Hey y'all, leave suggestions on how this chapter should be changed because I feel like it wasn't really great like the others since I never got to make a chapter outline for it. I've been busy writing my novel I'm probably going to publish here or on Amazon so I have really been wanting to make it as amazing as possible. Hope y'all understand so please tell me what should be changed at the end of the story.

Thank you :)

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The events of that day had happened so quickly, Lance couldn't even process why he was holding a pink, stuffed animal hippopotamus in his arms as he stood outside of room 101 with an expression on his face that no words could describe. He had been called by a sobbing Vivian on Allura's phone forty five minutes ago informing him that Keith had been rushed to the hospital because he was coughing up blood and crying about pains in his liver. Today had been so amazing, probably the best day of his life until he had picked up the call in the middle of spending time with Nyma.

Allura was being comforted by Shiro a few feet away while Hunk and Pidge tried to help Vivian as she cried and cried over her brother who was refusing to see anyone but his doctors and well, Lance. Keith's parents were quietly arguing with Keith's doctor in the hallway, Sandra's eyes were red and she held a tissue in her hand as her husband ran his hand across her back to comfort her.

"Sweetie," A hand found its spot in the crook of Lance's neck as a gentle kiss was placed on his pale cheek. It was Nyma of course; she had been there when he got the call so it was only right if she was there to give Lance moral support. "Go talk to him, tell him what he needs to hear and then we'll leave."

But that was the thing; did lance really want to go through that door and see someone as strong as Keith so...so vulnerable and sickly, and to spring the news that Lance had on Keith so suddenly after he was brought to the hospital wouldn't be fair.

If he had to make a choice right now whether to walk in there to face his friend and tell him the secret or not was something Lance could only decide on if he went over the events of that day starting with lunch.

"W-Will you be my girlfriend?" Lance's voice was shaky as he stared into Nyma's bright blue eyes full of excitement.

Nyma smiled as she nodded her head and placed her hands on Lance's cheeks, "Yes!" She shouted and pulled him in for a rough kiss on his lips.

Her friends sitting across from the two of them were not as enthusiastic as Emily's stupid salad fell from her gaping mouth and back down into the plate she got it off of. Bailey had her eyebrows raised nearly right off her face and Louisa looked almost like she was going to be sick. Lance felt his entire face light up on fire as Nyma pulled away with a tiny little frown on her face.

"Your breath smells funky..." She said in a disgusted tone.

Lance clamped his hand over his mouth and looked down at the white table they sat at as he apologized to the beautiful girl. "I'm sorry it's a part of my thing..." He hated going into specifics about the condition he had. He definitely didn't want to tell Nyma about it and talk to her about how he felt about it.

Nyma scrunched her little button nose up and stuck her tongue out, "You should change it, take a breath mint or something sweetie."

His heart dropped all the way to his feet when he heard her statement. Sure he understood bulimia probably wasn't something everyone can work with while being in a relationship, but Lance hoped that she would have been so much nicer about it and tell him that in public, not an area where her friends could giggle at him and cause him to feel so ashamed of himself. He felt like crying for some reason as he sat next to Nyma, it hadn't been more than three seconds into their relationship and she was already pointing out his flaws, maybe next she would tell him that he was the sixth wheel in the support group, that he was just another guy she dated, that Keith didn't even want to be friends with someone as weak as him when he could be on a yacht getting tipsy with some guy. She could tell him that his brother was cuter than him, that he was why his family had so many problems like how his father divorced his mother for someone else all because his son was too repulsive.

All of these things were things that ran through Lance's mind anyways so it would be like hearing his thoughts spoken out loud by his girlfriend. He already knew he was worthless so why did someone have to point it out to him again?

"Hey Lance," Hunk mumbled as he took the empty seat next to Lance and huddled in close, clearly uncomfortable from the people staring at him for sitting with the popular girls and Lance. "We have to hang out, remember? I was thinking that after school we should-"

Nyma placed her hand on Lance's leg as she looked around the skinny boy and at the anxious little guy next to him. "Sorry, but Lance and I are going to have some time alone for private matters tonight. We have a lot of things we have to do together before prom especially like," Nyma smirked as she ran her hand up Lance's leg, "Getting to know each other."

"Oh we can uh- we can," Lance cleared his throat as he tried to ignore Nyma. "We can hang out tonight if you want, stay over my place and then we can go to school to-"

"Sorry, but we're going to be together the entire night, Chuck," Nyma said assertively. Her blue eyes became hard on the boy next to Lance and Lance felt his chest tighten as he looked between his friend who was clearly hurt by this and his girlfriend who was acting strangely possessive.

He didn't know who to defend. "It's Hunk, not Chuck," Hunk mumbled as he avoided looking at anyone around him, he fiddled with his shirt as he tried to hide his anxiety.

Lance then remembered something Nyma told him a few days ago. She had told him that Hunk liked her so Lance had to draw the line at a point in his and Nyma's relationship when Hunk began to cause issues. He really thought the darker boy was into Shay the waitress, but Nyma would never lie to him, right? They were dating now so they had to be honest with one another.

"I can't hang out with you Hunk, I have to spend time with my girlfriend you know," Lance said dryly. He didn't want to push away his first school friend, but it was what was best for him and Nyma so he had to make sacrifices.

Hunk looked at him with the most painful expression on his face. His brown eyes were glossy with unshed tears and his brows were turned upwards in shock. Lance instantly felt sick to his stomach with guilt as he stared at Hunk with sadness in his blue eyes. He had to keep reminding himself that it was the best thing for him and Nyma. It just had to be.

"O-Okay, I'll hang out with Shiro and Pidge then..." Hunk slowly rose up from the table and paused as he hovered next to Lance almost like he wanted to say something more to the little Cuban below him.

Anything he wanted to say never had the chance to come out because Bailey spoke up before the saddened boy could, "You heard him chubs, beat it before you miss the line for diabetes on a plate, not like you haven't missed a day of it though."

Hunk balled his fingers into a fist and stalked away in resentment as he wiped away stray tears from his face. Lance's wide blue eyes trailed after the boy as he felt like throwing himself over the table to choke Bailey out of spite. "Why the hell did you say that?" Lance exclaimed as he glared at the girl sitting across from him when Hunk disappeared from sight. "He has anxiety and you're not helping his case, Bailey!"

She made an ugly face of distaste as she raised her black brow at Lance, "It's high school Lance, if you can't even keep it together after some playful banter, then you have no need to be here. Better yet, you might as well just die because you're pathetic," She snickered.

He couldn't believe it, how could such a pretty girl be so horrible, no, sadistic. How could she be popular when all she ever does is make others feel unwanted? Lance knew exactly what he should've done, he should've yelled at Bailey. He should've called her a bitch and tell her to stick her irrelevant opinion where the sun don't shine, but instead of being able to do that he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He already knew what it was so he didn't even question it when he felt his stomach beginning to churn so he stood up and began walking towards the bathroom until Nyma caught his arm and glared up at him.

"You're really going to leave your girlfriend alone, Lance? A good boyfriend would sit next to me and make me happy by complimenting my new outfit!" She said with a tight smile on her face, her blue eyes full of annoyance.

Her new outfit? Why the hell would he even give a shit about it when he just hurt his first friend? Everyone in the support group would totally hate him if Hunk told the others and it wasn't like he could just postpone when his body wanted to purge because believe it or not, he rarely controlled it.

He felt his stomach gurgle a bit more before it settled down leaving him no other choice than to sit with Nyma and her shitty friends that made Hunk cry. Lunch was just terrible. He hated every second he had to spend with those preppy bitches and found himself annoyed with how Nyma clung to him like a damn flea on a dog. Why couldn't she just leave him be? He was clearly in distress because of what she made him do to Hunk.

He was just a pathetic piece of garbage today, wasn't he? Nyma went home with him just as they had planned, but as she shopped online for prom dresses she could wear he sat down at his desk and did their homework. He didn't even care at this point, he was just upset about Hunk. The big guy hadn't responded to any of his messages that day and he didn't want to reach out to him in the group chat and risk getting everyone mad at him all over again.

He was frowning about a stupid calculus question when Nyma finally decided to address something. "Keith's gay, right?" She asked suddenly causing Lance to snap the graphite in his mechanical pencil out of nervousness.

He had made sure he wore a jacket that covered his hickey so why was Keith being brought up now? And anyways, Lance was still pissed about Bailey, god he was just all over the place currently. "Uh, yeah, why?" Lance asked as he continued the question without daring to look up at his girlfriend.

Nyma frowned slightly as she looked down at Lance. Her face was full of boredom and frustration as she stared at him doing her homework. "I don't want you to hang out with him anymore then," She stated bluntly though her voice had an icy edge to it like she resented the model for something she hasn't told Lance about yet.

Lance sat up and looked at her as he dropped his pencil on the paper. He threw his hands in the air and began to yell at Nyma rather rudely, "So you want me to just drop all of my friends now because I'm dating you? I can't keep dropping them because I have to see them every freaking week, Nyma! What is your issue with them anyways?" He asked with a deep frown.

Nyma placed her phone down and crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at Lance from across the floor. "Keith might hit on you or even have feelings for you, Lance, I don't want people to sabotage our relationship okay? Am I a bad person for not wanting us to fail as a couple?" She whined, tears threatening to spill from her glossy blue eyes.

Lance felt guilty all over again, but this time for nearly making Nyma cry. He got up and quickly rushed over to the beautiful girl where he gently brought her into a gentle hug and held her close to his chest. "I'm sorry Nyma, but I don't want to keep having to drop people out of my life if you don't make the same sacrifices," he whispered quietly.

Nyma nodded in understanding as she pulled away from Lance and sniffled. Her face was red but thankfully she hadn't allowed herself to cry in Lance's room. "Who does it have to be?" She asked.

"Bailey, she's a giant bitch and I hate knowing you're friends with such a gross person," Lance replied firmly as he placed his hand on Nyma's puffy cheeks.

The girl nodded again, "She is a bitch, isn't she?" She then sighed deeply and stared into Lance's eyes for a long moment. "Now that we've got that out of the way, you're going to be my prom date right?" She asked as she batted her eyelashes.

The fake tears didn't even have to be used to prove to Nyma that Lance was total putty in her hands. She could get him to do anything as long as she agreed to stupid terms he made up. Lance found himself blushing as he stared at his girlfriend. Was he really going to be taking the girl to prom in three weeks? He still couldn't even believe that she liked someone as gross as him, but he was excited knowing that he got to bring the most popular girl to school, that's a total win.

"Only if you want me to," Lance gave Nyma a small, shy smile as he felt his cheeks burn up the longer he stared at her.

God, she was just drop dead gorgeous. She was wearing a white split sleeve shirt with a pair of teal colored jeans and her hair was pinned back. She never ceased to dazzle Lance and he loved that.

"Well, why wouldn't I? Maybe if we won prom king and queen then I would give you a special treat..." She bit her lip and began to pull Lance in closer. Lances body began to tense up as she stopped right in front of his lips, "Maybe I'll give you a little taste of it right now?"

Lance was about to laugh and turn down her offer of getting to second base with her, but he didn't even get the chance as she pushed him down and began to kiss him.

He was uh, terrified, to say the least. The practice session with Keith hadn't prepared him to be the sub; he had been trying to learn how to be Keith in this situation. He didn't know where to put his hands on Nyma as she allowed hers to wander about his body making him nearly bite her several times out of surprise and inexperience. There was only one option for him in this situation and though he didn't take pride in doing what he did, there was no other choice. He imagined that Nyma was Keith on top of him and as he closed his eyes he tried to remember what Keith told him to do. He remembered how he placed a hand into his stupid little mullet and the other on his lower back, but because of the size difference of Nyma and Keith he placed his hand on her rear by mistake and felt his face become red hot as she giggled.

He prayed Keith would forgive him for imagining getting to second base with him while he made out with his girlfriend. Just like last time, he got a little too into it and nearly said Keith's name instead of hers, but he was saved by the ringing of his phone.

Nyma stopped what she was doing and looked up at him phone with messy hair. "Who the hell is Allura?" She hissed as her eye twitched slightly.

Lance knew he had fucked up right then, so he pulled Nyma back down to kiss her neck as he slid her shirt off and dropped it on the floor. "She's no one, ignore her. Just another person from my church group," he said breathlessly as he kissed her skin, still imagining Keith for some screwed up reason and allowed the phone to ring three more times as Allura continued to keep calling him.

There was a knock at Lance's door that caused the two hormonal teens to fall off his bed in a scramble for Nyma's shirt and barely managed to get it on when Vincent stepped into the room with a serious look on his face. "Lance," he looked straight at the messy bed before he realized that Lance and Nyma were on the ground with messy hair. His face was full of disappointment as he glared down at Lance. "Pick up your god damn phone next time. We're going to the hospital, get up!"

"What? You can't just barge in here and tell me that without elaborating, Vincent!" Lance exclaimed as he grabbed his phone and found that Shiro, Pidge, and even Hunk had texted him multiple times and that even Vivian had called him.

He knew at that moment that something bad must have happened because one person's name was missing from that list. He hadn't wasted time getting off that floor to rush down to Vincent's car with a frustrated Nyma close behind.

And that was how he got here, here being in front of Keith's hospital room door with a giant hippo plushie he bought on the way there. He knew what he had to do now and he took a slowly step forward before he opened the door with a shaky hand. Anxiety made his chest feel tight as he peeked inside and saw a curtain separating Keith's bed from his eyes.

"Please go in there and just talk to him," Vivian whimpered as Hunk held her in his arms, "He won't see anyone until you go in there so just hurry up damnit!" She raised her voice and slammed her foot down as she started to become infuriated with Lance.

Lance didn't need a reminder to not mess with the girl so he slipped in and closed the door behind him gently. The only noise inside was a heart monitor beeping with each beat of Keith's heart and the occasional cough from the teen boy. Though he couldn't actually see Keith, Lance could see his shadow against the green curtain separating the two of them. He was sitting up with a slouch as he stared down at something in his lap. He seemed so alienated from the world, so alone and vulnerable that it almost didn't seem right for Lance to just stand there staring at Keith's shadow. He took a deep breath and stepped around it to see Keith staring down at his phone opened to Lance's texts with something in his text box his hadn't yet sent.

Out of nowhere Lance raised the giant hippo above his face and started speaking in a weird voice, "Howdy partner, it's me," Lance spoke with a stupid cowboy accent before he peeked over the hippo's head to see an extremely pale looking Keith staring up at him with eyes full of astonishment and awe. "Lancelot," Lance finished as he held the stuffed animal out to Keith who quickly locked his phone and tossed it onto the couch nearby.

Keith wrapped his arms around the stuffed animal and hugged it tightly as he smiled so brightly. For a moment Lance thought that maybe it hadn't been weird for him to substitute Nyma for Keith like he had done before. "Thank you so much Lance, I love it!" Keith laughed and cuddled the stuffed animal.

Lance felt his face burn up in embarrassment as he looked away from his friend and covered his blush with his hand. "N-No problem," He managed to mumble as he snuck a glance at the boy who was still hugging his hippo tightly.

Keith finally invited Lance to sit on the bed with him by gently patting the empty spot on the bed in front of him. "They're all worried aren't they?" He asked quietly as he hid his face behind the pink hippo.

Lance assumed he was talking about his family and friends so he told the truth, "Why wouldn't they be, Keith? You can't expect no one to care when you get rushed to the ER because of liver pains. You have people who care now so-"

"I don't care," Keith cut him off as he held the hippo closer to his body. His purple eyes became watery as he continued, "I don't care if they came here Lance, because if they actually cared they would've came in here against my wishes. They only care about my public identity."

What was he talking about? Lance felt himself becoming confused as he stared at Keith, but it didn't last for long when he noticed something. Keith looked like a child who was lost in a giant store with no idea where his parents were. He seemed so afraid and hopeless, his eyes screamed for help, but he only pushed people away with his words as he tried to protect himself from getting hurt. He was so afraid and now Lance finally noticed it. He may have said that he did all those rebellious things to live life on the edge, but he did it because he was afraid, wasn't he?

Lance did the unspeakable and reached out to grab onto Keith's hand gently. The purple eyed boy flinched as Lance slowly pulled him into a hug with the hippo between them, of course. "Shut up, you drama queen, they're still out there because they respect your choices and they all called me so you could see me. If they didn't care about your feelings they would've busted that door down before I even got here."

Keith sniffled as he trembled in Lance's kind of arms; the hippo was between them so it was just kind of hard for Lance to reach around it you know. "I have to tell you something Lance, I have to tell you because I may not have another chance to tell you and if I lose my chance I'll never forgive myself."

"Me first, Keith," Lance pulled away from Keith, but kept Keith's hand in his. When Keith shakily nodded for Lance to say his news Lance rubbed the back of Keith's hand with his thumb as he lowered his gaze. "Nyma and I are dating now, so I can't see you as much anymore," He whispered. "I didn't want to tell you this way but I probably won't be able to talk to you much after this visit."

Keith dropped the hippo and allowed it to tumble off the bed and down onto the white tiled floor in a soft little thud. His purple eyes were full of pain and misery as he allowed his tears to begin falling down his cheeks. He ripped his hand away from Lance and crossed his arms over his chest as he tried to calm himself down.

Lance, being the concerned friend he was, leaned over and picked up the hippo as he tried to figure out why Keith was suddenly so upset. "W-We can still be friends Keith. I'll tell her that she has to be lenient with you because we're best friends so-"

"I might die, Lance," Keith breathed out through his tears. His eyes were blank; they were completely devoid of any emotion as he sat there staring at the pink hippo with its tongue sticking out that Lance held out to him. "I might fucking die because they did a drug test on me."

Lance set the hippo down and stood above Keith with a confused look on his face, "What does that have to do with your life?" Lance asked the boy.

Keith wiped at his face with his hands and pulled the hippo back into his arms. "I need a liver transplant or I'm going to die because I never went to the hospital when the stupid tumor burst. Thanks to me being a stubborn idiot, I'm probably going to kick the fucking bucket any day now because they won't give a drug user an organ transplant in case of rejection or mistreatment."

Lance felt almost as if he were about to fall to his knees in grief as he stared down at Keith. All this time he had been suffering and all they did was fight for half of it and they barely spent any time together. Lance was devastated and yet so angry with the news. He was upset that Keith could die but he was pissed by the fact that Keith had drugs in his system.

"Why did you smoke weed?" Lance asked with a shaky voice. "Why didn't you just leave it be and not touch it Keith? If you would have stayed clean you'd get a liver, but now your-"

"Shut up Lance, don't act like you have the most perfect life ever. I smoked it because it helped numb the pain and take my mind off the things in life that made me feel insignificant," Keith glared at Lance and clutched the hippo tightly. "If I would have known this was going to happen then I wouldn't have smoked. Believe me; I'd love nothing more than to live."

"Is this what you had to tell me Keith?" Lance choked out as he held back his tears. He felt so dizzy from everything that had been happening today. He lost Hunk and now he was probably going to lose Keith forever. He didn't want to suffer any more in life; he wanted a break from it all. "Is this why you wanted to talk to me?"

Keith was silent for a moment before he slowly shook his head. "No, I wanted to tell you something that has been causing me problems, but I wouldn't want to keep your girlfriend waiting." He practically spat at Lance bitterly.

Lance didn't need to be told twice, he knew that he was no longer welcomed inside of the room with Keith and so he didn't even bother saying goodbye as he left. Keith quietly sat in his bed, holding the hippopotamus stuffed animal as he began to quietly cry to himself. He wanted to tell Lance everything, but what was the point when the boy's heart belonged to someone else? Keith lost to Nyma and he wasn't going to ruin Lance's happiness.

At least one of them could be happy. He laid back in his bed and cried into the fluffy fabric of the hippo as the sounds of his heartbeat picking up slightly lulled him to sleep.

It was probably best this way anyways; Keith probably wouldn't live till next month unless he got the transplant he needed.

Sorry for doing this to our gay baby but plot y'know. As I said in the first note, leave suggestions below and I'll 100% read all of them and take each into consideration and choose the ones that are best fit for the chapter. Don't tell me to have them kiss because it won't happen, I have a special idea for that and it involves Rick Rolling a bitch okay. Their kiss will be special so don't rush it.

Leave suggestions in the comments, see you later alligators *tips hat*

-Anri