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“Keith, c’mon, baby, you gotta--” Shiro tries plucking at Keith’s arms wrapped around his neck, to no avail.
Post-heat Keith is, as Shiro is discovering, simultaneously his favorite and his least favorite Keith to deal with.
He loves him like this because he’s just so soft. Usually, it takes some time for Keith to unravel and let himself be vulnerable. But now, he’s happy and sated and nearly purring in Shiro’s arms.
On the other hand, though, post-heat Keith is clingy and needy, which Shiro doesn’t mind - it tugs on something in him that runs hot and dominant and alpha, something that makes him want to just curl his body around Keith’s and take care of him. But his more advanced, logical brain realizes that neither of them has had nearly enough calories over the past few days, and he knows that if he doesn’t get Keith to eat soon, he could turn grumpy and irritable. He’d much rather preserve the quiet, happy mood Keith always finds after he’s finally sated after a heat.
“Wanna cuddle,” Keith mumbles, pushing a thigh between Shiro’s legs to wrap his body around Shiro. “Please?”
Shiro closes his eyes because he knows if he looks down at Keith’s long lashes and pretty, pretty pout he’ll be a goner.
He heaves a sigh and slowly untangles from Keith’s limbs. “I’m just gonna go get us some food, okay?” he murmurs.
“M’gonna get cold, though,” Keith complains.
“There’s some hoodies in the third drawer, and you have plenty of blankets,” Shiro tells him.
Keith pouts, but nods and lets him go.
Shiro makes his way to the kitchen and scrapes together some food, silently thanking Coran and Hunk for having the foresight to leave some goo out for them.
He comes back to find Keith curled up on the bed in one of his old Garrison hoodies. “Keith,” he whispers, not to wake him, but because he can’t keep the swelling of his heart to himself. He sets the tray of food on the table and moves to sit on the bed next to him.
Keith mumbles something and tucks his nose deeper into the soft fabric. Shiro can’t help the soft smile that breaks over his lips, or the blush that paints his cheeks. The sweater’s a little big on Shiro, so Keith’s absolutely swimming in it, and Shiro thinks he’s maybe never seen him so gorgeous. (Well. Almost. Seeing him flushed and hazy, rolling his hips down on Shiro’s knot as he cries his name is hard to beat.) The neckline is splayed open a bit so Shiro can just see the beginnings of the lovebites and hickeys he’d left over the past few days. His eyes roam down to take in how the hoodie sits just below his hips, showing off the marks down his inner thighs. He thinks he maybe should have gone a little easier, but the way Keith had gasped and writhed as he marked him up had been hard to deny.
Shiro reaches a hand out and combs some stray bangs away from Keith’s face. “Keith,” he murmurs, “c’mon, there’s food.” He’d done his best to get him to eat during his heat, but after the most intense parts Keith insisted that even the thought of food made him nauseous - not to mention he’d been way more focused on other things.
Keith grumbles and curls up tighter. “C’mere, I wanna sleep,” he complains, flapping a hand out towards Shiro.
Shiro sighs. “I’ll only cuddle with you if you eat something. C’mon, baby, let me take care of you.”
That gets Keith up. He leans up against Shiro and accepts the spoonful of food goo with minimal complaints. Shiro manages to get half a plate of food in him before Keith starts nuzzling against his throat and whining against his skin. “Keith, you’re...you’re not…?”
He feels a smile and kiss just above his collarbone. “No, no, I’m done. Don’t worry,” Keith chuckles.
Shiro smiles and weaves a hand through Keith’s hair. “Good. I mean--if you needed--”
Keith stops him with a hand against his chest. “It’s okay, Shiro,” he says with a laugh. “I’m just. I just want to be close to you,” he mumbles, hiding his blush against Shiro’s collarbone.
Shiro hums and moves his hand from Keith’s hair. He lies down and tugs Keith close until they’re chest to chest, Keith tucking his head under Shiro’s chin.
Shiro slowly slips his hand under the hoodie to rub circles into Keith’s back. He loves seeing Keith like this, soft and warm and sated - especially after the intensity of Keith’s heat and his own rut. Maybe it was just that it was the first time they’d been synced in a while, or maybe it was everything they’d been through together, but this time had definitely felt more...emotional than the past. Remembering the way Keith had clung to his shoulders and the things he’d said with such sincerity has Shiro’s heart swelling in his chest. He pulls Keith closer and presses a kiss to his hair, just to keep from exploding.
Keith hums beneath his chin. “Was it good for you?” he asks.
Shiro can’t help but chuckle. “Yes, Keith, god, yes,” he assures him. And it had been - he thinks he’s never felt closer to another person. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed feeling close to someone, with all the stress and fighting and strategy and pressure that surrounded him daily now. “How was it for you?” he asks.
Keith snuggles closer. “So good, Shiro. You’re such a good alpha,” he purrs.
“Mm, it’s easy when I have such a gorgeous omega.”
“Oh, yeah?” Keith pulls back a bit and smiles, eyes still soft and hazy. “Tell me more?”
“You’re just...perfect,” Shiro starts. He knows they both get emotional, afterwards. He knows he’s about to get sickeningly sweet, but he blames it on the hormones and tries to focus on how he knows Keith will swoon. “You’re caring and so determined and patient when you choose to be. You’re soft and warm and you bruise so pretty.” He kisses over the marks he’d left down Keith’s throat for emphasis. “And god, everything we did - you know how to make me feel so good. Such a perfect, perfect omega. Honestly, seeing you wearing my hoodie, marked up so good - I love knowing you’re mine. And you just - you smell good, like...like home, kind of?”
Keith blushes at that one. “You’re always so sappy after.”
“Yeah, but you love it.”
“I do. I love you,” Keith sighs.
“Love you too, baby.”
Keith lets out a happy hum and tils his face up to kiss up Shiro’s neck. He pushes himself up on his elbow so he can keep pressing his lips to Shiro’s skin, kissing over his eyebrow, the scar on his nose, and finally his lips. Shiro cradles the back of Keith’s head to keep him in place as he tilts to the side and deepens the kiss.
It’s slow and sweet, nothing like the hungry, desperate things they’d shared before, but Shiro likes keeping it soft like this. He licks into Keith’s mouth just to savor how he tastes and how he hums against him.
They keep going, taking their time and just enjoying each other’s touch until Shiro pulls away with a gentle nip to Keith’s bottom lip. “Alright, Keith, you gotta rest,” he insists. Keith groans but flops over to snuggle against Shiro’s side. “As long as you stay with me,” he mumbles, eyes already drooping shut.
Shiro smiles and wraps his arm around Keith’s shoulders to keep him close. “I’m not going anywhere, baby. I promise.”