Forget-me-not (Klance)

Chapter 12 - June

"There's a new sea lion exhibit at the aquarium!" the Cuban boy exclaimed, ecstatic, "We've gotta go to the aquarium!"
"Sounds good to me," his raven haired friend agreed.
It'd been about a month or two and the two had spent everyday together sometimes just sitting in Lance's hospital room filling the day with trivial conversations, other times they'd wander around the vicinity of the hospital. Once or twice a month, however, they'd go on a proper outing. Lance always eagerly anticipated these. Some days Allura, Coran, or Pidge and Hunk would drop by, whenever they weren't busy, Lance still had yet to tell his other two friends the truth. All the same Keith continued to hide his own disease from those around him, with growing difficulty as weeks turned into months.

"Would you invite us too?" a more feminine voice spoke from the door behind them, the two turned to see a short bespectacled girl and a larger honey skinned boy standing in the doorway.
"Pidge! Hunk! We don't see eachother nearly enough!" Lance beamed at his two best friends.
"Well not everyone can just casually skip school for two months," Pidge remarked, strolling into the room whilst her larger companion ran right up to their lanky friend, wrapping him in a tight embrace, "Buddy! It's been too long!"
"Buddy, I know! I've missed you two!" the tanned teen responded, returning the embrace.
"I feel attacked," Keith commented in reaction to Pidge's remark. The four friends broke out into a light hearted fit of laughter.
"Okay, so Sunday for the aquarium?" Keith querried
"Yup, sounds good," the chestnut haired girl confirmed, followed by the agreeal of her larger friend, "All good here too!"
"I can't wait!" Lance declared, overwrought.

-----------------------

"C'mon guys! The sea lion show is gonna start soon!" Lance had been anticipating this since he'd found out about the arrival of the new sea lions. The four friends hastily made their way towards the sea lion exhibit the Cuban boy leading the way, however, as the crowds of other visitors became more condensed he was finding it progressively more difficult to weave through, even though his friends seemed to have no issues navigating through the people. Lance gradually fell behind, bumping into countless people, stopping briefly to apologise, he just couldn't seem to coordinate himself, his body never behaving quite as he'd intended.

Stepping to the side briefly to attempt suppressing an oncoming coughing fit Keith stopped for a break. As he surveyed the positions of his friends he'd noticed Lance had somehow fallen behind. He watched with growing concern as the tanned boy clumsily met with obstacle after obstacle, despite there being reasonable gaps between the clusters, his movements haphazard. As his own condition stabilised slightly Keith began making his way towards the taller boy.

The lanky teen's distress grew as he realised he'd lost sight of his friends. As he attempted to quell his surfacing panic a hand abruptly latched onto his wrist, causing the boy to jolt in shock of the sudden contact before recognising the raven black mullet and blue-violet grey eyes staring back at him, the familiar face putting him at ease. The Raven haired boy guided his chocolate haired companion through the crowd, pulling him along by his wrist.
"Thanks for... Coming back for me..." Lance expressed, his body relaxing as relief washed over him.
"Yeah..." a simple response followed by silence, but in that silence Keith let slip a deep inner thought, "Wherever you go I'll follow... And if you're lost I'll find you..." it was barely a whisper but the tanned boy behind him heard, his face flushing a deep red as the ravenette continued unfazed, completely oblivious to his own slip up.

"What happened? How did you guys fall so far behind?" a slightly concerned Pidge questioned as the two boys finally arrived at the sea lion exhibit.
"Sorry, that was my fault. You know me, terribly clumsy and uncoordinated," Lance laughed sheepishly in response.
"C'mon buddy, don't say that, I've known you since childhood. Lance used to do ballet and contemporary dance, and he was amazing! His coordination has always been impeccable. I honestly miss watching his dances, his skill level was definitely top of the class but what really set him aside from the rest was... I suppose he had a certain aura of sorts? That drew you in when he danced... It was like being dragged into a whole other world... I can't really explain it but it was amazing," Hunk rambled as the slender teen in question grew misty eyed.
"I love you man," Lance whimpered, brushing off a stray tear.
Pidge chuckled, touched by the exchange.

Keith stood, lost in his own thoughts. He could only imagine the breathtaking sight of the blue eyed boy performing intricate routines, but, he understood the feeling of getting seemingly dragged into an entirely unknown world by those deep ocean blue eyes. That was the exact reason he was here now. As the thoughts began to swell up in his head he felt a lump violently assaulting the back of his throat, realising he couldn't suppress this one the pale teen croaked out a strained, "Excuse me" before rushing off towards the bathrooms, leaving behind three bewildered teens.

-----------------------

"That was so cool!" Lance beamed, pleased with the sea lion show performance.
"Indeed, they are certainly quite intelligent creatures," the smaller girl agreed, fascinated from what she'd witnessed.
"I'm actually quite hungry..." the tallest of the group commented
"We should get some lunch," Pidge proposed
"Oh! Gift shop! I'll catch up to you guys!" Lance declared changing course towards a small shop located adjacent the exit from the sea lion exhibit.
"I'll stay by Lance," Keith stated before following the tanned boy into the gift shop.
The remaining two exchanged knowing smirks before heading off in search of food.

"Ahah! They have blue sea lion plushes!" the taller boy exclaimed triumphantly
The shorter of the two smiles as he observed his taller companion's excitement.
"I guess blue really is your favourite colour," Keith remarked, noting Lance's blue shirt and jeans.
"I suppose," the tanned boy chuckled.
Lance came to a halt as his eyes laid upon a medium-large blue sea lion adorning a red scarf.
"This is the one," the lanky teen concluded as he began elevating the plush Lion King style only to cease halfway when the plush suddenly fell from his grip.

Lance wore an expression of unadulterated horror, unnoticed by his company as the other boy has been distracted, retrieving the fallen plush. When Keith had returned to the other boy's side the tanned boy had lowered his arms, standing frozen, staring down at his open palms, his face unreadable.
"You alright?" the ravenette questioned, voice laced with concern.
Keith's soothing voice snapped Lance out of his thoughts, quickly plastering his signature smile unto his face.
"Yeah! We should hurry. I'm gonna go purchase this, you wait outside," Lance responded grasping the sea lion plush in an embrace and dashing towards the checkout.

-----------------------

The four friends sat in the rear of a bus their quiet conversations filling the silence. One, however, found his eyelids growing heavier by the second as he gradually descended into slumber. Lance sat between Keith and Hunk, Pidge in the seat in front of them. The blue eyed boy, unlike the others, was exhausted beyond belief. As his consciousness began slipping he mumbled, "Thanks guys, for everything." then entered a peaceful rest. His three friends smiling warmly at their sleeping friend.