"All I asked for was one day without an argument. That was all I wanted. One. Day."
"Sorry, Shiro." was the collective reply, all four of the others looking ashamed.
"We just got back together, and I know our time apart was stressful, but was this," Shiro gestured to the mess that was the lounge, "really necessary?"
Lance stepped forward to try and take the blame, "It was my idea," he sighed and slumped, looking at Shiro's feet, "I'm sorry it got out of hand."
"No." Pidge shouldered her way past Lance, looking defiantly at Shiro, "It's my fault, I started the fight."
"No!" Hunk waved his arms, "It's my fault, I should have known better than to take the food out of the dining hall."
Keith started at the wall defiantly, "I should have known better than to retaliate."
Shiro sighed, "Guys, it doesn't matter that much, but how did it get so out of hand. It's going to take hours to clean all of this. Someone start from the beginning."
"Well, it started with the fact that I didn't want to sleep alone tonight." Hunk said, "So Lance, said we should have a sleepover. And Pidge heard and said it sounded like a good idea."
"So," Pidge broke in, "We gathered a bunch of bedding and Lance couldn't leave it alone and brought Keith's as well. And Hunk went to make snacks."
"All I wanted was my bedding back. I didn't want to be here." Keith snapped, still refusing to look at anyone else. Everyone had noticed he'd been touchy since they had returned from being split in the portal.
"Dude, what's your problem? You've been snapping at everyone since we all got back. We just wanted to include you. You need to shut your quiznack and have some fun for once." Lance yelled turning to Keith, who was still looking away.
"That's not how you use that word." Keith grumbled, "And I don't want to sleep in the lounge, you didn't need to take it so personally."
"You came in here and just snatched it out of my hands!" Lance yelled, raising his arms in a "come at me bro" pose.
"You STOLE it Lance, what did you think would happen?" Keith growled taking crossing his arms and gripping his jacket.
"I thought you'd hang out with us for a while, you've been practically a ghost since we got back, dude. I just wanted to make sure you're ok. You can't avoid us forever." Lance snapped.
"Well you should have asked before going in my room!"
"NO ONE HAS SEEN YOU SINCE YOU WERE PICKED UP. WE CAN'T ASK YOU IF WE CAN'T FIND YOU." Lance yelled walking up to right behind Keith.
"Then you should leave me ALONE." Keith yelled before finally, finally whirling around.
It was apparent immediately why he'd been facing the other direction. His teeth were pointed, his nails claws, his eyes with a yellow tint and a purple hue to his skin. The others all froze in shock and Keith froze momentarily in terror before fleeing the room, faster than anyone could grab him even though Lance and Shiro both tried.
"Did anyone else see that, cuz I think I just saw that." Hunk asked bewildered.
"Did Keith look….Galran to anyone else?" Pidge asked fiddling with her glasses and eventually wiping them on her shirt as if cleaning her glasses would make what she'd just seen make more sense.
"I guess we know why he was avoiding us. What the quiznack happened to him out there?" Lance asked wandering over to lean on Hunk.
Shiro stared frozen at the door that hid Keith's fleeing form. Of all the things he expected, that was not even remotely on the list. He had to find Allura and see if she knew. Allura had to know. He turned and left the room to head to the Bridge. As he left he heard Lance calling after him, "Shiro, hey! Hey! Shiro where are you going?"
Shiro couldn't remember getting to the Bridge, or even walking up to Allura, but he finally registered Coran talking to him. "-you look like a surprised glumpshin. Are you alright Shiro? You know you're safe in the Castle Shiro."
"I- Keith? Do you know?" Shiro's tongue felt heavy, the words swirling in his head and slipping from his grasp.
Allura looked at him concerned, one of the mice on her shoulder, "Do I know what about Keith, Shiro?"
"Keith, Galra, his teeth." Shiro stuttered, his mind going faster than his mouth could keep up.
"Oh, Shiro, did something happen with Keith?" Allura asked, carefully not touching Shiro, Coran looking particularly attentive from her side.
The door slid open and Lance, Hunk, and Pidge all came stumbling in tripping over each other all talking at once.
"Allura, Keith just-"
"His eyes! They were glowy! He was purple and-"
"And his nails were super sharp like yikes and he was like-"
"Paladins, Paladins, calm down. I can't understand what you're saying. Did something happen with Keith?" Allura raised her voice over the din but none of them stopped, instead Shiro added his voice in with the rest.
"He was so mad-"
"I didn't mean to-"
"He's been avoiding us like a quiznacking-"
"I think he's a Galra." Shiro stated blankly.
"Alright, alright. You all have worked yourselves up worse than a glumpfus during mating season, what is it about Keith that's the problem. Number 5, explain." Coran indicated Pidge to try and stop them from talking over each other.
"Well, we made a mess of the Lounge, on accident, but Shiro was scolding us and Keith wouldn't look at us. And then Lance had this bright idea to-"
"Hey!"
"Shut up, bro. I love you but we need answers."
"Anyways. Lance decided to get into it with Keith and made him mad. And when he turned around..." Pidge trailed off arms gesticulating but unable to find the words.
"He, what Pidge. What did he do?" Allura prompted.
"He was- was- purple-ish. And he-" Pidge stumbled over her words.
"Had these big scary claws and his teeth were really sharp like, 'all the better to eat you with' type sharp. And his eyes we're kinda yellowy and glowy." Hunk said, gesturing with each trait he listed. His hands curled like claws, then loosely linked in front of his mouth, then flashing in front of his eyes as if the gestures would help explain.
"He looked Galran."Shiro stated emptily his eyes not quite focused on Allura in front of him. "Did you know?"
The two Alteans shared a glance, Allura grimacing before replying, "We were aware," she began carefully, "That this could happen. It was always unlikely but such traits tend to show up in halfling children under great duress. It means his time on that planet was far more stressful than we had initially expected. It is unlikely any more traits will begin to show now that he's returned to the Castle." She cradled the mouse that had been on her shoulder in her hands and pet it with a finger.
"You KNEW!"
"We figured it was Keith's decision to inform the rest of you if he wished to, Lance. The traits should only show while he's stressed, so I'm not sure what you all were doing to stress him out so badly." Coran fiddled with his mustache during the explanation, a distant look in his eyes as he seemed lost in his memories.
"He was just as at fault as the rest of us so I'm not sure how it would be so much more stressful for him." Lance grumbled, arms crossed.
"Bro, remember he didn't want to be there at all. And then you made fun of him once and then started yelling at him. Of course he's stressed bro." Hunk patted Lance's shoulder, trying to play peacemaker.
"If he'd just told us, then it wouldn't be a problem. But nooooo," Lance drew out the no mockingly "He's so special that he has to go and HIDE from people who want to see him."
"Coran, what do you mean, 'Halfling'?" Pidge enquired ignoring Lance entirely. Hunk looked interested too.
"Ah, asking the hard questions. A halfling is a whild of a Galra and another. Depending on how that combination of blood expresses itself the child either looks like a full blooded Galra or a full blood of the other species. If the other species is dominant, then sometimes, under great duress the Galra blood begins to express itself. The only case in which both bloods express equally is when the child is Galran and Altean, which Keith is not."
Pidge took a few steps closer to stand next to Shiro, "You keep saying the Galran blood expresses itself under duress, but what does that mean?"
"Well Number Five, it means he might become faster-"
"Definitely that one. He was so much faster when he booked it out of the Lounge."
"-he might have better hearing-"
"All the better to hear you with my pretty."
"Shut. Up. Lance."
"-he might get the ability to see in the dark-"
"That would definitely explain the glowy eyes. Definitely explain the eyes."
"If you keep interrupting me I'll stop explaining." Coran gave them all very annoyed looks.
Shiro seemed to be coming back to himself, "So he's only like this because he's stressed?"
"Yes, typically the traits go away when relaxed. Or they might become permanent depending on the level of stress and how long he remains at that level. If he remains in the heightened stress level too long, his appearance may remain vaguely Galran. It also depends on how well his Galran blood and Human blood work together. If they are both compatible he may end up having some bleed over even when he reverts. But it's no major issue." Allura explained, it was mostly directed at Shiro and Pidge.
"Do you think he knew before he started to transform? Cuz if he didn't that might explain the continued stress and why he's hiding." Hunk postulated from where he and Lance were standing.
Lance, still sulking at being ignored and then told to shut up,"How could he miss it?"
Shiro remembered a reason why Keith might not know, "Lance, he's an orphan. He can barely remember his mom, she died when he was six. From what I remember, the only thing he knows about his dad is that he left Keith that knife he's always carrying."
Allura looked intrigued, "The knife is his father's? That's a traditional present from father to son in Galra culture. Any markings on the handle or blade could tell us about his father."
"Well how are we gonna get him here? He ran away from us earlier." Pidge asked.
"Unfortunately, if he's as skittish as you're implying, I'm not sure." Allura replied, "We could trigger an alarm, but there's a chance he's been in his lion. Red has been feeling very protective and very hostile since she's been brought aboard, so it's likely Keith has gone to her. That means an alarm would be useless since he's already in his lion. I think we'll have to search manually."
Hunk was inspired by the mouse in Allura's hands, "Do you think the mice could find him? They're not threatening, not judging, he might feel comfortable with them."
"That's a brilliant idea Hunk!" Allura exclaimed as all the mice surrounded her feet squeaking. "They say that he hasn't been avoiding them, so this might be good luck."
Eventually all four mice saluted and went skittering out of the room to find Keith. Lance looked around then slumped on the floor, "So now what? We just wait for them to come back?"
"No, you all have admitted to wrecking the Lounge so why don't you go clean it is we wait. I think it would be a good bonding exercise." Allura replied primly.
All four Paladins groaned in protest.
"Well, as the saying on Altea used to go, you wreck it, you clean it." Coran directed, waving the Paladins out of the room impatiently. "We'll tell you when we find Keith."
As the Paladins retreated to the Lounge, Lance took the lead grumbling, "Why do we have to clean! Keith contributed too and it's not like he cleaned it."
When they entered the room they noticed something different. All the bedding was folded, the dirty bedding nowhere to be seen, implying that someone had grabbed it and tossed it in the laundry chute. Keith's bedding was pointedly missing. The plates that had contained food were all stacked on a table. The only real mess left was the good and other food on the walls and floor.
Pidge turned to Lance with a shit eating grin, "You were saying?"
"What-how? When did he have time to do this? We we're gone for like, ten minutes max?!" Lance yelled waving his arms, almost smacking Hunk who stood next to him.
"Well, bro, Coran did say he might get super speed. He might have felt bad. Keith's not mean." Hunk said, patting Lance on the head.
Shiro looked around a faint smile forming, "He used to do this sort of thing back when we argued at the Garrison. You leave for a bit, and suddenly when you get back your room is clean. I've never figured out how he's never gotten caught doing it."
"When you roomed with Matt, Matt used to text him and tell him when you were gone and when you were supposed to get back." Pidge replied remembering that odd conversation with her brother.
"I knew he was getting info somehow. The timing was too perfect. But, Pidge, he and Matt never were introduced? How were they texting?" Shiro was finally, finally relaxing. This Keith was still his Keith, never shy of a confrontation except when he was feeling self-conscious. Keith's bemusing habit of cleaning after an argument still held for over a year of not seeing each other.
Pidge stared at Shiro adjusting her glasses, "Do you know anything about the passive aggressive post it note exchange?"
Shiro cocked his head to the side, slowly speaking, "I remember, Matt kept getting these odd red post its. He started leaving the room with green ones later. I'm not sure who was leaving them."
Pidge snorted, "Either your memory is worse than we thought it was or Matt was sneakier than expected. That was him and Keith arguing about how to deal with you moping."
"Why was I moping?"
"I dunno. They never told me. But that's when they traded numbers apparently. They started sending each other strange pictures at one point." Pidge replied airily, heading back out of the room.
"Hey, Pidge where are you going?" Lance called, looking to see what Keith had done exactly.
"Lance, do you see cleaning cloths or buckets for trash and goo? No? That's what I'm getting."
Pidge was wandering down the hallway to one of the storage rooms when she saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eyes. "Keith?" she called, "Keith, is that you? Are you ok?"
She saw a vague gleam of eyes from a seemingly unoccupied dark hallway. She called at him again, "Keith? Thank you for cleaning so much of the Lounge, we appreciate it. Do you know what's happening to you Keith?"
A distressed voice answered back, "I'm turning into a monster." There was a slight hiccuping sob after.
She wanted to reach out but she knew he would run, "No, Keith, you're not a monster. Allura and Coran explained it. They think your father was a Galra, this type of transformation is typical for crossbreeds with the Galra. You're fine. You're normal. No one is scared of you anymore. Can, can I give you a hug?" she took a slight step in his direction, keeping her body language as unthreatening as possible, raising her arms slightly.
Keith, shied back, unsure. Pidge remained still, letting him come to her. He crept forward eventually, slowly, then all at once. She felt the arms around her, a vague prickling of claws near her shoulders, faster than she could register him moving. The wetness she could feel on the top of her head told her he was crying. She wrapped her arms around his back, feeling the heaving of his chest as he cried. She could see the purple tint in his neck and she could see his ears had shifted from his human ears to bat-like ears covered in soft fur. She couldn't see his face, as it was pressed to the top of her head but she could feel him slowly relaxing around her. As he relaxed she could feel the claws retract, the purple tint fading from his visible skin. The one thing she noticed was that the ears didn't switch back.
"Hey, hey, nothing to freak out about, but were you aware you have bat ears? They're cute, can I pet them?" Pidge felt Keith tense again.
"I guess," was the whispered consent.
She slowly slid one of her arms up from where it had been wrapped around his ribs to slide up into his hair. "I'm gonna touch your ear now, don't freak out. You're fine. This is natural." She reminded him as she slid a hand over to pet his ear. The fur was as soft as it looked, a pretty purple color, rich like the color royalty historically dyed their robes. Her very calm petting seemed to relax him more than anything. The heaving in his chest seemed to change to a vibrating feeling. Pidge blinked in surprise, Keith could purr? It was an amusing idea that she was definitely not telling Lance.
"Hey, Kitty Keith, think you're calm enough to help me grab some cleaning supplies and finish helping the others?" Pidge asked, still stroking his ear gently. It flicked against her hand making her giggle as he considered the idea.
There was a squeak by her feet, making her remember the mice had been searching for him. The tiny blue one was at her feet, squeaking to get her attention. Keith unwound from her some to look down at the mouse. "Hey, Squeak." he mumbled kneeling down to let the mouse crawl into his hands. He then noticed the enormous reduction of his claws, "What, what happened?"
Pidge could see him better now, his eyes were back to their normal purple state, though still shinier than normal from tears, his teeth had also gone back to normal. "Allura told us earlier, The less stressed you feel the more your appearance resembles human. Though, I think the ear change might be permanent but it's fine." She assured him when he looked nervous, "Your ears are cute. You're fine. So when you're really calm you'll look almost like normal."
"It's… not permanent?" His voice was so hopeful, it was almost painful to hear.
"No, its not permanent, except prolly the ears. And the ears are cute. You're fine. I won't even tell Lance you purr." Pidge assured him before turning to the mouse, "I've got him, you can tell Allura he's fine. I'll make sure they're nice to him. I'll taze them if I have to."
Keith snorted, "My knight in green armor and glasses."
"You got it buddy." Pidge replied and held her hand up to fist bump, which keith very gently returned with his mouse free hand.
The mouse saluted and then crawled down from Keith's hand to Pidge's shoulder, sliding down her shirt and then leaping to the floor. He then saluted and ran off to go find Allura.
"C'mon kitty Keith, help me grab some cloths and buckets. Maybe when we get there Hunk'll have taken the plates back to the kitchen." Pidge grabbed a bucket and filled it with cloths and shoved it into Keith's hands. She then filled her own bucket up and led the way back to the Lounge, Keith trailing silently behind.
As soon as the door opened, Keith could hear Lance, "Pidge, where have you been-oh." Keith knew he had been seen as silence fell.
"You got a problem with me?" he growled but stayed behind Pidge, who'd promised to defend him.
Lance waved his arms, "No, no, no. It's just. Didn't expect to see you after last time we talked. Uh, I'm sorry for yelling at you. It was just. Very surprising."
"Yeah bro, we're sorry for acting like that. It wasn't nice. Can I pet your ears?" Hunk jumped in, his fingers itchy to rub the Bat-like ears he could just barely see in the shadow of the hallway where Keith was almost hiding behind Pidge.
"Not, not right now. How about we finish cleaning?" Keith offered instead. He and Pidge entered the room. Pidge led the way, plopping her bucket on the floor in front of Lance.
"Glad to know you cleaning habit still stands," Shiro told Keith as he approached. "I'm sorry I freaked out, you just. Scared me. I just needed a knock to remember that you're still you. I'm sorry we caused you stress."
"Yeah, Pidge explained what Allura and Coran told you. She said, that this was normal?" he asked, wanting reassurance.
"Completely normal, Keith." Shiro assured.
"Thanks. Now let's finish cleaning?"
"You got it." Shiro and Keith fist bumped, making the others smile.
Almost an hour of cleaning later, the room was sparkling again. Lance looked over at Keith who was collapsed on Pidge's lap, letting her pet his ears, though he'd rebuffed both Hunk's and Shiro's attempts to pet his ears. "Soooo," Lance drawled out, "can you purr?"
"Lance!"
"You totally can, can't you?!"
"Ughhhh whyyyyy."
"That's not a no."
"Bro, leave it."
AN: So, thanks to Resamille (Sesa) for this prompt in Sprint Chat. The prompt was "All I ask". I'm not sure exactly what happened. This kinda took a left turn by the beginning of the second page. I still am apparently stuck in the fluffs. Keith named the mice, Squeak, Princess, Sharp, and Chubs.
Come hangout with me on tumblr mikiri I scream about voltron, YOI and lots of things. Like Kermit memes.