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Keith wiped the sweat from his face as he entered the Black Lion. Everyone had left their lions to stretch their legs on the new planet they had found. It wasn't much, hot with minimal life, but after a week crammed in their lions, they stopped being picky about landing spots. The planet had breathable atmosphere, and that was enough.
“Shiro,” Keith called as he entered the cockpit, “are you awake yet?”
“Yes,” two voices answered, and Keith felt his jaw open and shut. There were two Shiros standing before him. The white-haired Shiro that he recognized, and another with darker hair and a Galra arm.
He looked between them, “Shiro?”
“Uh, sorry about this,” the white haired one answered as he gave Keith a sheepish smile. “I was having trouble getting my thoughts straight, and one of the Olkari suggested this,” he said as he brandished a glowing cube. “It’s a portable hologram generator - like the ones on the castle ship. It’s a fancy way for me to talk to myself about some of my memories.”
Keith nodded, taking a step back, “I didn’t mean to interrupt - I’ll let you get back to it, then. Just wanted to let you know that Hunk and Corran think they’ve found some plants that might be edible here. So they’re planning something that isn’t food goo for dinner tonight.” He took another step back and turned towards the door, “I’ll see you later, I guess,” he said before fleeing.
“I told you that you needed to tell him you were doing this,” the black-haired one said, clearly exasperated.
“Kuron, we’ve discussed this - I can handle my problems on my own,” Shiro said as he sat down on the small bunk they had setup behind the pilot’s chair. “And he would have wondered why I was talking to a hologram instead of talking to him.”
“No, he’s probably fine with you talking to me. He’s always been good about giving you space. But, since you’ve brought it up, that’s a valid question, why aren’t you talking to him? He only searched the universe for you, brought you home, told you he loved you…”
“He told me he loves me like a brother-”
“He doesn’t mean it like that, and you know it. You know he’s had feelings for you since before Kerberos,” Kuron replied.
Shiro held up a hand, “-and he also just became the Black Paladin, we just lost the Castle, he doesn’t need anymore distractions.”
“Because having the person you were willing to die for completely ignore your ‘I love you’ isn’t a distraction,” Kuron snarked.
Shiro glared up at the hologram, who had a massive smirk plastered on his face. “I would never say that, and I wouldn’t smile like that either.”
“Well that’s your fault. You refused when the Olkari offered to plug you into their system and make a proper snapshot of your personality,” he saw Shiro rub the remnants of his arm, and his smile faded a bit. “Understandable, I might add. But the engineers just had video records to go on. They did the best they could,” he said, before sitting next to Shiro on the bunk, and placing an arm on his shoulder. “Look, even if you don’t discuss the big things, please, just go talk to him now. He’s probably torn between wanting to give you space, and worrying about you. Just go reassure him things are fine.”
Shiro looked like he’s going to protest, but then sighed, and nodded, before he stood and walked towards the door. Kuron waited until he heard it close before he allowed himself to stand, walk to the pilot’s chair, and collapse into it.
“What are we going to do about those two, Black? Shiro is so concerned that he’ll somehow be a burden, or that Keith will reject him, that he’ll never do anything. And I’d wager Keith thinks he’s already confessed after their dramatic battle,” he said, waving his hands for emphasis, before continuing. “So he probably going to wait until Shiro ‘has time to process’, and nothing will ever happen.”
Kuron was just a hologram - he was very aware of that fact. He never had a real connection to Black; he doesn’t even have a real body. So he was surprised to see a terminal window flash in front of him, displaying controls for the cockpit voice recorder and comms. Kuron looked at the glowing display for a moment before smiling again, “maybe we can help them out, just a bit.”
Keith is fidgeting with his clothes as he walks into Black. He stops before the flight area door to attempt to steady himself, and tries to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. It doesn’t work, but he still opens the door.
Shiro smiles at him when he enters, but it quickly fades as he takes in Keith’s downcast expression.
“Keith, what’s wrong?”
“You said you wanted...” Keith swallows, and tries again, “...you said you wanted to talk about what I said in the cloning facility. I know you remember what happened, and I-”
“Keith,” Shiro stops him. “I didn’t say anything.”
Keith looks confused. “But, I got your message, you told me to meet you here to ‘discuss my feelings,’“ Keith says, making air quotes as he does.
“No,” Kuron’s voice blares from the comms just as the door clicks and locks behind them, “I did. Black and I are exhausted dealing with your emotional issues. So, we’re going to fix this now.”
Even through Shiro’s weakend connection, he feels Black humming in agreement.
“Keith,” the voice says, “you’ve been avoiding Shiro ever since you learned he had the clone’s memories.” Kuron’s voice pauses. “And you, Shiro, Keith was willing to follow you to the ends of the universe to bring you back to him. So start talking. Tell Keith what you’ve told me.”
Shiro knows he can get out of this. He’s an accomplished strategist, after all. He can talk about how he too sees Keith as family, or he could say how proud he is of Keith for how far he has come, and how he is leading the team. He can do that. “Keith,” he starts, “I just wanted to say,” and then he looks at Keith, and freezes.
He knows the look Keith is giving him - the look of someone who desperately wants something, but can’t bring themselves to hope for it. He’s given Keith that same look more times than he can count.
And he can feel them, Black and Kuron, encouraging him, telling him to, once, just once, do want he wants, not what he thinks is best for the team.
Just this once, he does.
“Keith… I love you.”