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“Hey, I’m home!” Shiro yells from the hall as he gets in.
His eyes search for Keith, and it doesn’t take long to spot him, working on is laptop on their shared desk, a little frown of concentration pulling his eyebrows together. One of his hands types on the keyboard, while the other is pressed against the side of his face, and then Shiro remembers that maybe his frown isn’t just the concentration kind.
“Hey, you had that ortho appointent today,” he says, walking towards the desk, “how did it go?”
Keith shrugs, and Shiro can see he’s upset, “as expected,” before opening his mouth, letting Shiro see his new braces.
“They look nice,” Shiro says softly, hugging Keith’s shoulders form behind.
“Yeah, right,” Keith chuckles, covering his mouth with a hand, quickly looking away.
“I don’t think they look bad. Not at all. Quite the contrary."
Keith momentarily quirks his lip up, as if acknowledging Shiro’s opinion. But then, his insecurity seems to come back all at once, and his face falls back into a frown.
"Hey,” Shiro takes a seat next to him, and brushes a strand of black hair away from his face., “cheer up. It’s not that bad.”
Keith runs his tongue through the brackets glued to his teeth, and clenches his jaw, eyes narrowed. “Easy for you to say.”
“It’s only for a year,” Shiro says gently, his fingers stroking Keith’s bangs back, drawing a soft line from forehead to ear, “you’ll get them off before you know it. Don’t be so upset.”
“It’s just feels…unnecessary. I know my teeth didn’t look perfect, but the braces just make it look even worse.” Keith replies, voice still low. Shiro knows he’ll be upset for a while, but he still hates seeing Keith like this.
“Well, you heard the doctor,” Shiro points out, “it’s necessary, or else you’ll have problems with it later.”
“I know…” Keith’s shoulders slump forward, head hanging down in defeat. He knows Shiro is right. “It’s not exactly comfortable either,” he complains, his index finger motioning to his face, “and come on, you don’t need to pretend it looks good.”
“I’m not pretending,” Shiro retorts. He can’t help but worry that Keith feels so down about having braces. “Is it hurting you, though?”
Keith nods. “It’s uncomfortable. Hurts.” he sighs, his hand rubbing his jaw, trying to alleviate the pressure.
Shiro lets out a sympathetic noise, and gives Keith’s knee a comforting squeeze. “I can cook something soft for dinner. And I’m sure it’ll feel better if you take some painkillers."
Keith shakes his head. "Not now,” he says, “they make me sleepy, and I really need to finish this.”
“Tell you what,” Shiro takes Keith’s hands in his, a soft smile in his lips, “you’re almost finished with that, right?” He motions at the laptop, and Keith nods.
“A couple more pages and I’m done, yeah.”
“Good”, Shiro gives a quick kiss to his forehead. “As soon as you’re done, we’ll have ice cream for dinner and watch a movie on the sofa. Sound good?”
“Yeah.” Keith smiles. “Thanks, Shiro. That would be great.”
Shiro leans forward, and gives a soft kiss to Keith’s lips, before getting up, moving to the kitchen. “Glad to know you can still kiss me,” he mocks.
“Shut up,” Keith yells back from the living room, smiling, braces and everything.