Chapter Text
If it wasn’t for Shiro’s gentle insistence, Keith wouldn’t get out of bed most days. His bed was sinfully comfortable and his motivation was nonexistent. It would be so easy to lay here forever, wasting away.
Except today was not just any day. It was his first day of college, and Keith had never felt such a mix of excitement and dread. If it was anything like high school, it wasn’t worth waking up for, but he heard Shiro knocking on his door and knew he had to get up, at the very least so he could unlock the door and let him in.
“Hey, buddy.” Shiro greeted, already showered, dressed, and with minty breath. “Good morning!” and it was ungodly. It was barely 6:30 am. The sun hadn’t even woken up yet.
“Are you excited for your first day?” he asked, sitting on Keith’s bed. Keith’s instinct was to say "No, I’d rather sleep instead" but Shiro was so hopeful that he couldn’t bring himself to do it. There were a few things Keith wasn’t willing to do; hug strangers, eat ranch dressing, but most of all disappoint Shiro.
“Yeah…” he trailed off, looking uncertain.
“But you’re nervous too.” Shiro finished for him. Keith nodded, swallowing hard.
“Yeah.” he breathed. “Yeah, that’s it.” Shiro got up and walked over to him, and Keith still had morning breath and dirty hair and his pajamas on, but Shiro put an arm around him in something like a hug.
“If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great." Shiro said, and Keith snorted.
“Stop quoting Matt’s dad when I’m having a hard time,” he laughed, and Shiro smiled back at him.
“Maybe I should...Good quote though, isn’t it?”
“I suppose so.” Shiro patted his back.
“Okay, cadet.” It was a nickname. “Go get ready for your first day.” He flashed Keith a smile that couldn’t accurately be described as anything but inspirational, and that made Keith cringe a little.
“Shower, Keith!” Shiro said urgently but still with a smile on his face.
“I know, I know.”
Keith didn’t put much thought into how he looked. He just couldn’t really bring himself to care. He was lucky that he was beautiful naturally (Shiro’s mother’s words, not his), or else he’d just look like a tired mop. Shiro’s dad said he’d grow out of it, get tired of doing the bare minimum to maintain his appearance. He said this with a long suffering sigh, but his eyes were smiling. There was something about Keith that made him so lovable in spite of his sharp tongue and his blank face.
And yet, Shiro had been feeling recently that he was lovable because of those things, and not in spite of them at all.
When he comes out of the shower his hair is sopping wet, he’s getting water everywhere. and Shiro has managed to arrange a wearable outfit from the clothing pile that is where Keith puts his laundry. He’s not used to having his own space yet because he just moved in and it’s pretty clear that Shiro is gonna have to sit down with him sometime and have a long chat about how to own an apartment and not destroy it or set it on fire. Or even worse, how to not die in a mountain of clothes. Keith is drying his hair and Shiro is looking at Keith’s class schedule, printed out with care from the college website. Shiro isn’t Keith’s brother, but he’s the closest thing he’s got, and dammit if he’s gonna let Keith get lost on the first day. He has a responsibility to him, and to his mom. He remembered how his mother had yelled at him the previous night on the phone.
“Don’t you dare lose him, Takashi. That boy is like a second son to me.” Shiro gulped. “if I find out you let him lose his way on campus...” She paused, letting the fear fill her son’s veins. “There will be hell to pay.” Shiro was so scared that he said “Yes,ma’am” instead of “Yes, mom” and the memory jolted him into reality.
“Off we go, then.” he said, pushing a now dressed Keith into the hall and shutting the door behind him.
“What about my backpack…” Keith said and Shiro turned around, alarmed.
“Oh, shit.” He ran back into the apartment and grabbed it in all its prepacked glory. Keith was always a last minute sort of person, so he’d gotten good at setting his stuff up ahead of time. He was especially good at this when fear and dread were consuming him and he had nothing else to do but stuff shit in a bag. In his mind, the more shit he stuffed in the bag, the better chance he had of not dying on his first day. So the bag was really heavy, and Keith wasn’t sure he needed half of the stuff he’d put in there, but he guessed he’d find out.
“Okay, now we’re ready,” Shiro said, coming back out of Keith’s apartment with a backpack that could’ve easily weighed 80 pounds, and Keith laughed too loud in the dusty silence of the apartment complex.
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“That’s a bunch of bullshit! Aliens aren’t even real!” Lance said, and his flailing hands almost knocked over Hunk’s iced coffee.
“Watch the coffee, bro!” Hunk said, voice high pitched due to annoyance. “You think a college student can just afford to spill $2.47? That’s like half of my monthly allowance.” he whined. Pidge sipped her water, glasses glinting in the sunlight.
“You won’t be saying that when they abduct you from your dorm tonight, Lance. Aliens don’t keep spare moisturizer or fluffy towels around, either. Your skin will flake off and you will die,” Pidge said, and even Hunk shivered. Well, not even Hunk. It wasn’t a surprise that he shivered. He was scared of most things.
“Not cool, man. I don’t need to have nightmares on my first day here. It’s bad enough that I can’t even call my mom until she puts minutes on my phone later.”
“Whatever, Pidge.” Lance said, as though he wasn’t afraid, before turning to Hunk and whispering “Do you think that’s true?”, sounding more than a little scared, to which Hunk responded just as anxiously “I don’t know, man! But i don’t wanna find out.” Pidge continued to sip her drink, feeling quite pleased with herself.
“For someone who is so naturally worried, you sure drink a lot of caffeinated beverages, Hunk.” came Shiro’s voice from a few feet away.
“I’m hoping that one day I’ll drink so much caffeine that it’ll like, cancel out my nervousness or something. I don’t know. I’m not a biology major.” he shrugged noncommittally. “But also, hey! It’s been a while, huh Shiro? It’s good to see you again!” he got up and went over to Shiro so he could squeeze him in a life threatening, bone crushing embrace. Lance and Pidge noticed Shiro first, then Shiro’s extreme suffering, and came over as well.
“Shiro! We haven’t seen you since June!” Pidge said brightly. “We missed you down at the restaurant.”
“Wait, Shiro. Are you aware that there’s a guy behind you? Like uncomfortably close to your neck. Like he’s right-”
“Oh! Hey everyone. This is Keith.” he gestured to the boy beside him. He looked decidedly uninterested in everything. His dark hair was rather long, but messy in a casual, uncaring way. It was vaguely stylish. Not a very current haircut. but what did Pidge know? Besides, Lance still owned a pair of Heely’s and Hunk wore a narutoesque headband most of the time.
“Hey!” Hunk greeted enthusiastically. “Are you friends with Shiro?” he asked, and his eagerness to get to know Keith made Shiro smile.
“Yeah,” Keith said. it was a bland answer, but it was all he could come up with. It was a little intimidating, standing in front of all these people who were apparently already close with Shiro. He was probably disappointing to them. Shiro gave him a look. specifically it was the can you maybe be a little friendlier look, one of the looks Keith hated the most. He frowned a little.
“Yeah, Keith and I have known each other for a while now.” Shiro said. “He’s my best friend.” At this, Lance gawked. He knew he wasn’t Shiro’s best friend, but he figured he was pretty damn close to it. Now this guy had shown up, barely saying a word and he’s supposed to be Shiro’s best friend? Lance was not happy. Keith looked surprised at Shiro’s answer, too.
“I’m Pidge! I’m double majoring in fear mongering and conspiracy theories.” She put her hand out so that Keith could shake it, but Keith pretended not to notice it. He wasn’t big on touching people he had just met, or anyone at all really.
“I’m...pretty sure those aren’t actual majors but it’s nice to meet you, Pidge. I’m undecided right now.” he said sheepishly. Shiro told him lots of people couldn’t decide right away, and that it was nothing to be ashamed of.
Nothing to be ashamed of. He sure said that to Keith a lot.
“Oh, Keith! This is Pidge. She’s Matt’s younger sister,” a look of realization washed over Keith’s face.
“Oh! I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection. You two look so much alike.” Keith said, and Pidge looked excited.
“You know Matt?”
“Yeah. I met him...two years ago? We’re not super close, but I know him. He’s a nice guy. really passionate. A good cook, too,” and okay, that had sure given Keith some Cool Points in Pidge’s book. She loved her brother and she loved people who loved her brother, too.
“I’m Hunk! I’m a space engineering major.” Hunk said, not bothering to put his hand out after seeing Keith decline Pidge’s. It was okay. He wasn’t offended.
“That’s cool. Shiro loves space, too.” Keith said. Maybe it was embarrassing to relate everything back to Shiro, but he didn’t have much else to go off of.
“I know! It’s so fascinating. I could talk about space forever but...if you know Shiro you probably get enough of that already.” he said, laughing good naturedly, and it made Keith smile too.
“I’m Lance,” said a tan boy who looked…not the happiest to see Keith. Keith didn’t think he’d fucked up (yet) so he was hoping that was just what Lance’s face looked like. Keith had been told (by many, many people) that he looked angry and disappointed all the time, even when he felt fine. Maybe Lance had the same problem. “I’m undecided, too. There’s like a million options- How are we supposed to know what we want to do already? Hunk is an anomaly, a miracle-”
“Or,” Hunk interrupted. “I took the career test like the guidance counselor said to and then looked into the stuff beforehand. Seriously, Lance…”
“Ignore him,” Lance said, seeming to be in a better mood. “Nice to meet you, Keith. Maybe I can swing you a deal on a haircut from down the street-”
“Lance.” they all groaned at once, except for a confused looking Keith and a rather accomplished feeling Lance.
“Is- Is something wrong with my hair?” Keith said to Shiro, who shook his head.
“No, your hair is fine. Suits you. Lance just likes to mess around a bit.”
“One day someone is gonna kick his ass.” Pidge sighed, like it couldn’t be helped. “I’ve tried to train him over the years, but-”
“I’m not a dog-” Lance interjected, sounding offended. Keith couldn’t tell if he genuinely felt hurt or not.
“Alas, it has not proven successful.” Pidge finished. Keith was pretty sure he liked her, or at least he could relate to her the most. Plus, she was part of Matt’s family, so she couldn’t be too bad.
“Oh shit, it’s like...ten minutes until first class! We’re all gonna be late! And then, we’re gonna flunk out of college! My mom is gonna be so mad at me!” Hunk panicked, as everyone stared at him with vague disappointment.
“Hunk, you read your watch wrong. It’s twenty minutes until your first class starts. Your first class. We don’t all have the same schedule, you big baby.” Pidge said, but she was smiling.
“Oh. Well in that case…”
“Hunk’s right, though.” Shiro spoke up. He had been watching pandemonium ensue with quiet fondness. “We should get going. Keith, who do you have first?” Keith looked at his schedule, squinting.
“I’ll be honest. I can’t read a thing this says. I think it says…” he turned the schedule so that it was almost upside down and squinted harder. “Haggar? Room 206?”
“Oh! that’s right. Okay. Let me show you how to get there.” he said, and started to walk away, Keith trailing behind him.
“It was nice seeing you guys!” Shiro said, and then he elbowed Keith.
“It was nice to meet you guys.” he said, much quieter than Shiro, and without looking back. Lance snorted.
“He’s a real social butterfly.” he remarked.
“Continuing your condescending analogy, maybe he’s just still in his cocoon, you know?” Hunk said. He always did try to see the best in everyone. Lance sighed
“Maybe.” he admitted. “Not everyone can be as naturally good at socializing as the great Lance McClain, I suppose.” he said, not at all sounding like a raging douchebag.
“Wow. I have known you for years and it never fails to astound me how much of a raging douchebag you are.” Pidge said, with zero remorse.
“I am totally not!” Lance squawked, clearly affronted.
“Funny,” Pidge said, taking a sip of her water. “Sounds like something a douchebag would say.”
“And i have to spend an entire school year here with you guys?” Hunk said, already mourning his decision to attend the same college as his friends. “I’m gonna get gray hairs. I’m too young for this guys! I’m too young!” Lance laughed at the tone of Hunk’s voice, and then remembered something.
“I wonder how Keith and Shiro know each other,” he wondered out loud.
“No idea,” said Hunk. “but Shiro seems really fond of him. It’s cute. Like he’s his bodyguard or something.”
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As it turned out, Shiro didn’t know his way around the campus as well as he thought. With five minutes to spare, Keith found his first class.
“Do you even go here?” Keith joked, as they went past the classroom for the eighth time.
“Shut up,” Shiro said, trying not to laugh. “It’s my first day back from break. It’s not like i was thinking about the layout of this place during the summer.” he said. They were standing in front of the door and stopped for a second.
“Wow. Your first college class.” Shiro said. He looked anywhere but Keith and that made Keith suspicious. He cleared his throat, gaze on Shiro.
“Why won’t you look at me?”
“Uh. No reason.” A barely there sniffle.
“Are you crying?”
“No. I happened to get an eyelash in my eye the second we got here. It’s not like I’m proud of you or anything. It’s not like I’ve known you for years and seen you grow up before my very eyes and now you’re attending the same college as me.” his voice cracked. “What’s there to cry about?” Keith was giving him a half cautious half fond smile. It felt really good to hear someone say they were proud of him but he was also, regardless of the situation or who it involved, really fucking bad at comforting people. Shiro was well aware of this.
“Can I hug you this once? You can still say no but I just...I’m just really proud of you.” Keith considered it for a moment. He had put himself through hell in high school. It wasn’t that it was academically challenging. As far as grades went, he excelled with relative ease. Maybe a few hiccups in certain math courses. A few english quizzes with grades that weren’t outstanding. He had suffered in other ways. He’d stay up late doing homework and get up early to catch the bus. School was a sensory hell in its own right and some days (in senior year it was almost every day. His body protested. He’d had enough) he got migranes from the smells, the sounds, and the lighting of it all. Waking up in a bad overstimulated state and getting bumped into by other students, the sound of lockers banging as they were shut, the perfumes of girls as they left the locker room, all sprayed at once and converging into one big cloud of miasma. Keith hated perfume with a passion.
He was lucky enough to not get passed around from place to place during high school, staying with a woman named Lindsay, her gross boyfriend, and their old dog. Keith mostly minded his own business and prayed they wouldn’t have anything to complain about that would result in a move. He wanted to stay where he was. He had fallen into a routine and he had Shiro. Shiro didn’t tell him, but sometimes he had nightmares where Keith was taken away in the middle of the night and brought to a horrible family and Shiro had no way of knowing what happened. He just kept saying just keep him ‘til he’s 18. Just let him stay here that long and then I can help him out.
Executive dysfunction hit him hard in the second half of senior year. He couldn’t do anything. Showers became a three times a week thing. A choice. He forgot to eat and when he was hungry he couldn’t tell because it misrepresented itself as sadness or being tired or lonely or his body just felt unforgivingly weak. He wore dirty laundry to school for far longer than he’d like to admit. Once or twice he wore the same underwear two or three days in a row and it was hard to care. He might not have made it, if not for Shiro. As long as Keith had known him, Shiro had been of great help. But it was that second half of senior year where Shiro really kept him afloat. He sent him reminders to eat and shower and most of all, to stim.
“I know today sucked. I know you woke up and you already felt bad, but did you stim at all? What about the spinning ring? Maybe twist it a bit? I think that’d make you feel better.” When he was tired and drained as he had been senior year, it was easy to forget about things that he did for leisure. The spinning ring had been a wonderful present, a group effort from Shiro and his parents. It wasn’t particularly expensive, but they had all chipped in anyway. Shiro said that his parents wanted Keith to know they cared. Keith had forgotten he’d had it in the midst of constant sensory overload and the struggle to work through his endless exhaustion, but then he wore it to school and twisted it in when he was placed in overwhelming environments.
It was with Shiro’s help that Keith was able to graduate. On graduation day, Shiro and his parents had cheered so loudly for Keith when his name was called that it might as well have been nine people. Keith couldn’t help but smile even as his face felt hot, and they raced down to meet him at the end as they hugged him (it was an exception).
“You made it!” Shiro said, and he was so, so happy. “Oh my god, Keith. You made it.” Keith was holding his diploma in his hand and he thought to himself “I earned this”.
I really, really earned this.
“You can hug me. I’ll allow it.” he said, like it was such a privilege. Shiro knew better, and he smiled. As he came closer, Keith could see the wetness of his eyes, twinkling in the light. Tears filling his eyes but too stubborn to fall. Shiro’s embrace was nice. Familiar. The smell of him was enough to calm Keith’s last nerves before he entered the classroom, and Shiro said “Have a great first day!” and then he was off.
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His first teacher had been weird. She didn’t make people call her “Ms.” or “Mrs.”, just Haggar. She looked like a mall goth from 2007, and she sounded old. Keith had a weird feeling that if he misbehaved in her class she could punish him in supernatural ways. He didn’t really want to find out whether or not that was true. He was just glad to be out of her room and away from all the weird energy it held. The content had been surprisingly interesting though, and he was glad he had signed up for her class, even if it was a mandatory subject. As he exited, he wished Shiro could be there to help him find his next class and talk about his first one with him, but Shiro had his own classes, and Keith needed to be at least somewhat self sufficient, so he got lost on his own, like an adult.
Until Hunk found him wandering aimlessly.
“Dude, are you lost?” he asked, and Keith was stubborn, but not stubborn enough to stay lost, so he nodded.
“Sort of. What tipped you off?”
“You’re walking in a circle holding some kind of…” he grabbed a paper out of Keith’s hand to inspect it further. “Hastily drawn map of the campus? Yeah, that’s a pretty big clue.” he said, and Keith just blinked. Yeah, that wasn’t subtle.
“Here,” hunk said. “I’ll walk you to your next class. You’re lucky you have a nice chunk of time in between classes. Otherwise, this would be a disaster. How’s your first day going?” He was nice, kept a light conversation going.
“It’s okay.” he said, and then got a feeling like it wasn’t appropriate to just end the conversation like that. “It’s...different i guess. Honestly I’m already tempted to just go home and sleep, but I liked my first class.” Hunk hummed thoughtfully.
“How about you?” he asked, turning the question on Hunk. If there was anything he liked about talking, it was how he could just take whatever question he’d been asked and ask the other person the same thing to further the conversation. What a life hack. Shiro had taught him that. or maybe Seinfeld reruns. The odds were about 50/50.
“Well, I’m definitely nervous.” he laughed. “If you hadn’t already noticed I’m uh, pretty nervous just all the time. However! I’m really liking it here so far. It feels weird, being away from my family and everything-”
Family
“And I can’t believe I’m already in college. Like, I was just in high school ya know? It’s surreal.” Keith nodded at that.
“I know exactly what you mean.”
They showed up to his class at the right time because Keith had run out of words to say and Hunk hadn’t, but he seemed to be hitting a roadblock, like he was debating what was acceptable to say to someone who you’ve only met earlier that morning. Keith cleared his throat.
“Thanks for showing me how to get here, Hunk.” he said, and it was monotone, but he hoped it sounded genuine. Hunk smiled at him.
“You’re welcome! Have a good day. Maybe we can all meet up later.” Then he was gone, and Keith was walking into another classroom.
It was weird that Keith knew who “we” was referring to, and weirder still that the idea kind of delighted him.
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True to his word, Hunk found keith after his classes and told him the “crew” was meeting up at a sushi place at 7 pm if he wanted to come.
“Shiro knows where it is,” Hunk said. “So don’t worry about getting lost.” he winked and Keith smiled.
“Thanks, Hunk.” Keith said, and waved goodbye before he started walking back to his apartment. It wasn’t too far from the college; a decent walk that Shiro said would help wake him up in the morning, and ultimately save him gas money. As it were, Keith wasn’t able to drive. He didn’t have a car and he was still working with a junior license. Shiro was teaching him how to drive when he had the time, but Keith didn’t want to pester him and Shiro was busy a lot. Shiro was nice enough to take him to his job, a little ice cream place called “What’s the Scoop?”. It was nice and clean with a pretty big variety of ice cream flavors, and the decorations weren’t too obnoxious. Keith liked it there. It wasn’t hard to scoop ice cream from tubs into dishes or cones and his coworkers pretty much left him alone.
Laying in his bed after all those classes felt like a gift from God himself. It was 4:30. He could manage a nap before he had to get ready for sushi, and if he was being honest, he was excited. He had always visualized his first day of college with him being alone. He hadn’t expected to meet good people or have those same people invite him for sushi. It was new, and strange, but he was grateful, and he felt (just a little) like maybe Shiro was right (but he wouldn’t get his hopes up) and he was likable after all.
Keith woke up at 6 o’clock with messy hair, feeling sleepy but pretty happy. He put on different clothes from earlier that day that were way more comfortable and had just ran a brush through the ends of his hair before he heard Shiro knock on his door.
“Hey, buddy!” Shiro said as he entered. “How did your first day go?”
“It actually went a lot better than I thought it would. Except…” Shiro’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Except what? Something wrong?” Keith laughed at Shiro’s seriousness.
“No, no. That haggar lady is just something else. I thought that she was gonna put curses on all of us.” Shiro laughed, relieved and amused.
“She’s like that, yeah. I remember her. She sells crystal balls at the flea market an hour away. I wouldn’t mess with her too much.”
“Noted,” Keith said. “So Hunk said you know how to get to the sushi place? Is it far?”
“Oh, yeah! No, not too bad. I’ll take you, of course. It’s really nice, Keith. It’s weird because their sushi is delicious but it’s like super cheap? Maybe because it’s a buffet but...Anyways, they have more than just sushi if you find you don’t like the texture.”
“No, I’ve had sushi before. I don’t mind it. You’re thinking of that time we went to Red Lobster and I almost threw up because of the shrimp.”
“That’s right,” Shiro said fondly. “What did you hate about it again?” Keith cringed.
“Like...the shell? Is that the right word? Like the hard casing around the meat? I wanted to die.”
“But you got fried shrimp?”
“The tail, then. Never again, Takashi.” Keith said, using Shiro’s first name for emphasis.
“I’ll make sure no one forces you to eat shrimp tails, Keith.” he said, laughing. It was easy like this all the time with him. Keith cherished it.
“Get your jacket. Let’s go. Pidge always gets everywhere like fifteen minutes early and she's probably annoyed.”
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“Fucking finally,” Pidge said, exasperated as Shiro and Keith joined her at the table. They were still waiting for Hunk and Lance.
“Sorry, Pidge. You need to learn how to be a little late to things. Otherwise, you’re gonna be annoyed by other people your whole life.” Shiro said, pulling out a chair for Keith. Keith gave Shiro a funny look. He wanted to tell him he could pull out his own chair but he had done it to be nice so he just didn’t say anything.
“Too late for that,” Pidge remarked, blowing her bangs out of her face, and both of them laughed.
“What’s up, groupies!” Lance said, showing up with Hunk not far behind him and some other guy that Keith hadn’t met yet.
“Hey, Shiro, Keith. Hey, Pidge. Glad you guys are here. Wow, it’s nice to be back with everyone again. I realize we all saw each other like, a few hours ago, but that was different. We were all panicking.” Hunk said.
“You were panicking. I was cool as a cucumber.” Lance said. Keith went “What,” and Shiro went “It means he was calm,” and Pidge was roasting Lance. The guy standing behind Lance cleared his throat.
“Hi! i’m Chau.”
“Oh, yeah! Guys, this is my boyfriend. Hunk and Pidge met him earlier on, but I know you guys haven’t yet. We’ve been dating since like...late June?” Lance asked, turning to Chau for confirmation. He smiled.
“Yeah, that’s right.” He looked at keith. “So you are…?”
“I’m Keith.” he said. “Nice to meet you.” Shiro, next to him, looked more excited. Keith could see Chau stare briefly at his prosthetic arm and he was instinctively protective.
“I’m Shiro! Wow, Lance. I’m happy for you guys. I didn’t know you had a boyfriend.” It was weird. Something about seeing them together gave Keith a weird feeling. It wasn’t jealousy. It couldn’t be, because he had only just met Lance, but the word boyfriend. It was like it woke something inside himself. He’d never really given much thought to his sexuality, and to see a happy gay couple in front of him practically forced him to think about it. He had tried to have a conversation about it with Shiro once, but it hadn’t really ended with any answers.
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“What do you think, Keith? What kind of people are you into?” Keith let out a long, very intelligent sounding “um” and thought hard.
“I don’t...really know? I’ve never really thought about it.”
“You never get like crushes or anything? Never see anyone you find attractive?”
“Well, I see attractive people, but that doesn’t really mean anything to me. I mean, I appreciate their appearance, but that’s all the impression it really leaves on me, and no, actually. I don’t get crushes. I haven’t had one, I don’t think.”
“I see,” Shiro said, with an understanding tone. He liked it because Shiro didn’t have to try hard to sound understanding and calm. He just naturally was like that. “Well I don’t know who I like either.” Shiro laughed. “I think I just like people.”
“Yeah,” Keith smiled. “That’s a good way to put it”.
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"You alright?" Shiro said, nudging Keith underneath the table.
"Huh? Yeah" he said, feeling a little unsettled. Shiro eyed him warily. He whispered.
"If there's too much going on we can leave. If it gets to be too much just twist my sleeve. I'll make something up." Keith frowned. He felt fine, and he would hate to make Shiro leave a meetup with his friends.
"I'll be okay." he whispered back. "It's just been a while since I've been around so many people." He said, and Shiro seemed to accept that answer. Pidge eyed them from across the table but said nothing. She still didn't have a grasp on Keith and Shiro's relationship. She wondered why Keith had never been mentioned before.
"-and I'm like 'Hunk, no!' because the fruit was plastic, and I didn't even have a fire extinguisher..." Keith realized suddenly that he had been spacing out for the majority of whatever story Lance had been telling, and it was no use trying to understand it. Beside him, Shiro's body quaked with laughter. Across the table, Chau looked very much in love with Lance, and it knocked the wind out of Keith. Maybe it was getting a little hard to breathe in there.
"Holy shit." Lance said suddenly. "You guys, we've been here for like 20 minutes and we haven't even gotten our sushi yet. What the fuck." Sounds of surprise came from all around the table followed by the scraping of chairs on the ground and silverware clattering.
"I'll stay here and watch everyone's bags," Keith said. Shiro gave him a searching look, and Keith nodded back at him, as if saying “I'm fine, you can go.”
"Me too," Chau said, looking at Lance. "With both of us here, no thieves stand a chance." Everyone laughed. Shiro leaned down to whisper in Keith's ear.
"I'll go back out with you again in a minute. It's kinda crowded." Keith nodded and Shiro went off to get his plate. Hunk, beside him, spoke animatedly and happily. He saw Shiro laugh and smiled fondly.
"You guys are close." Chau observed. Keith turned around. For some reason he hadn't realized Chau might actually talk to him. He hummed affirmatively.
"So what are you guys?" He asked, but not unkindly. "Is he your boyfriend?" Keith colored at that.
"Oh, no. He's not...It's kinda weird I guess. I don't know what to call it. It's not like that. At least I don't think so. I think "close" is a good way to describe it, like you said." Chau nodded.
"I haven't heard Lance mention you before..?"
"I just met him today actually. I only really know Shiro."
"Oh," he said drawing out the syllable in realization. "That makes sense. First day of college, right?" Keith nodded. All this talking was making him tired.
"Yeah. You?"
"Nah," he said, sitting up in his chair. "It's my second year. I actually go to a different school." Just as Keith went to respond, everyone came back. They looked happy, the way college students should. Lance set his plate down and grabbed Chau by the arm.
"Let's get you some food," he said brightly and Shiro showed up behind Keith.
"Come on, Keith. You must be starving." Keith got up and followed Shiro closely.
"So it's like, Americanized food over there." He pointed to the left. "And sushi and other Asian cuisine over there." He pointed to the right. Keith nodded and gets a plate. He picked up some sushi rolls using the tongs provided and Shiro leaned in closer to him.
"How're you doing?" Keith could tell by the way Shiro said it that he was actually asking “Are you freaking out? Do we need to leave?” and Shiro had always given him the option to leave. Always..
"I think I'm good. I was just talking to Chau and-"
"I don't like him." Shiro said abruptly..
"What?" Keith said, surprised. "He seemed fine to me...You seemed happy back at the table."
"I was happy for Lance, but I just realized a minute ago that my friend Allura has talked to me about him before. Chau is really mean to her. Lance seems to like him, but I don't know how long that'll last." Keith considered it.
"Maybe he's different with Lance." Shiro hummed.
"Maybe." He looked around, and then at Keith’s full plate. "Ready to go back to the table?" Keith nodded. He considered telling Shiro that Chau thought they were dating, for laughs, but then decided against it.
He joined the table and it was loud and alive. Hunk was holding up two sushi rolls like they were eyes, and Pidge was telling them all about some particle accelerator. Hunk was listening eagerly, his full attention on her and Lance was acting out some of Hunk's most hilarious (embarrassing) middle school moments. Chau choked on his water from laughing and Shiro smiled, calm and relaxed. Then he was telling a story about him and Matt accidentally locking themselves in the school bathroom last year. Pidge was listening intently. Keith laughed, drank in all of the memories like they were his own. The sushi tasted good in his mouth and Shiro's knee was against his, thoughtless and casual. The pressure against his leg was reassuring, and he felt really good. Then Hunk brought up how much he missed his family already, and everyone followed suit. Keith felt a little less good then. Shiro shot him a wary look. Keith didn't get too emotional, at least not outwardly, but Shiro had never been sure how much he held inside, and he didn't want Keith having a shutdown so early into the school year. If it was a particularly bad one (and the conditions were right for it with all the new people he was meeting, the new things he was experiencing) it'd be a lot harder for Keith to adjust to college life.
"I just miss my mom's cooking, you know? You guys probably think I'm a nerd or something-"
"Aw, Hunk. We think you're a nerd but it’s not because you miss your parents," Pidge kicked Lance's shin under the table. "Ow! Not cool, Pidge."
"It's gonna be weird not coming home and seeing my mom every day. The idea is still new to me." Shiro nodded.
"Yeah it's like that. You'll get used to it though, and then you might look forward to being away from them." Keith laughed.
"I'm gonna tell your mom you said that,"
"You better not" Shiro said, looking a little alarmed. "You know what she said to me before we left? 'If you lose Keith there'll be hell to pay' I can't afford another strike."
"What?" Keith said, amused but surprised. "Why'd she say that?" Hunk was smiling.
"You know Shiro's mom?" He asked. there was a warmth in his tone, and yet a subtle urging for Keith to explain himself further. Hunk’s expression was gentle.
"Yeah. She’s a wonderful lady.." Lance whistled.
"Aw, man. We haven't met his parents yet. You have VIP seats, bro." Keith smiled and thought "You don't know the half of it."
Lance lifted a piece of food to his mouth and Pidge smacked it across the room.
"What the fuck, Pidge?" Lance said
"You're allergic to pineapple, you fucking asshole. I was saving your life."
"Oh. Then thank you." Shiro laughed
"This group is a piece of work."
"You can say that again," Chau said.
But somehow Keith didn't mind that.