also, knowing shiro and adams relationship actually makes me like … pretty 👀👀 towards keith’s “like a brother” lines bc to me,,, that feels a lot like Heavy Repression and pining.
imagine, keith falling for his older mentor who is in a happily committed relationship and trying to suppress those feelings because he doesnt want to lose what he has, he doesnt want to make shiro uncomfortable, he doesnt want to push too hard.
shiro is like a brother to him. he repeats it like a mantra every time shiro looks at him to the point that he starts to believe it himself. they cant be real feelings. shiro’s just like a brother, after all.
What if Keith suppressed his feelings for shiro because he saw shiro’s relationship with Adam, and he understood that Adam was in fact important to shiro. So in space he contained his Gay Thoughts™️ and believed that they would make it back to earth and shiro could have a happy reunion with Adam. Keith’s “I love you” slipped out in his desperation during the fight. He thought one or both of them wouldn’t make it out of the fight, so he needed to make his feelings known. In this essay I will-
shiro when he’s about to run out of oxygen in his pod after escaping from the galra: *first thoughts are of keith* shiro in s1 when everyone was thinking of their home & family when they were hooked up to that mind projection thing: thinks of prekerb launch which he attended with keith clone shiro when he’s about to be fully controlled by haggar: stops because of the “i love you” line from KEITH
Keith’s visceral fear of abandonment when it comes to Shiro makes so much more sense now because he always knew he was going to lose him someday,, this wasn’t some far off thing–even if they survived everything with the galra and Voltron, Keith knew Shiro wasn’t going to live a long life. He knew and lived in absolute terror of the fact that Shiro was living on borrowed time, that he could be torn away from him any day.
It’s why he’s so angry and defensive when other people tell him to give up on Shiro, it’s why he’s so fired up when Shiro nearly gives up on himself. Shiro telling Keith he’s finally died in season 6 is the bomb Keith has been waiting for the universe to drop for literally years. He’s facing his absolute worst fear, and like a miracle, he still manages to find a way to bring Shiro back.
And Keith has seen others give up on Shiro the way people have given up on him–whenever he promises not to abandon Shiro, not to leave without him, to save him as many times as it takes–that’s so powerful given their tragic pasts. They have both been left behind by loved ones, but they’ve finally found a home with each other. They love one another unconditionally and neither will ever abandon the other. It’s a link that they both ached for and need.
just moving along like everyone else 