@deathblossomlp
Prompt: “personally, Keith oils be cute…”
A/N: I’ve never really focused on Keith with my practice writing but here’s my first try.
Also, it’s killing me that I’m taking so long with this, and I feel bad so, here’s what I have so far.
Keith could easily compare what he was experiencing to his time alone in the desert.
The desert was a harsh and difficult for Keith and by no means was it in any form his natural habitat or a place he enjoyed living in. Despite that, his paranoia and optimism kept him there, searching for Shiro.
It had taken a while but,eventually, Keith got used to the loneliness of the desert. The isolation there was unending, save for few and far reptiles that Keith occasionally saw.
The blinding sun was there also though more of a foe than any companion, constantly casting an unnerving and unheard music to dance through the air. It drove Keith crazy, made him spend days confined to the shack. Made him spend days wondering and second-guessing if anything he was doing, if anything he collected in his data was actually real.
“Are you guys even real?” he’d slurred drunkenly at breakfast stumbling through the doorway nine minutes later than what was common for him. “Am I still in the shack?”
His existential questions where more than enough to draw the attention from a new group training regimen to the ailing paladin.
When the others looked at Keith, everyone stood.
Keith was wobbling in such a way that had made Shiro think of their shared experience with the Blade of Marmora. There was a glossy sheen of sweat that coated his whitewashed face and his long hair lay damp and flat against his skull and the nape of his neck.
Shiro approached Keith, cautiously, his arms outstretched in case Keith took a sudden dive to the floor. “Keith?”
“ Are you alright, Buddy?” From the other side of the room, Lance pitched in.
Keith mumbled unintelligibly, now leaning against the doorframe, just about ready to slide to the floor. Shiro came closer to Keith, pressing his prosthetic arm around Keith, effectively holding him up and using his flesh hand to feel around his face for a temperature.
“Guys,” Shiro began. “ He’s running a fever.”
Keith mumbled something again, the word ‘not’ being the only thing anyone understood.
Allura took a step forward, concerned. “A fever?” she asked. “Is that a human ailment? Should Keith be taken to the infirmary?”
“Yes, it might just be from exertion, but we’re fighting a war and if this is something serious we shouldn’t chance it.” Shiro turned to the other paladins. “You guys should stay here, incase it’s contagious. Princess Allura and I can examine him.”
Swiftly, Shiro abandoned the other paladins, Princess Allura following behind him, her hands raised hesitantly behind Keith and on his back to aid him in walking.
“Hm, do you guys think it might be some sort of cold?” Pidge asked, breaking the silence of the room.
“I don’t know. All he has is a fever, right?”
“You- you guys don’t think that it’s some kind of, like, space disease is it? Like, like one that might kill us all? Do you think we need any vaccinations? I mean, we visit a ton of planets all the time.”
“Hunk, buddy, don’t worry, I’m sure Allura would say something to us if it was necessary.” Lance assured.
“Still though,” Pidge began. “Imagine dying in the galactic war against the Galra, just because Keith brought home an alien head cold.”
“Gosh Pidge, don’t give Hunk any ideas, you might make him sick.”
“Yeah, and I really don’t want to die.” Hunk said.
“I’m pretty sure that that’s the goal for everyone these days.”
In the medical bay, Shiro gently pushed Keith to a bench, listing off Keith’s known symptoms to Allura.
“The fever’s the worse, probably three or four degrees above average for a human. He’s also delirious, though that’s just a symptom of the fever, dehydrated-”
After being kicked out from the garrison, Keith had no idea what to do. Shiro was gone, he could never become a fighter pilot.
Outside the front gates, he waited hours for his father to pick him up. Keith didn’t drive or even own a car and by now, the bus to the town had come and gone three times. It wouldn’t be back till tomorrow.
Keith’d been outside since morning, and now it was sunset. His mouth had become dry his head pounding-
“Keith, you’ve got to wake up.”
With a sudden intake of breath, Keith realized he was in space, not outside the garrison. Shiro was talking to him, shaking him slightly.
“We need you to drink some water, Keith. Here.” Keith became aware of his position. His torso was pulled against Shiro’s lap, his head resting against Shiro’s chest. In front of Keith, Shiro held a pouch of water, miles away from Keith’s reach. Past that, Keith saw Allura doing… something? Maybe she was calibrating a machine or doing Princess things. She did that a lot when she wasn’t yelling at the team.
“-th. Keith!” Oh, there she goes, yelling.
“What?” He almost whined.
“You need to drink something!”
“Shiro’s holding it too far.” He mumbled.
Allura and Shiro shared worried glances.
“Do you have the thermometer converted to Celsius?” Shiro asked, picking up the measure besides him.
A/N barely anything, I know 😭
