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“That was absolutely the most disgusting thing we’ve ever fought.” There was a queasy quiver to Hunk’s voice, heard by everyone even over the comms.
“And Keith trying to slice plasma aliens with a sword” Keith didn’t have to glance at the screen to know Pidge was smirking as she said it.
Haha, very funny. It was one of the few times charging in didn't work in his favor; the Galra had recruited some sort of goo aliens to help them and had been waiting to ambush at an old distress beacon.
Keith hadn’t waited when his location was breached and ignored Shiro’s call to wait for backup. Instead, he had charged with his bayard, thinking it would at least do something, only to end up face first into one of the looming creatures.
“Keep picking on Keith and watch what happens.” Shiro chided lightly, steering the black lion back into the hangar. The other lions were following right behind, Red giving Keith a quiet purr of reassurance as they landed.
He shivered, the wet feeling of the goo had le3ched through his clothes, the edges of his hair sticking to the back of his neck. It was like sitting outside of the pool with no towel, waiting to air dry, except there was hard armor trapping the moisture. Something felt off, Keith realized as he stood; limbs feeling stiffer than normal like they needed a good stretch.
This was nothing a good shower couldn’t fix, in addition to the deep cleaning his undersuit needed. Lance and Pidge were outside their lions when Keith stepped out, the pair looking delighted at the awkward way he was walking as the black bodysuit stuck uncomfortably.
“Geez, Mullet - you reek.”
A retort was on his lips, but the words felt stuck - jaw feeling rusted over and sore like he’d been clenching down. Still, Keith gave Lance his best glare before heading out of the hangar, Lance’s voice calling out after him, “So you agree, then?” before beelining it to the showers.
Shiro wouldn’t blame him for dipping out on the debriefing, they all had seen the way Keith got drenched in the stuff. He carefully unclasped the armor, fingers feeling numb, but by now they could all undo their armor with their eyes closed. The pieces clattered to the ground with an echo in the empty showers before the wet jumpsuit joined the disgusting pile.
They could be stuck in decontamination later - for now Keith just wanted in the showers before his stiff muscles got the best of him.
The water was scalding as he stepped underneath, but the heat was a welcome cleanse from the damp feeling he’d had throughout the battle. Though as nice is it felt - it didn’t last. His skin was slowly growing numb, the once scalding water feeling like gentle wisps of nothing.
Alarmed, Keith started to reach for the water again, wanting to adjust the heat, only to find his arms stuck at his side. Keith flexed and strained with his muscles, brain urging the arm to lift but only found a stiffness instead.
“Nnn” Again he tried his words, jaw locked in place, tongue stiff behind his teeth. Was it a poison? Some kind of toxin in his bloodstream? What had originally felt like overworked muscles now was an alarming inability to move or scream.
With another at movement, Keith attempted to step out of the shower, but his knees wouldn’t bend and Keith instead hit at the edge of the shower, knocking him forward and onto the floors with a slap of his forehead against the steam-slick floor.
All Keith could do was wheeze for air as his vision went black for a few seconds, trying to not panic, but he didn’t know what was going to fail next. His lungs - maybe even his heart. Those were muscles he could not lose control over, and even if he couldn’t feel the pain - his eyes were still working and he could see the blood pooling beneath him.
He tried again to make any noise - his cheeks puffing out with the last push of air he could get - but no noise loud enough to garner attention. The only thing worse than dying in space was dying in the castle, what he thought was the safest place he could be, alone in the bathroom.
Everything started fading - either blood loss or lack of oxygen, Keith couldn’t do anything but let it happen despite any fruitless attempts he made for movement.
~
Keith expected to be dead, in all honesty, so when he finally opened his eyes and saw Lance - he couldn’t help but stare for a moment.
“You’re the worst angel to wake up to.” He croaked, finally able to speak.
Lance looked stunned from where he sat by the bed, fiddling with something in his fingers before a relieved smile broke across his face, “I knew I should have smothered you with a pillow while I had the chance.”
He started to get up from the chair, Keith now noticing the extra few pushed to the side. It looked like he’d had quite a few visitors. “Geez Keith, warn a guy next time you decide to wake up out of nowhere.”
The room was spinning as Keith sat up, trying to push the blankets off, but Lance was quicker as he moved to sit up on the bed next to Keith, “Nah-ah, you lay down. You got out of the pod like two hours ago.”
“How long was I in there?” Keith asked, raising a hand to his forehead. It was nice to be able to move again, but the scarred bump under his bangs didn’t feel too nice.
Lance pushed the blanket back over Keith’s lips, “Abooooout four days. Coran took a bit because he couldn’t figure out the paralyzing agent at first to make an antidote. Pidge got a sample off your bayard.”
He held up the red bayard in his palm, “Took forever to activate it - but I guess Blue talked Red into letting me use it for a moment.”
This was a lot to process and Keith fell back onto his pillow with a wince, “Okay.” Not sure of what else to say - Four days missing from his life in exchange for not dying on the bathroom floor. “Did you find me?”
Lance nodded, spinning the bayard around his finger before holding it out to Keith, “Ass naked and bleeding out on the floor. Thought you died.”
“I’m sorry.” Keith said, taking back his bayard, the weight reassuring in his palm.
“It’s cool, I mean, I’d rather not find you like ever again, but you could probably make it up to me by letting me take you on a date sometime.” Lance said, nonchalant.
Keith looked up, startled, “I just woke up after almost dying and you wanna ask me out?”
The blue paladin gave a shrug, “Yeah, I guess seeing your face all purple and stuff made me realize your mullet wasn’t all that bad.”
They sat for a moment, Keith’s brows furrowed as he stared down at his bayard, “You’re so weird.”
Lance leaned over, putting his head on Keith’s shoulder, “I hear it’s easy to take your breath away.”
With that Keith was pushing Lance away lightly, a grin on his face despite the words, “Alright - out of my bed if you’re just gonna crack jokes about me nearly dying, asshole.”
“But I never got an answer!” Lance pleaded, just pushing back against Keith.
“Fine! Yes, yes. Just get out of my bed - I need to pee.” Keith started to get up again, Lance not resisting this time.
“Alright, but I’ll have you know Shiro assigned me as your official bathroom buddy just in case.”