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Chapter Text

Katie is 16 when she first meets him.

Her parents wait until the very last minute to tell her that they’re having a guest over for dinner. As they’re setting the table her mother turns to her with a wry smile. “Go change into something nice, Katie.”

She raises an eyebrow, giving an exaggerated look at her simple jeans and a t-shirt. “Why?”

“We’re having a guest over, your brother’s friend,” Her mother taps a slender finger on her chin in thought. “I think his name is Takashi.” She gives her daughter a smile. “Besides, this is the first break your brother gets from the Garrison, you have to look nice.” Waving her hand, Colleen shoos Katie out of the room. “So go, get changed.”

Sam answers the door with an affectionate “Matt!” and “Shiro!” to which they respond with “Dad!” and a more subdued “Mr. Holt” (with a handshake).

Katie doesn’t pay much attention to the stranger, mainly because her mother has her in and out of the kitchen with food.

“Katie!”

She barely has time to set down the plate of peas before Matt barrels into her with a hug. “I see Mom made you break out the purple dress.” She hears him laugh as she moves her arms to hug him back.

“You know it’s her favorite, especially when it comes to guests.” Matt lets her go, only to step back and hold her at arm’s length. “Look at you!” He grinned. “I’m only gone half a year and you decide to grow on me!”

“That’s Katie,” She hears her father talking in the background. “She’s the smartest of us all, you’ll have to watch out for her when she joins the Garrison.”

“Come on.” Matt drags her over to their dad and Shiro. “Katie, this is Shiro, Shiro this is Katie.” Shiro gives her a small smile and extends his hand. “Nice to meet you Katie.” She shakes his hand, and tries to be polite. “Nice to meet you too.”

If someone asked Katie to describe Takashi Shirogane in one word, it would be polite.

Half his speech is always “Yes sir”, “No ma’am”, “Please”, and “Thank you”. He brings gifts (peanut butter cookies for her, flowers for her mom) and answers all her parents prying questions with a smile (Yes, I moved here from Japan when I was ten. Yes, I have a brother, Keith. Of course! I should bring him along sometime, I’m sure he and Katie would be good friends). By the end of the night, when dinner is over, and everyone has migrated to the living room, still talking, Katie feels as if she knows her brother’s friend better than should be required.

She spends most of the conversation zoned out, staring at the muted TV as it plays some ad for face cream, until the conversation turns to her.

“Katie is in her senior year of high school,” Her father starts, causing Katie to turn his way at the mention of her name. “She skipped her freshman year, so she’s still 16, but that doesn’t stop her from running laps around the other kids at school with her grades.” She blushes at the comment, muttering an embarrassed “Thanks” as she stares at her hands.

It doesn’t help when Matt chimes in, adding that the Garrison has already secured her early admission for next year.

“That’s amazing,” She hears Shiro say. “My brother’s a senior as well, though he didn’t get to skip a grade.” Katie looks up from her hands. “He’s planning on trying to get into the Garrison as well.”

“Maybe we’ll have a few classes together.” Katie remarks with a small smile.

“Yeah,” Shiro says. “Maybe.”

Shiro leaves not long after that, with Matt offering to drive him home, but it’s certainly not the last time Katie sees him.

Shiro starts to come visit anytime Matt does, and because her parents are absolutely enamored by how polite and kind he is, they offer for him to stay over some nights. After a while, it starts to feel like Katie now has two brothers.

More often than not, she comes home from school to find the two of them lounging on the couch, talking about stupid things like sports or video games (or, in their nerd way, space and physics and flight simulators). He starts giving her lifts to classes, and teases her about boys with Matt, and sometimes he'll call her "Kit Kat" intead of "Katie".

They’re basically attached at the hip, and it gets to the point where Katie has to wonder if Shiro and her brother are gay. She thinks about it for a full two days, going through the facts and possibilities over and over, until Matt comes home with a girl who she never sees again, and Katie is filled with such an overwhelming sense of relief that she can't explain.

(She thinks her name was Jessica)

It’s Saturday night, and her parents are out to dinner, leaving Katie, Matt and Shiro home alone. Originally, it was just going to be Katie, but as soon as Matt heard that she was going to be home alone, he dropped everything and forced Shiro to come over too. 

“I have to watch my baby sister!” Matt protested. “What if you try to bring a boy over? An adult needs to be present!”

 “Matt, your 19.”

Shiro, who had been setting up a movie for them to watch, barks out a laugh, only to cover it up by fake coughing.

Matt scoffs, holding a hand to his heart. “You wound me, Katie Kat.” He walks to the couch and plops down in the middle. “Now, do you want to watch a movie with us?”

Katie stares at the two boys for a moment, before realizing that this is Matt and Shiro, and if she sits down, they’ll probably spend more time teasing her than actually watching the movie.

“No thanks,” She says finally. “I have to study.”

Matt shrugs, and the movie starts playing.

“Don’t study too hard, Katie.” Shiro gives her a small smile as he goes to sit down on the couch.

“I won’t.” She says as more of a knee-jerk response, than an actual promise, and heads up to her room.

Katie doesn’t know how long it’s been until someone knocks on her door.

“Yeah?” She hears the door open, but doesn’t look to see who it was.

“Matt fell asleep and I got bored.” She turns out of surprise to see Shiro absentmindedly looking around her room.

“Oh,” She doesn’t know what to say. “You gonna leave him on the couch?”

Shiro lets out a small laugh and turns to meet her gaze. “Part of me wants to because he’s not a kid, and I’m not his parents. But then I feel bad and I don’t think your parents would like that I left him on the couch for the guest bedroom.”

“They won’t mind,” Katie smiles “They’d probably take a bunch of pictures of him at his worst angle.”

There’s a small silence, where Katie checks the clock, and learns that it’s 12:05 A.M.

“What are you working on?” Shiro walks closer to her desk and peers over her shoulder.

Katie feels her face heat up. “Oh, it’s nothing, just a side project.” She turns back to her desk. “It’s a robot, basically. I call him Rover.”

“Rover.” He echoes, and after a beat, he grabs a spare textbook with some of her notes and sits down. “Tell me about him.”

And she does. For what seems like hours, they spend spit balling ideas about an imaginary robot.

But then she’s in the middle of a blind rant about schematics and she sees him with a sappy, dopey grin on his face as he listens to her, and then something just…

changes.

Chapter Text

Shiro like Katie.

She feels like the little sister he never had. She’s a carbon copy of Matt, with twice the brains, and triple the competitiveness (he learned that one the hard way, when he beat Katie’s high score on a video game-she wouldn’t talk to him for a week).

It’s nice, the Holt’s have all but signed the adoption papers for him, and every time he thinks about it, he gets a warm feeling in his chest.

When he first came to the Holt’s, he was sure it would be the last. Mrs. Holt was the perfect host and domestic matriarch, but sometimes he thought it was just an act. Katie, on the other hand, was a lot less subtle with her true feelings. Anytime he saw her, she looked absolutely miserable, only putting on a plastic smile whenever the conversation fell to her.

So the shift in mood when he comes to the Holt’s house again is almost amazing.

Colleen treats him like her own child, and all formality with Katie is lost, because by the end of the night, her legs are on Shiro’s lap, and she’s using Matt as a pillow while she sleeps.

It was like this for a couple months, but then, it’s as if they had just met again. Katie suddenly becomes more reserved, her snark diminished almost completely, and her smiles are tighter than normal (He can’t even get a sentence out of her, and he hates it, so he just smiles in an effort to try and make her more comfortable).

It confuses the hell out of Shiro, and to make things worse, no one else notices.

He’s tried everything to get her out of her shell, videogames, peanut butter cookies, science, Hell, he even offered to pick Katie up from school when Colleen and Matt were busy. He’s so frustrated, because now when he visits, it feels like half the reason he enjoyed staying so much was gone.

Suddenly, Katie can’t look Shiro in the eye any more.

Anytime she sees him, she remembers the way he looked at her that night, with that stupid, crazy attractive grin, on that equally stupid, crazy attractive face.

Matt is innocently oblivious to his sister’s maybe-crush on his best friend, ignorant to her newfound stuttering and red face around him. She thinks (hopes) that Shiro is equally oblivious, as the most reaction he’s given her was an amused smile.

(So maybe he knows, and is just being nice, but Katie can’t stand the idea of him knowing, so she tries to convince herself he’s as stupid as Matt)

It gets worse when Matt asks him to pick Katie up from school, and she has to sit 15 minutes alone in a car with him, having a very awkward conversation (all thanks to her), and then the next day be bombarded with questions from classmates about the hot guy in a Garrison uniform who picked her up yesterday.

She can’t even sit on the couch with him, with or without Matt, and just lounge on the couch, squished between the two of them, as they watch some space documentary, like she used to. Again, she thinks Shiro’s noticed the lack of limbs spread out on both him and Matt, or the absence of using either of them as a pillow for her mid-movie nap.

But, she tries to push all those thoughts away, and focus on the more important things, like school, and studying. And that works for a while, it’s a great distraction, and her grades get better (something her dad didn’t think possible).

But it quickly comes crashing down on (how cliché) one of the worst days of her life. Of course she finds out she does bad on a test, of course she screws up in chemistry, of course she’s late to class, of course as soon as she thinks she’s in the clear near the end of the day, these kids decide it’s been too long since Katie hasn’t had a shit time today.

Of course Shiro picks her up from school not an hour after.

She has to keep her expression neutral as she walks to the car, because Shiro has done nothing wrong, but she can hear those kids snickering in the background.

He greets her with a smile, and a chirpy “Hello” as Katie stuffs he bag at her feet and buckles her seatbelt.

“How was school?”

“Fine.” She tries to keep her voice neutral as she looks out the window.

“That’s good.” Shiro’s voice sounds strained as he says it, and they fall into an uncomfortable silence.

Katie continues to look out the window, though there’s not much of a view in their small town in Arizona, thanks to her Garrison family. She can hear Shiro taping his finger on the steering wheel as he drives.

“Katie?” He says after a while.

“Yeah?” She wants to turn around and look at him, but something inside stops her, whether it’s a combination of this stupid crush or a bad day at school, Katie can’t tell.

“Did-did I do something wrong?” His voice is soft and hesitant and dammit-now she really has to turn around.

“No,” Her guilt skyrockets when she sees him. His eyes are still trained on the road, but she can see the worry that’s clearly there. His eyebrows are furrowed, his lips are pursed, and he’s gripping the steering wheel just a bit too tight. “Why would you say that?”

It’s stupid of her to say that, but she’d rather play dumb than admit she likes the guy who picks her up from high school.

“We don’t talk anymore-Well, not like we used to.” He sighs. “You’re avoiding me, and I don’t know why.” They hit a red light, and Shiro brakes, before turning to face her (just what she needed)

On one hand, she’s glad he doesn’t know about her crush, but on the other hand, she made Shiro insecure, and now he’s looking at her, and dammit she can’t look him in the eye.

“Katie,” All traces of insecure Shiro quickly vanish as he speaks. “Look at me.”

She feels her cheeks heat up as she meets his eyes. “What’s wrong?” He asks.

She runs through all the excuses she can think of as he looks at her, because she really doesn’t want to blame school, and look even more like a child-

Her hands curl in on her lap, and Shiro seems to notice, because he reaches over and grabs her hand. Her face heats up even more, and Katie’s sure she looks like a tomato, which really does not help her situation.

“I-I don’t know.” She finally stammers out, and the excuse is lame, but it’s all she could think of. She looks at his hand on hers, and takes a breath.

“I guess I’m stressed, with school and stuff.” She continues. “I have to study a lot more because exams are coming up, and I can’t mess up.

“It doesn’t help that I don’t really have any good friends either.” She sighs. “I don’t know.” She shrugs.

Shiro stays quiet long enough for Katie to think she’s said something wrong, and oh God, today’s sucked, and she thinks she might cry if he doesn’t say something, because she can already feel her eyes stinging, and-

Instead, he uses his other hand to uncurl hers, and he intertwines his fingers in hers, and gives her a gentle squeeze. “You’ll be okay Katie.” He says softly, in a way she doesn’t think she’s heard him use before.

“Thanks.” Her throat is thick from holding back tears, but she looks up at him anyway. He gives her a smile, and they stay like that for a while, until some asshole behind them honks because the light’s green.

Shiro turns back to drive, but keeps his hand in hers until they reach her house.

Chapter Text

The Garrison is throwing some sort of Thanksgiving dinner party, and again, Katie is stuffed into that purple dress and purple headband.

“You know; people are going to think this is the only thing I own if you keep making me wear it.” Katie remarks in the car ride to the Garrison.

“Kathrine, do you know how much money that dress cost?” Her mother glares a her through the rearview mirror. “You’re wearing that dress as much as possible until you grow out of it.”

They meet Matt and Dad after an hour’s drive (because the Garrison just has to be in the middle of nowhere) at the reception, and spend the rest of the day mingling with student’s and colleague’s families.

The dinner part of the party is a sort of buffet-style outside. Matt complains how the professors made the students set up all the tables and decorations, and in turn, their dad complains how they made the staff bring and pay for all the food.

It’s mid-day, nearing evening, when the Holts queue up to get food, moving slowly with their paper plates, before sitting down at a picnic table. Katie listens to her dad talk about his classes, and upcoming projects the Garrison is planning as she pokes at her food.

Matt chimes in with their dad, also talking about classes and homework, before someone catches his eye behind Katie and he waves them over.

“Shiro!” He grins, standing up to meet his (probably only) friend.

“Matt!” Katie watches as they do some sort of “bro hug”, before Shiro turns to them.

“Mr. and Mrs. Holt.” He smiles. “Katie.”

She tries to smile and say hello, but things still feel weird with him, so she must look like a fool giving him a painful nod.

“How many times do I have to tell you, call me Colleen.” Her mother says with a smile, before her eyes catch something behind Shiro. “And who’s this?” Katie turns to see who her mother is talking about, and sees a boy around her age who isn’t in a Garrison uniform, but instead an old, battered greying band t-shirt, and some weird cropped red jacket.

“This is my brother, Keith.” Shiro pushes Keith towards the Holts, who give a chorus of “Hi, Keith.”

“Um, hey.” The boy, Keith, seems to cower behind Shiro, hunching his shoulders and keeping his eyes on the ground.

“Shiro,” Her mother starts, still smiling. “Why don’t you and your family come join us? Keith can sit next to Katie.” She pats the wooden table in front of her.

“I’m sure they won’t mind, let me get them.” He gives Keith a nudge to sit down, before turning to find their parents.

Keith reluctantly sits down next to Katie, and shifts awkwardly as her parents’ start asking him questions.

“How old are you, Keith? Shiro tells us you’re a Senior in high school.” Colleen starts.

“I’m 17, I’m turning 18 on the 23^rd.” Keith explains, and Colleen gives him an excited smile.

“How exciting!” She grins. “What I would give to be 18 again.” She lets out a dreamy sigh, and beside her, Sam laughs.

“So Keith,” Sam starts. “Shiro tells us you’re hoping to get into the Garrison next you.”

“Y-yeah.”

Sam nods. “That’s good, Katie’s hoping to go too. What do you want to be?”

“Um, a fighter pilot.”

“Following Shiro’s footsteps, eh?” Her father smiles. “We’ve always been more of a science family, though I think Katie wants to study both,” He pauses for a moment. “Aerospace Engineering or something.” He gives Keith a Holt Grin and waves the thought away. “What’s it called again, Katie?”

“It’s called an Aeronautical Aerospace Engineering Technology Technician,” She says. “They basically help develop and test space and aircrafts.”

Keith stares at her with wide eyes, as if she had just spoken an alien language. “Wow,” He mutters. “That’s…a mouthful.”

Katie frowns. She had figured that Keith was awkward, it was kind of obvious with the way he stuttered out answers and hid behind Shiro, but there was something in the way he responded that made her feel as if he was insulting her (no offense to Shiro or anyone else who wants to be a pilot, but at the end of the day, engineers are the ones who make their job possible).

Katie gives him a brisk nod, trying and failing to mask her irritation, before turning back to her food and letting her parents and brother take control of the conversation.

Shiro returns with his parents, and the adults erupt into cheerful greetings and soon Keith and Katie are soon forgotten about as the conversation turns to the adults. After silently listening to their parents talk, Katie notices Keith’s hair. “Is that a mullet?”

Keith whips his head to face her so fast she thinks she heard his neck crack, and he turns as red as his jacket. “Piss off!” He whisper-shouts, and turns back to his food as quickly as possible.

“Hey Keith,” Katie smirks, lazily toying with her peas and carrots. He turns slightly, just enough to begrudgingly meet her eyes. “The 80s called-”

“Oh my God.” Keith scoffs and turns back to his food. Matt turns and gives them both a confused look.

Katie turns back to her food, eating a spoonful while eyeing Keith from the side before she remembers his band t-shirt. The shirt is so faded, all she can make out is some blotchy red logo and the outline of the band name. She dips her head down into her spoonful of potatoes, and leans ever so slightly into Keith, looking him dead in the eye.

 “Emo.” She smirks, and Keith givers her such a strange look of horror and annoyance that she nearly chokes from laughter.

The rest of the evening, Katie and Keith spend glaring at each other, while the rest of their families obliviously take their sweet time talking and joking around.

People start leaving around 6:00 P.M., as some of the students have classes in the morning, and the drive back can be tedious. Shiro’s family leave first, and Katie thanks God that his family is crazy punctual, so they’re in the car at exactly 5:45.

After that, there’s not much to do. Some of Matt’s professors talk to her mother as soon as he and Shiro head back to their dorm, and her dad has to go to his office for some important phone call, so Katie decides to follow him. It wasn’t the first time she would be in his office, she and the secretary were on a first name basis. All Katie had to do was be quiet, play on her phone, or read some of her father’s textbooks.

It’s no secret the Holt’s are a smart family, both her parents, and now Matt, have gone to the Garrison, so they’re a bit of a legend at the school. Part of this is thanks to her father, who managed to become a high ranking professor in record breaking time, and even went as far as to write books about his studies.

Because of this, Sam Holt has a killer office. He has a huge desk, with an entire wall of shelves dedicated to books and textbooks about science, along with a very comfortable couch. When she and Matt were younger, they would both spend hours in their dad’s office on the couch reading books ranging from astrophysics to the laws of flight.

Now is no different.  As her father greets someone on the phone, Katie grabs a book about Aerospace Control and Warning Systems, and curls up on the couch, immersing herself in “weapons systems essentials and the importance of communication between forces”.

After a while, she gets a text from her mother, giving a rushed excuse on how she’s talking to the other faculty members and their partners, so she should stay with her father for a while longer, which she doesn’t mind, especially when she has this mini library of fancy leather covered books at her disposal. Her dad is still on the phone, and it sounds like he’s now in a mini debate over the time frame for a future project, so Katie keeps reading.

It’s 7:30, and her mother is still missing and her dad still on the phone, so Katie puts the book away and leaves. She gives her dad a small wave as she leaves his office, and says hello to the secretary who guards the professors’ offices with an iron fist (until the Holt children are involved, then Katie’s height comes in handy for once in her life, because she still looks 12).

Light’s out at the Garrison are officially 8:30-9:00, a rule that has been around since the very beginning to which Matt complains about constantly because what college student is asleep by 9:00? On weekends though, for the students who don’t go to visit their family, light’s out is around 10-11:00.

Sadly, it’s Thursday, and even though it’s 7:30, to Katie, the half hour doesn’t count, so it’s basically 8.

Katie knows the Garrison better than she knows her own school, she’s been visiting since she was a baby, but now she just wanders the halls aimlessly. It’s too late to go into the classrooms or the labs, and most of the faculty are still talking to stray parents who decided to stick around a little while longer.

Some of the students are still out in the hallways, or walking around, so Katie can at least keep herself visually entertained. After wandering the halls for what felt like forever, Katie finds herself in the library.

The library is basically deserted, save for a few students and the librarian. Like a shop waiting for their last few customers to leave, nearly half of the library lights are shut off, casting the room in a dim haze.

Katie heads for the many aisles of books, walking through rows of desks with students working on different projects. She quietly lists books in her head she’s always wanted to check out, counting each one on her fingers.

“Katie?”

She stops as the whisper cut through the silence, turning to look behind her.

“Shiro?”

She doesn’t think she’s ever seen Shiro so…disheveled in her life. His normally neat buzzed hair is tousled in ways she didn’t think it was long enough for, and his Garrison uniform jacket is unbuttoned, revealing a black crewneck undershirt. Papers and textbooks are scattered all over the table, along with three cans of various energy drinks. She nearly doesn’t recognize him because he’s wearing glasses to top it all off.

Always considerate, he asks first. “What are you doing here?” And then, “It’s late.”

If they weren’t in a library, Katie would’ve laughed, if only for effect. “You’re one to talk,” She scoffs, and grabs a chair across from him. “You were fine at the buffet; I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone spiral so quickly.” She gives him a smile. “And I grew up with Matt for a brother.”

Shiro chuckles, and rubs a hand over his face. “I have a test tomorrow, but I promised my parents and Keith that I’d stay with them for the party.”

Katie nods, and gets a familiar sense of déjà vu when she leans across the table, scanning over one of the open textbooks, and asks “What are you working on?”

“From flight prep,” He leans closer to the book so he can see the chapters clearly, and uses his pencil to show her the chapters, drawing a thin line as he goes down the chapters. “To forced landings.”

“Ok,” She grabs a textbook that looks hastily thrown to the side of the scattered papers. “What have you covered?”

Shiro lets out a small laugh as he goes through everything he’s covered so far, seeing Katie’s look of pure concentration as her eyes scan the page, a pencil he didn’t see her pick up tapping against her lips.

“Thanks.” He says after a while, as they’re both reading notes. By now, Shiro’s pretty sure they’re the only two left in the library.

Katie looks up, the warm glow of the lamp light flooding her features. “What for?”

He raises an eyebrow, and gestures towards the messy table in front of them. “For helping me study.”

Katie smiles, a true, bright smile, nothing like the standard Holt Grin she usually sports, and shit-Shiro thinks he would do anything to make her smile like that again.

 “Don’t worry about it.” Her voice is soft, almost a lulling whisper. It’s nothing like her rough, playful demeanor she normally has around him and Matt, and it’s almost intoxicating. Shiro feels like he’s discovered a hidden treasure.

“But still,” He manages to stutter out after his brain finally reboots, and he’s sure his face is beet red. “You didn’t have to, but you did anyway.” He looks down at the textbook in front of him, and thumbs the corner of the page.

He hears her let out a quiet laugh and say “You would do the same for me.”

They don’t talk much after that, only to compare notes or for Katie to quiz him on topics, and at 8:46, Katie’s phone stars buzzing, and she has to leave. She organizes her side of his notes and textbook before standing up. As she goes to leave, she stops parallel to Shiro. “I know you’ll pass, but,” She gives him another smile that sends his brain into a frenzy. “Good luck.”

Chapter Text

Katie’s birthday is squished between finals and graduation, so the only real celebration she gets is some peanut butter cookie cake for dessert, and her dad and Matt coming over with presents.

All in all, it’s a small event, that feels more like a forgotten anniversary than it does a birthday, but Katie doesn’t mind.

She does great on her finals (though secretly, her dad tell her it doesn’t matter much, as long as she passes, because she’s already secured a spot at the Garrison), and graduation is probably one of the best days of her life, everyone’s there to see her on the stage, and they take lots of pictures that she later prints out and sticks on her wall.

She has a week to herself of just doing nothing, before her mother tells her that the Garrison is having an orientation day for all the new students, and that she should go if she wants to meet her new classmates and get a tour of campus (she tries to get out of it, by saying she doesn’t need a tour, as she’s basically grown up on campus, so it would be a waste of time, but one glare from her mother sends shivers down her spine, so Katie agrees without another complaint).

The orientation starts at 9:00 A.M, but Colleen insists they get there at least 10 minutes early, so they’re there at 8:50, and Katie stands awkwardly while her mother chats with the tour guide (who they both already knew). At 8:55, Keith arrives, and Colleen shoves the two of them together for the tour (which Katie will admit, it was nice to go through the tour with someone she knew who wasn’t her mom). As more people arrive, the tour guide hands out passes on a lanyard that say “Guest”.

The tour starts at 9:10, with a tour around the campus, along with a brief history of the Garrison. Katie doesn’t really pay attention, until they get to the science building, (where she lowkey spots her dad waving at them, even though he’s in the middle of teaching a class).

Keith perks up when the tour guide starts talking about piloting, and Katie has to admit, it’s kind of funny to see Keith get excited.

The tour guide even manages to catch Iverson, and asks him for his input on the Garrison. She’s pretty sure the tour guide is doing it just to scare the new kids, because Iverson manages to completely turn his answer into a threat at the freshmen, and she hears one of the kids whisper that they might drop out if they get him as a teacher.

After a full tour, and all the questions are answered, the tour guide lets them go explore, as long as they don’t walk into any lectures.

Most of the kids still stick together, wandering around like lost sheep. Katie and Keith end up following the rest of the group as they awkwardly shuffle about. Keith had tried to wander off as soon as the tour guide says they can explore on their own, but Katie grabbed his jacket and pulled him back so violently that Keith choked.

The crowd shuffles about, and Katie zones out for the most of it, and just follows the herd.

“Why do you want to be a pilot?” She asks after what feels like two hours of wandering. Keith turns to her, and cocks his head to the side (like a curious puppy, Katie thinks). He stares at her for a moment, before turning and looking at the passing buildings.

“Honestly, I just want to fly the fastest thing in the world.” Keith grimaces in embarrassment at the confession. “Before I got adopted-” Katie’s eyes widen in shock. She hadn’t known that Keith was adopted, not that that was a bad thing, obviously, but-

“-my dad used to drive me around on his bike, and I just remember feeling so free when I was going that fast, y’know?” He shrugs. “I just loved the thrill of it. Then, later, when Shiro got into the Garrison, he’d tell me all about it, and give me his books to read, and I read about all the ships.” His lips twitch into a small smile as he stares at the campus around them. “I don’t know,” His lips twitch into a small smile as he stares at the campus around them. “I just wanna get that feeling of freedom again.” He turns to her, meeting her eyes. “What about you?”

She shrugs, and secretly tries to wear off the shock from Keith’s in-depth explanation. She had never expected him to tell her something like that. “My family’s more of a science family, I’m sure you could tell.” He nods, letting out a huff of a laugh at her sarcasm. “And I want to do something in science too, but there’s something about flying,” She trails off for a moment. “It just seems so fun, I love space, it just seems such a shame to be stuck on Earth when there’s so much out there.”

The group enters the Aerodynamics Building, and Katie and Keith’s conversation slowly trails off as they join the rest of the group in looking around in awe, since it’s finally something they’re interested in. The group shuffles around a bit, oohing and awing at flight simulators, and fancy space jets. She hears some kid behind her start fangirling to his friend about how he’s going to be the best fighter pilot the Garrison has seen and that they’re going to call him “the tailor” or something.

 Some of the students give them weird looks, clearly ignoring their passes that say, in big bold letters, “Guest”. As they’re watching a flight simulator, she hears some girls start giggling over something, which she promptly ignores, because the pilot is flying through an asteroid belt, and how can these girls not want to watch that?

“Keith?”

Those girls let out some type of gasp, and she turns to see Shiro walking out of the simulation room. Some boy starts giggling behind her excitedly, claiming it’s his “hero.”

He gives him a confused look, but it quickly turns into a warm smile.

“Katie?” His smile grows. “What are you doing here?”

She holds up he lanyard, flashing her guest pass, just as Keith answers, “Orientation.”

“We get to ‘explore campus’ now.” She finishes with a grin. “Is Matt with you?”

“He had some engineering class today.” He shrugs. “The rest of us had a flight sim test today, hence the crowd.” He pointed to the back to the test room. Keith turns to watch one of the students navigate another asteroid belt, his eyes wide with wonder.

“Did you pass?” Katie asked. “Uh, yeah.” Shiro gave her a shy smile, rubbing the back of his neck. “I did.”

“Good.” She gives him a kind smile, which he returns, and they must’ve stayed like that for a moment too long, because Keith decides to clear his throat. Katie goes red at the unspoken implication Keith decided to make, while Shiro gives him a pointed look, before sharply turning to the rest of the group.

“How would you guys like a student’s version of a tour of this place?” He gives them a grin.

Katie raises an eyebrow, and starts to ask “Don’t you have classes?”, but the rest of her group have an overwhelming “Yes!”, so she stays quiet. Keith turns to her, and gives her a look of utter exhaustion, as if to say that something like this happens regularly.

“He’s such a boy scout.” Keith whispers to her as they follow Shiro.

As they walk along the corridor, with Shiro explaining everything, but now in college student terms (like Iverson’s class as “Hell and the devil himself”, or the cafeteria as “Astronaut food in disguise”), some girl grabs her arm and pulls her to their group.

“Do you know him?” She whispers, and the girls around her nod.

“Um,” Katie tries not to be weirded out by this whole situation. “Yeah, he’s my brother’s friend.”

“Is he single?” Another asks, and something in Katie jolts the wrong way. Keith turns to look at the girls, looking a mixture of amused and confused. His eyes meet Katie’s and he gives her a small smirk, before turning back around. Katie feels her face go red.

“Um, I don’t know.” She manages.

“He must be a model.” The girl who grabbed her sighs. “You’re so lucky.”

“T-thanks?” She doesn’t really know what she’s thanking them for, but it seems to work, because the girl lets go of Katie, and turns to her friends. They start whispering and giggling again, as if they had never pulled her aside in the first place.

Katie slowly makes her way back to the front with Keith, now a bit more freaked out than before. On one hand, she’s creeped out by the persistency of the girls, but on the other hand, she gets it? Katie’s not blind, she knows how attractive Shiro is, she’s just surprised by how blunt the girls are. Keith turns to her, and smirks again, with a look she can’t quite identify in his eyes.

Shiro is still explaining the different rooms to their group, again with his college student twist. He turns back to the group and sends her a smile, before checking his watch. “I have five minutes before Iverson skins me alive, so any questions?”

One of the girls raises her hand, and Katie mentally preps her for whatever this crazy chick is going to say when someone blurts out “What are you studying?”

She lets out a little sigh of relief and thanks whoever forgot their manners. “I’m studying to be a fighter pilot.” He answers with a smile.

“Fighter pilot,” One of the girls’ sighs dreamily behind Katie.

A bell rings throughout the building before anyone can say anything else, and Shiro frowns. “Alright, I have to go.” He smiles. “It was fun meeting you guys, I hope to see you all next year.” Then he turns to Katie and Keith. He ruffles Keith’s hair and says something about Keith being his “favorite little brother”, before turning to Katie, and to her surprise, wraps her in a quick side hug. “See you later, Katie.” He smiles, and walks away, giving a quick wave to the rest of the group.

“Is that your boyfriend?” She hears one of the girls ask, and her face turns red. Keith lets out a choked laugh (which nearly trumps the girl’s question because she’s never seen Keith Laugh, ever), and gives them both that damn look, which she now realizes is a look of condescension. As if there’s something obviously right in front of them, but they can’t see it, and he can.

“No!” She tries not scream too loud.

They meet back with the tour guide around 20 minutes later, and he gives them some speech about how he hopes to see everyone next year, and how he can’t wait to see what all they achieve.

“Can you believe those girls?” Katie scoffed as she and Keith walk to the parking lot where their parents are waiting. “I feel like I never left High school, I mean, how desperate can you get?”

Keith gives her a passive “Wow” as she rants.

“I can’t believe they went as far as to pull me aside and ask if he was single.” She scoffs. “As if I’d know.” Keith turns to her and gives her that look again.

“Yeah, crazy.” He says, but there’s something in his voice that’s changed.

“What?” Katie asks, and he turns away from her and shrugs. “Keith,” She says, her voice now serious.

“What? Katie I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He scoffs, and crosses his arms. “I didn’t do anything.”

She glares at him for a long moment, but before she can say anything, her mother walks over. “How was the tour?” She asks, all smiles. “Did you have fun?”

“I’ve been here a billion times already, so not really.” Katie says, while Keith just says, “Yeah.”

“Well, that’s good.” Colleen says. “Do you have anyone to drive you home, Keith?”

“Yeah, my mom’s over there.” He points vaguely to the other side of the parking lot.

“That’s good.” Colleen smiles. “I’m glad you two had fun, but we should probably get going.”

“Yeah,” Katie says, glaring at him. “Bye, Keith.”

He gives her a look. “Bye Katie,” then quickly adds, “Bye Mrs. Holt.”

“I hope we see you next year, Keith!” Colleen smiles and waves as they walk to the car, and for once, she seems completely oblivious to the temporary hostility between Katie and Keith.

Chapter Text

Summer comes quickly for Shiro, along with exams. He’s walking out of one of his last exams for the year, when he gets a call from his father.

“Otou-san?”

“Musuko,” His father sounds different, tired, maybe. “Are you busy?”

“No,” Shiro answers. “I just out of my last exam for the day, I’m heading to my dorm now.”

“Your mother and I have some news, Musuko.” His father starts, and Shiro gets an odd feeling in his stomach. “We’re moving back to Japan.”

“What?” Shiro nearly drops the phone in shock. “H-How?”

“I was offered a job at Sumitomo hospital, and after a long discussion with your mother,” He takes a breath. “We’ve decided to accept.”

“What about Keith?” Shiro tries to keep his breathing steady as he navigates the halls of the Garrison. “What about me?”

“Well,” His father sighs. “Your mother has booked plane tickets for us.” He pauses, as if trying to think on how to phrase what he’s saying next. “We talked about it, and decided that you and Keith should come with us, but return for your schooling later.”

“O-Okay.” Shiro rubs a hand on his face, feeling numb all over. “Alright, I’ll be down later, okay?”

“See you soon.”

-

Shiro spends one month in Japan, and then go back to America. Keith stays a little longer, because he’s only 18 and still lives with their parents.

While Shiro’s family is native to Osaka, his sister, Michiko, went to Tokyo to study right before they moved to America, so seeing her at the airport. His month is spent mostly by his sister’s side, or brining Keith into the city to practice his Japanese. 

As the month ends, Shiro realizes that he needs a place to stay. He had been planning to finally move out of Garrison dorms (sorry Matt), and get an apartment. The only problem is, is that Shio can’t buy and move into an apartment in one day, so Matt and his parents offer to let him stay at their house until he can find a place.

He stays in the guest bedroom for the most part, only really coming out when Matt is around, or when he’s going to look for an apartment.

Katie gets more comfortable around him, now that they’re sharing the same space 24/7. Slowly, things go back to the way they were in the beginning, except now they’re slightly off, at least to Shiro. Sometimes things will be normal, he’ll be watching TV or playing a video game with Katie, and she’ll smile or laugh, and then suddenly he remembers all those nights ago when she gave him that smile, and he’ll turn into a puddle.

(sometimes he thinks it’s a crush, that he likes Katie more than he thinks, but then he remembers she’s 17, and he plays that fact over and over in his head whenever he thinks like that again)

It gets harder to be around the Holt’s once he realizes this, so his search for an apartment gets more frantic, and it takes up most of time. Sometimes Matt or Sam tag along with his search, and it offers a nice break to a now-stressful event, especially when Sam comes along, because unlike Matt and Shiro, he’s actually owned a house before.

-

Shiro finds his apartment five weeks before school starts back up, and he’s incredibly grateful to finally have his own place (for many reasons, but mainly because he could finally feel like he wasn’t a burden to the Holt’s anymore, and also because of how crazy excited Katie was about finally going to the Garrison)

Matt and Sam help him move in, which thankfully doesn’t take long, as Shiro only really owned things from his Garrison dorm. After moving in all of his things, he spends the next week buying actual furniture (and his parents tease him over the phone about how their baby is growing so quickly, and for once he doesn’t disagree). By the time he’s finished setting up his apartment, there’s only three weeks left before school starts, so he spends them learning just about everything he has to know about being an adult through the internet.

Keith is able to fly back to Arizona (now with infinitely better Japanese), and for a while he just hangs out with Shiro, until a week later, when all freshmen start early to get accustomed to the Garrison. It helps Shiro a lot, because not only do they start earlier, but they are also required to live on campus for the first year.

So Shiro helps Keith move in the day they are assigned (because the Garrison are so Type A, that each Cadet has an assigned day they move in), and because Keith has mastered the “Art of Minimalism”, they only take a day to really set his room up, with his mountain of thrifted clothes being the only real hassle. He makes sure Keith calls him every day to give him a quick update on his day, but Keith, being who he is, is so vague, that by the time they hang up, Shiro is about as clueless as when they first started talking.

On Thursday, Matt calls him and asks if he can help Katie move into her dorm, because their parents are on a press conference in DC, and he’s too busy applying for some government grant for the Garrison for a new project. And of course, Shiro, being the person who just spent basically an entire summer staying at their house, agrees, and helps Katie move.

Although, she is the opposite of Keith, and two steps away from being classified as a hoarder, so it takes a lot longer to help her move in (to which Katie apologizes for every two seconds, and Shiro insists that it’s fine, because it is)

All in all, by the time he starts back at the Garrison, life goes pretty smoothly. Nothing really changes, except now their uniform has a different patch and medal to show their rank, and now he and Matt get to tease their little siblings each time they see them, which is gold.

-

Katie tries to be grateful for her life. Her family is amazing, she’s gotten into her dream school, and she wasn’t born in country that’s been ravaged by war, so yeah, she’s pretty lucky.

But her luck seemed to end when it came to her new roommate. Her first couple of weeks have been nothing short of magical, but then she goes “home” for the day, and has to deal with whatever bullshit her roommate has created this time.

In all honesty, Katie doesn’t know how the girl even got into the Garrison. Her name is Grace, and she’s studying to be an Engineering Technician, but at this point, Katie isn’t sure she’ll last the year.

Katie is able to create a schedule around Grace (for example, spending most of her time studying in the library, or eating out instead of in their room), so that she can avoid her or spend as little time possible with the girl.

But then it’s 1 A.M. on a Sunday, and Katie is on her bed studying, and finishing late night assignments, when Grace walks in with someone attached to her side.

“Jesus, Kelly, you scared the shit out of me!” Both she and the mysterious boy are holding a beer, and it becomes quite obvious to Katie what they plan on doing, but she sticks to her guns.

“How? This is my room too.”

Grace scoffs, and the boy next to her starts sucking on her neck. “Look Kelly, I’m fine with you sticking around, but I think you and I both know what I’m planning on doing, and that would just be awkward for you, so I suggest you leave for a while.” She sends Katie a clearly fake smile, with lipstick smudged across half her face.

Katie sighs, half pissed and half panicked, as she shoves her textbooks and laptop into a bag. “Fine.” She mutters, and slips on the nearest runners and hoodie she could find before leaving, with Grace slamming the door before Katie’s even fully in the hall.

She checks her watch, 1:10 A.M, and sends a silent prayer to God that she doesn’t end up sleeping on a bench tonight. She doesn’t have a car yet, because she doesn’t really leave campus unless it’s for an assignment in class or with Matt, to drive to her parents, which is an hour long (two hours back and forth, if she calls her mom and asks her to pick her up). Matt still lives on campus with a roommate, so it would just be awkward if she went to him. So she makes her way outside, and it’s still warm because summer is still wearing off, and takes some deep breaths. The heat is a lot less intense now that it’s dark out, so it feels like the heat is just giving Katie one big calming hug.

She stands there for a moment (in ratty sweats, an old hoodie, and worn sneakers with a shoulder bag), and thinks. She looks up at the sky, and watches the stars for a while.

Right now, her best option is sleeping outside her dorm on the floor, or on a bench, and Katie does not want to add that to her list of freshmen experiences.

(At one point, she even thinks about finding Keith, because knowing him, he probably owns some weird serial-killer shack in the dessert, but then she remembers that she and Keith kind of have this rival thing going, so he’s a no-)

And then another option pops in her head.

Shiro

Because even though he put up with all her high school crap, and helped her move in, he’s still nice to her (and now she’s about to call him at 1 A.M. on a Sunday, even though he seems like the type of person to be in bed by 9)

Katie glad she’s alone outside, because it would’ve been pretty awkward to see her just deflate in defeat, and groan to the stars.

She lets herself mope for a minute, accepting defeat, and the reality that after this, Shiro, who she still has a crush on, will probably never look at her again, and then takes out her phone. She scrolls for a moment, before finding a clicking on his contact. She presses the phone to her ear as it starts ringing.

Once

Twice

“…Hello?” A burst of relief and panic bubbles in Katie’s chest. She tries to guess how tired Shiro is as he speaks.

“Shiro? It’s Katie, I’m so sorry to be ringing you this late, I feel so bad, and I promise I’ll make it up to you-”

“Katie, it’s fine,” He lets out a little laugh that sends Katie blushing. “I was awake anyway, I have a paper due soon, so I was up writing. What do you need?”

Katie lets out a sigh of relief, and holds her hands out to the sky in an effort to say “thanks” to the universe.

“I know this is a lot to ask, but…Is there any way I could stay at your place for tonight? My roommate kicked me out, and I don’t really know where else to go…” Once she says it out loud, she realizes just how much she’s asking, and chews on her lip anxiously.

“Of course Katie! I’m not going to leave you sleep in the hall! Wait 15 minutes, and I’ll be there to pick you up.”

“Thank you so much Shiro, I don’t know how I can make it up to you!” He laughs on the other end of the phone.

“Don’t worry about it, Kit-Kat, that’s what friends are for.”

-

The drive to Shiro’s apartment is 10 minutes filled with Katie apologizing continuously, and Shiro reassuring her it’s fine.

They arrive to a very…bare apartment. The living room has a couch, coffee table, and TV, and that’s about it. Random books are stacked against the wall, and doubling as space to hold things (one stack has a cute family photo on top of it that Katie tries not to coo over)

“Sorry, it’s a mess.” Shiro shuts the door behind them. “You can take the bed for tonight if you want.”

Katie whips around to face him, half in a panic. “No way! I’m already asking for so much; I’ll sleep on the couch!”

“Are you sure?” He raises an eyebrow, and gestures to the messy papers and open textbooks littered around the couch.

“Of course,” Katie tries not to blush at the thought of sleeping in Shiro’s bed. “Knowing me I’ll probably just stay up studying anyway.”

“Do you mind if I join you, then?” He asked. “I was studying on the couch before you called-”

“Of course, Shiro.” She smiles. “It’s your house.” She set her bag down on the couch.

He gives her a smile, and they both settle on opposite sides of the couch. Shiro’s flipping through notes and textbooks as he types away on his laptop, while Katie reads online pdfs on hers. They sit like that for a while, only really talking when one of them asks the other a question.

It’s around 2:45 when Shiro triumphantly closes as his tabs, and slumps into the couch with a sigh.

“Did you finish your paper?” Katie doesn’t look up as she uses a stylus to write in some notes between the margins of the book.

“Yeah, finally.” Shiro grins, and checks his watch out of habit. “It’s late,” He states. “You should probably go to bed if you want to be able to function in class.”

Katie laughs, and gives him a knowing look. “The Holts are nocturnal, Shiro. I’m sure all those years with Matt would have taught you that.” Shiro chuckles at that. “Besides, my classes don’t start until 12, I can keep going for a bit longer.”

Shiro frowned, but didn’t say anything, because as much as he wanted to preach about self-care and proper sleep, he was also up, and also had no morning classes.

“What about you?” Katie asked, bringing him back from his thoughts. “I thought you’d be asleep by nine.” She had set her laptop aside, and folded her legs lotus style.

“Coincidently, I also have classes in the afternoon.” Katie gave him a smug smile.

“Wow, never thought I’d see the day.”

“Oh, ha ha.” Shiro rolled his eyes, causing Katie to laugh.

They settle into a silence that Shiro can’t tell whether it’s comfortable or not, so he checks his watch to fill the time, and sees 3:08 A.M.

“It’s now three, so.” He stands up, and starts to pile up his notes and textbooks on the coffee table. “Let me get you a blanket and pillow.” He walks to the closet, and takes out a comforter and some pillows (because he knows Katie needs more than one to actually sleep).

Katie stands up and helps him set up the makeshift bed. “Thanks, Shiro.” She says when they’re done, tucking part of her bangs behind her ear. “You really didn’t have to do all this.” She clutches one of the pillows to her chest shyly.

She smiles, and maybe it’s the fact that it’s 3 A.M, or maybe it’s because she just looks so real smiling up at him like that, Shiro can’t tell. He feels his face turn red, and he gives her a nervous smile. “Don’t worry about it.” He manages out.

“No, I’m serious,” She grabs his wrist, tugging him closer, and flips it so she can see his watch. “It’s now 3:23, and you’re still up for me.” She looks up at him. “Thanks, Shiro.”

He’s frozen for a moment. His brain has malfunctioned at the close proximity, but somehow, his body moves anyway, and laces their hands together. Her cheeks are dusted pink, and his brain finally reboots. He swallows, and gives her a smile.

“Katie, really, it’s fine.” He insists. “You’re my friend, your family let me stay in their house for nearly the entire summer, one night is nothing.”

He knows, in the back of his head, and rationally, that he should let go and go to bed, so that Katie could finish studying and get some sleep, but his body is frozen in place.

“Still,” Katie says, but it’s barely a whisper as she looks at him. Her eyes glow honey gold in the low light, and absentmindedly, his thumb starts tracing slow circles on her hand, and he sees Katie visibly relax and lean forward. She gives him a tired, relaxed smile that feels almost secret, and it makes him blush all over again.

He watches as her eyes meet his, and he can’t stop himself from taking his other hand to her cheek. She leans into the touch, and steps closer, until he can feel her breath on hers. He tries not to stare at her lips, but with her this close to him, it’s hard to imagine anything else. The thought takes over his mind, and suddenly he feels as if he’s going to explode if he waits any long.

He leans closer, slowly, but Katie doesn’t move back, in fact, she leans closer. Her hands slowly wrap around his neck, and his hands find her waist. Her head tilts up, his tilts down, and their lips meet.

He can taste the mint of her gum and sugar from the sweets she had been absentmindedly eating throughout studying. Her arms tighten around his neck, and in return his hands grip her waist more intensely. Katie stumbles backwards slightly, towards the couch, but that doesn’t stop either of them from intensifying the kiss. Katie falls onto the couch and drags Shiro down with her, and they fumble for a moment to get comfortable, still drunk from the first windup.

They break away only to breathe, and Shiro takes every moment to memorize Katie. Her cheeks are flushed a deep red, that spreads across her nose and freckles. Her eyes are alight with excitement, and while she’s breathing heavily, she’s grinning with a look of pure exaltation spread across her features. She lifts a hand to his cheek and lets out a breathy laugh.

Shiro lowers his head to the crook of her neck and they stay like that for what feels like eternity. Katie runs her hand through his hair, using her nails to lightly massage his scalp, as he moves his hands to hold her tight.

After a while, Shiro lifts his head to face her and she gives him a tired smile. He says something along the lines of “I should go.” To which Katie responds with a soft “Yeah”, but neither of them move.

-

Shiro offers to drive Katie to the Garrison, as their class times line up. He plans to talk about the other night, but the drive is short, and filled with a nervous energy so neither of them manage to talk, only stealing glances when the other isn’t looking.

Shiro parks the car and they both sit in silence for a moment. He drums his fingers against the steering wheel, a habit Katie’s started to notice, while she plays with the hem of her uniform.

“I should go to class.” Katie manages to stutter out, after a long inner debate with herself. Her face feels hot, and she knows she’s blushing.

“Of course.” Shiro’s face is also red, but neither of them look at each other as they unbuckle and exit the car.

“Thanks for the ride, Shiro.” She’s on the other side of the car, but she manages to catch his eye anyway. She’s blushing, clearly nervous and embarrassed, but gives him a smile anyway.

“No problem, Katie.” He smiles back, and they both walk to their class.

As she parts ways with Shiro, another freshman stops her. She doesn’t know his name, but she’s seen him with another boy who she shares an engineering class with.

His brown eyes are wide with confusion and excitement as he stares at her. “Why were you in the car with Shiro?”

“Lance, don’t be rude!” She sees his friend, Hunk, she thinks, with a look of dread as he stares between the two. “Sorry,” He gives Katie a sheepish grin. “He doesn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s fine.” Katie’s face is red and internally, she wants to melt into the Earth and die a little bit, but she gives them a smile and a wave as she tries to subtly speed walk to her next class.

(She pretends she doesn’t hear Hunk’s loud “LANCE!” along with the beginning of a lecture on manners as she walks away)

Chapter Text

They never really “officially” talk about that night, but it soon becomes a common occurrence for Katie to stay over at Shiro’s for a multitude of reasons. First, it’s because her roommate kicked her out again, then, slowly, it’s because she needs to study and the library’s closed. Or because he’s already taken the class, and according to Katie, he’s a paper writing God, and she really needs help.

Soon, Shiro finds himself leaving blankets and pillows folded next to the couch just in case, or staying up with Katie until 3 A.M. running through different engineering and flight techniques for one of her new projects that may or may not ever happen. Katie introduces him to energy drinks, while Shiro introduces her to a plethora of “motivational” quotes to help her get through the semester.

Their relationship slowly bleeds into their school life. He drives her to campus, and they take turns walking each other to class. Then, they’re getting breakfast together at this café on campus (because both of them were up too late and they both missed their alarms, but that doesn’t stop everyone else from thinking that it’s a date). He brings her a textbook she left behind, along with his own additional sticky notes littered in different chapters with his own notes on the subject or another goddamn motivational quote (but she still smiles when she sees them) right before her class, and neither of them pay any attention to the stares of Katie’s classmates as she hugs him and tells him he’s a lifesaver.

Keith just smirks whenever he sees the two of them together, which makes Katie want to smack him, but Shiro, seemingly oblivious and good natured, always asks him if he wants to join them on whatever they’re doing. Keith just rolls his eyes and says he has to go to class.

On the other hand, Matt is painfully oblivious, not that there’s any real relationship, but he seems to be the only one who doesn’t notice how close the two of them are. While Keith makes no attempt at hiding the fact that he knows something’s changed, Matt just genuinely doesn’t know.

The months pass quickly, and Shiro is once again invited over for things like Christmas and New Year’s dinners at the Holt’s (he even brings Keith, who fought tooth and nail to not go, but ended up playing video games with Katie or going over flight techniques with Sam quite eagerly). Most of the time, when he and all the Holt’s are over, they end the night with a movie, but both Katie and Shiro end up hyper-aware of how close they are on the packed couch, and end up a blushing mess.

For his birthday, Katie gets him a custom star map of the day he was born, and solar system marbles (She nearly cries when she finds out that Shiro’s technically five, and Shiro realizes he’ll never hear the end of “when I was your age...” jokes).

The months pass quickly. February turns to March, and spring approaches the Garrison in the form of heat, though compared to the summer, the average 76 degrees is a blessing. March passes quickly, despite the 31 days it holds, and before he knows it, it’s April and the school year is almost over.

In all honesty, he basically forgets Katie’s birthday.

The Garrison has Shiro’s class packed full with different exams and finals and flight sims that days blur together and time doesn’t feel real.

Thankfully, past Shiro realized this, and pre-ordered a gift for Katie months prior. It was wrapped and hidden away in a spot Katie would have never found throughout the year.

When there’s a knock on the door, Shiro sluggishly assumes it must be takeout or a package he ordered a few days ago. In his defense, he hadn’t seen Katie all day, and it was now around midnight, and he had been awake since 0600 hours.

He opens the door, still drugged from exhaustion, so it takes a moment for him to fully focus on who’s at the door. “Katie?” He’s suddenly awake, blinking rapidly to try and shake off the sleep.

For all her confidence, she looks nervous. “Are you okay?” Shiro steps to the side to let her in, and she walks in quickly, and then spins around to face him, a mixture of determination and nervousness across her face. She’s not in her Garrison uniform today, instead, she’s wearing high-waisted shorts, a tank top, and converse.

She doesn’t answer him for a moment, only watching his expression. Finally, she starts. “Remember…” She pauses, suddenly embarrassed. “Remember that night?”

He doesn’t need her to spell it out, judging by the blush that’s dusted her cheeks, highlighting the cluster of freckles sprinkled around her nose. “Of course.” His own cheeks turn red at the thought.

“Well, I liked that.” She states simply, straightening up with a renewed look of determination. She met his gaze, fire in her eyes.  “I liked you.” She took a step forward. “And I still like you.” Her hands reached out, cupping his cheeks in her hands. “So tell me,” Her expression softened as she looked at him. “Do you like me?”

Shiro swallows, his face on fire as he stares at Katie. He feels his hands slowly snake around her waist, and he pulls her closer. He brings his head down, and presses his lips to hers. Her hands eagerly find his neck, and pull him closer to her, as if there can’t be any space left between them. Her hands move to his head, raking her slender fingers through his hair, and in return, his hands press the small of her back, leading her closer to him.

When they finally break away, Shiro smiles. “Does that answer your question?”

Katie lets out a breathy giggle, and combs through his bangs. “I don’t know,” She says slyly. “I think you’re going to have to tell me again.”

She smirks, and balances on the balls of her feet to reach him as he pulls her close again.

When Katie wakes up the next morning, Shiro hands her a little box with a green ribbon tied around it. “Happy birthday,” He’s mutters, still bleary from sleep, and presses a tired kiss on her cheek.

Katie can’t help but smile, and wonder if she’s dreaming. She takes the present, and says, “I think this is the best birthday present.” And grabs his hand.

“Open it.” He chuckles.

She does, and nearly squeals with delight (scratch that, she does squeal, without shame). “How could you even afford this?” She all but shouts, and she’s pretty sure her hands are shaking. “Do you know how much this costs?”

In the box, with the little green ribbon, is a necklace and a microchip. Shiro knows Katie’s never been much of a jewelry person, but it’s become a bit of an inside joke to get each other space themed gifts, and for some reason, microchips don’t come with little constellations. So, he got her a necklace, with little planet and star charms.

“Help me put this on, will you?” She asks, after admiring the necklace. She pulls up her hair into a makeshift bun held up by her hand.

Shiro grabs the necklace, and leans over slightly, to clasp it together. She grins at him when he leans back, and plays with the charms. “Thanks, Shiro.” She throws her arms around him in a hug. “I don’t know how I’m going to out-gift you next time.” He chuckles.

 With immeasurable excitement, Katie’s attention turns to the microchip. She squeals (again) as she picks it up, and lets out an excited giggle. “A Bend Sensor!” She screams in delight. Her reaction is anticipated, because this isn’t just any microchip. No, it’s one she’s been needing since high school, since they first met, for Rover. “Oh my God.” She laughs, and rubs a hand over her face in an effort to calm herself. “You’re lucky Rover is at my parents or I’d be spending all day with him.” She smiles.

Shiro laughs at her reaction. “I should’ve brought a camera with me.” He teases, and rests his chin on his hands. “That was gold.”

She snakes her arms around him, and laughs. “You’re crazy,” She mumbles against his chest. “So crazy.” Shiro’s arms find her waist and pull her close.

“You know,” She says, after a moment. “I’ve liked you for the longest time. Since I first met you, actually.” She meets his eyes, and smiles. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself, but I’m a bit in awe that you’d like me back.”

“Katie, you’re amazing.” He smiles. “Who wouldn’t like you?”

She lets out a small laugh. “Tell that to every kid at my high school.”

“Just wait until you become a renowned scientist or pilot, and at your high school reunion, everyone will want to be your best friend.” He leans down, and cups her cheeks, giving her a kiss as she laughs.

Shiro drives Katie to her parents’ place for her birthday, where they’re both greeted with hugs as if it’s Shiro’s birthday as well.

This year, as a bit of a gag, they get her a Nutter Butter cake. Katie laughs, and takes about a million photos before actually eating the thing. They end up getting Chipotle, and watching movies like they used to before they all went to the Garrison. Shiro tries hard to act like he wasn’t just making out with the Holt’s daughter/sister, but when Katie snuggles up close to him, he can’t help but throw his arm around her and rest his cheek on her head.

Matt, like always, is kind of oblivious, but both Sam and Colleen zero in on the two huddled together when neither are looking (though in all honesty, they both started to pick up on it when Shiro drove Katie over, and when Katie already knew Shiro’s Chipotle order). Colleen nudged Sam with a playful smirk as they watched the two.

They’re huddled together at the corner of the couch. Katie, somehow, managed to nearly crawl on top of him. She’s laid on top of him like she’s a blanket, though Shiro doesn’t seem to mind, as one arm hold her securely around the waist, while the other combs through her hair.

He mutters something to Katie, causing her to let out a breathy laugh, while Shiro gives her a smile. Colleen has to restrain herself from cooing at the two. Sam lets out a quiet chuckle and taps his wife to get her attention away from them before they notice.

“I knew it.” She whispers to him, grinning.

Chapter Text

In Matt’s defense, he was too smart for romance.

Well, that was a lie.

But how can someone have time for love and dating when the Garrison is planning some top secret mission that involves hand-picked soon-to-be Garrison graduates?

(The mission, technically, isn’t known to the general public, but when your dad is Samuel Holt, you get some perks)

So again, in his defense, how was he supposed to know his best friend was dating someone long enough for her to stay over?

In his defense, how was he supposed to know it was his sister?

Shiro, over the summer, had given Matt the keys to his apartment “in case of an emergency”, but as far as the both of them were concerned, an “emergency”, was just an excuse to hang out like they did in the Garrison and over the summer.

This sunny Saturday afternoon, was no different.

Matt unlocks the door with ease, making his way into the small apartment. “Shiro!” He calls. “You’re not going to believe what Dad told me earlier!”

He stuffs the keys back into his pocket, and runs a hand through his hair as he walks into the living room. “Apparently, the Garrison is planning this new mission, and they’re picking new graduates as recruits. Dad thinks that by the time we graduate-”

Shiro stumbles out of his room, clearly disheveled. “Hey.”

Matt raises an eyebrow, a grin spreading across his face. “Hey.” He tries to hold back his laughter at the sight of his friend. “You-uh…You busy?” Tries and fails, as a giggle escapes his lips.

“No!” Shiro scoffs, pulling a face as he runs his hand through his hair. “I’m-I’m free, I have all day.” He shrugs, and then crosses his arms over his chest.

“You sure?” Shiro nods. “Because if you have someone waiting for you in there, I can come back later.” Matt’s grin spreads, and on cue, there’s a loud noise from behind Shiro, and a very loud “Fuck!” from behind the door.

Matt lets out a loud laugh as Shiro’s face pales, but then, by blessing or curse, Matt’s bequeathed-genius brain kicks in, and he thinks, for a moment, that he recognizes that voice.

Suddenly, Shiro’s face isn’t so funny anymore.

“Is that...?” He doesn’t want to think about it, he doesn’t want to finish the sentence.

Shiro doesn’t answer, which makes it ten times worse.

Suddenly, Matt’s legs are moving forward, somehow pushing past his beefcake best friend, and to his bedroom door.

He tries the doorknob. It’s not locked, but there’s something definitely stopping him from opening it. He turns back to Shiro, eyes wide in horror. “Was that my sister?” He hisses.

Shiro, again, doesn’t answer, which only causes Matt’s anxiety for the situation skyrocket even more.

No way, no way is this happening-

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Matt!” The door opens, and out step Katie.

His sister. His little, pure, sweet, baby sister, who used to wear a tiny Tiger costume when she was three, oh no way is this happening-

“Stop being so melodramatic. It’s not Shiro’s fault you’re an airhead.” She scoffs, and crosses her arms over her chest.

Matt stares at her in horror. Her hair is just as tangles and disheveled as Shiro’s and-Oh my God, she’s wearing one of Shiro’s shirts.

“How long has this been going on?” He thinks he’s going to cry.

Shiro and Katie share a look, before turning back to Matt. Siro clears his throat, and Katie finally proves she’s human, and blushes.

“I don’t know,” She bites, and glares at him (but she’s still blushing). “Six months, maybe?”

Oh, now he’s really gonna cry.

“Six months?” He can feel his soul leaving his body. “Six months, and neither of you said a word?” His voice gets louder and louder with each word. He pushes past Shiro, and starts pacing, running a hand over his face.

“In our defense,” Katie starts. “We weren’t exactly hiding it; you were just never at the right place at the right time.” She has the audacity to shrug, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.

With a spike of anger, Matt turns towards Shiro. “And you?” He hisses, pointing a finger at him. “Mr. Muscles, what do you have to say about this?”

Shiro says nothing, a dopey look on his face. “I’m…Sorry?”

Matt’s gonna scream.

They’ve been sitting on the couch in silence for more than half an hour. Matt rubs his hands over his face, trying to forget the way Katie’s legs are sprawled onto Shiro’s lap, and how Shiro’s hand is running through Katie’s hair, while his other hand rests comfortably on her ankle.

“Matt.” Katie sighs. “I think you’re overreacting.”

“How would you feel if me and your best friend got together?”

“Then you’d literally be fucking yourself.”

Briefly, Matt forgets the situation, and lifts his head to face his sister. “Aww, Kit-Kat, did you just call me your best friend?”

Katie laughs. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She feigns distain, and looks away.

Matt is offered a few seconds of peace, before the situation is remembered.

He frowns, and turns away. “I’m still mad at the two of you.”

Katie clicks her tongue. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” She says, but she sounds annoyed.

“I really am sorry you feel that way.” Shiro says after her, but he sounds genuine.

Matt slumps on the couch. “Thanks, Shiro.” Katie glares at him from the corner of his eye. “I wish you had said something earlier.”

“Hey at least we told you before we got engaged, hm? I think that’s a step up to be honest.” Matt returns his sister’s glare.

“You know you have to tell Mom and Dad, right?”

Shiro visibly pales and straightens. “Yeah,” Katie answers for the both of them. “I know.” She grabs Shiro’s hand, curling her fingers around his in an effort to silently calm him.

Matt eyes the intertwined hands, before shifting to meet their eyes.

“Alright,” He sighs. “I’ve accepted this.” Vaguely, he waves in their direction. Katie grins, and Shiro relaxes slightly, letting a breath he didn’t know he was holding go.

“In saying that,” Matt says, turning his attention to Shiro. “If you hurt my sister, I’ll get Dad to fail you and ruin your career.”

“What, no ‘I’ll kill you’?” Katie grins.

“Do you think I can even pinch a man like him?” Matt scoffs. “I’m clearly oblivious, but I’m not stupid. Besides,” He continues. “What’s more terrifying than a hopeless future?”

Shiro, (poor boy), tenses again, his hand in Katie’s tightening. “Don’t frighten him, Matt!” Katie rubs her thumb against his knuckles, like he would do for her. “He’s still your friend!”

“Is he?” Matt sarcastically asks.

“Even if we did break up, you know I’d make sure he ended up ‘missing’ or something.” Katie grins, and suddenly her hand in Shiro’s feels like dead weight, but it makes Matt laugh.

“Sure, Kit-Kat.”

Naturally, they tell her parents two weeks later.

Katie brings Shiro over one night for a “monthly family dinner”, as she calls it, and they both wait anxiously for the right moment to announce it.

Of course, Shiro tells himself, that it’s only that they’re dating, and not an engagement or something life changing like that, but it doesn’t help calm his nerves as he watches Katie’s family (and his friends) laugh around the dinner table. Katie, being the observant saint she is, notices his nervous look, and grabs his hand from under the table, giving it a light squeeze for reassurance. He tries not to make it too obvious as he turns her way and gives her a smile.

After dinner, Katie orders everyone into the living room, where she grabs his hand when everyone’s there. Matt, for once, zeroes in on that, and gives Shiro a look. He feels his face on fire, but doesn’t have time to do anything before Katie’s speaking.

“We’re dating.” She

The Holt family, who had all been sitting on the couch in front of them chatting fondly, falls silent. Shiro’s face burns, and he manages to catch a glimpse of Katie, her cheeks kissed a deep red, but determination burning in her eyes. 

Colleen is the first to speak. “I was wondering when you were going to say anything!” She laughs with a twinkle in her eyes. Sam, for the moment, says nothing, but smiles fondly at them.

“What?” Katie asks, genuinely confused, while Matt lets out a more undignified screech of “WHAT?”

“You weren’t exactly hiding it, dear.”

“She’s not wrong, son.” Sam finally speaks, and his words make Shiro’s spine straighten in anxiety. “They were pretty obvious.” He gives the pair a smug smile.

“You noticed?” Katie shouts, but her smile and blush betray her faux anger.

“Like you said, Kit Kat,” Colleen says, sipping her tea. “You two were pretty obvious.”

Katie throws her head back and laughs.

All jokes aside, her family is pretty okay about it, considering they probably knew about them before they knew themselves. Matt thumps him on the back, and Sam pats his shoulder with a smile, but his grip is too tight to be welcoming.  

They drive back to the apartment at dark, nearly the exact opposites for once in their lives. Katie is slouched in the passenger seat, head against the cool glass, nearly asleep, while Shiro is wide awake with nerves and past-adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

Katie wakes up as they’re home, and they clamber into bed nice and early at 11:00 o’clock.

“Katie?” Shiro asks, but he’s sure she’s asleep before him (for once).

Always one to surpass expectations, she rolls over to face him with a sleepy smile, and wraps an arm around his neck lazily. “Yeah?” She murmurs, lightly brushing the nape of his neck.

Shiro lets his arm rest on her waist, rubbing small circles into her skin under her tank top. “You know why everyone calls me ‘Shiro’?” He asks lightly.

Katie shrugs, still absentmindedly brushing the back of his hair. “Tell me, Shiro.” She grins.

“Well, in the Garrison, if you have a long last name, like mine, they shorten it so it’s easier to say, at least that’s what they say. I think they shorten it so it’s easier to scream during drills.”

Katie lets out a low chuckle at that, and they stay in silence for a moment.

“Hey,” She says finally.

“Yeah?” He smiles at her.

“Can I call you Takashi?”

His face heats up at that, her saying his name, his full name, feels like a secret, shared only between them.

“Yeah,” He manages, swallowing hard. “Of course.”

She gives him a quiet smile, much like her smile at the library when she helped him study. As if, by giving her his secret (Takashi), she gave him hers (that smile he loved so much)

Chapter Text

The months go by quickly, and before any of them know it, it’s June, and Shiro and Matt are graduating.

Friends again, both of the boys spend two months giggling over their graduation and their future, while Katie and Keith stay at the sidelines rolling their eyes.

When the famed day arrives, Katie nearly cries when she sees her boys all dressed up in their dress uniform (her favorite of the uniforms). The day is hot, but the Garrison have bottles of water, sunscreen, and paramedics on standby (which Katie thought was a bit over the top, until her shoulders get so sunburnt, that the tan line is there for years).

Some official, a brigadier general, she thinks, makes some long ass speech about excellence and the Garrison’s core beliefs or something. Katie’s too busy sweating to really pay attention.

When “Matthew Holt” and “Takashi Shirogane” are called, she cheers extra loud, and waves her hands frantically, as if either of them could see her from where she’s sitting.

The rest of the name-calling, for lack of a better term, drones on after that, seeming extra-long since Katie can’t wait to see the boys and congratulate them.

She has her camera recording the whole event, especially when they all throw their caps in the air. It’s then, though, that the recording gets a little shaky, because after the crowd throws their cap, they’re allowed to go to their family. So while Shiro goes to his family (they flew back for the graduation), Matt runs to her.

They group hug, with Colleen, Sam, and Katie all singing their praises. Matt, to no one’s surprise, graduated as one of the top of his class. He can’t stop laughing (Katie swears he’s crying, but Matt denies it of course).

“My baby,” Colleen coos, eyes shimmering with tears. “All grown up!”

“Mom!” Matt whines, but drags her into a hug. It’s then, for the first time, that she realizes Matt’s taller than their Mom (and if it wasn’t such a serious moment, she might’ve thought there could be hope for her).

Sam laughs, and wraps his arm around Katie, pulling her into a sideways hug, and letting his wife and son have their moment. Katie feels tears sting the back of her eyes, and quickly grabs her camera, and takes a picture of the two.

“That’ll be you soon, Pidge.” Her dad whispers, and excitement bubbles in her stomach.

“Focus on the kid that’s actually graduating, Dad.” She jokes, bumping his shoulder.

Sam laughs, and ruffles her hair. “If you insist, Kit-Kat.” He grins. “Go see Shiro while we cry over Matt.” She blushes, but mutters a quick “Thanks,” regardless, and rushes off to find Shiro.

She finds him with his family. Like her own, they’re hugging and crying. Unlike her own, they’re all speaking Japanese.

She sees Keith, thankfully, at the sidelines of the group hug, and joins his side. “Hey.” She whispers, and nudges him.

“Hey.” He whispers, and nudges her back.

“Congratulations, you must be proud.” Shiro, like Matt, had graduated as one of top of his class, which was no surprise, considering all the records he broke as a fighter pilot.

“I don’t know why, but I think you might be just as proud as me,” Keith shrugs sarcastically. “Y’know, being his girlfriend and all.”

Katie blushes, and resists the urge to shove Keith in front of his whole family. “You’re right.” She decides to just smile instead, and watch as Shiro and his parents talk excitedly.

“I’m sorry, can you say that again? I don’t think I heard you correctly.”

“Oh, piss off, Keith-”

“Katie!” Shiro shouts, smiling widely at her. Shiro’s mother says something in Japanese, but she thinks she hears her name somewhere in there.

Shiro, not quite running, but not speed-walking either (she decides that he walks in strides more than he does just walking normally), and picks her up. Like a movie, he spins her around in excitement, before putting her down with a kiss. Normally, being a part of the Garrison, she would have to wear her uniform, but since she also qualified as family for the graduate, she got to wear a dress.

This time, thankfully, it’s not her signature purple dress she wore in high school. This one is a light green sundress, and it billows in the wind when Shiro spins her around.

When they separate, someone squeals, and Shiro’s sister (crap, Katie forget her name) coos. “She’s so cute!”

Thankfully, Katie had met Shiro’s parents before they had moved back to Japan, so that wasn’t their first encounter with each other.

Near the end of the ceremony, when families are starting to head home, The Holt and Shirogane family meet up for a celebratory dinner at a fancy restaurant. Matt jokes that they should go to McDonald’s, which surprisingly almost got picked, before they settle for the Olive Garden.

The family converse over baskets and baskets of bread sticks well into the night, before calling it a night, and heading home. Matt, since he’s now a graduate, stays with his parents for the time being, at least until he gets an assignment and gets stationed somewhere to another base.

The car ride home is peaceful. It’s dark out, and the only lights around are the street lights and the inside of the car. Katie’s slouched in the chair, her eyes closed. “How does it feel to be a graduate?” She asks.

Shiro lets out a quiet laugh as he taps his fingers against the steering wheel. “Tiring.”

Katie lets out a breath of a laugh. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

By the time they get home, Shiro has to wake Katie up, and half-carry her to their apartment.

“I’m so proud of you, Takashi.” She mumbles, half asleep in bed.

After the joy of graduating, Shiro and Matt have to wait for their assignments. Unfortunately for Shiro and Katie, that means the possibility of Shiro being stationed far far away from her, but they hold out hope regardless.

Finally, after nearly the whole summer of waiting, they get the call. The Garrison is known for their sense of overkill, and have a reputation for taking “rather be safe than sorry” a bit too seriously.

That being said, Shiro receives a physical letter, an email, and a phone call over his orders. His orders, though, are not to some far-off state or international air base. In a sense, if it wasn’t so exciting, it was much worse.

Regardless, he scoops Katie up in his arms, like he did at graduation, and spins her around, before setting her down with a kiss (and Katie hopes to God that he’ll make a habit of it).

“Kerberos.” He says softly, with a grin on his lips.

“The moon?” Katie runs a hand through his hair, lightly brushing the nape of his neck, where his normally buzzed hair had grown out during the summer.

He nods. “The mission is called ‘Kerberos I’ and they’ve assigned me as head pilot.”

Katie screams in excitement for him, knowing very well that Shiro is too reserved for it.

Later, after they’re done celebrating, she gets a call from Matt, and her excitement doubles when she finds out he and dad will be on Kerberos I too.

The training period for the mission is a year long. Despite the Garrison keeping the mission on the down-low, it’s actually quite thought out, so the year long deadline feels less like a space race and more like a proper training period.

Shiro’s mind is filled with lectures and drills and flight plans, and, much to Katie’s enjoyment, a fuck-ton of science.

While science had never been his strong suit, he has Katie to explain the majority of it. To the very, very basics of it, they’re being sent to Kerberos for ice. Ice, to scientists, means water, and water means a possibility of life. If not current life, then past life. Katie finds it all very exciting, reading over his material again and again, but Shiro is more focused on the 14-month long piloting.

Just past the 6-month mark of training, Shiro realizes the gravity of the mission. 14 months, more than a year of space. Five months dedicated to reaching Kerberos, four months for harvesting and studying ice, and another five to get back to Earth.

It’s late when he realizes this, very late, compared to his normal schedule, but his brain is too muddled to recognize the numbers on his clock, so he turns to Katie and shakes her gently.

She hums awake, and whispers a soft “Takashi?” with her honey-smooth voice, before opening her eyes. She smiles, and wraps her arms around him. “Is it 0500 already?” She whispers.

Despite his anxiety, he wraps his arms around her, and plants a kiss on her bangs. “I’ll be gone 14 months, Katie.”

Her gaze meets his, a little more alert than before, and nods. “Yeah, I know.”

He swallows thickly, the revelation repeating in his head. “That’s not fair- to you,” He whispers, quietly, fearfully. “14 months alone, while I’m up in space with half your family taken with me.” He exhales, a long, tired breath, as if he’s aged ten years already.

“So what, Takashi? I love you, and I trust you. I know you’ll be careful, and I know you’ll get Matt and Dad back home safe. As much as we like to joke, the Garrison aren’t stupid. They’ve chosen you because they know your potential. And so do I.”

Her hands cup his face, her thumb rubbing circles across his cheekbone. “I love you, and I don’t care how long you’re gone, or what happens up there. I’ll always love you, even if I have to go up there and drag your ass back to Earth.”

He lets out a quiet chuckle, grasping her hand in his, and they fall into a comfortable silence.

After too long, when Shiro fears Katie’s fallen back asleep, he whispers. “Katie?”

Her eyes open, wide awake and full of life. “Yeah?” She smiles.

He’s filled with a strange feeling in his stomach. Not nervousness, but not excitement. He looks at her, and realizes in a moment of perfect clarity what he wants. “Marry me.”

If there was any trace of tiredness in her, it’s now gone. Her golden eyes are tinted blue with the midnight light, as she stares at him in shock. “What?”

“Marry me, Katie.” He sits up, his hand lifting her up with him. “Kathrine Holt, marry me and make me he happiest man on Earth, hell, on Kerberos.”

If she wasn’t so shocked, Katie would’ve laughed at his joke.

Tears prick the back of her eyes as a grin spreads across her face. “Yes.” She manages to breathe out. “Of course, Takashi, Yes!” Excitement bubbles in her chest, as she all but tackles Shiro back into the bed.

His arms wrap around hers, drawing calming circles in the small of her back, while Katie feels like she’s about to explode from excitement.

A couple days later, they go ring shopping, as Shiro never really had the chance to buy one due to the impromptu nature of their engagement.

Their ideas of a ring are quite different, as Katie is still in the “college student budget” mindset, while Shiro is in a “fighter pilot turned astronaut on a legendary mission budget” Eventually, after much torture for the clerk, or consultant, or whatever he was, they decide on a simple silver band, with a small diamond. (Shiro isn’t happy about it at first, insisting Katie deserves something bigger and better, but can’t deny the beauty in its simplicity) Since the band of the ring is so thick, and the both of them are a bit impatient, they get it engraved, instead of their wedding bands. It’s a simple engraving, with the date they got engaged, and the words “my star in the sky”

Shiro tells his family almost immediately, calling every relative he knows, including Keith (who manages a heart-felt “congratulations” and a “I’m happy for you” in his least monotone voice)

Katie decides to be a bit of a sadist, and keeps it a secret. She doesn’t wear her ring at the Garrison, in case she runs into Matt, and waits for the next family gathering to tell them.

When they arrive, no one notices. For the entire dinner, no one notices the band on her finger, even with the giddy looks exchanged between Shiro and Katie.

It isn’t until the end of the night, when Katie offers to help Colleen with the dishes, does someone finally notice.

Her hands are covered in soap and dish water as she washes one of the dinner plates, when suddenly, Colleen gasps so loud Katie thinks it echoed and nearly drops a plate.

“Kathrine Holt!” She screams and grabs her hand, forcing Katie to drop her dish, and it splashes water on them both. “How could you?” She gasps, eyeing the diamond with tears in her eyes.

Katie’s face is on fire, and the boys come rushing into the kitchen to see what’s wrong, only to find Colleen gripping Katie’s hand like a lifeline, with the ring on her finger glistening in the light.

Matt and Sam both shout something in delight, but Katie’s too focused on her mother pulling her into a bone crushing hug to listen. “I don’t even know what to say,” Colleen says, pulling away and cupping her daughter’s cheek in her hand. “My baby’s growing up so fast.” She coos. Both Katie and Colleen end up crying (even Sam lets a few tears fall at the sight of the pair), and they stay an extra hour, all squished onto the couch gushing over the lovebirds, and what their wedding will be like, where their wedding is going to be, what the dress is like, who they’re inviting, and the list goes on and on.

At the end of the night, Matt gives Shiro a bone crushing hug for just a tad too long, and Sam does the same, while Colleen and Katie stand together gushing excitedly over the future, before ending the night with an excited tear-filled hug.

The day of liftoff for Kerberos I was filled with anxiety. Both Shiro and Katie had to be awake around 0400 to be fully prepped for everything. Liftoff would be at 0800, which only gave them four hours to prepare. Showers were the night before, so all they had to worry about was uniform and breakfast (breakfast first, of course, to avoid spillage). Normally, Katie would also have to wear her dress uniform, being part of the Garrison, but, as family and fiancée, she was able to wear something else.

Jokingly, she asked Shiro if she should wear her infamous purple dress, if it still fit. Fittingly, Shiro responded with, “I think your mother would have an aneurism.”

A shuttle for them was parked outside, to take them on base, which luckily wasn’t that far away. Thankfully, due to Shiro being one of the most famous men in (the world) America, probably, they were able to bypass the I.D checkpoint. Un-thankfully, their speedy entry meant more time for rehearsals and God knows what else.

Liftoff would be televised, so they had spent the last couple of weeks rehearsing speeches and such. The cameras would cut out for a few moments, allowing the crew and family a few minutes of privacy to say good bye.

At 0600, they were ready to move everything outside, having nearly finished setting up the designated area for press, and where they would deliver speeches.

At half past, press arrived, major newspapers and TV stations sat in their designated area. Everyone not press, but more important got a front row seat, with press lining the rest. The next hour was filled with inspiring speeches and questions, and basically anything else anyone thought to bring up, before the cameras cut, and the families were given fifteen minutes before the crew had to go get ready.

Shiro’s family had, obviously, flown over, so for the first half the Holt’s and the Shirogane’s huddled towards their separate crew member, until eventually merging.

“Here,” Matt whispered quietly, once Sam and Colleen had separated into their own quiet bubble, whispering quietly to each other. He held out his glasses.

“Matt, I hope to God you haven’t let this get to your head to the point where you think you can see.”

Matt scoffed, and bumped his shoulder into hers. “Piss off, Pidge!” He was smiling. “The Garrison fixed my sight, so I won’t need these anymore. I thought I’d give it to you as a present, in case you’d miss me.”

“As if.” Katie rolled her eyes, but took the glasses and hugged him.

“You better come back, dipshit.”

Matt barked out a laugh. “I hope you’re more affectionate with Shiro than you are with me.”

Katie smiled, despite the stinging in her eyes. “You better come back, Matt.”

His grin softened to close-mouthed smile, and he pat her head softly. “Of course I’ll come back, Pidge.” He loops his arm around her neck, and drags her into a half-hug. “Though, I don’t doubt that you’ll come up and find us if we don’t.”

Katie smiles, and leans into the hug. “Damn right I will.”

Matt chuckles, and releases her. He looks behind her for a moment, before nudging her. “Go say good-bye to your ex-boyfriend.”

“We’re engaged, Matt.”

Her brother makes a face a faux-disgust. “Whatever, same thing.” And gives her a departing hug. “I’ll miss you, Katie.”

“I’ll miss you too, Matt, be safe.”

“Always.” And they part ways.

Katie all but collapses into Shiro’s embrace when they meet, tears already threatening to fall. “I love you.” She says quietly, over and over. “I love you so much.”

Shiro’s grip tightens, with his lips pressed against her bangs, whispering things the rushing blood in her ears and built up sobs in her chest won’t let her hear. Eventually, she makes out something along the lines of, “I know, I know,” Some calming shushing. “I love you too, Katie. So, so much.”

Katie lifts her head from his chest, and brushes her hand through the hair on the nape of his neck, like she had done a million times before. “You have to come back, Takashi.” She whispers, because anything louder feels too public, like a scream. “You have to come back for me.” She’s crying now, most likely smudging her makeup, but she didn’t care.

“I’ll always come back for you, Katie.” He whispers, brushing her bangs back.

Someone calls out that they have five minutes left, and Shiro steps back, breaking their embrace. “Here,” He says, reaching for something under his shirt, “I don’t think I’ll need this in space.” And pulls out his dog tags.

She takes them, holding them tightly. “Thank you,” She says, choking on tears again, because somehow this feels more personal than her damn engagement ring. She reads it, memorizing the words.

Shirogane, Takashi
FR 19 345 678
B Positive
No Preference

Katie puts it on quickly, and rushes to kiss him. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” She whispers repeatedly in a fervor.  

Someone calls out, again, saying time’s up, and they need to move on.

They pull apart, barely, with their heads still resting together. “I love you.” She says, a finality.

“I love you too.” A conclusion, an ultimate.

Come back to me.

Chapter Text

While live video chatting would be nice, realistically, the lag between Kerberos I and Earth would cause even the most patient person to tear their hair out.

However, video chatting without a terrible lag could last until after they passed Mars, so, for the first couple of weeks, the crew and family of Kerberos I were allowed to video chat once a day.

Of course, that’s what the Garrison thinks.

But what the Garrison doesn’t know won’t hurt them.

So, up until Mars, they get live video chats once a day, along with multiple unofficial little letters and audio clips sent back and forth sporadically.

After Mars, they get weekly pre-recorded videos, and again, along with multiple unofficial letters and audios. The farther the distance, the longer it would take the videos to reach Earth, and vice versa.

In the beginning, it’s relatively cheery. Despite the small heartbreaks of waking up alone, morale is high, and so are the videos. Shiro sends her little snippets of his day, and talks about what’s going on in the ship, or what science thing her brother and dad are doing. They both know the videos sent are reviewed by personnel and staff at the Garrison before being passed to the receiver (in case of a leak of classified information), so in the beginning, everything is quite impersonal. (They only get personal in the private messages the Holt’s created)  

“I swear to God, Katie, I love you, but I don’t understand how you can stand this much science.”

Matt pops up in the background. “Piss off Shiro! Ice is interesting! It’s the whole reason we’re alive!”

Shiro rolls his eyes with a grin. “I feel like you’re exaggerating a bit!” He calls back to Matt. “What about the atmosphere? Or the sun?”

Matt scoffs, his face scrunching up in the background. “If you can’t handle us, you can’t handle Katie!” With a cheeky smile.

“Play nice, kids!” Sam’s voice calls out from the background.

The voice cuts out with them laughing, and the next day Katie gets an unofficial message from Shiro telling her that he loved her.

“Pidge, my darling sister!” Matt starts off, “Please tell your loving ex-boyfriend to stop snoring! How do you sleep through that?” A hand playfully shoves Matt aside, and Shiro appears in the corner of the screen.

“You have a flair for dramatics, Matt. You should quit this space stuff, and just join the theater.”

(Truth be told, Katie doesn’t sleep through Shiro’s snores, as he is normally in bed by nine, while she is in bed by four)

The farther they get, the more sporadic the videos get (both official and unofficial) due to the amount of space they have to travel from the sender to the receiver, so updated on the mission get slower, as do the replies.

“Katie,” The camera is shaky, and briefly, she sees her fiancé’s blurry image, before the camera turns, and she’s looking out a window. “Look.”

She doesn’t think anyone has ever been this close to Saturn before, and the view of it leaves her speechless, and slightly hollow. She knows, by heart, that even when Earth and Saturn are closest, they’re still 746 million miles apart, and the stunning beauty of the video does nothing to tame the aching in her heart.

(Later, she visits her mom, and they stay for hours huddled on the couch trying to find the words for their loneliness. Katie wonders if this is what the wives of the men in the Apollo missions felt like, all those years ago)

(She makes sure to send him a message, telling him she loves and misses him, and then does the same for Matt and her dad)

Some days, Katie just cries. Because she knows how dangerous this mission is, despite its simplicity on paper. Her dad, brother, and fiancé may be traveling farther than any human before them, but the glory of the mission doesn’t diminish the danger.

They’re passing the fourth month, which means one more until they land on Kerberos. Shiro’s videos are more subdued, less joking and smiling, more talking and gentle “I love you” whispers. Their secret letters and audios are the same.

In this video, it’s quiet. Shiro is sitting in front of the camera, hunched forward slightly, with his hands clasped together. “Katie,” He sighs. “Every minute I’m up here, I try to remember how amazing this is, and how lucky I am. But sometimes,” He sighs, and rubs his hands over his face, before combing his bangs back. “Sometimes, I feel like I’d trade it all just to be back with you.”

Katie’s eyes are stinging, but she doesn’t make a sound, especially when he whispers “I love you” over and over again.

The next video is much more happy.

“We made it!” Shiro and Matt scream into the camera, arms slung around each other. The camera is shaky and it makes it hard to see, but they’re so happy that Katie doesn’t care.

“Look, Pidge!” Matt grabs the camera, and rushes towards a window, showing their view of the moon. “How crazy is this? I can’t believe we’re actually here!”

Shiro and Matt babble excitedly back and forth, while the camera still points at the moon.

“Alright, stow it cadets!” She hears Sam say, but his voice is warm. “We have work to do.”

The camera shifts back to Matt and Shiro. “Let’s get this ice!” Matt yells, and pumps his hand in the air.

The video cuts off with a blurry Shiro and Matt grinning like idiots.

She feels happy for them, obviously, and when sending her reply, she drags Keith into it, because she knows it will make Shiro happy. They spend a good couple of minutes ranting about how cool the mission is, and how proud they are of him.

A week passes with no video.

Then, again, more radio silence.

By chance, she’s staying over at her childhood home, something that had become more common since the Launch (she couldn’t bear to come home to so much emptiness). It’s late, though that’s nothing new to Katie, considering her sleep schedule. She had just finished working on some project, and decided to get a snack before going to bed.

(In her heart, she knew it, she knew it, she knew it, she knew it)

She’s halfway down the stairs when a sob forces her to freeze.

It’s from the living room, it’s coming from her mother.

Slowly, quietly, Katie crouches down, just low enough to see her mother huddled on the couch, so small, so fragile, with the blue shine of the TV illuminating the whole room.

(He’d never miss an update, just like she wouldn’t either, but there it was, two whole weeks of silence)

It’s the news, turned down so low, she would’ve missed it, had they not plastered her father, brother, and fiancé’s portraits on the screen.

(How could she have not stopped, and asked Iverson what the Hell was going on?)

The implication of the portraits, and the anchor’s face is enough to make Katie’s entire world spin. She doesn’t hear what the news anchor is saying, not really, but she manages to catch what’s important. “Pilot error” echoes in her head for long she thinks she going to go crazy.

Somehow, she manages to sneak back upstairs, and into her old room, before she breaks.

“Pilot error” swims through her head as she sobs and shakes, and finally, when she finds sleep, it echoes through her dreams, too.