Little Steps Forward (Voltron Klance)

Chapter 6

Shiro

I was just about to settle into the bed with Adam when I heard my phone get a message. Worried it was from Keith, or even one of my bosses, I moved over to answer it - promptly gaining a whimper from Adam since he liked to lay and cuddle for a while before falling asleep. However, to my surprise, it was a text from Lance.

'Hey, Shiro! It's Lancey Lance again. The gang is hanging out at our dorm and I think I wanna know more about Keith, but hearing it from you instead of him.'

A smile played on my lips as I settled back into the bed, though stayed seated upright, looking down at the somewhat pouty face just under the covers still. "Don't worry, it's just Keith's roommate. I don't have to go in for a late night again."

He smiled up at me and wrapped his arms around my hips, hellbent to cuddle even if it was just a part of me. I swear to whatever God or Gods exist, I love this clingy man.

I set to replying to Lance now, keeping only one of the nightstand lights on to read his responses. He started going on about how Keith had been acting since the night of the party, how he had been waiting for him after work almost every day now, and how Keith finally opened up a little bit about himself after watching a movie.  He appeared to be asking about Keith's history with opening up more and more as he went on, so I finally decided to explain a bit more.

'Keith has always tried to ignore how he feels, since I took him under my wing. I figured it was something his dad did with him before he passed, but when I tried to talk to him about how it's okay to feel things, it seemed to make him worse.'

Lance took a while to start typing again, sending a quick apology for it and explaining Pidge and Hunk had decided to take the group out to eat and he had been put in charge of driving for some reason. 'Anyways, back to Keef. What do you mean by worse? Just kinda stopped talking about them altogether or somethin?'

'By worse, I mean he started to try and make himself express things, but they usually resulted in him having what I can only assume were panic attacks.'

I sigh as I think back to when Adam and I finally finished the paperwork to get us as his guardians. We had decided together to visit him at school and tell him in front of his class, but rather than being happy the rest of the day, it only lasted a few minuets before his eyes got filled with tears. His face kept twisting between happy and sad, maybe even scared now that I think back on it. The day ended with him going home with us early because he made himself sick trying to calm down.

'Could I bring up his dad and that without making him sad? I don't like seeing him sad.'

The simple fact Lance felt like explaining why he was asking made me chuckle. Maybe Keith had finally found someone who wanted to get through his walls better than even I could.

'He gets distant, but I haven't seen him get too worked up over his dad just yet. The big one is his mom, since she left them when he was still just a toddler.'

'Duely noted! Now, Keef has informed me it's well past 1 AM in Texas now so I leave with: Go to bed.'

With that I set my phone down and smiled to myself as I lay down in bed, the shifting making Adam wake up just enough to be coherent. "What was up..?"

"I think Keith has an admirer now. That's all."

A little nod, followed by a yawn as he held onto my torso a bit tighter now. "It's about time someone else saw his light." he mumbled before he drifted back to sleep. All I could do was agree with him.