A #sheith #surpriseAU

ABO ll Mpreg ll NSFW?

He's been feeling weird since they first arrived at the Castle of Lions. Keith chalks it up to homesickness or maybe some sort of gravity sickness and thinks little of it until it becomes too much to ignore.

Dizziness is not conducive to training and when he makes a few too many minor errors in his blows and deflects, Coran gently urges him to rest for the remainder of the day. There are a number of childish protests from the others, but Coran ignores them and shoos Keith off.

He would prefer not to go, but Shiro shoots him a soft look, wordlessly encouraging him to take Coran's advice. And so he goes, with no small bit of annoyance. A year alone in the barren desert has taught him to get occupied and stay occupied, but he is outnumbered.

Keith trudges to the kitchen first, grabbing a snack and some water in the hopes that he is simply dehydrated or hungry and a simple meal will set him straight. Slurping down three packets of water does nothing for his nausea or dizziness though, nor does a plate of food.

Defeated, Keith surrenders to the call for rest. The others need him and if taking some pills and a nap will get him back on his feet and to the training deck, he'll put aside his usual habits of pushing himself, illness be damned.

Peeling his jacket off is a bigger relief than Keith expected and reeling from that high, he decides to shuck off the rest of his clothing and indulge in a steaming shower while there's enough hot water to enjoy such a pleasure. It's a simple joy he hasn't experience in some time

God knows there isn't typically any hot water left after the other paladins bathe at night--certain ones taking longer than others. Even Shiro takes longer in the shower than expected, but he forgives Shiro, knowing the man went over a year without the luxury of hot bath water.

Still, Keith is happy to have more than just lukewarm water cascading down his back. He shivers and keens in pleasure as the near-scalding water caresses his skin and eases his aching muscles. He moans; he had missed this. He stands for nearly 10 minutes, soaking in the spray.

The moist air helps clear his head and, even though his stomach is still roiling and his balance isn't great, he feels better. His relief is amplified as he washes his hair and scrubs his body, lathery suds sliding down every inch of skin he can reach.

A particularly harsh cramp in his guy makes Keith wince and double over. Whatever bug he has, it's getting worse quickly and he is eager to squash it quickly. Stealing another minute beneath the water, he sighs and thinks about the baths he would take in the desert lake on earth.

His stomach is insistent that he lay down though, so he turned the shower off and quickly toweled dry before wobbling to his bed, nude. Why climb back into his sweaty clothes or put on something else to sweat in? Sleeping cocooned by blankets sounded fine to him.

The fog was returning to Keith's head when he laid down, noting how the room spun worryingly. Coran was right, he needed to rest. Just a nap. Whatever illness he had caught, he would stomp it out then and there. He shut his eyes on a wave of nausea and let exhaustion take him.

How long he slept, Keith did not know. His dreams had been odd, punctuated by long periods of pain and crying before falling into black nothingness. He woke at some point he thought, but his memories were murky and he was not certain.

The pain was real though.

Shaking the last dregs of sleep from his sluggish mind, Keith sat up, immediately curling in on himself as searing pain ripped from his abdomen to his chest. His body was on fire and he choked on a silent scream, throwing his body back down onto the cot.

Tears gathered at the corner of Keith's eyes as he struggled to breath, dragging in ragged breaths of air as his limbs trembled violently.

He had been injured in his sleep, Keith thought frantically, throwing his blanket aside to assess what damage had been done.

There had been severe damage. He swallowed thickly, observing a pool of blood on his sheets and a great mass staining his legs, from thigh to calves.

Immediately, he thought of Shiro. He needed help, he needed Shiro.

Keith slammed his palm on the communicator.

"Shiro! Help!"

The droid battle ended in a fury of quick glowing strikes that the other paladins barely registered before Shiro was sprinting from the room. The remains of the bot lay scattered at their feet, savagely torn apart in a display of desperation they had not before seen in Shiro.

"Oh my." Coran exclaimed, though he was not looking at the decimated droid. He stared hard at the door where Shiro had disappeared. "Uhm, recess, paladins. I--Shiro and I will nvestigate the distress call."

"Distress call?" Pidge echoed, but Coran had already hastily departed.

The door burst open without warning and Shiro skidded into the room, gasping on air he had not been able to properly suck into his lungs.

He saw the blood first, smeared across Keith's nude body and spilled all over his sheets.

Then he saw baby, tiny, wet, and covered in fur.

Shiro stood rooted to the spot in the doorway, mouth hanging agape as his brain attempted to process the scene. He heard the screaming child and Keith's stuttering breathes, but he could not move, shocked as he was. It was not until Coran pushed passed him that he found his feet.

"Come! quickly!" Coran commanded, wrapping a discarded towel around Keith's bare body.

The infant, so small and fragile, screamed at the jostling. The cry pierced Shiro's heart and he surged forward, gathering Keith in his arms, baby pressed safely to the omega's chest.

Shiro did not think Keith knew what was happening; the young man looked dazed, eyes darting here and there frantically, even as he clutched the babe to his heart.

Had Keith known? He had to have known, Shiro thought. But if Keith had known he was pregnant, he would have said so.

A mad dash saw them to a medical bay that Shiro had yet to visit, with a score of machines he shied away from on sight. Coran ran towards a bed, patting it enthusiastically.

"Put him here! Hurry! The baby needs to be incubated!"

Shiro nodded, words stuck in his throat.

He laid Keith onto the bed with great tenderness and care. The omega's eyes looked up to him, wide, frightened, pleading for reassurance from his alpha.

Shiro forced a watery smile. "It's alright. You're alright."

But Keith was not concerned about himself. "The baby..."

Shiro looked down at the small lump of fur huddled against Keith's chest. He could not say that the infant would be alright. It looked as large as a football at best, sporting scrawny limbs and bright pink skin peeking from between patches of fur.

Could a child born so prematurely survive? He wasn't even going to try wrapping his head around WHY the baby had fur. That woke too many questions and worrisome possibilities. What had been done to his omega while he hadn't been there to protect Keith? And by whom?

Coran saved Shiro from having to answer, scuttling over and collecting the baby in a plush blanket. The loss of the child brought a surge of tears to Keith's eyes and he choked on a sob, watching in horror as the child was taken from him and set into a secure incubator.

The cries of an omega mother weighed heavily on both men and Coran hastily wheeled the incubator closer.

"Now, now, no tears! He's fine, see? We'll just run a few tests to see how strong he is and make sure he gets everything he needs. He's safe, see? He won't leave your side."

Bless Coran, Shiro thought, taking a deep breath.

Keith's tears stopped almost immediately when the baby was brought closer, back where he could see the infant and watch over him. He pressed a hand to the glass of the incubator, trying to process that that baby was HIS.

After much cajoling, Coran convinced Keith that he needed to rest. He would be there, the Altean reassured, to watch over the baby. Had Keith not been so thoroughly exhausted, Coran had no doubt the paladin would have argued more. Luckily, Keith accepted the offered sedative.

Sleep came crashing down on Keith and he was asleep within minutes, curled on his side to face the incubator. It was a relief for Coran, knowing he had to clean both Keith and the baby and run a number of tests for their well being. It would be a long night.

His eyes slid to Shiro, standing idly by Keith's bedside, gaze constantly alternating between Keith and the baby.

Coran cleared his throat loudly, gaining the man's attention. "Shiro, I understand you are Keith's closest friend, but, ah, you should not be here. No alphas."

Shiro's shoulders sank. No alphas about...and he wasn't the father. At least, not that anyone else knew. HE knew though. The moment he heard that baby cry, his inner alpha had roared with the need to protect his cub. He could still feel that raging need to protect mate and cub.

Secrecy was essential though. No one could know of what he shared with Keith. It was dangerous knowledge that could be used against them.

As much as he hated it, Shiro turned and left, his heart clenching painfully at having to turn his back on his mate and cub.

He would return though, Shiro vowed. In fact, he wouldn't leave the hall. The medical bay door closed behind him and he moved but four paces, leaning heavily against the wall and waiting. When Keith woke, he would ask for Shiro and Shiro intended on being right there.