Work Text:
The Garrison Healthcare System
Code of conduct:
- Leave from training from illness is prohibited unless approved by your commander.
- You must attend all classes and exams unless you are unable to move the required limbs.
- If a student is to fall ill during a class, the teacher is to carry on as normal.
- Cold and Flu viruses are nothing but a poor excuse to be feeble.
Beep beep beep bee- Keith sluggishly rolled to his bedside table to greet his alarm, 8:39. Shit. Keith thought as he jumped out of bed to get ready. Winter mornings in the Garrison were anything but pleasant but his roommate, Shiro, never seemed to let that get to him- he was already long gone and probably working out by now. The raven-haired male went to the bathroom to hastily wash his face and put on his clothes, in fact today he deemed his pyjamas suitable with his red jacket to top it off. Keith put on his boots and head out the door to his training session which was well underway by the time he arrived.
Commander Iverson was at the door looking ready to beat the boy to a pulp, Keith choked on his nerves.
“So… Kogane.” He said monotonously. “What do you call this timing?” He said, gaining an angry tone.
“I-I call it.. 8:53.. Si—”
“ENOUGH. Get in here right now and show the class how to fly our simulation ship- perfectly. No faults.”
“Sir I’ve neve—”
“JUST FLY IT GODDAMIT.” And with that, Keith trudged past the line of students and entered the simulator. As he started, the male was confident that it wouldn’t be so hard after he cleared the first few obstacles. He suddenly felt a sharp, clenching feel in his gut which made him steer off for just a second. What the hell was that, I can’t be cramping up now this is not the time. He continued past the next few obstacles before it hit him again. It felt like all his stomach muscles were stabbing him from the inside. Come on.. just three more steering points.. He inhaled as another wave of cramping came on, this time it was so bad and his grip slipped as he crashed into the rock ahead. The simulation turned off and the commander came to bark at him. Apparently he had done such a bad job that he let the others leave 15 minutes before he crashed.
After that disaster, Keith didn’t feel so bad, the cramps hadn’t returned in a while so he went to find Shiro during their free period. The young man opened up his phone to try and find the older male.
-Hey Shiro, where are you?-
-In our room, what’s up.-
-Nothing, just wanted to come chat for a while, the commander was being a real dick again.-
-Awh babe that sucks, meet me in 5?-
-Sure, see you there x-
And with that he put down his phone and began the walk back to the living quarters that the students stayed in. Why is it always so god damn cold in here, can the higherups really not afford to fucking heat this school. He thought angrily as he shivered a bit. Events like the one that just passed made Keith thing why he was still even in the Garrison at this point, in his spare time he had even been building an emergency shack a mile or so away in case he got booted for good. He once saw Shiro, who was on the way to becoming a higherup himself explaining exactly why Keith shouldn’t be kicked off, but it was only a matter of time.
On arrival, Shiro had made two cups of jasmine tea and placed them on their small table.
“Okaeri.” Shiro said with a smile as he beckoned Keith to join him on the couch. Keith took his jacket off, dropped it on the floor and went to plonk himself down next to his lover.
“So, do you wanna talk about it?” Keith shook his head. “Was Iverson biting you hea—”
“Ok so I woke up really late, like 8:50 or some shit and then I got really bad cramps in the simulator and it made me crash so I was late and I fucked it up all because of that goddamn code of conduct. I feel so shitty Shiro. They’re gonna boot me off I know it I might have to start moving my stuff to the sha—”
“Woah, slow down,” Shiro said as tears started to roll down Keith’s soft cheeks. “Today’s been pretty rough, huh. I hate that code of conduct too babe, it’s not fair but there’s nothing I can do to change it, believe me I tried. As for your health, do you think you’ll be ok for the rest of today?” The man said as he brought Keith into a warm embrace. He felt a nod of approval from Keith as they stayed like that for a while. Shiro felt the younger man’s forehead, it sure was hot, hot enough for him to be concerned.
Later on Keith and Shiro were in class together, luckily this was bog standard theory sit down and take notes kinda class so it would go easy on Keith. Why is Shiro so far away, why is everything shrinking what the fuck. Keith thought as he shook his head to take him back to where he was sitting. His growing fever was beginning to take a toll on him as he drifted in and out of small hallucinations. His notes began to dance around on the page, a tango of formulae and doodles, making his eyes twitch every now and then. If I just focus on the clock then shit should stop moving, only half an hour. As the teacher droned on, Keith found himself thinking of Shiro, and the shack. What if he did actually move there, would Shiro come with? He tried to focus in with little luck. The hallucinations were growing stronger as his eyes grew heavier.. SLAM.
Keith looked up to see the whole class looking over at him, what the hell.. He thought as he realised his head was flat against his desk. As he tried to get up, the male crumbled under his own weight, shaking. The teacher continued the lesson without batting an eyelid, rambling on about whatever. His classmates whispered among themselves, none of which doing anything either. As Keith desperately tried to continue getting up, he felt a pair of soothing hands lift him up off the floor and into a koala like position. Shiro.
“T-Takashii-gone-e” The delirious man tried to speak.
“Shh, I’m taking you home. If they won’t help you here then we are going elsewhere.” Shiro said with an angry undertone.
“S-shaack?”
“Shack.” And with that there was silence for the rest of the trip. They stopped briefly to grab some basic care items from their room before leaving the building. Shiro’s calm, warm nature had seemed to disappear. He felt mad at himself as well as the Garrison for making that shitty code of conduct to cut back on tardiness and medical supply costs. They’re gonna end up costing lives if they keep this up, “Fucking fuckers..” That last part he muttered out loud, causing Keith to try and reply, more or less sounding like a dying kitten.
“It’s ok baby, you sit tight. We’ll be there soon.” Shiro said, trying to sound calm as he loaded Keith into the back seat of his modified cruiser bike ship thing- named accordingly by the two of them. It had ship like seats, a motorbike shaped body and the power of a space cruiser. Shiro made sure Keith was comfy and then set off to the shack, which he had been stocking a few things in every now and then in case of an emergency.
“Ok Keith, you lie down here while I go get you some medicine.” Shiro said as he placed Keith onto the ready made bed.
“S-soft” Keith murmured as he drifted off to sleep, causing Shiro to smile as despite his state, Keith looked quite adorable.