The Dead Don't Bleed

Struggle

Word Count: 2,578

The silence between them was starting to get unbearable, and Keith's thoughts searched for a possible start of a conversation as they walked down halls to his new room.

"So, uh, y-you and Allura-"

"Yes, we're together," Shiro's tone wasn't one he was used to, and Keith bit his lip almost hard enough to draw blood to the surface.

Some more minutes stretched on.

"I, uh-"

"Look," Shiro finally sighed, and Keith almost bumped into the man as they came to a sudden stop in front of a closed door. Giving a small peek through the door window, he could see the hastily rolled open sleeping bag sitting on the floor. Off to the side, Keith could make out a small shelf sitting along the far wall, and Keith noticed with a note of surprise that his backpack was sitting untouched on the floor next to it. He took it all in in a single second before drawing his attention back to the man in front of him.

"I know you used to know me, you know, before all of this, and I know that I used to know you, I can tell that much.

"But I've moved past that, you've had over three years to find me and show up and I-"

"Yeah, and I didn't because I thought you were dead," Shiro closed his mouth as Keith spoke, but he could see his expression remained flat, and with a hard swallow he pushed on, doing his best to try and keep his bubbling anger and frustration pushed down, this was the first time they were actually talking together, he couldn't blow it right now. "That night, I saw you fall off a building, Shiro, I- you were sprawled out on the street seven stories below and I thought you were dead. I- I was fourteen, I was scared, I never even thought to check if you were still breathing because at the same time I thought the world was ending.

"Because of that night, I was on my own, Shiro, no one came to help me for months, and because I thought you were dead, I was trying to deal with losing you by myself, and I didn't know how to handle it, so I forced myself to ignore it and hope it would just all go away.

"Look, I know you don't trust me, and I can tell that you don't want anything to do with me, and I get that, I do, but if you could just give it a shot-"

"Keith, just stop, you don't get it," Keith's mouth snapped shut in surprise at the hardness of his tone, and Shiro, in turn, pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh before continuing in a slightly softer tone, "I woke up in an abandoned alley in the middle of the city. I couldn't remember what happened, or where I was, or even how much time had passed, I was lucky to even know my own name, and no matter how hard I tried, I had no memory of anything that had happened before I woke up on top of a rotting corpse.

"Lance, Allura, and the others found me days later. I had an idea to move out of the city to get away from the hordes of undead, but that wasn't before I got bit," he said, gesturing to his missing arm, and Keith's stomach did backflips at the reminder of what he was now missing.

"They found me in time, Coran managed to cut off the spread and kept me from bleeding out, I owe them my life, Keith, and you were nowhere to be found-"

"But I-"

"Yes, I get that, I get that you didn't know I was alive, but it's too late for apologies. This is my life now, I've come to terms with that, now you need to."

Digging crescents into his palms, Keith clenched his jaw, and nodded, looking down at the floor and trying to hold back his tears. "Fine."

Shiro's eyes narrow before he finally nodded himself, "Good." And with that one word, he walked away, leaving Keith alone. Again.