Throwback Thursday (Double Header*): Quarantine and Sleep Well, My Son
It’s Throwback Thursday! ♥ Maybe it’s new to you, an old favorite… but hope you enjoy and if you do as always please do drop a comment ♥
*I made a bunch of these pre-scheduled so I wouldn’t forget but uh, I had Quarantine going today. And given what’s going on I thought I’d post a second, less health-involved fic too. But do note Quarantine does have a happy ending and hoping all the best for everyone dealing with the Coronavirus. Stay safe ♥
Quarantine
Summary: An alien ship crashes on Earth and Lance and Hunk are the first responders to board and look for survivors. But they don’t find people in need of help. They find bodies. What started as a rescue turns into a fight for survival and the team can only watch in horror outside of the quarantined ship as two of their own begin to lose the battle. And it begs the question: when it comes to choosing between potentially saving a loved one or for sure saving Earth what is a Defender of the Universe to do?
Story snippet:
Allura and Coran echoed the same and then it was just Keith at the monitor although a few other Garrison personnel were visible in the background.
Lance had sat up more in Hunk’s embrace, throat still aching but his head a little better now that he’d gotten his bearings, and with that came clarity.
And he could see that behind the thin lips and narrowed eyes that Keith was…
Keith was scared.
“You’re really worried, huh, mullet?” Lance asked gently, hoping the moniker would lessen the perception of the inquiry.
As he predicted Keith’s still cheeks flushed red.
“Of course,” Keith muttered, eyes averted to the side. “We all are.”
Lance hummed in acknowledgement but he knew that wasn’t all of it.
Keith looked up with a glare. “What does that mean?”
“What does what mean?”
“What you just did!”
“What did I just do?”
“Guys,” Hunk bemoaned.
Lance could tell he wasn’t actually upset and he knew Keith wasn’t actually angry.
He welcomed this small break of normal.
“That, that noise.”
Lance whistled.
“That wasn’t it and you know it.”
Lance smacked his lips.
Ugh, still dry.
“Lance!”
“What noise did I make then?” he asked, tilting his head.
Keith glowered and what followed was the angriest hum Lance had ever heard, almost like a hornet’s nest.
“Needs work,” Lance told him, “but good job for effort.”
“Lance,” somehow Keith made his name sound like a curse.
Sleep Well, My Son
Summary: A tiny accident becomes literal when Lance is turned into a child with no recollection from his older self. Coran has hopes the effects will be relatively short-term, but in the meantime he has a scared child that needs both reassurance and care. And while Coran might not have had the chance to be a father… he feels like one now.
Story snippet:
He tried to push the thought away before it could take root, but as he stared at the small, dark hand in his he could see it, he could see her in the boy’s large eyes, in his complexion and deep colored hair.
This could have been what his son looked like if life had not been so cruel.
Coran felt his smile growing shaky and he forced himself to not think on it, to focus on the young human child who was looking at him with an innocence that Coran knew still lived on in the teenager despite all he had seen and done.
“There we go,” Coran said, his own voice thick and he swallowed heavily to clear it. Lance cocked his head to the side, concern mixing with his confusion and the other small hand lifted up to brush at Coran’s cheek.
Coran was surprised to see it pull back with something glistening on the tiny fingers.
He…
He had been crying.
“¿Estás bien?” came the inquiry, the boy’s voice small.
Coran knew that one, a familiar phrase between Lance and Number Two.
“Bien,” he said, almost feeling a chuckle as Lance’s eyes widened with surprise. “I’m sorry, my boy. I did not mean to worry you. I am all right. Bien. I promise.”
Lance gave a small nod.
And then he gasped.
But it was not the scared inhale of before or the prelude to a sob.
It was excitement.
“¡Tus orejas! ¡Son puntiagudas!”
Coran did chuckle then as he could feel where the bright gaze had been drawn. “You think my ears look funny, don’t you? Here, have a closer look.”
