"Shiro, hey, hey! Shiro, you will not believe what I just heard. Some complete newbie just shattered your simulator record!" One of Shiro's classmates called as he burst through the doors into the dorm common area.
Shiro rolled his head back along the top of the couch to stare up at the new arrival. He took in the other's huffing form, then shrugged and turned back to the textbook in his lap, "That's nice. Maybe they'll install some new missions. The old ones are getting pretty boring."
"Screw you, Shirogane! Some of those are hard!" someone called from one of the tables halfway across the room.
Shiro waved a hand, "Yeah, yeah. They would be easier if you figured out hairpin turns, Everson."
The first boy leaned on top of the couch where Shiro and Matt were sitting, "You're really not interested in this kid? Like, he beat everyone's record on the first sim, his first time in a simulator. How are you so chill about it?"
Shiro sighed and turned halfway around on the sofa so he could look at the other teen, "Look, Boyd, sure the kid did a good run. One good run does not mean he's some prodigy. If he keeps doing well, I'll look into him, but right now we have exams to study for and I know you're behind in physics."
Boyd quirked an eyebrow at Shiro, "Fine, if that's how you feel about it, I'll go study. But the kid's name is Keith, just so you know who to look out for when he breaks all your records." He then walked off to one of the tables and joined the group.
"That seemed rather harsh," Matt remarked, nose still buried in his chemistry textbook.
Shiro turned back around and flopped onto Matt's shoulder, "You're so bony. Anyways, I'm tired, and we have first round of competency exams starting tomorrow, and I don't have time to end up in tutorials with all the extra projects the teachers keep giving me."
Matt absently patted Shiro's head, though he missed some and patted over Shiro's eyes instead, "Poor, poor, teacher's pet. Too bogged down in special attention to do well in tests designed for us mere mortals. Such a hard life. Whatever. So do you think they'll get some new simulations in if a complete newbie beat the records for the first sim?" Matt leaned his head on top of Shiro's.
Shiro squirmed a bit to get more comfortable and picked up his textbook, "I hope so, I'm bored. Maybe they'll do a contest for ideas for the mission."
Matt rolled his eyes, "You cannot submit our last D&D campaign if they do, Shiro, I swear to all that is unholy I will end you if you do."
Shiro pouted, "Why not? It was fun. It was even set in space, we were space pirates."
Matt poked Shiro's side, "You rolled six nat 20s in a row, six, I was trying to kill you and you lucked out. I'm still not sure what to do next game since I wasn't planning on you making it through the asteroid belt."
"Sucks to suck, you know my luck. I always live when I shouldn't." Shiro flipped the page in his textbook absently.
"Its why I made you do six dexterity checks and a perception check and you passed them all. You should have died like I planned." Matt grouched.
Shiro stuck his tongue out and went back to his textbook, never giving the record breaking freshman a thought as he tried to focus on the boring information.
––––––––
Shiro was helping grade the freshman flight logs the next time he saw mention of Keith. The logs were the to help get the freshmen used to writing mission reports, Shiro had been assigned to grade them while Dos Santos wrote the midterm for the pilot hopefuls. There was one report that stood out, it was written simply and clearly, included all the errors that occurred in the simulator and what the team did and if it was effective. Many of the others he had docked points off of due to excessive use of complicated words, only citing their other team member's errors, or other technical problems. This report was practically perfect so Shiro decided to remember the name of the writer, that person at least would be a good partner in the future, and written at the top, right where it should be, was Keith Park.
The name sounded familiar, but not enough that Shiro thought he actually knew him. Shiro considered why the name was familiar, and when he couldn't pinpoint why he moved on. If it was important it would come to him. Shiro marked the perfect score at the top of the paper and moved on to the next one.
–––––––––
"Hey, Shiro! Hey, Matt. Here to observe them split the freshmen pilots?" Boyd asked, bouncing over to Shiro from the observation windows.
"Of course," Shiro shoved his hands in pockets as he made his way across the room.
"Any betting on the coveted fighter pilot spots?" Matt asked peering down into the simulator room.
"Only for one slot, we all know who's getting the other. He could completely bomb this simulation and his score would still be double the minimum requirement." Boyd waved one of the other students over who was carrying a data pad.
"Matt, what are you betting and on who?" The other teen started fiddling with the data pad to record Matt's bet.
Matt leaned over to inspect the listed bets and wagers before making his own, "I'm gonna bet a serving of my mother's chicken alfredo on K. Park making a new high score, aaaaand a dozen peanut butter cookies on L. Valderas coming in third for fighter class. I'll also bet one half hour tutoring session on Iverson ripping into someone with no provocation."
Shiro shoulder checked Matt, "You think a baby freshman is gonna beat my high score? Rude." Shiro also briefly considered the list before betting, "Alright, I'm going to bet one after hours hall pass on my record standing for another year. I think I'll go with the underdog, and say L. Valderas makes fighter class for a set of compression gloves. Yeah, I'm also gonna go with Iverson flipping out for no reason for six pieces of decent sushi."
"Alright, this is gonna make for some fun betting. I'm going to go see if anyone else has some last minute bets, the first set of freshies should be up in a minute. Remember you get a week to get your stuff to the main pool to be split up by the winners of each bet. No being stingy." The other teen wandered off down the observation deck before being called over by another classmate.
"Oi, Matt! You ready to hack the feed so we can see the inside?" Everson called from where a network of wires connected several TVs to a laptop.
"Yeah, yeah. C'mon honors student, lets do some illegal nonsense. I wonder if the password has changed since last year, or if they just leave it since everyone hacks the feeds for this." Matt mused taking a seat at the computer and waking it up. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he maneuvered through the Garrison's camera feeds.
"I think they leave it, even the janitors have access to it. Not that the janitors are dumb, but fewer of them are willing to risk their job to bet money on freshmen." Shiro replied leaning on the back of Matt's chair.
"True." Matt entered a few last commands before casting the three feeds up to their respective screens, "And we're live." Matt turned to the rest of the cadets gathered around the screens, "Anyone know if it's alphabetical order, or in order by score going into the test?"
"Lowest to highest in going score last I heard." A voice called from the back of the pack of students.
"Nice, means the lower bets are going to get done first. So, let's sit back, relax and watch freshmen be noobs." Matt leaned back in the chair tilting his head back onto Shiro's arms, "You ok up there honors student?"
"I'm fine. You ready to lose your bets?" Shiro asked, smirking down at Matt.
"Nope. You're the one losing this year. Unlike you, Sir Extra Projects Galore, I actually watch some of the freshmen simulations, gotta know your competition." Matt looked back at the laptop as the first group entered the simulator, "Here we go."
The first several rounds of simulator runs ended in catastrophic failure, as most the older students suspected would happen. It wasn't until they were halfway through the groups that the freshmen actually completed the simulation, even if their scores from doing so were in some cases worse than the failures. But as the groups progressed the scores crept higher into the acceptable range.
At the last four groups people started paying more attention again, groups having wander off during the average runs. The fourth place group included a lanky, excitable seeming pilot and a large, anxious engineer, their communications officer was a grouchy, red haired girl who was determined to ignore the other two.
"Uh oh, seems your underdog's team has had an argument. They might not place well enough since their comms officer is completely ignoring the other two." Matt taunted under his breath.
"I believe in them, they can do it." Shiro declared back, even though he had no idea how this team was normally. He really should pay more attention to the freshmen teams, but he was so busy, he had no time for proper observation of the freshmen.
Matt leaned back slowly to stare at him, "You've never seen any of these freshman run, you just wanted to get long odds. I bet if I hadn't said anything you wouldn't even know this was the team you bet on."
Shiro shrugged, "Yup. You caught me, I had no clue. I do hope they do well though."
"Of course you do. You bet on them. The pilot is pretty good, but he gets distracted and doesn't always listen to his group mates, which can get him in trouble. He knows some pretty advanced maneuvers, but isn't always to great at their execution." Matt summarized.
"Well, at least he sounds promising, he might get the spot." Shiro offered, staring intently as the simulations began. Almost immediately he knew the group wasn't going to make it as they were, the disconnect between the comms officer and the other two was just too large. The pilot's inability to keep the craft stable enough for the engineer to safely repair the failing parts was also a hit against them. "Well, maybe next year. Think this will be the group Iverson finally explodes at?"
"I'm amazed it's taken this long for him to explode normally he goes off on group like three. So yeah, this will probably be the group." Shiro replied as several of the other cadets had similar expectations and gathered around the observation windows.
"Oh, boy. Iverson is mad. He's definitely gonna blow up." Boyd said watching the drama unfold as the group exited the simulation, they had passed but the safety risks would count harshly against them. Shiro could hear the yelling from his position behind Matt, he was always impressed at just how loud Iverson could yell when not directed at Matt and himself.
"Anyone do a random bet for someone fainting during the testing? Because the engineer of the first ranked group just passed out where she stood. I think nerves plus Iverson knocked her out." Boyd reported.
"Uh oh, they haven't gone yet which means one of the other engineers will have to take her spot." Matt mumbled as he watched the next group load into the simulator. The next two groups worked well together and scored well. As they were going the pilot of the last group was asking around the other groups for a replacement engineer. Eventually the engineer from the fourth ranked group agreed to go again, even though his normal pilot looked upset about it.
As the last group finally loaded into the simulator, Shiro asked Matt, "I'm assuming the pilot for this group is K. Park?"
Matt looked up, startled out of his daydreaming, "What? Oh yeah, he is. That's Keith, most terrifying pilot of his year and his scores are constantly on par with yours even though he's just a baby freshie. I hear rumors of them moving him up to the grade above for piloting."
"Well, I hope he lives up to the hype." Shiro murmured as the last simulation began. And live up to the hype Keith did, his maneuvers were clean, when the stabilizer failed he was able to hold steady long enough for the engineer to fix it. He did all of the correct steps, and his comms officer anticipated his calls. Sure, he pulled some risky stunts but Shiro could tell the teen had everything under control. The one thing he did that Shiro knew Iverson was going to raise hell over was the fact that he entered the asteroid belt to give his comms more time when the people on the other end of the line were taking too long, and the simulated attackers were starting to harass the ship. When the simulation reached its conclusion Shiro did the math, and for technical and group communication reasons alone, Shiro knew his high score had been beaten.
"Well damn, I actually have to produce the things I bet. That doesn't happen very often." Shiro pouted as the group started to disperse, no one wanting to be in range for another Iverson blow up they all knew was coming after the asteroid field stunt.
Matt logged out of the system and shut the laptop off as the others turned off the TVs and disconnected them to take them back to where they should be, "So, are you going to pay attention to Keith now?"
"I think I just might." Shiro replied thoughtfully as he lead the pair back to their dorm.
––––––––
Shiro finally actually met Keith for his last month senior project. Every year the senior fighter class pilots were assigned a mentee for their last month to pass on their tricks. No one was surprised, except maybe Keith himself, when Keith was assigned to Shiro. One of the things Shiro became very familiar with was the fact that Keith was practically a cat; he was fluffy and cute most of the time, but if you pulled his tail he would claw your face off.
One of the other things Shiro noted early on was a pair of black compression gloves Keith was always wearing. They looked a lot like the ones Shiro had lost to the betting pool during the midterm bets, and eventually Shiro just had to know, "Hey Keith? Where did you get those gloves?"
Keith, who always looked vaguely startled when addressed, looked down at his gloves and back up at Shiro, "I got them from..." he trailed off, hands moving like he was counting, "I got them from my comms officer, Jenna, who got them from her cousin who's a second year cargo pilot, who got them his engineer, who got them from his physics lab partner, who got them from her comms officer, who won them in a bet against your scientist, engineer person, who got them from you when you bet against me during midterms."
Shiro had been nodding along, trying to follow the exact route the gloves had taken, "Well, I'm glad someone is getting use out of them. It's rather amusing that they've gotten all the way down to you. I'll have to find out from Matt what bet it is that he lost." Shiro nudged Keith with his arm, "You take good care of those, I bought one of the good brands." Shiro gently grabbed one of Keith's hands and inspected the glove, "But it looks like you are. And they fit right too, I'm glad these somehow made it all the way to you."
Keith looked very red in the face and couldn't quite look at Shiro, but he did leave his hand in Shiro's grasp, "I, uh, well, I, uhhhhh thanks? They're useful for sparring at the gym."
Shiro smiled brightly, "Good. I'm glad you're using them for their intended purpose. Speaking of sparring, would you like to do a few bouts and see if there's any tricks I can teach you?"
Keith's eyes lit up as he smiled up at Shiro, "That sounds great! Have you ever done parkour? I find it helps a lot when I get in fights." Keith continued chattering, eyes bright, smile on his face as he tugged Shiro out the door and down the hall to the gym.
Shiro was glad that Keith was the one leading, because he knew his face was completely red. Keith was just, too cute for Shiro to handle. Shiro covered the lower part of his face with his hand, mentally screaming he's too cute, I just want to hug him. I can never let Matt know I'm thinking this he'll take it the wrong way.
––––––
Shiro's not entirely sure how Matt found out, but he wasn't surprised when he was dragged to Holt Family Dinner Friday, and subsequently interrogated about his new partner. He and Katie set the table as Matt helped Colleen with dinner. Shiro had been humming absently until Katie hip checked him, Shiro rubbed his hip with his free hand and looked over, "What was that for?"
Katie leaned in some to nudge him again, "So, I heard that your new partner is pretty cute and follows you around like a duckling."
Shiro's gaze flicked over to Matt who was listening intently before going back to Katie, "Well, yeah."
Katie's grin grew, "So, you admit that he's cute?"
Shiro's face started to turn pink, "Well, uh, I. Objectively yes, he's very cute in a just rescued kitten sort of way."
Katie leaned away for a moment, "Matt you owe me peanut butter cookies! He said his duckling is cute, you said he wouldn't admit it!" before she leaned back in, "So, he's cute right. Matt said he only really seems to like you and his pilot group."
Shiro huffed and looked down at her, "And? Is this leading somewhere anytime soon because I'm hungry and would like to get food on the table so we can eat, and you're not helping."
Katie finished placing the silverware on the table, "I'm going, I'm going. And yes this is leading somewhere. You think your duckling is cute."
"Yes, Katie, my duckling is cute." Shiro rolled his eyes and went to grab a dish to put on the table.
"See, you even admit it. So do you liiiike him?" Katie drew out the like to make the implication clear.
Shiro placed the dish on the table, thinking about the idea, "I could see it getting there maybe. But right now he needs a friend more than a boyfriend, so I'm not going to act on it unless he does. Besides during post-grad I'm probably going to be away on missions and he's going to be here and he deserves more than a that." Shiro sighed and sat down at his seat as the others brought over the rest of the dishes, "Where's Sam?"
Colleen shrugged, "Said he had to work late, they were talking about a big new mission, but it's still hush hush so they're meeting after hours about it. Bread, Takashi?" She offered shiro the basket of bread.
Shiro grabbed it, "Yeah, thanks. Anyways, instead of talking about my nonexistent dating life, how about we talk about something else." He passed the basket over to Katie, ignoring Matt's hands grabbing for it.
"Rude. But your not dating life is far more entertaining than Katie's classes, or even ours. Besides you brought your duckling to D&D, something must be going on." Matt snarked, grabbing the bowl of pasta instead.
Shiro made an unhappy noise, "No! That wasn't my fault, he just... Followed me since he had nothing better to do. You call him my duckling, but sometimes I swear he is." Shiro grabbed the pasta from Matt and dished some onto his plate in an attempt to ignore the others.
"Takashi, sweetie, that's adorable. Where do you think your duckling is now, since you're here with us. Maybe next time you should bring him." Colleen asked.
Shiro considered it, "He's probably either in the gym or following Jenna or Hunk around. Its dinner time, so probably sulking after Hunk. Though he'll probably switch to Jenna later, since Hunk's friend annoys him."
"See! You already know all his habits. You liiike him!" Katie crowed from her seat. Shiro made eye contact with her, tore his roll apart and shoved it in his mouth.
"Alright, Alright. Settle down this is dinner, not interrogate Takashi time. Sorry hun." Colleen patted Shiro's arm and dinner continued with marginally less ribbing.
–––––––
Shiro felt like he'd been punched in the gut. He was barely a week into his post graduate work on the base when he got an alert that he was being chosen for a mission. He could barely read the whole memo, he was so excited, Kerberos the edge of the solar system and he was going to be piloting! Shiro could barely contain himself until a thought occurred to him, Keith. Going to Kerberos meant leaving Keith alone for a year. Keith would be fine, right? He had a couple friends and Shiro would be able to call him from the ship until about the Jupiter/Saturn region. Keith would be fine, right?
–––––––
Keith had been less than thrilled that Shiro was going to be gone. He was happy for Shiro, but everyone knew he was sulking. The reasoning for the nickname duckling became very apparent for the rest of the time Shiro spent on Earth. Before the announcement, Shiro was able to convince Keith to go hang out with at the very least Jenna or Hunk for a bit to work on homework; since the announcement Keith followed Shiro everywhere, it was like he was storing up each and every second with Shiro to help him make it through the time he would have no Shiro. It was cute at first, but after the first week it was rather exasperating.
"You know, you don't have to follow me everywhere. I'll be back, I swear." Shiro promised, rather exasperated as Keith got up off Shiro's bed to follow him to one of the pre-mission briefings where he knew Keith would sit outside the door until the meeting was done.
Keith looked almost hurt, but sat back down on the bed and looked away. He didn't say anything but the way he was slowly curling into himself told Shiro that he was very upset. Shiro frowned and glanced at the clock, before deciding that he could spend a few minutes with Keith and only be a little late to the meeting. He knew Matt and Sam would cover for him, so he shot Matt a message saying he would be late because something was up with Keith and sat down on his bed.
Shiro shuffled back onto the bed more and pulled Keith over until he was resting against Shiro, head tucked into Shiro's neck. Shiro threaded his fingers through Keith's hair soothingly, "What's wrong? Can you tell me why you're so worried?"
Keith let out a wet sob before explaining, "What if you don't come back? No one ever comes back. I don't want you to go, and leave me all alone again. Please, don't leave me! No one ever comes back." Keith's body shook with the force of his sobs, one of his hands coming up to twist into Shiro's shirt. In a tiny voice he repeated, "No one ever comes back."
Shiro hushed him gently, pulling Keith closer into him and placing his head on top of Keith's, "Don't worry," he whispered, "I always live, even when I shouldn't. I promise, I will come back to you. You won't be alone again." Shiro made no move to let Keith go, and the pair spent the night huddled together. Shiro heard his phone ding as he got messages from Matt, but he ignored them to focus on Keith.
––––––––
Shiro fidgeted in front of the camera, waiting for his grandparents to pick up the call. Part of the paperwork for going on a mission like Kerberos was making a will in case the worst happened, and Shiro knew he wanted to give most of his stuff to Keith as his best friend who wasn't going to space with him. He just wanted to get his grandparent's approval before he wrote the will, he was pretty sure they would after their reaction to Keith who had been lurking in Shiro's room during their last call.
They had called for their typical monthly chat the week before, and since Keith had been doing homework on Shiro's bed in the background his grandparents insisted on meeting Keith. Keith had come over and been obliging enough, but something about Keith's demeanor brought out his grandparent's parenting instinct and they had mothered him into a stuttering mess hiding behind Shiro.
Shiro smiled as the call finally went through, his grandmother was stirring a pot at the stove and smiled over at the camera before going back to stirring, "Hello Takashi, this is rather early, I know you're leaving soon but i figured you wait to call until closer to leaving."
Shiro tried to explain in a halting voice, "I, have to write a will, in order to go to space, you know, in case something happens. And I, I want to leave my stuff to Keith." suddenly Shiro was speaking very fast, "I know normally it would go to you and grandpa, but Keith, Keith has no one really. And I just, want to make sure he would be okay if I don't come back, at least physically."
His grandmother had put down her spoon and was making looking at him concerned. Shiro shut his mouth so fast he almost bit his tongue and looked away, his arms wrapping around himself. He didn't want to see his grandmother's concerned face as she spoke to him in that soft, sad voice, "Takashi, Takashi, child of my heart, of course you can name your Keith in your will. Your will is supposed to be about you. Your grandfather and I are well off enough we would be fine, we also have enough of your things and pictures, we would survive. Your Keith, he would be less so, so giving him something of you would be a good thing. So please, write what your heart wishes."
Shiro looked back at the screen and saw the soft look on her face, "Thanks grandma."
–––––––
The day of the launch Keith had followed Shiro everywhere, he had spent the night in Shiro's room, curled up around Shiro's arm. Keith had gotten clingier since the one night, and when asked just repeated over and over that he had a bad feeling that wouldn't go away. Eventually when he had to change into his space suit and get ready Shiro dropped Keith off with Hunk, who held Keith to keep him from following Shiro.
Shiro could see from the loading zone Keith's bright red jacket in the front of the crowd. Shiro considered all of the things left unsaid between him and Keith, but he knew that they would be able to talk about it when they got back. Shiro pounded Matt on the back, and waved to the crowd watching. He felt himself smile as he saw Keith wave back.
–––––––
Shiro saw the looming alien ship and mentally sent an apology to Keith, he knew he wasn't going to make it home this time.
––––––
Shiro had worked so hard to survive for so long, he knew someone was waiting for him. He couldn't remember the name, or what exactly they looked like anymore, but he knew they were waiting. He had to get home, he had to survive. Shiro pushed himself off the floor of the arena and back into the fight.
––––––
He saw the blade coming down and knew he couldn't dodge, he closed his eyes, sent an apology to his waiting person, and blocked his best he could. He passed out from the pain almost immediately after.
––––––
When Shiro startled awake, he looked around in a panic. He saw a very familiar head of black hair at the edge of the bed, he knew this person. Was this who he had to come back to? He couldn't quite remember. The time before his capture was as fuzzy as his time in captivity, so he just, couldn't remember. Keith, the name came to him as he stared at the sleeping teen. He had to get out of bed, see the sun, know that he was home, but something about this teen sleeping on the floor next to his bed made him pause. He couldn't just leave Keith, his Keith, on the floor, so he quietly slipped out of the bed, lifted the smaller teen, skinnier than he remembered, and laid him on the bed. He then slipped past the living room crowded with the bodies of sleeping teens, and out the door into the dawn light.
Shiro breathed in the cool desert air, listening as the world came alive around him. Far off into the distance he could see the lights of the Garrison as it faded into day. He watched the sunrise quietly, enjoying the breeze, eventually Keith? Keith came over to check on him. There was a soft look on his face as he put a hand on Shiro's shoulder, "I'm glad you're back."
"I'm glad to be back." Shiro smiled down at Keith.
"There's something you need to see." Keith told him before tugging him back inside the shack. Shiro took one last look at the dawn sky and went back inside.
––––––
Today had been exhausting, he started the day with a quiet morning with Keith and was ending the day after two battles in sentient alien warships in an alien space castle that had been on an alien planet for ten thousand years and still had living residents. Shiro flopped onto his bed and covered his eyes with his human arm. He had no energy to process the entire day, it was just too strange. He hadn't had to deal with a day this strange since he had first been kidnapped by aliens. But no matter how tired he was, he just couldn't sleep.
Eventually Shiro had enough lying down and decided to investigate the rest of their new home. When he got to the Lion Hanger he suddenly heard a voice, speaking clearly but never seeming to receive a reply. Shiro figured it was someone talking to their lion and crept back toward the elevator when he suddenly heard his name.
"-and it's like he doesn't remember me, Red. I know he forgot a whole lot while he was in captivity but he was my best friend and he doesn't seem remember anything." There was a pause as if hearing an answer, "I know, I know, give him time patience yields focus and all that jazz. I guess I should just be happy he came back like he said he would. It's more than my parents ever did." There was more silence and Shiro hid behind a box of supplies nearby, he figured leaving now would attract more attention.
"I just, I thought maybe all of that stuff before was going somewhere. I, I don't know where, but somewhere. Now it feels like we're back to square one, before square one even, back when he bet against my score in that stupid senior betting ring and he didn't know my name. I miss what we had, but there's nothing I can do." The voice let out a frustrated scream, "Ugh. I'm going to go talk to Hunk and see what I missed when I was in the desert. Thanks for listening Red." Shiro peaked around the edge of the box and watched Keith shuffle toward the elevator and vanish upwards.
Shiro came out from behind the box and looked up at the Red Lion standing there, "Thanks for being there for him." Shiro could feel the tiredness seeping into his bones, so he decided to return to his room and sleep.
––––––––
Shiro didn't want to sleep, he didn't want to rest, even though he knew he should. Every time he paused and let himself think he could hear Sendak's voice taunting him. Half remembered images of his captivity taunted him as he walked the halls. He paused, thinking he heard someone else, but he heard nothing else, so he continued walking. A few steps later, he heard a noise again, a quiet noise, like someone trying to cry silently. He took a few steps toward the crying noise saw the large form of Hunk and the smaller form of Keith huddled together. Hunk was crying, overwhelmed by the day's events, and hugging Keith tightly to him, and Keith hugging him back awkwardly.
Shiro felt a short flash of jealousy that Hunk got Keith's attention, but he told himself to let it go. He could remember flashes of moments like that, with him comforting Keith. He shook his head, a futile attempt to clear his head, and told himself that if Keith had moved on from whatever they had before, that was healthy and good and he would be happy for them.
––––––
Shiro found Keith hiding pressed up to Hunk's back in the short break they took after discussing plans to rescue Allura. Keith seemed to be ranting quietly and Hunk made the 'I'm listening' noises at all the right times. The image of Keith using someone's back as a hiding place felt familiar, and he could hear laughter and the familiar sounding voices of his grandparents? Yes that was who it was, gently mocking the younger teen.
Shiro tuned back in when he heard his name, "-iro, hey, Shiro, buddy? You with us?"
"Ah, yes. I just wanted to make sure everyone is ready for the mission." Shiro said as he ran a hand through his hair distractedly.
"Well, we're all set here. Lance and Pidge were also decompressing last I heard, so why don't you come, sit down, and relax for a bit. Maybe our conversations might spark something to help your memories of before." Hunk patted the space next to him.
Shiro sat there warily for a moment, sitting awkwardly next to the pair. Hunk stared at the space between Shiro and them and then slowly, gently, dragged Shiro closer until he could wrap an arm around him. Shiro let himself relax slowly into the hold, he heard Keith shuffle around behind them and then he felt the weight of Keith's head fall onto his back. Shiro felt his muscles truly relax for the first time since he had gotten free, and he relaxed for the rest of the time before the mission.
–––––
Shiro stared into the fire that Keith started on this barren planet. "I mean it, if something happens to me, I want you to lead Voltron."
Keith glared into the fire and he snuggled closer to Shiro, "Stop saying that. Nothing is going to happen to you. To quote you back to yourself, 'I always live when I shouldn't' and I need that to apply to this too. I can't deal with it if you leave me again. I guess I'm glad that you were with me when we got expelled by the wormhole even if this planet sucks."
"Not even Hunk? Wouldn't you prefer to be stuck with your boyfriend?" Shiro asked leaning into Keith more and pressing on his wound to relieve the pain.
"Boyfriend? Hunk? No, he's dating Lance they've been together since early Garrison. Hunk and I aren't like that." Keith explained adjusting his head on Shiro's shoulder.
"Oh." Shiro felt a burst of happiness in his heart, he still had a shot with Keith by the sound of it. The pair spent a chunk of time in silent togetherness, happy to be together again.
–––––––––
Shiro hadn't let Keith out of his sight since they had gotten back to the Castle from the Blade of Marmora headquarters. The gash in the suit the Blade had given Keith had been deep enough to actually pierce into Keith's shoulder. Keith had refused to go into one of the healing pods, and he had wrapped it in bandages and was simply using his other hand more.
Shiro knew he was hovering, and he knew Hunk was also hovering. Hunk had backed off some once he had noticed Shiro's interest with a secretive smile, Lance had been less subtle and waggled his eyebrows suggestively at Shiro any time he talked to Keith.
Keith seemed happier now that Shiro seemed to be acting more like he had before Kerberos. He had been clingy after the visions that the Trial had shown him of Shiro and his father. Shiro was more than okay with Keith being clingy since he didn't want Keith out of his site either. Shiro knew that for the upcoming mission they would be separated again, so he contented himself with Keith shoving his head into Shiro's back when he got frustrated with Lance and clinging to Shiro's arm during downtime while he read. Shiro knew this time, this time, he was going to ask Keith out when Keith seemed ready.
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The last night before the big mission to take out Zarkon, Shiro commandeered the starfield for him and Keith. Shiro had spent hours mulling over if he wanted to make his move before the fight or after. He had finally decided on beforehand and had been trying to set up the perfect date to take Keith on.
Keith wandered into the room curiously. Shiro had told him to come up a varga after dinner, but hadn't explained why he had just said it was personal. Shiro was standing awkwardly on the deck in the dark, Keith could make out a few blankets and pillows on the ground like they were meant to be looking up at something. He entered the room letting the door close behind him as darkness descended.
Shiro coughed awkwardly, "Sorry it's dark. I had a plan and a speech all thought out, but I can't really think of it right now. See, I wanted to see the stars with you one more time before the battle because I wanted to tell you that I really like you. As in more than as a friend."
Keith's breath hitched in surprise at the declaration, "You, you do?"
Shiro smiled, "I do. And I wanted to get in at least one date before we do something life threatening and probably stupid so, uh, I got Allura to show me how the starfield worked for our first date. Do, do you accept?"
Keith blinked through his tears, "I have been waiting for so long. So. Long. For you to say anything. We got so close before Kerberos, but when you got back you could never remember it before. So I didn't say anything because you didn't remember. You came back to me."
Shiro started the starfield for light and ran over to Keith and swooped him into his arms. He could feel Keith's tears at his collarbone, "I promise, even if it takes me a long time I will always come back to you."
"Thank you." Keith whispered, then reached up and pulled Shiro down and kissed him. Shiro pressed into the kiss and when it broke he brought Keith's head to rest into his neck.
"You ready to cuddle and stare at the stars now?"
"Yeah."
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Keith could feel his heart shatter into a million pieces at the emptiness of the Black Lion. He allowed Hunk to bring him into a tight hug as tears streamed down his face. He felt a scream build up in his throat and he let it out into Hunk's shoulder as Hunk patted the back of his head, "I know buddy, I know."
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Once they had extracted Shiro and Matt back to the Castle, Keith wasted no time marching straight up to Shiro, punching him in the stomach and pulling him into a very heated kiss. Matt wolf whistled in the background, "Go duckling! Get your man!"
Keith broke the kiss and glared for a second, "Shut up Matt." He turned back to Shiro, "You need to stop doing this to me. My heart can't take it."
Shiro pet Keith's hair, entwining his arms around Keith's neck, "I promise, I will always come back to you."
"Get a room!"
"Shhhhh, Lance, they're having a moment."
Keith ignored them all and kissed Shiro again.
Sooooo. Romo is not my forte but I Tried™. This is my gift for glyphsss on tumblr for Voltron Positivity Exchange.
Also, last names used for Keith was Park, and Lance was Valderas if you didn't pick up on that part.