Chapter Text
His mothers were watching him eat breakfast and trying not to be obvious about it. His ma kept walking in and out of the kitchen, refilling her tea cup just to down it like she thought it’d be taken away. They were nervous and didn’t want to admit it. This was possibly the tensest breakfast they’d had since he’d returned, and that was saying something.
Shiro didn’t have much, just a single backpack that had belonged to him in high school. It wasn’t even all the way filled. When he’d come down from the Castle of Lions, he’d had even less. He hadn’t needed more than the clothes on his back when he was afraid his family would shun him. That was over a week ago, a week since the paladins went their separate ways to enjoy their first trek back on Earth for long enough to matter. Time was as unrelenting an enemy as the Galra, but they’d finally found their opening. Shore leave. It was a chance to revisit the lives they’d left behind, to see if they could still find a way to fit into them.
Shiro wasn’t sure they would all return to the Castle, but that was what mattered the most. They finally had a choice.
He still wasn’t sure where he stood.
He’d had one week with his family, a family who’d mourned him and moved on, a family who remembered the best of what he had because grief was kindest on the brightest of memories, a family who still cried the first night he’d walked through their front door. It had been amazing and terrifying in equal measure. If he thought about it for too long, Shiro thought he would scream.
“Aren’t you going to eat more?” His mother asked. There was more grey in her hair than he remembered. Shiro didn’t think there had ever been a time in his life that she’d forgotten to polish her copper highlights. She’d lost weight, too. The years had left her frail and small, fragile in a way he’d never seen her before, and Shiro hated himself for thinking it.
He remembered how different it had been after he’d moved out to study at the Garrison. How coming home at the end of the semester taught him to worry that his parents were really getting older. It had terrified him then. He wasn’t sure how to feel now.
“I’ll be back at the end of the week.” He promised, and gathered her into his arms. She’d been shorter than him since he was fourteen, and Shiro was suddenly struck by how long ago that was.
He wanted to be kinder for them. He wanted to be gentler, but the first time they’d held his hand, he’d been reduced to tears, not the other way around. There was so much he wished they didn’t know, so much he intentionally kept from them, but he couldn’t decide if he would regret not telling him.
“Are you sure your friend doesn’t want to come in?” His ma asked, looking out the window to the figure that lingered on their front lawn. Keith slouched against her car, trying to make himself look smaller, but mostly just making the nosiest of their neighbors extremely curious.
Keith had helped him fill the car with supplies, but he’d refused to come in. Shiro had asked three times. He wished he’d asked a fourth.
“He’s fine. He doesn’t like olives.”
Shiro gestured to his omelette with a wry smile. Keith would eat them, he knew. He’d pick them out of the dish, shove them into a little pile and chew them as quickly as possible without even making a face. But he’d never liked them. It had taken Shiro months to figure out, when they were younger.
“Just take care of yourself.” He found himself wrapped in their arms as they both hugged him tight, wanting to say more but all of them failing to find the words. “And call us to let us know how you’re doing.”
“I will, I promise.” Shiro shoved the rest of his food into his mouth and slipped out of their embrace. Waving goodbye tugged a little at his heart, even though he knew that he’d be back.
For the longest time, he’d never thought he’d be able to come home again. Now, he wasn’t sure it felt like home at all. Shiro didn’t know if he’d changed or if this place had, but it was hard to accept that the home he carried inside was static and perfect, but the one on earth have moved on and changed without him. Life had kept going, it was stupid to think that it had somehow stopped to wait for him to get back.
“Drive carefully! No speeding, this isn’t a rocket ship.” His mother teased, throwing an arm around his ma’s shoulders. “This trip was a good idea. I’m glad you took the time to planet.”
“Mom.”
“Did you pack snacks? We can some mini bags of rocket chips. Has your friend had breakfast?” She asked, even if she very well knew that Keith hadn’t had her breakfast.
“Mom!”
His mothers laughed as Shiro threw his bag into the back of the old car, refusing to look at Keith who leaned against the car door with a look of shocked realization.
“I know where you get it now.” Keith whispered as Shiro scowled harder, feeling all of five years old again.
“You, get in the car.” Shiro pointed at Keith. “Mom, Ma, I’ll call you both later. Bye!” He didn’t waste any more time and hopped into his seat. Keith barely had time to close the door before they were off, pulling out into the nearly empty streets under the bright summer sun.
Keith smoothed out his itinerary, mentally running through their supplies and their planned stops. He’d been looking forward to this trip since the moment they’d touched down back on Earth. The other Paladins had run off to visit their families while Coran and Allura went on a worldwide sight-seeing tour and Keith was happy for them all.
They’d needed a chance to come home again.
Keith just felt like he was already there.
There was no one waiting for him back in the dusty shack he’d lived in after the Garrison just like there hadn’t been anyone to care he’d gotten kicked out or anyone to notice he’d disappeared for over a year. Shiro had promised him a week to just relax and kick back on a road trip, just the two of them, like they’d always talked about in the Garrison but never had time for. That made everything worth it.
Shiro didn’t know where Keith had gone to since he landed, and Keith had no intention of telling him. He didn’t need Shiro’s concern, and more importantly, he didn’t need his pity. Besides, Shiro had enough on his plate. It had been years since he’d ridden in it, but Keith still recognized the car they used. It belonged to Shiro’s ma. Barring Galra attack, they were going to have to come back just to return it.
“I’ve mapped out our itinerary. We’re going to be driving in shifts if we want to make everything.”
Shiro gave a noncommittal grunt and Keith frowned, looking back down at his carefully planned list. He’d outlined all the roads, every hotel and campsite for maximum efficiency. They wouldn’t waste their freedom on anything that wasn’t important. Keith could already feel the time ticking away, all too soon they’d be back on the castle fighting a war that they were still outnumbered in, and his chance would be gone forever.
It would work this time, he’d make it work.
He glanced over at Shiro who was watching the road silently. “Hey so, you’re moms seem really nice.”
“Yeah.” Something in Shiro’s face softened, a happiness that had been missing all those months they’d been in space, and Keith felt something in his chest tighten. “It was tough at first, they thought I’ve been dead for two years, but it’s…it’s good to be home. I’m glad they know I’m okay, I made them worry so much.”
Keith twisted the itinerary nervously in his hands. His stomach plummeted, but he didn’t hesitate to offer, “We don’t have to do this, you know. We could go back, you could spend the week with your family. I see you every day and they’ve missed you so much.”
“No.” Shiro said, quick enough that Keith looked up. It must have surprised Shiro, too, because he fell silent all too soon. Keith waited, hoping to give him the chance to explain, but Shiro never did, and the quiet between them made Keith feel like he’d tripped over his own feet. He reached out slowly, fumbling with the radio, and out of the corner of his eye he saw Shiro’s frown deepen.
Something distinctly bright was playing on the radio. Keith kept it because he couldn’t find anything else.
“Did you ever have… rocket cookies?” Shiro asked softly, clearing his throat. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “I haven’t thought about them in years. Those sugar cookies that they always sell in the red packing with the big yellow letters? They’re not really rocket cookies, they’re called Tiger or something. You can get them for a dollar almost anywhere. Or you could.”
“No.” Keith said, quietly wracking his brain to try and remember the last time he’d been in a human supermarket, or even the last time he’d cared about cookies. “Are those the ones with chocolate on them?”
Shiro looked away, voice gone mellow with uncertainty. “No. They’re not.”
“Oh.” Keith didn’t know what to say. Silence settled uncomfortably between them as he turned to look out of the window. The bright California sky was bluer than he remembered. The colors always looked different when an alien sun burned overhead. The sky stretched out over the ocean until the line between them blurred. He shifted in his seat, pulling at hot skin where he’d started sticking to the faux leather, and leaned against the door.
The road wound down the coastline, perfectly beautiful. The whole trip was supposed to be perfect. The perfect excuse to spend time with Shiro alone, the perfect set up to something more, the perfect chance he’d been waiting years to take. He’d poured everything into making sure every detail was just right and already, they’d run out of things to say.
He scrambled to try and fix everything.
“We could pick some up if you’d like?” Keith suggested, turning back to Shiro. “There should be a store by where we’re set to make camp tonight and we can check to see if they have any. I have some other snacks too, I wasn’t sure what you wanted. Anything’s better than green goo, right?” He laughed weakly.
Suddenly the car turned right, hard enough that Keith was straining against his seat belt before he could regain his balance. Beneath them, the car’s tires crunched over pebbles as they rolled off the asphalt, coming to an unsteady stop by the side of the road. For a moment, Keith was irrationally worried that he’d somehow found a way to ruin everything, but Shiro’s attention was elsewhere.
“Keith, look.”
Beyond them was a long, empty stretch of impossibly blue ocean. It stretched farther than the eye could see, shimmering into light just before the horizon met it. The shore cut off sharply to pebbles and coral, but pretty like a picture as long as Keith didn’t have to worry about getting his heel cut on anything.
The last time Keith had gone swimming on Earth, it had been at the Garrison pool as part of a physical education requirement. Lap swimming was a hobby he could have learned to love if he ever had the resources for it, but the idea of splashing around some sandy beach just seemed like more of a hassle than it was worth. But this… this looked like a postcard.
A distinctly human postcard.
“Can we stay here a while?” Shiro asked. He’d already opened his door.
Behind them, the air still whooshed as cars sped past, drowning out the sound of their radio. They needed to drive for six more hours if they were going to make camp before sunset. If they didn’t, they might be stuck in the middle of nowhere all night. But Shiro was smiling, turning his face into the afternoon breeze, and something in Keith’s stomach fluttered nervously. “We can probably track down those cookies when we stop for gas.”
Something must’ve shown on his face, because Shiro laughed.
“Forget about the cookies and the plans.” Shiro grinned and held out his hands, pulling Keith towards the beach. He looked so young and happy, the burden of leadership lifted from his shoulders just for a moment and Keith felt like he couldn’t breathe. It was like the last few years had fallen away and they were back in the Garrison, two kids with nothing but hope in their future. When Shiro laughed, Keith was drawn in before he even realized he wore a matching smile.
“Are you seriously taking a break twenty minutes after we left your house?” Keith tried to be serious, but Shiro was dragging him across the shore, tiny shells crunching under his feet.
“C’mon.” Shiro teased. “When was the last time that you and I just had time to have fun like this? It’s just the two of us right?”
Keith knew the exact date, the last time they’d been together before training for the Kerberos mission had taken up too much of Shiro’s time and they hadn’t been able to find another moment to spare. And then the year after, when he replayed it over and over in his head, wondering if he could have said something that could have saved Shiro. Or at least said goodbye. He shrugged it off, playing it casual.
“A while, I guess?”
Shiro hesitated for the first time, offering him a smile and a look that said more than Keith was ready to face before slowly stripping out of his t-shirt, tossing it carelessly behind them and suddenly Keith couldn’t focus on anything else.
They all bore symbols of battles past, but the angry lines that cut across Shiro’s skin told stories of a time he didn’t have the paladin armor to protect him. Shiro hadn’t had any of them the last time he’d seen Shiro like this.
Something in Shiro’s face softened, almost sad though Keith didn’t know why. He squeezed Keith’s hand with his metal fingers before recovering with a smile. “Then I owe you some fun. Race you to the ocean?”
Keith squawked in outrage as Shiro took off running without a proper count-off, before racing across the sand after him. As they dragged each other under the waves, the shadows on the beach lengthened.
They wasted a whole lot more than twenty minutes before they dragged themselves back to the car, dripping wet and laughing.