Chapter Text
It didn’t take Coran very long to realize that humans were very, very strange.
On one hand he was fascinated by them. Their physical structure was startlingly similar to Alteans, standing on two legs with similar joints, muscles, and internal organs.
On the other hand, there were some things that were just downright strange. Their skin was generally so soft and fragile, not quite as rough and strong as Altean skin. They had such hideous ears, and they couldn’t shapeshift, though that wasn’t common attribute amongst species anyway. They barely had any affinity for magic, they fought amongst themselves for the dumbest reasons, and they had teeth and organs they didn’t even need. What was with that?
Don’t even get him started on the fact that they regularly consumed things that would kill most other species that Coran knew of. It was quite frightful when they had come across the deadly diavois plant, to which Hunk happily exclaimed ‘carrots’ and took them for supper. It had nearly given him a heart attack.
He had seen the Paladins all do strange things, but this one was particularly odd.
Plachu had stolen his moustache moisturizer again (he knew the little rat liked it to keep his fur smooth), and he needed the cream before it got too dry and puffy. He had searched high and low for the little rodent, eventually settling on asking the Paladins if they had seen the beast.
Shiro was planning on the command deck (the effort was noble, but he really needed to take a break), Hunk was cooking, Pidge was building something, Lance was swimming, and Allura said that she was strategizing, but Coran knew that she was just styling her hair with the other mice. He would never call her out on it though, she deserved some time to just be a princess and act as silly as the other Paladins. In comparison to their life cycles, she was at the same stage as them, after all.
The last person that he checked with was Keith. The first place he searched while looking for the Red Paladin was the training deck, since the boy could often be found there. Coran was surprised to find the space empty, and a part of him hoped that Keith had actually taken their bit of down time to relax. He needed it as much as Shiro did.
He checked his room next, and was incredibly surprised by why he found. The Paladin was resting, curled up on his bed, inside of what looked to be a nest made from clothes, blankets, towels, and sheets.
He didn’t know that much about humans yet, but he did know enough to know that they didn’t usually sleep like this.
The Altean man took a step into the room when Keith’s eyes snapped open and a rather uncharacteristic, alarmed whine escaped his lips. Indigo eyes widened as he stared at Coran, looking rather horrified.
“Keith, are you alright?” Coran asked him, eyes pinching with concern. His eyes drifted along the pile and to the alarmed paladin. His normally pale skin was flushed, and there was sweat dripping down his face as he breathed oddly. Now that he was looking, Coran could tell that he was also in loose pyjamas, rather than the clothes he normally wore. “You look like you’re burning up! Let me check your temperature!”
Keith reared back as Coran tried to approach, a distressed yelp escaping his lips before he could stop it. There was a commotion in the hallway, and Shiro suddenly appeared at the door.
Dark grey eyes took one look at Keith before his expression softened. “Oh Keith.” The younger Paladin practically shrunk in front of them. “It’s okay. You stay there, and I’ll be back in a couple minutes. Did you get enough water? Food?”
“No,” he admitted, not making eye contact with either of them.
Shiro nodded his head and put a hand on Coran’s shoulder. “Come on.”
Coran was more than a little bit confused as Shiro guided him away. He glanced towards the Black Paladin and asked, “What is ailing Number Four?”
“It’s a human thing we never talked about, but we probably should have,” he admitted. “Don’t worry, he’s not sick or anything.”
That led to Coran’s introduction to the insane world of human dynamics.
The Paladins had explained human biology early on, since it could impact the settings of the healing pods depending on their biological sex. It ranged on a spectrum from male to intersex to female, though the intersex part had the biggest variety. Then he had been introduced to the concept of human genders. Again, on a spectrum that seemed to be based at first on biological sex, but there were also cultural concepts and personal preferences to consider.
It was truly mindboggling and fascinating for the old Altean, so finding out that there was a third related aspect of this really caught his interest.
Alpha. Beat. Omega. That was what Shiro said. Apparently the humans in charged loved categorizing things, and in this case, they categorized people based on their ability to produce offspring in its simplest form.
Nothing was simple with humans though. That was something that Coran had learned very early on.
“Betas are sterile, and actually make up most of the population,” Shiro explained. “Omegas are the ones that carry the pups – a term we use for babies – for nine months before giving birth, and are the rarest dynamic. Alphas are the ones that impregnate the omegas.”
“That doesn’t seem very conducive to keeping population levels up,” Coran noted. Having the largest part of your population being sterile sounded horrible, though it did lend to the notion of evolution and survival of the fittest. It still sounded dreadfully inconvenient though.
Shiro chuckled. “There are a lot of people on Earth. Actually, some theories say that a large part of the population became sterile because there were too many of us. I’m not sure if that’s true or not though, it wasn’t my area of study, and humanity lost a massive portion of its history and scientific advancements in the Dark Ages.” He shrugged.
“Ah.” Coran nodded his head. He wanted to ask how a species could lose part of their own history, but unfortunately, he had an idea of exactly how it had happened. “Forgive me, but what does this have to do with Keith.”
“Humans have a very strong sense of smell,” Shiro explained. He twisted around and tugged down his collar a bit, pointing at the back of his neck. “We have scent glands here that give off pheromones that we can smell. Everyone has a unique smell, and because our sense is so strong, we can pick up on emotional changes within other people. We can also smell who is an Alpha, Beta, or Omega.” He let go of his collar and turned around again.
Humans were truly fascinating. Coran absolutely loved to gain new knowledge. He might not have been able to use magic like some Alteans, but he had a near perfect memory for information like this. It ran in his family and made them highly valuable to the royal family.
Apparently there was a lot of social and cultural norms and stereotypes that built up around human dynamics more than any other aspect of humanity.
Alphas had strong, powerful scents that were almost spicy or musky, and their instincts made them more aggressive and confrontational at their worst. Most of the time though, this translated to good leadership abilities. They were the Pack Leaders, and tended to be bigger than the other dynamics.
Of course this didn’t always happen, since a person’s physicality came from genetics as well. Male alphas tended to be tall and built bigger, while female alphas are a bit shorter than them, but usually taller than male omegas, who were usually taller than female omegas. Betas could be anywhere, but of course, those were just generalities and sometimes didn’t apply at all.
Betas had a more subtle, stable scent that usually resembled natural things such as grass or rain. They were the workers, the helpers, the ones that could help calm Alphas when they became too aggressive to others, or when Omegas couldn’t take care of themselves and didn’t have a mate or familiar Alpha taking care of them.
Omegas usually smelled sweet. They were expected to be more soft and nurturing; to take care of their children and their mated Alpha. They were thought to be more vulnerable and weak. This stemmed from the fact that, once they presented as Omega, their bodies started going through a reproductive cycle. Once every three months they became highly fertile for a week – the only time that they could conceive. Due to this, their bodies put almost all of their energies into conceiving a pup (an affectionate nickname for human babies and children). They physically became weaker and much more vulnerable, often unable to leave their own nests or really able to take care of themselves at all.
“You should never touch an Omega’s nest, or the Omega in the nest, without permission,” Shiro explained. “Not only is their skin very sensitive anyway, but they tend to be anxious if forced out of their nests, and a bit fearful too. It’s purely their instincts. Nests are designed to be an area where they feel safe.”
Coran’s eyes went wide as everything fell together like a neat puzzle. “Oh dear. Keith is an Omega, isn’t he?” He had known that Keith was intersex due to his scans, but this was new information. “And I tried to touch him without warning in his nest.”
“That’s right.” Shiro agreed with a grimace. “I should have realized that this was going to happen at some point.” He ran his fingers across the bridge of his nose. “I can barely smell anything anymore. Only really powerful scents can get through, so I didn’t know his heat was coming.”
“Why didn’t any of the others mention it?” Coran wondered.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if some of them happened to have suppressants on them when we came into space. Most people carry emergency doses with them – it’s something I could see Hunk having. That’s medication that hide our scents, stop biological functions like heats and ruts, and dampens your sense of smell. The ones that the Garrison gave to their cadets was incredibly powerful. Pidge, Lance, and Hunk will probably have those in their systems for a while. I was off of them before I went into space, and Keith…well…his wore off a lot faster than anyone else I ever met.”
Coran nodded his head, going over the information again. “And what, may I ask, is a rut?”
Shrio grimace. “That happens with Alphas. Unlike Omegas, that have heats every three months, Alphas can go into a rut without warning. It’s usually because of an Omega’s pheromones, but it can also be because of chemical changes or their environments. If Lance, Hunk, or Pidge are Alphas, the suppressants wearing off – what we call a detox – will probably cause that. It’s not…a pleasant thing. Alphas tend to get very aggressive. On Earth, a lot of assholes use that as an excuse to…take advantage of Omegas. It’s different for everyone. It makes me glad I’ve never had to deal with it.”
That made the Altean frown as he glanced Shiro over. “Are you not an Alpha? You fit the description, and the other Paladins look to you as a leader.”
Shiro chuckled. “I’m the Black Paladin – the team leader – you know that, and I’m also the oldest. I’m actually a Beta.” Sometimes Betas became Pack Leaders, depending on their age, experience, and things like that. It just seemed that everyone fell in line with him without question.
During this explanation, Shiro had gone about filling and packing water packets, as well as the little containers they used for food goo rations for missions, piling them into a box. At Coran’s curious look, he said, “Omegas tend to go through a lot of…fluids during their heats.” Shiro made a strange face. “I’m going to put this in Keith’s room so he remembers to actually drink and eat.”
“Ah. May I accompany you? I’d like to offer my apologies!”
Shiro smiled softly and nodded his head. The two of them headed off towards Keith’s room, food and drink in hand.
Yes, humans were very weird, Coran concluded. They were also fascinating though, and he wouldn’t trade his group of humans for anything else.
…
Keith hated his heats, but he absolutely hated suppressants too. It was a vicious cycle of trying to figure out which one he preferred.
He understood why it was important for the government branch that was responsible for space exploration and security to keep their cadets in line. They didn’t want Alphas to fly into ruts at the scent of an Omega in heat, and they didn’t want Omegas to go into heat and be ‘useless’ for a week every three months. They didn’t want to have to deal with pregnant omegas and babies.
They gave all of their cadets very powerful suppressants, the best of the best. It didn’t matter if Betas had rather neutral, earthy smells and didn’t really react to the pheromones of others. They basically had to take them so that it put everyone on the playing field. No one knew what the other was unless they specifically told others. It wasn’t uncommon for alphas to brag.
Keith had never known why, but his body burned through suppressants twice as fast as anyone else. That hadn’t been on his mind at all when he left the Garrison, more worried about swiping what he could of other resources.
Detoxing wasn’t a pleasant experience. The Garrison normally provided them with emergency suppressants so that they wouldn’t have to experience it, but Keith was on his own in a shack in the desert. The detoxing had very quickly triggered his heat, and it had been one of the most miserable, painful experiences Keith had gone for in his then 18 years of life.
Keith hated the suppressants. He hated the detoxing. He hated the fact that he was an Omega. He hadn’t always though.
As a very young child, Keith had still been a little more reserved, but he had also been bright and happy. He loved coming home with projects that had smiley face stickers for his father, because it put a smile on the man’s face too.
He had loved his father. The man was always sad, missing the mother that had left them when Keith was only a baby. That had always bothered him, but he had his father, and that’s what mattered. He didn’t have a pack, but he had a family, even if it was a small one.
Until he suddenly didn’t.
Hurt and alone, old enough to understand the concept of death and knowing that his father wasn’t coming back, but young enough to not really understand why at the same time, Keith became withdrawn and hostile.
The first few families understood. He was given specifically to the ones that could deal with kids that had to deal with trauma and loss.
Somehow he even managed to be too much for them to deal with. Family after family, school after school, Keith learned very quickly that he didn’t belong. That he was weird. That he wasn’t wanted. He didn’t belong to a family or a pack.
Humans were creatures that, even if they were introverted, they still wanted to belong with others, and Keith was no exception. Experience taught him that trying to get close to others only ended up in pain and loss. There was only so much that he could take before he decided that it wasn’t worth it. Why make connections when he was just going to end up hurt because of it?
The end result was that he came across as cold and distant. He knew what people said about him in the Garrison. He was untouchable. He was powerful. Everyone assumed that he was an Alpha because what else could he possibly be?
Keith had known it was a possibility growing up, he was intersex, as all male omegas were. He still remembered being really young, and his father asking him if he was okay being a boy and not a girl (“We can call you Keitha instead, if you want.”), which he was. He had always identified as the male gender, though someone with the exact same set of organs as him may identify as female or something else.
Some people were disgusted by that. Keith was confused by this, because who honestly cared?
Keith wasn’t ashamed of being an Omega. There was nothing wrong with that dynamic, despite all the misinformation out there. There was nothing wrong with being able to have children. There was nothing wrong with smeller sweeter than some others.
There was everything wrong with him being an Omega though. It was a waste on him. He didn’t fit in with what omegas were supposed to be by a long shot. Caring? Kind? Sweet? Submissive? Keith was none of those things. It was one of the reasons he was okay with the suppressants so no one could judge him.
At the Garrison suppressants were a requirement for cadets, but officers could do as they pleased. After all, it was expected that Omegas give birth to at least one pup in their early 20s. The thought made Keith feel a little ill because he was in his early 20s. He was supposed to be looking for a mate, or have one already. He was supposed to start thinking about the fact that his real purpose was pushing another human out of his body.
Keith knew who he was, and it wasn’t that. So he kept that part of him to himself. Put the conversation out of sight and out of mind.
The only problem with that was the fact that Omegas craved having the scents from their pack-mates around them during their heats. The most important things were the scents of an Alpha, be it their mate, a parent, or a Pack Leader, but everything mattered. Very quickly, the Paladins were forming an over-all pack dynamic, even without knowing their personal dynamics.
A part of Keith was getting used to being in a pack. He didn’t want to let anyone else in, but somehow they were going it. From Pidge’s wit, to Hunk’s warmth, to Lance’s humour, all of the other humans were working their way into his life in a way he hadn’t let anyone else in years. Even Allura and Coran were a part of their pack, despite not having the human instincts for it, and were just as important to him.
It was stupid, really. He had gotten through heats alone before. There was no reason to think about it as they travelled through the universe fighting the Galra. After all, he had a couple of Shiro’s shirts to work into his nest every three months. He wasn’t an Alpha, but it was better than nothing.
Coran finding out about him the way he did was extremely embarrassing. It wasn’t because the Altean now knew that he was an Omega, but rather how he reacted. He hated the fact that he truly did act like a typical omega when he was in the midst of his heats.
He was usually able to pull through if Voltron was needed though, so there was that. In fact, prior to that incident, no one had noticed the fact that he had gone into heat before. He still piloted Red. He still tried to push through with training as much as he could, and when he couldn’t, now both Shiro and Coran had his back. So maybe it was a good thing that he knew.
It was a little sad, really, that no one else noticed the fact that he had disappeared for a week once every three months. Keith was pretty sure that Hunk had a supply of suppressants on him that he was probably sharing with Lance, which meant that their dynamic was the same since they were specific to each one. He wasn’t sure whether they were Alphas or Betas, but he was fairly certain that they weren’t Omegas.
If not the suppressants, no one noticed because he was, in fact, a loner. After the first few times of asking Keith to join them, no one really ever tried to look for him for anything that wasn’t Voltron related.
He hated the fact that he had made himself believe that they were just asking him to hang out due to pity, but the end result was that he was sure they didn’t really want him there, so he didn’t go hang out with them. Then he felt lonely and wished he had. Then after so long they gave up.
And they always did give up.
When a light, sweet, and almost innocent scent tinted the air, Keith took immediate notice. Though Allura and Coran had distinctive smells, it wasn’t either of them. Allura smelled like sweet flowers to the point where it was almost overwhelming, and, oddly enough, Coran kind of smelled like Cheetos. He wondered what Hunk and Lance would have to say about that when they could finally smell it again.
Keith knew the smell that had caught his attention. It was one that developed when teenage omegas were about to go into their first heat. They were normally clueless about their own scent shifting, but Keith had been in foster houses with Omegas younger than him before.
Confusion rushed through him, because that didn’t make sense. Shiro was a Beta. Lance and Hunk were on suppressants. The only other person it could have been was Pidge, but she was 17. Most people presented anywhere from 13 to 16.
“Oh,” Keith mumbled as his mind came to a conclusion. It was the only one that made any kind of sense, he just didn’t know what to do about it. 17 was a tad late to present, most people would have assumed they were a Beta by then, but it wasn’t unheard of.
He wasn’t quite sure what to do. Was he supposed to approach Pidge? Or was he supposed to wait for her? Then again, why would he go to her? He had tried to reach out to Lance, but was quickly spurned. He knew better than to really try again, no matter how attractive he found the other boy.
(Shut up Shiro, he had eyes and was allowed to think that someone else was really, really hot without having to do anything about it, thanks.)
Despite this, Keith wasn’t one to back down from a challenge, and this was more important than just his pride. So he set off in search of the scent. Maybe he should have got Shiro, he was a Beta, after all. It would have made sense. Instead, he just kept going.
The door to Pidge’s lab (an abandoned room that she had commandeered early on) was wide open, allowing him to peer inside. The Omega in him hissed at big at just how messy this was. It wasn’t suitable for a nest. Yeah, his shack had been a complete mess, and he wasn’t the neatest person in the world when he actually did get around to collecting things, but he did care when he thought others were going to see his surroundings. It was why his room and the Garrison had always been impeccable and his current room was down-right bare.
Yeah, a part of him really did care about appearances. Despite not wanting to be judged by Omega stereotypes, he attributed his desire to always look clean and presentable to the fact that he was an Omega.
“Pidge?” he called out, looking around cautiously. He felt like just tapping anything would cause it to blow up. Though cool, this wasn’t the right place for that.
“Back here!” she called out to him, and Keith headed towards the back of her lab. When he found her, he came to an abrupt halt, raising an eyebrow.
She had completely surrounded herself with wires, scraps of metal, tools, and all kinds of other strange things in almost a perfect circle. She took one look at his incredulous face and frowned. “What?”
Oh no. She was completely obvious. “Pidge. You can’t—you realize what you’re sitting in, right?”
“My lab?” she replied, not quite sure where he was going with this. Then again, she was probably surprised he had come to talk to her at all. It was a very un-Keith thing to do.
He had vowed as an unfortunate 13-year-old, whose heat had come too early in his opinion (it was still in the acceptable age range but still), that he would never allow another Omega to go through that alone. He was going to stick to that promise.
She sniffed the air suddenly, her expression changing. “Is that smell coming from you? I thought it was Allura. It’s really sweet. I mean, I always knew you smelled sweet, but it’s really strong right now. Are you going into heat or something?”
Keith blinked. “You know I’m an Omega?”
“Uh, yeah?” She raised an eyebrow. “It’s pretty obvious. You basically vanish for a week every three months – I double checked when I got suspicious – plus you smell almost like chocolate chip cookies. You’re also unfairly pretty for a guy.”
Well then. Keith wasn’t quite sure how to take that. It had known that Pidge wasn’t on suppressants since he could smell her, but he hadn’t thought that she’d really notice him.
Then again, he didn’t remember the last time he had hung out with Pidge one-on-one. Actually, he wasn’t sure he ever had. It made him feel guilty, because he could have picked up on what was happening earlier.
“You haven’t presented yet, have you?” Keith asked.
She stared up at him almost scandalized. “No. I’m a Beta. It was how I got through the Garrison as a short 18-year-old, male Beta named Pidge Gunderson. Put one of those scent-suppressing wraps around my neck just in case, and the rest was history.” She sounded so proud of herself, and honestly, Keith felt a little proud too.
“The smell that you’re catching,” he said, turning back to the first topic. “It’s not because of me. Well, I mean, it is me you’re smelling, but it’s not because my scent is stronger. It’s because your sense of smell is getting stronger.”
“I…guess that makes sense but why…” she trailed off, putting two and two together. “I’m presenting, aren’t I? Or I’m about to.” Her eyes went wide and she looked at Keith desperately. “What do I smell like?”
Guilt rushed through him, and he felt like he was delivering a death sentence. “Not a neutral, earthy thing like Betas are supposed to smell like.”
Pidge’s shoulders dropped at his implication. “Well, I’m not intersex, so I guess that means I smell like chocolate chip cookies too, don’t I?”
He sniffed the air and said, “More like cupcakes.”
“I like cookies more.” She suddenly looked down at the mess around her, mouth opening with surprise. “I’m sitting in a nest.”
“Not the right kind, but yeah.”
Pidge groaned and flopped back, grimacing as her back dug into the nuts and bolts behind her. “Fuck.”
Keith snorted. Now that was a sentiment he could get behind.
…
Pidge had always felt like she belonged with her family. Her parents and brother had always been there for her, even when she couldn’t connect to anyone else. That being said though, she didn’t really know much about the rest of her family. She knew that the majority of her family was from Italy, but she had never met them. It was just her, her brother, their parents, and their dog, Bae Bae.
She never felt like she belonged to a pack, just a family.
Being in space and having everyone accept her as a girl, even after she lied to them, made her feel differently.
Shiro was a bit of a myth to her. Matt and her father had gone on and on about him before, so she knew about him, but actually seeing him was something else. He was everything that Matt had gushed about, but at the same time, he had more chinks to him. Pidge understood that it was the PTSD, and it made sense, but Shiro was still an amazing leader and someone she felt she could turn to with her problems. It took her by surprise when she realized that he was a beta, since he seemed to be everything that a stereotypical alpha should be.
Hunk was someone she could easily relate to. He was always eager to help her build different contraptions, or to help her with whatever science project that she was pursuing. He was just so happy and generally warm to be around, but there was also a side to him that could be downright frightening if he wanted to be.
Lance reminded her a lot of Matt, her ridiculous beta brother who was a bigger nerd than she could ever hope to be. Being around Lance made her happy and sad. She wanted to get her brother back more and more, but she understood that the team, that the universe, was something she couldn’t walk away from.
Keith was a bit harder than the rest. He was distant, but at the same time, he wasn’t exactly cold. It was more like he just didn’t know how to interact with people, and, okay, she kind of understood that. His reaction to her trying to leave had genuinely startled her. She thought of everyone, he’d be the last to comment. Hadn’t he been kicked out of the Garrison?
Pidge didn’t know the story behind that, but she had heard many rumours. She also remembered seeing him at the Kerberos launch to see Shiro off, since the families had been invited. Now that she thought back, he had been the only one there for Shiro. She wondered what the story behind that was too.
The fact that he was the one to approach her about the fact that she was presenting as an Omega was a bit startling. It instantly endeared her towards him though, since he was so awkward about it. He could have pointed it out to Shiro, who could barely smell something right under his nose now, but he came himself.
Pidge liked to learn, and she especially liked getting information from a reliable resource. Shiro was great, but when it came to Omega things, who better to look to than another Omega.
“Pidge…what the hell?” He looked horrified at the state of her room.
“Don’t judge me.”
“How?” He ducked out of the way as she threw a pillow at him, an action she quickly regretted. She wanted that pillow back.
Keith picked It up and handed it back to her. “Right, so you sure that you’ll feel secure here?” He had told her to find a place where she would feel safe to make a nest in.
“Yeah.” Pidge nodded her head as she held the pillow close. She always felt comfortable in her room. Her stomach twisted with nausea. “Um…does it…you know…hurt?” He looked at her. “Going into heat?”
It honestly never really occurred to Pidge just how expressive Keith was. They all joked about him being the loner with two settings: rage and uncaring. Now that she was actually studying him closely and could catch his scents more clearly, she realized that his eyebrows were super expressive, his nose and mouth seemed to always twitch like they were about to move but he kept those parts of him under control, and his eyes almost screamed what he was actually thinking.
That was how Pidge instantly picked up on the guilt, even before the scent hit her. “Sorry.”
She groaned. “What are you apologizing for? It’s not your fault this is happening to me.”
“Actually, it could be,” Keith noted thoughtfully. “I mean, you were probably going to present sooner rather than later, but we’re in pretty close proximity and my last heat was pretty recent. It might have triggered the process.”
“Oh, well in that case, you’re the worst.” She blinked at the bit of hurt that crossed his face. “Not literally.” She cleared her throat. “So, um, it does hurt then? And do—is it true that an Omega’s…libido actually goes out of control. And I guess that means that I can’t be a Paladin for a week, right? Being a liability and all.”
Maybe Keith caught onto the fact that she was really nervous about this, because his scent instantly became soothing and calming, and nothing at all what she expected from him. She breathed in and closed her eyes, finding herself relaxing just slightly. She didn’t know that Omegas could do that.
“Who told you that?” he asked calmly.
She shrugged. “Omegas are weak during their heats, and basically out of their minds. We probably wouldn’t be able to form Voltron with me. Everyone knows that.”
“I’m going to punch the education system,” Keith decided, and Pidge got the distinct impression that he’d genuinely try if he could. The thought amused her greatly. “That’s a lie. It can suck, but you can hold yourself together. I do.”
“What?”
“Pidge.” He gave her an unimpressed look. “You know I’m an Omega. You know I’ve gone into heat up here. During the times I ‘disappeared’, we had incidences where we needed Voltron. Was I there?”
She opened her mouth before closing it again. “You were. I mean, you stayed in Red as support last time but…yeah.”
“Exactly,” Keith said with a stern nod. “Those stereotypes about personalities can go jump out of the airlock.” He grimaced. “Unfortunately, some of the well documented symptoms are true. I just…when I need to push through, I remind myself that the universe is more important than my anxiety about leaving my nest, or the weakness that comes with it. Red helps me out a lot too by taking more control when we fly. I’m sure Green would do the same for you.”
“Good lord, both of Voltron’s arms are Omegas. What are the odds?” She paused. “I’ve been feeling a bit nervous lately,” Pidge said, her mind rushing over things that she had overlooked. “I didn’t think much about it…”
“What about crampy?”
“Yeah, a bit. I thought I was just sitting hunched over for too long.”
He snorted at that, clearly amused. “That’s okay. Omegas don’t usually realize what’s going on at first until the heat hits them, or someone else catches it and helps them out.”
“So your mom caught it for you?”
“No.” Pidge caught onto the hesitation in his voice. He looked entirely too uncomfortable, and she was about to tell him that he didn’t have to say anything, but he kept going. “It was one of my temporary foster sisters; I wasn’t at her house for too long. It was one of those houses that had a rotating door of foster kids and she got used to realizing what presenting Omegas smelled like.”
Pidge’s mind reeled. Without actually coming out and saying ‘I’m a foster kid’, Keith had just told her that he was a foster kid. Honestly, it hadn’t occurred to her at all that he might not have parents at home. His shack was in the perfect place to research about Shiro (and Matt’s) disappearance, so she had just assumed that was it was, a place to crash and research. It wasn’t like Keith was a kid or anything, he didn’t need to live with his parents anymore, but not having any was a different story all together.
She also caught the implication that he had more than one foster home, and her heart squeezed at the thought. The foster system was notoriously terrible, and while some kids did end up is good places, many did not. Keith may have been a bit standoffish but he didn’t deserve to be moved from home to home. No one did.
The question was, was he moved from home to home because of his attitude, or did moving from home to home cause it?
“That was nice of her,” Pidge supplied, knowing that she had to say something, but didn’t want to bring attention to Keith’s status as a foster kid. Not yet at least.
The tension lifted from his shoulders, letting her know that she had made the right choice. “After that I kind of started helping other Omegas that were in group homes or other houses if they needed it. Sort of passing it on, you know? I got good at figuring it out.”
“Well, I’m glad, cause Shiro can’t smell shit and I wouldn’t have known until the heat hit me hard.”
“It’s going to hit you hard,” Keith confirmed, an apologetic expression once again crossing his features. “Before that, we should stock you up with food and water. And find some stuff around for you to make a nest with.”
Pidge thought about that. She knew that nests were typically formed with the items from a family or pack, or in the case of a mated Omega, usually things that their mate had scented. She didn’t have her family there, and she most definitely didn’t plan on getting a mate any time soon, so that left her pack. Lance and Hunk would be useless right now, their stuff didn’t smell like anything, so Keith and Shiro would have to do.
As if reading her thoughts, Keith said, “Coran and Allura will probably let you take something of theirs. Coran knows about Omegas, so I assume he told Allura. Their scents are pretty strong.” He narrowed his eyes. “Remember, you want soft things. Not metal.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Her gaze turned towards his red jacket. “Hey…I don’t suppose…?”
Keith chuckled lightly and slipped the jacket off of his shoulders, handing it to her. “If it’ll help, you can have it.”
She greedily took it from him, but then realized something. “What do you do? I’ve never noticed anything go missing. I mean…I don’t mean to assume you’d take anything from me but—“
“I’ve wanted to,” Keith admitted almost shyly, which was so un-Keith-like that she wanted to hug him. “I was alone in the desert for two heats though, so I got used to it just being me. Up here, I just usually swipe one of Shiro’s shirts – they may be tight on him but they’re huge. It helps a little bit.” Betas didn’t have very strong scents, but it was better than nothing. “I’m sure no one will protest if you need something though.”
That stopped Pidge for a moment. She frowned at the way he stressed ‘you’, as if he would be turned away. She didn’t like hearing her friend go through that frame of mind. “Well, everyone is right now is kind of useless, but it must be nice having your mate’s stuff around.”
Keith stared at her, clearly uncomprehending. “What?”
“Shiro? That’s what you guys are like, right? Omegas don’t need Alphas so there’s no shame…” She trailed off as Keith suddenly laughed loudly. She couldn’t recall a time that she had ever heard him cackle like he had heard the funniest thing in the world.
“Pidge,” he said when he finally caught his breath, voice still full of mirth, “Shiro’s like my brother.”
She raised an eyebrow. “You sure? You two are really close.”
“Positive,” he replied with a chuckle. “Seriously, the thought of him in that way is kind of…well… picture someone saying you and Matt were mates.”
Pidge was instantly disgusted by the idea. “Oh, ew. I’m sorry.”
Keith nodded. “There’s nothing wrong with Shiro, it’s just not like that for me.” He smiled a bit.
“Shiro reached out to mentor me – basically recruited me – to the Garrison. It meant a lot to me, you know? When you’re a little…orphan Japanese kid, seeing someone like you that has everything together is…inspiring…I guess?” He made a face. “Then people started accusing Shiro of favouring me just because we both have Japanese roots, which is bullshit. I mean, as far as I know my mom wasn’t Japanese, so that leaves me ¼ at best, whereas Shiro actually grew up in Japan.” He paused. “Sorry, that doesn’t help you right now.”
“No, it’s okay.” She shrugged. “I feel like I know nothing about you. I mean, I assumed that you were Japanese because your last name’s Kogane, though your first name’s English.” She shrugged.
“My middle name’s Akira, so there’s that,” Keith said with a shrug of his own. “I think that was the name he wanted to give me but…well…my mother apparently liked the name Keith a lot. Told me once when he was a bit tipsy.”
(It wasn’t until much, much later that Pidge would crack up over the fact that his Galra mother had decided to name him Keith, and he found out when his dad was drunk. Neither of them had a clue about that now though.)
“Lets be real though,” Keith added. “Even if my father wanted to name me Akira, my mom deserved to get final say. If I have to push a person out of me and there’s a name I really want, I’m damn well giving them that name no matter what anyone says.”
“Amen,” Pidge agreed.
He eyed her suddenly. “You did it again. We’re supposed to be talking about you, not me. How did you even—you know what, never mind. Don’t you want to get things settled before everyone else comes looking for you?” He crossed his arms in front of him.
Pidge snickered. “I’m not going to turn out getting intel on the mysterious Keith Akira Kogane. But yes, getting things would be a good idea. You’re my main source of intel now about being an Omega.”
“Better than textbooks written by Alphas that try to make us sound like perfect sex slaves or something,” Keith said bitterly. “Makes them feel entitled to try and do things to Omegas in their heat to ‘help them’.”
Pidge may have been young, but she had gone through health classes at school and had the talk with her parents. Plus, she was Matt’s younger sister, and that boy was an inappropriate internet meme if there ever was one. She knew what Keith meant. She also knew that it sounded incredibly non-consensual.
Nausea twisted inside of her as she thought of Keith alone in that shack for a year when the Garrison’s suppressants wore off. It was a topic that should disgust anyone, but from the sourness tinting his scent, and the way he said it, it sounded like he knew how alphas acted from personal experience. “Oh god…did anyone ever—I mean—sorry you don’t have to answer that.”
Keith looked away. “Lets just say that the towns close to my shack – and close to the Garrison – weren’t really great places to be when you were an Omega about to go into heat and needed supplies.” His fingers curled into fists.
Pidge was actually going to throw up. “Oh my god. Keith…”
Keith seemed to zone out for a moment before shaking his head and forcing himself to look nonchalant. “Don’t worry about it.” He caught her distressed look. “Nothing actually happened.”
Pidge frowned, hugging her legs to herself as she sat on her messy bed. “That happens to a lot of people like us, doesn’t it?”
“Too many,” Keith agreed grimly, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall by her door. “Alphas can control themselves though. There are just some assholes who try not to.” He eyed her thoughtfully, and Pidge could almost see the gears turning in his head. Whatever conclusion he came to he definitely didn’t like it. “Shit.”
“What’s shit?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Keith.”
“It’s just…detoxing can be a big problem with Alphas. I have no idea what dynamic Lance and Hunk are, and I don’t know when their suppressants will wear out, but be ready for it. Do you know what their dynamics are?”
“I wasn’t…I was their team mate at the Garrison, but honestly, I never really bothered getting to know them,” Pidge admitted. “Like, I knew them, but I was too busy looking for proof that my dad and Matt were still alive to really care. You know?”
“I get it.” He nodded. “Right, so…um…well first thing you need to know. Omegas aren’t completely helpless all the time. It really depends on your environment. Lets say you have an Alpha, you have a nest, you have an entire pack, and you’re in a completely safe environment. You’re probably going to be pretty out of it. In a place like this though? Where we can be attacked at any time, where so many people are depending on us?” He shook his head. “Yes, you’ll probably be out of it and weak, but you have the ability to pull yourself out of that easier. I just kept a simple, clear goal in my mind, did what I needed to do, and high-tailed it back to my nest before the adrenaline wore off.”
Now that Pidge thought back, he had definitely disappeared after the battles during his heat pretty quickly. “What else?”
“There are no Alphas here right now, so it’s not a problem, but it’s a stereotype that Omegas will just throw themselves at anyone. Yeah, sure, we’re more drawn towards Alphas, but personalities, sexualities, and the environment you grew up in kind of impacts that, ya know? For instance, I’ve always like the scents of male Alphas, and the scents of female ones are kind of…gross I guess? At least for me. You’re lucky enough to smell a bit on the young side, so that would probably make any alphas disinterested. I mean, messed up pedophiles aside.” Keith grimaced at that. “Young Omegas tend to make Alphas go into protective mode – just like family does.”
“Good,” Pidge said vehemently. “I have no desire to mate with anyone. No offense to anyone else here.” Despite health classes, it wasn’t something that she had ever really thought about. Maybe when she was older she would take the time to think about what she really wanted in regards to that aspect of her life, even if she was only three years shy of when she was expected to find a mate, but for now, she just wanted to get through this so that she could get back on track with finding her family and saving the universe.
The important things.
“Okay, so there are a lot of assumptions that are wrong. I can roll with that.” She nodded her head as if agreeing with her own words. “What about physical symptoms? You hinting at pain and cramping but…I don’t care if you’re a little more graphic. I can deal with that too. I’d rather be prepared.”
Pidge almost laughed at how uncomfortable Keith suddenly looked. “I’m not asking for a sex talk; I know how that works. I mean the other things.” A small, sadistic part of her wanted to act clueless about that to see how Keith would react. She was really getting the impression that he wasn’t nearly as composed as he pretended to be.
He cleared his throat. “What did I mention already? Anxiety? Fear? Weakness? Um…oh, you’ll be exhausted. It’s not even funny how tired you’ll be. You’ll be pretty thirsty, but not very hungry. It’s why you feel hungrier beforehand. You can sort of store up some energy beforehand, but you have to force yourself to eat a little bit – oddly enough the food goo really helps on this cause it’s so light. If you can’t, one of us will come and get you to do it. That’s another thing, you’re really likely to just…listen to anyone you genuinely trust.”
“Huh,” she spoke up before he could keep going. “So that’s why people in relationships talk about what’s okay during a heat beforehand.”
“That’s right,” Keith agreed. “Omegas literally can’t properly give consent for anything, relationship or not. Alphas will be drawn towards them, and if they go into a rut – brief or not – the odds of the Omega agreeing to whatever they want is pretty high.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Consent is important.”
She nodded her head at how seriously he spoke. “Anything else?”
“Oh, right, we talked about the cramping, right? And, uh…” He trailed off, looking rather embarrassed. “Everything down there that isn’t your – you know – vagina kind of hurts.”
Pidge snorted loudly. “Of course it does. Wouldn’t want an Omega resorting to anal instead, right?” She laughed again at Keith’s horrified expression. “What? I’ve seen things on the internet that would make your skin crawl!”
“But you’re like a fetus!”
She burst into laughter. “I can’t believe you just said that!”
He groaned and hid his face in his hands. “Stupid Lance.”
That’s right. Lance had said that before. A sly smile spread across her lips. “Lance, huh?”
Keith looked at her suspiciously. “What about him?”
“I’m just saying, if someone was inclined to like the male gender, he’s not bad looking, right?” To get a reaction, she wiggled her eyebrows. Keith groaned, trying to hide his pink cheeks. She’d call this one a victory. “Anyway, yeah. The internet is deep, and dark, and creepy, and I’ve seen things that would scare even you.”
“I…don’t doubt that,” he conceded, apparently glad to get back on topic. She’d have to push about the Lance thing again in the future. “Right, um…oh! Obviously it’s called a heat so that means that you’re going to feel really, really hot, and your skin gets super sensitive. That’s why it’s important to find the right things for a nest.” He gave her a pointed look. “Not wire and robot pieces.”
“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
“Never,” he agreed.
“Of course not.” She blinked at him. “So how hot are we talking here? I remember being able to feel the heat radiating off of my mom when I was little.”
“Yeah, it gets bad. And the first few times are the worst in that way.”
“How bad we talking?”
“Your organs hate you, and you’re burning from the inside out bad?”
“Excellent,” Pidge remarked sarcastically, flopping back onto her bed dramatically. She eyed him before asking, “What now?”
Keith tilted his head slightly, and honestly, it was kind of adorable. How had she thought of him as only a stoic, hard ass? He was so painfully awkward, struggling through it because he clearly just wanted to help.
She liked this Keith. She decided that she’d keep him.
“Pilfer everyone’s stuff to find you things you want to make your nest with?” he suggested with a shrug.
She jumped off of her bed in excitement, pulling his red jacket on over her arms. It was comforting. “Let’s not tell them. It’ll drive Lance insane when he can’t find his stuff.” She couldn’t stop herself from bouncing on the spot. “I need his lion slippers.”
“You have green lion slippers,” Keith pointed out, a smile slowly spreading across his face.
“Yeah, but I want his. It’ll drive him nuts, and he won’t be allowed in my room. It’s my space.” Wow, okay, apparently she was embracing this Omega stuff, because the thought of Lance in her space genuinely bothered her more than it would have a week ago.
Keith snorted and shook his head as they started walking down the hall. “Alright. I’ll distract him somehow and you run in and grab what you want.”
“Somehow,” Pidge muttered, unable to hide her amusement. Her smile only grew when she got his inquisitive expression. “Just flirt with him.”
“I—I don’t—“
“Please. Like I haven’t seen the looks you give him.” She playfully gagged. “Disgusting.” Pidge hoped that she wasn’t pushing the teasing too much, she didn’t want this more open Keith to clam up again.
He huffed. “Fine, you win. He’s attractive. So what? Ascetically, Shiro is too but I don’t think that about him. And Hunk is hot too.”
She laughed. “Okay, yes, I get it. All the men in the castle are hot. Though you didn’t mention Coran.”
“Was there any need?”
“Coran, Coran the gorgeous man,” she sang before shaking her head. “Point made. You didn’t complain about them forgetting a bonding moment though.” Instantly, Pidge knew that she had said the wrong thing, since Keith’s face fell. She started to apologize, but Keith beat her to it.
“I—I’m not sure that…well…” He shifted awkwardly. “I don’t really…get people. I don’t really get the whole rivalry thing? I just thought that…maybe we could move beyond that?” He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.”
Pidge actually winced. That made so much sense. Keith had reached a hand out in apparently the only way he knew how (when Lance was basically unconscious apparently), and he had been seemingly rejected.
Pidge frowned and said, “Well, Lance is dumb and we’re going to raid his room, but honestly, I think that if you did actually try to flirt with him, it’d be probably break his brain.”
“I’ve tried,” Keith blurted out, causing Pidge to laugh loudly.
She patted his hand. “Just so you know, Lance loves cookies so he’s going to be all over you once he can smell again.”
“Pidge!”
She cackled and hurried down the hall.
Despite the fact that she was steadily heading towards her first heat ever, because she was presenting as an omega, she found herself happier than anything else. Yeah, she knew from listening to others that heats sucked, but she also had a pretty good bonding moment with the team member that she knew the least about.
Pidge was going to make sure Keith knew she wasn’t about to forget this.