AYJ 27 Shiro is S T R E S S E D
Shiro sighs to himself, glaring at the computer screen as he hangs up his phone for the tenth time today.
Everyone talks about the pain of losing a loved one but no one talks about the pain of being the executor of their estate.
It's honestly given him a great deal more respect for his uncles, which he didn't think was possible. The fact they handled all of this paperwork and were always there for him and Keith when their parents died is truly astounding.
Shiro's having a hard enough time dealing with just Keith, not to mention all the stuff he needs to get done for their uncle's accounts and home and things.
Matt has honestly been his savior through all of this. Every time he comes up to Shiro he's always done something for him. Whether it's making food, getting Keith out of bed, or coming home with a ton of boxes from their uncle's home to put in their garage. It makes him wanna smother the man in kisses.
The day Matt sent all of Keith's friends (even Pidge) home he almost took him right then and there.
But Keith was in the room.
And he's tired, he's so fucking tired, definitely too tired to bend Matt over the kitchen counter and really show him just how much he appreciates everything.
Eventually, though.
As soon as they can get Keith to go home, except they can't really rush that.
Still, though, Keith has been home for a month now, and yeah his boss Kolivan at the bike shop is an understanding man but even he has limits.
Shiro sighs, leaning back in his chair as he stares blankly at his computer, he doesn't know how to deal with all of this. Last time Uncle Ulaz and Thace were here to pick up all of the pieces with Colleen and Sam's help, but this time…
This time it's on him.
Maybe he'll talk to Colleen and Sam about Keith tomorrow, he certainly doesn't have the energy now.
He wonders briefly if Keith might never want to leave, and the thought leaves a giant knot in his stomach, but how does he kick his baby brother out?
Closing his eyes, Shiro mulls over his situation before a pair of familiar arms wrap around him from behind, a firm kiss soon pressing against his temple.
"Someone looks ready for bed." Matt mutters, lips still ghosting over Shiro's skin with every word. " You need to sleep."
"Matt, it's only 5. We've still got dinner to make, Keith to force into the shower, not to mention I wanted to go to Uncle Ulaz's and actually throw stuff out." Shiro says, Matt leaning into him more and more with each word.
"No, no, we go to bed now. Ulaz's stuff isn't going anywhere, Keith...well I mean he showered yesterday he's not gonna rot skipping one day, and I've already talked to mom she's gonna bring food over around eight. You're off work right now so time is unimportant, you need to rest." Matt says, his voice alarmingly firm at the end.
"Fine," Shiro sighs, "I'll lay down. I doubt I'll sleep, but I will lay down."
Matt backs away so he can stand up, "Great! I knew cuddling you into submission would work."
Shiro rolls his eyes before wrapping his arm around Matt's shoulders, "Yes, you're truly a genius."
"Damn right, I got my masters degree in Shiro-ology very early." He teases, putting up no resistance as Shiro leads them to the bed, "I bet I'd even beat Keith's knowledge."
"Mmhmm, good for you." Shiro mutters before crashing down into bed, dragging a slightly flailing Matt down with him.
"You know…" Matt begins in a tone Shiro is very familiar with.
"Too tired." Shiro mutters, "Next time."
"That's fine, I suppose," Matt wraps his arms around Shiro, "Cuddles are also super nice."
Shiro pulls Matt in tightly, mumbling into his hair as he dozes off, "I don't know what I'd do without you."
A few hours later Shiro wakes up, a sleeping Matt still latched onto him. He looks at the clock on the bedside table and groans, Matt's mother will be here soon. "Matt, wake up." He whispers in the other man's ear.
"Hmmm? You well rested now?"
"Your mom will be here in about ten minutes." Shiro sighs and Matt groans.
"Welp, there goes that mood." He sits up, pouting at Shiro, "You sure can kill 'em, can't you?"
"It's not like I want to."
Matt laughs a little, "I know, I'm teasing. I can wait til you're ready to blow my mind, and my-" He's swiftly interrupted by a pillow slamming into his face.
"God you're a dork."
"But I'm your dork~!"
"Yeah, yeah, come on, you know your mom loves to be early." Shiro groans, getting out of bed and putting on his slippers, "Knowing her she's probably already in the kitchen."
Matt laughs, following him down stairs with far less urgency, "Oh, come on. Not even she-" He stops in his tracks to see his mother, in fact, in the kitchen, plating up some stew for a tired looking Keith.
"Told ya." Shiro teases.
"Touche." Matt concedes before heading into the kitchen, "Hey mom! What did you make for us?"
"Some beef stew, to keep you boys nice and warm. Just because it's spring now doesn't mean it's not cold still. I mean remember last April when we got snow? Can't be too careful." Colleen says and Shiro nods.
"Definitely. It's still late March, after all. Up here's that's basically still winter." He comes up and gets a bowl from the smiling woman, "Thank you for your help."
Colleen's hands linger over his when he takes the bowl, "Any time, Shiro. Just say the word."
Shiro sits down at the table and looks to Keith, sitting there in his wrinkled pajamas with greasy hair and insane bags under his eyes. He's talked with Keith, they've talked many times since their uncle passed away, but nothing he says seems to do anything for the boy.
How is he supposed to bring Keith back to life?
Maybe he should look for some books to help Keith cope with grief. They've already agreed that when Keith goes home he will be seeing a therapist, but now the biggest thing is getting Keith to go home.
Colleen sits down beside Keith, giving him a gentle smile, and Shiro wonders if maybe she can convince him. "How are you doing, dear?"
"I'm fine." Keith mumbles, taking a bite of the stew, "This is delicious, thanks."
"Of course. I notice Pidge didn't leave you Rover...you must miss him." She offers and Shiro inwardly groans, because that's the first thing he tried.
"Rover's fine, he's Pidge's dog anyways…" Keith says, a strange look in his eyes as he says it.
Could Keith want a dog?
...Should Shiro get Keith a dog?
No, no. That's not something you go into lightly.
He'll discuss the idea with Keith at a later time, though. He'd certainly be willing to help with any expenses for it.
"What about work? Kolivan isn't give you a hard time for being gone, is he?" Colleen asks and Keith shakes his head no.
"He said I can take as long as I need."
"Well, that's a relief." She says, and Shiro's glad Keith isn't looking up because the defeated look on her face clearly says otherwise.
The rest of the dinner is pretty silent, on Keith and Shiro's part at least. Colleen and Matt chit chat about his dad and his new research in the lab, both of them coming up with ideas that might help the man and writing it down. Colleen leaves around nine and the three men sit in the living room and watch tv, Keith being forced to.
Not that Shiro can complain too much, he's certainly not watching the television. All of his focus is on Keith. The kid all but shut down when they returned from their ghost hunting thing, and honestly barely seemed to notice his friends left. Shiro's not entirely sure Keith would have noticed they left at all were it not for Rover.
After a few hours Shiro decides to go to bed. He's got a ton of shit to do in the morning anyways so he can't exactly just sit out here all night. After giving Matt a kiss goodnight, he rustles Keith's hair some and heads off to bed.
Except sleep doesn't come.
Maybe it's from the stress, maybe it's from Matt not being there, or maybe it's both but Shiro lays there for hours and is arguably more awake then when he laid down. Giving up he decides he will just bring Matt to bed. He can't fix the stress but he can fix that.
Walking down the stairs he makes sure to be as quiet as possible in case they are both asleep, but quickly finds himself stopping in the stairwell when he begins to hear voices.
"This is your home, after all." Matt is saying, clearly in the middle of something.
"No, my room is still my room, but this is your home now, not mine." Keith says and Matt laughs a little.
"Why? Because I'm living here now? You grew up here, kiddo, it's far more yours than mine." Matt sighs, "But I guess being away for so long might make it feel like that's not true."
"Also the fact you both want me out." Keith grumbles.
"Nah, we don't want you out." Matt shrugs, "In fact, I planned on letting you know that you are welcome to move back in." He says and Shiro tenses up.
They didn't discuss that. Not even a little. Sure he loves Keith and misses him but he's building his life with Matt now. To have Keith come back out be-
"I am…?" Keith asks quietly and Shiro immediately decides the idea of Keith coming back is ok.
"Sure, man! Like I said, this is your home! You're room is still here, you can find a garage locally to work at, and I mean with you coming back maybe even Pidge will return!" Matt exclaims, voice filled with excitement, "I mean, yeah, you won't see Lance and Hunk much anymore but you haven't really known them that long, and they can come visit on holidays. Well, holidays they aren't going to see their families. Ok, maybe just, like, summer and winter vacations…no...wait...with the winter up here let's just say summer vacations. Still, though, you can see the, and do the ghost hunting thing in the summer. Summer is the best time for spooky stuff anyways. Well, that and fall. Anyways, you can totally come back. I can ask Pidge and the boys to bring your stuff this weekend, even. I mean let's face it, they don't exactly have busy weekends after all." He laughs a little and Shiro is in awe, realizing what Matt's doing.
"I…" Keith begins, clearly thinking things over, "I like my job with Kolivan." He says and Matt nods.
"Kolivan's a cool dude, but we have cool mechanics here, too."
"Yeah but they aren't him...and...I...I love my room here and being with all of you feels like home...but so does my apartment." He says as Shiro quietly rounds the corner, now able to see Matt's face on the couch, an unreadable smile on his lips.
"Really? But it's so small."
"It's not that small, it's just not a house." Keith counters, "I also don't wanna live with you and Shiro...I mean...I kind of do...but…"
"But…?"
Shiro can only see the back of Keith's head, but from the pain in his voice and surprise that suddenly comes to Matt's face he can only imagine the expression when he finally speaks again. "I wanna be with Lance and Hunk." He chokes out, stifling a sob, "I miss them, I don't think I can...I know I can't...or...I don't want to go...a whole year without them." Keith explains, his voice pained and almost frantic.
Matt rests his own face in his hands and gives Keith an understanding smile, "You miss them, huh?"
"I...I guess I do. I didn't...realize it but…" Keith's tries to keep his composure but Shiro can hear his voice break when he finally says ,"I really do."
"Friends like that are precious." Matt says, sitting up straight before sliding over to Keith, pulling the boy over so he can bury his face in his shoulder to cry, "Sometimes it's easiest to hide from the world when things are tough...but there's too much good you've brought into your life to hide from here." He sighs and strokes Keith's hair, catching sight of Shiro and flashing him a smile, "Sometimes the hardest thing is to do what needs to be done."
"I can't lose anymore people," Keith cries, his voice slowly raising and growing more frantic, "What if...what if I leave and something happens? What if something happens to Shiro? Or you? Or your parents? I have so few people left, what if I let you out of my sight and you-?"
"Shiro and I survived the war, Keith, I think we can survive Northeastern Suburbia. Ulaz was sick, he just never told us, just like his husband a few years ago. I mean they literally bonded over how stubborn they both were before getting together. You know Shiro and I would never keep those things from you, nor would my mom and dad. We're all healthy, safe, and far more worried about you. Taking time to grieve is important but you can't stay stagnant. You can move back here if you want, or go back to your apartment with Pidge, but you've gotta get back to living your life. Take some time and think about what you wanna do and where you wanna go, you know we're here for you no matter what." Matt's voice is gentle as he pets Keith's hair and looks to Shiro across the way, "I don't expect you to be your normal self any time soon, and you don't have to be, but you also can't hide away from everything either." He says, and Shiro gets the feeling he's talking to both brothers right now, "Getting caught up in things like fear or sadness or paperwork-"
"What? Paperwork…?" Keith mumbles and Matt pointedly ignores it.
"Isn't going to help anything. It's just gonna keep you stagnant and more stressed. Take a step back into your world, I promise it'll help."
Shiro smiles at Matt, mouthing 'I love you' to which the love of his life attempts to wink, only to get some of Keith's hair in his eye and pull back yelping in pain.
"Oh, shit, sorry Matt!" Keith exclaims and Matt laughs.
"It's fine, it's my own fault." He pats Keith on the head, "I've gotta get to sleep, I'm sure Shiro is just laying there in bed, cold and lonely without his sexy boyfriend by his side."
Keith laughs a little, "I'm glad Shiro has you."
Matt smirks, "Aaaannnnd?"
"And," Keith sighs in defeat, "I guess I'm glad I have you, too."
Matt grins, "Atta boy. Alright, I'm off now. Try to get some sleep, and, I say this with all the love in the world, take a shower."
Shiro makes sure to go back to the stairs where Keith can't see him, and pulls Matt into a tight hug and kisses the shit out of him before bringing him back upstairs. "You're really amazing, Matt, you know that?"
"Oh, I'm aware." Matt grins, "Nobody ever realizes it because Pidge has literally nothing going on at any time that requires it, but I've got some pretty sweet big bro moves up my sleeve."
The next morning Matt and Shiro wake up to the shocking sight of a clean Keith standing there with all of his bags packed. Apparently he messaged Pidge last night to come pick him up today. She arrives at noon, with only Rover, and hangs out for a bit before her and Keith finally head out.
That night big bro Matt is greatly rewarded, and Shiro gets the best sleep he's had in what feels like ages.
A/N:
Currently dealing with my dad's death I am both Shiro and Keith...with no Matt in my life. I have an older brother but he lives away from here so I'm the executrix of the estate and let me tell you that is not a fun fucking time to be had. I've been on the phone so damn much since, well, April really that nowadays I will shut down in the middle of a phone conversation. Did that with the bank in charge of my dad's mortgage the other day and they asked if I was ok, lol. Fair question. I'm not. My brain is short circuiting on the daily.
Also I forgot Shiro and Matt were only boyfriends and wrote out a good chunk of this chapter under the assumption I had these boys married, before I checked previous chapters and realized I dun goofed.
Why the fuck aren't they married, past me? (I actually found my notes on the story from when I first started it and literally the only reason is bc I wanted to eventually write a wedding, for anyone also curious)