Thread by @stargazershiro

Rosie AU: a thread

sheith, feat. babies and pining and dumbassery

shiro and Keith are high school sweethearts. They’re everything every high school power couple wishes they could be - Keith is the star of the soccer team, Shiro is the student body president. They’re both at the top of their class and very clearly in love.

one problem - shiro is one year above keith, a senior when keith's a junior. it's not a huge deal in the grand scheme of things but to high school keith and shiro, it feels like the end of the world.

Keith isn’t willing to let his heart get broken on any terms but his own. So he breaks up with shiro, telling him that it’s better this way. He never wanted to be something that held shiro back from doing something incredible and that’s exactly what he feels like he’d be doing

he’s .... miserable. So’s shiro, who understands why Keith broke up with him but that doesn’t mean it hurts less. Shiro’s a little lost but he doesn’t fight it, thinking that this was something that would have probably happened eventually. Keith was too good for him.

fast forward ~5 years. Keith has never really forgotten shiro, but he’s trying his best to live his life. He’s dated, seen a few guys and a couple of girls, but no one has ever really meant as much to him as shiro did.

one night, as he’s laying on his couch, he gets a phone call from a number he’s not familiar with. he vaguely remembers the voice - a woman he had a one night stand with a while ago. 9 months ago, to be exact.

she’s not keeping the baby. if he wants it (*it* she keeps calling the baby) then the baby is all his. otherwise, she’ll put the baby up for adoption. Keith is shellshocked, at a complete loss for what to do. He knows for sure that he’s not ready to be a father

he hops on his motorcycle and heads down to the hospital to sign away his rights to this child that, until 10 minutes ago, he didn’t know existed. It’s a short ride, but he spends all of it thinking about how certain he is that a kid isn’t what he wants

the nurse is patient with him, talks him through the paperwork that needs to be signed in order for this child to be put up for adoption. he’s about to sign his name when the nurse asks him if he wants to see the child. Keith isn’t sure why he says yes, but he does

the nurse leads him to the nursery, where a tiny baby girl with a tuft of dark hair is sleeping soundly, swaddled in a soft yellow blanket. something in Keith shifts.

“I need you to shred that paperwork.” he says to the nurse. “I’m going to take her home with me.”

He’s holding her in the crook of his arm when she wakes up. She has his eyes, he notices. Such a deep blue they’re almost purple. He strokes her cheek with a finger.

“Hi Rosie. I’m your papa. It’s so nice to meet you.”

He’s not sure where the name came from, but it feels right

it’s a bit of a blur as to how he gets her home - he came in on a motorcycle, after all - but soon he’s back at his house with a brand new baby girl that he didn’t even know existed 12 hours ago

he can’t stop staring at her - this sweet baby girl who was almost completely written off before she had been given a proper chance at life. His heart hurts. he’s never felt more connected to a person in his life, and she’s not even three days old

he falls asleep on the couch that first night, Rosie curled up on his chest, his hand covering her entire back.

This isn’t where he would have chosen to be, but it feels right.

It’s trial and error. Keith makes a bassinet out of a cardboard box and Rosie sleeps in it a few nights before lance (her tio lance!!) yells at him and drags all of the old baby things out of his parents house.

life goes on. Keith gets a car. It’s not easy being a single dad on a mechanic’s salary, but Keith manages. It takes a village, and a village in this case is pidge and the Fuentes family. Rosie is spoiled rotten. Her favorite toy is a stuffed pink bear that’s around keiths height

There are many sleepless nights, but Keith wouldn’t give it up for the world. Well, maybe he’d trade that one night when he finally got to sleep with Rosie on his bare chest and woke up to her trying to nurse. Lance thought it was hilarious and keiths not sure why he told him.

This is 100% Rosie except the bear is pink. Just so you know.

Before Keith knows it, he has a precocious little five year old, who loves running around in a captain America shirt, a tutu, rain boots, and a cape. It’s pretty much her hobby.

One warm spring day, Keith takes her to the park and loses sight of her for just a moment, he SWEARS

Keith is full-on panicking when he finally hears her laughter coming from the other side of the park. As he’s running towards her, Rosie spots him and sprints full throttle towards him and flings herself into his arms.

“Daddy! I found mr. Bucky Barnes!!!!”

Keith is utterly baffled. Bucky Barnes?? Keith needs to stop letting her watch Captain America, apparently.

Rosie climbs down from his arms and starts tugging on his shirt, leading him towards a park bench.

There’s a man sitting there, his back to them, and Keith feels his heart clench in his chest - did Rosie forget all his talks about stranger danger? - and grabs her hand tightly. He’s going to have words with whoever this man is.

It’s not until they’re almost at the bench that Keith sees a small boy holding the man’s hand, and Keith lets himself breathe a little bit. A parent, then. Not just some weirdo on a park bench.

Rosie slips out of his grip and skips the final steps towards the bench.

“Mr Bucky!!”

The man turns, and Keith’s heart stops.

There, unbelievably, is Shiro. There’s a scar across his face, his hair has turned completely white and one of his arm is replaced with a prosthetic, but it’s undeniably him. Keith would recognize that jawline anywhere

and then there’s the little boy..... Rosie introduces him as Ben. He waves shyly. It’s clear that he’s shiro’s son. Keith can tell immediately. He starts to sign something in sign language, then looks at his father pleadingly

Shiro runs his thumb nervously over the space where his wedding ring used to be. Keith pretends not to notice, pretends he can’t see the faint tan line where the band used to sit. That’s Shiro’s story to tell, and he’ll tell it when he’s ready, if he’ll ever tell Keith.

He starts to haltingly explain that his son is deaf, when Rosie chimes in “that means he can’t hear well, papa!! But he can read mr. Bucky’s hands and that’s how they com-comoonicate.”

Shiro laughs out loud. His tension eases around this precocious little girl. It’s easy to use her as an excuse to keep talking to Keith.

“This is Mr Keith” he signs to Ben “he’s an old friend of dad’s.”

Rosie pretends she knows what he’s saying and nods along.

It’s not like things go right back to the way they were immediately. Building a relationship - even just a friendship - takes time. But it builds. Shiro and Keith exchange phone numbers that first day in the park, under the guise of setting up play dates for Ben and Rosie.

Shiro's story comes out in bits and pieces. After college, he joined the military, unsure of what direction he really wanted to go with his life. While deployed, he was captured and taken as a pow, where he lost his arm. After a year, he was released and honorably discharged.

Keith's heart hurts hearing what happened to shiro overseas. He wishes he could have been there for him after his return to the states, but he can't change the past. Nor could he change what happened afterwards.

the story of shiro's marriage comes out after a couple of drinks too many. How he married a woman he met in college after he was honorably discharged. How shiro realized he didn't love her, not the way he loved - he cuts himself off before he says "the way he loved keith"

he tried his best to salvage the marriage. it's not like him to give up when things go wrong. so he works. they have Ben. shiro is a little ashamed, but he used to think that perhaps having a kid would make things right, would fix the broken parts of their relationship

of course, it never works that way. kids are hard work and they dont have the power to fix a relationship that's broken. ben isnt somehow the exception. but from the moment shiro lays eyes on his son, he falls in love in a big way. he adores his son and nothing can change that

nothing can change that - not even the fact that his son can't hear. but its not the same for his wife. she married shiro - shiro admits this bitterly - so she could have a chance at a picture-perfect family. husband, 2.5 kids, white picket fence.

her plans didnt account for shiro's disability or his ptsd. her plans didnt account for a deaf son. after ben's birth, she becomes even more distant, unable to find the time for her husband or her son. she doesnt even try to learn sign language. she doesnt even try for her family

ben is almost a year old when she breaks the news- she's pregnant. shiro knows immediately that it's not his, not when they havent had sex in months. his wife doesnt try to lie. she's been seeing a man, a doctor, since just after ben was born. she wants to raise a family with him

shiro signs the divorce papers without a second thought. he just wishes he could have seen the signs instead of being blinded by his good faith in people. he raises ben on his own, determined to show his son how much he loves him every day.

after he tells keith this story, keith reaches across the table and laces his fingers in shiro's. it's a small gesture, but a comforting one. it's that moment that pushes their relationship back into the realm of slightly-more-than-friendship

shiro and keith eventually stop using rosie and ben as excuses to see each other. partly because rosie rolls her eyes at her papa one day and says "you and mr. shiro just need to hold hands already."

((I started a different thread for the NSFW adventures of single dads Keith and shiro -

https://twitter.com/stargazershiro/status/1114703987960369153?s=21

))

((It felt blasphemous to even mention something nsfw on this thread))

Shiro and Keith start dating again about six months after their encounter in the park. They’re both gigantic nervous disasters. Keith lets Rosie help pick out his outfit (with veto power of course, he doesn’t want to end up wearing a T-shirt, sweatpants, and dress shoes)

Rosie gets to stay with tio lance, who is probably her favorite person on the planet and she’ll say that to keiths face. He’s the one who really pampers her, plus he’ll let her do his nails.

Lance is the worst (best) babysitter ever. He’s a photographer and starts taking photos of Rosie in tiny baby/toddler fashion. Rosie always comes back from Lance’s house dressed to the nines. With keiths permission, the photos end up on lances instagram. His favorite is a pic of-

Baby Rosie in a little faux fur vest, baby booties, and heart shaped sunglasses as big as her face

Keith and shiro go out to a local tavern for their first date. casual enough to be low-key, plus it’s a place they wouldn’t be able to go on any other day. They order too many appetizers and huge burgers and beers. They’re past trying to impress the other.

They end up getting a little too drunk and heading back to Shiro's place to crash. Neither one of them thinks too much about how it might be weird if they shared a bed - they're too caught up in sending longing glances to each other when they think the other isn't looking.

Waking up next to each other feels ... it feels right. It feels right in a way that almost nothing has since they broke up all those years ago.

After a moment of enjoying the strong arms he found wrapped around him, Keith starts to panic. Rosie.

It’s a hot sec before he realizes Rosie is safe, he’s not a horrible dad, she’s with lance. He owes Lance something nice though. It’s waaaaaay past when he said he’d be back to pick Rosie up.

Lance just laughs through Keith’s apology phone call.

“Don’t worry Keith, I expected you to get laid. Rosie’s safe and sound and looking like a model.”

Keith splutters. “We didn’t - we didn’t have sex!!”

“Are you sure about that?”

“I’m pretty fucking positive!! We just ... slept next to each other”

Keith hangs up and walks into the kitchen where shiro is making breakfast for the both of them. Banana pancakes. He remembered Keith’s favorite.

There’s an awkward silence.

“So.... Lance. You two seem close.”

Keith lets out a harsh laugh.

“That’s one way of putting it.”

Shiro shifts a little on his feet, clearly wanting to say something but unsure of how to phrase it tactfully.

“Did you two ever....”

It’s keiths turn to shift uncomfortably.

“I mean... not really... it’s just. Lance helped pick me up after we broke up. He was there for me in a way no one else was.”

He laughs a little, but it sounds forced.

“We kissed, once. He had a crush on me in high school and I was.... really lonely senior year. So we tried. Didn’t do anything for me, though. Somewhere along the way we became best friends.

He’s been... my biggest supporter, especially with Rosie.”

“He... uh. He was the one who really kept me afloat when Rosie was born. I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing. She was sleeping in a cardboard box, for fucks sake. And he came over with his parent’s old crib and forced me to take it.”

“There were times when I wasn’t eating, to save money for Rosie’s formula and diapers and shit. When he found out - and he always found out - he’d scold me while making dinner. And he’d slip a twenty into Rosie’s diaper bag when I wasn’t looking.”

Shiro is silent as he flips pancakes.

“He adores Rosie. And I get a free babysitter out of it, so...” he shrugs.

“I wouldn’t change anything. If I had a chance to do it over.” Keith admits. “Rosie was.... hard. Raising her on my own - I wasn’t ready. But I wouldn’t give her up for the world. She is ... everything.”

It hurts a little to hear Keith admit that, given the opportunity, he’d break Shiro’s heart all over again, but he gets it. He feels similarly about Ben. Sure, he hates the circumstances that lead to raising Ben on his own, but nothing could change the way he feels about his son.

After that night, they grow even closer. They start planning even more dates - and not just dates. Excursions for the whole gang, Ben and Rosie included. Trips to the zoo and the park and the beach.

Most of the trips involve Rosie pulling Ben along by the hand while shiro and Keith run to keep up with her.

Shiro’s never seen Ben happier. He’s laughing and smiling in a way that he only really reserved for shiro. That’s what cements it in Shiro’s mind. This is it for him

The proposal comes years later. After Rosie’s incessant questioning of shiro. “you love papa right? So you should marry him. When you love someone, you marry them.” Lance is there when Rosie asks this one day and joins in. “Yeah, when are you gonna make an honest man of him?”

It happens when they’re having a picnic on a warm spring afternoon. Shiro’s idea, of course. Ben is teaching Rosie to make daisy chains and, for once, she’s actually sitting still.

The ring is sitting heavy in Shiro’s pocket.

He’s been carrying it around for months, just waiting for the perfect time, and this might be it. This quiet, peaceful moment with everyone might be the closest shiro gets to perfection.

He can’t get on his knees. That would be awkward, with both of them sitting on the grass.

He leans over and grabs keiths hand, holds it in his. He opens his mouth, ready to say some grand speech, but nothing comes out. He finally stutters out a “marry me?”

he says yes, of course. But before he even thinks of celebrating, shiro holds up a finger. “One second.” He gets up and walks over to Rosie.

in the bottom of the ring box, underneath a little piece of velvet, is a dainty gold necklace.

he kneels down in front of Rosie, more nervous now than he was with Keith.

“Rosie. I love you so much, just as much as I love your papa. Will you let me be your dad, too?”

Rosie looks confused.

“No.”

Shiro’s heart breaks

Rosie goes back to making her daisy chain and says, so nonchalantly,

“You’re already my dad.”

Rosie’ll keep that necklace for the rest of her life, swapping the chain when she outgrows it. It’s one of her most prized possessions.

Naturally, she's the flower girl at the wedding, while Ben's the ringbearer. Imagine rosie in this little dress:

Random Rosie au tidbits: for her first Halloween, Keith dresses Rosie as a strawberry!!

Keith is a mechanic in this au, and even from an early age, Rosie is his trusty assistant. He’ll put her little carrier next to him and talk to her about what he’s doing as he’s working and what each tool does.

Ofc Komso is in this au! He and Rosie are best friends!!!

Rosie and Kosmo:

https://twitter.com/stargazershiro/status/1114327217314594818?s=21