Lost and Found

Ambush

Keith gingerly sipped at the milkshake with his eyes closed, enjoying the moment of silence between him and his brother. Shiro watched his face with a kind smile, happy that he was alive. After a couple more sips, Keith put his half-finished milkshake down on the table and leaned back with a small but content smile on his face.

"Hunk makes the best food." Keith said quietly, but loud enough for Shiro to hear. Shiro let out a light chuckle and nodded, then put his right hand on Keith's. Keith looked up at him, golden eyes filled with silent, unreadable emotion. From the time that Shiro had first met him again, he had been really quiet. More than he used to be. It was a lot harder for Shiro to read his emotions now.

"Have you been eating well?" Shiro asked, obviously concerned about his brother's wellbeing. Keith's eyes faltered and looked down, as if he was thinking deeply on whether or not to answer. Shiro's face instantly went into the concerned brother expression, expecting the worse answer. Keith looked down at his hands, which were resting in his lap.

"I...eat when I can. It's usually something small though. I-I don't really have time to have a full meal anymore." Keith said, still staring down at his hands. Shiro's face looked...slightly distraught, but he was relieved that he was eating at the least. Though, he was still worried. He knew that depression was one of the possible symptoms of PTSD, which he knew Keith had. It would crush his soul if Keith had depression along with it. Suddenly, Shiro blinked and looked up as Keith leaned back, and a small smile stretched across his face.

"Though, it's a million times better than the food on the Galran ships. Compared to it, how I eat isn't actually too bad." Keith said, his eyes lazily traced lines on the dark ceiling. His mouth was drawn down in a thoughtful frown.

"But, nothing can beat the food here. Especially with Hunk cooking." Keith said, closing his eyes and smiling again. Shiro smiled as well. He could tell that Keith's smiles were getting realer and realer. It just made him happy that he was finally smiling again, even if it wasn't real sometimes.

"Yeah." Shiro said, relaxing slightly in his chair. They sat in content silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts. Shiro was still looking at him, watching for any signs of sadness. He wanted Keith to be happy, truly happy. He knew why Keith wanted to stay away from the team, but they needed him. Shiro knew that, even with Zarkon down, there would eventually be someone in his place. And they would need Voltron. They couldn't just replace Keith, he wouldn't let it happen. But he wouldn't bring it up, not yet at least. He wanted Keith to feel comfortable here.

"So. What do you do at your...meetings?" Shiro asked, trying to see if he was doing anything reckless. Keith opened his eyes and gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling.

"Well, we mostly try to see what the Galra are up to. My quadrant is responsible for anything directly in this star system. We mostly do stealth missions, and attacks on Galra bases..." Keith said, trailing off at the end of his sentence. Shiro made a soft humming noise. Of course he would be doing that.

"Yea, it's fun, sometimes. But, I don't really like it." Keith said sadly, leaning forward and looking down at his feet. Shiro's eyes drifted over to him quickly, concerned. He put a hand on Keith's shoulder quickly, giving him the brotherly look of concern. Keith looked up at him sadly with his glowing, golden eyes.

"Why's that?" Shiro asked, gently rubbing Keith's back. Keith looked down at his hand, not saying anything. His mind filled with painful memories of his friends, his comrades, his soldiers, dying. Right in front of his eyes. And of him, not being able to save them. He closed his eyes, flushing the memories out of his head and breathing out a sigh.