When Keith had fallen asleep, the idea of slowly waking up next to Shiro and potentially indulging in lazy morning intimacy had been at the front of his mind. Most of his dreams had consisted of similar scenarios, until the last one which had him sitting straight up in the bed, his fingers itching to write. His brain felt awake for the first time in months, spurring him to want to capture all of his motivation immediately. Carefully easing out of Shiro's grasp, Keith tiptoed to the table where his laptop rested, his mind whirling with details he was frantic to get on the page.
Foregoing his normal set up, Keith stacked his tablet and laptop under his arm, snagging his glasses and a hair tie from the place he had left them the day before. He had tried for hours to write anything useful, flitting between reviewing the plans for his movie's robots and key smashing to create paragraphs that couldn't even qualify as English. The sinking feeling of failure had followed him for long enough, haunting all of his steps like a mourning spirit. That feeling was absent now, replaced by the steady beating of desire to write. Slipping back into the bed, Keith smiled when Shiro snored, combing his fingers through Shiro's hair and marveling at the soft smile which appeared on Shiro's face. Effortlessly, Keith tied his hair back, setting his glasses on the bridge of his nose and settling back against the headboard. A smirk took over his face as he set his hands to the keys, letting the movie in his mind begin to play.
Shifting on the bed, Shiro sought out the warm body next to him without opening his eyes. He heard Keith chuckle as Shiro found a place to nuzzle into Keith's thigh, his sleepy brain barely registering the sound of typing and the position Keith was sitting in. Easing one eye open, Shiro suddenly felt very alert as he took in the sight of Keith concentrating on the screen in front of him.
It was unfair really. Keith was already more handsome than any man Shiro had ever known, but with the careless ponytail and perfectly fitted glasses, he was like every sexy librarian fantasy that had ever been conceived. Shiro felt an immediate desire to pull on the small bundle of hair, his body reacting to his explicit thoughts faster than he could tell his brain to shut up. Trying to distract himself, Shiro smushed his face back into Keith's leg and muttered his good mornings.
"Hi," Keith smiled, saving his current work and slightly closing the lid of his laptop. The instinctual need to protect his work kicked in before he could think better of it and he felt a twinge of guilt about hiding anything from Shiro. Reminding himself that he had a contract which included confidentiality, Keith carefully placed his computer on the nightstand and slid down to be encompassed by Shiro's waiting arms. "Hi," he said again, foregoing the threat of morning breathe to greet Shiro with a kiss.
"Glasses," Shiro remarked, his unawake brain betraying him and causing him to blush. Burying his head into Keith's chest, he could feel Keith's laughter under his cheek. "That wasn't a sentence."
"No it was not." Keith ran his fingers over Shiro's bare shoulders, feeling his skin tingling everywhere they were touching.
This was a moment Keith had been dreaming about his whole life. When they were younger, they would often find themselves cuddled together upon waking up in whoever's bed they were sharing, but waking up together, naked and thoroughly marked from their night before, was a sensation that Keith wouldn't trade for the whole world. Kissing the top of Shiro's forehead, he sighed into his overwhelming happiness.
"The glasses are hot," Shiro commented, his voice muffled against Keith's bare chest. A full sentence wasn't any less embarrassing but Shiro could feel Keith's growing interest pressing between their bodies and decided it didn't matter.
"Being partially blind due to glaring at a computer screen for years is… not so much." Keith continued to run gentle sweeping touches over Shiro's back, trailing into his scalp and relishing in the vibrations of Shiro's quiet moans. "You know…" Keith lost his thought when Shiro began to press kisses over his heart, tongue adventuring out to sweep over one of Keith's nipples. "It's… um… only… nine…" groaning, Keith tightened his grip on Shiro's shoulders when Shiro caught his nipple between teasing teeth.
"How long have you been up?" Shiro asked, pausing in his quest over Keith's body to ask the question and returning to his mission before Keith could answer.
"A few hours," Keith rushed out, feeling Shiro's hands settle at his hips, Shiro's grip tightening and then yanking Keith flat onto the bed. "I had a need to write."
Momentarily distracted, Shiro sat up with an eager glance toward the disregarded laptop. "Book seven?" he asked, hands fluttering on Keith's waist in his excitement.
Raising an eyebrow, Keith hooked his legs around Shiro's thighs and flipped their positions on the bed. "Look, this Shiro fanboy act is sexier than I imagined, but if you get distracted by-" Keith's sentence was cut off by Shiro catching him in a deep kiss.
Pulling back, Shiro admired the way Keith's eyes remained closed, his cheeks dusted with pink and his chest rising and falling with his own arousal. "You imagined me as your fanboy, huh?" Shiro tried to unsuccessfully temper his smile by biting on his lower lip, his amused chuckle getting caught in his throat at Keith's admonishing look.
"You know, if you keep teasing me, I will just go hop in a cold shower." Moving off of Shiro, Keith pretended to scoot for the edge of the bed, easily letting himself be pulled back and pinned when Shiro grabbed for him. "I could get out of this hold," he teased, his mind flitting back to their old high school wrestling days when Shiro changed his stance and took away all but two of Keith's escape possibilities. Playing unfairly, Keith bent his knee, pressing his thigh against Shiro's erection.
"That's not a legal move," Shiro breathed, leaning down to bite at Keith's collarbone. His words stuttered as Keith pressed harder, his mouth finding its hold on Keith's skin, determined to leave a mark.
Shimming down the bed, Keith found Shiro's mouth again. His brain was swimming and his body was buzzing as he let himself melt into Shiro's touches. He let his hands begin to wander again, pressing massaging circles into Shiro's muscles in their path down to Shiro's perfect ass.
The sound of Keith's cell phone ringing broke through the quiet song of their intimacy. "I am actually going to kill her," Keith growled, wiggling to retrieve his phone and angrily accepting the call. "How are you even awake?" he barked into the phone. He managed to control his yelp when Shiro bent down and began to explore below his belly button.
"We all have responsibilities, Keith." Allura didn't exhibit any signs of a hangover as she spoke, which seemed completely unfair. Rolling his eyes, Keith sighed in response, clamping his hand over his mouth as Shiro upped his efforts to distract him. "And speaking of responsibilities, did you get your notes over to the studio? They are due by noon and we need to leave no later than that for today's event."
Keith failed to respond, his brain melting into goo between his ears as he watched Shiro between his legs. Allura's irritated throat clearing made him refocus. "I didn't," he struggled to keep his voice steady, "I was writing. Shiro will help me get the notes finished though. No worries." Keith shoved his fist into his mouth and bit hard when Shiro hummed around him in acknowledgement.
"Shiro… oh…" Allura's response rang with awkwardness. "I should have thought about that… I will see you in the lobby at noon. Please cover any marks and get those notes in!" The line was dead before Keith could even contemplate a response.
Throwing his phone off the bed, Keith laced his fingers into Shiro's hair and dragged him up to crash their lips together. "I cannot believe you," Keith angled his hips, causing friction between them that was not meant to extinguish the mood.
"Yes you can," Shiro laughed, running his hands down Keith's sides and taking a hold on his hips again. "Now, Allura says you have work to do."
"Hmmm…" Keith hooked his legs over Shiro's hips to anchor their bodies together. "If you help me with my work…" He pulled Shiro back to his lips, leaving his thought open-ended and rolling them over again. "This then that?" Keith flicked a finger between them and then toward his abandoned tablet, quirking an eyebrow at Shiro's playful smile. When Shiro nodded, Keith dipped back down to kiss him, ready to ignore all of his responsibilities for at least another hour.
One minute was all it took for both Pidge and Matt to appear in Shiro's path, cutting off his beeline towards his bedroom. They were both grinning, arms crossed over their chests and apparently armed with one thousand questions and even more teasing remarks. Holding up a hand, Shiro failed to control his own grin. "Hey, I need a shower and a change of clothes so we can get to this thing." He tossed tickets and press passes to Matt and Pidge, watching them exchange looks. "My boyfriend gifted us those, so you both better be on your best behavior. Now shut up and let me shower."
Listening to the twin cries of congratulations, Shiro set Keith's tablet on his bed, his own bag on the floor and stripped out of yesterday's clothes. Tossing the crumpled pile in his hamper, Shiro hurried for the quiet of his shower, pausing briefly in front of his mirror.
His chest was littered with small bruises, his hips showing bruises that were unmistakably shaped like Keith's fingers. None of the marks hurt, but Shiro ran his fingers over them with reverence, remembering the beauty of each act that brought them into existence. He was Keith's now and Keith was his, and no matter how much teasing he received from his favorite set of instigating siblings, nothing could change the level of happiness taking over his entire being.
Hopping into the shower, Shiro let the first burst of cold water flow over his body. His mind flipped through options of what to wear and then immediately returned to the image of Keith pressed close to his side, listening intently as Shiro described the adjustments he was making to the proposed plans on Keith's tablet. A sense of pride washed over Shiro as he recalled Keith's wide eyes and enthusiastic encouragement, pushing Shiro to make every change he could think of.
In the end, they had run out of time and Keith had forwarded all of Shiro's notes and diagrams through to the studio's design and engineering team indicating that there would be more to come in the next twenty-four hours. Keith hadn't let Shiro see the email he sent, which had left Shiro nervous about exactly how Keith had described Shiro's input in the process.
Scrubbing his hands through his hair, Shiro acknowledged the excitement and sense of purpose that the small project had brought to him. Unlike the mundane projects he tackled at work every day, adding his knowledge and skill to such a huge endeavor gave him a certain level of pride. Sure, the creation of Voltron's robots for use in a movie wasn't going to change the world, but Shiro's additions and changes would certainly make the robots sturdier and safer for those who would be using the life-sized versions.
His head was still reeling from Keith's reveal that there would indeed be life-sized robots and not just CG versions. Keith had merely shrugged when Shiro had asked about the necessity of actual giant robots, stating that it had been at the director's request that they be created. Shiro knew of Kolivan from his major action sci-fi movies, including his creation of an elaborate set in the middle of a desert with an artificial asteroid field created through the use of magnets. It wasn't farfetched that Kovilan would want huge robots to work with and Shiro had stopped questioning the request, enjoying the opportunity to contribute to their development and creation.
His heart began to pick up its pace again, knowing that he had potentially influenced the project in a significant way. Shiro had always spoken of lofty goals to accomplish great achievements in his life, but instead he had accepted his fate as another office worker, relegated to life chained to a desk. In what was really a brief moment, Keith had given Shiro an opportunity to do something bigger and bolder, taking a chance on the faith that Keith had always had in Shiro. This thought also made Shiro's heart jump in his chest and he pondered for a second as to whether happiness could be dangerous to his heart's health. Laughing out loud about that idea, Shiro shut off his shower. He toweled off his hair and body, tossing his towel aside and pulling on a clean set of boxers. Shiro nearly jumped out of his skin when his bathroom door flew open.
"Get dressed, damnit," Matt demanded, grabbing Shiro's arm and yanking him back into the room. "And then we want details!"
"Not all of the details!" Pidge yelled from outside of Shiro's bedroom door, clearly trying to prevent herself from accidentally seeing Shiro in a state of undress that Matt seemed unconcerned about.
"I want all the details," Matt cackled, shoving Shiro into his closet and throwing himself across the bed. "Hurry up! We have to see your boyfriend! It's only right that we get to tease him too!"
From his place inside his closet, Shiro rubbed a hand against his cheek marveling at the ache there. His smile had been a near constant fixture since his first sight of Keith behind the table at the bookstore and he couldn't stop his feet from doing a happy hop. Yanking a pair of jeans from the closest hanger, he shoved them on, snagging a second pair in his hand. They had made plans for Shiro to spend the night in Keith's room again and this time Shiro was not going to come home in the same set of clothes.
Bracing himself for the tandem teasing of the Holts, Shiro stepped out of his closet. At his current level of happiness, he could handle anything his friends threw at him. Laughing as comments started flying in his direction, Shiro shoved extra clothes in his duffle bag and let his mind wander back to the plans stowed on Keith's tablet and the addictive feeling of Keith's body against his own.
"It's packed," Allura noted, not looking back to Keith or Coran as she peered out of the cracked door of the back office. The line snaked through the store in a winding route, the noise of people filling the high-ceilinged bookstore to the brim. Allura was scanning the space she could see, her eyes narrowing and a finger flicking in Coran's direction.
Too nervous to care about what Allura was seeing, Keith spun in circles on a stool at the back of the office. The manager had called Allura during their drive to the store and insisted that they enter from the back in order not to incite a riot. His words had sounded stressed and had immediately hiked Keith's nerves to a painful prickle beneath his skin. The prickle grew to a full fire when Allura had covered her phone, angling it to show Coran something that Keith couldn't see from his own seat. Coran had forced a glass of dark alcohol into his hand and suggested he drink it before they exited the car.
Keith tried to ignore the way Allura and Coran were currently pressed together, voices tipped low and eyes glancing back at Keith as they conversed. He had already endured Allura's scoffing remarks about letting Shiro do his work on the robot notes and had also silently prayed his way through Coran's unneeded lecture about safe sexual practices. After the call from the store's manager, they had huddled together whispering words that Keith wasn't meant to hear. Keith couldn't have scripted a more embarrassing and awkward car ride if he had written it himself and in response had downed a second drink. His head wasn't one hundred percent clear due to this decision, but with the worried expressions on his team's faces, he wasn't positive that was a bad thing.
"Do I want to know?" Keith asked, spinning to face his back toward Coran and Allura and his eyes trailing over a poster for an old book series about wizards. He remembered being compared to the author, something about being less problematic or some other shit, and he found himself wondering if she even knew who he was. His purposely distracted mind caused him to miss whatever answer Allura or Coran had given him, and he jumped when a set of hands landed on his shoulders.
"Keith," Allura gracefully sat on the stool in front of him, devoid of the fidgeting Keith couldn't prevent in his own hands. "There are far more people than we expected out there. It seems this bookstore may have been a little overzealous in their plight to make money off of this event. I've had them queue the line first in hopes of clearing out some of the crowd, but we will have to be very controlled in the question and answer portion of the afternoon. We'll check in once you get through the line and see how your voice is doing, okay?"
Admiring how calm Allura was being, considering the anger Keith could see flashing in her eyes, Keith nodded. They had been working together long enough that Keith knew there was something else she wasn't telling him. Narrowing his eyes, Keith pushed to his feet. "Who's out there?" He knew her trepidation wouldn't exist if it wasn't bad news and his stomach churned in a mixture of alcohol and anxiety.
"Keith…" Coran warned, stepping in front of Keith's path and preventing him from looking out of the door himself. "I'll tell you," Coran waved a hand at Allura's wordless objection, "but first I want you to concentrate on how happy you were when you came down to the lobby this morning. And I want you to remember that Shiro is out there and so are your friends… and so is an entire store full of people who support you…"
"Zarkon," Keith growled, not needing to see anymore to know exactly who had decided to plague his event with his menacing presence. The reporter (if one could even call the rat of a tabloid's front pages a reporter) had spent most of Keith's career trying to tear him down despite never being able to get a direct rise out of Keith. Blood boiled in Keith's face, his hands clenching tightly into fists against his sides. "Why?" he spoke through gritted teeth, eyes blind to the room around him.
"My guess is the allure of your story with Shiro." Coran shrugged a shoulder in Allura's direction, an acknowledgement that he wasn't adhering to whatever signals she was giving him. "Don't give into him, no matter what he says, and we'll be right here with you."
"I-" Keith snapped his mouth shut when the office door banged open, revealing the flushed face of the store manager. Pushing down his desire to strangle the gangly-limbed man in front of him, Keith squared his shoulders and let Allura press a firm hand to his back. He hadn't let Zarkon get to him in five years and there was no reason to start now. Nodding once, Keith let himself be pushed forward into the welcoming cheers of his fans.