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It’s been a while since the Paladins have seen Keith.
Well, that’s putting it mildly. The last time any of them saw Keith, it was almost a year ago, and it was for less than five minutes because they were inside an exploding Galra outpost they had happened to be in at the same time and running away from the bombs was more important than catching up. The last time anyone had spent real, quality time with him was probably closer to 14 months, and contact with the Blades had been sparse at best.
Long story short, they were very excited to see their friend. The Blades were returning from a scouting mission deep in Galra Empire territory, and Voltron was going to intercept their pod as it had been damaged in the escape and wouldn’t make it to the headquarters on its own power. Voltron would be housing and escorting the Blades to their headquarters, and Keith just happened to be one of those Blades.
“Sooooo are you going to put your foot in your mouth and say something mean right off the bat?” Pidge needled as the Paladins and Coran walked down the hallway towards the hangar where the Blade shuttle was landing. Lance scoffed and shoved her shoulder.
“Only if he’s mean first,” he pouted. “I just hope he’s still got the same haircut. Without it, I won’t have a nickname for him!”
Shiro laughed as the doors opened to reveal the small hangar, where the scarred and dented Blade shuttle was opening its door, ramp extending down to the floor. The first Blade to exit was a large, muscular Galra, a lashing tail behind him. Then a slightly shorter, but no less muscular female Galra, her mask up as well. The third person to exit was smaller than both of the others, wiry with muscle but only coming to a couple inches over six feet. Then…
No one.
“Where’s Keith?” Hunk blurted, then blushed in embarrassment. The female Galra just laughed and moved aside as the smaller Galra stepped forward, hands coming up to deactivate his mask.
“Hey, guys,” Keith said, and Lance’s jaw hit the floor. There was a beat of silence, and then Shiro’s bright laugh echoed throughout the room.
“Holy cow, you’re about the same height as me now!” he exclaimed, moving up to pull Keith into a tight hug. “That Galra growth spurt finally hit, huh?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Keith mumbled, arms coming up to return the embrace before facing the other Paladins. “Guys, let me introduce my fellow Blades. This is Antok, and this is Berlue. Blades, meet the Paladins of Voltron.”
Antok merely nodded, but Berlue nearly tripped over herself to stride up.
“Oh, wow, I’ve always wanted to meet you guys,” she practically gushed. “I know all your names, and which Lion you pilot, and I’ve watched so many recordings of your battles, and Shiro you’re so much smaller in person, and--”
“Okay, Berlue, let’s not wear out our welcome,” Keith interrupted her as Shiro’s ears turned red and Coran slapped him on the shoulder, mustache shaking in silent laughter. “Is there any chance we could shower? The fight to get away from the Galra was pretty rough.”
“Oh, yes, of course,” Allura responded. “We’ve set up a suite of rooms next to the Paladin rooms--we weren’t sure how many Blades there would be. Keith, you’re welcome to use your old room, or to stay with Antok and Berlue. You remember where the communal bathrooms are?”
“Yep,” Keith replied, leading the way out of the hangar with Shiro at his shoulder. “Thanks again for picking us up. That shuttle would not have gotten us home, no matter how much I coaxed it.”
“It’s no problem, Keith,” Shiro said quietly, enough that the others would have to strain themselves to hear. “It’s good to see you again; we miss you. And we’re always happy to help out the Blades.” He slung an arm around Keith’s shoulders, silently enjoying the fact he had to stretch to do so now and those shoulders were a bit broader than they were a year ago. He’d never gotten around to telling Keith about his feelings, and he was scared to do so now that Keith had built a new life with the Blades. What if he was with someone?
“I can hear you thinking from here,” Keith nearly whispered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Shiro said easily. “I’m just happy to see you again. Got any cool stories?”
“Oh, definitely,” Keith grinned, and wow, the Galra’s tendency towards emoting must be wearing off on him. “But those are for after the shower, maybe during dinner?” He looked vaguely hopeful, and when Shiro glanced back to see if Hunk was listening, he caught Antok’s tail swishing excitedly.
“Dinner? Dude, of course,” Hunk assured him. “Anything in particular?”
“Whatever you’ve got is fine,” Keith replied. “We haven’t eaten real food in over a week, anything will do just fine.”
Before Shiro could comment on that, they reached the hallway with the rooms and communal bathrooms, and Keith broke away from Shiro.
“We won’t be long, but take your time, Hunk,” Keith told him. “We can help cook once we’re out.”
“Sounds good, buddy,” Hunk smiled, and then disappeared towards the kitchen with Allura, Lance, and Pidge in tow.
“Hygiene products, towels, and clean clothes are stocked in the cupboards in there, gentlemen and gentlelady,” he chirped. “Take as much time as you need. We’ll be in the kitchen when you’re done.” With that, he too vanished, and Shiro patted Keith’s arm once before turning down the hallway after him.
Thirty minutes later, Keith entered the lounge next to the kitchen wearing some of his old clothes. A purple T-shirt that really stretched to contain his biceps and sweats that were just a bit too short now, when they used to be too long, and a pair of the fuzziest, warmest looking socks Shiro had ever seen. The other two Blades were wearing the standard clothes of the Castle, light grey loose fitting pants and a flowing shirt. Shockingly, both had removed their masks, revealing Berlue to be a quite young, fresh-faced woman with lavender colored, short fur, and Antok to be a scarred, intimidating mix of white and light grey. When Keith stopped in front of the couch, Shiro noticed Antok’s tail gently curling around Keith’s ankle, and he felt his heart sink.
“Hey, Hunk, we’re here to--”
“No! No helping! You’re guests!” Hunk cried from around the corner, in the kitchen. Lance emerged laughing.
“He was open to the idea of you guys helping until he started getting really into it,” he chuckled. “Now he’s too proud of his work and wants to impress you guys. It should be ready within a half hour.”
“Keith, want to fill us in on what you’ve been up to?” Pidge chimed in as she entered the room, plopping down on the couch next to Shiro and tugging Keith’s hand so he was forced to sit as well. “What’s new in space?”
“Well, there’s lots of nothing, and a lot of Galra territory to sneak around in,” Keith answered. “The usual. What about you guys? I heard you had a tough victory a couple months ago.”
And they went on, swapping stories as Berlue asked countless questions with stars in her eyes. Lance kept trying to make himself seem heroic, Pidge talked a lot about computers, and Keith told them about some crazy planets they’d gone to. Antok never said a word, but his tail stayed curled around Keith’s ankle even when he joined the others on the couch.
Keith shifted in the middle of one of Lance’s tales, carefully stretching out his leg and rotating his foot. The action seemed normal to the others, but Shiro caught a brief glimpse of pain on his friend’s face for a split second. But apparently, so did Antok, because the large Galra’s hand landed on Keith’s thigh and gently rubbed, massaging the muscle. Shiro bit his lip.
Keith wiggled his toes, and the most adorable pout appeared on his face. Antok poked him in the side, but Keith just shook his head, unnoticed by everyone else but Shiro.
“I’m fine,” he said quietly to the other Blade, “it hurts like normal but I think the sock is getting caught on my toes.”
“Take it off, then,” Lance interjected long enough to laugh before going back to his conversation with Berlue, basking in her adoration. Antok nodded his agreement, and Keith leaned forward, tugging the fluffy sock off his foot.
And Shiro’s heart sort of stopped, because Keith had a prosthetic foot.
He must have made a noise, because Pidge, Lance and Berlue all paused, but all his focus was on the shiny metal foot. Distantly, he heard Berlue leading Lance and Pidge away, and Antok was getting up off the couch with a lingering hand on Keith’s neck before he disappeared. It was just Shiro, and Keith, and that damned artificial foot.
Without thinking about it, Shiro was off the couch and kneeling in front of Keith, hands on his ankle. He could feel the knobs and ridges of the joint under the sweats, and moving his hands up Keith’s calf he could trace the edges of metal, all the way up to a hard steel kneecap, past the knee to his thigh, hard metal finally giving way to bumpy scar tissue and flesh halfway up his thigh. Most of Keith’s leg was a prosthesis, and Shiro felt a sob building in his throat.
He tilted forward and rested his forehead on Keith’s knee, his hair coming down over his eyes as he squeezed them shut. His hands gripped the metal tight enough to hurt--but Keith couldn’t feel pain in this limb, now.
“Shiro, I--”
“I’m sorry!” he burst out, his face still pressed against Keith’s leg. “I’m so fucking sorry. I’m supposed to be the one who protects you, Keith. I’ve been doing it for years. You shouldn’t be getting hurt, not when I’m here. This is my fault. I’m so sorry. Fuck, I’m sorry.”
Keith’s hands came down to tug his face up, and Shiro wasn’t ashamed of the tears in his eyes. Keith wasn’t whole anymore, and Shiro hadn’t been able to do a damn thing about it.
“Shiro,” Keith murmured. “Fuck. Shiro, this isn’t your fault. You weren’t there. You couldn’t have done anything. You didn’t know.”
“But I should have,” Shiro almost whined. “Keith, I’m supposed to look out for you. I’ve been waiting for you to come back this whole time, and now that you’re here, you’re hurt, and you’re suffering and I didn’t even know about it.”
“We were light years away,” Keith said sadly, letting one hand gently scrub through Shiro’s hair. “It was on a covert mission. The base we were infiltrating was supposed to have a skeleton crew, but instead we found an army waiting for us. Three other Blades--my friends--died almost immediately. We tried to pull out, but Kolivan was knocked unconscious and I was the closest person to him. I couldn’t leave him, not after everything he’s done for me. I went back and got him to safety but--” His voice cracked, and Shiro pressed his forehead to his knee again. “There was an explosion right next to me. Destroyed the tunnel I was in, collapsed part of it right on top of me. I have some burn scars. But this pillar fell on top of my leg, and there was blood and crushed bone everywhere, and Antok had no choice. It was either…”
Keith paused, and Shiro swallowed as his fingers tightened their grip on the pants.
“He could either leave me to die, or he could amputate. Obviously, he chose the latter. Honestly I don’t remember much after that. I woke up in the medical bay of the ship a few hours later.”
“I’m happy,” Shiro choked after a minute. “I’m happy that Antok was able to save you. I’m happy you’re with someone who cares about you that much.”
“Yeah, I--wait, what?” Keith’s hand patted the top of Shiro’s head, trying to get him to look up. “With someone? You think Antok and I are--oh, god, uhhh…”
“What?” Shiro rasped, raising his head slightly. Keith was looking mildly disgusted, glancing helplessly at the doorway where Lance, Hunk, and Antok were standing quietly. The Paladins looked horrified, and Antok had a similar look of shock and distaste on his face.
“Antok is basically one of my dads,” Keith explained. “I kind of got...adopted? By a few Blades. Kolivan, and Antok and Ulaz. Thace too. We’re definitely not together, he’s like a father to me.”
“Oh, my god,” Shiro groaned, dropping his face right into Keith’s thigh before the younger man forced him to move by standing up. He scrubbed at his eyes, cheeks pink. “I’m so sorry.”
“Apology accepted,” Keith smirked. Then his face settled into a more concerned expression. “But not that first one. It’s not your fault, and I’m just happy to be alive.” His hands, so much bigger now than a year ago, cupped Shiro’s face. “I’m glad to be back with you.”
Shiro reached up to take one of Keith’s hands and bring it to his mouth, pressing a cautious, chaste kiss to his palm.
“Me too.”