Burnt Out {A Hero!AU Sheith Fanfiction}

Smoke

When Shiro had gotten home that night at around one in the morning, both Keith and Matt had been asleep on his couch. He was outside his door, unlocking it the moment he noticed the heavy snores from Matt and Kosmo, so he made a point to very quietly slip into his apartment. The press conference had been... tiring. As was the interview right after, all of the varying questions on his health and his protection and the company's fire and the Red Flame bleeding all the way into midnight as the hungry reporters got their fill of details and assurances. Shiro barely had any questions that touched upon his becoming CEO -- it seemed as though the Red Flame had stolen his spotlight.

Which would have been okay any other day -- Shiro didn't like talking about himself too much.

The only problem had been that he got all that attention from killing a man.

Shiro slipped his shoes off by the door and padded his way past the couch, tiptoeing towards the television to shut it off from whatever anime Matt had left running. Matt had been lying belly up on one side of the couch, sprawled out, one of his arms hanging onto the floor, and the other draped over Atlas, who slept soundly on his chest. Keith was curled up in the other corner besides the giant Kosmo, who had lifted his head up to watch Shiro, thumping his tail a few times when Shiro gave him a friendly wave across the dark room. Both appeared to be sleeping. Shiro made his very cautious way over to Keith, pulling the blanket he always had draped over his backrest down and very gently laying it down over Keith's huddled up form. He patted Kosmo's head, and then reached a hand over to give Matt's leg a pat in a silent apology for not giving him the blanket.

Shiro left to his room, dressed down to sweatpants and a muscle-tee, wiped off his makeup, and then grabbed his laptop. He gave Black a nice scratching behind the ear, told her he'd come back to snuggle later, and then left for the living room again. He crept his way to the sofa, and settled down nice and easy between the sprawled Matt and the curled up Keith, making sure to turn his laptop brightness all the way down once he had opened it. Atlas, giving off a quiet chirp, rose off of Matt's chest, slinker her way under his arm, and carefully made her way to Shiro's side, settling beside his leg. Shiro pet her a bit before returning to his laptop.

"Alright, Red Flame," Shiro whispered as he pulled up Matt's screen shots. "Where are you gonna be next?"

"Shiro?" Keith's voice came from the sofa, his weight shifting as he pushed himself to sit up. "What... what are you doing? You're back so late. You only said you'd be a few hours," he mumbled, yawning and wiping his eyes as his attention flickered from Shiro to his laptop.

He decided that, for Shiro's sake, he wouldn't mention what he'd heard. But when he'd heard how Shiro muttered about him he did feel a little nauseous. Someday Shiro would find out and then what would happen? Keith could imagine being at Shiro's and suddenly being kicked out. Being insulted, shamed, pushed away for his involvement and his job. But today wasn't that day and Shiro was just researching. And Keith just so happened to be unable to sleep. Like every night.

It wasn't really his fault. He wasn't sure what it was- some part of him asked if it was insomnia, another insisted it was just restlessness- but Keith was rarely able to fall asleep and when he did sleep he was hardly able to get back up again in the morning. Lethargy just claimed him so easily and he never knew how to fight it off. If it weren't for Kosmo, and if it weren't for Shiro, he was sure that he wouldn't ever get out of bed. Hell, he'd probably starve to death just because his body didn't have the energy to move when his mind commanded it.

Sometimes it was tempting to do it anyway.

"You can't be working again. You need to take a break."

Shiro's eyes widened a little, and he closed his laptop fast, plunging them in the shadows of the room without the glare of his monitor. He gave a soft laugh. "I didn't know you were up," he admitted, truthful. His voice was hushed, quieted for the snoring Matt's sake. Shiro shook his head and flicked his eyes back to his closed laptop, everything tugging at him to keep researching -- to keep watching and surveying.