Chapter Text
Keith wasn’t sure if anyone could find him. He hadn’t exactly made it easy for them when he turned off his communicator. He knew what they would say if he had his comms on. More specifically, he knew Shiro would not approve. As much as he valued the leadership of his mentor and friend, Keith needed to tune his disapproval out.
The unnerving sight of tar dripped from the mouth of the volcano. Ash spewed, thickening in his lungs. Keith tried to keep his breaths shallow to avoid any more exposure to the toxic fumes than were necessary. As he choked out a cough, he felt a tight strain from his chest that pulled as he expanded his lungs. “A possible bruised rib,” Keith said to himself, “that’ll go great with my sprained ankle.”
Red, Keith’s lion, was damaged and would not turn on. He had been following Galra Empire fighter planes when he was led astray. The rest of his team had been focused on defeating the fighter planes, but Keith had the idea to follow them to see where their base was. The planes were outside the range that would be normal for the smaller vehicles. Keith thought he’d find where they had been dispatched from if he followed them.
He should have known better. Regardless of where the planes originated from, they led Keith to a remote planet littered with gas storms and volcanic activity. Worst of all, as Red approached the planet, he was in the line of fire of a spurting volcano. The lava cinched away the controls from Keith and he found himself ejected from the lion, before the lion powered down. Most of Keith’s body landed on the left side. He was able to crawl back to his lion before slumping beside it.
Without the lion being powered on, Keith couldn’t get ahold of his team on comms to ask for their help. The tracking device would also not work if the lion didn’t have power, meaning no one would be able to find him here. He was stranded. His only hope of survival depended on getting Red to power on. Keith stroked his lion’s paw. “Come on, Red.” He let his thoughts focus in on his bond with his lion. In this focused state, Keith found it hard to reach out to Red. Instead, he felt himself connecting with the Black Lion, Shiro’s lion.
Once before, Keith had piloted Shiro’s lion. It had been when Shiro was in danger. The bond between the Black Lion and Keith differed from his connection with Red. The Red Lion was driven based on instinct and courage, but the Black Lion built its connection on trust and an innate sense of self. Keith had never been good at those two particular traits, so it drained him to focus so much to pilot the Black Lion that one time. Keith focused his attention on those two traits. If he could get through to the Black Lion, then maybe he’d have a shot at being rescued.
Trust. Shiro was the person that Keith trusted the most. He had always been there for him, even when Keith didn’t think he deserved it. Every time Keith ‘tested’ Shiro’s intentions, Shiro always proved he wasn’t going to discard him, like everyone else in Keith’s life had done to him. The rest of the team had also earned some of Keith’s trust. He didn’t trust them as much as he did Shiro, but he was starting to form a bond with them.
Sense of self. That one was the hardest for Keith. “I’m a paladin of Voltron.” Keith said aloud. “I’m a member of a team. I fight for a cause greater than myself.” Affirmations of who Keith was are what helped him connect with the Black Lion before.
It didn’t take long for the haze of the ash and embers to give way to the majesty of the Black Lion, itself.
“Shiro.” Keith said as his friend approached him, and before everything went dark.
…
Light entered Keith’s eyes as he blinked with heavy eyelids. There wasn’t much light to be seen, but it was more than he had seen with his eyes closed. The sound of a heart monitor was present. Keith gently checked his arms for an IV, to prevent accidentally tearing it out. As he looked, he noticed his left wrist and hand were in a cast. The IV was in his right arm. He looked around, again, more carefully this time to check for other odd things.
On top of Keith’s medical bay bed, laid an arm that did not belong to Keith at all. It was made of foreign steel, yet it reminded Keith so much of home. “Shiro.” Keith called to the sleeping figure attached to the arm. “Shiro.” He said loud enough for Shiro to stir.
The fingers of Shiro’s mechanical arm flexed as they awoke with the rest of his body. “Keith?” Shiro’s voice was gruff with what was probably mild dehydration. Shiro immediately threw his arms around Keith in a vice-grip. Shiro was always this aggressive when he hadn’t seen Keith in a long time. But it hadn’t been long, right?
Keith let himself be hugged by the other man before he finally spoke. “Hey, how long have I been asleep?” Instead of answering him right away, Shiro pet his hair and trailed his human finger tips down Keith’s spine as he shushed him. The act wasn’t unexpected, but the silence was. “Shiro, what’s going on?”
“Just let me hug you, Keith.” Shiro breathed into Keith’s ear. “Just let me do this for a little longer.” Keith let his body relax as he drifted in and out of sleep once more.
The second time Keith woke up, he was alone.
Keith felt less groggy than he had the first time he woke up. The room now had more lighting. He could see the rest of his body clearly. There was a deep purple bruise on the left side of his chest, yet poking it produced little pain. His ankle sported a lighter bruise, but Keith was able to move it just fine. His wrist, however, still throbbed. He didn’t remember hurting it, but the evidence spoke for itself. The heart monitor was still active. His IV dripped a bag of saline.
When an hour passed and no one came by, Keith wondered if he should risk getting up to find someone. His leg felt fine enough. With the heart monitor and IV hung on a mobile device, Keith decided to try to get out of bed to find the others. As he swung his legs over the side of the medical bed, Keith instantly regretted his decision. A sharp tug ripped from his penis. “Fuck!” Keith screamed as his groin grew warm and damp. “A catheter?” He probably should have known better.
Allura ran to the room as fast as she could get there. “Keith?” She called out to him. Her eyes first focused on Keith before they examined the rest of the situation. “Are you ok?” She checked his heart rate machine and IV. Finding both of those to be ok, Allura’s eyes traced Keith’s hand gripping his lower abdomen. She noticed the mess dripping onto the floor. “Did you pull your catheter?” She said, pity in her voice.
Keith shunned his eyes from hers. “I’m sorry. I’ll clean it up.”
Allura ran her fingers through his hair, brushing the side of his face. “It’s ok,” she said softly. “I’ll take care of it. You must rest.”
Keith felt her put pressure on his torso to force him to lie back down. “Where’s Shiro?” His voice betrayed him and sounded softer than he meant it to.
“Everyone is out, answering a distress beacon.” Allura went to work cleaning up the mess that Keith had made. She covered her hands with gloves and set a robot to mop the floor. The white sheets were pulled from Keith. He wore a hospital gown that covered him. “I’m going to need to move you.” She pushed a button that pinged the comms system. “Coran, can you come down to the medical bay, please?”
“Is Keith up?” Coran asked back.
“Yes.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Coran wasted no time getting to the medical bay. “Coran, can you give me a hand moving Keith?” Allura set up a wheelchair like chair.
“I can stand just fine.” Keith protested.
Ignoring him, Coran and Allura each linked to one arm and helped him navigate to the chair. Allura finished striping the bed while Coran knelt down to remove the IV. “Now that you are up, you don’t need this in.”
“What happened?” Keith asked. The tone of the room was already cold, but it somehow soured more. He needed to know. From how Shiro avoided talking to him, he knew that something had to have happened.
“You ran off.” Allura answered. “Turned off your comms.”
Keith brought his feet to the chair, knees up and head resting on them. “It was a bad decision.”
“Shiro found you. You were in rough shape. Your lungs had been burned. Your ankle and rib were injured and your wrist was broken. We put you in the rejuvenation pod until your lungs healed. Your wrist is still healing, but the rest of your injuries are better.”
“How long have I been out?” Keith hesitantly asked.
“A little over four quintants.” Allura answered.
…
Keith dressed himself, but was banned from staying in his room alone. They wanted him supervised for now. He joined Allura and Coran on the bridge until the rest of the team returned. Allura heated him up some of Hunk’s homemade stew he made specifically for Keith. The stew was hearty and helped Keith relax. His team had been informed that he was up and walking around, but they became stuck in a situation and were going to be gone for longer than expected.
“I should join them.” Keith said from his chair on the bridge.
“Negative.” Coran informed him. “We are under strict orders to keep you away from any action.”
Keith grumbled under his breath. He hated being kept away from things. He could hear his team suffering. He should be out there helping them. “Orders from who?” He knew the answer, but something inside of him asked anyway, as if knowing would change if he obeyed or not.
“Shiro. You are to remain here with us.”
They couldn’t really stop him, Keith thought. If his team really needed him, it shouldn’t be up to anyone but Keith to decide to help them. Keith resigned to wait. He listened intently to the fight the others were having. Beads of sweat dripped down Keith’s forehead. Their yells became intense and rang out. The enemy counteracted their movements. They were losing. Keith jumped up from his seat and ran to his lion, all while listening to Allura call his name.
As he stood in front of the Red Lion, in full paladin armour, he noticed the particle barrier did not open. He couldn’t get inside Red. “Oh, come on!” Keith shouted as he banged his fists on the barrier. “I need to help them!”
Allura was now behind him. “Perhaps, even your lion knows you are in no condition to assist anyone.”
“What good am I if I can’t help them?” Keith dropped to his knees in front of his lion.
Allura put her hand on Keith’s shoulder and gave him a comforting squeeze.
“They defeated the Galran’s!” Coran’s voice came over the speaker. “The paladins are heading back!”
Keith followed Allura back to the bridge and waited patiently as his team started filing in. Pidge’s voice was the first that he heard. She was excitedly explaining her quick thinking that helped them win to Lance and Hunk. The three of them all had smiles on their faces as they greeted Allura and Coran. Keith lingered further away.
“There he is!” Hunk ran up to Keith and wrapped him in a hug. “It’s so good to see you moving around!”
Lance and Pidge huddled around Keith, too. “Yeah, we weren’t sure if you were gonna make it.” Lance said dramatically. There was no way Keith had come that close to dying.
“I’m glad you pulled through, Keith.” Pidge echoed the same sentiment.
Keith looked between the three that surrounded him to find Shiro. He locked eyes with him. Shiro stood quietly on the other side of the room. He diverted his gaze to the ground once he noticed Keith was looking for him. Rejection. The pit in Keith’s stomach grew to an uncomfortable size. Keith crossed the room to stand in front of him. He didn’t allow Shiro any opportunity to reject him. Keith threw his arms around Shiro and gripped him tight. He felt the breath that Shiro released travel down his neck.
“It’s good to see you are feeling better.” Shiro placed a kiss on top of Keith’s head. Keith looked up to Shiro’s grey eyes. Keith smiled at him, but Shiro looked away. Tears formed in his violet eyes. He turned back into Shiro’s chest, hiding his emotions. His arms tightened around Shiro. He growled through his teeth. “Hey! Stop that.” Shiro pulled Keith away from him, holding him at arm’s length. It was Keith’s turn to look away in shame for his growl.
The room grew silent as everyone watched the interactions of the red and black paladins. “We should leave them alone.” Allura broke the concentration of the others. Everyone started leaving the room. Instead of following her own advice, Allura moved towards them. “Shiro,” she spoke quietly, “can I have a moment?” Keith narrowed his eyes on her, knowing what she’d say.
Shiro released Keith from his arms and walked with Allura to the other side of the room. Keith tried to listen to what they said in detail. He had no doubt Allura was telling on him for his attempt at trying to take the Red Lion out, against Shiro’s orders. He hoped she’d leave out the bits about the catheter. They talked for no more than a few minutes. Keith watched Allure leave and Shiro standby. When Shiro didn’t immediately return to him, Keith walked over to him.
“Shiro?”
Shiro sat in Keith’s chair. The exhaustion was clear on Shiro’s features. He inhaled deeply and spoke quietly. “How are you feeling?”
Keith stood in front of him. “I’m feeling fine.” It was mostly true. His wrist pulsed in pain and discomfort. He was ready for another long nap. Compared to how he felt on the volcano planet, he was feeling much better.
Shiro stared at him in disbelief. “Fine? That’s alot better than you were a few days ago.”
With a shrug of his shoulders, Keith said, “power of Altean technology, I guess.”
“That’s good.” There was no emotion in his voice.
“What’s wrong, Shiro? You’ve been cold towards me since I woke up.”
Shiro’s eyes fluttered to stare up at Keith. His mouth drooped open, then closed and opened, again. “I didn’t mean to be cold.” Shiro reached up to offer his hand. Keith took it in his own, closing the gap between them. “I don’t know how to act.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what to do with you.” Shiro bit his lip. “I’m so angry at you. What you did was selfish. You didn’t think about anyone but yourself when you went off on your own. I can’t believe you’d disobey me and risked your life in the process.”
“I’m sorry. You’re right.” Keith interrupted him.
“Keith! You almost died! I carried your limp body to the rejuvenation chamber. We weren’t sure if you’d survive. If we would have taken any longer, you might not be here right now.” Tears escaped Shiro’s eyes. “I almost lost you.” Shiro pulled Keith in and wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist. “I can’t lose you, Keith! I love you too much.” Shiro looked up at him. The love was mutual, but it had never been said aloud.
“I love you too, Shiro.” Keith whispered his own confession.
Shiro tugged on Keith’s uninjured wrist, bringing him down to be at eye level. Keith could tell what was coming. After years of having confusing feelings for his friend and mentor, they were finally going to solidify their bond. Keith leaned in first, but Shiro met him halfway, melding their lips together.
Their lips parted away from each other. Shiro stood up and hugged Keith tighter to his body. This wasn’t like their normal hugs. It was hungry. It craved closeness that Keith had never felt from Shiro before. Keith looked up at him and his mouth was immediately seized by another kiss. The kiss radiated warmth from his lips into the rest of his face. He couldn’t believe it was real. He was really kissing Shiro! Shiro was kissing him back! This was better than any dream he could have had about it.
Keith wanted more. He started moving his fingers along Shiro’s chest, tracing the outline of muscles through his armour. The armour needed to be removed, now. Keith went to start undressing him, but his hand was caught.
“No.” Shiro told him. “Not yet.”
Keith whined at the rejection. “Why?”
“Because we still haven’t talked about your punishment.”