The One with a Sick Lance

It was routine for Lance to always sleep in on a Saturday, so it was also routine for Keith to kick down his door and drag the Blue Paladin out of bed. (When he wasn't in it, that was...) They had agreed to do a little morning training on their off days to stay on their toes, but getting Lance out of bed was enough training for Keith in one day.

The black haired boy listened to his footsteps echoing through the halls as he made his way to Lance's room, still a little tired himself. Their last battle had left them all exhausted, especially Lace, so he'd been contemplating on whether or not to tell him that they should skip training for that day. When they'd arrived home, Lance had seemed a little off to Keith, going straight to his room instead of getting something to eat. When Keith had tried to bring food to his room, he hadn't gotten an answer.

He clenched the fist that was shoved inside his sweatshirt pocket, he should have made sure Lance was alright instead of leaving him alone. He had taken the brunt of a strong blast during their fight, and Keith swore he'd seen him walking with a slight limp.

When he finally arrived at Lance's room, he softly knocked on the door and waited for a response. Usually Lance would give him some kind of remark, cute or sarcastic, to let him know he could come in. This time he didn't, and Keith was left standing in front of the door unsure of whether or not he should go in. Maybe he wasn't there?

He knocked again, leaning in close to the door, "Lance? Can I come in?"

There was still no response, and Keith suddenly felt uneasy. It was unlike Lance to leave him hanging, even if he didn't want to talk, which didn't happen often. Biting the inside of his cheek, he tried the handle. It was unlocked.

He quietly pushed it open, peeking his head inside. The lump under Lance's blue comforter confirmed that he was there, and Keith slipped inside and closed the door. The only light illuminating the space was filtering in through the closed blinds, making it hard for Keith to see.

"Lance, you dipwad, wake up." Keith said from his spot by the door, "It's six thirty."

Lance still didn't say anything.

An icy feeling spread its way through Keith's body, and suddenly a million bad thoughts were flowing through his mind. What if he'd been impacted by the blast more than he'd let on? What if it did something to his body that didn't affect him until hours later?

Keith moved forward quickly in his worried state, tripping over something on the floor, and tumbled onto the bed and Lance's body. He heard a muffled cry and propped himself up on his hands, still half on and half off the bed, "Lance?"

"Ow, you moron." Lance's voice said in the dark, and Keith sighed in relief that he'd heard it, "That hurts! What's the big idea?"

"You weren't answering me." Keith whispered loudly.

"I was sleeping?"

"Usually you wake up when I knock."

Lance sat up, rubbing his eyes, and looked down at Keith, who was sprawled in his lap, "Wait. Where you," he grinned, "worried about me?"

"As if." Keith said, rolling his eyes and ignoring the fact that Lance's bare chest was inches away from him.

"It's okay if you were," Lance put a hand on his lover's cheek, "that's what normal boyfriends do."

"Tch." Keith sat up to face him, crossing his arms, "I was just coming to tell you that we should skip training today."

"Good," Lance slumped his shoulders, his happy expression evaporating into a green one, "I'm not feeling well. That's why I didn't answer, I sleep like a rock when I get sick."

"You're sick?" Keith asked, holding a hand to Lance's forehead, "What kind of sick?"

"The kind where I'll probably throw up on you sometime today if you stay here." Lance flopped back down against his pillows, "You should leave before you get sick, too."

"You have a fever." Keith said, half to himself, "Do you feel hot?"

"I do every day." Lance said, flashing finger guns.

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, "Leave it to you to joke around when you're sick."

"Seriously Keith, I'm fine. Don't worry about it."

"I'd feel like dirt if I didn't stay here with you."

Lance shook his head, "I sleep a lot when I'm sick, so there's no reason for you to stay here. I'll probably sleep for the rest of the day, and then I'll be good as new in the morning."

Keith looked down at the floor, wondering if there was really nothing he could do for Lance. He was supposed to be his partner, right?

"Hey," Keith felt a pull at his sleeve and looked down to see Lance tugging it. Flicking his gaze up to Lance's, the other said, "don't look like like that."

"Are you sure there's nothing I can do?" Keith asked.

"Positive."

Keith closed the door to Lance's room, making his way to the kitchen and feeling deflated. Ever since he and Lance had become a couple, he liked doing things with him. It didn't have to be every waking minute, but they had certain rituals that they did together. For starters, they always got morning coffee together, which Keith was on his way to do alone. How was he going to spend his entire day without Lance?

Usually there wasn't anyone in the kitchen when they got there, but this morning Keith was semi glad to see that Shiro was already pouring himself a cup of coffee. The Black Paladin looked up as Keith entered, lifting his mug in greeting, "Morning Keith."

"Morning." He muttered, retrieving his mug from the cupboard. He poured himself a glass, still lost in thought on what he could do to make Lance feel better. In his momentary lapse of mind, he didn't notice as the coffee spilled over the mug until it was burning his fingers. Swearing to himself, he instinctively let go of the mug and it went crashing to the floor.

"Whoa!" Shiro jumped up from the table he was seated at, moving to help Keith who was quickly picking up the broken pieces of his mug, "What happened?"

"I burned my hand." Keith mumbled, tossing the pieces into the garbage. He turned to find Shiro already wiping up the spilled coffee with paper towel, "You didn't have to do that."

"Is everything okay?" Shiro asked, noticing Keith's sour mood.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just tired." Keith said, moving toward the cupboard to try and find a new mug. In the end, he just grabbed Lance's.

"Can you make more coffee for Lance when he rolls out of bed?" Shiro asked, throwing the paper towel into the garbage.

"He's not feeling good, so he said he'll probably be sleeping for the rest of the day." Keith said with his back to Shiro as he poured himself new coffee.

"Oh you already saw him?"

"Yeah, only because I was going to tell him I wanted to skip training this morning." Keith explained, feeling his cheeks grow warm. He and Lance hadn't told the other Paladins about their relationship yet, trying to find a good time to deliver the news.

"I see." Shiro said, smiling to himself. Of course he and the others knew, it was blatantly obvious.

They both sat in silence drinking their coffee, Shiro flipping through a book. Keith drummed his fingers on the table, staring at the brown liquid in his cup. It was going to be such a long day.

"You know, Keith." Shiro spoke up after a while, causing him to look up, "Maybe you should bring something for Lance to drink. We don't want him to get dehydrated, right?"

Keith shot up, why hadn't he thought of that? "You're right! What should I bring him?"

"Hmm, maybe some light soda?" Shiro suggested, "It's easy on the stomach."

"Good idea." Keith nodded, heading toward the fridge. He grabbed a can of soda off the top shelf and said, "I'll go give this to him, then."

"Okay, bye." Shiro said nonchalantly from his spot at the table. He glanced up from his book as the Red Paladin left and shook his head, muttering to himself, "He's hopeless."

When Keith got to Lance's room, he opened the door without knocking. Moving immediately to the side of the bed that Lance was facing on his side, he gently shook his shoulder until his eyelids fluttered open, "Keith?"

"You should drink this." Keith said softly, holding out the can of soda he had, "So you don't get dehydrated."

Lance took it from him with a smile, "Thanks." Popping it open, he took a couple light sips, before laying his head back down on the pillow, "That tasted good." He mumbled, before slipping back into sleep.

Keith knelt next to the bed for a couple more minutes watching Lance's sleeping form. His face was so peaceful that it almost made him look younger. Placing his hand on Lance's cheek, he noticed that he was warmer than before. Was that normal? He tried to think of all the times he had gotten sick. Had he been this warm?

Rising to his feet, he left the room even more at a loss than before. He aimlessly roamed the halls with his hand held to his chin, lost in thought.

That was how Pidge found him as she was on her way to take a shower. "Hey Keith, what's up?" She asked decked out in her green bathrobe and shower cap.

He looked at her oddly before saying, "Not much."

"You look stressed."

He shrugged, "I'm fine."

She wanted to push him a bit further, but decided to let it go, stepping around him to continue on to the shower. "Hey Pidge." She heard him say, and turned around curiously, "Have you ever been really warm when you're sick?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Like, when you get sick, are you ever really warm?"

She thought about it, "I suppose if I have a fever, yeah. Why?"

"Lance is sick, and he's really warm. I brought him something to drink like Shiro said to do, and I noticed he was really burning up." Keith put his hands on his hips, "Is that normal?"

"As long as his fever isn't too bad, yes." Pidge said with a straight face, but in her mind she was grinning. Seeing Keith concerned for Lance was so cute. "But you could put a fan in his room. That's what I do."

"A fan, huh?" He said, mostly to himself, "I think I have one. Thanks, Pidge."

"I'm here to help!" She said with a smile, watching him jog down the hall toward his room before heading back to the shower.

Keith practically ran back to his room, quickly fishing the fan out of his closet and taking it to Lance's room. Trying to be as quiet as possible, he propped the fan up on a desk chair, pointing it at Lance's bed. He turned it on the medium setting, traveling to Lance's side to make sure the cool air was reaching him. Satisfied that it was, he left the room to once again roam the halls.

Deciding that he could go for a run, he went to the training room. To his surprise, Hunk was there with Coran. They looked up as he entered, and Coran greeted him, "Keith, hello! Where's Lance? Don't you two usually train together in the morning?"

"Yeah," Keith scratched the back of his head, "He's sick today, so it's just me."

"Lance is sick?" Hunk asked, "What, with like, the flu?"

"Something like that." Keith said, sitting on a weight bench next to Hunk, "Why are you guys here?"

Hunk held up his arm to show off the invisible muscles he had, "I'm working on bulking up, so I asked Coran to be my spotter."

"Nice." Keith nodded, "I think I'm going to run for a little bit."

"Allura is on the track if you want someone to run with." Coran said, and then looked down at Hunk, "Alright! Let's go, Hunk, feel the burn!"

Keith jogged to the room adjacent to the one they were in now, a much larger space with a built in track for running. Sure enough, Allura was there, jogging on the long stretch toward him. Her light hair was pulled up into a bun, which bounced on the top of her head. She waved as she neared him, saying, "Hello, Keith."

He took up a position next to her, and together they started a lap around the track, "Hey." He said back.

"Where's Lance?" She asked.

"Why does everyone ask that?" He muttered.

"Well," she paused, "usually if I see one of you, I see the other. It's common to see you two together, so I thought maybe he'd be here too. But that doesn't seem to be the case."

He shook his head, "He's not feeling good, so he's staying in bed."

"Oh no," Allura looked slightly worried, "is he alright?"

"I think so. I brought him something to drink like Shiro said, and a fan to keep him cool, because Pidge said that's what he does to keep cool when he's sick." Keith explained.

"But he's by himself?"

"Yeah."

Allura glanced at him, "When I'm sick, I used to like it when my mother stayed with me."

Keith met her gaze, "Lance told me not to. He said there wasn't a reason to."

She arched an eyebrow, "He was lying, obviously. I've found that Lance is a lot like a girl. He says one thing, but most of the time he means the other."

"So you're saying that even though he told me not to stay, he really wanted me to stay?" Keith looked up at the ceiling. That was way too complicated.

"Precisely."

"So I should go back?"

"If you think that's what you should do."

With a look of determination, Keith finished the lap they were on, and then bid Allura farewell. "Thanks for the advice!" He called, jogging out of the track room.

She crossed her arms as he left, "Really, why don't they just say they're dating? Everyone knows."

Jogging toward Lance's room, Keith felt like kicking himself. Why hadn't he realized that Lance really wanted him to stay? Was he stupid? He should have understood, being Lance's partner.

He found himself standing with his back against the door, staring at Lance's sleeping form. He was lying on his right side, facing away from Keith. He wondered if he should wake him or not, being sick, he should get rest. Deciding to leave him sleep, Keith slipped underneath the covers to lay on his back next to Lance.

The latter was putting off so much body heat, Keith thought he could have been in a sauna. He rolled onto his right side, staring at Lance's back. He felt warmth in his stomach every time he saw Lance, his heart soaring even at his mere thought. So seeing him this way made him feel helpless. He wanted to make Lance feel better, but he wasn't sure how. How was someone like him supposed to do anything for a guy like Lance?

As if he could hear his thoughts, Lance rolled over to face Keith, his eyes fluttering open. Keith felt his cheeks redden at their closeness. It wasn't the first time they'd been that close, but Keith could never help the way his body reacted to those eyes of Lance's.

"Keith, I told you you're going to get sick." Lance muttered. Despite his words, he nestled his head against Keith's chest.

"I don't care." He whispered, putting an arm around Lance.

"But then I'll have to take care of you." Lance said, "That's so much work."

"Thanks."

"Just kidding."

Lance's grip loosened on Keith's sweatshirt, his arms now moving to wrap around him, underneath the blankets, his right leg overlapping Keith's. "Keith?"

"Hmm?" He asked, looking down at his head. His fingers absentmindedly ran through his short hair, something he knew Lance loved the most.

"Thanks for coming back."

Keith smiled, tightening his embrace, "Of course."

They stayed like that the rest of the day, both of them falling asleep in each other's embrace.

And two days later found Keith throwing up in a bucket, Lance holding his hair back and laughing as he did, "I told you I'd get you sick!"

"Shut up, moron!"

A/N: Thanks for reading, and I really hope you like it! I'm a sucker for Klance, so I hope this goes over well. Tell me what you all think !