The girl down the road has cancer (A plance AU)
DISCLAIMER: THIS AU CONTAINS SENSITIVE TOPICS SUCH AS THE FOLLOWING; CANCER (SPECIFICALLY LEUKEMIA), NEEDLES USED FOR MEDICATION, DEPRESSION, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS, HOSPITALS, AND JUST OVERALL A REALLY FEELS FILLED AU THAT YOU ALL ASKED FOR. ENJOY THE PAIN I’VE WRITTEN FOR YOU, YOU HEATHENS (Love you guys tho o3o~<3)
Lance had lived in the same neighborhood his whole life so when a new family was moving in down the road it immediately peeked the interest of the seventeen year old
With a pie from his Mother in hand that served as a ‘Welcome to the neighborhood’ he walked to the newly occupied house and rang the bell
Matt, the eldest son of the Holt family answered the door which relieved Lance as most the occupants of the neighborhood were retired couples mixed with empty nesters
“I’d invite you in, but we are still unpacking and my parents want to ‘De-Germ’ themselves before going to see my sister.” Matt joked
“Is your sister a germaphobe or something?” Lance joked back
Matt’s smile faltered “Oh uhm..No..She’s sick.”
“Sick?” Lance asked feeling bad for the joke he made
“Yeah, she was recently diagnosed with Leukemia, she’s in the children’s hospital here because, they specialize in it, hence why we moved here.”
“Oh man...Well tell her that she’s in my families thoughts and prayers.”
Matt’s smile returned a bit “Thanks, Katie will be happy to hear we’ve already met some nice neighbors.”
Just then Matt’s Mom called and the two parted ways
Returning home Lance laid on his bed as he stared at his family portrait on is bedside table, he had no idea how he would handle it if any of his family members ended up getting that sick, the mere thought was enough for tears to sting his eyes. He decided in that moment that when he could, he would go see Katie and do his best to help her though this as a new friend whenever he didn’t have to be elsewhere.
In the hospital Katie sat listening to the machines around her, the constant beeping would have driven any normal person mad, but thanks to growing up around computers she was fairly used to all the many noises they could make
Looking towards her door she watched as one of her doctor came in “You better be here with peanut butter cookies Shiro.”
Shiro laughed as he took a seat on his stool “I’ll see what I can do about getting you some later, for now I need to ask you how you’re feeling right now before we start your first chemotherapy session.”
Katie sighed as she looked down to her hands, she had heard chemo was painful and drained your energy, even if it was supposed to make her feel better, she wasn’t ready to feel that way
“I’m okay..I just...” tears stung her eyes “It’s not fucking fair.”
“Language Katie..”
“I’m sorry but, it’s just...Last summer I was competing at the nationals for robotic design and now i’m..”
“Stuck in a bed.”
“Yeah.”
Shiro gently touched her shoulder “It’s going to be a hard journey Katie, but I can promise you it’s going to be worth is. We cure eighty percent or childhood cancer and though it isn’t good you got sick in the first case, your leukemia is still in it’s early stages which means that within the year you should be able to leave the hospital aside from monthly check ins.”
Katie knew eighty percent was a goo odd, but the twenty percent liked to weigh on her mind more
After discussing how she felt her first IV based chemotherapy session took place a few hours later once her family had arrived to support her
She felt lousy to the say the least
Her Mother’s grip on her hand was almost painful, but Katie knew her Mother was secretly worrying herself sick behind her strong wife and mom facade
As for her Father he looked as if he hadn’t slept since in who knows how long, actually she did, he hadn’t slept well since her diagnosis
Matt sat at the foot of her bed “A kid your age stopped by today, friendly guy, think he said his name was Lance? He said him and his family will keep you in their thoughts and prayers.”
“How nice of them, isn’t that wonderful Katie?” her Mother asked
Katie didn’t answer, she was feeling weaker by the minute
“We should let her rest.” Her Father finally spoke “We can take turns coming to see her tomorrow.”
Her Mother and Matt nodded before the three of them said their goodbye’s and I love you’s before Katie allowed the fatigue to take over
Months passed and what was left of Katie’s long sandy brown hair was becoming patchy due to her medicine, she hated it, the mere sight of the patches filled her with anger towards her body, how could she be so weak? Why couldn’t she just die already!?
She quickly backpedaled that thought as she looked to the picture o f her family that sat on her bed side tray
tears began to spill from her eyes as she screamed at the top of her lungs and threw her pillow across the room
Shiro quickly hurried in and was followed by a few nurses
He quickly hugged “Katie, Katie calm down, it’s okay.” he spoke softly as he calmed her down “Look at me.”
Katie slowly pulled her face away from his shoulder looking up at him
“Do I need to ask Adam to come talk to you? Would that help?”
Katie nodded, Adam was the teen therapist at the hospital as well as Shiro’s husband, the two of them keeping her sane when her family wasn’t around
Shortly afterwards Adam came in and gave Katie a small smile “Tough morning pidge?”
The sound of her nickname lifted her heart a bit, she hated how formal her name was beginning to sound.
“I...I don’t..”
“It’s okay, take you time.”
She nodded and took a deep breath “I...I keep getting these thoughts..”
“Thoughts?”
Another nod “I..I thought that maybe things would be easier..if i just..died.”
She noticed Adam’s face fall before he took of his glasses “Can you pinpoint why you thought that?”
“It’s just, if I hadn’t gotten sick my-”
“I’m going to stop you there, Katie, you did not choose to get sick and there wasn’t anything you could have done to prevent this.” he gave he a small smile “You’re getting better, I know the medicine makes you feel gross, but that means it’s working and if it’s working then that means you’re nearly out of here.”
Katie held a fistful of her blanket “..Things will never be normal again will they?”
“Well.” Adam paused “There is no such thing as normal, life likes to throw us curve balls just to mess with us, but the best way to hit them for a home run is adaptation.”
“What do you mean?” Katie asked
“Change is a part of life, it itself is basically the curve ball, if you allow the change to come, you can hit it and show life that you’re not backing down.”
Katie smiled a bit “Just like with my cancer..”
Adam’s smile widened “Exactly, you’re showing life that you’re going to fight to live, that change won’t stop you.”
Katie opened her arms and Adam chuckled giving her a hug “Anything else?”
“I..Could we shave my head?”
Adam blinked in shock “Are you sure?”
Katie nodded “It’s not weakness...It’s progression.”
Lance had been stopping by ever since he was given the okay, at first he only came when Matt was there but, after getting a bit closer to Katie he began to come see her after his chores
“Afternoon Ka-” he paused see Katie wearing a green knitted beanie that looked like it had little cat ears
“Cat got your tongue McClain?”“ Katie asked as she forced herself to eat her lunch
“You cut it off-er I mean, not that it looks bad!” Lance rubbed the back of his neck
“It’ll grow back once i’m finally in remission.”
Lance took a seat in the chair by her bed “Any word when that’ll be?”
“Well it’s been nearly half a year..Weird to think it’s nearly Christmas.” Katie aid looking to the Christmas lights that one of her nurses had hung up for her
“So half a year to go then.” Lance said trying to keep the air happy
“Yeah..” she looked down at the cold tomato soup and sighed “I just..If I get one Christmas miracle it will be that i’m out of here before my sixteenth birthday.”
“When is that?” he asked sipping his water
“April 3rd”
“I mean, that’s not a crazy wish, it’s only two months short of a year.”
“I’ve had to do my sophomore year online, which isn’t bad, but I wish I at least had friends- well other then you I mean, life real classmates.” she sighed
“Well if you’re in remission that means you’ll get to come to school next year and bask in my seniority.”
“If you don’t get held back” she snorted
“W o w.” he flicked a chip at her
Katie laughed “Hey!”
A smile crossed Lance’s face, he secretly loved it whenever she laughed, it made his heart happy to see her happy
The first time he met her she could barely even speak to him and now here she was laughing with him
“Oh right! Did you ask Allura to the prom yet?” Katie asked sipping her juice
“That’s like asking if I, a lowly farmer, have taken the hand of a princess.” Lance huffed
“Oh please, just ask her out already you pansy.”
“What about you?”
Katie blink “What about me?”
“If i’m at the prom then who will be here with you?”
Katie fanned her hand hiding the slight blush that colored her cheeks “I’ll be fine, i’ll just make fun of your monkey suit another day.”
He snorted “I’ll have you know I look great in a tux.”
“Cause you’re a monkey.”
As Katie’s birthday drew closer she began to think she was stuck until June, but then, two days before her birthday, Shiro came in
“Are you ready to go home?”
“Shiro that’s not funny, I know it’s April fools day, bu-”
He shook his head “You’re officially in remission Katie.”
Katie felt tears sting her eyes “You promise you’re not joking?”
He nodded “We went over you last charts and it seems that your leukemia is nearly gone, we’ll need you to come on for monthly check ups though.”
Katie was sobbing into her hands, she couldn’t believe it, she was going to finally leave the hospital after nearly a year
After hugging her Shiro left to call her parents, and Katie, well Katie called Lance
“He..Hello? Katie? Katie it’s five in the m-”
“They are releasing me today!”
“Wait what?!”
“I’m in remission Lance! I got my wish.”
Lance smiled “Will you get to come to school for the last month?”
“I doubt that, I’ll have to wait till next term, but that means we can hang out this summer.’
“Oh yeah! And you can finally meet my friend Hunk, you’ll love the big guy, he’s great!”
The two talked well until Lance had to leave for school and soon enough Katie was standing in front of her new home
“It’s not truly home but-” Her dad began but she cut him of
“Wherever you guys are is home..”
Her parents and Matt hugged her tightly before heading in
Baebae quickly bounding towards her girl who she had missed oh no much
By the time Lance got out of school Katie had finally gotten her room to her liking
With a knock Katie allowed him in
Lance walked in and couldn’t wipe the smile of his face as Katie stood there watering some succulents
“Not gonna miss that hospital smell.” he joked
she giggled ‘I’m not gonna miss it at all.” she sat down on her bed
“So are you okay to leave the house?” he asked
“I’m supposed to take it easy for a bit, my body is already sore from just moving back home.” Katie admitted
Understanding Katie had to think about her health he settled or the two of them catching up on RWBY on her laptop
As prom got closer the more Lance was beginning to worry about prom, he had wanted to ask Allura, but here recently he guessed his crush had faded
When he thought about about the type of girl he liked he came to a very quick conclusion
He liked Katie
However Katie couldn’t come to prom seeing as it wouldn’t be safe for her, because if she got sick again he would never forgive himself
So, he got an idea
Come prom night Katie heard a knock down stairs and went to answer it to find Lance standing on her front porch in his tuxedo whilst holding a bouquet of flowers
“Wow you do actually clean up nice.” Katie smiled “Are you on your way to pick up Allura?”
“Nope.” he held the bouquet out to her
Her cheeks turned slightly red “What are these for?” she asked taking them
“Well, this is my way of asking you to my personal prom.”
“Personal prom?”
He nodded “I was just gonna dance the night away by myself, but I thought it would be more fun with you.”
She snorted “You’re such a dork.”
“Only for you.”
The two went up to her room and turned on some music
Matt and her parents even joining in at times
Between dancing they took video game breaks and before either of them realized it was well past midnight
Katie laughed as she laid back on her beanbag holding her wii remote up in victory “I win!”
“Only because you blue shelled me on the second lap!” Lance huffed
“Oh shush you hit me with a bullet in the first lap.”
“Touche.”
There was was a knock on her door and the two looked up to see her dad standing there
“You two should get some sleep it’s late, Lance if you want you can sleep downstairs.”
“It’s alright, it’s not like I live far.” he smiled getting up “I’ll see you tomorrow Katie.” he waved as he grabbed his suit jacket and left
Sam followed him out “Hey Lance.”
Lance turned to look at him “Yes Mr.Holt?”
“My students call me Mr.Holt, feel free to call me Sam.”
he nodded
“I just wanted to thank you for befriending Katie, she didn’t have a lot of friends outside her robotics team back at home, so when she got sick it was easy to tell she felt alone.”
Lance smiled “She’s a cool girl..It’s an honor just to get to be her friend.”
Sam chuckled a bit “Probably would be a bigger honor to be her boyfriend huh?”
Lance turned red as he gave a nervous laugh “I-I mean.”
Sam laid a hand on his shoulder “Relax, I think you’re good for her so, if you ever want to ask her out one of these days you have my blessing.”
Lance felt a smile come over his face “Alright, good night Mr- Sam!” and with that he headed home unable to wipe the grin off his face
Summer came and Katie sat in Lance’s back yard reading as Lance swam in his pool
“Katie come on the water is nice!” Lance whined
“I already told you I don’t want to swim.” Katie laughed
In all honesty, she actually didn’t know how
However the next thing she knew a wet Lance was throwing her over his shoulder causing her to drop her book “Lance don-”
But it was too late, the boy already jumped in the pool
When they came up for air Katie was coughing and clinging onto Lance for dear life
“See it fee-..Are you okay?” he asked worried when he felt her shaking
“I can’t swim.” she admitted coughing up some water
Lance immediately felt like shit “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s embarrassing, i’m sixteen and can’t go past the five foot line..”
“I could always teach you? Then we can go on a beach date!”
Katie blinked blushing slightly “Date?”
Lance quickly realized what he said “I-I mean if you-”
She laughed splashing him with a bit of water “Date it is.”
//Thank you guys or being patient with me
