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Lance stretches his arms into the air and yawns. He grabs the remote and turns the tv off, looking over at his friends. Shiro was wide awake as far as he could tell. Pidge was leaning against hunk trying their best to keep their eyes open. Hunk was already asleep and Keith was rolled up in a big fluffy blanket.
“Okay guys, we should probably get some sleep now,” Lance says, standing up to go grab more blankets from the closet.
Pidge nudges hunk to wake him up, which takes a few tries, but eventually, he sits back up and wipes at his chin. Upon returning, Lance hands everyone a blanket.
“Feel free to crash wherever, guys.”
Hunk ends up leaning back up against the back of the sofa and seems to claim that as his resting place for the night. Which of course gets a shrug from Pidge, who rolls up and takes the rest of the space on the couch. Shiro makes his place on the floor, grabbing one of the extra pillows that had been thrown to a corner of the room.
Lance looks over them, making sure everyone is comfortable where they are before he lays down, after all, they are his guests in his house. His eyes fall to Keith though. The more recent cause for any of the groups' stresses and worrying. Lance sighs as Keith makes no attempt to move from his spot on the armchair and sets up his own spot on the floor.
He lays down, but his eyes linger on Keith. He's been awfully distant lately and he hasn't gone on any missions with his mom for a while now. He's been becoming paler and hasn't been getting enough sleep if the eye bags are any indication. They had all been worrying about Keith. Sending messages to each other trying to keep tabs on what Keith’s up to if his condition has gotten any better or worse, and from everything, lance has heard and seen, Keith has been getting worse.
Lance keeps his eyes on Keith, but his eyes become more unfocused as sleep becomes more demanding of his attention, and so he gives in to his body's desires and closes his eyes, entering sleep.
The night continues on, Keith’s own eyes slowly closing and opening as thoughts swirl around his head. Every time he closes his eyes all he can see is lance there, which makes his heartache and his chest feel tight. The tightness is enough to wake him back up. He tries to take his mind off things, but as the days go on, his condition becomes worse and worse and instead of worrying about keeping his mind off of things, he's come to embrace it.
Soon though, the familiar tickling and burning sensation in his chest and throat, indicating a coughing fit, startup. He pulls the blanket around himself as if it's a shield that can protect him from what's to come. He breaths slowly in an attempt to soothe the feeling, but to no avail. He wraps the blankets around himself more securely. A few coughs slip past his lips as he tries to stifle the sound, trying to avoid waking anyone up. Wrapping the blanket even more so around himself, he stands up and makes his way to the restroom, skillfully avoiding stepping or tripping on anything.
The sound of distant hacking wakes lance from his sleep. He looks around, a light coming from the hallway. He rubs his eyes and takes a look at whos in the room, pidge, Shiro, and hunk, so that leaves Keith. He should have guessed it would be him, after all, he's been acting weird for a while now.
He rubs his eyes again and gets to his feet, making his way down the hallway. He stops when he suddenly feels something wet seep through his sock. He leans down to pull the sock off, assuming it to just be a spilled drink of some kind, but when he sees the red he stops. His eyes widen and he can feel the sweat start to form in his palms. There were no red drinks tonight.
He scans down the hallway, red splotches color the carpet and something else in occasional spots. He walks down a little further to the odd substance and leans down to look at it. There are many of them small, solid objects, but delicate. Flower petals? Why were there blood-soaked flower petals here?
He gets up from his spot walking down to the restroom where the tip of a blanket sticks out from. Lance looks into the room, his eyes traveling from the blanket on the floor to Keith whos grabbing onto the toilet for dear life. Bloodstains his hands and covers parts of the bowl.
“Keith? What's happening?”
Keith's head whips around quickly, but he grabs his head from the sudden movement. His eyes travel the ground and then he looks away from Lance's direction.
“Keith.” lance tries again, lowering his voice slightly and walking in.
Lance grabs the blanket and gently places it on Keith's shoulders. To which Keith pulls around himself, staining the edges in red.
“Sorry, did I wake you?”
“No, it's okay.”
Lance sits down on the ground next to him, just in time for another coughing fit to hit. Keith's body shakes as liquid empties into the toilet. Lance, unsure of what to do places his hand on Keith’s back and makes comforting circles. The coughing fades back down
“Keith, what's happening?” then he sees the flower petals in the bowl. With more urgency in his voice he tries again “Keith, what is this?”
He takes in a few breaths before replying. “Close the door first, wouldn't want to wake the others.”
Lance nods and uses his foot to close the door. The door clicks softly shut. He continues to rub Keith’s back in as comforting of a way as he could, giving Keith time to put his thoughts together.
“Apparently it's a disease galras can get.”
“Is that why you haven't been feeling well?”
“Yea…”
“Tell me more about it.”
Keith glares at lance slightly, clearly not wanting to say anymore, but another, but smaller fit comes on. When he sees lances eyes and slight frown though, he caves.
“With how galras are, it's typically rare for it to ever get this far.” he scoffs slightly at the thought. He could have dealt with this sooner “It's called hanahaki disease”
“How do you get rid of it?”
“You can't, well not in the medical sense anyways.”
“What? How does that work.”
Keith turns slightly to lean on the bathtub next to the toilet.
“What causes it, Keith?”
“Love”
“Love? Your not making any sense.”
“When love goes unrequited, a sort of plant starts to grow in the lungs. It keeps growing until the feelings are reciprocated or the victim falls out of love. Typically galras just force themselves out of love and recover on their own, usually by separating themselves from whoever they like.”
Lance shifts in his spot as he sits crisscross and looks up at the ceiling. “This sounds like its out of some sort of science fiction book”
Keith chuckles. “Yea, that's what we thought when we discovered the lions.”
“True.” a soft smile grows on lances lips, Keith hasn't smiled so genuinely in such a long time. “So you either need to fall out of love or get them to fall in love with you.”
“If only it was that easy.”
“Yea, unfortunately, love is like that. Wait, what happens if neither of those things happens?”
The room falls silent. The air becomes tense as Keith pulls the blanket closer and hides part of his face.
“The victim dies.”
Lance's eyes go impossibly wide. “They die?” his voice wavers slightly in disbelief. “Your dying?”
“Pretty much”
“Have you tried to do anything yet? Have you tried falling out of love or getting them to love you?”
“It's not that easy. I've tried. They're constantly around and we work closely together. So I can't fall out of love.”
“Okay, then what about getting them to fall in love?”
“I haven't tried that yet, but I know it won't work.”
“Why? Your not one to just give up like this, you realize your dying right?”
Keith glares up at lance, his reddened eyes meeting Lance's blue ones. “I know that lance, I am the one in constant pain after all.”
“Constant?” he flattens the hair on the back of his head, trying to process everything Keith has said.
“Yea, constant, it's hard to breathe.”
“So what's the plan then, how are you going to get them to fall in love with you.”
“There is no plan, it wouldn't work.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Because.” he breaths in deeply. “I'm gay lance, and I'm pretty sure he's straight.”
“He could be bi.”
“I doubt it, he's always been interested in girls, I've seen him flirt with girls but never guys. You took me being gay surprisingly well.”
“Well yeah.” lance scootches across the floor to sit next to Keith against the tub. “I mean I'm pansexual.”
“You are?”
“Yea. who is it anyway?”
Keith covers his face in the blanket again. That pain in his chest becomes noticeable again. “Sorry, but I can't tell you.”
“Why? I promise I won't tell anyone.”
“Even so, I still can't.”
“Keith please, we can't lose you. You're important to the team and knowing who it is could help to stop this.”
“But it's already too late.” Keith pulls his legs up against himself and buried his head into his knees.
“What do you mean? How long has this been going on for?”
“A couple of years maybe?”
“If it's been going on for that long, then how much time do you have left, do you know?”
“About a week before…before nothing can be done and i.” tears start to roll down Keith’s eyes as he dares to take a look at lance.
Lance instantly pulls Keith into a hug and starts rubbing his back. Although a few shaky breaths leave Keith's mouth and a few light coughs and that red blood comes out. Keith pushes lance away and throws his head over the toilet again. Red splatters into the bowl along with those flower petals.
“Keith, please tell me who it is.” lance whispers gently to Keith
“I can't” Keith retorts with coughs between words. His voice rose slightly.
“Please Keith, I can't stand seeing you this way. Your like family.”
“Damit lance, you're making it worse, would you just stop.” his coughs subside, but his breaths are rapidly trying to fill his lungs with the air they can barely get ahold of.
“How am I making it worse? You can't just blame”
“Dammit. it's you lance. Okay, it's you.” Keith looks over his shoulder at lance, tears starting to spill from his eyes, anger, and sorrow harboring themselves within his features.
“Oh.”
Again the room falls quiet, both looking for the words to say. Both trying to gather their thoughts. Keith is in love with Lance, and lance is the reason why Keith is in this position. The labored breathing slows slightly.
“Well good news then I guess, I'm pan so, all I have to do is fall in love with you.”
Keith's eyes widen before relaxing again. “That's not how love works lance.”
“Who’s to say how it works. If I say I'm going to fall in love with you then that's what I'm going to do.”
Keith shakes his head, but a laugh still escapes his lips. “Your such an idiot.”
And for the first time in a long time, the constant sprouting pain lessens ever so slightly within Keith’s chest.