Are (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic)

Are

"You're not my brother."

Shiro wanted to scream but screaming would only relieve his frustrations at the moment and not fix the problem in front of him. Of course, in the literal sense, what was right in front of him at that moment was not a problem, although there were plenty who would label Keith a problem child.

"You're like a brother."

Those words brought on a sigh from Shiro, his eyes glued onto the teenager in front of him. Just a few seconds before, Keith looked at him, his eyes narrowed and his mouth pushed into a firm line indicating Keith was, at least in Keith's mind, stating a firm, undeniable fact of reality, but as he said the next sentence the teen's facial features softened as Shiro continued watching him.

"Shiro, are you mad at me?" Keith's facial features contorted, his mouth twisting while his voice lowered, as if he expected Shiro to yell at him which was precisely why, no matter how much he might want to vent his frustrations, Shiro didn't. No, Keith got enough of that from Ryo who didn't bother trying to understand Keith.

"No. Just..." Shiro smiled at him. "Hey. Want to have pizza tonight?"

Keith's eyes darted to the kitchen area of their small apartment, his mind debating what he wanted for dinner. His mouth opened to say something but didn't say anything. Instead, his eyes looked back at Shiro as if he knew someone was trying to change the subject on him.

"It really is okay, Keith," even though it didn't really feel alright, even hurt hearing Keith say Shiro wasn't his brother even though they did share the same father and mother.

"Something to keep in mind is that Keith's lived experience, his reality up until now has in fact been being your father's only child," the psychiatrist explained. "He needs to get used to this new reality that contradicts the facts of that old reality."

"It's not okay though. I know it's not, but..." Keith glances away, worrying the side of his mouth which indicated something upset him. "Shiro..."

Shiro didn't know what to say, looking at Keith right then, but then. "I want..."

The front door opened and a third person said, "I'm home," preventing Shiro from telling Keith he simply wanted to make things better for him, to ease that feeling of not feeling okay with the situation that he knew Keith was feeling. Shiro heard the sound of keys being set onto the kitchen counter right before the third person said, "What's going on?"

"Hi Ryo," Keith muttered, continuing to look away from them both. His eyes continued drifting around the room, avoiding eye contact with Ryo. He sat down on the couch, continuing to fidget.

"I asked what was going on," Ryo stated.

"Ryo," Shiro turned to look at him, pushing his lips together. The young man standing in front of him, if it weren't for the shorter haircut, was, in fact, the spitting image of Keith.

Ryo looked him in the eye, his eyes narrowing. "So, what did he do this time?"

"I didn't..." Keith's voice strained, but then he looked at Shiro. "Did I do anything wrong?"

Shiro turned towards his younger brother, his mouth breaking into a smile, fully planning on telling Keith that he hadn't done anything wrong when Ryo said, "If you have to even ask that, it's obvious you did."

At that moment, Shiro watched Keith's eyes widen only for an instant as Keith quickly bolted into the other room, the room he unfortunately shared with Ryo. Shiro let out a deep breath, turning to look at Ryo. "Really?"