"At least we're together," Keith echoes in agreement. Shiro shouldn't have shifted, but Keith is selfish enough to be grateful for the moment. He doesn't want to think in terms of worst case scenario, but after these past weeks, the disease has kept progressing despite everything. He's been trying to cling onto some thread of hope, and he'll keep clinging until that last thread snaps, but if it's the last time he has the chance to speak the words so Shiro can hear them, he's not going to waste the chance, "I love you, Takashi," he breathes the words out in a rush, and it's not long after that he feels Shiro change.

Keith forces himself to take a breath. Now isn't the time to fall apart. He won't. He refuses to. But he does step close and wrap his arms around the other man in turn, holding tightly. He can't see anyway, so he presses his face to Shiro's neck, hiding there even as he unwinds one arm from around him to do as Shiro's said.

His finger moves slowly, deliberate, tracing the letters on Shiro's skin one by one. S T A Y ?