Chapter Text
Keith pushed his chair back when their lecture ended. He breezed past Shiro and out into the hallway, crossing to the opposite wall. He crossed his arms and leaned his shoulder against the wall, watching as the other students filed from the classroom.
Lance patted Shiro on the shoulder as they came out of the classroom. He continued down the hallway and Shiro made a beeline for Keith across the hall. He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” Keith said.
“Do you want to go for a walk?” Shiro asked.
Keith pushed off the wall and started walking through the hall. Shiro fell into step next to him, hands still shoved deep in his pockets.
“So, about earlier…” Shiro started.
Keith sighed. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little pissed about this whole thing.”
“Look,” Shiro said, swinging in front of Keith to stop his progress through the hall. “I’m really sorry about this.”
Keith raised an eyebrow.
“I should’ve stopped the gossip that was being spread around the frat house.”
“It’s not…your fault,” Keith said and ran a hand through his hair. “You didn’t start it and you can’t help what other people are going to say, so I don’t blame you. And…it’s just…I usually don’t care if people talk about me. I stopped caring a long time ago because they were going to talk about me whether I liked it or not. I knew I’d never be able to control what they thought anyway.”
“But?” Shiro asked.
“But…I do have a problem when they’re talking about things they don’t need to be talking about. It’s none of their business what we do on our dates or what we do together.”
“You’re right,” Shiro said. “They don’t have any business gossiping about us and it sucks, but we can’t control everything they’re going to say. Even though I really wish I could because…I don’t want you to feel bad about this.”
Keith sighed.
“We could pin this all on Lance and make him beg for forgiveness?” Shiro suggested, his tone lifting slightly.
The edge of Keith’s lips quirked up and he glanced up at Shiro through his eyelashes, feeling his mood start do lift.
“Does that sound like a plan?” Shiro asked, slow grin pulling at the edge of his mouth.
Keith huffed a laugh, his stomach curling happily at the thought of this possibly being a second date for them.
“Or he could order takeout for us and we could have a picnic? With a couple of beers of course.”
“You’re such a dork,” Keith said. “A picnic? Really? You’re in a frat! Aren’t you supposed to be all…I don’t know…not so dorky? Or cheesy?”
“Well, right now I just know that I want to spend some time with this guy I really like.” He pulled one of his hands out of his pocket and held it out to Keith. “So I think I can make an exception for how cheesy I am. And things can get even cheesier if we have pizza.”
Keith rolled his eyes and took Shiro’s hand, linking their fingers together. “Cheese pizza and beer doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Come on,” Shiro said, tugging him down the hallway towards the door. “We can bug him later and guilt him into offering us some food. You feel like getting some coffee?”
“Are you buying?” Keith asked.
Shiro hummed and grinned. “If you give me a kiss.”
“I think that can be arranged,” Keith said, smirking.
They pushed through the double doors that led out to the sidewalk and turned towards the campus coffee shop. Keith caught sight of a few curious gazes that were thrown their way, but he found himself caring less than he had that morning. Especially when Shiro’s thumb brushed against the back of his hand.