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The tell-tale mechanical whoosh of the door opening brought a smile to Keith’s face and he twisted to lay an arm over the back of the couch. Before he could offer his husband a kind word of greeting, Shiro’s voice carried down the narrow entryway.
“Have you talked to Kolivan yet? I really think it’s him.” He strode into the room and faltered as he noticed Pidge sitting next to Keith. “Oh, hey Pidge, I uh,” Shiro stammered, looking to Keith for guidance.
Pidge’s eyes gleamed as she looked between them. “What do you mean you think it’s him? Are there shenanigans afoot? You know I love shenanigans.”
Keith’s face fell and he took in a deep breath. Wordlessly, Shiro offered him a sorrow-eyed apology for what was about to befall them both.
“Mom’s been kind of… weird lately,” Keith started, dropping his gaze to the floor and letting his shoulders droop. “I think she’s uh,” he paused, hiking one of his shoulders up almost to his ear. His mouth moved but no sound emerged for a long, awkward moment.
Shiro finally took pity on him, striding over and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder while offering a tight-lipped smile before turning to face Pidge. “We’re pretty sure she has a boyfriend.”
Pidge blinked in surprise a few times, eyes flitting between her two friends. “What makes you say that?” She asked carefully, tone measured and suspiciously even.
Keith let out a harsh sigh and gestured with one arm, waving his hand slightly in a frustrated motion. “She’s been weird. Flowers keep showing up in her room, her comms are buzzing constantly, she bailed on a hike with me and Shiro last weekend when we had shore leave. A bunch of stuff!” His voice grew louder and higher pitched as he spoke, the frustration clear as day on his face.
Sensing his distress, Shiro sidled around the edge of the couch to sit next to Keith and began to squeeze both of his shoulders, loosening the tight muscles he’d inadvertently been tensing for the last few minutes. The soft, slow drag of his fingers, both natural and mechanical, worked a bit of the fire from Keith’s posture.
“So you’re mad that your mom is happy?” Pidge asked in a judgmental deadpan, adjusting her glasses and raising a skeptical eyebrow.
“No!” Both men shouted in unison.
Keith’s shoulders tightened again. “I just want to know who it is, and I wish she would have told me. Told her as soon as Shiro and I finally went on a date… just seems unfair.” He slumped farther into Shiro’s embrace.
Pidge nodded sagely and crossed her arms. A wide, eerie smile split her face and the light in the room seemed to dim. “Well then, there’s only one thing to say…”
Both men waited with pounding hearts and frozen lungs. They knew this look of Pidge’s far too well.
“The game, my dear Watsons, is afoot!” She leapt from the couch and thrust her hand, index finger extended, up toward the ceiling. “I gotta get my deerstalker and my notebook and my datapad and get Hunk to make me a pipe that blows bubbles!” Her list went on for several more unintelligible items as she all but ran from the room and out into the hallway, the automatic door sliding shut in her wake.
Keith slowly turned in Shiro’s arms and looked up at him with the widest, saddest eyes Shiro had ever seen. “Baby… I am so sorry. I didn’t know she was here,” Shiro murmured, bringing his hand up to run a thumb soothingly over Keith’s cheekbone.
Keith shook his head slowly and let out a breath, twisting to press his lips against the cool metal digit against his face. “‘S ok. At least we know Pidge’ll figure it out.”
Shiro smiled and leaned in, returning Keith’s kiss with one to his forehead. He pulled away slowly and tucked a stray lock of Keith’s long hair behind his ear with a shy smile. His lips parted but before he could offer any more condolences or support, their door slid open again and Pidge popped her head through the entryway with an exasperated expression.
“Are you losers gonna make out on the couch or are we gonna solve a mystery!?”
Begrudgingly, they both lumbered to their feet and followed her out into the stuffy, recycled air of the Atlas’s main corridor.
“Pidge we’re not breaking into my mom’s quarters. What the hell?” Keith hissed through gritted teeth, jamming his hand in between Pidge’s datapad and the electronic lock at the side of her door.
Pidge rolled her eyes and looked up at him from under the brim of her ridiculous hat. “First of all, your hand doesn’t block electronic signals,” she tossed her head dismissively over her shoulder to where Shiro was standing nervously, fidgeting from one foot to the other. “His might. Secondly, we know she’s not here and I would bet you a million GAC I could tell you who it is within one minute, two tops. I have my suspicions already, I just need proof.”
Keith growled low in his throat and shot a scathing look not at Pidge, but at Shiro. “You’re just gonna let her violate my mom’s privacy like this?” He crossed his arms over his chest.
Shiro’s face contorted into a painful cringe. “Technically, it is my ship, so…” he trailed off, watching Keith’s eyes narrow as his outrage grew. “So I would never let that happen to a member of my crew.” He cleared his throat and forced his voice to take on a more commanding tone. “Pidge, if you go through with this, I’ll be forced to put you in the brig until we reach Earth.” His chin dipped down and back up again in a self-satisfied nod.
With a huff of annoyance, Pidge lowered her datapad and put it back in her pocket. Matt’s cloak spilled over her shoulders and dragged onto the floor in ripples as she stalked back down the hallway. “If you guys were gonna chicken out, why did we come all the way down here?” She grumbled into her pipe, leaving a trail of bubbles.
“We have been doing this for three hours , Pidge. If you think you already know, just tell us! We can text her and ask.” Keith reached out and grabbed a fistful of her cloak to stop her in her tracks.
With a squawk of indignation (and partially from choking) she came to a fitful halt and spun around in his hold, slapping at his arm to release her. When he complied, she took her time setting the cloak back to its proper spot on her shoulders and tossed her head, nearly losing her hat. Her nose was raised toward the ceiling in scorn.
“I can’t reveal the culprit until all of the evidence has been gathered, duh!”
Before Keith could reach her shoulders, undoubtedly intending to give them a thorough shake, Shiro stepped between them. “What if we look at the hallway’s security footage? See who’s been going in and out of her room. It’s not violating anyone’s privacy, the entire crew knows the footage is monitored.” He looked between them appeasingly.
With crossed arms, they turned away from each other almost in sync and grunted their acceptance of Shiro’s plan.
Pidge’s anger faded quickly as they walked, but Keith’s stewed and simmered. His rigid posture made the air in the hallway feel much colder than the standard temperature maintained throughout the ship. Shiro and Pidge exchanged worried glances as it showed no signs of ebbing. Even Shiro’s loving arm laying across his lower back as he walked did little to improve his mood.
“I’m sorry, Keith,” Pidge murmured, pausing on their trek to pull off her hat. Her eyes lowered to the drab gray floor and her shoulders sank.
“Hey…” Keith replied just as quietly, taking a few tentative steps toward her. “I’m not…” he scoffed and looked to the side, leaning into the comforting hand Shiro placed on his shoulder. “I’m not mad at you. This is just… weird. I wish she would have just told me she was seeing someone so we didn’t have to do this.”
Pidge looked up at him and offered a sad smile and a nod. “Maybe she’s just not ready to tell you yet? Or…” She twisted her hands in the rapidly wrinkling hat. “Maybe she doesn’t think you’ll approve?”
Keith rolled his eyes and snatched the hat out of her hands. With a soft smile that smoothed the angry lines between his brows, he plopped it back onto her head and used it to ruffle her hair. “Thought you were a genius detective, Ms. Katelock Holtmes.” He paused for her to giggle and groan at the awful portmanteau. “I love my mom and I’m sure I won’t have any trouble learning to love whoever is making her as happy as she’s been lately.”
Pidge grinned sheepishly up at him and nodded. “Ok, let’s hightail it to the security footage!” Her tiny legs carried her unbelievably quickly down the winding hallways; Shiro and Keith had to break out into a half-jog to stay on her heels.
To say the lone guard at the security outpost was surprised when the Captain of the Atlas and two Paladins of Voltron tumbled into his office would be an understatement of epic proportions. The poor lieutenant jumped to his feet and knocked the hat off of his head with the speed and ferocity of his salute. “Sir!” He shouted, body rigid with nerves.
Shiro returned his salute lazily. “At ease, LT.” The man dropped into an oddly formal parade rest but Shiro was unperturbed. “We need to look at some security footage from the wing containing the Blade of Marmora sleeping quarters.”
“Right away sir!” the man replied at once, snapping another salute before leaning over his console. His fingers flew across the keyboard and soon the live feed of the hallway they’d just left was full screen upon the wall of displays, covering the rest of the footage.
Keith glanced towards the still-open door and Shiro caught the faint discomfort in his movement. “Thank you, lieutenant. Please step outside while we review a few things.”
The man saluted a third time, narrowly avoided slamming his forehead into the desk as he bent to retrieve his fallen hat, and scuttled out of the room as though it were on fire. The door slid shut behind him.
“That guy was weird,” Pidge mumbled as she took her spot in front of the control panel, quickly finding the right combination of keystrokes to rewind the recording at high speed.
The corner of Keith’s mouth ticked up into a smirk and he gently elbowed Shiro in the ribs. “Guess he was a little starstruck by the captain here. Can’t say I blame him.”
Shiro’s cheeks flushed a pale pink and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Rule one is no being gross. We talked about this,” Pidge chastised, her gaze never leaving the monitor.
“What, you mean like this?” Shiro asked with a grin, stepping into Keith’s space and pulling him into a tight hug. His torment hardly stopped there; spurred on by Keith’s laughter, he placed a series of sloppy kisses all across the side of Keith’s face.
“Yes,” Pidge spat, nose wrinkled in mock-disgust.
Keith squeezed one eye shut and half-heartedly tried to lean away from the onslaught of affection, but Shiro’s grip held fast. “Quit slobbering on me in front of Pidge!” He protested through another round of giggles.
Shiro finally relented once he’d placed a much more genuine kiss to the corner of Keith’s mouth. “Sorry, baby, you know I get a little carried away sometimes.”
Pidge interrupted them with an exaggerated vomiting noise and paused the video to shoot a glare over her shoulder, sending all three of them into another bout of laughs. Once they’d caught their breath and calmed down, she resumed her search.
They watched Krolia and the other Blades come and go several times before finally spotting two people leaving Krolia’s room early that morning. “Ha. I knew it!” Pidge exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air after pausing again with the suspect in plain view. She let herself spin around a quarter turn in the rolling chair but quickly stilled herself and lowered her arm as she saw the look on Keith’s face.
Keith and Shiro both stood in stunned silence, hardly able to process what they were seeing. “Keith, I…” Shiro trailed off, covering his mouth with his hand. “Wow, I really thought it was Kolivan.” He offered after a long moment of tense silence. “At least it isn’t Lance?” Neither the awkward, nervous chuckle nor the bad joke seemed to improve Keith’s cognition of what was on the screen.
With a long, slow exhale, Keith finally ripped his gaze from the monitor and turned back to Pidge with his face set in a harsh mask of determination. “Pidge, I need you to break me into my mom’s quarters after all.”
Shiro’s cleared his throat and kicked at Pidge’s chair, but her sarcastic grin was already clear on her face. “What about the invasion of privacy and you getting your boyfriend to throw me in the brig?”
“Don’t make me stuff you into a locker.”
“Ok, ok,” Shiro interjected with a forced chuckle, moving to stand between them. “Keith, what’s the plan here?”
Krolia was more than familiar with stealth; she’d spent her entire life bouncing from one covert operation to another, so slipping down the hallway unnoticed when she knew there would be the least amount of traffic was second nature to her. Her companion was not so well-versed in clandestine travel, but followed Krolia’s lead flawlessly, fingers linked together as they moved. The door to Krolia’s quarters was only a few doors into the Blade’s wing of the Atlas and they slipped inside without a sound.
Not bothering to take off her shoes at the door, Krolia headed straight for the kitchen. “I’ll get us some wine, why don’t you wait for me in the living room, dearheart?”
A delighted giggle and a hasty kiss on the cheek answered her. She grinned at the easy affection; it had been many years since Krolia had known such tenderness.
The cupboards weren’t quite barren, but only just. She spent far more time off of the Atlas on missions than she did aboard, so it seemed wasteful to fill her quarters with things that would never be used. The only shelf nearing full occupancy was the one which contained her fine glasses and goblets.
Pulling down two of them, she retrieved a bottle of wine from the refrigerator, but only managed to remove the cork before a shriek of alarm had her running from the kitchen brandishing the corkscrew like a blade.
“Romelle! What’s wrong?” Krolia demanded, barreling into the living room only to stop short as she noticed the figures sitting on her couch. “Oh…” The corkscrew slipped from her hand and clattered to the rug with a dull thud as her eyes met Keith’s.
After a long stretch of agonizing silence, Romelle cleared her throat. “I should probably get going, it’s late and this is very awkward,” she said with an uncomfortable laugh.
“Wait.” Keith’s soft request stopped her only a few steps into her escape.
Krolia turned and smiled sheepishly at her, reaching out to take her hand. “I suppose I’m not quite as good at concealing things as I once was.” She squeezed Romelle’s fingers gently and turned back to Keith. “I am sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Keith. I didn’t want things to be…”
“Super weird?” Romelle offered as she trailed off.
Shiro sat with his hand on Keith’s knee, looking between the three of them as no one else spoke for what felt like an eternity. His thumb traced a soothing path along the soft fabric of Keith’s sweatpants in silent support. The muscles in Keith’s neck and jaw twitched as words died before reaching his lips.
“I’m…” Keith’s voice came out a harsh croak and he had to swallow past a lump in his throat. “I’m really happy for you guys. Just... wish you would have told me.”
Krolia nodded and let go of Romelle’s hand to pull Keith into a hug. “I’m sorry, Keith.” She murmured into his hair, placing a gentle kiss on the top of his head.
“I’m sorry too!” Romelle added, throwing her arms around both of them and squeezing tightly.
Keith let out a gush of air as his lungs were squeezed what felt like near to popping. “Ok, ok, I forgive you. Just please… I can’t breathe,” he squeaked out, forcing a placating smile onto his face. All three of them laughed as Romelle let go with a grin.
Shiro sat and watched with a smile as Keith asked how things had been going, how long they’d been together, and how they’d managed to hide everything as well as they had. Romelle’s boisterous nature made things more difficult, but Krolia’s soft-spoken straightforwardness filled in the gaps like missing puzzle pieces. It was a sweet moment and Shiro couldn’t help the pride welling in his chest at how well Keith was navigating the awkward situation.
Just as he was about to stand and join in the family conversation, a pillow smacked him in the back of the head. He let out a soft groan and leaned back against the cushions. “Wow Keith,” he said mechanically, as though badly reading from a teleprompter. “How did you manage to figure it all out?”
Keith cringed with his entire body, drawing his shoulders up almost to his ears as though he’d just heard glass shattering behind him. He looked between Krolia and Romelle and mouthed sorry.
“What’s happening?” Romelle stage-whispered to Krolia, who could only shake her head in confusion.
“Well you see, Shiro,” Keith replied just as robotically. “I had the help of a brilliant genius sleuth.”
“Really, what is happening?” Romelle whispered again. “Is this a normal thing?”
Krolia peered over at Shiro, who offered only a resigned shrug. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Did I hear brilliant genius sleuth?” Pidge shouted, jumping out from behind the couch.
Romelle squealed and leapt behind Krolia, peering around her shoulders and blinking in disbelief as she recognized Pidge and tried to process the hat, cloak, bubble-pipe, and magnifying glass she had.
“It’s better if you just let her finish, it will be easier on all of us,” Krolia murmured turning to wrap her arm around Romelle’s waist.
Romelle nodded decisively. “We did say brilliant genius sleuth!” Romelle said enthusiastically, stepping around to stand at Krolia’s side again. “Please tell us how you did it, your… sluethiness!”
Krolia erupted into a fit of giggles that ended in a fake cough as every eye in the room turned toward her at the uncharacteristic sound. “Yes, please. Enlighten us,” she prompted, attempting to turn the attention back to Pidge.
Pidge brightened at the invitation, standing up straighter and using her magnifying glass to point out the vase on the coffee table. “Firstly, the flowers!” She announced, leaning her face in to pretend to examine them. “The giving of flowers is a romantic gesture in many cultures, most notably, both Earth and Altea. But not the Galra!”
“Oh…” Shiro murmured, frowning. “That’s kind of sad, actually. Flowers are nice. You like it when I get you flowers, right?”
Keith’s cheeks flushed and he gave Shiro a terse nod.
Pidge wheeled around to face him and blew a few bubbles out of her pipe in his general direction to silence any verbal reply that he might have had. “Moving on to point number two! Romelle is a known quadruple texter!” Holding the pipe in her mouth, she drew her datapad and held it aloft, showing the many messages in her history from Romelle. There were at least three or four messages in yellow between each message that appeared in green.
“I remain unashamed,” Romelle said, lifting her chin higher. “It’s a perfectly reasonable method of communication.”
Keith shrugged. “Shiro does it, too. Don’t feel bad. Totally normally.”
“Hey!” Shiro interjected. “I don’t do it that often.”
Pidge and Keith looked at each other and then back at Shiro. Before they could mount a joint assault against his texting habits, Krolia interrupted. “Perhaps we should move on to the next piece of evidence. The wine is getting warm.”
“Fair, we’ll finish this later.” Pidge shook the datapad toward Shiro menacingly. “The third clue was the hike you missed, Krolia.”
Krolia’s cheeks darkened to a deep violet but she said nothing, nodding instead for Pidge to continue.
“Romelle also curiously declined a social invitation last weekend,” she paused and looked at everyone in the room individually. “Allura and I had a whole shopping trip planned and Romelle loves shopping. I knew it could only have been because she was spending time doing something she loved more.”
Keith wrinkled his nose. “Poor phrasing, but agreed.”
Krolia smiled and let out a soft laugh. “You said you weren’t busy…” she trailed off, grin widening as Romelle returned her smile with a guilty shrug.
“But the most damning piece of evidence of them all!” Pidge cried as she pressed a few buttons on her datapad, pulling up a photo. “Is this picture Matt sent me on Saturday night. You’ll note, the caption reads Keith’s mom is getting it apparently lol. ”
In the background of the photo behind Matt sticking his tongue out, Romelle and Krolia were locked in an intimate embrace, lips pressed together and curled into matching smiles.
Keith closed his eyes, took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth. “I’m not sure if I’m more disappointed you guys apparently go to the same trashy bars as Matt, or pissed that Pidge made us do all this crap even though she knew the whole time.”
Shiro stood and walked slowly over to put his hands on Keith’s shoulders. Instead of the easy, gentle grip he’d normally use to comfort his ailing husband, he gripped just tight enough to hold Keith in place should he make a break for it. “Pidge you should probably go. You have like two minutes before he decides to find that locker.”
Her face paled and she dropped her magnifying glass to rest next to the nearly-forgotten corkscrew. “Thanks for having us Krolia it was super fun congrats on your girlfriend have a good night byeeeee!” Pidge’s anxious wails followed her as she sprinted from the room.
Romelle leaned down to pick up the discarded items from the rug and began to peer into the glass as she handed the corkscrew to Krolia. “Instead of maiming your friend, how about we all sit down to a glass of wine and see if Hunk will come by with pizza,” she suggested with a disarming grin aimed at Keith.
“Pizza’s fine,” Keith finally agreed with resignation.
Shiro smiled and pulled Keith until his back was flush with Shiro’s chest. “It’ll be kind of like a double date!”
A choked noise ripped itself from Keith’s throat before he could stop it.
“No,” Keith and Krolia said firmly at the same time.