After All This Time - Sheith Fic

The Truth

I didn't want the hug to end but surely it had to. We let go and I smile up at him quietly. Shiro has this wide smile as he looks at me and I raise an eyebrow.

"What's that goofy look for?" I ask and can't help but smile just as wide. He just shakes his head and goes back to sit down on his bed.

"You have the same goofy look" he teases and leans back on his hands. I shake my head and come sit beside him, mimicking how he sat. It seemed almost like old times.

I relax some and look at him quietly with a small smile which he returns. "Hey Shiro?" I ask after a moment or two.

"Hm?"

"What did you do those years that you were gone? It's okay if you don't wanna talk about it, I'm just kinda curious" I ask, sitting up more and turning to face him. He only lets out a short sigh and looks down.

"You really want to know?" I nod some and he sits up and turns toward me as well. "Look, Keith it's not my proudest moments and I don't want you to think any differently of me."

"With everything that we've been through and how long we've been friends, I doubt anything you can say would make me think any differently of you." I say reassuringly, lightly taking his hand in mine.

He looked at me, almost sad, but whatever it was, I could tell he needed to get it off his chest. Shiro takes in a deep breath and nods. "You're right."

"I guess I should start with my accident then," he starts, and I could see him searching for the right words. "It wasn't really a hit and run, and I wasn't really headed to work."

This was a bit of a surprise because I never took Shiro for a liar, especially not back then, when we were so close. I nod a little so he knew I was listening and could continue.

"You remember the Galra? That big gang in town? I kind of...got involved with them" he says quietly, looking down at our hands. "Like I said, it's not my proudest moment."

"What do you mean you got involved? You weren't on drugs or anything were you?" I ask curiously, as that's what the gang was mainly known for, their drug trafficking.

"No, no, no I didn't do any of the drugs, I just sold them. I'd do their 'special deliveries' to people like politicians and local government employees as I wasn't really the type you'd peg for being a drug dealer, and me showing up at their doorstep would be less suspicious than any of them doing it.

"So I'd do that maybe once or twice a week and the pay was great, but I needed more, because of my mom..." he shifts a little uncomfortably. I almost wanted to tell him he could stop, but he was too far along in the story for me to let him stop.

"Well, you know she was sick and she was drowning in medical bills and I just wanted to help her out. So I would slip a few bills of the drug money into my pocket and they soon found out." Shiro pauses and looks back at me with a sigh.

"Shiro, you don't have to-"

"No, Keith, you need to know. When they found out they...they were the ones that crushed my arm, and they framed it as a car accident. I didn't tell anyone because I didn't want to get in trouble with either the authorities or the gang." I quietly nod, squeezing his hand some so he knew I cared.

"That's why I pulled away from you and everyone else, even my mom. I didn't want them to hurt anyone else besides me. Eventually after my debt to them was paid off I was able to leave, but by then I was so far gone that I just restarted in college."

"Thank you for telling me, Shiro, it means the world to me" I say softly and he forces a small smile. He finally lets out a sigh of relief and lays back on the bed, and I couldn't help but laugh.

"It feels good to get that off my chest" he mutters and I nod, looking at him as he laid back.

"I'm sure it does" I smile and sit up a bit straighter to stretch, before twisting and cracking my back.

Knowing all of this now helped fill in the gaps like why he left, what actually happened, and why he seemed so different now. It almost settled the demons in my head to know the truth.

"Keith? You're zoning out" Shiro says, a look of worry on his face. I blink a few times and shake my head.

"Sorry, just kind of lost in thought" I smile at him and lay back beside him. "That was quite a secret you were keeping" I laugh a little and shake my head.

"I just wish we'd seen each other here earlier so I didn't have to keep it for so long" he chuckles and rolls over to face me, his hair kind of falling in his face. I only smile and push it back out of the way.

"Thank you again for telling me, it really does mean a lot" I hum with a small smile and he just nods, but I could tell that there was something else he wasn't telling me.

After a few moments of silence he pipes up. "So, how's your dating life been? Your style changed a bit from the last time I saw you."

"What dating life?" I laugh and sit back up. "I haven't been on a real date in forever, just hookups here and there."

"Do you want to go on a real date?" Shiro asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you asking me on one?" That's what it sounded like but I didn't want to push my luck on assuming.

"If that's what you want" he laughs a little and sits back up as well, running a hand through his hair. I love when he does that.

"If I were you, I'd watch calling it a date, straight guys don't normally go on dates with gay guys" I tease him, though I was almost serious.

"Who says I'm straight?"

A/N
Not exactly my favourite chapter and I feel like I could've done more but this is it I guess, I'm sorry I'm terrible at updating chapters, if someone reminds me or something then I'll try to update but for now it's more of whenever I remember and have the time to do it. Hope y'all enjoy!