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dammitadolfnomorecake · 3 years

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Once Bitten, Twice Stupid prt 207 prt 1

207

Lotor was still a sack of shit. Keith managed to get him pinned, then the arsehole had pierced his side with his nails, fangs bared and irritation in his eyes as he stared down at Keith. The pain causing him to shift back, Lotor finding it amusing in causing him to yield, but he’d get him back. Dragging himself to the showers, the amount of blood running down the drain was alarming. Keith really wasn’t used to these kinds of wounds not being fatal. It was tiresome to have to spar in cheap shorts because the moment he shifted his clothes were ruined. Lance had taken him op-shopping. Proud that he was getting the hand of letting the shift happen. Keith didn’t think he was getting the hand of it. He only seemed to be able to shift when he was training... and then it’d taken days to be able to do it again after his first wilful shift... that he didn’t remember.

Leaving the shower, still bleeding, Keith nearly had a heart attack at Krolia sitting on the bench in front of his locker. His mother were a concerned look, that took a long moment for Keith to work out. A hot shower on top of blood loss was a silly idea. Instead of feeling clean, he felt faint

“Mum?”

Lifting the first aid kit beside her, his mother was creeping him out with her concern

“I thought you could use some help with your wounds”

“Oh... uh, they’ll heal”

Krolia sounded almost disappointed in him as she pointed to the spot next to her. He wasn’t getting out of this

“Humour me”

Be fussed over by his mother was different to being fussed over by Shiro or Lance. Lance kissed his wounds, before he cleaned them up and told him he was proud that Keith was making progress, even if he hated seeing him coming home bleeding. Shiro went to fretting and wondering if he needed stitches. Krolia went to the alcohol wipes that made him yip

“Sit still you big baby”

“Stop poking at them. They’ll heal”

“You’re very lucky you’re a wolf. You’d be dead if you were still human”

Rolling his eyes, he knew that. He knew that a hundred times over. The fact his body healed was so damn weird

“Tell me something I don’t know”

Dropping the wipe she’d been assaulting his right hand side with, his mother pulled him into a hug that left him still. He didn’t move to return the hug, nor did it feel like a nice loving hug... No. This was the kind of hug he’d gotten from Lance after his accident. The “I’m worried about you” hug that made his heart race

“Mum?”

“I want you to stop training with Lotor”

She what now? Blinking half a dozen times, Keith wrinkled his brow

“Mum, you know I’m okay...”

“I know, but I can’t stand it. I’ve been watching your training sessions with him... Keith, it scares me. I don’t want that kind of violence for you”

“We’re training...”

“You’re fine the way you are. I know you’re a skilled hunter, but every time I see you covered in blood, it hurts. I know it hurts Lance too. He called me in tears the first time it happened. He’s very proud of you, and he’d never tell you not to train. I’m very proud of you. But I think you need to take a break for a little while. You can go on patrol with Shiro, just... please... I know you heal, but I’m scared you’ll go too far”

Keith was shaking. He’d worked his arse off for this. He had yet to actually beat Lotor, but he was getting to know how his wolf. He was getting to be less scared about what he was now. Now Lance was having secret conversations with Krolia, while telling him to his face he was proud of him... and his mother was telling him not to fight? She’d fought every day of her life in more ways than one...

“I don’t get it”

He simply didn’t. He was strong. He was fast. The wounds healed. And his ego agreed with him. They could do this

“Keith... I overstepped. Just... I want you to be careful. You’re my son. I am so proud of you”

Why did it feel like there was a “but” to that?

“But?”

“I know I was never a good mother. I guess seeing your father again reminded me of a time when I didn’t have to fight... Let me finish cleaning you up”

“Mum, I’m okay. Training with Lotor is helping. It means I’ll actually know my limits in the field and be able to protect Shiro and Curtis”

“But who’s going to protect you?”

He didn’t have an answer for that. His ego said he didn’t need protecting. That they were better than those humans. The thought upsetting him as soon as it crossed his mind. Shiro was his brother. His pack. He has his back more times than Keith had hot dinners. Maybe... maybe he was getting too cocky? Maybe... he was being mean and didn’t know it? He and Lance hadn’t been very intimate since he’d started training with Lotor... Was Lance thinking he didn’t want to touch him?

“Keith?”

“I’ll think about it. You don’t have to worry about dressing the wounds. Lance will take care of it at home”

He wanted to go home to his fiancé and talk this out. He thought Lance had been proud of him. Not running to his mother because he couldn’t face him. Lance said he understood Keith’s fatigue... He’d said he was proud... Honestly, Lance not being honest upset him far more than Krolia telling him to stop

“About that. Yeah, Lance isn’t at home right now. I picked him up earlier and now he’s with Curtis and Shiro”

Had he fucked up? Why wasn’t Lance at home

“What do you mean he’s not at home?!”

“You don’t need to yell. Rieva was a little worried about him, and I wanted to borrow him anyway. He’s fine. Rieva couldn’t very well to his future mother-in-law needing to borrow him, not when I said I’d bring him to Platt”

“Mum!”

Rieva was Lance’s babysitter. He’d lapsed back into barely being able to keep his eyes open again. The female werewolf was sure labour would be coming on soon, Lance cut her down by saying he was exhausted from her and her birthing plan. Keith was exhausted from hearing about the birthing plan... and he wasn’t the one doing any of the hard work. Frankly she was slightly scary

“Again with yelling!”

“You can’t go stealing Lance”

“I didn’t steal him. Anyway, he’s safe. I needed to borrow him for the afternoon, actually, I needed to borrow both of you. Preferably for the night according to Matt”

Matt couldn’t go kicking them out their own home. Frankly Keith had enough to deal with. He wanted to hurry up and buy Lance the engagement ring already, but the engagement ring had to be the right ring. It had to match his plans for his replica of Mami’s ring. Lance never mentioned it, but he’d noticed that his fiancé had had a sad look on his face as he looked at Rieva’s new bling. They still hadn’t told anyone... and for Keith, the novelty had started wearing off. He wanted to scream and shout they were engaged... but until he got a ring for Lance, they’d only cop judgment from their friends.

“He can go fuck himself”

Three werewolves were not meant to live together when they were all worried over Lance. Matt had ever started trying to feed Lance, sacrificing his precious food to Lance who only felt worse and worse each time he did

“Don’t be like that. He’s planning Lance’s surprise baby shower. Pidge is in charge of the entertainment and drinks. Hunk and Shay are doing the catering. Rieva is decorating, and Matt is providing the muscles. Allura and Coran are going to drive down in the morning. Thankfully I had a valid reason for needing the both of you, so it all worked out rather nicely”

“Do I get to know what this reason is?”

“I think it’s better I show you rather than simply tell you”

His mother was enjoying this. Keith huffing at her in annoyance. Now his talk with Lance would have to wait, and his stupid ego would be all bent out of shape as it did. He really missed being a human.

Krolia sprung another surprise on him. He’d thought his mother had her own apartment in a seperate part of the city. Not her own apartment a floor below where Shiro’s apartment was. Confused at why they’d gotten off a floor early, the only thing that kept him huffing about it was subtle traces of Lance’s scent in the hallway. Lead down to one of the anonymous doors, Krolia took delight in opening it

“Welcome to my apartment!”

The place was decorated the same as theirs. The same primary colours, accented with black and white. Her sofa was black, instead of red, but for the most part it was disorientatingly similar. Sitting on the sofa, Lance was asleep against next to Curtis who had his arms around the vampire’s shoulder

“Hey, Keith. Come on in. Lance’s been out for about half an hour now, and Shiro’s upstairs”

Curtis’s familiarity with the apartment annoyed Keith. As Krolia’s son, he didn’t understand how he was the last to know she lived right below him. He didn’t want to deal with her shit

“Fuck this. I’m going to get my bike”

As he turned, Krolia sidestepped. Grabbing him by the wrist, he was propelled into her apartment and the door closed behind the pair of them. The look in his mother’s eyes told him he had to stay, no matter how he might feel about it

“Thanks, Curtis. I’ve got it from here”

“No worries. You know, you could have told us you actually lived her”

Kroli shrugged, smug as she did

“I would have, but none of you thought to ask”

Why did he keep letting Krolia do this to? He’d never understand her sense of humour

“Mum, you... why do you do this to me?”

“I’ve got 20 years of mum jokes to make up for. I can, and will, have this. Can I get something you something to drink?”

“Can it be alcoholic?”

Something strong. Something that burned on the way down. Something that’d make him forget his weirdo mother’s excess of weirdness and soothe his annoyance with the situation. Krolia laughed far too hard

“Keith, you my son, are a funny one. Go save Curtis from Lance and I’ll whip up something up to go with our drinks”

Taking Lance from Curtis, Lance barely stirred. Slurring his name, he smiled at Keith as if he hadn’t seen him in years, not a few hours. Snuggling into him, the vampire sighed in content. Lance wouldn’t lie to him, Krolia had to have misunderstood. Stretching, Curtis shot them both a smile. Keith not matching it as his lover smelt too much like everyone else

“He’s had some blood from a bag. He felt a bit warm earlier, so I don’t know if he’s coming down with a fever, or if he’s just super tired. One moment we were discussing our show, and the next he’d fallen asleep”

“He does that. Thanks for watching over him”

“It’s fine. He seems a bit stressed about what’s happening at home. When you’re done here, come on up. I’m going to grab some blood bags before I go home”

“Thanks. That’d be handy. How big is the party going to be?”

“Not that big. Pidge has been warned against loud noises. Hunk was having a nervous breakdown over the cake, but I think he’s got that sorted now”

“As long as he doesn’t go overboard”

“With three werewolves to feed, I don’t think even Hunk can over cater. I’ll give you our gift when you come up”

“Nah, save it until tomorrow. Lance will get suspicious if you’re suddenly giving us gifts”

“Provided he can stay awake long enough. Is he okay to be sleeping?”

“Yeah. From what we can tell it’s a pregnancy thing. I’ll keep an eye on him and call Coran if he does develop a fever”

“Okay, then I’m off. I’ll see you tomorrow, Krolia!”

“See ya, Curtis!”

Left alone with Lance in his mother’s den, Keith stroked his fiancé’s hair. Fresh blood would help perk Lance back up, but his mother seemed uncomfortable when he fed him, plus he’d kind of lost a fair bit thanks to Lotor. He could imagine Coran in there scraping his blood off the training room floor for testing, the werewolf’s nose wrinkling at the thought of it all. Lance could have told him if he’d acted out, or if his ego had been being mean to him. He could have told him if he was scared of who, or what, Keith was becoming. He’d nearly given up, then Lance had encouraged him to keep going... Maybe it was a hormone thing? Like when Lance had cried over the puppy in a TV commercial the other day...

Attempting to be civilised, his mother brought him out of his thoughts by placing down a serving tray with two coffees, a tea, and an unopened packet of biscuits. Squeezing herself onto the sofa, Krolia slung her arm over Keith’s shoulder

“This is nice, isn’t it?”

“That you’ve been hiding you’ve been living here? Or that I’ve got no idea what’s going on?”

He and Shiro might be hopeless decorators, but they’d managed to make the apartment feel like theirs. Krolia’s apartment lacked all the personal touches he’s become used to... plus there was a disturbing lack of fur over everything

“Both. Both is good. Now, I know I’ve ruined your plans, but I’ve got something to show you”

“It better be good. Lance should be sleeping in a proper bed”

“You can put him in mine, if you want”

“Lance is fine right here with his Keith”

Poking Lance in the side, Keith kissed Lance’s hair as he did. Mumbling Lance was a sleepy Lance

“You’re supposed to be sleeping”

“I am... can’t you tell?”

“Oh, yes, babe. 10 out of 10, best sleeper”

“I feel sick... you smell like blood”

Lance must have felt too sick to praise him for his monster dick. Thank god they weren’t having that conversation in his mother’s apartment

“Lotor got me again”

Lance huffed, nosing into Keith’s chest right near where Lotor had got him in the left side with his thumb nail

“He sucks... get it, because he’s a vampire and a wanker”

“I get it. Do you want to wake up for me? Or do you want to sleep some more?”

“Cuddles and awake”

“Okay. You going to sit up?”

“Nope. Sorry for interrupting you”

“You’re fine, babe. Mum was about to cut the crap and tell me what she wanted to show me”

“Oooh... I wanna see. Can I see?”

Krolia tried to crane past him to see Lance, Keith shifting slightly to angle his back more towards her as a barrier between the pair of them

“I thought it best that you were to see it with Keith. Are we ready?”

“Yes, please”

“Hiiiiiiii, Keith. Hey, mummy’s big boy... Hello my love. Joe, he looks just like you. Look at him. He’s got your frown. Aw, Keith. It’s okay. Daddy isn’t very scary. No, he’s not”

“Krolia, I think you’re scaring him with the camera”

“You shouldn’t have let me buy it if you didn’t want me using it”

As his father laughed, baby him let out an unhappy cry. His father rushing to hush him as Krolia’s laugh crackled.

Bundled in his father’s arms on screen, Keith had to keep blinking away the tears in his eyes. His dad. His dad was there... The camera footage was old and grainy. He looked thoroughly unamused at Krolia poking the camera so close, but... it was him. Him and his dad. His dad...

“H-how...?”

“After Lance had cleaned I managed to find these in Joe’s closet. They were down the bottom in a box without any labels. I didn’t know what was on there until I dropped the tapes in to be put on DVD... You always hated having a camera anywhere near you when you were a baby”

“Dad...”

“They could only recover footage from two of the tapes. I kept the lot, in case one day they find some way to pull the videos off... You were such cute baby. You never liked having your nappy changed. The moment the cloth touched your balls, you’d scream and scream as if I was trying to murder you”

“You would too if someone was putting a cold cloth on your balls. I didn’t know you and dad had a camera”

“It was a gift. Nothing fancy and certainly not new... I’d forgotten about it. I didn’t see it at the house, so I’ve got not idea what happened it to. Things weren’t like they are now. We didn’t have video cameras in our palms”

He and Lance agreed to keep photos of the twins off social media. Lance had seen a really messed up case during his last time through university. How the law failed parents who posted photos of their children online where they could be seen by less than desirable people. The thought revolted him

“How old was I?”

“I’d say you’re about a month or two. You got a lot more photogenic as you got older. The other video is when you’re 4”

The first video was only 5 minutes long. A really silly video of his dad trying to settle him while Krolia laughed at all his fussing.

“Keith. Hey, Keith, what are you doing?”

Younger him gave the camera a toothy grin, missing his front two. He was so small. His eyes as purple as ever

“You came off your bike and knocked them out. Joe rushed you to the doctor. You were more concerned with not being able to have homemade lemonade than about losing your teeth”

“Keith, I’m talking to you”

Young Keith was as done with Krolia’s crap as he was. Holding his purple hippo, he was twisting himself back and forth, showing off for the camera as he whined directly at the lens

“Mum, I’m waiting for dad!”

“You’re waiting for daddy? But he’s at work”

“I know he’s at work. I’m not dumb”

Huffing, young him pouted, stomped his foot and crossed his arms.

Lance snorted at him, his hand squeezing Keith’s gently

“You haven’t changed one bit. You’re so adorable”

“Wasn’t he? He loved that hippo so much...”

“Guys, I’m trying to watch the video”

He didn’t want to watch himself, but he did hope his dad would be in it. Having been warned, Lance and Krolia shut up.

“I didn’t say you were. You can do just about anything, and I think you should take me on a tour of our house so I can show daddy later”

Young him huffed again

“That’s dumb. Dad knows where everything is, mum. He’s not like you”

He was a vicious little shit

“You’re really mean to me. Don’t you love, mummy?”

“Not when she’s asking stupid questions...”

Oh god. Keith’s cheeks were flaming with embarrassment. Krolia laughing on the video

“Okay. Okay. Mummy obviously doesn’t know best. Why don’t you do a dance and I’ll film you?”

To his horror, young him shook himself out and danced on the spot. Lance laughing at his “dancing”. Finishing, he stared up at the camera, when Krolia didn’t say anything, he did it again. Parents shouldn’t be allowed cameras

“That’s my boy. Are you sure you don’t want to show me around?”

Pushing his finger to his cheek, he twisted it on the spot as if he was thinking “seriously”

“Are you going to get lost if I don’t?”

“I might”

Sigh dramatically, young him rolled his eyes heavily

“Fine, but you’ve got to remember this stuff, mum. I can’t remember everything for you all of the time. It’s too much”

Young him took them on a tour of their home. Bragging about his dad being a firefighter who rode in a huge truck. His favourite toy being his hippo, but he also loved his toy cars and had kicked a hole in the wall of his room when he’d been put in a time out. He sounded like the spawn of Satan. He definitely had far too much sass for a four year old. Krolia repeatedly scolded for her questions, laughing at him every time he got cranky with her. Seeing the house lived in, he could see the love. His things were everywhere. His “art” pinned to the fridge. Krolia slipping on his discarded skateboard, swearing loudly as she caught herself, young him happy to parrot the bad word then question why it was a bad word if mummy was saying it.

As young Keith concluded his tour, the door to the shack opened. Krolia forgotten

“Daddy!”

Rushing to his dad, the camera was placed down, the video slipping sideways as his father scooped him up.

Keith’s heart ached. His dad was everything he’d hoped he’d be. Everything he’d said he was as he passed from home to home. Yet he barely remembered him. The sound of his voice filled with so much longing to reach through the screen and hug his dad.

“Hey, kiddo! Did you have fun with mummy today?”

“Mum said “Fuck””

Young him giggled at the word as his father huffed

“I’m not surprised. Hey, hun. I see his fever went down, he’s still a bit a warm”

Krolia entered the video, his father wrapping his arm around her and kissing her on the top of her head

“Yeah. You wouldn’t have known he sick last night”

His father hiked him up on his hip, kissing Keith’s forehead

“He takes after you. Don’t you, kiddo?”

“I wanna be like daddy. Mummy is weird”

His father laughed, Krolia moving away from them

“She might be, but if you keep saying that you’re going to make her cranky”

“She’s scary when she’s mad...”

“I can still hear both of you. I think this means no dessert for either of you tonight”

Krolia moved back to the camera, the last shot was of him throwing up on his dad and bursting into tears.

A long moment passed into two. Lance grunting as he wiggled himself forward on the sofa

“Babe?”

#oncebittentwicestupid #once bitten twice stupid #ashratherose

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