Chapter Text
It’s late at night, and the Castle is eerily silent as Shiro walks the hallways. He’s been trying to get rid of the restless energy that has been singing through his blood ever since he landed his lion back into her hangar.
This entire week has been rough and filled with adrenaline, with the team trying to rid a small planet from the Galra. They’ve succeeded in the end, the planet and its species now living in freedom, but there have been too many close calls. This evening Allura promised them all the chance to sleep in, to get their well deserved rest, but it seems futile with the fear still crawling under Shiro’s skin. He can’t stop rewinding their fights, thinking about what went well, what could’ve gone better. He tries to tell himself that it’s what a leader is supposed to do, but he knows it’s more than just a sense of responsibility. His thoughts have bordered on obsession from the moment the rest of the team went to bed.
Now his legs are getting tired, however, and he’s thinking that maybe he could try again. If he just lies down and closes his eyes, maybe he’ll be able to fall asleep. It will be riddled with nightmares and bad dreams, no doubt, but it’s still better than just staying awake all night. He hopes.
It’s as he starts rounding his way back to his room that he hears the soft sound of scuffling feet around the corner. There’s a small hitch in his step as he tries to work out who it can be. His mind immediately jumps to the possibility of danger, an intruder in the Castle, but he knows that’s not very likely and does his best to fight down the fear.
When he turns the corner, it’s not some enemy Galra he finds. Instead it’s Keith.
He shouldn’t be so surprised. He knows Keith has always had trouble finding sleep, even before he got an entire space war to worry him awake.
Keith doesn’t look up when Shiro nears him, and now he notices that he is in fact standing right next to his bedroom door. Not just standing, he realises. Waiting.
Shiro can feel some of the tension finally leaving his muscles as he comes to a stop next to Keith. He has his shoulders slumping downwards, and his arms wrapped tight around himself.
"Couldn’t sleep?" Shiro asks, softly so as not to wake the others. Despite the size of the Castle, all of their rooms are in the same hallway, safe for those of Coran and Allura. Now Keith does look up, and Shiro can feel his chest constricting at the haunted look in his eyes, the dark circles under them.
"No," Keith answers, whispering as well.
Without another word, Shiro opens his door and waits for Keith to enter the room before he follows and closes it again. Keith has his back turned to Shiro, but it’s not difficult to read him. His shoulders rise, his back bending forward a little, and Shiro knows what’s coming before he starts to speak.
"I’m sorry, I tried to- I wasn’t sure if this was still okay, but I-," Keith stutters, his voice rising in volume a little when he can’t find the right words.
Shiro says nothing, just lays a careful hand on Keith’s shoulders and then nudges him towards the bed, letting him know it’s okay.
Both of them are silent as they dress down to their shirts and underwear, and when Shiro gets into bed he holds up the blankets for Keith to join him. They fit together easily, Keith with his back to Shiro, Shiro with his arm curling around Keith’s waist.
He can feel Keith taking in a deep breath, can feel his stomach rising slowly and then deflating again.
It’s not until Shiro has flicked the switch next to his bed and the lights turn off that Keith speaks.
"I’m scared," he whispers, not moving except for his ribs expanding with every inhale. ‘I don’t want to die,’ he adds, and Shiro carefully moves his arm, until he can card his fingers through his hair, pulling it away from his face. It’s a little awkward from where he’s lying behind Keith, but he can feel him relax a little, so it’s worth it. His hair is still as soft as he remembers it to be.
"I know," Shiro replies, and they’re lying so close to each other now that he can feel the warmth of his breath reflecting back against Keith’s neck. "But that’s why we’re a team, and you’re not fighting alone,’ he adds. ‘We all look out for each other."
It frustrates him that that’s about all he can say to try and settle Keith’s nerves. He can’t tell Keith that he’s being paranoid, that they’ll all be fine - he knows there’s a chance they won’t be. Everyone is aware that dying is a very real possibility now.
For now, though, he can feel Keith slowly relaxing against him. Shiro keeps combing Keith’s hair with his fingers, liking the way the long strands feel under his hand, the way they curl around his fingers.
Since he doesn’t want to lie to soothe Keith’s fear, he tries to distract him instead.
"Do you remember the first time we did this?" He asks, and knows he won’t have to explain what he means by this. Keith shifts a little on the mattress, and for a moment Shiro thinks he’s moving away, but when he stills again he’s lying close against Shiro’s body again.
"I do," Keith says, and despite the fact that Shiro can’t see his face, he knows that Keith is smiling now. "It was my bed, though," he adds, and Shiro hums in agreement.
~~*~~*~~*~~
Their friendship at the Garrison hadn’t been a secret, but still there were very few people aware of its existence. Perhaps it had to do with Keith’s tendency to keep to himself, because they mostly met in their dorms or empty public places. Some people might even wonder how they got to be friends at the Garrison in the first place, with Shiro being two years above Keith, and Keith’s apparent craving for isolation.
The truth is, they didn’t. They met long before the Garrison.
The first time had been when Shiro was still a twelve year old kid, just enrolling into middle school, and Keith had arrived to his hometown as the new foster kid of his neighbours. Seeing as there hadn’t been many other boys Shiro’s age nearby, their friendship had started out of necessity – two kids playing in the backyard because there wasn’t really anyone else to play with – , but it had turned into something much more in very little time. Even then, Shiro felt pulled in by the sad look in Keith’s eyes, and the shy smiles that would almost make that sadness disappear. In return, Keith listened to Shiro’s complains about everyone expecting him to be so good, to be the perfect golden boy. It hadn’t taken very long at all for their closeness to develop.
The first time they slept in the same bed, it was because Shiro had gotten his first C after only ever getting straight A’s and he was too scared to tell his parents, to see the disappointment in their eyes. Looking back now, it was a little silly. His grade hadn’t even been that bad, but at the time it had felt like the world was ending. Shiro remembers very clearly how he had climbed out of his bedroom window to sneak to the neighbour’s garden, remembers the ping ping the pebbles made when he threw them against Keith’s window. After he had let Shiro in, it had only felt natural to climb into Keith’s bed together. In the dark, with the warmth of Keith’s body so close, he had felt safe enough to talk about his fears.
It had only felt more natural to keep visiting the other whenever one of them was scared or sad. They had always climbed into bed together, even when it was still the middle of the day. There’s something about the feeling of being wrapped up in blankets and each other that can’t be replaced by anything else.
After two years of their friendship, Keith got replaced to a different foster home, and despite their promises it hadn’t taken long for them to lose contact.