Lance couldn't help but be relieved that they arrived late. If they had gotten there at a normal time, Allura would have tried to talk to him before classes started. He wasn't sure how he was going to face her and needed some extra time to figure it out. Even with Shiro and Keith's help, he was still hell bent on getting through it on his own, but he was mad at himself for how he acted when Allura was just trying to help him. He would have done the same thing if she was the one struggling.
The first half of the day flew by with Lance narrowly avoiding falling asleep in class. It seemed that after getting just those few hours of sleep, his body was despite for more. He was definitely going to yell at Keith later for forcing him to sleep last night.
When lunch rolled around, Lance felt his heart rate pick up. He knew he'd have to talk to Allura, or at least see her. Not only that, but he'd have to do it with everyone else present, making it more awkward and frankly more panic inducing.
Fatigue had always affect his appetite, so it wasn't a surprise to him that the thought of food made him nauseous. He took a seat at their usual table and let his head rest against the cool surface while he waited for his friends to show up.
"You should eat something." A voice spoke up from in front of him, startling Lance. He looked up and caught Keith send him a concealed look of worry.
"I'm not hungry." Lance mumbled. The smell of Keith's pizza was making his mouth water and his stomach do somersaults. He was hungry, but he really didn't think he could stomach food.
"When are you not hungry McClain?" Keith asked in a slightly teasing tone. He was trying to make some sort of conversation or banter, hoping for at least a little bit of normalcy for the other boy.
"Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Pidge observed, seeing as Lance was in a sour mood, which didn't happen very often. He was their group's resident goof ball, so when he was upset, everyone noticed.
They didn't know it, but when Pidge said that, they made both boys reflect on the fact Lance had woken up on Keith's chest that morning. Lance was blushing more than Keith, but if you looked close enough, you'd notice the faint pink.
'Definitely the right side of the bed.' Lance thought to himself before mentally slapping himself for thinking it.
"Fuck off Pidge." He mumbled instead, not in the mood to deal with their teasing.
"Oh someone's feeling extra sassy today." Pidge said, their eyes lit up in amusement. Teasing was one of their favorite pass times, and until Lance actually snapped at them, they were going to continue.
"Pidge leave him alone." Hunk said, taking a seat at the table. "Dude, you look like an extra from the walking dead, are you okay?" He asked, concern dripping from his tone.
Lance groaned and didn't look up. "I'm fine, just a headache." He said, not being bothered with the lie because he really did have a headache.
"He's not sleeping." A new voice piped up, accompanied by the sound of a tray being set down on the table.
Lance snapped his head up, wincing slightly at the pounding headache. "What the hell Allura?" He hissed. He knew she'd be mad, but he thought she'd respect the fact he didn't want anyone to know about the nightmares. They weren't exactly something he wanted to share with anyone, let alone the three people that already knew.
"If you won't listen to me, maybe you'll listen to us. You're falling apart Lance and if you keep this up, you're going to kill yourself." She said back, her voice just as angry as Lance's, but for different reasons.
"Whoa, what? Why aren't you sleeping?" Hunk asked, but his questions fell on deaf ears as Lance and Allura kept up their own bickering.
"I'm fine! Why can't you get that through your head? You aren't my mom Allura, so just stay out of it!" Lance said in a pissed off whisper as he tried to keep his voice down. It was bad enough all of his friends knew, he didn't want to whole school to find out because he yelled at Allura in the middle of lunch.
"You are not fine! When was the last time you had a full nights rest? You weren't even at school yesterday, three guesses as to why." Allura shot back, knowing that he most likely missed yesterday because he was to tired to leave the house.
"What's happening? Why are they fighting? They never fight." Pidge observed, but only Hunk and Keith seemed to hear them.
"Can someone please explain what's going on? Why isn't Lance sleeping?" Hunk asked. He was starting to get more and more worried.
"He's having night-" Allura started to explain, but she was cut off by Lance slamming his hands down on the table.
"Shut up! You have no right to tell them anything! Last time I checked, it wasn't your fucking problem, so stay the hell out of it!" He said, seething and fighting against the urge to scream in her face to fuck off. He let out a short breath and stood up, bolting out of the cafeteria.
Everyone at the table watched him leave, stunned by his outburst. They had never heard Lance sound so genuinely angry before, besides maybe Keith, but every time it had been directed at him, not Lance's best friend.
"I'm- I should- Yeah, I'm just gonna go." Keith said awkwardly, pointing to where Lance had disappeared to.
Allura sighed, "No offense Keith, but you're probably the last person he'd want to see right now. Well beside me." She said.
"I actually, highly, doubt that." He responded, remember last night. Keith seemed to be someone Lance actually wanted around when he was freaking out. Maybe it was just the fact they had truly seen the worst in each other already, so everything else was a cake walk. Maybe it was because Keith could relate to some of the stuff he was going through, resulting in him being able to comfort Lance better. Or maybe it was simply because they weren't close. If Keith saw something he couldn't stand, and Lance lost him forever, it wouldn't leave a gaping hole in his heart like it would if it was Allura, Hunk or Pidge.
"You think you know him better than us?" Allura ask, sounding pretty offended by the insinuation.
Keith pinched the bridge of his nose, not wanting to deal with a petty girl and her friend drama. "No Allura, that is not what I'm saying. I'm just trying to tell you that you don't know everything about the situation. You don't understand how bad it is for him." He said, thinking about how absolutely terrified Lance was when he woke up last night.
"But I do! I've had to help him through nightmares, when they first showed up and now." She said, crossing her arms.
"Good for you, want a gold star?" Keith asked. "Have you ever gotten him to go back to sleep after he wakes up?" He asked, knowing that the chances were probably slim.
"Well no, but-"
"Guess I am the best option to go after him then." Keith said, spinning on his heel and leaving all of Lance's friends behind to gape at him and what he had just hinted at.
Pidge snorted a few seconds later. "That's a little gay." They said, causing Allura to drop her head into her hands and Hunk to face palm.
Keith exited the cafeteria through the same doors as Lance and was met with an empty hallway, which he expected. He was a little mad at Allura for holding him up so long. It was going to be harder to find Lance.
He decided to check the bathroom first, seeing as that was one of the only places Lance would be able to be alone. It was probably his best option.
He tugged on the door, but it wouldn't open, which wasn't supposed to happen. That meant someone or something was pushed up against the door on the inside, preventing it from opening.
'Found him.' Keith thought. 'Now I just need to figure out how to get in.'
He lightly knocked, seeing there wasn't a whole lot of options. "Lance, I know you're in there. It's just me, everyone else is still at lunch." He said, hoping that Lance would just let him in. He
No response.
Keith decided that it was going to take a while for Lance to let him in, so he sat down ont he other side of the door, leaning his back against it. "You can't just trap yourself in the bathroom all day. If you want, I could take you back to the house?" Keith offered.
A muffled voice from the other side of the thick door said, "But then you'd miss school."
Keith lightly chuckled at the fact Lance was worried about him at that moment in time. When he was on the floor of the bathroom, probably crying, he was worried about Keith missing school.
Why did they hate each other again? Keith couldn't even remember.
"You know? School isn't my top priority right now." Keith responded.
"But won't you get expelled or something?" Lance asked.
"Oh shit. Yeah, I kind of forgot about that." Keith said, a little embarrassed. "I could text Shiro?" He offered as a back up plan.
"I don't want to bother him at work." Lance mumbled so softly Keith almost could make out what he had said.
"He doesn't work today, that's why he was still home with Adam when we left this morning." Keith explained, his voice perking up as he thought he nearly got Lance to go home. He probably shouldn't be at school for the rest of the week, clearly needing a break for his mental health, but Keith knew that missing a second day was going to be pushing the taller boy enough.
Lance fell silent on the other side of the door, spiking Keith's anxiety a little bit. "C'mon Lance, just open the door. Please?" Keith said, his voice breathy as he spoke.
"If I leave early, will you grab my homework so I don't fall behind even more?" Lance asked softly. He was already failing a class, he didn't want to add six more onto it.
"Yeah, I'll just need to know what class you're gonna miss." Keith said.
"Fine." Lance said, standing up from where he was sitting and opening the door. He had realized that Keith was sitting against it on the other side, so when it opened, Keith fell backwards. He was laying on the ground, staring up at Lance with a lopsided grin.
"This was not part of the plan." Keith said, not bothering to get up. That just sounded like a lot of work and he wasn't to uncomfortable on the ground.
"Oh, so you had a plan?" Lance asked back, amused by the fact the raven haired boy was just content to lay of the ground.
"Yup, totally." Keith said, finally pushing himself up. He fished his phone out of his pocket and sent Shiro a quick text to come pick Lance up.
"I just need you to text me what classes you're gonna miss and I'll get you all the work." Keith said, looking up from his phone.
"Okay. Um, thanks for this Keith." Lance said awkwardly, realizing that he seemed to be thanking Keith a lot that day.
"Yeah don't mention it. Try to sleep while I'm still here? Then you can do homework when I get back and I can help." Keith said. "Especially chemistry." He added, knowing that Lance was struggling with that class, and sleep deprivation definitely wasn't going to help him understand it.
"Sleeping probably won't happen, but chemistry help would definitely be appreciated?" Lance said back, more of a question to know if Keith was serious abut offering his help or not.
"Yeah, I expected that much." Keith said, checking his phone. "Shiro will be here in less than ten, so you should probably go wait out front for him. If you can't sleep, at least try to relax, okay? And eat something, all you had was toast this morning." Keith said, unease settling in at the fact that Lance was going to be alone again for most of the day. Shiro would be home, but Lance would probably lock himself in Keith's room until he got home.
"Okay dad." Lance joked as he started to walk away.
"I knew I spent to much time with Shiro." Keith said back, mentally scolding himself.
Lance just laughed at Keith's realization.