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Chapter Text

It was no secret in the Hernandez-McClain household that the youngest child (though not for long as his mother was expecting another son within the next two months) and his familiar did not get along very well. Lance was stubborn and Keith even more so. They butted heads, argued and got into fights, resulting in needing to be patched up from their scrapes and bruises (Lance pulled hair, Keith bit. Hard.).

It had gotten worse since Lance’s growth spurt. He was all limbs but before where Keith had been steadily growing taller and taller, Lance now had a good three or four inches on him. At thirteen, he would only continue and Keith was absolutely not bitter about it, no he was not! Him drinking more milk lately also meant nothing!

Of course there were the days that they seemed to settle, calm and content to be in each other’s presence and not at all like it was the end of the world if they even pretended to get along. And they would get along well! They’d laugh and joke and play and everyone would hope and pray that it’d last. It never would, but they could dream.

Keith woke up this morning early and before Lance. He usually did, just as he usually watched the young witch boy as he slept. It wasn’t creepy, he just liked scaring the boy when he woke up, always laughing as he raced out of the room with the witch hot on his heels before he was told to go brush his teeth and get downstairs for breakfast.

Today was like any other day. Keith was bored, ears flicking as he laid curled up in his kitten form, lazily counting out the freckles on Lance’s face. He never got to finish, the boy always waking up and Keith always finding more to count. But today he was feeling more tired than usual, and he was certain he’d counted the same freckle about ten times. Yeah, he needed more sleep. His eyes began to wander, as usually happens when someone’s sleepy, and his eyelids drooped. Just a bit of a nap. His eyes moved, flickering down and settling on Lance’s lips.

That was normal. Keith had seen Lance’s lips before (he’s looked at his witch’s face, okay? His face has lips.) What wasn’t normal was the stray thought that crept into his head, like the Boogeyman himself. Silent, sinister and unwanted.

If I leaned just a bit closer I could kiss him.

Whoa, what, ho, hey, hi, no! No! Keith’s eyes widened, suddenly wide awake, and he sat up, his fur standing on end. That … that wasn’t him! Nope, no sir! He did not just think that!
But he did. He looked to his witch, his ears twitching and tail thumping lightly against the bed. His mind was racing and he found himself thinking to all of the stray thoughts like that he’d had before about his witch. He never really paid much attention to them but now…

He looks really nice today. His hair looks soft. His laugh is so nice. I wish he wouldn’t stop petting me. He’s so warm. His smile is pretty. Wow, his eyes are really blue today.

Oh.
Oh no.
Keith had a crush on Lance.
Keith had a crush on his witch!

That… that wasn’t normal. Definitely not normal. Familiars weren’t supposed to have those kinds of feelings for their witches. They were just supposed to be close as friends, confidants. Helping and encouraging. They weren’t supposed to think about kissing or hand holding or… or… or anything else!

Keith panicked, as is a normal reaction, and promptly jumped out of bed and hurried out of the room. He wasn’t going to stay there with Lance. Nope. Nah-ah. Peace!

So the black cat had strolled downstairs, ate contently in silence and managed, for the most part, to forget about his sudden revelation about his feelings. He was fine. He could do this. He just… had to never admit it to anyone or acknowledge it and it would definitely go away. Out of sight, out of mind, right?
But then Lance came down in sight and went right back into Keith’s mind. Great. He didn’t think too much through his plan. His ears flicked as he gently held the cup of milk in his hands, taking a sip from it. Just ignore it. He told himself. Don’t think about it.

“Hey gatito.” Lance huffed, sitting down in his chair, “Decided to not give me a heart attack first thing this morning?”
“Lancito, no fighting before breakfast.” His mother said, gently setting down a plate in front of him, his eggs cooked sunny-side up as he liked them. He reached around, grabbing some toast and a few pieces of cut up mango and began to eat.

“You complain when I do,” Keith mumbled, ears lowering, “and now you’re complaining that I didn’t?”
“I’m just saying,” the witch boy shrugged, stuffing a yolk-soaked piece of bread into his mouth. “You got something planned, and I’m not gonna fall for it!”

“Lance, don’t talk with your mouth full.” his mother chided, buttering up a slice of bread for herself.

“I’m not doing anything!” Keith’s fur stood up, defensively, his face scrunching up into a scowl.

“You totally are!” Lance glared right back. “What is it?”

“Nothing you paranoid lunatic!”

“You’re a paranoid lunatic!”

“That doesn’t make sense!”

“You don’t make sense!!”

“Enough!” Lance’s mother frowned, eyes narrowing at the two bickering. “No more fighting at the table.” Her gaze shot fear into the boys and they instantly quieted, looking down to their plates as they began to eat once more.

The truce lasted only until they were finished, which meant Lance began badgering Keith, demanding he tell him what the familiar was planning. Keith was growing more and more annoyed that he wasn’t being listened to. The final straw had been when he’d been pouting and glaring at Lance while the witch boy bragged about how “it wouldn’t matter” what Keith was planning because “I’m too awesome to fall for some dumb trick!” that the thought from that morning slipped back into his head.

Kiss him.

Keith huffed, looking away, “Why are you so pretty and so dumb?” he mumbled under his breath. But Lance heard him.
Kind of.
“Excuse me?!” Lance growled, “I’m not pretty dumb!” A swing and a miss. “You’re being such a jerk today!”

“Me? I haven’t done anything!” The cat hissed, ears pressing flat against his head. “You’re being a jerk, you jerk!” With that, Keith changed, the tiny black cat racing off, jumping onto the couch and leaping onto one of the top shelves, far away from his witch.

“Hey! Get down from there!” Lance said, looking up to him. “You’re going to break something and then I’m gonna get in trouble!”
“I will not!” Keith glared down to the witch boy. “Leave me alone!”

“You’re supposed to listen to me! Get down, now!” And Keith chose to respond in a completely mature way.

“Get down, now!”

“Excuse me?”

“Excuse me?”

Lance’s face burned red as he glared, “Stop copying me!”

“Stop copying me!” Keith stuck out his tongue, his tail flicking in irritation.

“You stupid familiar!” Lance stomped his foot. “I hate you!”

Keith felt his heart skip, drop with dread. He should stop and apologize.
“I hate you, too!” He said, instead.

“I wish you weren’t my familiar!” the witch boy continued, “You’re the worst familiar ever! I wish you’d just go away!”

“Yeah?” Keith stood up, “Fine! I don’t want to be your familiar, anyway!” He jumped down, landing on Lance’s head, causing the boy to yelp, flail and stumble backwards, landing on his rear. The black cat gracefully hopped off, and before Lance could even turn around to shout Keith was gone, slinking down into the basement. Upstairs he heard muffled voices, probably Lance getting scolded.

Whatever. Keith huffed as he paced around the basement before finding and jumping up onto a high shelf and laid down. If Lance didn’t want to talk to him or see him then... then fine! He’d just hang out down here then all day all by himself! Besides, it wasn’t laundry day so no one would have a reason to come down here.

So of course after a few minutes a pied raven flew up to where he was sulking, setting next to him. “Hey there, Keith.”
“Go away, Zara.” Keith huffed, curling into a ball, his tail twitching.
“No, no sulking.” the familiar said, huffing as she moved her head, nudging him.
“I’m not sulking!” Keith said, pouting.
“No pouting, either.”
“Not pouting!” Keith’s tail flapped out, knocking over the box of detergent. It was thankfully sealed enough nothing spilled. “Leave me alone.”
“No can do.” the raven proceeded to land on Keith’s head, settling there and giving absolutely zero care to the disgruntled growls from the kitten. “You need to come back upstairs and talk to Lance.”

“What? Why?” The kitten huffed, “I don’t want to talk to him, and I bet he don’t wanna talk to me, either! He hates me.”

“Keith, Lance doesn’t really hate you.” A new voice piped up and both cat and bird (mainly because the cat was doing all the movement) looked over. Lance’s mother’s familiar, Sophronia, was staring up to them, her white hair tied back into an elegant bun as she smiled calmly up to them. “Come here, little one.” Keith gave a grunt but allowed the older familiar to lift him, Zara flying off and shifting, claiming she was going back upstairs. Keith was gently placed on the floor and, after a moment, he shifted as well, crossing his arms and looking off to the side.

“He said he hated me.” he mumbled.
“You said it back.” Sophronia was gentle as she looked to him, not trying to pressure him. She knew the child wouldn’t like that.
“But I didn’t mean it, Ronnie!” The black cat looked up, eyes wide. “He said it first!”

Sophronia made a gentle sound, kneeling down and brushed some hair from the kitten’s face. “It’s okay, dear.” she said, smiling softly. “You and Lance are both bullheaded and strong, it’s no surprise that the two of you butt heads like you do.” she drew the younger familiar into her arms, lifting him. He was probably definitely too large to be picked up like that, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like it. Keith squirmed just so he could get comfortable and clung to her shoulders. “Once you two have cooled off, go talk to him. Apologize for antagonizing him and he’ll apologize for hurting your feelings.”

“You really think he will?” Keith mumbled, ears low against his head. “I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t.”

“I know you didn’t, Keith.” The older woman smiled, kissing the top of the kitten’s head before setting him back down. “Just give him some time, okay?”

Keith nodded, rubbing at his eyes, trying to push back his tears. “Okay.”

He gave Lance time. A whole day. He’d tried to go see him before but Lance had completely shut him down whenever he tried to talk, an annoying(ly adorable) “ab-bip bip bip” as he cut off Keith’s words and walked away. But now? Now he was going to get Lance to talk. He was going to apologize!

“Lance,” Keith huffed, standing on Lance’s chest, his tiny kitten body not very heavy, but he knew where to stand to knock the wind out of his witch.
“Get off,” Lance wheezed, glaring.

“Lance, I just want to say something.” Keith lowered his ears. “Lance, I’m so--”

“Nope!” With a great effort Lance sat up, and Keith, in a panic, dug his claws into his witch’s shirt. Many things happened in that moment. Lance yelled out in pain, Keith yowled as Lance grabbed him and threw him off, Lance jumped up and stormed out of the room and finally shouted “Go away and leave me alone! I never want to see you again!”

So Keith, dazed from being manhandled, did just that.
By the time Lance’s mother had found out what happened, tending to her son’s wounds the rest of the familiars found that Keith was gone, the small window down in the basement cracked open just wide enough for a tiny black kitten to slip through.

Chapter Text

Keith will admit (later in life, not right now) that he didn’t think running away through. He had no idea where to go or what he was going to do now. But he was not going to go back home. Nope. Lance didn’t want him there, so why should he go there? It was obvious that Lance meant it when he said how he felt the night before.

Lance hated him.
Wow. Great job, Keith. In the span of twenty-four hours you managed to come to terms that you have a crush on your witch, got into an argument and got him to definitely hate you and kick you out of the house. (Did he really? Yes, Keith decided, yes he did.) Keith huffed, slinking through the streets, staying in his cat form to move more easily.

His stomach growled, and pulled him from his depressing thoughts. He hadn’t eaten, yet. His ears lowered as he glanced around, spying a small cafe just ahead. He licked at his lips and hurried ahead, slipping inside as someone entered. He suddenly realized that he had no money and no way to actually get food. And with the door closed behind him he’d have to shift to leave and that… that just felt like giving up. So he just chose to roam around the tables and see if someone would be willing to give him a bite of something. A muffin, eggs, anything.

“Hey!” Keith’s fur stood up as he jumped. “Get out of here!” He whipped his head around, seeing a large man step out from around the counter. “You and your friends aren’t going to fool me! Get!” What friends? Keith hunkered down, opening his mouth to try and appease the man when a crash sounded from back behind the counter. The man whipped around, yelled out in anger then promptly flicked out his wrist. Keith was lifted into the air and the kitten yelped, squirming as he was dragged along while the man yelled out in anger. Soon a group of animals burst through the kitchen doors: a large Doberman, a really colorful bird and three cats came shooting out, each of them with some kind of food in their mouth (or feet in the bird’s case). The owner shouted out as a customer walked in, unaware of the chaos happening, and promptly gave the band of troublemakers an escape. And somewhere for the owner to throw Keith out after.
Keith really did not like being thrown, he decided in that moment.

“Stay out of my store!” The man yelled as Keith tumbled, fumbling his landing before he hurried off in a blind panic. He hadn’t even realized he’d been running after the others, too distracted by looking over his shoulder in case the owner had been chasing after him (for whatever reason) and ran right into something big and solid. He (absolutely did not) squeaked as he bounced off whatever he hit and looked up, glaring before he shrunk down. The Doberman was standing tall and intimidating, lips curled back and growling.

Oh crap….

“What are you doing following us, runt?” the Doberman growled, her voice rough and thick.
“I-I wasn’t!” Keith said, trying his best to sound tough, even though his fur was completely standing on end, his tail poofed to comedic proportions. “I-I was just running away from that guy back there!” The Doberman growled and Keith tensed up, ears pinning back as he hissed back.

He… was definitely not very intimidating, judging by the high laugh coming behind the dog. “Oh, my gosh! He’s adorable!” The colorful bird came over, perching herself on the Doberman’s head. “Look at him! He’s trying to be threatening!” She waved a wing at the small kitten, “Hello little baby! Whose a vicious widdle kitten? Huh? Who?”

Okay, that’s just rude! Keith huffed, “I’m not a baby!” The bird only cooed more.
“Awww! Can we keep him?”
“I bet he can’t even control his changing.” A new voice came up, and out walked two of the three cats that Keith had seen. One was a smokey grey-blue color, their eyes cloudy but they seemed to be able to maneuver just fine. The other was more sleek looking, save for her tail which was bushier than Keith thought it should be. It was the second one that had spoken as she opened her mouth again. “What are you doing out here all alone? Did you get lost?” Her tone was mocking. Keith knew mocking.
Keith did not like mocking.

“I’m not lost!” Keith hissed, “And I can change!” And he did, just to prove it. He crossed his arms, huffing as his ears twitching in irritation. “See?”
The bird cooed again and soon the four familiars in front of him had also changed. All were women, and they were all older and taller than him. The Doberman was a broad woman with short black hair with an orange streak in it and a large grin as she laughed and dropped her hand on Keith’s head. “He’s so tiny!” she said, turning to where the bird had been, a tall slender woman in its place.

“We have to keep him! He’s precious!” the bird-woman said, leaning down and cupped the sides of Keith’s face, squishing his cheeks together. “Look at those eyes, oh my gosh!”

“If you’re not lost then what are you doing out here, kid?” The woman with black hair tugged back into a short ponytail asked, raising a perfectly thin eyebrow. The final woman still refused to talk, a hood draped over her head and covering her face, but she was fidgeting with her hands. What was she doing?

“Narti might have a point.” the broad woman said, “He does still smell strongly of a witch.”
“Lots of witches at that.” the slender woman frowned, “Hey, did you run away? Were you in a bad place?”

Keith blinked, his face scrunching up in confusion. “I ran away ‘cause my witch didn’t want me.” he said. “He said he hates me and told me to go away and leave him alone.”

The four women looked at one another, the broad one scoffing. “Witches.” she muttered under her breath, “Think they can do whatever they damn well please!”
“Zeth! Language!” the slender one gasped, “We have a child present!”

While the broad woman actually looked guilty, the one with the ponytail knelt down, looking Keith in the eyes. “You have a name, kid?” she asked, her face softening. “Anywhere to go?”

“I’m..” Keith frowned, his ears lowering a bit, “My name is Keith.” he glanced down, his hands curling up into fists. “I… I don’t. I just ran away.” Wow, he felt like crying right now. Everything that happened in the past few hours was hitting him hard. His feelings for Lance, getting into that fight, basically being disowned… he hadn’t even realized he’d let out a sniffle until a pair of arms had wrapped around him. The woman was hugging him.

“It’s alright.” she said, patting his back. She pulled back and smiled. “My name’s Acxa.” She nudged her head towards the woman with a hood, “That’s Narti. And those two over there are Zethrid and Ezor.” They all waved and Keith gave a tiny wave back. “We’ve all been abandoned by our witches, too.”

“Really?” Keith blinked, and the four smiled.
“Yeah,” Ezor spoke up, “Mine thought I was too chatty and distracting and she didn’t like how I always tried to help her out. But, I mean, isn’t that what I’m supposed to do? She just kept telling me to stand back and leave her alone. We never got along!”

“Mine said I was too rough.” Zethrid muttered, crossing her arms. “The final straw for him was when I was defending him from some punk and wound up breaking the guy’s arms. He said I went too far.” She screwed up her face, “Excuse me for trying to protect him!”

“Narti came down with Familiar Flu,” Acxa said, “she was used as free labor so it hit her hard. She can’t see or speak anymore. Her magic is still as strong as ever, but her witch didn’t want to have to care for her, she broke the bond.”

Keith blinked, looking at the three women, before looking up to Acxa. “What about you?” he asked, and Acxa gave a sad smile.
“My witch died.” she said, and Keith’s shoulders hunched up. Nothing more needed to be said, but he still muttered an apology, to which Acxa only laughed and patted his head. “It’s okay, kid. Don’t worry about it.”

The four women all smiled, Ezor walking over to playfully lift up Keith. “You’re gonna be one of us now!”
“Wait,” Zethrid frowned, “not that I’m not happy about this, but aren’t we forgetting someone?” The other froze and before Keith could ask what they meant a new voice spoke up behind them.

“You are, actually.” A tall, pale man walked out from the alley, his hair pure white and left loose and flowing. He looked around at the four women before his steel blue eyes settled on Keith, who instantly tensed up. He stepped over and Ezor carefully set the preteen down, but stayed close to him. “Why should we let some little kid like this into our group? We’re not babysitters.”

Keith frowned, “You don’t need to babysit me! I can take care of myself!”
“Like how you took care of yourself in that cafe? Being caught in such a simple levitation spell and thrown around like a ragdoll?” Ouch. Keith’s pride. “We’re not going to baby you or give you special treatment just because you’re like six.”

“I’m thirteen!” the kitten huffed in irritation. “And you don’t have to baby me!”

The man and Keith stared at each other, the man looking unimpressed while Keith glared up with all the fury a small thirteen year old could manage. After a while then man smirked and laughed.
“He’s got spunk.” he reached down, ruffling Keith’s hair much to the young familiar’s irritation. “He can stay. Let’s get back to eating.”

At the word, Keith’s stomach growled loudly. He blushed, ears lowering as everyone around him laughed, Zethrid picking him up and perching him onto her shoulders. “Come on, kid. Let’s chow down.”
“Yeah!” Keith smiled, giggling happily as he was carried into the alleyway and through a loose board in a closed down building. It wasn’t a full feast of eggs, toast, fruit and meat, but with everyone smiling and laughing and not trying to pick a fight with him… it was pretty nice.

Dorks. They were all dorks.
Now don’t get Keith wrong, he loves hanging out with the group (Ezor affectionately calls themselves the Fab Five, but since Keith makes six, she’s been trying to think of a new adjective), and it’s so awesome that a bunch of older familiars are letting him hang out with them, but one thing Keith learned quickly was that they weren’t that cool. Well, they were cool, but… oh, Keith wasn’t sure how to put it.
Once the appeal and the sheen of being able to hang out with the older kids wore off Keith realized that they weren’t different than him. They laughed and joked and made faces at each other. Lotor, as the man had introduced himself, then proceeded to turn on a radio that was held together with duct tape and sheer force of will and sing along with every song that came on. Ezor and Acxa danced together while Narti clapped her hands, keeping tune and Zethrid had lifted Keith up and spun him around (he enjoyed it until the rich, sugary foods he’d ate for breakfast started agitating his stomach and he was allowed to settle down on the couch before he vomited on the panicking woman).

Later that day, the group went out again for lunch, Lotor explaining the plan, the white, fluffy cat taking the lead. It was pretty simple and he even said with Keith helping them it should be easier. And that was how Keith found himself in a restaurant, sniffing around the kitchen, acting obvious in what he was trying to do, waiting until someone noticed him. And finally one of the cooks looked over and frowned. “Hey! Hey you!” Keith jumped, having been up on his haunches, sniffing at something he’d been preparing. “Get out of here!” Keith meowed, eyes wide as his tail swayed. “Uh-uh. No. You’re not supposed to be back here!” The cook said, nudging Keith back with his foot.

Keith, persistent as he was, purred and began to curl up around the cook’s leg, dialing up the charm. He let out a quiet meow, before he was pushed back again, once more told to leave.
Plan B it was, then.
At that point Keith jumped up, pouncing onto the counter and the cook shrieked, drawing more attention to the two. “Get down!”

After that, the rest of the group sprang into action, bounding out and everyone began to grab what food they could carry. Pandemonium erupted out as everyone on the back line scrambled to get the animals out. Keith scampered, grabbing onto a bit of freshly cooked fish and began hauling his prize out towards the back with the rest of the group. The fish was as big as he was, but he was nothing if not determined. And hungry. Pots and pans and other utensils being thrown after them.

“Damn strays!” One yelled out, “Get back here!” The six continued to run, making it safely to their hideout, where they laughed, shifting back and taking in stock of their food. A good haul that everyone shared with everyone and even though he said they wouldn’t baby Keith, the youngest of the group definitely got a little more than the others and no one asked him to share the one thing he’d managed to grab on their raid.

Keith had felt bad for a little while, picking at his food once the adrenaline from the chase wore off. It was Ezor who spoke first, but Narti had been the one to notice first and nudge the slender woman, signing over her own concerns.
“Keith? You okay little dude?” she asked, gathering everyone’s attention. Keith felt his ears lower as he looked down to his food.

“Didn’t… we just steal all this?” he asked, quietly. “Aren’t we going to get in trouble?”

The group looked to each other before Acxa sighed, “Keith, we’ll be fine.” she said, but that seemed only to agitate the younger familiar.
“No we won’t! We’ll.. We’ll get caught won’t we? We’ll get in a lot of trouble for this!” He didn’t know what happened to familiars who got caught stealing, but he was certain it wasn’t anything good. For some reason he thought to the pound where Lance had gone on a field trip to once, the kids and familiars all helping out taking care of the animals there. In his mind he saw himself getting caught and sent to the pound, forced to stay as a kitten and left there until he was a big, old cat and he’d forgotten how to shift back. He hadn’t realized he’d teared up and was breathing heavily until a pair of arms wound their way around him.

Narti was hugging him as the rest of the group all gathered around him, Lotor taking his turn to speak while the mute familiar silently calmed him down. “Keith, we promise you nothing bad will happen to you. Or us. We’ve learned how to take care of ourselves, and yes. It does involve stealing food for us to survive, but we only ever take enough to feed ourselves.” He smiled softly, “We’re all just a bunch of strays, after all. It’s either that or we eat out of garbage cans and none of us want that.” At that, Ezor made an overly dramatic erugh! that caused Keith to laugh quietly. Narti raised her hand, gently wiping away the tears that had began to stop falling and signed to him.

“We’re going to be here for you,” Acxa translated, “and we’ll make sure that nothing ever happens to you.” She smiled as she watched her friend continue to sign. “We all have to stick together.”

Keith smiled a bit and squirmed, wrapping his arms around her, and soon found himself in a group hug that didn’t end even as he yawned and everyone helped him somewhere to take a nap, curled around the small black kitten.

Somewhere out in the city, Lance had begun his search for his familiar, asking any and everyone if they’d seen him around.

Chapter Text

When Keith woke up, the group all went out, laughing and talking with one another. When Ezor flipped her hair out of her face and over her shoulder, Zethrid reaching out to gently help her gather all of the bright pink locks, he saw the multitude of piercings in her ears and was awestruck.

“Whoa…” his eyes lit up when she looked down and smiled, turning her head to show him the matching ear, which had just as many bits of metal in them. “That’s so cool!”

“Yeah?” she giggled happily, “My old witch hated that I did this, but she didn’t stop me.” she gave a playful wink.

“I want my ears pierced too!” Keith jumped up and down excitedly. “Where’d you get them done at?”

Ezor blinked, “I did them myself.” she said, before smiling wide and hefted the young familiar up into her arms. “Hey, I’ll do them for you!”
“Really?” Keith giggled excitedly, his ears twitching a bit before he pointed to them. “You’ll pierce them?”

“Sure, if that’s what you want.” she said, before Acxa cleared her throat.

“Ezor,” she said, her own ears twitching. “I think if Keith wants his ears pierced he should get them done professionally.”

“Yes, because we can totally afford that.” the slender woman pouted. “You’re just mad because you’re a baby.” At that Acxa bristled, ears pressing flat.

“Excuse me for freaking out! You didn’t tell me how bad it’d hurt!” she snapped, but Keith lowered his own ears.

“It’ll hurt?” he asked, frowning a bit.

“Hush, you’re scaring him!” Ezor turned to Keith, smiling softly, “It will, just for a bit. And your ears are going to be super tender for a while, but they’ll feel better and soon you won’t even remember what it was like without having them pierced.” She shot Acxa a look, her smile growing into a smirk, “Acxa just freaked out when she heard the pop and flailed around before I had to pull back.” The other familiar huffed and crossed her arms, looking away as she pouted.

Keith smiled, “I won’t freak out!” He said, puffing out his chest. “Pierce my ears, Ezor. Please?”

The slender woman beamed and squealed happily.

Back in their hangout, Ezor had prepped Keith’s ears, the young familiar apologizing for how much they were twitching. He didn’t, however, apologize for tensing up when he saw Ezor pick up the stuff needed to pierce his ears. “Are you sure it’s not going to hurt?” he asked, ears lowering a bit before he felt Ezor gently coax one of them back up, pressing a piece of cork behind where she’d made the marks for the earrings to go through.

“I promise. It’ll feel like a pinch, and you’re going to hear a pop,” she said. She smiled as she looked down to the younger familiar. “Just relax, okay? Deep breath and let it out.” She waited for the kitten to follow her instructions and as soon as he released the breath she took the long needle and pressed it through.

Keith yelped, squeezing his eyes closed. He felt the needle push through his ear, then felt a weight as Ezor carefully capped the earring in place. He frowned, scrubbing at his eyes, fighting back the tears that stung at the corners as he gently moved his ear around.

“That wasn’t so bad, right?” Ezor asked, smiling gently. “You did super well, Keith! Way better than Acxa.”
“I can hear you, you know!” came a disgruntled response as Acxa sunk low in her seat. Ezor stuck out her tongue in reply before looking back over to the younger cat.

“Come on, let’s get the other one in and you’ll be all set!” she said, chipperly. Keith watched as she began to prep the second piercing needle and squirmed, raising his hand to brush against the stud already in his ear.

Just one more. He could do it.

He cried when the second one was pushed in. But they went out and got him ice cream to make up for it. All in all, Keith was pretty happy with the results. And this time he didn’t think (too much) about the fact they were stealing.

As the day went on, Keith found himself relaxing more and more with his new found friends. The group were hanging out in the park, Narti pushing herself on the swing while Zethrid lifted Ezor into the air so she could climb on top of the jungle gym set. Apart from Keith, there weren’t that many actual children using the park, and those were keeping a distance from the older group, mostly due to their parent’s wary and watchful eyes.

Keith climbed up the jungle gym, smiling as Ezor hung upside down. He stared down at her from his perch at the top, before looking around the park’s play area. He saw Acxa gently and lazily swinging with Narti and Lotor was sitting with his legs hanging next to the big slide. He huffed, squirming before mimicking the woman who was beside him and hung himself by his legs, though he kept a good grip on the bar with his hands as well, not trusting himself fully.

“So, how are you holding up?” Keith looked over to Ezor, ears twitching faintly. She smiled at him, swinging her body slightly. “It can be rough the first day without having your witch with you.”

Keith frowned and glanced down (up?), “Okay? I think?” he huffed, squirming around to try and right himself, his head feeling fuzzy as the blood rushed. He groaned, shaking his head once he was back to normal, “I haven’t thought about him.” But now he was, and his stomach was tumbling and he felt like he’d be sick. “I don’t want to think about him.”

“Keith, it’s okay.” Ezor was sitting upright beside him. She wrapped her arm around him, making him lean closer to her. “Like I said, the first day is really rough. The second is just as bad, but over time it gets better.” She patted his head. “We’re gonna be here for you.”

“I just,” Keith stared at his legs, swinging them slightly. “It hurt when he told me to go away. We just got into a fight a-and I just wanted to apologize.” He rubbed his eyes, feeling himself tear up. “Ronnie said we should calm down a little, but that just seemed to make him even angrier. And I didn’t mean to scratch him.”

Ezor frowned, pursing her lips, “Your witch is the same age as you, right?” she said, watching as the boy nodded. “What did you two fight about?”

“He thought I was up to something ‘cause I didn’t stay in his room to scare him when he woke up.” Wow, now that Keith said that out loud it was stupid. “I always liked scaring him when he woke up, but I didn’t that day ‘cause…” ‘cause he was really cute while he was sleeping, “‘cause I was hungry. So he kept talking about how I couldn’t scare him and I got annoyed that he wouldn’t shut up.” He looked up to the older familiar, “Then he said he hated me.”

To her credit, Ezor didn’t say anything, just listened. Zethrid, who had been standing beside them, listened as well. The two shared a look, and Zethrid walked away, and Ezor hopped off the jungle gym. “Do you think he really hates you?” she asked, holding out her hands to help Keith down.

“I don’t know anymore.” Keith flicked out his tail, keeping his gaze down low. “We always got into fights, even before that one.” They were always so petty, though. “But we always got over it before we went to bed.”

Ezor hummed, patting the kitten’s head. “C’mon, let’s go back.” she said, and Keith only nodded as he held onto her hand.

That night, Keith was curled up beside the other familiars. Everyone was asleep, but he just laid there, thinking about Lance. About the fight. About how really, really dumb it all was and he shouldn’t have run away. He sniffed, curling tighter into himself, missing the warmth of the bed and the faint glow of the fairy lights Lance hung up around the room. He missed the posters and pictures of space and stars. The piles of school books on the table. The toys that always wound up under the bed and the closet overflowing with both of their clothes.

He hadn’t realized he’d been whimpering until a nose nudged him. He looked up, seeing Lotor awake. “Come on,” the older cat whispered, and the two quietly made their way out of the cuddle pile. Once Lotor got Keith some water, the two sat together outside. Lotor didn’t ask what was wrong, but the two found comfort in talking about different things. Talk soon turned to the night sky and Lotor mentioned how his witch had lived in the woods, so he got a much clearer and more beautiful look at the stars. Keith, in turn, talked about how Lance really loved the stars and how he’d been learning the constellations.
“Lotor?” the older cat turned to look at Keith, “How come…” his ears twitched as he thought of how to phrase his question, “What happened to your witch?”

Lotor’s smile softened, turning melancholy, “I fell in love with her.” Keith felt his heart leap before plummeting into his stomach. “She said she felt the same way, but over time she realized her feelings weren’t as strong as mine. We tried desperately to keep our connection but in the end, she broke it. Said she couldn’t bear the sight of me, knowing my feelings for her.” He sighed, looking back up to the sky. “I haven’t seen her in so long. I hope she’s doing well.”

Keith lowered his gaze, fidgeting slightly. “I… I think I like my witch like that.” he muttered softly. It felt like a weight was lifted, finally admitting that. “I don’t know for sure, though. Yesterday I just thought about kissing him and it scared me.”

“Those feelings are pretty scary.” Lotor nodded, “It’s even scarier to act on them.”
“I-I didn’t!” Keith blushed, ears lowering, “I left the room because I didn’t know what to do. Then Lance just started yelling at me, and everything got really confusing.” Lotor placed a hand on the kitten’s head.

“Sounds like you two needed to talk it out, instead of running away.”

“Yeah, I,” the black cat sighed, shoulders slumping, “I think I made a mistake.”

“We’ll take you back home tomorrow.” Lotor offered, and Keith looked up to him. “If your witch really meant it when he said he didn’t want you, you’re welcome to stay with us.”

Keith smiled and managed to fall asleep, curled back up with the rest of his new friends, thinking of being able to see Lance again.

The next morning found the group walking around the city. They agreed to take Keith back home, but only when Keith felt confident enough to go back.
Keith just didn’t know how long that would take.

The thought of going back home after having run away made him feel sick. He wanted to go back, but then he thought about how everyone would react. Would they be happy? Angry? Would they even want him back? Would they just yell at him and, more formally, throw him out?
Without him around, it had to be quieter. He and Lance wouldn’t be fighting and yelling.

But he had to go back home. Eventually.

So one could understand his reaction when he heard someone call out to him. He was just thankful that the streets were mostly dead when Keith yelped, shifted and jumped into Ezor’s arms, fur standing on end.

“Keith!” The group turned, the kitten’s ears low as he peeked over and saw Lance standing there, looking disheveled and like he’d just gotten out of bed.
Wait, those were his pajamas. He did just get out of bed. His hair was a mess and his shoes were sloppily tied, laces already falling apart. “Keith?” he said it softer.

The group all looked to one another, before looking down towards the young familiar, who still looked wary. “Keith?” Acxa said gently. He glanced up to her, ears lowering, before he looked back over to Lance. He didn’t know what to say and didn’t very well trust himself to talk but he knew that he had to say something. So he opened his mouth and prayed for the best.

“What do you want?” That came out rougher than intended. He was already wincing at his words but Lance was already hurrying forward and the closer he got Keith saw how red his eyes were. Like he’d been crying.
Like he was already crying again.

“Keith! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” He held out his hands.

“You… you have?” The kitten relaxed a bit, but when Ezor tried to hand him over to Lance he felt himself cling to her tighter. “I thought you hated me.”

He felt some bit of satisfaction when he saw his witch wince, withdrawing his hands. He watched him fidget, fussing as he glanced down. “I.. I didn’t mean it.” he mumbled, looking down to his feet. “I never meant it. I just… was mad.” he looked back up to Keith. “I’m...” He blinked before his face scrunched up. “Are your ears pierced?”

Keith’s ear flicked, “Yes?”
“Why?”
“Cause I could.” Keith huffed, his tail flicking in irritation.
“That’s dumb. Doesn’t that hurt?”
“You’re dumb, it didn’t.”
“I bet you cried.”
“Didn’t!” Keith felt his fur puff out, “You’re what, Lance?”

He felt Ezor shaking and didn’t have to look to know the rest of the group were all trying their best to hold in their laughter. He appreciated it.

Lance blinked, “Oh, right.” He took a deep breath, “I’m sorry, Keith. I’m really, really sorry.” He paused, “Really, really, really, really, really, really, really,”
“I get it.”
“Really, really, really,”
“You can stop.”
“Really, really, really, really, really,”
“Lance!”
“REEEEEAAALLY sorry.” Lance smiled, proudly and Keith gave his best deadpan stare.

“Are you really that proud of yourself?”
“Really, really--”
“Dont’!” Keith squirmed, jumping out of Ezor’s arms finally and dropped to the ground. He huffed, flicking his tail. He stared up at Lance. “If you’re really sorry, you’ll do something for me.”

“What’s that?” Lance frowned, beginning to worry. Keith kept quiet, his tail swishing as he watched his witch squirm.

“Carry me back home.”
“What?” Lance glared, “You’ve got four good legs! You can walk!”
“But Lance, you’re sooo sorry!”
“I’m not carrying you home. Hey!” Lance stumbled when Keith jumped up, his arms instinctively going to hold onto the kitten as Keith made himself comfortable in his arms. “I should drop you.”
“I’ll scratch you.”
“I’ll yell in your ear.”
“I’ll bite your nose.”
“Dummy.”

“I know you are but what am I?” Keith flicked his tail when he finally heard a snort and turned his head, seeing Ezor covering her mouth but the damage was done. They all began to laugh and Keith felt his heart sink.
“I’m not gonna see you guys again, am I?” He asked, ears lowering.

“Aw, don’t think that way.” Ezor walked over, petting Keith’s head. “You’ll see us around.”
“Yeah, it’s not like we’ll be going anywhere.” Zethrid grinned, wrapping her arm around Ezor’s shoulders.
“You’re welcome to come hang out with us again, if you ever get the chance.” the slender woman smiled happily. “You’re part of the gang, now. We’re the Stylish Six!”

“You finally thought of a new name.” Acxa smirked, “I’m impressed. It only took you a few hours.”
“Hush.” the pink haired girl stuck out her tongue.

“You two should go on back home.” Lotor said, stepping forward. He looked down to Keith, smiling. “Everything should work out fine.”

Keith blinked, before he turned and looked up to Lance. He saw how tired his witch looked, how relieved he was when he’d found him.
Keith closed his eyes, leaning into Lance a bit. “I wanna go home.” he murmured.
“Then let’s get going, gatito.”

Keith found himself falling asleep before they got back home.

When Keith awoke, he was laying in Lance’s bed, curled up on his pillow. He blinked, yawning as he moved, stretching and then promptly froze as his ears picked up on a sound.
It was a soft ting. He looked around, but didn’t see anything. He sat up and heard it again. He began to quickly move, trying to figure out the source of the sound but it was always right there.

Ting. Ting. Ting.
Tingtingtingtingtingting--

A barking laugh made Keith freeze, his head jerking towards the new sound and he saw Lance doubled over, holding onto a tray of food.
“Oh man! You look so dumb!”
“Shut up!” Keith lowered his ears, “What’s that sound?”

Lance walked over, setting the tray of food down and reached over to Keith. Keith tensed up as Lance reached under his chin and-
Ting.

Keith blinked as Lance pulled his hand back. “It’s a bell.” he smiled, leaning back. He watched as Keith changed, reaching his hands up and felt the cool metal and flicked at it a few times. He stood up and walked over to the mirror, staring at himself.

It was a simple silver bell attached to a red collar.

“Why do I have a bell?” Keith looked back towards his witch, watching as Lance stood up from the bed and walked back towards the door.

“So I know where you are. And so I don’t lose you again.” Lance turned, looking back towards Keith and smiled warmly. “Everyone’s downstairs and they want to talk to you, but I told them you were still asleep. Come down when you’re done eating!” And with that, Lance was out of the room, obviously heading back downstairs to the rest of the family.

Keith just stood there, feeling his face burn.
Lance was stupid.
Having a crush was stupid.
The bell was stupid.

He walked back towards the bed and sat down, looking towards the food. All his favorites were there and he found himself smiling, flicking the stupid bell one more time before he began to eat.