Growing Pains (A Voltron Legendary Defender Fan Fiction)

Chapter 3

"Hey Keith, it's time for breakfast!" Hunk glanced down at his watch. They had all sat down to breakfast a few minutes ago, but Keith was missing so he went to check on him. But now he wasn't answering. Could something be wrong? "Keith, buddy? You okay in there?" again, no answer. Hunk bit his lip, "Look, I hate to invade your privacy or anything like that, but I need to make sure you're alright. So, I'm coming in 5... 4... 3... 2... put some clothes on if you're not decent..."

Hunk slowly opened the door and peaked his head in with his hand over his eyes. "Keith?" he slowly peaked through his fingers and was pleased to see that everything still appeared to be in its place. However, that relief quickly vanished when he looked over at Keith's bed.

To put it bluntly, Keith looked terrible. His hair was matted down to his forehead with sweat, he had bags under his eyes, and he wouldn't stop shaking. "Hey man, you, okay?"

Keith peeked one eye open and winced at the bright lights. "Do I... look... okay?" he groaned weakly.

Hunk gave him a sheepish smile, "Yeah okay, stupid question on my part, you're right. But hey, if you're coherent enough to be snarky, then that probably means that you're not dying. Right? You're not dying, are you? What doesn't feel good?"

"m... migraine..." he mumbled.

"Oh ok..." Keith would have to thank Hunk later for thinking to lower his voice. "I'll ask Coran if Alteans have any kind of medicine for migraines. In the meantime, can I get you anything? Water? Juice? I could make you some soup if you wanted."

"Jus'... w... water..." Hunk picked up the glass on his nightstand and went over to the adjoining bathroom to fill it up. He also brought back a wet washcloth to lay on his forehead, which felt heavenly. "Th...anks..."

"No problem, buddy." Hunk gently pats his shoulder. "I'll go check with Coran on that medicine, and will be back to check on you in a bit. I'll tell everyone that you're not feeling well, and try to keep that out of your hair. You just try to relax and let me know if there's anything you need." With that, Hunk made his way out the door, leaving Keith in silence.

He had no idea what was going on with him. When he woke up this morning, he had felt absolutely terrible. He thought his head was going to explode from all the pounding. At first, he had thought that maybe it was something he had eaten. He had gotten food poisoning a couple times when growing up, and he had felt kind of like this. But that didn't make sense, all he had been eating for the last several weeks was food goo, and he hadn't had a problem with it before.

Maybe it was stress. Any time they made a call to the Blades he was afraid that Kolivan would accidentally let it slip and the team would find out what he really was. That thought had been weighing on him a lot lately.

Another wave of pain racked his body. It also didn't help that his ears wouldn't stop ringing. Whatever this was, Keith hated every second of it.

Hunk came back to check on him a couple times, along with everyone else on the ship. It turns out that Alteans did have a remedy for migraines. With his not being Altean, it could only help so much but it at least helped him get the strength to be able to move around a little bit.

Once his friends had left him for the night, with promises of coming back to check on him in the morning, Keith decided that what he really wanted was a shower. Laying in bed with a fever all day left him feeling like he was covered in a layer of grime.

He stepped into the bathroom, slowly removing his clothes, trying not to make his headache worse. As the warm water fell down his skin, he let out a sigh of relief. This made him feel so much better. The migraine soon began to ebb away, and he picked up the bar of soap to begin washing himself.

Once he felt like all the dirt and sweat had been wiped away, he began his usual hair ritual. While Lance may frequently make fun of him for his "mullet" (It's not a mullet!) he rather likes his hair and tries to take care of it when he can. This meant shampooing and conditioning every other day.

As he massaged the soap into his scalp, he was finally able to think clearly again. If he had known all he needed was a warm shower to feel better, he would have taken one hours ago!

He relaxed for a few more moments before deciding that he was getting tired and should probably head to bed soon. He turned off the water, and stepped out, proceeding to dry himself off with a towel.

Once he was dry, he focused on his hair again. He took the towel and began to fluff his hair dry. However, that's when hot noticed something strange. He took a step towards the mirror and tucked a strand of hair behind his ears. Only, they didn't look like his ears anymore. Now, they were pointed... 

(A/N - hey guys. thanks for reading! When I say Vol, you say...)