Stop Lying, Let me Help Pt. 1 (Klance sickfic)
(Quick note: I don’t know what a college dorm looks like, so if any of this sounds inaccurate, don’t judge. I’m imagining it like two small bedrooms with very small bathrooms off them, and a hallway that leads to the Kitchen/hangout area. Warning: Angsty)
Keith laid his head against the rim of the toilet seat. He’d been throwing up for at least half an hour, and his stomach was killing him. Keith groaned as his stomach turned. He held his sides and closed his eyes. Keith heard footsteps shuffling around his room, which was right next to the bathroom. Seconds later, he heard the door open and a soft gasp.
“Keith, babe, what’s wrong?” Lance quickly came over and held Keith’s shoulder gently. Keith groaned again and gripped his sides tighter.
“I-I just felt n-nauseous. I-I’m fine.” Keith lied. He didn’t want to tell Lance he’d been throwing up because one, Keith had Midterms that day, and two, he didn’t like it when people worried about him. Keith propped his head up with his hands against his knees. He could feel his face burning in his hands. He got up and took off the jacket he’d had on. He’d been cold minutes ago, and he’d been on and off of feeling hot and cold while he’d been puking. He got up and started to exit the bathroom to grab some ibuprofen, but he was stopped by Lance, who spun him around. “Lance, p-please don’t do that. I s-still feel a little queasy.” Keith said weakly, holding his sides as a sneeze tickled his nose. Lance looked at him apologetically and said,
“Sorry. I’m just a little worried.” Keith could tell he wasn’t lying, because Lance’s forehead creased slightly whenever he was worried or nervous. Lance placed his hand against Keith’s forehead and his face dropped.
“Keith, I think you have a fever.” He said. Keith pushed his hand away and pushed his bangs out of his eyes.
“I’ll be fine. I-I’m just gonna get some medicilne.” Keith’s words slurred together slightly and he’d realized he messed up on saying medicine. “I-I mean medicine.” Lance didn’t smile at my mistake like he normally would. He gave Keith a concerned frown instead.
“Keith, are you sure you’re okay?” Lance asked. Keith smiled and nodded. He turned and went down the hall so he could grab the pills. His vision blurred slightly as he tried to read the instructions. He hadn’t taken ibuprofen in forever, or medicine for that matter, so he didn’t exactly remember how many he had to take. His vision switched the number for hours in between doses and how many he had to take. He was supposed to take 2 every 6 hours, but he read it as 6 every 2 hours. He knew that wasn’t right, but he took 4 instead. His world immediately felt tipsy, but he shook it off. He felt a strong pair of hands grab the sides of his arms and held him straight.
“Keith, are you one-hundred percent sure you’re okay? Because if you’re not, i can call us out and you can take your midterm when you’re better.” Keith just nodded.
“I-I’m fine.” Keith shook off the dizziness and grabbed his bags. “I only have Trig a-and A-art today. I-I’ll be fine.” Lance looked at him, knowing Keith was lying, but not acknowledging it.
“Fine. But the minute you don’t feel good, call me. I only have Third Period, so I’m home all day.” He told him as he watched Keith walk out their dormitory door. Lance walked over and flopped onto their couch and watched chic flics.
Lance opened his eyes to the sound of his phone buzzing. It was Pidge. Pidge had first period with Hunk and Keith. Why were they calling him?
“Shit, shit, SHIT!” Lance stumbled off the couch and his phone slid off the table. Lance answered and heard a sigh of relief come from the other end on top of Hunk’s panicked voice. “Pidge, what’s up?”
“Something’s wrong with Keith.” Pidge said. Their voice was shaking. That’s not like Pidge at all.
“He-Hunk, give me back my freaking phone!” Pidge’s voice was cut off by the sound of Hunk’s panicked one.
“LANCE GET OVER HERE NOW!!! YOUR BOYFRIEND’S NOT RESPONDING TO US!!!” Lance’s heart stopped.
“What…?” Lance was already up with his Jacket on and walking out the door.
“Hunk, gimme that! you’re gonna give him a god damn panic attack!” Lance heard Pidge trying to take the phone back from Hunk. They eventually succeeded. “Keith collapsed when we were walking outside and he’s now sitting on a bench, holding his head and not talking.” Lance tripped over his feet and jogged down the hall.
“Where?” Pidge immediately understanding what he meant.
“Left courtyard, bench in front of the cherry blossom.” Lance knew where that was; it was where he had asked Keith out for the first time.
“Five minutes at most.” Lance hung up and bolted. Being an athlete, it helped his time. Lance got there in two minutes at least. When Lance saw Pidge and Hunk, his heart felt a pang of pain. Pidge was sitting next to Keith, Hunk on the other side of him. Keith was curled over his knees and he was shaking. Hunk was rubbing his back up and down, and Pidge was trying to make him feel better. Pidge noticed Lance first.
“Lance, thank god. He’s still not talking.” Pidge said. Their eyes were filled with worried tears. Lance squatted in front of Keith and ran a hand through his hair.
“Heyy, Keithy. Are you okay?” He got a faint head nod, and Pidge and Hunk, though both knowing he was lying, just softly smiled at each other. The two of them combined didn’t get that much out of Keith after being with him for fifteen minutes, and Lance got it out of him in a matter of seconds. Lance was special, to say the least. Lance sighed and gently ran his fingers through Keith’s hair.
“Come on. Let’s get back to our dorm.” Keith shook his head and Lance looked to Pidge for advice.
“He hasn’t wanted to move at all.” Pidge told him. Lance sighed and tried to lift Keith’s face up so he could look him in the eyes. When he did, though, he felt wet, hot tears rolling down his boyfriend’s cheek. Lance raised Keith’s face and saw that he was crying. His face looked pained and his lower lip trembled.
“Oh, baby…” Lance said. Keith’s face definitely felt hotter than it had that morning. “Come here.” Lance pulled Keith up and helped him stay upright. Keith depended on Lance for support and Lance said,
“I’m just gonna take him back to our dorm. Do either of you have next period off?” He knew Shiro or Allura usually would have third off, but Allura was studying abroad for the week, and Shiro had a job application during his third period today.
“I have classes all day. I mostly have midterms and shit like that.” Pidge said. “I’ll stop by once my classes are over for the day, though.”
"I have Culinary Arts that period, but I’m free after lunch if you need me.” Hunk replied. Lance just sighed and looked down at Keith. He looked terrible.
“Okay, I’ll just have him rest when I’m gone then. Thanks anyways.” Keith groaned softly under his breath and Lance took that as a sign that he wanted to leave. “I think our sickie over here wants to go back. I’ll see you guys later.” And with that, Lance helped Keith walk back to their dorm. On the way, Keith groaned and fell forward.
“Woah, Keith!” Lance caught him in kinda a side hug. Keith’s face showed nothing but pain and exhaustion. Lance sighed and scooped his boyfriend into his arms bridal style and carried him the rest of the way to their dorm. He struggled to open the door at first, but eventually got it and set Keith down on his bed. Lance brushed aside Keith’s bangs and felt the heat radiating from his face.
“Keith, you’re skin’s really warm.” Keith groaned in response. Lance got up, grabbed a thermometer, and quickly hustled back to Keith. When he got there, Keith was curled up in a ball on his side. His knees were to his chest and his arms crossed his stomach. There was a faint pink blush across his face and Lance felt terrible just looking at him.
“I knew I shouldn’t have let you go to class. Open up.” He said, poking Keith’s lower lip with the end of the thermometer. Keith obeyed relatively faster than he normally would, and after a few seconds, the thermometer read 102.6. “Jeez, Keith, you’ve got a fever.” Lance’s phone buzzed, signaling he had fifteen minutes to get to his third period. He rolled his eyes and placed a cool washcloth on Keith’s forehead. “Get some rest, babe. Hopefully you’ll be better when you wake up. I’m going to class, but I’ll be back soon with some medicine, okay?” Keith nodded slightly in response. Lance smiled down at him and kissed his head before he left for class.
Keith waited a moment before shakily getting up and hurriedly shuffled to the bathroom. Once over the toilet, he threw up for the hundredth time that day alone. He leaned against the back wall after he felt like his stomach wasn’t going to come out of his mouth and closed his eyes. The tiles felt so cool against his burning skin, he thought it would be okay to close his eyes for just a minute.
Lance’s class times were usually two hours each. He left the dorm at 9:15 and got back at almost noon. The pharmacy was close to the dorms, but not the gym. Plus, there were fifteen million people in that small pharmacy. Lance was still dumbfounded by how many students could fit into that small space. When Lance returned, he quietly crept into Keith’s room, only to find him not there.
“Keith?” Lance noticed the bathroom light was on, unlike when he left. He opened the door and his heart did a double backflip. Against the wall was Keith, his head slumped over to the side. His skin was sickly pale besides a bright red blush across his face.
“Oh my god, KEITH!!” Lance ran up to him and tried to see what was wrong. Keith’s face was beaded with sweat and his breathing was uneven. His face looked pained and he was lightly gripping his sides.
“Keith, are you okay? What happened?” Keith groaned softly and buried his head into Lance’s leg. “Why didn’t you tell me you were this sick?” Keith opened his eyes slightly and saw Lance looking down at him.
“L-Lance…?” Keith’s voice was was too weak for anyone’s comfort. “wh-what are you d-doing back? I-I thought y-you had c-class…” Keith laid weakly against Lance.
“Keith, class ended half an hour ago… Oh my god - how long have you been passed out here?!” Keith cupped his mouth and leaned over the toilet as he threw up. Lance stared at Keith for a second, but quickly scooted closer and rubbed a hand against Keith’s back. Once Keith’s head rose a little, Lance felt Keith’s forehead. He winced; Keith’s skin was burning. “Hold on, I’ll be right back with a thermometer.” Lance got up, grabbed the thermometer, and came back. When he walked through Keith’s bedroom door, he could hear gagging again. He sighed and walked in to see Keith leaned over the seat again. His hair started falling into his face, so Lance put the thermometer down and sat behind Keith, holding his hair back. Keith groaned and laid his head on the rim of the seat. He looked terrible.
“My god, babe, you’re sick.” Keith nodded and felt his head spinning. He started to fall to the side. Lance quickly had to grab him before he hit his head onto the tile floor. The younger boy felt too light for his height, almost as if he’d lost a lot of weight, which he most likely had, but…
“Keith, when was the last time you ate?” Keith groaned softly, thinking back.
“Holy crap - Keith, it’s Friday. You mean to tell me you haven’t eaten in three days and you’re extremely sick?” Keith shifted and turned into Lances chest. Lance sighed and brushed Keith’s bangs aside; his face was burning to the touch. Lance turned Keith so he could face him, holding him up with one hand and holding the thermometer up with the other.
“Keith, I need you to open your mouth for a minute. I need to take your temperature.” Keith didn’t move, instead he sat against Lance’s chest. His face looked pained and his hair stuck to his forehead. Lance pushed it aside and poked Keith’s mouth with the tip of the thermometer. Keith’s lips moved open a little, but just enough to stick the thermometer in his mouth. After a few seconds, it beeped and Lance looked at the numbers. 103.5. Lance sighed. “Keith, you’re on fire.”
