i like to keep my issues strong

[bde]

[ Apparently he universe doesn't care when someone could really use a break; if it needs saving, it's gonna continue to need saving until somebody does something about it. Right now that somebody is them, so Shiro is extra tense until he can finally chisel out a moment of calm.

He's dimly aware how selfish that is. Being frustrated and edgy until he can get a proper moment to check on Keith seems incredibly greedy, considering what Keith went through to put Shiro so on edge in the first place. But he's learned how to channel unhelpful emotions into helpful action, and he's still in that mindset when he settles his hand between Keith's shoulder blades and steers the pair of them toward a bathroom. Not the showers they all hose off in after a mission, but a real bathroom with a bath the size of a hot tub - the Castle of Lions is a castle, after all, as Allura had said when she slyly tipped Shiro off to its existence. ]

Come on.

[ With anyone else, he might say: we should talk. Or: you need a break. The first would make Keith assume the worst, make him clam up or run, and the second would only bring out a denial and have him run in a different way, throwing himself into something to prove he doesn't need a break, that he's still strong, that he can be good enough.

Keith's always been good enough to Shiro, which is why he says none of those things. He just lets the door open and close for them, wraps his arms around Keith and holds him, grateful for the fact that he's still here and filled with so much pride and concern that the weight of it could bring him to his knees. ]

Comments

[feralistic]

... better.

[ and he closes his eyes for a moment as if to take stock, taking a slow breath in before he breathes out again. ]

Thanks. ... for this. I really -- [ needed it. ] ... I feel like I have my feet under me again.

[bde]

Hey, it wasn't all altruistic. I've missed you.

[ More kisses, pressed over the high sweep of Keith's cheekbones and finally against his mouth. ]

Stay with me tonight?

[feralistic]

Yeah. [ because there's nowhere else he'd rather be. ] Yeah, of course.

I missed you, too.

I know it's not like you were ever far away, but I -- [ keith breathes out a little laugh, leaning forward to steal another kiss. ] ... it still wasn't the same.

[bde]

It really wasn't. I never sleep as well as I do with you. I never feel as calm as when you're with me.

[ It's true, and worth saying. Just being together now, feeling Keith this close, knowing that things are cleared up - at least between them - has Shiro feeling lighter than he has in days, and he leans in to kiss Keith slow and lingering. ]