COWT; Voltron; Roll for seduction

[ephitomis]

Title: Roll for seduction
Fandom: Voltron
Notes: Written for the prompt "Eremita" for COWT9
Wordcount: 9629
Summary: [Modern AU] Shiro and the rest of the Voltron Gang start playing Monster and Mana, the new expansion to D&D, to cheer up Shiro after Keith left on a trip to get to know his mother. Shiro enjoys it well enough and then, in the mountains trying to defeat the followers of the Dark Entity, they meet a lone hermit ranger called Yorak.

"And then," Keith says, holding up his phone so that Shiro can see the two postcards, "we went and we saw real wolves. I have to admit it was cool."

Keith sounds excited, he turns the camera of the phone again and Shiro can see his happy eyes and soft smile. It's a look that Keith didn't use to wear so freely, something Shiro had to fight to bring out.

He's glad his friends seems happier lately, can't really hope for nothing more.

"That sounds great, Keith, it sounds like you're having a great time." Shiro hopes he sounds sincere enough because he is happy for Keith. He is happy that he got to meet his mother and that they are finally reconnecting and spending time together.

He just wish they didn't have to do it while traveling across an entire continent.

But he's selfish. He just misses Keith, one month into their six month's trip. They call each other every day, and they usually also manage to facetime at least once a week, but it's not the same as having Keith there.

It also makes him think like he's overstepping a little into Keith and Krolia's time. Especially when she enters the room, behind Keith, and says: "Is that Shiro again on the phone?"

She probably doesn't mean anything by it, but he can't help but hear the again and flinch. Keith simply smiles, looking at her.

"I was telling him about what we did today," he says, free and happy.

Shiro will suffer years of loneliness for Keith to be this relaxed. In fact, he should start now.

"I should leave you guys to it," he announces, rising up from his chair. "Say hi to Krolia for me, and have fun."

Keith turns back to him and nods. "I'll call you tomorrow night, okay?"
It's always Keith the one that calls because Shiro wouldn't do it, afraid to interrupt something. He's also not strong enough to tell Keith not to call.

They soon close down the call and Shiro looks around his empty room. The house seems to big ever since Keith left, and he doesn't really want to go and hang out in the living room alone.

Thankfully he has a bowl of instant noodles and cat videos on youtube.

What else would he need?

Two weeks later he's out with the rest of the group. It's not something that happens as much as they would like. They have lives and jobs and it's not always easy to synch everything up but they try as much as they can.

Shiro isn't really in the mood (he would prefer to stay home and wait for Keith's call) but Allura had been very convincing on the phone threatening him with body dismemberment.

They are at the pub, drinking, and Shiro is starting to relax and actually have fun, when he hears a pin from his phone. When he takes it out of his pants he sees that he has a new message from Keith.

He opens it quickly, a little surprised. He had told the other not to call him tonight, since reception is always shit at the pub, and he had assumed he wouldn't have news from him.

Shiro opens it quickly, letting the conversation fade to the background, and he's surprised to see it's a photo. A selfie, to be exact.

Keith is looking up at the camera with a smile, he's on top of a mountain from what it looks like, and the scenery behind him is breathtaking. Still, Shiro can't look away from Keith's face in this light.

Keith probably told him yesterday where they were headed, but Shiro doesn't really remember. All he can see is Keith, smiling at the camera, his face a little red from the sun and the hike.

He really misses him. It hasn't been the same without his best friend around.

"Shiro!" he suddenly hears and he startles, almost losing his grip on his cellphone.

"W-wha?" he says, seeing that everyone is looking in his direction and seem to be annoyed by his lack of response. That probably wasn't the first time they had tried to call him.

"You know, we didn't invite you to let you look at your cell phone all night."

Shiro grimaces, because they are right, and hurries to put the phone away, Before he can do it, he feels Pidge take it away from him with deft fingers.

Damn it.

"Oh," she says, looking at the screen. Her face is strange, a mixture that Shiro isn't really able to read. "It's from Keith," he tells the others, "and it's a selfie."
"What?" Lance asks, standing up and basically laying down on the table in order to see. "What do you mean a selfie? He told me he didn't know how to use the camera app on his phone the dirty liar!"
"Probably because he doesn't like you," Pidge says immediately, clutching Shiro's phone closer to her chest. "He sends Shiro photos all the time."

He scowls at them, a little unsettled. Is Pidge reading their entire conversation history? There's nothing strange in there, he thinks - at least not lately - but he still doesn't like it.

"Could I have my phone back?" he asks, trying to sound stern. Once, they listened to him when he talked in that tone.

Now, Pidge shakes her head and looks back at the phone. "No, really Lance, he sent Shiro a selfie and wrote: Hope you're having fun, we are! and he put an emoji with a victory sign."

"An emoji?" Lance gasps, faking a heart attack. "Who is he? What has he done with the Keith we all know and love?"

Shiro intervenes then, taking his cellphone a little more forcefully than it would probably be necessary. "I don't know what you mean, Keith uses emoji all the time. We missed our daily call, he just wanted to check in."
"Daily, Shiro?" Allura asks then, and she sounds surprised.

He shrugs, uncertain of what to tell them. It's not like he wasn't surprised himself about the fact that Keith continued his daily checking in even a month and two weeks into his trip.

Not to say he isn't glad.

"Is this why you didn't want to come today?" she presses him, glaring at him.

Shiro doesn't say anything, but they must draw their own conclusions because he sees the way Hunk looks at him. He doesn't really appreciate it, but what else can he say?

"Oh, Shiro," Hunk says, and he's going to continue, but Pidge interrupts him.

"We need to distract you. Badly," she announces, pointing a finger at him. "I mean, you're too pathetic to leave alone." "I'm not pathetic!" Shiro objects, feeling like the night was spiralling a little bit out of control. He's lonely, he doesn't want to hide that, but that doesn't really mean he's pathetic, right?

It's just that he's not used to living alone.

Keith and him have been roommates ever since Shiro finished university and decided to rent a place outside of campus. Keith, who hated every single one of his roomates, had seemed like the perfect person to invite.

Six years later here they are.

"You are," Lance stops him, patting his arm. "But it's okay! We'll cheer you up!"

"With what?" Hunk asks, thinking. "I mean, we need a big distraction to cure all that," he motions towards all of Shiro and then he stops, maybe realizing that Shiro might take it the wrong way (as if there was any other way to take it). "I mean, sorry Shiro, but that's really sad."

Shiro wants to defend himself, but he can already see that they won't listen to him. They have a goal in mind, and nothing he can say will distract them. He just has to let them do it and hope he doesn't come out too scarred (physically and emotionally) from the experience.

"You know what you need?" Allura says, pointing at him, "acting! That's the best way to step out of yourself!"

Shiro frowns, confused. "I don't want to start going to acting classes, Allura. When have I ever been a creative guy?"

"Yeah. I mean Shiro has a lot of qualities, but creativity and cooking aren't among them," Hunk pipes in.

"We weren't even talking about my cooking!" Shiro knows that Hunk is still mad with him because of the frying pan he destroyed, but six months have passed. Hunk will have to forgive him one day.

"What if we do it together?" Lance proposes with a wicked smile. Nothing good ever comes from that.

"I don't want to go to a theater class either," Pidge says with a huff, "I didn't survive high school to get back into that hell."

"No, not acting, something better!" Lance starts, pointing at Allura. "Remember how Coran told us about that new handbook for Dungeons and Dragons?"

Allura blinks, lost for a second, before she starts to smile. "Oh! That's a great idea, Lance! Coran wanted to try it so much, but he couldn't find any players!" "Wait, you're talking about Monsters and Mana?" Pidge seems entirely too excited out of the blue, her eyes shining with a manic glint.

Shiro really doesn't like where this is going.

All he knows about Dungeons and Dragons is that it's a game. Nothing else.

"I'm sorry, I don't really know how..." he tries, but Pidge turns towards him and stops him immediately.

"I'll teach you. We will all teach you." She gets closer to him and then, in a lower tone she whispers: "You won't ruin this for me, Shiro."

He's now completely terrified.

Shiro looks around at the table and everyone looks excited to do this. Even Hunk, who seems to be the most neutral out of all of them, looks at Shiro with pleading eyes.

It doesn't look like he has much of a choice really.

"I guess?" he tries and Pidge screams and hugs him. He supports her as best as he can and watches as Lance and Allura high five.

"I'm going to buy so many dice, I need to find the most balanced sets," Pidge announces, taking out her cellphone.

"I have to find the pretty ones!" Allura joins in, with a smile.

Lance nods, looking towards Hunk. "We need to think of a cool backstory. Something dark! I want my character to have edges."

"I want mine to cook. Is there a chef class in Monster and Mana?" Hunk frowns, evidently pondering over the problem.

Shiro looks at all of them and sighs. "You guys know I have no idea what you all are talking about, right?"

"We know buddy," Lance reassures him, "we'll take care of you. Don't worry."

They spend the rest of the night explaining the general rules of Dungeons and Dragons and trying to tell him what class to use. Pidge tells him that the only way to play is barbarian, really, but Lance swears that Rogue is the only way ("Rogues are way cooler"). Allura laughs at them, but Shiro sees her looking at spells interested.

Hunk is the only one that actually tries to help him and explain most of the rules.

Shiro can't help being overwhelmed by the possibilities and just decides to google "Good starting character for Monster and Mana". The guide he finds puts paladin in the first four slot, and it seems to be a good choice.

It's easy to play, the site reads, and easy to roleplay. Shiro might have to do this to make his friends happy, but that doesn't mean he has to make it more difficult for himself.

Arriving home that night he downloads the manual Allura sends him and looks at the new group chat called "Monsters and Man up Shiro!"

He wonders some day why he's still friends with them.

Keith seems confused when Shiro tells him their plan. He doesn’t tell him that they have organized all this because the other think Shiro feels abandoned now that Keith has gone travelling the state with his mother, however, he’s not that stupid.

His friend listens to him the entire time, even if he knows even less about these kind of stuff than Shiro does, and even asks to look over Shiro’s character to help with background. Shiro hadn’t even thought he would need a background.

So Keith opens the email with Shiro’s character sheet and he immediately calls him back. The first thing he says, a little out of breath, almost as if he just stopped laughing was: “You called your character Shiro?”

Shiro shrugs, even if Keith can’t see him. “I didn’t know what else to call him. It will be less confusing.”

“You created a character named Shiro and with the most generic background imaginable.”

“It’s not-” he tries to defend, but Keith stops him immediately.

"The dead master trope? Really?" Keith pushes, raising one of his eyebrows.

Shiro knows it's a classic story, but he figured it was a classic for a reason. Is it that bad that he got inspiration from classics?

He doesn't reply then and Keith is silent for a couple of seconds before sighing. "I won't say anything, I just want to make sure this is something you want to do and not something they roped you into doing."

Shiro pauses reflecting upon it. Keith is right in a way, this doesn't seem like something he would usually do and they did coerce him in a way but... but.

"Honestly," he admits, with a shrug, "it's fine. I mean Monster and Mana might not be my favourite thing ever, but I'm looking forward spending more time together. Lately it feels like we don't have much time for each other. I feel like I haven't talked with them in forever."

Keith is silent for a while, enough that Shiro starts to get uncomfortable. Did he reveal too much? Did he say something wrong? "Are you really sure it's such a bad thing not talking to Lance?" Keith says, in the end.

Shiro laughs, relaxing. It's not that Keith and Lance aren't friends, it's just that most of the time they prefer to pretend to hate each other. Shiro doesn't really understand the dynamic, but he's happy that they seem to enjoy it so much.

"Yeah. I've missed them, even Lance," he admits, keeping for himself the rest of the phrase. I miss you too is in the tip of his tongue, but it's not fair putting this burden on Keith. He's out there, finally enjoying his time with his mother, and he doesn't need his best friend annoying him from back home.

Keith simply nods, looking back at his cellphone. "Can you at least change the name of your character? I'm saying it for you, I can already hear Lance..."

Shiro shrugs. "No, I like the name."

Monster and Mana night arrives quicker than Shiro expected. For a group that never managed to find a time to meet, they figured out a day to play pretty quickly.

Coran has been spamming the chat every day with informations and a countdown. They decided to meet at Hunk and Lance's house, since it was the one more stocked with food. And when Shiro arrives he finds them all already there and rolling... a lot of dice.

"What are you doing?" he asks, looking at the amount of stuff they have accumulated in the living room. Shiro, who only has his character sheet in his pocket, feels like he's underprepared. It's not something that usually happens to him.

"Shiro!" Lance greets him, "do you have a set of dice? I mean Allura and Pidge bought enough for all of us, so don't worry too much about it."

"You're playing a paladin, right?" Pidge pipes in, looking at him. "A white set might work well. Or black. I don't know, whatever fits your character's style." Shiro doesn't really know if his character has a style, but he still sits down with them and shrugs.

"You're right," Allura immediately says, "better to have both." She quickly passes him two sets of dice, one white and one black, and then goes back to rolling the crazy amount of dice she has in front of her.

Lance seems to be more relaxed, casually rolling a single blue dice. From what Shiro gathers, it's probably a twenty-sided one.

Still, someone seems to be missing. "Where's Coran?" he can't help but ask, looking around curiously.

Hunk sits down beside him, with a plate of appetizers. "When he arrived he asked me if he could use my room. He's been holed up there ever since. I don't know what he's doing."

Allura shrugs as well, seemingly coming up from her dice. "I don't know either, he hasn't let me see anything. He's very excited."

"Of course he is," Pidge intervenes, grinning. "Monster and Mana is the best. It takes the best things of Dungeon and Dragons and improves on them."

Before Shiro can reply, possibly to ask what were the good parts of dungeons and dragons, the door to Hunk's room opens. They all look up, startled, to see Coran emerge from it.

He's dressed in a long robe and he walks towards them with a purpose.

"I see you're all here, travelers. What has brought you all to this land? Is it coin? Is it the promise of adventure? Or something more sinister," Coran narrates, lowering his voice.

"Were you listening in on us so you could do this entrance when Shiro arrived?" Pidge questions him, with a smirk.

Coran stops and splutters a moment. "I- See if I ever try to make it more exciting for you guys! You don't deserve my Mastering abilities!"

"Oh come on, Coran," Allura interjects immediately, "we're all here for you!"

Coran takes a moment to think about it and then nods, getting back into his character. Shiro wants to laugh, but everyone seems to be very into it.

"No one ever knows what the fates have prepared for them," Coran continues, sitting down at the head of the table, "but you'll discover it in this new adventure in a mystery land filled with magic and wonder. Your journey starts in the nation of Altea, where you’ll find yourself looking for an adventure in the tavern. You can all describe yourself, if you want..."

Hours later (after everyone has laughed at him for creating a character that is essentially Shiro in Dungeon and Dragons form ) Shiro looks around the table and realizes... he's actually having fun.

He still doesn't really understand the rules of the game, if he's honest with himself, but this is the third natural one Lance has rolled in stealth, even if he's a rogue, and every time his reactions get better and better.

The fights are cool, and Shiro has enjoyed describing his attacks, once he got the gist of it. He especially enjoys while Coran tries to do different voices for all the non-playable characters and fails.

He laughs out loud when Pidge's character punches Lance's in the shins and he feels Allura's eyes on him, full of mirt.

"See? Isn't this better than crying alone in your house eating ice cream?" she asks him, quietly as not to let the others hear her.

She's doing it for him, he knows, to avoid embarrassing him too much and he's suddenly grateful to have her in his life. Keith might be his best friend, but Allura is a close second.

He has missed her.

"I finished all my ice cream a week ago," he admits, with a little smile and sh laughs along with him.

"Shiro! Stop laughing with Allura, we need you to roll persuasion to convince this guard not to throw Lance in jail for the rest of his natural life!" Hunk interrupts them with a grimace.

Shiro nods and focuses back on the game.

That night, after they finish the session and organize the next one, he looks at his cellphone and finds a message from Keith. It's not a selfie, this time, just a message to wish him a fun night.

On a whim, Shiro takes a picture of the dice sets Allura decided to gift to him and writes First session was a success. I enjoy being a paladin and he sends it quickly.

Monster and Mana becomes a weekly appointment that everyone makes time for. It doesn't matter how much work they have, or how many appointments they have to postpone, they never miss a session.

Hunk's house become a regular haunt for them, even while they don't have sessions. And Shiro actually starts to invest some time in figuring out how to level up Shiro (the character) so that he's more useful in battle.

It gives him something to do while he's home alone, and provides them with a topic of conversation that never seems to get old. He even buys himself a set, red and black, and pretends he didn't think about Keith while he made the purchase.

They might not be the best roleplayers around, but it's fun to try and make Shiro (the character) act a little differently than Shiro (the player).

Also, the others haven't stopped making fun of him for his character's name, but Shiro finds it amusing.

He's the only one who never has to think to remember his character's name and it's a blessing when he has to remember everything else. Honestly, he aced his astronomy course, this shouldn't be this difficult to remember.

Coran is actually a very good storyteller and while he tends to give them too many sidequests or too many details on things they don't really need, the overall quest for the campaign is mysterious enough that they want to see how it evolves.

Right now they are focused on trying to locate a facility where, they have reasons to suspect, one of the druids devoted to the Dark Entity (a deity that has control over the mind) is creating a powerful artifact. The only lead they have to figure out where it is is to talk with a lone ranger that usually hunts alone with his animal companion and his notoriously distrustful of anyone he meets. He lives as a hermit in a house outside town, and he usually shoots (literally) anyone who gets too close to his home.

"We should send Shiro to talk to him," Lance tells them, with a snicker. "I mean, he managed once, he might again."

Shiro doesn't really understand what he means, but everyone else laughs. Shiro usually is the one that goes to do the social interactions. Hunk has a good charisma stat, but Shiro's higher.

He shrugs them off, and the team starts to start the climb to the mountaintop, where the house of this lone hermit is located. Once they reach the base and can see the little house, the team hangs back and motions for Shiro to go alone. The assholes.

Still, Shiro does, and Coran grins and nods at Shiro's perception check.

"Okay, with a seventeen you notice the three traps that were set up to keep strangers away and manage to side step them. You manage to get halfway to the door when you see something peek out from a bush even if you were sure there was nothing there before.

Shiro immediately raises his hand and Coran thinks for a second before he nods. “Okay, when you raise your hands, you see the arrowhead move and someone steps out of the bushes. He looks like a typical ranger, but has an animal beside him. He looks like a wolf, but there’s something strange about him. Roll an arcana check!"

Shiro does so, achieving a moderately good fourteen. "Okay, you realize it's a blink dog. From what you know about them, they are animal with the ability to teleport up to ten feet in front of them and you think that might have been why the other appeared out of thin air. The ranger has dark black hair that arrive to his shoulders, a scar on his cheek and he's dressed in a red jacket."

At that detail, Shiro hears Lance and Pidge laugh. When he looks back towards the table he sees that Allura and Hunk are smiling as well. Shiro... doesn't really get it.

"What have I missed?" he asks, looking around, but Lance just shakes his head.

"Nothing buddy, sorry. I just... I want to see where this is going."

Shiro looks at them for another second before shrugging. "Okay, so. I take out from my pouch some of that jerky I won at that fair and I get closer to the man and offer the treats to the Blink Dog. I say that I come in peace, and I just need to ask him some question."

Coran nods, and then smiles. "Make a persuasion check for me, he's really not in the habit of trusting strangers. Especially with his dog."

It seems fair, and in line with everything else they know about him, so Shiro takes his black and red dice and rolls it.

Natural 20.

"Oh my god, this is priceless," Lance says, weezing a little. He's still laughing and Pidge is looking at the dice and shaking her head.

Coran nods. "Okay then. The man doesn't relax but he allows you to walk forward towards the dog, he seems to be intrigued by you but his weapon is still pointed at you. The dog perks up at the mention of treats and gets a little closer to you."

"I take a piece of jerky and extend it towards the dog. I'm Shiro, I say, and I heard you might have some informations that interest us about a hidden lair in the woods." Shiro hopes he's not making a mess of this. He's actually very invested in resolving this. An entire village is in danger, and his character would seriously have a breakdown if they didn't manage to stop it.

"Maybe," Coran says, talking as the ranger, "but I don't usually give up information freely."

"Not even your name?" Shiro tries, before Lance interrupts him.

"Are you flirting with him?" he asks, pointing a finger at him.

Shiro blinks surprised. "What? No! I'm trying to figure out his name!"

"You're totally flirting with him," Lance accuses him again.

"No, I've seen him flirt in real life. He's a disaster," Allura intervenes and Shiro really doesn't know what he did to deserve this.

"In any way," Coran interrupts them, with a smile, "roll another persuasion check for me. The first natural twenty got you closer, but you need another good roll to get him to tell you anything."

Shiro nods and rolls again watching as the die rolls and lands, once again, on the twenty.

"No fuckign way," Pidge exclaims, "do you know how improbable is that?"

"Oh god, you're actually flirting with him and succeeding! How is this so much like real life?" Lance wonders out loud, making little to no sense.

"Boy, the dice are really blessing you," Coran says, a little surprised. Still, he shrugs and gets back into character. "You see the ranger putting down his weapon and say: Fine. My name is Yorak. And I know of what you're talking about - he starts petting his wolf behind his ears - but it's well protected. The best way to get there undetected by the Dark Entity druids is by a path in the wood, but that's giant territory."

"You know that area pretty well?" Shiro pushes, trying to think of the layout of the forest as they know it.

"Yorak seems to think for a second before he looks at you. He says: It's not something a single man can do. I've stopped passing through there on my own. I can tell you where to go but it would be a suicide."

"I'm not alone," Shiro reassures him. He thinks that maybe this character is secretly a good person. Maybe he just needs someone that offers to give him a hand. "I have a team. We're called Voltron, I could take care of that giant problem for you if you told me where to go."

"Yorak frowns," Coran tells him, massaging his moustache, "he seems annoyed by something. He says, more hostile than before: I don't need anyone's help. I won't leave you guys to take care of my problem."

Shiro thinks about it and then shrugs. "Come with us then. You can help us with the facility, and we can help you with the giants, but this way you'll be part of the action."

"Are we really taking him with us?" Hunk wonders, "I mean. Is it a good idea? We don't really know if we can trust him."

"Also I kind of liked that this campaign didn't have Ke-" Lance starts, before Allura interrupts him with a well places elbow to the gut.

"Anyway, Shiro you have to roll another persuasion check for me." Coran looks down at his notes and Shiro nods, taking the same dice and rolling it again.

"No. You have to be shitting me, come on Shiro!" Lance exclaims, looking at the third natural twenty in a row.

Pidge blinks and takes the die, rolling it immediately and watching as the dice lands on a twelve. She tries again and it lands on a three. Then a seven. Then a eight. "It really doesn't seem like it's a balance problem."

"But three twenties in a row!" Hunk points out, amazed. "What are the possibilities?"

Before anyone can answer, Coran speaks again. "Whatever they are, you see Yorak think about your proposition and then smile. I accept - he says - I'm sure Kosmo is excited as well, Shiro. The blink dog, Kosmo you gather, barks and then you find yourself with a lap full of blink dogs. It seems you've managed to convince them to follow you. Congratulation, Shiro."

"Is anyone really that surprised?" Lance wonders, out loud, and Shiro, once again, doesn't understand what he means.

In the following sessions Yorak helps them fight first the giants and, then, the druids in the facility. It seems like he's a very skilled ranger, and he and Kosmo fight closer to Shiro, saving his ass a lot of times.

"You know," Lance complains one night, pointing a finger at Coran, "you should have Yorak cast cure wounds on me sometimes. Why does he only do it for Shiro?"

"Because you rolled a natural one on your general charm check with him. And Shiro managed to roll another natural twenty when they were on guard last night at camp," Coran reminds him with a shrug.

"Because he loves Shiro. They are boyfriends," Pidge replies, at the same time.

"We aren't!" Shiro has to object immediately and Allura laughs.

"I think she meant your character and Yorak," Allura points out, with a devilish grin. "Admit it, Shiro will be sad to see him go now that we've finished the quest."
Allura is right, obviously. They have destroyed the facility, looted the place, stopped the ritual and defeated the giants. There's nothing more to do for them in this forest, and Voltron will probably move on soon to find other clues to defeat Zarkon and Haggar. Yorak will probably remain in his city.

Shiro (the character and the player) is a little sad about it, he can admit to himself. Yorak was a good support to have around, and they had a couple of deep discussions during the nights they took their guard duty together.

Still, he thinks, there isn't much more to do.

The group is almost back to the city and they have to camp for one last night. When Coran asks who'd take the first turn at guarding, Shiro volunteers and Coran informs him that Yorak volunteers as well.

"Figures," Lance comments under his breath.

Yorak rolls a high perception roll, but nothing seems to be around and so Shiro's character and Yorak talk to pass the time.

They aren't saying anything too deep, but Shiro has a nudging sensation that he knows what his character would do in this situation and he can't really stop himself from doing it.

"Yorak," he says, looking at Coran, "why don't you come with us?"

He hears the rest of the table gasp, surprised, and Coran seems to be taken aback too. He looks at Shiro for a second and then he nods: "Roll a persuasion check and..."

"It needs to be high, I know," he says and rolls. He's not ever that surprised when he sees the natural twenty.

"Motherfucker," Lance whispers, for once too shocked to scream.

Coran looks at the die and then at all of them. "Well, I guess you have another member of your team."

He realizes, four months after Keith has left for his trip, that while he still misses him, Shiro is... fine. He's sad, and a little lonely, but he's doing much better than he was in the beginning.

He's hanging out with the others almost three nights a week and he's happier now. Still, he also realizes that he wants to talk to Keith more than he wants to talk with the others.

That he cherishes all of his selfie far more than the ones the other send him.

He's halfway into writing a response to Keith's last message (something about maybe adopting a wolfdog) that Shiro realizes something he really should have realized before.

For ten minutes he sits there in a panic, wondering how long had this been going on and how could he haven't realized sooner?

Before he realizes, he's dialing Allura's number.

"Shiro, I swear if this is to talk strategy about next week's battle I'm..." she starts but he interrupts her before she can even finish.

"I think I'm in love with Keith," he says, in one breath. Oh. Oh. Saying it out loud makes it even more real and he looks at the photo of the two of them he has on his nightstand. On his nightstand, what the fuck.

"... You just realized?" she wonders, a little bit awed, a little bit confused.

She knew. Of course she knew. Shiro has a photo of them on his nightstand.

"How long have I been in love with Keith, Allura?" he asks, starting to panic.

"I mean, I figured at least since after you guys move in together. I thought you were actually a couple for the first few weeks. But no, alas, just stupid pining boys."

"I have been pining," he realizes, "Oh god, I've been pining so hard."

"Shiro, are you having some kind of mental breakdown over this?" she asks, gentler than before.

He thinks about it critically and tries to rationalize what's going on inside his own head. "I think this is just... a surprise. I thought I would have realized if I was in love with someone."

"You don't have the best track record when it comes to relationships, Shiro," Allura points out, not unkindly.

Of course, she's probably thinking about Adam, Shiro's ex, who had left him when Shiro had been too obsessed with his studies and responsibility to put their relationship first. Shiro hadn't even realizes they were having problems before Adam gave him an ultimatum.

It isn't his finest moment.

"I'm an emotional disaster. I'm usually so good at everything else," he whines, unable to stop himself. Allura laughs, mumblin something that sounds like modest too.

"It's only fair, honestly. You're too good looking and successful to also be good at relationships. Leave the cooking and the sentimental stuff to us mortal," Allura jokes.

"You're beautiful, more than I am. And you're a talented astronomer. And you're good at relationships. I don't know what you mean," he huffs.

Allura tskes in background. "Do I have to remind you that one of the villain in our Monster and mana campaign is based on my ex?"

He really doesn't have anything to say to that.

"You should take advantage of this time of separation," Allura continues after a while, "to figure out what you want to do once he's back."

"Do?" Shiro wonders, surprised. He hadn't really thought that far ahead.

"Yes. Do. Or do you want to be his best friend for the rest of your life?" she asks him. It really doesn't sound like a bad idea. He doesn't want to ruin this. Plus, they live together, what if Keith doesn't feel the same way?

"I..." he starts, but Allura cuts him off immediately.

"No. You think about it before making any decisions, okay?" it doesn't really sound like a question, the way Allura sometimes gives orders without realizing. No one has found a way to tell her no.

"Okay. Thank you." He's almost whispering, even if he doesn't know why.

"Don't mention it. And reply to Keith, I'm sure he's waiting by the phone for your text."

"How did you-?"
"Pining," she simply replies before hanging up.

Shiro wonders if it's possible to be even more confused than before.

It's not that he doesn't want to talk to Keith, it's just that he doesn't really know how to after the revelation from the other night. Every time Keith calls him, or sends him a message, Shiro is reminded of the fact that he's in fact in love with Keith.

Pretty much gone for him. And haven't even realized it for the longest time.

He's not certain how to be natural with Keith anymore. Shiro overthinks everything he does or say, so much so that he feels like Keith can read him like an open book.

He talks less, writes less. Even as he realizes he's doing it, he's unable to stop himself. There's a safety that comes with closing himself to Keith that he's not ready to give up.

Keith doesn't really need to know anything, does he? Shiro has two months to figure himself out and try to act like a normal person in Keith's presence.

It's not a perfect plan, of course, but at least it resembles a plan.

There's nothing he can do, however, when Keith asks him: "Are you mad at me?"

They've been on the phone for the past ten minutes, with Keith telling Shiro about the things they saw that day, and talking about really adopting a wolf dog once back home. Shiro nods when he has to, and he's been answering appropriately, but his head is a buzz of I miss you and I still don't know how to talk to you and I would adopt a thousand dogs for you, I don't even care that they'll tear the house apart.

Evidently he was too wrapped up in his own head and he hasn't been following the conversation as well as he hoped.

"What?" he sputters, surprised. "No! Why would I be?"

"That's what I want to know. I've been thinking about it for a few days," Keith tells him, frowning. "You don't ever tell me anything about you anymore. Most of the time you just listen to me and not even talk. If I'm annoying you with my calls..."

"No!" Shiro is quick to reassure him. As much as he doesn't want Keith to figure out Shiro's crush, he also doesn't want to lose Keith.

That's the complete opposite of what he wants.

"I've just... been busy at work. And there's really nothing new to tell you," he tries. Which isn't even  that much of a lie.

Shiro's life, lately, was made of panicking over Keith, work and Monster and Mana. The first isn't something he can tell Keith, and the other two aren't particularly interesting for him.

Keith, however, doesn't seem convinced. "You seemed to be doing just fine a month ago. Are you-"
Before Keith can continue, Shiro jumps in to reassure the other. "I swear, Keith. I'm just not in a mood to talk too much."

Immediately Keith's frown is replaced by concern. Shit, Shiro shouldn't have lied.

"Is it... I mean, you haven't had episodes in a while..." Keith doesn't ask what he wants to ask, but Shiro feels like a terrible friends all the same.

It's true that Shiro has suffered some cases of depression in his life, most notably following a deterioration of the sickness that has accompanied him since he was a kid. Nowadays Shiro is stable and while he will never be able to join a professional football team or become an astronaut like he wanted, he has come to realize how lucky he is to be able to walk and move freely at all.

"No," he says immediately, closing his eyes. "It's nothing Keith, don't worry too much."

"You would tell me, right?" the other asks, his voice low and worried. God, Shiro loves him.

"Yeah, I swear." I just won't tell you that I have a crush on you, he thinks manically.

Keith nods and relaxes again.

Shiro really is a bad friend.

A month later, Shiro still isn't any closer to figure out what he wants to do with Keith. In just a month his roommate will be back from his trip, and all Shiro has figured out is the location of one of the enemy's general in Monster and Mana.

Useful for the campaign, but not really for his life.

"You have time," Allura reassures him. She's the only one he can talk to about this and he tries to let her words soothe him.

He wishes they had a session today, but they had to skip it this week because Coran is sick. Right now, without the problems to solve from the campaign, he has too much free time to think about his own troubles.

"A month isn't that much of a time," he mumbles. "Look at the past one, it flew by and I'm still in the same situation."

Allura doesn't say anything and Shiro sighs. He's really beyond help.

"On one hand I really would prefer if he was already here," he tells her, balancing his groceries in one hand and opening his apartment's door with the other, "at least it would be over with."

"What would be over with?" Keith's voice comes from inside the apartment and Shiro drops his bags on the floor. He only saves the cell phone because he has it between his ear and his shoulder and he's frozen in place.

"Shiro? What was tha-" Allura says from the cellphone before stopping. "Oh God, is that Keith?"

Fuck, Shiro can only think, there were eggs in that bag.

"You shouldn't be here," he says, blinking at the image of Keith in front of him. It's absurd to think that Keith, a grown adult, has become more mature in the five months they haven't seen each other, and yet Shiro can't help but think so.

Keith's hairs are longer, kept in a small ponytail. He has a tan, of all things, and he has his leather jacket on. There's a peacefulness to him that wasn't there before.

He looks happy, sure, but he also finally looks at peace.

"Well, I expected a warmer welcome," Keith jokes with a shrug. "I came back early. Six months was a little too much for me in the end.

"Shiro? Answer me or I will have to assume you were murdered by someone who has a very similar voice to Keith!" Allura almost screams in his ear and that pushes him to move.

He takes the cellphone in his hand and tells Allura: "Yeah, sorry. Keith's back, I'll call you later okay?" and he closes the call before she can even reply.

Then he focuses on the Keith-shaped problem that's standing in their living room.

It's easier than it should be. Whatever problems or doubts are in Shiro's mind right now, there's something that will always be true: he missed Keith.

So Shiro smiles and advances, engulfing Keith in a hug. "I can't believe you're back! This is great news."

Shiro realizes that Keith had been nervous only because the other seems to relax in his embrace. Keith hugs him as well and pats him on his back.

"Yeah, what can I say, I really couldn't stay away any longer. That Monster and Mana campaign is getting too interesting," Keith jokes and Shiro laughs, taking a step back.

"You say that, but it's actually real fun. You'll like it!" He doesn't even hesitate to say that. There is no doubt in his mind that Keith will join them next session, after all Team Voltron has always been ready to welcome Keith's character into their ranks.

"Well, maybe I'll draw up a backstory better than yours. Also a better name," Keith jokes before looking at the groceries bag still on the floor. "Did you buy something I can cook? Or just instant ramen?"

Shiro blinks and then looks at the bags as well, trying to remember. "I'm certain there were a couple of eggs? I... I don't remember anything else."

Keith laughs at that, looking towards Shiro with a familiar fondness. "I don't know how you survived before you convinced me to room with you."

I don't either Shiro wants to say, but he stay silent instead and watches as Keith confidently strolls to the bags and pick them up, walking in their kitchen.

The familiarity of the scene stirs something in Shiro. Having Keith here, back in their shared space, makes all the worries of the past month disappear. He remembers how to act around Keith, and he doesn't think he should change. This is them, their pace, their easy friendship.

There's nothing he wouldn't do to keep it, so he just does nothing at all. He can be like he was before and that will have to be enough.

Next session, they invite Keith with them. Keith refused to prepare a character for the first game, saying he was happy to watch.

They all accept his decision quickly. They are in a tunnel today and it might have been difficult to find a way to introduce Keith's character.

So they sit down at the table, Keith beside Shiro, and Coran starts: "Last time we left off, team Voltron had just entered the ruins of the ancient temple, a series of small and tortuous tunnels inside the mountain that overshadows the city. Our six heroes have entered the first of the tunnels, following the instructions of one of the..."
"Wait," Keith pipes in, looking around confused. "Six?"

Coran blinks, surprised, before he smiles at Keith. "Oh, right! You can't know."
"We have a tag along," Lance explains with a smile, "it's Shiro's boyfriend."

Shiro sighs, used to this by now, and simply says "He's not my character's boyfriend."

"He rolled like one hundred natural twenties on charisma," Hunk explains, with a smirk, "and Yorak basically decided to devote his life to Shiro."

"It is kind of romantic," Allura admits, with a smile. She looks sweet, but there's a mischief there that Shiro knows to fear. "He's a ranger. He was a hermit, only him and his dog for all his life. But he opened up to Shiro a lot."

"He's fun to have around," Pidge pipes in,"even if he's disgustingly in love with Shiro."

"Once again," Shiro interjects, "Yorak isn't in love with Shiro. Right, Coran?"

Coran remains silent, making a strange face. He almost looks like he's having an aneurysm. "Well, I really wouldn't say that he's in love, maybe..."

"But a respectable crush!" Pidge immediately follows and Coran nods.

"Oh yeah. That for sure."

Shiro sighs again, looking towards Keith in search of a little comfort. They usually do that, make fun of their friends eccentricities and have a laugh together. Today, however, Keith is looking at the table and frowning.

"Are you okay?" Shiro can't help but ask, worried all of a sudden.

Keith doesn't reply immediately and that worries Shiro even more. "You have a Monster and Mana boyfriend?" Keith asks without really looking at him.

Shiro doesn't really understand why they all seem so fixated on that, honestly. It's a fun game, but it's still a game, and it really has no repercussion to real life. "No," he still repeats. "Shiro, my character, trusts Yorak, but it's not like I ever figured out romance was supposed to be in this game? Shouldn't we just kick the bad guys' asses?"

"So what. Shiro is aware of Yorak's crush and just doesn't do anything?" Keith pushes, strangely incensed by this.

Shiro really doesn't know what to reply to that. "I mean. I don't think he knows?" he tries, frowning, "but even if he did. I... I don't know? There is an entire continent to save? I think that takes precedence?"

Keith doesn't seem to be satisfied with Shiro's answer and he starts biting on his lower lip. Shiro is just really confused by this.

"Uhm," Coran tries, looking at them, "do you guys want to play?"

"You know what," Keith says, standing up, "I changed my mind. I'm going home for today. I'll have a character for next week."

"What?" Shiro says, surprised. Keith, however, doesn't stop. He takes his own jacket and walks out of the apartment before anyone could stop him, leaving the entire table speechless.

No one talks for a couple of seconds before Lance grimaces. "Sorry, Shiro, I think that's on us. Screwed your chances up real good."

"What are you talking about?" he asks, looking towards Lance. Before he can reply, however, Allura silences him with a swift elbow to the gut.

"Ignore him. I think you should go with Keith, we'll just continue this next week," she tells him and he nods, standing up.

Following Keith seems like the only logical thing to do. "Yeah, sorry guys."

He doesn't stay long and rushes after his roomate.

Keith has a good ten minutes on him, but Shiro jogs to catch up with him. "Keith! Stop! What's going on, are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine," Keith answers in that tone of voice that suggested someone was going to lose an arm soon. "I just really had an inspiration for a character."

"A... character? Really? I mean... do you want help?" he tries but Keith shakes his head.

"I don't need your help. On anyone else's." Keith, Shiro realizes, is angry even if he's not sure about what.

He almost asks, but Keith glares at him with enough force that he shuts up.

The entire week passes in the same fashion. Every time Shiro tries to talk, Keith just glares at him and goes back to his own room. Keith has refused to show any hints about his Monster and Mana's character, and he also locks his door when he goes out, almost as if he doesn't trust Shiro not to peek.

Shiro is sure he could learn how to pickpocket a lock, but he's not that desperate yet.

Allura tells him to give it time, but he's not sure how much time one can reasonably allow this to continue.

Fortunately Monster and Mana night arrives.

Once again, they find themselves seated at the table, Keith beside Shiro and holding his own sheet.

Coran looks a little nervous but he still starts to narrate. "Okay, so, as I was saying last week. Team Voltron, following the hint of one of the former acolytes starts to investigate the tunnels in the mountain. But, before they can enter one, they find someone standing in front of the entrance. Keith, if you want to describe your character..."

"My name," Keith immediately starts, "Is Thunderstorm Darkness. I'm a barbarian and my mission in life is finding my boyfriend Gyro. He's a paladin, you see. He kind of looks like that one," and he points at Shiro while saying so, "but it would never be him."

No one says anything for a second before Hunk says, quietly: "Oh boy."

Shiro looks at Keith, feeling very confused by all this. "I... Keith, do you want to talk about something?"

"No. We're here to play, right?" Keith says, between his teeth.

Shiro looks at the others, trying to think of what to do, but the others only shrug.

Coran coffs twice. "Well, Yorak walks a little closer to Shiro."

No one comments when Keith just growls.

The session goes... places, that's the most generous way Shiro can describe it. By the end of the night, Keith's character dies a very gruesome death when Keith rolls a natural one ona dexterity saving throw.

It's... not a fun game. No one jokes around, and they are all too tense to really laugh.

When Hunk's door closes behind their backs, Shiro looks at Keith and doesn't hesitate. "Are you ready to talk now?"

Keith sighs but nods, with a guilty expression. "Sorry. I know I ruined tonight's game. And, I guess, last week's."

"I don't care about that, honestly. There will be other sessions. Or not, if you don't want to play. I just want to be sure everything is okay with you." It's the truth. As fun as Monster and Mana has been and still is for Shiro, he cares about Keith more.

"No. I'm sure it's actually pretty fun when I'm not screwing up everything," Keith laughs at himself, but he sounds tired.

"Do you want to tell me why you were so mad? Did I do something?" he's panicking, he knows, but he wants to make this better. This last week had been hell.

Worse, even, than when Keith was travelling with his mom. Shiro will do anything to avoid a repeat.

"No," Keith repeats. "This isn't your fault. I just... I overreacted. I just felt like you guys were making fun of me."

"What?" Shiro can't help but ask, surprised and shocked. "Fun of you? For what? What are you talking about?"

Keith looks at him, studies his face for at least five minutes before he huffs. "You didn't even realize, did you? Of course not."

Shiro is even more confused, but before he can ask, Keith supplies: "It's obvious Yorak is supposed to be me."

Shiro blinks once. Twice. And then he sees it. Lone ranger who works better with animals than people. Oh.

Keith had felt like they were making fun of him because of Yorak, sure, but then... what was that Keith made sure to include in his character's backstory? A boyfriend that wasn't Shiro.

Oh again. The implication that Yorak was in love with Shiro, that was what had made Keith so mad. Because, of course, Keith didn't like Shiro.

"It's just... it's a stupid joke because of the natural twenties," he tries to explain with a sad smile. He doesn't know what to say, doesn't know how to react to the knowledge that Keith hated the idea of liking Shiro so much.

It's why he hadn't said anything, after all, so he's prepared. Still, it hurts a lot.

Keith doesn't say anything for a couple of seconds and Shiro sighs. He'll talk with the others, explain the situation to them and beg them to lay off the jokes. He'll go and cry alone in his bed tonight.

The Keith speaks.

"I love you, Shiro. And it just felt like the others were making fun of my crush for you. I know I have no chance, but I mean... I know it's a little pathetic, even after so many years but..."

"What?" Shiro blurts, at a higher volume than he would have liked. But really what?

Keith shrugs, looking at the closed door behind them. "I hoped maybe this six months would help, but I missed you too much and kept calling you. I felt pathetic, but you always answered and it was nice. I'm sorry. I know it has to make you uncomfortable but..."

Shiro can't really process this. Any of this.

He didn't lie to Allura, he's not good at emotions and relationships, everyone in their group knew it, but at that moment, for once in his entire life, his brain decided to finally kick into gear.

Before he even realized it, Shiro surged forwards, taking Keith's face and smashing their mouths together.

It really wasn't a good kiss. Keith was too surprised to reciprocate, and Shiro was still too shocked to put his all into the kiss. But it was a kiss.

"I was pining," he informs Keith, with a smile. "Apparently I've been pining since we moved in together, but I hadn't realized it before two months ago."

"Two..." Keith stops, surprised. "Is that why you were so strange when we talked?"

"I was worried you could feel my enormous crush for you over the phone. I don't know how that would have worked, but we both know I'm terrible at this." Keith should know better than anyone else.

A moment passes between them before Keith smiles. "I have to say, that was a terrible kiss."

Shiro laughs, too happy to take offence and Keith kisses him again.

This, Shiro thinks, this is a good kiss.

“I’ll tell the others I’m sorry tomorrow,” Keith whispers, their lips still touching, “can we go home?”

There’s no way in hell that Shiro responds anything but yes.

The next day they text Coran to ask him if, maybe, Keith could play as Yorak next session.

When asked why, Keith simply shrugged and answers: "I like his boyfriend. And his dog." Coran just laughs out loud, surprised and delighted, and he sends Yorak’s sheet over in a couple of minutes welcoming Keith to the table and congratulating them in putting their heads out of their asses.

It appears Team Voltron was completed all along.