Our little secret -- Klance

Chapter 6

Keith had a raging headache. He slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the harsh white light of... wherever he was. 

After a few more seconds, he recognized he was in a healing pod. The door swiftly opened and Keith stumbled out into the healing room, but there was an odd patch of ice on the floor.  And that Lance was in the healing pod next to the one Keith was just in.

"What is going on?" Keith muttered, stepping to Lance's healing pod to read the medical charts.  "Lance McMclain...blah blah blah... hypothermia, internal temperature at negative two degrees Celsius.... his blood froze?"

"Keith! You're awake!" Pidge ran to Keith, tackling him in a bear hug.

"Hey you little gremlin," Keith smiled as she swatted his arm.  "What happened to Lance?" Her expression darkened and she swore under her breath. 

"Allura planned for you to be kidnapped by Lotor-"

"What does that have to do with Lance?"

"Shut up and I'll tell you. Anyways, when we got back from the rescue mission, Allura threw a temper tantrum and unleashed her magic on Lance for defending you," Keith looked at the green paladin, wide-eyed. 

"What alternate universe am I in?" Pidge chuckled and started walking to the door, beckoning Keith to follow her.

"Shiro's been ripping out his own hair with stress," Pidge said. "With you and Lance both being in the healing pods and all,"

"Pidge? Who are you talking to?" Shiro called from the next room, not being able to see either of them. 

"It's me, ya big dork," Keith replied, laughing at the crashing sound from the room. Shiro appeared from around the corner and immediately engulfed Keith in a hug. 

"Don't ever scare me like that again," Shiro muttered so only Keith could hear. 

"I'll try," Shiro pulled away and met Keith's eye.

"What happened on that ship?" Keith shifted uncomfortably and looked at the floor.

"I don't remember a lot of it." Keith lied. Shiro frowned slightly but accepted the answer nonetheless. "When's Lance supposed to wake up?" Keith asked, changing the topic. 

"Well... his blood froze and we don't know how much the pod will be able to do..."

"So you don't know?" 

"Well... no" Shiro said.

"But" Pidge cut in,  "He's already farther along than he should be, scientifically.  His bloodstream is steadily heating up, but once it gets up to normal the rest is up to him... the hypothermia and such,"

Shiro looked at Keith, analyzing. 

"Come on and eat, then we'll go check on Lance."  Keith followed him to the kitchen and watched the older man get out some space goo.

"How did Lance end up in the pod?" Shiro gave Keith a knowing smirk before answering.

"Allura hit him with her magic. He took a hit that was actually aimed for your healing pod." Keith's stomach dropped. 

"You must've been seeing things. Lance hates me. He'd never take a blast of Allura's magic for me." Keith mumbled in between bites of the goo. 

"But he did. I think you like this little rivalry thing just as much as he does," Shiro winked and walked away, leaving a confused little emo behind him. 

Keith finished the goo in silence, then headed back down to the healing pods. Lance was still in his pod, but if Keith was reading the charts correctly, he would be out by the end of the day. 

Lance's skin was tinted blue and his lips were cracked. He was breathing, albeit very shallowly. Keith loosed a breath and closed his eyes. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered, lingering for just a second longer, then silently walked to the door. A dull thud brought his attention back to the pods, and Lance sitting on the floor, rubbing his head. Keith jogged back over to him, offering a hand to help him up.

"Just gonna leave right when I'm about to make my grand entrance huh?" Keith rolled his eyes.

"You know I can't read Altean charts," Lance accepted Keith's hand but stumbled into him when he tried to stand on his own. 

"It's so cold in this castle," Lance complained, trying to steady himself. 

"Pidge said something about you having hypothermia but the pods can't do anything about it..." Keith trailed off, glancing at the Cuban boy leaning on his shoulder. 

"I just want some coffee," Lance grumbled. 

"You go to bed and I'll bring you some coffee. Your job is to get warm," Keith replied sternly.

"I do not need a nurse!" Lance tried to stand to make his point stronger but ended up falling more heavily on Keith. 

"Come on you big baby," Keith said, half-walking half-carrying Lance to his room, then dropped him on the bed. Lance wrapped himself in blankets and looked expectantly at Keith.

"Well? where's my coffee?"

"You seem to be enjoying my offer now," Keith grumbled, then went to go make Lance his coffee. 

The kitchen was empty, and Keith made the coffee quickly and brought it back to Lance. A little bit of color had returned to his face, but he was still pale. 

"If you really wanted time alone with me you could've-"

"Yeah. Just asked. Shut up and drink your coffee," Keith snapped, maybe a little harsher than he intended. Lance smirked into his cup and took a deep drink. 

"I'm already under your skin, huh? Maybe I can get under your clo-"

"Shut the hell up," Lance was grinning when Keith spared him a glance. He held the coffee cup close to his face, the steam warming his face and the heat leaking from the cup warming his chest and hands. 

"Like what you see, mullet boy?" Keith flipped him off and stormed out of the room, and shouted for Pidge to go find out what mental disabilities Lance had.