I Don't Want You to Go -- (VLD)

Sickness

When his makeshift alarm clock rang out through his bedroom, Lance decided that today was a bad day.

He brought his hands up to his face, ignoring his achy shoulders as he rubbed at his eyes. Some sort of gunk seemed to have taken refuge there, making it extremely difficult for Lance to open them.

Slowly and carefully, Lance managed to open one eye- only to shut it again immediately with a groan as the harsh artificial light of the ship hit it, sending a harsh pain shooting through his skull. He rolled over, gasping as an ache in his neck decided to make itself present. Along with the dull throb in the base of his skull, Lance's head felt too heavy to lift, falling against his pillow again.

His breath rattled in his throat as he inhaled, his exhale sounding more like a wheeze. A sound made only harsher from his congested nose.

It would appear that he was sick.

Lance groaned weakly again. He hated being sick. There was no time for it. How was he supposed to look after his siblings, make breakfast and keep them entertained until mama woke up if he could barely whisper his own name?

But then Lance remembered where he was, and suddenly everything was much worse.

He couldn't take a day off sick here. The universe wouldn't stop needing to be saved just because he didn't feel all that well. He could practically already hear Allura asking him if Zarkon was going to be empathetic and leave them alone for the day until Lance felt better? The answer was no of course, which set him off groaning again as he noticed the way his hair seemed to be sticking to his forehead. He needed a shower.

Which meant that he needed to get up.

Lance lowered his hands from his eyes slowly and forced them open again. He winced when the light again sent a bolt of pain through his brow, but forced himself to keep his eyes open. He looked over at his little makeshift alarm clock, the noise still jarring through his pain. He decided that it probably wasn't helping his already forming headache, and reached over the shut it off. His first two attempts were feeble, but he finally managed to silence the little device.

His stomach made a strange noise and he grimaced before reaching out to the cup that sat beside his bed. He was about to tip the cup towards him before remembering that it never ended well to try and drink lying down. He slowly propped himself up on one elbow, and took a sip.

The water didn't want to go down, but he stubbornly forced himself to swallow the water, trying not to gasp as it caused his throat to throb with pain. He coughed, mucus forcing its way to the front of his mouth. He nearly choked on the gross substance, but made himself swallow that too.

It was going to be a long day.

The ache throughout Lance's body became more notable, and he carefully placed the cup back by his bed before collapsing back down again. It was always like this when he was sick. Nobody else seemed to react as badly to a common cold, but it always rendered Lance incapable of the smallest tasks. Even his little sister, who seemed to be sick every other week, just walked the illness off within a matter of hours.

Lance lay there for another few minutes before finally rolling himself out of bed (nearly falling to the floor on multiple occasions) and making his way into the bathroom.

Deciding that he could use a little down time, Lance ran himself a bath. He was about to step in when he recalled the last time he had taken a bath while sick.

It was a good thing that his papa came to check on him, but Lance had definitely learned his lesson that day.

Sadly, Lance let the water drain out of the tub. He didn't particularly feel like showering anymore either, so instead he washed his face with cold water, and ran a hand through his hair.