Allura led Shiro through the castle towards the bridge where Coran and most of the group were already waiting. However, Shiro was concerned to not see Lance there. Fearing he was still feeling unwell he was about to offer to check on him only for the door to open up behind him. Lance walked in at a speedy pace, seemingly out of breath but thankfully no worse for wear.
"Sorry I'm late! I was, uh, doing a thing."
"It's fine." Shiro said, relieved. "At least you're here now so we can begin the meeting."
Pidge couldn't help but frown, noticing that they were still short a person.
"I guess Keith isn't coming?"
"No, he's resting right now."
"I see…" Hunk set a comforting hand on her shoulder, trying not to let his own concern show through.
"It's for the best. He went through a lot, ya know?"
"I know…"
The excitement over his awakening was definitely soured by their inability to heal him quickly. Shiro looked around the room and saw all the sad expressions. He decided to take it into his own hands to help pick them up.
"He's going to be fine." He said confidently. "But while he's recovering we can't rely on him to help us out. That's why we're meeting here now, to plan for the worst case scenarios and ensure the castles safety. Coran?"
"Quite right." Coran nodded and perked back up, bringing up a digital blueprint of the castle. "According to my initial scans I've determined that many of the ship's systems have been corrupted by the electrical interference. This unfortunately leaves us vulnerable to attack. We'll need to access several of these control panels and manually reset the system in order to get our defenses back up and running." Coran pointed to several areas of the blueprint which lit up red. The group counted seven areas in total and none of them were excited about it.
"We have to fix all of those?" Hunk groaned. "Just how long is that supposed to take?!"
"If we work together and run the debugging program Pidge set up then we should have it all done before tomorrow morning. Once that's taken care of then we'll have time to worry about fixing other systems."
Hunk and Lance let out exasperating sighs but they knew this had to be done. So the group split up. For the next several hours they worked tirelessly to fix the damaged systems, running into various other problems along the way. Thankfully the debugging program was doing its job but it was still close to 2 AM by the time they finished getting things back online. The bridge lit back up and Coran checked things over.
"Wonderful! We have full power to our shields and defensive systems. Well done, everyone!" Coran turned back to the group only to realize that they looked positively exhausted- almost too tired to be excited about their accomplishment. Giving them a sympathetic smile he crossed his arms.
"Thank you all for your hard work! You've all earned a good rest!"
That seemed to perk them up a bit and Shiro smiled, congratulating them as well before turning and heading out of the room. Allura followed him, catching his arm in the hall before he got too far away.
"Are you going back to Keith's room now?"
"Yeah. I want to make sure he does alright on his first night." Shiro said, turning to address her. Honestly he'd been distracted that whole day thinking about Keith. It wasn't only that he worried about his health… he was also thinking about his almost-confession. He really missed his chance, or so he thought. Allura smiled at him softly.
"You don't have to explain yourself. I understand. But what are you going to do?"
"Do?"
"Are you going to tell him?" She asked, referring to their earlier conversation. Shiro turned his head away slightly, unsure if that was still a good idea. Seeing his hesitation Allura moved closer to hug him.
"You should, you know. Even if he can't hear you, I'm sure it will be a relief to finally say it out loud."
After that bit of advice she smiled and walked back to the room, surprised to still see the tired paladins there.
"Oh, I thought you were all going to sleep."
"So did we. Lance, what're we still doing, you know, conscious?"
The exhaustion was still clear on his face but so was determination. Lance put his hands on his hips and spoke, reinvigorated.
"There's still something we have to do. It's important."
By the time he got back to Keith's room, Shiro was dead tired. He was hoping that Keith was fine so he could get some sleep but it was clear he wouldn't have that luxury. The mountain of pillows had collapsed around him, trapping an unconscious Keith underneath and from his expression he wasn't sleeping very comfortingly. With a sigh, Shiro dropped his jacket on the chair nearby and sat on the edge of the bed, moving the pillows aside. Once uncovered, Shiro gently pulled him into an upright position to rest against his shoulder while he reassembled the pile.
Keith's body was warm against him… unusually warm, but Coran had mentioned that a low-grade fever wasn't unusual during the first few days. Still, he couldn't help but worry about him. However, through the contact he could feel his breath on his shoulder and the soft beating of his heart. That was comforting to him. It felt… nice. Normally Keith was stiff and guarded so it was rare to see him so relaxed. It was a sight he wished he could see more often.
After all that had happened the strain on his body and mind had more than overwhelmed him and he hadn't been able to take a moment to relax so while he knew he shouldn't take advantage of Keith in his vulnerable state Shiro couldn't help but want to be a little selfish. Shiro decided he wasn't ready to let Keith go just yet, wrapping his arm more firmly around his waist while the other combed through his thick black hair. He was displeased to find that though he'd washed Keith's body he'd neglected to take care of his hair as he found flecks of dried blood sticking to the ends. Despite that, the contact still felt nice.
"Keith…" he spoke softly, more to himself than his unconscious patient. "Keith I'm sorry this happened to you. If I had trusted my instincts then… maybe you wouldn't have had to suffer like this."
He knew it was conceited to think he could have prevented this if he had gone, as though his presence alone could have stopped a freak accident. At the same time he didn't want to make it sound like Keith was at fault, either. He was skilled and smart and hardly took risks that he didn't believe would pan out in the end. This was an accident…just an unfortunate accident. But… that wasn't what he wanted to say. He didn't want to keep apologizing over and over.
"What are you going to do?" Allura's words repeated in his mind. What was he going to do? Shiro was still unsure of himself, still unsure if saying what he really wanted to was a good idea but maybe while Keith was asleep…
"Even if he can't hear you, I'm sure it will be a relief to finally say it out loud."
He gave it a bit of thought, lightly stroking Keith's cheek to make sure he was asleep before taking a deep breath. It was worth a shot, right?
"To be honest, Keith…. There is something I want to say to you. I don't have the guts to do it when you're awake so… I'll tell you now. I… care about you." Shit, that didn't come out like he meant it to. At least since Keith was asleep he had a chance at a do-over. "What I mean to say is… Over the years you and I have been through a lot together. We've fought side by side, struggled through terrifying situations but… I've never been more scared than I was this time. When I heard you'd gotten hurt, when your heart stopped… I felt like a part of me was dying with you. It made me realize some things about myself. About… us." Shiro's arms tightened around him, his stomach twisting into knots. It sounded cheesy but he didn't know how else to say it.
"You're important to me, Keith. More than just as a teammate, as a friend…. Or as a brother. This accident really got me thinking and I've decided… I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you. If you're not here, Keith, I don't know what I'd do…" he more he spoke the more relieved he felt and it encouraged him to continue. "I don't know what you think of me, or if you could ever return my feelings but I need to say this at least once….. I love you."
When those words left his lips a sudden wave of calm overtook him. It felt so good to say it, like a weight had been lifted off of him at last. He'd never felt so calm and relieved before and for the first time in who knows how long he smiled… he genuinely smiled. The words just rolled right off his tongue and it filled him with such joy he just couldn't help himself.
"I love you, Keith. More than anything."
It was a satisfying moment but one not meant to last as Keith began to stir, groaning against his chest in a painful manner. Clearly being upright for so long was too difficult so Shiro reluctantly released him and lowered him back down onto the bed and covered him back up. He waited for Keith's expression to relax again before standing, intending to wander off to his own room when a hand reached out, taking hold of the hem of his shirt.
"Shiro…?" Keith's voice was soft and heavy with sleep, his eyes half-lidded as he stared up at him. For just a moment Shiro felt panicked, fearing that Keith had heard his bedside confession/
"Are you leaving…?"
The tone of his voice cut into Shiro, as though Keith was sad to see him go and against that, Shiro couldn't possibly leave. He smiled down at Keith, taking a seat in the chair as he gently held his hand, stroking it with his thumb.
"No, Keith. I'm not going anywhere. I promise…"
