Concept: Sheith with quoiromantic Keith who hasn't figured out he's aro yet. He knows that Shiro's his Special Person and that he's attracted to him, but he's not getting those fluffy, fuzzy, crushy feelings he's pretty sure people in love are supposed to have. Like, if he wants to be Shiro's #1 bff and also probably have sex with him sometimes, does that count as being in love? Would that be enough for Shiro? Just... all the confusing quoiromantic feelings.
This is like a very casual fic thread ish ramble thing, but I love it and I love you
Keith has these ideas about love that he’s formulated throughout his many homes and places. Love is a family or love is romance. Romance means sex. That’s what tv says, that’s what his peers always showed, it’s what he was lead to believe. It’s not like anyone was really telling him about all the different identities.
So yeah. That’s what he thinks it is. Shiro, obviously, falls under family love. The kind of love he never had in his many homes before Shiro. Pidge, Lance, Allura, Hunk, and Coran all got added over time, but Shiro is... His special person. He’s the one that makes him happy and ecstatic, and makes him want to be better.
It’s a stray thought that starts it all. Shiro, great, amazing, considerate Shiro, man-spreads like a bitch. Everything on display in skin tight leggings or suits. Keith is weak. His eyes stray. He nods to himself. Thinks damn, I wouldn’t mind sitting on that, and promptly freezes. Conversation continues around him, but he’s lost to it all because he just thought something sexual about Shiro, his special person, who makes him want to be better, who he loves and adores, and that must mean he’s in love.
He panics about this as one does. Overthinks it. Panics some more. May or may not come up with a few fantasies involving the very idea of being in Shiro’s lap, feeling the muscle there, grinding against- Oh gods.
How is he going to face Shiro?
It doesn’t help that his friends, his well meaning, amazing, fucking annoying friends... like to call his and Shiro’s hang out times “dates.”
It didn’t used to bother him before. It obviously wasn’t a date. Now he’s not so sure. It’s a date right? It had to be, because... Shiro is so special to him and now the sex thoughts, and both together must mean romance????
So one day, he’s sitting, being pensive and broody, and Lance comes sauntering in. A general Lance Keith exchange of teasing and play fighting, until Lance brings up the inevitable.
“So are you being grumpy because your date went bad?”
And Keith just groans. “It wasn’t a date.” He thinks. He’s still struggling with this.
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you wanna call it. Now what’s up, Mr. Broody?”
And they’re pretty good friends at this point. Crammed for finals together and fell asleep in the same bed (in which Hunk still has pictures), got drunk after finals and somehow ended up halfway across the country, car broke down and they had to camp out for a bit, got Keith’s dog and Lance’s cat out of that.
"It's... dumb."
"Oh, come on, Keith. I doubt it's that dumb." Keith frowns. "Sorry. It's not dumb if it's bothering you." Because Lance can be considerate.
So Keith asks about Lance’s love life, how love makes him feel, and... gets a text book description of how Shiro makes him feel. Sorta. It still doesn’t seem right. Because Keith feels that way about his other friends too, just... a bit sexual with Shiro too.
And Lance shrugs because, “who hasn’t thought about sex with Shiro?”
And Keith just stares because... waht.
“I’m pretty sure everyone in our friend group has.”
Waht.
“You good dude?”
“But... you love Shiro?”
“Uh. No? I mean, love the dude as a friend. He’s great, but, I don’t want to date him.”
Waht.
And Lance just stares at him, “you know... that’s an option right? You don’t have to want to date someone to want to have sex?”
No. He doesn’t.
“Oh, shit. Uh. Okay. Old Queer teaching Baby Queer now, apparently. So, uh, you know I’m bisexual.”
An obvious statement. Keith has seen Lance flirt with a wall while drunk before, that’s not counting the actual people.
“So, keyword. Sexual. I’m sexually attracted to people in general. I’m also romantically attracted to people in general. But you can have people that are sexually attracted to no one, while being romantically attracted to some.”
No...
“So the reverse is also true. You can want to have sex, but not want to be in relationship.”
No...
“So yeah. Queer 101.”
“But- How do- how do you know all of that?”
“It’s hard. There’s online resources that can help. Ultimately its up to what you want to use. How haven’t any of us talked about this before?”
Keith isn’t responding. He’s very... confused. In a good way, he thinks, but confused. “So... uh, theoretically,” Lance hums, “I could want to have sex with Shiro... without wanting to be with him romantically?”
And that’s when it seems to click in place with Lance.
“Holy shit we’re assholes.”
“What?”
“Keith, buddy, pal, my man. It is completely okay to want to have sex with Shiro but not be with him romantically. That is- That’s 100% fine. Fuck, I am so sorry dude.”
“For- What for?”
“We kept teasing you for wanting to be with Shiro! But you- Damn. I can send you some online sources and stuff? To help with this, and-”
“Lance, it’s fine.”
“No! It’s not! We assumed romance was the default and, fuck, I just told you that was okay but we’ve been assuming the whole time!”
Keith doesn’t know how to handle it, but later that night, Keith gets the resources in a text. He spends a lot of time reading, and then searching for more, and more, and more. There’s a giant subculture he’s never explored before. He just accepted that he was surrounded by people of various types and didn’t think too much about if he was “different from the norm” (a hetero-normative philosophy in hindsight)
And so that morning, he lays in bed, and thinks I want to fuck Shiro, no romo and may or may not laugh to himself for much longer than he should out of sleep deprivation and sheer relief.
Of course, trying to figure out if he wants to pursue a friends with benefits with Shiro is a whole other can of worms entirely.
(That being said, a blip into the future shows a healthy friendship and copious amounts of sex. No romo.)
