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The desks in the dormitories faced opposite beige walls. Matt’s wall was covered with pictures of his friends and family, all hanging from clothespins affixed to an old net. He had lights strung up throughout the room; at first he had kept them on his side of the room, but through the years, he kept buying more and more colorful Christmas and garden lights and they started spilling over onto Shiro’s side until the whole room was glowing from hundreds of little bulbs.
Shiro’s side needed the color. The only thing tacked on his wall was a poster, older than he was; the blues had faded to green with time, but there was no mistaking its content. It was from the Garrison’s early days, when all they wanted to do was get to the Asteroid Belt, and not to the edge of the solar system.
Shiro tapped his pen on the form that would bring him there, further than the people who made that poster ever thought they’d go.
Matt, behind him, was working on the exact same application, working with that single-minded focus that the Holts were known for. No pause for sleep, no pause to eat, barely pause to breathe. Shiro didn’t want to interrupt, familiar with the way Matt would jump out of his skin if he was shaken out of the zone.
Shiro looked back down at his form. Matt was probably on the essay by now, judging by his furious scribbling. Shiro, on the other hand, chewed his and considered one of the very first questions.
Matt’s writing slowed in his ears. If there was a chance to get his attention, now was the time. Shiro breathed.
“Hey, Matt?” he asked, trying to keep his voice as casual as possible and not let the edge of panic peek through.
Just as prophesied, Matt jumped out of his chair, blinked a bit, and turned to look at Shiro across the room.
“Huh?”
Shiro swallowed. “Can you help me answer this question?” Casual, Shiro, he reminded himself.
Matt’s brow furrowed as he popped a pen in his mouth to chew on as he walked over.
Cute, Shiro thought.
“What’s up?” Matt asked, sitting on the bed next to the desk and grabbing the application from under Shiro’s hands.
He quickly read what Shiro had written, which was admittedly not much.
Age, Date of Birth, Position, Gender…
Matt looked up to see Shiro’s worried eyes as he gnawed on his lower lip.
Cute, Matt thought.
He turned his attention back down to the sheet in his hands, and popped the pen out of his mouth to fill out the offending box.
Male .
He handed the form back to Shiro, holding his eyes in his own.
Shiro looked down at it, and back up at Matt.
“You’re sure?”
Matt smiled. “Never been more sure of anything in my life.”
With that, Matt stood up and primly sat in his boyfriend’s lap, pulling the application out of his hands and placing them on the desk, along with the pen. He held Shiro’s face in his hands and laid a soft kiss on his anxious lips. It was quiet and soft, just like Shiro. Shiro would never make the first move; he was a gentleman like that, so Matt took it upon himself to deepen the kiss. Their tongues brushed for just a moment before Matt pulled away, leaving Shiro flushed and wanting.
Matt just grinned like the cocky piece of shit that he was.
“You ready to go to Kerberos, love?”