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Keith is so glad Shiro’s Blades are staying with them now. He doesn’t know what he would do if he found out about being half-Galra with no one else on the ship who shares that blood. Of course Shiro has been as understanding as anyone all-human can be, and the rest of the Paladins have been pretty cool about it, but finally being able to just… relax, is something he will never be able to explain. Keith has a reputation as a guy who hates to be touched, but he really doesn’t. Keith loves to be touched, and to touch, it just hasn’t been safe.
First there was the foster home where the dad’s hugs got too long and too close and really really weird until there had been that tense meeting with the social worker. And then there had been the group home, where Keith had gotten his first Reputation, and there had been Trouble. And another tense meeting with the social worker, and a bunch of therapy sessions and a lot more questions about those weird hugs. He’s fine with it, now. It got him transferred to the group home and by extension the school he was in when he met Shiro, and that’s worth just about anything.
By then he had known better, and it had sunk in that he wasn’t supposed to want so many hugs anymore, and that he definitely wasn’t supposed to suck someone’s dick just because he liked them. There were all these rules about it, and people assumed things when you did, and even though it had been years since the first time Keith was apparently still too young, despite being horny all the time. All of this forms a large part of how Keith ended up so cranky and hands-off about everything. The only way to win was not to play, even though sometimes he feels like his skin is crying out, and like he’s going to find out if there’s some kind of horniness equivalent for starving to death.
Now, though. Now he has Blades giving him big hugs at every chance, lifting him off his feet and nuzzling his cheek which is somewhere between cozy and horny and he just never wants any of it to stop. He knows his sense of smell isn’t as good as theirs, but he can still catch their specific Galra scents, and they comfort a part of him he didn’t even realize needed it. It’s so good to spar with them, too. They’re fast and strong, and just… light in a way that finally challenges him. They knock him on his ass more times than not, and after all this time being able to take even Shiro down, he loves it.
It’s pretty much teaching matches with the older Galra, who have all been kicking ass so much longer than he has been alive, but going up against Regris is a little closer to even. (Going up against Hepta is basically a teaching match in the other direction, and wow, he’s lucky he’s cute.) Regris is probably like, fifty or something, but he’s still young enough to get overexcited and make mistakes, and to laugh about them, tumbling on the mat with Keith in a ridiculous tangle.
Of course, Keith can’t help getting a little too into it, sometimes. Well, by human standards. Someone finally beats Shiro for being the coolest about random workout boners. The Galra don’t even seem to notice, which Keith knows can’t be true at all. It’s nice and easy, though, not tense at all. Something so good can’t last, and Keith of all people should know that, but it’s still a surprise when he leaves one of these sessions with his pulse pounding in his cock and Regris follows him to the showers. Apparently those weird sonic de-con showers are standard in space, but the Castle has enough purified water in reserve to have a freakin’ pool, so they have real showers as the good Lord intended. Regris does love real showers, but he uses the one he’s used to, aboard the Blade ship. No, there’s no actual reason for him to shadow Keith, except for that one.
It’s kind of nervewracking, because Regris doesn’t actually say anything. He just stands there and watches as Keith strips to the waist. Down to his leggings and a towel looped around his neck, he turns to Regris. “Did you need something?” he asks, more snappish than he wants to.
Regris cocks his head quizzically, otherwise unreadable in his mask. He wears it most of the time, regardless. Ulaz says it’s partially due to emotional abuse early in life for his Delaxian features, but mostly because his eyes are very sensitive. His tail swishes a little, like a curious cat. “I was wondering if you might like to mate with me.”
And it’s perfectly polite, and honestly, Keith shouldn’t get mad, but he hears himself snapping, “I don’t do that anymore,” before he can think of anything else. Regris just stands there, staring at him and smelling so confused that Keith feels the anger receding. He sighs. “I… sorry. Humans are… yeah. I did it because I wanted to and then everyone treated me like I was disgusting and like they didn’t even have to ask anymore, and… yeah.”
Regris makes that weird, clicking hiss that he only does when he’s really angry. “I have heard of such cultures,” he says. “I am sorry. I would tear their throats out for you if I could.”
Keith chuckles, tense muscles easing a little. “I… thanks, Regris.” He smiles slightly, and goes to the nearest weird Altean shower head, feeling Regris watching him. He slides out of his leggings, and Regris lets out an appreciative buzzing trill that Keith has heard him make for some of the others in his caste. Keith can feel himself blushing, and switches on the water.
“I just thought you might be lonely,” Regris says softly. “May I join you?”
Keith looks over his shoulder at him, heart beating faster. “Please,” he says softly.
Regris curls his tail the way he does when he’s happy (Thace calls it the Delaxian smile, and Keith has to agree that it’s cute as hell) and quickly shucks out of his clothes, dematerializing his mask for good measure. It’s still kind of a trip that he has three eyes, and that his mouth is like that, but it’s cute, too. He comes up besides Keith, tail swinging from side to side in a bouncy, happy way that Keith hasn’t seen before. There’s a slit opening low on his smooth belly, and Keith stares at the two delicate, blue-green tips that seem to be trying to wriggle their way out.
“I know how it is,” Regris says, coming up beside him and switching on that shower as well, letting out another buzz-trill on top of a pleased groan when the water hits him. “It’s hard, being a hybrid.”
“Y-yeah,” Keith says. “I, uh… what are yours like? I’m mostly like a Galra, but smooth, and small, and I don’t sheathe all the way.” It kind of hurts his pride, but it’s true, human dicks are proportionately smaller than Galra.
“I’m more Delaxian,” Regris says, what looks like two tentacle-dicks slowly coiling their way out of him like some form of undersea life. It feels like it should be more off-putting than it is. “Totally different breeding instincts,” Regris says. “It was really confusing, at first.” Keith knows that Regris’s eyes are up here, all three of them, but he just cannot look away from those tentacles, almost translucent, looking slick and gelid. Jesus, they’re huge. Like soda cans at the base, and longer than his forearm.
“Wh-what are they like?”
“Amplexus-based, but I can put these inside you, if you want. I like that.”
“Fuck,” Keith whimpers, reaching out and gently squeezing one. It wraps around his wrist and gently squeezes back, soft and squishy and awesome. “Y-yeah,” he says softly, eyes wide, “I think I’d like that, too.”