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It started out harmlessly enough.
Keith and Shiro stopped by the market to pick up some beer for Lance's cookout at his family's farm (Keith had only agreed to go after Hunk promised that Lance would be banned from the grill - instead he was in charge of keeping the chickens away from the food), and Shiro inevitably dragged Keith down the candy aisle. He stood, eying the different options as if the fate of the universe rested on his choice, and Keith smiled fondly to himself.
But suddenly Shiro bolted and Keith shook himself, trying to run after him without knocking the unwieldy basket into any of the displays.
"Shiro!" he hissed, not wanting to get stares for yelling in public. "What're you doing?"
"Keith, look!" Shiro called and Keith hurried across the center aisle to the end cap and saw Shiro holding up a box of brownie mix. "I can't believe they still make this! These are the best!"
"Better than candy?" Keith asked, amused, and Shiro nodded enthusiastically.
"Yes! Somebody brought them to school for a birthday and sometimes I could talk my Mom into making them for me."
Keith's eyebrows shot up. Shiro had told him years ago about how he wasn't allowed to have sugar growing up, which of course only made him want it more. "So that's where you got your sweet tooth? That's a pretty big deal!"
Shiro rolled his eyes, shoving Keith's shoulder. "You'd get it if you weren't some weirdo who doesn't have taste buds."
"Why don't we try them, maybe you'll prove me wrong," Keith said, but Shiro just smiled and shook his head, sliding the box back onto the shelf.
"Shiro!" Keith protested. "If you want it, you should get it!
Shiro shrugged. "We just moved into the apartment, don't want to set off the smoke detector in week one."
"Shiro, it's brownie mix, I'm pretty sure they make it idiot proof," Keith said, picking up the box and skimming the directions on the back.
Shiro laughed. "Trust me, Keith, you don't want to see the kitchen after I try to bake something. It's never good."
Keith looked back up at him. "What do you mean?"
"Well, there was the cake that wouldn't come out of the pan, the cookies that turned into charcoal, and the bread that was hard as a rock," Shiro said, counting them off on his fingers. "After that I just decided to leave the baking to Hunk."
"Well, we can't all be Hunk," Keith said, putting the box into the basket. Shiro started to protest but Keith shook his head. "I'll help you, ok? We're Paladins of Voltron, between the two of us we should be able to make brownies."
Shiro chewed on his lip and Keith herded him toward the beer section. "You don't have to do that, Keith…"
Keith just hip checked him. "I want to, ok?" Shiro still looked uncertain, and Keith smiled up at him. "Gotta see if they live up to the hype."
Shiro grinned, bright as the sun. "Oh they will, just you wait!"
Keith laughed. Shiro deserved everything, and if he wanted brownies, he was getting some damn brownies.
***
Keith had almost forgotten about the brownies when he came home late one night and found Shiro sprawled out on the couch, still in his uniform. He toed his shoes off at the door, making sure to set his bag down loud enough that Shiro wouldn’t startle.
He squeezed Shiro’s shoulder gently. “Rough day?”
Shiro groaned into the galaxy throw pillow and Keith hummed sympathetically. “Have you eaten yet?”
Shiro shook his head no, starting to sit up, and Keith said, “No, you stay here, I’ll figure something out.”
He ducked into the kitchen, rummaging through the cabinets for something salvageable, when the box of brownie mix caught his eye. He grabbed the box and two noodle packets and started looking for a pan while the water boiled.
He managed to find a cake pan that Hunk had left behind after a Monsters and Mana night, so he set the oven to preheat and dumped the brownie mix into a bowl in a puff of cocoa powder. He stirred in the eggs and vegetable oil, sneaking a taste of the sticky batter. He poured the batter into the pan and slid it into the oven just as the water started boiling.
He mixed the sauce and seasoning packets into the noodles, and then sprinkled the crunchy topping on top.
He walked back into the living room. Shiro sat up, looking slightly revived. “What smells so good?”
“It’s a surprise,” Keith said, handing him the bowl of noodles. Shiro took it with a happy sigh, smiling up at Keith, so open and sweet that it took his breath away.
They ate in silence until the timer went off and Keith ran into the kitchen. The brownies came out with a crackly top even Hunk would approve of. Shiro came in with the empty dishes, and his whole face lit up when he saw Keith holding the pan. “You made brownies?” he asked.
Keith grabbed two forks with a smile. “Yeah. You looked like you needed something to make up for today.”
Shiro laughed. “No kidding.” He grinned down at Keith. “Ready to eat your words, Kogane?”
Keith rolled his eyes. “We’ll see.” Shiro snorted and grabbed one of the forks.
They ate the brownies straight out of the pan, bumping elbows and dueling with the forks. Shiro beamed down at Keith. “Thanks, Keith, I needed that.”
Keith took one last bite of brownie and Shiro smirked at him. “I was right, wasn’t I?”
Keith shrugged. “They’re alright.”
Shiro shoved his shoulder playfully. “You’re so full of shit,” he teased and Keith laughed.
“You might have made me a convert,” he admitted, and Shiro pumped his fist.
“One more for Team Sweet Tooth!” he teased, throwing an arm over Keith's shoulders.
Keith smirked. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Shirogane,” he snarked. Shiro laughed, and Keith found himself laughing too, thinking that he would do anything to make Shiro smile like this all the time.
***
One night Shiro was stuck in a meeting and Keith found himself bouncing around the apartment, too full of energy to catch up on messages but too drained to go to the gym. He opened the cabinet door for the fourth time when he noticed the jar of peanut butter.
He sent Hunk a quick what was the peanut butter cookie recipe you made that one time? text and Hunk almost immediately sent him a link to the recipe and a text full of exclamation points and a demand for a cookie when they were done.
Miracle of miracles, they had all the ingredients except for the fancy salt, so Keith whisked the eggs and sugar together, added some vanilla, and then so much peanut butter. He was skeptical about freezing the dough for 15 minutes, but it sounded like something Hunk would do, so he figured it couldn’t hurt.
Shiro walked through the door just as the cookies came out of the oven and he took a deep breath. “Something smells great,” he said, hanging his uniform jacket up on the hook and draping himself over Keith's shoulders with a sigh.
“I hope they taste good,” Keith said, chewing on his lip. “Hunk made them for Monsters and Mana, so they have a lot to live up to.”
“They look great, Keith!” Shiro said, sneaking a hot cookie off the pan with his metal fingers. His eyebrows shot up when he took a bite and he said “Ho-hot!”
“They were just in the oven, Shiro!” Keith said, but that didn’t stop him from grabbing a cookie and burning his own mouth. Kosmo came running in, begging for a cookie, and Shiro snuck him chunks while Keith pretended not to notice.
***
He started slowly baking more and more - first pizza dough, then banana bread when Shiro bought four pounds of bananas on sale and they couldn't look at another smoothie. Then he worked on recreating the biscuits and fry bread he remembered his Dad making on Saturday mornings when he was small. He hadn't managed to get the biscuits light and buttery the way he remembered, but the fry bread was delicious.
When the Holts invited everyone to their house for the first Rosh Hashanah dinner since the invasion, he brought a loaf of apple honey challah that was so popular Matt and Pidge fought over the last piece, while Shiro laughed so hard he almost fell out of his chair. "I guess next year I'll make two," Keith joked, watching Pidge take a victorious bite.
One night Shiro came in from a run to Keith triumphantly pulling a loaf of rye bread out of the oven. Shiro's eyes lit up. "It smells like -"
"The diner outside the Garrison?" Keith finished with a grin. "I've been craving a Reuben for weeks." He and Shiro spent the rest of the night dishing up Reubens, reminiscing about sunset hoverbike rides that ended in diner visits after they missed dinner at the Garrison.
And with each new thing he baked, he was able to say the words that always got stuck in his throat. Every time Shiro smiled and took a bite, Keith's heart stuttered in his chest. I love you I love you I love you. Even if he couldn't say the words, he could say it with cookies.
***
Keith scrolled through his PADD aimlessly, trying to decide on something to bring for the next Monster's and Mana night. He wasn't in the mood for chocolate, and he was just about to click away from an apple cider doughnut cake that didn't have any apple cider when he saw a photo of a cinnamon-blueberry cake on the side bar.
He wrinkled his nose at the name - blueberry boy bait - but the pictures made his mouth water. At least it wasn't as bad as those "better than sex brownies" he kept seeing, with caramel AND cookies AND candy bars mixed in. He always felt vaguely nauseated AND sorry for the straight ladies who apparently had very boring husbands.
He skimmed through the post, and read that a 15-year-old girl had entered a contest with her recipe that boys apparently went crazy for. And, well. He had done stupider things to get a boy's attention when he was 15.
You could almost say you're doing the same thing now, the sly voice in his head said, but he ignored it. It was just a cake. It wasn't like he was expecting Shiro to fall at his feet because of it.
Shiro does like blueberries though, the voice helpfully said, and Keith just rolled his eyes at his own ridiculousness and started rummaging in the freezer for the bag of frozen blueberries.
The recipe was pretty standard - cream butter and sugar, add eggs, alternate dry and wet ingredients, fold in the blueberries. It was easy to fall into the rhythm - no emergencies, no firefights in space. Just butter and sugar and flour and the whir of the mixer. He even caught himself humming as he sprinkled extra blueberries and cinnamon sugar on top before sliding the pan into the oven.
Waiting for the cake to bake was torture, because it smelled so good, and Keith didn't even have a sweet tooth but he was pretty sure he could eat half the pan by himself, no problem. Shiro came home right when Keith was pulling out the oven mitts and his whole face lit up.
"Keith, what is that? It smells amazing!"
Keith ducked down to hide his blush. "It's blueberry boy bait? Kind of a dumb name, but…"
He set the pan on the cooling rack and Shiro leaned in and took a deep breath. "Maybe we should test it. Just to make sure it's good," he whispered conspiratorially.
Keith swatted at his arm. "Let it cool for a little bit and I'll cut you a piece, Old Timer."
Shiro ruffled his hair and mumbled something about respecting your elders and Keith laughed, swaying into Shiro's orbit.
Once it was mostly cool, Keith cut it, putting one slice on a plate for Shiro and tucking the others into the box to take to Hunk's house.
***
Keith popped open the lid and everyone oohed and ahhed over the cake. "It smells great!" Pidge said, already trying to sneak a piece until Keith swatted their hand. "What is it?"
"Ummm…" The silly recipe name suddenly seemed a lot more embarrassing with so many eyes watching him. "Blueberry boy bait?"
Keith felt his cheeks start to burn, and he hurried to grab plates from the cabinet. "Which boy do you need bait for?" Lance teased, because of course he did. Keith turned back just in time to see Allura step on Lance's foot to shut him up.
"It's like all those old school 'engagement chicken' recipes," Hunk said, and Keith could've kissed him. "'It'll taste so good it'll make him propose!' Or whatever."
Allura turned to Lance, brow furrowed. "A chicken? Like Lola?"
Lance gulped. "Yeah… I-I guess…" He looked so petrified Keith almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"So if I give you Lola, you'll propose?" Allura asked. Lance squeaked in terror, but she just laughed. "Humans are so strange!"
"Yeah, but… we're not going to eat Lola, Allura!"
"Who said anything about eating Lola?"
"Oh boy," Pidge said.
Keith shoved a piece of cake into Allura's hands before she could think too hard about her favorite chicken becoming dinner. "Who wants cake?"
Crisis averted, everyone dug into their cake. But as Shiro took a bite he said, "That recipe name is kinda accurate though, I mean, nobody could resist this."
Keith turned bright pink again, but Hunk just laughed. "Yeah, it was basically just humble bragging about how your cake was the best."
"If only Lance had ever heard of humble bragging," Pidge said slyly, earning an indignant squawk from Lance.
They did eventually play a round of Monsters and Mana, but Keith could hardly focus with Shiro's voice saying "nobody could resist this" echoing in his mind for the rest of the night.
***
For the next Monsters and Mana night, Keith decided to make brownies again, but this time he didn't have a box mix, so he picked a recipe he'd had his eye on. He even stirred in some mini peanut butter cups, just to really gild the lily.
They smelled amazing in the oven, but they were dry and cakey when Keith pulled them out. He stared at them glumly, wondering if he had enough time to run by the store before he had to meet the others. He couldn't bring them - he could practically feel Hunk's judgment already.
He was just about to throw the brownies in the trash when he heard the tell-tale click of Shiro keying into the biometrics. He turned, failed brownies in hand, watching the door slide open in slow motion, like one of Lance's favorite horror movies.
Shiro's eyes lit up when he saw Keith. "Sorry I'm late, are you ready for Monsters and Mana?" He froze, his trademarked "concerned Shiro" wrinkle forming between his eyebrows. "Keith, what's wrong?"
Keith shrugged, holding out the brownies of shame. "The brownies are gross."
Shiro came up and put an arm around his waist. "I'm sure they're fine, Keith, they smell good…"
Keith shook his head. "No, they don't look like the picture, I must have done something wrong."
Shiro hummed thoughtfully. "We could always say you didn't have time to bake anything, so we picked something up from the store."
Keith laughed. "Hunk will judge me so hard for that."
Shiro smirked. "It'll be good for Hunk to have something store-bought, to remember how mere mortals live." Keith snorted and Shiro hip checked him. "Besides, that means more brownies for me."
Keith gaped up at him. "No, Shiro, I can't let you eat these!"
Shiro frowned. "Why not? You've heard about my baking disasters, it can't be worse than anything I made…"
"But I made them for you!" Keith blurted out. "They have to be good ."
Shiro's eyes softened. "Keith."
Keith shook his head, but Shiro pulled him closer. "They'll be great because you made them."
Keith snorted, brushing his bangs out of his eyes. "Of course you'd say that." Shiro tilted his head, confused, and Keith laughed. "You're Shiro. You're the king of pep talks - you would say they're good even if they're not."
A knowing look flashed across Shiro's face. "I do pep talks for the team," he said, a slow smile spreading across his face. "But it's impossible for me to give you a compliment you don't deserve."
"Shiro," Keith huffed. But Shiro just smiled, with a determined glint in his eyes.
"I mean it," he whispered. "Keith, you're perfect."
Keith's breath caught in his throat. "Shiro."
"It's true," Shiro said. He tilted Keith's chin up, so Keith had to look him in the eye. "Keith, I love you."
Keith blinked. It felt like he was frozen in place, stuck in a time warp while everything sped past him. Finally a hysterical hiccup escaped his mouth. "You what?"
Shiro let out a strangled chuckle, reaching up with his prosthetic hand so he could cup Keith's cheeks. "I love you."
Keith blinked up at him. "But - you never said - I thought you didn't remember -"
Shiro's smile faltered. "I remember everything." Keith's knees felt like they might give out, but Shiro murmured, "We never talked about it, and I didn't know if you wanted me to remember."
"Shiro…"
He shook his head, his eyes turning glassy as his thumb traced the scar on Keith's cheek. "I hurt you, and I wanted to make it up to you before I told you."
Keith's hands knotted in Shiro's shirt. "Make it up to me?"
Shiro ducked his head. "You deserve everything, Keith. I wanted to make sure I deserved you."
Keith laughed helplessly, jumping forward so fast that Shiro gasped, reaching out to catch him. Keith looped his arms around Shiro's neck. "I made you brownies because you deserve everything."
Shiro gaped at him. "Oh."
"Oh," Keith teased. "You never had to make it up to me, Shiro," he whispered. "I would do it again, every time."
Shiro beamed up at him, his smile watery and moony, and Keith smiled so hard his cheeks hurt. He leaned in, caught in Shiro's gravitational pull. Shiro tipped his chin up to meet him, and Keith melted at the touch of Shiro's lips on his. He ran his fingers through Shiro's undercut, and Shiro moaned into his mouth, kissing him sweetly.
"I love you," Keith whispered, and Shiro sighed his name. He scooped Keith up with one arm, and Keith laughed, wrapping his legs around Shiro's waist as he set off for the bedroom, the failed brownies forgotten on the counter.
They were late for Monsters and Mana night, but they were instantly forgiven when they walked in hand in hand.
***
"And this is Takashi dressed up as a cowboy for Halloween…" Shiro's Mom Fumiko said, holding up the photo album to the PADD.
Keith cooed over tiny baby Shiro in a cowboy hat while Shiro groaned "Moooom," burying his face in his hands. It did nothing to hide his ears turning bright red with his blush.
"Oh hush, Takashi," Ami said with no heat in it as she brought over two cups of tea and handed one to her wife. "All boyfriends have to see the photo album. It's a rite of passage."
"Yeah, Kashi, it's a rite of passage," Keith teased. Shiro looked up at him, utterly betrayed, and Keith grinned, giving him a quick apology kiss while Shiro's moms laughed.
"Oh, this one is the cutest, Takashi, do you remember the custard buns from Baba's friend?" Fumiko held up a photo of Shiro, impossibly tiny, with vanilla custard all over his face and overalls.
Shiro moaned. "Those buns were the best," he said. "They were one of the things I missed the most in space."
Keith smiled, the wheels already turning. He'd made Japanese milk bread a week ago, so if he added a custard filling…
"Oh, and this one is Takashi at the science fair!" Ami said, pointing at a photo of Shiro, with his adorable big ears and braces, grinning up at the camera with a blue ribbon on his model rocket.
"Oh my God," Shiro whispered, and Keith leaned in to kiss his blushing cheek, resting his head on Shiro's shoulder as Fumiko and Ami went through the rest of the photos.