Get out of my Head

Chapter 2

Shiro winced as Allura poked through his skin a fourteenth time with the thin needle. She pulled the thread through the hole and tied it off at the ends.

"Sorry about that." She apologized. "We haven't had very strong numbing medicines on hand lately."

"It's fine." Shiro murmured. Allura nodded and stepped around the metal operating table. She prodded at a reddish-purple area on Shiro's shoulder and pierced it with the needle. Pus aggressively seeped out of the minute hole- threatening to split the skin- and dripped down his cybernetic arm.

"That was an older wound..." Shiro muttered. "I wasn't able to clean it very well..." He paused and looked away from Allura, suddenly ashamed he wasn't able to keep a wound clean.

"It's fine." She replied. "No one's perfect. Besides, I've had my fair share of infected wounds over the years, and let me tell ya', I was an adventurous kid. At least when my parents weren't-" Shiro gave Allura a confused look.

"Right. I should... Yeah." Allura looked back down and used a scalpel to cut deeper into the wound then squeezed more pus out of Shiro's shoulder. He winced and bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't make a sound.

"Are there any other infected wounds you might have?" Allura asked, rubbing peroxide on the infected wound. Shiro violently inhaled through his nose as he heard and felt the fizzing as the bacteria poisoning his wound were killed. His eyes started watering and he tasted blood as he bit through the inner flesh of his cheek.

"Are you okay?" Allura asked. "You look like you just got smacked in the face with a wall of rancid urine." Shiro shook his head and nodded. He spat (spat or spit?) out a mouthful of saliva and blood, along with a small chunk of flesh he bit out of the inside of his mouth.

"Jesus!" Allura jumped. "Why did you mutilate your mouth?!" She screeched. Shiro stabbed the wound in his cheek with his tongue and winced. He dug through the wound and scraped away the flimsy dead tissue around the edges. He stopped when there was a gaping hole within his cheek. He contemplated swallowing the tissue and blood but he knew what consequences would follow. Shiro coughed and spit out the dead tissue and blood. Allura widened her eyes and took a step back.

"What the hell was that?!" Shiro heard a voice he didn't recognize, yell from across the room. He turned and saw a tall man with light purple skin and white hair. He heard someone in the opposite corner of the room heave and lose their lunch. Wait. What time was it? That didn't matter. They were sick in the corner. The stench wafted over to Shiro and he nearly dry heaved. He put a hand over his mouth and nose and turned away from them, eyes watering.

"You should see a doctor." He choked out.

"He did yesterday," Allura said, walking over to Hunk. The tall purple man walked over and eyed Shiro.

"Who is he?" He asked Allura.

"He's someone who knew Kuro as a child." She responded, walking back over to them.

"Is that what you're calling him?" Shiro asked, raising an eyebrow. Allura nodded.

"We only just recently found out his name was Takashi." She said. Shiro nodded.

"It fits." He muttered. Lotor looked between the two.

"Is there something going on between you two I don't know about?" He asked. Shiro looked at Lotor with a confused expression.

"What? No! I don't know her and I'm gay." He said. Lotor blinked at him repeatedly.

"Don't touch anyone here, got it?" He snapped.

"I said I was gay, not a pedophile." Shiro spat, a look of disgust crossing his face.

"Better not be," Lotor growled.
"Is this a threat?" Shiro snarled, his canines getting slightly longer and sharper.

"Guys! Stop!" Allura said getting between them. Shiro looked back to Allura and felt his teeth get shorter. They remained sharp as needles though. Shiro shot Lotor a glare and looked back at Allura, calming himself down. He knew from past experiences what could happen if he got overly upset about one person. It had cost them their life. But Shiro didn't want to do that here, and certainly not to someone as infuriating as Lotor in front of someone as kind as Allura. He was mentally torn as his inner turmoil infuriated him even more. He inhaled deeply and let it go, attempting to regain his composure. He rolled up his left pant leg, revealing part of a broken blade sticking out of his calf. The skin across his leg from the blade was fractured and poking through the skin, threatening to split it open.

"There is this." He muttered. Allura widened her eyes.

"Is that what caused your limp?" She asked. Shiro inclined his head.

"I'd appreciate it if you got it out." He sighed. Allura nodded and went to get some proper tools. She came back a few minutes later with tweezers, pliers, and a larger scalpel. Shiro looked away and focused his attention on a certain chipped tile on the opposite wall. Allura gently pressed against the flesh of his leg with the scalpel and made an incision about two inches deep and an inch long. Shiro inhaled sharply and let it out in the form of a shaky breath. His eyes started watering and he shook his head.

"Look I know it hurts but I already told you we don't have good numbing medicine," Allura said, her voice sounding concerned. Shiro shook his head and nodded.

"I know." He said quietly, his voice breaking. Allura looked up for a second, her expression sympathetic.

"Don't bite into your cheek again okay? It didn't end well last time." She muttered. Shiro nodded and inhaled deeply. Allura set the scalpel down and grabbed the pliers.

"This is going to hurt. A lot." She said and gripped the broken blade with the pliers. Shiro nodded again and held his breath. Allura tightened her grip on the pliers and yanked with all her might, ripping the broken blade out of Shiro's calf. Shiro swore.

"I thought you said you were a doctor!?" He cried out. Allura looked down and nodded.

"I know." She said quietly. She picked through the large gash in Shiro's leg with the tweezers and pulled out any smaller pieces of metal or dirt. Then she got the peroxide. Shiro shook his head and Allura nodded. Shiro swore a second time- this was a different swear word- and looked away again.

"Not the pain juice," Shiro murmured. Allura nodded.

"I have to clean the wound. It'll get infected like your shoulder." She said.

"I'm fine with that." He grumbled.

"No, you're not," Allura replied. "This will be worse and it needs stitches." Shiro pouted for a second and looked away again. Allura got out some cotton swabs then looked between the wound oozing with blood and the bottle of peroxide. She sighed and just poured the peroxide directly on the gash in Shiro's leg. Shiro whimpered quietly as he felt the sting of peroxide on his wound. Allura shook her head and grabbed Shiro's leg. She flicked her wrist and snapped the bone back in place.

Shiro didn't know what a wolf actually sounded like, but he was sure it sounded something along the lines of his deep guttural howl. Allura blinked at him.

"Jesus!" She yelped and jumped back. Shiro blinked repeatedly, his vision going blurry. He swayed and nearly fell over. Lotor caught him- not because he wanted to, Allura pushed him- and set his head down gently on the operating table. His breathing shallowed and his vision went dark.