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"Stay safe out there Lonce"
"you too"
Keith remembered watching them and feeling his heart drop. Sure he knew Lance liked Allura, but he thought maybe he and Lance had started bonding more and maybe Lance was starting to feel the same-
Keith sighed It was useless. Why did he always fall for the straight boys? ugh. Stupid. Stupid Lance with his stupid pretty face and stupid beautiful smile and stupid breathtaking laugh. It wasn't fair. He knew Lance would never feel the same way about Keith that he felt about him. He saw the way he looked at Allura. So he had started pushing him away like he did with everyone else in his life. Sure it's a bad habit but he didn't know how to change it. He didn't want to get his heart broken, to get rejected. He was shocked when Lance chose him to leave "He's like the future" Lance's voice replayed over and over in his head. Keith groaned into his pillow. Of course, Keith had been an idiot. He panicked. He didn't want Lance to know how he felt, he didn't want to ruin anything between them. So he had said the words he would regret for the rest of his life "I just don't wanna spend an eternity with Lance". He didn't think Lance would care that much but when he saw Lance's face fall he knew he was wrong. He wished he could tell Lance he would love to spend an eternity with him and the real reason he chose him. But that would just make him uncomfortable and not wanna be around him anymore. Plus Lance obviously way preferred to be with a beautiful Princess. What did Keith have to offer? So yeah you could say he was jealous. But what does it matter right? He was happy just being Lance's rival. Totally fine with it. It's not like he wanted to feel his hand in his or kiss his soft lips or-
Shut up!
Stupid gay thoughts.
He felt like screaming, but he didn't wanna wake anyone up. So he internally screamed. He was totally fine with Lance never liking him back. His train of thought was interrupted by sharp pains stabbing at his throat like knives. "What the" He croaked. He felt fine before, but maybe he caught a cold? He doubled over with pain and started coughing his lungs out. He felt something stuck in his throat. He coughed it out and was terrified when he saw he had coughed out...Blue petals with his blood splattered on them. He stifled a scream. What was happening? What was going on? He quickly grabbed his phone and started typing in the words "WHY THE FUCK AM I COUGHING FLOWERS?!" His hands trembled as he read the words "Hanahaki Disease". He hadn't remembered being taught this in class."Hanahaki Disease (花吐き病 (Japanese); 하나하키병 (Korean); 花吐病 (Chinese)) is a disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. It ends when the beloved returns their feelings (romantic love only; a strong friendship is not enough), or when the victim dies. If the beloved pushes away their feelings and forces themselves to love someone else, the effects can be pushed even quicker. It can be cured through surgical removal, but when the infection is removed, the victim's romantic feelings for their love also disappear." His eyes widened in fear. He was gonna die. After all fighting in a galactic war in space, the thing that ends up killing him is gonna be a bunch of flowers. He let out a bitter laugh. Of course. Sure there was the option of Lance loving him back, but it was very unlikely. Why would he? He couldn't believe this was happening. He put his hand through his hair and a let out his pain in the form of a salty stream. He was fucked. Utterly fucked.
~~~
It had been a week and he had coughed out a whole garden by now.
It was horrible. No one had noticed and Keith planned on keeping it that way. There was no way in hell he was telling Lance, what if he felt forced to fall in love with him. Knowing Lance he would probably blame himself. And Keith did not want that. He watched from a distance as Lance and Allura chatted to each other, smiling. Keith felt the familiar urge to cough. He quickly grabbed a tissue and coughed out blue petals that were sticky with blood. He grimaced as he chucked the tissue in the bin. "You okay there Keith?" Lance asked with a concerned look. Keith's breath quickened, he had to play it cool "Yeah I'm fine, just a bit of a cough". Keith avoided Lance's gaze.
"Okay man, maybe you should get that checked out".
"Yeah maybe"
"Lonce are you coming?" Allura called out. Keith cursed under his breath.
"Yeah of course! Well cya later, Mullet" Lance finger gunned at him.
"Bye," Keith muttered.
Keith watched Lance and Allura walk off. That boy was gonna be the death of him. He was just so dorky and cute. He had looked so precious when he was all worried about him. His uplifting smile, that was so endearing. The way his eyes shone when Allura called out to him-. Before he knew it Keith was suddenly having a coughing fit. He couldn't breathe. He gripped onto the table and squeezed his eyes shut. He bit back a scream. Finally, the coughing and ended a blue forget me not sprinkled with red lay on the table. Keith glared at it. Before anyone could see he wrapped another tissue around it and threw it in the bin. He wiped the blood off his mouth and ran back to his room.
~~~
Lance loved being back on earth. Seeing his little niece and nephew. Eating dinner with his family. Swimming in the ocean. Eating garlic knots. His was thrilled to be home. But there was something...off. Lance did like hanging out with Allura, he thought she was great. She was talented, brave, strong, smart and beautiful. But he had this horrible feeling deep in his gut that she was using him as a rebound. If she had liked him so much, why didn't she say so earlier? Why did she kiss Lotor? She had chosen Lotor over him. And then there was the Keith problem. What was up with him? They had been getting along fine before he decided to run off and leave him. He crossed his arms. "I just don't wanna spend an eternity with Lance". What the hell? After Lance had poured his heart out to him, he said that. He had barely talked to him since they had gotten back, Lance never seemed to be able to find him these days. Almost like he was avoiding him. But why would Keith avoid him? Did he do something wrong? He seemed so distant. So far away.
Lance sighed. He decided there was no point in losing his precious beauty sleep over his problems. Shutting his eyes he slowly started drifting into unconsciousness. Purple lights lit up a dark hallway, galra soldiers came running in. His heart pounded. Lance looked over to his left to see none other than the famous Keith Kogane. "We're outnumbered" he grunted while swinging at a galra. Keith had blood seeping out of his nose and a determined look on his face. "Lance look out!" Keith yelled. Before Lance knew what was happening Keith flew in front of Lance and took the blow. "Keith!" he screamed. Keith lay on the floor as limp as a rag doll. No no no, he's gonna be fine right? right?! "STAY AWAY" Lance barked at the soldiers. He began attacking them and shooting at them until they were all lying on the ground lifeless. Lance rushed down to Keith's side and grabbed his hand. Lance looked at Keith's wound with blood gushing out of it, if he didn't get him out of here soon he was gonna die. "Keith, Keith stay with me" he begged, tears pricking at his eyes. Keith looked up at him with glassy eyes and a fond smile on his face "Lance I'm sorry".
"Come on Keith, it's going to be alright, stay".
"We are a good team, right?".
Keith let out a strained chuckle as he slowly closed his eyes. Keith's hand felt heavy in Lance's hand, but he refused to let go. "Keith please wake up" He sobbed. He leaned over Keith and pulled him into a hug "please".
Lance woke up in a sweat. His face was soaked with tears. "Keith" He whispered. That felt so real, what if this was a sign? Had something happened to Keith? He rushed out of his room and sped to Keith's door. Lance pounded on the door "Keith!" to his relief the door slid open to reveal a sleepy Keith. His hair was tied up in a messy bun and there were bags under his eyes. Wow, he was eventually gonna have a spa day with this boy, but now wasn't the time to bring that up. "Lance?' he asked confused "why are you here?" Lance realised how dumb he had been, of course, Keith was fine. It was just a nightmare. But the image of Keith lifeless body flashed into Lance's head. "I um had a nightmare, can we talk?" Keith seemed a bit surprised but nodded "sure".
~~~
"What was your nightmare about?" Keith asked
Lance gulped "Ah I don't really wanna talk about that.
"Ah ok, but when I had nightmares Shiro use to tell me it was better to talk about them and realise what was real and fake in them"
"Um well we were on a galra ship and we were outnumbered. And then I was about to get shoot but you jumped in front of me, and then you died".
"Oh"
"Yeah"
"Well first off I'm still alive"
"Yes you are"
"So um yeah" Lance felt so dumb. Of course, he was alive. He's probably ruined their friendship, well what was left of it.
"Well um I might get going"
"Ok, but if you wanna talk about stuff I don't mind" Was Keith blushing? Lance was shocked when the first thought that crossed his mind was cute. He didn't think Keith was cute, did he? Well sure he could admit Keith was good looking, but he didn't think about him like that. Lance is straight. "Um Thanks, Keith, sorry about waking you".
Keith smiled at him "It's fine, goodnight Lance" he felt his chest flutter.
Lance stopped in his tracks you know what he may as well talk to someone about his problems "Actually I might take you up on that offer".
"Sure, what's the matter?"
"It's about Allura". Keith flinched and seemed to do a strained smile.
"Ok, what about her?"
Lance sat down next to Keith and took a deep breath "I like Allura a lot, she's great, but I mean I think she doesn't like me the same way"
"Oh, why do you think that?"
"Well, like she chose Lotor if she liked me wouldn't she have said something before? And suddenly now she likes me?"
"Hm yeah that is weird"
"And it's not like I don't like her, she's incredible and really awesome but-"
He looked over at Keith to see him coughing into a tissue, was there blood on that?
"Dude are you ok?!"
"Yeah yeah I'm fine" He wiped his mouth "it happens"
"Did you just cough out blood?!" Lance was seriously worried.
"No"
"I saw some though"
'I didn't"
"You did"
"Just drop it okay Lance"
"I think you need to go to the med bay"
"No, I don't I'm fine"
Lance wasn't convinced, but he didn't wanna argue with Keith. He sighed in defeat. "Okay". He was gonna bring that up later. There was silence for a few ticks before Lance said: "What's your favourite food?" What? don't blame him He panicked.
"Hm I think Takeouts"
"Takeouts? Why?"
Keith looked down at his feet "Um when Shiro use to look after me he couldn't cook to save his life, he still can't. So we ordered takeout a lot". That's actually kinda precious. "I never took Shiro for much of a chief".
Keith snorted "Yeah he's not, what about you?"
"I like my mama's garlic knots"
"Hm I've never had garlic knots"
Lance let out an offended gasp "What!? You should come round and my mama can make garlic knots for us!"
"Sure, that sounds cool"
"Yeah, it does! Hey, what's the time?"
Keith checked the clock "Um about 1:00 AM"
"Oh shit, we should probably get to bed"
"yeah I guess so"
Lance looked at the dark hallway and back at Keith. He didn't wanna leave yet. He was scared to go back. What if he had another nightmare? "Hey um can I stay here? I can sleep on the floor or something".
"You can sleep on my bed if you want" Keith instantly realised what he said and his face went red "cause like um the floor isn't very comfortable and-"
Wow, Keith was so flustered. That's actually kinda sweet, plus Lance did not want to sleep on the floor.
"If it's not to much trouble, that would be good.
Keith nodded and moved over for Lance.
Lance crawled in with Keith, and felt his warmth against his own"Goodnight Keith".
"Night Lance"
~~~
The sun peeked through the curtains and forced Lance awake. Lance squinted, for a moment he was confused, this isn't his room he thought. But then he turned over and remembered last night. His face started heating up. He was sleeping in Keith's room, with Keith, in Keith's bed. Oh gosh. Keith was still sound asleep, he looked so peaceful. Lance smiled. He didn't want to wake him up, but he was meeting his sister, Veronica, for brunch today. He slowly slithered out from the bed. He scribbled down a note on some paper for Keith and left.
~~~
"Hey, Veronica! Sorry I was late"
"What, were you to busy with Allura?" She grinned.
Lance blushed "No actually".
"oOOOoo Lancey Lance got a new love interest?"
Lance rubbed his burning neck "No I-I like Allura"
"She is hot"
"Oh my god, Veronica, you funky lil' lesbian".
She shrugged "Am I wrong?"
"Guess not"
"If your not gonna have her I dibs"
"I do like her!"
Veronica held her hands up in surrender "Okay jeez I was joking"
Lance sighed"I'm sorry Veronica"
"It's fine, do you wanna talk about it?"
"I ah yeah I guess" He muttered, "I just think I'm a rebound for her and then there's Keith-"
"Mullet boy? The one you talked about all the time at the Garrison?"
"Yes Veronica that's one"
"It's okay if you like both Lance"
"I know but, I thought this is what I wanted".
"Sometimes what you want isn't always what you get"
"Thanks, Veronica"
"No Problem Lancey, oh yeah! I brought garlic knots from mama!"
"YES!!!" Lance's fist bumped into the air and Veronica laughed.
~~~
Hey, fellas is it gay to rush to your 'rivals' room after having a nightmare about him dying, then have a heartfelt conversation with him and sleep in his bed with him.
No, totally not.
What the cheese. He liked Allura, didn't he? Yeah, he was super happy with her. This is what he wanted. He liked Allura. Not Keith he tried to convince himself. Plus Keith hated him. Right? If he hated you he would have made you sleep on the floor, or he would have made you leave. Urgh. Why are feelings so difficult and confusing?! He liked Allura and that was it.
That was it.
~~~
Lance had slept in his bed! Keith still couldn't believe it. This morning he had woken up to a note saying "Sorry had to go, I promised Veronica I would have brunch with her. Thanks for talking to me though!
-Sharpshooter :)".
He was so giddy. Maybe he was wrong! What is Lance did like him back? But if Lance liked him back, they wouldn't have stopped coughing petals? Well, he hadn't coughed any out this morning but he had last night. Right in front of Lance too. Oh, gods that was terrifying. Keith suddenly had a dreaded feeling in his stomach as he remembered one of the parts of the article "If the beloved pushes away their feelings and forces themselves to love someone else, the effects can be pushed even quicker". Colour drained out his face. F u c k. Lance might actually like him and be pushing away his feelings cause he's scared. It's not like he could just go up to him and say "Hey babe I think your smile is brighter than the sun and your eyes are the ocean because I'm drowning in them also, I'm super gay for you". He'd probably scare him off. Lance needed time, and Keith didn't want to rush him. He'd just wait. He'd wait.
~~~
Keith hadn't left his room for two days. He'd been too busy coughing out flowers and didn't want to risk someone see him do it. Especially Lance. So he had been avoiding him even more. It sucked, it sucked a lot. Most of the time he tried to listen to songs to calm himself down. He closed his eyes and let the music close in.
"I've been watching you
For some time
Can't stop staring
At those oceans eyes
Burning cities
And napalm skies
Fifteen flares inside those ocean eyes
Your ocean eyes
No fair
You really know how to make me cry
When you gimme those ocean eyes
I'm scared
I've never fallen from quite this high
Falling into your ocean eyes
Those ocean eyes"
Keith pressed skip, the song just reminded him of Lance too much. He took a shaky breath as another coughing fit began. They had been getting worse and worse. His room was filled with blood-soaked flowers and petals. What a pitiful way to go. "Keith, are you okay?" Shiro yelled, "come on let me in".
Keith bit his lip and tried to do his best impression of someone who wasn't dying "I'm fine Shiro, I'm not letting you in though, I'm just really sick and I don't want you to catch it too".
"Fine, did you eat breakfast this morning?"
"Yes," He lied.
"No, you didn't".
Keith cursed under his breath "I'm not hungry".
"Stop lying, Keith"
"I'm not".
"I'm coming in".
"Please don't" Keith cried.
There was a moment of silence before Shiro broke down the door.
Keith must have looked pathetic. He was lying on the ground blood running down his mouth, tears running down his face and bloodstained flowers surrounding him.
"Keith, what happened?!"
"Please fix the door" He whimpered.
Shiro hesitated before fixing the door back in place, like in the cartoons. Keith would have laughed if it weren't for the situation he was in. "Keith, tell me what happened," Shiro said in a soft voice.
So Keith told him everything.
"Oh my god Keith I'm so sorry"
"Thanks, Shiro"
"Let's get this place cleaned up". Shiro picked up Keith like he weighed nothing and placed him on the bed. Keith felt like he was back in the days where it was just Shiro, Adam and him. Shiro had begun cleaning the floor and swaddling Keith in blankets. "Thanks, mum" He snorted. Shiro sat down next to him "It's going to be okay".
"Yeah sure"
"I could talk to him?"
"No no no"
"Why not?"
"Then he'll blame himself, and I don't want him to feel forced into anything. He needs time"
Shiro smiled at him "You really do love him"
"Shut up Takashit" Keith gushed.
Shiro chuckled "Do you remember Adam?"
"Yeah, of course".
"Leaving him is my biggest regret, I miss him every day. When I came back to find out he was" Shiro began choking up "gone I was so upset, I still am. And I know Lance would feel exactly the same".
Keith hugged Shiro "I'm sorry Shiro".
Shiro wiped tears out of his eyes "It's ok, we learn to move on".
Keith sighed "You can talk to Lance, but you need to be very vague"
"I can be the best wingman for my little brother"
"Just don't embarrass me"
"I would never".
~~~
Lance had spoken to Keith since that night. He hadn't been avoiding him. He totally wasn't. He was just busy, ya know? Totally not afraid of what he felt. He liked Allura. He likes Allura. He decided to take a beauty nap to forget his problems. It's self-care.
He stood in the middle of a field filled with forget me nots everywhere. Allura was at the end of the field with her back turned to him. "Allura" he called out. She didn't answer. "Allura!" he yelled again as he started running towards her but as he was running the flowers around him started turning red? He stopped and closely examined them. They weren't turning red, blood was soaking them. Lance sped even faster trying to escape the bloody forget me nots. He caught up to Allura and grabbed her hand "We need to get out of here!" he screeched. She turned around and her features started to change. Her caramel skin turned to a ghostly pale, her bright blue eyes changed to a dark purple, Her silver shimmering hair shortened as it turned dark as ink. She had turned into Keith. Keith did a soft smile at Lance. "It's ok, Lance". Keith squeezed Lance's hand "But you need to decide, who do you really love?".
"I-I don't know" Lance confessed.
"Listen to your heart". He thought about it. About how his heart skipped a beat when Keith was near. How he felt like there was an empty void in his chest when Keith had left. He loved Allura, but he loved her like a sister.
"Keith, I think I love yo-"
Keith put his finger on Lance's lips "I know"
Lance started blushing "but Allura she is gonna to be upset"
"Lance you deserve to be happy, you need to think about yourself first"
"I will"
Keith let go of Lance's hand and took a step back. "It's time to wake up" Keith transformed into millions of forget me nots that scattered into the air.
Lance did indeed wake up. What just happened. Did he love Keith, oh gosh But Allura and- He heard someone knock on the door "Lance can I talk to you?". It was Shiro. "Yeah sure". He had no idea what Shiro wanted, but he was willing to listen. Fortunately for Lance, Shiro got straight to the point. "So what are your thoughts on Keith?"
"What?!" Lance spluttered.
"Ya know Keith, Mullet, purple eyes,-"
"Yes, I know who Keith is"
"So answer the question"
"Are you asking everyone this?"
"Only the special ones"
Lance groaned "Keith is our leader, he is short tempered and is actually ok once you get to know him I guess".
Shiro did a sly smile "You guess?"
Had he been too obvious?! "Um yeah"
"You know it's okay to like Keith". He knew.
"Who set you up?!".
Shiro shrugged "No one".
"Hmpf"
"You should tell him, Lance, before it's too late". To late? What did he mean by that? His dream, the forget me nots soaked blood, then Keith turning into them. "I need to go".
"Good luck" Shiro yelled.
He was gonna need that.
~~~
Lance banged on the door "Keith open up!"
Lance was shocked when the door simply fell out of place and onto the ground. Lance wasn't that strong. "Shiro broke the door" Lance heard a voice weakly laugh. He looked to the voice to see, Keith. He was curled up on top of a pile of blankets, blue flowers were scattered on the ground, the metallic smell of blood stung Lance's nostrils. In further inspection Lance realised that the flowers were, forget me nots. "Keith what happened?" he trembled. Keith looked so fragile "I got sick".
"Sick?"
Keith nodded. Lance kneeled down to Keith "What kind of sick?"
"Lov-" before Keith could finish he began violently coughing. Lance watched in horror as Keith began coughing out forget me nots painted red. "Keith..?"
"This, this wasn't your fault" Keith's breaths got shorter and shorter til Lance realised he was choking.
"Keith! What do I do?!" He didn't answer. Lance held onto Keith and pulled him closer to him. He cradled him in his arms, "I guess the tables have turned" he whispered. Here goes nothing he thought. Lance leaned forward and pressed his lips against Keith's. It wasn't Lance's perfect idea of a kiss, with Keith literally dying in his arms. His lips were cold and tasted of blood. Lance pulled away "Keith?"
Keith's eyes were shut but his breaths had started going normally again.
"I'm so sorry Keith" He held him tight. "I know you said this wasn't my fault, and I still don't entirely know what happened, but I just know this is my fault. Why didn't you tell me sooner? Oh, Keith".
"Cause your an oblivious idiot"
"Keith! I was so worried! I'm sorry"
Keith just smiled at him, "Why do you keep smiling at me?"
"You just look cute when you're worried"
"Keith!"
"Well you look cute all the time but-"
"Keith oh my gosh you were just dying and now your flirting?!"
"How could I resist?"
Lance blushed furiously "Keith, as much as I love being flirted with, what happened?"
Keith took a shaky breath "I had something called Hanahaki Disease"
Lance's eye widened, he'd heard about that on the internet. Oh my god, Lance thought, Keith had nearly died cause Lance was too afraid to admit his feelings. He even saw Keith coughing blood into tissues and he did nothing! Oh, he is such an id-
"Lance it's not your fault. You needed time. Plus you saved me just in time"
"How did you know?"
"You got that look on your face"
"I don't get a /look/ on my face"
"Yeah, you do".
Lance laughed "fine I might, how do you know it's all gone?"
"I just have a feeling".
"We should take you to the medial bay"
"I'd rather stay here with you"
"I can come with you"
"Okay". Lance began to carry Keith bridal style down the hall.
"Do you want to walk the rest of the way?"
"No you can carry me, I'm a pretty princess"
Lance snorted "you lost a lot of blood didn't you"
"Yes I did"
"Come on Princess let's get you some medical help".
~~~
"You had to Hanahaki Disease? You're extremely lucky you survived" The doctor him. "I know".
"We are nearly done, you lost a lot of blood but that's an easy fix, and there are no flowers left. You will be able to leave soon, but I would recommend taking it easy for the next couple of weeks".
"Thank you"
"It's fine, your 'friend' is allowed in now" The doctor winked at Keith.
Keith suddenly felt very hot. Lance ran into the room and kissed him. His heart exploded and he felt like he was going to melt. This felt like a dream come true. Lance sadly pulled away "I'm so sorry". Keith wiped the tears out of Lance's face "Don't be, you saved me in the end and that's what matters".
"I know, but I could have lost you if I had just realised sooner-"It's okay, I'm fine"
"I love you" Keith was going to combust.
"I love you too".
~~~
Keith was still in the medical wing, and Lance had stayed with him the entire time. He fell asleep next to him holding his hand. Keith couldn't be happier. "So everything worked out huh?" Shiro asked.
"Yeah it did, wingman".
"I knew it would"
"Of course you did"
"I'm glad to see that your okay"
"Yeah me too"
Shiro chuckled "I'll leave you to lovebirds to it"
"Thank you, Shiro"
"You would have done the same for me"
~~~
Forget me nots can symbolise true and undying love. They can symbolise Fidelity and loyalty in a relationship, despite separation or other challenges. Or they could symbolise growing affection between two people. Keith felt all of this about Lance and his relationship. They had been dating for 2 months now. They were the best 2 months of Keith's life. Everyone except Shiro had been very surprised. Keith was very worried what Allura's reaction would be but she was thrilled for them. Lance had talked to her in private about it and she said she was very thankful for Lance, and she would always think of him as a brother. Everything had worked out. "Hey, babe you coming?" Lance asked. "Of course". They held hands and strolled along the beach. "Hey, do you think there are mermaid's in earth's beach?"
"I read a thing that said they would look like monkey fish"
"What like the SeaMonkey things you'd buy as a kid?"
"Oh my god I'm moronsexual"
Lance laughed "What do you mean by that?"
"I'm attracted to morons, but only one in particular"
"Oh really, and who's that?"
"Well, he's really funny and charming. He has gorgeous blue eyes".
Keith felt Lance's lips on his own. He shut his eyes and got lost in the moment. This is how he wanted to spend the rest of his life, with this adorable dork. "I love you"
"I love you too.