When I was a kid I hated darkness: I was scared shitless of the monsters and the ghosts that could hide in it.

It's normal for kids, no one thought much of it.

Then I grew to be a teenager and I was still scared of the darkness; that's when you think “That's still normal: rapists, murderers, thieves, right?” Nope, still monsters.

I'm 23 now and I swear, I still run to my bed after I turn off the lights, and lie in bed with my phone's flash on for hours before I can fall asleep.

Now I see that I had always been right until today. Today I said, fuck monsters, I'm getting laid tonight.

Tonight I was wrong.

I'd like to say that I yelled like a man and started running faster than a cheetah when I saw that… That thing, but I sounded like a little girl, and I fell on my ass and started crying.

If the thing wasn't going to kill me already, I could have died of embarassment.

-HOLY SHIT.

I started crawling backwards and I couldn't stop staring at the mouth of the creature that was slowly floating towards me.

It wasn't really a mouth I guess, it was just a huge black hole that oozed black goo and not only it was scary, but also fucking gross.

I had a lot of feelings sucker punching each other in that moment, including a slight surprise as I expected to be just fucking terrified of facing my deepest fear.

As my back touched the wall and I was starting to accept my fate a loud bang came from my right and the door slammed open.

Some random twink came with a pipe and hit the thing with it. I was being saved by Bill fucking Kaulitz's sad cousin.

-What the fuck was that?

The took a box out of his bag and started to talk to it.

Nuts

-Who the fuck are you?

He crouched and started drawing circle white powder around me.

-That was a ghost. Welcome in Wonderland, Alice. Now sit and stay.

I would have barked at him but the thing appeared right behind his back. My expression probably gave it away, because he stood and threw some of the white powder over his shoulder, and the ghost faded.

-Stay- he repeated -and don't break that circle- and then he left the room.

I was alone once again, and this time I was fucking terrified. Sitting still had never been so hard.

The front gate slammed and the door to the door I was in creaked.

-IT'S THE WIND- I yelled to the ghost. I had no idea what I was doing, but maybe ghosts worked like fairies?

They didn't, instead it almost looked like I had just summoned it, it appeared right in front of me, inches away from my face.

-Shit!-

I backed away pushing my back to the wall, the ghost lookedlike it was trying to push through an invisible wall.

Then light came through the window, and it looked like dawn, the ghost started crippling and falling to pieces, until all was left was ashes.

I stood, back to the wall, not knowing what I was supposed to do. Was it over? Was I supposed to just stand there like an idiot for the rest of my life?

Twink ghostbuster guy came in the room, the moment he took the first step in the room the ashes flew away as if they were blown away by a strong wind.

-Free to go, go home and forget all about this.

-Are you serious? I just got attacked by a ghost!

-Yep, and you gotta be thankful it was the ghost I was hunting and not some psycho.

He's a frigging ghostbuster alright

-Why were you hunting a ghost?

-Why were you alone in a haunted house?

At that I felt my cheeks burning a bit, I was real thankful for the dim light. I was in that crazy place because I was waiting for a lady that I met online. Not really romantic meeting in an old creepy shack, but hey, anything for the ladies right?

Hearing my silence, the guy rolled his eyes.

-Your fuck buddy is not gonna come, alright? Just leave this place, people are probably gonna be here soon for the fire.

So the light out of the window was a fire?

Now that he made me notice, I could hear the crippling sounds of something burning. I decided to avoid to ask if he started it, and what was burning. It was time to go as far as I could from that weirdo.

-Uh sure, I'll… I'll go-

-You do that- he answered and he winked at me. Weirdo.

____

When I woke up the day after I felt like I was hungover. I had an awful headache, and I was pretty sure I had had nightmares all night. I remembered flashes of images that I saw, but I wasn't sure which were nightmares and which were reality.

It really started as a shitty day, but the soothing smell of coffee dragged me out of it a little bit.

I was living with a high school classmate of mine, we went to college together and he was a morning person. Well, morninger than me at least, let's say that in the weekend he woke at ten and I woke around noon.

He always prepared coffee first thing after shower, because we were both very groggy after waking up. It felt like routine which I guess was nice after yesterday's mess.

-Hey dude- he said without sparing me a glance. -How did the date go?

-I was almost eaten by a ghost.

-Uh-uh.

He was reading the news on his phone, like a techno-friendly grandpa.

-Is that why you set fire to the place?

I poured myself a cup of coffee, I didn't blame him for not believing me, I kinda had hoped that he wouldn't.

I peeked at the article above his shoulder, they found a circle of kitchen salt in the house, and the remains of a fire in the graveyard.

I hit the salt bottle with my elbow, and some spilled on Hunk.

-Dude! What are you doing? It's bad luck!

He pinched some of the salt that had spilled on the table and threw it over his shoulder, giving me the biggest deja vu I had in a while.

Oh.

I went to work early, I wanted to get busy and distracted, but when I got to the Altean Library it was empty. No desperate students, no old geezers sitting around, not even the homeless guy that stopped by to read Greek poetry.

I picked up some books from the basket, wrote down the titles and started reshelving them. I wasn't really looking for their place, I was just walking idly around the aisles, looking at the dusty titles.

It was really quiet but the soft light coming through the windows made it feel cozy and safe rather than creepy, and I was starting to get sleepy.

I heard a light clicking sound, I froze completely. I put my back to the shelves and held my breath. No, it couldn't be, he lived a normal life until then, that weird shit wasn't gonna happen two days in a row. Anyway I slowly moved towards the end of the shelf, trying to be as quiet as I could. I heard a light hissing sound. My heart was going at it like crazy, the sound stopped; then there was some shuffling, and after that it was quiet again. I peeked just a little be, just to be sure if I had to stop being a kid or run, just a little glance…

-AAAH!

-AAAAAAH!

-You're such an idiot!

-Pidge! What the hell are you doing here?

-What does it look like?

She gestured to all the huge books surrounding her, she was sitting on the ground with her laptop open.

-Uh research?

-Well library things! Why are you here so early by the way? I usually don't see you for at least two more hours.

-Rough night, didn't wanna stay home

-Alright- she said, and she went back to her research. I don't know if I was more relieved or disappointed that she didn't ask me about my secret ghost story.

The morning went slow, there were a few people at the desks, after a while Pidge took a break from her research, and we started sharing memes and trying to laugh as quiet as possible. Pidge was crying, such a nerd. Of course I wasn't… crying.

-Hey Pidge, do you believe in ghosts and stuff?

-Yep- she said, without even blinking -Why you met one?

-Yeah, one tried to kill me last night, but Gerard Way's korean son saved me.

-You share some of that stuff you smoke to sleep one day, alright?

I didn't even try to push it further, I was satisfied with that. It was kinda funny that no one would believe me, I could just tell everyone about it. Of course I also felt like I was just going fucking nuts.

At lunch time Pidge went to a McDonald's close by and got us some food.

-How could you get salad at mcDonald's?

Pidge rolled her eyes as she opened the little bottle of oil and took like three portions of salt from the bag. I stole one, just in case.

-It's a Caesar salad, Lance! And I like it.

-Yeah sure- I said biting into my burger -And you're putting olive oil on it?

-Shut up- she said, but she was smiling -I'm not the one sporting bbq sauce all over my face!

We chatted a bunch during lunch, spending time with Pidge was easy, she was like my little sister: we liked the same stuff, we fought over food, and we fought over who got to play games on the couch in the staff room when days were slow.

We used to look at people stepping in and tried to guess what section they'd go for, extra win if we got one that went for the erotica. I usually won, but today Pidge guessed some teen getting Oscar Wilde's big book with all of his works, including erotica. Dang.

So she spent most of the day on steam on her laptop, while I was reading some comics at the counter.

I heard the door opening, and I instinctively looked up and I wish I hadn't. The guy was there, the ghostbuster guy walked in and went down the fairy tales section. So, since that wasn't shady at all, I started following him around. He took one book from the shelf but wasn't actually reading it, he was looking at his side, glancing at a student that probably fell asleep in the middle of a studying session.

Weirdo.

He put the book back and went to the staff room. There was Pidge gaming, I stayed at the door. I must say, I felt kinda cool.

-Hey there wasn't anyone at the counter, I just really need to use the toilet.

Pidge looked annoyed hearing that I wasn't doing my job, but she showed him where the toilet was and went back to her games.

He disappeared from my field of vision, and I was about to step away when he opened the door and found me peeping like a perv.

-Uh, hi?

-Are you following me?- it looked like he wanted to yell but he was whispering.

-I work here, are you following me?- I whispered back

He scoffed and pushed me to the side.

-Go keep company to your friend, I can't babysit you this time.

-Rude.

He didn't pay attention to me, he just went towards the toilets looking pretty on edge.

-Lance, where the fuck were you?

-That's Gerard's… Listen, you gotta stay at the counter for a bit, please? I'll let you have the couch next time too.

She shrugged, and went to the desk with a sigh, I followed the guy again. He went in the ladies' toilet. Oh well.

He didn't even go in a stall, he instead proceeded to take a dead chicken out of his bag. He put it on the floor. Next thing he took out of his bag was a snake skin, he put it in the shape of a ring around the chicken. The toilet was starting to smell weirder.

He stepped back and he took a mirror from the wall. He saw my reflection in it.

-What are you doing here?- he went pale and looked very pissed off.

-Go away now!- it was kinda scary.

Then I saw something moving in the sink, coming up the tube, it was scaly and white…

-CLOSE YOUR EYES!

I did, and I heard gushing, and cracking, and the sound of something heavy falling to the ground.

Then something approached me. With my eyes squeezed shut I took a few steps back, but I found myself against the wall. I could hear light steps on the wet floor of the bathroom, I could hear the light sound of something breathing very close to me, and I could almost feel the heat.

I reached in my pocket and tore the little bag of salt open and threw it in the general direction where the sound was coming from.

-Really, salt?

-It worked last time!- I kept my eyes shut for good measure.

-Yeah but this was a cockatrice, not a ghost.

-What would I know?

-You can open your eyes now.

-How can I know you're you?

-You can't, just open your eyes!

I slowly opened my eyes, the scene was way less bloody than I expected: the snake skin was broken and the dead chicken was still there, and close to It there was some clay, and some sand.

-Do you do this for a living?-

-Kind of- he shrugged.

He didn't look like he was up for some chat, and I wanted to go away as soon as possible, but I stayed there for some reason and looked at him while he cleaned up after his mess. There was something about him, something weird and unpleasant. Maybe it was just some pavlovian shit going on, but is seemed too early for that. No, it was something in his appearance...

-Are you still here?- he asked

-Nope! Leaving, and I honestly hope I never see you again.

-I get that a lot- he smiled -And right back at you.

…He has a fucking mullet.

When you hunt weird creatures for a long time, you reach a point where they don't really scare you anymore.

At least some of them.

And some of them, the friendly ones, even stopped being scared of you, just like little animals.

There's an old aztec myth, it says that when you drink you gradually start seeing bunnies. When you're tipsy you just see a few, then they grow in number, to a max of four hundred.

These tiny creatures didn't hurt people, they hid all the time, they liked cheering on drunk people.

They were little balls of fluffy fur, and they had long teeth, and long sharp ears. They almost looked like normal bunnies, but there was something about them that reminded me of stars.

I could currently count ten ears, four… No, twenty-five. Their ears shifted away from reality and back, it was funny to look at.

Now, I wasn't the drunk one, so I couldn't see all of them. They were all looking at the great show that was the lanky guy sitting at the bar.

There was a small drop of sweat on his neck, his tan face was a little bit red, and he had drunk just one shot of whiskey.

I expected a reaction like that, usually when people find out about unusual creatures like the bunnies the first thing they did was getting drunk.

At least this guy was a happy drunk.

-So Pisje, basically this huge cock shows in the room, I mean, a big snake.

He snorted at that, the girl from the library rolled her eyes and kept eating her fries.

-And mullet guy threw salt at it or something and it became clay, but my eyes were closed. I mean I thought I was seeing things when the ghost thing happend but this? Yeeeesh, I hope I don't find one of those in my bed.

He was kind of talkative though, people usually kept the weird stuff to themselves, but this guy was so open about this, and no one of course believed him.

He was gonna end up in therapy.

-Lance, I swear if you tell me once more about Mullet and his Cock I'm gonna tie you to a street light and leave.

That made me cringe a little bit.

Eventually they left the bar and the bunnies followed. I ate an olive, Allura was late as always.

I instinctively hooked my ring finger around the rosary I wore around my neck.

Oops.

I tucked it inside my shirt.

-I was wondering when you'd remember.

-Hello Allura, where did you park?
-She's still flying, how are you Keith? Still overworking yourself?

-I'm not gonna stop until I've found him.

Allura frowned, her mouth was a thin straight line. She tried to reach my hand, but right now, I couldn't bear to be touched, I could see the pity in her eyes. It wasn't like her and I didn't want any of that

-Did you find anything?- I asked without looking at her, instead I pretended I found the olives' toothpick more interesting.

-Not even a clue, I asked Coran to-

-What? Allura, I asked you to not involve anyone else, it's not necessary, I've got this.

-You clearly don't, just let me-

-Listen- I was tired of having this argument over and over -I accepted your help because you're my friend, but I can do this alone, there's not even a guarantee that he's alive.

The look on her face made me instantly regret my last sentence. She was wearing this hurt look that should have mirrored mine, but I was tired, and was keeping on going out of sheer determination.

-I will find him- I said -I'm strong, you don't have to worry.

-But you're human.

-You're being specist.

-You know what I mean. You're no good dead.

-Yeah I got it.

I got up and wore my black leather jacket, took two lollipops out of my jacket's pocket and offered one to Allura, but I knew she would refuse.

She shook her head, and we went outside.
The night had gotten suddenly very cold, and I knew why.

-Where's she?

-Just down the block, there's a big parking space there.

We walked down the street, I was shrugging a bit in my jacket, but Allura didn't seem to be bothered by the cold.

It was very quiet, except for a couple people we met on the way.

-Yeah honey I'm coming home.

-Goodnight baby.

-Thanks Hunk, I'll see you around.

We got at the parking lot and were about to greet goodnight, when the person I was expecting the least almost threw up on my shoes.

That was a lie, if I'm expecting to randomly meet someone lately, it's this guy.

He put a hand on my chest to keep himself up, but that was gross, and I moved to the side.

He almost fell on his own barf and that was hilarious.

-Stop laughing, you jerk.

-This jerk saved your life a couple times.

-Yeah sure, but you've been pretty salty about it.

Holy cow this idiot.

-Stop following me anyway- he said, and I grunted, but he didn't pay attention to me because he saw Allura.

And Allura had this effect on everyone, it was part of her nature. It's a little embarrassing to admit but I was also very charmed when I first met her.

-Well with all the weird shit that I've seen lately, you must be an angel.

The guy sucked at compliments, but Allura giggled anyway.

-You hear Keith? He thinks I'm an angel.

She looked at him and flashed her tongue out, it was just like a snake's, and that surprised the guy; he seemed to think about it, but then his cheshire smile got wider,

-For God's sake Lars, are you already used to this stuff?

-Nah, I'm just drunk, and it's Lance.

-What if she wants to eat your face, Lance?

-She's more than welcome- he said, and he winked. -Especially with that tongue.

Allura was very unimpressed at the drunk guy's wooing skills.

-It's a dragon tongue, it's for speaking languages, not for making out with guys.

Lance snorted.

-Seguro, hablame un poco de esto entonces-

-Es una lengua de dragón, y hay otro dragón que vuela sobre tu cabeza.

-What?

In that moment Allura's lizard came flying from the sky, Allura jumped, the dragon flew underneath her and flew up toward the sky.

They came down for a moment and Allura told me to call her if I needed anything, I just nodded.

It was suddenly quiet, it was nice. Lance stopped talking.

He looked at me, I smiled and offered him candy. He took it and started nervously sucking on it.

-Lance are you serious? I got to your house and when I looked back you weren't following me anymore! Come on man, Pidge is gonna kill me if I- Keith?

-Oh, hi Hunk.

-What are you doing here?

-Saving your friend's ass apparently.

Lance put a hand on my shoulder, and then he fainted. I was able to catch him and prevent his head from hitting the ground.

Hunk looked at me with a questioning look -More ghosts?

-Nope, a cockatrice and Allura's dragon.

-Oh I get it. Guess there's no way to convince him he dreamt that now.

-I don't think we should anyway.

It looked like Lance had become some weird monster magnet.

I circled his shoulders with one arm, and put the other under his knees, princess style.

-Let's bring him home for now?

-Yeah, we'll talk to him tomorrow, I'll call Pidge and tell her he's not gonna go to work.

I nodded, and looked at Lance's face: the lollipop was still hanging from his mouth, almost falling.

I was a bit grossed out thinking he had just puked, but I couldn't help being a bit sad for the guy, seeing him like that.

Me and Hunk took turns carrying him to their house, but Hunk did most of the job.

Every time I carried him, his body felt warmer and warmer. I couldn't tell if it was a fever or if I was just cold in my clothes, but it was pleasant and it worried me at the same time.

When we got at their apartment I left Lance half conscious in Hunk's hands.

-Where are you staying?- Hunk asked before I could leave.

-In my car, I just arrived.

-You know, we got a couch if you want.

I shook my head no but as I started to walk away I felt pulling on my jacket.

Lance was glaring at me and he was still for a while, then he tried to talk, but the lollipop was in the way.

He was still sucking on it, and when I took it out of his mouth it made a pop sound.

-Shut up- he said, and he took back his lollipop.

He jumped off Hunk's arms, but he was still wobbly. He pushed his palm on his forehead squeezing his eyes close.

After he gained back his balance he stepped into the house, and went to crash on his bed.

Hunk shrugged and smiled at me.

I guess no one who sleeps in a car can refuse a couch after all.

I woke at dawn like usual, and I was the only one up. I stretched my back and it popped in place. I couldn't remember the last time I slept like this: I hadn't had any dreams, and actually being surrounded by four walls made me feel safer.

But being in such a comfortable place all of a sudden was making me uneasy. There was a soft ray of light coming from the window, just a few people were walking around the streets, everything was very still.

I couldn't bear it.

I took off my shirt, I got goosebumps right away, but didn't pay attention to that. I started doing my situps.

Morning training was a routine for me, it woke me up, it made me feel in control, it put me at ease.

First one to wake up was Hunk.

-Morning- he said yawning, he didn't even look at me, he went straight to the coffee machine.

-Hope you don't mind-

-Food- he interrupted me raising a finger. He went towards the fridge and poured himself a bowl of milk and started peeling a banana.

As he took the first bite he gestured me to keep talking.

-Uh, hope you don't mind me training in the living room?

-Nah it's alright, if you want to shower later I can give you a towel.

The coffee machine beeped, but Hunk just ignored it.

-You gonna get that?- i asked.

Hunk shrugged -It's for Lance, he's cranky on normal mornings, but with today's hangover is gonna get him homicidal… You'll thank me later. Oh but if you want some just tell me, I'll get you a cup.

I shook my head, I had been awake for a long time now, and all the drowsiness had left me.

-Are you gonna eat then?

-Maybe after pushups- I smiled, and I got back to my workout.

It wasn't long after that that Lance emerged from his room like a corpse coming back to life, but I was facing the opposite way.

He just stood there in silence, Hunk wasn't looking at him.

I could feel him staring at me though and I couldn't focus. I turned my head to glare at him, and he was looking at me with thin sleepy eyes.

I put weight on my hand in a weird way and my wrist cramped.

-Oh quiznak!

I almost faceplanted, but I put an elbow to the ground and saved my nose. I stood up.

-Quiz… Snack? Seriously? Hunk, why is mullet naked in our living room?

I frowned at the nickname. -It's Keith-

-Behave Lance, he helped me carry you home last night.- said Hunk

-And you were the one to insist that I'd sleep here.

Lance's eyes went big, then he walked past me and poured himself a cup of coffee.

-So what, now we're best buddies?- he asked. His tone was getting on my nerves, seeing him drinking his first sip of coffee calmed me down. It was pure bliss, I'd never seen someone changing so much after caffeinating.

-I'd hope so, I mean, I carried you in my arms.

-Ugh, don't say that.

-Like a princess.

-ALRIGHT Keith, why don't you grab a towel and take a shower? I can finish my breakfast, and you get to not smell like a dog.

While the phrasing wasn't making me happy, the thought of a hot shower was very alluring.

-Bathroom is the right door, I'll get you the towel- He chugged down the last of his coffee and went in the room he came from. -If you finish my shampoo for that ridiculous haircut I'm gonna shave your head.

I pretended not to hear that and went in their bathroom.

It was small, but it was something, I looked in the mirror, I still had a bit of a bedhead.

I let some water flow from the shower to let it warm, and I started undressing.

I had just my underwear on when Lance came in without knocking.

-Rude much?

He crystallized there and his face turned a bit red.

-Why are you in such a hurry to get naked?

-Why did you come in without knocking?

That got me a towel to the face, he left the room muttering something along the line of “too early for this shit”.

Best shower I had had in weeks.

-Why is your face so red?

I dragged a hand down my face, I felt like it was melting. Hank was leaning against the counter eating a yogurt.

-Ugh, pretty awkward scene, that guy is weird.

-Heh, I know.

I glared at him, but he shrugged it off.

-Man, you wouldn't believe what happened yesterday…

-You met a dragon and a cockatrice.

I got a headache from how much I raised my eyebrows and opened my eyes. Everything was a lie, everyone was a liar, even Hunk, I had lived with the guy for years!

-Was everyone aware of all this shit except me?

-Well, not everyone, just a few people. Not everyone can handle the truth, I mean, look at you.

I became suddenly aware of how tense my body was, I relaxed my shoulders and my face.

-So what's out there?- I asked, trying to distract myself.

-Pretty much anything that comes out of books, and more.

-Oh god so mermaids?

-Not as hot as you'd think.

-Vampires?

-Yep.

-Werewolves?

-Sure, you know one!

-What?

-It's not me! But they'll tell you when they're ready, I don't want to spoil the surprise.

I never noticed anyone being a werewolf. I had some very weird classmates in college, I didn't think that literature hobo was a werewolf: he was allergic to dogs. Maybe my little brother, he was such a greedy bastard when mom cooked meat… Maybe Pidge?

I thought about sharing memes with her and I couldn't even consider it.

-So what are you?

-I'm a shape shifter.

-Bullshit.

His face got thinner and longer, his hair became brown, and his eyes became dark blue and fuck he was me.

He changed just his head tho, he was still taller and broader than me, it was so freaky, I got nauseous.

-Stop that.

-Stop that- he repeated.

-Nope.

I turned around leaving him to stare at my back and a moment after that I heard light steps behind me and as I was staring at the floor a pair of delicate tanned feet came in my field of vision. I raised my eyes and saw the tanned dragon lady from yesterday. Her beautiful white hair was down and she was wearing Hunk's oversized clothes. She flicked her long dragon tongue at me, and I might have felt on the verge of the weirdest boner a man's ever had in the world's history.

-This is very weird.

-Isn't it Lance?

Her voice had also changed, Hunk even managed to nail her accent.

-So can you speak Spanish now?

-Dude, it's a fake dragon tongue, it doesn't work like that.

-Oh.

Hunklura had to keep her pants up with her hands, and the shirt kept sliding off her shoulders.

Hunk decided it was too much trouble and went back to his usual self.

I felt so uneasy.

-How am I supposed to trust anyone now? How do I know it's not you?

-You don't- Hunk shrugged -But believe me, I'm not spending my life messing with you.

I was still suspicious, but I guess that was never gonna go away, also it wasn't like I was ever gonna accidentally hit on Hunk, right? That would be just awkward for both of us.

-What's Keith then?- I asked, the guy was too odd, I was calling this one. Maybe a vampire? He was just emo enough to be one.

-Keith is human.

Oh.

Speaking of the devil, Keith came out of the bathroom with his hair still damp, he had his pants on but not his shirt, instead he was sporting a towel around his shoulders to avoid his hair from dripping on his pants.

I squinted at him, he squinted at me. There was no way that dork was a human, I could feel it in my veins.

-Hunk, I read about some ghost at the metro station last night, wanna check? We could train damsel in distress here.

He pointed his thumb at me.

-Sure, but- his phone started ringing -wait a second-

Hunk went by the window in the kitchen, while me and Keith stayed by the couch. We didn't talk. Keith was staring at his phone, scrolling through some articles, not paying any attention to me.

First he called me a damsel and then he ignored me.

I leaned my back on the wall, staring at him with my arms crossed.

A drop of water fell from his hair and escaped the towel, it was sliding down his back. He had very light skin and a bunch of scars, did vampires get scarred? I had no idea what I was dealing with, his body looked pretty human, but so did Hunk's. I didn't see any bite scars on his neck either, maybe they were on the other side...

My eyes accidentally caught Keith's that was looking at me with kind of a bothered expression.

I had been staring at the dude, that's not cool Lance.

And just like that began a stare off. I wasn't gonna be the one to drop first, but also he didn't avert his eyes, and after about 4 seconds it started to become awkward. And still neither of us was dropping! Every second became harder and harder to keep staring, but also to give up. He just looked a bit confused, as if I was the weird one.

-Uh, are you guys having a moment or something?

Keith looked at Hunk.

Ha! I won.

-A moment?- Keith looked even more confused.

-Whatever- continued Hunk -It was Pidge, she asked if we wanna get some lunch with her.

-Yeah sure- I said, and Keith agreed with me.

We went to a small Mexican restaurant for lunch, I didn't wanna risk being seen by whoever had to work in my place today.

I was waiting at the table with Pidge while Hunk and Keith had gone to get our orders. She kept staring at me weird like she was trying to figure out something.

-Do I have something on my face?

She just squinted harder, I had to start wondering if she saw me at all while looking like that.

Hunk and Keith came back to the table bringing a tray full of food each. They sat down in front of me and Pidge.

Pidge looked at Hunk, Hunk shrugged, Pidge glared at Hunk, Hunk rubbed his neck and giggled awkwardly.

-Let's not be weird while we're eating alright?- I said, and after that I sank my teeth in my burrito and avoided looking at anyone for a while.

After a few minutes of chewing in silence, Hunk broke it.

-Who's at the library now?- he asked Pidge.

-Oh, just some new guy, he's super young and super serious. Pretty boring…

-Wait wait- I said -That Christopher kid? I had to work a shift with him a while ago, he went blue screen of death in his brain every time he had to talk to a costumer.

-Blue screen of death?- Keith asked -what's that?

-It basically means his brain stopped working and he froze- Pidge explained.

I was trying so hard to keep myself from snorting at that point, but Pidge glared at me.

-You know Lance, you shouldn't assume that everyone wastes their days on the internet like you do.

-Yeah, you talking?- I said with a smug face.

She stuck out her tongue at me. I did too, but further. She stopped there and didn't challenge me any further, she knew better, heh.

-Stop it kids- Hunk said with a condescending voice -Behaving like that doesn't make mommy proud.

That was a joke between me, Pidge and Hunk: once, I swear ONCE I called Hunk mom, I was half asleep and pretty drunk.

But then also Pidge called him mom and that earned him the title.

Honestly, it was kinda cute. After scolding us the conversation went on more smoothly, me and Pidge told Hunk about some stories from the library, and Hunk started telling Pidge all my drunk ass bullshit from yesterday.

-So Keith- Hunk said at some point-What are you working on lately?

Keith had been quiet all the time, but when he had been peaceful.

But when he talked, I could tell there was a bit of worry in his voice, Keith's expression shifted from uninterested to sorrowful.

-Same old quest, Hunk.

The silence came back, and we all stopped eating. Keith started playing with what was left of his food, Hunk's expression also darkened.

-I'm sorry.

-Don't be- Keith sounded a bit annoyed this time -I'm gonna find him.

I was afraid I would be stuck in that dark atmosphere for a while, but Pidge looked at her phone and stood suddenly.

-My lunch break was over 15 minutes ago!

We emptied the trays and walked her to work. We actually “ran” her to work, and it was pretty fun, but I couldn't help wondering what kind of person Keith actually was.

He was a jerk, that much was clear, but I had never seen that hurt look on anyone else. If I didn't know better I'd say it tied a knot to my throat as if I could feel his pain.

But after all, I barely knew the guy, and I didn't like what I knew.

We got to the library and left Pidge there, me, Hunk and Keith walked for a while, catching our breath.

We were quiet, and I was restless. Seemed like I was the only one too, seeing that Hunk and Keith walked in a relaxed fashion, contentedly enjoying their full bellies.

I was so curious about Keith's quest: did it involve dragons? Was it about some childhood trauma? Was he gonna save the Earth?

Normally I would have asked, but I knew that if he avoided the topic at lunch, if he had been so vague, it was because he didn't wanna talk about it.

So I tried starting with something easier.

-Soo… that ghost thing you guys mentioned this morning, what-

But I was interrupted by a loud thud in a close alley. We all turned our heads to the source of the sound.

It was followed by a crash, and metallic rattling.

They run and I could just follow.

It was a mess: a bunch of trash cans had fallen down, spilling gross stuff everywhere, it looked like a teenager girl's room after a pillow fight and the ground was stained with… Blood?

-Oh my god- Hunk covered his mouth with a hand. Keith sprinted forward.

There was a guy on the ground, when Keith got there he cradled his head, whispering something.

-It can't be…- Hunk morphed into a rat, that still made me nauseous, and he ran towards Keith.

I couldn't do that of course, so I had to find a way through that mess, but I wasn't agile like Keith.

When I got there I just straight refused what I was seeing. My head went a big nope and shut off.

There was a guy in his thirty-somethings lying on the ground, he was covered in blood and he had wings. Like bird wings.

Huge gray, black and white feathered wings.

I was grateful that he didn't have a halo.

A fucking angel, I couldn't believe it.

Hunk was standing on top of a trashcan, at least I thought that rat was Hunk, I wasn't sure.

Keith had gone pale, he was so white I thought he was gonna faint, he had no more blood in his lips.

He gingerly touched the angel's face with the tip of his fingers, and pulled his hand away as if he just burned it.

He was trembling.

-Shiro?