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Familiar Flu was… literally just that. A flu that affected a witch’s familiar.
It was also much more than that. The severity of the flu depended on how well the familiar was treated by their witch. Of course most cases were nondescript, the familiar’s just been fatigued and tired, curling up in their animal forms and sleeping their illness away. Most.
There were those rare cases of familiars who had suffered from their witches, who had been run ragged and mistreated, who were affected more, nearly or actually dying. Those that survived weren’t totally healed, some losing one of their senses or their magical ability being weakened significantly.
Of course it were these rare cases that Lance was thinking of when Keith had complained of a scratchy throat. He felt warmer than usual and became more lethargic the day went on. At present Keith was grumbling in Lance’s bed, burrowed under his blankets and Lance was freaking out.
His mind was going back to when he was younger and he and Keith never got along. He thought of all the times he was mean to Keith just because he felt cheated and didn’t have a cool familiar like his mother. He distinctly remembered a time where he and Keith had gotten into a petty fight, resulting in Keith running away and Lance getting the biggest ass chewing of his life. It had also been the turning point in their relationship.
Never mind that, these days he had been taking care of Keith and the two were closer than most with and familiars. For crying out loud they’ve had their tongues down each other’s throats at multiple points in time! Okay, okay, TMI....
The point was, Lance didn’t have a reason to be worried that Keith would be affected negatively by this illness, and yet here he was reviewing those cases of familiars who were and making himself spiral down into more of a panic. So one has to forgive him when he jumped, a strangled sounding yelp pulling from his throat, as something brushed against his leg. He looked down, eyes wide with worry as he saw a black cat rubbing itself along his ankle and shin, purring. The silver rings clicking together as his ears twitched and the bell gave a soft tingle as he looked up, bright purple eyes looking up to him.
“Keith?” Lance frowned, pushing his chair back from the table, “You okay?” Keith purred, meowing faintly. “Can you talk?” He moved to stand but gave another yelp when, instead, Keith lept up into his lap. Keith headbutted into Lance’s chin, purring more as he gently dug his claws into his witch’s clothes. “Uh… Keith?”
Keith didn’t respond, but soon moved, draping himself over one of Lance’s arms as he curled up and… “Keith, did you fall asleep?” Lance frowned, his free hand coming to gently poke his familiar’s head. “Yep. You fell asleep.” He groaned, tipping his head back.
Well, if Keith was willing to come cuddle then he must not be feeling too under the weather. Lance was willing to let himself be used as a body pillow and was content with pushing away the Familiar Flu cases he’d been looking up in favor of doing his actual school work. But once his arm fell asleep and he needed it to start writing an essay…
“Keith,” he whined, gently poking the black cat in his lap. “Keith I need my arm.”
Keith only purred in response, seemingly clinging tighter to his witch’s arm. And it was cute, if Lance’s arm wasn’t feeling like a billion little pins were poking into it. “Keith. Babe.” He frowned, “Mi alma. Mi cielo.” He moved to gently scratch behind one of the cat’s ears, and smiled when Keith’s head leaned into his touch. His eyes peeked open and he gave a meow and Lance’s heart melted.
It didn’t stop him from carefully pulling his arm free, much to Keith’s distress. “Hey, hey, no!” Lance pouted as Keith made to reach for his arm again. “I need it to write my essay, Keith! You can stay here but I need to work!”
Keith grunted, turning in Lance’s lap and laid down again, this time pressing his face into Lance’s chest. Another muffled meow was his response.
At least Lance could use both of his hands.
Lance wasn’t able to get his essay done. Sure, he got a good chunk done, and he was pretty proud of himself for being able to focus as much as he had! He was certain he could have finished it if it wasn’t for Keith. Not that Keith the Cat had become clingy again, no.
Keith had shifted without warning and Lance had a lapful of cute boyfriend, cheeks flushed and a precious pout on his lips as he whined and wrapped his arms around Lance’s neck. “Pay attention to me.” he whined, his tail flicking, knocking against the papers on Lance’s desk.
“Keith!” Lance blushed, frowning, “Come on, let me finish this!” His momentum was gone, though. It would take him ages to get back into the groove he had. Plus the familiar had just knocked his book and papers to the ground.
“No.” the black cat mumbled, burying his face into his witch’s neck. “You’ve been ignoring me for the last two hours.” Had Lance been focused that long? Damn, Lance was super proud of himself! “I want cuddles.” Dammit, why was Keith being so cute right now?
“Keith, I’ll give you all the cuddles you want when I’m done with my work.” he tried again, hands coming to rest on his boyfriend’s shoulders. He pushed him back gently, frowning when he was met with resistance. “Keith, please.” He managed to get face to face with his familiar and… okay Lance didn’t think this through. Keith’s eyes were swimming with fever and unshed tears, his ears drooped and face flushed red. His lips were still in a pout and Lance realized he’d been a fool to think looking Keith in the face right now was a good idea. He was a weak man, and his familiar was very pretty.
“Laaaanceee,” the familiar whined, a quiet purr slipping out, “mi amor, te quiero abrazar.” Lance was a very weak man. “Abrazar y besar.”
Nope. Lance wasn’t working tonight. He groaned, covering his face with his hands and his boyfriend continued to make requests in Spanish, purring as he reattached himself to the witch, clinging tightly to him. He had to admit, apart from making out the cat’s requests were absolutely adorable. Cuddles, naps, a cake (of course Keith wanted a cake) to share with Lance (that had just melted any resolve Lance had left).
It was how Lance found himself in bed with Keith, who had turned back into a cat, curled around his shoulders and purring loudly as Lance decided he was at least going to try and read. At least until Keith decided he wasn’t being given enough attention again and proceeded to drop right on top of the book, roll onto his back adorably and meowed with a look of betrayal on his face. Like how dare Lance try and do his school work?
So this was how familiars who were in a relationship with their witches acted when they had the Flu. Not that he had planned on telling anyone, but when Hunk and Pidge had come over (Lance forgot they were coming by to study okay? He had a clingy cat who had fallen asleep on him, and familiar or not you don’t move a sleeping cat) and seen, he couldn’t very well be embarrassed. Even as Pidge was howling with laughter and Hunk was taking pictures and cooing at how adorable they were.
Pidge’s laughter only grew when Keith changed yet again, grumpy and pouting as he pushed and shoved at Lance until the witch was on his back and Keith was laying comfortably on him.
“You, uh, want us to leave you alone?” Hunk asked, grinning. Lance only stared up at the ceiling.
“Leave me to die. This is my fate.” Lance sighed, “Will you at least pick up my books and papers? Keith knocked them down earlier.”
“How tragic.” Pidge managed to breathe and walked over to Lance’s desk, gathering up his things and putting them back on his desk. “Only you would find a way to get out of studying by being all cuddly with your boyfriend.”
“Yes, Pidge. This was all clearly planned.” the Cuban boy huffed, waving his arms in the general direction of his familiar, who only grunted, his tail swatting against the bed twice. “I absolutely was going to ditch studying with my friends and maybe even going out afterwards to stay and be a human body pillow to my sick familiar.”
“Shush,” Keith muttered, “pillows don’t talk.” Lance made a noise and Pidge and Hunk, traitors they were, laughed.
“Will you please at least read over what I managed to write before Clingwrap here decided I shouldn’t be doing my duties as a student?” Lance’s further complaints were muffled with Keith raised a hand and brought it down on top of his witch’s face, shushing him again, muttering a soft, “la hora de la siesta”.
That was how Lance found the rest of his day going. Hunk and Pidge had been kind enough to hang out, their familiars chattering away, but keeping a wide berth of Keith, not wanting to catch the Flu themselves. They had quizzed the trapped witch, and Lance did well. Up until Keith had grunted, shifted back into a cat and curled up on his chest, making it difficult to breathe.
It somehow ended up with his best friends curled up in his tiny bed with him, though, everyone in a cuddle pile (their familiars had even seemed to edge just a bit closer). It was warm and soft and with a purring cat Lance decided that if this was how the day would end, he’d accept it. Besides, Keith would only be sick for a few more days. He could get used to it.
(He couldn’t, however, get used to Keith shifting whenever he seemed to decide, waking everyone up late into the night, a foot digging into Hunk’s stomach, elbow in Pidge’s chest as he fought to get comfortable and then proceeded to drool on Lance when he fell back asleep. Oh well. He’d just have to tease Keith about it when he was better.)