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hyperfixating-romantic · 3 months ago

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Web of Fate

(Previously known on Ao3 as All Mistakes Led to You)

Part 1

Lance did not know how he got in this situation. He is absolutely complaining because "STOP SHOOTING. If you weren't trying to rob this place I wouldn't have to hurt you!"

"Shut up and die spider boy!" One of the robbers yelled as Lance barely dodged another spray of bullets by hiding behind a pillar. He groaned and rubbed his temples for a second. "And here I was hoping I'd make it to school on time." He dove into a roll before he shot a few strings of webbing at the attacker. Jamming up his gun and his feet at the same time.

"Gah!" The robber yelled as he crashed down onto the floor. Lance sauntered over and pick him up by his collar. He smacked the gun away and webbed his hands so that he couldn't get away. "It's Spiderman by the way." He corrected before he threw the man out the door of the jewelry store and right in front of the incoming police. Lance walked out after and said "Thank me later boys. I'm late for an appointment." before shooting off into the sky.

3 weeks earlier

Lance slammed his head down on his desk as he tried to do his english homework. "I hate essays......" He popped his head up as he heard his door open to reveal his mother. "Mijo what's the matter?" Lance smiled and waved her off. "Nothing Mama, my homework is just making me frustrated. I'm ok." She walked over and bent down, kissing his forehead softly. "Ok mijo, if you need help just ask. Or take a walk if you need a break."

The brunette smiled at her as she left. "Yeah not a bad idea Mama. A walk sounds great..." Putting on his jacket and shoes, he called that he was heading out and started off down the busy streets. New York was always busy even when work was done and the sun was slowly descending on the horizon. Less people on the sidewalks, but the cars were always there.

Peaking around his surroundings before moving, Lance ducked into a slim alleyway he knew by heart. No ground floor windows, no people, but at end of the path he was taking? The best spot in NYC to see the most amazing sunsets.

Hands grasped lightly rusted metal bars, the clanging of metal platforms and cars honking in the distance were the only thing Lance heard as he climbed up a fire escape. With it being September, his breathing was visible in the crisp evening air. Transparent clouds leaving his mouth every other second.

As he got to the top, he took a big step and leapt for the ledge of the roof. Effortlessly pulling himself up and getting his footing on the brick. "Thank you New York for being so spectacular..." he said to the rising moon, glancing upwards for a split second. He balanced along the raised ledge until he reached his spot, marked by a chalk drawing of a blue lion, made when he was thirteen.

He popped in his headphones as he lowered himself into a sitting position. Legs hanging off the side when he pressed play on his music. He stared off into the city, assorted sign lights flashing and cars minuscule on the distant streets.

Lance closed his eyes and felt the wind ruffle his hair. The music soothing his chaotic mind as each song came and went. The brick beneath his fingers was cold and rough, enough to keep him grounded to the moment even though his mind wandered to worlds only he could explain. Even then Lance knew his words would never do his imaginations justice for how whirling they were underneath his eyelids.

One of his favorite songs had just gotten to the end when he felt a sharp pain in his left hand. Eyes flew open and he yanked his arm up to inspect. He watched as a spider curled in on itself and fell from his skin. The wind and all the noise from his surroundings seemed to go mute. Pupils became pinholes as he pushed himself backwards off the ledge, crawling back to get away from the spider.

His breathing was heavy, each breath felt like the end of the world as his gaze remained fixed on the dead arachnid on the roof. He calmed down enough to get up and walked slowly towards it. Crouching down to look at it. ' Well, it's dead now but... it still bit me. OH MY GOD AM I GONNA DIE NOW???? OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD. LANCE! Get a hold of yourself. It's probably not venomous.'

The spider was black, with swirls of blue and red along its abdomen. Fairly big, Lance was surprised he didn't feel it crawl on him before it bit him. Remembering then that the spider actually bit him. He brought up his hand to check it out. He saw two pricks that were smeared with a tiny amount of blood. It didn't seem more swollen than how any bug bite would be, and it had stopped hurting after the initial bite. So Lance assumed that, no, the spider was not venomous. However he still concluded that he would ask his Mama, who is a nurse, to look at it tomorrow and let her decide if he should go to the hospital.

With that turn of events effectively clearing his mind of his english essay, he decided to go back home to sleep. Resolving himself to try and finish writing his last paragraph tomorrow night.

The Next Day

Lance groaned as his alarm started blaring at 6:30. He rolled over and stuck his hand out from the blankets, smacking the snooze button with his fingers. He would have gone back to sleep if it weren't for the alarm clock that was still in his hand. "What the hell..." He mumbled, opening his eyes to put it back.

Lance sat upright in an instant as he found the clock stuck to his hand. "What the fuck..?" he whispered. He inspected his hand and found no glue, so his younger siblings hadn't played a prank on him. He grabbed and yanked it, it detached but then he found it adhered to his other hand. He stared at his hand in disbelief. The surface of the clock was smooth, he could feel it. Almost.... too much. It's like Lance could feel the atoms of the plastic it was made of. With every flex of his hand, it was like his skin had microscopic harpoons attached to the clock. And he didn't know how to deactivate them.

"Ok.... this is confusing and starting to freak me out." Getting up from his bed, Lance moved to his mirror. Did he look.... different? No. He looked the same. 'Did I get.... buff overnight?' His arms looked fuller, more defined. He heard a creak from the floor out somewhere in the house. 'Mom must be awake'

Having temporarily forgotten about the whole "clock stuck to his hand" situation, his body relaxed. Lance jumped at the thud when the clock hit the floor. "Ok... guess I'll get ready.." Lance quickly got dressed. Finding that his limbs getting stuck in his t-shirt make the clothes stick to his hands.

"Mijo? Are you awake? I'm heading to work, but breakfast is ready in the kitchen. Make sure you get to school on time today please." Lance opened his door and it startled his mother a bit. "Have a good day at work Mama." He bent down and kissed her cheek before going back in his room to grab his backpack.

His mom was gone by the time Lance made his way to eat. He still silently thanked her for the pancakes and bacon that was waiting. He grabbed a glass and filled it with orange juice, noting that it was close to empty. He pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to his mom.

~L; Orange juice is almost out, gonna grab some more after school.

He tucked it back into his jeans before digging into the food in front of him. The warm and fluffy deliciousness making him smile. He perked up when he heard another alarm go off. His little brother would be getting up so he could safely leave for school without worrying about his elementary aged siblings.

"Benji! I'm leaving for school, make sure you get the twins up!" Calling up to him, Lance grabbed his bag, keys, and jacket before heading out the door.

Seeing as the streets were still fairly empty since it was still so early, Lance figured he'd test whatever happened to him this morning. "Did that spider give me some magic hoodoo or something..? Cause that would be dope." Lance whispered to himself.

He pulled his phone out again and slapped it against his other hand. Then flipping it upside down, he watched in amazement as it remained flush against his palm. 'Okayyy. What is going on. This is NOT normal for a human body..'

Lance frowned in disappointment as the streets began to fill with people heading to work and school. 'Guess it'll have to wait til later...' Lance shoved his phone back into his pocket and continued his trek to insanity.

Passing various shops and apartments, Lance could see the gates to his high school. The swarm of students walking through reminding Lance to stay focused on having a normal day.

The first bell rang out as most of the student body shuffled their way into their respective classrooms for first period. Lance had geometry, one of his stronger subjects. Waving hello to Mr. Coran, and sitting at his desk. He went to pull put his homework and screamed internally as it stayed adhered to his hand. He shook it around a couple times to try and get it off. 'WHY IS IT STICKING.' his brain screeched.

Lance quickly fixed his probably contorted facial expression as he watched him walk into class. "Him" being Keith Kogane, AKA Lance's crush since last year. Also the cutest boy in the entirety of their school, Keith had girls and boys fawning over him since he arrived at their school. With his gorgeous black hair that always fell perfectly, despite being a mullet. Stormy purple eyes, and the nicest ass you've ever seen. While the girls knew they had no chance, boys were another story, as Keith had been open about being gay after the first girl asked him out in their freshman year. However, Lance was sure Keith only saw him as a friend and good partner, as they were both in the photography club. So at the very least they were friendly with each other.

"Hey Lance." Keith greeted with a small smile, god it made Lance melt. Not that he would ever say that because going after boys would ruin his reputation as the schools resident girl-crazy flirt. So for now, no one could know that Lance was bisexual. Not even his closest friends.

"Oh, morning Keith! Any new photos for the newspaper?" Lance inquired, making any excuse to have a conversation with the black haired boy. Keith just frowned a little as he sat down and got out his supplies. "Unfortunately no, getting good shots of the swim team while they're in the water is a bit difficult. I'll try again at the next meet." Lance nodded and turned back to the front as the final bell rang. Signaling that class was now in session.

Lance tried to pay attention during geometry. He really did. Keith was just too distracting. He could see every flex of his arms in the corner of his eyes as he wrote. The way his brow furrowed slightly when he was concentrating. Lance somehow managed to get at least halfway through his assignment.

He swore a few times Keith had glanced over at him too. It was probably just his mind playing tricks on him. 'Focus Lance. You can ogle Keith later. Right now, geometry time' Even with the internal pep talk, Lance was looking over at him more than his own paper.

The bell rang and Lance sighed in relief. He had no classes with Keith for the rest of the day, so no getting distracted. Or thats what he told himself with definitely not enough conviction to make his mind get the memo. So Lance practically fumbled his way into his gym clothes when he got into the locker room for last period. The reason being that Keith was stuck behind his eyelids and the way he laughed was playing on repeat in his head.

"Yo, Lance. You good buddy?" Lance looked up to his friend Hunk, who thankfully had this class with him. "Oh yeah, I'm good. Just didn't sleep well last night." smiling softly while lying straight through his teeth. Hunk patted his back as they headed into the gymnasium. "I told you, gotta stop going up to the roof late at night to take pictures. You stay up there for too long." Lance shrugged. "I actually was only up there for like fifteen minutes last night, I left after a spider bit me.." His body shuddered as it remembered the small insect had been crawling on him.

Hunk chuckled as they sat on the floor for daily stretches. "Surprised you came to school and didn't immediately go to the hospital to make sure you weren't dying. Your mom would've totally let you skip." Lance waved him off, their conversation ending as the coach walked in with the bell.

"Alright maggots! One you're done stretching, line up at the end hoop for suicides! Crying is NOT a valid excuse for sitting. Oh and try not to puke kids. I am not cleaning this floor again." Coach Iverson yelled. Giving each and every teen a strict and menacing glare. Lance knew Hunk wouldn't last but thankfully, Hunk knew when to stop and get to the nearest trashcan. Lance however...... was probably going to die of overexertion.

As the 23 students lined up to sprint, Iverson took his place to the side next to the bleachers. Whistle stuck in between his lips as he waited for the last stragglers to find their places. "10 minutes! Starting...... Now!" The loud aggravated sound of the whistle was the start of Lance's most confusing 10 minutes of his life.

See, usually, Lance would be huffing and gasping for air full breath by the 3 minute mark. Today, he made it to 7 before his lungs started protesting. 'Why do I feel fine right now???' Lance continued sprinting, barely feeling the slight ache of constriction from his chest. His legs should definitely be jelly by now. But they felt...... astronomically solid. 'My stamina, I know for a fact did not make the jump to athlete level overnight.....'

Lances thoughts didn't have time to work themselves out as the timer buzzed, signaling the end of suicide sprints. Iverson laughed as most of the class collapsed if they weren't already huddled by the large trash cans spread throughout the room. "That the best you can do??? Even Lance managed to keep it together the whole 10 this time! And that's nothing short of a miracle! HA!" Lance gave a small smile as he was one of the only kids still standing. The others were a few of the boys on the track or football team. He felt their eyes, looks filled with suspicion and disbelief.

"Uhh...." Lance could feel his anxiety welling up into his chest. "I just had a carb packed lunch Coach...... Helped keep my energy up." He offered, hoping the athletic boys would stop looking at him so intently. He stood frozen, his meek smile wavering as he prayed they would believe his lie. Mainly because he didn't even know the truth behind it. "Finally taking my advice! Good! Maybe now you'll take an interest in a real club. Or join a sport!" Iverson broke the short silence. Which made the boys look away, finding that Iverson believing in him was reason enough not to look into Lance's sudden enhanced stamina.

Lance exhaled in relief, then making his way to Hunk. Who had stopped hurling his guts a minute ago. Hunk was the only one to give him a suspicious look this time, "Since when were you able to blast through suicides without dying? And don't say carby lunch cause you had maybe one bread roll." Hunk questioned. Lance scratched the back of his neck. Glancing sideways before looking back. "I dunno man. I just had a lot of extra energy today. Which is weird considering how tired I was earlier." Hunk narrowed his eyes. Giving his friend a once over. "Sure Lance."

The final bell rang as Lance changed and packed his bag up. ' Finally. It's photo time.' He splashed his face with water and reapplied some deodorant to try to rid himself of the sweaty stench of gym class. He made his way to his locker, grabbing his camera and dropping off his backpack. "Lance!" His head snapped in the direction of the voice. Finding Keith jogging up to him. 'God he is so beautiful and perfect even when jogging. And his face ugh. I wanna kiss it.'

"Oh what's up Keith? I was just heading to the club room." Lance somehow managed to hide his nerves as he look at Keith. The shorter boy tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear. "I just came to tell you that we have an event to do tomorrow. Orchestra is doing a joint concert with choir and Allura wants us to shoot it." Lance smiled and adjusted his camera bag. "Well we should go test lighting and angles then shouldn't we?" Lance screamed internally. A full 2 hours of hanging with Keith alone in the theater room??? A dream come true.

Lance and Keith walked side by side, silent, much to Lance's disappointment. Even though he made no effort to strike up small talk or any conversation for that matter. They pushed open the theater doors, taking each step (coincidentally) in sync to the bottom. Keith paused and stared onto the lit up stage. "You know I always wanted to do theater as a kid."

Lance hid his shocked emotion and just turned to look at him. "Why didn't you?" Keith continued looking at the stage wistfully with a small, almost regretful, smile before turning to look at Lance. "Tore my ACL at my first audition. It's all completely healed now but.... I just never had the same passion for it afterwards. So I found my new calling in immortalizing the passions of others...." Lance was in awe at this point. He reached and softly laid his hand on Keith's shoulder. "Glad you found something to be proud of doing. Even if it wasn't your first choice." He dropped his hand and sighed. "Takes a lot of strength to move past something you held so much love for. Thanks for sharing that with me Keith..." The black haired boy turned and gave an appreciatory smile, his eyes soft. "Let's get to work yeah?"

After they wrapped up and said their goodbyes. Lance found himself walking back to the roof. He clambered up the ladder and hoisted himself over the ledge. "Now.... where did that damn spider go." Lance stepped carefully as he neared the opposite ledge where he was bit. His eyes skimmed over the concrete before spotting his target. "Now.... what the hell is so special about you.... and how did you give me crazy powers..." Lance muttered and lowered himself into a cross legged position."

Lance gently poked at the arachnid's corpse with a pencil. It (obviously) didn't react and just rolled around like a small ball of paper. He opted to take a picture of it with his phone and stare at it accusingly.

"Did you give me spider powers? Is that why things stick to my hands sometimes now?" He gripped his pencil tightly and then let go. Watching with disappointment as it simply clattered to the ground. He smacked the concrete is frustration. His palms splaying across the grey material. "Pretty stupid powers if they don't even work when I want them to..." Lance went to stand, but found that his hands were now stuck to the floor.

"OH NOW YOU CHOOSE TO WORK?!" He yelled angrily. Pulling and trying to yank his hands away from cold surface. Lance tried this for *20 minutes*.

He resigned himself to his sticky fate and sat back down. Hand on either side, decidedly unmoving from the roof. "God damn fucking spider. Gives me powers that work by their own agendas even though it's MY BODY." Lance huffed and just closed his eyes. Listening to the discordant symphony of New York's soundscapes. "At least one thing stays the same here....."

After about 10 minutes of just surrendering himself to the ambience of his city. He felt the autonomy of his hands return. So he just grumbled to himself about his bipolar powers and made his way back down to the street. Backpack resting comfortably against his mid back. He made his way home, unlocking his front door and closing it dejectedly behind him.

"Forget the orange juice mijo?" Lance peered across the room at his mother who had a teasing smile on her lips. "Oh. Yeah, sorry Mama. I just needed a break and totally forgot..." Lance looked down, cursing himself for being so forgetful. His mom just walked over and softly cupped his cheek i her hand. "It's alright mijo. I figured you would, so I picked some up just in case." She patted his face gently and turned back to the kitchen. Resuming her task of preparing dinner for her family.

Lance perked up after a moment. "Oh! Isn't Dad getting back tonight?" He asked, sitting down at the table. Setting his backpack down by his feet. His mom grinned as she glanced back at him. "Right you are mijo. I'm finishing dinner and then leaving to go pick him up from the airport. We'll probably be back before the twins go to bed." Lance smiled and went to pull his homework out. Hoping to get some finished before eating. "He's been gone for weeks. I can't wait to show him all the photos I've taken." So Lance got to working diligently. Spending time with his dad was never a guarantee, so having no work to do meant more time with his hard working father.

Lance sat waiting at the dining table. Twins already asleep. Benji was sitting across from him. "Do you think they're ok?" Lance asked his brother. Worry etched all over his face. Benji was tapping his fingers against the table over and over. He looked up at Lance, mirroring his expression. "I'm sure they're fine...... Mama's always been an excellent driver and......" Benji paused to take a deep breath. "Dad would never let anything happen to Mama. He'd die before he let anything hurt her. You know that Lance." Benji's words were comforting but Lance couldn't be fully convinced when his little brother's face was wearing the same anxieties and fears as his own was surely showing.

Lance dropped his head onto the table. Trying to take deep breaths like his Dad taught him to whenever his anxiety was threatening to burst out. "You're probably right..... I'm gonna give Mama a call though. This doesn't feel right." Benji nodded grimly at his brother as Lance navigated to his contacts in his phone. He scrolled and pressed his Mother's icon. Putting the phone on speaker before setting it in between the two boys. It dialed 5 times before they heard it had been answered.

"Mama? Where are you? You said you'd be home before the twins went to sleep." Lance fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he waited for her answer. Staring at Benji with poorly hid fear. It was silent for a few moments before a voice echoed through his speaker.

"I'm afraid your Mama can't come to the phone at this moment Lance. An urgent surgery came up so we had to call her in." Lance and Benji both breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Where's our Dad then?" He asked. The nurse on the phone sounded warm as she spoke. "He's alright, he's sitting here in the nurses station while he waits for her. Do you want to talk to him?" Lance airily laughed with exasperation. "No, thank you that's alright. We'll see him in the morning. Tell him we love him please." Lance heard her small 'Okie dokie' before the call ended.

Benji and Lance both dropped their heads to the table with a thud. "Thank god." Benji whispered into the wood. "You can say that again..." Lance breathed. He sat up and ran his hands over his face. "Ok. We know they're ok. We should go to sleep now Benji. We do still have school tomorrow."

Benji looked at him with a sad and tired smile. "Yeah. I wanna stay up til they get back, but that may be hours from now. I'll see him tomorrow." Lance nodded sympathetically, collecting his phone before he followed Benji up the stairs to their respective rooms. They both fell asleep quickly, the promises of what tomorrow meant lulling them into happy dreams.

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