Chapter Text
When they got downtown, Lance parked on the street and paid the meter. Without even thinking, he opened Keith’s door and grabbed his hand, pulling him to his right side, away from the road. They were on the main intersection of the city.
“Okay, so this is downtown Enumclaw. It’s not super small, but it still has kind of a small town feel to it.” Keith nodded. “There’s not a ton down here, but I like it.” He said as they started walking. He showed him some of the best restaurants, the video game shop, the music store, a cool little rock shop, then he led him down another street. “I’ve never been here for obvious reasons, but I thought you might have an interest in it.” He said motioning to a little bookstore. “Do you wanna go in?” Lance asked, making Keith drop his hand.
Keith: Not today, I have too many books as it is.
“Fair enough.” Lance said, smiling as he felt Keith’s hand return. “You’re cold.” He said, making Keith furrow his eyebrows. “Your hand is freezing and your nose is pink.” He said with a laugh. “Come on, let’s go to the cafe down the block and get something warm to drink.” Keith nodded and followed. It was a cozy little cafe with the entire inside decorated like a mountain cabin. The second they stepped in, they were hit with a wave of warmth from the fireplace.
“Okay what do you want?” Lance asked, looking up at the menu.
Keith: Apple cinnamon tea.
Lance ordered, then led them over to a couch by the fire, handing Keith his tea and taking a sip of his cocoa. They enjoyed the fire for a while before Lance finally spoke again.
“So, what do you think of the city?”
Keith: I like it. It’s kind of like the college area of Riverton.
“Was it this cold there?”
Keith: Sometimes, yeah. Not in Texas though. I never really liked the cold.
“Yeah, me too. I mean it’s at least seventy back home right now, if not in the eighties. It took me like a whole two winters to get used to it here.”
Keith: I never got used to Wyoming. I doubt I will here either. I’m always cold though.
“Really, why?”
Keith: I’m anemic.
“Is that why you’re so pale?” Lance teased.
Keith: Shut up.
“Hunk just texted. He said he’ll have food done in an hour, you wanna head back?” Keith nodded. They threw out their cups and walked back to the car. When they got home, the smell of stir fry filled the kitchen. Hunk filled their bowls and took them to the living room.
“Chicken stir fry. I have a pie in the oven too.”
“What kind?” Lance asked excitedly.
“Huckleberry. Shay’s family sent her back with a bunch so she gave me some.” Lance turned to Keith with a wide grin. Keith gave him a warning glare and shook his head.
“I’ll be your huckleberry.” He said with a smirk.
Keith: It’s huckle bearer.
“Well, you correcting it makes it work even better! You just claimed your cowboy heritage!”
Keith: Tombstone is in Arizona, dummy.
“What what?” Allura asked.
“He said it’s huckle bearer not huckleberry. Also Tombstone is in Arizona not Texas.”
“What? What does that mean? Also Texas?” Keith ran his tongue over his bottom teeth and flipped Lance off.
“Yeah, what does that mean? Explain Walker. Educate us.” Keith rolled his eyes and began typing.
Keith: Basically a huckle is the hardware on a casket. A huckle bearer was someone who carried the casket. Like a pallbearer. Doc Holiday was basically warning Ringo that he was going to kill him. On another note, Lance, I’ll be your huckle bearer.
Lance repeated the whole thing without reading it first, making everyone laugh at the ending.
“Oh, you’re never gonna hear the end of it Joe Dirt.”
“So why do people say that in an endearing way?” Allura asked, now more confused. Everyone looked to Keith.
Keith: First of all, Joe Dirt isn’t from Texas. And I don’t know. I guess huckleberry sounds endearing… or because your huckle bearers would probably be like people you loved. I don’t know why you guys think I’m a western encyclopedia.
“Well, you seem to know what you're talking about.” Lance teased.
Keith: I don’t even like westerns.
“Why not? Tombstone is great.”
Keith: I just never have. I’ve seen like most of the older ones though. Tombstone is like one of the least terrible ones.
“So what I’m hearing is western night?”
Keith: I will literally leave.
“Okay, okay, no westerns.” They all finished their food and waited on the pie. Lance basically force fed him, but he had to admit it was good. After dinner, they watched a couple movies and all decided to go to bed since they had school the next morning. Keith woke up in the middle of the night freezing. He had an awful headache too. Assuming he was just feeling sick from the weather, he stumbled into the bathroom. Before he made it there, he got really dizzy and tripped over his desk chair, making enough noise to wake up Lance.
“What are you doing?” He asked. He slowly sat up and saw Keith standing, holding onto the edge of his desk. “You alright man?” When Keith didn’t react, Lance got up and helped him back to his bed. “You alright?” He asked, kneeling in front of him. He nodded and leaned against the bedpost. He was honestly having trouble breathing. “Is this from anxiety?” He asked, but Keith shook his head. “What’s wrong?” Lance asked. Keith pointed to one of the notebooks on his desk. Lance handed it to him with a pen.
‘Was trying to get Tylenol.’
“I’ll get it. What’s going on?” He asked, as he went to grab the medicine, leaving Keith to write. When he came back, they switched.
‘Head hurts. Cold. Dizzy. Can’t breathe.’ Lance reached to his forehead.
“Yeah, I think you have a fever… Anything else?”
‘Chest hurts. Arm hurts.’
“Your chest is probably from the breathing. Can you take your arm out of the hoodie for a second?” Keith nodded and struggled to get his arm out. When he did, Lance turned on his phone flashlight and looked at it. He found a swollen red and purple mark on his arm, which looked like a spider bite. He grabbed a sharpie from his desk and drew a thin line around it.
“I think that might be a spider bite… Which is weird because it’s winter, but I guess it’s not winter to them in here…” He whispered. “Did you see a spider at all today?” Keith shook his head. “Well, I’m assuming if it bit you it was out of defense, so maybe it was in your bed…” He said looking for signs of a spider in his sheets.”Take the hoodie off the rest of the way.” Keith took the hoodie off and handed it to him. When Lance shook it out, a little crushed yellow spider fell out.
“Okay.” He said, trying to sound calm. He picked it up with a piece of paper and brought it to his desk. Just like he thought, it was a yellow sac spider. Keith looked ready to fall out. “Okay, I think I know what it was. Take some Tylonal and go to bed if you can. If it still hurts in two hours, tell me. It’s five past one right now. Tell me if anything gets worse.” Keith reached out for his hoodie, but Lance ignored it and got a different one out of his own wardrobe since there might have been sider residue in it. “Come here first. You should probably wash it.” He said, pulling Keith up and dragging him into the bathroom. When they were done, Lance took him back and let him lay down.
“Try and get some sleep.” He said softly, sitting down on the ledge of his bed. “Keep that arm out. You can put it under the blanket, but I want to be able to see it. Keith struggled it out and grabbed his phone.
Keith: I’m cold.
“I know.” He sighed before pulling off his shirt. “You’re lucky I’ve just gotten used to this from living with Allura. She uses me as a human heater all the time.” He said, laying down next to him. Keith was weirdly jealous at the mention of Allura, but the warmth radiating from Lance immediately took over his thoughts. He immediately wrapped himself around him. Lance loved it. He stayed up and watched as Keith slept. The next time he checked his arm, he was fully broken out in hives. Lance was afraid he was having an allergic reaction, so he woke him up.
“How do you feel?” Keith shook his head and tried to get across he felt like he mouth was swelling, The red around the bite had now moved outside the circle. Lance knew they were going to the hospital, but he wasn’t sure if he should tell Keith.
“I’ll be back in a second.” He whispered. He walked out to the kitchen and tried to call Shiro. He called him three times with no answer. Finally, he decided to just text him and try again in the car. When he came back, he grabbed Keith’s boots, phone, and wallet and brought them over to the bed. “You feel like you can walk right now?” Keith shrugged and attempted to stand up, but almost immediately fell over.
Lance caught him and set him back down, deciding he would just carry him and forgo the boots for now. He dumped out his bag and threw everything in it followed by a phone charger, an extra hoodie, his wallet, and a few other things. Then, he decided to bring the spider. He grabbed a pickling jar from the kitchen and dumped the spider in, adding it to the bag. Then, he wrote a note to his roommates and left it in the kitchen. Finally, he threw the bag on and wrapped a blanket around Keith and slid his arms under him and scooped him up. Keith was clearly not liking the situation, but he gave up fighting quickly.
“I’m trying to help you. Calm down. You know I’m not going to do anything that would hurt you.” Keith nodded and nuzzled into Lance’s chest. Once they got to the car, Lance dialed Shiro again, still no response. Giving up, he sped off. Technically, he wasn’t supposed to leave campus right now, and technically he was supposed to have taken Keith to the school’s medical center, but they would’ve just sent them to the hospital anyway. When they got there, Lance helped him get his boots on and helped him into the hospital, leaving him curled up in one of the waiting room seats. Then, made his way up to the desk.
“Hi, how can I help you?”
“Yeah, my roommate got bitten by a spider and he’s like really not reacting well. I’m not sure he isn’t having an allergic reaction”
“Okay, fill this out and bring it back up here when you’re done.” Lance nodded and took the papers. When he sat down, Keith leaned onto him. He could tell he wasn’t liking being there.
“I can’t fill out most of this… Can you help me?” Keith nodded and attempted to help. “Okay… hopefully that’s good enough.”