Archive of Our Own

Summary:

While on their journey back to Earth, the lions get hit by a blinding light that leaves them unaffected-- except for one very specific, unavoidable thing.

“Pidge, get eyes on Shiro now,” he commands, his voice hitching up an octave in his distress.

Once she does, maybe Keith should have expected that Shiro would suddenly be younger, too. On Pidge’s shaking screen is a young boy with soft, floppy black hair falling into his eyes. He’s tugging at the glove of his paladin suit, a blanket at his feet from where he’s taken a sudden tumble. He looks up when the door opens and he turns his head, blinking up at Pidge, looking dazed, confused, and a little guarded.

It's Shiro, just over a decade or so younger.