He supposed he should have been prepared for Keith's enthusiasm on the network, after all, it had been awhile since he left the garrison for Kerberos. After listening to the briefing and exploring the house, Shiro made his way out of the house to meet up with Keith. Walking towards what looked like mainstreet, he took in everything he saw. It was nothing like the garrison, or the Japanese prefecture where he'd grown up. The snow reminded him slightly of home, but there was so much more here. Despite the weather, the street was bustling.
The entire town seemed decorated for the holidays - rather normal despite the war he'd been briefed about. Mistletoe hung in doorways and Shiro ducked his head to enter the restaurant Keith had mentioned. Except he was frozen in the doorway, unable to move into the restaurant. Pulling out his device and texted keith. "There may be a problem. Stuck in the doorway."
Despite being in Atlantis for a week, Keith was still getting used to this place. Even though they’d been called here to help fight a war, it was hard to tell just by looking around. Nice, whole buildings. Decorations. People about. Nothing like the ruins left on Earth and other planets thanks to the Galra. It was a level of comfort he wasn’t quite used to. It made his skin itch with restless energy after having to be on alert 24/7.
So, the announcement that Shiro had arrived was a welcome relief and distraction. Sure, he had ‘Kosmo’ and, although strange with its new size, the Black Lion as grounding points, but they weren’t the same as having a fellow team mate and especially the former Paladin by his side.
He frowned as his device buzzed in his pocket, his brows only pinching together more at the message. Stuck in the doorway…? What… His pace slowed in confusion, his attention so focused on his device and figuring out a message to type back that he didn’t notice that the wolf at his side hadn’t changed its pace. In fact, the wolf picked up its speed, trotting down the street with intent purpose.
“Hey, no, we’ve talked about this,” he called out, device forgotten as he jogged after the wolf who was definitely aiming to give a friendly headbutt to someone. “Not everyone likes-”
His voice trailed off as he caught a better sight of Kosmo’s ‘victim’. Oh… stuck in the door… That message would make a whole lot more sense now if his brain could just get by the shock of what he was seeing. Not the white hair, scar, and floating arm he was expecting, but still… “Shiro?”
"Keith! Thank goodness you're here, think you can give me a ha-" Shiro's words died on his lips when he took in the man in front of him and not the teenage cadet he remembered from the garrison. "What happened to you? You're…. Big…"
Shiro's hand reached down to pet the head of the animal nudging him. "And when did you get a ….. dog?"
This was Shiro. This was Shiro. Keith stood frozen in place, just staring. Of course it was Shiro. The voice and (sort of) recognition was enough to prove that on top of just the man standing in the doorway. But he hadn’t seen this version of his friend in years. It was almost like seeing a ghost. Although considering some of the things that’d happened, maybe more than almost.
“Uh…” he managed to finally out, his brain circling around how to even answer that first question. The second though, while complicated, was a whole lot easier. Especially with the large black and blue canine basking in the pets as if nothing were wrong and this was just like any other Shiro visit. “Cosmic wolf…” he corrected, even if that would likely raise a few questions. “And… um… over two years ago…” To him. Less for others, but… He shook his head before running a hand over his face. “... you’re… what were you doing before you got here?”
"Does your cosmic wolf has a name?" Shiro asked, scratching the wolf behind the ears. "Just walked over from the room they assigned me and then tried to head into the bar when I got stuck here. Can't seem to make it inside though."
Keith couldn’t help the scowl as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Officially, no. He hasn’t told me it yet,” he grumbled. “But everyone’s taken to calling him Kosmo.” He puffed out a sigh as his shoulders lifted in a shrug as the wolf turned his head to look curiously over at him. “He hasn’t raised a fuss about it yet, so I guess that’s it…”
“And that’s not-” he started before stopping and shaking his head. Ok, better to get into that later and instead deal with the whole stuck problem. He frowned as he looked around the doorframe. “Have you tried pushing instead of pulling?” he commented before he spotted something green and white and… oh… oh no… He groaned as his head tilted up towards the sky.
"Kosmo, eh? Nice to meet you," Shiro said with a smile before giving Keith a look. "Of course I tried the door, it's not the door that's the problem. I'm stuck and can't seem to move…."
Keith sighed as he lifted his hand to point at the piece of greenery stuck on the doorframe. “I think that’s the problem,” he grumbled.
Shiro tilted his head back as he looked up at the greenery. "You mean to tell me that some holiday decorations freeze people in place? What kind of crazy place is this?"
“Mistletoe,” Keith supplied. “A bunch of people have been talking about it on their network. I’d managed to avoid it so far.” He snorted as his lips twitched up in a smirk. “Looks like you weren’t so lucky.” Which led to the answer to how to get Shiro unstuck considering the requests of the people who had gotten caught before… Except… Pushing that thought aside, his eyes narrowed as he pulled the knife strapped to his back out of its sheath. “Maybe I can cut it down…”
"Mistletoe? Keith, why would mistletoe stop me from moving and why are you carrying a knife around with you?" The words stumbled out of his mouth in a rush. Nothing seemed to make sense in this world, especially the fact that he was stuck because of mistletoe. He grabbed Keith's wrist.
"Easy there, cadet. No need to destroy any property," he said. "So what, you have to kiss me so I can move?"
Keith froze again, the land under his feet feeling a bit shaky just from the whiplash of that string of words. Not that any of the questions were that horrible. It was just the circumstances and each word bringing sharp clarity to the situation. Obviously Shiro wouldn’t know about the mistletoe, but questioning the knife and falling back onto the whole cadet thing… Right… Ok… that… that answered a bit of the ‘what was happening before you got here’ question…
The whole thing threw him enough off balance that the last question had his cheeks pinking. Because yeah… yup… From what he’d read on the network, that seemed about right. Letting out a heavy sigh, he glanced to the left and right before nodding slowly. “Yeah, that’d be it,” he muttered. Alright, so, this was going to be a thing…
He twisted his arm out of Shiro’s hold so he could resheath the blade as he stepped closer. Best just to go with the flow and get them inside where talking could be easier than stuck out here on the doorstep. Best not to overthink it. An easy shift of weight, a tilt of his head, and he stretched up to brush his lips against Shiro’s. A light, brief peck that’s target was locked only at the last minute. Best to go with the option that’d have the best chance of working. Then he kept going, flowing with the end of the stretch to slide past Shiro and reach down to ruffle Kosmo’s fur as he headed into the restaurant. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Shiro wasn't quite sure what to expect. After all, it had been awhile since he'd kissed anyone. The kiss was brief, barely anything more than a brush of lips and yet it had Shiro's head spinning. Keith definitely wasn't the cadet he'd left behind. And was Keith--- that wasn't a question for now. He wasn't sure if the kiss was enough, but a jerk of his foot told him that yes, it had been enough.
He followed Keith into the restaurant, nudging them towards a corner booth where he could keep an eye on the restaurant and the door. He was still trying to get his head wrapped around this place. After they put in their drink orders, he gave Keith a look. "Start talking. What the hell is going on? And why are you big? What happened?"
His step hitched at Shiro taking the better vantage point, but the hesitation was brief and morphed into a course correction to slide into the seat across from the other man as Kosmo curled up under the table, his muzzle resting on Keith’s knee and tail tucked around Shiro’s legs. Keith idly scritched the wolf’s ears, the motion grounding as he thought over the questions.
“Did you listen to the hologram? Did you meet with the Intake Staff yet?” he asked, trying to narrow down just how much of ‘what’s going on’ that he needed to deal with. Or at least how much of that involved this new world and how much involved… well… “Time and training,” he offered as the simple answer, his head tilting as he studied Shiro. “How far along is the Kerberos mission?” A solid event. A turning point. The other man looked how he had back then, but there was so much they didn’t know about Shiro’s time as a prisoner. When all those changes to his look happened in the scheme of things, although Keith would put good money that he had to be before the attack. Shiro might be good at putting on a tough face, but even for him, this would be way too calm for everything that happened.
Shiro rolled his eyes. "Yes, I listened to the hologram. But then I saw your message so I'll meet with Intake later." Shiro had his priorities after all. He raised an eyebrow at Keith. "We'd landed on Kerberos, and the Holts were getting ice samples when this ship appeared - like nothing I've ever seen before. Next thing I know we're being captured and I'm being tossed in a cell… and then I woke up here.."
Keith’s hand stilled and his breath caught in his throat. So at the start of when everything went downhill. Held captive by the Galra, but before getting tossed into the Gladiator ring and experimented on…
“Are you alright?” he asked softly. “Did they hurt you at all? There’s medical here. They’re pretty good too. More advanced than a lot of what we have back home.”
"I'm fine, Keith. A little roughed up, but it's nothing too bad." There were some bruises - after all the guards weren't exactly friendly - but he'd had plenty worse. "You going to catch me up on what I missed? I'm guessing that the Kerberos mission is old news for you.. And I don't remember you having that scar when I left the Garrison.”
Keith narrowed his eyes, looking for any tells that Shiro was brushing aside something worse. Finally satisfied that Shiro provided a proper assessment, his eyes softened as he gave a slow nod. He took in a deep breath and then let out a long sigh as he leaned his elbow on the table.
“Might take more than one meal to do that,” he pointed out, the corner of his lip twitching up wryly. “It’s been over four years since then.” He grimaced. “For me… it… time gets complicated… Really complicated…”
"Four years? That makes you what - 20 or something?" Shiro asked, running his hand over his dark hair. "How complicated? Did the Garrison master time travel while I was gone?"
“Twenty one,” Keith offered with a shrug. “As far as I can tell.” He rubbed his thumb against his fingers as he thought through the answers. Thought through just how to navigate the minefield of information that’d happened over all those years. “Not the Garrison. Some was just a naturally occuring space time flux called a quantum abyss. At least for my part of the complicated. The larger complicated was an unexpected side effect of an explosion. We were transported forward three years without realizing it.” He tapped his knuckles against his chin. “Which would make it… five years for everyone else since Kerberos…”
Shiro chuckled. "I go away on one little mission and you decide to grow up and have all these crazy adventures - quantum abyss and what not. Commander Holt would probably love to pick your brain about that."
"You gonna tell me how you got that scar or do I have to buy you a drink first?"
Keith couldn’t help the soft chuckle as he shook his head. “You should know better than to leave me alone unsupervised,” he joked. “It’ll only lead to trouble.”
He paused as their drink orders were put on the table. He took a sip before using the straw to idly stir the ice around. “Although I’m not really alone. Commander Holt’s picked all our brains plenty.” He snorted as he tapped the straw in the drink. “You’ll need something stronger than this for the full story.” Because that was a lot of information. Too much for having just gotten here. For not even knowing just who had captured him and what was to come. “And time… It was a vicious fight.” He reached up to tug the collar of his shirt to the side enough to show the years old scar curving over his shoulder. “Not my first either.”
“When I left, you had plenty of supervision at the garrison. I don’t think Leaving you with Iverson counts as a lack of supervision. And you would have gone on the Kerberos mission if you’d had the chance.” There was something Keith wasn’t telling him. Perhaps more than one something.
“Sam escapes? Or is rescued? That’s great news. What about Matt?” Keith hadn’t yet mentioned Shiro though. Did that mean that Shiro didn’t make it to be rescued? Or that the disease has claimed him before his captors had?
“So, what I’m gathering is.. I leave to go to Kerberos and you join a fight club or something?”
“Rescued,” Keith confirmed. “Matt too. Pi-” He cut himself off with a frown, realizing that Shiro wouldn’t really know the nickname as well from when he’s from. “Katie finds them. Matt already got rescued by other resistance fighters before she found him, but Commander Holt was a rescue mission.”
He smiled as he nudged Shiro with his foot. “That you helped with.” Kind of sort of. Just another one of those complicated things. “Because you escape, in case you were wondering.” He let out an amused noise as he shook his head. “Or something.” He took a deep breath. Alright. Time to break open part of this. “The people who captured you are the Galra. For the past ten thousand years, they’ve been conquering the universe, destroying and enslaving planets. Because they felt they could, searching for quintessence, but also looking for an ancient weapon that’d been hidden from them called Voltron.” He paused a moment, to let that all sink in. “One of the five lions of Voltron was on Earth. When you escaped and came back to Earth, it started a chain of events. We found the Blue Lion and it flew us to its home base and, well, that’d be the start of the ‘Fight Club’.”
"Isn't Katie 12 or something?" Shiro asked. Admittedly, he wasn't the best at knowing the details of everyone's family. He knew Sam had left a wife and daughter at home, but all he knew was that Katie was Matt's little sister. He signaled to the waiter for a bottle of whiskey and then raised an eyebrow at Keith. "Do you drink?"
This conversation definitely needed something stronger. He nudged Keith's foot back in response and ran a hand through his hair. "Lions? Voltron? You realize this is all a lot to take in - so what these lions are like space ships? Or are they like real lions?"
Keith knew this was a lot of information. He knew that. It’d been years and very busy years with lots of pain and hardship, especially for the other man. And still he couldn’t help the ‘you’re kidding me’ face that the age comment got. “You’re so lucky she’s not here right now or you’d be feeling her wrath,” he pointed out. “She’s sixteen/seventeen now. That whole time thing.”
He pressed his lips together a moment in thought. “Depends on the drink.” Which’d been an interesting experience he hadn’t really thought about until he’d gotten to space and realized that some of his reactions to certain foods was thanks to his complicated ‘genetics’. “Spaceships shaped like lions. They combine to form Voltron, which is more robot than what you think of as spaceship. They’re…” He shook his head with a chuckle. “There’s nothing out there quite like them. They have their own consciousness. Their own energy. It’s amazing.”
"Whisky?" Shiro offered, eyebrow arching at the other man. "Only met her at the launch and Sam told me to watch out to make sure she didn't sneak onto the ship."
"You might have to draw me a picture or something, because I'm having a hard time imagining what that looks like. Only think I can come up with is Godzilla or those jaegers from the movie.."
Keith wrinkled his nose as he wobbled his head side to side. “A sip or two, maybe, but…” He grimaced as his eyes drifted around the restaurant. “Earth drinks don’t sit well with me.” But they had more than just Earth drinks here, some names he even recognized from his travels. Some that actually sounded like they’d be nice right now.
Musing over his options, he shook his head. “There’s pictures we can find of it, but we don’t need them. Black came along with me. He’s in my room. We can always head over there.” He was so intent on the menu that he missed Kosmo’s head lifting at the mention of the Black Lion. He didn’t fully realize that the wolf had taken his suggestion to heart until felt the wolf wedging his leg against the booth seat in a secure ‘hold’. His eyes went wide as he leaned back to try and look under the table.
“Wait, Kosmo, not-” he started but it was too late. There was a flash of blue light and then the restaurant disappeared to be replaced by his room for the past week. He teetered a moment to get his balance in the new room before puffing up a sigh and glaring at the satisfied wolf trotting over to flop next to the lion sitting in the room. “-yet…”
Shiro was completely unprepared for the sensation of teleporting from the restaurant to a bedroom. There was no longer a booth under him and he flailed slightly, reaching out to grab the nearest thing which just happened to be Keith. His hands tightened on Keith's arms, trying to regain his balance. "Whaaat?"
Keith shifted easily enough to take Shiro’s weight so that the grab wouldn’t send them both tumbling. His own hands going to help steady the other man, he rolled his eyes. “He can teleport,” he offered as if it was the most obvious and normal thing in the world. He cleared his throat as bobbed his head to their new location. “So, uh… this is my room and that…” He nodded towards the mechanical lion that had started to hum curiously where it sat. “... is the Black Lion.”
Shiro's hands lingered a little longer than necessary on Keith's arms, gripping the biceps that he didn't remember being there, causing a hint of pink to flush his cheeks. Regaining his balance, he took a step back and arched an eyebrow at the the mechanical… cat… that Keith indicated. "It looks awfully…. Small to be a spaceship."
The whole moment felt surreal. Shiro seeing the Black Lion for the first time, but not in the grand hangar of the Castle of Lions and instead shrunken in a bedroom. The flesh and muscle instead of metal he could feel of the arm where his hand stayed in support. The…. was that a blush? Maybe the teleport had caused it… But however it was there, it was uninterrupted by the pale scar that would stretch across the other man’s face.
Keith would’ve been stuck, staring, for far too much time if there hadn’t been that very disgruntled growl rumbling through his consciousness as the lion’s eyes flashed gold. “He’s usually a lot bigger,” he pointed out, amusement clear in his voice. “Something about the journey here made him a bit more travel size.”
Any response Shiro was going to make was interrupted by the flash of light behind his eyes. The roar of a lion, much bigger than the one in the room, flying through space with Shiro in the cockpit issuing the command to form Voltron. Images of the lion with giant wings in some sort of space battle. Shiro stumbled into the wall, bracing himself with his arm.. Hand clutching at his forehead.
"Keith... " Shiro's voice was uncertain. "Why can I feel him … purring … in my head?"
“Shiro!” The call was instinctual as Keith rushed in for support, full of concern and worry. His stance relaxed though at the question and then he shot Black a look. “Couldn’t just let that comment slide, could you?” he puffed out.
“You were connected back home,” he explained, gently guiding Shiro to sit on the bed just in case. “Each lion has a bond with its pilot. Mind and energy. He recognizes you, even if you’re younger than he remembers.”
"Thought I was the one who saved your ass," Shiro said as he sank onto the bed, not realizing as Kosmo came to lay against his side. The black lion-cat-robot-thing was staring at him.
"Yeah… he made that part clear… but… if… I was his pilot, why is he with you?" Shiro asked in confusion, looking up at Keith.
A small smile tugged at Keith’s lips, his expression soft and fond. “We both do plenty of saving. I’d say you’re still in the lead, but I’m sure you’d argue that I am.”
And then there was another question that was just a minefield when the details came out, just like wanting to know about how he got the scar on his face. He started out of his thoughts when he felt cold metal press under his hand. A gesture he was used to when it came to Kosmo, but not so much when it came to the Black Lion, but then both of them were getting used to this new situation and he wouldn’t be surprised if the lion had learned it from watching the wolf. After all, he doubted that at any point in the thousands of years of existence that the Black Lion ever had an opportunity to be anything more than a looming super weapon. He stroked his fingers against the top of the lion’s head, strange considering that’s where’d he’d usually sit, before the lion kept moving to rest its head against Shiro’s knee.
“We had a change in ranks and I took over as pilot of the Black Lion when you couldn’t do it anymore.”
Shiro studied Keith, knowing there was more to the story than the other man was telling him. But he knew how things worked at the galaxy garrison, knew what the risks were. He thought back to Keith's reaction when he'd shown up here.
"Keith… am I dead?"
Keith shook his head even as he mentally winced. What was his life that a question like that could be complicated if you gave a completely honest answer?
“You’re not dead,” he said softly, even if it felt hard to get the words out considering their conversation inside the Black Lion. “And…” He glanced down to Shiro’s arm, reaching out to brush his fingers against his wrist where he’d seen his medical wristband before. “... you’re not dying either…” He rolled his eyes. “Not dying any more than the rest of us that is…”
Shiro looked at him, studying Keith and trying to figure out what the rest of the story was. He knew Keith well enough to know when there was more to the story. "What do you mean, not dying? Keith.." His fingers traced where the medical wristband would be. "It's under control, but it's still there."
There was no need to be any more specific than that. Keith had known about Shiro's disease. He put his hand on Keith's shoulder and squeezed. "Keith, look, whatever happens in the years that have passed since I left for Kerberos…. It's going to be okay."
A warm laugh bubbled up as Keith ducked his head with a shake in amusement. “Classic Shiro,” he puffed out, eyes sparking with mirth as they raised to meet Shiro’s. Here the other man was, pulled to another universe (which would be a new one for him at this point), realizing all this time had passed and getting bits and pieces of it, and having to deal with a sentient mechanical lion and teleporting cosmic wolf, and Shiro was trying to comfort him.
Reaching up, he gave the arm braced against his shoulder an answering squeeze. “I should be telling you that, Shiro. Not the other way around.” Because despite everything, it was ok. Maybe not as ok as it could be, but… it was ok. As for the other question. “There’s a big universe out there. Bigger than we even imagined with, well…” He gestured towards the Black Lion. “... technology so different than ours. There are ways to heal you.” The how in their universe was still a mystery to him, whether it was just something fixed within the clone body when it was created or something that Allura did when she transferred his consciousness into it, but just those facts were enough for him to be certain that something more could be done here where even more options were open than had been possible back on Earth.
"Keith… it's okay… it's under control. I don't need to go searching the universe for a cure right now," He explained with a reassuring smile. Maybe he was downplaying things a bit, but he still felt the need to protect Keith.
His hand drifted to Kosmo's head, petting the wolf absently. "Once my head stops spinning I'm going to have a lot of questions."
“I don’t think you’d have to leave this city for that here, Shiro,” Keith pointed out, his brows furrowing in concern. “Just keep that in mind, alright?”
And with that, the topic was left behind. For now. Maybe if Shiro avoided it for too long, he’d poke again, but, well, he knew Shiro. He didn’t like bringing attention to that part of his life for various reasons. And… well… there were plenty of other things to deal with.
“I’m sure you will,” he said with a wry smirk. He reached forward to ruffle Kosmo’s fur before backtracking towards the door of his room. “Rest that head. I’ll go pick up some food.” He winced. And pay the bill at the place they’d just vacated unexpectedly. “It’ll be quicker. I’ll be back in no time.”