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Keith didn’t really remember who threw the first punch. After his fights turned physical, his mind usually tended to blur the details. However, specifics didn’t matter now that he was squaring off against three square headed punks who looked like they belonged in a Neanderthal exhibit. The three thugs had been spouting crap about Keith for a while now. He’d finally snapped when they cornered him outside after he was coming back from a run around the garrison. They often spouted nonsense about how Keith was some kind of hacker that messed with the simulator or that he’d never make a good pilot since his crew would undoubtedly hate his personality. But this time they had crossed the line.
“Hey, Kogane!” thug number one said as he gestured to his friend on his left hand side. “James here told us that he knows how you’ve been doing so well in the simulators! Tell him James.”
The guy who Keith figured must be James, since Keith had never bothered to actually learn the idiots names, let out a harsh laugh as he stepped forward.
“Oh ya, it took me a while to put the pieces together, but I have definitely figured out your dirty secret now, Kogane.” James looked Keith up and down as if he was some disgusting specimen he couldn’t wait to dissect. Keith didn’t like it one bit. The two other punks had shit eating grins plastered on their faces. Keith didn’t like that either. He didn’t like anything about these guys, but it was broad daylight and there was no reason for him to start attacking just because they were being creeps.
James took a step closer to Keith so he backed against the wall. He wasn’t scared, just annoyed that these guys were being so relentless. Keith couldn’t get caught fighting on garrison grounds: he was already on thin ice with Iverson. Thugs one and three had also moved up and were getting closer and closer to Keith, but not as close as James who was now sticking his ugly face right into Keith’s.
He let out another cruel laugh as he looked Keith right in the eyes. “I know you’ve definitely been sucking off the teachers.” Keith’s breathing hitched in his throat from the shock and rage that came from such an accusation. James seemed to love Keith’s reaction due to the wide grin that slowly spread across his flat face.
“Ya, you’ve been sucking them all off so that they rig the system in your favor. It’s the only way. Although I’m sure you were the one who came up with the idea, huh? I bet you begged them to let you blow them off so you could be the star cadet.” Keith was seeing red. His breathing was no longer caught inside of him. Now it was coming out in anger filled bursts through his nose as he tried to control his temper. “I heard that Shiro guy is your new mentor; I bet he heard all the stories about you and just had to get in on it.”
The next few moments passed in blurs only remembered by Keith as short bursts of pain. He felt the bruises on his face and blood on his knuckles and caked under his nails. He saw a fist connect with one ugly man, and a knee drive into the gut of another. He couldn’t tell if he was winning or losing. All he knew was that he didn’t want to stop fighting until either he or his opponent was out on the ground.
“Whats going on?” Keith registered a new voice to his right, but his mind still compelled him to continue attacking. The three thugs, however, had frozen the moment they heard someone else approach and immediately turned their attention away from Keith. He took this opportunity to get in a sturdy punch to James’ face which caused a thin streak of blood to trickle from his nose. James turned his attention back to Keith while the other two thugs ran off. Keith readied his body to make another attack but a firm grip on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks. This was it, he was definitely going to get expelled for this. Whoever had caught him was going to report him to Iverson and that would be the end of his garrison training.
“Cadet James Gardner, I hope you know you have a good reason for being on garrison property. Considering you were expelled three days ago, I can’t think of a single reason you should be here.” The new voice spoke calmly but firmly as if daring James to respond. Keith shot a quick look over his shoulder to see who had caught him. He mentally groaned when he saw the face of his brand new mentor Takashi Shirogane. However James looked absolutely petrified to see Shiro staring at him. “I suppose I’ll have to call security on you, and don’t think I didn’t see your two friends either. You’re all going to be in a huge amount of trouble. Although if you leave now, you might escape federal punishment.” A slight smirk appeared on Shiro’s lips as he spoke that last part. It was enough to get James to scramble away.
Shiro turned to Keith next.
“Is everything okay? Three on one isn’t exactly fair.” Shiro said, concern apparent in his voice. Keith refused to meet Shiro’s eyes. The man had only been his mentor for a week and Keith was not yet used to having him around. Shiro was perfect and Keith still couldn’t believe he had chosen him, of all people, to mentor. Iverson had said that Shiro could teach Keith how to get along with his crew and control his temper. Shiro had said that he wanted to help Keith become the best pilot in the garrison. When Shiro spoke to him, Keith actually felt like he could be one of the best. Right after Shiro. Keith knew why he had gotten so mad at the Neanderthals once they mentioned Shiro: it was because he was afraid that they actually knew about his real feelings. Of course Keith also knew that they were just being thick headed bullies who were just making up crazy rumors, but even still…
“So, are you going to report me to Iverson now?” Keith asked without looking up from his feet. There was a residedness to his question as if he already knew he’d be expelled for this. But Shiro took a second to ponder the question. He looked Keith up and down, inspecting his bruised body.
“Your knuckles are bleeding Keith,” Shiro noted. Keith looked down and winced. He had broken the skin on his hands during the fight. Shiro let his hand land on Keiths back as if to lead him away.
“We should probably get that fixed up so I’ll tell you what: if you talk to me and tell me what happened, I won’t tell Iverson. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good, now let’s head back to my room. I have a first aid kit and we can talk there, too.” Shiro lead Keith through the doors of the garrison. Keith paused for a moment after hearing what he’d said.
“Can’t you just take me to the nurse?” He knew how strange it would look to the other cadets if they saw him enter the private room of the legendary Shiro. He especially wasn’t in the mood to create gossip about himself after the encounter he just had with James and his lakies.
Shiro just shook his head. “If the nurse sees your hands, he’ll know you got into a fight. And these are way to severe to be from a simple sparring match. This way you won’t get in trouble.”
Keith sighed. He figured Shiro was right but it didn’t stop the apprehension that came when he approached Shiro’s room. He slowly followed Shiro inside and sat on a chair while Shiro looked through his drawers for his first aid kit. Keith feels awkward just sitting there watching Shiro rummage around in his room.
He was in Shiro's room. And to Keith’s surprise, the room looked almost identical to his. The only difference was the lack of a second bed for a roommate. The bed sheets were neatly folded but several articles of clothing were scattered on the floor or draped across chairs. Keith silently chuckled to himself. Who would have thought Shiro was so bad at folding his own clothes? It was an amazing opportunity in itself to see the natural environment of the garrison’s best pilot.
Keith’s attention snapped back from admiring the messy room when Shiro started speaking. “So Keith, how have things been going?” He asked as he pulled up a second chair and opened up the med kit.
Keith shrugged as he pondered how he should respond. “I beat my record on collision avoidance,” Keith started, not really knowing what else to talk to Shiro about without immediately talking about his fight. Shiro was his mentor...his new mentor so Keith still wasn’t sure what he could really talk to Shiro about. They weren’t exactly friends, even though Keith wanted nothing more than to just be as close to the man as possible.
Shiro regarded him for a second before taking one of Keith’s hands and wiping it down with disinfectant. The stinging sensation hit Keith immediately and he hissed. Shiro made no acknowledgement of the cadet’s reaction as he continued to make small talk.
“Have you done anything interesting outside of school? I know a lot of cadets like to sneak off and go to the movies or walk around town. Don’t tell me that you’ve only been studying this whole time!” He said with a chuckle, as he wiped down Keith’s hand.
“As you actually encouraging me to break garrison rule? I thought you were here to help me do better ,” Keith responded with a smile. Shiro grinned at this response as he put the disinfectant away.
“That settles it, I’m taking you out to town next weekend so you can relax. It's important for cadets your age to be able to goof off once and a while..or else they might start lashing out.” The bluntness of Shiro’s accusation stung almost as badly as his hands. Although Shiro was smiling there was a seriousness behind his eyes. He didn’t need to ask Keith what happened. He expected Keith to tell him.
Keith let out a long sigh as he figured out how he should explain himself. “Look I didn’t mean to get in a fight. They were just relentless and deserved to be punched.” He shifted his eyes down towards his hands. The purple bruises were staring right back at him. Shiro’s large hands seemed to engulf Keith’s own once he took his hand in his and began to slowly wrap gauze around his wounds. Shiro wasn’t saying anything and Keith didn’t know what to do. Maybe he was planning on telling Iverson after all. He felt his throat close up at the thought. Shiro didn’t say anything until both his hands were properly bandaged.
“Did they say anything bad about you?” His voice was soft as if he deeply cared about the answer. Keith shifted in his seat.
“I don’t really want to have to explain what they were saying…” he breathed. He really didn’t. He didn’t want to tell anyone what those idiots said, especially not Shiro.
“Keith,” Shiro began, “you need to talk to me or else this mentorship won’t work. What did they say?”
Keith continued to stare down at his hands which had curled into nervous fists on his lap. “They accused me of doing sexual favors for the staff...and for you in order to be the best pilot in the class.” He didn’t dare to look up at Shiro’s face. No matter what, Keith was sure he wasn’t going to like whatever face he was making. If Shiro showed pity, he’d be angry that Shiro thought he was weak. If his face showed anger or disgust, Keith would feel compelled to run out of his mentor’s room immediately. But Shiro simply reached out and took Keith’s hand.
“You aren’t at fault Keith,” Shiro began. His voice was soft and non accusatory. “If I was there I would have stepped in,” he admitted as he gently squeezed Keith's hand. The motion made Keith heart skip a beat, even though he knew that Shiro was only comforting him because he got in a fight. The gesture was still greatly appreciated by Keith.
“How are your hands feeling?” Shiro asked once he let Keith’s hands go.
“Better now, but people still might ask me about the bandages.” Keith really didn’t feel like making some story up about how his hands got so damaged. Shiro smiled.
“I have an idea.” He got up and began to rummage around in one of his drawers. Eventually he turned around and presented Keith with two black gloves. They were fingerless and looked to be too small to fit Shiro’s hands. “I got these a while back from a secret admirer. They don’t exactly fit me but I’m sure they’d look great on you.” He handed Keith the gloves and Keith stared at them in awe. He ran a hand across the gloves to take in their feel. They were surprisingly soft and looked to be just the right size.
“You didn’t tell me you had a secret admirer,” Keith admitted, a hint of disappointment sneaking its way into his voice. Shiro let out a small kind hearted laugh.
“Well I used to. But I politely turned her down. She wasn’t really the kind of person I’m attracted to. She understood so it all worked out.” As Shiro recollected on the past Keith took in every minute detail of his face. The way his eyes seemed to squint ever so slightly when he thought back to a memory. The way his mouth twitched up slightly higher on the left than on the right. The way his brows turned upright when in thought. He was incredibly handsome. When Shiro’s attention focused back on Keith, he quickly moved his eyes back down to his new gloves.
“Well, put them on!” Shiro said with excitement. That was all it took for Keith to pull the gloves on over his bandaged hands. They fit perfectly and completely hid the bandages.
“Thank you,” Keith managed as he admired his present. Shiro's secret admirer had given him these gloves as a present to express their love, and now Shiro had given the same gloves to Keith. He knew it wasn’t the same thing but just the thought made Keith smile. “Thanks for talking to me too…” Keith added as he stood up. Shiro stood too and put his hand on Keith's shoulder.
“Any time. It’s what I’m here for after all. And I’ll always make time to talk whenever you need it.” His sincerity behind the statement was unmistakable. It made Keith feel special. Shiro really cared about Keith.
“Thanks,” Keith sputtered again and then silently cursed for saying the same thing three times. He shook his head to try to clear it. “But I should be going. I have class soon so I should get ready.” Shiro simply nodded his head and walked Keith towards the door.
“Of course. Keep being an amazing student Keith,” He exclaimed as he opened the door for his mentee.
“I will. Don’t worry, I have a great mentor. I won’t fail with your help!” Keith retorted as he walked outside. Shiro chuckled as Keith walked away but the sound of Shiro’s voice shouting after him made him stop.
“Don’t forget, I’m taking you out to town next weekend! Don’t forget the date!” Keith smiled to himself and looked down at his newly gloved hands.
It dawned on Keith that this mentorship may be the greatest thing that ever happened to him. He strode down the hallway with a newfound confidence and sense of happiness as he thought over Shiro's words to him.
“It’s a date.”