It's another Klance personality-swap!

It was a lot of fun writing last time, and it was commented again to me so why not?

- Azume

* And in this AU, I'm going to use she/her pronouns for Pidge, who's in it for a bit.

"We'll use my app." Keith whispered with a Cheshire cat-like grin spreading across his face, his charcoal eyes glinting dangerously in the semi-darkness.

Lance rolled his eyes at Keith, and hugged his coat closer to himself, trying to stop the shivers that ran down his spine as the wind brushed past him. He seemed to be the only person in their group with a common sense - they had all worn thin costumes, even though it was technically early winter. It was dumb to wear a costume at this time of night anyway, the Halloween celebrations had ended hours ago.

Pidge stepped forward, heavy and stoic in her impressively well put together knight outfit. The plastic armour clicked as she moved, rubbing together and groaning as the separate pieces connected. The armour was a realistic silver colour, and shined like a beacon, reflecting multiple shattered strips of light away from her. "What app is this?" She said testily, fixing her mask to accommodate for the thick rimmed glasses beneath it.

"It's my chooser app!" Keith grinned, thrusting his phone in the knight's face, it's bright light temporarily stunning the genius. Pidge recovered quickly and reached out an armoured hand to clasp the phone, which she did successfully. She held it right under her nose, scanning the surface with an intense gaze before handing back to Keith with a nod of approval. With her eyebrows raised, she seemed surprised that Keith had managed to produce a working chooser app, whatever that was.

Of course, Pidge was right to be surprised. Keith was hardly serious, and it took a lot of coaxing for him to do anything he wasn't one hundred percent interested in. But if he was interested, the boy would never stop trying, and work and strain and suffer until he reached his goal. And his long-time goal seemed to be one-upping Lance, who, as far as he recalled, had never done anything wrong.

"Bet you couldn't have found something like this!" Keith addressed Lance gleefully, a smug smile dominating his face. "All I have to do here is type in your names," He did so; "And then it'll pair us up for the test of courage!" Keith ended his speech with a flourish, gesturing grandly. He paused, and slowly rotated in a circle, making eye contact with each individual in their group. His gaze fell on Lance, and he hmphed, before moving on to Hunk, who was standing awkwardly beside him, rubbing his hands together feverishly. "Who wants to press the button?"

"I'll do it!" Allura said excitedly, clapping her hands together as she swiped the phone from Keith's tantalizing hold. She was dressed as an angel, and shook her long dainty sleeves back so she could press the button. Once she did, Allura let out a small squeal, and grinned widely. It took her a moment to regain her composure, and another to steady her breathing so she could actually read out the paired names.

"Okay, so, shall I just say the pairs?" Allura said tentatively, looking at Keith for direction, who rubbed his hands together and nodded. "Okay so going in first it's me and Shiro," Allura cast a furtive glance behind her, where her cyborg clad boyfriend winked. "And second it's Pidge and Hunk," The two aforementioned exchanged a glance of recognition. "And last but not least, it's Keith and Lance."

He knew this was coming, but Lance couldn't help but let out a groan, rolling his eyes as Keith's sigh of defeat lapsed in harmony with his own. They were going in last, so they'd have to wait while everyone else entered the abandoned house, and then they'd have to go in... together. Keith was dressed as a zombie, with illuminous green paint smothered across his face - they would stand out. Lance could easily disappear and leave Keith alone in the house, but he didn't really like the dark himself, and Keith was his only option of comfort. It was a bad option, but Keith was better than nothing. The boy was loud and tenacious - he would definitely distract Lance from the impenetrable darkness that would surround them.

"Okay then, we're off!" Allura announced, grabbing Shiro's arm and pulling him away from the group. They strode confidently towards the "haunted" house, completely oblivious to the fraying pieces of tape emblazoned with warnings draped around the structure. As Allura pulled the door open, ignoring the drawn out creak it made, Shiro turned to address the younger members of the group standing expectantly behind him. He fixed the remaining group with a hard stare.

"Stick to the plan, okay guys?" He said. "Hunk, you're in charge."

Hunk, barely recognisable in his slick black Dracula cloak, nodded, a warm smile spreading across his face. Allura then grabbed Shiro's arm, and dragged him through the door, pulling it shut with an evil grin.

Hunk and Lance shivered, and exchanged a furtive glance. It wasn't from the cold. Hunk then turned to Pidge, and she rolled her eyes and told Keith to set the timer. The illuminous zombie did so, and the group began the two minute wait in silence. Lance surveyed Keith, subtly noting how the boy's charcoal eyes had a glint of purple in them whenever he smiled, and that he seemed to have gotten shorter over the past week or so. Maybe Lance had just grown, because it wasn't like people could shrink. But then he noticed it - the Mullet had tied his hair back. It was in a small ponytail, barely noticeable. But Lance had been bored, so of course he'd noticed it. Maybe the others had too - like, Lance was quite observant - because it wasn't as if Keith was trying to hide his hairstyle change. He just had uncharacteristically not broadcasted it.

Keith turned to Lance with a sigh. "I guess we're alone out here for the next two minutes."

Lance grunted. "Yeah. Where did Pidge and Hunk go?"

Keith scoffed, his face breaking into an easy smile. "I thought you were meant to be the focused one in our group!" He let out a cascade of snorts, and Lance rolled his eyes, pulling his phone from his thick coat pockets. He was just pressing the keys for his password as Keith spoke again, his voice light and airy. "They left a second ago, I'm surprised you didn't notice, with that high and mighty attitude you've got going on."

Lance slipped his phone back into his pocket before glaring at Keith, biting his tongue. He was too busy wondering about the stupid mullet's stupid ponytail. Stupid mullet. A scream rang out from the haunted house, and Keith jumped, letting out a squeak of fear. Lance smirked as Keith's face exploded in a blossom of red, and he spun around on his heel, pressing his hands to his cheeks.

"Aww." Lance said in a low voice, slowly, teasingly, the smirk widening. "Did that scare you, Keith?"

"No!" Keith protested indignantly, still facing away from Lance, hands never leaving his face.

"Don't worry, you're the courageous Keith Kogane, you got the chooser app to work, you're so charismatic! It's okay to be scared of a wittle scream." Lance grinned.

Keith twisted back around to face Lance, his eyes blazing, his pale cheeks splotched red. "I wasn't scared!"

Lance smiled ominously, raising his eyebrows.

"I wasn't!" Keith insisted, the purple glint in his eyes glowing.

Lance cocked his head to the side. "Don't worry." He said mock-soothingly. "I won't tell anyone."

"Ugh - I don't even wanna go in there with you!" Keith burst out, glaring furiously at Lance. He seemed to register what he'd said, because a moment later he averted his eyes and thrust his hands in his pockets moodily. "Sorry." He muttered uncharacteristically.

"Look, I don't want to spend my Saturday night stuck in some haunted house with you either. You're a complete moron." Lance stated harshly, willing his hard words to pull Keith's withdrawn gaze back upon him. Keith looked up, and narrowed his eyes, silently thinking of what to say next.

"Ouch, man." Keith finally said, attempting a carefree laugh. "Damn."

"Yeah, well, I'm cold." Lance replied emotionlessly, his face a slate. "And it's dark in there." He added quietly, almost to himself.

Unfortunately, Keith caught the whispered entrails of his last comment and his eyes widened. The mullet-zombie took a step towards Lance and pulled himself up to his full height, locking eyes instantly. Their purple-grey depths seemed more chocolate brown in that moment, deep and clear and bright and open.

"Are you afraid of the dark?"

Lance gulped, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. Keith wouldn't let his gaze waver from his searching depths, and was clutching his shoulders with an iron grip. The mullet tightened his hold, and leaned closer into Lance's face, breathing a slow, minty breath.

"You are, aren't you?" He said softly, seriously.

Lance looked away, shaking Keith's deathly grip off with a powerful shrug. "I guess so."

Keith's eyes lit up with a passionate fire, and he set his jaw. The boy pulled his blinking phone out from his pocket, and switched the flashing alarm off with a faint buzz. He stared up at Lance, his whole posture squared and laced with a fiery determination. The boy seemed to shake with anticipation, and he held out a hand to Lance, trembling slightly.

Keith grinned widely, his eyes dancing. "I'll hold your hand so you don't get scared, yeah?"

Lance felt his fear disappear for a moment, replaced by a completely foreign longing for human contact, for him to reach out and take Keith's hand, to feel the warmth of his skin. Lance had never felt such a yearning before, and it had crashed upon him like a tidal wave - sudden and with full force, washing all other needs and wants away in the ferocious waves. He felt himself succumb to the alien desire, and watched - almost as if he was another person, a bystander - his hand stretch towards Keith's, his long fingers lacing themselves in the mullet's.

Keith smiled, determination burning in his eyes. He squeezed Lance's hand once, twice, and then a third time. "I'll chase all the monsters and ghosts away." Keith winked, and then squeezed Lance's hand reassuringly.

Lance rolled his eyes, trying to appear disinterested. His tongue was lodged down his throat though, and it seemed to have completely blocked up his windpipe. His chest felt tight with compressed air, and his cheeks burned furiously. Lance attempted to swallow, hoping he didn't look the way he felt - like all the oxygen in the whole entire world had just suddenly vanished.

First alien emotions, then difficulty breathing. What was happening to him? It must've been Keith. Keith had some kind of air draining ability, or some strange variation of mind control powers. This had never happened before to Lance, ever.

But it wasn't all that bad, once you got used to the light-headedness and shortness of breath.

"Okay, just..." Lance trailed off, unsure of what he was going to say next himself. Keith met his eyes and nodded, reading Lance like a book.

"Don't worry, Mr. No Costume." Keith smiled, leading Lance towards the haunted house. "I'm not gonna let go of your hand. Not until we make it back out."

Lance returned the smile gratefully, helping Keith push the heavy door open, repressing a subtle shiver at how it seemed darker inside the haunted house than outside at an abandoned street at 9PM.

"I guess I'm stuck with you then." Lance said, tentatively stepping into the haunted house, wincing at the way the wooden floorboards creaked under his weight.

Keith grinned. "And I'm not letting you go."

Um. So this was fun.

I'm on a half-hiatus right now, so I won't be updating as often as I had for the other previous chapters, but I'll still be writing this story.

So remember to give me ideas/ships/encouragement so I update more often!

- Azume