Chapter Text
Keith’s head was full of cotton -not literally but that’s the only way he could describe it- foggy, light and heavy at the same time. His limbs felt like lead, weighted and immovable. Sinking into the bed beneath him. Wait bed!
Confused because the last thing he could remember was being stuffed into a closet, he cracked open an eye. Immediately assaulted by blinding light, he squeezed his unbruised eye shut as fast as possible, bright colors flashing behind his eyelids.
Groaning, he tried to turn his head away from the light source, but it only hurt his face. Why did his face hurt?
Oh, the glass. Dave shoved my face into it. I remember Shiro calling me, he must’ve found me. I guess I’m in the hospital, Dave definitely broke some ribs.
Before Keith could figure out what to do next he heard a familiar voice. “Keith, buddy you awake?” It was quiet like he was trying not to wake him up. But the worry was clear in his voice, it was kinda nice to have someone to worry about him.
“Mmmm” was all he managed. But he could hear Shiro take a relieved sigh.
“Do you want me to turn the lights down, you have a small concussion?”
“Mmhm.” Came the sleepy reply. The lights dimmed dramatically, and Keith dared to peel his eye open again. “Hey Sh’ro,” it was mumbled and quiet but Shiro smiled warmly. “Hey Keith, glad to see you awake again. Not gonna lie, you scared the shit out of me.”
“Language.” “Keith buddy I’ve heard you say way worse.” “Fair.”
Keith chuckled a little and instantly regretted it, his ribs screaming at him in pain. His breath hitched uncomfortably. And Shiro winced, “I’ll get a nurse in here.”
What followed was a lot of uncomfortable questions, Shiro trying to visibly stifle his anger, which Keith thankfully knew was not directed at him. And one of the fastest custody transfers he’d ever witnessed.
By the time he was out of the hospital with Shiro helping him to the car he was officially a ward of the Galaxy Garrison, and Dave was in police custody. They’d gotten the go ahead to let Keith stay with Adam and Shiro for any breaks, and Keith couldn’t believe his luck.
He clambered clumsily into the passenger seat as Shiro closed his door and got in himself.
“Hey bud I know this is all going really fast.”
“Yeah.”
“But remember you have options, if you want you can stay at the garrison for holidays and stuff-“ before he could finish the sentence Keith interrupted. “No! I mean, no this is fine.” He looked at his lap, “that is if you and Adam actually want me, I don’t mean to intrude.”
“Keith, listen to me.” Shiro turned to him, his eyes full of sincerity.
“You’re like the little brother I never had, I just want you to be safe. You’re a good kid who just got stuck in a bad situation, you have so much talent and skill.” Keith could feel a little wetness form in his eyes. Shiro continued.
“I want to make sure you get the best life you can, and if I can help you I want to. You’ve become such an important part of Adam and my lives, and I’m so glad you stole my car, and I got to meet you. If you want to stay with us we would love to have you.”
Keith wiped a tear out of his eye, he hadn’t cried in a while. “Yeah, that sounds good.” He tilted his head a little bit and continued, “I’ve never had a brother before.”
“Neither have I,” Shiro laughed quietly, “We’ll figure it out.” He ruffled Keith’s slightly blood matted hair. “Let’s get you home, you need some food. Adam went to the store, how do you feel about tacos and ice cream?”
Keith a tried and true Texan, fucking loved tacos and ice cream, and nodded vigorously. Which was probably a bad idea because it caused his brain to bang around in this skull.
Shiro winced a little at his discomfort, “Let’s also get you some pain meds, Adam picked them up already.”
“Sounds good, can we listen to music on the way?” Shiro nodded and put on Keith’s favorite, country rock, a questionable taste, but what else did he expect from a kid raised in the Texas desert. And off they drove, Keith humming along.
-
Adam scanned the aisle for his favorite tortilla brand and thought through yesterday's events.
It was only the second day of the two week holiday break when Takashi had gotten the call. They had been at the Holt's house for dinner, and all of a sudden Takashi came out of the bathroom in a panic. At first Adam thought it was something to do with his condition, but then he’d heard the word Keith and his brain was kicked into emergency mode.
Adam wasn’t sure about Keith at first if he was honest, he literally stole Takashi’s car and took it on a joy ride! But his boyfriend had vouched for the kid, and he was usually a good judge of character.
When he first met him he assumed he’d be rude, and angry. But he’d been painfully shy and skittish, like he expected things to turn ugly at any given moment. It had hurt Adam’s heart to see a kid so nervous.
As time went on he saw Keith become less of a mentee to Takashi and more of a little brother, and he’s starting to come out of his shell a bit. He was hotheaded and stubborn, but also extremely talented and determined.
When he started having trouble in math, Adam had decided to help tutor him and turned out they got along pretty well. But he’d had a lot of worrying habits, that just didn’t sit right with him.
He always expected to be punished for small mistakes, and had no clue how to take a compliment. Adam and Takashi had talked it over, and decided that if Keith ever came to them needing help, they’d do whatever they could.
He just didn’t think it would happen like this.
Matt saying something about a beat up kid wondering around at night, that lined up with Keith’s black eye. And a phone call where the kid had admitted to needing help.
Adam had called the ambulance with shaking hands and tired to keep it together. And now Keith was at the hospital, and he’d be staying with them for the rest of break, and any other breaks. It was a lot.
I wonder if Keith has any comfort items? When I broke my leg as a kid my stuffed tiger was the best thing I could have asked for. Maybe I should get him something like that. I’d assume he wouldn’t have a lot of personal items, because of the foster system and all that.
One time while working on math he’d asked about Keith’s favorite animal, he’d responded with hippos, something about how he thought they looked funny.
So Adam made his was to the toy aisle and with luck by his side found a hippo plush. It was a muted purple and soft to the touch. Perfect.
He made his purchases and loaded up the car.
-
Keith’s eyes were drooping a little by the time Shiro pulled into the garrison issued housing area. Small two story houses in neat rows. They mainly housed staff, security, and some of the older students who didn’t want to live in the dorms.
He hoped Keith liked it here ok, he’d have to take the couch for a bit while they could clear out the office, they didn’t really use it anyway.
“Keith, bud were here.”
“Mmhm,” Keith mumbled sleepily.
The fourteen year old reached for his backpack and duffle, but Shiro wagged his finger.
“Nope, you have two cracked ribs, and a concussion. You are going to go rest on the couch, I’ll grab your stuff.”
Keith rolled his unusually colored eyes and grumbled to himself.
Shiro got out of the car Keith not far behind him, limping slightly. He was obviously trying to mask his pain, biting on his lower lip to stay composed. They’d have to find a better coping mechanism later, but right now the kid needed ice packs and rest.
Shiro pulled out his keys and unlocked the front door, opening it wide to let Keith go in first. This wasn’t Keith’s first time at their house, as he’d been over for dinner and studying on multiple occasions, so he toed off his shoes and made a beeline to the couch.
Shiro went back to the car and grabbed Keith’s things, he had enough clothes, (because him and Adam got some for him as he didn’t have enough) and headed back inside. He dumped the bags on the floor and placed his shoes next to them.
He could smell taco meat and heard the sizzling of the stove, god he was glad someone in this house knew how to cook. He made his way into the kitchen and snagged a piece of avocado. Adam tried to slap his hand away but failed. Shiro kissed his cheek.
Sliding open the freezer he grabbed the good ice packs, then prepared a glass of water for Keith. He was probably dehydrated, the IV could only last so long.
Looking over the counter he saw Keith sitting with his back to the inside corner of the couch, his chin resting against his chest. His face was covered in small scratches, glass apparently, and the black eye. Shiro’s blood boiled at the thought of someone hurting his little brother.
He had more injuries, the nurse had given him a list and how to take care of them all. Multiple bruises, mostly on his back and sides, two broken ribs, scratches all over his arms and hands, broken nose, and a concussion. All in all Shiro wanted to kill Dave. But the police had him in custody and child abusers didn’t do well in prison. He just had to be there for Keith.
He gripped the cup of water and ice packs in his hands and made his way to the coffee table, sitting down so he could be eye to eye with Keith.
“Hey, let’s ice that black eye, yeah?” He held out an ice pack non threateningly, Keith still flinched slightly. Shiro decided to not focus on that and handed over the water as well. Keith gulped it down in one motion, leaving Shiro both slightly disturbed and impressed.
Shiro situated the ice pack over Keith’s eye and the other on one of the larger bruises on his stomach. Keith had migrated from a sitting position to laying down on the couch with a throw pillow cradling his concussed head. He was asleep in seconds, the doctor had said he needed rest anyway, so this was good.
Shiro grabbed a blanket from the hallway closet and tucked Keith in, he tended to get cold really easy. Adam had started chopping up tomatoes and lettuce in the kitchen, but Shiro knew that his help was not wanted. The last time he tried to cook something, well it involved some unexpected fire.
Instead he redirected his attention to getting a headstart on clearing out the office, and headed upstairs. Stepping quietly as to not wake Keith who was a very light sleeper.
-
Keith was pulled from his peaceful sleep by Shiro poking him gently in the forehead, jerk. He sleepily swatted his brother's hand away.
“Hey bud, dinners ready, you ready for tacos?” Keith perked up at that, he fucking loved tacos, as any reasonable person should. He moved to get up but Shiro interrupted, “Nuh uh, I’ll get your food, you shouldn’t be moving too much.” Honestly he was kinda grateful for that, his head ached, and his body was sore. As much as the pain meds dampened the feeling, they couldn’t iraticate it completely.
Shiro wandered off to get his and Keith’s food as Adam came in with his own plate. Keith felt kinda bad for taking up the whole couch and went to move but Adam interrupted. “Chill kid, you’re fine, besides the carpet is really comfortable.”
That settled his nerves a bit, Adam tended to be blunt and bad at lying, not unlike Keith himself. It was nice to have something in common with the man. It made him less scary.
“Oh before I forgot, I got you something.”
Keith looked up with big curious eyes, he never got new stuff. Adam set down his plate and sped to the front room to grab a bag. Once he got the package he handed it over to Keith.
He was kinda nervous about getting a present, he didn’t really feel like he deserved it but he didn’t want to disappoint Adam either. With an encouraging nod from Adam he reached inside and grabbed something soft.
It was a stuffed animal, a comforting texture and a muted purple color. After further inspection he realized it was a hippo. He could feel his eyes watering a little bit. He hugged it close to his bruised chest, “Thank you Adam.”
His voice had come out a little choked but Adam just smiled at him. “I’m glad you like it, I’ve broken some bones in my time and I was always grateful to have a little buddy to keep me company.”
Adam situated himself on the ground in front of the couch, and set his plate on the coffee table. “Hey Keith, do you wanna watch something while we eat?”
That sounded nice, Shiro and Adam had been showing him some classic movies that he had never seen as a child.
“Sure.” “Anything specific you want to watch, if not I have an idea.”
Keith was too tired to figure out what to watch so he motioned for Adam to pick.
“I know you like aliens,” he was referencing the time that they’d taken Keith to a discount bookstore, and the teen had spent the afternoon reading about alien conspiracies. Keith ducked his head into the soft cloth of the hippo, slightly embarrassed.
“So,” Adam continued. “How do you feel about Lilo And Stitch?”
“I don’t know, I've never seen it, but it sounds cool I guess.”
Adam smiled softly and grabbed the remote, pulling up the animated movie. Shiro walked back into the small living area and sat down in front of the couch next to Adam. He twisted around to hand Keith his plate of tacos. And holy shit they were good. When he saw the plushie he smiled, glad that Keith liked it.
The movie started and he was enjoying the cool character design and space ships. Then it completely changed tone.
As the movie progressed Keith recognized himself in Lilo, and then Stitch. The overwhelmed kind of anger, the confusion and mannerisms. It all felt very familiar. By the end he had to fight to keep tears from crawling down his face.
“Ohana means family. And family means no one gets left behind.”
And Keith realized that for the first time since his dad’s death, he hadn’t been left behind.
Maybe he had found a family.
His head was growing fuzzy again and he laid back down, pulling the blanket up. Holding the hippo closer to his chest. And the last thing he remembered before he drifted away was Shiro ruffling his hair and saying something.
“Goodnight, otouto.”
Keith felt safe. And dreamland welcomed him home.