[ shiro is, of course, receptive to keith’s hand. keith squeezes his and shiro’s mood brightens a touch, his body seemingly following it by lifting up, first by his shoulders rolling back and then by the straightening of his spine. he sits less like a pouting fool, although his expression hasn’t quite cleared of that yet. there really is no reason for him to be pouting; he doesn’t receive a lecture, afterall. though, he’s almost disappointed by that. frustration is easier to weather. keith staring at his feet, sighing and sounding so disappointed – now that’s difficult.

shiro swallows back his own sigh; both of them can’t be sighing, they’ll get stuck in a loop. so he frowns instead and flips his hand, pressing palm to palm with his fingers pushing through the spaces of keith’s. ]

I don’t dislike him. [ sounds fake, doesn’t it? anticipating a scoff or a flat look, shiro puts more force behind his voice and tries again. ] I don’t!

[ he squeezes keith’s hand for good measure, as though that’ll make his statement more true. ]

I just… [ where is he going with this…? he licks his lips, thinking and searching for an explanation that doesn’t sound ridiculous. what he ends up with? go easy on him, keith. ] You're both his and my favorite person. So I get a little…

[ hesitation. ]

I mean.

[ frowns deeper, staring at his lap. ]

He hogs you a lot.