Ch. 14: Shiro is unsure about the tall one
Shiro looks down at his watch impatiently for probably the 50th time today. Last month, a day or two after his brother and Pidge returned home from Christmas, he and Matt received a random facetime call from the two. To his surprise, they asked them to go on their next ghost hunting adventure. They explained it was going to be in Arizona and so they had to wait until mid February, around the college's winter or whatever break.
Naturally Shiro agreed. He and Matt took the time off from their jobs the next day and have saved up for it since, making sure to save a little extra to help the struggling kids and buy their siblings gifts.
Don't judge.
There's nothing wrong with buying your siblings gifts. Keith is sort of like a son to Shiro, after all, seeing as how he raised him for so long. Even if it has been with Sam and Colleen's help.
"Shiro, you're gonna make scuff marks on the floor," Matt teases as he comes up to his boyfriend impatiently pacing in front of the living room window, "They are on their way, it's only been two hours since they left. If they got here that quick I'd be kinda worried." He points out, and Shiro has to admit he has a point, so naturally that's when the little blue vehicle this Lance kid owns pulls up. "Oh damn." The man next to him whistles, "Boy's got a lead foot that rivals Keith and Pidge."
Shiro's not kid has precious cargo in there, just what the fuck is he doing getting here so early?
"Easy, tiger." Matt laughs, giving him a quick kiss before heading to the door, "Don't go all Daddy Shiro on him just yet."
Shiro groans, "I told you to stop calling me that."
"Come on, it's not like I call you it to other people, it's fine." The so called love of his life laughs as he opens to door, easily catching Pidge when she leaps into his arms, "What's up, brat?"
"Put me out of my misery." She whines, plopping her face into his chest and groaning.
Shiro looks past them, to the other three. There's two boys he doesn't recognize, who are no doubt Hunk and Lance, the bigger one grins at him, waving. The lanky one is arguing with Keith.
"Look, I know someone dumb enough to have a mullet obviously doesn't have many brain cells, but to be so stupid as to say that demons are fairytales is just ludicrous! I don't even know if I can look at you right now!" The boy says and Keith just leans against the car glaring at him. They are right up in each other's personal space , the new boy's arm resting on the hood of the car and conveniently behind Keith's shoulders, their bodies relaxed despite the argument and seriously too fucking close.
"I keep telling you that religious bullshit holds absolutely no credence to me. It's like getting upset I don't believe in the spaghetti monster!" He argues, which earns an appalled gasp from the boy.
"Don't worry." The smiling one says as he comes up to the door, "They do this all the time. Lance and Keith don't really know how to talk without getting into a fight, usually." He laughs, holding out his hand, "I'm Hunk, you must be Shiro."
Shiro forces himself to turn his eyes away from the argument long enough to shake the boy's hand, "Nice to meet you." He says, his focus immediately going back to Keith and who is apparently Lance.
Dragging Keith to Kansas, Lance.
Making his brother actually get some sort of enjoyment out of Matt's lame Christmas sweaters, Lance.
Texting Keith during Christmas, Lance.
Shiro is not impressed.
"-About as likely as someone getting stuck in a wormhole!" Keith yells and Lance actually presses his forehead against his baby brother's.
"I'll stick you in a wormhole!" Lance yells before Shiro descends upon them, splitting them up.
"That's enough!" He scolds and both boys go rigid in his grasp as Pidge actually laughs so hard she starts coughing in the background. "You don't behave like that with my baby brother!"
"Oh my god," Keith groans, clearly mortified as Lance just stares at him wide eyed and scared shitless.
Obviously this isn't the impression the kid planned on making when he arrived, if the button up shirt and slacks he's wearing are anything to go by. He's sure as shit not dressing up like that for a 37 hour car ride.
"Mierda," Lance whispers angrily to himself before waving his hands around, "L-lo siento! I'm really sorry about that! We were just having a friendly debate!"
"You were insulting him and then getting in his face." Shiro points out, not interested in excuses.
"You've gotta drop it, Shiro!" Pidge calls from the door, "This is how they flirt, just let it go, man!"
Lance and Keith both blush and Shiro finds himself letting out probably the most frustrated groan he's ever mustered before dropping them both and heading for the door. He walks a little slower, though,when he hears Lance whispering to Keith.
"So your brother is hot!"
"I swear to god, Lance, if you ogle him in any way I will personally see to it you can't look at anyone ever again." His little brother practically hisses and Shiro can't help but smile to himself.
"He's with someone, obviously I'm not going to. I'm just happy I was right." Lance explains, "Now to see what Pidge's brother looks like."
"She never show-? No, wait, yeah that sounds about right," He hears Keith sigh, "Come on, just, you know, behave. Shiro's kind of the biggest mother hen you will meet and he won't hesitate to pluck out someone's eyes if they mess with his flock."
"You know brood is the more chicken centered term." Lance points out and Keith groans.
"I don't care. Just make sure not to piss him off because he can and will kick your ass."
Shiro feels both pride and a bit of annoyance. That's not being a mother hen, it's being a good brother.
God, he wishes people would stop calling him things like that.
"Speaking of Shiro being a badass big brother," Lance begins, possibly earning a brownie point, "Where's that creepy stalker of yours live? In the house to the right, wasn't it? Is-oh my god is he the dude in the window right now?" He asks, moving closer to Keith as he stares the guy in the window down.
Shiro immediately turns to gape at the oblivious boys because Keith literally never talks about Alex. Yet here Lance is, knowing where he lives and who he is.
"Yeah, that's him." Keith groans, allowing Lance to move in front of him and block Alex's view.
Which, also, what?
"He's got a lot of nerve," Lance glares up at the window and flips Alex off, "I should go kick his ass." He decides and Keith's hand immediately shoots up to grab his sleeve.
"Or, you know, we could just go inside and ignore him."
"Absolutely not! You see that look he's giving me? Like 'how dare he be near Keith?' Fuck that! I've got more right than him, the creepy ass stalker. He's going down."
Keith sighs and grabs Lance's shoulders, pushing him towards the house, "Nope, it's time to go inside now, Lance." He orders as the boy in front of him stutters in his footsteps trying to resist. Eventually Lance gives up the fight, though, but not without making sure to flip Alex off one more time on their way over.
Shiro sighs to himself as they all head inside to grab their stuff, including some tech equipment Matt wants to bring.
Lance and Hunk take a minute to fawn over the baby pictures of Keith and the little picture collar of him and Pidge together over the years. Keith's face is bright red as he tries to pry them away, and Lance looks way more smitten with the pictures than Hunk. Like they're the best thing in the world.
Which they are, to Shiro, but they sure as shit shouldn't be to this guy.
He was honestly afraid of this. During Christmas when he saw the smile Keith would get every time he looked at his phone, he knew. Just. Fucking. Knew.
This kid isn't going anywhere.
"So, that car is kind of...tiny for all of us." Matt points out, looking at Lance's vehicle in the driveway, " We should probably use Shiro's van." He smirks at his boyfriend, "Shiro's mom van."
"It's not a mom van." Shiro groans, "It's the most logical second vehicle choice. There's room for everything. We're active people, Matt."
Matt looks like he has something to say, probably the same thing he says every time they have this conversation. Instead he settles for laughing a little, kissing Shiro on the cheek before sliding into the passenger's seat. "I know, babe, I know."
Shiro sighs and looks to his little brother, pointedly ignoring how Lance is kind of obnoxiously making sure to tower behind him so Alex can't get a peak, "You think it's a good choice, right?"
Keith raises a brow and looks over the vehicle for a moment, "For this exact situation, yes. Anything else…"
"I think it's a great choice," Lance says from behind Keith as he begins ushering Shiro's baby brother into the van, "It's got great storage and seating. People as outgoing as you and Matt probably do a lot of stuff with friends, at least Keith said you do, so yeah someone should have a van if you do that. Lucky for us it's you."
Shiro smiles at the boy, Lance's obviously sucking up, but honestly this kid's the only one who has his back so he'll take it, "Thank you, Lance."
The smile Lance sends his way is almost blinding, "You're welcome, Shiro."
"Why are you trying to suck up to my brother?" Keith groans, sitting down next to Pidge in the very back.
"Gotta get in good with the in-laws." Pidge teases, earning her an elbow in the side from Keith.
"Keith." Shiro warns as Lance plops down next to Hunk in the second row and buckles up, "You can't elbow Pidge. How many times do we have to go over this?"
"I guess every time she's a little shit." Keith shrugs, before taking in their seating arrangements, "Wait," he begins, eyeing his brother, "You're not driving."
"I absolutely am driving."
"No, no, this isn't up for discussion, Shiro. This is a 37, now 34, hour drive already, we don't need it to be 48 hours with you behind the wheel. We're already losing speed in the fact we are in a soccer mom van. Let Matt drive."
Shiro shoots his brother the dirtiest look he can muster, but he can't really argue, "Who raised you to be such a disrespectful little shit?"
"The same asshole who had me believing hickeys were full of maggots until I was 14." Keith counters and Lance bursts out laughing.
"Oh my god, how did you believe that?" Lance asks, earning him a dark look from Keith.
"You better drop it, Lance."
"Absolutely not, this is one thing I am going to hold onto forever. Forever, Keith. Gonna be 80 years old and I'll randomly message you about how you thought hickeys had maggots. Jesus, no wonder you didn't get anywhere with your exes." The boy exclaims, now laughing harder, "Probably thought kissing too much would give you maggots."
Shiro decides to take that moment and head for the passenger seat, but he can still hear them from outside.
"Oh my god, Lance! He told me that sucking on the skin made it die and bring maggots! I didn't think it happened with kissing!" Keith yells, only making Lance laugh harder.
"Is that really your case? Oh my god, this is the best day ever!"
Once he gets into the passenger seat he looks at the two in the rearview mirror.
Ok, so Keith told him about his stalker, and his love life in general. That's...very much not a Keith thing to do, but okay.
So his brother has a crush on this loud, kind of obnoxious kid. It's okay, it's fine. Shiro isn't gonna knock him for it.
The kid is obviously good for the most part. He's protective of Keith and makes him feel comfortable enough to share things so since Shiro is not some overly protective parent, he will give him a try. Besides, if he's being really honest, he kind of likes Lance already.
Yes, he will go the obnoxious older brother route and embarrass Keith in front of his new crush.
Mother hen his ass.
"Keith was a pretty gullible kid. I had him convinced that the shower drain was actually a communication portal to talk to the FBI until he was seven." Shiro points out, enjoying the horrified look on Keith's face.
"Shiro." Keith warns.
"To be fair, though, he was always book smart. When he was 3 he knew that two dimes and a nickel made twenty-five cents. No one told him, we didn't even know he knew, mom had mentioned in passing one time what each coin was worth and then one day at a gumball machine he couldn't find a quarter so he put in two dimes and a nickel." Shiro grins at the loud laughter coming from Lance and Pidge, "When I told him that's not how it works he tried to get his money back and when he couldn't he went up to the store clerk and demanded a quarter for his troubles."
"Shiro."
"When he was ten mom and Colleen joked about him and Pidge getting married, and he told them no, so they informed him he had to because he kissed her on the cheek one time. He started crying and saying he wanted to marry Aladdin."
"You are treading dangerously close to being disowned." Keith hisses.
Shiro decides to stop, turning on the radio and letting everyone settle down. Namely let Lance and Pidge catch their breath.
Soon enough, they all begin to pull out their phones and flip through stuff.
So he strikes.
"Keith drools in his sleep like a river when he's really comfy."
Pidge has to hold Keith back from unbuckling and leaping at him in the moving van.
This time he laughs alongside Lance. The muttered 'that's too cute' from the latter goes unnoticed by everyone else.
Being the good brother he is, Shiro stops teasing Keith after the drool fact, mostly because he feels that's enough for now, but also because he's about 90% sure one more thing would make Keith actually leap up there and seek vengeance.
Matt drives for about eight hours, talking with Pidge for a good deal of the time about different technical babble Shiro doesn't really get. The boy Hunk even joins in. They stop for food about halfway, going through the drive-thru.
Shiro made the decision so it's his job to feed Matt his chicken nuggets while he drives. He doesn't mind. Kind of loves feeding his boyfriend. Even more so when Keith grumbles about how gross they are.
After the eight hours of driving Matt switches off with Keith, curling up in the backseat with his sister to take a nap. Shiro kind of wishes he could join him, but he also enjoys sitting with his brother and chatting. Or, really, arguing over what music to play.
When Pidge, Matt and Hunk are napping and Lance is watching a video on his phone with headphones, starting to doze as well Shiro decides to talk privately with his brother.
"So, how's work going?" He asks and Keith shrugs.
"It's good. My boss let's me sit in when he fixes up the bikes, think he's gonna let me help him pretty soon instead of just have me selling things in the shop." Keith answers, trying to play it cool, but Shiro can see the excitement in his eyes and slight curl of his lips.
Since they were little Keith has been into fixing vehicles. He used to take his toy cars apart and put them back together. Once he met Pidge it just became more elaborate. She made him his own tiny garage and would build fake motorcycles and cars out of plastic for him to work on. The two were easily the biggest nerds as kids. Right up there with his boyfriend.
He really wishes Keith would go to school for the trade, but the boy adamantly refuses so he isn't going to push it. When he's ready, Keith will buckle down and do it himself. It's how he's always been.
"How about you? Running into any issues with your arm?" Keith asks and Shiro smiles at him.
"No, everything is fine. The Garrison has some pretty great technology, basically have their own Winry-level mechanic to look after it for me." He tries to joke, earning him a look from Keith before the boy scrutinizes his fake arm.
It's a sore subject for them.
Sort of the beginning of their life falling apart.
If Shiro's being honest, his metal arm upsets him, too. All he can think of when he looks at it are the dreams he once had, the life he had planned to live before everything was taken away.
After high school, when Shiro was eighteen, he and Matt actually joined the military. His parents were still alive at that point and Shiro had decided the best way to make a life for himself and his boyfriend was to go into the army and then go to college. Matt followed because, well, they do everything together. They also wanted to be able to live in military housing together, and gay marriage wasn't really a thing back then especially in the military, so it just made sense.
They went to training and both did well, Matt grew from a tiny and frail nerd into a pretty impressive man. Shiro's not gonna lie, he was pretty shocked with how sexy Matt became. It didn't help that Matt got super into his own newly toned legs and started literally throwing them in Shiro's face any time he wanted attention.
Well, he still does, actually.
Aside from Matt's change, Shiro changed noticeably as well, but that was more after taining. Immediately after the four months of training, they were dispatched overseas. They were glad to go together, but when they arrived they both wished the other didn't have to be there. It was lonely, it was dangerous.
Halfway through their tour they got caught up in a car bomb. Matt got bruised up and recieved hearing damage but Shiro...Shiro lost an arm protecting him. The explosion got them sent back home with honorable discharges.
He planned on going to college after that, they both got enrolled in a really good one about twenty minutes from home, and he was honestly excited to start. His goal was to be a teacher, to help kids out and give them a safe person to talk to. After he enrolled he used to go on and on to Keith about how excited he was for college and all the great things he was going to do. The absolute admiration in his brother's eyes just got him more excited for what he was going to do. What he was going to be.
Shiro had big plans when he was nineteen.
Then over that summer it all came crashing down around him when their parents died. It was a shock, and none of them were prepared. His parents did have life insurance, which covered their funerals, and they paid off the house years ago so Shiro and Keith could keep their home, but now he had a new job to do.
College was set aside, or really just dropped, and he focused on taking care of Keith.
Shiro had lost his real father years ago, so sadly he wasn't unfamiliar with the concept, but Keith was. The boy was a mess for a long time. For a few months he would cry every night, waking up from terrible nightmares screaming the most painful screams Shiro had ever heard.
Shiro was at a loss for what to do, until one night when he went to Keith's room after he woke up screaming. His little brother was shaking, crying into Shiro's chest and begging him for their mom and dad, just for one last hug from them. That's when Shiro got an idea. He scooped the boy up and brought him to their parents room. It was untouched, both too afraid to go inside, but that night he laid down in the bed with his brother, wrapping them in their parents blankets. It was the first night Keith slept for a full eight hours since their parents had died. Shiro didn't make him go to school the next day, opting to let him sleep as long as he needed.
After that night, Shiro would go to bed when Keith did, curling up together in what was left of their parents warmth.
Shiro gave up the idea of college then and there, he couldn't afford it and needed to care for his brother. The Holts offered to take care of them, to pay their bills until Shiro graduated college, but he couldn't let them do that. It wasn't fair to them, was his excuse, but he's fairly certain now it was just his pride.
He wanted to be the one to take care of Keith.
At the end of that summer Shiro got himself an office job. Sam had set him up as a secretary at the Garrison, the research facility the Holts work at. For the past eight years he's been working there, climbing up the ladder. He went from secretary to Lab Assistant. Matt's Lab Assistant, at first, but it was deemed inappropriate for them to work so closely together and he is now, ironically, Sam's assistant.
His life definitely took an unwanted detour, but he's happy where he is now.
Looking at Keith in the driver's seat, taking Shiro's loss of focus as an opportunity to play his emo shit, he's happy they got here.
Even if his brother is crushing on some weird boy who chases ghosts. A weird boy who is now asleep like everyone else.
"You know, kid, we should probably stop somewhere for the night." Shiro points out and Keith glares at him.
"If you can find a hotel, Shiro, a hotel, we will stop."
"Yes, your majesty, I wouldn't dream of making you sleep in something as lowly as a motel."
Keith scrunches up his nose in disgusts, "Affairs and murders happen in hotels, Shiro, I don't like them."
"I know, I know." Shiro laughs a little and pulls out his phone to find any nearby hotels. Luckily there's one off the next turn in about twenty minutes. He makes a call and tries to book two rooms, but they only have suites available still, so he books them a family suite, and tells them their estimated arrival time, since it will be past midnight. "There you go, Keith. A nice hotel and even the family suite."
Keith raises a brow, "Why the family suite?"
"We need at least three beds, Keith. The family suite has a king and two doubles. It's kind of a cheap hotel, though, so all three beds are in one room…" Shiro sighs, "It's gonna be crowded."
Keith shrugs, "You and Matt should have your own room."
"Not gonna happen." He says, ignoring the confused look on Keith's face.
Not much later they arrive at the hotel, Shiro grabbing the keys while Keith parks, leading the group of still half-conscious people inside. They get up to their room on the top floor and Pidge plops down on one of the doubles, Hunk sitting next to her on it.
"We call this bed." She says, both Keith and Lance groaning before walking together towards the other dou-wait.
"Where do you think you're going?" Shiro asks, making sure to use his most intimidating 'dad' voice as he looks to Keith and Lance.
"To...bed…?" Keith offers, confused.
"Together?"
"Well, yeah, we're guessing you and Matt get the king sized bed, so we're just splitting into the doubles." His brother explains, Lance growing paler and moving further away from him the more Shiro stares them down.
"I'm not sleeping with Matt." Shiro says, moving past the two boys to crawl into the double bed, "I'm sleeping with you. Lance and Hunk can sleep in the king."
Keith watches his brother curiously, "O...dk…?"
Pidge groans, "You're ruining all the fun, Shiro."
Keith smirks over at her, "Guess your bullshit antics won't be flying for this trip."
She groans louder.
Shiro ignores them and watches as Lance scurries over to the King sized bed located between the two doubles. Apparently Keith doesn't get what his issue was, but luckily Lance does. Although he is pretty surprised when Lance chooses to sleep on the side closest to Shiro and Keith's bed. He wonders if it was on purpose or not, but before he can really dwell on it, the lights are out and pretty much everyone is back to sleep.
As soon as Keith gets under the covers he's out, his body turned towards Lance and Hunk's bed, which is fairly normal, since Keith hates facing people when he's sharing a bed with them. He says it's too much them, that he doesn't want a face full of someone else's scent.
Shiro's aware he has a weird brother.
He's also aware that Lance is still awake, staring at Keith, "Can't sleep?" Shiro offers, making the boy jump a little before smiling nervously at him.
"It's not that, really, I'm just surprised...I've never seen Keith fall asleep so fast." Lance admits, "I know he has problems getting to sleep before 4 AM, but I guess the fears that keep him up are quelled with his big brother around." His smile is a little brighter now, almost grateful to Shiro. Like it's a personal favor to Lance that Keith has someone he feel so safe with.
"It's only natural, I am his brother after all." Shiro says, smiling back. He's not entirely sure how he feels about them, if that ever happens, but Lance is a good kid and a good friend for Keith.
For now, he has Shiro's blessing.
"You know," Lance begins after a few minutes of silence, "Pidge has a nickname for you. Well, a few, but one there's one I think might suit you best."
"Oh?" Shiro asks, genuinely curious.
"Daddy Shiro." Lance grins and Shiro's expression drops.
He's changed his mind.
Lance gets no blessings.
And Matt, that little shit has some explaining to do.
A/N: Shiro and Matt will not, in fact, be in every one after this, just so you know. They will join them on some, though. It only took, what, 14 chapters for them to come along?
It's fine.
My god what does that say for how LONG this thing is gonna be...