Shiro sighed, running his hand down his face as he sunk further into the couch. It was Saturday, and although he itched to be outside enjoying his day off, he was currently swamped with work that he now regretted pushing back to do on the weekend. Though it was only mid-morning, he doubted that he would get through it all by the end of the day. He supposed though that if he managed to get through the majority of it today, then maybe he would be able to take Keith out for a ride on the hoverbikes tomorrow afternoon. They both could use a break, what with end of semester and exams looming in the next couple of weeks.

Speaking of Keith, he hadn't seen much of the boy in the past week. To be fair, Shiro had been flat out himself, taking on extra workloads as half the Garrison staff and student body had come down with a seasonal flu virus that seemed to be making the rounds – as to be expected when so many people living within closed quarters. He assumed that Keith had been busy with his class work, but Shiro still felt a pang of guilt as he usually made time throughout the week to at least check up on the kid.

Shiro was however grateful that he hadn't been called up to the Principals office in the past couple of weeks, meaning that Keith had at least kept himself out of trouble.

The apartment was silent, save for the sound of rustling papers and Shiro's pen scratching on paper. Adam would be out for the majority of the day, at a meeting this morning, before coming back for lunch and leaving again to teach tutoring sessions in the afternoon. It was for this reason that Shiro had opted to work from the comfort of his apartment rather than his office. Well that and he didn't particularly want to risk being laid up for a week if he managed to catch that flu virus.

Straightening from his slumped position, Shiro turned his focus back to his paperwork. There was quite the pile stacked on both his lap and the coffee table in front of him; the more Shiro looked at it, the more he hated himself for procrastinating. He couldn't really do much about it now though. Most of the papers were his student's quizzes and reports that he really should have marked a week ago, not too mention that he still had to draw up lesson plans for his classes next week.

Shiro's concentration was broken by the click of the front door unlocking. Adam's meeting must have been cut short today, Shiro thought. He wasn't complaining, after the past couple of hours he was eager for the distraction. Shiro looked up to welcome his boyfriend home, the greeting dying on his lips when Adam led a very unsteady looking Keith into their apartment.

Keith looked terrible, to say the least. His skin was at least two shades lighter, his eyes glassy and half-lidded, and his nose was obviously running if the sniffling and redness was anything to go by. His usually alert posture was slumped and Shiro feared that Adam's arm wrapped around Keith's shoulder was the only thing keeping him standing. With a concerned frown, Shiro dumped the papers sprawled over his lap onto the coffee table as he stood and quickly made his way over to them.

"I found him wandering around a couple of corridors away." Adam said, as Shiro pressed his hand to Keith's forehead, wincing at the heat radiating from it.

"Couldn't remember which door was yours." Keith admitted quietly.

"Do you think we should take him to the med bay?" Adam whispered in an attempt to avoid Keith hearing.

Shiro went to agree when he noticed that Keith had stiffened, having overheard the question. Keith was thirteen, and old enough to realise when he would be sick enough to seek out medical treatment, and yet he had sought Shiro out first. He supposed there was a reason for that, which he doubted Keith would actually tell him.

"I think he will be fine for now." Shiro answered, leading Keith to the couch he was sitting on previously, "I'll keep an eye on him, but if he gets worse I'll take him."

Adam nodded, before disappearing into their bedroom as Shiro made himself comfortable next to Keith. It was a testament to how unwell Keith felt when as soon as Shiro had sat next to him, he snuggled himself into the older man's side. Whilst Keith wasn't against physical contact, – as he had never protested against Shiro's one armed side hugs and friendly hair ruffles – in the short time that Shiro had known him, Keith had never initiated contact. Shiro assumed – with a touch of sadness for the boy – that it was probably a remnant of his time in the foster care system. Shiro's arm snaked around Keith's shoulders, bringing Keith in closer, trying to provide the comfort he obviously needed.

Adam returned with a pillow and the blanket from their bed and they rearranged Keith into lying down along the length the couch, his head resting on the pillow now in Shiro's lap. Shiro began carding his hand through Keith's long hair, feeling him relaxing into the touch.

"How long have you been feeling like this?"

"I dunno, like a week?" Keith mumbled out from where his face was half turned into the pillow.

"A week!" Shiro exclaimed softly, his voice low to avoid agitating the headache Keith was obviously suffering from, if his clenched eyes and desperate attempts to sink further into the pillow were any indication.

"I didn't feel that bad until this morning."

Shiro sighed, exasperated, "Keith, you really should have told someone when you started feeling sick."

"I told you."

Well yeah, I guess, Shiro supposed, but it was far from the point. Shiro rubbed his temple, "Keith-"

"I had it covered Shiro." Keith, although exhausted, turned to face Shiro, glassy eyes displaying a hardness that was often there. "It's not like it would be the first time I had to take care of myself." Keith grumbled, head turning back into the comfort of the pillow.

Anger swirled in Shiro's gut, along with the familiar feeling of resentment that he often felt when he thought too much about what had happened to Keith in that time between his dad's passing and meeting Shiro. Keith was by no means perfect, Shiro was the first to admit that, but disciplinary issues aside; Keith was a good kid. Shiro himself was guilty of sometimes forgetting how young Keith was. The poor kid had seen more misery in his thirteen years than Shiro had in his twenty, and the result was that Keith had to grow up remarkably fast compared to his peers.

Every adult in Keith's life in recent years had labelled him as a discipline case, writing him off as a lost cause when he was barely into his teenage years. But Shiro was determined to be there for him. He was not naïve, he knew from the moment that Keith had stolen his car the day they met that it was going to be difficult. But over the past couple of months he had noticed slight changes in the younger boy. Whilst Keith still struggled with authority and trusting others, he was slowly opening himself up to others, especially to Shiro. He supposed that the fact that Keith had actually sought him out when he was feeling sick was proof of that.

"Here," Shiro startled out of his thoughts as Adam seemingly materialised in front of him, holding out two pills and a glass of water in his other hand, "-get him to take these."

Shiro nudged Keith into a sitting position, and Keith quickly downed the pills with a grimace before chugging the water. Shiro didn't get the chance to warn Keith that drinking that quickly might not be the best of ideas – with the risk of upsetting his stomach – before Keith handed the glass back to him and flopped back down, smothering his face back into the pillow.

Shiro laughed, though it came out as more of a snort. Keith always had a way of doing things with such dramatic flair that Shiro couldn't help but be amused by it every time. The tension in his shoulders that he didn't realise had been there since Adam and Keith had entered the apartment finally began to loosen. If Keith still had enough energy for dramatics, then hopefully he wasn't as sick as Shiro had initially feared.

He also didn't miss the halfhearted glare Keith gave him and he only just managed to stop himself from laughing outright.

Feeling that Keith was starting to drift off, Shiro went back to his paperwork, combing his fingers through the boy's hair as his breathing evened out.

Shiro could hear Adam quietly pottering around the apartment as he got ready to head out for the afternoon. As he was leaving, Adam swapped the papers in Shiro's hand with a warm cup of coffee, kissing the top of his head. Shiro looked up and caught the fond smile his boyfriend cast at the two of them currently curled up on the couch. Sipping at his coffee, Shiro's eyebrows raised at him in question, to which he received a fond smile and a slight shake of his boyfriends head in reply.

"Call me if you guys need anything." Adam – mindful of the sleeping boy in Shiro's lap – whispered, grabbing his teaching materials and stuffing his keys into his pocket. Shiro nodded and they exchanged a quiet "I love you" to one another as Adam shut the front door after him.

Shiro worked for the next few hours in relative silence, punctuated by Keith's rough coughs and congested snores. At some stage, Keith had turned so that his face was pressed against Shiro's abdomen, likely trying to alleviate his headache from the bright lights of the apartment.

Shiro was about halfway through his massive pile of paperwork when Keith shifted with a groan, his sleep hazed eyes meeting Shiro's.

"Dad?"

Shiro froze, not knowing how to answer. Was Keith dreaming? Should he say something? Shiro's mind raced, desperately trying to think of what to do. He had been making progress with building their friendship. Keith was finally starting to trust him; to the point that he had allowed Shiro to see him when he was vulnerable. But Keith still had many walls up, and his nature still prickly, and if Shiro handled this wrong, he would risk undoing months of progress.

He didn't think quick enough. He watched Keith's expression shift from confusion, to sadness then finally to mortification as he realised his slip up, a red blush creeping onto his cheeks that Shiro knew was not due to the fever.

"Sorry, Shiro. Just...Just forget I said that." Keith's voice hitched, and he roughly pushed himself up and away so that he was now sitting as far away from Shiro as the couch would allow, his arms wrapping around his knees drawn up to his chest.

Shiro mentally kicked himself for not acting sooner. He had to fix this now before Keith closed himself off. He raised his hands in an open gesture of surrender, as if he were trying to calm a cornered animal, "Keith, it's-"

"Just forget about it, Shiro." Keith's fever glazed eyes were as hard as his voice, and Shiro could see the walls begin to come up again. "You don't have to say anything. I know he's dead." Keith bit out the last sentence, something flashing in his eyes as he looked away, directing his scowl at the coffee table in front of him.

Shiro drew back at Keith's outburst, knowing that there was something he was missing.

It took a moment for him to piece it together, "You're allowed to miss him, Keith."

Keith didn't respond, his glare intensifying, and Shiro noticed the wetness gathering at the corners of his eyes. They sat there in tense silence, Shiro allowing Keith to make the first move and talk to him when he was ready, if he even wanted to talk at all.

"I hate being sick." Keith eventually rasped out. He swiped roughly at his eyes, his shoulder's hunched up near his ears and his whole posture on edge, almost daring Shiro to mention it. Shiro let him go, giving Keith his full attention but not making a move to comfort the boy. That was the last thing Keith wanted right now, and Shiro knew that. Though it made him feel helpless.

Keith's face suddenly blanched, and before Shiro could process it, Keith had shot up and rushed down the hall to the bathroom. The sounds of him painfully throwing up into the toilet brought Shiro out of his shock as he hurriedly made his way after him, stopping at the kitchen first for a glass of water.

Entering the bathroom, Shiro was met with Keith leaning his head on the edge of the toilet bowl, his shoulders heaving and breath coming in gasps from the exertion. Shiro knelt beside him, his hand rubbing soothing circles on the boy's back. Keith initially flinched away from the touch before allowing himself to melt into it with a whimper, his head moving from resting on the toilet bowl to resting on Shiro's shoulder. He let out a hiccuping sob and Shiro felt his shirt under Keith's head quickly become damp with tears. Shiro put the glass of water down beside him before wrapping his arms around Keith, the boys sobs intensifying.

"I miss him." Keith choked out.

Shiro didn't provide any words of comfort, knowing that Keith had already heard them all before. Right now what Keith needed was someone to hold him as he broke down.

Shiro rested his check on the top of Keith's head, and he felt arms wrap tight around his waist in return.