This may come as a surprise, but Lance holds little hope for his love life. Sure, he flirts and winks at every possible candidate. But, in reality, Lance doesn't believe he'll live out the happy romances he sees on TV. His parents met when they were in high school and shared their first kiss at the top of a Ferris wheel. That was sweet, he always loved it when they'd tell the story. His siblings would roll their eyes and grimace, but Lance always smiled and listened happily. His mom called him Loverboy Lance and said he always had a love for the romantics. Yet, here he was, a hopeless romantic.

Lance knew from the bottom of his heart, his current lifestyle didn't allow much for romance. They passed through planets full of people to which they likely would never return. It didn't matter anyway. As much as Lance flirts, he knows it's all done in vain. He has his heart set on someone else.

Keith. Stupid moody emo, Keith. Keith who has a mullet and wears a red cropped jacket.

Lance groaned. Laying in bed, he buried his face in his arm thinking about the idiot. Lance Loverboy McClain is in love with the least romantic person known to man. The biggest issue of all, however, is how little his interest in Lance is.

His time spent in the Garrison was plagued by his failed attempts at befriending Keith. Later, in their teen years, him and Lance crossed paths again. Keith didn't even remember him.

Lance then started in with the rivalry thing. At least this way Keith was paying some attention to him. Even if they were arguing, it still made Lance feel better to have those fiery eyes cast on him. At least then he knew they weren't looking at someone else.

Lance knows there's no hope for Keith returning his feelings. That's why he started in on the whole 'Allura thing'. Lance flirts with her endlessly, trying to draw the attention of Keith even in the slightest. But when he looks at Keith to see any reaction, there's none—besides a few occasional eye rolls.

He gave up after some time but his teammates never forgot his weak attempts at flirting with the princess. They lorded it over him still, and teased him relentlessly about it. He could care less though, he just wanted Keith. That's what it was all for.

The castles alarms echoed through the hallways booming around Lance's room. He sat up startled and bathed in red lights.

"Paladins! This is not a drill! Suit up and get in your lions immediately! The castle is under attack!" Allura's voice dominated the alarms.

Lance was ready in a matter of moments and was running down the hallway. He saw Pidge running just ahead of him and Hunk followed suit to the two.

The three got in their lions and found the other two were already out. A battleship was firing at the castles shield and was being heavily guarded by drones.

"Lance and pidge! Go for the ones on the right! Keith and Hunk, to the left. Cover me while I disable the ion cannon." Shiro shouted through the coms making Lance wince.

"Please hurry Shiro, the shield is already weakened significantly." Allura pleaded.

Lance and Pidge followed their orders, but Lance was lagging. His breathing felt shallow, like he couldn't quite catch his breath. He didn't feel well. He hadn't felt the absolute greatest the last few days, but he was sure it would pass with some extra sleep. But here he was, performance lacking at the expense of the team. He gave a weak cough which contorted into hacking.

"Lance! Stop just sitting there and help!" Pidge scolded over the speakers.

Lance reached for the panel but his hand fell as he began to cough and hack again. It felt like something was caught in his throat. Tears rose in his eyes as he couldn't quite breathe from whatever it was he was choking on. Finally, whatever it was dislodged itself and fell from his mouth in a feathery fall.

An abundance small red petals.

Lance's face contorted into a look of confusion. Petals? How? He picked one up and inspected it to be sure. And yes, sure enough, it was a petal.

"Lance!" Pidge yelled again.

Lance immediately dismissed the flowers and sprung back into action. Maybe it was nothing and he was overthinking it. He tried to think of an explanation as he picked off drones one at a time. He fought well making up for being MIA.

A loud boom erupted and Lance looked up in time to see the mothership explode in large plumes of debris. The Paladins cheered over their speakers and Lance ignored them staring at the petals in his lap. He turned Blue back to  the castle, the first one to dock their ship while the others still cheered. "Lance? Where you going? You okay buddy?" He heard Hunk over his helmet but he pulled it off. He hopped out of the lion and dropped the helmet on the hangar floor. He held the petals in his hands carefully like they were something delicate and booked it to his room.

He wanted to ignore the occurrence, but he couldn't help but feel that it was significant. That this is why he isn't feeling well. Why his breathing is so shallow and there's a small bit of pain in his chest.

He tested another cough and found himself in the same fit as earlier. Hacking and coughing and gagging. His time, he felt a long burning pain as whatever it was moved through his throat. It burned and scratched as it passed.

He spit out a rather large and disheveled red flower. He realized why it was so painful as it had a long stem covered sparsely in thorns. Blood dripped from his mouth onto the flower red blending into red. His mouth tasted strongly of iron and he tried to swallow it down.

This wasn't right.

A small knock on the door made him jump and he dropped the flowers on his bed and covered them with his sheets. Running to the door he opened it, trying to keep his composure.

"Pidge, what's up?" Lance was surprised to see the small girl. She still wore her armor and was looking down at her toes.

"I wanted to apologize. I didn't mean to snap at you during the battle. I was just a little stressed and lost my cool." She toed the ground. It was surprising to see her apologize as she was always headstrong and proud. She rarely ever apologized and rather would show small bits of gratitude instead.

One time they had an argument and instead of apologizing, she left a controller at his door. Soon enough they were playing video games and they never spoke of the incident.

"Are we cool?" She asked.

"Yeah, of course we're cool Pidgeon." Lance winced at his hoarse voice. He felt how raw and painful his throat actually was.

She looked up sharply and gasped. "Lance! Are you okay?" Her eyes were wide.

Lance knew if he spoke it would say other wise but he tried anyway. "Yeah I'm fine,"

"But, you have blood..." She pointed to his mouth and he quickly swiped the back of his hand over it.

"I bit my tongue during the battle. That's why I had to speed off." Lance lied.

"Oh, okay then," Pidge nodded. "Well, I'll see you at dinner. Uh, maybe Coran can help you with your tongue problem."

When she left. Lance closed the door fast and began hacking again. Whatever this was, he was getting it out now.

After a while of violent coughing and producing flowers and petals from his mouth, he realized it wouldn't be that easy. Whatever was causing it, there was too many and they were rooted deep. His attempt however left his mouth bloody and a small pile of flowers sat in front of him of the floor. His throat was in pain and his vocal cords were scratched up.

His airway didn't feel any more cleared than when he started and it caused almost a soft whistle or whine sound as he breathed.

He checked the time and saw it would be dinner soon. He had to make an appearance otherwise the others would worry and he didn't want that. Gathering the petals, Lance dumped them in the trash and stealthily snuck through the hallway to the bathrooms to wash his hands and face of the blood. He finished and patted his face dry with a towel.

As much as he doesn't want to hide stuff from the team, they didn't need this problem as an addition to their already full plate of issues. Lance wasn't sure what was going on with him, but they had access to one of the worlds largest databases and surely he could find an explanation there. And if that doesn't work, he'd take to the castle's library.

He headed to the dining hall and sat down wordlessly and a little late.

"Look who decided to finally join us," Keith raised an eyebrow already detecting Lance's quiet mood.

Lance was going to talk, maybe say a snarky remark, but his voice was surely rough so he just turned away. He took note of the way Keith frowned and went back to talking to Shiro a little distracted.

"Lance, what happened after the battle? You sort of took off." Hunk asked his friend concerned as per usual.

"He said he but his tongue. He must've bit it good too, because he had blood on his mouth." Pidge chimed in, noticing Lance's reluctance to speak.

Keith snorted. "Smooth move."

Shiro elbowed Keith like a scolding parent. "Be nice." Keith glared at his brother.

Moments later, Coran emerged with bowls of soup for everyone. As he set one in front of Lance, the boy quietly thanked him, his voice soft and gravelly.

The team looked at him a little worried but Lance ignored them and tried the soup. The heat of the soup both irritated and soothed his aching throat.

"Maybe I should have a look at that my boy." Coran said in that fun voice of his.

"No, it's fine." Lance responded hastily.

"Very well, but don't hesitate to ask for help!" Coran chimed. "If it's bothering you, I have many drugs."

Pidge broke into laughter and the Paladins couldn't help but join. Even Lance.

"Not those drugs." Coran scolded.

Lance admired the way Keith laughed. His smile was an absolute delight, the way it curved into a beautiful bow. It pulled back and shot Lance right in the heart like Cupid. Just as it did so, Lance felt that tingle in his lungs that made him cough ruggedly. He quickly stood up and rushed out of the room hacking again.

He made it to the bathrooms and locked the door. Rushing to the toilet he began to deposit flowers and blood into the bowl. He sighed slumping against the wall feeling trashed and scraped raw. A knock sounded on the door.

"Lance? Are you okay? Why'd you lock the door?" Keith asked sternly from the other side.

"Can't a guy shit in peace?" Lance gaveled.

"Shut the fuck up. Open the door." Keith pounded.

Lance's head rolled back on the stall with a thump. He shakily reached his hand to flush the toilet and moved to the sinks to wash the blood away. He picked up the trail of flowers and tossed them in the bin and cleaned the toilet of any blood. When he opened the door, Keith was waiting for him impatiently.

"What's your deal? Is your tongue that bad? I'm taking you to Coran." Keith grabbed him by the shirt and began to drag him from the bathroom.

"Keith wait." Lance pulled back stretching his shirt. Keith let go and turned around. "It's okay, I just choked on my soup. I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine." Keith eyed him. "Plus, you look like shit. Like you haven't been sleeping."

Lance was surprised at how attentive Keith was. Normally Keith would be looking anywhere but him, so how he noticed, Lance was unsure. "I-I'm fine Keith. You don't don't have to worry about it. I won't let it effect the team." Lance assured. He knew that's probably why Keith was reacting the way he was.

"Are you sure?" Keith asked in a low stern voice.

"Yes." Lance squeaked.

"Fine, but if you don't look better by tomorrow, I'm taking you to Coran." Keith turned on his heels and hurried away.

Lance couldn't help the feeling in his chest at having Keith fuss over him. Even if it was only the good of the team he cared about. The flood of affection was chased by a sharp pain in his lungs. Right, he had to get to the bottom of this before tomorrow.

Lance, rather than head back to the dining room, took the moment when everyone would be occupied eating to check the castle database. He snuck in and rushed to a panel reminiscent of a computer and began to type.

It took him a while to find out where to go and how to search for something like this, but when he did, he shakily typed 'coughing up flowers'.

He scrolled and it didn't take long to find a name: Hanahaki Disease. Lance quickly tapped the screen and his eyes flicked across the text.

One sided love

Flowers in lungs

Feeding off body's nutrients

Suffocation

Lance's heart began to race and he backed away from the holographic monitor in horror. Was he going to die? Oh my god, he was going to die. Lance tripped over a chair and landed hard on his ass just as his reality came crashing down with him.

Flowers were going to fill his lungs until he suffocates to death. All because Keith doesn't love him back. Lance shook his head, there had to be some cure—some way around his terrible fate. He picked himself up and continued to read.

Only two known cures existed. One would be for the other person to return their feelings and the flowers would clear away on their own. But the other would require surgery. In addition, with the removal of the disease through surgery, the feelings felt for that person would also be taken. Lance quickly realized surgery would not be an option. He couldn't get that kind of help in his situation. Not to mention, he didn't want to lose his feelings for Keith. He loved him, and even if he could never have those reciprocated, he'd take what he could get. He didn't want to ruin the already fragile friendship he had with Keith either.

Lance realized that left him with no options. Either die a horrible floral death or ruin his friendship with Keith and still die a horrible floral death. Or he could tell the whole team about his situation and have them track down someone able to remove the flowers.

He decided to let it happen in peace. There was no point in warning the team about his soon death because, after all, Allura could simply take over his lion. Maybe he'd leave some sort of letter, as a little explanation. One letter for the team, one for his family. That could work.

He stared at the article and clenched his jaw. He probably only had a week or two. He felt unwell before, but now that he's started coughing up flowers, that shows his days are surely numbered unfortunately.

"Lance!" He heard his name being called down the hall. It sounded like Hunk and Lance looked from the doorway to the screen in front of him. He had to keep this to himself.

"Lance? Are you in here?" Hunk called again, undeniably close. Lance quickly minimized the hologram and turned around trying to act natural.

"Hey buddy!" Lance responded just as Hunk walked through the door.

"Lance, what are you doing in here? Are you going to finish dinner? Coran made desert too." Hunk asked looking around suspiciously.

"Uh, yeah," Lance smiled and followed his friend out the door. He didn't like lying to his friend, but it would be easier.

When they sat back down at the table, Pidge was already gone and so was Keith. Lance ate the soup and had a few bites of dessert to satisfy Hunk.

Lance had a few light strangled coughs but managed to keep them down.

"You have a bit of a cough. Are you feeling well Lance?" Shiro asked.

"Yeah, I feel fine. Great actually." Lance smiled. His voice sounded otherwise though.

"If you say so." Shiro looked unconvinced.

Lance cleaned up his food and went to his room to stew in self pity.

A knock rung on the door and Lance sighed. He couldn't catch a break. He just wanted to be left alone. But he stood up and opened the door anyway. Pidge stood wringing her hands and she looked nervous.

"Lance, tell me it isn't true." She said quietly almost a whine.

"What?"

"I saw the article on the castle's database. I was going to hook it up to my laptop and it wasn't closed out of. You were looking it up weren't you? Hanahaki Disease. Please tell me you don't have it." Pidge looked to be on the verge of tears.

Lance felt all air escape his body, which was getting easier. He grabbed her and pulled her into his room. He shut the door behind them and slumped against the wall, tired and lacking the energy to hold himself up anymore. "Pidge... I'm sorry." Lance shook his head. "I didn't mean for you to see that. Hunk almost caught me earlier and I had to turn it off—god I'm so stupid."

"Lance, you aren't denying it. Please." She pleaded.

Lance bit his lip and tried to suppress the urge to cough. "I..." he couldn't restrain the need anymore and let lose a violent hack. Blood speckled his fingers and he wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. "I'm sorry."

She looked mad and tears streamed down her face. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I don't want you guys to worry." Lance looked away from her.

"Worry? Lance we have a right to worry! You're fucking dying! Don't you get that?" Pidge snapped.

"Keep your voice down." Lance hushed her. "I understand that I'm... dying. But Pidge, there's nothing I can do."

"Bull shit. What's stopping me from telling the team right now?" Pidge lowered her voice but she was still yelling.

"Look. Pidge. I'll tell everyone. But not yet." Lance moved off the wall to stumble to his bed. He slumped down and looked at her pleading.

"When then? Huh? After you're dead?" She practically growled.

"Pidge. I'm going to die from this. There's no way around it. I rather wait as long as I can. I don't want to prolong making you all watch me die. I don't really know what I'm going to do. I just know it's not fair to do that to you guys."

"And what makes you so sure you're going to die from this anyway?" Pidge scoffed. "It said there were cures."

"Yeah, there are. Did you read them?" Lance raised his voice a little but caught himself.

She silently shook her head.

"There's surgery. But the likelihood of tracking down someone able to remove the flowers in time isn't reasonable. It's a risky job even at that and to top it off, if it's successful, I'll lose feelings for the person I love." Lance spoke quietly. Enough that Pidge had to listen in silence to hear.

She opened her mouth to protest but understood. "Then what about the second one?"

"That's even less plausible." Lance looked away. "It's for the person I love to love me back. If it's accomplished, the disease will dissipate on its own."

"What are you talking about?! That's not so hard-" Pidge snapped.

"It can't be platonic Pidge. It has to be romantic. Real love." Lance shook his head.

Pidge went quiet. "We can still try."

"I don't want to alarm anyone of my condition. I don't want to drag the team down with me." Lance wheezed a little at a small tickle in his lungs.

"I'll keep it a secret, but you have to at least try to fix it—I'll help you. And you have to tell everyone eventually. Don't wait until it's too late." She bargained.

"Yeah." Lance nodded. "I can do that."

And then she was pulling him into a tight hug. He felt her tears on his shirt and he felt guilty for making her cry.

The next few days had been miserable for Lance. He hid his condition better, but he also avoided the team like the plague. He feared the team noticing his fragile state and taking him to Coran.

"Lance they're going to suspect something if you skip dinner. You already skipped a few meals." Pidge opened Lance's door when he refused