Keith piloted the Galran fighter back to the Blade of Marmora base with ease. He'd gotten used to navigating between the black holes and the blue star, until he could do it with almost no trouble.

That didn't help ease the tension of the flight this time around.

After Krolia—his mom—had dropped her bombshell, the flight back had been quiet, uncomfortably so. His head had been swimming with questions that he'd wanted to know the answers to, but he couldn't bring himself to ask even a single one.

Krolia seemed to respect his decision not to talk, and didn't push him.

He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

Landing back at the Marmora HQ was a relief. Watching as the last chances of private conversation left, as other Blade members filed into the hangar, Keith sighed. "Alright," he said flatly, standing up forcefully. "We're here."

"Keith—" Krolia started.

"Don't," he cut her off. "Not now." And with that, he strode off the aircraft to meet Kolivan's cold gaze.

The Marmoran commander was waiting for them just beyond the exit ramp, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. A masked Blade stood behind him at each shoulder.

"Keith," Kolivan barked. "Report."

Keith stood up a bit straighter, his military training from the Garrison kicking in. "Operative located and retrieved, as ordered."

"And the weapon? Were you able to destroy it?"

Keith looked down at his feet. "No, sir."

"No? And why's that?"

"I'm afraid that's my fault, sir," Krolia interjected. She glanced quickly at Keith, but he kept his gaze stubbornly fixated on the ground. "Perhaps if we could debrief in a more private setting—"

But Kolivan's attention was fixated firmly on the smaller Blade before him. "This was a high stakes mission, Keith," Kolivan reprimanded. "I told you not to let your emotions get the best of you."

"Then maybe I wasn't the right person to send," Keith muttered, pushing past him.

"Keith!"

But no one made a move to stop him, and he stormed from the hangar without pause.

Would Krolia stand up for him? He pushed the thought from his head. He didn't know, and he wasn't sure if he even cared.

He went straight to his room—barrack, really—closing the door behind him and slumping heavily onto his bed. He leaned forward, resting his head in his hands, trying to steady his breathing.

His mom.

He'd just met his mom.

The Mom who he'd never really known, who'd left him and his dad earlier than he can remember, who he had always distantly wondered about—why did she leave? Didn't she love me? Didn't she care at all?

Once he'd learned he was Galra, that had opened a whole new wave of questions. Knowledge or death, they'd said. But he came out of those trials with more questions than answers.

The silence was too loud.

Normally, he liked the quiet. But now, alone with his thoughts, he needed some noise, needed some distraction, needed to talk to someone, needed—

He needed Shiro.

Keith had a private communicator. He didn't use it very much, but he did have one. There were a lot of times since leaving Team Voltron that he'd held it in his hands, barely resisting the urge to call.

But tonight, he gave in.

It took maybe ten ticks for Shiro to answer. Not long, but long enough that Keith considered canceling the call before it even went through.

"Keith?" Shiro's face filled the screen, immediately on guard. "Is everything okay?"

Keith paused. No, not really. But he couldn't just say that, couldn't bring himself to admit it. "Yeah," he forced. "Just wanted to talk."

"Ah, Keith!" another voice shouted, and Coran popped into the viewscreen. "It's good to hear from you!"

Shiro adjusted the angle of the transmission feed so it could better capture both him and Coran, and Keith was greeted with a view of their surroundings. Sleek gray walls, harsh purple lighting, what looked like a computer console in the back, displaying a bright pink screen—

"Where are you guys?"

"Galra high command!" Coran chirped back. "Quite the exciting excursion."

"Lotor invited us as a show of diplomacy," Shiro explained. "Coran and I wanted to take a look at their records room, cross-reference current fleet movement with our own charts.

"Everyone else is on the base too," Coran added. "Should we tell them you're on the line? I'm sure they'd all love to talk to you."

"No, that's fine," Keith stammered. "I just…."

Shiro furrowed his brow. "Are you sure everything's alright?"

"Takashi, I…."

It was the use of his first name that got to Shiro. His face tightened, and he turned over his shoulder to address the other person in the room. "Coran, I'm going to take the rest of this call in the other room, okay?"

"Sounds good, number one," Coran replied. "And Keith?" The Altean gazed at him through the comms screen with a gentle smile. "You let me know if you need anything, alright?"

Keith relaxed ever-so-slightly. "Thanks, Coran."

The angle of the vidfeed changed as Shiro left the room he was in, stepping through a door into one that seemed much smaller and emptier.

When the door slid closed, Shiro looked intently at Keith, frowning ever-so-slightly. "What's wrong?" he asked, gentle yet firm. When Keith didn't respond, Shiro pressed further. "Keith, it's clear there's something on your mind," he said. "I know that things have been rough these past few...well, months. But you know you can talk to me, right?"

"Yeah," Keith whispered. "I know." There was a long pause, then he took a deep breath. "I just got back from a mission, and…."

"Did something happen? Like what happened with Regris? Keith, I'm sor—"

"It was a solo mission," Keith responded absently. "Nothing like that. I was just sent to meet another operative, and she—" His voice broke off, and he took a shuddering breath. "Shiro, I just met my mom."

He was met by silence.

"Your mom?" Shiro eventually echoed, his eyes wide in shock.

"Yeah," Keith rasped, closing his eyes tight.

Shiro was quiet for a long moment, mulling that over. "And how do you feel about that?"

"I—I don't know," Keith said, running a hand through his hair. "Anxious, mostly? I mean, I've always wanted to know who my mom is, but now that I actually found her…." He sighed, his hand moving from his hair to cover his face. "I don't know."

"Well, that's understandable," Shiro assured him. "This is an stressful situation that just popped up; it makes sense to not know how you feel about it. Let me ask this: how do you want to feel about it?"

"I—" He fumbled for words. "I mean, I guess I want to be happy that I finally met my mom. But…I'm angry. I'm angry that it took this long." He clenched his fists. "She left me."

"Maybe she had a good reason."

Keith looked up sharply. "What reason could be 'good' enough to warrant this?" he demanded. "Abandoning your own child—"

Shiro held up his hand in surrender. "I don't know, Keith. That seems like something you would need to ask her."

Another long silence.

"Have you talked to her at all?" Shiro asked. "About this?"

"Not really," Keith confessed.

"Do you want to?"

He shrugged listlessly.

"Okay. What's stopping you?"

"I don't know how to be a family!" Keith exclaimed. "I didn't get to grow up in a loving family like I was supposed to. I had a mom I couldn't remember, and a dad who disappeared when I was barely old enough for grade school." He choked back a sob. "Shiro, you're the closest thing to a family I've ever really known, and—" He broke off.

"Keith," Shiro said gently. "Keith, you're like a brother to me." Keith looked up, his breath catching at the familiarity of those words. "And if it's any consolation, I think you're the best little brother I could have asked for. There's no one I'd rather have by my side."

The boy took a shuddering breath, his voice hitching. "Shiro—"

"You want my advice?" Wordlessly, Keith nodded. "I think you should talk to your mom."

"Krolia," he said numbly. "Her name is Krolia."

"Krolia," Shiro repeated. "I think you should talk to Krolia." Keith was silent, and Shiro pursed his lips. "Or I could try talking to her, if you'd prefer," he offered.

Keith managed a strained laugh. "Somehow, I can only imagine that ending in disaster," he said. "But thanks."

"I'll keep my distance, then," he said, eyes twinkling. "Though I would like to meet her at some point, if that's alright with you."

"Yeah," Keith said. "I'm sure you'll get the chance sooner or later."

Shiro opened his mouth to say something else when the door behind him slid open. "Ah, Shiro?" Coran called, popping his head into the room. "Sentry arrived with a message for you."

Shiro frowned, turning towards the doorway. "What happened?"

"Apparently, Lance and Pidge and Hunk caused a bit of a disturbance. Something about the robeast coffin?"

"What did those three…?" He broke off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, I'll be right there." When Coran ducked back out of the room, he sighed heavily. "Keith, I'm gonna have to go, I need to track down our wayward paladins."

Despite everything, Keith cracked a smile. "Right," he said. "Good luck with that."

"And you're always welcome to come back to the castle at any point," Shiro reminded him. "Coran wasn't kidding when he said that everyone would be happy to see you. We miss you."

"I miss you guys too," Keith said with a smile.

"It's okay to break sometimes," Shiro continued. "God knows I definitely have. You don't need to be the stoic lone wolf. We're always here if you need us."

"I know," Keith said. "Thanks, Shiro."

"Of course," Shiro replied. "Anytime."

"Oh, and Shiro?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell the rest of the team yet," he requested, eyes pleading. "I want to tell them myself."

Shiro smiled warmly. "Of course. Whenever you're ready."

And with that, the call ended.

Keith took a deep breath, focusing his thoughts, then exhaled in a long rush of air. "Okay," he told himself. "Okay. Here we go."

He stood up and went over to the door, pressing his palm against the handpad to open it. The door slid open with a hiss, and he nearly ran smack into Krolia.

She stood with one hand raised as though about to knock, and their startled eyes locked onto each other. "Keith," she said, a bit taken aback, slowly lowering her hand. "I don't mean to intrude…."

"No, I was just about to go try and find you," he admitted. Her expression morphed into one of shock, and Keith steeled himself. He stepped aside, leaving the threshold empty. "Do...do you want to come inside?"

AN:

My last fic centered on the Garrison Trio so I thought these two could use some love.

(This may not be the real Shiro but dammit he still cares about Keith okay THEY'RE GOOD SHIROS BRENT)

Keith, everyone's fave angsty alien boy, probably has a lot of mixed feelings regarding Krolia, so I wanted to take a moment to explore some of that

Hope you guys enjoyed! Thank you for reading 3

As always, please feel free to come say hi to me on my Tumblr ( .com) or the Platonic VLD Discord server (Invite code: NHYrCz5)

~Brigit