Sparkle Eyes For You (Klance)

Part 17

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Well...Never mind. That's fine."

"Good."

"G-Good."

Lance blinked and pushed himself up on shaky limbs, the movement sending his vision swinging. He groaned, pressing a hand to his forehead, and the voices stopped abruptly, replaced by the sound of hurried footsteps rushing toward him. He looked up just as Keith skidded to a stop in front of the bed he was in, face full of barely masked concern.

"H-Hey..." He couldn't stop a smile from spreading over his face, and Keith managed a small smile back, his eyes staying locked onto Lance's.

"How do you feel?"

"Uh...groggy?" He rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Did I seriously pass out? That's so lame."

Keith's smile widened until something stabbed into Lance's throat and he doubled over, hacking on thin air, and the red Paladin scrambled for some way to help, ending up with sitting on the bed next to him and patting him gently on the back. When he'd recovered, he glanced around, surveying his surroundings. They seemed to be inside some sort of tree, with gentle yellow light glowing all around them. Next to Lance was another bed, and he found it was more round than rectangular, shaped almost like a bird's nest. His bed was normal, though, if not a bit bumpy and shoddily made.

In the room with them were Allura and Shiro, plus the bird creature that had greeted them earlier, who smiled that weird smile, clasping his thin, scaled hands together.

"Wonderful to see you awake! You seem well, not fully recovered, perhaps, but well."

"Well?" he snapped. "Well? Look at me!" He raised a shaking hand, his vision still slightly blurry. "Your air is seriously fucked up, birdman!"

"Lance!" Shiro scolded, but the bird shook his head.

"You are correct. I should have warned you sooner...I am used to the creatures here being immune to the poison. But having no idea what you were, I simply believed you had overcome it...I suppose it is unfair to compare you to the Paladins of old."

Just gotta throw that in there, huh? Lance raised an eyebrow, quickly regretting it when his vision doubled.

"I am Korin," he introduced himself, walking forward and awkwardly offering Lance a hand. "The leader of this group of Listens."

Lance took his hand, finding it warm and rough. "Lance. Pilot of the blue lion."

"Lance." He smiled again, and this time the act was kind and comforting. "If you agree to it, I will have one of our best doctors disinfect you, as they have your comrades. Then you will need around ten and a half mons to fully heal. After that, we shall discuss the future."

"Um," Lance looked to Shiro, unsure of if he should be worried or not, "how long is that?"

"We did a conversion earlier," Keith explained, pulling out a circular, wooden device with strange, alien numbers changing every few seconds in the center of it. "It came out around 9 hours. So, like, a night."

"Oh." He sighed out the breath he'd been holding. That was nowhere near as long as he'd been worrying. "I can do that."

"Wonderful." Korin let go, clapping his thin hands together. "The sleeping period is beginning in forty milis. I shall call in the doctor."

As he turned toward what looked like the door, Lance called after him: "Is this where I'm sleeping? Why are there two beds?"

"They didn't have enough rooms for all of us to get our own." Shiro smiled awkwardly, following Korin out the door. "Keith offered to share with you."

"What!?"

The door clicked closed after them, leaving Lance and Keith alone together in the lightly glowing room.