Thread by @cosmicdustvld

Intrustive #sheith thought - WHAT IF...when Shiro was moved back into the clone body, Kuron didn't die? What if instead the two of them shared the body? What if they never 'merged' into a single mind and remained separate? (1/21)

#kurosheith #sheith

Shiro and Keith lay beside each other in bed, the sun long since set and the night growing late. The dim glow of neon lights and ambient noise from the city beyond their little apartment drifts in through their open windows, a light breeze rustling gauzy curtains. (2/21)

They watch each other from heavy-lidded eyes while their intertwined fingers caress one another's hands.

After a time, Keith murmurs, "I can always tell which one of you is piloting, you know." (3/21)

Shiro blinks slowly at the admission 'Which one.' Himself, and The Original. The man born on Earth as Takashi Shirogane. The man whose body he shares. His blueprint for life. "Really?" he asks. "How?" He's not sure he wants to know the answer, but he asks all the same. (4/21)

The night feels too gentle to bring grief with it & the way Keith brings Shiro's hand to his lips & kisses his scarred knuckles, any uncertainty floods from him alongside so many of the day's aches and pains.

"Little things," Keith says. "Things people don't even notice." (5/21)

"YOU noticed," Shiro reminds him.

Keith smiles. "I'm your husband. Of course I noticed."

Shiro's eyes drift shut for a moment & he sighs, content. 'Husband.' The word brings a beautiful, tender ache to his chest. Loved and married and chasing the stars together even now. (6/21)

"What things have you noticed?" he asks at last, opening his eyes once more to meet Keith's steady gaze.

Keith hums to himself as he considers the question. "He sleeps on his left side. You sleep on your right." (7/21)

Shiro's not sure how the other him can tolerate falling asleep on his left side, not when the alternative is falling asleep to Keith's face every night. 'I like being the little spoon.' The aberrant thought makes him smirk. (8/21)

He nuzzles the pillow under his head, his left hand still clutched in Keith's.

Keith's smile widens at the sight and he continues. "When he's not feeling well, he likes ginger tea. You prefer peppermint. You drink your coffee black; he takes it with cream. (9/21)

You prefer chocolate ice cream, he likes raspberry. He presses his lips into a line when he's thinking or being playful or shy--" Keith pauses to demonstrate, "--and you bite your lower lip instead." (10/21)

Shiro feels himself do exactly that just as Keith says it, his teeth capturing a corner of his lower lip between them. Keith chuckles at the sight and lifts his other hand that's not held in Shiro's to run his thumb over the abused lip. (11/21)

"That's why it's always chapped," Keith teases & Shiro scrunches his nose.

"The two of you are of one mind most of the time. Often enough that no one would know unless they'd been told. But there are these little inconsequential things. They're so simple. Subconscious. (12/21)

"Instinctive, even. They prove you're your own person.

"It's like your twins, almost," Keith continues, "with shared experiences and horrors...you know each other's minds better than anyone. But you're still unique. Still separate. And I love you both." (13/21)

Shiro smiles and his eyes fall to their entwined fingers. His heart swells. Keith understands, has always understood. They had been so frightened to tell him, confessing the duality that had been their secret through the last arc of the war. (14/21)

But Keith had accepted them both with open arms and endless love.

"What's it feel like...being the co-pilot?" Keith asks then.

Shiro's eyes meet Keith's gaze and finds him unsure, as if he fears having overstepped some invisible boundary. (15/21)

They'd discussed this before, back before they had committed to this relationship, this future together. But as to how it 'feels' to be the one not in control... He mulls is words for a time before he tries to answer. "Like watching," Shiro answers at last. (16/21)

"Like behind glass? Voyeur..."

Shiro snorts. "Nothing so explicit," he clarifies. "More like...more like I'm a passive participant. It's nice sometimes...feeling and experiencing without having to be the one driving it." (17/21)

"I fall asleep sometimes. If you can call it sleep, since it's not really that either." Shiro bites his lip as he studies the feelings that he's had when the other him is in the lead. Studies the feelings that the other him is currently experiencing. (18/21)

"I drift away sometimes. And the things he sees or hears or feels...it all feels like a nice dream and I wake up to the knowledge that it was all real. Other times I'm here with you, when the two of you are together. Talking, eating, living...touching, loving..." (19/21)

"Like the three of us are in this big bed and I'm just patiently waiting my turn, enjoying the opportunity to watch you love each other. Knowing I'm part of it too."

There's a faint flush on Keith's cheeks. "And what happens when your patience starts to wear thin?" (20/21)

'You're an asshole when you get impatient,' comes the ready response from the recesses of Shiro's mind. He smirks. "I have been known to make some inappropriate commentary at inopportune times..." (21/21)

-end-