"Okay, but where are you?" Lance asked as he scanned the road trying to spot any one of the Avengers.
Ever since the whole scar tissue episode the others had been asking to spend more and more time with Lance.
And Lance didn't mind. He loved it.
Having so many people in his life that wanted to look after him and wanted to make him happy made things brighter.
Lance was feeling so much better.
"I'm literally opposite the school." Clint replied sounding slightly annoyed. "Thor, can you fly or something, let the kiddo see you."
"Why don't you stand on his shoulders?" Lance suggested as he made his way through the group of meandering teens to get to the road. "Might just about give me a chance."
"What did you do when you got picked up before Voltron?"
"I never-" Lance paused eyes wide as his gaze locked onto a teen.
A bright orange headband was around one of their heads, dark skin, black hair. A yellow jacket slung over his shoulder.
Lance felt the world reel beneath him, like he wasn't really there.
He was just standing at the side of the road unable to move, breathe, hear.
All he knew was that he knew those colours, he knew that style and he knew that laugh.
Something knocked him and he stumbled turning to address whoever it was when something plowed into the side of him.
He collapsed to the floor everything numb as his head hit the tarmac plunging him into instant darkness.
~~~
Clint had never run that fast in his life, he had spotted Lance just before he stopped talking, the kids voice fading out like that made him glance around to see a teenager on his phone by the side of the road, but he couldn't see what was beyond him.
Then the screeching tires and the thud.
Clint knew what had happened before his eyes had found him.
Lance was laying in the road, a teacher and another students gathering around him as the driver got out the car apologizing frantically.
"Lance!" Clint shouted cutting through the crowd to crouch next to him.
Before the teacher , or anyone for that matter, could stop him he had rolled Lance onto his back so he could cradle his head.
Blood was matting under his hair and Clint could see the forming bruise on his cheekbone.
"I am so sorry, he just appeared, I didn't expect him to walk out like that." The driver babbled shaking as she sobbed, someone was consoling her.
Thor was standing behind him in his casual clothes that Clint had forced him into when he realised that Thor was going to get swamped if they realised who he was.
Clint opened his phone dialing Tony swiftly.
"If you're at the wrong school I'm going to kill you." Tony said exasperatedly. "I told yo-"
"Kid's been hit by a car." Clint expressed as he ripped the sleeve off his jumper.
"Ambulance?"
"On the way." Clint nodded meeting the teachers gaze she nodded back, still talking to the paramedics. "He's unconscious."
"How did it happen?"
"I don't know, he just froze up, next thing he was in the middle of the road." Clint explained gently pressing the fabric to Lance's head to slow the bleeding.
"Alright, let me know when you know more, I'll tell the others." Tony promised.
~~~
"What happened?" Steve demanded as he caught up with the moving hospital bed.
"Got hit by a car." Clint explained.
"We're unsure how bad the damage is to his head, so we're taking him to get an MRI scan done." The doctor added as she checked Lance's pulse.
"Okay, just help him." Natasha said sharply.
Clint was staring at Lance with cold eyes, he didn't even blink, his hand resting gently over Lance's wrist occasionally drawing patterns there.
Steve noticed, he patted Clint's shoulder and then turned to go find Thor.
It wasn't difficult to find him.
Thor had gone to a vending machine and had resorted to putting his fist through the glass to grab something.
"Easy there Thor." Steve said gently placing his hand on his arm. "Lance is going to be alright."
"You did not see him hit the ground." Thor stated shrugging Steve's hand off. "I have never heard a sound like it."
Steve crossed his arms looking down. "You're right, I don't know." He whispered. "But Lance is a fighter, I don't doubt he'll pull through."
Tony and Bruce then came running over.
"Where's the kid?" Tony asked, looking between the two.
"They're getting an MRI scan." Steve explained. "He hit his head."
Thor's fist went through the vending machine glass again making Bruce and Tony flinch.
"Easy there point break," Tony said gently meeting Steve's gaze receiving a nod, "come on, I need your help."
Thor followed wordlessly.
"MRI." Bruce said quietly. "I hope they don't find anything."
"What is an MRI?" Steve asked, meeting Bruce's gaze.
"It's where a computer scans your skull a d brain, it checks for any breaks in the skull or the brain itself." Bruce explained fiddling with his glasses. "They're very useful in the world of medicine."
Steve nodded his gaze drifting around the waiting area.
There were a few people staring, others were taking pictures and others hadn't even noticed.
Steve didn't mind, but he hoped his anxious expression kept most away from talking to him, he didn't want to be signing autographs while Lance was injured.
"What happened exactly?"
Steve shrugged. "Clint said Lance froze up, he saw something and stopped talking and walking, then the car..."
Bruce nodded. "I'm sure we'll figure this out." He whispered.
Steve really hoped so.
~~~
Lance gave a weak groan his eyes flickering open only to squeeze shut when the lights danced dangerously bright.
His head pounded.
His ears were ringing and he felt really strange.
He tried to remember what had happened to him, had he been attacked? Had something happened to the lions?
A face appeared, a flash of orange, warm hands and a big heart.
"Hunk!" Lance gasped sitting upright.
The room span around him, it was bright white and grey, there was beeping around him.
He wasn't in space, he was on earth.
What was he thinking?
Why did he freeze up?
It's impossible that he...
He lifted a hand to his head, bracing it as pain shot through him causing his eyes to squeeze shut. "Ow."
"Lance?" Natasha asked her voice concerned but gentle.
"I'm here." Lance whispered slowly opening his eyes. Wow everything was bright. Too bright.
"What happened?" Steve questioned
"I... I thought I saw someone." Lance sighed leaning back against the bed as he lowered his hands, he opted to keep his eyes closed for a moment. "Sorry."
"You had us really worried." Steve admitted patting Lance's arm. "Mostly Thor and Clint."
"I'm sorry." Lance repeated finally daring to look at the ceiling. "I didn't mean for... It felt like the ground collapsed beneath my feet, it just... It shot me back into the past and..."
"You didn't know how to handle it." Natasha nodded. "We understand Lance, trust us, we get it."
Lance gave a soft hum. "When can we go home?"
"We're just getting the results of your head injury."
Lance frowned and lifted his hand to trace where the headache pulsated from. He found a swab of gauze pressed against his skin.
"Have they done the stitches?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah, they're all done." Steve nodded. "How are you feeling?"
"Apart from the headache I feel fine." Lance shrugged. "I'm assuming no broken bones."
"Yes, your leg is broken." Steve explained corssing his arms. And wow, Steve's disappointed face was not something Lance enjoyed seeing.
"Do you even know what happened?" Natasha asked eyes narrowing.
Lance paused. "I- I'm guessing I got hit by something."
"You got hit by a car." Steve explained watching Lance closely.
"Oh." Lance mumbled. "At least it wasn't a supervillain or anything."
He laughed awkwardly watching as Steve and Natasha shared a glance.
"Look guys, I'm alright, I bounce right back."
They still didn't look convinced.
Lance frowned to himself and looked up at the machines around him. Man they must have been really worried.
"I'm sorry." Lance whispered. "I use um... I use humor to diffuse difficult situations, because I don't like people being worried about me."
"Well, once we know you're okay we're going to need to talk." Steve said gently.
Lance nodded, he knew that they would want that and he knew avoiding the subject would only hurt him more. He needed to get it off his chest.
He could do that.