so, i figured out how to fit chubby!keith into my ongoing sheith fic
need to figure out how much keith weighs right now
he’s already softer than his former usual because he’s been depressed and skipping the gym for a few… months… yeah, and his appetite has been doing the, “you either want to eat everything or nothing, there is no middle ground” depression thing — but between allura and hunk (and sometimes rolo and nyma, his quirky neighbors), he’s been getting fed decently
need to figure out how much he’s going to weigh eventually
slightly related: need to figure out how much shiro weighs aside from, “more than keith currently but he’s six inches taller so that makes sense” and, “more than he did when keith lost him the first time, but back then, shiro was dangerously unhealthy for several reasons, so shiro having put weight back on is a good thing”
this isn’t entirely necessary but i’m tempted by the idea of keith weighing more than shiro eventually (though probably not more than shiro’s twin brother ryou, who is the cute chubby twin with the season 4 haircut vs. lean, toned long-haired punk guitarist takashi)
equally tempted by the idea of shiro bridal carrying keith even after keith weighs more than he does
need to figure out the eventual ratio of soft chub to muscle chub going on here, because i feel like keith’s going to have a bit of both worlds
part of the weight gain is going to come after he starts seeing ulaz (who, as a therapist, is already treating most of the cast) and gets put on very desperately needed antidepressants
part of it, though, will come out of him getting to be gym buds with zethrid, who is an amazing muscle-chub lesbian already and nine inches taller than keith but very appreciative of things like this one time he kicked his abusive dickbag foster brother in the crotch so hard that bryce had to go to the ER to get his balls extracted
this will not amuse keith, since one of his biggest motivations to get back to the gym was trying not to outgrow his pants (because he is broke and has a chip on his shoulder about mooching off of his rich-ass bestie allura or his decently well-off “it’s complicated” to get new pants)
shiro is going to win that debate eventually but still
need to figure out how keith’s weight is going to end up distributed
aside from, “hips and thighs get quite a bit of it, and probably his ass too, and when given that keith largely lives in tight jeans (with his sweats largely serving as gym clothes, pajamas when it’s cold, or things he can wear while doing laundry), poor shiro may blush himself to death because his obliviously chubbier boyfriend bent over in a pair of tight-ass pants”
need to figure out some of the other characters’/outside world’s reactions to chubby!keith
of more immediate relevance is shiro and ryou’s aunt, who is going to be seeing keith for the first time in five years, come christmas — and while he isn’t exactly chubby yet, he was downright scrawny, the last time aunt satomi saw him, so
most of the characters will probably take shiro’s approach of, “i get that you’re upset about needing new pants, but can we try focusing on something more important? like the fact that you have been having fewer days where you wake up feeling like no one would miss you if you got hit by a bus (which, fyi, we definitely would)”
seriously, even lotor’s opinion is going to be like, “i am: 1. so annoyed that you make getting chubby look so hot, and 2. jealous that you are capable of gaining weight like this without even trying while i am over here, a perpetually freezing mess with a shit immune system, because i have trouble keeping any body fat on. how is this fair, street rat.”
but then shiro, pidge, hunk, and lance’s band is going to start Making It, and shiro is going to attract Skinny Groupie Boys (though not girls since shiro is pretty open about being gay), and he would rather not have them around, and some of them will be at least kind of offended that galaxy garrison’s hot lead singer is going off with a guy who doesn’t live on kale salad and overworking himself at the gym
then shiro is going to get sick of being harassed by Groupie Boys and take advantage of an interview to go, “HEY THIS IS KEITH HE IS MY BOYFRIEND AND I LOVE HIM PLEASE STOP TRYING TO HAVE SEX WITH ME JUST BECAUSE I DON’T MAKE OUT WITH HIM ON STAGE LIKE HUNK AND LANCE SO YOU ASSUME THAT I AM SINGLE, I AM HAPPILY SPOKEN FOR BY KEITH, TYVM” which will…… be a thing
granted, the short-term effect will be that keith barely holds it together before begging off and running to antok/kolivan’s place to ask kolivan to talk him through the, “oh god shiro just called me his boyfriend and he did it in an interview that will be published on the internet, this is getting Too Real, what do i do” anxiety spiral as if this is a thing that most people ask of their academic advisors
and then keith and shiro have to talk about it over breakfast, and keith will likely decimate a quite sizable stack of pancakes (while kolivan insists that he does not treat keith like a son, and antok just goes, “uh huh, suuuuure you don’t babe, when are we signing the adoption papers”)
chubby keith is very cute
in his case, chub goes from being associated with his depression but not terribly bothering him to eventually being associated with hm getting better and working on his recovery
not enough chubby!keith content has sheith in it
long haired pretty boy punk shiro being super flustered by his chubby boyfriend being so beautiful and sdkfkdhg jfc shiro loves him so much
chubby keith is super cute, thanks for coming to my ted talk