Shiro watched Keith's eyes both stare at him and away into the distance. The man was deep in his own thoughts and he drifted in and out of them. He realised that Keith was getting more and more sleepy and soon he would indeed be asleep. He opened his mouth to insist, when he stopped, his whole body suddenly alight with electric when Keith touched his hair. He didn't think it was possible, but Shiro was breathless. The soft motion of Keith's hand sent sparks down to his tail with each new touch and Shiro couldn't breathe again until he stopped.

Shiro's heart raced. He hadn't had feelings like that for such a long time and they were intense. This intoxicated being had set his body alight with sensation and Shiro feared that it would ruin him. He had spent too long in the dark arenas of Zarkon's underwater empire and experienced only pain and harsh blows and words, that this tender touch was like a burst of nostalgia. The second that Keith let go, Shiro reached out to grab his hand instinctively. He didn't want the feeling to end. It felt so new, yet so exciting and right that he wasn't ready for it to end. He gripped Keith's hand with his, not tightly, but enough to keep Keith's hand there. Shiro's palm was soft, though scarred. He loosened the grip he had and stared intently at Keith, wanting to place it right back where it had been. He couldn't, though. The intensity of the feelings had caught him off guard and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to know what it felt like for Keith to lie his hands on his neck, his shoulders. He didn't need that. Not yet.

Instead, he brought Keith's hand to his lips and, heart hammering inside his chest, pressed his knuckles to his lips. He then let go and slipped back into the water, relieved to feel the familiar coolness of the sea around him. It was enough to cool the heat of his skin that had shot up considerably after kissing Keith's knuckles. He didn't want to see Keith's reaction, so he pushed himself forward instead, starting to swim towards the shore. He swam what would have been around 4 strides for Keith before breaking the surface and looking up to see if the man was following him or not.