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“Guys?”
Shiro looks around as he re-enters the room. He was only gone for a minute— where could everyone have gone?
A tiny nudge at his foot draws his attention to the floor. It’s… a rabbit?
“Oh!” He bends to pick up the little thing. He has no idea where a rabbit came from, but it’s — he’s, apparently — very cute. “Awww, aren’t you a sweetie?” he coos to the rabbit that immediately cuddles up against his chest. The rabbit’s fur is shaggy and a bit unkempt, with a little bit hanging into his eyes. It reminds him so much of Keith that he can’t help but grin as he pets the rabbit under his fuzzy little chin. “So cute.”
When the rabbit looks up at him and blinks his eyes open, Shiro gasps. His eyes are the same unique color as Keith’s.
Shiro finally takes a minute to look around the room, lower this time. There are four other rabbits on the floor, all oddly resembling his friends who previously occupied the room. With another look at Bunny-Keith, the pieces click into place. Shiro groans.
“Damn it, Pidge. What did you do?”
🐰
Shiro watches the Bunny-Paladins settle into their new temporary home. Thankfully, Matt has previous experience keeping rabbits, as well as a few empty habitats where they can stay until Pidge’s spell wears off— hopefully wears off. Shiro’s not sure what he’ll do if this becomes a permanent thing. Aside from the fact that he doesn’t really have any desire to take care of five rabbits for the rest of his life, those rabbits also happen to be pretty much his only friends. Not to mention Keith—
“I’ll take Keith home,” Shiro says, picking Bunny-Keith up from where he and Bunny-Lance are engaged in some kind of weird bunny-chattering argument. “You know, so they don’t kill each other.”
“They’ll be fine,” Matt says, reaching out for Bunny-Keith. Shiro turns to hold Bunny-Keith out of Matt’s reach. “Oh, I see how it is,” Matt teases. “Playing favorites? And so blatantly? What will the others think?”
“They’re rabbits, Matt. They won’t even notice.” He guides Bunny-Keith onto his shoulder so that he can free up his hands and make his way home. “I’ll be back a couple of times a day to help take care of them. Let me know if you find anything out, okay?”
“Sure,” Matt shrugs. “But you don’t really have to. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
“Maybe…” Shiro agrees hesitantly. “But, I sort of feel responsible for them since I was there when the spell went awry.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it. If you had been in the room, who knows how long it would have been before someone found you all? It’s better that you didn’t get caught in it.”
On Shiro’s shoulder, Bunny-Keith makes an adorable squeak and nips lightly at Shiro’s ear.
“Ow— Hey, buddy, no biting, okay?”
Bunny-Keith holds eye contact with Shiro for a long moment, almost as if he can understand what Shiro said, then settles back onto his shoulder.
“Okay. See you tomorrow, then,” Shiro says to Matt, and makes his way out the door.
🐰
When Shiro sleeps at night, Bunny-Keith sleeps snuggled up next to him. After Shiro let him sleep on the floor the first night, he had been a little standoffish, turning away from Shiro and presenting him with his adorable little bunny disdain (and also his adorable little fluffy bunny tail).
It wasn’t even a consideration to make him sleep on the floor after that; Shiro may have had some misgivings, initially, afraid he might squish the poor thing, but before he even managed to crawl into bed, one look from those little onyx eyes sealed it.
Now, Bunny-Keith is happy as a clam first thing in the morning.
Admittedly, it’s… nice to share a bed with someone. Even if he is fuzzy and uncommunicative.
…Actually, that’s not too far off from Human-Keith.
So it’s just nice.
Shiro indulges himself at night, pulling Bunny-Keith close and letting him boop Shiro’s nose with his own. It’s sweet, like bedtime kisses almost, and it always helps Shiro fall asleep with a smile on his face.
He gave up the pretense of treating Bunny-Keith the same as the other Bunny-Paladins on the very first day. Just the thought of spending the night by himself, wondering if Keith was okay, if the other paladins were bothering him, if he was warm enough, and so on and so forth was all Shiro needed. And Bunny-Keith doesn’t seem to mind one bit.
Bunny-Keith never leaves Shiro’s side. Wherever Shiro goes, Bunny-Keith goes, too. Shiro figures he’s just clinging to Shiro because he smells familiar or something. That’s fine with Shiro; he doesn’t mind the company at all, even if it feels like he’s talking to himself most of the time, no matter how often Bunny-Keith nuzzles him or chirps at him.
“It must be scary to be a tiny little bunny rabbit after being such a strong, handsome man for so long,” Shiro says while Keith accompanies him around the house during his daily chores. “Not that being handsome has anything to do with it, but… you know.”
Bunny-Keith just tilts his head at him, totally uncomprehending with his adorable little bunny brain.
“You’re very cute like this, too, though. And so cuddly.”
Bunny-Keith continues to watch, but doesn’t respond.
“If you were a human right now, you’d probably punch me for calling you cute. But you are, even when you’re a person.” He pauses, considering. “Especially when you’re a person.”
Bunny-Keith makes a low sound sort of like a whine, but otherwise doesn’t react. Shiro isn’t sure what the sound means, but it sounds kind of sad, so he picks Bunny-Keith up from the counter where he sits watching Shiro wash dishes and lets him nuzzle against his face.
“It’s okay, buddy,” Shiro promises. “We’ll get you back to normal soon.”
🐰
Shiro keeps his promise of visiting the other paladins at least once a day. He’d go more often — he offered to feed them all of their meals so that it’s no trouble for Matt — but Matt insists that once a day is perfectly fine, more than fine, actually, and that it’s actually pretty nice having a bunch of rabbits around to play with.
“Plus,” he says when Shiro pesters him about it for the millionth time, “it’s kind of nice to have Pidge right where I want her. For once I don’t have to worry about her blowing herself up with magic or something.”
For the paladins’ parts, they all seem pretty content just being bunnies. Bunny-Hunk had a little bit of trouble adjusting, but once Matt started feeding him fresh greens instead of the rabbit kibble he bought in bulk, Bunny-Hunk came around to it. He actually seems the most content now, perfectly happy to munch on lettuce and carrot tops and other greens when they’re offered.
Bunny-Lance, on the other hand, will not leave Bunny-Allura alone. If Shiro thought he was relentless as a person, his apparent lack of shame as a rabbit has made him even more persistent. Bunny-Allura doesn’t seem to mind too much, but every so often Bunny-Lance imposes himself on her too much, and she nips at him just hard enough to make him back off. It seems to be working for them.
Bunny-Pidge is taking it the hardest, for sure. Even as a rabbit, she’s filled with curiosity. Matt usually takes her out of the rabbit habitats and lets her hop around the house. She knocks things over sometimes and gets into everything, including Colleen’s greenhouse plants once, which got her sent back to the pen immediately and put in timeout for a whole day.
Although the rabbits are very cute and, quite frankly, less work than their human counterparts, Matt does keep his word and works tirelessly to figure out what the hell Pidge did to get them all that way.
“It looks like a standard Full Moon spell,” Matt tells Shiro after a week of caring for the bunnies and running tests, mostly on Pidge since he knows she’ll forgive him for it once she’s human again.
“Are you sure? That means they’ll be like this for another three weeks.”
Bunny-Pidge makes an excitable noise, which Matt takes as confirmation of his assessment. “Of course. See? Even Pidge agrees.”
“She’s a rabbit, Matt. She can’t agree with you.”
She chatters at them both, oddly reminiscent of when she gets worked up over a new spell or potion and wants to share every technical detail about it.
“I dunno,” Matt says. “I think they understand more than you’re giving them credit for.”
Shiro chuckles. “I hope not.”
When Matt lifts an eyebrow, Shiro already knows what’s coming. Matt covers Bunny-Pidge’s ears in a somewhat meaningless attempt at discretion, even though she’s a rabbit.
“What, been endlessly professing your love to Keith over the past week?”
Still, despite the fact that the paladins are, again, rabbits, Shiro can’t help but dart his gaze toward Bunny-Keith, who is watching them with rapt attention. He feels his face heat up.
“No,” he pouts. “Nothing like that.”
“Ooh, what’s wrong? Afraid Keith will understand you now? I thought he was just a rabbit, Shiro. Rabbits can’t speak English.”
Bunny-Keith’s little black nose twitches, ears perked up and attention flitting between Matt and Shiro to follow the sound of whoever is speaking. Shiro can’t help but melt at the adorableness of it, with his messy fur falling into his eyes, making him look like a little emo bunny. He smiles and holds a hand out to Bunny-Keith, and Bunny-Keith hops onto his palm immediately and lets Shiro pull him close.
“Nah. If Keith could understand me, I would know.”
After a long silence, Shiro looks up at Matt, who is watching him closely.
“You could tell him, you know,” Matt says. Shiro shakes his head.
“I couldn’t do that to him.”
“Do what? He’s crazy about you.”
“He respects me. I would never compromise his boundaries like that. It’s not fair of me to impose my feelings on him.”
There’s a sharp pinch on his chin, and Shiro jolts as he realizes what happened. “He bit me.”
Bunny-Keith is looking at him with his little, purplish eyes.
“What was that for?”
He wiggles his nose. It actually sort of looks like he’s scowling.
Shiro frowns. “Not nice, Keith. I know you know better than that.”
It must be Shiro’s imagination when it looks like Bunny-Keith is actually sorry.
🐰
Sometimes, on nights like tonight when Shiro can’t sleep, he likes to talk out loud to Bunny-Keith. It helps to know that someone is listening, like how people talk to their cats or dogs, even if the being he’s talking to doesn’t really know what he’s saying and can’t respond.
Sometimes it’s heavy stuff, like how he really thought he was going to die out there, over and over again, and how he even did, once, and that pretty much sucked.
Other times it’s just fleeting thoughts. That’s what he’s feeling tonight.
“Have you ever thought about what your life would have been like without the Garrison?” He pauses, waiting for input that will never come, then continues. “I have. I mean, I don’t think I would have been better off or anything. It just would have been different, ya know? But I honestly have no idea what I would have done if I hadn’t become a pilot, or a paladin, for that matter. I never wanted to do anything else. It was always space.”
Bunny-Keith normally lays by Shiro’s side, next to his head, but tonight he decides to hop on top of Shiro and lie on his chest instead. Shiro chuckles, reaching out to scratch between Keith’s little bunny ears. The ears lie back, and Bunny-Keith closes his eyes to enjoy the treatment.
“I wish you’d let me treat you like this all the time,” Shiro says quietly. “I know you wouldn’t stop me if I did, it’s just… I wish you wanted it. I want to be soft with you, Keith. I want to be more than what we are now.”
Bunny-Keith opens his eyes, not making any noise but watching as Shiro speaks. It makes Shiro’s heartbeat kick up in his chest, a little paranoid about Matt’s teasing even though he knows it’s stupid.
“You’re my favorite, you know?” Shiro says with a chuckle. “Of course you know that. Everyone does. But really, do you think I’d let any one of the others into my bed? Not likely. You, though… You’re welcome any time.” He immediately feels stupid for flirting with a bunny, but hey, he’s tired and a little sleep-stupid. Cut him some slack.
He’s rewarded by a sweet little bunny kiss on the nose, little fuzzy paws pressing against his lips so that Bunny-Keith can stretch far enough to reach. It’s so cute that Shiro can’t help but giggle and pull Bunny-Keith into a hug. He turns over onto his side and pulls Bunny-Keith right up against his face, closing his eyes and letting himself bask in the soft warmth of his fur.
“I love you, Keith,” he says as he feels himself finally begin to drift off. “I hope one day you’ll understand how much.”
🐰
Shiro wakes up two weeks after the transformation to a screaming phone call from Matt.
“I was wrong!” Matt cries over a cacophony of angry paladins in the background, all grousing about one thing or another. “It wasn’t a full moon spell!”
Shiro can barely open his eyes — what time is it, anyway? — so the best he can muster is a dissatisfied grunt as he hangs up and rolls over to cuddle with the body next to him.
He wraps his arm around Keith, pulling him close and slotting one of his legs between both of Keith’s, and lets himself drift back to sleep. He wakes a couple more times, mostly because of his stupid phone that won’t stop ringing, until eventually, a hand darts out from the comfortable cocoon of their shared blanket and snatches the phone to turn it off entirely.
“Matt needs to learn when to shut up,” Keith grumbles, his voice low and rough with sleep.
God, Shiro has missed that voice.
That voice!
“Keith!”
Keith groans and shoves his face against Shiro’s chest. “Too early,” he whines, obviously not having caught onto his own latest development. It gives Shiro an idea.
He reaches up and begins carding his fingers through Keith’s hair, now totally human (well, half human— whatever), and then very lightly begins to scratch his fingernails against the spot behind one of Keith’s ears. Keith groans and tilts his head up, eyes closed just like he did when he was in bunny form, and molds himself against Shiro.
“Feels nice,” he mumbles. Shiro laughs.
“Good to know. Maybe I’ll use it on you more often.”
Having gotten a direct response to something he said, Keith jolts awake. His face reddens as quickly as his eyes fly open once he realizes the position they’re in.
“I’m—”
“Human?”
“Naked!”
Shiro glances down at the rest of Keith’s body, and, yep, Keith is completely naked. Which makes sense, considering rabbits don’t wear clothes, but still…
“Oh!”
He tries to pull away, to afford Keith at least some amount of decency, but Keith clamps his fingers into Shiro’s sleep shirt and holds on with an iron grip, keeping them pressed together.
“I don’t have any clothes,” he whispers, as if anyone else is around to hear them.
“You— You can wear mine,” Shiro offers. The idea of Keith in his oversized clothes goes straight to his groin; he really wishes Keith would let him get up and find him something to cover himself with.
Keith just looks up at him, not saying anything, and so Shiro looks back at him while he waits for Keith to voice whatever he’s thinking.
It takes a while, but eventually the redness fades from Keith’s face until it’s just a dull, pretty pink, and his eyes soften into the familiar look that Shiro is used to.
“You’re not bothered by this?” he finally asks.
Shiro raises an eyebrow in question. “By what?”
“You know… this?” Keith wiggles against him, all of his exposed skin brushing up against Shiro in ways that he is very much not bothered by.
“Oh, um.” It’s Shiro’s turn to turn red. “Only if you are.”
It’s so tempting to run his hands up and down Keith’s well-defined back, but now that he’s been made aware of Keith’s nakedness, touching him feels like a violation.
“I’m not,” Keith says, and that effectively silences everything going on in Shiro’s mind.
“You’re… not?”
Keith shakes his head slowly, never breaking eye contact. “Not even a little.” He pauses. “Actually, I am a little bothered by something.”
“Oh— What is it? I can go get you some clothes and you can change under the covers if you want. Or I can close my eyes while you find something, or—”
“Or you can take off your clothes and even the playing field.”
Pressed this closely together, Shiro can feel the way Keith’s heart hammers in his chest. It mirrors Shiro’s own.
“Um.”
“Shiro, I…” Keith looks up at him with his big, beautiful eyes, prettier than every star in the sky. Shiro wants to fall into them. “I heard, uh… everything.”
“Everything?” Shiro’s brow furrows. “Everything about what?”
“Just, you know, like… everything? Like for the past… Okay I don’t actually know how long it’s been because time is kind of weird when you’re a rabbit, but yeah. I heard everything you said while I was a rabbit. Never really thought I’d say that sentence, but here we are.”
Shiro feels his face pale. He swallows hard, trying to gather his courage, before he asks, “Everything?”
Keith huffs, a tiny smile pulling at the corners of his lips. “Shiro, relax. You have to know how I feel about you, right?”
Shiro doesn’t dare to hope, so he says nothing.
“Shiro,” Keith sighs, “I’ve been crazy about you for years. I know you know that.”
“Do I?”
“Don’t you? Everyone else does. Matt tried to tell you.”
“Oh my god,” Shiro groans. “Matt. I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
“No, you’re not,” Keith laughs. “From me or him. Now come on,” he says with a playful grin. “Are you gonna get on my level or what?”
Embarrassed or not, there’s no way Shiro is going to say no to Keith. Not now, not ever.
He uses the hand already in Keith’s hair to pull him forward, and kisses him.