Everything Has Changed (Sheith Week Unlimited 2018)

Day 5 - Harmony

Over the following months, while he was still getting to know the others, Keith and Shiro were becoming closer and closer.

Each mission, each battle, the strength of their bond was shown, not only to the other Paladins, but to anyone who was present.

They spent a lot of time with each other in between mission, but they made sure that didn't take away from the time that they spent with the rest of the team.

Things were going well...or at least they were. Even though he wasn't acting differently around the others Shiro could feel him becoming more and more distant.

Every time he tried to bring it up with Keith something always happened to stop the conversation. Until tonight, that was.

It was the evening and not much had happened during the day so everyone was doing something to relax. Since Keith didn't really know how to relax Shiro was betting he was using the train deck...again. However he did not find Keith. Instead he found Lance and Allura training together.

"Hey Shiro! Come here to see the sharpshooter at work?" Lance asked.

"Not exactly. I thought Keith would be here." Shiro replied.

"Oh." Lance said, looking a little rejected.

"Next time I will definitely come by to see the sharpshooter at work."

The light that had disappeared from Lance's eyes returned immediately. "Honestly it's probably a good thing you're not sticking around. Means you'll be blown way even more when you come by next."

"I bet I will Lance. Now, do you two know where Keith is?"

"I'm sure he headed back to his room." Allura replied.

"Thank you, Allura." and with that, Shiro was headed for Keith's room.

Once he got there, he knocked on the door and waited for Keith to give him the all clear. There was no answer. Shiro frowned. Maybe he hadn't heard? He knocked again, louder this time. The same result. Perhaps he had fallen asleep? Although that didn't make any sense. Shiro knew Keith's schedule, it was far too early for him to be sleeping.

"I'm coming in okay?" Shiro called out just in case he had been wrong and Keith was in there. He hadn't been. He walked in to find the room empty. Where the hell was he?

Coran was going about the last of his duties when he came across Keith sitting alone in the lounge.

"Everything okay Keith?" he asked in his usual chipper way.

"Yeah, I'm fine Coran." Keith replied.

"Good to hear! I'll be on my way then." Coran was about to leave when Keith stopped him.

"Actually, Coran, there is...something that you might be able to help with."

Coran sat near to where Keith was sitting. "Alright, now what seems to be the issue Keith?"

Keith took a deep breath. "Okay, let's say I have a friend, who has this other friend."

Was he seriously going for the friend metaphor? Oh well, too late to back out of it now.

"These two friends have been friends for a while now, but recently one of my friends has started to see the other one in a uh different way then they did in the past. They want to tell the other one, but they don't know if they feel the same way."

"I can only tell you what a good friend of mine once said. Tell your friend to go for it, you never know what's going on in another's head unless you talk about it. After all, anything could happen tomorrow and they'll regret it if they don't say anything."

"And what do they do if the other person doesn't feel the same way?"

"They can start to move on, for starters. And if they think their friendship might be negatively impacted by saying something then I'm sure, if they've been friends for a while, they should be just fine."

"You think?"

"Of course! Is that all you needed or should I get back to my activities?"

"Yeah, go ahead. Thank you Coran."

"Any time. Ah! Shiro! Me and Keith here were just finishing up our conversation. He's all yours." and with that Coran left the two in peace.

"Are you okay Keith?" Shiro asked as he sat down next to him. "You've been a bit distant lately."

'Whenever I'm okay or not really depends on how this goes' Keith thought. "Um, yeah, we need to talk Takashi."

"I'm listening." he replied.

"I-uh-I like you Takashi. I like you a lot."

"I like you too Keith."

Keith noticed the way he said it and sighed. "No, I mean, I like you. As in more than in a friend way."

A silence fell over them as Shiro processed what Keith had just said. The silence lasted a lot longer than Keith would have liked it too. So much so he was becoming quite a bit anxious.

"Listen, Takashi, I understand-" Before he could finish his sentence, Shiro had closed what small space was between them and kissed Keith.

Unsure of what was happening at first, Keith froze. Once his mind had processed it, he closed his eyes and kissed back. The kiss only lasted for a few seconds, but in those few seconds it felt like the world had stopped turning. Nothing else mattered, but them.

The kiss ended and Keith couldn't help, but look at Shiro in shock.

"You feel the same way?" Keith asked once he finally found his voice again.

"Of course I do." Shiro leant his head against Keith's. "I have done for a long time. I didn't say anything cause I wasn't sure you did."

"What do we do now?"

"I don't know. What do you want to do?"

Keith took a minute to think. "Hmm, well I don't want the others to know, not yet at least. I want us to figure out what exactly this could be first. I don't think we can do that with everyone putting pressure on us. Not that they would mean to of course."

Shiro nodded. "I understand what you mean. I think keeping this a secret for a little while is a good idea as well. Now, how do you feel about trying out the pool? Last I checked we're the only two people in the Castle to not have used it yet."

"Alright, I'll race you."

Shiro smiled. "You're on."