Wings of Home (Voltron: Legendary Defender/One Day at a Time 2017 Crossover)

Stepping Stones

His job as Keith's older brother was to protect him, and yet Shiro honestly felt as if he were failing. Normally he found himself asking Adam for advice, but Adam was in fact gone. There was nobody he could discuss the videos of Keith predicting the cards almost perfectly with, but nobody to vent his frustrations regarding the commander who took Keith into interrogation at.

Unfortunately, his inability to vent his frustration meant avoiding Keith all together until the final bell rang. He arrived at Veroncia's office and received a glare from her. "Keith..."

Keith of course sat on the couch with both feet on the furniture while crossing his arms across his chest as he didn't say anything. Veronica smiled at him. "Keith, aren't you going to tell him?"

"Tell me what?" Shiro watched Keith open his mouth only for his mouth to snap shut. Shiro let his tone of voice fluctuate melodically while his mouth twisted into a smile. "Keith..."

Veronica held out a slip of paper. "My aunt's phone number. She wants to invite you, Keith and Ryo over for a family dinner, but you should take her up on that offer. Apparently, it's also an invitation from my abuela, and you don't want to insult that little old lady."

"Thanks." Shiro of course wasn't sure whether he should be thanking her or not, but he knew better than saying no. Keith was quiet the entire ride home, but they found Ryo headed out the door for the local recording studio he utilized. Keith watched Shiro make the phone call, but the look on his face made Shiro feel like he was a dentist pulling his younger brother's teeth. Of course, when he found out the dinner would be tonight, Shiro found himself shocked.

He explained Ryo would be unable to make it, yet this didn't hold Penelope back from saying Ryo could come another time. In some ways Shiro was frustrated that Ryo wasn't going with them, but he was also glad Ryo wouldn't be there to antagonize Keith. While Ryo had promised he would stop, there were still thing things he did unintentionally. The fact Penelope was already ready to invite them back floored Shiro; normally people would interact with Keith once and ignore them as a family unit after that.

Of course, Keith already punched Penelope's nephew in the eye, so they were past the first impression stage already.

This fact didn't prevent Shiro from looking for ways the evening would end in disaster. Lydia hugged Keith before Shiro could let them know Keith wasn't fond of being touched and he found himself stuck watching Keith tense up. Shiro wasn't expecting Elena's non-binary significant other to be there. He felt the situation almost ended in disaster, and yet the three teens took Keith's social nativity in stride.

Shiro finally started relaxing when the family accepted Keith unconditionally for who he was, faults and all, but Keith asking him about a stay over at the garrison was honestly a pleasant surprise. He couldn't thank Penelope enough for saying yes, but something told him she was majorly stepping out of her comfort zone on this one. Lydia of course gave Keith another hug before he left, yet Keith returned the hug, although a bit hesitantly.

Keith went straight for his sketchpad when they arrived at the apartment and sat on the couch doodling. Shiro smiled at his younger brother. "I see you're in a rather good mood."

"How can you tell?"

"You actually picked up the sketchbook assignment Veronica gave you without me prompting. You don't have any homework, do you?"

"I don't know. I've missed class for two days in a row. I'll probably have make up homework, but I'll make sure to get it done."

"That's because you want the stay over to happen?"

"Yeah. I like them."

"What did you think of the grandmother?"

"Is it possible to like and not like something at the same time?"

"Are you talking about the fact you like her, but not her hugs?"

"No. I actually like her hugs, but I also don't."

"I think if you spend more time around her you'll come to like her hugs, though touch has never been your strong point." Shiro took a deep breath. "Keith. I need to tell you something."

"If it's that you're proud of me, I already know that. You have that look on your face whenever you get really proud of me."

A laugh escaped Shiro's mouth. "That wasn't it, but while we're at that, I think I should say Adam would be proud of you as well, if he were here."

"I know."

"So..." Shiro took a deep breath. "Do you remember how you Ryo would suggest dad had experiments done on you?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about that."

"That answer always concerned me, as that means the answer is yes."

"You've said that before. I'm not allowed..."

"I saw the videos." Shiro watched Keith look up in surprise. "Holt showed me."

"Why?"

"Iverson had him show me after you mentioned this Allura. Veronica says this Allura was your imaginary friend from childhood."

"I guess so."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"You wouldn't believe me."

"Honestly, I wouldn't believe what happened on the videos were true if I hadn't seen them. That said, I don't want to force you to tell me, but if you ever want to or feel the need to talk to someone, I am here for you."

"I know."

"I love you."

"I know."

Keith simply continued drawing in his sketchbook. A few hours later Ryo arrived home. He dropped his bag by the door and let out a sound of exhaustion. Shiro glanced up. "That rough?"

"Pretty..." Ryo paused. "Wait. Keith's in a good mood. Does that mean things went well?"

"Do you want to really know how well it went?"

Ryo let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his head. "Knowing you, you'll tell me even if I said no."

"Keith asked if Penelope's two kids and Elena's significant other..."

"Syd is non-binary. Do not call them a she or a girl."

"Good for them Keith." Ryo pointed his thumb at Keith. "Please tell me he didn't do something like that there in front of someone whose LGBT?"

"What does that mean?"

"Ask Elena the next time you see her. I'm sure she'd love to explain."

"He did!" The color drained from Ryo's face. He pointed his finger at Keith multiple times. "He did, yet you're saying it went well?"

"Well, Elena and Syd were actually quite understanding when it came to Keith, but so was the whole family." Shiro frowned. "And our weird landlord who invites himself over for dinner."

"I am not going to ask."

"Anyways. Keith wanted to invite them for a stay over at the garrison."

Ryo's eyes blinked before grabbing Shiro's arm and dragging him into the other room. He closed the door. "Please tell me you didn't promise Keith you could arrange that." Shiro opened his mouth to protest, but Ryo held up a finger. "Do you really think the principle will let Keith have this, what with his track record?"

"They might not, but Iverson will."

"You said you hated going above to Iverson's head because it made things worse for Keith!"

"Yeah. Because it made it harder for him to make friends, but now he has a few kids he wants to be friends with, yet they're the kind of kids I want him to be friends with. Even better, they're not his friend because of who I am, but if these are the type of kids who would look out for Keith and I won't have to worry about him making those kinds of friends."

Shiro watched Ryo place a hand over his mouth. "You mean we can openly state Keith is our brother without people taking advantage of him because of our personal statuses?"

"Yeah, I think so."