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“Ngh...”
Keith tries to hold back a wince as the aching sensation in his jaw starts to sharpen. He lags behind the group as the other paladins walk ahead of him into the castle control room, seemingly unaware of his discomfort. He hopes it stays that way.
He keeps his helmet on during the debrief. The pressure from it is a slight relief to the pain, although not by much, as well as a mask for his pained expression. The sensation had started days ago, dull and dismissible, until something in battle seemed to set it off tenfold.
During a particularly ugly wrestle with a Galra henchman, something in him seemed to explode, his heart racing with the adrenaline wave that crashed over him.
The team had to pull him back forcibly, almost snap him out of a trance. Shiro gave him a long talking to about restraint and controlling his anger on the way back to the castle. All the while, Keith tried to ignore the increasing throb on his jawline that suddenly became unnerving.
Standing in the Castle, Keith dreads anyone noticing. He can handle a simple toothache on his own. However, he can’t help his hands from clenching tight, his nails digging deep into his palm even through the fabric.
Having just returned from the mission, the rest of the team are tired and simply want to retire to their rooms to get some rest. Keith agrees with a slight nod of his head, before quickly turning and heading to his own quarters, hunched into himself. As he moves down the hall out of view of the others, he walks faster, the sharp stabbing pains increasing by the moment. It causes his vision to waver and he stumbles, grasping ahold of the nearest door frame as he curls in on himself, his torso starting to shake. He lifts a hand to his jaw, which now feels as if its being burned from the inside out.
Keith grunts, wants nothing more than to cry out as he feels his gumline tear. Yet, he holds it in, the others not too far down the hallway. As he stumbles down it, he feels something wet drip down his neck. Lifting a shakey hand to the base of his helmet, he pulls back to see his fingertips stained a sickening shade of red.
Keith stumbles into his room onto his knees as the door slides shut behind him, his breathing shallow and erratic. He tears off his helmet, launching it across the room with a grunt, and it clatters to the ground. As blood droplets splatter into the floor tiles, he lifts his hands to his face once more. He hesitates, afraid of what he’ll find, but he can already feel it.
He struggles to lift himself from the floor and walks into the bathroom. He knows he’ll regret it, but he needs confirmation.
One, two, three steps into the bathroom have him hunching over the sink, his hand still cupping the blood running down his chin. One, two, three he counts to himself, then looks up into the mirror.
His eyes are red rimmed and yellowed, peeking through sweaty dark fringe. His palm still covers his mouth, dark red liquid seeping through his fingers.
One, two, three.
Keith removes his hand.
His breath hitches as he takes in the sight of his teeth. It’s a ghastly grin, sharpened incisors and canines extended beyond his lips, his gums seeping blood from the roots.
His worst nightmare stares back at him in the mirror.
What is happening to me?
Keith took deep breaths, attempting to push down the wave of panic beginning to grow within his chest. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, blood dripping slowly down his chin until it fell, gently splattering into the sink.
He snapped out of his trance to realize his armored chest plate was a bloodied mess, including his gloves which were stained and soaked through. He peeled them off his still shaking hands and leaned forward to look in the mirror once more, pulling back his lip to get a better look at the damaged gum line.
Suddenly, a knock startled him.
“Keith?” Shiro’s voice is muffled through the door.
Keith’s breaths start to quicken as he slumps against the wall and sinks down to the floor. There’s no way Shiro can see him like this, he’s barely even processed this himself.
He looks around the bathroom, though he’s not sure what for. He then notices the light trail of red droplets leading from the door. He curses to himself, immediately regretting it.
His jaw still aches, though the sharpness from earlier has receded, most likely due to his teeth finally breaking through. He attempts to open his mouth and winces, not as much from the pain of the movement, but the eerie feeling of his fangs moving against his lips.
“Keith?” Shiro knocks again, louder this time. “I wanted to talk about earlier. I was out of line, and I…I wanted to apologize.”
He can’t stay silent, Shiro knows he’s in here. Keith clears his throat. “Do-” He clasps a hand over his mouth, frustrated by his own tongues difficulty to form the words.
“Keith, are you okay? We noticed you seemed off after the mission. We're worried about you.”
“’m fine” he calls. “D-Don’t come in.” His words are slurred and his voice cracks.
It suddenly gets quiet, and Keith thinks Shiro’s actually listened, until the knocking is suddenly back, more frantic than before.
“There is blood in the hallway, you’re hurt!” Shiro calls. “I’m coming in.”
“Wait!”
It’s no use because in the next tick, Shiro’s bright hand pierces the door edge and slides it open by force. His eyes follow the red trail along the floor to where Keith is curled in on himself on the bathroom floor, face buried in his hands.
“Keith!” Shiro’s voice is breathless as he hurries over to his side. He reaches out and Keith flinches, though the hurt look on Shiro’s face makes him regret it.
“Please, tell me what’s wrong. Where is it coming from?”
Keith just shakes his head.
“Keith, you’re scaring me. Were you hit?”
Keith hesitated, before shaking his head once more.
“Then what is it? Where are you bleeding?”
Keith took a shaky breath. There was no way he was going to hide this, no matter how much he denied the fact. He turned to Shiro with both hands still clasped over his mouth, eyes reddened and welling with tears.
Shiro’s eyes widened at the sight of red that spread over Keith’s pale fingers. “Your jaw…Keith please, you need to let me see.” Shiro’s face was filled with concern, and he gently lifted a hand to touch Keith’s wrist. “Please.”
Slowly, Keith dropped his hands from his face, shame and dread washing over him as Shiro’s shocked expression came to life. They stayed there in silence for a few seconds, until Shiro exhaled.
Instead of shifting into the disgust Keith expected, Shiro’s eyes turned soft, face washing over with concern. He cupped his jaw gently in his hand, examining it like he used to do for Keith’s frequent black eyes in the Garrison. Keith was grateful, because he treated it as if it were a wound and not a set of hideous fangs.
“Does it hurt?”
Keith shook his head. “Not…as much as ‘efore.” It wasn’t a total lie, the pain was beginning to subside, though his jaw still ached with movement.
“Did this…just happen?”
Keith nodded.
“I’m going to call Coran okay? This may be a side effect of your wrestle with that Galra soldier so—”
Keith grasped Shiro by the shoulders and shook his head, eyes wide.
“Keith, something’s wrong and we don’t know what—” Shiro gently grasped his arm to steady him.
“No, no don’t–” Keith winced as a shooting pain went through his jaw.
“Keith it’s alright, you don’t need to speak. I won’t tell Coran if you don’t want me to.” He brushed Keith’s bangs out of his eyes. “But we need to know what’s happening. We need to tell someone.”
Keith sniffled, and nodded. He cast his eyes down towards the floor as his mind weighed the options. Telling Coran would mean tests, and medical examinations. He didn’t want to hear the man use the word ‘fascinating’ when it referred to his suffering, even though he wouldn’t mean it to hurt him.
Telling the team would be…no, he couldn’t, not until he had to. He didn’t think he could bear their faces when they saw him. The only other people he would even risk telling other than Shiro would be—
Keith looked up to meet Shiro’s eye.
He knew exactly who to tell.
After Shiro made the call, he helped Keith clean up and get dressed, sneaking him an ice-pack from the kitchen before leaving to wait in the hangar. Now alone, Keith wasn’t sure what to do with himself. He didn’t want to look in the mirror again, afraid of being reminded that his was real.
Instead he sat on his bed curled up against the wall, blanket wrapped tightly around his form and ice pack held to his aching jaw. It helped immensely, though it took care of the pain, it didn’t take care of the real problem.
Later, there was a light knock on the door, and Keith’s heart beat expectantly.
“Keith?” Krolia’s voice drifted through the door, gentle, yet laced with concern. “Can I come in?”
Keith gave a sound of affirmation, to which the door slid open. The moment he laid eyes on his mother, a sense of relief washed over him.
“Oh kit,” Krolia moved to sit beside him on the bed and gathered him into her arms. At that moment, his eyes welled with tears. She pulled back slightly, brushing a tear from his cheek. “Can I see?”
Keith nodded, pulling the ice pack away from his mouth to reveal his new set of teeth.
“Oh Keith,” she breathed, brushing his hair away from his face and lifting his chin to examine them. “I’m sorry this happened so late. They’re supposed to come in when you were younger, when they’re smaller. It must have been so painful.”
“Is it—is it permanent?”
Krolia gave a gentle smile. “Yes dear but do not worry.” She pulled to show her own fangs, slightly longer than human canines, but not enough to show past her lips. “They’re made to retract. They extend only with high adrenaline. It may take a few hours, but yours should retract as well.”
Keith breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned his head on his mother’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“Were you worried about how they would look?”
Keith took a deep breath. “I just, I didn’t want my friends to see.”
“Keith look at me.“ He lifted his head to meet his mother’s eyes. ”Even if your teeth stayed, you would be no different. You are Galra and you have always been Galra. There is no reason to fear it, and your friends know that. They may be startled at first but their love for you would not change. Even I can see that.“
Keith leaned forward once again as his mother rubbed soothing circles on his back. He knew in his heart what she said was true. It was just hard to remember sometimes especially in moments such as this, where his old ways of thinking would come creeping back in.
Krolia kissed the top of his head. “Some numbing gel may help, over the next few days.” She said. “Have you felt any soreness before this happened?”
Keith nodded. “But it, it was the fight from earlier…when it got bad. I…I may have lost control.”
Krolia gave a slight laugh. “Yup that’ll do it.” Her expression shifted when she noticed the regret on her son’s face. “Are you having trouble? Keeping control?”
“Not as much as before, but, it still happens.”
“That’s okay, you’re doing well, and you will gain more control over time.” She pulled him close. “But it’s always easier when you have a family like your’s to pull you out of it. Your teammates are your stead, don’t be afraid to reach out to them.”
“I know.” Keith smiled to himself. “I won’t.”
“Good.” She ruffled the top of his head, and he swatted her hand away playfully. “And don’t hesitate to call me if something else happens.”
“I won’t.”
“Because we may need to discuss a few more things about Galran biology that we didn’t in the abyss–”
“Mom–” Keith’s tone became wary.
“And I know you’re not interested in the mating process but that doesn’t mean—”
“MOM!” Keith clasped his hands over his ears. He may be a grown man but that didn’t make discussing the topic with his mother any less cringe worthy. Krolia simply laughed.
“Don’t worry, you can read up on it instead if you prefer.” She ruffled his hair once more. “I’ll go get the numbing gel and let Shiro know you’re alright.” She stood up from the bed and walked toward the door. “And I would advise telling Hunk about your condition. He may be able to accommodate your next meal for you.”
Keith sighed and smiled to himself. “Thank you, mom.” He paused. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” She smiled over her shoulder as the door slid closed behind her.