#langsty-mc-langstface

A request for @langsty-mc-langstface

-Five gets sick and and his siblings look after him.-

This one-shot is linked to my AU:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21006302/chapters/49957085

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In all his years working for the commission, Number Five never took a sick day. The apocalypse grew his immunity to great lengths; broads that the human body long forgotten in times of modern medicine and remedies. Though, when countermeasures expired, he had to rely on nature to take its course - work up the strength to fight through sickness and injury.

Once hired by the commission, however, the assassin’s body was modified to withstand near fatal blows. He had grown used to disease, but his employer, the Handler, insisted he upgraded to become even more durable. Both physicality and ailment, Five had completely forgotten what it felt like to be bedridden.

“How could I have miscalculated that imperative factor...” A stuffed nosed teen from beneath three sets of blankets groaned, slowly turning from one side to the other. The pajamas Five wore were warm but his skin was sensitive and ached when anything grazed it. He strip down if he weren’t being intruded on by his siblings checking up on him over and over.

“Did you call me? Do you need something?” Allison poked her head through the cracked door. The room was dim, only harboring the faint sunlight peaking through the curtains. Was she standing outside of the room just waiting for Five to speak up?!

“No... Go away..!” Five huffed, his back turned to the door. He didn’t want to talk to anyone. In fact, he wanted nothing but complete silence as he tried to sleep off this cold and scan the corners of his memory on where he went wrong when time traveling back to 2019.

“You haven’t eaten in awhile... I’ll go make you some soup!” Allison insisted, not even having the courtesy to shut the door as she hustled down the hall. Even the faint footsteps treading down the hall pounded the inside of Five’s congested head.

It was her motherly instinct, surely, but Five did not need to be mothered goddammit! He needed answers. He worked on the perfect formula throughout his employment with the commission. Along the pages of Vanya’s book... Dammit his memory was a hazy - the equations a blur...!

It didn’t matter anyway, he had made an error on his appearance, it would make since he erased all of the progress his immune system took decades to build up...

Sniffling, but not catching air, Five grumbled as he sat up to catch his breath. The air outside of the blankets was piercing cold, it drew a shiver from Five’s core making him slightly nauseous. Huh, maybe he did need to eat.

A gentle knock turned Five’s attention from the door. “Klaus?”

“Oh heya little guy,” Klaus spook softly creeping through the door, knowing all too well Five’s ears were sensitive, “Allison told me you were under the weather and to bring you this.” It was the smell of soup. Five must’ve been under the covers pondering his mistakes longer than it seemed. This illness was a fickle bitch...

As the figure came closer, a brightness stung Five’s eyes, bringing an arm in front of his face.“Gah! Shit! Klaus, warn me!”

“Sorry sorry! You’re right, my bad!” Klaus flicked off the lamp on the bedside table.

“Ughhh.. shut uuuup...!” Klaus was always too loud...

“Well with that attitude, I won’t give you food. Ya little prick.”

Five scoffed, his arms slump on his lap and propping his back on the wooden bed frame. His sickly stubbornness kept himself from apologizing. He had every right to be pissed when feeling this bad.

Klaus was coming to read Five all too easily to know just why he was given the silent treatment. Even if his brother weren’t sick, Five wouldn’t say sorry under such mediocre circumstances. And when Klaus had the good will to come deliver this hot soup too! The nerve...

“Can’t believe you’re more bratty when you’re sick,” Klaus set the tray gently onto the bed, nudging for Five to place it appropriately on his lap. The faint light from the curtains wasn’t enough to see well, to Five’s dismay. The teen leaned over to turn on the lamp again, squinting as he adjusted the tray around his legs. Cradling the bowl, the heated dish numbed Five’s frigid hands. The desire to feel the same sensation on his scratchy throat had the boy indulge on the soup faster than he should have as it was still steaming.

“Nnnn..! Ahhaaahh... Fuck-” Five winced, swallowing the near boiling broth. The sting burned his tongue and throat, but it hurt so good. His jaw went slack, panting to cool off his mouth.

“Hasty are we?” Klaus poked fun, covering his face with his arm as to not breathe in Five’s contagious air.

Another knock at the door was Vanya standing in the doorway with Allison by her side. “Jeezus is everyone coming to see me…” Five grumbled, his voice even more raspy from the intake of hot liquid.

“We can leave if you need time alone,” Vanya said, holding herself. The standoffish sibling didn’t want to be there, knowing Five would be irritable and in need of solitude and rest.

“No no, Five hit the nail on the head,” the lackadaisical Klaus took a seat at the foot of the twin sized bed, crossing his legs and getting a little too comfy to Five’s liking, “Number One and Two were just on their way to bring the grand finale of this disappointing ‘get well soon’ committee.

“Spare me,” Five spat, blowing the spoon full before slurping this time.

Allison approached bedside, setting a cup of tea on the tray and a pitcher on the nightstand. “Mom made you spicy ginger tea for that throat.”

“Thank you, but I don’t need all of this.”

Vanya, still hanging by the door spoke up, “We know you can take care of yourself Five, but you told us yourself that you hadn’t been sick since you were in your early thirties, so this must be hard on you…”

The violinist wasn’t wrong, but Five wasn’t going to admit it. He didn’t have to. After saving Vanya and the end of the world, the Hargreeves were closer than ever - helping the newly powered Number Seven train to control said powers as well as work with their relationships with one another.

Five sighed, “Are the other two really coming?”

“Nah, I’m just messing with you Five-o,” Klaus smiled, already hoisting himself up to his feet, “We just came to give you things to get your energy back in that tiny body.”

“It’s just something going around,” Allison added, “Clair has a bit of a bug too.”

“Vaccinate your kids!” Klaus yelled, receiving a pillow to the face.

“Too damn loud!”

“Ah, see? You’re getting better already; acting more like your grumpy, old man self.”

“Will you all just leave now, please?”

With such a kind word seeing them off, the three visitors of the sickly Number Five took their leave. The door shut behind them, the teen basking in the silence once again. It was a nice headspace - underneath heavy blankets and warming up with a hot meal and beverage that were finally warm enough to ease his sore innards rather than burn them further. Whoa! Allison was right, that was spicy tea.

Having finished his meal slowly but surely, Five truly did feel a little better. Though the ruckus was headache enough, the company was missed. But before Five could remiss, his eyelids suddenly began to grow weight to them, as well as his head. Another nap was coming on.

The team finally had tracked down Lotor’s location after a short time where he went completely off the grid. Allura in particular had been very stressed during the few movements when he was untraceable, but she was more determined than ever to capture the Prince.

He seemed to be alone, and it meant good things for the Paladins. Shiro was still unable to get the Black Lion to let him pilot again, so the lion switch hadn’t been rectified yet. Pidge, Hunk, and Coran had yet to figure out what was wrong with the lion, or if something with Shiro had changed.

Right now, however, the five lions were in pursuit of a single fighter ship. The Castle had matched Lotor’s quintessence signature, without picking up any other life forms. It was the ideal situation. At least, until he entered the atmosphere of a barren, rocky planet.

“Quiznack,” Lance snapped, just barely missing a large rock formation. He’d been piloting the Red Lion for a while now but its speed still managed to catch him off guard occasionally. “Where is he going?” He asked, audibly irritated with the pointless chase.

The others mostly ignored his comment, as none of them could answer and all of them were focusing on not crashing. The closer they followed the Galran Prince to the surface of the strange planet, the thicker and more complex rock formations.

Only deboshes after entering the atmosphere, the team found themselves shrouded in darkness from the formations, which were beginning to seem much more like intricate cave systems. Pidge began tracking the team’s movements, in case they needed a quick escape.

“Guys I’m starting to feel like this might be a trap. It seemed really easy at first but now it’s feeling a lot like we’re gonna be the easy prey.” Hunk said, speaking Pidge’s thoughts. The others considered the possibility silently, an uneasy feeling settling over them.

“It does remind me a lot of the first planet we followed Lotor to,” Keith admitted, “but we came in much more prepared this time, so we just have to keep our guard up.” He felt like he had failed that mission, but he wouldn’t fail his team again.

“I don’t wanna become a movie tagline, personally.” Lance joked, getting a few laughs from his teammates. The human ones, of course, since they were the ones who understood his reference.

Suddenly, the trace on Lotor vanished. Pidge was tracking it, and yelped as if the radar had burned her when it disappeared, “What the fuck?”

“Language, Pidge.” Lance replied automatically. He cringed a bit when he realized what he did, but followed up immediately with, “What happened?”

“Our lead on Lotor just poofed!” She cried, equal parts upset and shocked. “We have no tracking on him, and no visual!” The others checked their monitors for any visual on the ship he had been flying.

“Nothing here,” Keith said. Hunk and Allura reported the same. They waited for Lance to respond. For a few ticks there was nothing.

“Uh,” He finally started, “I think I see him, I’ll follow and you guys can bring up the back?” He suggested, waiting for affirmation. Keith agreed and he continued, “Alright, headed in. Watch the walls, it’s pretty small. I don’t think Black or Yellow are going fit.”

Without another word, he followed the sight of the small fighter ship in the Red Lion. Pidge and Allura followed his lead, unable to see Lotor’s ship themselves.

Upon their entry, two drone ships flew around other rock pillars nearby. They had been lying in wait, for an ambush. One attacked the entrance the three had just gone through, while the other started attacking a point on the other side.

The Red, Green, and Blue Paladins were trapped inside of a collapsed cave, with the Black and Yellow Paladin only able to watch and shoot down the dispensable drones after the damage had already been done. Even worse, the scan on Lotor still came up with nothing.

“Pidge! Lance? Allura, come in?” Hunk called out frantically, piloting his lion around to find an entry point to where they were trapped.

“We’re here!” the Princess’s voice called out. “The Lions took the brunt of the force. Lance seems to be stuck under the most rubble, but still fine.” She reported.

“We’ll get you out.” Keith assured them, looking around and trying to make some sort of a plan. “First we need to check to make sure there are no other drones or ships waiting for us.”

“So you like me now?” Lance asked jokingly, “I knew you would cave eventually.” He laughed to himself for the pun, making his best friend groan.

“Seriously, and you say my puns are bad?” Hunk complained.

Lance realized that he hadn’t heard from Pidge yet. “Hey Pidge? Everything okay bean sprout?” He called. There was no response. “Pidge? Pidge?” He called out again, more frantically.

Keith felt panic rising in his chest, “Pidge are you okay? Katie?” She remained silent.

Lance’s playful demeanor to keep the others calm dropped and he spoke directly to Keith, “Don’t start digging for us yet. We need to figure out where we are and where the rest of the rocks are, so we don’t get caved in worse. Allura and I will get a feel for our area, you guys need to check for straggler ships.” He suggested, in a way that seemed more like a direction.

Keith didn’t bother saying anything about Lance not being the leader, as his plans generally worked out well. “Hunk and I are on it. Stay safe.”

The Black and Yellow Lions flew off to patrol the area. Lance decided to do something he knew the others would disapprove of.

He slipped out of the Red Lion quietly and started climbing through the massive, collapsed rocks. It took him a few daboshes, but he eventually got to the Blue Lion, which was closest to him.

“Lance.” Allura cried in surprise, “What do you think you’re doing, out here? You could get crushed by the rocks! Go back to your lion!” she snapped. He knew she was just scared for him, so he ignored her tone.

“Not a chance,” He said, using the communicator in his helmet, “I have to check up on Pidge.” Without another word, he continued climbing through the rocks.

Another dabosh or two and he found Pidge. Though he couldn’t get into the Green Lion, he could see her breathing through the front window. It made him feel much better, although concern for the small girl still plagued him. She could be concussed, and it needed to be dealt with immediately.

He scrambled back to Allura to report, being much less careful than before, now that he had a path. “She’s okay, alive and breathing but unconscious. I doubt she’s in immediate danger but she definitely needs a pod and as soon as possible.”

Allura’s communicator crackled a tick before her voice eventually came through, “What was tha----ance? You’re bre----g up.” She said, her signal getting warped.

“Quiznack.” Lance muttered to himself, “The signal from my helmet is weak. Returning to Red now.” He waited a tick before repeating himself, a bit more slowly in hopes of better transmission, “I repeat, the signal from my helmet is weak. Returning to Red now.”

He scrambled to the rubble pile separating the Red and Blue lions, slipping through with ease. When he started down the other side to get to the Red lion, however, he slipped too easily and missed his footing. He came down with his full body weight on a smaller rock sticking out from the pile. He cursed himself on the way down as he thudded painfully on his back a couple yards down. It didn’t kill him, but he possibly bruised or fractured a rib from the impact. At least that’s what he felt like had happened when he inhaled deeply.

The pain in his chest was nothing compared to the panic that soon set in when he realized the chain reaction he had set off. Knocking the rock out of place caused a small rockslide, and he couldn’t get to his feet in time to move. He tried moving his body as far away from the falling rocks as he could while down, but was ultimately only able to watch as the rockslide came down and overtook his legs.

He screamed in pain, tears coming in fast and hot as they ran down his face. One leg had been lucky and was between the crack of two fallen rocks. The other he could feel the break when one large, solid one landed directly on it.

He thought he heard someone asking if he was okay, and he took a dabosh or two to compose himself. Sobs of pain wilted into whimpers, and he calmed himself down.

“Lance!” Allura screamed through the communicators. “Wha---as that?” She was still breaking up, but it sounded much better than when he was too far from the Red Lion for too long.

He took a deep breath and cleared his throat, “No, nothing, there was a rockslide and uh, it ah, hard to admit but it scared me pretty bad.” He replied, hoping that he didn’t sound like he had just been crying, or as if he were in pain.

“Are you bac--n your lio-?” She followed up, “Hunk an-----th are back and ready to blast away the rub---.”

Lance felt the blood drain from his face. If he said he was out and trapped, Pidge would be in more danger from staying untreated too long. If he lied to his team, he could be badly injured himself. Or killed. He didn’t know exactly where they were planning on blasting, after all.

There was no hesitation, “Yes.”

A few ticks passed. Then a dabosh. Then there was deafening crashes and blinding lights. Then nothing.

~

Lance fell from the healing pod and was greeted with a variety of reactions. Pidge and Keith were on him in an instant, hugging him and telling him how stupid his lie was. Hunk stayed back, an expression torn between relief and irate on his face. He let the other two have their moment, but Lance knew he’d be getting an earful from the Yellow Paladin later. Allura and Shiro were also relieved, but slightly less irritated looking than Hunk. Coran was nearly in tears.

Pidge detached herself from him and punched him in the arm as hard as she could, which was pretty painful for him. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

Keith took the chance to hug him fully, nestling his face in the nook of Lance’s shoulder and neck. He muttered, “I thought I killed you, don’t worry me like that again Lance.”