When Hunk wakes up, the first thing he's aware of is how his room, well, what he can see – that is, his ceiling – is spinning faster than he can keep up. He puts his hands down on the sides of the bed to steady himself in an attempt to move, but it seems his exhausted body is not having it.
Groaning, he pushes one hand against the wall, the other he pushes himself upwards and suddenly, as if he can't focus too long, he's upright.
Scarily, he's swaying from side to side and for a few, hopeful minutes he manages about three steps. But before he can get any further he's suddenly on the floor, retching heavily. But he'd just woken up – his stomach, unfortunately was empty.
"Hunk we need -" Hunk hears Lance say, muffled, like Lance was far away, or in a separate bubble to him. "Oh, dude, you look like hell!"
Still, Lance kneels down next to him. Hunk appreciates the gesture, but right now he kind of just wants to be left alone to deal with this. Of course, he knows it's ridiculous – help would be better, but he does feel a little suffocated.
"You're too hot…" Lance mutters, after drawing his hand away from Hunk's forehead sharply. "Ok, let's get you to bed with a bucket. How does that sound, big guy?"
Hunk manages a watery smile to reassure Lance, but honestly, staying in bed right now doesn't sound fun. He does suppose, though, there isn't much of another option.
"Comfy?" Lance asks, once Hunk has settled in the bed; now he's in it, with his best friend there, he does feel better. "Want a hug, dude?"
There's very, very small voice in Hunk's head telling him that hugging Lance while he's quite sick is a bad idea, but he just sort of…blocks it out.
"Okay, dude, try to get a little sleep. I want you recovered as soon as possible." Hunk hears Lance say before he leaves, and he manages a vague noise of agreement.
Then, of course, Keith gets it. But of course Keith is nothing like Hunk, so, determined, he's out of bed whenever he can. Lance can't count the amount of times that he'd marched down to the training room to find Keith sparring, despite probably being about to drop at any time.
It does get tiring, Allura is willing to admit. It's like having a child; sending him to bed, then not ten minutes later he's out again and training.
By the time she's done it for the thirteenth time, she decides he needs a babysitter or guard. Lance seems enthusiastic to help, though, in his words, he does protest with 'I'm not doing this because I want to babysit mullet!'
Then the cooking, without Hunk, needs to be done; she definitely cannot make anything like Hunk can, so when she produces the lacklustre usual green goo, everyone groans. She feels bad for it, but she feels a little annoyed after the groaning. It's not her fault she can't cook!
The absence of Hunk and Keith hits hard – everyone's quiet, subdued, and honestly it's driving Allura a little insane. Even Lance is quiet, slowly spooning the goo into his mouth as he sits, solemn.
"Paladins! What's the matter with this mood?" Allura eventually announces, close to breaking point.
Though, she regrets the words almost the second they've left her mouth. Quiznak, what was wrong with her? She couldn't afford to be so inconsiderate, especially when their team bonding was so fragile and new.
"What's wrong?" Pidge echoes.
"What do you think, Allura?" Lance says, his voice even and not lashing out.
Somehow that's worse, Allura thinks, as Lance leaves the room. He didn't finish his dinner, she notes.
Shiro gets it next, and it cripples the whole team somehow even more.
Allura catches him fading in and out when they go through team meetings, and frowns with concern. Sternly, but not without compassion, she announces;
"Shiro?"
And he startles awake, and mutters an apology that seems very exhausted.
"Shiro…" Lance adds, sounding strained. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I'm – fine." He says, but almost as if it were planned, he suddenly blanches and rushes off.
Panicked, Lance and Pidge run after him, Allura left in limbo, unsure on her position in the team.
Pidge and Lance find him eventually; curled over a toilet bowl, dry-heaving as his stomach attempts to rebel against him. Lance steps a little closer, kneeling with a gentle hand on his back. He had memories of comforting his ill brothers and sisters in his head, running soothing strokes down his spine.
"Thank you, Lance." Shiro says, going to stand.
But he's wobbly on his feet, still; the second he puts his body weight on his legs, they crumple underneath him and he drops into a kneel on the floor.
"Shiro, buddy, let's get you back to bed."
"Buy me dinner first…" He slurs, and Lance almost drops him with the sudden laughter that overcomes him. Pidge glares at Lance, and he mutters an apology.
Lance, having now settled Shiro into sleep (with tissues and a bin next to him, just for safety), just wanted to rest his feet for a few seconds. In total honesty, he hadn't been feeling one-hundred percent for the past few days, but he was sure if he just got to rest, he would be fine.
"Lance?" He hears someone call. Blearily, he cracks his eyes open and manages a smile.
It's Hunk, he realises; what was he doing out of bed? Leaping up, he's suddenly wide awake, and putting a hand on Hunk's forehead.
"Look, I'm feeling much better – but I'm worried about you!"
"I'm fine dude, go back to bed, you still feel hot." Hunk pushes him away, not forcefully or cruel, but with the patience of someone who cared.
"I'm fine…" Lance insists, but as he says it, he sways dangerously on his feet and Hunk has to hurriedly catch him.
"I gotta go clean…" He mutters, and Hunk's expression softens.
"Oh, buddy, you overworked yourself, huh?"
"Nah…"
Hunk only shakes his head as he drags Lance's arm round his own neck, supporting him as they make their way to Lance's room.
"Princess, you need your own rest!" He hears someone – Coran, listening in further, he realises – begs. "Shiro will be fine, please just rest. You've over-exerted yourself."
"Coran, Allura?" Hunk announces, as he turns the corner; the sight he sees makes him concerned.
"Ah, Hunk." Coran greets, as Allura leans up against the wall quietly, clearly exhausted. Coran appeared to be in the middle of an argument with her, judging by the scolding stance he had taken on. "Is Lance alright?"
"Yeah, he just overworked himself. He's sick, I think."
"Ah! You're having the same problem as I, then. Allura has overworked herself caring for the other paladins, and now is too exhausted for her own good and refusing to go to bed."
"I see." Hunk muttered, frowning. "Coran, is it awful we didn't notice how exhausted Allura and Lance were? Were we being selfish?"
"No! No, my boy, of course not! They're simply…too good at hiding things. Besides, you were ill!" Coran assures him.
Hunk sighs, and helps Coran coax Allura into bed.
Lance wakes up to five curious, worried and concerned faces peering down at him. He jolts up, shocked, but immediately regrets it when the wet cough forces itself to be known.
"Lance, we were all so worried!" Keith announces, slightly untactfully, when Lance replies with a solemn 'sorry'. "No! that's not what I meant. Just that you shouldn't have pushed yourself when you felt so ill."
"Lance, you should always feel safe here. Both you and Allura shouldn't push yourselves so hard."
Lance smiled, surrounded by his family, and happy. He had certainly learned his lesson.