Back at it again, with chapter two! It's Shiro time! Just like how desert born followed Keith by age, desert raised follows Keith by the people he meets- all the way up to Lance and Hunk, who will finish off the story. Honestly my favorite parts of this chapter were just writing Keith being a dumb kid... he deserves it. He deserves the chance to be a dumb pouty baby.

Until next time~!

desert raised

shiro

Okay, now what?

Staring down at the stranger on his couch, Keith racked his brain for what he should do next. His father had taught him first aid, but his memory of it was a little rusty. He hadn't exactly had much cause to actually use it.

But that was probably what he should do, right? First aid.

With that thought squarely in his head, he dug out the first aid kit that his father had left behind. He hadn't used it much, so it should still be fully stocked. Cracking it open, he triumphantly pulled out some bandages, and set to finding a rag he could clean the head wound with.

The man didn't stir as he set to work, carefully cleaning the wound of dried blood, then wrapping it with bandages, making sure they were tight, but not too tight. Satisfied with his work, Keith crouched in front of the couch, just taking a moment to study the man's face. It hadn't been just his imagination- he did look a little like his father.

At least, probably- he hadn't seen his father's face in years, so maybe he was just imprinting this man's face on him. He was the only human he'd seen since the death of his father, and really, since they'd come out here. He'd seem them in movies and stuff, but he didn't think that counted.

Up close, he looked younger than his father. Maybe an older teenager? A young adult? He didn't know.

At least his wound didn't look bad. Probably? Keith squinted, studying the man, like if he stared at him hard enough, he'd be able to determine if he was dying or not. There was nothing wrong with his breathing- it didn't have that raspy, hissing quality to it that his father's had after his fall.

But his father had also fallen a lot further. The stranger had just hit his head on a rock, from the look of things.

Thinking about his father hurt, but not as badly as it used to. He'd probably carry that pain for the rest of his life, but he could probably deal with it. Had been, really.

The man stirred, breaking him out of his thoughts. Holding his breath, Keith watched as his eyes slowly fluttered open. Come to think about it, he hadn't thought about what to do when he woke up at all.

The man turned his head, just enough so that he fell into his line of vision. Keith felt himself tense, watching the man's brow furrow. He was confused, disorientated, and he didn't know if that was just because of the head wound and the dehydration, or of it was because of him.

"...who?"

Dehydration. Right.

"Water," Keith quickly said, springing to his feet, "-you need water."

He was aware of how much his own voice cracked, but tried not to think on it. He didn't exactly talk much- just to the blue lion, and to his father, and not very often at that. The blue lion didn't need him to speak with words, he discovered- she could sense impressions.

Ducking into the kitchen, he grabbed the cleanest cup he could find, filling it to the brim with water. Carefully making his way back to the couch, he thrust it at the man's face, leaving no room for himself to hesitate.

"Here," he told him, "-drink. It's clean."

The last part came as an afterthought. Cleaning... he hadn't done much of that since his father died. Didn't see the point. The man might be worried because the shack was so dirty.

The man stared at the cup with suspicion for a few seconds- before he slowly accepted it, his gaze lingering on his hands- his claws, Keith realized. Curling them into his palms, he watched as the man drank slowly, just like his father had taught him too, on the unlikely chance he ever became dehydrated.

When he finally finished, the man let out a long breath, before finally really looking at him. He felt himself tense again, not knowing what to expect- but then he smiled, so soft that it had his guard crashing down.

"Thanks." He told him, and it sounded like he meant it.

Keith momentarily blanked, grabbing the cup from the man without fully thinking about it. "More?"

"Later." The man told him. "Were you the one who found me?"

Nodding, Keith suddenly became keenly aware that he was alone with a stranger right now. He tried not to think about it. "You were hurt."

He couldn't just leave him there, even if he was afraid. That didn't... it didn't seem like it would be the human thing to do, and he was still human, he thought. At least, his father had always assured him he was, but his memories of actually being human- or looking it- were so dim that sometimes he wondered if he'd actually just made them up, and that his father was just a nice man who decided to take care of him.

What the blue lion had showed him indicated otherwise, but maybe that was just her way of being kind.

"Are your," the man began, sounding a bit uncertain now, "-are your parents around, maybe?"

He just shook his head, not really thinking about it. "Gone."

The man paled, and he didn't understand. "Gone," he repeated, "-gone for how long?"

He had to think about it, slowly counting it on his fingers. It had been four years now, since his father had died. A lot longer since his mom had left, but he didn't think that was what he was asking.

"Four months?"

He just shook his head again, wondering at the strain in the man's voice. "Four years."

The man just looked more distressed at that- or maybe he was reading him wrong? His interactions had been pretty limited- there was his father and the blue lion, and one of those wasn't exactly the best frame of reference to go off of.

"How," the man began, "-how old are you, kid?"

Keith held up both hands, splaying his fingers. The man seemed to get it, and Keith watched, curious, as he seemed to think about something. Crouching down by the couch, he peered up at him- he seemed pretty alert and aware, but maybe he was just numb.

"You're not gonna die, are you?" Keith asked. "Dad fell too."

He didn't know why he felt the need to supply this stranger with that piece of information- it had just slipped out.

The man blinked, before slowly touching his head, hand hovering just over the bandages. "No, I don't think so. Probably going to leave a nasty lump, though. You bandage me up yourself?"

Keith nodded, unable to stop himself from preening, just a little. "Dad taught me."

"He taught you pretty well, then." The man told him, falling back against his pillow. "Is it just you out here?"

Without thinking about it, he nodded. "Dad said it's not safe for me to go into town, cause people there might want to hurt me."

It was then that it finally clicked- that this man was a stranger. Someone he didn't know. Leaping to his feet, Keith's eyes went wide, suddenly fearful in a way he hadn't been before. He'd brought a stranger back to the shack, when his dad had warned him that there were dangerous people out there- people who wanted to hurt him just because he was different.

That was why they were out here, and now he'd-

"You don't," Keith swallowed, backing away from the man quickly, "-you're not going to-!"

"I'm not going to hurt you," the man assured him, keeping his voice calm and level, "-I promise. You saved me."

He didn't know if he should believe that or not. What if he was lying? People did that.

But still... part of him wanted to believe this person, this man. He seemed kind, and he didn't want to think that someone who reminded him of his father so keenly could possibly be bad. "You swear?"

"I swear." The man assured him again, this time holding up a hand. "Here, we can do a pinky promise."

Pinky promise? Keith blinked. He'd never heard of such a thing. It hadn't been in any of his books, and neither his father or the blue lion had ever mentioned something like that. "Pinky promise?"

"Yup." The man nodded, curling all his fingers save for his pinky into his palm, leaving it extended. "Come here. I'll teach you."

Part of him tried to argue that this was probably some kind of trap- but he couldn't deny that he was curious. Besides, the man was injured- even if it was a trap, Keith was confident that he could overpower him and escape. Slowly, he crept back towards the man, mimicking his own gesture, extending his own pinky.

Carefully, the man took it in his own, telling him he'd swallow a thousand needles if he lied. Keith couldn't help but flinch- that sounded painful, and he told him as much.

"That's the idea." The man said. "That's how you know I'll keep my word."

Blinking, Keith stared down at his own pinky, before looking back up at the man. Anyone who was willing to swallow a thousand needles if they lied couldn't be a bad person, he reasoned. Crouching down beside the couch again, it occurred to him that he still hadn't given the stranger his name.

"Keith."

The man smiled. "Nice to meet you, Keith. I'm Shiro."

Shiro said he was a cadet at the Garrison, aiming to become a pilot. Keith believed that.

Shiro promised he'd come back. Keith didn't know if he believed that.

"-and that's when you- Keith? Something wrong?"

Blinking, Keith hadn't even realized he'd spaced out. It was just...

...Shiro had come back. He'd really, really come back.

He hadn't dared to believe it. Shiro had promised, but he still didn't believe it. He trusted that he wouldn't hurt him- they'd made a pinky promise, after all, but it wasn't until he'd heard the knock on the shack door that he truly let himself believe that Shiro had really come back.

He'd thought... he'd thought that maybe this was something that would only happen once. A chance for a human encounter, after spending so long in solitude. The thought made him feel kind of guilty- he wasn't alone, not with the blue lion around, but the companionship he got from her was different than it had been with his father.

Something was missing.

Shaking his head, Keith looked up at Shiro. "I'm fine."

Shiro looked a little doubtful, but he still reached out, ruffling his hair. The touch made his heart soar- that was a different kind of loneliness, the kind the blue lion couldn't fulfill. That was it- that was what had been missing, he thought.

He wanted to lean into it, but that might be a bit weird, so he restrained himself.

"If you say so," Shiro told him, "-you got that lid?"

Quickly nodding, Keith thrust it up towards him. Shiro accepted it with a grateful smile, placing it on top of the pan. He had to stand on his toes to peer up at the stove, the scent of the eggs cooking almost tantalizing.

His dad used to make scrambled eggs for him every morning, and somehow, he burned them, every morning. Bacon, too. Sometimes he would make pancakes, and Keith would wake up in a good mood, their sweet aroma coaxing him out of bed. He never burnt the bacon or the pancakes- it was always just the eggs.

He wondered if Shiro burned his eggs.

"Now what?" Keith asked.

"Now we wait for a minute." Shiro told him. "We've got to let the yolks set."

Nodding his head, Keith stood on his toes all the while, peering at the cooking eggs. Shiro had brought a dozen with him, and they were going to make them all. If he paid close attention, Shiro told him he could make the last batch himself.

All the while, Keith marveled at the fact that he'd come back.

He didn't have to. He was just some random kid that he had no connection to. And maybe... maybe after this time, he wouldn't. Maybe he was just repaying him for saving his life. Maybe all this food was his way of saying thanks, and after this, he'd never see him again.

Maybe he just felt sorry for him.

Seeing Shiro, he was keenly reminded of the differences between him and a normal human. They weren't purple like him- didn't have claws or fangs, or pointed ears, and had soft, smooth skin. Their eyes weren't yellow, didn't glow in the dark, and weren't just one solid color- honestly, he struggled to think what about him actually was human.

He was Galra. Like his mom, he was an alien.

He didn't belong here, on Earth. But he probably didn't belong up in space, either. That was why she hadn't taken him with her, right? Because it wasn't safe.

But it wasn't safe here either, not for him.

"Okay, done." Shiro said, taking off the lid and passing it back down to him. Keith accepted it without thinking, watching as Shiro slid the eggs carefully onto a plate. "Onto the next pair."

He must have been making quite the face, because Shiro paused, hand still hovering over the carton of eggs. "Keith?"

Shaking off his thoughts, Keith beamed. "Eggs, right?"

Shiro frowned, but eventually nodded his head, scooping up two eggs. "Eggs. You want to try and crack them?"

He perked up at that, quickly nodding his head. Maybe he should just enjoy this. Even if Shiro didn't come back after this, at least he'd keep the memory.

Shiro came back.

Once, twice- by the third time, Keith was slowly starting to understand that he was here to stay. He could only come on weekends- Saturday and Sunday, due to the fact that he had classes all the other days of the week. He understood- after all, he was training to be a pilot, and not just any pilot, but a space pilot! That was only the coolest and best job there was.

(The second best was a firefighter. Keith knew this for a fact.)

He'd tell him about life at the Garrison. He was enthralled by it. His dad had told him a lot about the Garrison too, but he'd been a pilot, not a cadet- and while he loved hearing about his father's adventures in space, hearing about Shiro learning to be a pilot was just as interesting.

Sometimes, figures from his father's stories cropped up in Shiro's. Commander Iverson sounded just as stern and tough as he did in his father's stories, and so did Admiral Sanda, just more so. Shiro spoke favorably of a Professor Holt, that he dimly recalled his father mentioning once or twice.

He was happy, he realized at some point. Happier than he had been since his father's death.

The blue lion noticed. She did not seem surprised by the fact that he had met another human, and that he had become his friend. But he'd long since learned that she worked in mysterious ways- maybe she already knew that something like this was going to happen.

He'd puffed out his cheeks at the thought. She could have told him!

Shiro brought him new clothes- clothes that actually fit. His favorite was the bright red hoodie, quickly taking to the sense of security that putting the hood up gave him. He had shown it off to the blue lion, and she had been properly impressed.

He found out a lot about Shiro. Like how eggs were the only thing he knew how to make, and how he was originally from a country called Japan. Keith had dug out his old geography workbook, showing it to him on the map, causing Shiro to praise him.

He really, really liked it when Shiro praised him.

But all good things had to come to an end at some point. He just hadn't expected it to happen in the bathroom, of all places.

When Shiro had told him that he was going to wash his hair, he'd been skeptical. He didn't see the need. He hadn't even liked it when his father was alive, so why would he want to do that now? The only times he really used the shower was when he got muddy, or was covered in dust from the desert, but otherwise, he usually ignored it.

But Shiro had been insistent, and it was Shiro, after all, so he had let him.

Like a fool.

Obviously, everything from before had been a trap designed to lull him into a false sense of security so he could torture him later. He completely ignored the keening sounds that would always cause his father to freeze, allowing Keith time to scurry away and hide under the bed and hiss at him from underneath the safety of it.

Instead he was forced to endure Shiro tugging at his hair for what felt like hours. By the time he was finally satisfied, his head was throbbing, feelings of betrayal deeply settled in his stomach.

The worst part was, that when all was said and done, Shiro was right- he did feel better now that his hair wasn't a greasy mass of tangles. His head felt lighter and not as itchy, but he was way too stubborn to admit to that.

But it had hurt.

So by the time it was over, Keith was sulking. Folding his arms tightly in front of his chest, he refused to look at Shiro. Shiro, who had the nerve to say that it hadn't been so bad.

It had been! It had been awful! And Shiro was awful for putting him through that!

So Keith just pouted. "I hate you."

"No you don't." Shiro said lightly. "Trust me, you're going to feel a lot better without all those mats in your hair."

"Am not!" He protested, narrowing his eyes and completely ignoring the fact that he did. "Shiro's just mean!"

"Does this mean you don't want me to come back?"

Keith froze at his words, eyes going wide. Shiro? Not coming back?

No! That wasn't what he wanted at all! Leaping to his feet, Keith pivoted on his heel, staring up at Shiro, blurting out the first thing that came to mind, "-no!"

"...no, you don't want me to come back?"

"No, I-!" Keith stammered, frantic. No, no, that wasn't what he wanted at all! He wanted Shiro to stay! He couldn't... he couldn't leave, not after sticking with him for so long, could he?

He'd wash his hair! He would!

"I want- I want you to come back." Keith stammered.

"I thought you hated me?" Shiro asked.

Oh. He had said that. Why had he said that? He didn't hate Shiro. He didn't! "I don't- that was a lie."

"You shouldn't lie, Keith." Shiro chided him, and he bristled a bit at that. Maybe he had told a lie, but he wasn't the only one!

"You lied." Keith insisted, puffing out his cheeks. "You said you wouldn't hurt me, and that hurt a lot."

Shiro, the traitor, just used that as a chance to remind him that it was his fault that it had gotten that bad. Even made him promise to brush it from now on. Grumbling, Keith just sulked, letting Shiro dry his hair, trying to pretend that it didn't make him feel good, even going so far as to bite back the content rumble that he otherwise would have made.

No. Maybe he didn't hate Shiro, but he was mad at Shiro. Super mad!

But when it came time for Shiro to leave, he still watched him with some apprehension. What if he took him seriously? What if he decided not to come back after this?

Grabbing at his pants without thinking about it, Keith frowned. "...you're coming back, right?"

Shiro just smiled at him. "Promise."

"I didn't mean it," Keith began, "-that I hated you. I didn't mean that."

Crouching down in front of him, Shiro rested a hand on his shoulder, steady and comforting. "I know you don't, Keith. I don't hate you either."

Looking up, Keith chewed on his lip- before releasing Shiro's pants, nodding his head. "Okay."

"Next time though," Shiro said, a grin that could almost be described as mischievous on his face, "-you and I are cleaning this place up."

He took it back. Shiro was the worst.

"He made me clean for hours," he whined to the blue lion later, lying on his back and staring up at the roof of the cavern, "-it's just gonna get dusty again."

The blue lion simply rumbled affectionately, lightly nudging the memory of the photo they had found while cleaning. He'd thought there weren't any photos of his father left, so he'd been over the moon to discover that there had been one, all this time.

And sure, maybe he wouldn't have found it if he hadn't cleaned the shack. But as far as he was concerned, that wasn't a fair trade off. Folding his arms in front of him, Keith puffed out his cheeks.

"It still sucked."

The blue lion, he swore, laughed.

His eleventh birthday passed without a fuss.

At least, it did, until Shiro decided to make one. It hadn't occurred to Keith to tell him- these past four years, he'd celebrated all of his birthdays alone, and it wasn't like Shiro could just come out here whenever he wanted.

Just asking about Halloween felt kind of selfish.

So when Shiro brought up celebrating his birthday when he had mentioned it in passing, Keith almost didn't want to talk about it. It didn't matter- he had gotten used to not really celebrating. He marked it, sure- but Shiro was talking about cake and presents, and he didn't know if he really deserved all of the fuss.

He already knew that Shiro was spending a lot on him. Granted, his understanding of money was pretty vague- there was a whole tin of it stuffed underneath his bed, not that he had any use for it, but he did at least have some idea of how it was used. And he knew that things like food and clothes cost money.

And he knew that Shiro was just a student. He didn't have a job, and jobs were what people had to get money. He understood that much.

He'd just- he'd really kind of missed candy, okay? That was the only reason he'd brought up Halloween.

But now Shiro was here, on his doorstep, with a bag of candy, a chocolate cake, and a present- the last thing he hadn't even asked for!

But he'd be lying if he said he wasn't even a little bit excited. He still remembered celebrating his birthday with his dad- he'd start the day with a stack of pancakes, with chocolate chips in them, and finish it with his dad bringing back home a big bag of candy after work. They would stay up as long as Keith was able, watching movies on his dad's laptop, and before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep, and it was tomorrow.

It kind of hurt to remember.

He wouldn't get to celebrate any more birthdays with his father. But maybe... maybe he could celebrate them with Shiro, from now on. It made him kind of sad, almost guilty- like he was leaving the memories of his father behind, replacing him.

But he didn't think his dad would mind. Not if it made him happy. And it did. It made him super happy!

And it wasn't like he was replacing him, not really. Shiro was Shiro, and his dad was his dad. They were both great, but Shiro... Shiro was more like a brother, maybe. The thought excited him a little- he'd always been an only child, so having a brother was something completely new to him.

He kind of wanted to ask Shiro if he felt the same way, but he was too afraid to. What if he didn't? He didn't think Shiro disliked him, he wouldn't spend so much time with him if he didn't, but... it would kind of hurt if Shiro didn't think of him as family too.

Oh.

Family.

He thought of Shiro as family. When had that happened?

But he was. He did. Shiro was here, singing him Happy Birthday off key, encouraging him to blow out all eleven candles on his birthday cake, to make a wish.

He wished that Shiro would stay forever.

He blew out all the candles at once, and he hoped that was enough to make his selfish wish come true.

By Christmas, Keith was faced with a dilemma. Shiro had given him a Christmas present- and he didn't have anything to give him in return.

He loved it! He loved his Christmas present! It was a telescope, a real one! He could see all the way to the moon with it! Not a knock against his father, but it might have been the greatest Christmas present he'd ever gotten in his whole life.

Okay, so he was eleven, so maybe that wasn't saying a whole lot. But it was amazing.

It was amazing, and he had nothing to give Shiro in return.

"I don't know what to do," he whined, pressing his hands against his eyes, lying on his back in the blue lion's cavern, "-I gotta give him something. I gotta, Blue!"

He was whining, and he knew it. Birthday presents were one thing, but Christmas presents were another- and if he didn't get Shiro something, he'd just look like a jerk.

The blue lion purred in response, and Keith pulled his hands away from his eyes, turning his head towards where she sat and didn't sit on a nearby rock, taking the form of a large blue lion. She showed herself like this a little less these days, and he wondered if it was because he had Shiro around now.

The thought made him feel a bit lonely.

But the blue lion merely nudged his thoughts, pointing them towards a set of his father's books he had seen while cleaning. Frowning, Keith looked skeptically at the lion, but if she said that they would make Shiro happy, he might as well and give it shot.

She was right, as it turned out- Shiro had smiled at him, thanking him in earnest. He felt a little guilty about giving Shiro something used- even if the telescope he'd given him for Christmas was also used. It was just... the scope was different.

But Shiro didn't mind at all. He was happy.

And that just made him happy in turn.

When Shiro showed up on New Year's Eve, Keith had been taken by surprise. It was late- already dark out, much later in the day than when he usually showed up.

He was even more surprised when he showed him what he'd brought with him.

"Fireworks!" Keith beamed, hoisting the package above his head, beaming triumphantly. "Can we really play with these, Shiro?"

"Wouldn't have brought them otherwise." Shiro told him, ruffling his hair, and he didn't fight the urge to purr. He'd never seen fireworks before, not for real!

Letting out a whoop, Keith scurried outside, jumping down off the shack's porch. Waving the package of fireworks above his head, he beamed. "What are you waiting for!? Let's hurry up and set them off!"

Shiro just chuckled, following behind him. Tearing open the package with his claws, he squinted at the instructions, before passing them to Shiro. He looked at him questioningly, and he tapped the part where it said that a responsible adult should set them up.

Shiro just passed them back, and he tilted his head.

"I can't see as well as you can in the dark, kiddo." Shiro told him. "Think maybe you can read them to me?"

Nodding his head, Keith beamed. "Yup!"

Reading off the instructions, he bounced on the balls of his feet as he watched Shiro set up the fireworks. He set aside the sparklers, to save them for later, and then ducked into the shack to get a bucket of water. Keith followed him inside, producing a box of matches, which Shiro gave a quick look over before ruffling his hair and telling him to find a good place to watch from.

Sitting down on the porch, Keith watched eagerly as Shiro carefully lit each firework, eyes wide with glee as they shot up into the sky and exploded into a burst of color. They weren't as big as the ones he'd seen in some of the movies his dad had shown him, but they were still impressive.

When the last one went off, Keith clapped, Shiro pausing to give him an overdramatic bow. Beaming, Keith leapt up onto his feet, holding up the reserved sparklers. "Can we play with these now?"

"As soon as we finish cleaning all this stuff up." Shiro told him, and he whined, just a bit. Shiro just chuckled, damn him.

His dad would fall for his whines all the time! Why was this the one place they had to be so different?

But he gave in, helping Shiro clean everything up, stuffing it all in a big plastic garbage bag that he would take with him back to the Garrison and throw out. Wasn't like there was a trash service all the way out here.

Then, finally, finally, it was time to play!

Shiro, for his part, just bundled himself up in blankets, letting him have fun. The sparklers he bought were the kind that he could move around with, and it was fun to try and create shapes in the night with them. When he finally got down to the last one, he tried to make it last as long as possible, but it went out so quickly that it made him pout.

He crawled into Shiro's blanket nest after that. He wasn't cold, but it was still nice. His dad used to do the same thing, not being able to stand the chill of the desert air during winter nights like he could. Shiro, for his part, accepted him readily, wrapping a hand around his shoulder, and started off on a story about a New Year's from his childhood.

He'd wanted to stay awake until midnight, but he'd ended up drifting off. When he woke up, he was curled up in his bed, the smell of pancakes wafting through the air.

Half asleep, for a moment, he thought his dad had come back.

Scrambling to the kitchen, the word dad hanging on his lips, Keith stopped short, realizing it wasn't his dad- it was Shiro.

Oh. That was right. His dad couldn't come back anymore.

"I'll be honest with you, kiddo," Shiro began, not seeming to notice his mood, "-I'm using box mix. Hopefully they still taste good!"

Keith looked up at Shiro. Maybe he wasn't his father, but he was still important to him. And he was still here.

So instead, Keith beamed. "Did you bring syrup too?"

"Pancakes without syrup?" Shiro nearly gasped, and Keith had to roll his eyes. "Never."

"Well, I'll keep my eyes out for any purple aliens while I'm out there."

A joke.

Shiro had meant that as a joke. He knew that. He was chuckling, affectionately ruffling his hair like he always did. Nothing was different from how it usually was. But his words, his joke, sent a bolt of fear through Keith's heart, one that had him bolting to his feet in a heartbeat, eyes wide.

"No, you can't, you-!"

Clenching his fists, Keith stopped himself short. Staring down at the ground like it was the most fascinating thing ever, and not a sight he saw every day, he bit down on his lip, hard. How could he... how could he tell Shiro the truth? He knew about his mom, he knew that she was an alien, but he didn't- he didn't know everything.

He didn't know about what the Galra were like.

It was just a joke, he told himself. Shiro didn't mean that. It wasn't like the Galaxy Garrison had any ships that could go beyond their galaxy anyways, so maybe he was worried for nothing.

But his mom had come here. And so had those scouts, the one who forced her to leave. And if they could find Earth, if they could find this system, who was to say that other Galra wouldn't?

"Keith?" Shiro asked, his voice gentle, if not concerned. "Did I say something wrong?"

He didn't want to tell him. He didn't want Shiro to think differently of him.

He knew that he was different. There was no getting around that. He was purple, his mom was from space, and his best friend was an ancient, sentient warship. But none of that mattered to Shiro- not that he knew about that last part, but he was convinced it wouldn't matter to him even if it did.

But this was... this was different.

His father hadn't told him much about the Galra Empire, but the blue lion had filled in some of the gaps when he'd asked. Which wasn't often. He was kind of afraid to find out more. To learn just how bad they really were.

And the blue lion was still hurting, ten thousand years later.

"You can't."

It was only when Shiro asked what he couldn't do, that Keith realized he'd spoken.

"Dad said..." trailing off, Keith shifted on his feet, afraid to look up, "...they're bad."

He braced himself, holding in all of his fears. But when Shiro spoke, his voice was gentle, soft. "They're bad?"

Slowly daring to look up, Keith nodded his head. Shiro didn't look... he didn't look any different than usual. Worried, maybe. But not mad, or afraid, or disgusted. Just worried.

"Dad said," Keith began, taking in a deep breath, "-dad said mom's not bad, and her friends aren't bad, but there's a lot... a lot that are bad."

He waited, all coiled tension, for Shiro to speak, to react in some way, any way. What if he was reading him wrong? What if... what if he wouldn't come back after this? Or what if he thought he was a bad alien, and he decided to break his promise?

He wasn't a bad alien. He really wasn't. His dad had said so, and his dad wouldn't lie.

"Okay," Shiro said finally, "-I won't look for them."

He felt himself let out a breath of relief, tension seeping from his body. "Promise?"

"Promise." Shiro assured him, beaming. Like nothing was wrong. Like nothing had changed. "Now c'mere. Why don't I whip us up something to eat?"

All the tension washed out of him at once.

Shiro didn't care. He'd told him, and Shiro didn't care.

"Yeah," nodding his head, Keith returned his smile, his heart lighter than it had been in a long time, "-I'd like that."

Maybe his birthday wish had come true after all.