[ are they still talking about enchiladas? considering the joke is shiro posing as kitchen equipment, keith’s peptalk-esque you can be whatever you want throws shiro. not enough to derail the momentum, but enough for shiro to blink and lose that shit-eating, teasing grin in favor of a bemused smile. he half expects a if you put your mind to it to follow that; thankfully, it doesn’t.

the slight befuddlement eases and he picks up ground on his amusement again, oddly charmed by the lack of clapback. he sounds so serious, so earnest. like there’s something more meaningful going on here beyond a few dumb jokes. shiro’s expression shifts again, this time following in the wake of keith’s own. keith goes soft-eyed, shiro goes soft-eyed. keith goes fond, shiro goes fond. feeding off of the affection so freely offered to him, shiro feels warm and sobered, the teasing gone from his voice as he breathes out: ]

Yeah. [ keith took the first initiative, and shiro cleans up with the second: he angles his fingers and stretches them through, fitting them in between keith’s for a lacing that has their palms pressing flush together. ]

I’ll let you.

[ and he shifts, not more than a nuzzle closer across the shared pillow, smiling sweet. another beat and then he huffs; unfortunately, he can’t resist it entirely. it being the need to say: ]

But I think it should be pointed out that someone here did start a fire recently and it wasn’t me.