Ever since Keith started feeling his tail and fangs come in, his sleep had been absolutely awful. His jaws hurt when he ate, talked, just simply moved it, and sleeping on his back felt even worse...The little stump at the end of the raven's tailbone was just getting longer and longer, and it was just getting worse with every week. On top of that, it had been impossible to hide it from the other paladins.

It had been earlier during the week, Keith went to sit down by the table during lunch, and as soon as his tail stump had made contact with the chair underneath, the raven had uncontrollably let out a pained yelp. That's what made Shiro start to keep an extra eye on him during the rest of the week, until finally today, Shiro's concern had reached its peak.

"Keith, this situation is starting to become pretty concerning for me and the others...I know you don't want me to, but Im gonna have to contact Kolivan. You cant keep this going for much longer." Shiro explained; Keith sighed and glared at the black paladin with hate. The raven knew just as much as the rest of them how much this was hindering him from his daily activities, and it was starting to become a problem, despite how much Keith tried to ignore it.

"Shiro, it will be better in a week, you really don't need to contact Kolivan for something stupid like this...I can still eat, sit down, train...I promise you I can still do that-" Keith said, gently heaving him up from his chair. It was early in the morning. Like always, Keith tried to wake up even earlier in order to eat breakfast alone, to avoid the others. Today, that hadn't really worked since Shiro woke up early too, already planning to contact Kolivan despite what Keith wanted or not. "You're not gonna leave me the choice, are you..." He sighed, continuing to glare at the black paladin once he managed to stand up from the chair.

His tail stump was really starting to become a problem, Keith just didn't want to realize it to avoid going back to let Kolivan check up on it; the last time was embarrassing enough.

"You can start making your way to the Black Lion. If I don't see you there in ten minutes, I will carry you there, like it or not." Shiro smirked, waving the raven off to make his way to the bridge to contact Kolivan. Once Shiro got to the bridge, he found Coran, Pidge, and Hunk disassembling something on the floor. They hadn't even eaten breakfast yet and were already getting to work.

"Hey Shiro, what's up?" Pidge asked, looking up from something in her lap. It looked like it had used to be some sort of machine, but it was now in bits and pieces spread across the floor so it was pretty unclear.

"I was just gonna contact Kolivan...Keith, as you know is ignoring some issues, and Im sick and tired of it now. I'll be over here, so don't mind me." Shiro explained, stepping carefully across the messy floor to reach the control panel; Pidge nodded and went back to work. Seems like Hunk and Coran were too busy to even have noticed the black paladin make his way to the bridge, but Shiro didn't mind. It was pretty amusing to see the three nerds of the group, sit this early in the morning, disassembling machines to repurpose them.

It will be fun to see what this stuff is gonna be in the end... Shiro thought, then turned his attention back to the control panel. Pressing a few buttons, he dialed the galran; Shiro only needed to wait a mere minute when Kolivan finally picked up.

"Let me guess...Keith?" Kolivan chuckled, but listened patiently for Shiro to explain the situation; Kolivan didn't react much, he seemed to have known the reason Shiro called even before the black paladin had explained.

"Seems like he's finally entering the stage where things start to become problematic. He hasn't shown much of this behavior when he's on missions, but he can't possibly keep it up for much longer without us also noticing soon." Kolivan said. Shiro thought that sounded about right; of course the raven wouldn't stoop so low to show he was experiencing problems at the Blades base. If that would've happened, Kolivan would've taken him to the infirmary a long time ago already, and knowing Keith, that was something he most likely wanted to avoid.

"We'll be there at the Blades base shortly..." Shiro sighed, ending the call. That concluded the black paladin started making his way down to the hangars to see if Keith was waiting for him in the black lion like he'd been asked; to Shiro's relief, the raven was there, impatiently waiting for him.

"You sitting comfortably there?" Shiro chuckled, seeing the awkward pose the raven was sitting in to avoid his tail stump from hurting. The glare the black paladin got, was all the answer he needed. Yep, that's what I thought... Shiro sighed, sitting down in the cockpit chair. He started a course to the Blades base, then called Coran to remind him to tell the others where the two of them were gonna spend the day. Coran, still busy with his disassembling just gave a short answer, then the call ended, and Shiro went back to steering the black lion to the Blades base. On the way they passed through a sudden asteroid storm, where Shiro needed to do some sudden movements to avoid collision; Keith, already sitting awkwardly beside himself, got shifted around, and landed three times on his tail stump.

"OW! SHIRO, FLY CAREFULLY!" Keith snapped, standing up to avoid three times becoming four; Shiro just gave a half-assed apology and continued in silence.


About an hour later, the two finally arrived at the Blades base, and as they landed, Keith, clearly on purpose wasn't making his way out of the black lion quickly; he sure took his time.

"Shiro, Keith!" Kolivan chirped, walking up to them as they started walking up toward the main building just like last time. This time, Keith knew the reason for their visit beforehand, and what could possibly happen; that didn't make it any better though. Honestly, the raven did not want to be there at all, but yet here he was again... Besides, he would not be able to handle another day with this unbearable pain in his jaw and tailbone.

Why did my body feel the need to develop two things I don't need? Keith hissed, slowly following Kolivan and Shiro to the infirmary. After a few minutes, they made it, and in the room was no other than Marlo, already waiting for him.

"Hello, Keith! I heard your fangs have come in...Mind if I take a look?" Marlo asked, gesturing to the same gurney he'd been on a few months prior. The raven sighed defeatedly and made his way over, lied down, and before opening his mouth, he gave Shiro and Kolivan a quick look. The two of them stood further away and patiently waited for Marlo to be done, so to speed up the process Keith decided arguing was gonna be out of the picture for today. He opened his mouth, and immediately Marlo started pressing his fingers against Keith's sensitive fangs, causing the raven to squirm from the sudden pain.

"Sorry, I know they are sensitive, but I need to press down to see how strong they are," Marlo explained, pretty much ignoring Keith as he continued to squirm. After a minute of pressing, the galrans dentist picked up a few tools and continued examing the raven's fangs, now dragging a sharp and pointy instrument across the surface of his fangs.

"Ngh!" Keith turned his head, and closed his mouth, making it obvious it hurt even more now the more Marlo was touching his teeth with the tools.

"Oh, I didn't know they were that sensitive...Sorry." Marlo apologized, pulling away to not make the raven more upset than he already was. "They seem fine to me though, so I don't need to continue poking at them. Have you avoided eating solid food like I asked?" He asked; Keith looked back at the galran, nodding in silence. It's not that he had avoided solid food because Marlo had asked...he had not been able to eat properly because every bite had hurt despite what kind of food it was.

"It hurt too much to eat anything solid anyway..." Keith muttered; Marlo raised an eyebrow at the raven's comment, but it wasn't really a big surprise. He himself had fangs due to being galran, and he had experienced issues as a kit aswell.

"Don't worry, give it a few more weeks and you'll soon get used to it. For now, just be careful with them, they are still pretty new." Marlo smiled, backing away from Keith to let him sit up again on the gurney; immediately when sitting up, he shifted his weight to sit on his side, which made Kolivan come forward, knowing that'd be the next issue to tackle.

"Like I told you last time you were here, it was only your fangs and tail that needed to be checked...So, while you're still on the gurney, can you let me take a look?" Kolivan asked. Shiro, standing beside the galran, saw Keith's gaze wander before the raven finally took a deep sigh and he layed down to start trying to get his pants down to expose his tail stump. "Turn onto your stomach, it will be easier." Keith silently heaved himself onto his stomach, burying his face in his hands from the embarrassment.

"Just hurry up," Keith growled, hearing latex gloves snap behind him. Seconds later, he felt the familiar touch of Kolivans hands on him. Please just kill me already... Keith silently prayed, tensing when Kolivan started pressing at the tail stump, the thing that hurt so intensely. There was a moment of silence before the raven heard a disappointed sigh behind him.

"How well have you been...tending this area?" Kolivan asked, making Keith's breath cease momentarily. Was there something wrong with his tail stump?!

"What do you mean? I've barely been able to sit down because of the pain, what makes you think I can keep it clean without it hurting?" Keith snapped, turning his head to see what Kolivan was trying to mediate. The galran's face expression said it all; he was not happy with the outcome of the raven's poor care of his tail stump.

"It's infected...No wonder it's been hurting more than it had to," Kolivan explained, giving Keith a tired look. When Keith looked over at Shiro, who had heard this and made his way over, the black paladin look just as disappointed.

Oh no... Keith winced, already knowing Kolivan was gonna do something about the situation that he wasn't gonna like. Just like predicted, Kolivan went over and gathered the necessary supplies; he came back with what looked like forceps, cotton pads, and some kind of disinfecting ointment.

"If you dare move, this will take double the time, and I will be very annoyed with you. Do not make this harder for yourself than you already have." Kolivan hissed, pouring the disinfecting ointment onto the cotton pad. Once that was done, he picked it up with the forceps, then gave the raven a quick look before going in.

Here Keith thought walking and sitting down hurt, but this...this pain was deserved and on a whole other level.

"OW, STOP!" Keith yelled as the ointment touched the infected area, but Kolivan was quick to place his hand on the raven's back, keeping him in place, completely ignoring his pleading. Shiro was also quick to step closer, just in case Keith had another stupid idea like running off like he'd done last time...

A few swabs later, Kolivan was finally done and Keith was cursing under his breath, silently dying in pain and shame.

"Now, because you can't seem to keep this growing limb of yours clean, I'll give Shiro the courtesy to help you out when you get back to the castle. When you are here at the Blades, I'll help you out myself, and we'll keep doing this until your tail is done growing." Kolivan explained, gazing up at the black paladin, seeing he silently agreed.

Ugh, damn it! Keith groaned, banging his head on the gurney.

"Keith, you did this yourself, just suck it up," Shiro said, idly standing beside Kolivan as the raven rolled onto his back again, then wriggled his pants back up, getting off the gurney the best he could due to the pain.

"Alright, let's see how you're doing in a month's time. By then, your tail should've grown in properly, as long as it's cleaned more thoroughly than it's been now..." Kolivan said, eyeing the raven, giving him a silent warning to do as he's been told until then; Keith just looked away, not happy about the situation.

"Alright, if that's everything, then let's go now Keith," Shiro mumbled, pulling the raven's arm as he started making his way out of the infirmary. Kolivan followed them out and patiently waited for them to leave until he went back inside the building.


Just like the last time they left the base, the ride back was pretty awkward. Keith knew he was busted, and Shiro didn't need to say anything about it because he saw how the raven regretted his actions, intentional or not. It's not that Keith didn't feel the need to keep his tail stump clean, it more that it hurt too much...

Im just gonna start taking care of this by myself...No way Shiro is getting his hands anywhere near me. Keith thought. The raven had already decided that despite Shiro's persistency, the black paladin, nor the others were gonna be allowed to 'help out'. It was his fault it was infected, then he was gonna take care of this problem on his own...

"Shiro...Can we keep this issue quiet from the others, please? I really don't feel like they need to know the details." Keith asked; the black paladin answered with a simple nod. Great, now let's see how long that promise lasts... Keith thought, already knowing Coran was gonna be involved the second they came back to the castle.

Just as the raven had predicted, moments after arriving back at the castle, Coran had finally stopped disassembling machinery with Hunk and Pidge and had come to welcome the two of them back. Shiro, completely forgetting his promise, pulled the ginger altean aside to explain the situation, and Keith took that as a cue to hurry away from there, to avoid becoming a target.

Im not having either of them trying to help me, no way! Keith hissed. On his way to his room, his tail stump was not making it easy for him; with every step forward, the fabric scratched the surface of the infected limb, causing him so much discomfort. Even though it was unbearable, he finally made it to his room and was quick to lock the doors. Checking the time, the raven realized that it was soon time for lunch, meaning he would need to go back out for food...unless he could take some food and eat in his room instead. With the plan set, the raven snuck out of his room and slowly approached the kitchen, where Hunk had started preparing lunch.

"Psst, Hunk!" Keith whispered, alerting the yellow paladin; Hunk spun around and gave Keith a confused look, as expected from the raven's sudden secret behavior.

"Keith? Are you that hungry, that you can't wait thirty minutes even?" He chuckled, turning back to focus on whatever was sizzling in the pan on the stove.

"No, I was just wondering if I could get some food and take it to my room...?" Keith asked, causing Hunk to give the raven yet another confused look.

"What? You don't want to eat with us?" Hunk asked, seeming a bit hurt by the request. Keith internally groaned and gave up. There was no way anyone could hurt Hunk's feelings, and get away with it; the yellow paladin was too caring for that to happen.

"Nevermind then, I'll eat with you guys." Keith sighed, then walked back to his room until lunch was ready.

Half an hour later, just like Hunk had said, lunch was ready. He called them all via the comms, and the last to arrive was Keith since walking was a bit of a difficulty for him...Shiro gave him a concerned look about it, but the raven ignored it and sat down. Since his tail stump recently had been 'disinfected', it didn't hurt as much to sit down this time, but the dulling pain was definitely still there. The paladins, Princess and Coran sat and enjoyed the lunch, while Keith, still having some difficulty chewing due to his fangs, ate at a slower pace.

Around an hour later, they were done and Shiro suggested they should go and train, which the rest of the paladins agreed to.

"I would advise you to stay out of this one. While you're still undergoing your galran mutations, you might want to take it easy." Shiro suggested while passing the raven on the way to the training room. Keith sighed, knowing he wasn't gonna be able to train properly even if he tried, so he might as well stay out of it and do something else.

"I'll go and help Allura then..." Keith muttered, walking over to the princess, where she was currently sewing a rip in one of her gowns.

"Need any help Allura?" Keith asked, sitting down next to the altean princess. She looked up and gave the raven a curious look, not aware why he was not training with the others.

"That's if you're interested in sewing? If you want, I'll teach you." Allura said, handing Keith a piece of fabric he could try out on; he reluctantly accepted and sat for the coming hour sewing with the Princess on the sofa. When the others were done training, Keith had managed to sew a small pillow, with Allura's help of course.

"Did you do this?" Lance asked, pointing mockingly to the pillow; Keith just glared at the blue paladin, not answering. I would like to see you try to do something better... Keith rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Aw, this is so cute!" Pidge said, seeing the pillow in the raven's hand. The small comment made Keith feel a bit less irritated, but now he felt like leaving the room, to avoid Shiro and Coran until dinner. Too bad, they were the exact people he met on his way back to his room...

"Keith, I heard what happened this morning, are you feeling alright?" Corn asked, stopping the raven's path. Keith sighed and nodded, then tried continuing his way to his room, but instead, he got stopped by Shiro.

"What do you want? Im trying to go to my room!" Keith snapped, trying to pass the black paladin, but he was continuously blocking him from doing so.

"Keith, calm down. Me and Coran have been discussing how we're gonna tackle your little issue...Do you wanna hear the idea?" Shiro asked; Keith froze, turning his head to meet first Shiros, then Corans gaze on him.

"Excuse me?" Keith huffed, stumped that Shiro and Coran needed to discuss a plan to tackle... him. "Why can't you just let me handle this on my own instead? There's no way you're gonna do whatever you have planned and expect me to agree to it!" Keith snapped.

"You're not even gonna hear us out?" Coran asked, his gaze darkening somewhat. He seemed relatively annoyed by Keith's reaction... "Just know, when it comes to this little issue of yours, we're not gonna let it become worse than it already is. Even if you don't want our help, you'll get it anyway."

"But what about what I want!?" Keith questioned, taking a threatening step forward. "I'll fix this on my own, and I do not want your help, do you not understand that?! I don't care what Kolivan ordered, Im not gonna let you!" With that said, Keith turned around and stormed off to his room; Shiro and Coran stood stunned, watching him leave.

Alright, if that's how you want to handle this Keith...Then go ahead. Shiro hissed, glaring at the red paladin as he left. Shiro turned and gave Coran a look; he immediately understood it. Handling Keith's situation was not up to the raven; Kolivan had given Shiro the role to help out, and that's what he was gonna do.

"Coran, Im gonna need some help..." Shiro said, facing the altean; he nodded, and the two of them started getting to work.


Keith had fallen asleep after arriving at his room again. He was woken up though when Hunk announced it was time for dinner, whereas Keith considered if he was going to eat or not. If I go, who knows what will happen with Shiro and Coran trying to forcingly help me... Keith thought, silently peeking out his door to see if anyone was near; there was thankfully no one in the hallway, so he could peacefully start making his way to the kitchen.

When the raven arrived at the kitchen, both Shiro and Coran gave him a look only he could decipher: There's no way to avoid what might happen, and if you do, you're in trouble.

"Here, take this and tell me what you think!" Hunk said, handing Keith a plate of food, interrupting the intense eye contact between the three of them. Keith sighed and slowly sat down, and started eating. The food was okay, not great but it wasn't terrible...It was ingestible at the very least.

"Yeah, this is good Hunk..." Keith muttered, trying to swallow the bit he had in his mouth with difficulty.

The raven couldn't figure out of it was the taste that was making it harder, or if it was the dulling ache in his jaw from his fangs coming in. Whatever it was, he finally managed to swallow, but now he was done with the food; he couldn't down another bite whether he wanted to or not.

"Before everyone leaves for the night, who is planning on taking a shower later?" Shiro suddenly asked, stopping Keith's steps toward the bathroom midway. There is no way that's what Shiro has in mind, right?! Keith thought, turning around to meet the black paladin's gaze; Shiro's face expression confirmed his question. Lance and Hunk raised their hands, both looking confused why Shiro even had asked in the first place, but shook it off.

Whether Pidge was gonna shower or not, didn't concern the other paladins, since she and Allura shared their bathroom, and wasn't gonna need to wait for her turn.

"Alright, Hunk, Lance, you go shower now...Just don't take forever, since there are others also in need of showering today." Shiro said, waving them off. As the black said this, he gave Keith a small threatening glare; the raven's response was to dip.

The only way I can avoid Shiro now is if I enter directly after Lance is done, right before he gets the chance to try and barge in after me! Keith thought, grabbing his towel in his room, then making his way to the bathroom to hide nearby. Keith first waited for Hunk to be done, then Lance...Good thing the blue paladin took his time because Keith was idly sitting nearby, glad that it took so long since then Shiro might have forgotten to come by. As if on cue, the bathroom door opened, and Lance walked out still soaking wet, with just a mere towel around his crotch.

Ever heard of getting dressed before walking out? Idiot! Keith rolled his eyes and slowly approached the bathroom once the blue paladin was out of sight. Once he managed to get in, he locked the doors and sighed with relief. There was no way Shiro could try and help him out now!

Now, since the raven knew he could be alone in the bathroom, he got in the shower and took his time. The warm water sure hurt his infected tail stump, and he cleaned it the best he could, even though it was harder than he thought...

It hurt a lot, but not only that, but it was also pretty solid, so trying to lift the small stump to reach the underside was difficult.

How the heck did Kolivan manage earlier that morning?

*knock knock*

"Keith, I know you don't want me to, but I'm here to help," Shiro said. Keith didn't turn the water off, he just continued showering as well as ignoring the continuous knocks on the door from the black paladin. "Im serious Keith, you know how important it is to keep the tail stump clean. Besides, Kolivan told me I was to help you, so can you please open the door?"

No way... Keith smirked, continuing to ignore Shiro outside. After a few minutes, Keith stopped hearing the black paladin's persistent knocks, which was a relief, but also worrying... Mere seconds later, Keith heard the bathroom door hiss open, causing the raven to immediately turn the shower off and cover himself. Yes, Shiro had seen him naked plenty of times, but that wasn't making this situation justifiable...

"Don't you dare open the shower curtain, or I swear I'll-"

"Keith, I thought I told you earlier this will happen either one way or another. Now, will you be calm and let me help you, or will I have to be mean and force this upon you?" Shiro asked, standing on the opposite end of the shower curtain, waiting for the raven's response.

"What makes you think you have the right to break your way into the bathroom because of it?! Leave me alone!" Keith snapped; a second later, Shiro ignoring the raven's wishes, draped the curtain back and glared at him.

"Coran helped me open the door... Now, I'll ask you again. Will we do this the easy or the hard way?" Shiro asked, holding up a similar disinfectant to what Kolivan had used earlier that morning. Keith stood in shock for a few moments, before stepping out of the shower, and started drying off; Shiro idly stood beside him in silence, waiting for the raven to be done so he could proceed.

The raven sighed when finally done, then finally faced the black paladin. "So, this just the same as this morning?" Keith asked, pulling a shirt over his head to at least have some dignity left before Shiro started manhandling him; Shiro nodded and waited for the raven to turn his back so the black paladin could help clean the tail stump more thoroughly than he'd managed in the shower.

This is gonna hurt... Keith winced as he bent over slightly so Shiro could access his tail stump. Just like Kolivan had done earlier, Shiro grabbed the small stump and lifted it; it hurt like a bitch, but Keith just silently hissed and did his best to not accidentally lash out at the male behind him.

That was until Shiro went to clean a bit more thoroughly as he'd mentioned...

"OW!" Keith yelped, quickly spinning around from the sudden pain. "That hurt!" Shiro, disinfectant still in hand, gave the red paladin a small scowl; apparently, he wasn't done yet.

"If you won't let me do this, Coran will have to help you instead...And I don't think you want that, do you?" Shiro asked, motioning for the raven to turn around again so he could finish. Keith reluctantly obeyed and turned around, bent over a bit again, and let Shiro continue.

A few painful swabs later, the black paladin was finally done and Keith was quick to get dressed and head to his room; too bad he was stopped before he even got out of the bathroom.

"Just one more thing..." Shiro muttered, gently grabbing the raven's arm to stop him from leaving; Keith responded with a confused look. "So besides this cleaning needing to be a pretty regular thing until your tail is done growing, there's something else we have discussed about the situation." Keith took a gentle step away from Shiro but patiently waited for the black paladin to continue.

"You know how sitting and sleeping is a bit of an issue for you at the moment...Well, we have a solution for you." Shiro said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. A moment later, he turned the screen to show Keith what looked like a donut-looking cushion.

"Right...But this is just sitting and sleeping, nothing else." Keith huffed, accepting that this cushion would be quite helpful to avoid unnecessary pain. Shiro nodded and gestured for the raven to follow him to go get the cushion. They walked through the hallway in silence, and entered the lounge where Allura was still sitting; that's when Keith understood she'd sewn the cushion while he was in the shower.

"Keith! Shiro asked me to create this for you...I hope it will be helpful while you have your little...predicament." She said, handing him the cushion. Keith thanked the princess and left for his room for the night, not in the mood to be in the spotlight anymore for the day. It was enough that Kolivan, Shiro, and Coran had pestered him for one day.

As Keith entered his room again, he threw the cushion onto his bed and tried getting comfortable on it...to his surprise, the purpose of the cushion was very helpful, since he didn't feel any pain on his tail stump. The cushion did its job just like it should.

That issue was dealt with, and the raven got comfortable and fell asleep...and that didn't take long.

Within minutes, Keith was asleep and slept the longest he'd done in a long time since his mutation started. Maybe, for once, he should be thankful Shiro, Kolivan, and Coran were so persistent in helping him.

They only cared about him after all...

THE END