Chapter Text
The Galarn words glared at Keith, glowing an angry red.
This was what he had to do, granted it was going to get him killed, but he was doing it for the sake of Voltron. To buy them time.
Faint shouts sounded from the comms, a voice he hardly recognized anymore yelling at him.
It shouted again, and the back of his mind tried to tune it out, but it seemed to flood his head as he pushed the throttle forward.
“Keith, no!” Matt’s voice reached through to him.
Keith tensed, almost pulling back as the ship proceeded to explode with the shield right before him.
“Great job, Keith.” Shiro’s voice came through now.
“It wasn’t me,” Keith felt he could barely grasp his words, “It was Lotor, his ship has the only weapon strong enough.”
Everyone else turned their attention to Lotor, but Keith couldn’t; his brain focused on Matt, zoning out from the shouts.
—–– flashback time.
Keith snuck down the corridor toward Shiro’s apartment, sure he wasn’t necessarily supposed to, but that wasn’t gonna stop him.
The door opened and closed silently as Keith reached to turn on the light switch, pausing for a minute as he caught sight of a computer glow. His finger hit the light, receiving a groan of complaint.
“Shiro, I told you I needed to finish this. I’m not going to–” Matt’s hand rose to shield from the sudden bright light.
Keith blinked for a minute before deciding to cut him off, “I’m not Shiro.”
Matt glanced at Keith, an awkward ‘oh’ falling out of his mouth before quickly turning back to the screen.
The younger cadet glanced between the guy on the couch and his original goal, Adam’s coffee in the cabinet. The auburn hair caught his attention, pushing his original goal to the back of his mind.
Keith leaned his arms on the back of the couch, looking over Matt’s shoulder.
Matt sat back, shoulder leaning into Keith’s, “Well, stranger, wanna do it for me?”
Suppressing a laugh, Keith pushed his shoulder into Matt’s.
“Whatever that is, fuck no.” Keith rolled his eyes, pushing off the back of the couch.
Matt chuckled, “Worth a shot.”
Keith stared at him. Something about the guy made him stall, taking one more glance back at the kitchen cabinet before taking the red jacket off himself as he went around the couch. Tossing it on the back of the couch, Keith lay back next to Matt.
Brown eyes darted to Keith, “So, who are you and why are you in Shiro’s apartment?”
“I’m Keith.” Keith hummed, something noncommittal to the conversation as he stared at Matt’s faint reflection in the screen.
“Well, Keith, I’m Matt.” Matt leaned forward, catching Keith’s full attention with that stupid smile of his.
A stupid smile that Keith ended up getting used to. Way too used to.
—–– and we’re back.
“Keith!” Someone shouted through the comms now.
Keith looked back at the dashboard almost frantically. Matt’s voice seemed to dump ice water on him in the Arctic.
A blaring alarm screeched at him from the side now, more angry Galran about the engine giving out. A string of curses spilled as Keith tapped around the dashboard.
As he gave up, a Rebel ship flew beside him, opening the back doors with a faint hiss.
Keith activated his helmet as the alarms blared louder and angrier when he opened the ship.
He huffed as the heel of his boot hit the metal edge of the ship, reaching for the frame of the hatch, when a hand grabbed hold of him, pulling him in as they practically punched the door’s button.
Keith groaned as his back hit the wall.
“What the fuck was that!?” Matt’s hands held Keith’s shoulders back against the cold metal.
“What?” Keith blinked, “I don’t know what you’re-”
Matt’s grip went tighter on Keith, “You know damn well what I’m talking about!”
“No, I don’t, let me go, Matt.”
Keith could feel Matt’s hands shake against him, “You were going to kill yourself!”
“It was for the mission, Matt.” Keith hissed, hands going up to attempt to push Matt off.
Matt stared at the ground, blinking away tears he refused to let Keith see right now, “Getting yourself killed is just for some hope of stalling them?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does, Keith!” Matt snapped.
Keith fell quiet for a long beat.
Matt leaned forward, head hitting Keith’s chest as he choked back what Keith could only guess was a sob.
Keith glanced around the empty cargo hold before he started stumbling through an apology, “Matt, look, it wouldn’t have mattered, I don’t-”
Except he didn’t finish stumbling through it while cursing himself for acting like an idiot. Instead, Matt had shut him up like in one of those stupid romance-movie rain argument scenes, kissing him like he was desperate.
Keith didn’t push away; he couldn’t even think about doing it without that feeling of regret yelling at him in the back of his mind.
Matt pulled away first, and Keith could see the tears brimming at the corners of his eyes.
“Matt...” Keith sighed, pulling the Rebel closer as they slid down the wall, sitting together in a tangle of limbs on the floor.
He cursed himself in his head for letting Matt be able to make him feel this stupid with love.
They were quiet for a long while, the only sound being the faint rumble of the ship’s engine.