Sunshine
"Is he okay?"
"He's been in there for a while.."
They decided to put Lance in a pod after Keith woke up to Lance laying on his bed shaking, he was breathing but he wouldn't wake up. So they put him in the pod to see if they could pin point what was wrong. After what seemed like forever, Lance fell out of the pod. Shiro caught him once more and Lance looked dazed.
"How many times am I going to have to catch you." Shiro said laughing, glad that Lance was alright.
"Depends on how many times I fall for you." Lance said completely jokingly. Keith stared at them uncomfortably, unsure of what he was feeling, he just knew he wanted to be in Shiro's place and felt frustrated. He quickly got lost in his thoughts.
"—ith..."
Why was he so angry? What is this? Does Lance like Shiro or something?
"Keith..?"
Seriously? What the fuck. That was flirting, right? What about last night?
"Keith!"
"What, dude?!" He said, startled.
"You're spacing out.. You're the only person that didn't acknowledge me, so I wasn't sure if you were mad at me or something.." Lance said sheepishly, tilting his head slightly, hand resting on the back of his neck, trying to avoid eye contact but failing because he kept glancing at Keith, trying to read his expression.
The other paladins had already left the room after making sure Lance was okay,
"Do you like Shiro?" He said bluntly.
He smiled and let out a small laugh, "I was joking, Keith. I really admire him, a lot, but I don't like him romantically if that's what you mean. Don't get me wrong, he's hot. But he likes Allura, he told me to my face. Plus, there's no.. there's no time for crushes out here, man. We have too much at stake, and not enough time for.." His voice grew rough, like he suddenly was filled with emotion. He cleared his throat, "No, I don't Keith." He looked up at Keith, and smiled.
"Oh, yeah, no, I get that." Keith said quickly, embarrassed that he even questioned him out loud like that. "Sorry."
"Is there a reason you asked?" Lance said, unsuspecting and truly just curious. Keith sputtered out a no, followed by an excuse.
"You okay, Lance? Are you hurting at all?"
"I have a little bit of a headache, and I'm kind of dizzy.. Did Coran mention how often I'm supposed to be taking those pills?"
"I'm not sure, I'll ask him right now." Keith said, he didn't like to see Lance in pain.
"Okay, thank you, Keith. I'm gonna take a shower." Lance said, feeling like the needed a cleanse, physically and mentally.
While he was in the shower rinsing his hair he looked at the water.. there were strands of hair falling out and some of the water.. He kept scrubbing his scalp, periodically checking the water to see if there was anything he should be concerned about. He kept scrubbing and noticed the water turned blue and then clear.
"That was... Strange..?"
Lance got curious when he slipped out of the shower. He looked in the shower and gasped grabbing his hair.
He looked up at his reflection dumbfounded.
His hair had chunks of white and about four inches worth of white roots.
"M-my hair..!" He put on his boxers and jeans and rushed out to the others,
"Which one of you put fucking bleach in my shampoo?!" He accused, convinced that made the most sense.
They were all sitting and eating in the dining room.
"Dude... What happened?" Pidge said choking on their food.
"Dude.. your hair is white.." Hunk said confused,
"OH, REALLY? I didn't notice!" Lance was so angry and embarrassed he started to tear up slightly.
Keith didn't say anything he just stood there blushing.
"You and Shiro match!!!!" Everyone laughed at that, all except Lance, Lance was frowning.
"Yeah.." And with that he walked out, without any other word. No one really seemed to care that much, they just went on with their day.
Keith however noticed and decided to comfort him, as he was walking out the door he heard Allura calling out to him.
"Hey Keith! Where are you going? We were going to discuss some important plans."
"I'm checking on Lance, I don't know, I just thought you guys would remind him that he's important enough to hear the fucking plans too."
"Language-"
"Fuck that, dude. Honestly, you guys saw how upset he was about his hair. And just teased him and let him walk out like that." Keith said walking out to talk to Lance.
"What was that about?"
"I... don't know."
Keith found himself at Lances door,
"Hey Lance?" Keith said knocking on the door, forgetting that that's how you open it if it isn't locked.
Lance was laying on his back on his bed and sobbing covering his eyes, and his body was shaking,
"Lance?!"
Lance sat up on his elbow and looked up at Keith.
"K-Keith?" He said in an embarrassed and vulnerable tone. Immediately Keith was at Lance's side, he hugged Lance instinctively and started rubbing circle motions on Lances back and bringing him in closer,
"Hey, it's okay.." He started breathing evenly against Lance, trying to have Lance acclimate to copy his breathing pattern. "You have to catch your breath, Lance."
Still crying, Lance nodding weakly against Keith's shoulder.
"Okay okay.. just.. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth.."
Lance was still shaking, but not breathing as heavy.
"I'm here Lance, I'm always here.. Do you want to tell me what happened?"
Lance shook his head no.
"Do you want me to leave...?" Keith said sounding a bit defeated.
Lance shook his head no again,
"S-Stay.. Please. I don't want to be alone.."
"Of course I will, Lance." Keith said and laid down next to Lance. "As long as you need,—" Lance fell asleep onto Keith's chest and Keith sighed, kissing the top of Lances head and soon falling asleep afterwards.
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Words: 1,010
Published 2017, Edited 2024