So. How about that season seven trailer. Where do you even start with that thing. Boy howdy though, it sure looks like season seven is going to be one hell of a ride- and I, for one, am looking forward to it. Also I'm very proud of Shiro, my gay space son. He's doing such a good job. It's really funny to me that I'm saying this on like, the one story he hasn't shown up in yet, but hey! That's just how life works sometimes! He'll be here soon, though. Soon.

Next chapter, it's time to go get that blue lion!

cosmic dust

chapter seventeen

resolve

"So do you want to tell Allura?"

The question caught him off guard, glancing back at where Pidge had tucked herself behind him, grasping onto his shoulders so that she wouldn't fall off of the hoverbike. "What, that I'm a product of Galra experiments? No thanks."

Okay, so his choice of words was a bit on the risky side there, but he hadn't given Pidge any reason to think he meant anything more by it. Besides, he'd never been good at lying- he was too blunt for that. He was better at just never saying anything.

He hadn't talked this much with other people since... well, Shiro. Sure, it wasn't like he had a lot of options while he was in Galra custody. It wasn't like Haggar or the druids ever talked to him, and the minute that those he shared a cell with learned he was half-Galra, they had all clammed up.

Like he'd betrayed them, somehow.

He hadn't stayed in the general prison block long after that, for which he was almost grateful. Just because he could handle people treating him like he was some kind of plague didn't mean he particularly enjoyed it.

Even if that meant he'd ended up being treated as some kind of pet project by Haggar. It had waned a bit towards the end of his captivity- he'd heard rumors that she'd taken fancy to another prisoner, and was dividing her time between the two of them. Which was just fine for him- who knew how much more fucked up he'd be if he'd had her full, undivided attention for that last year or so of captivity.

Not that he didn't feel sorry for the other guy. He did.

Just- look. He could be grateful that he hadn't been experimented on more and sympathize with the reason for that at the same time. He could multi-task!

"Oh come on, it wouldn't be that bad." Pidge told him. "She might even like you better if she knew you used to look more human."

Frowning, Keith focused on the sound of the hoverbike's motor to keep himself from thinking too much. Thinking about the witch at all usually lead his thoughts in a direction he didn't like. "I'm not sure I want her to trust me just because of something like that. Just because I used to look more human, doesn't change the fact that I am half-Galra."

Glancing down at Pidge, she didn't look happy, but she didn't say anything either. It almost made him smile, but he fought the urge. He didn't know what he had done to earn her trust, but he must have done something right.

For like, once in his life.

He still didn't know if that trust would last, if she were told everything. He wished that a change in appearance was all Haggar had done to him. If anything, it was a side effect.

She put her faith in him, so he should at least try and return a little of that- but he'd been let down too many times before to truly believe in anyone like that. He wanted to hope, he did, but it was- it was hard, to left himself do that. Not when nearly every part of him told him to nip it in the bud, before it could hurt him.

Bringing the hoverbike to a stop, he stared out towards the shack. Inside was Matt, who he knew even less well than Pidge. And now he knew too.

Keith Kogane. Nobody had called him by his full name in ages.

"He won't bite." Pidge told him, hopping off the hoverbike.

Letting out a snort, Keith got off behind her. "I'm not afraid of Matt, Pidge."

"Could have fooled me." Pidge told him. "Come on, cadet," nudging him with her elbow, she flashed him a cheeky grin, "-we've got a heist to plan. Thought you'd be more excited about that."

"What, stealing from the Garrison?" Keith asked, cocking a brow. "I stole the red lion from under Zarkon's nose. This'll be like a piece of cake."

He hadn't been remodeled into some kind of biological superweapon to get caught by the Galaxy Garrison, out of all the possible groups. He was pretty sure he could handle this. By himself, even.

Maybe not in the most subtle of manners, but he doubted that anything about this heist was going to be subtle, not once they got their hands on the blue lion. They would probably need to clear out immediately afterwards- no going back to the shack to regroup.

They were set to rendezvous briefly back at the lake house, and then head back to space in short order. Once they left Earth, they wouldn't have anything to worry about- the Garrison just didn't have the kind of ships that would be able to pursue them that quickly that far into space.

"Now I miss cake." Pidge mumbled, half to herself. "Do you think if I called mom, she'd have some ready for us when we get back home?"

Blinking, Keith glanced down at her. We. Home. "...you're asking me?"

"Yeah?" Pidge frowned. "I mean, you lived with us for awhile, dude, you're practically family at this point."

Frowning, Keith turned away from her. He didn't know what to make of that, either. Sure, he'd lived with Pidge and her mom, that much was true, but it had barely even been for two months. It had taken him twice as long to warm up to Shiro's family, and that had been when he still looked- and thought of himself as- human.

He didn't know if he was ready for another family.

"Pass." Keith told her, hastening his pace just enough so that she wouldn't be able to see his expression. Sometimes he was grateful for having eyes that were difficult to read, but he knew the rest of his face would likely betray him. "Pretty sure I get more respect from you as your business partner than I would get as your older brother, so pass."

If she caught any of what he was thinking, he couldn't tell. All she did was snort, trailing behind him. "Wow, business-zoned."

"Pretty sure that's not a word." Keith pointed out.

"Says the guy who spent four years away from Earth." Pidge pointed out.

"Nope." Keith said. "Pretty sure that's not a word."

"Fine, suit yourself." Pidge said with a shrug. "Hopefully Matt's gotten somewhere with those schematics while we were gone."

"If I called the red lion, I bet I could just melt the roof off." Keith told her.

"...yeah, let's not do that, maybe." Pidge frowned. "We're trying to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, mister explosions make for the best distractions."

"I mean, they do." Keith said.

"Yeah, well-" Pidge began, before cutting herself short.

It didn't take him long to see why. Matt and Allura were huddled around the phone, only sparing them a glance when they came back in. Some instinctive part of him nearly wanted to look away, reminding him that Matt knew now, but he forced himself to hold his gaze.

He wasn't going to run away from this.

Well, not again. He had, actually, ran away from it. That was kind of the whole reason that Pidge had come after him.

What if they looked at him with pity? He didn't think he could handle that.

But that wasn't important right now. What was important was the phone call. It had to be Lance, so it looked like they would be getting that answer they wanted. Shifting his weight onto his other foot, Keith folded his arms in front of him, watching as Matt seemed to beam- and then gave them both a thumbs up.

Clear enough indication as any that Lance had agreed to help them.

But join them? That was another matter.

Just helping them get the lion put him at risk. He had no reason to help them any further, much less go to war with them. They were just a bunch of strangers- and he was just a kid from Earth. Normal, whose involvement with the Galra ended with training at the same facility as the crew of the Kerberos mission, who had been abducted by them.

He didn't know if the blue lion would accept another paladin, but Allura seemed to think it was possible- and she would have cause to know better than him.

Which he guessed was good news for him.

Maybe he didn't have to leave- but he would, if he needed to. What they were building here- it had the potential to do something great. Something that could change the way things were.

He didn't want to be the one to hold that back.

If he could stay, then... well, maybe he would give that a shot after all. But if he needed to leave, if it became clear that he was their weak link, or that he was holding them back from forming Voltron, then he would.

The fate of the universe was more important than his feelings.

"Welp," Matt grinned, hanging up the phone, "-I've got some good news for everyone."

"Lance has agreed to join us." Allura cut in, barely able to contain her excitement, leaving Matt to pout about having his thunder stolen.

"Like, join us join us?" Pidge asked.

"Yes." Allura said, joy clear in her voice. Guess she hadn't predicated this outcome either- he sure as hell hadn't. "It would seem that we have found our blue paladin after all."

Frowning, Keith furrowed his brow. "Is he sure? This is a big commitment."

Seriously- he had no reason to join them. What, did he get taken in by the destiny line or something? Guess nobody had told him that destiny was bullshit.

...and yeah. If he was going to be honest, there was some small part of him that hated the fact that a cadet who kept crashing the simulator was still a better choice for a paladin than he was. Being jealous was stupid, petty- but here he was- jealous.

"He sounded pretty sure to me." Matt told him. On the surface, he seemed to be acting normally, but it felt as if he held his gaze for just half a second too long.

Made sense. He'd known Shiro. Flown a mission with him.

He wondered if Shiro ever talked about him. Or if he was just the foster kid who had disappeared on him, someone that he tried to forget. He'd once promised to never give up on him, but he was pretty sure that by now, he had to have realized that he wasn't coming back.

Would he even have come back, even if Shiro hadn't been taken by the Galra Empire? Returned home, like nothing had happened? Could he even still call that place his home?

He didn't have much of a plan when he'd crash landed here on Earth, other than to get away from Central Command. Earth had been the only place he could think to go back to. It wasn't like he could stay.

He tried to picture himself arriving on the Shirogane's doorstep, purple and clawed, and couldn't. In the end, he'd only lived with them for about three years before he had been abducted, and out of them, the only person he'd really let himself get close to was Shiro. Wouldn't they just freak out at the sight of him?

The foster kid they had taken in, showing back up after four years, older and inhuman. Yeah. He was sure that would go over great.

But then again, Pidge's mother hadn't known him at all. Though she'd freaked out at first, once she realized that he wasn't a threat, she'd gone so far as to feed him, and then invite him to stay in her home. Maybe... maybe he just didn't give people enough credit, some part of him thought.

Sure, he'd met a lot of bad people, but it wasn't like they could all be like that, right?

He wanted to believe that, but couldn't quite bring himself to do it. Too much proof to the contrary.

"Guess we're going with Plan A, then." Pidge remarked.

Listening to the Holt siblings drone on with one ear, hashing out the details of the heist, Keith hung back. He could hear Red's low rumble in the back of his head, chastising him for putting distance between himself and them- and maybe she was right.

But after too long of not being able to trust anyone, it wasn't so easy to just flip the switch. It had gotten stuck somewhere along the way, rusted. He didn't know if he even could flip it anymore.

But it wouldn't hurt to try.

"So you signed up for a space war."

"I signed up for a space war."

He and Hunk were both naturally chatty people, so silences between them? Yeah, they didn't happen that often. But it did now, the weight of the decision he had just made hanging over the both of them like a cloud. He hadn't even put down his phone, still holding onto it, as if some part of him thought that it wasn't too late- that if he called them back right now, he could still change his mind. Back out.

But no.

He hadn't spent all day confined to his room, trying to connect to a giant robot, to back out now. He'd given it thought- a lot of thought, and in the end, knowing that there was some kind of tyrannical space empire out there bent on conquering the known universe outweighed having to leave Earth behind.

Sure, that's where his friends were, where his family was- but what good would that do them if a couple years down the road, it just ended up being taken over by this Zarkon guy?

But he had a chance at making sure that never happened.

And maybe he wasn't exactly the most selfless guy around- he was willing to admit that. Sometimes he could get a little wrapped up in his own ego, but hey- he'd worked hard for what he had, he deserved a little ego every now and again.

But he wasn't exactly selfish, either.

This wasn't about the cool robot lion, or a hot alien princess- although those were factors in his decision, he'd admit that, he wasn't a liar. It was about doing what was right- and this time, doing what was right meant leaving his home behind him. His family, his friends.

Hunk.

"So you're really going, huh?" Hunk asked, his voice soft.

"...yeah, guess so." Lance told him, finally setting aside his phone. No turning back now. "Guess this means goodbye."

"I mean, it's not like you're leaving right away, right?" Hunk asked, biting his lip. "You've got time."

"I mean, I guess?" Lance frowned. "From the sound of it, we'll be leaving like, right after we get the blue lion. They just weren't very clear on when exactly that would be, but... yeah. Once we get it, it's goodbye."

"Makes sense." Hunk said. "I'm just amazed the Garrison got that thing back here without anyone noticing. So I'm pretty sure they'll notice when you steal it."

"Hey, at least I'll be making a hell of an exit." Lance grinned- though he knew it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Hunk just gave him a weak smile. "Yeah, guess so."

Shoulders slumping, Lance got up, crossing the room to sit next to his friend. "Hey, you okay?"

Stupid question. Of course he wasn't.

Hunk was here because of him- and now he was leaving him behind. By himself. After everything he had done for him, how could he not feel bad about it? He was like, the single greatest friend that anyone could ask for.

"I'm- yeah." Hunk told him. "This is just- it's big. I mean, you're leaving! To go to space! And not like in the way we always knew would happen one day, but like- you're going to war, man. I'm just... what if you don't come back?"

Yeah. He'd thought about that too.

"Hunk," placing his hand on his friend's shoulder, Lance gave it a squeeze, "-I'm coming back. I promise you."

"Yeah, but-" Hunk began, before heaving a sigh. "It's just. You know how I am. I worry."

"Trust me, I know." Lance told him, his words fond. He sure did. There were times it had gotten on his nerves, he wasn't going to lie, but he knew Hunk worried because he cared. "I mean, it's not like we can't keep in touch, right? Maybe the princess has like, some kind of communicator or something that we can borrow."

It seemed to give Hunk some relief, though not as much as he hoped. "What about your family though?"

"I don't know." Lance admitted, gaze tracking downwards. He'd given that a lot of thought too. "It's not like I can just call them and tell them I've been chosen to pilot a robot lion, and that I'm going to space to fight some evil aliens. They'll just think I'm nuts. Heck, that sounds nuts!"

"When you put it that way, it does sound pretty nuts." Hunk agreed.

Cracking a smile, Lance looked up at him. "I'm gonna miss you, Hunk."

And there they were, the waterworks. If he was gonna be honest, he was surprised that Hunk had held off this long. But damned if seeing him cry didn't make him tear up too, especially after Hunk pulled him into a tight embrace. For a long time, he just let him sob on his shoulder, trying not to think too much on all the snot that was getting on his uniform right now.

Not like he'd be wearing it for much longer.

"I'm gonna miss you too, man." Hunk told him. "So much. It's not gonna be the same without you around here. We'll have to get a new pilot, and-" stopping himself there, Hunk let out a loud sniffle, "You gotta stay safe for me out there, okay? Don't do anything stupid."

"Please, like I've ever done anything stupid." Lance joked. He'd return the hug, but it was kind of hard to get his arms free. Hunk could be pretty strong.

"Lance-" Hunk warned.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding." Lance told him. "Promise."

"Okay, good." Hunk told him. "You better stick to it."

"I will." Lance reassured him. "And hey- I bet that Kogane kid never got to do anything this cool. Maybe I couldn't break his records, but maybe I'll finally outshine his legacy."

Hunk let out a snort at that, before looking vaguely horrified. "That's just mean, Lance. I shouldn't have laughed at that."

"Yeah, but you did." Lance told him, lightly punching his shoulder, now that he'd managed to get his arm free. "But I won't hold it against you. You good?"

"I'm good. Or well- getting there. I'll be good." Hunk told him, finally letting his grip grow slack. "Just- let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Arching his brows, Lance had to admit, he was more than a little surprised at the offer. Hunk was a good friend, but he wasn't exactly known for taking risks. "You offering to help steal from the Garrison?"

"I mean... the blue lion doesn't belong to them, right?" Hunk asked. "It belongs to the princess. Or her father? One of them. So it's not so much stealing as it is returning it to its rightful owner? Does that make sense to you? It makes sense to me, but does that make sense to you?"

"It makes sense to me, buddy. I'll tell them. Glad to know I can count on you." Lance told him, an idea popping into his head just then. "Hey, how about we sneak down to the commissary tonight, get us a little late night snack? For old times sake."

"Lance, we did that last week." Hunk pointed out.

Bristling a little at the comment, Lance narrowed his eyes. "Don't give me that. You know what I mean."

"Yeah," giving him a weak smile, Hunk wrapped his arm around his shoulder, "-I do."

"So you in?" Lance asked.

"You're asking me if I'm in for midnight snack." Hunk pointed out. "Me."

"...okay, yeah, stupid question." Lance admitted.

Leaving. He'd be leaving. To go far, far away, from anything- and anyone- he knew. He didn't know when, he just knew it would be soon. He knew he was doing the right thing, making the right choice, it was just... he thought that knowing that would make the whole thing easier.

It didn't.

"Pidge told me I might find you up here."

Keith didn't look up, or even move to acknowledge him. Instead he stared straight ahead, watching as the sun sunk down over the horizon, casting the entire desert in shades of pink and purple. He almost thought he hadn't heard him, but the twitch of his ears told him that he was just ignoring him.

Which, ow. Thanks, Keith.

Still, Matt didn't let that discourage him. Pidge had reassured him that Keith was fine- well, for Keith, he was. And maybe she was right- maybe Keith was fine. But it wouldn't hurt to talk to him, even if he was.

Better than let things just fester. Especially since they would be working together so closely to steal the blue lion. Sneaking Lance into where the blue lion was being kept was their job, so they had to be able to work together as a team.

Finally, once he sensed that he wasn't going anywhere, Keith acknowledged him. "Hey."

"Hey yourself." Matt said. "This seat taken?"

"Does it look taken?" Keith quipped.

Shrugging, Matt plopped down next to him, crossing his legs in front of him. "You never know. Maybe you're chilling with a ghost."

That earned him a laugh, a hint of white flashing as Keith momentarily bore his teeth in a grin. "I didn't peg you as the type to believe in ghosts. Doesn't sound very scientific."

"I've seen a lot of weird shit in space." Matt told him. Which was true. He had. So much weird shit. "So who knows. Maybe science is wrong. Maybe ghosts are real. Maybe I'm a ghost."

"You are legally dead, so technically-" Keith began.

"Nope." Holding up his hands, Matt stopped him right there. "You're in the same boat. You don't have joke cracking privileges. If I'm a ghost, you're a ghost."

That got him another snort, Keith ducking his head to mask his grin.

They sat in silence for awhile after that, both looking out on the sunset. Out of the corner of his eye, he chanced a glance at Keith, wondering how he hadn't put two and two together before. Sure, he had only seen photographs of Shiro's foster brother maybe once or twice, but the resemblance was striking.

Of course it was. They were the same person.

He thought about that sullen, withdrawn kid he had seen in photographs, and the way Shiro had spoken so fondly about him. There had been pain in his eyes, and he gripped the frame a bit too tight when he held it, but he always kept the worst of it hidden away, where nobody could see it.

Maybe he was just a foster kid that his family had taken in, but it was clear that Keith meant a lot to him. Like a real brother.

He wondered if Keith felt the same.

No, he had to. Which was the root of the problem.

"You're not going to ask?"

Keith's words startled him, and with a jerk, he realized that he was looking straight at him. In the fading daylight, his eyes began to glow, dim now, but they soon would be bright. He wondered if Shiro- if anyone- ever suspected that Keith was anything other than human. From the sound of it, even Keith hadn't.

Now it was obvious, but just from looking at the kid in the photograph, he never would have been able to tell. His eyes had been striking, but Matt had just chalked that up to a trick of the light. Nobody could have purple eyes.

Except he guessed maybe they could.

Or had.

Pidge had told him that Keith's physiology had been altered by Zarkon's witch, of all people. He had heard many tales of Haggar, and he was just grateful that he had escaped her notice. Her druids had been bad enough, poking and prodding at his brain for anything that he might have known.

They were trying to see if he knew anything about the blue lion, he realized now.

He couldn't imagine what it would be like, to earn their personal attention. He didn't envy Keith for it, that much was for sure. Didn't pity him either- sympathize, sure- but he'd been a foster kid. He'd probably had enough of pity.

"Just waiting for the right timing." Matt told him.

"Oh." Keith frowned. "I think you missed it."

"Yeah, not the greatest at that." Matt admitted.

Keith simply let out a low hum, turning his attention back towards the sunset. "Me neither. I'm... awkward. Guess being raised out in the desert didn't do me too many favors."

"Hey, that's cool." Matt told him. "I think that's true for all of us. Even Allura, sort of."

Keith cracked a smile at that, this time not ducking his head to hide it. "Yeah, well Allura's a bona fide alien, and I grew up being passed around in the foster system. What's your excuse?"

"Just natural talent." Matt joked. "I- Shiro talked about you sometimes, you know."

"Yeah?" Keith asked- and maybe Matt wasn't the greatest at reading those eyes, but he was pretty sure he'd picked up a glimmer of hope in them. If he had any doubt that Shiro was half as important to Keith as Keith was to him, it was gone now. "And it still took you this long to figure it out?"

Ouch. Going straight for the critical hit. Yep, that was Keith.

"Hey, in my defense, what are the odds, right?" Matt asked. Like. Really. What was this, some kind of two for one deal? "I mean, both siblings being abducted by the Galra Empire? Come on, what is this, bargain bin destiny hour?"

Keith just looked at him blankly. "What does that even mean?"

"I will admit, that made more sense in my head." Matt said, but did not let that deter him. "But seriously. I'm starting to think the Galaxy Garrison is just jinxed. That's like, two ace pilots now."

"I think calling me an ace pilot is a bit of a stretch." Keith told. "I wasn't even there long."

"You do realize that nobody's broken your records yet, right?" Matt asked- based on the way Keith's brows arched at that, skepticism in his features, he was going to guess not. "At least, nobody had when I was still a cadet, which wasn't even that long ago."

"Bet it feels like it." Keith observed.

He didn't have to ask what he meant. He knew.

"...yeah, kinda." Matt frowned. There was no need to deny it. If anyone could understand, it'd be Keith. "But hey- we're trying to talk about you here, not me. Stop trying to change the subject."

Judging from the click of his tongue, he'd called it right. Normally, he would pretend to be hurt about him only caring in order to distract from the conversation at hand, but not only was that A- not true- Keith definitely cared, it was also B- another distraction.

"So," clearing his throat, Matt decided to just come out and say it, "-Shiro talked about you sometimes."

"You said that already."

Shooting him a look, Keith merely shrugged his shoulders. "What I mean is- he- Shiro that is, he never forgot about you."

Closing his eyes, Keith gave him a weak smile. "Thanks."

"Nope, not done yet." Matt told him, causing Keith to blink, looking back at him. "He never forgot about you- and he never gave up on you either."

Keith stared at him, as if he couldn't quite comprehend what he was saying. "What do you...?"

"He never accepted it." Matt told him. "You being dead."

"I told him once that I'd never give up on him. I don't intend to."

"He never...?" Keith's voice barely came out as a whisper, turning his head away. Concealing his expression with his bangs, his shoulders tensed, claws digging into the fabric of his pants. "...why?"

"Why?" Matt asked. "Isn't that obvious?"

Keith merely shook his head, not looking up at him, as if he was worried his expression would betray him. He didn't have the heart to tell him that his body language totally gave it away.

"Because he was your older brother." Matt told him. "If Katie was the one in my situation, I would have torn apart the entire universe looking for her. That's just how we do things."

"I was just a foster kid." Keith whispered, something in his voice cracking, as if part of him desperately wanted to believe what he was saying, but he just couldn't let himself. "Just some charity case."

It was a side to Keith that he hadn't seen before, but had always sensed. It was always present, just under the surface- the way he never defended himself, the way he just accepted the suspicious glances and the not so hushed whispers. At first, he thought it was just because he was half-Galra, but now he sensed that it was coming from a deeper place.

Older.

Keith... he hadn't had a family for a long time, had he? Not a real one.

He'd had Shiro, once. And then he had been taken from him. Thrown into space, where he'd been told that half of his heritage came from a race that everyone thought were monsters.

He'd thought the Galra were monsters, before he had met some of the half-Galra who worked with the resistance. That experience had given him a better understanding, reminding him of something he had nearly forgotten- that outside of shitty fantasy novels, there was no such thing as a purely evil race.

Keith? Keith probably couldn't even look at himself without thinking that. Which was absurd- sure, Keith was crazy as shit, but a monster? Evil? Nah. Not a chance. The most he'd ever hurt were his feelings- and probably scores of sentries.

But he was pretty sure that even the Galra Empire wasn't so fucked up they'd program their sentries to feel pain. And also, his feelings were delicate. Hurting them was easy. Pidge did it every day of her life, delivering devastating blows to him even back when the only language she knew was baby talk.

"Not to Shiro." Matt said. "To Shiro, you were family. Still are family."

"I'm Galra." Keith told him. "Same as those who took him. Who took you."

"So?" Matt asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Hasn't bothered me yet, don't plan to let it start now. I'm sure Shiro would feel the same way, if he saw you now. The only thing that's changed is that you look a little more like it."

"That's not the-!" Keith blurted out, finally facing him- and just as quickly ducking his head back away, jolting to his feet so abruptly it nearly gave him whiplash. "You make it sound like it's simple. Nothing about this is simple."

"Hey," Matt said, holding up his hands, "-listen, I'm not trying to undermine anything you might be feeling. Not going there. I mean- it can't be easy, right?"

How could it? Knowing that you had Galra blood and having to see it every day were two very different things.

Letting out a humorless snort, Keith clenched and unclenched his fists, claws pressing into the fabric of his gloves. "Try waking up and seeing the face of the enemy in your mirror everyday."

"...yeah, that sounds like it sucks." Matt admitted. "But you're not the enemy, Keith."

"Doesn't matter." Keith told him, his words curt, clipped. "Everyone else thinks so."

"Yeah, well everyone else sucks." Matt told him, rising to his feet- with a bit more care than Keith had. He didn't have that natural balance to ensure him that he wouldn't fall off the roof. "Besides, it's not everyone. Maybe you just haven't been meeting the right people."

"Maybe." Keith said shortly. "There some point to this?"

Heaving a sigh, wondering what he could do to stop Keith from being so difficult, Matt scratched his head. "You're worried, right? About how Shiro would react."

Keith said nothing, didn't even look at him- but he knew he was right.

"He's not gonna hate you, Keith, I promise." Matt told him. "From the way he talked about you, I don't think he ever could hate you."

"He only knew me for three years." Keith told him. "I've changed since then."

"He told me the first time he met you, you stole his car." And he wasn't going to lie, he was totally taking some satisfaction out of the way Keith jerked his head up, surprise visible in his features. "And now you literally make a living stealing from the Galra Empire. You didn't change, you just leveled up."

For a long moment, all Keith did was stare at him- before letting out a laugh, loud and sharp. Incredulous. "I can't believe Shiro told you that."

"You were twelve. You stole a car. That tends to leave an impression on people." Matt pointed.

"Okay," finally cracking a grin, Keith folded his arms in front of him, "-that's fair."

"So," Matt began, "-you maybe gonna try putting a little more faith into Shiro?"

Keith's smile faded, but didn't disappear completely. "I'll try."

It sounded sincere- if not a little strained.

"I'll take it." Matt told him. "Now c'mon. Pidge bought cake for some reason when she went into town to get food. If we don't get down there soon, she'll inhale the whole thing herself."

"As long as it's not shitty grocery store cake."

"Keith!" Taking offense to that, Matt let out a gasp. "Katie would never! She's a lady of class. She sprung for a proper bakery cake, I'll have you know."

"Since when did the Garrison town have a bakery?" Keith asked, arching a brow.

"That's what I said!" Matt told him. "It's a conspiracy, I'm telling you."

Keith snorted- a genuine laugh. "That's a stupid conspiracy. Think of something better."

"I don't want to hear that from the guy who thinks Mothman is real." Matt shot back. "I'm not gonna judge you for being half-Galra, but I will judge you for your shitty taste in cryptids."

"Hey, Mothman is a perfectly good cryptid." Keith retorted, narrowing his eyes.

"Mothman's literally just a fucking owl, Keith, c'mon." Matt told him. "Now Bigfoot. That's a good cryptid."

"Yeah, for an infant." Keith said, leaping down from the roof with the kind of grace that he couldn't help but envy. Glancing back up at him, he could have sworn that he smirked. "Bigfoot is like, baby's first cryptid. Next thing you're going to tell me is that the Loch Ness Monster is real."

"Okay, that one I am not going to let go!" Matt told him, getting down from the roof with considerable more care. He did not break out of alien prison just to die from falling off a roof. "Nessie is real, and she's my friend."

"Aren't you too old for imaginary friends?" Keith cracked.

"Wow Keith," Matt told him, placing his hands over his heart, "-I went up on that roof to support you, and I'm feeling very attacked right now."

Finding his father was still a priority, Matt thought- but so was finding Shiro. Because the faster he did, the faster he could prove to Keith that what he was saying was true.

Shiro wouldn't hate him.

He would never.

Never.