Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender.
Author Note: This is brotherly Sheith.
Lance peeked around the corner, waiting for Keith to leave his room. Another dobosh went by before the door to Keith's room opened, and the Red Paladin walked out, bayard in hand, heading for the training deck. Lance counted to ten before walking around the corner and sneaking into Keith's room. He started searching for a photo album. "C'mon! There has to be one! Where is it?"
"Lance, what are you doing in Keith's room, and why are you ransacking the place?" Shiro asked.
"Huh? Oh, Shiro, it's you. I was just wanting to see what Mullet looked like as a kid. I figured he had a photo album somewhere in his room."
"Well, he doesn't have a photo album, but if you put his room back together, I will have a surprise for you in the lounge."
Lance smiled and started putting the items back in their places. Shiro left the room and headed back to his room. He grabbed a book and left for the lounge. He sat down in the middle of the couch, waiting for Lance. He didn't have long to wait as the sharpshooter of the group skidded into the room a couple of ticks later. He ended up next to Shiro. "So, what's the surprise?"
"I have some pictures I thought you may want to see." Shiro opened the photo album on his lap. Lance looked over the pictures. All of them were of little Shiro. He was alone for most of the pictures until he was about eleven. Then, there was another child in the pictures. He was small with longish black hair, violet eyes, and a pretty smile. Lance's eyes widened as they scanned more pictures of this new boy.
"I didn't know you had a brother."
"My family adopted him when he was four, which is why I don't have any pictures of him younger than four."
"What's his name?"
Shiro gave Lance a weird look. "Keith."
"Keith? You mean this happy child is our resident emo Paladin?!"
"Yes."
Lance looked at the pictures again. There was one of little Keith sitting in a window seat with a huge book in front of him. He was wearing denim pants and a short sleeve blue shirt. He looked good in a different color. There was another one of teenage Shiro sitting with little Keith in his lap. It looked like Shiro was tickling his brother. Keith's laugh caught on camera. It was also a marked difference between the little boy and the Red Paladin. Lance doubted he had seen his rival laugh. "Is he really ticklish?"
"Yes, but I wouldn't try tickling him while he's training." Shiro grabbed the back of Lance's jacket as the Blue Paladin stood up. Shiro tugged on the jacket, making the sharpshooter sit back down.
"Aw, you're no fun, Shiro."
"If I'm no fun, then I will tell Hunk and Pidge my idea to get Keith to lighten up and leave you out of it."
"That's not what I meant!"
"Thought so. Go get Hunk and Pidge, and I will lay out the plan."
It didn't take Lance long to find the specified Paladins. All three of them were back in the lounge with Shiro, whose photo album was of great interest to the two others.
"That's Keith?!" Pidge exclaimed.
"He acts so different!" Hunk mentioned.
"He's happy," Lance couldn't help interjecting.
"He's laughing!" Pidge added.
"If you want to see our Keith laugh, all we have to do is tickle him. I will lure him in here, and all four of us will tickle him. Between the four of us, I'm sure we'll get him to laugh," Shiro explained.
"Let's do it," Lance said, the other two nodding in agreement.
"All right. You three hide behind the sofa, and I'll get Keith." Shiro left the lounge, heading for the training deck. Surprisingly, it was empty. Shiro decided to check Keith's room, and there he was. Apparently, he had just gotten out of the shower. He had pants on but not a shirt and had a towel over his hair, trying to dry it at least part way. Shiro stared at his little brother. There was a scar between his neck and his right shoulder from his trials with The Blade of Marmora. Shiro hadn't realized that Keith was cut so deeply that it left a scar.
Keith peeked out from under the towel. "Hey, Shiro."
"Hey, Keith. Can you come with me to the lounge? I have something I want you to see."
"Sure. Just let me put a shirt on." Keith tossed the towel on his bed and put on a plain black shirt. He followed Shiro out of the room and into the seemingly empty lounge. They both sat down, and Shiro pulled out his photo album.
"I was looking at some old pictures of us and wanted to look at them together with you." Shiro opened the book about halfway through, ensuring that little Keith would appear in the pictures. Keith looked at the pictures of his and Shiro's past selves. They were so happy together. A smile came to Keith's face as he looked over the pictures with his brother. Suddenly, there was a tickling sensation across his neck. He raised a hand and rubbed his neck. Then, there was a poke to his side. He lowered his hand, and the tickling sensation came back. All of a sudden, he was tackled from behind. He landed on the floor with Lance on top of him. He could hear Shiro close the photo album and stand up. He was certain that his brother was going to stop Lance from whatever he was trying to accomplish. "Lance, he needs to be face up for this to work."
The look of utter confusion on Keith's face was adorable. Lance flipped his rival over with ease, and Keith could now see the four Paladins were crowded around him. "What are you guys doing?"
"An experiment," Pidge said before digging her fingers into Keith's side, making him squirm.
"N-no! S-stop!"
"No can do, little brother. The team needs to hear you laugh." Shiro decided to tickle Keith's neck, while Hunk was getting the other side. The combined tickling was too much for the Red Paladin. He started laughing and shrieking, thrashing about wildly in an attempt to escape the tickling fingers. Lance was doing all he could to keep the shorter teenager on his back. This continued for several doboshes. Shiro only called it quits when Keith was unable to catch his breath. "Okay, guys. Let him go. He can't breathe."
Lance let Keith go, and Hunk and Pidge sat on the couch, watching the raven-haired teen gasp for air. Shiro helped Keith sit up and rubbed his back, trying to calm him down. It was a couple of doboshes before Keith was breathing normally.
"Why was that necessary?" Keith asked.
"You need to lighten up, Mullet. Shiro showed us a picture that showed you laughing as a little kid. We knew you could smile, but I don't remember the last time we heard a laugh out of you; a good genuine laugh."
A smirk appeared on Keith's face. "Oh? You want to hear laughter, do you?" Without warning, the raven-haired teen launched himself into Lance, which knocked him to the floor, and started tickling the taller pilot. Lance started laughing as he fought back, tickling Keith's sides, causing him to laugh again. Hunk and Pidge grinned and decided to join in. Soon, there were four Paladins on the floor, tickling each other and laughing. Shiro watched them for a couple of doboshes before joining in.
Soon, the castle was filled with the happy sounds of the five Paladins laughing, the bonds between them becoming stronger. Unknown to the five laughing Paladins, Princess Allura was watching her pilots acting like children. It warmed her heart to see them spending time together and bonding as a team. It made her believe that they were truly the defenders of the universe.
Fin
