[ forget about hiding his face in the pillow, keith rather wishes the earth could swallow him whole right about now. wishful thinking like that never goes anywhere though, and the best he can manage is simply avoiding whatever face shiro is making at him. this whole conversation has been nothing but a string of mixed, confusing messages that aren't any closer to getting resolved. the last thing keith wants right now is for whatever mess they just barely managed to pull themselves out of to come back full throttle with continued resentment and disappointment.

heart thumping loud in his chest, he actually twitches when there's a flick at his ear, reflex making keith stop trying to hide to look before he's ready. he misses an obvious beat when shiro leads with an unexpected joke. the expected chastising for nonadherence to the normal bounds of their friendship either, despite shiro's earlier conclusion about wanting to stay as they are.

keith swallows, still a touch too nervous to relax entirely. words feel a little stuck in his throat, but he manages to speak in barely louder than whisper tones. ]

I want you to stay. But only if that's what you want too.

[ or maybe that's redundant? i wanted you too. stil do. shiro is full of contradictory sentiments and keith just can't fucking tell which ones are the ones shiro wants respected. even now trying to unpack it just makes him feel .. lost. he looks up, face still half smooshed into the pillow, one eye peeking through his bangs, waiting. ]

I don't... want you to stay if you feel obligated to.