Written for my dear friend and enabler M, from a prompt meme 'how you said I love you'.

"Shiro!" Keith dropped to his knees as he reached his friend, the blade of his bayard dissolving as it clattered to the floor. The others moved on around him, and the huge room was nearly empty of Galra soldiers anyway; Keith trusted them to handle it.

"Keith? Keith." Shiro coughed weakly, rasping. He reached up, and Keith caught his hand, squeezing it probably too hard.

"I'm here, Shiro." Keith promised, thumb stroking over Shiro's knuckles. He felt the lines of what seemed like a new set of scars striped over Shiro's fingers. "You're safe." he promised, glancing up long enough to see a shot from Hunk's bayard take out an oversized gun overlooking the deck from a walkway above. Lance took up a position beside the smoking wreckage, his bayard up and ready.

"Keith. . ." Shiro clasped his hand tighter, struggling to sit up with Keith's help and fighting to catch his breath. He was pale under the bruises and the blood oozing from the raw, broken-open scar across his nose. Keith leaned closer, supporting him with an arm behind his shoulders. "I love you." Shiro said roughly, finishing with an unsteady gasp.

Keith froze, his arm nearly falling away from Shiro's shoulders. "I- What?" he said stupidly.

Shiro's lips curled up at one corner. "I promised myself . . . if I got a chance to see you again . . . I wouldn't hold it back any more."

Keith's eyes widened.

"Are we ready to get out of here?" Lance called down.

"Not done yet!" Pidge yelled back, and Allura, covering her back as she browbeat the Galra computer system, put a fist through the head of a sentry robot as it began to come back online. Keith and Shiro both tuned out their teammates for the most part.

Shiro shivered as he slowly pulled his legs under him, sliding into a crouch, with Keith's help to keep him steady.

"Hold it back, huh?" Keith asked tentatively, ducking his head as Shiro met his eyes again.

"I was going to tell you, once, and then-" Shiro rubbed at his nose, then hissed, wincing. He'd dragged his knuckle across the raw wound there. Keith wanted to ask what had caused the scar, because it was worse every time he pulled Shiro out of the hands of the Galra Empire. Keith wanted it to never get any worse again, no matter what caused it. "I couldn't tell you right before I left - or through a vid link, I mean, that wouldn't be . . . fair? And then I . . . didn't get to come back, and my head was all scrambled when you found-"

"Vid link? Wait, back since before Kerberos?" Keith practically yelped, and Shiro went faintly pink under the still tacky blood on his face. "Shiro, you- Why?"

"I wanted to tell you before then but. . ." Shiro looked slightly flustered. "Back at the Garrison it wouldn't have been right, you were- And I didn't know if you would-" he stopped and just looked at Keith helplessly. "I'm sorry if- I just . . . needed to tell you." Shiro smiled slightly. "I don't expect anything, Keith, I'm sorry, I just," his voice hitched, "had to say."

"Let's go!" Pidge yelled before Keith could respond, a self-satisfied bounce in her step as she left the console behind, Allura following a bit more slowly.

Keith narrowed his eyes slightly at Shiro, then drew his arm around his own shoulders and took a good bit of Shiro's weight as they got up and headed for the waiting Lions. As he thought of them, Red growled unhappily at the back of Keith's mind for having been left behind. They'd needed Blue's sonic cannon and Green's cloaking this time - and given how quickly things had gone wrong this time, Red would likely have started tearing into the ship in a protective fury before they'd even made it through to Shiro.

Keith's lips curled fondly, and the feeling of Red in his mind softened, warming with fondness in return. He helped Shiro up into Green on Pidge's heels as Allura and Hunk trailed after Lance.

The Castle was nearby - it had been a quick jaunt across in the Lions, at least, though well clear of the Galra cruiser's scanning capabilities - and they were soon spilling out of the Lions again, this time safely in the largest hangar on the Castle.

"Shiro!"

"You're back!"

Keith ignored the welcoming cries offered by the others and reached up, fingers settling on Shiro's cheek. His soft grey eyes widened slightly as he met Keith's gaze.

"Shiro. . ." Keith said softly, and Shiro nodded faintly, not looking away. Keith leaned up, the pad of his thumb trailing lightly over Shiro's cheek just under the raw edge of the freshly bloody scar. "I love you, too, you idiot." He kissed Shiro gently even as he heard Shiro's breath catch with a sharp sound.

"I was willing to chase halfway across the universe looking for you," Keith murmured almost against Shiro's lips as he pulled away a few moments later, "and you thought you needed to apologise to me for an I love you?"

Shiro had gone pink under the blood drying on his face, but he settled his hands on Keith's hips, just at the top of the armour there, and squeezed not too tentatively. "No?" he ventured, with the beginnings of a smile.

"No." Keith confirmed, unable to suppress a smile of his own, though it was a little sad.

"I really do." Shiro said quietly. "Love you." His thumbs rubbed weakly over Keith's sides.

"I do too." Keith said, smile turning crooked. "And I'll always come after you, no matter how far, no matter how many times it takes." He gave Shiro another soft kiss. "But please don't make me do it too often; apparently I'm rough on the others without you." he said as lightly as he could manage.

"Seriously, it's not pretty." Lance said, smiling knowingly at Keith and squeezing Shiro's shoulder. "We're glad to have you back, Shiro. And we'll be glad to see a - slightly - more sane Keith back now that you're with him again." he said wryly, and Keith cleared his throat, stifling a laugh.

I didn't even really mean to throw in 'as many times as it takes' - it just happened, thank you Keith.

The prompt was, of course, an I love you said 'with a shuddering gasp'.