Court of Feathers

Ten

Word Count: 2,029

The walk back to their rooms was silent.

The prince purposefully kept his strides long enough so he was well enough in front to avoid any contact with the two humans that trailed behind him, and Shiro could only watch his winged back as they walked, minutes coming and going, and some pressing thoughts so hard against Shiro's skull, he thought it might burst.

So the headache was obviously back again.

He knew, or remembered more like, that the king had promised they he would find a way to get them home, but, whether or not it was actually going to come true, and that Shiro found absolutely no way to travel out of a single solar system, much less multiple ones, he couldn't find a single solution that would get them home again.

"Here we are," Lance's voice was only a low mumble, and he didn't look either of them in the eyes as he stopped at a closed door, opening it revealed the somewhat comforting sight of Shiro's room. "Keef, do I need to show you where you room is, or do you know how to get there?"

The pale teen stifled a yawn, and shook his head, ignoring Lance's mispronunciation again, "I think I can get there on my own."

Lance appeared to only be half listening at this point, and his gaze was still glued firmly on the floor as Keith shifted past Shiro and into his room, while Shiro still stood by the open doorway, looking at the prince with a confused stare.

It wasn't until he slowly reached over to close his room door, sealing them both in the outside hall, did Shiro finally speak. "I know we just met, Lance, but... is something wrong? You've been acting off the entire walk back."

Lance, shrugged, thin arms shoved deep in his pockets, and his blue wings tightened further against his spine, ocean eyes still firmly stuck to the rug at their feet, "I- I'm fine, I just-"

Shiro held back his sudden urge to pull the teen in for a hug when he finally looked up. So much emotion swam in his eyes at that point, and Shiro could see right into the teen's head because of just how broken down he looked, and even though Shiro hadn't spent nearly enough time to actually get to know him, he felt a nagging in his gut that this prince, this boy didn't act like this, it felt like he was seeing a completely different person altogether. "I'm just tired," his eyes flew back to the ground again.

Shiro's brows furrowed, watching then as the teen turned around and began walking away from him in slow, but long strides. Shiro had his hand out by that point, like he could try and grasp the teen quickly disappearing out of reach, his thoughts jumbled as he tried and failed to say something to get him to stay, and Shiro watched in silence as Lance turned the corner and was gone.

"Shiro?" Keith's voice filtered in through the closed door, and with one last look at the spot where the prince had disappeared, Shiro slipped into his room, the door shutting with a soft click.

"Are you okay?" Keith was now sitting on the massive bed, the cover and sheets were expertly made back again, the plump pillows situated in almost a small pile at the front that the pale teen was now leaning against, and Shiro had the random thought that someone had went into his room and did them while they were out.

He shrugged, crossing his arms as he walked over and leaned against the bedpost uncertainly, "I'm fine, just tired."

Unfortunately there were times when that brotherly bond made Shiro as readable as an open book, and this was definitely one of those times.

Keith cocked his head to the side, brows furrowed in worry, "What's wrong? I'm sorry about telling them, I swear, I just didn't think it would matter too much if they knew or not where we came from."