CONTACT POST.

[secondnature]

username: keith

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(credit for pic)

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[competing]

...I just got really sad inside.

[ he sighs, reaching into a cabinet to scoop out a bag of frosted cookies, which he then takes over to the couch before plopping himself down in the middle of it. ]

Please tell me you're not gonna live like this when I go. I may actually cry inside.

[secondnature]

We're gonna have to change it up. Everyone bought all the frozen food out of the stores, and they're not being restocked.

[True suffering shall be known.]

[competing]

[ lance is currently making a pink hippo trot down the back of the couch and into his mouth, the 90s were such a great time ]

What do you have? I can write down some basic recipes for you.

[ even you should be able to follow directions, right keith...




nevermind, aang will. ]

[secondnature]

I know basic recipes, but I barely have the time, and, again, a lot of the basic stuff is sold out, too.

[He can follow basic directions! He lived alone for a long time before the Garrison and then after, Lance. Remember!!]

[competing]

[ yeah, but did you live well................... ]

...Don't not take care of yourself over this.

[ first sonia, now you, keith? c'mooon. ]

[secondnature]

I can't fight if I don't eat. Don't worry. Besides, some of this is for Aang, too.

... The stuff without meat, anyway. [He doesn't sleep well enough, but he does eat, at least.]

[competing]

I guess that's something.

[ it's not the world's most comforting answer, but it'll have to do, he supposes. he chomps down on an alligator and giraffe.

then proceeds to make a face. ]

Eating this right after that Slim Jim was a mistake.

[ yet he's still stuffing another handful into his mouth... ]

[secondnature]

Why do I get the feeling that you're going to sit here and eat all of our food and then leave to get more? You've gotta stay in shape.

[For ... after he's cured. So he can fight.]

[competing]

Why, you won't find me attractive as a total couch potato and slob?

[ luckily, that's rhetorical, but now he's just licking the icing off his fingers gross. ]

It'll take more than a couple of crackers to take me down, anyway. I got great metabolism.

[ that totally isn't gonna get hecked up by this cannibal virus, nope. ]

[secondnature]

I dunno if you've noticed—but you just made it so that no one else could eat those cookies.

So, thanks, I guess. [It doesn't occur to Keith that Lance could probably deserve some cookies right now.]

[competing]

Relax, I'm doing you guys a favor. This stuff's terrible for you.

[ ...he says. around a mouthful of pastel-colored zoo. ]

[secondnature]

You're not doing us any favors.

[Though he supposes it'll just get thrown out anyway now.]

[competing]

Well what else am I gonna do??

[ have some indignant crumbs all over your couch!!

sure, he knows what he should do right now... but he's definitely trying to stall. for obvious reasons. ]

[secondnature]

I don't know. But I didn't think you'd proceed to eat all of our food.

But if you want anything else, get a bag and just take it with you. [Problem solving with Keith: he hasn't realized that Lance is stalling.]

[competing]

Why, so you can complain about me eating you out of house and home some more?

[ he pouts down at the bag of cookies, only realizing now it's more than halfway empty. geez, did he just inhale this? ]

[secondnature]

It's not like anything I'm saying really matters to you right now! [Giving him permission should give him leeway to do exactly that. At least. And stop the argument.]

[competing]

[ he looks up, genuinely flabbergasted. ]

Where the heck'd you get that idea?

[secondnature]

You keep eating! [It might occur to Keith later that this is just how things happen.]

[competing]

—you want me to eat you instead?!

[secondnature]

How is that what you leapt to?! [He's so baffled.] Go find your own food!

[competing]

[ lance pauses for a moment, but then suddenly gets up on his feet, tossing the bag of cookies aside. ]

Fine, [ he says, voice low, already starting towards the door. ] Didn't think simple sympathy would be so hard for you to get, but maybe you're right — maybe it was a mistake to expect anything from you.

[secondnature]

What? [Genuine confusion leaks from Keith's voice. How are they back to this?]

I just didn't want you to eat all our food!

[Sometimes he feels like he's failing some kind of test with Lance.]

And ... I can't risk getting sick. Not right now. I said that already. I want to be able to help. [Even if it means he's a callous jerk.]

[competing]

Keith... all I can think about is eating. All I wanna do is eat. Everything — anything.

[ maybe it isn't common knowledge. he'd been hanging around sonia and listening to her science babbling for so long, since this whole thing began, that it had sort of just been ingrained into his system now. he knows the steps — he knows what's coming.

he still isn't entirely sure if that's any better now that he has to live it. ]

Soon... I'm gonna wanna start eating things I shouldn't be.

[ and the anger. and the violence. and the mindlessness. ]

How come even now, all you can think about is yourself?

[secondnature]

I know how it works. [That's not the important part. The important part is that, again, he feels like he's failed in some way. Was there even a right way to handle Lance? Is Lance even thinking clearly right now? Keith doesn't know. He thought they were already past this.]

If all you think I'm doing is thinking about myself, then maybe you should go. But I have roommates. People who aren't sick. It's not just me here. [And Shiro had told Keith to take care of them.]

[competing]

[ technically, the only reason they were past this was lance's own eagerness not to devolve into another fight, and also how easy it had been to calm him down with just the smallest of gestures.

but as his hunger mounts, so does his frustration, and keith's utter lack of ability to throw him a bone here, when he's been clearly just wanting attention and comfort and sympathy, is really starting to wear on him.

is this how it's always going to be? ]

Roommates? [ lance echoes the word almost incredulously. ] Are you even listening to yourself? You're seriously more worried for them than me? I'm your — [ he pauses for just a fraction of a second, a hint of uncertainty now. ] — friend. What, because I'm sick, there's no point in it anymore?