Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was supposed to be an easy mission, Shiro recalls. They were sneaking aboard a foreign alien - not Galran, by the way - ship, because they were rescuing a group of prisoners. Even though the aliens weren’t in leagues with the purple race, the paladins knew it was their duty as the Defenders of the Universe to set the captured ones free. They had no idea why the aliens - also known as Tripvileisas - were holding other benign aliens prisoner. And now Shiro wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

Everything had worked out great in the first half of the mission. They had split into two groups; Lance, Hunk, and Pidge were to free the prisoners while Keith and Shiro himself would fight off the aliens. It had started out okay. Keith had summoned his sword from the dormant bayard, and Shiro powered up his Galra arm. The small, two-headed aliens had rushed at them, and they were knocking them out left and right. They had just gotten the call from Pidge over their headset when everything went wrong.

An alarm went off. To Shiro, it was no worse than annoying background noise. He noticed that there were only two Tripvileisas left. Quickly taking out the one nearest to him, he turned to Keith to see the other one was ready to stab the seemingly distracted paladin.

“KEITH!” He screamed as he raced across the room. Making it there in record time, he thrust his fist through the alien’s heart, feeling absolutely no remorse for the kill. Shaking the green blood off of himself, he glanced at Keith. His worry only grew when the sound on the ship shifted into something different. The Red Paladin let out a loud scream of pain as he folded. Shiro carefully caught him before he hit the floor. Keith writhed on the cold steel, and he soon ripped the helmet off his head. Burying his hands into his ears, he screamed again.

“Keith! KEITH!” Shiro held him as the younger man twisted agitatedly in his grip, “What’s wrong?”

“Stop,” he clenched his ears as tears gathered in his narrowed, violet eyes, “Make it st-stop! It hu-hurts. Stop that s-sound.”

Shiro felt his anxiety soar when the teen held his ears tighter, and coiled his body around the Black Paladin. The alarm was still going, and Keith started to claw at his ears with a panic borne from agony. Shiro had to grab the boy’s hands so he wouldn’t damage his own ears.

“Make it stop!” He shouted as he started to cry some, “It h-hurts. St-st-stop it!”

Shiro felt lost. What the hell was happening? Knowing the younger for awhile, Shiro knew it had to hurt. Keith had broken his arm on one of their hoverbike rides once in three areas and hardly even flinched. To have him reduced to crying and wrapping up on himself meant it was even more painful than it sounded.

“Stop it!” Gloved hands clenched as he started to try to smash his head against the floor. Not losing his hold on Keith’s wrists, Shiro grabbed his head. He didn’t think a concussion was what they needed on top of what was happening. In the process, one of Keith’s arms was dislodged from its position.

Shiro froze.

“Fuck,” he quickly pulled the injured best friend into his arms, and tapped his helmet, “Coran! I need a healing pod right now!”

“What’s happening?” Allura demanded from over the comm. system as Shiro pulled the still whimpering teen into his arms as he raced away to Black, “Who needs the pod?”

“Keith,” he didn’t finish the statement as said person once again cried out as he grabbed his right ear with both hands, “Shit. We’re going to get you out of here, buddy. JUST GET THE POD READY!”

He was still a ways away, and he wished the damn sirens would shut off! That was what seemed to be causing his pain. Still racing away from the hallway, he contacted Hunk, Lance, and Pidge. He could hear the sound of quiet chatter in the background, no sound of the sirens there...although with the noise from his end, he'd be unable to hear it there anyway.

“Guys,” he glanced down at the begging Keith laying in his arms, “Someone needs to get Red.”

“What happened?”

“Is Keith okay?”

“What’s going on?”

Shiro didn’t have time for any questions to be answered. He felt his fear and concern only deepen when Keith gave another weak cry as only one hand tried to grab for his other ear. Shiro gently peeled the long fingers away to swear once again as more blood poured from hurt ears. Some of the scarlet liquid dribbled out of his nose at the same time.

“FUCK,” he shouted as he rushed into Black’s opening mouth, “Just get Red! I have to get Keith back to the castle now!”

Not even bothering putting the teen on the table behind the pilot’s seat, he cradled the other to his chest as he screamed for Black to get them out of there. The lion took off before he could even finish his demand. Also not bothering to drive the lion, he carefully shook the now quiet paladin. Keith’s head flopped towards his chest, but Shiro could see he was still awake if just barely. Gently holding the smaller's head up on his chestplate, the man didn’t even mind the blood running onto his armor. Dazed eyes landed on him, and Shiro wasn’t sure if Keith was seeing him at all. The pain could have been clouding his mind. The Red Paladin opened his mouth to say something, but Shiro couldn’t hear anything but the teen’s breathing.

“What, Keith?”

The injured paladin whispered something that looked like a mixed mess of ‘hurts,’ ‘stop,’ ‘tired,’ and ‘can’t hear.’ Shiro sincerely hoped that Keith’s hearing wouldn’t be damaged. The teen had enough issues as it was. The guy Shiro had known at first had been fairly wounded on his own; emotionally if not physically. Not having his hearing would possibly take him back the steps he had made in the past few years. Seeing the castle appear in his vision just outside the window, he gripped the smaller teen closer. The only response he got was Keith’s eyelids lowering.

“Keith!” He carefully moved the exhausted and wounded 19-year-old so the teen would have to respond somehow. He did, but not by much. He made a gasping sound as his eyes landed on Shiro, and he stated something that could have been the white-haired man’s first name. The door to his lion opened, and he was gone faster than he thought possible. Racing through the hallways, he finally rushed in on a worried Coran. Almost throwing the teen onto the table nearby, he ripped the armor from his slim figure until the black undersuit was the only thing worn.
“No healing suit,” Coran stated in a hurry as Keith’s body went limp and drops of blood slid onto the table and floor, “He needs to enter the pod now. We can’t do anything about the bleeding right now.”

Both carefully shoved him into the prepared pod which instantly froze him into paralysis and closed its doors. Shiro let out loud breaths as he relaxed against the wall as Coran inspected the pod’s info.

“When will he get out?” He asked, dreading the answer as he stared at Keith, “And is there going to be permanent damage?”

“We were very lucky,” Coran stated with a frown as he tapped at the screen, “A few more ticks, and number 4 wouldn’t have made it. As it is, his hearing is damaged, but the healing should take care of that. He’ll be here for about 30 vargas.”

“Thanks, Coran,” Shiro felt his own body crawl with tiredness, but he couldn’t relax, “I have to go explain what happened.”

“Go get changed first,” Coran stared at the paladin’s armor, and Shiro looked down at the still drying scarlet blood, “I’ll clean your armor for you.”

“You don’t have to,” he insisted, but didn’t put much effort in.

“Nonsense!” The orange-haired man escorted the human out, “Just put your armor down the laundry chute. And go tell the others what went on. They are going to be worried. I’ll make sure that Keith is healing fine while you are gone.”

“Thanks, Coran,” he left without further prompting. Honestly, he didn’t think he’d be able to clean the suit without the memory replaying in his head. He didn’t think he’d ever get Keith’s wounded cry out of his nightmares after that day, and that's saying something since he had nightmares about his time with the Galra daily. Witnessing that happening to his best friend really shook him to his core. Reaching his room, he tossed the gear in a pile and dressed into his casual clothing. Running a shaky hand through his hair, he ended up in the living room where the others were all waiting. He began his tale.

…..

Keith was in the cold one moment, and the next, arms were wrapped around him. He felt so tired that he was ready to fall asleep right there. For some reason, he noticed that he wasn’t hearing anything, but that could have been his tiredness. The arms pulled him up, and he was met with gray eyes. Intently watching the older man’s lips move, Keith froze. He couldn’t hear anything.

Glancing over at the others who were waiting by the door, he saw their mouths moving too, but no noise could be heard. It was like his ears forgot how to work, and he couldn’t hear anything. His terror must have shown because Shiro sat him down on the cool floor. His best friend stated something to the others before Pidge passed him a notepad along with a pen. The man wrote something down.

‘Can you hear?’

Keith just shook his head. No, he couldn’t hear.

Coran seemed to check something on the pod’s screen as his moustache moved around, and Keith wanted to laugh. He never thought the man’s facial hair was so fun to watch when a person ignored what he was saying. A tap on the shoulder brought him back to the present as he nearly jumped a foot into the air.

‘Coran says that your hearing will come back,’ Shiro’s handwriting greets his eyes again, ‘Your ears need time to re-adjust. You should be able to hear again in a week or so.’

His black hair falls into his eyes as he nods to the statement.

‘Do you remember what happened?’

He could remember fighting the aliens on that ship. He had been about ready to take on the lead one when an alarm came on. The noise was so distracting that he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe correctly. He saw the alien go down as Shiro threw his glowing fist into it, and then all he really remembered was an ear-splitting noise stabbing his head and it hurt. It was pure agony, worse than any injury he’d ever gotten and maybe even all of his injuries added together. He also remembered staring at Shiro’s worried face at some point, but wasn’t sure if that was a dream or not. Wasn’t sure whether he wanted it to be a dream or not.
He tried to tell them that he remembered some of it when he noticed Shiro is the only one to hear him. Before he can panic, the black-clad man gently placed his hand on his shoulder. He also drew the teen’s attention to the notepad again.

‘You’re talking very quietly,’ it said as he raised a brow, ‘Without hearing, you can’t regulate how loud you talk. Most people shout without knowing it, but you’ve always been fairly quiet, so your talking is pretty much a whisper.’

He just nodded as he tried to get up, but failed right away. Shiro carefully pushed him onto his feet before he wrote something else down and placed the paper near his face.

‘Do you want to go to bed? You look a little tired.’

He just nodded once again. He does feel more than a little tired. His friend smiled reassuringly before he gripped him around his shoulders. They start out of the room, but Shiro pauses to no doubt tell the others what they were doing. He also seemed to tell them something else that looks suspiciously like “don’t sneak up on him,” but he wasn’t too sure at that moment. Soon, the two are making their way to his room. Once there, Shiro helped him change into his regular clothes - his jacket stays hung on the wall - before he passed out in his bed.

…..

Lance was worried.

Understandably, anyway. His ‘rival’ didn’t look too hot when he left the room. The Cuban teen was rather concerned about the pale guy. Until training came that afternoon. He was about to comment about how Keith wasn’t there, but he stopped at the last second. It was no use making the rest of the team sad. And then he was a little jealous at the fact that Keith got to sleep while they trained their butts off, but he also stopped that train of thought. He’d rather be in the training room any time than stuck in bed without hearing.

A few hours after training, he saw said person wandering around the halls. Thinking for about two seconds, he made a decision he’ll regret later. About two months back, Lance had come up with the game of sneaking up on Keith without him noticing. So far, the slightly older teen always managed to spot him before he got within feet of him. Deciding that he’d finally sneak up on the boy, he followed the teen. What harm could Keith do anyway? Shiro just told them to not sneak up on him for Keith’s benefit, right?

And he should have remembered that Keith was the mysterious loner who battled the training bots every night instead of sleeping. He was just inches from the raven-haired teen when he was suddenly thrown into the wall five feet to his left side. Pinned with his back to the metal wall, he sees a dagger pointed against his throat. Glancing up, his eyes land on an aggressive-looking Keith who has a snarl spread across his face. Those purple eyes widened as he pushes back from Lance with shaky breaths like he was going to panic. Strangely, he suddenly goes rigid. Glancing one more time at the confused younger teen, he wanders away almost as if he had never seen Lance.

Lance feels equally torn between chasing after him and going to supper. He could have sworn that the pale paladin’s eyes had turned bright golden when he had first attacked, but now Lance wasn’t sure anymore. He doesn’t really feel like adding any more injuries to his bruised back, so he heads to the kitchen. Strolling in minutes later, the others stop with what they are doing to stare at him.

“Hey, guys,” he laughed while he smirked when he saw the princess, “Miss me?”

“What happened to you?” Pidge asked with a raised brow as she pointed at him, “You’ve got a scratch on your neck.”

“Oh,” his face falls as his nervousness comes up, “Well...I might have done something stupid.”

“Please, tell me you didn’t,” Shiro ran his fingers over his scar on his nose, “Please tell me you didn’t try to sneak up on Keith.”

“Heh...heh,” he grinned sheepishly as he feels deep confusion overcome him, “I tried. I didn’t think he’d slam me in the wall and put a knife to my throat!”

“Well, he has no hearing, Lance,” Hunk stated with a disappointed look on his face, “How would you react if you couldn’t hear someone coming up on you?”

“This isn’t good,” Shiro muttered as he stared at Lance who felt guilt run through his body, “Keith’s going to blame himself. He’ll think he attacked you for no reason, and that he almost...hurt you. I’ll be back in a little.”

And the older man raced from the room. Lance felt even worse than he had seconds ago. Was Keith going to do something dramatic? Was Keith okay? Why had Lance messed up so much? The others - especially his two best friends - give him looks of disappointed disapproval. He doesn’t pay any attention because he already was feeling terrible for what he had done.

“I’m going to my room,” he whispers as he frowns in thought, “I-I need to apologize when Shiro is done with Keith.”

Pidge stops him by carefully grabbing his arm before he can fully leave. She has a small smile on her face as she hands him something. Some paper and a pen.

“You nerd,” he teases her gently as they both grin, “You had these with you when you left the Garrison? Do I even want to know how many more you have?”

“Nope,” she slaps his arm good-naturedly as Hunk gives him a one-sided hug that is still just as comfortable as his full ones, “That’s why I’m the one who’s prepared for anything.”

“That’s fine by me,” he grinned as he stepped out of the room, “See ya, guys.”

He pretended to not see their shared glances as he strolled away.

…..

Almost a day later, both Shiro and Keith showed up to supper. Allura stared at them from the corner of her eye as she stared at some dish Hunk had said was called ‘casserole.’ Keith obviously didn’t want to be there if the cautious glances were anything to go by. It must have been Shiro who had convinced him to come out of his room. Shiro and him shared a few looks like they were talking to each other without any verbal cues.
Allura noticed that they did that often.

Before anyone could say anything, Shiro made some type of hand gestures at Keith who blinked before his gaze softened visibly. A second passed before he did some motions back to the older. This went on for a few seconds before the humans in the room sputtered and interrupted them.

"How do you guys know sign language!" Lance shouted in surprise as Keith glared at him, "You haven't used it while we've been out here. I didn't even know mullet knew it."

"Why do you guys know sign language?" Pidge asked curiously as she stared at them. Allura leaned closer, waiting for their explanation. Apparently, this so called sign language wasn't a popular thing to the earthlings? Perhaps?

Shiro and Keith shared another glance before they looked back at them.

"Keith had a lot of trouble talking back at the Garrison," Shiro explained as they both grimaced, "And the only way we could communicate when he got really stressed was with sign language. I knew a little bit, but I learned more so I could help Keith out when he needed it. So since he can't hear now, we can use it again."

Keith signed something quickly. Shiro frowned before his eyes softened, and Keith's eyes darted away. The older man gently pressed his hand to Keith's chin, tilting it back towards him before signing something back.

Whatever they were saying made Keith beam back. It was a look that none of them were used to as they all stared wide-eyed at the two men who chatted back and forth with their hands, never making a sound. Keith made some type of pointing motion mixed with a hugging gesture. A long moment passed before Shiro gaped in shock, mouth wide open as he made the strangest noise Allura had ever heard from him. Keith froze at the same time, eyes widening as his lip curled down in a weird but cute half-pout, half-scowl.

Keith quickly began making a quick panicked gesture with his fist rubbing his chest repeatedly before he jumped out of his seat and fled the room, automatic door sliding shut behind him. Shiro sat there with his head tilted in shock, eyes even wider before he too bolted towards the door with a shout of Keith’s name, despite the fact that Keith wouldn’t hear it. The door closed behind him.

“What did they say?” Allura asked curiously as she stared at the three earthlings who stared back. Hunk and Lance didn’t really seem to know what the two had been saying, but Pidge was sending her a somewhat knowing look, “What is it, Pidge?”

“I don’t think it’s my place to say,” she responded back as she gazed at the door, “But I think it’ll be fine. They’ll talk it out.”

Allura hoped so.

…..

“Keith!”

Shiro cursed himself as he rushed after Keith who ran away. Why hadn’t he responded sooner? Why had he froze up when Keith had signed what he had signed? Did...Did Keith mean it? Did he mean it the way Shiro felt? Did he accidentally sign it wrong? Was he meaning to sign something else?

Shiro grabbed the younger’s wrist, which Keith yanked at as he glared at Shiro. It broke the older’s heart to see the sadness and fear in those eyes as Keith stared back, still tugging his arm away from Shiro. He carefully held onto Keith’s shoulders until the younger stopped fighting him before pulling him into a hug. The other was tense for a long moment before he settled his face into Shiro’s neck.

“Keith,” Shiro sighed softly before he hugged the other closer, knowing he probably wouldn’t hear anything he was about to say, “I love you too. Not just familial love, but something more...for awhile now. I just...didn’t want to say anything in case it messed up our friendship.”

“I…” Keith’s voice broke Shiro out of his moment as he pulled back enough to see the other’s face. The younger gazed back at him with unsure eyes, voice still softer than normal. His hearing had to have been returning, “You...love me? Like...Uh…”

Shiro nodded.

“Definitely not as a brother,” he grinned back as Keith relaxed, letting out a sigh of happiness, “I love you in so many ways that it’s hard to say them all.”

Keith stared up at him, eyes shining that purplish color Shiro had always been fascinated with. His lip curled up as he grinned contentedly before pulling his hands free and signing.

“Me too.”