Tending to the Boyfriend

Juniberries were such a lovely flower, Lance thought.

The vibrant magenta petals, thin as paper, yet resilient and hardy were as beautiful as they were inspiring. The way they flowed in the breeze, carrying their pleasant scent through the sky was breathtaking, and it was a sight he would never tire of.

Even after all this time, after every flower he’d watched go through the cycle of life, he loved them just as much now as he did when he first laid eyes on them.

They held a different meaning for him now, with all the wonderful memories tied to them, but he still adored them. Every time he saw his friends, he made sure to give them a bouquet. Allura still teared up every time she saw them, Coran always gave him a big hug, and Shiro would gather him to his chest to whisper a thanks into his hair. Hunk always smiled brightly, kissing his cheek like they’ve done a hundred times, and Pidge grumbled a lot before giving him a huge hug.

But, his favourite person to give juniberries to was Keith.

Lance would never forget how Keith blushed when he was offered the biggest bouquet Lance could carry, along with a simple question of dinner.

Now that Keith was done with the Blades’ mission, free to live his life how he pleased, Lance wanted to ask if he could be a part of Keith’s future.

And miraculously, Keith said that he already was.

With Keith on his mind, Lance looked up from the flower plot he was working on to see how Keith was making out.

He was sticking around for a few days to help out here on Lance’s farm before flying out to visit Shiro and Curtis, and Lance decided to put him to work. When he’d stayed here in the past, he had no qualms about doing whatever chores Lance needed done. But with their new relationship status, Lance had been a little hesitant to ask. But, Keith had assured him that nothing had to change, except now they could do cute coupley things together.

Hearing the words ‘cute’ and ‘coupley’ coming out of Keith’s mouth in the same sentence wasn’t something Lance ever thought he would hear, but he found he didn’t mind. It suited them.

He’d asked Keith to put more fertilizer in the wheelbarrow so he could finish tending to the new crop of Juniberries, but it was taking Keith longer than usual to do it.

Lance turned, expecting to find Keith easily lifting the bags out of the back of the truck and into the wheelbarrow, but was surprised to see him leaning heaving against the tailgate, only about half done. He stood, dusted off his knees, and made his way over to him to see how he was faring.

“Hey, you good?” Lance called as he approached. When Keith didn’t immediately respond, he put a hand on his shoulder, grabbing his attention. “Keith?”

“What?” he replied dazedly.

Lance frowned, and reached up to cup Keith’s cheek, turning his head towards him. As soon as his palm met cheek, he was shocked to find his skin warm to the touch, and not just from the heat. “Woah, are you feeling okay?” He felt like he knew what Keith would say, though.

Keith hummed noncommittally, stepping out of Lance’s grasp with a bit of a stumble. “‘M fine.”

“That’s not ‘fine’,” Lance disagreed, grabbing his hand before he could escape. He brought his free hand up to feel his forehead, how hot and clammy it was beneath his palm. “You’re sick. C’mon, let’s get you inside.”

“No, I’m fine.” Keith argued, without any of his usual fire. He batted Lance’s hand away from his forehead halfheartedly, but couldn’t dislodge their twined fingers.

Lance used his grip on Keith’s hand to pull him closer, before bending and throwing Keith over his shoulder, giving him as little leverage as possible.

Keith squawked indignantly as soon as his feet were swinging in their air, sounding a little more like himself as he said, “Lance! Put me down!”

“Nope.” Lance jumped a little in place, adjusting how Keith laid over his shoulder before starting to make his way back to the house. “We’re getting you inside, and that’s that.”

He’d honestly expected Keith to put up a bit more of a fight at being carried like this, but it gave him a bit of insight into how out of it Keith was feeling. If he was allowing himself to be babied and carried around, he really mustn’t be feeling well.

So, Lance was gonna pull out all the stops to make sure Keith felt better as soon as possible.

He used the toe of his boot to swing the screen door open, stepping in quickly before it could close behind him. Making sure to kick his boots off in the entryway, he made his way into the kitchen and dining area as carefully as he could to place Keith in the large window seat. He’d be able to sit comfortably with Lance while he made soup and tea for lunch.

Lance took care to put Keith down gently on the lushly padded seat, trying to jostle him as little as possible. He took a moment to pull Keith’s boots off, dropping them right there on the floor, then helped Keith settle into a more comfortable position. When he stood up and started to back away to start prepping lunch, Keith’s hand was quick to reach out and clutch at his shirt.

“Don’t go.” Keith said lowly, pitifully.

Lance cooed, and leaned down to press a lingering kiss to his forehead. “I’m gonna make you soup.” he explained, and gently pried Keith’s hand off of his shirt. “I’ll just be in the kitchen, okay? Let me know if you need me.”

“I always need you.” Keith mumbled, almost too quietly for Lance to hear.

Hearing those words, Lance wanted nothing more than to curl up behind him, pull him to his chest and never leave, but he knew soup and tea would help him feel better. So, he fought his heart and turned to start pulling out ingredients for his family’s homemade chicken noodle soup recipe.

As he worked, cutting up the chicken and chopping celery and other vegetables, he sung softly to himself, like he always did while he cooked. Anything that came to mind, from lullabies to Shakira. He even put on a little show of shimmying his hips and dancing on the spot to bring a smile out of Keith while he worked.

When everything was finally on the stove to simmer until completion, he turned back to face Keith and noticed him shivering against the window. He rushed over, putting a hand to his forehead. He felt even hotter than he did before. “Oh, Keith,” he cooed, brushing his bangs back from his forehead, “why didn’t you tell me you were cold?”

“You w’re busy.” Keith slurred, leaning heavily into Lance’s touch.

Lance ducked and pressed a quick kiss to Keith’s forehead. “I’m never too busy for you, love.” he whispered, and turned to run upstairs and grab his comforter from bed.

But he was again stopped by Keith latching onto his shirt, looking up at him with the most pitiful look Lance had ever seen on his boyfriend’s face. “Mmno, don’t go.”

Seeing Keith like this really pulled at Lance’s heartstrings, and leaving him when he was so down and desperate made him want to drop everything and hold him. He pulled Keith’s hand from his shirt and pressed a quick, firm kiss to his knuckles. “I’ll be right back. I’m just grabbing you a blanket.”

Keith hummed distractedly, and pulled his hand back to his chest.

Quickly as he could, Lance bounded up the stairs, grabbed the big soft blanket from the foot of his bed, and rushed back to Keith’s side. He draped it over him, and took care to tuck him in, not leaving any crevice for cool air to sneak in through. “There, how’s that?” he asked.

“Better.” Keith sighed with a smile. He tried to lift his arms, only for them to be restricted by the blanket. “Cuddle with me?” he pleaded.

Lance was a weak, weak man. He couldn’t say no to Keith on a good day, let alone when he was sick and using those puppy dog eyes on him. “Of course.” He shifted until he was leaning his back against the wall beside Keith, and pulled him into his side so he could absorb some of his heat. Keith was quick to throw a leg between Lance’s, and tuck his nose into Lance’s chest, pressing close until they were practically glued together.

Even though he knew Keith was freezing, he was hot to the touch, making Lance a bit warmer than he’d like, but he wouldn’t trade this for the world, hell, the whole damn universe. He wanted to stay by Keith’s side for as long as he could.

But of course, the timer on the stove went off before they could get too comfortable, telling him that Keith’s soup was done.

“Keith, dear.” Lance whispered, and lightly poked his cheek. “I’ve gotta get up. Your soup is ready.”

“No.” Keith grouched, and burrowed deeper into Lance.

Lance sighed fondly, and tangled his fingers into his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp to listen to Keith’s quiet moans of pleasure. He did that for a few long moments, before gently trying to detangle himself from Keith’s koala grip.

“Nooo,” Keith whined, dropping miserably to the cushions Lance had been sitting on when they finally detangle. “Don’t leave me.”

“You’re making this really difficult,” Lance sighed fondly, and walked away to pull Keith’s soup off of the burner. “I’m just trying to help you feel better.”

A whine came from the window seat, long and dramatic, something more like Lance’s theatrics than his boyfriend’s. Lance couldn’t help but chuckle fondly at that, and put the kettle on to make a cup of tea for him.

As soon as the kettle finished, Lance made quick work of preparing a bowl of soup and letting some tea steep and taking it to the living room, before coming back for the needy Keith. He picked him up bridal style, making sure he stayed perfectly cocooned in his blanket burrito, and carried him to the couch, pulling him into his lap to spoon feed him soup.

“I can eat this myself, y’know.” Keith grumbled lightly. But when a spoon of soup came at him, he was quick to open his mouth like a little bird with no further objections.

Lance snorted softly, but didn’t let Keith move a muscle. “Nope, it’s my job as your loving and caring boyfriend to spoon feed my sick boyfriend when he’s under my care.” he insisted.

Keith rolled his eyes, but let it happen. He pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapped up snugly in the blanket, and leaned more firmly into Lance’s chest, letting Lance feed him without any further complaint.

“I’m glad I was here for you while you’re sick,” Lance murmured as Keith ate the final few spoonfuls of soup. “I know you usually like to hide away and be all ‘Mr. Tough Guy’, so I’m glad I get to see this side of you.”

“What, the clingy and needy side of me?” Keith asked with a snort that resulted in a short coughing fit.

Lance leaned forwards, the bridge of his nose nestled against Keith’s temple. It grounded him a little, being surrounded by Keith’s scent as he said, “I want to see every side of you. You’re important to me, Keith.”

“Oh,” Keith gasped softly, sounding surprised by the admission. He blinked a few times, processing, until a small smile turned his lips upwards.

“There’s my handsome Keith.” Lance said with a fond smile, and tapped his nose lightly.

With Keith all done his lunch, starting to look a little less like death, Lance placed all of the lunch dishes on the coffee table to be dealt with later, before gathering Keith up in his arms and heading upstairs.

When Lance walked right past the spare bedroom that he’d been sleeping in for the past few days, Keith made a small confused noise. “Where are we going?”

“My room,” Lance explained as they stepped through the open door. “You’ll sleep better in here, with me.”

“Oh, no that’s-- Lance, wait--”

“Nope.” Lance interrupted, and placed Keith down gently on the edge of the bed, peeling off his blanket burrito to help him out of his day clothes. “You’ll be here with me.”

Keith levelled him with a look, but didn’t offer any further protest as Lance helped him shed his shirt. He dropped it into the laundry hamper on the way to his dresser, telling Keith to strip his pants while he found his comfiest pair of pyjamas.

It took a minute, but he finally found the pair he was looking for. When he stopped piloting the Blue Lion all those years ago, he kept the blue Altean pyjamas he got for being the Blue Paladin, and they were now the softest sleep clothes he owned, from their years and years of use.

Plus, he wasn’t above admitting he wanted to see Keith in them.

When he turned back, Keith had stripped down to boxers, and was sitting back on the edge of the bed, looking exhausted even from that simple task. So Lance took it upon himself to help Keith put each foot into the pant legs, pulling them up his hips as far as he could until Keith had to stand up again. He made sure to be quick about it when Keith looked like he could fall over at any moment. Then, he took his time helping him thread both arms through the sleeves, and pulled it over his head. When Keith’s head emerged, he couldn’t help but giggle at how the shirt rucked up his hair.

“Here, let me fix that.” Lance offered, gesturing to Keith’s wild hair.

Keith offered up his wrist, brandishing his black hair tie. Lance removed it, then settled behind Keith to pull his hair up into an easy high ponytail, just to keep it off of his neck and out of his face while he slept.

Once his hair was tied up, Lance helped Keith back into bed, tucking the soft blanket up around his neck once he was all covered up, just like he knew he liked.

As he stepped away, Keith spoke up: “Are you leaving?”

“No, baby.” Lance assured, and walked around to the foot of the bed to grab his sleep pants from the night before. “I’m getting in with you, but I can’t come to bed in my day clothes, now, can I?”

Keith grunted, but otherwise stayed silent, watching avidly as Lance stripped and put on the comfy sweatpants he’d worn to bed last night. Then, he climbed into bed behind Keith, opening his arms up in an obvious invitation for Keith to cuddle with him.

He wasted no time rolling over and inserting himself into Lance’s space, even going as far as draping himself over Lance’s warm chest. He shifted around until he found the perfect spot with his nose pressed into Lance’s neck. Each breath Keith breathed out Lance could feel against his skin, which tickled a little, but he didn’t mind. Not when it was Keith.

“Are you comfy?” Lance whispered, rubbing his hand up and down Keith’s back soothingly.

Keith finally went completely lax on top of Lance, a soft moan leaving his lips.

Lance chuckled fondly, and pressed his lips into Keith’s hair, letting them linger there. He needed to be consumed by Keith, in sickness and in health.

“No, Lance,” Keith whined suddenly, and shifted so he wasn’t as close to Lance’s face. “You’ll get sick.”

“Oh, love.” Lance cooed, and leaned down, following Keith’s slow retreat to press quick insistent kisses all over his face. “I don’t care.”

When he heard that, Keith stopped his movements and just accepted it. He didn’t really seem to want Lance to stop in the first place.

Lance made sure to kiss every inch of Keith’s face until he was softly giggling under his ministrations, making him smile.

Even if he did end up getting sick with whatever Keith had, Lance didn’t think he’d mind. Spending this time with Keith, taking care of him when he’s sick and getting to see a vulnerable side of the former leader of Voltron, the man who owned his heart… Getting sick would be worth it.