a keith-centric #sheith pride thread. Uh... #transkeith, lots of top surgery stuff, sfw...

?? I'm just winging it here, friends

Keith wants top surgery before he even knows it’s a /thing/. When he does find out it’s a thing, he makes it a focused goal to save up for it and get it done as soon as possible.

He’s incredibly fucking lucky and finds out that there’s a surgeon that isn’t even too far from him and that the guy is downright charitable. Six grand instead of like ten.

Six grand Keith can do.

He works. He saves. He works harder. Everything extra goes into his fund. It’s a no-frills life, but he’s a no-frills kind of guy anyway.

When he’s got enough that he’s comfortable with booking a consultation, he has to spend several minutes hyperventilating both before and after. It’s something he wants so damn much and he’s so damn close.

It’s crushing to find out that he needs someone to take him home after the surgery. That takes a friend, and trust, and he has precious little of both of those.

It ends up coming out anyway, when he approaches his boss with the fact that he has to take off work for six weeks. Kolivan eyes him and wants to know why, and all Keith can say is that it’s for surgery.

Somehow it ends with one of his coworkers, Regris, offering to be his ride--and even fucking stay overnight after? It’s wild (and ends up being a good thing because Keith maybe ends up bleeding altogether too much and needing to go back in and--)

He’s back at work six weeks later, and he honestly doesn’t even hurt much at all. He got pinhole, because at least he was small to begin with, and everything heals up almost scarily well. Maybe cause the surgery (two surgeries) were so much trouble.

He can’t bring himself to be shirtless outside his apartment though. He can’t. He’ll look at himself in the mirror and smile and, like, flex maybe. And he’s never been one for selfies but suddenly he /is/, huh look at that, but…

Regris talks him into going to pride that year. And… it’s amazing?

A little too loud and colorful, but it’s a good kind of loud and colorful. People are milling about and happy and /proud/ and even maybe flaunting and there are /definitely/ plenty of people walking around with not that much on--

Keith’s eyes catch an incredibly beautiful man wearing very, very little.

He’s tall and /built/, like actual body of a greek god, with snow white hair, what looks to be a beautifully made prosthetic, stupidly tiny red shorts, and a harness for what are big, white wings that match his hair.

He’s with another person, also shirtless, but wearing leggings--as well as the pansexual flag like a cape. They're talking together, the man with the wings smiling wide and wow

wow he is so beautiful.

Regris follows Keith’s sightline and then smirks at him. “See something you like?”

Keith mumbles at him to shut up and they continue to walk around.

It’s hot though. There are a lot of people packed in together, and it’s a hot day on top of that, and it just seems like everyone else is happily shedding clothes.

Even Regris ends up shrugging and tugging off his shirt, slinging it over his shoulder. He gets wolf-whistles for it, and he grins and winks, nudging Keith.

Keith’s face flames and he plucks at his tank top. It’s so, so weird to know that he /can/ be shirtless if he wants to. Not even here, but anywhere /else/. It’s not public indecency or whatever (which is stupid it’s all STUPID but)

When in Rome, right? It’s not like he’ll even be noticed. It’s the best way to do it, maybe. Just one face lost in the crowd. Or…. chest lost in the crowd.

He squares his shoulders and then tugs off his tank. Quick, like ripping off a band-aid. There’s a whistle from right behind him and he spins to glare a Regris. “Seriously, don’t--!”

It’s not Regris. It’s the winged Adonis. Who is now staring at him. He’s staring.

He’s staring at him and Keith’s not fucking wearing a shirt.

Keith spins right back around, clenching his teeth on what aren’t tears, and bolts.

***

At least it’s easy to get lost in a crowd. He ends up with his back pressed up to a building, tank top back on and feeling more like shamewear than any binder he’s ever had.

Keith slides to the ground and curls his arms around his knees, trying to stay out of the way. His phone buzzes in his pocket. Probably Regris. They had driven in together to save on parking.

He has half a mind to tell Regris to just leave him to suffer. No reason why one of them shouldn’t be able to enjoy the festivities. Keith can uber home.

Someone runs past him, and Keith glimpses bright white sneakers and bare legs as he shoves his hand into his pocket to pull out his phone.

“Um. Hey.”

Keith blinks at the legs. They’ve turned around and stopped right in front of him. He scowls, not really in the mood for some random person asking if he’s okay or whatever--and looks up.

and up.

and up.

and oh shit.

Thick muscular legs lead to equally nice thighs, lead to tiny red shorts and a healthy expanse of bare, muscled chest. Keith swallows and it’s almost stupid how the guy and his big fucking wings are haloed by the sun. He looks like an actual angel.

An angel who stared at Keith thunderstruck when Keith tried to be bare-chested too.

Right.

“What,” Keith gets out, torn between furious and hideous embarrassment.

Adonis looks from side to side, then squats down on the pavement, his hands--one flesh, one shiny metal, Keith wonders if it’s reacted to being out in the hot sun all day--coming to rest on his knees. “I just wanted to say hi,” he says breathlessly.

Keith eyes him warily. “Hi.”

“I’m sorry about before. I didn’t mean--I mean I /did/ mean--I…” he rubs the back of his neck, then holds out his right hand. His smile is as unfair as the rest of him. “Hi? I’m Shiro.”

There was an apology in there, fine, but Keith only reaches for the handshake because he’s curious as to the temperature of the prosthetic. It’s almost pleasantly cool, and it’s startling. It gets his guard down. “Uh, yeah. Hi.”

“I whistled at you,” Shiro says in a rush.

“I noticed.” Keith is back to scowling.

Shiro’s eyes widen, hands coming up to wave frantically. “No! No, no, I--I wanted to apologize.”

Keith doesn’t really want to talk to Shiro anymore, no matter how handsome he is. “Fine. Okay. Apology accepted.”

“I… I didn’t even do the apologizing yet,” Shiro says.

“I accept it in advance.” /Go away./

“Oh,” Shiro says. If Keith didn’t know better, he’d say describe Shiro as “crestfallen.” But more likely it’s that Keith stole Shiro’s thunder.

“Right,” Shiro says, squaring his shoulders. “Well… okay. Thank you. And I’m sorry again. I didn’t meant to get carried away with--”

He gestures then, vaguely and at Keith’s everything, and Keith’s lips pull back into a snarl before he can help it. “It’s fucking pride. I thought it was supposed to be fucking inclusive.”

Shiro gapes, dumbfounded. “What? I mean yes! It is! What?”

“Keith!” Regris pounds up to them. Keith isn’t sure how he was spotted, what with Shiro’s wings but maybe that’s /why/ he was spotted. “Thank fuck. Are you okay?”

He stops, probably takes in Keith’s sullen expression, and then glares at Shiro. “Is he bothering you?”

Shiro, once again, holds up his hands. “Sorry! I wasn’t trying to--”

“God, you apologize a lot,” Keith mutters.

Shiro looks pained. “Sorry.”

Despite himself, Keith snorts. Cause it’s ridiculous. He’s gotten more apologies out of Shiro in five minutes than he has from most people in fifteen years.

He heaves a sigh. “Look, it’s… whatever. I get it. Not everyone wants to see this.”

 He gestures at his chest. The scars aren’t huge, but they’re /there/ and, well. Keith’s been on T since he could legally get it but he’s always gonna have doubts.

Reactions like Shiro’s' don’t help.

Shiro is looking at him, clearly bewildered. “Not want to…? I wanted to apologize for being inappropriate.”

Keith opens his mouth to snap something about how they’ve already gotten that over with, when Shiro continues.

“You’re just--you’re like the hottest guy I’ve ever seen?” Shiro rubs a hand over his short hair, bicep bulging, and now it’s Keith’s turn to stare. “And I swear I didn't mean anything by it. Whistling and staring and…”

“I just--I wanted to apologize and explain maybe and make sure you didn’t have a bad experience at pride cause I was stupid.” He clears his throat. “So sorry. Again. And now I’ll, uh, I’ll leave you and your boyfriend alone.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Keith--and Regris--say at the same time. When Keith looks up at Regris, he’s met with a shit-eating grin.

Regris continues talking. Still grinning. “Keith’s a good friend and a great guy, but we aren’t dating. He’s single.”

“Regris!” Keith hisses, face flaming. He’s still reeling from the “hottest guy I’ve ever seen” comment.

“Oh,” Shiro says faintly. He clears his throat. “Not that there’s anything wrong with being single. I mean, I am. Not--I’m not NOT looking to date, I’m just. Unattached. At this time.”

“Uh, okay,” Keith says. He tries to wordlessly ask Regris for help, because this is territory Keith has never navigated before.

He’s 73% positive Shiro might be into him and at least 96% positive that Shiro knows he’s a boy (hottest guy I’ve ever--), but he doesn’t know what to do with any of this information.

Regris raises his eyebrows and does that facial expression he makes when he’s all, /I got this/. He turns to Shiro. “What was your name?”

Shiro straightens out his shoulders a little, looking up up up. Regris is tall enough already, but Shiro is still squatting on the ground in front of Keith. “I’m Shiro.”

“Hi Shiro. Regris. You’ve met Keith. This is his first pride.”

“Oh?” Shiro asks. Then his eyes widen. “Oh!” and he grins, brilliant and blinding. “Hey, welcome! I’m uh…. I’m sorry to have been a bad experience.”

“It’s fine,” Keith mumbles. He doesn't really want to think about it anymore.

Regris plops down on the ground too, in one fluid motion. He gives Shiro a despairing look. “Right, well, yes. It seems like you maybe know your way around...?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been coming to pride for years,” Shiro says easily. “Since I was a teenager.” He laughs and it’s fucking melodic.

“Since before I came out to my parents, actually. My mom suggested I go to pride to ‘experience the diversity it had’ which I later understood to mean she knew her son was really, really gay and wanted to be suportive.”

“Oh,” Keith says, because what else do you say to a near-perfect stranger who just told you a story like that? “That was… really cool of her.”

“Yeah,” Shiro says. “I was really lucky.” He says it in the way of someone who understands that not everyone is lucky.

Keith fists his shirt in his tank top.

“Anyway, uh, yeah--if you guys want a guide or something? It’s the least I can do. I know a lot of people running around, around here, and I could take you to some of the best stalls. Oh--Have you been to any of the food trucks yet?”

Keith shakes his head. Shiro grins at him. “My favorite serves this awesome baked mac and cheese. I could take you both by?”

It’s an offer, and one that seems genuine. Keith glances at Regris, who gives him an obvious thumbs-up. He turns back to Shiro, who cocks his head, looking almost eager. “Sure, I guess. Why not.”