The Hanahaki Disease// Voltron AU

3.3: facing reality

Playlist: Almost - DNCE

After

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take it. I had to tell somebody, anybody about what was happening to me. And who better to tell then my roommate? It's been two weeks since we first started school again and keeping this secret from my friends has proven difficult. I can't go a single day without one person asking me if I'm okay, if I'm taking my medicine, if the cough is getting worse. Aurora, Hunk and Allura especially are always asking me if I'm alright. Hunk is worried because he lives with me, Allura because well... She's basically a mom and Aurora because she says I'm her best friend.

"I need to protect you my child." She said a couple days ago at dinner, her arms around my shoulders as she hugged me. She hasn't stopped calling me "kid" and "her child" since she found out she's a couple months older than me. "I don't want my best friend to be sick because then you're going to get everyone else sick and that's not cool McClain."

"I thought I was your best friend." Tristen said with a huff.

"I was about to say the same thing." Jeremy spoke up. Aurora stuck her tongue out at them.

"You're all losers and I'd trade you all if it meant Lance and I were friends forever!" Jeremy rolled his eyes while Tristen flipped her off. Aurora laughed, letting go of me as she began to get into a heated debate with her roommate and her boyfriend about why I was so "great".

"He's an idiot." Pidge argued, jumping in as I coughed into my shirt again.

I've always been able to change the subject when people ask about me. I'm just mainly trying to dodge their questions and get them to focus on something else. But without fail, one or two of my friends ask about the cough. I want to at least tell Hunk about my problem because I live with him and because once I tell him, maybe the two of us can figure out how to fix me or figure out who I fell in love with. Either way, it'll get one person to stop asking me if I'm okay. I don't want him to worry about me more though once he knows but... I can't just keep this to myself anymore.

----

After school Friday and before Pidge came over for our weekly video game matches, I sat Hunk down and prepared to tell him something and at first, the two of us joked about it. "You gonna tell me you have a boyfriend Lance?" Hunk asks with a grin. I laughed, unable to stop myself. "The last time you sat me down like this was so you could tell me you were bi." I coughed into my arm and shrugged. I could feel a flower coming up. Before, when the Hanahaki Disease wasn't as serious, I would get sporadic fevers, cough up a couple petals here and there and constantly be coughing and trying to clear my throat. But now, now I was coughing up at least one flower every two days.

"I umm. It's not that unfortunately." I said, coughing again. "It's actually about this." I pointed to myself, more specifically at my throat and Hunk frowned.

"Your cough? Is it more than just a cold Lance?" I nod.

"It's not something that serious." I said before he could ask if it was cancer of the throat or something. "Okay, I lied. It's actually kind of serious."

"What is it Lance?" I opened my mouth to reply but the rush of air that hit my lungs started to aggravate my throat and I ended up coughing instead, I quickly grabbed a couple of tissues from the box sitting only my bed and, very grossly, started to hack up another blood soaked flower.

"Okay well I..." I said, looking up at Hunk to show him the flower but he was covering his eyes with his large hands and I eyed him quizzically. "What are you doing?"