"Okay Lance, you can open your eyes now!" Pidge exclaims, and tentatively, Lance cracks an eye open.
And his breath is taken away. The whole window of the black lion is a picture of home; the beaches in Cuba seem to be right in front of him. Light flickers and dances on the gently rippling water, a contrast to the calm, almost-white shore, of untouched sand. Tears well up, and he chokes, placing a hand to the glass.
"We're landing now." Shiro says, softly, putting his hand on Lance's back.
Lance can't tell them he can't, not when they've put so much effort into this. Not when they're all putting everything on hold, for god-knows-why. So he stifles a harsh cough that builds up in his chest, making sure Shiro's hand doesn't go anywhere near his forehead or exposed skin. He can't ruin this.
"Happy birthday, Lance." Hunk says, softly. He sounds close to tears himself. "I – We - hope you like it."
"Like it?" Lance exclaims, pausing for dramatic effect (and if he sees Keith roll his eyes, he won't comment). "I love it! Thanks guys!"
After what feels like ages, the black lion lands, Hunk the first one rushing out to the shore.
"Hunk, no! Be careful!" Allura yells after him, flicking her shoes off as she steps out tentatively. "It's okay, Lance, we checked out this planet beforehand. It's safe."
He puts his toes in the sand first, testing the surface temperature. When it proves comfortable, he pushes himself out and his assaulted by the Cuba-like temperature. This almost sets the tears off again, because he feels so at home. Yet, at the same time, he knows this isn't home, he knows home is light years away. He bites his lip, not wanting to cry again, but he just feels so overwhelmed.
"Hey, Lance, it's okay." Shiro placates, and he smiles in return. "He goes to put a hand on his arm, but Lance quickly retracts it away."
Lance notices Shiro frown in confusion and concern, but he just can't afford to ruin this for everyone. They'd worked too hard for Lance to screw it up.
"Why don't you come down to the sea with me?" Shiro suggests, rolling his trousers up his calves.
"Sure..." Lance decides. Maybe, he reasons, the seawater will do him good.
It most decidedly did not, Lance concluded about half an hour later. He had taken to lying on the sand, hoping how red his face felt would be chalked up to the heat by the others. Well, they don't seem to be noticing anyway, so he decided he'd just relax while he could.
Even if his head did feel like it was going to split him in two, or even if he did feel like if he moved he would be sick.
Ah, this was the life.
"Is Lance okay?" Keith hears himself ask; he still isn't sure why. "He looks a little...'under the weather'."
"I'm sure he's just sunbathing." Hunk reassured Keith.
"Yeah but -"
"Hunk...You may want to feel his forehead." Shiro suggests, a hand already on Lance's head.
Hunk almost immediately shifts into panic mode, because he swears he's only ever seen that face on Shiro a few times; the first time after the castle was infiltrated by the Galra, and Lance had been injured badly.
As asked, Hunk placed a palm on Lance's forehead and immediately retracted it at the severe temperature. Christ, he was burning.
"It'll be fine," Allura announces, suddenly appearing from behind them. "Let's just get him back, and into a healing pod, stat."
"Okay princess, okay, healing pod, got it." Hunk stammers. Carefully, he lowers down and scoops Lance up. The lack of snarky comment gets to him more than he cares to admit.
They rush him back to the black lion, and they take off faster than he'd ever done before. He feels his stomach roll dangerously, as he fights the usual - but, less common since becoming a part of Voltron - waves of nausea.
"Hunk?" Lance deliriously mutters. Hunk instantly feels bad for disturbing him, pushing his hair back out of his eyes.
"I'm sorry buddy. But you're not feeling well, are you? We have to get you to a pod."
"Mmmm...no, I'm fine. We can't waste all your effort. Too much - hard work."
It clicked. Why Lance hadn't told anyone he was ill. He felt like if he had stopped to take care of himself, it would waste all the effort everyone had put in finding this planet.
"Oh, Lance, it's okay. We can always come back another time. It's your present, you should be able to enjoy it fully. That's all I feel bad about. That you won't be able to enjoy your present properly."
Lance sniffled in his arms, half-closing his eyes blearily. He goes somehow paler still, then suddenly bolts upright. He flings his hand over his mouth, but it's too late; Hunk has to look away and not concentrate on something else, anything else.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to -" Lance says, crying pitifully in Hunk's arms. It causes him real pain, seeing his friend, his best buddy in this state.
"It's okay, it's fine, we can clean it later, I promise."
He'd been in the pod for an agonizing twenty-four hours, Coran had told them. Twenty-four earth hours, he'd had added.
Almost the first thing Lance had said when out of the pod, was an apology.
"I'm sorry we never got to go to that beach planet properly."
"Nonsense!" Coran had replied, then added; "We can visit almost any time. Just not high tide - I heard there are some creepy things in that ocean."
Coran adds a dramatic shudder at the end of the sentence, Lance laughs, and for now, it's normal. well, as normal as it can be when you're celebrating your birthday in space, surrounded by other confused teenagers.