Work Text:
Shiro didn't see it happening. It doesn't matter. He knows exactly how it feels. It's a question of defying gravity, defying the laws of physics. It can be done. He's the living proof that an alien ship can crash to Earth and let the pilot live to tell the tale.
"Where is he? Where's the pilot?" Shiro demands curtly, not meaning to be so brusque but it's a case of emergency. It's a case of hope resurrected. "Is he alive?"
"The medics set up a tent in the desert. We cannot risk—"
"Veronica, Earth is a universal hub. We have hundreds of alien races coming through Galaxy City every year. I do not think we need to be overly cautious."
"What will you have me do, Commander?"
Shiro stops, the burden of responsibility and leadership for a second weighing far too heavily on his shoulders. That moment he is just Shiro. He is their commanding officer, but right now he would rather be free of that. "I can't tell you yet, Ver. I need… I need to go see him."
Veronica sends him an odd look. "We're coming with you." She waves Hunk and Lance with her, the small entourage following him as he hurries toward the exit.
The doors slide open and he steps out into the cool desert night. He stands there quietly for a few seconds, breathing in the fresh air, looking up at the stars, hoping that somewhere out there the space-time continuum created a miracle.
Then he runs.
*
The hazmat-clad medics step aside, but Iverson doesn't.
"Move," Shiro simply orders.
Cleverly, Iverson obeys. "Commander, we have yet to—"
Shiro ignores him. He doesn't hesitate before he approaches the stretcher. The pilot is strapped to it, unconscious, his suit torn. There's a bruise on his right cheek. Shiro freezes, like all blood left his body. He moves without being aware, unbuckling the straps.
"The bruises are from the crash," Iverson volunteers. "We are not animals. Do you know him?"
Blood rushes back into his veins, the rush of it making Shiro dizzy. His heart beats too fast. His breathing is raw and painful, like he no longer understands the intake and exhale of air needed to live. But he does. He knows how it feels when something as important as the air he breathes is gone.
It's a learning curve. Now he knows how it feels when it comes back.
He reaches for the man on the stretcher, for the first time in more than ten years feeling his skin under his hand. It's so soft. The fur feels like memories. Shiro remembers how it felt under his lips. He recalled the feeling so many times, wanting to keep it hidden in his mind forever, a treasure.
"Ulaz?" he whispers, his voice softer than the fur he touches. "Ulaz, it's me. Takashi."
The sigh leaves Ulaz' lips like the touch of a butterfly's wing. "Husband?"
Relief can feel so large that it fills the room, fills the atmosphere and the universe. "I'm here."
The loud gasps from his crew break the moment. "Husband?" Hunk whispers loudly. "How? And what the quiznak?"
Lance hushes him.
"Takashi?" Ulaz opens his eyes and looks, the glow of his eyes clear and warm. "Beloved?"
"I'm not leaving you." His arms find their way around Ulaz' back, a slow and gentle embrace, Ulaz battered and bruised, exhausted. "Are you in pain?"
"I thought you were a dream. A mirage." Ulaz leans his head on Shiro's shoulder. "How long has it been? The war?"
Tears burn in the corners of Shiro's eyes, colliding somewhere with the flutter of joy in his chest. "We won. Zarkon is gone. It has been—" Shiro pauses, not because he has to count—he knows almost down to the second how long it has been since he lost his lover. "It has been ten years."
"Ten Deca-Phoebs?" Ulaz groans and fights to get up. "Oh, beloved."
Shiro puts his arm behind his back, offering him support as he slumps, head hanging. "Do you…" He hesitates. "Could we have a moment, please," he says, to everybody and no one. "I would like to speak with my mate alone." He doesn't turn. He can't, won't explain, not right now. There are so many questions. Did the space-time continuum save Ulaz' life? Was he in a stasis? How did he get to Earth?
Does Ulaz still feel the same?
Shiro doesn't need to ask himself that question. He will love Ulaz to the day he dies—the one before, and the one to come.
There are whispers behind his back, shuffling of feet and then, silence.
"I thought you died at Thaldycon." Shiro takes a deep breath before a sudden outburst of tears and shock overwhelms him. "It's you. It's really you."
"I might as well have. I did not know—" Ulaz raises his eyes. There is hope in the way he looks at Shiro, a vulnerability that is as clear as the light in his eyes. "I did not know if you were still mine. Yet I hoped. You brought me hope. And I fought. So that I could see you one last time."
"I am your husband," Shiro says. "If you want me. I did not wait for you. I did not think there was any waiting to do. But I never stopped loving you—not for a second, Ulaz."
Ulaz's voice is low, barely audible. "You were always on my mind. You kept me sane in the void, the light that shone clearly enough for me to reach for it. Time was of no essence there; I did not know how to escape. I kept fighting. So that I would know." He pauses, voice broken. "If you lived."
"You are really here." Shiro leans in, hiding his face at Ulaz's neck. He stays there for a little, reluctant to let go.
"We need to stop saying goodbye to each other like that," Ulaz says with a smile that makes it into his words. "I will not let my husband go a third time."
"You won't have to. There's peace now. Kolivan and the Blades don't fight anymore. No more sacrifices."
Ulaz grunts as Shiro helps him stand, arm around his waist. Shiro places his arm carefully, avoiding the hip that might have taken a beating when Ulaz landed. Ulaz straightens up to his full height, and Shiro turns into fire. He had not forgotten how gorgeous his husband is; it has just been a while since…
"Do you need a healing pod?" Shiro knows how Ulaz is. He's like a cat, hiding his pain to go die in a secluded place. He won't allow it.
"No. I am well. As well as can be expected. Hungry, tired, sore—" Ulaz sniffs. "Unwashed. But not severely wounded."
"I'll send for food. Anything you want."
"There are more than one kind of sustenance?" Ulaz sounds hopeful. "I would like the kind that is not what I ate at Thaldycon."
Shiro just laughs. There are indeed many forms of sustenance, and not all of them have anything to do with food.
Leading Ulaz through the small decontamination chamber, ignoring the showers and controls, Shiro shoves open the door at the other end of it. Hunk and Lance are standing outside, looking confused and worried.
"At ease." Shiro is back in commander-mode. He needs everybody to stand down, give them space. "Lance, could I bother you with a trip to the chow hall? And Hunk, would you get me one of the first aid kits? If you'll bring everything to my quarters. I'm taking Ulaz there."
"Your husband Ulaz," Lance says, drawing a pattern with his foot in the desert dirt. "Is it true?"
"I mated with Takashi, yes. I shall prove my dedication to him in combat if that is what you wish," Ulaz says, his voice rough with the suppressed growl. "I will fight for him as I have done since before he became my husband."
Hunk and Lance both look at Shiro. Hunk raises an eyebrow.
"Good to know you still don't trust him," Shiro snaps, irritated. "I was already mated to Ulaz when he helped me flee from captivity. If there are no further questions, I would like to take my husband home." For once Shiro is short of patience if not entirely of politeness. "Please."
At least his words are enough. Shiro watches them leave. "Finally." It comes out far too relieved, but Shiro doesn't have it in him to bother. His heart and mind are filled with Ulaz. "If you can walk to my quarters, I'd like to introduce you to a jacuzzi."
"Ja-ku-zi? Is it edible?" Ulaz inquires, leaning against Shiro as he limps in the direction Shiro is taking them, toward the wing that holds Shiro's apartment. "I have been without sustenance for some time."
"Not likely," Shiro says. "But you can eat when you're in it."
*
Ulaz undresses and showers with minimal help from Shiro. It gives Shiro time to watch his husband. He is filled with a bubbling, golden feeling, only because he is still able to use that word. Husband. Ulaz has lost weight. His neatly trimmed fur is longer and in need of a brush. But he is still Ulaz. Husband.
He still looks at Shiro like he hung the moon and innumerable other stars, planets and galaxies.
Stepping out of the shower, Ulaz eyes the tray that Shiro has put on a stool with another kind of hunger. "That is approved sustenance?" he asks, his nose vibrating.
"Mm-hm," Shiro affirms. "Get in. You can eat and soak at the same time." He points to the jacuzzi that is set on low, the water bubbling with a comforting sound. "It's not a healing device, just a tub with hot water and massage jets. It'll help you feel better."
Ulaz puts his hand in the water. "Just water?" He steps over the edge, folding his long limbs so that he can get under. He leans against the side, his head on the towel Shiro put there. "Aaah." Ulaz's eyes close, his entire body relaxes. He reaches for Shiro, making another content sigh as he makes contact.
"My turn to care for you," Shiro says quietly. He doesn't have to explain. He opens a bottle of disinfectant, spraying some on cotton wool before he dabs Ulaz's face with it, cleansing the scratches. There are no other wounds, no blood, just bruises. Time will do away with those. "Would you like to eat now?"
Ulaz just nods. He opens his eyes to look at the food. He licks his lips. "Yes."
"Omelet, chicken—that's a bird—mixed salad, some rice. That there is, erm—"
"Yes, please!" Ulaz's fangs are visible.
Shiro laughs. Galra rations are awful. Ulaz isn't picky. He puts the stool and the tray as close to the tub as possible. "Bon appétit."
While Ulaz eats, soaking in the tub, Shiro soaks in quiet happiness. They have never spoken at length about their feelings, there is no such luxury during wartime. It would have meant Ulaz's death if they were found out. Now they are both free, only separated by time. There will be much to say about that later. The depth of their emotions has never been an issue. That they both still have them is proof of that.
Having Ulaz back is unreal. He was dead, gone. Shiro's love for him stayed, a hurt little animal clinging to life, refusing to die. He can feel it feed, getting stronger and wilder, like the mere look of his husband is enough to nurture it back to the strength it once had.
"I love you," Shiro says softly, unable to wait. It makes Ulaz stop eating, fork in mouth. He looks silly.
Ulaz smiles around the fork. He chews and swallows, then puts the empty plate down. "And I you."
"There are so many things we—" Shiro stops again. "More than anything I just want to be with you, hold you. If you—"
"Yes. I long to lie with you. To feel you next to me. To rest the way we never had time to rest before. To wake up with you. Everything else is of little importance, compared to that." Ulaz's eyes shine with a deep golden glow.
"The sunrise is beautiful," Shiro says. "If I don't draw the curtains, we can see it from the bed."
"My first morning on Earth."
"And your first night."
"Better make the most of it," Ulaz says and offers Shiro the kiss he has been longing for for a decade.
*
The dawn of the new day is bathed in rose gold. The sun sets the sky aflame. Birds rise with the heat, fluttering across the land for food, or maybe just for the joy of flying. Shiro listens to Ulaz's deep, slow breathing, sleep still holding him hostage. His arms are around Shiro's waist, one leg hooked around his, making him unable to move. He's not going anywhere. He wants to stay here, Ulaz's heartbeat strong and steady just under his cheek.
Shiro could argue that miracles don't happen. It's not true, even if he doesn't believe in them. He lives. Ulaz lives. In an hour or two they will eat breakfast together, have coffee, do things that are abundantly domestic but Shiro finds them just as miraculous as Ulaz's presence in his bed. He never thought he would have this. Ulaz. Husband. Beloved. Shiro smiles at the formal address that Ulaz uses. He likes it.
They have time. It's early. Later there will be debriefings and examinations, explanations and reunions. It's going to be a long day, but that's fine. It's the first day of their life together.
"I love you," he whispers into the sprinkle of lavender fur on Ulaz's chest. He is so happy.
"The sunrise is beautiful," Ulaz says, more awake than Shiro thought. "But it fades in your presence."
"There's another sunrise tomorrow," Shiro says. "Maybe we could watch that one instead?" He reaches up to put a hand on Ulaz's unharmed cheek.
Ulaz smiles. It's one of the smiles where his fangs show. Shiro does too, before he kisses Ulaz again.
There are more sunrises to come, more days, days filled with hope and love and light.
Shiro can't wait to share them all with the man he loves.