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The second the black lion crashed back onto earth Shiro was there. He was sprinting up the lion’s collapsed legs and climbed into the cockpit and took in the damaged body in the seat in front of him. Keith. His Keith. The one who killed his biggest fear and brought him back from the dead. Slowly but surely Shiro removed the cracked armour and supported Keith’s neck. His head was bleeding pretty bad and his breathing was shallow. Shiro was just relieved to see he was breathing at all. He quickly carried him to the vehicle and took him back to the Garrison, hearing black roar to life and fly behind them like a protective mother or bodyguard. He got Keith to the hospital wing and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. Please come back to me soon…” he murmured before leaving.
He visited Keith as much as possible while he was in the hospital, asking the doctors on his condition and if his head was okay. They told him he had a concussion and there was a possible chance of amnesia. Each word was a slug to the gut for Shiro but he nodded. Everyone else was fine with minor fractures or bruising but somehow Keith had been rescued from near death. Shiro wondered if it was the universe’s way of telling Shiro it was time for him to make up to Keith everything that he’s ever done to him. He would’ve preferred a text message or a vague dream rather than pulling his body from a wrecked warcraft.
Keith had woken up when Shiro was giving a speech at a funeral for Sanda and everyone else who died while fighting the Galra. When Shiro heard he was running as fast as he could to Keith’s room. He saw Kolivan and Krolia in the hall and grinned, thinking they had left for him.
He opened the door and saw Keith and some brown haired familiar looking kid talking, one of Keith’s hands in the brown haired boy’s hands. He recognised the cadet as James Griffin, the kid who caused Keith trouble when they were kids. Clearly they weren’t rivals anymore. He walked out and told Krolia he just wanted to check on Keith before crying in his office.
He avoided Keith for the next few months, referring to him in the group instead of personally like normal when nothing felt normal anymore. Keith was apparently dating James now and he was happy with the relationship then Shiro wasn’t going to ruin it. He was going to stay away from Keith so he didn’t do something stupid and make Keith hate him.
That almost worked till Keith was nearly killed again. He was so out of it that he hadn’t noticed Keith’s voice was altered until Veronica and Axca pointed it out. They almost got there too late. Keith had been held by his throat above a volcano while breathing in poison air and then got put in a headlock. When Zethrid spotted them she growled. “Come any closer and you’ll lose him like I lost Ezor!”
“Zethrid. Please. Don’t. Do this.” Keith rasped, his lips turning blue and his eyes starting to droop. Seeing Keith in so much danger awakened something in Shiro. Something that made him scared and angry. He didn’t even process shooting Zethrid he just focused on helping Keith drag her up and then getting him back to the Atlas so they could fix him up.
Shiro stayed up all night making Keith things as a get well soon and sorry for being a cunt and ignoring you till you almost died bundle. He was gonna bake him some cookies too but decided he wasn’t gonna be able to rescue Keith from food poisoning and would feel like shit if Keith got sick because of him.
Shiro went through everything he’d say to Keith in his head, making sure he brought up everything from why he was avoiding him to how sorry he felt about it. He knocked on Keith’s door and heard some rustling and watched the door open revealing Matt? He hid confused expression and sat next to Keith and handed him the stuff. “How have you been? I was scared we would lose you back there,” he looked at his hands and blinked back tears.
“I’ve been okay. Sore and lightheaded. James was here earlier and Matt showed up to give me some news,” he saw up and cracked his back. “How have you been?”
Shiro laughed softly, feeling much lighter and relaxed then he’d been in months. “Decent. I’ve missed being with the team but the Atlas is cool… I’m sorry for pushing you away. I was scared that if we stayed close then Honerva would use you to get to us and I didn’t wanna lose you,” he swallowed the lump in his throat and blinked a few times, feeling a warm hand close around his.
“Shiro. You’re not going to lose me. I promise,” he smiled and laid back before looking at Matt. “Thank you for talking with me.” Matt grinned and nodded before walking out of the room.
Shiro watched Matt go. “I’m pretty sure he likes you,” he said calmly, inspecting his fingernails and letting his Altean arm float around.
Keith nodded. “Oh he does. So does James and Ryan. Lance even told me Veronica liked me but I don’t know how to tell her she isn’t my type.”
Shiro’s Altean arm slammed into the wall. “They all like you?!”
Keith jumped and he nodded before looking offended. “Wait, why are you so shocked about this?! People are allowed to like me! And I am likeable!”
Shiro’s eyes widened. “Hey! I didn’t mean it like that! I just think it’s a little much that you have four people interested in you.”
Keith rolled his eyes. “Sure. Like you’re just concerned about my virtue or whatever the hell they call it now like you don’t have everyone on the Atlas thirsting over you.”
“I don’t have everyone on the Atlas thirsting over me! There’s one guy who’s always staring at my ass but I don’t know his name,” Shiro was ninety nine percent sure he never wanted to know his name.
“Curtis. I don’t like him he’s annoying and useless. And he’s not the only one. Axca told me that in the training room and mess hall that people have debates on how much weight you can hold and how your butt feels,” he didn’t look pleased with the conversation/
“Keith that’s really weird,” Shiro murmured, his cheeks red. This wasn’t the way he wanted their meeting to go but he was out of time. “I have to go. Get well soon.” he stood up and walked out, feeling like a major idiot.
Shiro went back to avoiding Keith and started to feel self conscious about his ass. When they heard about Clear Day he decided to have the team head down and have some fun. Everyone else darted off as soon as they got their coins leaving just Keith and Shiro alone. Keith kept looking at Shiro like he was gonna say something and Shiro felt like shit. “I’m sorry about what I said. Let’s go on some rides or something, relax, like old times.”
Keith laughed softly. “Shiro, there has never been a time where I’ve been able to relax with you. You’re a hazard,” he smiled softly at Shiro.
Shiro’s heart seemed to start singing a falsetto when Keith laughed and looked at him like that. “You’re right. Well, let’s get somewhere where I won’t be a hazard to anyone and have fun,” he grabbed Keith’s hand and took him to a ride with a short line.
“Two tokens,” the alien grunted, taking a token each and putting them in the car. The bar to hold them in the car snapped against their chests and made both of them grunt before taking off into a very colourful and slightly annoying ride.
“Shiro. Did you just take me on the alien equivalent of ‘It’s a Small World’? Because if you did I’m going to kill you,” he started to rub his temples and his eye twitched. Shiro had forgotten his senses were a lot stronger than his, probably something he got from his mother.
“I’m so sorry,” he laughed until the ride stopped and a voice said they were having difficulties and for them to stay in the ride till they fixed it. Keith looked ready to kill someone.
Shiro felt really bad and handed him his jacket. “Put this over your head. It should block the lights and I can help you cover your ears if you want. You might have to climb into my lap though…” The way they were sitting made it nearly impossible for Shiro to bring his human arm to Keith’s head without twisting in a way that would cause his back to cramp.
Keith seemed to think for a second and nodded before climbing into Shiro’s lap like it was a completely normal occurrence for them and pressed his covered face to his flesh shoulder. Shiro pleaded to every god in the universe that he didn’t get a boner and covered Keith’s ears for him, making sure he didn’t press too hard on Keith’s head. He’d been hoping when he took Keith on a couple ride it would be romantic or funny so he could ask him out but he managed to fuck that up pretty bad but at least he had Keith in his lap so it was somewhat okay.
After what seemed like hours the ride was finally fixed and they got through the rest without difficulty although Shiro was probably never going to get the song out of his head. Keith handed Shiro back his coat once they got off and looked miserable and exhausted. “Are you hungry? We can get some food and go do something you wanna do,” Shiro asked softly. Keith nodded and walked to the aisles of food and went to the one that Keith was drawn to by the smell.
They took their food and ate and Shiro made sure Keith was ready to go before standing up and walking around with him, a hand on his back so he was steady. They saw James and Ryan at a shooting game and Pidge running away from her parents with a grin on her face.
Shiro was about to point out a dart game when a terrifying scream was blasted through the speakers and made everyone flinch or yelp. Shiro looked at Keith and saw his eyes were wide and blown like a cat that’s been startled. He half expected him to have a puffed up tail too.
Keith turned around and growled deep in his throat. “It was Coran. Fucking nutcase,” Shiro laughed and walked with Keith to the dart game. Keith paid for three darts and landed them all in a perfect row.
The alien handed him a plush of the red lion and looked at Shiro. “You wanna try?” Shiro shrugged and nodded and handed him the tokens. He missed the first one but hit the last two and the alien handed him a black lion that was the same size as Keith’s only because of the wings.
He thanked the alien and walked away with Keith, looking at the small plushy. “I miss Black. Does she miss me?”
Keith nodded. “She misses you a lot but is glad that you’re not with her because it means I’m keeping you safe. I miss Red, too. I wanna ask Lance how she’s doing but he gets weirdly defensive about it,” he kept walking and looked up. “It’s almost dark. I told James and Ryan I’d meet them at the front for something. The said they had a surprise for me. Thank you for today,” he hugged Shiro and walked away. Shiro felt his heart go from happy and full to deflated and sad as Keith left him.
Once they gathered Coran and heard from Nadia that James, Ryan, and Keith were already on the Atlas they said goodbye and left the planet. Shiro checked everywhere he could for Keith but didn’t find him till he came down a hallway he hadn’t checked while slightly limping.
“Keith oh my god what happened? Are you okay?” Shiro rushed over and checked him over.
“Shiro. Shiro stop. I’m fine. I’m not limping for a bad reason…” his cheeks were red and his hair was still messy, obvious evidence as to what Ryan and James’ surprise for him was.
Shiro thought Keith had punched him then dumped cold water down his back. “Oh… Keith, you know there’s rules about this kinda stuff, right? You can’t just go around messing with the crewmates,” Shiro was surprised his voice was so controlled when he actually felt like screaming. The second he realised what happened his arm flew off and began to smash shit.
“Rules? There’s fucking rules about what we do with one another? Since when? And do these rules affect everyone or just me because you’re pissed that I didn’t tell you when and how I lost my virginity and you don’t think someone like me can sleep around!”
“That’s not what I think!”
“Then what do you think?! Why are you so in my business that i can’t even have sex without your permission!” Keith had started to cry. He hated fighting especially with Shiro.
Shiro stopped being angry and immediately became scared and upset. “Keith… I don’t want you hurt. I don’t want you getting so set on someone that hurts you. I care about you…” he wiped Keith’s tears away and hugged him.
Keith cried for a few moments before calming down. “I’m sorry for yelling… I just don’t like people making comments about me and saying what I can and cannot do with my body…”
“Keith, I wasn’t saying that. I was just telling you you can’t go around and sleep with my crewmates and make them fight one another. You’re a beautiful person and if word gets around that you’re a tease you could get hurt,” he cupped Keith’s cheek and felt a strange twinge in the back of his head telling him it was time for him to confess.
He slowly leaned down, getting ready to kiss him till James ran out. “I heard yelling and banging is everyone okay?!” Shiro jerked away and the moment broke, making Keith step away as well.
“Goodnight, Shiro. Goodnight, James,” he walked off quickly.
“It’s fine, Griffin. Get back to bed. Oh, and if you break Keith’s heart I’ll make you pay.” Shiro walked to his room and laid in bed, feeling like an idiot and hating himself.
It seemed as if the universe agreed with Shiro because once they had any more breaks Keith was often seen flirting with the crew members. No one else seemed to notice anything so Keith must have regularly flirted but Shiro only noticed when he realised he loved Keith and learned that Keith slept around.
Every time Shiro saw Keith around another guy it made his chest hurt. His countless times of trying and failing to ask Keith out had piled up inside of him and made him feel like the biggest idiot in the entire universe. He started to confide in Lance and asked how he was able to ask someone out and let them know you cared about them. “Well, with Allura I just had her meet my family and then took her to a park and confessed then she healed the park and we’ve been dating ever since,” he shrugged like it was no big deal.
To Shiro it was a big deal. He wanted to tell Keith he loved him before something happened and he lost Keith forever either by death or by a marriage. When they stopped one day for repairs Shiro asked Keith to spend the day with him and asked about how he was doing and if he was happy.
“I mean, I’d rather be on earth instead of a giant spaceship but I’m pretty happy here I guess. I wish we could spend more time together. Remember that hoverbike trick you showed me? I managed to master it. Once we’re back on earth we can have a race and see if you’re still better than me,” he started to laugh.
Shiro smiled softly. “Of course. But once we get back to earth what are we gonna do? If we go back to earth that means that Voltron isn’t needed anymore. What will you do once you don’t need to fight for the universe anymore?” Shiro looked over at him.
“I dunno actually. Maybe I’ll join you on the Atlas and explore the universe with you. Help you unwind because you’re always stressing out about something,” he laughed.
“You mean you won’t settle down? Maybe find a husband and live a secluded life away from danger and stress,” Shiro looked up, and watched the sun begin its descent to night.
“Shiro. I thought after being friends for almost ten years you’d actually know me. That’s not the type of future I want.”
“Then what do you want, Keith? What do you want to have once the universe is safe.”
“I told you what I wanted. To go with you in the Atlas and explore the right way. I wanna meet the alien races and learn their languages.”
Shiro smiled. “I do too. This means we can do it together and I’ll have my bodyguard all set up,” him and Keith started to laugh.
“Shiro. I want to apologise. I’ve been ignoring you and your orders and… I slept around… So if you hear any rumours about me I want you to know they’re false. I’ve never lead anyone on or gotten them worked up and left. I give them everything I promise and nothing more nothing less. I don’t want you to think less of me,” he pulled at some of the plants growing around them and sighed.
“Keith. I don’t care what anyone says. You’re Keith. You’re my Keith and nothing will ever change that,” Shiro pulled Keith close and kissed him, unable to hold back anymore. “I care about you.” he murmured.
“Good. Because I’m tired of being used to get your attention,” he kissed Shiro deeply, standing on his toes to hold it. “Are we keeping it secret or are we telling everyone?”
Shiro held him. “I don’t wanna say and get you hurt but I also don’t want you to keep sleeping around and getting angry.”
“How would I get hurt by saying I’m dating you?”
“Honerva might take you so we come after and rescue you.”
“You’d do that for me?” he looked up with soft eyes.
“You’ve always done it for me. It’s time for me to repay you,” he kissed Keith again and walked back to the ship. “It’s getting dark and I don’t wanna get lost out here.” Keith nodded and walked back with them.
For the next few weeks Keith and Shiro rarely got time together but when they did they were often wrapped in one another's arms and promising that they loved each other. Some nights when Shiro woke from nightmares Keith would be at his door and help him calm back down, promising he was okay and that he would protect him. When all the noise and constant magic around Keith got him sensitive and panicky Shiro was there to make sure he was okay and took him out to relax so he didn’t hurt himself or someone else by accident.
After they defeated Honerva and used her and the lions with a little bit of Allura’s magic she got from the entity everyone went home. Allura was pleased to go back to Altea with Coran and show the other Alteans what it was like and Keith went to check out Daibazaal with Shiro close behind him.
When they walked out Keith seemed to relax more than he could have on earth and look younger and happier. “It’s different here. I feel, freer here. Like I can be myself and I won’t have to worry about how they think of me,” he turned to Shiro. “Do you feel it too?’
Shiro shook his head. “Maybe it’s a Galra thing. This was the original Galra home.”
Keith laughed. “It’s amazing. This place is wonderful. Maybe we can get the Galra to move here now that the war is over,” he looked ready to settle down and live here himself.
Shiro laughed softly. “Maybe we can move here together once we get our things from earth, how about that? We can also get our hoverbikes and a small craft so we can explore together,” he was caught off guard when Keith suddenly launched himself into Shiro’s arms and kissed him deeply.
“Yes. I wanna do that. I love you,” Keith smiled brightly and happily, looking like Shiro had given him the stars.
Shiro smiled and dipped him before going back to the Atlas and flying it to earth, wormholing once Allura finally pulled away from Lance long enough to create one. Everyone moving to Altea or Daibazaal packed up their things and said goodbye to those they were leaving. Since the Atlas was going with them Keith and Shiro had no one they really had to say goodbye to so they went out for a hoverbike race to watch one last sunset on earth.
“Sunsets became our thing didn’t they,” Keith said, wiping dirt from his nose.
“What do you mean?” Shiro looked over
“We bonded in front of one. I saved you multiple times in front of them. We started dating during sunset. I’m pretty sure the first time we had sex the sun was setting somewhere,” he smirked
Shiro blushed and elbowed him. “You’re so weird. But you’re right. I guess sunsets are our thing.”
Keith smiled. “Let’s head back. We should be leaving soon,” he turned his bike on and flew towards the Garrison again, waiting a little ways ahead so Shiro could catch up. They flew together, feeling the desert wind against their skin and smiling.
Once they moved to Daibazaal and got situated they explored and documented the animals and plants species and helped the other Galra become settled and enlisted the Blades to help. Once they were certain they had all the Galra that wanted to restart they chose a ruler. Keith was most popular and he decided to rule but change it from an empire to something similar to a democracy so every few years or so they could vote in new leaders and gain more advancements. Also so Keith wasn’t just trapped on Daibazaal all the time.
Shiro and Keith did what they dreamed of doing and explored the universe together and saw many many sunsets. Shiro tried to propose many times but failed a few dozen times as Keith saw some alien creature or something blew up and ruined it. Shiro finally proposed when him and keith were slightly tipsy as the Voltron sacrifice dinner they held on Altea every year. Keith said yes and they got married on Daibazaal.
After five years of marriage Keith and Shiro welcomed their daughter to the world and named her after Shiro’s mother. Eiko was as beautiful as her daddy and as kind hearted as her papa and almost immediately became friends with Allura and Lance’s son, Artelle when she was old enough to understand what friends were.
Many years in the future, after Keith and Shiro’s deaths their children would build statues of them and spread their story of bravery to their children and grandchildren, often taking their kids to their aunts and uncles to hear what they had been like when they were younger. Keith and Shiro’s legacy lived on long after their deaths due to those they loved.