A Brief Enquiry Into Klance Disorders

Tourette's Syndrome (Lance)

Thank you to @azuuramocha for the request!!

Tourette's syndrome is a condition that causes a person to make involuntary sounds and movements called tics.

Lance had heard it all. He had been called annoying, a nuisance, a waste of space... all of it. When Lance had gone into space and met a pair of aliens who probably hadn't heard of his disorder, he decided there wasn't much of a point telling anyone about it. His parents had been sceptical about his diagnosis his entire life so he had learnt to repress the tics for short periods of time. It required a lot of concentration but he could do it.

That was how he got by for a while. He held back as much as he could, releasing the tics whenever he ended up alone. He was tired all of the time as a result of it but it was okay. He didn't want to be kicked off of the team or treated in the way his parents had treated him when he was younger.

Everyone thought it was a joke. When he groaned in the middle of a sentence or out of the blue, someone would make a comment that called him annoying or distracting. When he had a tic that had him lurching forward in his chair or rolling his shoulders, someone would tell him to "quit messing around". Each comment was like a bullet through his heart but he put up with it to be a part of Voltron and to protect his family.

They were training together. Lance was sat on the benches beside Pidge and Hunk whilst Shiro and Keith practiced their one-on-one combat. Keith had just knocked Shiro onto the ground when Lance jerked his head to the side and clicked his tongue. "Stop joking around!" Pidge laughed, punching Lance's arm. Lance jumped away from the contact.

"Pay attention, you two. We're meant to be observing Shiro and Keith." Hunk said, folding his arms. Just as he finished speaking, Lance felt a familiar itching sensation in his right arm. He tried to repress the tic, chewing harshly on his bottom lip and staring straight ahead until the feeling passed. "Lance, are you okay?" Lance's right arm jerked out and hit Pidge in the side.

"Dude, what the hell?"

"Sorry, sorry, I-I-" Lance grunted. "I'm really tired. I think I'm going to get to bed."

"It isn't even lunchtime," Keith chipped in, eyes thinning as he stepped away from Shiro. "Why would you go to bed before lunchtime?"

"Because I'm," Another stupid grunt; why couldn't he stop them? "Tired, Keith, I'm tired."

Lance's arm started to tingle again and he clenched a fist as an attempt to repress the urge to tic. "What's wrong with you?" Lance's left arm jolted out into Shiro that time, causing the taller man to stumble backwards a little. His eyebrows furrowed as he scanned Lance's body. With one last click of his tongue, he walked out of the training room and headed towards his own room where he knew he'd be safe. He slammed his hand down onto the button to release the door before stepping inside and collapsing onto the bed. He let out a long groan, body twitching as he did so. He closed his eyes and tried to breathe in deeply like his therapist had suggested to back on earth.

A soft knock on the door broke him out of his calming trance. It was followed by, "Lance, can you let me in? We need to talk." Lance didn't say anything before standing up and letting Hunk in. "Is something bothering you? You seemed really off in training."

"I have Tourette's." Lance blurt out, face going bright red at the confession.

Hunk furrowed his eyebrows, looking more confused than shocked. "Isn't... Isn't that when you randomly swear all the time?"

Lance shook his head but it was jerkier than it was meant to be. "No... it's more than that. It's motor tics and there are some vocal tics too. I don't swear though. I think it's rare that people with Tourette's actually swear."

"Oh, sorry. Do you take medication or anything?"

"Back on earth but... I didn't bring any into space. It's not that bad," Lance groaned once again. "I can manage. I just don't want the others to know. Please don't tell them."

"Why don't you want them to know?"

"Because they'll hate me for it. My parents used to call me annoying and things like that. It was really bad and I- I didn't want you guys to react the same."

"They won't. You might have to explain it to them though."

"You don't think they'll kick me off the team?"

"No, they wouldn't do that."