#host keith

I was really, really inspired by @neyasochi’s fic, these violent delights, which is a totally enthralling Sheith Westworld AU. I actually never watched Westworld until her fic turned me onto it, then spent the last week plowing through season 1 as fast as I could. 

So, I’m running with Sheith in Westworld for a minute because I got a very specific scene stuck in my head and needed to put it in the world so I can get back to my other projects. Here, host/outlaw Keith is already off his loop when he and newcomer Shiro first get acquainted. 

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Shiro’s still not sure what to think of Westworld, but he feels this place getting under his skin more and more. Mostly this devastatingly beautiful outlaw he’s been riding with for at least a week—fleeing gunshots and arrows, fighting for their lives, bathing in rivers and sleeping out under the stars. It feels like freedom out this far. It also feels like a rope tightening round their necks. 

Shiro can’t stop staring at Keith, his ruddy tan and the crows feet at the corner of his eyes when he smiles in spite of himself. He’s hard and rough and breathtaking. But Shiro doesn’t approach Keith, won’t even look too long or step too close. He won’t ask that of him, though he knows he’s practically expected to. That’s why he won’t. It feels like taking advantage, or worse: that maybe it doesn’t matter if he does or doesn’t, because it isn’t real at all. No matter how real it feels. 

That’s not what they’re out here for, besides. Something has been calling Keith out this dusty road, beckoning with the promise of answers: about Keith’s past, about what his future can hold. 

Maybe Shiro can help Keith find what he’s looking for. Maybe he can help him break free. Then maybe, maybe this can be real.

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