Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

3 Months Earlier

"Okay, remember-"

"Mom, can we please not do this today?" Matt pleads with Colleen. Anxiety was already buzzing in the back of his head and he hadn't even started work yet. He sees the look of concern on his mom's face and realizes that his words are about to backfire.

"Are you doing okay? You look peakish." Colleen asks, concerned. Matt raises an eyebrow.

"Peakish?" He asks and Colleen rolls her eyes at him.

"You know what I mean. Is your anxiety getting to you?" Colleen asks. Matt rubs the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact. However, that's all the answer she needs. "That's the third bad day this week. Are you sure-"

"I'm not going on clonazepam full-time. This is- it's just not a good week, that's all. I'll be fine." Matt insists and the look on Colleen's face softens.

"Okay honey, if that's how you really feel I won't push you on it." Colleen responds and Matt let's out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you." He whispers sincerely and Colleen squeezes his shoulder reassuringly.

"Okay, let's go over this one more-"

"Mom." Matt states exasperatedly and Colleen sends him a pleading look.

"Can you just let me have this?" She asks and Matt deflates, giving her the go ahead signal. "Thank you. Do you have my number memorized in case you lose your phone?" Matt rolls his eyes. "Matthew Holt. I know you're dealing with a lot right now but one more eyeroll and you will be grounded. Understand?" Matt nods, slightly terrified. "Good. Now let's try that again without the attitude. Do you have my number memorized in case you lose your phone?"

"Yes ma'am." Matt answers, seemingly incapable of keeping his snark to himself. Colleen rolls her eyes at him, but since she knows his answer is sincere at least she gives him a pass.

"You'll call me if anything happens or if it gets too much?" Matt starts to protest but Colleen stops. "This is non-negotiable Matt, will you call me?"

"Yes." Matt answers with a resigned sigh, relieved to see they're finally approaching McDonald's. Never thought I'd say that. Or think it, I guess.

"Okay, just one more thing. Do you have your emergency meds?" She can see he wants to protest already. Why does he have to fight this every time? Never mind, I know why. Ugh, I feel a headache coming on. "Matt, honey, I understand why you don't want to take it every day but I really need you to work with me here. You said it's been helping on your bad days, right?"

"Yeah." Matt sighs.

"Then isn't it worth it?" Colleen asks, and Matt hesitates. "What is it that bothers you so much about it? I really want to understand."

"I just don't want to need them." Matt answers softly. Colleen sends him a sympathetic look.

"Can you handle going in today? I can talk to Rita, I'm sure she'll understand if you're not up to it." Colleen offers gently. Matt shakes his head, steeling himself.

"No, I'll do it." Matt answers.

"Will you be okay?" Colleen asks, still worried.

"Probably not, but I can do it." Matt answers honestly. This time Colleen's about to protest when Matt stops her. "I'll be okay. It'll probably be a little rough at first, but I'll get through it. Besides, I'd be just as miserable at home, I'd just feel guilty on top of it. And at least at McDonald's everyone I work with is in the same boat anyway, I fit right in." Matt says, trying to lighten the mood. Colleen still isn't convinced, Matt sighs. "And if it does get that bad, I did bring my clonazepam. Hopefully I won't need it."

"And the note saying you can carry it?" Matt nods, Colleen relaxes. "Okay, but if it gets bad-"

"I'll call you." Matt finishes and Colleen nods to herself. "Okay, I really have to go in now. I'm probably already late."

"Don't be ridiculous we're 5 minutes early." Colleen reassures and Matt starts to get out of the car before she stops him. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh yeah! Almost forgot my visor." Matt says, laughing softly at the unimpressed look on his mom's face. He leans over for a hug and she hugs him tightly.

"Love you kiddo. I hope you're day gets better." Colleen says into Matt's ear.

"Me too, love you mom." He says, breaking off the hug and gunning it into the restaurant, not noticing his mom calling after him. After a few minutes of waiting Colleen sees Matt standing outside her car door with a sheepish look on his face.

"Forget something?" She asks with a look of fond exasperation on her face, and hands him his visor.

"Thanks mom."

"Okay Keith, I'm heading out!" Shiro called out to his brother. He was already running late for his interview at McDonald's. Yeah they walk-ins, he knows, but he still wants to get there early.

"Wait!" Keith shouts back running to Shiro with something in his hand, he holds it out. It's their thermometer. 

This again? He thought they were done with that. Once Shiro started driving to places again Keith had picked up a strange habit of making Shiro take his temperature before he left. He'd been humoring him for awhile but didn't think much of it, it was probably a phase. He thought Keith was over this.

"Keith I'm sorry but i don't have time for that today." Shiro responded, pushing the offered hand away and rushing to put his shoes on.

"It'll only take a minute." Keith responded insistently.

"Keith, I'm already running late. I need to get to the interview at McDonald's in less than a half an hour." Shiro pleaded but Keith just scoffed in response.

"Doesn't McDonald's take walk-in interviews?"

"That's not the point-"

"Then what is the point? You're spending more time arguing with me than it would've been to just take your temperature like i asked!" Keith insisted heatedly.

"You're right. I'm done arguing. There's leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry, I'll be gone for a couple of hours at most. It'll be fine." Shiro attempted to reassure his little brother but Keith wasn't having it. Shiro was already making his way to the door-

"Shiro!" For- "If you don't do it I'll- I-" Keith started, thinking. Shiro raised his eyebrow and when it didn't seem like Keith would continue went to the door. "I'll drink a whole carton of milk."

"Milk?"

"Yes."

"You're lactose intolerant." Shiro responded incredulously.

"Exactly." Keith said, but Shiro just shook his head with a laugh and opened the door.

"See you tonight kiddo. Love you." He said.

"Love you too."

Maybe if he hadn't been obsessing about his interview Shiro would've noticed the panic and hurt in his little brother's voice.

Matt's morning actually hadn't been going as bad as he was expecting. It had been a slow morning and so far he hadn't had to take any orders, mostly just bagging the food and goofing off with Dakota. But right now he was observing the guy Rita was currently interviewing, he looked oddly familiar. How do I know this guy? Am i going crazy? I really feel like I should know if I've met a buff asian guy with a metal arm. I think i would remem-

"What are you doing?" Matt jumped a little bit at Dakota's voice. Despite being a shift manager, Dakota was only a few years older than him and it showed. He acted just as goofy as Matt himself unless it was busy and he had to get into gear. He'd always reminded Matt of- Hold on...

"Holy crap!" Matt nearly shouted but he didn't care (like he said, slow morning). Because that was- "Kashi?"

Dakota had gotten his laughter under control and was curious. "Matt, who are you talking about?"

"That guy Rita is interviewing. He looked really familiar, I've been trying to figure out how I know him all morning. I just realized he's Takashi Shirogane." Matt explained but was met with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm gonna need more information. Do you want a frozen lemonade since it's so dead in here right now?" Dakota asked.

"Do you even have to ask at this point? Yes please." Matt answered and Dakota gave him the go on gesture as he tore open a bag of lemon wedges. "Anyway, I used to go to camp with him. We were best friends." Dakota set the sealed oatmeal container full of steeping lemon wedges to the side and came over to join Matt.

"That's cool." He said and Matt nodded.

"Yeah..." He trailed off and there was a comfortable silence. They served a few orders out of the drive thru before things died down again.

"Was he around for the 'dark ages'?" Dakota asked suddenly, putting air quotes around dark ages.

"Part of them, yeah." Matt admitted, and Dakota sent him a meaningful look before getting a mcflurry spoon and going back to the lemons.

"Does he know about the dark ages?" Dakota asked, intentionally focusing on smashing the lemon wedges with the bottom of the spoon so Matt wouldn't feel put on the spot.

"Um, no. Not really. We haven't seen each other in about 3 years." Matt said, as if it was nothing. Like those 3 years hadn't been some of the most difficult in his life. His anxiety was starting to ramp up again, Come on! We were doing so good! Dakota strained the lemon juice.

"How did you know it was him- 3 pumps of sugar?" Dakota asked, Matt nodded and Dakota pumped the liquid sugar into the lemon juice and stirred it together.

"Um, well... There may be a chance that I heard someone applied and found his application." Matt admitted, rubbing his neck as Dakota shook his head in amusement and poured the slurry into the pitcher, making the slushie.

"Is Kashi his nickname?" Dakota asked, pouring the slushies into 2 cups.

"What- thanks." Matt asked and accepted the offered drink.

"Camp guy, didn't you call him Kashi earlier?" Dakota asked.

"Oh, yeah. It's kinda an inside joke. Most people call him Shiro. What is up with this morning anyway? We haven't gotten anyone at the front counter and his interview is taking way longer than usual." Matt asked, confused.

"The lobby's closed today, doofus. Rita let the guy in, don't you remember?" Sydney, the cook currently on duty asked Matt incredulously.

"The interview's probably just taking longer because Rita got on a tangent. Now what's this about an inside joke?" Dakota asked, steering thing's back on-topic.

"I shouted it out the second year of camp and... Kinda launched myself at him out of nowhere. Somehow it ended up as a weird tradition." Matt explained, throwing away his empty cup and getting hand sanitizer. The interview seemed to finally be finishing up and there was a look of utter delight on Dakota's face. Thankfully an order popped up on the screen, Dakota may goof off but he still does his job. Matt was already on the verge of having to take his meds as is.

"When the interview is over, i dare you to do that." Or maybe he'll just multitask.

"Are you crazy? Besides, we have an order to get out." Matt replied as Dakota started making the drinks.

"I think I can handle it. C'mon, please?" Dakota insisted.

"No Dakota!" Matt responded, starting to bag the food.

"If you do it I'll personally cover the rest of your shift." Dakota replied seriously and Matt considered the offer.

"If I do this i can go home?" Matt reiterates.

"Yes."

"Okay fine, I'll do it. But you better be telling the truth." Matt warned, Dakota already serving the customer at the drive thru.

"I am. I was going to offer anyway, I can tell thing's are getting to you." Matt's about to protest. "You're not as good at hiding it as you think. Besides, it's not like you'd say anything."

Matt doesn't give him a response, instead heading to the back. He clocks out and gestures to Dakota that it's ready to authorize and Dakota gives him a thumbs up. He takes a moment to breath and considers how bad it's getting and if it's worth it to take his meds. He ends up taking them, swallowing them with his pride and braces himself for what's about to happen. He launches himself onto his friend he hasn't seen in years.

"Kashi!"

And is automatically flipped.

Shiro is relieved when he finally gets through the interview. The GM that interviewed him (Rita? I think) was very kind and patient. And she said that he could start next week as long as he went to orientation. Glad that's over with. Now to-

"Kashi!" Someone tackles him from behind and he flips them without thinking, instantly regretting it. The guy working the counter looks like he's going to fall over from laughing so hard, th- his, GM just pinches the bridge of her nose and goes back to work. Shiro's cheeks burn with shame and he looks down at the poor guy he flipped (he kinda had it coming, though).

"Seems about right." The guy groaned. Hold on... Did he call me... Is he-

"Matt?" Shiro asked in complete disbelief.

"The one and only." Matt responded with a smile and a wince.

"Sorry about that, I didn't know it was you." Shiro apologized.

"It's okay, it's pretty understandable reaction." Matt replied and Shiro was about to give him a hand when he thought of something.

"Need a hand?" Shiro asked.

"Yes please." Matt answered and Shiro detached the prosthetic and handed it to him. Matt gave him a long and intense look, and snorted. "You know, I'm not even mad, I would definitely do that if I was in your shoes. Do you mind helping me up though?" Shiro laughs and helps Matt up. "I can't believe it's actually you."

"Yeah, me neither. It's crazy." Shiro agrees and becomes concerned when he sees Matt rub his shoulder. "You okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Don't worry about it." Matt responded and Shiro finally took a minute to look him over.

"You look... Different." Shiro said, not knowing what to think of Matt's now forest green hair and tattoo sleeves. The idea of Matt having tattoos to cover was absurd.

"So do you." Touche.

"I guess a couple of years does that huh?" Shiro asked awkwardly.

"3 years." Matt agreed and Shiro's brow furrowed.

"Has it really been that long?" Shiro asked, baffled.

"Yeah, it's good to see you tho-"

"Do you wanna catch up?" Shiro interrupted, surprising both Matt and himself.

"Right now?" Matt asked a little incredulously.

"I authorized the end of your shift, Matt. You're free to go." The guy running the front said.

"Thanks Dakota. Um, what did you want to do?" Matt asked awkwardly.

"Well, we could go back to my place. It's just me and my little brother there." Shiro offered and Matt just about lost it.

"Your brother?!" Matt exclaimed.

"Um, yeah? Kei- Oh! That's right, we weren't in contact when that happened." Shiro realized.

"That settles it. I have to come over now, do you mind if I ride with you?" Matt asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet in excitement.

"Yeah sure." Shiro responded and Matt started for the back entrance with Shiro close behind. They get in Shiro's car and pull out of McDonald's.

On the way to the apartment they talk. Matt tells Shiro... Not a whole lot, actually. He tells him how his family moved to Arizona to be closer to the Garrison, where his dad worked. He mentioned that he was in his last year at a STEM school. He casually slipped in that he'd been taking some courses at the Garrison himself, and that he was considering applying after he graduates. And he says it likes it's not a big deal, like it's not a major accomplishment, baffling Shiro. Mostly he talks about his little sister Katie and how proud he is of her and how amazing she is and how she's only 10 and already smarter than him.

Shiro starts to feel guilty, thinking about this morning. Of course Shiro tells Matt plenty too. How his mom had taken in a student from her class on winter break 2 and a half years ago. How he'd been wary and skittish around him at first. That she'd adopted him that summer. He ends up glossing over a lot (Matt does too), his dad passing away, his mom's MS, the fact that Keith is definitely more at ease around him now but he still balks at physical contact with anyone but him (sometimes him too). And the car accident, how he ended up crashing his car while running a fever, losing his arm in the process. He gives the bare minimum of details but Matt doesn't seem to mind.

Shiro's thoughts start wandering to this morning again, feeling more and more guilty about how he'd handled it. Matt notices.

"Everything okay?" Matt asks.

"Yeah I'm fine." Matt raises an eyebrow and Shiro sighs. "This morning Keith and I kinda had a fight. I was already late for my interview-"

"They tak-"

"Yeah I know, they take walk-ins, I was obsessing a little over it. But Keith wanted me to take my temperature and I didn't have time-"

"Hold on, Keith wanted you to... Take your temperature?" Matt asks, confused.

"Yeah, it's been a thing for a few months. I've been doing it every morning but I just didn't have time today-"

"Shiro, pull over." Matt ordered.

"What?"

"Pull over. The last thing either of us needs is to get in an accident right now. You're too worked up, pul-"

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it..." Shiro says, and pulls off to the side of the road. They get out of the car. "I hope you have a license."

"I do, I even have it with me." Matt answers and they switch places, buckling their seatbelts. "Do you have a GPS?" Shiro nods and turns it on, setting the coordinates. Matt carefully pulls back onto the road, following the directions. "Okay, so what happened after that?"

"I don't know, he seemed pretty upset. But I just don't understand why it was such a big deal! It's not like I don't want to understand, I just..." Shiro trails off, discouraged. Matt takes a minute to think about his next words.

"Did you ask him?" Matt asks carefully and Shiro deflates.

"No." Shiro responds dejectedly. The metaphorical gears start turning in Matt's head.

"Shiro, when did you say he started doing this, again?" Matt asks.

"After I started driving again. But I do-"

"Why did your car crash happen?" Matt asks and Shiro sputters.

"Matt." 

"I'm sorry, that came off more tactless than I meant it to. But still, please?" Matt asks, Shiro sighs.

"I was disoriented because I was running a fever and I crashed into a tree. But I don't see how that- oh." Shiro cuts himself off, realization flooding him.

"Yeah..." Matt agrees sympathetically.

"I'm the worst brother in existence." Shiro rubs his face with his human hand.

"You aren't, Shiro."

"I'm an idiot." Shiro bangs his head against the car window and Matt sighs.

"You're not an idiot or a bad person, you made a mistake. You're allowed to make those, everyone does it. You just need to make things right, now." Matt reassures, and pulls into the parking lot of the apartment.

"Matt." Shiro starts as Matt parks the car.

"Yeah?"

"There's a chance that my mistake might be worse than I was making it out to be."

Chapter Text

"So let me get this straight, he told you he would drink an entire carton of milk if you didn't do it?" Shiro nods mournfully. "And he's lactose intolerant?"

"Very. I'm not sure exactly how bad it is but it was enough to get my mom to get rid of all the dairy in the house at one point." Shiro explains, the misery clear in his voice. Matt gives him the 'are you insane?' look.

"Kashi." Matt says and Shiro winces.

"I know. I thought he was bluffing but now I'm not so sure." Shiro replies.

"Shiro, you never call a bluff when there are lives at stake. First rule of the big brother handbook." Matt states seriously.

"What do I do?" Shiro asks, at a loss.

"Well for one we need to actually get to your apartment." Matt answers.

"Oh! Yeah, let's go." Shiro jumps out of the car and Matt rushes to catch up. Shiro unlocks the door and goes into the apartment as quickly as he can. Matt shuts the door behind him. "Keith! I'm- oh buddy."

Shiro takes in the sight of his little brother kneeling next to the toilet in their bathroom, looking thoroughly miserable. Guilt and panic immediately overwhelm him as he cards his fingers through Keith's hair. "Matt!" Matt runs to the room, wincing in sympathy. "Do you mind driving us to the hospital?"

"Shiro, if he's just lactose intolerant you should be able to ride it out. It'll suck but he'll be fine." Matt tries to reassure him, but Shiro sends him a pleading look.

"Please Matt?" Shiro pleads, and Matt sighs.

"Okay." Matt concedes and Shiro gives him a grateful look as Matt helps him get Keith (who is pretty out of it. Probably dehydrated) ready and out the door. The car ride to the nearby children's hospital is quiet, Shiro sitting in the middle in the backseat so Keith can lay on him, carding his fingers through Keith's hair (it always seems to soothe him, at least). They get checked in and sit down in the waiting room chairs while they wait to go to an examining room.

"Hey, does your mom know where you are?" Shiro asks Matt, who just says 'huh?', having dozed off. "I just realized that in all the chaos I don't think you called your mom." Matt sits bolt upright.

"Keith Kogane?" They stand up and follow the nurse to an exam room. After getting settled she started to leave the room. "I'll be back soon to take his vitals and information."

"I forgot to call her. Crap, what do I do?" Matt panics.

"Just call her and explain what happened, she'll probably understand." Shiro reassures.

"No, you don't-" Matt starts but Shiro cuts him off.

"Matt, she's probably worried about you." You have no idea. "You have to call her." Shiro states firmly but gently and Matt sighs, nodding. He leaves the room and Keith stirs from his spot on the exam table. Shiro squeezes his hand.

"Who was that?" Keith mumbles, barely coherent. Shiro sits on the exam table and has Keith lift his head so it can rest on his leg. Shiro continues running his fingers through Keith's hair.

"The nurse, she-"

"Not the nurse. The guy with the green hair." Keith mumbles.

"Oh, Matt? He's an old friend I ran into at McDonald's." Keith hums contentedly in response, which Shiro takes as his cue to continue. "We caught up on our way home. You'll be happy to know he helped work through what's going on and kept me calm." Shiro smiles at Keith. After a minute he turns serious again. "Keith, I'm so sorry about this morning. I handled it badly because I was stressed but that's no excuse."

"S'okay." Keith mumbles in response, slightly more coherent than last time.

"Why didn't you tell it was because of the accident?" Keith tenses at the question.

"It was silly." Keith sits up.

"Keith, I wouldn't have thought any less of you for it. And it wasn't silly. You've been handling this whole thing so well that I guess it didn't occur to me that you've been struggling too. You really stepped up after the accident, helping me through the nightmares, the... episodes. But you're my otouto, I should have noticed." Shiro says sincerely.

"It's okay." Keith can't think of anything else to say.

"I'm surprised you said I love you before you left." Shiro admits, and Keith scrunches his eyebrows in confusion.

"Why?"

"Well, I dunno, even after I dismissed you you still said it." Shiro tries to explain.

"Of course I did." Shiro still doesn't seem to get, Keith averts his eyes and his next words are spoken softly. "I know how easy it is for that to be your last memory of someone." Keith practically whispers. Guilt overtakes Shiro as he hugs Keith tightly.

"I'm so sorry Keith. I really messed up this time. I'll try my best not to do something like this again. Okay?" Shiro asks, tears in both his and Keith's eyes. Keith just nods, knowing that telling Shiro that it's okay again won't help. They break the hug and Keith goes back to laying his head on Shiro's leg as Shiro keeps stroking his hair. Keith starts to doze off in the safety of his brother's lap, finally at peace.

"C'mon, pickup!" Matt says, groaning in frustration as his phone goes to voicemail a third time. Not that he particularly wants to have this conversation, but it's better to get it over with. Finally she picks up.

"Hi, I'm sorry but I'm a little-"

"It's me mom." Matt says with trepidation.

"Matt! Oh thank goodness. Are you okay?" Colleen asks on the other end, relieved.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm so sorry, I forgot to call you." Matt apologizes.

"I figured. When I went to McDonald's and you weren't there I thought-" Colleen broke off with a shaky breath. Matt winces, feeling guilty.

"I'm so sorry, I was going to call you. I promise, I just got sidetracked. But I really am okay." Matt reassures.

"I believe you, it's understandable. I just- I know it was unwarranted, but all I could think of was-" At his mom's words realization floods Matt, along with about a mountain's worth of guilt.

"It's not unwarranted- well I mean, I guess it is in a way- but it's still... I dunno, understandable I guess?" Matt tries to articulate his feelings and there's a tense pause. "I hate that I put you through that. I'm sorr-"

"Don't apologize for that. You can apologize for tonight all you want, but don't apologize for that." Colleen states firmly. Matt sighs and catches himself nodding.

"Okay, I won't." At least not out loud. "I really am doing better now, Mom. I haven't missed any sessions with Dr. Russel in months, I've been taking meds everyday and I think they might actually stick this time."

"I'm... really glad to hear that." Colleen responds in sincere relief. "How was work today? Did everything end up okay?"

"Funny you should ask, you remember my friend Kashi from camp?" Matt asks with a smile on his face.

"Oh yeah, wow. I haven't heard that name in awhile. What about him?" Colleen asks.

"He works at our McDonald's now." Matt answers.

"Seriously?" Colleen asks.

"Yeah, I'll tell you about it on the way home. Do you mind picking me up?" Matt asks.

"Of course, where are you?" Colleen asks and Matt hesitates.

"Okay, please don't freak out but we're at the children's hospital." Matt can tell she's about to freak out so he rushes to add, "It's for Kashi- Shiro's, brother. He's fine, Shiro's just a little bit paranoid." Like someone else I know, He thinks but doesn't say because contrary to popular belief he does value his life.

"Okay, I'll be there in 10." Colleen says.

"Okay love you." Matt says.

"Love you too kiddo." Colleen responds. When she doesn't hang up right away Matt speaks.

"I'm grounded, right?" Matt asks, knowing the answer already.

"Ooh yeah." Colleen states firmly. Matt winces.

"Yeah I figured, just wanted to make sure."

Matt runs into Keith and Shiro on his way back to the room. "Everything go okay?"

"Yeah, they gave him some anti nausea meds and said to come back if he still can't keep anything down in a few hours." Shiro answers, and Keith mumbles something that sounds like 'I'm right here.'

"That's good." Matt responds. "Did I miss any exciting conversations?"

"Oh yeah, I talked to the doctor about how we're looking for a new apartment. Real fun." Shiro replies sarcastically. Matt thinks of something.

"Okay, I know that was a joke but our apartment complex has a bunch of apartments up for rent right now." Matt says and Shiro looks surprised.

"Seriously?" Shiro asks.

"When am I not serious?" Matt asks and Shiro levels him with a very impressive deadpan stare. He's about to retort when Keith suddenly comes up to him.

"You're Matt?" Keith asks and Matt doesn't move for fear of scaring him off (okay, maybe that's a little dramatic but you should've heard the stories Shiro told him in the car).

"I am." Matt answers without any snark. Keith looks him over, no eye-contact whatsoever. Why do I feel like this is an important moment?

"You helped Shiro?" Keith asks in vague terms, but Matt gets what he's saying.

"Yeah, I guess I did." Matt answers with a soft and gentle tone. In one of the most shocking turns of events Matt has experienced, Keith approaches him and tentatively wraps his arms around him. Matt carefully reciprocates, shocked. He sends Shiro a look of baffled excitement that probably isn't nearly as calm as he wants it to be. Shiro just shrugs, just as surprised as he is. One of the main things that Shiro had told him about Keith was his aversion to physical contact, especially with people he doesn't know. Matt starts to feel the weight of the of moment.

"Thank you." Keith mumbles into Matt's shirt.

"No problem, anytime." Matt responds sincerely, choked up. Keith breaks off from the hug and goes back to standing as close to Shiro as humanly possible. It was only a few seconds but it's a memory Matt will cherish for years to come. He let's out a shaky breath. "So um- do you... Why don't I give you my number? So we don't lose track of each other again."

"Sounds good." Shiro says, and Matt puts him number in Shiro's phone under Memethew, sending a text so he gets Shiro's number too.

"See you later." Matt says.

"See you at work." Shiro responds with a cheeky grin and Matt rolls his eyes. He starts for the place his mom texted him to meet him, but not before he hears a quiet 'bye' from Keith. He leaves the room with a massive grin on his face.

Matt sees his mom and runs up to her, and they hug. "I'm really sorr-"

"Honey, it's done and over with. You don't need to apologize again. What happened? It sounds like your day was eventful." Colleen says, and Matt tells her the story, starting from being flipped by Shiro, all the way to Keith's hug. Colleen is holding back laughter by the end. "I'm sorry, I know it's not funny. It's just- the whole situation is so-"

"Ridiculous?" Matt supplies.

"Yeah. Well, not so much ridiculous as absurd. I can understand how something like that would happen, I raised you and Katie after all." Colleen teases and Matt nods.

"That's fair." Matt says.

"It sounds like something you would've done at that age." Colleen narrows her eyes at him. "Don't get any ideas."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I was perfectly behaved as a kid." Matt says facetiously and Colleen gives him a knowing look.

"Honey, you are still a kid." She sighs. "Those poor kids. It sounds like they've really been through it."

"Yeah, at least I have Shiro's number now." Matt looks at his mom nervously. "Can-"

"Yes Matt, you can check on him. Your grounding can start tomorrow." Colleen answers his unanswered question.

"Thank you." Matt responds emphatically and Colleen waves him off.

"C'mon, we need to get to the car, Katie's waiting." Colleen urges him and they start walking back to the car. Matt texts Shiro.

"Katie's going to want to know what happened, what do I tell her?" Matt asks as they approach the car.

"I'm sure you'll come up with something." Colleen responds and they get in the car. Matt's phone buzzes with a response from Shiro.

Shiro: We made it home safe.

Matt: Everything good?

Shiro: Yeah, we got home and I gave Keith his meds and we sat on the couch. He fell asleep on top of me and now I can't move.

Matt: Seriously?

Shiro has sent you a picture.

"Oh my goodness!" Matt exclaims, startling both Colleen and Katie.

"What is it?" Colleen asks, Matt shows her the picture and she brings a hand to her mouth at the sight of it. "Aww, that's so sweet."

"What is it?" Katie asks, annoyed with not being kept in the loop. Matt shows her the picture. "Who's that?"

"That's Shiro and his brother." Matt answers.

"I don't know who they are." Katie responds, irritated. So Matt tells her the story. Well, a story. He embellishes at certain parts and leaves out things that should be kept private. Later on Shiro would ask him about the apartment he mentioned, starting a domino effect that would start a whole new era.

But they never forgot about the milk incident.