Takashi "Shiro" Kogane (takashi) wrote in valloic, @ 2020-06-13 19:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | voltron: takashi shirogane, ₴ inactive: allura, ₴ inactive: keith |
He stopped by Keith’s room first and tensely resisted discussing Allura’s bombshell. Later, after they’d seen her to an apartment, he’d discuss it privately with Keith.
Once at DOA headquarters, Shiro gave Allura’s description to a few people he worked with regularly until they found her in an interview room. It was as comfortable as a government office could be with wide windows and a water machine in the corner. A few bags of snacks sat on the table between them as well as paperwork and some magazines. Shiro ignored all that in favor of coming around the table to pull her into a hug.
“I’m sorry it took a few minutes to get here,” he said quietly, before pulling back to offer a comforting smile and give her a look over for obvious injuries she might not have mentioned. “They’ve been treating you well, I hope.”
Keith was still sort of staring at his phone, trying to wrap his head around what Allura was saying when Shiro knocked. He got up, Kosmo trailing him, protective the way he was whenever he sensed Keith was upset.
It didn't make sense. Of all of them, Allura was probably the strongest physically, and one of the smartest. Maybe the all-around smartest, if you didn't count Pidge or Hunk's specialty knowledge. If anyone would survive whatever insane last plan they'd come up with, it should have been her. And had anyone ELSE been here after they died? Was she the ONLY one who died? Maybe she just thought she did, but they saved her at the last minute, like they'd managed to do every other time someone almost died?
He was quiet as he walked alongside Shiro, both of them lost in their own thoughts and probably brooding over what they knew. Keith did bump his shoulder against Shiro's once though, just to jar him a little and remind them both that they were here? So was Allura. Whatever happened there, right now they were here.
He hung back as Shiro went to hug her, Keith also slow with shows of physical affection, Kosmo crowding in behind him and peering from behind his legs, tail wagging a hello. "Hey," he greeted, smile genuine, if clouded by what he knew.
Allura was still trying to process everything that has just happened to her. She had died. She knew that much. She and Honerva had given the last of their energy to restore every reality that Honerva had destroyed in her quest to try and restore her family. Allura had been ready to accept her fate. She had said goodbye to her Paladins, who had become her family since losing her parents and her planet. It was the ultimate sacrifice, but Allura was used to sacrifice in her life. And doing it to save the universe and everyone that she loved was worth the price that she paid.
And then, she had found herself in this strange new place, with two of her friends, Shiro and Keith. Who had both come from a time before she had died. Allura didn’t know what she was more shocked to discover. That she was suddenly alive again in another world, or that her friends didn’t remember everything that they had gone through back at home. Or as they had told Allura, they hadn’t experienced it yet. That two people from her universe could both be here, too, but be from different times was strange to her. Though with everything that she had gone through in her life, Allura supposed that she shouldn’t find most things strange anymore.
At least the people at the office where she found herself seemed kind enough. They gave her a way too communicate with people, and told her where she could find housing. They offered her a snack and some water, but she only took the water. Allura was still too nervous to eat, especially after telling Keith and Shiro what had happened to her back home. Aside from talking to Shiro, Keith, and one of their friends that had introduced himself to her on the network, Allura really couldn’t help but look around and just take in all of her surroundings.
When Shiro and Keith entered the room, she offered them a small, but nervous smile. Allura still felt terrible that they had to find out what happened to her the way that they did. She assumed that they would talk about it in further detail, but right now, she was just happy to see them both.
“It’s okay,” she said, returning Shiro’s hug, and smiling over his shoulder at Keith and Kosmo. “I’m fine. I’m just happy to see you both.”
Shiro stepped to Keith’s side. He didn’t know what to do with his hands so he clasped them behind his back. It felt a little too reminiscent of his military days, or even how he’d behaved with Allura in the early days of princess and brand new paladins, but it was his fall back when he was feeling tense. At least he recognized it and loosened up his shoulders.
“It’s really good to see you too. I’ve been here a few months now. Keith showed up about a month after me.” He spared a grateful smile for Keith and let his hands fall to his sides. “I know it’s a lot, but...it’s not a terrible place to be trapped.”
Keith felt off kilter. He'd been comfortable with Allura for a long time now. Keith wasn't really at ease with many people in the world aside from his fellow paladins, and now his mother and some of the Blades. But Allura was one of those people. It felt wrong to be uneasy now, but it was just ... there. There was too much he didn't know lurking between the three of them. Allura knew how things went that Keith didn't know if he should know at all. And she said she died, which ... he didn't think was how it should go. Allura was a princess and a paladin. She was brave and she was good and if any of them got through this, it should get to be her and Shiro. They'd earned it ... well they all had, but she definitely shouldn't have to die.
He hated it. And couldn't help but wonder if this wasn't their future, just a possible one.
But he was still really happy to see her. "It's pretty nice here," he said, echoing Shiro. "You missed the part where people turned into younger or older versions of themselves though."
Allura could feel a certain sense of uneasy in the room. And she could absolutely understand it. She had just told them that she had died trying to save all of reality back home. Though it did frustrate her a little bit that neither one seemed to fully believe her, she couldn’t blame them for wanting to deny that it maybe didn’t happen, or maybe she just thought she was going to die. Allura was pretty positive that if she had been in their position, she would have denied it, too. And of course, she certainly hadn’t wanted to die. But she knew that ultimately, it was the right choice.
Now, she just needed to convince them that was what really had happened, and fill them in on everything that had happened prior to her death.
Allura knew that Keith wasn’t the most open to physical affection, but she did lean forward to bring him into a small hug. Nothing that would make him uncomfortable, but she had said goodbye to him before she found herself in this place. She hadn’t expected to see either one of them ever again.
Allura found herself holding back tears of joy. So many different emotions were hitting her all at once, and it was hard to keep them all contained.
“That sounds interesting,” she said, smiling at them. “I bet you were both adorable children. That could have been fun to see.”
Shiro rubbed a hand over the back of his neck and huffed out a laugh. He was embarrassed by the knowledge that he’d been nearly the same as a young teen, if a bit stuck with his eyes on the sky. But it was an easier thing to think about than Allura dying or whatever circumstances had led to them failing her as a team.
“It was a strange few days,” he hedged. “But I don’t remember much beyond Keith trying to take off with my bike.”
He gave Keith a smirking glance but didn’t linger on the joke for long. He moved to scratch between Kosmo’s ears instead and then glanced towards the door. “Did they assign you a room at Morningside? We can show you there, help you get settled in. Or give you a tour around the city?”
The hug startled Keith, the way it seemed to always do. But he returned it happily after a brief hesitation, hugging back with a sigh. "It's really good to see you," he said quietly.
When she'd let go, he rolled his eyes at Shiro. He WOULD lead with that. "I was the responsible adult the first couple of days, before I decided I needed to age down a couple of years too." Or more than a couple.
Kosmo pushed into the petting and Keith nodded at Allura. "Yeah, we both stay there too. There's other places though, if you like them better." Or the tour, though maybe she was overwhelmed and needed some time first, after everything. Keith would, if he were here, probably. "Whatever you want," he added.
Allura gave them both a soft look. “You have no idea how happy I am to see both of you,” she said, wiping a tear back from her eyes. “If I am going to be trapped here for the time being, I am glad that it’s with you.”
Allura laughed. “It could be worse. You could’ve been stuck with a rapidly deaging Coran While he was an adorable child, he was quite the handful the younger he got.” That was a memory that she thought she had forgotten about. So much had happened since then. “They were able to set me with a place to stay, not too far from the two of you. I was offered a tour, but I told them that I would rather leave that to the two of you.” She glanced down at the ground quickly, then made eye contact with the two of them again.
“In addition to that, we do have a lot to talk about. There’s so much to tell you.”
With one hand still scritching behind Kosmo’s ears, Shiro turned his face towards the windows to hide his smile at Keith’s eyeroll. He would probably have to give up teasing him about that thievery sometime soon. But there were more important matters at hand. And a little bit of dread settled in his stomach, souring his expression with worry.
“Of course. Whatever you need to tell us, we’ll listen. Let’s walk to the waypoint in the building and we use it to go see your room. Maybe even order a pizza,” he smiled. “Though fair warning, if Kosmo sees which room you’re in, he’ll probably come visit at his own discretion.” It didn’t sound much like a warning when Shiro smiled a little brighter.
"Maybe try not to think of it as trapped?" Keith suggested tentatively. "More like ... I don't know. Vacation? You don't have to be a paladin or a princess here. So you can just ... hang out," he finished lamely. And not be dead went unsaid.
Keith couldn't picture Coran any different. He tried, but it just ... came out smaller. Still with a mustache? Yeah, that wasn't right, but that's all his brain had to offer. "This was more like ... stuck a teenager for a few days I guess? Like a young teenager, not like when you met us."
He gave Kosmo a look - he and Atreus had tried to talk to him about just popping up places that weren't public. Keith honestly wasn't sure how much he would pay attention. But Allura at least was used to it. "He won't pop into bathrooms." He'd at least gotten THAT promise out of him. "But yeah. Pizza sounds good."
Allura smiled at him.”I don’t think I’ve ever had a vacation. At least, I haven’t had a vacation in a very long time. If I look at being here that way, then this makes it better.” That and she could be alive, but that would go unspoken.
Allura laughed. “Oh. That sounds like it could’ve been interesting. I wonder what you were both like as teenagers.” She tried to picture it, but she’d known them both as they were for so long, it was hard for her to picture them as younger.
“I don’t mind Kosmo coming to visit me, though it is good to know that he won’t teleport himself into the bathroom. The mice didn’t always understand boundaries, either.” She smiled at them again. “And pizza sounds lovely. I didn’t get to have it when I was on Earth, though Hunk told me that it was delicious.”
Shiro’s smile bloomed further. The threat of further knowledge about a future he couldn’t control or get back to was still looming, but his joy at seeing Allura again and the three of them being together was enough to scoot it to the side. He moved to stand between them and hooked an arm over Keith’s shoulders. Allura was his friend but she was also still a princess, so she got a more sedate hook of his other arm around her elbow.
“Stop lingering then, paladins. We have a lot of catching up to do and I think it will all be easier with food in hand and Morningside’s rooftop garden around us. Kosmo, you ready to go, buddy?” he smiled down at the wolf and nodded a chin towards the door he knew very well Kosmo wouldn’t bother to use.