Shiro had warned him. Hunk had warned him. Coran had warned him. Hell, Keith had even warned him, and offered one of his hoodies.
But had Lance listened? No, of course not. His stubborn ass refused any sort of layer and marched right out to the chilly planet in nothing but his jeans and baseball tee (he forwent his jacket in what Keith firmly believed to be spite), denying that he was cold through teeth chattering so badly that none of his words were actually legible by the time the negotiations wrapped up and they headed home.
“You sure you don’t want my hoodie?” Keith had asked, admittedly a little smug.
“Ch — choke to d — death,” Lance had replied, with as much dignity as he could with his lips turning blue.
(It’s not even that the planet was below freezing, or anything. It was maybe 14°C, give or take a couple degrees. But Lance had the shittiest circulation of anyone Keith had ever met, and as a result could not stay in cold environments very long without really starting to feel it. Sometimes Keith affectionately called him his little gecko, which Lance hated and everyone else found hilarious. Keith will admit that the gecko comment may have been part of the reason that Lance refused to wear a goddamned hoodie.)
Regardless of the reason for the Red Paladin’s stubbornness, when he walked into the kitchen the next morning with a red nose and a duvet wrapped around his shoulders, looking absolutely miserable, Keith can’t quite hide his smile.
He’s not the only one.
“Morning, popsicle,” Pidge greets, smirking.
Lance doesn’t even look at her, squinting at the space in front of him with bleary eyes. “Go fuck yourself.”
Hunk smiles into his cup, shaking his head, but Shiro has the good grace to at least look sympathetic.
“Got a little cold, there, buddy?”
“I’m actually dying.”
Allura snorts. “You don’t have to milk it, doofus. I’m not going to make you train like that.”
Lance sniffles, coughing wetly into his elbow. Keith starts to feel the first stirrings of pity in his gut.
“Good, because I might have died. My shrivelled lungs would have given out and collapsed, and that would be on your conscious.”
“Your lungs are fine, dear,” Coran says, eyes twinkling.
Lance tries to scoff, but it gets caught in his throat and turns into another cough. “None of you love me.”
He finally shuffles over to the food goo machine, squeezing out the smallest bowl Keith has ever seen him eat — his appetite must be shot — and makes his miserable way back over to the table, collapsing next to Keith.
As soon as he’s settled, Keith hooks his ankle around the leg of Lance’s chair, dragging him closer. He throws his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder hoping his ‘seriously insane levels of human furnace — are you half Galra or half red sun’ (Lance’s words, obviously) will help Lance feel a little comfier. He pulls back the duvet hood just enough to expose Lance’s face a little, and presses a kiss to his temple.
“I’m sorry you’re sick,” he whispers, “even if I damn well told you to wear a jacket.”
Lance huffs, but a smile threatens to break free of the deep frown he’s forcing on his face.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Shance au: shiro is sick and dying in voltron, what if he went to a thearpy group like in a fault in our stars and he met lance their. Lance maybe has cancer. They realize they've both seen each other at the garrison(Maybe lance could be the same age as shiro.) They're friends at first. Than shiro disappears. Then episode 1 of voltron happens. I just want lance relating to shiro being sick and being the only one who knows because he could die soon too.
You know, I got an ask like this while back, where Lance and Shiro actually had the same disease. (only they didn’t actually know each other...or Shiro didn’t know Lance), but I kind of really like this.
(also I like them being the same age)
Lance and Shiro meet in the therapy group. Shiro had kind of been going for years, but on like the DL, and Lance is new. Newly diagnosed with a rare sort of cancer (which ended his Garrison career rather quickly). They sort of get paired together, recognize each other from their time at the Garrison, and hit off really well. Quickly becoming fast friends, and rather close. Often talking outside of the group just for fun.
Lance is totally supportive of Shiro going on missions while he still very much can. As Lance’s Garrison career never really got to start, and now he is just there helping his sister and getting treatments. Like Shiro still has a few good years to take advantage off. Naturally that doesn’t make Adam the biggest fan of Lance, but Shiro just sort of ignores it. Because like he is a bit more aware of Lance’s situation. And it is nice to have someone saying he should do stuff while he can. When things with Adam end...Lance is like the first to know, and he’s still encouraging for Shiro to go with what he wants.
Keberos Mission launches, Lance is so happy Shiro got to go on such a historitic mission. But then it fails...
And...
Well Lance just starts writing to Shiro like all the time. Like he doesn’t exactly want to mourn him, but also writing to Shiro is mourning him. Lance writes about all kinds of things, things he’s done, how Veronica is doing at the Garrison, how he is doing health wise. Just like whenever Lance can manage to write he does because it’s like a comfort.
At some point it get’s Keith’s attention. And like Keith is kind of mad this strange guy rights to Shiro like all the time. So he tracks down Lance, but in realizing they were good friends, kind of eases off being made at Lance. Which in turn actually makes Lance kind of adopt him, cause “Oh you’re Keith!” Keith doesn’t exactly want Lance around, also likes having him around cause Lance is always sort of like “why not” when Keith does something.
When Shiro crashes back down to Earth, Lance is visiting Keith (cause it’s been like the first good health day since treatment and like Lance want’s to see the conspiracy board okay!) So he does with Keith, and like yeah sure, probably a bad idea...but oh shit it’s Shiro and like some other kids that didn’t listen to lock down orders. And everything with escaping and finding Blue Lion.
And when things sort of settle, Shiro kind of confronts Lance about his condition. And Lance is like “I’ve had surgery and treatments...I would have out soon if it all worked maybe a week ago. It’s like a 25% chance, rather being doing this if I am honest.” They just sort of have an understanding about that. They both agree not to tell anyone, and know Keith won’t say anything. And they are always kind kind of there for each other.
(Bonus, Lance gets cured by the healing pods, and Shiro by Hagger. But neither of them know until they return to Earth)
This is my gift for @aru-paru for the @langstron Langst Exchange! I hope you enjoy it!!
———————————————————-
A sneeze rang through the room loudly followed closely by a sniffle and a groan.
Lance laid miserablely on the couch as he tried to relax. This cold seemed to be a demon spawn. All he wanted was to be able to breathe through his nose. Is that too much to ask for?!?!
While Lance tried to fall back asleep his amazing boyfriends made a light soup (read: warmed up a can of soup) and got him several cups of water.
Keith’s heart broke seeing his boyfriend so miserable when he could do nothing to help. Once everything was ready he took the bowl out to Lance.
“Babe? Wake up. We have some food for you.” Keith said softly.
Lance moaned and mumbled something under his breath.
“What? I couldn’t hear you.” Shiro said as he got next to Keith.
“Five more minutes.....” Lance said louder. Gritting his teeth at the sound of his voice.
Shiro looked at Keith then back at Lance. “No babe. We really need you to eat. Just a little.”
Lance looked at the two and pleaded. “Just five more minutes.....please?” He said looking almost in tears.
Keith and Shiro completely forgot about the soup upon seeing Lance’s tears. They gently moved him and cuddled him from both sides. Reassuring him that it was ok. To just relax and rest. Besides that soup can always be reheated.
And really how many times do you get to cuddle the ones you love when they need you? For this trio, the answer is not enough.
———————————————————
I really hope you enjoyed this! I had so much fun writing this and knew exactly what I wanted this to be about when I saw your info. Let me know how I did.
Thanks so much for the request! Sorry it took so long!
Taken from this ask meme (fever + camping). Since I’ve done one similar to this, I hope you forgive me for doing something a little different this time. Shout out as always to @feverflushed for the lovely beta work <3
—–
Lance groaned softly, his face buried in his pillow as he tried in vain to pull the blanket around himself tighter. He was absolutely freezing, even though he knew it was the fever talking. Another shiver ran through him, making his bones almost ache. He was tired and cold and completely miserable.
But most of all, he was lonely. God, he was so lonely. Growing up with all his siblings and cousins living practically on top of each other had its downsides, for sure, like never fully understanding the definition of privacy. But after living with them for so long, it just meant he was never alone.
For someone like Lance, being surrounded by people he loved was the best thing he could have asked for. And when he would get sick, his baby cousins would pile his bed with their favourite stuffed animals and blankets. His mom would make him soup that would clear his head and warm him up from his inside. His father would move their portable heater from the living room into his bedroom. It never failed to lift his spirits, no matter what awful plague he’d contract.
Now, living who knows how many lightyears away from them, Lance had never felt so alone.
He’d come down with this whatever-it-was alien virus a few days before, and at first, he was scared. Scratch that: he’d been terrified. It was the first time any of them had fallen ill since their impromptu recruitment into a ten thousand year space war, and Lance had been sure he’d picked up some deadly alien sickness that would kill him. But as the days passed, it mostly resembled an Earth-like flu.
Lance sniffled pathetically, burrowing as deep as he could get into the soft Altean blankets on his bed. Shiro and Coran had swiftly sequestered him in his room once they confirmed he wasn’t in any real danger, and since the pods weren’t designed to deal with illness, he was left to tough it out the old fashioned way. And while the others were around to get him whatever he needed, they mostly left him alone to wallow in his misery.
Maybe he was supposed to be more appreciative. Coran had thrown around words like quarantine and isolation until Shiro had convinced him that having Lance in his room would be equally effective. But still, Lance couldn’t help the immense wave of sadness being alone caused. Especially being alone and sick. He’d do anything for his brother’s stuffed alpaca, or the smell of his mother’s cooking. He missed them all so much…
Just as the tears started building, there was a soft, tentative knock on his door.
The noise jolted Lance out of his downward spiral, and he turned on his side to wait for whoever it was to come in. There was a beat of silence before they knocked again, a little louder this time.
“Yeah?” Lance called, clearing his throat when the sound came out rough and scratchy.
“Um…” The voice on the other side was hesitant. “It’s Keith.”
Keith?
Lance’s eyes widened in surprise. What the hell did Keith want?
Slowly, Lance sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He pulled the blanket with him as he stood, wrapping it securely around his shoulders and stumbling his way to the door. It opened with a swoosh.
Keith was standing on the other side, dressed in his usual attire, but without the jacket. He frowned as he looked Lance over. “Hey, uh…are you ok?”
Lance blinked, and belatedly realized there were still tears stuck to his eyelashes. He wiped them away quickly, flushing from embarrassment. This was just great. It was bad enough that Keith saw him looking like a mess, but he had to see him cry too…?
But Keith didn’t comment on it any further. “How are you feeling?” he asked instead. “You’ve been pretty quiet.”
Rolling his eyes, Lance scoffed, only to turn away and muffle the subsequent coughing fit into the blanket still around his shoulders. His chest burned in the aftermath.
“Ah, sorry,” Keith said quickly. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
Lance looked back over to see Keith fidgeting with the end of his shirt. It was a small thing, but it was something so distinctly un-Keith that Lance couldn’t help but notice.
Was he…..nervous?
He sighed, looking back up at Lance. “Look, I….I know you’re probably feeling like shit, and tired, but I wanted to do….something.”
Lance raised an eyebrow. “Something?” he repeated hoarsely, his voice cracking halfway through the single word.
“Yeah….something.” Keith sighed, frustrated. “Look, I don’t want it to be weird or anything, but I don’t know how to describe it without showing you.”
“I hate to break it to you, buddy,” Lance rasped, “but it’s already weird.”
Keith shoved his hands into his pocket. “I know, I know,” he sighed again, defeated. “Are you up for coming with me to the rec room? It’ll be easier to show you.”
Lance frowned. What the hell was Keith up to? Lance’s first instinct was suspicion, but he was so desperate for some kind of contact, so he nodded. Keith slumped in relief.
“I’m keeping the blanket, though,” Lance said as he stepped out of his room, the door closing automatically behind him. Keith shrugged in acceptance.
It was quiet in the castle as they made their way to the rec room. “Where is everyone?” Lance asked, absently rubbing his aching throat.
“We stopped outside a planet yesterday. Distress call, pretty standard.” Keith had slowed his pace to match Lance’s, who was wobbling slightly as he walked. Staying upright was harder than he expected. “Apparently they’re just wrapping things up now. Getting supplies and medicine.”
“Medicine?” Lance repeated dumbly.
Keith frowned. “Well….yeah? You’re sick. They’re hoping the people on the planet can help, since we helped them.”
Lance couldn’t help the way his breath hitched at Keith’s words, stopping suddenly. The others wanted to help. He might be a burden on the team, but they wanted to help. The tears from earlier suddenly returned, the fever making his emotions run wild, and he had to blink quickly to keep them at bay.
“Hey….” Keith had stopped when Lance did, and he put a gentle hand on his arm. “Lance? What’s wrong? Do you need to sit down or something?”
“I….” The hand on his arm was so warm, and Lance felt the ice inside him thaw a bit. “I thought….I mean, everyone left me alone….and Coran wanted to quarantine me…I thought…”
“What?” Keith’s tone was genuinely confused. “We left you alone because we didn’t want to bother you. Shiro had to keep telling Hunk and Pidge to let you sleep.”
“Oh….” Lance pulled the blanket around himself tighter, shivering from emotion and the freezing ice that was still in his veins.
Keith sighed, but it didn’t sound annoyed. “Let’s just…keep going, alright? We’re almost there, and then you can rest again.”
Lance nodded silently, trailing after Keith, trying to make sense of what he was feeling.
Before he knew it, though, they had made their way to the rec room.
Or at least, what Lance thought was the rec room.
The room had been transformed into a giant, ridiculously elaborate blanket fort.
Lance gasped as he took it all in, and the memory of building blanket forts with his siblings flashed through his mind. They would steal all the pillows and blankets from all around the house to make a giant enclosure that would get more and more complicated every time they built it. Then they would all sit with the lights off, using flashlights to play cards or board games and telling dumb, scary stories.
And now he was staring at a blanket fort easily three times the size of anything they’d ever managed to make, yet it still had a cozy, inviting feel to it. The number of pillows and blankets here must have been easily five times the amount they’d ever used back home. The blankets were strung up along the walls and just below the ceiling, with more pillows than Lance could count lining the floors. The blankets in the center drooped slightly, and that slight imperfection made it feel like home.
Keith cleared his throat softly next to him. Lance turned to him, still in shock.
“Coran helped me build it,” he said slowly, trying to gauge Lance’s reaction. “Pidge and Hunk mentioned doing this with their families…..and I know you have a big family at home, so….”
There was a distinctly red flush across Keith’s cheeks, and he refused to meet Lance’s eyes. “Did you…did you do this for me?” Lance asked softly.
The flush deepened, and Keith crossed his arms tightly. “Um….I mean…I know you’re probably not feeling very good, so if you don’t like it or you wanna go back to your room, just tell me, it’s fine.”
The tears made another return, except this time one or two escaped and trailed down Lance’s cheeks.
Finally looking up, Keith’s eyes widened when he saw the tears. Lance shook his head quickly, smiling softly.
“Keith….” How could he even begin to describe how he felt? How the loneliness had been eating him from the inside, how he desperately yearned for something from home? And somehow, Keith had known.
So he settled for smiling at Keith, emotions still running wild. “Thank you.”
The flush was back, and Keith ducked his head. “Y-yeah….don’t worry about it.”
Lance grinned. The obvious embarrassment on Keith’s face was almost cute.
Shuffling over to the fort, he eased himself down onto one of the many mounds of pillows strewn inside it, groaning in relief as he rested his aching joints. Seeming to shake himself out of his trance, Keith joined him, sitting stiff and cross-legged on his own mountain of pillows.
“The others will be here when they’re done,” Keith said, pulling out even more blankets that were buried somewhere in the sea of pillows, making sure they were within reach. “Hopefully they’ll have something for your fever, too.”
“Does Allura know about this?” Lance asked.
“Uh,” Keith said hesitantly, “she will when she gets back.”
Lance barked a laugh, happiness surging through him even though it made him cough. “You gonna convince Shiro to get in on the fun too?”
Keith grinned. “Absolutely. Hunk will make us soup. Pidge will probably have some games we can play. It’ll be great.”
“Like a sleepover,” Lance remarked, nestling into the pillows.
Keith shrugged. “I guess?”
“Have you never had a sleepover before?” Lance asked, incredulous.
Shaking his head, Keith looked away. “Never really had the chance.”
“Well then,” Lance said, tossing one of the blankets toward Keith. “That’s something we’ll have to fix, huh?”
Keith took the blanket and wrapped it around himself. He looked up, giving Lance a soft smile. Lance returned it without thinking.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Okay so I was thinking about how in the VLD world Earth probably has vaccines for like, everything but the kitchen sink, which made me think "damn, that means chicken pox is a no go" but then I said:
SPACE CHICKEN POX. Just like "regular" chicken pox, but with a few differences ;) Purple spots instead of red, coughing, higher fever, etc.
Right so, onwards to how shit would go down right, one of the paladins (you pick) ends up with "space pox" as they title it, in typical "chicken pox" fashion, starts with a fever and general unwellness. So they just think "okay, prob cold or flu or some shit since we can't get our yearly flu vaccine up here" and then BOOM comes the purple spots and they're like "OH MY GOD CORAN WHAT IS THIS". Coran immediately sees the rash and knows what it is, as it's apparently a common childhood illness for both alteans and galrans alike. Before the war alteans and galrans were so peaceful with each other they have no idea where it originated, but that it was super mild for alteans and galrans so they never made a "vaccine" (kinda like their version of a "cold") but, since humans were so close physiology wise, it was able to spread them, but they don't have any immunity, there bodies have never even seen anything like it, and thus it's so much worse. So one paladin gets it, and then another and another until there's just one person left taking care of everyone (in my eyes I feel like this is Lance) and he gets them all through the worst of it with Allura and corans help, and then he just, fucking crashes with it himself. And maybe he's even *sicker* then everyone else because he worked so damn hard for like 4-5 days. The team returns the favor and tada the end
When Lance woke up that morning with an aching neck he really didn't think much of it.
After all Allura had been pretty intense with training the day before so it really wasn't a surprise his muscles were sore today.
He just wished that he isn't starting on a headache at the same time.
It was fine under the safety of his blankets, but soon as he was in the light of his room sharp pain bloomed behind his eyes causing Lance to groan and retreat to the darkness.
If he were able he would have just curled up and gone back asleep, but last time he did that Shiro had shown up and dragged him out himself.
So with a lot of huffing and puffing Lance rolled out of bed and slowly made his way towards the kitchen dragging his blanket behind him like a cape.
“Morning.” Hunk greeted as Lance wrapped his blanket around himself before sitting in his usual place.
“Morning buddy, any idea why the castles so cold?”
Hunks brow creased in a mixture of confusion and worry “its not cold buddy, do you think your coming down with something?”
Lance replied with a shrug wincing when Pidge flipped on the bright lights above the table “the vampire look really doesnt do you well. Are you wearing makeup too? Your like really pale.”
Again Lance only shrugged deciding it would be too much effort to actually answer her.
Pidge and Hunk exchanged a glance.
“Lance be honest with me, how are you feeling?” Hunk left his mixing bowl on the surface as he came over to Lance and placed a hand on his forehead.
Lance hummed as he leant into the cool comforting hand his eyes drooping shut.
“I think he has a fever.” Hunk frowned.
“Who has a fever?” Shiro asked causing the yellow and green paladins to jump with surprise.
“Erm Lance, it doesn't seem too high but he's not cool enough for comfort.” Pidge explained as Hunk ran from the room.
Shiro kneeled down so he was in front of Lance “hey kiddo can you look at me for a minute.”
With great reluctance Lance opened his eyes hissing in pain as he tried to shield his eyes from the light.
Seeing this Pidge quickly shut them off again.
“Can you tell me how your feeling?” Shiro asked gently.
“Just a headache and a little sore i guess.”
Shiro nodded “ok, doesn't sound too bad but i don't like the sound of that fever so we should get you checked out.”
“Way ahead of you Shiro” Hunk called as he returned with a thermometer in his hands. He quickly placed it in Lance’s mouth before he could resist then took it out as soon as enough time had past.
“100 degrees” Hunk inhaled sharply through his teeth.
“Right back to bed with you , Doidge get some ice packs and as many water pouches as you can find. Hunk go see about getting some fever reducers from Coran that are safe for humans. We don't want this getting any worse.”
The two nodded and got to their tasks as shiro scooped Lance up into his arms.
Lance yelped in surprise “i can walk Shiro!”
“Yeah but this way you can avoid over exerting yourself, we really can't afford to be down a paladin for long so hopefully a couple days off training and some bed rest will have you back to normal in no time.” Shiro tucked the blankets around Lance almost like he was a baby.
Lance had a sarcastic remark prepared but before he could say anything he found the calming rhythm of Shiro heart lulling him to sleep.
When he woke up Shiro was placing him down on his bed. The water and ice pack were already waiting for them and Shiro quickly placed one on Lance’s forehead.
Lance groaned trying to swat it away, he was already freezing so why the hell did he need ice?!
“I know buddy but you gotta keep it on ok?” Shiro spoke softly as he replaced the pack smiling with this time Lance only pouted.
He reached down to grab a water pouch and handed it over the to sick paladin “Here you need to stay hydrated.”
Lance took the water, though he wasn't really that thirsty he did take a few sip just to keep his leader happy.
It seemed to do the job because Shiro headed for the door “just call the cops if you need anything, i’ll drop by in a couple hours so just try to get some rest ok?”
Lance held up a thumb as he buried himself under the covers.
Shiro chuckled as he closed the door behind him content that lance would be fine on his own.
However as time passed Lance’s fever started to climb and the pain in his neck grew worse and worse.
