Chapter Text
sheithfromvoltron:
With everything that had happened in the last twelve hours, nothing had managed to rattle Shiro until Keith’s last sentence.
‘If you fall, I’ll be there to catch you.’
A hundred of responses flooded his brain, millions of things he’d wanted to tell Keith, but not a one left his sealed lips. He only nodded and followed, keeping a hand on Keith’s back as they boarded. He eased off the backpack that Keith still had hanging from his shoulder and started rummaging through it. “Drink,” he handed over a waterbottle, “now. And lean back, it’ll put less strain on your stomach.”
He waited patiently until Keith had emptied the entire container before continuing. “I’ll check you over once we get going.” He twined his fingers with Keith’s, again missing out on feeling him, but this was for Keith, not him. “Just close your eyes, okay? No one’s touching you while I’m here. And I’m not leaving you. Never again.”
exnorate:
Keith sank into his seat, giving away too much of his discomfort now that his burden had been eased. His muscles prickled with exertion. The fight had taken an embarrassing amount of energy, and even if the bus’s seat was bumpy and uneven, he melted against it like it was made of the finest silks.
Because Shiro was here. There was someone to watch his six. For the first time in a long time, it was someone he trusted.
He downed his water bottle and tucked it back into their backpack, eyes going to where their hands were linked. Something caught in his throat, and for the life of him, Keith couldn’t remember when this had felt so easy. Around them the world seemed to swim in and out of focus, the civilian crowd completely unaware of what was going on, even as a part of Keith’s mind still kept track of their arrival and appearance.
“I don’t know how I did this without you.”
It was a confession he never meant to let go, born from a time he thought he’d never get back.
Keith drifted as the bus pulled out of the station, with one last glance at the bus’s deactivated security camera. Sometime before they left the city, he fell asleep. Not too long after that, he slumped against Shiro’s side, tucking his face into the crook of his shoulder like he’d never left.
sheithfromvoltron:
Shiro knew simply being around each other again was a lot harder for Keith than it was for him. From his side of things he’d never stopped protecting Keith, but it was that he’d chosen to stay away for five years. He decided to let Keith sleep for a while.
Every once in a while though, he’d get nervous and think he wasn’t breathing and couldn’t stop himself from checking the other man’s pulse. Once. Twice. Three. Four. Five… Until it was six times a minute and he had to wake Keith.
But before he did that, Shiro slowly angled himself to shield Keith from view of the other passengers and carefully pulled up his shirt to assess the damage without Keith seeing his reaction. His eyes closed with a sigh, it wasn’t as bad as it could be. He’d bled through his bandages and stained his shirt but the jacket kept that fact hidden.
“Keith,” he lifted the shoulder that Keith was still leaning on, hoping he wouldn’t startle as much as he had this morning. “Hey, I need to clean you up. Keith, come on.”
exnorate:
Keith’s fingers twitched towards the barrel of his gun beore his eyes were fully open. Always alert, always careful. He’d learned that from Shiro, like too much else. He looked up, the feel of Shiro’s sleeve still prickling against his cheek, and there was a moment, over before anyone could blink, where he decided that he was in the company of someone safe, someone good. The tension bled out of him slowly.
He sank back into his chair, alert and aware, but weighed down with a laziness he so rarely let himself indulge in. He glanced over his shoulder, but it was ahalf-hearted effort. If Shiro said this was safe, then Keith believed it. He’d always trusted Shiro too quikly. Right now, he couldn’t bring himself to regret it.
He bunched up his shirt and Shiro’s warm hoodie, trying to give Shiro as much room as possible to maneuver before he scowled down at his belly. A twang of discomfort made him grunt. Then he scowled at himself. “I’ve seen worse,” he grumbled. With a small smile, his voice pitched low for only Shiro to hear, he added, “Remember Tahiti. When you crashed through that window.”
It had been one of their first missions together. Keith could count the times on one hand that he’d seen any partner injured, and it had never been so bad. He couldn’t remember everything, but he could remember saying anything and everything under the sun to keep Shiro awake as he patched him up. Up to and including singing Disney songs incorrectly.
sheithfromvoltron:
Shiro’s eyebrows pinched together, because he remembered. And yeah, it was bad. Though mostly he just remembered Keith and him saying it was okay, that it was fine, that he was an idiot. “I remember you telling me it wasn’t that bad. And I remember I was so damn scared and so tired, but you didn’t leave my side for … was it two days? I can’t remember.”
He paused to disinfect his hands and looked up at Keith, “This is gonna hurt, but you can take it.” Shiro pulled at the bandages, cutting the wraps away and quickly discarding the bloodied cloth into a plastic bag he’d set aside. “I hit my head so hard that day, all I really remember from that mission is the stuff you told me afterwards, but I remember that.”
Pausing again to examine the wounds, they didn’t seem to be getting worse, but they weren’t getting any better. “You can’t be walking so much otherwise these are never gonna heal.” Shiro ran I hand over Keith’s belly, heat was rolling off him and the skin was a clashing red against his partner’s pale skin. Infection. But that was to be expected, he pulled out some antibiotics and another water bottle. “Take these.”
He still hadn’t removed his hand from Keith’s skin. He felt familiar, like nothing had changed, but really everything had. It took too much effort when he did finally pull away, forcing himself to keep going; to pack gauze against the wound; to reach around behind Keith as he pulled the new wraps tight. “Okay, you-you should,” his voice betrayed him sounding distant and breaking, “you should go back to sleep, it’s gonna be a long trip.”
exnorate:
“Two days.” Keith agreed with a lopsided smile. Two days and then some, all the time before that when he was certain that Shiro was going to die by his side. The mission called for radio silence, and he’d been terrified of what would happen to him if he returned without the Veil’s top agent at his side. And he wondered about what would happen to him if he lst the only mentor he ever really cared about.
Years later, Keith would look back at that moment and learn to fear how close he’d come to losing his best friend. It had seemed like such a bitter victory once he was alone.
A soft, aborted noise twisted past Keith’s lips, his stomach jumping at the first touch of medicine, and he inwardly berated himself before succumbing to the treatment. It stung. God it stung, and Shiro was the best sort of warmth. Keith was a little worried by how badly he needed it right now, and how difficult it was to keep steady.
“I remember I panicked every time you fell asleep.” Keith mumbled, letting the past distract him from the present. “I remembered doing the dumbest shit to try and keep you awake. Half the things I said didn’t make sense, but when you laughed it was… It was worth it.”
He fell back bonelessly when Shiro was done, wiping his brow where a cold sweat had broken out. His eyes fluttered shut, as if on their own volition, and sleep had no right to sound so good. “I should’ve known.” Keith whispered, already slipping away. “It’d take more than that to do you in.”
sheithfromvoltron:
Shiro wished he could remember everything, but those nights only came back in flashes and when they did it felt like his scars were being torn open again. That’s what he remembered most, the pain. Pain and bits of Keith’s voice that made the memories worth it.
“Yeah,” he agreed under his breath watching Keith’s eyes close, “a lot more.” As much as he wished he could pretend it still wasn’t the case, there was only one thing guaranteed to kill him. He’d though he’d gotten rid of that silver bullet when he got himself riddled with seventeen others, but last night had proved him wrong. Keith had never been safe and he’d been a fool for thinking so these last four years.
The next couple hours were spent running every passenger of the bus through his memory before cataloguing them in the back of his mind. He knew the first half was likely fruitless, the odds that the Veil was sending any of the old recruits after them were low. They had five years of fresh blood that they’d send out to search before calling in the actual hit.
Five minutes to Reno and Keith was still out cold. Shiro hated to admit that he may have also given Keith a sleeping pill, but he just wanted him to rest. And it wasn’t like the Veil didn’t take precautions against this, pumping antidotes and counteractive pills to prevent things like this. But it was worth a shot if it could give Keith even an extra few minutes of sleep.
“Keith,” Shiro started, “you’re going to have to wake up now. We’ll be there in two, we’ll go to the restroom first so you can change. Everything’s ready you just need to open your eyes.” It was likely he hadn’t heard the first few words, but this was the best way to wake him up.
Everyone in the Veil was trained to come out ready to swing the second they woke. But there was a way to avoid this; they’d also been drilled to wake up silently if there was a lot of conversation going on in the hopes that if they’d been knocked out or captured they could gather information before anyone knee they were awake.
“Alright, one minute, you don’t have to move, but you need to open your eyes, okay ba—bud?” A small slip, but he kept talking around it. “I know you’re awake. We’re fine, but it’s time to go.”