Author's Note:

This first chapter is Lance's PoV, but all future chapters will be from Keith's perspective.

The first eight chapters of this fic are already written. I will be posting them once a day until I run out.

The farmer's daughter artfully sprawls by the pond. Choosing to meet her end on the same grassy banks she'd first laid eyes on the handsome Prince. Ruby red petals spill from her lips, as she uses her dying breaths to proclaim her absence of regrets that her deepest yearnings have left her to the ill fate of the Lover's Curse. The vines may steal the air from her lungs, but she will pass on knowing that she has been blessed to feel more profoundly than any other.

Tears prickle the corners of Lance's eyes. He's seen the scene a hundred times, but even knowing the Prince is only moments away from bursting free of the forest to reveal that her true love is requited, lifting her curse, cannot take the power from her words. The movie came from a time when people dared to believe in Love. When people didn't try to cure their feelings with scalpels and doctors but with declarations of passion. A time when people truly understood the devotions of the heart.

Lance was meant for another era. If he was so lucky as to be the host of flowers. He wouldn't cast aside fates messenger so casually. He would treasure it as the gift it was. An affirmation that his feelings were no mere crush to be tossed aside but the most pure form of love imaginable. Ones so great the universe itself chose to bless them with physical form.

Somebody snickers beside him, Lance scowls at the interruption. Keith's muffling any further noise with his hand, but Shiro continues to whisper something in his ear. Probably mocking the emotions portrayed on the film for cheap laughs. Some people just couldn't appreciate something so deep and meaningful. Needing to tear it down, to make up for something lacking in their own courtship. If he'd been granted the same opportunity, he would not have wasted it so casually. He'd have built upon the romantic setting to enchant Keith instead of dismissing it.

The music picks up. The Kiss! Lance looks back just as the Prince holds the Farmer's Daughter in his arms and kisses her like the Queen she will be. His heart swells. At least in one place, things happen as they should.

...

Keith's laughter is like the sweetest of music. Genuine and from the heart, all the more valuable for how hard it can be to elicit. Lance is swept up in the sound. Bolstered in knowing he did that, he's responsible for that joy. It's almost enough that he can forget while Keith is laughing at his jokes, Shiro's arm is the one wrapped around Keith's shoulders.

Shiro says adds on, and Keith stops laughing for him. Attention breaking away so he can smile up at Shiro instead. Jealousy isn't responsible for the burning in his chest, his emotions are not so low. This is the ache of longing he feels. The slight bite of memories from a time when Keith had given him the same soft smiles.

When Shiro's was lost for all those months, he and Keith had gotten so close. Lance had been there to remind him to leave his room, to show up for classes, to eat something not from a microwave. He'd been a rock of stability for Keith, when he'd been set adrift, with enough humor to make sure that Keith still laughed. When Shiro hadn't been there for Keith, Lance had.

The waitress shows them to their table. He and Hunk on one side, Shiro and Keith on the other. Keith is no longer smiling. That wouldn't happen if he was the one on that side of the table. If Lance were allowed, he would give Keith the world. Take him out dancing, serenade him in front of his building late at night, show him the joys of spontaneous walks in the rain. If he could, Keith would never stop smiling for him, because he'd never let Keith be unhappy.

Knowing how good they could be together, makes their separation all the more painful. If Keith was just a little less loyal, his dreams could be their reality.

When Shiro came back from the war scarred and missing an arm, Keith had dropped everything and glued himself to the man's side. Some would have backed down presented with their once handsome boyfriend beaten down, but Keith was too good of a person to end the relationship right after a tragedy. He'd left Lance behind, taking a break from school to help Shiro recover. Lance had gone from eating lunch with Keith everyday, to not seeing him for four whole months, and when he had seen him again? The strain had been written across all his features. Keith's eyes had been black with lack of sleep, hair a mess. His expressions tired. He'd never looked worse.

Keith wasn't the type to share his feeling. Even when they were close, insight into his thoughts had come more as outbursts that Keith couldn't suppress than quiet conversation, but Lance payed attention. He saw the look on Keith's face, when Pidge had spoken quietly to him about how to deal with Shiro and Matt's trauma. The look hadn't been full of joy like it should be when discussing someone you were dating.

The burning in Lance's chest increases as Keith began to talk of his classes. Ones he no longer shares with Lance. One more reminder of what Keith had given up. It simply wasn't fair. Keith was young. He should be enjoying his life to its fullest. Shiro was a good guy, but Keith shouldn't feel as if he has to let everything else slide just to take care of Shiro.

He should have confessed when he had the chance, before they found Shiro and brought him back. Lance should have opened his heart and said those three little words. They could have gotten together, and then Keith wouldn't have felt obligated to resume his relationship with Shiro. Now it was too late. Keith will never leave Shiro, no matter how much it takes from him.

The emotions stick in Lance's throat. Choking down his words. He wants to spill everything on the table. Tell Keith the truth give him a chance, but he can't not here, not now, "I'll be right back," Lance stands excusing himself. He walks quickly towards the men's room. A few moments to collect himself, then he can go back and be the goofy guy everyone loves. The bathroom door swings shut behind him. Right now it's too much, though. He feels as if he could gag on it all.

Lance breathes deep and chokes. Something is actually sticking in his throat. He grabs hold of the counter as his coughing nearly doubles him over. Whatever it is, it is stuck good, but even though it brings tears to his eyes. He slowly hacks it up. Something coppery enters his mouth, and Lance spits it into the sink.

Lance looks down and freezes. It can't be. It's so rare. No one in his family has ever experienced it, but rubbing his eyes doesn't dispel the image. Contrasting against the pure white porcelain of the sink lies Fate's calling card, in the form of a single blood red petal.

...

Hanahaki's Disease:

A rare disease that afflicts humans who pine for somebody they think does not return their feelings. Its only symptom is the growth of flowers and vines in the patient's lungs. If left untreated it will eventually suffocate the individual.

There are two known treatments: convincing the patient their feelings are requited and surgical removal. Both treatments have their own side effects. Requited love will reverse the symptoms of the disease, but if the patient later loses that love, the disease can reappear stronger than before. Surgical removal has no chance for relapse, but causes the patient to lose all feelings for the subject of their affections.

Deciding on the best course of treatment is a decision best left between the patient and their doctor.