I know you write a bit, so I was hoping you could write about the desert shack? from voltron.
I actually really liked this prompt, and of course it turned Sheithy, sorry
It’s exactly 2418 when they return to Earth, and even though they had known after all their time in space that time wasn’t linear, it’s still a shock when they land on the surface, right in front of the cavern that started it all.
Of course, this time around, Lance and Hunk aren’t with them, replaced by Matt, and they aren’t in the Blue Lion, but rather a craft offered to them by a member of the coalition, but still, nostalgia hits them harder that the dusty breeze of the Arizonan desert.
As time goes on, they realize that the only two things that are the same are the Galaxy Garrison (God bless that institution) and Keith’s desert shack.
Their friends, family, are all gone, but after an eternity in space, the feeling is bittersweet at best. Here on Earth, they were happy and safe, ignorant of the Galra, of Zarkon, of the whole mess space had to offer.
They pay their respects to Colleen Holt, a strong woman who managed to live forty years without her family, and bring her Sam’s ashes. Keith stands respectfully away as the other three bury her husband besides her, the wind carressing him.
It’s harder for Keith when he finds the marker, just as promised, hidden 2 miles from the shack, the letters barely visible after years of unhindered weathering.
The stab to the chest is familiar at that point, and when Shiro wraps an arm around him, Keith takes in a shallow breath, breathing in the dust and Shiro, and the good old oxygenated atmosphere.
They were home. Really home.
They stay at the shack for a few months, partly because they have no other place to go (though Lance always reminds them that he and Allura miss them, and that the Castle seems far too empty), and partly because they’re afraid of leaving each other after so long. Keith can’t help but join in the sentiment. It’s been so long since he’s had a family, and he found it in space of all places, nestled between furry, purple aliens, and fellow dropouts, and he doesn’t want to let go of it anytime soon.
It somehow takes a year for the international government to realize that they’re back on Earth, and another year before they understand that they’ve been oblivious to an intergalactic war for centuries, but their identities are restored, their popularities flare and diminish, and one day, Katie and Matt move out with tears and promises to keep in touch.
When Keith closes the door of the cabin, Shiro’s arms are around him again, and he breathes in that same scent of dust and Shiro, and even when the few rebel tears escape from his eyes, he knows he’s okay, they’re okay, their family is alive and whole, even if they’re spread far across the universe.
That night, they have the alien version of a Skype video call, and though Keith would prefer having them at his side, he smiles with Shiro as they talk, Lance about the diplomatic work he and Allura have been doing, Hunk about the time that passed on the Balmera with Shay, and Katie about the life in the city with Matt, living a life they would have never dreamed possible.
Katie laments her choice to stay with the name Katherine, and though Keith and Shiro and the rest of the team all know that she’s lying, that she kept the name to tie her to Matt and her family in the middle of the war, they simply laugh with the others.
Allura appears a few hours later, and Keith realizes he misses the princess, with her regality and strict demeanor, but also because she’s just as much as a paladin as the rest of them, and when Coran and Shay join the call, the shack finds itself filled with more laughter than it’s history can contain.
It seems like an eternity ago when they first formed Voltron, but bonds forged in fire don’t fade, and when the call ends later that night, Shiro curls up in bed besides Keith and wraps an arm around him.
“We’re home.” Shiro reminds him.
And it’s true. They’ve discovered ancient lion protectors, fought against a zombie intergalactic dictator and his son, restored connections between planets across the galaxies, formed friendships, lost friends, and made it all the way back to Earth, to the shack, to home.
It takes a moment for Keith to reply, as he turns to face Shiro, his lover’s face always calm and patient and waiting for him, receiving and giving whatever Keith needs, no matter the distance or the impossible obstacles.
“We’ve always been home.” Keith answers, and the smile that lights up Shiro’s face is priceless. They move close together then, and with Shiro’s chin nestled on his head, Keith falls asleep, happily in love. Maybe it’s sad to have ended back in the dusty wooden shack, hidden from the rest of the world, but it’s the place of lost and rediscovered purpose, and the one place he’s ever been loved.
