VLD: Unpleasant Surprise

Unpleasant Suprise

Shiro was not a light sleeper.

After almost a year in captivity fighting for his life and being tossed around like a ragdoll in the arena, the constant battles in the Black Lion and the occasional encounters with Zarkon on the astral plane. Shiro was not a light sleeper at all.

For once, he had been getting a decent night sleep. No nightmares whether stress or PTSD induced, no staying up late planning for the worst just in case something went wrong. He had gone to sleep at a decent hour, drifting into a stillness he rarely got to experience anymore.
It was unfortunate he was woken up by light footsteps. Brushing it off as Pidge or Matt getting a late night snack (a common occurrence considering the two had insomnia), he rolled back over and tried to get back to sleep.

Until a distant crash snapped him back to reality.

"Quiznack," he rolled out of bed and brushed his bangs out of his eyes. It was most likely Matt, the poor boy didn't understand the way Hunk organized everything in the kitchen. Nobody did but Hunk actually, who was the only one to see some sort of pattern, the others had found a way to memorize the drawers and cabinets in the past year. Matt wasn't lucky enough to have that time.

He pushed the button to open the kitchen door, and rubbed his eyes at the sudden bright light contradicting the dimly lit hallway. "Matt if you're getting a snack you-"

That wasn't Matt.

"What-what are you two doing?"

Keith was crouched on the floor in his paladin armor, brushing glass and food goo into the Altean equivalent of a dustpan, zipped up duffel bag sitting nearby. While one of Lotor's hands was on a half-closed door to the fridge, while the other was holding another duffel bag open to reveal jars of food goo and other various foods and drinks. He wore his original suit of armor and not the one they had ended up giving him to blend in with the rebel groups during missions.

Lotor zipped up the bag and slung it over his shoulder, "leaving."

Shiro watched as Keith's eyes drifted from him down to the mess but he didn't continue to clean it up, just gripped the materials tightly. He was expecting Shiro to do something, protest or yell.

Taking a metaphorical step back Shiro re-evaluated the situation. At about one-thirty in the morning, he woke up to find Keith and Lotor in the kitchen preparing to leave. By the looks of it, not to the Marmora base, or any place really. He doubted the bag near Keith had food which meant they were running without any place in mind, and if he had slept any longer he would have missed them. Two important members of the team suddenly gone. The thought made Shiro nauseous.

"Why?" Shiro's question made Keith seem less tense, who continued to clean after glancing back at Lotor.

"I'm surprised it's not obvious," Lotor picked up the second duffel bag, slinging it over his empty shoulder. "I may be an ally to Voltron, and some of your team and I may have become friends or acquaintances, but that's not the case for everyone. I am but an asset in the eyes of the rest of the universe, and many people, especially leaders within the Coalition, would pay good money or do horrible things to get their hands on me," his eyes went dark, "my former generals included. The war may be over but there are still stray Galra out there, nobody Keith and I can't stop on our own, nobody Voltron can't take care of. But there is little protection for myself or anyone else if I stay. Like they started to do in the brief period there was no ruler before, they'll form something on their own, and if I'm away from you it'll be more likely they'll be separately heading after me."

Shiro's jaw clenched, he knew what Lotor said was true. He should have expected something like this, found a way to solve the problem before running had become a solution. "We have all of the information from Zarkons ship, we can use it to find any galra who are still out there and bring them to their knees. And any Coalition members will be easy to deal with if you just-"

"You know it would be more complicated than that," he turned to Keith, "would it be alright if I grabbed the other bag and our helmets and started loading them into the pod? Our best time window is closing quickly."

Keith looked up giving him a smile, "yeah, go ahead. I'll be there in a minute."

Lotor left the two in an awkward silence.
"You don't usually clean this slow," Shiro pointed out after a while.

"Maybe I want to be thorough, it's the last time I'll be in this kitchen anyway."

"Why are you going with him?" Keith didn't answer, he picked up the dustpan equivalent and dumped it into the trash chute. "He's not forcing you to, is he?"

Shiro had never seen Keith whirl around so fast, "no! You would know if that was the case!"

"Then is Kolivan ordering you to do this?" Lotor and Kolivan didn't get along too well, it was possible the commander wanted Keith to keep an eye on him due to his never-ending paranoia.

"I would be in my Marmora suit if he was."

"Then why? I know you got close to him during our time working together, you trust him enough to go out on his own." Shiro began to back down a bit as he noticed the signs of Keith putting a wall up, a fake neutral face locking into position and shoulders stiffening, ready to defend himself or fire back at a moments notice. "Keith?"

The gentle tone surprised Keith, his facade cracking slightly. "Yeah?"

"How personal is it? Is it about being half-galra?"

Bad question, "w-what!? No! It's just... nevermind. Really none of your business anyway." Throwing the dustpan onto the counter, he stormed out of the room, Shiro following closely.

On the way to the pods Keith had stopped answering his questions, replying with a grunt or something to drive them away from the particular topic, neither satisfying Shiro nor changing his thoughts. He waited on the loading dock and watched the two pack their bags.

"Keith," Shiro placed his hand on Keith's shoulder, causing Keith to turn and face him, a fiery look on his face that clearly meant: stop trying, I'm going no matter what you say. "Please, just..." he couldn't continue.

"Stop talking," brushing Shiro's hand off his shoulder and wrapping his own arms around him. Hesitantly, Shiro hugged back, giving him a quick squeeze similar to how they would hug back at the Garrison after a long day of not seeing each other before they retired to the room Matt and Shiro shared to study, or just spend time together before curfew. If only he was able to hold Keith like this for a little longer.

"Love, we're behind schedule!"

Oh.

Keith pulled away towards Lotor, leaving Shiro with the ghost comfort and a yearning for Keith's natural warmth. He watched as Keith climbed into the pod and intertwined his hand with Lotor's before pulling the door shut. It whirred to life and took off into space.

He hoped the two were happy.