Work Text:
beep beep
Shiro’s screen alerted him to an incoming call from Kolivan. That was odd; the Blades were carrying out a simple investigative mission, they weren’t expected to need Voltron. It was deemed non-combative and quite, well, boring, as Keith had put it.
Nevertheless, Shiro accepted the call and Kolivan’s face filled the screen. He appeared calm, or as calm as the leader of a rebel group could look.
“Kollivan, is anything wrong?” Shiro asked, attempting to target onto Kolivan’s location in case of emergency.
“To a certain extent, yes,” he began, arms folded behind his back. “With regards to our mission, no, nothing is wrong; in fact, everything is going according to plan.”
Shiro’s tracker had located the Blade cruiser; they were in position and didn’t seem to be in any danger.
“Keith, on the other ha—”
“What’s wrong with Keith? Is he OK?” Shiro interrupted, concern clearly etched on his face. Leave him for 10 minutes and he’s already gotten himself into trouble, Shiro thought.
Kolivan opened his mouth to answer but before he could, Keith called out, a desperate twang in his voice.
“Shiro, is that you?”
Kolivan sighed.
“It might be better if I showed you,” he said. He tilted his camera down so Shiro could see Keith collapsed in the pilot’s seat, his face flushed and mouth agape as he panted. His suit was unzipped at the collar and Shiro could see a fine, glistening sheen of sweat.
Shiro’s brow furrowed.
“Keith, what’s wrong?”
“How the hell should I know? One minute I’m fine, scanning that Galra cruiser and the next I’m overheating and sweating and freaking panting on the floor—"
Kolivan stepped into the frame.
“It appears that Keith has begun his heat. Please come collect him immediately.”
From behind Kolivan, Shiro could see Keith unzipping his Blade suit even more and starting to fan his sweat-slicked chest.
“I’ll be right there.”
“What the hell’s a heat? Kolivan--!” was the last thing Shiro heard before the call disconnected.
____
When Shiro arrived at Kolivan and Keith’s location, Keith was sprawled across the command chair with his Blade suit zipped open, displaying his sweaty chest rising and falling as he panted.
“Shiro..!” he rasped, weakly raising one arm in his direction.
Shiro rushed over, kneeling by Keith’s side as he assessed his vitals. Kolivan didn’t seem too bothered by Keith’s condition but Shiro wasn’t used to seeing Keith like this and it really worried him.
“Whoa, Keith, your heart rate…” Shiro mumbled, frowning. It didn’t make any sense; his readings were off the charts and only seemed to be accelerating with Shiro’s presence.
“Kolivan, what the hell’s going on with Keith?”
The rebel guard slid over; hands clasped tightly behind his back, as usual. He paused a moment.
“Keith is in heat. He cannot complete this mission; it would be best if you took him back with you immediately, Shiro.”
“Ohh.”
A warm blush spread across Shiro’s cheeks, his eyes meeting Keith’s as Kolivan’s fingers danced over the controls, emitting soft pings as the doors to the command center whooshed open. Antok walked in, clearly unperturbed by Keith’s collapsed form and continued to his own control board to scan their surroundings.
“Antok will take over for you while you…recover,” Keith had started purring, momentarily interrupting Kolivan.
What the hell??
Keith looked down at his own chest with worry, placing a hand to feel his chest reverberating strongly. He didn’t seem to be able to stop it, but it also felt natural, kind of like breathing. He tried to swallow in an attempt to stop the purring, but it was futile.
Shiro pressed the back of his hand to Keith’s forehead, feeling for a fever but only finding a pleasant warmth.
His frown deepened. Shiro couldn’t understand what was going on; Keith’s vitals didn’t make any sense, but he appeared fine, if you ignored the sweating and the panting.
Shiro knew very little about heats as they were more common in pack animals back on Earth; he hadn’t encountered anything like this out in space before.
Kolivan and Antok didn’t seem too worried about Keith, if anything they seemed rather put out by this sudden turn of events.
Now that Shiro’s initial panic had subsided he could try to understand what Keith was going through.
“Kolivan, I’m fine!” Keith argued, his voice scratching as his purrs nearly swallowed his words.
Kolivan hmph’d humourlessly as Shiro argued that he was very much not fine and needed to be brought back to the castle ship ASAP for some rest.
Shiro picked Keith up, one arm beneath his knees and the other around his shoulders as Keith sputtered, legs swinging in protest.
“Put me down! I said I’m fine Shirrrrrrrrroo.” Keith’s cheeks flushed as his purr overtook him. Shiro smirked but quickly bit down to stop himself from laughing at what was a very serious situation.
“It’s not funny!” he whined, glaring up at Shiro. Shiro had to bite down harder to stop the laugh that was threatening to bubble out of his chest.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but could you please take Keith now? We must move on with the operation.”
As they turned to leave, Kolivan grabbed Shiro’s arm and turned his head to whisper. Keith couldn’t hear anything; they were whispering too softly. It made him feel like a child who’s not allowed to listen to grown-ups conversation.
Shiro nodded and carried Keith away, back to the Black Lion to depart for the castle.
___
As Shiro carried Keith back to his room, Pidge came strolling out of her room with her face set in concentration as she meticulously studied a new piece of gadgetry.
“Hey, Shiro can you help me with so—"
“Sorry Pidge, not right now” he said curtly, and kept walking. Pidge looked up from her instrument and saw Shiro carrying Keith away.
“Huh.” And turned to go back into her room.
Hunk saw them approaching and opened his mouth to ask if they were hungry since he’d just put a snorkletrig roast in the ship’s makeshift oven, but Shiro sped up.
Keith’s tongue flicked out to lick a long stripe up Shiro’s neck, and all he managed was a weak “uhhhh” as they walked away.
Shiro’s blush crept up his neck and to the tips of his ears. Keith poked his head over Shiro’s shoulder, giving Hunk a small wink before they turned a corner and disappeared.
Shiro dropped Keith on the bed as a whine escaped Keith’s throat, begging for Shiro to hold him again. His arms reached out to try and bring him back down against his body.
Shiro’s hands encircled Keith’s wrists and gently pulled them away, tucking them into Keith’s chest and covering him in a blanket.
“I’m just going to get a few things, ok?” He smiled softly, eyes full of warmth.
He looked so genuine and loving that Keith could feel himself relaxing almost immediately, melting beneath Shiro’s gaze. He trusted Shiro, no matter what.
So he nodded, and huddled in on himself while Shiro grabbed things he thought Keith might need.
He could feel an ache in his chest as soon as Shiro’s hands had broken away, almost like a hook had been placed around his middle and someone was tugging on it gently.
Keith’s eyes followed Shiro around Keith’s little room; grabbing an extra blanket from the hidden cupboard, a water bottle from the mini fridge Keith had smuggled in and a face cloth along with some alien Advil he’d scavenged from the bathroom.
Keith’s skin felt hot and sweaty. He couldn’t just lay there; he itched with the need to move or do something.
He inhaled deeply to try and relax some more but the blanket didn’t smell right. It smelt like Keith, and the only thing Keith wanted right now was Shiro. He should be inhaling Shiro’s scent; not his own.
He bundled up the blanket and tossed it to the floor in frustration.
His sheets still smelt faintly like Shiro from the night before when he’d stayed the night.
It had been Keith’s request; he’d needed Shiro’s strong arms holding him tight against his chest. Making him feel tethered and protected. Keith didn’t know why but he’d felt like he’d needed a really big hug all day and only Shiro seemed to be the one to satisfy that want.
While Shiro was pacing around the room, Keith messed around with his sheets, pushing them one way and then another, not quite satisfied with how it looked.
He noticed Shiro’s shirt was lying on the floor from yesterday and picked it up gingerly.
He sniffed it and his entire body reacted immediately, chills running up and down his skin, his back arching from the immediate relief brought on by Shiro’s scent.
Yes, this would do.
He started placing the shirt in his little bundle of sheets when he remembered Shiro had left his pants here too.
He whipped his head around and his eyes zeroed in on them hanging out of his hamper. He lunged for them and stuffed the pants in his face, inhaling deeply.
Keith moaned as Shiro’s pheromones permeated his nostrils.
He hurried back to his bed and started piecing everything together. Shiro’s shirt would go there, and the pants would entwine with the sheets just there…
“Keith?”
Keith turned at the mention of his name, his heart beating faster at the sight of Shiro.
Shiro, who was always there to catch him when he got scraped or fell a little too hard. Shiro, who’d made time for Keith’s needy cuddling last night despite having to write a speech for their visit to Olkarion.
Shiro, who smelled even more like Shiro than his day-old clothes.
Keith’s body hummed as Shiro approached him, dropping the stuff on the side of Keith’s pile. He crouched down, his hand reaching out to cradle Keith’s cheek.
Keith moaned. That’s exactly what he needed.
“Shiro…” He buried his face deeper into Shiro’s hand and inhaled his scent until it felt like his lungs were on fire.
“I’m right here, baby.”
He grabbed Shiro by the scruff of his shirt and tugged him down until he could nuzzle Shiro’s neck.
Shiro brought his arms around Keith, nestling them both into Keith’s pile. He started purring again as he clambered into Shiro’s lap, hands grappling to hold onto any part of Shiro that he could grab onto.
Shiro’s arms encircled Keith, pulling him close until their bodies were melded together without a whisp of air between them. Keith’s purring kicked up a notch as his heart slowed and his breathing evened out as he sat there, irrevocably happy in Shiro’s embrace.
“Is this what you wanted?” Shiro mumbled into Keith’s hair.
He nodded, feeling like he was swimming in Shiro. All he could smell was Shiro’s warm, musky, heady scent and felt Shiro’s large frame encircling his body, almost caging him in.
When Shiro thought Keith might fall asleep in his arms, he laid them down in his little bundle of clothes and held him against his chest, watching Keith’s chest rise and fall gently with each breath.
His eyelids fluttered shut as Shiro gently ran his fingers through Keith’s hair, stroking his cheek and running his hand up and down Keith’s back in a soothing manner. Keith had never felt so safe, or so cared for, and he never wanted to leave.
Pretty soon Keith’s body went limp as he snored gently. Shiro relaxed as he felt the pull of sleep dragging him down as well, smiling as he remembered what Kolivan had whispered to him before they’d left.
“One more thing; he’ll be out of sorts for a few days and shouldn’t participate in any rigorous exercise besides mating,” Kollivan explained as a slight blush had crept onto Shiro’s face.
“He should rest between ruts and please make sure he eats and drinks; Galra lose much of their common sense when in heat so it would be best if you stayed with him, especially since he seems to have chosen you as his mate.”
“It appears that Keith’s Galra heritage has made him succumb to his heat, I did not think this was possible. His body craves a compatible mate, and it appears that he has chosen you,”
“Thanks, Kolivan, I don’t know what I would’ve done without you,” Shiro whispered and turned to leave. Kolivan’s hand reached out to grab onto Shiro’s forearm again.
“One last thing,” he whispered, his gaze piercing Shiro, “Galra have remarkable stamina,” and winked.