Whumptober prompt 21. Laced drink
Rating: T
Tw: none
Keith & team
I had a lot of fun with this one
...
Keith knew he shouldn’t have drank the glass.
He knew it. It had smelled bad to begin with, and it tasted even worse when he downed it.
But the aliens with who they were negotiating had looked offended when he had refused, and he had promised Allura he would behave.
He was really regretting it now.
It started with the sound.
The music (or what these guys called music anyway) hadn’t been loud at first, but ten minutes after drinking his beverage it had started growing louder, until it was uncomfortably so.
He tried to ignore it. The rest of the team seemed to be having fun and he didn’t want to ruin that.
Later, he would wish he had.
Next it was the light.
His eyes grew steadily more sore as the afternoon wore on, until even looking at the ground made him squint and grind his teeth, trying to block the light. Why was the sun growing brighter?
At this, he started to seriously consider telling Shiro, but he stopped himself. Shiro was busy, he didn’t have time for him. He was eighteen years old, he could handle a little headache.
A big headache.
A really big one. He couldn’t remember the last time it had hurt so bad. It pulsed along with the music, which was now unbearable.
He could hear every person in the party as if they were shouting in his ears.
And that smell. It was too much at once, he could smell the sickeningly sweet aroma of the flowers, the smell from the food made him want to hurl.
Stumbling, he left the safe shade in one of the corners of the garden and went to look for Shiro. Everything was too bright, too loud, too colorful. His head hurt, why wouldn’t his head stop hurting?
He could have sobbed with relief when he saw the figure of Shiro, tall and muscular in comparison to the small and gangly aliens he was talking to.
He was 10 meters away from his brother when three aliens blocked his path. They were all carrying a glass of the damned drink, Keith could tell by the way they reeked of the smell.
“What wrong, paladin?” One of them asked, not with kindness, more like curiosity. He had the feeling he knew them from somewhere, but he wasn’t sure why.
Keith's knees were shaking. Had he felt this hot before? He didn’t think so.
He shivered when icy sweat ran down his spine.
“I uhhh” his tongue suddenly felt too big for his mouth “I need to get to Shiro”
“Why?”
Why wouldn’t these guys stopped shouting? Why wouldn’t anyone stop shouting?
It hurt. He felt like his eardrums were going to burst.
Actually, he hoped they would burst, because that meant he wouldn’t be able to hear anything.
And just as Keith was half way into considering punching his way to Shiro, his brother appeared, as if he had been able to sense his discomfort.
“Keith?”
Could they please lower their voices? God, now even his thoughts were loud.
“What’s wrong?”
His knees buckled and he pitched forwards, slumping into Shiro’s chest.
The armour felt pleasantly cool against his burning cheek, and he didn’t even realized his eyes had closed until Shiro was slinging his arm around his shoulders, helping him stay upright.
He was saying something, but everything was too much.
He screwed his eyes shut, but even then the light bore into his eyes, making his headache even worse. He could feel tears starting to gather up in the corner of his eyes.
He pushed away the body that was manhandling him into a standing position, and fell to his knees, pushing his hands against his ears as hard as he could, but the noise was still too much. He tried breathing through his mouth, but even then he could taste the smells. It made his stomach churn, and throwing up suddenly became a very real possibility.
Someone was calling his name, he was sure of it, but he didn’t want to look up.
Was he screaming? Maybe, but he couldn’t really hear it. His throat felt sore.
God if he could just stop hurting-
And then he was being scooped up into someone’s arms, and he thought he recognized the voice.
Shiro.
Without thinking his arms surrounded Shiro’s neck, but as soon as he did, noise exploded and he let out a cry of pain.
He could feel more than actually hear Shiro’s voice vibrate through his chest, and after a few seconds someone was placing something (a helmet?) in his head.
He could have (and he thought he might have) cried with relief when the noise finally stopped.
All at once, the tension in his body left, leaving him exhausted and limp in Shiro’s hold.
He still wouldn’t open his eyes, because it still felt as if someone was stabbing him repeatedly, but he would take what he could take.
He was reduced to a gasping, shivering mess, and he didn’t even have the energy to feel embarrassed about the was his older brother was cradling him against his chest.
Then Shiro started walking, and Keith was pulled into an uneasy doze.
He startled awake when Shiro sat him down in something soft. A medical bed, probably.
God, he felt awful.
And then someone took his helmet off.
And the pain started all over again.
The noise wasn’t like before, thankfully, but it was still painful.
The buzzing and humming of the machines in the infirmary made his head spin.
If he thought the light had been painful before, it was nothing compared to now.
It was blinding white, and he couldn’t see, like someone had turned the lighting feature to 100% while editing an image.
The smell was like someone had placed cotton balls soaked with rubbing alcohol under his nose.
All of this in less than a second. Keith thought he was going to throw up.
His stomach churned.
Scratch that, he was going to throw up.
Blinded by the bright light, he let instinct and memory guide him to a bathroom, and sure enough, he found himself in front of the toilet, the lights off.
He didn’t have time to feel relieved, as he felt bile rise up his throat.
The drink tasted even worse coming up.
He didn’t know when, but a hand had begun rubbing his back between his shoulder blades, and he shivered at the cold sensation.
He could hear someone whispering, and whimpered when it made his headache spike once more.
The whispering stopped, and for a moment the only thing he could hear was his own gasping breath and his heartbeat.
And then bile rose up again, and he dived for the toilet once more.
He didn’t know how much time he spent hugging the toilet, but it was enough for Pidge to come up with a solution.
He sat on the floor, resting against Shiro’s chest, panting and trembling, when Pidge walked into the dark bathroom and kneeled in front of him.
He could see her even though it was pitch black, but he could tell she couldn’t see him, so he reached out and grabbed her hand.
She grabbed his jaw with one hand, and with another placed something into his ear, like a bug.
The noise stopped somewhat, and then she placed another one in the other ear.
The noise stopped completely.
This time he did sob with relief. Shiro rubbed his shoulder and pulled him closer
“Thanks Pidge” his voice sounded hoarse, and he wondered for a second how much he had screamed without realizing.
She smiled at him, a bit sadly, but mostly relieved, caressed his cheek, uncharacteristically gentle, and rubbed away a few tears with her thumb.
Keith closed his eyes and leaned into her touch.
“So what happened to me?”
His voice still sounded thick and hoarse, but steadier.
He sat on one of the medical cots, earpieces firmly in and wearing modified sunglasses.
His amour was lying in a pile on the floor, and his team stood all around him, arms crossed and concerned and somber expressions on his faces.
He still felt shaky and weak, and the smell of the infirmary hadn’t subsided, making him feel dizzy and nauseous.
Allura and Coran looked at each other.
“Well, you see” Coran started, wringing his hands “the beverage you drank had senseweed in it, or SW, as it’s known in the black market”
“What’s that?” Pidge asked
“It’s a Well-known drug, that when dissolved into a drink, causes alterations in the senses. I have never tried it myself, but it’s said to be quite pleasant-”
Keith arched an eyebrow, pulling the blanket around his shoulders closer to himself
“- But lethal to galra. Zarkon banned it when he came to power”
Oh. Oh.
“But I didn’t die” he said quickly, his face heating up when he felt his team’s eyes on him “It felt like I was dying, but-“
“That’s because you’re only half galra” Allura said. Keith noticed she looked quite pale herself
“The effects on a full galra are much worse. They are either driven to insanity, or die from heart failure”
“Oh” was Keith’s only response.
“Keith” Shiro spoke for the first time, and Keith could feel the waves of anger coming from his brother
“Who gave you that drink?”
Keith thought about it for a few seconds, and then he realized
“The three aliens, the ones that were with me when I collapsed. I was looking for you when they appeared with more glasses” he wrinkled his nose at the memory of the smell “they didn’t seem concerned, just… curious”
A somber silence filled the room.
Keith looked around desperately
“But I’m okay” he said as he saw Shiro’s face darken “Shiro-“
But the leader was already turning around and walking out of the room.
Keith stood up and went to follow, but his knees buckled, and Lance caught him just in time, slinging his arm around his shoulders.
The nausea came back full force, but he forced himself to swallow it down.
Shiro looked back, looking at Keith’s desperate eyes, which looked darker with the glasses. His eyes softened
“Get some rest, Keith. I’ll be back soon”
“Lance” Pidge turned to the boy, who was helping Keith sit down again.
Lance turned to look at her
“Go with Shiro, make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid”
Lance nodded and ran after Shiro.
Silence followed their departure.
“Number one’s right, Keith” Coran said kindly “you need to sleep this off”
Keith nodded, not looking at him.
Hunk helped him up and guided him towards the lounge. Pidge grabbed his hand and followed them.
The ended up making a tent in the middle of the room.
They got in, and made themselves comfortable around the various cushions and blankets.
Keith moaned in delight as he flopped down and lay still. He could hear Hunk and Pidge chuckling behind him, and he smiled slightly.
“Lights 0 percent” Pidge said, and Keith sighed in relief when he saw pitch black.
“Do you want to take off the glasses? It’s pitch black” Hunk asked to his right.
Keith nodded, but realized they couldn’t see him
“Yeah”
Hunk’s hands found his cheeks and reached behind his right ear.
He pushed a small button, and the glasses turned off.
Immediately, he blinked as his eyes watered slightly. The was barely any light, but he could still see Hunk’s and Pidge’s silhouettes.
“You okay?” Pidge’s form moved.
“Yeah”
“How are you feeling?” He could feels her eyes on him
Keith thought about it for a second
“Tired” he finally said “and dizzy, I guess. It’s like my center of gravity keeps changing”
“Side effect from the drug, I guess”
“And mentally?” Hunk’s voice was soft.
“I’ll be fine” Hunk didn’t miss the future tense
“Yeah, you will be” Keith swallowed thickly
“I’m just…” his voice trailed off
“Shiro will be fine” Pidge said, and she sounded gentler than normal “he’s got Lance with him, and he knows how to control himself”
“Right” Keith forced himself to breathe “I just wish he was here”
He felt like he was on a rocking boat, and he didn’t really like the feeling.
“It was scary, man” Hunk said into the silence.
“Yeah” Pidge agreed
“You were trembling on the floor, screaming and begging to make it stop”
Keith said nothing.
“And then Hunk here calibrated the helmet so no sound came in and you just went completely limp. I was kinda afraid you had passed out”
Keith hummed, not bothering to respond.
“I just wished I had known that the light was bothering you too” Hunk muttered, jawning
“It doesn’t matter” Keith said “I passed out not long after anyway”
Hunk and Pidge said nothing.
A few minutes later, he fell into an uneasy sleep.
He woke up when he could feel the other two entering the tent.
His over sensitive nose recognized Shiro’s smell, and his heartbeat immediately slowed. There was just something awfully comforting about Shiro’s smell, like a child who slept with their parent’s clothing when they were away.
He could see Shiro, even though it was still pitch black, as he lay down beside him.
“Hey” How did Shiro always know when he was awake?
“What happened?”
Shiro sighed and ran a hand through his face.
“They caught the guys. Apparently, they wanted to see the effects of the drug on a half galra” his fist clenched “they didn’t even look sorry. They just wanted to know about any side effects”
Keith was afraid of the next question
“And what did you do?”
“I punched them”
“All three?”
“Yep”
Keith sighed in relief.
“I wasn’t going to kill them, kiddo” Shiro was whispering now, trying to make their conversation private
“I thought about it, I wanted to” he confessed “but I knew you would have been upset”
“Good” Keith didn’t have any more energy to say much else.
So he curled up like a cat next to Shiro and closed his eyes again, feeling already the pull of sleep.
Shiro surrounded his chest with his flesh arm and pulled him closer.
It didn’t take them long to fall asleep after that.
