#god bless I'm finally feeling better after soup week

[honey-gaze]

I've been sick with a cold so I've made a different homemade soup every day this week to make my life worth living

[lordofthebigtimesupernatural]

Hey I'm not sure you got my previous ask since tumblr has a tendency to eat them... but would you write keith having to get braces and being really pissed about it and how shiro deals with him for your single dad shiro AU? Thank you!

Hi there! I don’t know if this went the way that you wanted, because I also included Hunk, Pidge and Lance because they are Keith’s BFFs forever. I’m sorry this was a bit late, and tumblr did eat your first ask!! Ugh. But I do hope you still enjoy this, because it was super fun to write. BTW, what Shiro did after Keith got braces happened to me with my lunch when I had to first have braces…Thanks so much for the ask!

x.V.x

              “Keith,what do you want for lunch?”

              “…”

              “Keith?Oh come on now, you can’t ignore me forever.”

              “…”

              “Seriously,the silent treatment?”

              “..”

              “Keith.”

              Shirosighed heavily and eventually turned around so that he could take a look at hisson, who would no doubt be pouting. Sure enough, Keith was pouting with hisarms folded over his chest and bottom lip jutting out. It was quite adorablereally, on the twelve-year-old. Though, the situation was very serious andShiro knew better than to laugh at Keith. Keith was fragile in moments likethis and laughter would only make matters worse.

              Still,Keith was adorable.

              “Come onnow Keith, they aren’t even that bad.” Shiro tried to comfort Keith who couldonly glare at Shiro. He pressed his lips together in attempts to close hismouth even more than possible. Shiro sighed.

              “Youlook good in them; better than the kids in all those teeny-bobby movies.” Shirotried again as he continued to absently pack Keith’s lunch. Keith’s glaresharped and Shiro could almost feel the tension slice through him. He wasslightly impressed by Keith’s looks – apparently, he was improving every day.He still needed some work in making them look more intimidating, but he wassurely improving.

              “Come onKeith. Braces aren’t that bad.” Shiro said and Keith scowled in his seat.

              “Thenwhy don’t you get them?” Keith finally grumbled and Shiro almost cheered invictory. Point one for Dad Shiro. He saw a sliver of the red braces on Keith’steeth, before the pre-teen tried to hide them again.

              “That’sbecause your grandmother had perfect teeth and so did I.” Shiro said andflashed Keith his million dollar smile that made all the boys and girls swoon.Keith sank lower in his seat, pouting again and mumbled to himself.

              “Grandpacursed me.”

              “Unfortunately.”Shiro nodded in agreement while Keith actually tried to hiss at him. Ignoringthe gesture, Shiro packed Keith’s lunchbox into his backpack before handing itto the young boy. “Alright, it’s time for school. Up you go. I already let yougo home early yesterday so you’re not missing another day.”

              “Dad no.There’s no way I can go to school like this.” For a brief second, Shiro watchedas a flash of hesitation and panic flew across Keith’s face before beingreplaced with anger. However, he stood up and followed Shiro out the door, allwhile continuing to argue. “Lance is going to make fun of me and Hunk is gonnalaugh and Pidge too!”

              “Theywill not. Friends don’t laugh.” Shiro murmured quietly while locking the frontdoor. “Your friends will be very supportive, trust me. Lots of kids get bracesthese days anyway, so it’s not like you’re going to stand out.” Shiro pointedout, causing Keith to sigh dramatically.

x.V.x

              Kids didin fact notice Keith’s braces.

              Prettymuch every kid in the school.

              Afterall, it wasn’t every day that the “weird” kid who talked to himself sometimesand chewed on everything, came to school in braces.Bright red braces. Plus, Lance totally made fun of him, the second he caught ofglimpse of those shiny red braces on little Keith’s teeth. Which of course,made Hunk laugh at Lance’s stupid jokes and Pidge laughed because why wouldn’tthey? Hunk tried to apologize when Keith walked away but he couldn’t stopgiggling.

              Unfortunately,thanks to Lance’s big mouth, everyonehad heard about Keith’s braces. Which meant more amo for picking on Keith.Keith was no stranger to bullying at school. He knew a lot of other kids didn’tunderstand why he did the things he did or was the way he was. Keith always feltblessed that despite growing up, Lance, Hunk and Pidge never once treated himany different despite being autistic. Normally, Keith didn’t care but it washard to ignore when kids were laughing at him behind his back and tappingpictures of buck-tooth horses to his locker.

              Keithsighed when another kid asked if Keith’s mouth was bleeding – oh wait, thoseare just your bright red nerd braces.He sat hunched in the back of the cafeteria, hoping that he could simply ignoreeveryone and that he could eat his lunch in peace.

              Lance, Hunkand Pidge hadn’t been able to spot Keith from where he was hiding in thecafeteria. Slowly, Keith unzipped his lunchbox and hoped for a good time. Thatis until he opened up his lunchbox all the way.

              Was this a joke? Was dad tryingto make a joke?

              Keithstared in dismay at his packed lunch, staring at a hard apple, a bag of crunchy chips, some pretzels and a sandwich ontoasted bread. The pain in Keith’s mouth from his braces intensified while hisstomach grumbled pathetically. Can I eventry to eat this? Keith stared mournfully at his lunch before opening hiswater. At least I won’t be thirsty.

              Hewinced at he tried to bit into the sandwich before spitting it out when a sorespot on his teeth became too much. The same result happened when he tried toeat a few meager chips and pretzels. Keith didn’t even bother with the applebefore throwing away his lunch. He ignored the laughter that followed after himbefore scurrying out of the cafeteria, willing back the tears in his eyes.

x.V.x

              “Wasthat a joke today?!” Shiro blinked insurprise when Keith shouted at him before he had closed the door to the car.When he looked over, Shiro could see that Keith was actually furious and not being dramatic. Shirocould barely speak before Keith had tapped both sides of his heads and nearlyscreamed in frustration. “It’s bad enough that I have to wear these stupid things for a year, but you couldn’teven think about how much it hurts when you packed my lunch?! Are you freakin’kidding me?!” Keith tapped his head again and Shiro put the car in drive,catching on to Keith’s signal.

              “I mean,did you seriously have to pack an apple?! And pretzels? You know how much mymouth hurts!” Keith fumed and Shiro felt his eyes widened. A sickly feeling ofguilt clawed at his stomach and his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

              “Oh, mygod, Keith I forgot. I’m so sorry.” Shiro groaned and almost banged hisforehead onto his steering wheel. He couldn’t believe that he had actuallyforgotten to think about how much Keith’s mouth hurt – would hurt for the nextfew days, when he had packed Keith’s lunch this morning. He’d just packed whathe would have normally packed, without thinking, and Shiro felt awful.

              “I know!I can’t forget these.” Keith hissed, pointing to the braces along his teeth. “I have to wear them every day. I can’t just forget aboutthem like that!” Keith crossed his arms over his chest furiously and glared outthe window. Shiro swallowed heavily and sighed, feeling far guiltier that heprobably should have. But it was hard for Keith to adjust to sudden and noticeablechanges such as having to get braces, and Shiro hadn’t made it any easier forhim.

              “You’reright. You can’t just forget about them or pretend they don’t exist.” Shirosighed when the car came to a stop at a red light. “Keith, I’m so sorry. It’sno excuse, but I’m so sorry that I packed you a lunch that you couldn’t eveneat. It was rude of me to not consider how much pain you must be in.”

              Keithfelt his stomach churn with guilt at his dad’s apology. He’d been so angryafter the atrocious day he’d had a work. At first, Keith wanted nothing morethan for his father to apologize for his actions to make Keith feel better, butKeith realized that his dad hadn’t really done anything wrong. Sure, he’dforgotten to pack a soft lunch, but his dad didn’t make him get braces out ofspite and to humiliate Keith. Keith’s dad never did anything to hurt Keith,ever.

              “It’sokay. School just sucks.” Keith finally sighed, rubbing his hands along hispants. Shiro glanced over at Keith for a second before returning to the road. “Kidsthink my braces are a joke. I’m just in a stupid mood.”

              “Arekids making fun of you?” Shiro demanded, and his tone was entirely protectiveand serious now. Keith snickered at the image of his dad marching to theschool. “Do I need to go to your school?” Suddenly, Keith felt guilty. His dadhad fought many of the schools in Keith’s past for their treatment of Keith’sdiagnosis and each time was a hardship on his dad and him. Keith didn’t want hisdad to be under any more stress than necessary.

              “Um,some kids are just making jokes. Like Lance. You know me, I get real hotheadedand annoyed.” Keith rubbed at his jeans nervously and bit his lip. Since he waswatching the road, Shiro didn’t notice Keith’s posture and nodded beforerelaxing.

              “Well,hopefully they’ll stop after today. Jokes get boring after a while.” Shirosmiled and Keith forced himself to smile despite the sick feeling in hisstomach.

              “Yeah.Knowing Lance, he’ll probably be joking about some made-up girl he saved thisweek.”

x.V.x

              I’m sorry about the other day. I’m hopingsome extra pudding will make up for it 😊.Dad        

              Keithcouldn’t fight the smile even if he wanted to when he opened up his lunch thenext day. Instead of the awful lunch yesterday, today’s lunch had two cups ofKeith’s favorite Jell-o, two cups ofchocolate pudding. Some watermelon and a cup of his dad’s homemade soup. Lancecaught sight of the grin on Keith’s face and peeked over into his lunch boxbefore his jaw dropped.

              “That’sadorable, but your dad packed a seriously awesome lunch!” Lance exclaimed andPidge and Hunk both looked in to investigate.

              “Whoa.Can I trade you a pudding cup?” Hunk asked and Pidge nodded eagerly beforescavenging their own lunch to look for something to trade.

              “Nuh-uh.”Keith stuck his tongue out, red braces poking out. “This is my lunch because mymouth hurts.”

              “Dude,maybe I need to get someone to punch me in the mouth so my mama can pack me agoodie pack.” Lance grumbled bitterly and bit into what was supposed to bepizza, but really it could be anything. After all, the cafeteria served sketchystuff sometimes. Hunk and Pidge grumbled playfully but backed off, allowingKeith to eat his lunch in peace.

              However,just as Keith was about to dive into his second pudding cup, his jaw explodedwith pain when he felt something hard and rubberslam into his face. Instantly, Keith dropped his food and grabbed his jaw. Hisnerves were tingling with pain, since his mouth was still sore from the braces.Keith felt tears due to pain begin to burn in his eyes, just as several kidsstarted laughing. Keith barely noticed when Hunk, Pidge and Lance shot out oftheir seats.

              “Hey!Why did you just do that?!” Pidge snarled, hands clenched at their sides infists as the three of them stared down the group of guys who had shot a rubberband at their friend.

              “Wantedto see how much it would hurt.” One kid laughed causing his whole table to joinhim.

              “Well,let’s see how much this will hurt!” Lance threatened darkly and rolled up hissleeves. However, Hunk snatched his fist at the last second and pulled it back,while simultaneously checking to see if Keith was okay. “I’ll knock two centsinto your stupid, tiny brain, you assholes.”

              “Lance!”Hunk whispered hotly and Pidge beamed.

              “Whatever.Don’t know why you defend that loser.” The other kid snorted and his goonieslaughed again.

              “Hey!That’s our friend you’re talking about!” Pidge hissed. “Our best friend, whose face is much moreappealing than yours will ever be withoutbraces.” The kid frowned at Pidge and his goonies all “ooooohed.”

              “Lemmeat him, Hunk.” Lance growled darkly but Hunk easily held him back as he lookedat Keith’s cheek.

              “Are youokay?” Hunk asked when Keith wiped his eyes before anyone could see. Just asKeith was about to speak, he flinched back when another rubber band hit his mouth. Hunk recoiled sharply and let goof Lance, who stormed towards the table of laughing kids with Pidge hot on histail. A dark look settled over Hunk and he turned his full attention to thelaughing kids. There was a look in his eyes, almost like that of a soldier, whowas on his way to war and it made the lunch room’s atmosphere feel like ice.

              “Youjerk.” Hunk said calmly before making his way towards the kid who had shot therubber bands at Keith. By now, the entire lunch room was deadly silent. Hunkhad never intervened before.

              Lanceand Pidge each held back a kid as Hunk made his way towards his target. By now,the kid was beginning to sweat and he scrambled to try and get out of his seat.However, Hunk easily caught him by the collar of his shirt before lifting himup into the air, so that his feet didn’t touch the ground. Hunk’s eyes narrowedand he brought the bully’s face right up to his own.

              “Youthink you can hurt Keith and get away with it?” He said, still in the calmvoice he always had. “Well, think again. Nobody hurts our friend.” With that,Hunk grabbed the kid’s shirt with two hands before dunking the kid into a nearby trashcan. Only when the kid was fullysubmerged in the trash and staring at Hunk with wide eyes did Hunk back awayand grab a hold of Keith’s hand. He led the other boy out of the cafeteria withthe rest of his lunch in hand.

              “Iexpect a new chocolate pudding for Keith tomorrow.” Hunk said over his shoulderand exited the lunchroom. Lance and Pidge followed, each pointing to their eyesand back at the bullies with two fingers and then back at their eyes, beforethey too left the lunchroom.

              No onenoticed the small smile on Keith’s lips.

x.V.x

              Shirohad been livid when he heard about what had happened. You can bet on it that hehad stormed into the school, furious and raging about the safety of childrenand zero tolerance for bullying. Needless to say, the next day Keith had several cups of pudding by his locker,his bully was suspended and his mouthdidn’t hurt as much anymore.

              Unfortunately,Hunk had gotten detention for throwing a kid in the trash can but Shiro hadslid the boy a ten for his work and thanked Hunk for what he did for Keith.Hunk’s smile was enough of thanks for Shiro.

              Keithsmiled, braces and all and thought: Maybethis won’t be too awful.