little red riding hood, i'd like to hold you if i could

[bde]

[ It's been fine.

He hadn't expected – any of this, really. He hadn't expected the subject of his extraction mission to be entirely human to the eyes, given he was told the subject was half-galra. He hadn't expected said subject to be the most beautiful individual he'd ever seen, and he definitely hadn't expected to see Keith look back at him with a similar level of interest, to climb into his lap when they were off base for a mission and kiss him while the shuttle's autopilot guided itself home. Since then it's been a series of slow and controlled encounters, heated kisses exchanged in the relative privacy of their thin-walled quarters, fumbling of hands and mouths and on one single glorious occasion, Keith reaching back to grip handfuls of Shiro's hair while Shiro thrust between his liberally lubricated thighs, panting his name and desperately wishing he could give Keith the more he begged for.

Shiro's a halfbreed himself, his tail and large, furred ears evidence enough of that, but it's the human in Keith that makes him so small, so comparatively delicate. Shiro's looked into it and learned that Keith isn't even especially small for a human, actually an int or two larger than average human height – but Shiro gets largeness from his Galra mother and his unnamed father both. And Keith is so beautiful, so fierce and funny and bright, that the very thought of hurting him is anathema.

So when Shiro enters his rut, his priority becomes staying away from the one person he most wants to be with. He has a quiet word, ensures that anyone asking after him will be told he's “confined to quarters” - a convenient shorthand that could mean he's under disciplinary action or sick with something contagious, or any number of helpfully vague things. And in his quarters he stays, pacing a trench in his floor when he's not growling into his thin mattress and shredding yet another set of bedsheets, or stroking his persistent erection to near-rawness.

All of that means that when Keith lets himself into Shiro's room, he's the person Shiro both most and least wanted to see. ]

No. you can't – you can't be here, Keith. You have to go.

Comments

[feralistic]

[ there's probably nothing in the universe that could have prepared keith for shiro.

and at first, he'd tried to shrug off his interest as some kind of weird, misguided gratitude -- shiro was the one who saved him from zarkon's arena, and it's probably perfectly natural to end up with a crush on the hot person who saves your life. but... it's more than that, and the more time keith spends with shiro, the more he can't deny that it's true. keith likes the way shiro gets nearly breathless with excitement when he talks about space exploration and new discoveries, and he also likes the way the galra attaches himself to keith's datapad from earth and binge watches a solid two days' worth of romcoms before he manages to peel himself away. he likes the fact that shiro still finds a way to see the good in things, in people, likes that he isn't as jaded by the war as most of the other blades. and... later, he learns that he likes the way shiro touches him, kisses him -- gently, almost reverently, as if keith is the most special thing in the universe.

... but that has its downsides, too.

such as shiro locking himself in his quarters and attempting to hide this from keith, even if he hadn't covered his tracks well enough to keep keith from prying his whereabouts out of ulaz. and now he's here, standing in shiro's doorway and taking in the sight of him -- flushed and panting, sheets a shredded mess behind him, the whole room smelling of something spiced and thick that keith can't quite put his finger on. ... and telling keith to leave, which obviously isn't happening. ]

No. [ and he reaches behind himself to seal the door again behind him, his face set with determination. ] I want to help you, Shiro. If there's something I can do, I'll do it. You don't have to go through this alone.