#this wasnt meant to be a sheith blog but

[dent-de-leon]

@wonderfulwaytooweird  ok putting this under a read more caus it got a bit Long sorry ;; 

alright, why i ship sheith, here we go:

This idea of sheith comes from a lot of these small, subtle cues that are pretty blink and you miss it. For instance, that part when keith sees shiro again—the way he holds his face and tenderly turns it a little reads as distinctly romantic to me. There’s this…vulnerability to their interactions we rarely see afforded with anyone else. In the first episode of season 2 you see just how comfortable they are with one another, how shiro lets the whole leader persona slip when its just him and keith. They also have a lot of these quiet little moments in season 2 especially where they check in on each other, and it just comes across as really touching. Also, any time where keith or shiro is looking deeply upset about something and you just see the other one really feeling for them in the background like, that Gets me.

Another thing, there are a bunch of parallels between the two in seasons 1 and 2 that no other characters have. like when shiro tells keith patience yields focus in the first episode and then, at the start of season 2, keith repeats it back to him. When shiro crashes back to earth you get “Good to have you back” “Good to be back”—we get that same exact exchange in reverse when keith and allura come back in The Arc of Taujeer. If you factor in visuals then there’s even more—the way shiro carries keith with his arm over his shoulder in BOM bears a striking resemblance to how keith rescued him in the first episode. They both have that same style change in animation when they first activate their bayards.

Their interactions are mirrored a lot, and there’s also a bunch of symbolism around them. Shiro loses his right arm and it’s replaced by a galra prosthetic; it’s portrayed as both a point of strength and weakness for him. Keith, the right arm of voltron, is also galra. He’s also something shiro temporarily lost during his year of capture, and is both an anchor and weak spot for him. Not to mention this thematic thing where they keep getting torn apart and crashing back together again, like theyre just meant to keep finding each other. 

In a recent podcast, Bex mentions a scene in the last episode where voltron gets blasted and everyone blacks out. She notes that everyone is shown to be by themselves with an exception—in the shot where shiro is down, you can see the red lion in the background. And in the shot of keith, black lion is also visible. Even on the verge of death, they’re still together. Lauren Montgomery confirms she storyboarded this, so it was intentional. And honestly, i feel like the basis of the ship is a lot of little things like these, a lot of subtleties that show how each is a constant for the other. When shiro hugs keith they don’t say anything, but they don’t have to. They’re close in this way that’s just quietly intimate.

And any time shiro is in trouble keith is always right there; whether he’s snapping shiro out of a flashback or charging in to defend him, you know keith really cares. And of course shiro is invested as well, is clearly touched when he realizes keith took his advice to heart—“That really stayed with you, didn’t it?” He also has this immense respect for keith and his abilities, treats him as a leader in his own right. A lot of people will say that shiro looks at keith as being just a cadet or younger brother he needs to look after, but i don’t think thats true at all. 

How he trusts keith with risky missions like chasing down rolo because he’s the most capable pilot, how he trains keith to be his successor—these are all signs that shiro admires keith just as much as keith does him. Not to mention the way Shiro quickly gets over the shock of everything going on in BOM and runs to keith’s aid, immediately ready to fight off everyone at the base to protect him instead of insisting he give up the knife—he didnt have to back his decision to keep the blade, but he did, because he knows it’s important to him. Shiro values keith’s wants and needs. He cares about him.

He also trusts keith’s instincts, let’s him grow into his own person and doesn’t try to control him. When keith decides to go shut down zarkon’s base on his own, there’s this moment when shiro hesitates. Like Kollivan pointed out, it could very well be a suicide mission. Shiro says keith’s name, then stops. There’s this pained look as he closes his eyes, takes a moment to compose himself before he goes Alright, ill cover you. It’s such a small thing, but you can really see how much keith means to him. How he wants keith not to go but, like keith said himself, there’s just no commanding him. So he does the next best thing. He puts his faith in keith and says he’ll cover him. There’s this implicit trust between the two that just speaks volumes.  

And, the part about keith freindzoning shiro. the thing is, shiro is the one who mentions family first. he tells keith “we’re your family” and we get the brother line in response to it. But, shiro said “we.” as in, all the paladins. and we know keith thinks of them all as a family, know that he said “we’re all related” at the end of the olkari episode. (hunk also says all the paladins are brothers, and later allura mentions them all being a family. team voltron is pretty Big on family.) So he could have definitely said, yeah, we’re all a family. But no, he puts all the focus on shiro, and goes “ you‘re   like a brother to me.” That one exchange shows keith thinks of his relationship with shiro as being on a whole other level from the rest of team voltron—all of whom he’s already expressed a platonic, familial kind of love for. 

Yes, he’s known shiro much longer, but i also think whatever happened back at the garrison, he managed to really click with shiro in a way that’s never quite happened before. Without their backstory, it’s kind of hard to tell. But shiro  must  have made one hell of an impression on keith if he ended up being the only one this poor guy opened up to prekerberos. I mean, kollivan tells shiro that keith is   desperate to have him at his side. I don’t typically see This Person “desperately wants to see you” used to describe siblings, that definitely has more of an unrequited love vibe to me. If it was strictly familial, i feel like they would have used a term that implies a More Mutual, healthy relationship rather than having this connotation of the person being in agony over their desire.

Also I realize this is by no means rock solid evidence but, you know how the voltron site has that little quiz for which lion you would pilot, and all the answers correspond to different paladins? For “worst fear” this is the answer we get for keith. Again, not exactly hard evidence, but its something we still see pointed too and implied a lot in cannon, being that keith is definitely someone who feels this need to surpress his feelings:

Again, a lot of cannon is indicative of this. From his willingness to always sacrifice for the mission (like suggesting they leave allura even though he really doesn’t want to) to the way he guards his own emotions (denying that something is wrong time and again when shiro pressures him during his galra phase) keith is someone very reserved, and keeps a lot of his feelings bottled up. That being said, in blade of marmora he thinks the person he’s talking to actually is  shiro. And even if he did feel something other than just familial, i don’t think he’s quite ready to tell him that. tbh, whether the person is shiro or lance or anyone else, i don’t think keith is in a place rn where he’d be comfortable admitting he loved somebody.

In the case of shiro this gets even more messy, because keith is galra and the galra have already tortured and tormented shiro so much. Not to mention that shiro has been his one and only support for years, and he probably doesn’t want to jepordize that by bringing up any complicated feelings that could scare shiro off and ruin his one significant long term relationship. Then there are other factors—right before they get to the base, shiro tries  to talk to him about how obviously anxious he is. Again, keith closes up. And shiro tells him that, whatever’s going on, he needs to stay focused. He has to keep his shit together--for the team, for the universe. 

He doesnt have the luxury of freaking out over being galra, and any other volatile feelings he has he basically reacts to the same. Now isn’t the time for him to be breaking down over his personal feelings for somebody, particularly when keith of all people knows how dangerous it can be to value personal loyalties over the mission. But he does. At the end of season 1, lance tries to tell keith not to split from the group, because it puts the whole rescue and everyone else at risk—which is a pretty good point. But he does. Even though he just said fighting zarkon at his own base is the stupidest thing possible like ten minutes ago, he goes one on one with zarkon because he saw shiro was in trouble and shiro’s lion needed protection. when lance asks what he’s going to do (because he’s right, keith doesn’t have a plan) keith just goes “whatever i can.”

So we know keith is willing to pull risky stunts for shiro’s sake, know that he probably prioritizes shiro more than he should, and that in itself is a risk. Again, we see him choosing shiro above all else in BOM. He tries to let go of shiro, tries to reach for something else—but all shiro has to say is “then you’ve chosen to be alone” and he comes running right back, practically begs him not to go. He’s even able to turn his back on his own father (for the greater good) but ends up chasing after shiro. So i think keith has plenty of reasons to keep any possible feelings secret. It’s Not the time for that and, understandably, someone who’s had as much difficulty forming relationships as keith doesn’t want to be hurt by the possibility of anything romantic.

And, as a bi boy myself, i will say that the whole bringing up “yeah, you’re like a brother/sister to me” can totally be something you latch onto as an out if you’re only just realizing you may have feelings for people of the same gender and you’re worried you’ll freak the other person out, particularly when theyre a close friend. Also, we’re only 22 episodes in and they already made a 78 episode commitment. Any major ship that goes cannon isn’t about to happen within the next episode or two, so i think theres plenty of time to build more on shiro and keith’s relationship to the point where it could be more overtly romantic, but i think the ship already has a pretty solid foundation to grow off of.

Also, side note, but it doesn’t make sense from a writing standpoint to me for keith and shiro to ultimately end on a brotherly kind of relationship. Because i feel like by now there should have been more parallels drawn between keith and pidge—someone who did lose their brother at kerberos—and hey, both shiro and matt are missing now, so maybe we will get that kind of parallel. But i also don’t really see why they’d work the missing brother angle with keith when that’s already pidge’s thing you know? It’s a nitpick, but it’s just something that always kinda seemed weird to me.

Anyway, i am  S O  SORRY this got so sUPER LONG  ; ;  but i hope this kind of answers your question?? I understand why a lot of people see sheith as strictly platonic, and right now everything is really up for interpretation. But for me personally, i always felt like their bond was given more time and attention than anyone else’s, and like there was something Really There.