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The giggling is what tips Shiro off in the first place – not that it's an unusual sound in the Garrison's hallways, but the level and intensity of giggling is enough to make him look up from his pad as he walks by the group of cadets.
“He's so dreamy...” one of them sighs, a hand pressed to her forehead like she's a Victorian maiden about to swoon.
That's when he hears it.
“Thanks for tuning in today, everyone... you know I appreciate each and every one of you.”
He'd know that voice anywhere, all rough and sweet and embedded into his lizard brain so deeply that he's heard it from beyond the grave.
Why are the cadets watching a video of Keith?
More importantly, why is there a video of Keith that the cadets can even watch? He tries to approach surreptitiously, but the problem with being six foot four and covered in shiny buttons is that everyone seems to know where you are at all times.
“A-admiral Shirogane, sir!” One kid catches sight of him and snaps to attention, and half of the others scatter like roaches. Of course.
“At ease, cadets.” Shiro smiles at them, not wanting to be the cause of any soiled uniform briefs. “Having a good time between classes?”
The holophone is nowhere to be found – likely spirited up a sleeve or with one of the cadets that slipped off.
“Yes, sir... not too much, sir!”
Shiro has to bite down on his smile. “Of course not, cadet.”
He offers them a nod and keeps walking, knowing he's not going to get any more information out of them at this point. There is, however, one person who would definitely know if Keith was doing anything on the internet.
“I was wondering when you'd show up.” Matt grins at him like a jackal in human skin. “Took you long enough.”
“You don't even know why I'm here,” Shiro huffs, planting himself on the workbench just for the pleasure of scattering Matt's tools around. “I could be coming to say hello to my best friend.”
“Oh I bet you want to say 'hello' to your best friend.” Matt wiggles his eyebrows, fingers steepled as he takes Shiro in. “So, how'd you find out?”
It's pointless to try to fool Matt, he's known just about everything about Shiro since they were fourteen and he accidentally chafed himself raw in the dorms and didn't know where to get lotion. This is far less embarrassing than most of the problems he's come to him about.
“Group of cadets were watching a video in the hallway, I heard Keith thanking people for tuning in...” He grimaces, shaking his head. “Is he tangled up in something strange? Do you think the blades have him doing anything he doesn't want to do? I know he doesn't like being in the spotlight...”
Matt's eyebrows rocket to his hairline before his expression smooths out entirely. He clucks his tongue and lets his boots drop off the desk. “I'm surprised they were watching it in the hallway, OnlyFans can get pretty racy.”
“Only what?”
“That's the thing Keith streams on,” Matt explains, like it's no big deal that Keith is apparently streaming something now, “basically he makes videos or pictures or whatever, and people – his fans – pay to see the content.”
The table beneath his metal hand groans, and Shiro empathizes deeply with the sound. “What is he... have you seen it?”
“Me?” Matt snorts, quirking an eyebrow at his friend across the lab, “Of course I have... you think I'd give up a chance to watch our boy do dumb shit for money?”
“If you were his friend you would,” Shiro grits out, suddenly wondering if he could sell videos of Matt's grim demise.
“Look, he's an adult.” Matt rolls his eyes, like the whole thing is a joke. “Keith can do whatever he wants, and this is what he wants to do... why don't you just admit you want to see what he's been doing?”
Shiro pauses, at war with himself. Does he want to see what Keith has been doing? Would it help him defend Keith from it if he knew more? Not that Keith needs defending... Matt's right, he is an adult, and there's nothing wrong with making videos of anything he wants to make... but what if he doesn't want to be making them?
“Can you show me where they are?”
“For free?” Matt laughs, shaking his head with that glint in his eyes. “No shot... you've gotta do some of your own legwork there, Admiral.”
“I could just ask the cadets,” Shiro muses to himself, wary of making a Faustian bargain.
“And potentially expose Keith even more? That's basically telling them it's open season on his videos.”
He's right... of course, the bastard almost always is.
“Fine,” Shiro grits out, crossing his arms, “what do you want?”
“Tell Keith you know about them.” Matt quirks a grin at him, one that makes Shiro shiver. “You think you're just gonna get the goods without him knowing? That's kinda shady... ask him first.”
And dammit if he isn't right again.
Shiro swallows down the bitter feelings with the pill of shame.
“Fine.”
Keith doesn't look any different when he shows up at Shiro's door on their day off. Though it's not like this is the kind of thing that would leave a visible trace... unless he's doing some really intense things on camera and-
Nope, not going there today.
“Hey Keith,” Shiro smiles at him and slings a bag over his shoulder, he's been packed and ready to go for at least half an hour, “ready to head out?”
“You know it,” Keith smiles back, so sweet and happy looking that Shiro wants to jam his thumbs into his eyeballs for thinking any sort of way about him at all without his knowledge. “Cliffs then shack?”
“Sounds good.”
They make the trip out to the bikes with the usual small talk – how the week's meetings went and which ambassadors need a swift kick in the tentacles – and of course it's pretty impossible to have much conversation once they're on the bikes themselves with the roar of the wind around them... which means that Shiro has had another half hour to mull it over by the time they pull up to the edge of the cliffs.
“So, been doing anything interesting lately?” He goes for casual and misses by a few miles. “Any new hobbies?”
Keith shrugs and pulls a couple of sandwiches from his pack, plopping down into the red dirt before offering one up to Shiro. “Not really... most just the same stuff.”
“Any new friends?” Shiro tries, settling down beside him. “Nothing?”
It earns him him a funny look, Keith squinting as he chews his bite. “You're being weird.”
“Me? No,” Shiro denies, weirdly. “I'm fine, totally the same, just me and not weird.”
The snort he gets in return is cute, but no less derisive for it.
“Maybe you're being weird,” Shiro throws back at him, proud of himself for the parry and riposte.
Keith just shakes his head and keeps chewing, throwing him amused little glances every now and again. “Yeah, okay Admiral.”
“Hey!” Shiro pouts at him, leaning back against the stone behind them with a huff. “I thought we agreed no titles, Commander.”
“Eugh, fine... but you're still being weird.”
They continue chewing in companionable silence, and Shiro thinks he's cleared himself of any suspicion, but then Keith is smirking over at him, looking like he's got Shiro all figured out.
“You heard about my videos, didn't you?”
Shiro wheezes like the words are a punch.
“Keith?!”
“It's alright you know,” he continues, huffing a laugh at Shiro's bug eyes, “it's not like it's a big deal.”
“I haven't! I mean... I haven't seen... it's just... do you need money?” Shiro stumbles over his words, twisting to rest a reassuring hand on Keith's knee. “I can give you whatever money you need, I thought you were being compensated fairly, but I never checked and-”
“Shiro, it's fine!” Keith's laugh is beautiful and unrestrained as he throws his head back, clearly enjoying Shiro's torment. “I have plenty of money... the blades pay me too, it's not even for me-”
“Wha...why?”
His smile softens, and Keith turns to look off into the horizon. “The money goes to the galactic orphanage network... I promo it at the end of each video.”
The thought baffles Shiro entirely. “The... orphanage network.” Shiro blinks at him. “And they take the money?”
“Yeah, why not?”
It's a good question. They do need the money, especially since the war broke up so many homes... and he supposes they probably don't know or care exactly how Keith is funneling the money... and it's an awfully sweet thing for Keith to be doing, but...
“They don't care that it's, well... OnlyFans money?”
Keith shrugs, shaking his head. “I mean, I guess a lot of the site does get pretty, uh...” He trails off, cheeks heating like beacons in the desert afternoon, then shrugs again. “But you don't have to do that.”
“Oh?” Shiro can't help the note of surprise in his voice, the tiny pang of disappointment maybe. “I mean, oh. Yes. Of course not.”
Keith looks at Shiro like he's grown another head, before the dawning realization spreads over his face.
“Oh my god... Shiro-”
“No! I didn't!”
“Shiro, you so did!” Keith's laugh is bright as it peals out, echoing along the cliffs. “You thought I was making sexy videos, didn't you?”
“No, I- uh...”
Grin wicked, Keith leans even closer, right up into Shiro's space as he plants his own hand on Shiro's thigh. “You thought I was... doing it for the kids, huh?”
“I mean, um-”
“Would you like that?” Keith asks, like he's genuinely curious... like he doesn't know that Shiro would flay himself alive for the honor of being the sole recipient of those types of images.
“Keith, you're beautiful,” he blurts instead, too honest by half, and twice as soft. “I just want you to be happy, and safe, and... supported... and...”
“Wow...” It's a soft exhalation, one colored with wonder, and Keith doesn't pull his hand away. “I... I didn't know.”
“Yeah, well... neither did I, about anything, apparently.” Shiro groans and scrubs a hand down his face. “Sorry, didn't mean to make it weird.”
“You could never,” Keith insists, scooting closer and pulling out his phone to bring up a video, “but here, look.”
It's Keith on the screen – beautiful, brilliant Keith. He looks great, even with the awkward angle... he sounds even better.
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in... today me and Kos are gonna go exploring those weird caves we found last time. I've got all the spelunking gear packed up and my safety beacon... but Kos can zap us out of anything too tricky, so don't try this unless you've got a teleporting space wolf!
It goes on like that for a few minutes, with Keith growing increasingly pink at his side as he watches himself on camera.
Oooh, that's a neat rock, I'll have to bring it back for Shay... or maybe Shiro would like it, they're both awfully pretty...
“Okay, that's enough, you get the idea.” Keith coughs, flicking the video off as he glances up at Shiro. “See? They're all like that... pretty boring I guess, but people keep giving the orphanage money, so I keep making them.”
“I think it's really sweet, Keith.” Shiro assures him, reaching to cover Keith's hand with his own. “You're always so selfless... it's one of the things I love most about you.”
The pink cheeks flare to crimson and Keith ducks his head with a little smile. “Yeah?”
“Yeah, of course...” Shiro scoots in a little closer and wraps his free arm around Keith's waist. “If you want... maybe we could go on adventures together? Maybe it'd bring in um... more money for the orphanage or something?”
“...Shiro.” Keith squints at him, making a valiant effort to repress his smile. “Are you inviting other people on our first date?”
“I- no... I just... uh...” Shiro stutters, then stops himself with a laugh. “Okay, maybe I did... can we have one just you and me first then?”
Keith grins up at him and laces their fingers together. “How about right now?”
“Perfect,” Shiro squeaks, unable to believe his sudden luck. “Dinner at the shack then?”
“Perfect.” Keith winks at him as he climbs to his feet and tugs Shiro over to the hoverbikes. “And if you're really lucky we can make one of those other videos too...”
That one doesn't get uploaded, but Keith's next video with his new boyfriend guest starring is a smash hit.