Chapter Text
Shiro was obviously worried about Keith when they were rescuing him, but the second he saw him, the worry only got worse. Even after he got into the cell, Keith was still just sitting in the corner, staring at the wall. It honestly took a lot longer than expected to get his attention, but eventually he did.
“You alright, bub?” Shiro asked quietly as he wrapped his arms around him. Keith just dropped his weight into him. “Come on, let’s get back home…” Keith just silently nodded and let him drag him through the base, onto his lion, and into the hanger. “Are you hurt? Do you need to go in the pod?”
“No.”
“Do you wanna talk about anything?” He asked as he turned to face him. Keith shook his head, but Shiro could tell he was about to break. “Bub…”
“No.”
“Okay… you know you can… if you need to…” Keith just shook his head again and kept staring out the window. It wasn’t until they landed and started to get out that Shiro saw a change in his mood. He was about to pull him aside to try and keep talking to him before the others berated him with questions, but he was gone. Then, Shiro saw Lance, well, part of him anyway.
“What is this?” Lance asked awkwardly as he wrapped his arms around Keith who had practically tackled him the second he walked out of Hunk’s lion. “Keith…” He started again, looking up to Shiro who shrugged. “We’ll be back…” Lance said as he started to pull Keith down the hall after feeling his chest slowly becoming wet.
“What’s going on?... You don’t even like me…”
“I thought you were dead…” Keith mumbled as he finally looked up to him. Honestly, Lance had never seen Keith break before. He’d seen him upset, sure, but this was a lot more than that. His eyes were bloodshot, his voice was cracked, and he just looked miserable.
“Why would you think that?” Lance asked as he slowly reached over and wiped a few of the tears off of his face. “I’m right here…” Keith just started sobbing after that. “Okay… not talking yet, huh?” Lance asked as he pulled him back over to him. Keith just limply leaned into his chest.
“What’s… going on?” Shiro asked when he finally came to investigate well over an hour later. Lance quickly motioned for him to be quiet as he looked over the scene in front of him. Lance was sitting up against the headboard with Keith dead asleep against his chest. His shirt was soaked and he never stopped softly petting his ears. “When did they switch?”
“I felt his nails before we even left…” Lance sighed, making an ear twitch.
“What do you have for me?”
“All he said was that he thought I was dead… then I asked why and it got worse… and I think he may have just cried himself to sleep…”
“Are you hurt? I didn’t get a chance to check on you…”
“Not enough to leave him and get in a pod… pretty sure he’d freak out…”
“I’m taking him to one too… I’m sure you’ll be out around the same time… he won’t freak out.” Lance just nodded and let Shiro carefully scoop Keith up and followed them down the hall to the med bay.
Keith got out of the pod a bit before Lance, and he immediately started freaking out. No one else really knew why, but Shiro did.
“Wait. Calm down…” Shiro sighed as he wrapped his arms around his waist. “He’s in the pod. He’ll be out any minute, I’m sure.”
“No…”
“Yes… I promise… just give it a second.” Keith whined, but tried to trust him. Finally, the door opened and Shiro moved to catch him. Keith just started until Lance got his balance back. “Told you…”
“I’m fine…” Lance said as he walked over and wrapped his arms around him. “Do you wanna go back to my room?” Keith just nodded, but didn’t move from his chest until Lance made him. The second they got back to his room, Keith was curled up on his chest again. “Can… you tell me why you thought that?”
“They showed me…” He mumbled quietly.
“What do you mean?”
“A video…”
“Well… those are easy to fake… I’m right here…” Lance insisted as he held him a bit closer. “Is that it?” He shook his head and Lance felt a drop on his chest. “No?... What else?”
“I buried you…”
“What?”
“They made me bury you…”
“No they didn’t… I don’t know what was really going on, but I’m right here…” Lance sighed as the ears appeared. “I’m sorry…” Keith just whined and held onto his shirt a bit tighter. “You want me to pet your ears? Maybe it’ll put you to sleep again… seems like you could use the rest…” Keith nodded, so he did. The nod was followed by a bit of silence before soft purrs and sleep.
“How’s he doing?” Shiro asked when he snuck in a bit later.
“The ears are still here…”
“They come out when he’s sleeping a lot… Not just when he gets emotional…” Shiro sighed as he softly pet Keith’s head. “You talk anymore?”
“Not really… but… I think… he’s not gonna leave me alone anytime soon…”
“I figured… what’d he say?”
“That… they apparently made him watch a video of me… dying? Or them… killing me, I’m not sure… then I guess made him ‘bury’ me?” Shiro kind of just stared back. “I don’t know… I think I got four responses before he broke down again… so… I just tried to get him to go to sleep… he seems exhausted…”
“He is… I’ll try to get more out of him later… I’m sure he’ll come see me soon…”
“He’s having nightmares too…”
“He usually does… how bad?”
“I don’t know… he hasn’t woken up… but a lot of like… whining, mumbling, and claw digging…” Shiro kind of just nodded, then slowly pulled Keith’s nails out of Lance’s shirt, pulled the blanket under his hand, and dropped it back down.
“Helps a little…” Lance just kind of nodded and looked back to Keith who was quietly whimpering against his chest.
Lance ended up having Keith glued to his side for days. He was miserable, but it was kind of nice seeing that he cared. Until it was got a little bit more rough. Keith was asleep again one night when Shiro came by to check on him. Really, Keith hadn’t talked to the others much. Their only mission consisted of him silently freaking out, not really speaking to the others. So, Shiro was worried.
He walked in just after Keith had fallen asleep. Lance was just watching some random movie that Keith had clearly chosen and playing with his hair. Keith was seemingly knocked out on Lance’s chest, so Shiro just decided to ask Lance about him.
“So… how’s he been?”
“He’s still not talking much… and won’t stop trying to like guard me… so…” He started as Shiro moved to sit on the edge of Lance’s mattress. As soon as his weight settled, Keith shot up, flashing his teeth with a hiss. Shiro just stared back. “Chill out, it’s just Shiro… you can go back to sleep…” Lance sighed as he pulled him back down to his chest, only earning a whimper in response.
“I think you need to come talk to me tomorrow, bub…” Shiro said as he slowly reached out to him. Keith knocked his cheek against the side of his hand, so Shiro softly rubbed his thumb up and down his jaw until Keith’s eyes drooped shut. “Normal?”
“Kinda… he does it to the TV sometimes… but he doesn’t sleep without it…”
“Yeah… he can’t sleep if it’s quiet… he says it makes him really anxious… I dunno…” He sighed as he brushed Keith’s hair out of his face. “Try and get him to come see me tomorrow…”
“I asked him if he wanted to last night…”
“I’m sure if you just keep asking he will… he’s probably nervous because he clearly doesn’t want to leave you alone…”
“You talk to Shiro?” Lance asked when Keith returned from his room.
“No, no he did not.” Shiro mumbled as he followed behind him. Keith just whined and curled back up with Lance.
“You should’ve talked to him…” Lance mumbled as he wrapped his arms around him. Keith just whined again in response, then Lance felt his claws dig into his hoodie. “What’s wrong?” Another whimper. “What’d you do?”
“Nothing… I just wanted to talk to him… I think he got upset because you weren’t there…”
“Why don’t you talk to him now? I’m right here.” Lance asked as he started to play with his ears.
“Don’t wanna…”
“Later?” Keith just shook his head. “You need to, man…” Lance sighed.
“You do… I’m gonna leave you alone… but we do need to talk. “ Shiro mumbled, clearly giving up for the time being. “If we don’t, Allura’s gonna have to take over for you for a while… you’re acting rash…” Keith just whined, so Shiro left.