Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The morning was cold, Keith could see his breath hanging in front of his face as he waited by the birch on the west side of the campus for Pidge. It was totally out of the area Keith was supposed to be, but the younger student had promised to give him an egg sandwich and a coffee this morning in exchange for the study sessions he’d had with her in preparation for her big test. The class wasn’t too terrible when Keith had taken it, but apparently the work had gotten near-indiscernible when a substitute covered for Prof. Coran while he was on leave. It had taken three hours the first day of tutoring for Keith to recall the class and understand the new work. Astrophysics continues to haunt Keith at night. He’s glad that his major declared he only needed one year of that hell. The air kicks up a bit, and Keith burrows deeper into Lance’s jacket, thanking the gods that his friend told him to take for while he was out here. It’s thin, but it does a better job than Keith’s long sleeve.

Across the courtyard, he can hear loud, familiar laughter as a group of upperclassmen made their way toward him. Keith tried his best to impersonate the tree beside him, unmoving and conspicuous, when one member of the group saw him. He was tall, platinum blonde, and a total dickbag.

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite sophomore!” Lotor said maniacally, strolling over leaserly to Keith’s half-hidden position behind the tree. “How are you doing today, gorgeous?”

Keith shuddered, “So much better when it was just the wind and I, Lotor.”

“Babe!” He gasps, throwing a hand over his heart, “Words like that can wound, you know!”

Another one of the boys from his gaggle step forward, “What, you think you’re too good for Lotor, skank?”

Keith twitches in thinly veiled anger, “Screw the fuck off, guys.”

“Or what?” A boy Keith thinks is named Rolo sneers, “Ya gonna glare is to death?”

Lotor opens his mouth, face screwed up in displeasure at maybe-Rolo, but is cut off before he can begin to speak. “Lotor, do we need to have a word again about harassing the underclassmen?”

Keith swivels on his heel to see Allura, the angel that she is, standing menacingly behind him. The woman moves her crossed hands to her hips as she steps forward, oozing authority from her steely eyes.

“He obviously does not want to be talking with you five, so please, leave him be.” She speaks with an unsettling calmness, a warning in itself of what could come. Keith has known what followed a tone like that one too many times, it almost makes him cringe.

“I always know when to take my leave, until next time, cutie!” Lotor backs off, hands raised in defeat. His friends make lewd gestures as they walk off. Allura immediately descends upon Keith.

“What was going on there? Are you alright?” Her thin fingers grip his shoulder tightly.

“Yes, Alli, thank you for helping.” He smiles up at Allura in gratitude.

Her mouth twists into a pout, “I don’t like those guys, they give me a bad feeling.”

“Tell me about it,” Keith scoffs. “So… what are you doing today?”

“Me and Shiro,” she gestures vaguely to the uncomfortable man behind her, “we’re just getting back from the gym.”

“Ooooh, getting fit,” Keith awkwardly waved his arms, “yaaaay.”

Allura rolled her eyes, chuckling softly, “You should come with sometime, you haven’t gone in, like, two years.”

In all honesty, it wasn’t the idea of getting in shape that turned Keith off from going to the gym with Allura, it was the company he knew would come along. He almost wanted to tell her this and, in doing so, find another way to pick fights with the other man. He doesn’t get the first word, this time.

“He won’t go with us.” Allura turned to Shiro, who just looked uncomfortable watching the interaction between Keith and her. The man shift from one foot to the other, running a hand through his dark hair.

“And why, praytell, would Keith never go working out with me?” Alli places her hands on her hips.

“Well, Keith would never go with us because he doesn’t like me, and…” he trailed off. Allura made the motion of ‘get on with it’. Shiro’s hand moves from his hair to his arm, scratching at the inside of his elbow absentmindedly. Keith recognized that. Keith remembered what that gesture meant. It meant that Shiro was angry. Keith scrunches his nose, confused on what exactly could have made Shiro angry. He struggled for a few moments, stumbling over vowels and scratching vigorously. “Well, uh, obviously Keith has someone else he would want to do whatever with.”

Allura raised arched her brow. Shiro turned pink at the ears, waving his free hand a little bit toward Keith. “Y’know. McClain.”

“Okay, whatever,” Keith was finished listening to him. He finally saw Pidge running across the grass, paper bag in her hands.

When the small freshman got to them, it was followed by a barrage of words. “I’m so fucking sorry, Keith, I slept in and Matt had the car so then it was a mess and-”

Keith held up a hand placatingly, “Dude, it’s fine. Don’t worry.”

Pidge nodded frantically, already walking backward, “Okay, I gotta go, the professor is gonna kill me! Bye!”

Keith waved her off, turning to Allura, “That would be my cue too, Alli. I have to leave now if I don’t wanna be late to Psych. Text me later?”

She smiled brilliantly, “Of course. See you, Keith!”

He began to tred away from them and across the campus grounds at a speed that kind of made everything hurt, but also didn’t matter because of the rush he was in. Keith made it halfway to where he needed to be when he noticed something. He was being followed. Well, he really didn’t want to say followed, just yet, but that’s what this felt like.

Shiro was maybe two yards behind him, trotting at a slightly disjointed pace, as if he was trying to maintain the distance that there was between him and Keith. Deciding to test the ongoing theory of ‘how fucking annoying could Takashi Shirogane be today’, Keith makes a slight turn in his direction, not enough to get him off-course and late to class, but enough where he veers over to left, around a tree. He watches in the corner of his eye as Shiro does the same, veering up and around the tree that wouldn’t have been in his path otherwise. Keith sighs, loud enough for the other boy to hear, before he whipped around mid-step.

“Stop fucking following me, Shirogane,” He hissed, glaring at Shiro as he continued to walk backwards across the lawn.

The frat boy rolls his eyes, “I’m not following you, Kogane. If you have forgotten, we have psyche together. As in, I have to go this way as to get to my class also.”

Keith just huffed and turned back around, thankful to see the doors to the school’s wing closest to his class open. He sped up his pace a little, getting a head by a good few feet, just so he could rush through the door and soundly shut it on Shiro’s stupid face. It made Keith’s stomach swell with a feeling he hadn’t had for a while.

Lance was sitting at their usual seats in the middle of the classroom, setting up his recorder on the desk tiredly. Keith plopped down onto the plastic chair next to him, holding the coffee out to his withered form. The Latino brightened at the sight of the mug before him. Lance grabbed it from Keith and took a long drink from it. Keith set up his notebook while Lance had his full of coffee.

When he was done, Lance made a point to sigh contently, handing the mug back to Keith dramatically. “Keith, buddy, I cannot thank you enough. That coffee cleared my skin, it watered my crops, it-“

“I get it,” Keith laughed, “you’re welcome.”

They shared a quick conversation about the recent news, but stopped when the teacher came in, thick files in hand. The school’s only Psychology professor was a small, quirky woman of her late forties. She kept her hair in a tight bun and wore clothing that matched any impending holiday. Today was no different. Mrs. Haggar was dressed in a bright red skirt suit with a button up that looked like it was thrown up on with obnoxiously pink hearts.

She smiled brightly, “Okay, so we all know what’s around the corner, one of my favorite holidays- that’s right! Valentines Day! So, to go along with the lessons that have been going on this month about the psychology of love, I’m going to have you all conduct a little experiment.”

There was a mixed chorus of ‘augh’s, ‘no’s, and excited ‘ooh’s. Keith sagged with a painful sound, groaning at the thought of another group project where he would most likely have to pull all of the weight in again. Mrs. Haggar was well known for her awful pairing methods and rigorous projects. Keith did not need this right now.

“Don’t give me that, you’re adults, live and learn. However, there will be very little written work to this assignment, as you will be testing the validity of…” she pulled up a packet from her stack and showed it off to the small group, “the essay ‘To Fall In Love, Do This’. You, and a partner I assigned to you will complete this, and give your own review on how well it works and what you think the mental impact of using dating apps have on today’s generation.”

Keith wanted to die, this sounded like honest torture. Mrs. Haggar drones on, however, “This will be due the twenty fourth, no sooner or later, okay? I’ll have the list of pairs taped to the board and on your way out to check, you can grab this packet and find your partner. Now, onto the lesson at hand. Continuing from last week, does anyone remember the pheromone compound that we were-“

Keith slipped into a habitual zombie-like state as he began to scribble down notes, furiously. Only looking up to sip coffee and one long second to grab his breakfast from it’s confines and start to chew on it. Keith thanked Pidge in the back of his head for this as he quickly ate through on half before Haggar could talk about sex experiments done in the sixties.

You see, there was one small dilemma about the project that Keith didn’t happen to think of. Which was, obviously ignorable, who he could be partnered with. Keith didn’t want to have to hurt anyone, or himself, but he just might after seeing the bull that was pulled this time around in the fuckery that was Haggar’s pairing system.

“Takashi Shirogane & Keith Kogane”

Though he sincerely wanted to shove his head into the brick wall next to him, Keith marched his sorry ass over to the second biggest annoyance he would have this month and shot him a feral smile. Shiro looked concerned and rightfully creeped out by the expression of outright malice.

“Well, ready for a fun filled month, partner?” Keith said as saccharine as he could.

Chapter Text

Keith wanted to curl up and die in the calming embrace of Hunk’s arms. End his suffering before it began, say goodbye to the cruel world-

“Dude, stop being so over-dramatic, you’re starting to sound like Lance.” Hunk laughed.

“Yeah, Keith. I’m the only dramatic bitch in this group, remember?” Lance made  a motion of flipping hair over his shoulder.

The forced pitch change was terrible, and it earned Lance a smirk from the irritable boy wrapped up in their dorm’s blankets. It fell away quickly and Keith sadly burrowed further into Hunk, despite it being a few minutes until he had to leave to begin the terror that was his Psyche project.

He groaned, slowly getting up from his warm spot next to Hunk, tossing the blanket at Lance. The list of things Keith had to do before leaving seemed like too much, and the allure of simply not showing up was gnawing on him. He grabbed whatever clothes he reached first in his closet, stumbling over to the bathroom to wash up and change. Keith cursed out Shiro in his head, because, of all times and places this prick wanted to meet, it was nine in the morning at a fucking Starbucks? On a Saturday?

Lances and Hunk waved him off as he reluctantly walked out the door. He sent them a look back, “If you don’t see me by one, contact the police.”

The morning was freezing, despite the fact that Keith had worn his heavier parka. The wind was raw against his cheek as he made his way across the student parking lot and onto the sidewalk that led off campus and into town. The Starbucks was only two blocks away, but Keith could already feel the disdain for the walk sink in.

“I should’ve bought a stupid car, it would’ve at least had heating.” He hissed, despite knowing that he had no money to afford even the saddest of vehicles. He could, however, afford a hot chocolate.

The cafe was warm and, expectedly, filled with patrons. The twist of anxiety in Keith’s stomach made him trip over his feet walking through the door. There was barely any space to move around, and the urge to turn and run back to the safety of his dorm almost takes him over. His body twitches to do just that when he hears his name being called out over the noise of the crowd. He turns to see Shiro, in all his irritable glory, walking through the crowd with no problem. Keith envies that Shiro can just be unfazed by this while he’s still frozen still at the entrance.

“C’mon, I got a seat over by the heater. Let’s get this done.” He turns back around, walking around the crowd to the opposite end of the establishment. Keith shakes slightly, a man in a suite tries to get by him and it sets Keith into an unstoppable momentum to the area Shiro waltzed off to. The table is right next to a fake fireplace, and Shiro has a few sheets and a drink set out on the table. It reminds Keith of the fact that he wanted a drink, too. He neglects doing so, at the idea of having to travel back into the mess in the main part of the coffee shop.

Keith sits down on the worn looking leather chair stiffly, still feeling the last of his anxiety pumping through him.

“Anybody can fall in love with anybody,” Keith scoffs, “dating is an actual science at this point. But this? It’s stupid. There’s nothing behind it.”

Shiro rolls his eyes, “There doesn’t have to be anything behind it. It’s emotions, Keith. Oh wait! Forgot you don’t have those.”

“At least I’m not a dick-driven meathead who leaves his friends behind because he wanted to be popular.”

“Oh,” Shiro takes a deep, steadying breath, “we’re really going to go there?”

“I was going to say we do the assignment first and then fight,” Keith snarls, “but, you know what? It’s been a few years let’s catch up, Shiro.”

“Oh come on! That was high school! Can’t you get over it?”

“No! Because my ex-best friend still thinks that being in the same room as me is social suicide!”

Shiro stops, his eyes darting back and forth to Keith and the papers in front of them, calculating his next words. “You... aren’t as bad now-“

“Oh? I’m not? That’s great! What changed your mind? The hair? The hormones? Please Shiro tell me, I’m on bated breath.” Keith really was, he had been waiting for who knows how long to tell this asshole exactly how he felt after everything. He was swirling in a mix of anger and excitement.

Shiro looked like he was stewing in massive amounts of uncomfortability. He gazed intently at the papers in front of them. “Listen. It’s not like that. It’s, like, you look better. You don’t look like you just stepped out of a My Chemical Romance video. You cut off that damn mullet and your acne is gone and you smile. You smile so much, you actually look happy now. You used to smile back then, too, but not like this. You look like you’re not… like, sad. You look like you’re happy living life now. For so long you looked sad and then when I left you, you got better. Don’t think that I didn’t miss you. It’s just that. Every time I missed you, I had to ask myself, ‘How was I supposed to put myself back into your life when you obviously are doing better without me in it?’ I saw you senior year and I thought that you were happier if I wasn’t there. Plus, you hate me. Every time I see you, we fight now. So, I left us like that.”

Keith felt his head throb, “Shiro, you complete and utter idiot! I’m angry at you because you decided that you wanted something more, and that your best friend wasn’t enough for you. You doing that made me feel like I wasn’t good enough for a long time. It really hurt me. More than I think you’ll understand. I needed you back then. I missed you more than anything. I still miss you, but I miss the old you. I don’t like who you’ve become. It’s an entirely different person than who I grew up with. They changed you or you changed yourself- I don’t know. Maybe we both changed. I miss the you who was someone who would never leave me behind, but I’m still too hurt to try to get that person back.”

“Keith-“

“Don’t because if there’s one thing that my friends who stuck around taught me in high school, it’s that people don’t need you to change for them to realize your worth. I’m mad at you, Takashi. I don’t know when I’ll stop being mad. You left me for something ‘better’ and decided that the prime time to try to get back into my life is when I’m at my best. You shouldn’t just get my best. You should be happy that you get the most vulnerable parts of me, even if they’re ugly or embarrassing. That’s what friendship is.”

Keith’s breathing like he just ran, all of the words having come out in a vomit like format. Shiro looks like he touched a live wire, only to be shocked that he was hurt by its electricity. Those calculating eyes bore into the woodwork of the table, teeth grinding his upper lip in deep thought. ‘So’, Keith thought, ‘he still has that habit.’

Shiro’s shoulders rise as if to protect him from whatever it is he’s thinking about. It’s weird to see a six foot man curl up on himself like that. It makes something like regret start to turn itself over in his stomach. Still, Keith feels satisfaction in having finally said all that he’s wanted to over the past three years, and that fiery anger he’s had building up just… goes out. He feels tired, and looking at Shiro just makes him feel… sad, but almost like he had closure. Like he can start to move on from this now.

Shiro stays quiet for another few minutes, as he does, his body slowly relaxes until he’s slumped back in his chair fully. He reaches out to grab his coffee cup and takes a long sip. He fiddled with it in his hands, “Okay. Okay… I want to say I’m sorry, but I feel like you wouldn’t want to hear that right now. I want to say a lot, truthfully, but I think we can save that for another time. For now, let's start the project?”

Keith nodded. “Alright. We can do that. The first one is: given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest? What does this have to do with falling in love?”

Shiro laughed weakly, “Honestly, I have no idea. Uh, but for the question? Hands down, Jerry Rice.”

“Who?”

“Who?” Shiro gasped, “One does not simply ‘who’ Jerry Rice! He is a legend! He’s-”

“The football poster you’ve had in your room since fifth grade? That guy?” Keith grabbed a blank sheet of paper to jot down the response.

“Yes! Okay, your turn.” Shiro sat poised with his own pen and sheet of paper.

“Brendon Urie.”

“Brendon what-y?”

“U-r-i-e, and that’s how I felt when you said Jerry Rice. Brendon Urie is a musician and now also on broadway and he is amazing. Next.”

“Alright.” Shiro grabbed the paper, “It’s ‘would you like to be famous? In what way?’”

“Eugh, that’s hard. I probably wouldn’t want to be. Too much attention to everything I do and fans are crazy. If I had to be, it would be for writing a book about cryptozoology. Or an essay proving the existence of aquatic megafauna like Nessie.”

“That’s… nerdy.” Shiro chuckled, “For me, it would be football. If I could become famous for football, I feel like I’d be set for life.”

“Well, I mean the team is doing good, right? So, like, you’re halfway there.” Keith looked down to the next question, “‘Before making a telephone call, do you ever rehearse what you are going to say? Why?’”

“Okay, now that I don’t understand having to do with falling in love. Whatever. I’m gonna have to say no, because I blank out calling people, so rehearsal never helps. You?”

“Yes, because if I don’t, I’ll get too anxious and just hang up the phone.”

“Wait, you’ll just hang up? Just like that?”

“They’ll say ‘hi’, and I’ll panic, and I hang up. So, yeah, just like that.”

“Dude!” Keith simply shrugged. “Okay, so onto number four, ‘What would constitute a “perfect” day for you?’”

“Ah, no work, no school, and sleeping in until nine. Then, I go out to a park or something by myself, and I’d just relax. Watch the people and the birds pass by. Ask to pet any dog I see. Take in the scenery. That stuff. After, I’d go home and play video games with Lance or Allura and talk until it’s one in the morning. You?”

“This is not going to sound fun, but, if it were my perfect day, I’d go for my early morning jog at six. Then I’d go to the gym for an hour to work out, go home to shower. Get brunch at Giovanni’s deli down the block, then go to the beach and watch the tide and the sun set. When it got dark I’d go home and watch Netflix on my couch and eat Tostitos until it’s time for bed.”

“Everything from brunch on sounded great,” Keith laughed. It felt strange. Doing this. Yet also calming to talk to Shiro like this again. He smiled to himself as they moved onto the next question, “‘When was the last time you sang to yourself? To someone else?’”

Shiro made a noise like getting punched, “Not going to lie, I was singing Mama Mia yesterday while cooking. I guess that will count for ‘to someone’ because my roommates were there.”

“For me, it was also yesterday, when I was doing a face mask with Hunk and Lance.”

Shiro held up his hand, reeling. “You do face masks now? Do you know how hard it was for me to make you wash your face regularly when we were 15?”

“I just needed the right motivation,” Keith says with a presumptuous lilt, “Hunk gives me cookies after. Lance calls it ‘bonding time’.”

“Hm, bonding time. Sounds fun.” Shiro said shortly. “Well, onto the next question: ‘If you were able to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year-old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you want?’ Totally my body. Old people bodies are icky.”

Keith agreed, rolling his wrist before writing down the response, “Though, I think I’m more scared of going senile one day. So I’m going to say mind? Yeah, mind.”

“Understandable. So, next one’s morbid. ‘Do you have a secret hunch as to how you’ll die?’”

“Oof, that’s a great way to start a relationship, what were you saying earlier about this being able to work ever?” Keith snarked.

Shiro rolled his eyes, “Maybe there’s a reason for all of this! Like, you know all their dark secrets or something?”

“Yes, my dark secret is that want to have dinner with Brendon Urie. Shiro, you can’t tell anyone about this, it would ruin me.”

“Ha-ha, very funny. Back to the question, I would have to say a soft ‘no’, but I do happen to have this thought that I might die in a car accident. That may also be because driving makes me anxious, so I mean-“ Shiro shrugged, “make of it as you will.”

“Kinda same, but I had this recurring dream for a month that I was being chased in the woods by someone, and then I would wake up with this sharp pain in my chest. So, I always thought that I would be murdered or something.”

Shiro looked put-off, “That’s terrifying.”

Keith nodded, “It was.”

“Shouldn’t you have seen a doctor for the whole- pain thing?” The older man drawled. Keith just gave him a shrug and an expression screaming “I-care-for-no-consequence-of-my-actions-whatsoever”.

“Whatever, next up is naming three things we both have in common.” Keith tapped his pen, humming thoughtfully. “That’s… hard.”

Shiro scratches the inside of his elbow, “Uh, like we both have black hair?”

“Oh, yeah, duh that works! And we both are… wearing sweaters. Grey ones.”

“We’re also both, uuh, wearing vans? I think?” Shiro bends underneath the table slightly to check, “Yes, okay, that’s fine. Next! ‘Who are you most grateful for?’ My mom, she’s always been there for me and believed I could be someone better.”

“Momma’s boy, always been-always will.”

“Hey!”

“I only speak the truth, Shiro. For me? Hm, probably my friends. They’re like my mini support group and family all in one. I wouldn't be here today without them.”

Shiro but his lip, face looking a bit like a kicked puppy as he wrote down Keith’s response. The small silence was awkward, before Shiro picked it up again. “‘If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?’”

“The orphanage I went to. Your turn.”

“That being the best isn’t the most important thing. Or at least, that being ‘the best’ wasn’t something I had to make others believe I was, but something I made myself believe I am.”

“Deep. We’re about to get even deeper. And it’s timed.”

“Fun.” Shiro pulled his phone out, tapping the stopwatch app on his phone.

“Hm. ‘Take four minutes and tell your partner your life story in as much detail as possible.’ You first?”

“Okay, and,” he poked the time button, “here we go. I was born to my Mom and Dad, but my Dad ended up dying when I was young and it was me and my Mom ever since. When I was in elementary school, I met this really tiny kid. He was like, super duper tiny, and he had long hair and big eyes and I told him he looked like a princess when we first met. He punched me. It was friendship there on out. When we were in middle school we got really edgy and it was so cringeworthy, but we thought we were cool, and that’s all that mattered. During the summer of seventh grade, I started to play football. I was the linebacker. Turns out I really liked it and kept going. In high school, the football team said that in order to be friends with them, I had to ditch my best friend. I did. It was the worst decision I’ve ever made. I went on drinking and partying my way to college in a blur of bad choices and- timer’s up.”

“Okay, I think I got all that down. You ready for mine?” Shiro reset the stopwatch and gave a thumbs up. “So, when I was born my Mom was forced by her family to give me up, she put me into the system and never told my Dad. She does call sometimes, but that’s it. I attended a local public school district and my first friend was this kid named Takeshi. He called me a princess, but I punched him and we called it even. He would push me on the swing set and protect me from the big kids. We were each other’s only friends for years. When I was in tenth grade, I got really depressed because I was starting to question my gender, but wasn’t handling it right. I made a metric ton of bad choices. My only friend soon after decided that being with me was bad for him and left me for the jocks. I... went through something very, very bad, and then tried to- I almost. I almost hurt myself very badly, worse than all the times before. But then, someone who I never thought would be there, came to help. Lance took me to the hospital and then I was put into a mental hospital to get the help I- that I really needed. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk became my new family. I met Allura at the hospital, actually. We became fast friends, too. It was almost overwhelming. And then I got better, and graduated, and then the idiot that left me all that time ago decided community college was where it was at, and I’ve been dutifully ignoring his sorry ass. I call it a form of payback, but in reality I’m still hurt by him and I’m scared to let him back in.”

At some point, the time hit five minutes and Shiro just sat back, mostly staring sadly at Keith with these eyes that made him want to forgive Shiro for everything. It also made him hurt more, because it meant all the pain that Shiro put him through was for nothing. He left Keith behind, only to want to come back into his life once more. A weak, weak part of Keith wanted to drop everything and let him back. He wanted Shiro. He wanted his best friend back.

But Keith was not ready to be hurt again.

“Don’t give me that look,” he tried to sound mean, but it wavered too much for his own liking. “We need to finish this.”

Shiro coughed, “Oh, right, yeah. Um, ‘If you could wake up tomorrow having gained any one quality or ability, what would it be?’”

“‘Quality’? Like a physical one?”

Shiro huffed in annoyance. “No, like the metaphysical kind. Yes, a bodily change should count.”

“The I want a guys chest and abs.”

“Straightforward. I want… to be able to go back in time.”

“Easy enough.”

“Yeah-“ Shiro checked his phone. “We gotta cut this short- shit! I have to be at work in ten minutes! How could I not realize the time?”

Shiro quickly packed his things and Keith gather the few materials he brought and his coat. Shiro bid him goodbye as he sped off, mentioning that they’ll talk about the next time they can meet to finish this up. Keith waves him off, and starts to walk home.

—

Later that night, Lance was painting his nails in the couch as they watched ghost adventures. What this meant was, Lance was not painting his own nails, rather he had stolen Keith’s fingers to try how a new nail polish. It was holographic. Keith approved. They sat in mostly silence, focusing on Keith’s nails and the show, until Lance piped up.

“So, how was it with Shiro today? You were kinda dodge-y about it earlier.”

Keith purses his, “It was… a lot. It was nicer than I thought. We talked.”

“Well, I sure hope you two did you’re working on a project together. Mildly necessary to vocally communicate.”

“Cute joke,” Keith deadpans, “but what I mean is, we were talking nicely. It was awkward as hell, but we were trying and it was just about how we both felt all this time. I yelled a little, but it went well. Really well. I don’t feel as… angry.”

“Isn’t it funny what happens when you release all your pent up emotions?” Keith punched him on the cheek like he knew Lance hated. “Well, I told you it’d be fine. When are you guys meeting up next?”

“I don’t know actually?” Keith hummed, “Sometime soon, I hope.”

They went quiet again as a ghost on the tv was heard in an evp. Keith’s nails were finished by the end of the episode. It took another two for them to dry fully. As he looked at the shiny surface of his nails while a commercial played, he thought about Shiro. What if they could be friends again?

Lance knew Keith thought he couldn’t see, but in the corner of his eye, Keith smiled to himself softly. Lance promised that if Shiro ever hurt Keith again, Lance would find some form of physical punishment.