Summer Anxieties (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic)

Summer Anxieties

Shiro took a deep breath, his hands gripping the steering wheel of the car tightly, a sweat breaking out down his neck and entire back. Glancing up, he checked to see if the bags for the road trip he planned on setting out on for the summer. His dark eyes blinked, seeing a small figure sitting in the middle seat. He took a deep breath, recognizing a younger version of himself aged somewhere between six to eight years. His mouth opened, his hands twisting slightly on the steering wheel.

"Are we going to have fun?" Little Shiro said.

"What?"

"You know. Like last summer?"

"Last summer?"

...

"What's wrong?"

Shiro's head darted up from looking at the letter he'd received in the mail, bile rising at his throat. He opened his mouth, his eyes glued on Adam, unsure of how to broach the contents of the letter with his boyfriend.

"Come on Shiro."

"I just got news that my father's dead."

"Your father?" Adam sat at the table across from Shiro, his eyes filled with worry. "Do you want me to go to the funeral with you?"

"I'm not sure I want to go."

...

"Well, of course not," an angry voice piped up from next to him. Shiro turned his head, seeing a preteen version of himself – a version around Keith's age, but just as angry as Keith now was. "Afterall, he abandoned us. That's why we didn't go to the funeral."

Shiro took a deep breath, the guilt of not going eating away. He turned his head, so he looked forward, waiting – waiting for someone other than his own thoughts to show up. His fingers tapped the steering wheel when another voice piped up from the back seat – a voice other than Little Shiro's voice. He looked up and saw another version of himself, one with slightly greying hair. The dark eyes looked at him accusingly.

"Well, you've got a good reason to feel guilty."

Shiro swallowed, knowing what the other him meant by those words.

...

"Why didn't you show up at the funeral?"

"I didn't realize I was obligated to do so, sir." Shiro found himself glaring at Iverson, glaring at the man while standing in his office. Normally, he respected his commanding officers, yet when it came to his father – he purposefully made the decision on his own. His hand clenched while he looked the man in the eye. Adam stood next to him, almost as if their commanding officer expected him to possibly talk some sense into Shiro regarding the matter.

"He was your father. I would think..."

"That I'd have some kind of regret from not going?" Shiro felt his mouth tighten around the top of his mouth and his tongue, his body physically trying hard not to start yelling at the man. "You of all people are aware of the fact my father abandoned me – our entire family, aren't you? So why would you..."

Iverson let out a sigh, tossing a file onto his desk, glaring at Shiro the entire time. "If you'd have actually gone to the funeral you would have found out about this."

Shiro glared at the file, not wanting to touch the vile thing knowing full well without looking at the file that the information involved his father somehow. "I don't want to hear about how he's a hero and died doing his job if that's what you're going at by showing me his personal file."

"This has nothing to do with your father's job-fighting fires here at the garrison."

Shiro felt a shudder run down his spine, his eyes drifting over to Adam. Adam attempted some form of half-smile in an attempt to show his support, yet reached for the file deciding to play the role of negotiator even though he didn't need to – in fact, at that moment Shiro wished Adam would simply side with him, yet in the back of his mind, he knew the reason he loved Adam so much was for that very reason.