so he could slice open the ropes around his wrists. He jumped up, racing towards the bandits who still hadn’t noticed him since they were too busy trying to turn Keith’s pretty face black and blue.
Lance jumped into a spinning kick, hitting James squarely and knocking him into the other bandit as they both toppled to the ground. Lance had just enough time to pull Keith to his feet and press the dagger into his hand before their attackers were up, untangling themselves from each other in a manner that can’t quite be described as dignified. As much as Lance would love to beat the shit out of James, he knew no one would love it more than Keith, so he lunged at the remaining henchman, claws swiping down and tearing angry red lines in his cheek.
The man howled in pain, swinging his sword as Lance ducked beneath it, sticking out his leg to sweep the bandit’s feet out from under him. The man fell on his back, Lance stomping down on the hand holding the sword so that his opponent couldn’t bring it up to attack anymore. Lance crouched over him, pinning his other wrist to the ground. He might have let his claws dig into the skin. Just a little. He leaned down until his face was real close to the other guy, the man flinching below him.
“I told you,” Lance hissed, “I’m taken.” A quick blow over the head and the guy was in for a long, deep sleep. Lance smirked, using a single hand to springboard into a backwards flip off the henchman, just to show off.
He turned around to find Keith still locked in his battle with James. For a moment he considered going to help him, but then stepped back. This was Keith’s fight. If things got ugly he’d step in, but otherwise he was just going to enjoy every second of the James ass-beating that was going down before him.
Lance was surprised to find that Keith actually looked kind of graceful when he fought. With the boy’s hot-headed attitude Lance was expecting all brute force and no finesse. And yet, he moved smoothly from one move to the next, blocking and dodging with ease, his dagger flashing through the air in silver arcs. It was almost like a flame dancing on the wick of a candle; so unassuming, yet it could still leave forests as ash upon the ground.
Lance watched, mesmerized, as Keith’s blade danced almost teasingly against James’ bigger sword. Lance smirked at how easily Keith blocked the weapon, at how he seemed to lead every move, every step in their fight. James could tell too, if one were to go by the frustrated look on his face and the way he cursed every time one of Keith’s blows sent him stumbling off balance.
Then the moment came. The point where James’s frustration turned into recklessness. He lunged blindly, a desperate act to disarm Keith and get the fight back under his control. The rash move left him wide open and in a flash Keith had slipped under his outstretched arm, elbowing him hard in the side. James went down, wheezing and clutching at his waist as he hit the dirt. Keith glowered down at him, slowly, deliberately flipping his dagger around so that the hilt was pointing down, making sure James’ eyes caught the movement. Then he plunged the weapon down, the hilt hitting James’ skull with a dull thump that made him go limp.
For a moment Keith stood there, chest heaving, hair plastered to his skin from sweat, his eyes still burning with a righteous fury. Lance could feel the breath leave his lungs at the sight. A moment later he shook himself, a grin splitting across his face. He brought his hands up to clap, the sound making Keith jump as his eyes locked on Lance. “Bravo!” Lance called. “Love the dramatic finish!”
For a moment Keith did nothing, merely staring at Lance with wide eyes. It was just starting to get weird when, out of nowhere, Keith hurled his dagger at Lance. It happened so fast that Lance’s eyes could barely track the movement, and he didn’t have time to do more than yelp in fear before the weapon had buried itself in the tree behind him, the blade just barely skimming his shoulder, pinning him by his shirt to the trunk.
Lance glanced at the weapon in surprise. By the time he looked back up Keith was right in front of him, his face way closer than it was just a moment ago. “Woah, man!” Lance shrieked. “Personal space!”
Keith ignored him, yanking the dagger from the tree. He grabbed Lance’s wrists, spinning him around and shoving him against the trunk as he bound his hands once more in a single practiced motion.
“Seriously, dude,” Lance said, enough sense returning to him for anger to flare up. “Watch where you’re flinging that thing! You could have skewered me!”
“Why didn’t you run?” Keith cut in abruptly. Lance turned his head to look at him. The other boy looked confused. Baffled, more like. He opened his mouth to continue. “After you escaped that guy and cut yourself free, you could have taken off. But you stayed. Why?”
“I wasn’t just gonna let those guys walk all over you,” Lance retorted. For some reason he felt flustered under Keith’s scrutinizing gaze. He wished the guy would just take a step back or something. “You might think you’ve got a strict moral code or whatever, but I’ve got one too. And that’s to not let assholes be assholes.”
Keith was silent for a minute, studying him. Lance squirmed slightly and the other boy’s grip on his wrists tightened. “But even after you gave me my dagger, you took down your opponent before I defeated James, yet you still didn’t run.”
“Look, I got a little distracted, okay?” Lance snapped, his face heating up even further. “It happens to the best of us.”
There was a pause. Lance fidgeted around uncomfortably as Keith’s eyes bored holes into him. Finally, the other boy spoke. “You know, this changes nothing between us. I’m still taking you in.”
Lance looked away, unable to hold that sharp gaze any longer. “Yeah, well, you’re welcome,” he grumbled.
Keith said nothing, instead starting to march them forwards. For a long time they walked in silence, Keith keeping a firm grip on Lance’s hands. After several minutes of this weird, brooding atmosphere, Lance couldn’t take it anymore.
“So,” he spoke up, “Keith, huh?”
“Yeah,” the other boy replied curtly.
Lance paused for a moment, thinking it over. “You know, I think I like it better than Stormy.” He was facing forwards, so he didn’t notice the small smile that spread across Keith’s lips.