Written as part of a Music Shuffle Challenge, to the song Wedding Bransle (by The Wild Oats). The subject matter was really a foregone conclusion.
Shin'ai - from shinjitsu meaning truth and ai meaning love; roughly, 'true love'.
(It's not a 'Japanese endearment', but it is Japanese, and an endearment, and provided for me by someone who speaks the language. Also the apostrophe is not there to honour my fantasy roots or anything - written in romaji instead of characters, it's needed to denote the break between syllables, because 'shinai' means 'don't die'.)
Allura's commanding voice - softer for the occasion, but still loud enough to echo - faded away and Keith had barely been listening to her words anyway. He knew what she had been saying - roughly - and-
Shiro smiled at him, eyes crinkling, fingers gentle as they curled around his hand, their calluses rasping lightly together. Keith swallowed and looked down, smiling as a very slim piece of metal slid into place on his finger - thin enough it almost conformed to his skin, though the breadth was normal enough.
The metal - or whatever it was - was bright silver, and rather than traditional gems it was studded with deep, dusky blue and dark, smoky grey shimmering lights. Some type of crystal, perhaps; they appeared faceted but were as smooth and flat as the ring itself.
A wedding band that even in their tumultuous lives Keith would never have to take off, keeping it safe beneath his gloves or his armour, with no risk of it catching on anything or harming him in a pinch, either.
The request had surprised Allura - Alteans didn't exchange rings, or jewellery at all, for their bonding ceremonies - but she had come through for them happily.
Keith produced Shiro's ring and grinned as his lover - his husband, Allura's words declaring them so still rang in his mind and his heart fluttered - went pink, his eyes on their hands. Keith reached out and Shiro offered his left hand, allowing Keith to slide the matching band - identical softly-glowing colours, but set in a darker metal - into place, where it settled snugly as his fingers curled.
Shiro yanked him in close with maybe a little too much enthusiasm and Keith laughed, the sound muffled by Shiro's impulsive, passionate kiss. Keith reached up - feeling his ring, despite its unobtrusive slimness, with every movement, and loving it - to cup Shiro's face and then to clasp the back of his neck, keeping him close as Keith deepened the kiss, drawing it out.
Even when the kiss broke, they barely gave any ground, clasping hands and breathing in the shallow space between them. Keith smiled, a burble of laughter rising in his throat, though he didn't know quite why.
"Congratulations, Paladins." Allura said softly, resting her hands on their shoulders as they pulled away from each other a little more. "My brothers." she said warmly.
"May your love hold fast your whole lives long. I know it will." Allura added with a smile, voice a little louder, clasping their linked hands between her own before releasing them and stepping back. "Give our friends our love and praise!" she called to the rest of the room, startling Keith and reminding him of everyone else gathered around them.
"I love you, babe." Shiro said quietly, his eyes soft and his hands warm - one slightly more so than the other - on Keith's waist.
I should hope so, Keith thought immediately, not even needing to look around them at . . . everything, but let it stay silently in his head. He cupped Shiro's jaw and brought him back down for another light kiss. "Love you, too. Shin'ai."
Shiro's smile was brilliant, and Keith had to kiss him again, though he knew they should be separating - at least enough to let some of their guests speak to them. Although - Keith looked around at them - alien or not, part of his mind refused to acknowledge he knew this many people.
It was, at least, fairly easy to move among them - many of them were the tribe of Arusians from the nearby village, and none of them were more than waist-high to Shiro.
Keith brought Shiro's hand up and kissed the back lightly, then turned it loose. They stayed near to each other as the guests began to close in around them, but they were no longer in contact.
Keith was a little uncomfortable but he reminded himself that these people were here for his sake - his wedding, and that sweetened his smile again - and to wish him and Shiro well. He still didn't particularly feel comfortable talking with them, but it was a bit easier.
And his family - weird as they were - were among them, too. Though that wasn't necessarily reassuring when Pidge found him with a playfully wry observation, or a few minutes later when he was faced with Lance. Keith grinned at his friend, shaking his head as Lance rambled on with his only slightly awkward congratulations.
"Surprised they're not in red." Lance said, nodding towards Keith's hand, which he had raised, thumb curled in under his first two fingers and pressing against the new feeling of his wedding band. Then Lance cleared his throat, looking sheepish.
"I didn't design them." Keith replied without thinking. Shiro had. Shiro who had shyly confessed that he had chosen the colours for both of their eyes, and then admitted that he'd spent what had been possibly hours with a very patient Allura trying to get just the right shade to match Keith's.
"I'm . . . sorry, then?" Keith offered, slightly flustered.
"No! It's. . . I love your eyes," Shiro said, his fingertips gentle as they brushed down beside Keith's left eye, making his lashes flutter, "and they're so. . . The colour, they're like nothing else."
Keith felt himself flushing, and Shiro smiled, head bowing to rest their brows together. "I could never forget those eyes." he said softly, and Keith's heart twisted.
"Well I should hope not." he said flippantly, swallowing the lump in his throat. He reached up to toy with Shiro's forelock, and he hummed happily as Keith's fingers slid through the fluffy hair.
"They look purple, just a little, when you're happy." Shiro said softly, thumb stroking along his jaw. "Like they are now."
Keith smiled, nudging his nose against Shiro's, feeling the soft, slightly tougher flesh of his scar.
Keith smiled as he spotted Shiro coming towards him, tipping his head back when Shiro came close. Shiro's arm slid around the small of Keith's back, and he gently, playfully bumped their noses together. Keith kissed him, soft and fleeting.
"Lance was just saying how shocked he was our wedding rings aren't red." Keith said dryly, amused when Shiro looked bemusedly at their friend. "He was non-specific as to why they'd be red and not black." he added with a light laugh, which Shiro echoed.
"Well, that wasn't why I chose the colours." Shiro said, and smiled at Keith - he already knew why, and Shiro wasn't sharing. He twined their left hands, Keith still snug against his body and crushed briefly even closer as Shiro's arm around his shoulders folded, letting Shiro give his wedding ring a quick kiss as well.
"Okay well." Lance looked lost for words for a moment, shaking his head. "I was just teasing anyway. Although I think we all know Keith's favourite colour." he said playfully, and Keith snorted, though he didn't deny it.
Shiro flushed, though with just the subtle hints of colour around both pointed tips of the scar across his face it wasn't terribly noticeable. Unless paying very close attention - like Keith - or familiar with every tiny nuance of his face - like Keith. He smiled slightly, gaze lingering fondly on his husband's face.
"Oh, go on." Lance said, and Keith startled, looking back at him - he'd forgotten Lance was there - with raised eyebrows. "Get out of here." he added, flapping one hand at them as his lips curled into the beginnings of a smirk.
"Oh, but-" Shiro began, and Lance waved both hands.
"Tch, you've already talked to everyone and been seen and I can see you just want to be alone," Lance said, cocking his head and smiling almost slyly, "go on, get outta here. I'll grab Pidge and we'll cover you; be at least a few doboshes before anyone realises you're gone, and by then," he snapped his fingers, smirking, "you've reached safe distance."
"It's not a battle, Lance." Shiro said, slightly chiding.
Keith snorted. "Sure it's not." he said at almost the same time Lance said something similar, and then laughed. Keith's voice softened. "Don't you want. . ." he trailed off coaxingly, twining their fingers, their rings sliding over each other with a gentle stutter, an inaudible clink.
Shiro coloured a little more, then dipped his head, his fringe falling almost over one eye.
"Right then!" Lance clapped his hands grinned. "Have fun!" he told them, waggling his eyebrows, and then dove for Pidge, already talking as he moved. Keith shook his head, watching his friends' antics - Pidge looked lost, but she'd catch up as Lance kept going, as usual - and slipping out from under Shiro's arm, drawing him along by the hand.
Shiro smiled and let Keith guide him. They moved together easily and despite the fact that everyone had been watching them off and on all evening, Keith thought they got away clean - no one did distracting . . . quite like Lance.
They didn't actually stop until they made it to their suite, and then, only just inside the door.
Shiro clasped Keith's left hand between his own, kissing his fingers and nuzzling his wedding ring, looking. . .
"You're adorable." Keith told him, fingers curling, brushing his knuckles down Shiro's cheek. He swallowed. "Happy?" he asked, his throat feeling thick with emotion.
Shiro looked at him for a moment, then pulled Keith into his arms, snug hold around his waist easily supporting him as Shiro picked him up. He kissed Keith's neck just above the knob of his collarbone - the rest of him was too high to reach - and tipped his head to rest against Keith's shoulder. "Very happy." he said as he let Keith slide back down his body.
Keith laughed, twining his arms around Shiro in return, once he had enough space to do so. "I am too." he admitted, stroking Shiro's face and then wrapping his arm around his husband's shoulders again. He grinned, a shiver running down his spine.
"We're married, shin'ai." he murmured into Shiro's ear, and his husband's embrace got even tighter as Shiro moaned softly. Keith hummed, stroking his back, returning the tight hug - he was tough, and he was used to the slightly-too-tight pressure when Shiro forgot himself; it was kind of nice actually.
"You know," Shiro said a few moments later, slowly relaxing his grip on Keith, though he didn't release him entirely, "Lance wasn't completely wrong."
". . .Lance?" Keith repeated, surprised. "What about Lance?" he asked, tipping his head back to look Shiro in the face without moving any further away from him, content to be pressed against him.
"I'll show you." Shiro said, sliding his hand behind his back to clasp Keith's, with a bit of awkwardness - his right shoulder was a little tighter than the left, and Keith's hand was high on his back - and bring it around in front of them. "Take off your ring?" he asked.
Keith pulled back, frowning. "No!" he said, fingers curling. "You specifically said I never had to, our rings were designed for it, and I'm not." he added, stroking it fondly with one fingertip. He looked up again in time to catch the sweet, almost wrecked look in Shiro's eyes, surprised. "Shiro?"
"You- You don't have to." Shiro said, his voice thick, and rested his brow against Keith's. "I'm just happy." he admitted, his eyes soft with sincerity, and very close.
Keith sighed, bumping their noses together. "Why do I need to take my ring off?" he asked, tilting his head. "I can put it right back, right?"
"Of course." Shiro said, surprised, nodding as Keith drew back. "I just want to . . . show you something. It was a surprise." he added, going pink.
Keith frowned suspiciously at Shiro, but he didn't say anything else and his expression offered no clues. "Hm." Keith lifted his hand and drew the ring off with a soft, reluctant breath. It was actually a bit difficult, the barely-there depth of the metal making it ride very close to the skin.
He held it out, and Shiro took it, rubbing his fingertips over the band, and then put it in Keith's hand. He raised an eyebrow. "Just look." Shiro told him softly, and Keith pursed his lips, but looked at his ring - it was beautiful, but it looked just like it had when he'd been wearing. . . No.
A brilliant red glow, soft but stark, sparked from inside the band.
Keith looked a little closer, then blushed. The red lines marked out small, neat strokes of kanji, and his Japanese was a bit rusty - and it had never been perfect, only pieces left from his mother when he was very young and what Shiro had shared with him - but those characters he knew. Shiro's name. Love. Forever.
Shiro murmured the words to him, almost into his ear, then kissed his cheek. "I love you forever, Keith." he said again, English this time, and Keith swallowed, sliding his ring back on - the scarlet glow hidden against his skin, safe - and then lunging at Shiro, catching hold of him, both arms wrapping around his neck, and kissing him fiercely.
"Shin'ai, you- I-" Keith didn't have the words, and he only kissed Shiro again, but Shiro's eyes said he understood, and he smiled against Keith's mouth, his hands warm and solid, grounding Keith as they pressed into each other.
Most of Allura's words are taken either directly or with slight alteration from the lyrics of the song.