Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

To leave the world,
so sudden, so startling
Fallen with the flowers
Not enough hours.

To leave the world,
no warning, no parting
Life’s flame vanished
A heart left famished.

To leave the world,
displaced, departed
Soul exhaled
Him,
Have you failed?

To leave his world,
alone, uncharted
Crows, gathered in
The only next of kin.

You left his world,
though never forgotten,
Your spirit unbegotten

Chapter Text

It was routine, pounding on the door, stepping out of the minimal comfort that a warm bed in a temporary home had to offer, feet coming into contact with cold floors, goosebumps running up and down every limb.

Stripping the sheets, taking them to the laundry room, waiting for the shower to open up while the older kids push and shove.

Showering, and doing it quick, the hot water is running low and you don’t want to be that kid who runs it cold for the next.

Don’t even bother trying for a spot in front of the mirror, the older girls get dibs. Fighting loudly over not having enough space to do their hair and who stole my foundation? I worked hard to get the money for that!

Next, go downstairs and hope that you get a spot by the counter to get some breakfast. Though chances are usually slim. The big kids dominate the house and eat almost all of what little food is in the house.

Stand your ground, try and wait patiently to get a turn at eating some food. Ignore the kids that pull your hair, taunt you with food in their hands. Don’t give in when they try and make you reach for that apple.

Don’t fight.

Fighting is not good, kids who fight get punished. They get punished bad.

So stand and suppress thoughts, feelings. You aren’t that hungry anyways. It’s okay. Everything is okay.

Wait, wait as long as you can for the kids to leave before walking to school. If you wait until the last minute and run to you might be able to get something to eat.

They aren’t leaving, school starts in fifteen minutes and they are still at the counter, staring, tantalizing you with the food in their hands, not offering, their stance never wavering.

The last possible second is gone. Time to go. Gather your things for school, run out the door into the cool crisp air of the early morning.

-----

It was routine, waking up bleary eyed. Shutting off an alarm ringing way too early in the morning. Staring at the ceiling, pondering, stretching in the dark early hours of dawn before stepping out of the cocoon of warmth and comfort onto the carpeted bedroom floor.

Switching on the lights, waiting as eyes adjust to the harsh beams, ripping away the rest of the previous nights sleep. Padding through the hallway, into the bathroom, turning on the shower, standing under the stream of hot water, steam, clearing the brain and absorbing into bones.

Get dressed into uniform, brush teeth, wash face, fix hair.

Step out into the kitchen, start brewing coffee, coffee is essential.

Grab breakfast, something fast because the presentation is in forty minutes and the school takes around twenty minutes to get to.

Sit on the couch, relax, look out the window.

Watch the sunrise; the brilliant colours of the night sky mixing and melding with brilliant oranges and yellows of the sun, the atmosphere changing from a deep indigo to a bright blue, meeting somewhere in the middle to create reds, pinks and purples.

Breathe.

Let the minutes tick by in serene and peaceful silence. Go over the presentation again. Think of ways to engage the kids and get them excited about joining the Garrison.

Get excited as you can for the presentation, about inspiring a whole new generation of potential cadets. Try not to think about the fact that this is much of what the coming years are going to be. Schools, screaming kids, five billion questions -brace for the questions- about the basics of space.

Endearing, yet exhausting.

Take the final few sips left of coffee, bring the dishes to the dishwasher set them down, take a final stretch and look out the window.

Time to go. Gather the things needed for the presentation, put on a jacket, head down the steps of the apartment and walk out into the cool crisp air of the early morning.

_____________________________

Shiro went over the notes he kept on his tablet a final time as his car made the trek across the desert highways on his way to the middle school he was about to give his presentation to. Becoming a teacher at the Garrison came with more responsibility than just his schooling and piloting skills.

Instructors selected to teach through the Garrison’s program were chosen mainly through school alumni and a recommendation basis. In addition to this, they also had many more duties to withhold than a standard teacher would typically have.

Teaching positions were assigned to hopeful astronauts for many reasons other than just to provide employment in between missions.One of the main reasons being the leadership opportunities that entailed.

If a person is able to care for and also educate a large group of children it highly enhances their ability to take charge and responsibility in a stressful environment.

Shiro wasn’t too sure about becoming a teacher at first, children had never been his strong suit. Having grown up in an environment with no siblings cousins, or anybody in his family close to his age had always left him feeling a little lost. Never quite sure of what he was to do or say.

However, the Garrison's space program was the most renowned in the world and they had practically begged Shiro to follow through as a pilot with them.

He was always top of his flight class, the most hopeful prospect for future missions and constantly praised by his instructors for his hard work in his classes. So after his graduation day, in hopes of keeping Shiro around, they gave him an offer that he couldn’t refute. An apartment of his own on Garrison campus, fully paid for year round as well as being put on the top of the recruitment list for upcoming space missions for his experience level.

And then there was Adam.

Adam, Shiro’s long time rival which had morphed from friend to boyfriend in their time at the Garrison, had also moved on to become a teacher through the same program.

It all seemed to fall into place from there.

Him and Adam ended up being able to live together in Shiro’s apartment from pulling a few strings with some of the staff. They both attended the staff meetings and required trainings in hopes of an opportunity for a space mission. And, to Shiro’s apprehension, he began teaching full time in piloting as well as maintaining a small TA of various students from the Garrison.

Then there were the recruitment speeches.

In order to prep future space explorers for inevitable public speaking and press conferences, they were assigned a certain amount of schools a year that they had to go and give speeches to. In order to not only find hopeful students to come into the Garrisons program, but to also help them figure out how to present the idea of space travel to an audience that oftentimes don’t know the basics about space.

Which is what brings him to the present, rolling through the hills and dusty roads, on his way to hopefully inspire the next generation to follow in his footsteps.

He was presenting by himself for the first time today, which was a little nerve wracking to say the least. He had come in and shadowed as a student teacher on many of these talks, watching as the older instructors would engage while educating and informing children on space travel, piquing their interests and getting them excited to go to the Garrison.

Shiro isn’t so sure that he’s going to be able to live up to that example. Having only been teaching for a few months he feels extremely out of place. Trying to get the hang of caring for a large group of children while also holding their interest and educating them all about the complexities of space in language that they can comprehend is no easy feat.

Even if he just impacted one kid today, it would be considered a major win in his books.

The car pulled into the parking lot, much too soon for Shiro’s liking but he forced himself out the door and into the warm desert morning. Taking a deep breath, he made his way into the school as confidently as he could manage.

He walked up to the front office and was greeted by a short lady with olive skin and dark brown curly hair, a smile wide across her face.

“Oh good, you must be our guest speaker today! It’s all the kids have been talking about for weeks, I’ll just get you to sign in on this sheet here,” she opened up a red binder with a list of names of people who had been in and out of the school, “and I’ll get you a guest clip that you can wear while you are in the school. We are so happy that you could come and talk with us today, Officer Shirogane.”

Shiro quickly signed his name and time he came into the school on the sheet the lady had provided him. She turned on her heel and came back with a clip signifying that he was a guest in the school today, which he pinned on his shirt.

“Okay, perfect,” the lady spoke again, “I think the theatre is being set up for you right now if you just want to take a seat right there, you should be called down in just a few moments.”

Shiro smiled, nodded, and took his seat by the front office in anticipation for the presentation.

In the minutes he waited before he was called into the theatre, Shiro took in his surrounding environment. The school itself was quite old and small, it looked like it was in desperate need of an upgrade, much of the floor was cracked and surrounding structures dated. Shiro frowned to himself softly.

He was told in the upcoming weeks to his speech that the school was located in a rough area of town and that the kids could get temperamental at times, lots of them coming from low income families and foster homes.

In that moment Shiro knew that his talk had to be top notch, these kids needed to know that there was a bright future out there waiting for them, they just had to work at pursuing it.

“Officer Shirogane,” An older lady -presumably the principal- called his name wearing the same soft smile that the secretary had, “We’re ready for you.”

Shiro smiled and stood up as the lady extended her hand “I am Ms. Wilson, principal of Sandalwood Middle School. We are so pleased that you could join us today.”

“Takashi Shirogane,” he said as he briefly shook her hand, “and the pleasure is mine, thank you for having me here.”

She smiled nodding her head. “Well if you would just follow me this way, all of the kids are very anxious for you to start the presentation.”

“As am I,” Shiro laughed softly.

Ms. Wilson gave him a knowing look and a smile “There’s no need to be anxious around these kids officer, I think you could stand at the front of the room for half an hour and they’d be enthralled just by your presence.”

“Well I’m not too sure about that, but thank you, Ms. Wilson.”
His new-found officer title at the Garrison was one that he was still trying to figure out how to adjust to. When he told people about his work and that he was likely going to be selected to pilot a space mission, people's perception of him changed almost instantly. It was almost as if they thought of him as a celebrity.

It almost made his skin crawl, because honestly he really didn’t know what he was doing half the time.

Yet here he was, trailing behind Ms. Wilson, about to go “inspire” the next generation about space travel and encourage them to follow in his footsteps. He still felt as though he was severely underqualified for the job.

Ms. Wilson finally turned ahead of him through a set of old wooden double doors into the school’s auditorium where his speech was to be given. As Shiro rounded the corner into the tiny theatre, he came face to face with what felt like hundreds of children, the youngest ones seated at the front of the room on the floor while the older ones were in the back on chairs.

Ms. Wilson stepped to the front of the theatre and clapped a pattern with her hands to get the attention of the seemingly endless amounts of students in the hall. Slowly but surely the children realized what was going on and diverted their attention to the adults at the front of the room.

There was a short introduction given by both the principal and the vice principal before Shiro’s name was called and he stepped forward in front of his audience, properly taking them in for the first time.

He smiled nervously, peering down at all the young faces looking up at him with awe. Some had their mouths open and eyes wide, while others looked like they were about to burst up out of their spots in pure joy at the mere sight of him.

He couldn’t remember what he was supposed to say.

It was stupid, who gets stage fright in front of a bunch of children, really?. But standing in front of all of them, their eyes seemed to burn right through him. He felt all the pressure of his accomplishments pile on top of him. They were going to see right through his role. They were going to know that under all this newfound fame he had accumulated, he was barely even an adult yet and half the time, he didn’t even know what he was doing.

The silence, he realizes, that’s surrounding him is deafening, but for the life of him he can’t seem to get a word out. He takes a shaky breath in and out and glances around the small theatre once more, trying to focus, trying to remember. When something caught his eye.

There was a small boy sitting towards the back of the crowd of students looking in the opposite direction of Shiro, and uttery unimpressed. He was extremely pale, Shiro noticed, and very skinny. He had long black hair that fell into his face over his eyes, and stuck out amongst the other kids. It didn’t take a genius to infer that his circumstances were not as privileged as his fellow classmates.

Although he was sure that the child's seeming disinterest in his speech was supposed to make his heart drop and increase the pressure that he had put on himself; for some reason it made him feel at ease.

He took another deep breath.

The words seemed to flow easily from his mouth, talking about how cool space was and that the Garrison was always on the lookout for new cadets. They just had to study hard enough and complete the entry level exam for a chance to be selected for an interview to their world renowned program.

The students seemed to hang off of every word he said, completely entranced by the idea that they had a chance to go to space school and even be selected for missions to go out into the galaxy.

Throughout his speech, Shiro kept hastily glancing toward the disheveled boy in the back of the auditorium. He was fumbling around with the pamphlet that had been given out to each of the students, incase they decided they wanted more information on how to apply.

Shiro realized very suddenly how very small and shy he looked. He kept taking nervous glances up towards where Shiro was and then would quickly advert his eyes to somewhere else in the room, as though he was scared of drawing even the smallest bit of attention towards himself.

Without realizing, he stared a second too long and the boy glanced up, their eyes meeting for a fraction of a second. However, before he quickly tore his glance away Shiro caught the deep circles underneath his eyes and a gaze that looked far too old and worn for a mere child.

His heart instantly went out to him, how couldn’t it, as he looked at his unkempt hair and worn out clothes -second hand no doubt. He looked like he desperately needed guidance, a helping hand to gently push him in the right direction, a friend.

He pushed the thought to the back of his mind however, nearing the end of his speech. It was time for the simulation portion of the recruitment, usually a fan favourite from all the children.

During the speeches it was decided by the Garrison to include a portable simulation exercise, not only to end things off on a high note with the students but to also collect scores from the simulations completed in order to help scout out hopeful candidates for the Garrisons program.

Typically the exercises didn’t yield any overtly impressive results as most students trying the simulation had never had experience actually flying before, so it became more so a final “wow factor” in the recruitment.

After a short question period about the Garrison as the simulation was set up it was finally time for the students to be put to the test. They all lined up in alphabetical order according to their homeroom anxiously awaiting their turn to play the “big video game.”

Shiro stood back and watched as student after student tried the short simulation.

He allowed his mind to wander for a while after watching around ten students take to the simulation, each crashing only a few seconds in, much to the other students excitement their small voices turning into yelling and whooping as each new candidate took a seat.

He was in the middle of contemplating what he should make for dinner when something caught his eye -the small boy from the back of the gym was about to take the test. Staring daggers into the ground, hands shoved into his pockets, he looked as though he would rather walk through a fire than try out the simulation.

However, he begrudgingly took his seat, scowl on his face imminent as he picked up the two controllers and clicked the button to begin the simulation.

It was unlike anything Shiro had ever seen before from a student so young.

He was expertly maneuvering the simulated ship around the course, dodging all of the rocks and cliffsides that jutted out from all angles. Flying at such a speed that shouldn't have allowed him to do so successfully.

However, he was doing it, and Shiro was dumbfounded. A kind of giddy excitement bubbled up in his chest, he could feel a ridiculous smile creeping up on his face but he couldn’t stop it.

This kid was incredible.

The gym broke out in screams and whoops as the boy completed the simulation, even Shiro had to hold back a cheer of is own.

Then, as quickly as the excitement came, it ended. The boy putting down the controllers, and stuffing his hands back into his pockets, head down and scowling at the floor as he went to go take his seat again.

The next student stepped up to the screen.

What seemed like a short eternity later, all the students were filing out of the gym back to their classrooms; some trying to break away from their homerooms to try and see Shiro, but eventually being shuffled back into the mass of children.

Shiro kept his eyes peeled, however, but was not able to spot the small boy that had completely aced the simulation. He didn’t appear to be the type of person that would walk with his head up high and even then, he was probably too small to even have a couple inches on most of the kids he was sitting with.

He felt a hand come to rest gently on his shoulder and turned to find Ms. Wilson positively beaming up at him.

“Thank you so much officer, that was a magnificent presentation! I didn’t know that our kids had that kind of attention span, you really piqued their interests.”

Shiro smiled back, but it felt hollow.

“Well thank you,” he spoke shyly while reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “I hope I did alright, I kind of went on autopilot there.”

“Oh believe me, you certainly did more than alright. I have never seen our students more entranced with a guest speaker before, you had every single one captivated!”
Not everyone, Shiro briefly thought before he was being guided out of the auditorium and back out into the hallway.

As he passed again through the wooden doors, he was met by the sound of children's jeers and turned his head to see a group of students surrounding the small boy that Shiro had seen earlier.

“Don’t worry Keith, you won’t be needing this pamphlet, nobody cares enough about you to send you to space school!” A girl who had at least a head on him sneered as she snatched the Garrison booklet out of his hand and ripped it cleanly in half, discarding the pieces on the floor.

The other students around him snickered at the torn up pamphlet.

The boy -Keith, Shiro noted- took a deep breath in, shoving his hands in his pockets, staring down at his shoes. He looked defeated, resigned, broken. Shiro’s heart ached for him, he wanted to take away the pain in his eyes, wanted him to know that those kids didn’t have to have power over him.

Ms. Wilson excused herself from Shiro’s side to gather up the children that had been teasing Keith and bring them into her office, scolding them until she was out of earshot from where Keith was standing, frozen to the spot.

Shiro jumped into action immediately, quickly covering the ground between him and Keith, reaching into his pocket for an extra pamphlet to give it to him.

“Hey, Keith, right?” Shiro said softly, squatting down next to Keith so that the two were eye-level.

Keith flinched and shied away from his gaze, staring a hole into the floor and pushing his hands far enough into his pockets that his hoodie was pulled taut towards the ground. However he gave him the smallest nod to which Shiro considered permission enough to keep talking to him.

“Here, I have another pamphlet for you, thought that maybe you might like one,” He extended out the paper booklet in his hand toward Keith, like a fisherman lowering bait into the water. He paused, holding his breath, silently willing him to take a bite.

Keith stood rigid for a couple seconds, before hastily taking his hand out of his hoodie pocket to reach up for Shiro’s hand, lifting his head ever so slightly to look up at Shiro’s gaze.

Shiro gave him a soft smile as Keith took his offering. He had the sudden urge to reach up and ruffle his hair, to pat him on the shoulder, to do something, anything, in attempt to let the kid know that he was on his side. However, they were interrupted by the sound of a classroom door and somebody walking out into the hallway.

“Keith, there you are! Are you giving Officer Shirogane trouble? Come on, get back into class, we are about to start a new lesson.”

And at that Keith shoved the Garrison pamphlet into his pocket and skittered back into the classroom, never looking up from the ground all the way.

Shiro stood up from where he had been squatting and looked up at Keith’s teacher -a short lady with blonde curled hair, a dusting of freckles and a soft frown on her face- as she watched Keith scurry back into her class.

“Sorry if he was giving you any trouble officer, I didn’t realize he slipped out. Lots of kids to keep track of,” She gestured into her classroom, her eyes meeting Shiro’s.

He peered into the room, there was indeed a lot of children, what looked like around 40 kids were all sitting at desks, talking quietly -or a childs equivalent to quietly- in their teachers absence, eyeing the door and waiting for her to come back in.

“No, he wasn’t causing any trouble ma’am, I just gave him another pamphlet, some kids were giving him trouble and disposed of his original one.”

“Ah,” She said, the slight frown returning to her face. “He seems to get a lot of trouble from the kids around here. Poor kid, parents both passed, he’s lashed out a couple times, can have quite the feisty personality.” she said, a small smirk tugging at the corners of her mouth. “But when the kids gang up on him there’s not much he can do to get out of it, he closes off…” all traces of the smirk that threatened to bloom on her face was gone, somber tone returning. “Top of his class though, shame we can’t do more for him here, very bright kid that one. Anyways, thank you officer, I’m sure he won’t forget you anytime soon, probably made his whole year just then. All the best on your future studies and potential missions.”

With that she smiled and nodded, turning curtly on her heels and entering the classroom again, shutting the door behind her with a soft snick.

In the week that followed, Shiro could not keep his mind off the small, shy, disheveled boy from Sandalwood Middle school. It was like a tick in his brain, festering in his thoughts, manifesting itself in his life, never ceasing, beating relentlessly in his brain, he had to do something, he had to help.

Which is what brought Shiro to the doors of Commander Holt’s office, nearly two weeks after his recruitment speech at Sandalwood. Finally, voicing the one question that had been constantly on his mind.

“How do I become a mentor through the recruitment program at the Garrison?”

Chapter Text

It took Shiro a little while to fill out all the paperwork to become a mentor through the Garrison’s program. Though they were absolutely ecstatic that one of the school’s best has decided to step up and take in a younger student under his wing, there is a large process that he has to go through in order to receive the permission necessary.

There were many questions that the teachers asked of him before he was able to go through the next process of screening. How was he going to be able to balance being a mentor with his schedule? Was this going to impact his ability in his new teaching position? Was he overloading himself? Did he have a candidate in mind or was the Garrison to assign him one?

After he had formed a schedule that satisfied the mentorships requirements as well as fit around his busy lifestyle, his application was submitted to the Garrison to be approved by the head of staff, then to be sent to Sandalwood middle school. Shiro had been advised that the application was likely going to take a month to be processed, and from there, at least a week to get approval from Sandalwood and required guardianship signatures.

All he could do now was wait.

He tried his best to keep himself occupied in the coming month; there was more than enough for him to do to keep him busy, still getting the hang of teaching classes, attending countless staff meetings and trainings. But when he settled down for bed, left alone with his thoughts, he couldn’t help but think about Keith and his application, that it would be accepted and he would be an okay mentor.

_________________________

Keith thumbed the pamphlet from the Garrison nervously in his pocket as he waited to fill up his plate for supper. He wasn’t exactly sure why he had kept it. He supposed half because he had just forgotten it was in his hoodie until he reached into his pockets just to forget to take it out again before he changed. He would be lying if he said that was entirely true though. Half of him -an entirely selfish and stupid half- had kept it because it gave him a strange sense of…comfort?

He knew that he would never be able to go to the Garrison, kids who had been through what Keith had never made it out. He knew how hopeless his situation was, he had been told many times. Keith never fit in, he could be a smartass, he didn’t have money, he didn’t have parents. Nobody cared enough about Keith to send him to stupid space school so he should just stop thinking about it, throw the pamphlet out, tear it into a million little pieces to remind him of what his life was. Of what he was.

However, he could never seem to bring himself to do it. He liked knowing that there was an escape out there, even though he would never be able to attain it. Just the knowledge of its existence calmed his anxieties and made his days more bearable.

He found himself reaching into his pocket quite often, rubbing the pages between his index finger and thumb, feeling the familiar texture of the raised ink on the paper, grazing over its glossy finish. It grounded him, brought him into the present, reminding him that however impossible it seemed, there was at least one good thing out there, and some days it felt really impossible.

“Keith, move, it’s your turn.”

He felt a foot sharply shoving him forward on his back from one of the older boys behind him who also lived in the home. He didn’t even turn around to see who it is, just quickly shuffled forward, pulling his hand out of his pocket to grab a plate from the laminate countertop and serve himself some supper.

Macaroni and cheese made from a box.

The large pot sat just high enough on the stove that Keith couldn’t quite scoop out his dinner without standing on his tiptoes, which proved to be quite the difficult task whilst trying to balance a plate in one arm and serve with the other.

As he went to transfer the food from ladle to plate, his balance faltered, throwing him off kilter and causing the small portion of the macaroni to fall onto the floor and plate to slip out of his hand; shattering on the ground with a loud smash.

His feels his ears go red. He’s messed up now.

Footsteps, big loud footsteps come crashing from the dining room into the kitchen. He feels the kids around him scatter but his feet are frozen to the ground, he can’t move, he can’t breathe, he can’t think.

He shoves his hand into his pocket. Desperately grasping at the pamphlet, wearing the paper down between his fingers. Trying to think about the escape, about space, about anything but what he knows is going to come.

He feels a hand roughly grasp the hood on his sweater and he’s yanked back by a force much bigger and stronger than his own.

“The fuck did you just do.”

Keith’s breath hitches in his throat.

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, it just slipped, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’ll clean it up,” The words seemed to spill from his mouth in a garbled mess, his stomach was numb, he could feel tears pricking the corners of his eyes as he stared a hole through the floor.

His hood twisted, making the grip around his neck tighter, threatening to cut off his airway. There was a face by his ear all too suddenly, an abrasive voice dryly hissing into his ear. His foster “dad” Brent.

He reeked of alcohol, the smell seeping past his mouth and clothes, cascading up Keith’s nose making him silently cringe. His whiskers brushed sharply against his ears and neck, tickling him ever so slightly in the worst way possible.

Every instinct in his body was screaming for him to try and escape, wriggle out of Brent’s grasp, fight back.

But he couldn’t.

Don’t fight.

“You bet your sorry ass you’re going to clean this up. You know I work all day, putting my paycheck forward to pay for you kids and this is the thanks I get? You’re lazy, arrogant and clearly ungreatful of what I am so graciously providing for you. So yes, you will clean that plate up with your hands to teach you a lesson about breaking my things. Then you are going to eat the food that you so kindly decided to spill on my floor so maybe you’ll come to appreciate what I do for you more.”

The hand around his hood shoved him forward harshly and Keith was on on his hands and knees on the kitchen floor.

“I’ll be back in fifteen minutes, this better be cleaned up. Don’t leave this room.”

Keith kept his eyes glued to the ground until he heard the footsteps exiting the kitchen into the dining room to eat with the rest of the kids in his home.

He took a shaky breath in and out, blinking several times and willing the tears threatening to spill from his eyes away. Crying wasn’t going to help right now, if he cried he’d get in more trouble.

It took a few moments but eventually Keith felt composed enough to push himself off his hands, kneeling in front of the mess that he had made, staring at the pieces of broken glass and macaroni, trying to assess if any of the shards had made it into his food and how to best clean it all up without a broom and dustpan.

He eventually decided that the best way to dispose of the broken plate was to cover his hands with the sleeves of his hoodie and scoop up the shards between the fabric.

He got to work sweeping the pieces of glass into a pile and taking it in handfuls to the garbage can, making sure to thoroughly shake the hoodie out after each trip. Eventually he cleared the floor enough so that he wasn’t worried anybody was going to get hurt stepping on a stray shard.

Next was to deal with his dinner on the floor.

He knew that he couldn’t throw it away, Brent would see it in the garbage and then he would be in for a whole new world of trouble, he couldn’t flush it down the toilet, Brent would hear and then he would know he left the room. He racked his brain for options on how to dispose of the food growing ever colder on the floor.

His stomach rumbled loudly. He still had to eat.

As much as he really, really didn’t want to eat the food on the floor, Keith couldn’t seem to find a suitable alternative. His stomach had started to ache with hunger that had crept into his system, overtaking the previous adrenaline, and he was starting to shake having only managed to steal a mandarin orange to eat that day.

He stifled an anguished whine from escaping the back of his throat, he was tired, hungry and suddenly very grumpy. He wanted to stomp his feet, throw something on the ground, scream or cry or both. It just wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.

Keith curled his hands up into fists and sucked in a deep breath, pushing it to the front of his face. Letting the pressure build up in his sinuses until he could tell he was going red, and let it all out it one silent and defeated sigh.

Of course it was fair, how couldn’t it be fair. If there wasn’t something wrong with him, why did his mom leave, why did his dad die. If there wasn’t something wrong with him why didn’t he have any friends, why did Brent hate him so much.

There was a million reasons why Keith wasn’t good enough. He didn’t respect the home Brent had given to him, he had a temper that got out of control, he wanted to fight back when he was supposed to admit defeat.

He needed to learn his proper place.

Right now that place was in the kitchen of his temporary home, staring at his dinner on the floor, reminding himself that he must deserve this, that this is his fault. It’s always his fault.

He admits defeat.

Grabbing a fork from the counter, he slumped himself onto the floor sitting cross legged to eat his supper. He absentmindedly reached his hand back into the pocket of his hoodie, wearing down the familiar leaflet between his fingers.

It seemed as though an eternity had passed when Brent had finally finished his supper to find Keith sitting on the floor, fork clenched tightly in hand and face expressionless.

“Get up, you’re going to bed.”

Keith was too exhausted to make an attempt to fight back at the demand. He stood, dropping his fork in the sink and making his way past Brent and up the stairs into his shared room, closing the door behind him.

He all but threw himself onto his bed as soon as he was in its direct vicinity, burying his head deep into his pillow and allowing himself an anguished whine that bubbled up from his throat, escaping his mouth. He balled his hands into fists and brought them down hard onto the mattress beside his head, horribly aware of hot wet streaks running down his face. He wanted so badly to kick something or scream or punch Brent in his stupid face.

But he knew he couldn’t do that.

So he quietly got up, put on his pyjamas, took the Garrison pamphlet out of his hoodie’s pocket and slipped it into his pillowcase, climbing under the covers.

Though the evening sun was still pouring through the blinds, he closed his eyes, falling into a restless sleep unable to stop hot tears and shudders wracking his body in the process.
---
“Keith Kogane, please report to Ms. Wilson’s office. Keith Kogane to Ms. Wilson’s office.”
Keith felt his face go red as his classmates all craned their heads around to look at him.

What could he have possibly done now?

He hadn’t been in a big fight in weeks, still riding on the last bit of glory from acing the simulation from officer Shirogane’s presentation. The kids hadn’t exactly been nice to him as of late, however they weren’t mean, just ignoring his presence more or less. Keith wasn’t complaining though, he preferred to be left alone most of the time anyways.

However that did not provide any explanation for the situation at present.

“Alright Keith, you’re excused, go on,” His teacher dismissed him mid lesson, her voice sounding slightly frustrated.

He got to his feet, still feeling the eyes of his peers fixated on him as he made his way to the back of the classroom, out the door and towards the main office.

“Oh Keith, there you are! Ms. Wilson is waiting for you, just head on into her office.” The school secretary, Mrs. Fields, beamed at him.

She seemed to really like him for some reason he couldn’t quite understand, he visited the office quite frequently from getting into fights and most of the staff would treat him rather cooly because of it; however, not Mrs. Fields. Whenever Keith was seated outside the principal's office waiting for his turn to get disciplined she would slip him candies, smiling at him and putting her index finger to her lips. Keith didn’t mind her he decided, though he wasn’t sure that she could be trusted.

She opened the door for him to come into the office and he followed as she lead him back, past her desk and to Ms. Wilson’s office promptly knocking on the open door.
“Ms. Wilson, I have Keith here for you.”

“Perfect, bring him in…hello Keith, take a seat please.”

Keith walked forward and took a seat across the desk from Ms. Wilson as Mrs. Fields closed the door behind them. He sat nervously for a while, looking at the items Ms. Wilson kept on her desk: pictures of three kids he assumed were hers, little stuffed dolphins, pez dispensers, studying anything that would allow him to avoid eye contact with his principal for as long as possible.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble, quite the opposite actually. I have some good news for you,” Ms. Wilson started, a bright cheerful tone in her voice.

That was new, Keith was never in the principal's office unless he was in trouble, and Ms. Wilson never sounded that happy around him. He raised his head slightly, staring more or less at her chin as he waited for her to continue.

“You remember Officer Shirogane, right? He was here a few weeks ago from the Garrison?”

Keith nodded slightly, feeling very confused.

“Well, he seemed to really take a liking to you. After watching your run through the simulation, the Garrison is in agreeance that your test scores were high enough for you to be considered for the Garrisons mentorship program. Officer Shirogane would like to take on that role for you.”

Keith’s head was spinning, Officer Shirogane wanted to what.

“The school has agreed to write a letter of recommendation for you into the program and we have contacted your legal guardian in order to obtain the required permission, as the program is quite intensive.”

Wait, they what.

“You what?” Keith spoke without thinking, panic rising in his chest. Brent couldn’t know about this, he would be so mad.

“For you to be able to be accepted into the program we must obtain a guardian’s signature. The Garrison is very serious about you Keith, this is an amazing opportunity. We think it would be very good for you. We contacted your foster father -Brent, right? After some persuasion he agreed to a meeting with myself, the head of the Garrison recruitment team as well as you and Officer Shirogane. We will be in contact with the Garrison to set up a date and time…this is a very exciting chance Keith, not many kids get this opportunity.”

Keith sat numb in his seat in a silent panic, from the sounds of it, the damage had already been done. Brent knew, he was coming in for a meeting, Keith was in so much trouble. So, so much trouble.

The rest of the day after Keith’s meeting with principal Wilson went by in a nervous blur. Part of him was excited, because the Garrison really wanted him to be a part of this mentoring program, which was unreal.

He was also nervous, because even if by some miracle he managed to get into the program, he felt as though the Garrison was going to see right through him. He wasn’t even sure what he had done to complete the simulation, he feared it was only luck that brought him through, he had no piloting experience beforehand afterall.

However, the largest portion of him was in a silent panic for the final bell to ring, signaling home time. He was already on thin ice with Brent thanks to the previous nights’ dinner incident and he feared this might push him over the edge. Brent hated people asking him for favours that were “not essential” and this definitely fell under that category. Not to mention there would probably be costs involved as well. Keith’s stomach was in knots just thinking about the conversation that awaited him at home.

He watched the clock tick down the last seconds until the final bell rang, signalling their dismissal from school. Gathering his things, he started his walk home as slowly as possible, trying very hard to push off the impending storm that waited for him at the house, reaching back into his pocket to run his hand over the Garrison pamphlet, which suddenly felt so much more real to him.

As Keith reached his house he stood outside for a few minutes, not wanting to face what he already knew was to come behind the door. However he knew he couldn’t put it off forever and eventually mustered the courage to walk up the front steps, hand hesitating on the doorknob before very carefully opening the door and stepping inside.

The effect was almost instantaneous.

In a split second decision Keith tried to make a beeline up the stairs to his room however before he could get more than three feet into his house there were hands on his shoulders pulling him back.

Keith held his breath, staring at the ground.

Then he heard…laughing?

Yes, that was definitely laughing, and it was definitely coming from Brent. The laughing continued -getting harsher and harsher- turning into a cackle, morphing into a maniacal sound.

“The Garrison…they want you?”

Keith felt frozen to the spot -he couldn’t feel his limbs- just a steady pulse of adrenaline running from his head to his feet, causing his stomach to flip and his breathing to quicken.

“You know that’s just rich,” Brent spat out, laughing coming to an abrupt halt. “You know, what makes you think you can even go to this space school anyways, you don’t have the brain for it and you certainly don’t have the drive. You are lazy and arrogant, you’d never make it out there. Believe me, once they get to know you, they aren’t going to want you in their program anymore. Space travel, really Keith? There’s absolutely no need for you to go to this school, it’s a waste of time with a bunch of “officers” and “commanders” who all think they’re better than us. Not to mention the money, what in God’s name were you thinking, you little brat. I give you so much and now what, you want more? You need to learn a thing or two about respect or I’m putting you back in the system, and believe me when I say nobody is going to want to take you in.”

“I’m so sorry, it wasn’t my idea I swear, I promise, I didn’t even know they contacted you, please I’m so sorry.” Keith staggered out, words leaving his mouth in a blind panic. He could not be put back in the system.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Brent hissed. “I have to go to this fucking meeting with all of these teachers on Thursday and it’s your fault, you did this, don’t shift the blame.”

“Okay, I won’t I’m sorry, i-it’s my fault.”

“Damn right it is, now go up to your room. I want you in there for the rest of the night. No supper, no exceptions.”

Keith nodded numbly, turning to walk up the stairs to his room, a horrible pit of guilt festering heavily in his stomach.
_________________________

“It just doesn’t make sense Adam, I mean- shouldn’t they have gotten back to me by now?”

“Takashi, it’s been a month and four days, and the Garrison is very busy. I’m sure they’ll get back to you as soon as they can.”

“No no, it’s been too long, what if they forgot, what if they think I’m unfit? Why haven’t they gotten back to me? I should call them, or go to the office, see what’s wrong.”

“Kashi, I really don’t think that’s necessary-”

“Too late, I made up my mind, I’m going to the office.”

“You’re incessant, you know that right?” Adam said rolling his eyes with a soft smirk, sinking down into his morning coffee. A small hum escaped his chest as the smell wafted up his nose.

“I know, but you love me anyways,” Shiro chimed in with a smile, wrapping his arms around the other man from behind where he sat at their table.

“Unfortunately I do,” He sighed into Shiro’s arms, closing his eyes momentarily, relishing the feeling of another’s warmth against his back. “Well, at least help me make breakfast before you run off.” He felt Shiro lips form a smile on top of his hair where he had been resting his head.

“Anything for you.”

In the midst of Shiro frying eggs whilst Adam sliced up various fruits at the island behind him, Shiro’s phone went off in his pocket. Pulling it out he glanced down at the screen to see GLXY GARRISON displayed on the top in large letters.

“Oh shit Adam, it’s the Garrison I gotta take this, make sure these don’t burn!” He called, already out of the kitchen and halfway down the hallway towards their bedroom.

He pressed the accept call button on his phone screen.

“Hello, am I speaking with Officer Shirogane please?” A female voice chimed through the speaker.

“Yes, that is me.”

“Oh perfect! I am calling you on behalf of the Garrison’s recruitment program regarding your mentorship application.”

Shiro’s heart started beating quickly in his chest, “Yes, I applied around a month ago.”

“We have contacted Sandalwood middle school, they would like to set up a meeting with you and some of our staff as well as your mentee’s family in order to finalize some paperwork and iron out a few details before we move forward. Does Thursday at 4:30 pm at Sandalwood Middle School work for you?”
“Yes, that should work out fine with me.”

“Okay, wonderful. I will let the team here know and we will get it all set up for you. Remember to wear your uniform to the meeting, as we want to make the best impression to the family that we can.”

“Of course, thank you so much.”

“No worries, we will be in contact soon Officer.”

With that, the call was over, leaving Shiro with a huge smile on his face as he walked back out into the kitchen, coming face to face with an expectant boyfriend.

“So what’s the news?”

“Well the decision isn’t final yet but it’s looking really good from what I gathered.”

“Kashi that’s great! Look at you go you big manly mentor,” Adam teased, a smirk dancing on his lips. He raised his hand to cup his cheek, leaning in to kiss Shiro playfully on the lips.

Shiro couldn’t help but smile to himself as he let the giddy excitement rise up in his chest as Adam kissed him.

“Now, come on and eat your eggs that I ever so graciously made for you.” Adam said, pulling away and walking towards the kitchen table.

Shiro followed, smile still plastered on his face, light fluttering still buzzing in his chest.

Chapter Text

The days between receiving the call from the Garrison and the meeting seemed to pass by in merely an instant. Before he knew it, Shiro was standing in front of the mirror, straightening his uniform and running over things he could say in his head.

Talk about potential for growth that you believe Keith has. Talk about your grades leaving the Garrison. Express how excited you are to have a chance to work with him. Talk about how he could thrive at the Garrison.

His thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of someone's hand resting against his arm.

“So are you going to come out of this room? Or are you just going to stand in front of the mirror for another half hour.”

Shiro bit the inside of his cheek, trying to calm down the frizz in the front of his hair, glancing at Adam through the reflective surface, standing behind him. “I’m coming, I’m coming, just trying to make myself look presentable.”

“That’s what you said ten minutes ago babe, come on and eat something before you leave,” he gave him a few seconds more of fretting, “Kashi, come on stop fussing. You look perfect.” He said, giving Shiro’s jacket sleeve a slight tug back so that they came face to face.

“Oh come on that’s no fair, you just have to say that because you’re my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend who just happens to always be right,” Adam muttered, reaching his hand up to rest at the back of Shiro’s head, pulling their faces closer together until their foreheads were pressed up against one another. He closed his eyes, taking in Shiro’s presence. The smell of his cologne drifting up his nose, his strong arms gripping both of his between them, he felt completely content, safe, at home. He allowed himself a brief moment before pulling away, “Now come on, you should really eat before you go.”

Shiro nodded, trailing after his boyfriend. Though still nervous for the meeting, he was feeling more reassured and confident that he was going to be able to make things work.

_________________________

As the bell rang signaling that school was out, Keith shuffled out of his classroom, uneasily making his way towards the main office to wait for the meeting between the school officials and Brent. Anxiety was rolling in the pit of his stomach, threatening to spill over into his limbs that were quaking underneath his weight. Mindlessly putting one foot in front of the other until he was stood in front of the main office, a smiling Mrs. Fields greeting him and shuffling him into her office to sit behind her desk.

“Well the meeting isn’t for about another hour yet, but you are more than welcome to take my spot here and do some homework or something else until everybody is ready,” She chimed, pulling out her chair for Keith to sit in.

He took a couple steps forward to accept the chair, sinking slightly into it, feet not quite reaching the ground. He hunched in on himself a little bit, sitting on top of his hands. It didn’t feel right to be sitting somewhere that was meant for an adult, he felt very out of place. However, Mrs. Fields just smiled at him and pushed forward a bowl of candy to him, which made him feel a little bit better.

“Okay, I’m just going to be in Ms. Wilson’s office, helping her get everything in order for the meeting, if you need anything don’t hesitate to come back and ask.” With that she turned around into the principal's office, leaving the door open just a crack behind her.
Keith sat very still for a couple of seconds in the secretary’s chair before letting himself relax slightly, opening up his backpack to take out his homework assignments for that day, laying them down and getting to work.

He was just about halfway through his first assignment, spinning the chair back and forth absentmindedly when Officer Shirogane walked through the front doors of the building. Keith froze on the spot, feeling suddenly, very insecure, pushing all of his homework into a small pile and staring down at the desk. He listened as the officer approached, stopping in front of the counter.

“Whatcha working on there?” Shiro mused, smiling, delicately trying to establish a conversation with Keith whilst not intimidating him.

Keith felt the tips of his ears go red, his stomach dropping down into his shoes. He had to respond. Lifting his head up ever so slightly to look into the Officer’s chest he managed to mumble out “math” whilst kicking his legs back and forth nervously.

He heard Shiro take a sharp intake of breath before speaking just barely above a whisper, “Not math.”

Keith hunched in on himself, feeling as though he had done something wrong, still staring into the officer’s chest.

“Math is the worst subject ever, you have to put it away right now, I won’t have it.”

Keith reached up to put his books away quickly, nervous the Officer was upset with him. His words suggested that he was, however his tone suggested otherwise, it was lighthearted, almost…playful? He was even more confused when he braved a glance towards Officer Shirogane’s face and he saw a soft and kind smile resting gently on his lips. It gave him an odd and uncomfortable sense of comfort, adults didn’t interact with him like this. He couldn’t be trusted, Keith knew he couldn’t trust him.

“Much better, I can relax now,” Officer Shirogane breathed in the same lighthearted tone. “Now do you want to come around and let me into the office while we wait for this meeting to get going?”

Keith nodded apprehensively and got up to let the officer into the office, walking back to the chair at Ms. Fields desk while Officer Shirogane took a chair pushed up against the wall just left of where Keith sat.

“The rest of my team should be here pretty soon, but I figured I’d show up a little bit earlier to try and talk to you a bit before all this goes down. Just let you know why I’m doing this and what I’m hoping will come of it.”

“Okay,” Keith spoke wearily, feeling anxious at the officers eyes on him.

“Perfect, well I am Officer Shirogane as you probably already know but if we aren’t in a formal setting you can call me Shiro -it makes me feel a little weird being called Officer Shirogane if I’m being honest.” He said the last words with a bit of a laugh, that almost sounded nervous, which confused Keith even more. What reason would Officer Shirogane have to be nervous? “Anyways, as teachers at the Garrison, we get special opportunities to mentor students that we think could have potential at the Garrison. Your simulation scores from last month were incredible Keith, I’ve never seen them that high before from a student your age. I think you have lots of potential and I’d really like to help you reach it.”

Keith looked at the Officer dumbfounded.

Officer Shirogane wanted to help him? Keith? It seemed to good to be true, he pinched his hand to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, which he realized was a bit silly. However he couldn’t seem to fathom it in his head. Grown-ups never wanted to help Keith, he knew he was a “troubled” kid, he would never make it anywhere with his life.

He couldn’t.

However, Officer Shirogane was here, he arranged a meeting, all for him. His words sounded so genuine that Keith couldn’t help but selfishly believe them a little bit -though try as he may to push them away.

It took a few moments of processing the officers words for Keith to realize that he was looking at him, expecting a response to what he had just said. Panic rising in his chest, he scrambled for something to say, a million thoughts racing through his head though one only managing to make it out of his mouth, in a stuttering frenzy.

“U-um, when?”

The Officer smiled, seemingly satisfied with Keith’s attempt at a response.

“Well we would probably start this week, I have a schedule worked out with the Garrison. I just have to run it past your school to make sure that it’s okay. Assuming everything goes alright I’d mentor you one school day a week -Wednesday because I don’t have any classes to teach that day- and then on weekends from eleven o’clock in the morning until seven in the evening. I know it might seem like a lot of time, but we wouldn’t just be doing school work and that stuff. I have a couple projects that I’m working on that I think you might be able to help me with, as well as a real simulator on Garrison campus that we can test out, if you are up to it.” He finished raising one of his eyebrows as though he was challenging Keith.

Keith’s heart was fluttering in his chest, he could feel his ears going red, his stomach flipping over.

He wasn’t sure how to react.

He wanted to be excited, he really really did. However there were about a million warning bells blaring inside of his brain. It was just too good to be true, Keith did not deserve this. Maybe the simulation had glitched when he tried it and his scores got messed up, surely somebody else was more deserving of this them him. His breath started picking up, staring down into his knees, his legs swinging back and forth underneath him.

Officer Shirogane’s voice spoke again, more gentle and quiet this time. “Hey, hey, I’m sorry, I don’t want to overwhelm you. It’s totally up to you, today we are just exploring options, if you want to say no you can. It’s okay.”

But the thing that frustrated Keith the most was that despite all the warnings going off in his brain, he unmistakably wanted to say yes. Yes he did want this, he wanted to have a chance, a stupid selfish chance at becoming something that he couldn’t. Before his brain registered what was happening, he indulged in his selfish desire, speaking out.

“No, I…I want to. Thank you, Officer Shirogane.”

He had really messed up now.

---

It wasn’t long after Shiro and Keith’s conversation that the head and co-head to the Garrison’s recruitment team had walked through the front doors of the school. Shiro getting up and calling Keith to follow behind him as he introduced the nervous child to them. Keith apprehensively shaking their hands, not quite making eye-contact with them as he quietly told them his name.

He was -Shiro had discovered- a very skittish kid, flinching if somebody moved too close or to fast around him, seemingly overwhelmed very easily. Far too anxious for someone his age he thought with a frown, which made his heart ache, wanting all the more to just be able to help him.

Just as Keith had finished shaking both of the Garrison officers hands, Ms. Wilson stepped out of her office as well as the secretary, whom Shiro recognized from his presentation the previous month.

Ms. Wilson beamed at them.

“Officer Shirogane, it’s so nice to have you back. We are all set up, just waiting on Mr. Kogane’s guardian to join us and then we can get started.” She smiled and approached Shiro to extend her hand for him to shake.

“Thank you so much Ms. Wilson, these are the heads of the Garrison’s recruitment program. Officer Whitaker,” a tall woman with darker skin covered in freckles and short hair stepped forward to take Ms. Wilson’s hand “and Officer Burnley,” a tall, muscular looking man with olive toned skin standing just behind Officer Whitaker stepped forward to take Ms. Wilson’s hand in a similar fashion. “They are going to be our agents in this mentorship, overseeing all the details and monitoring our programs process.”

“Well it is very nice to meet you, thank you so much for considering one of our students in this mentorship program, it truly is an honour,” Ms. Wilson said in a very professional manner, smiling at the three of them. “You can follow me back into my office while we wait for our last member, it may be a bit of a tight squeeze, but I am sure we can make it work.”
Shiro let Ms. Wilson lead them back towards her office, letting Officer Whitaker and Burnley follow behind her, gesturing for Keith to follow in front of him as well. He looked up at Shiro, eyes wide, fists clenched tightly at his sides and jaw set looking as though he was extremely tense for what was to unfold; although Shiro wasn’t exactly sure why.

However, he felt an overwhelming urge to try and reassure him that it was going to be alright, that they were going to make things work. Unsure of if it would actually help or not, Shiro spoke to him in a soft and gentle voice, as not to work him up even more.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay. We’re just going to be talking. It’s looking really good for you. Trust me.”

He thinks he sees Keith give him the slightest of nods before putting his head down to stare at the floor, trailing into the office just in front of Shiro.

They all take their respective seats, Ms. Wilson and Keith sitting on one side of the desk, an empty chair left beside him for his guardian. The two officers were on the other side with Shiro sitting in between them, directly across from Keith.

He anxiously awaits the meeting’s beginning, the silence in the office becoming stifling. The only sounds to be heard being the air conditioning hissing quietly through a ceiling vent and the occasional thunk of Keith’s feet hitting his chair’s legs from swinging them back and forth.

It takes another fifteen minutes after the meeting’s start time before a man, who Shiro assumes is Keith’s guardian, to stumble into the office. Albeit a bit unstable on his feet.

He was tall, though not as tall as Shiro, with pale skin and an unclean scruffy face. As he approached Shiro he could smell the distant scent of alcohol, masked with cheap cologne. He was wearing a simple outfit of a worn out t-shirt and jeans, with sneakers that were extremely worn at the sole.

Shiro held back a slight cringe, walking over to introduce himself.

“Hello sir, I am Officer Takashi Shirogane, The one that recommended Keith forward for the mentorship program at the Galaxy Garrison. Seated behind me are Officers Whitaker and Burnley, the heads of the program.” He said in the most professional tone he could manage, extending his hand forward.

The man stepped forward into the office, a sort of bemused grin plastered on his face. “Well isn’t it an honour Officers. Brent Kobrick, Keith’s legal guardian, the one who will be making the decisions here today.”

The way he spoke made Shiro very uneasy, a pit growing in his stomach. It came off to Shiro as if Brent thought he was above everybody else in the room, a sense of entitlement seeping off his character. It made Shiro want to fight even harder for Keith to have a chance at the program.

Eventually they all settled back into their seats, finally ready to commence the meeting, Shiro sitting nervously awaiting the outcome.

Ms. Wilson was the first to speak.

“Well Mr. Kobrick, thank you very much for joining us here today. As I am sure you are aware, you are here today regarding your foster child Mr. Kogane who has been recommended for the highly sought out mentorship program at the Garrison. We are hosting this meeting here today in hoping to figure out a schedule that satisfies all parties involved to best benefit Mr. Kogane in a pursuit that would have him studying full time at the Galaxy Garrison by the start of the next school year. As you are his legal guardian, we need your permission in order for him to participate in this program as it overlaps traditional school hours and the weekend.”

Officer Whitaker spoke next. “Yes, your foster son has come out with a remarkable score on a simulation test that we test that the students are allowed to try out in our recruitment speeches. One of the highest we have seen in years. We would like for him to participate in our program in the hopes that he will choose to study with us full-time at the Galaxy Garrison, which is the most highly regarded space exploration school in this country -and debatably the world- as of right now. Officer Shirogane has expressed interest in mentoring your son and he would work with him closely in his current studies at school as well as other projects and activities. He would do this in order for him to form a strong bond and receive guidance from a very highly regarded staff member that he would keep throughout his time at the Galaxy Garrison. The program would run during the days on weekends and one day of the weekday as of right now.”

Brent’s smile had grown across his face, however it was not one of pride. He looked as though he was about to burst out in laughter at everybody in the room. “You…let me get this straight. You want Keith,” He gestured harshly at his foster child beside him “this boy right here, in your ‘world renowned’ program.”

“Yes sir, we believe he has an outstanding amount of potential to succeed.” Shiro said firmly, looking him dead in the eye. The beginnings of anger were threatening in his chest.

Brent took a slow breath in through his nose and Keith seemed to curl in on himself beside him, sitting on his hands and shoulders hunching up towards his ears. The anger in Shiro’s chest was beginning to spread through his chest and into his stomach, slipping like hot liquid through him.

The next time Brent spoke, his tone was sharper, almost threatening. “Okay, let's say that I agree to him going to this space program. What’s that going to do for him? Put his head in the clouds, dreaming of a day where he’ll be a fancy space pilot? I don’t want you to set him up for disappointment, he has discipline issues. Just ask his teachers, he wouldn’t be able to excel in this program. He’s not the right fit.”

“We are aware of the discipline issues and our staff is confident that Officer Shirogane will be able to work him past that and help form him into an outstanding young cadet. That is part of what the mentorship entails.” Officer Burnley spoke next.

“So what, you’re just going to take my kid away from me and fix everything wrong with him and send him off into space? That sounds a bit rich. How do I know you aren’t just trying to scam me out of a bunch of money, that frankly I don’t have. Tell me, how many of these so called officers actually make it to space and don’t just end up as washouts teaching for the rest of their lives.”

“Mr. Kobrick, we assure you that we have a very promising turn out for our officers, ninety-three percent of them eventually getting the chance to go on a space mission, whether it be large or minor, all of them having guaranteed employment in our field of work. We also would like to offer Keith one of our scholarships throughout this mentorship and his time at the Garrison to ensure that he stays with us, we do not want any financial restrictions to prevent him from going to school.”

“A scholarship, as in money.” Brent said a slight shift in his voice.

“Yes, that’s what a scholarship is. It would be put in a trust fund for Keith, receiving a deposit every month, granted he meets the requirements. In order to help with his school fees and daily costs of living.”

A malicious glint arose in Brent’s eyes that made Shiro’s gut twist. He didn’t want Keith to attend the Galaxy Garrison for the program, he was now solely in it for the money. However he forced himself to keep his mouth shut, they seemed as though they were close to persuading him and Brent would have no access to Keith’s money anyhow.

The meeting seemed to go easier from there. Brent, dropping his accusational tone, complying to conditions, Ms. Wilson agreeing to the Garrisons proposed schedule.

Shiro didn’t have the chance to say too much, occasionally chiming in with how he felt as though he was well equipped for the mentorship, ready to take it on full force. However, he could not help himself from sending Keith concerned glances.

He wasn’t moving, head staring into his lap, shoulders still hunched up to almost his ears. His face was red and it looked as though he was barely allowing himself to breathe. He looked terrified, as though an explosion was going to go off any minute, killing them all in an instant.

It was absolutely heartbreaking.

The more Shiro looked, the more he knew that he had to help him. Give him hope, show him that he could accomplish more than what he ever dreamed he could. He was going to show Keith a future that he truly deserved.

In what seemed like a short eternity later, everybody was signing copious amounts of paper to agree to the mentorship and all of its terms. Every time his pen touched paper, Shiro got a small jolt of nervous excitement because this was really happening. He couldn’t take it back now.

He was going to have a major impact on someone’s future.

The knowledge of that power settling in above his chest, a weight filled with apprehension and elation in regards to what was to come.

Eventually, the meeting came to a close around all of about two hours after it had begun. Everybody got up to leave, shaking hands and saying their ‘thank you’s.

When it came to say goodbye to Keith, Shiro knelt down so that he was at eye-level with him.
“Okay well I guess I will be seeing you in a couple of days, would you like to meet at your house or somewhere in town?”

Keith cowered back a little bit, however rose his head to make eye contact with Shiro, glancing quickly towards Brent who was standing at the front doors of the school waiting to leave. “Um, not my house.” He spoke in barely above a whisper.

Shiro frowned slightly but nodded, quickly replacing it with a soft smile. “Okay that’s fine, there’s a library pretty close to your school here, how about we meet there and then we can figure everything out.”

“Okay, that sounds good,” Keith spoke a little more confidently, and Shiro could’ve sworn he saw the smallest of smiles tug at the corner of Keith’s mouth.

“I guess I will see you Saturday morning at the library Mr. Kogane,” Shiro said matter-of-factly, a playful tone working its way into his voice. He extended his hand out to Keith for him to shake it.

A smile, a real genuine smile spread across Keith’s face this time as he took Shiro’s hand and nodded. Quickly releasing it, he ducked his head back down as he turned away, making his way back towards Brent who was looking at him expectantly.

They left without another word.

Chapter Text

The walk to the library seemed to pass in no time at all. Trying not to concentrate on the nervous excitement that had made an unwelcome home in the pit of Keith’s gut consumed more brain power than he had initially noticed. Leading his feet through the front of the automatic doors of the building at ten forty-five in the morning, only half aware that he was doing so.

He glanced quickly around the area, checking to see if Officer Shirogane was already there, sitting at one of the tables waiting for him. However, to Keith’s relief or distress -he wasn’t sure which- he was nowhere in sight. Leaving him to stand just past the entrance to anxiously wait for his new mentor to walk through the doors.

Not even ten minutes had passed by the time Keith spotted the officer walking towards the library doors, tucking car keys into his pocket. He looked much more casual than Keith had seen him dressed before, his Garrison uniform replaced with a black sweater and jeans. It was a little bit strange, however it also made Keith feel less anxious. He seemed a little less intimidating this way.

He took one final deep breath as the officer walked through the doors, pushing his hands down into his pockets to find the Garrison pamphlet folded up inside. That was a little embarrassing, he silently willed it to not fall out through the day.

Daring a look up towards Officer Shirogane, he felt some of the tension that had been building up in his chest ebb away as he saw a smile on his face. He looked genuinely excited to be mentoring Keith, which still rendered him a little speechless if he was being honest.

“Hey Keith!” He called brightly, quickly covering the ground between the two coming to a stop just in front of him.

Keith tried very hard to suppress the urge to cower back from the officer, towering over him as he tried to work out a response past his mouth. “Uh- Hi, Officer Shir-”

“Hey, none of that. I told you to call me Shiro in non-formal settings. Don’t make me feel like an old man, kiddo.”

Keith felt his face heat up, however he didn’t hear anything in Office- Shiro’s voice that would imply he was really upset with him. “S-sorry, hi Shiro.”

“No need to apologize,” he smiled fondly, “Just trying to avoid premature grey hairs or something like that,” he finished with a wink. “Now, as fun as I’m sure we both think the library is, I’m not sure that it’s exactly the best place for us to get to know each other. I was thinking today we don’t focus on the books and just hang out a little bit. That sound good to you?”

Keith nodded sheepishly, vaguely thankful as he realized in the whirlwind of the mornings activities he had completely forgotten to take his schoolwork with him.

“Okay sounds good, I don’t know about you but I am starving. I was thinking that we could go somewhere to get some breakfast first and then,” he pulled two tickets out of his pocket, “I got these passes for the science center I thought that maybe we could go down and check it out.” He gave Keith a nervous smile, as though he was afraid of what his response would be to the proposition.

Keith just gave Shiro a bewildered stare. “The science center?”

“Yeah, only if you want to. I just got these passes through the Garrison, I thought it might be fun.”

“What’s the science center?”
“You don’t- oh, it’s um, a museum focused around science. It has lots of cool little interactive exhibits, I haven’t been there since I was a kid but I remember it being pretty neat.” Shiro said, a look of realization and sympathy washing over his face; which made Keith go red.

“Oh, okay. Yeah we can do that.” Keith said looking at the floor, he didn’t like the look that Shiro had on his face, he didn’t like that he had caused it. “Thank you.” He added as an afterthought, nobody had ever taken him to a museum before, excitement started gathering in his chest.

“Hey it’s no problem, that’s what I’m here to do. Now come on, we’re wasting daylight in this library and we’ve got things to do.” Shiro declared as he turned and started walking back out towards his car.

Keith quickly trailed behind him, reluctant to give into the anticipation that was coming over him. He couldn’t let himself get used to anything Shiro was doing for him, he was going to leave.

Grown ups always left.

“Okay, hop in.” Shiro said, opening the passenger door as Keith climbed into the interior. It wasn’t anything super fancy, however Keith instantly felt a sense of comfort sinking into the squishy seat. It felt safe.

“Alright, there’s a place we can go nearby that me and my boyfriend-” Shiro paused, he hadn’t meant to let that slip out. “Uh- Adam like to go to,” Face turning red, he quickly went to type in the location on the car’s GPS, letting it steer out into the road.

Keith sat beside Shiro as the car started moving. Letting his curiosity override insecurity he decided to voice his thoughts.

“Your boyfriend?”

“Um, yeah, we’ve been together for a little while now.” Shiro said, reaching his hand up to rest on the back of his neck and glancing at Keith.

Shiro was fairly confident in his sexuality, however there was always a sense of nervousness that came along with telling people, especially a child no less. To his profound relief Keith didn’t look upset or angry, he just looked extremely confused.

“I thought that was bad. Brent always said that was very bad.” A look of genuine concern washed over his face, “Are you going to be okay?”

Shiro’s face softened. “Yeah buddy, there’s nothing wrong with two people of the same sex liking each other. Everybody is very deserving of love, no matter the gender. Adam makes me very happy. I know that for a fact. I’m more than okay when I’m with him.” A warm feeling crawled into Shiro’s chest as he said the last words, an overwhelming amount of affection overcoming him for his boyfriend.

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed at his forehead, as though he was still trying to process the new information. “Oh, okay.”

The last few minutes of the car passed in fairly comfortable silence. Keith was still musing over what Shiro had told him, whilst Shiro made sure that they were still on the right track towards the restaurant and checking his phone for any messages.

In what seemed like no time at all the car pulled into the parking lot and the two boys clambered out of the vehicle, into the diner ahead of them.

Keith was greeted with a heavenly smell, unlike anything he had experienced before. He had been out to eat once with his first foster family just after his dad had passed away. However that had been years ago and his memories from that time were blurry to say the least.

He also hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he was standing in the small foyer of the diner, the scent of savory scent of bacon and hashbrowns combined with the sweeter tones of french toast and waffles wafting up his nose. He felt as though he could pass out, hands shaking, mouth watering, stomach rumbling dully.

When was the last time he ate?

He wearily followed Shiro into a booth, only half aware he was walking. Hunger was consuming almost all of his energy.

“This is always the booth Adam and I sit in, it’s the best seat in the house” Shiro explained while leading Keith to the corner of the restaurant, opposite of which they had came in. He kept walking until they were in a secluded corner, a window to one side and no table or booth to the other. Sliding into the cushy blue seat, he took in the familiar setting of people bustling around them eating food and holding light hearted conversations as Keith slid in across from him. “It’s got a window seat and there’s nobody beside us so it’s not too loud, plus the waiters in this section are the best.” He smiled taking the smaller boy in.

Of course Shiro was reasonably hungry, he had slept in by accident leaving him not enough time to get a meal in before he had left the apartment. However, he had really wanted to go out for breakfast in order to get some food into Keith. He was alarmingly pale and thin, he looked as though he was constantly on the verge of collapse. Shiro was sure that he wasn’t getting enough to eat in his foster home.

Which left him regrettably wondering what else was going on behind closed doors.

Before he had time to let his thoughts wander too far, a waitress was at their table beaming at them.

“Hello Shiro! It’s so nice to see you, where’s Adam and who’ve you got with you today?” She asked, a kind smile on her lips, blonde hair falling in relaxed curls around her rounded face.

“Hi Sasha,” he greeted. “Adam isn’t here today, I’m out with my mentee Keith. He’s a hopeful candidate for the Garrison’s program.” He said with a smile, gesturing to the small boy across from him, who appeared to have his eyes trained on Sasha’s chin, mouth in a thin line.

“Oh, I see. Well it’s very nice to meet you Keith! Can I start you two off with something to drink?”

Shiro glanced towards Keith who looked like a deer in the face of a semi trucks headlights. “Um, can we just start off with some water for now, and some coffee for me please, we haven’t had a chance to look at the menus yet.”

“Oh, for sure not a problem, I will be right back with your drinks. Take your time.” She said before bustling back into the kitchen.

Keith watched as the lady disappeared to get their drinks while he turned to face the menu, laying open in front of him, taunting him.

He began flipping through the pages, looking at all the options, looking at all the prices.

An overwhelming feeling of anxiety overcame him.

He glanced up at Shiro, who wasn’t even looking at his menu, appearing to already know what he wanted to order. He suddenly realized how out of place he was in his position.

A million thoughts seemed to race through Keith’s head at once.

What on earth was he supposed to get? What was Shiro getting? What if he ordered something that Shiro thought was gross? What if he got something too expensive?

The thoughts seemed to spiral as he felt his body tense, face going red. He had no idea what to do, he had never ordered food from a restaurant before, he was sure that Shiro was going to evaluate his decision and decide that Keith wasn’t a good fit for the program.

He clenched his hands in fists at his sides while staring down at the pages, trying to control his breathing.

“So have you decided what you’re going to get?”

Keith felt himself curling in on himself more as Shiro’s words pierced through his spiral, getting stuck on loop inside his brain.

He had no idea what to do.

So he sat, a few seconds more, breath becoming more rapid, unwelcome tears pricking the corners of his eyes. Staring down into his menu, the feeling of hunger and exasperation washing over him.

Then came the anger.

Anger at himself for thinking that he could do something like this. Anger at Shiro for trying to be nice to him. Anger that he couldn’t just be normal.

“Hey kiddo you still with me?” Shiro questioned, a bit of concern rising in his voice.

It was the question that pushed Keith over the edge. He didn’t understand why Shiro was trying to be nice to him but the warning bells in his brain reached their peak and he couldn’t hold back all of his emotions no matter how hard he tried.

He slammed his hand down on the table in a fist.

“NO!”

Immediate regret filled Keith following his outburst. He messed everything up. That was it for him. Now Shiro could see him for the mess up that he knew he was. Before he could stop himself there were tears spilling out his eyes and down his cheeks. He bowed his head even further down in hopes that his mentor might not see.

He wasn’t exactly sure what he was expecting Shiro to do, yell at him at the very least. Call Brent to come and pick him up, let him know that he was a screw up and that he regretted taking him in.

What Keith did not expect however was for Shiro to speak in the gentlest voice that he had ever heard, “Okay, that’s okay. I’m going to come over there alright?”

Keith hesitated before he nodded. Nervous anticipation for what was about to happen.

He tensed momentarily as he felt the weight shift into the booth next to him, a calm voice muttering beside him.

“Alright, you’re okay. I’m not mad, I’m sorry you’re feeling overwhelmed. Maybe I can help you out?”

Keith sniffled a bit before letting out a shuddering breath.

Shiro’s low, calm voice spoke again. “Hey, hey, it’s okay I promise. No need to cry.” Then, “Is it alright if I hug you?”

Keith’s racing thoughts came to a sudden halt. He didn’t think he could recall the last time somebody had given him a hug, let alone wanted to.

The warning bells sounded again in his brain. Physical contact was bad, it was only bound to make him become more attached to Shiro before he left him.

However, drowning out the warning bells was a desire for the contact, for comfort, for someone to temporarily take away the pain he was feeling deep inside him.

Before he knew it he was leaning himself into Shiro’s already outstretched arms.

He couldn’t help but tense at first contact, painfully aware of how foreign the territory was to him. The feeling of steady arms wrapped around him, his face buried in a sweater covered shoulder. The smell of cologne and laundry detergent wafting up his nose. The feeling of someone else’s chest rising and falling and the faint sound of a heartbeat.

He let himself relax almost all the way into the touch, letting the comforting embrace slowly ebb away the tears falling from his eyes and silent shudders wracking through his chest. Slowly they were replaced by a sense of embarrassment for letting himself be so openly weak.

Almost reluctantly he pulled himself away from Shiro, wiping quickly and furiously at his eyes. Taking a deep slow deep breath in and out. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize Keith, it’s okay,” came Shiro’s voice again, low, smooth, and reassuring. “Now, let’s figure out something to eat.”

Eventually they had decided to share a bunch of breakfast items that Shiro picked out and ordered.

Soon enough their table was stacked with various plates of every breakfast food Keith could imagine. Pancakes, eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, and a mountain of fresh fruit.

It took all Keith had in him to restrain himself from inhaling everything in front of him on the spot. Waiting patiently as Shiro helped himself to a reasonable sized portion of the food in front of him. He watched very carefully as he tried to portion out around the same amount for himself, watching for Shiro to take the first bite before he did.

It was absolutely heavenly.

Keith could not remember a time -possibly ever- where he had been allowed to eat this much food, and after the first bite his impulse control all but faded away. Leaving himself to eat as though he was never going to get the chance to again.

He didn’t even realize all the food was almost gone until Shiro was scraping the last pieces of toast and fresh fruit on to his plate. He finished most of it, while sneaking a few pieces into a napkin and tucked them into his hoodie pockets for later. He wasn’t sure when he’d be able to eat again once he got back to the house.

With stomachs full and bill paid, Shiro led Keith out of the diner and on to the next portion of their day. He typed in the address for the science center onto his GPS as the car once again pulled out of the parking lot.

Keith sat, gazing out the window of Shiro’s car as the desert landscape zoomed past them in a flurry of melded shapes and warm colours. The mid afternoon sun was seeping past the windows casting a warm comforting glow over the interior of the car.

With a full stomach and a substantial amount of energy gone from his earlier outburst Keith felt almost as though he could fall asleep right in the passenger seat where he sat. However, he couldn’t let himself do that, if he fell asleep he put himself completely into Shiro’s hands.

He couldn’t trust him.

So they sat in comfortable silence, letting the time pass them by until the car pulled up to the parking lot of the museum.

Keith’s eyes went wide in shock at the first site of it.

It was bigger than any building he had ever been in before.

It took a few seconds for him to capture everything that was going on around him. There were what had to be hundreds of kids, adults and teenagers alike running around in excitement as families loaded out of cars and walked towards the entrance.

Way more people than Keith was accustomed to being around.

The building was massive and brilliant, mostly made up of concrete around the exterior walls. However the roof seemed to be made up entirely of glass, different coloured lights shining all through the skylights, visible to the outside world. Keith wasn’t sure if he was more overwhelmed or excited as he followed Shiro out of the car towards the building in front of them.

There was a line up that stretched just out the doors of the museum, filled with screaming children and flustered looking parents trying to keep them all in their direct vicinity whilst not causing temper tantrums in the process.

Keith felt himself curl in a bit being surrounded by all of the yelling, for some reason he felt as though it was being directed towards him. He tried to slow down his quickening breaths, he would not cry again.

Desperately looking for something to ground him he moved in closer to Shiro, as though his body could be used as a barrier between himself and the outside world.

He knew he couldn’t make it a habit, however he felt a sense of solace with Shiro right beside him. He was no longer on the verge of panic.

He was safe.

Slowly but surely the line shortened and they gradually moved forward until they were called up to a reception desk, the man behind the glass window called them forward a bit dully. Keith thought he looked very tired.

After Shiro gave the passes to the man, he scanned them and gave both Shiro and Keith neon green wristbands that they were to wear for the duration of their visit as proof of payment.

What seemed like years later to Keith they were finally past the crowd and in the building.

It took a few seconds more for him to adjust to the size of the building now that he was finally standing in the midst of it.

From where he stood he was directly in the center of large open lobby, and surrounding him were different exhibits focusing on all kinds of different sciences, going three stories up.

From what he could see where he was standing there was an exhibit on mechanics, electricity, weather, the human body, and space. He was practically jumping out of his skin in excitement taking it all in when he focused his gaze to Shiro who had a very large smile plastered on his face.

“Well, where do you wanna go first kiddo?”

Keith looked around trying to decide which one appealed to him most, eventually just settling on the one that was closest to him, mechanics.

The exhibit was unlike anything Keith had seen before. It had little stations where you could try and build your own robot, a spot which had a bunch of gears laid out like a puzzle that had to be pieced together in order to run a tap of water, and what was currently occupying Shiro and Keith, a board in which you had to place pvc pipes in order to make a track for a marble to race down.

“Okay, try it now,” Shiro said after carefully adjusting a pipe.

They were trying to let the marble gain enough velocity so that it would complete two loop-the-loops before shooting back into the bucket they got it from.

Keith stood on his tiptoes on a little step stool, marble in hand as he reached up to release it down the course, watching eagerly as the marble went shooting through one loop only to come to an abrupt stop before the second.

Keith exhaled in exasperation “We’re never going to get this stupid thing to work Shiro,” He felt frustration bubble up in his chest, they had been working on the course for probably close to forty minutes and every time something had went wrong. “Maybe we should just quit and try something else.”

However Shiro got up and examined the course again, with such ease and patience. “No, I think I found the problem this time. If I just move this piece…” he took one of the top pieces out and raised it a little bit higher, connecting it back to the course with another smaller pipe. “We should have enough velocity to make it around both. Alright, give it another shot.”

Keith got back up onto the step stool, frustration still festering in his chest as he reached even higher to drop the marble down. He watched with growing anticipation as the marble made it around the first loop and-

“It made it! Oh my gosh Shiro did you see that? That was so cool! It went right around both, I didn’t think it was going to work!”

“I knew we could do it buddy, just had to take a little more time with it. Sometimes things are worth a little extra effort, I’m not one to give up easily. Neither should you.” He held his hand up for Keith to high five.

Which he did, as hard as he could, smile wide on his face.

The next few hours were spent roaming around in different exhibits. They had visited weather, electricity, sound, and both Keith and Shiro’s favourite, space. They had just enough time for one more display before they left and had agreed to do the human body.

It was very cool, learning about all the senses and reflexes. Keith and Shiro had played a game testing reaction times to different stimuli in which a button had to be pressed each time a certain shape or sound came on the display in front of them.

Keith won everytime, Shiro making exasperated gasps next to him, small giggles bursting from Keith’s chest each time he did.

Then they found the bed of nails.

It was probably the most scary and intriguing display in the museum. They both read the history of the bed, how it originated in india and then eventually made its way to the entertainment world and then eventually the science behind it and how though the participant was lying on top of all the nails it wouldn’t actually puncture through the skin.

Keith wasn’t so sure.

He stared at the bed for a few seconds, scanning the nails below a clear plastic covering with hundreds of little holes in it that would rise up if a button were pressed.

“Do you want to try it?” Shiro asked curiously at Keith who was still weary at the idea. The image of him becoming a human skewer embedded into his brain.

“I can try it first if you want, see how it goes, and then you can after me,” Shiro offered.

A defiance made itself known in Keith’s chest. He had to show Shiro he was brave. He could do it by himself. “No, I can- I want to do it first,” Keith told the older man, anxiety crawling up his chest as he did.

“Well alright buddy,” Shiro said smiling. “I’ll let you climb on and then I can push the button for you.”

Keith nodded as he huffed out a little breath, hands in fists at his sides.

He could do this.

He climbed onto the table, albeit slightly reluctantly, as he laid down on top of the plastic surface.

“Ready?” Shiro asked, finger over the button.

Keith gave him a weak nod.

“Okay, I’m gonna be right here, if you want me to stop just say the word and I’ll let go.”

“Okay,” Keith managed as he watched Shiro pressed down on the button, trying to keep a straight face, feeling the pressure start to prod him as the nails rose up. He kept his eyes trained on Shiro the entire time he felt his body rising, trying to stay calm.

“You’re doing great,” Shiro reassured him. “Almost there,” he paused. “Aaand you did it Keith! You’re on top of a bed of nails right now!”

Keith let out an excited breathy laugh, still a bit freaked out at the whole situation, never taking his eyes off Shiro the entire time. “Okay, I want to get off now.”

Shiro laughed a bit, “I think that’s well deserved kiddo, you did great.”

---

The rest of the evening passed by in a bit of a blur, by the time they had left the science center it was six-thirty and it took about half an hour to get back to the library by Keith’s house. They hopped back into the car to start the dreaded journey back.

All the excitement of the day had caught up and left him in an exhausting rush. It very nearly caused him to nod off, however impending consternation kept him upright.

After all that, he was going to have to go back to Brent.

Keith’s answers to Shiro’s small talk once again became very short as he fell into a sour mood, their conversation eventually fizzling into silence until they pulled back into the parking lot. Shiro turned to him, a tired look of content on his face.

“Okay kiddo, this is your stop.”

Keith turned to him with his best attempt at a smile. “Thanks Shiro, for today, I had a lot of fun.”

“Me too Keith, I’ll see you tomorrow morning, same time, same place. Also, before you go,” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small Garrison issued tablet. “I figured you didn’t have a phone but I’d like to be able to keep in touch with you, especially if you’re going to be walking home. My number is programmed in there, just send me a message letting me know that you made it home safe and I can text you with details about tomorrow.”

Keith took the tablet, wide-eyed as he nodded, saying his final goodbyes to Shiro and walking out of the car towards his house.

---

Shiro smiled, a small breath of relief leaving him as a notification appeared on his tablet fifteen minutes later.

Home

Chapter Text

Since his mentorship had been finalized, Brent had started being nicer, or more so quieter around Keith. He no longer seemed to go out of his way to pick fights with him, and when he saw him around the house he wouldn’t pull him aside to make a rude comment about something that he was doing wrong.

At dinner the night he had gotten home from his first session, Keith had accidentally spilled his glass of water on the floor. Brent glared at him and Keith cowered in his seat, afraid for what was to come.

“Are you just going to sit there or clean that up,” Brent spoke loudly in a rough voice.

“I’m going to clean it up,” Keith hastily supplied, almost stumbling out of his chair to get paper towels.

However, once the mess was gone Brent spoke no more of the incident, letting him sit back down at the table and finish his food.

---

Though the sidestepping from Brent was a very nice break from his usual demeanor, it had put Keith on edge. He was constantly feeling like he was about to fall victim to a timebomb, shattering his life and everything around it.

It felt to him as though there was a mountain of anxiety growing on his back, threatening to crush him everytime he stepped into Brent’s path.

The final straw being him offering Keith a ride to his next mentoring session at the Garrison on his way to work.

Keith had stood, frozen on the spot for a second, not really sure how to respond. A blind panic washed over him. He couldn’t find words for a few seconds as he stood in the kitchen, waves of anxiety rushing up and down his spine.

He couldn’t shake how wrong it felt. Brent didn’t do things like that. He couldn’t understand it.

“Um, okay,” He settled on, it seeming to be the most harmless answer, not wanting to deny or question the act of kindness from his foster father. “T-thank you,” He was sure to add on just as an extra precaution, the pit of anxiety growing and festering in his stomach.

A short time later they had head out the door, into Brent’s old beaten up car. The smell of alcohol and cheap air freshener drifted into Keith’s nostrils.

As the car bumped along the desert roadway he stared out the window in silence, studying the horizon with extra care as a way of trying to avoid the uncomfortable silence that had fallen like a blanket over the two.

“I’m going to be away for a week,” Brent said, his voice tearing apart the silence roughly.

“Okay,” Keith spoke absentmindedly. Brent went away lots, never leaving an explanation but he could infer what activities he engaged in while he was gone.

“I leave Wednesday, I trust that you can take care of the house and help out.”

“Mhmm,” He hummed, picking at the seal for the car window which had started to peel off.

“Is that how you speak to me now?” Brent spoke again, an increasing edge working its way into his voice.

“No, sorry,” Keith backpedaled, a tiny spark of anxiety jolting through him, realizing how casually he had addressed his foster father.

“Okay, let's try that again. You will hold your own while I’m gone, no calls from school, no incidents at the house. Correct?”

“Yes, I will do that. I promise,” Keith replied to him, sinking down into his chest as Brent nodded at him gruffly.

The rest of the drive was spent in silence.

---

Shiro watched as the old car which he assumed was Brent’s pulled into the parking lot at the Garrison, Keith thanking him and then climbing out of the passenger seat, not sparing a second glance towards the car as it turned away.

He timidly approached Shiro, glancing half up at him, his eyes resting on his chest.

“Hey kiddo!” He smiled brightly, beckoning Keith over to where he was standing.

Keith’s eyes met his and he gave Shiro a weak smile, coming to stop just in front of him.

“Long time no see,” He teased playfully, getting a small nod and giggle from Keith. “Okay, well today I thought we could get something to eat first and then I can show you around the Garrison a little bit. So you can see what it’s all about. Sound good?”

Keith nodded again, staring past him towards the Garrison building seemingly a little awestruck. Shiro smiled at that, it didn’t take much for to impress the kid, it was very bittersweet. On one hand Shiro wanted for that glint to never leave Keith’s eyes. However, on the other he wanted things like large buildings and fancy schools to be such a normal occurrence in his life that he wouldn’t take a second glance at them.

Shiro could provide that normalcy.

Nonetheless, he pushed the thoughts to the back of his brain and focused on the task at hand, he had to get some food into Keith.

Shiro had almost asked Keith where he wanted to go, when his mind had flashed back to the incident that they had at the diner yesterday and what had happened when Keith was faced with deciding what to eat. Which to Shiro was a relatively small decision, however it had acquired a monumental reaction from Keith.

Shiro could make the decisions for now.

“So is it alright if we go to the same place we went to yesterday?” Shiro questioned casually, just so he knew he had Keith’s confirmation. “It’s pretty close and the food is good.”

“Yeah,” Keith answered gently and quietly.

“Okay sounds good,” Shiro responded softly, turning to lead Keith to the Garrison’s parkade. He knew that getting Keith to trust him enough to push through his shell was going to be an uphill battle. He could only imagine what he had been through in his life, and he had very apparent anxiety around authoritative figures in his life. He knew with persistence he would be able to make the breach, even in their session yesterday there were times which he almost let down the wall of anxiety around him, small bursts of laughter, excited exclamations, allowing Shiro to comfort him, even the slightest bit of anger. However, as quickly as he had let down the walls he put them back up and withdrew into himself, as though he was upset with himself for doing it.

Shiro wanted to let him know more than anything that it was okay to trust him, that he wouldn’t hurt or leave him. He knew he couldn’t outright say it as Keith would never believe him, but he could sure as hell show it. He could show it consistently. He could show it selflessly.

Eventually they had made their way down a side hallway by the main entrance to the Garrison and Shiro had entered his code to take the elevator down into the parkade. A small grin worked its way onto his face.

“So if you are up to it, I was thinking that we could maybe use a different mode of transportation today,” He said casually as he lead Keith to his parking spot, stepping aside to reveal his hoverbike.

Several expressions crossed Keith’s face in an instant the moment he saw the bike. From disbelief to fear, eventually settling on astounded, glancing from the bike, to Shiro, then back to the bike. Eyes wide, his mouth was slightly agape.

“A-are you serious?” He questioned.

A full on grin had come across Shiro’s face at Keith’s expression. “Oh yes very, but only if you’re up to it. I don’t want it to be too scary for you.” He said a slight playful almost sing-song tone in his voice.

Keith straightened up, looking Shiro dead in the eye, as though he was proving himself. “I can do it.”

“Okay, I’m convinced,” Shiro responded, smiley widely. He reached into the bike’s back compartment, pulling out goggles and an extra helmet for Keith, handing them over to him. He watched for a couple seconds as Keith fit them onto his head. “Is it okay if I check to make sure it’s all on good?”

Keith gave him a small nod.

Making sure his movements were slow and deliberate, Shiro reached for the buckle by the helmet at Keith’s face, his hands where Keith could see them at all times. He gave a slight flinch as shiro gently tugged at the helmet to make sure it wouldn’t fall off, however he seemed to settle from it quickly, letting Shiro finish his inspection.

“Okay, all set. You can get on first and then I’m going to get on behind you, is that okay?”

“Yeah,” Keith responded hastily. Shiro could see the excitement on his face grow as he waited for the go ahead to get on.

“Alright, after you,” Shiro said, holding his arm out to gesture Keith on.

Keith quickly clambered onto the front of the bike, gripping the handles in front of him, his mouth open as he observed the bike in front of him. “Alright, I’m just going to get on behind you and then we can get going,” Shiro said before climbing onto the bike slowly, feeling only a slight cringe from Keith as his weight settled behind him.

“Ready?”

Keith nodded eagerly.

Shiro pressed the ignition button and the bike roared to life, echoing around the garage’ walls. He slowly released the brake and eased the bike forward and out of the underground, into the late desert morning ahead of them.

Shiro sucked in the fresh air in front of him greedily, the breeze from moving forward brushing against his face made him feel powerful and free. It energized him. Slowly he pressed the accelerator, urging the bike forward faster. Glancing down at Keith, “Is this okay or do you want me to slow down?” He half yelled through the wind rushing past their faces.

Keith laughed a half-nervous, half-giddly giggle before responding. “It’s great! I-it’s a lot of fun, you don’t need to slow down.”

Shiro smiled as they carried on towards the diner, Keith giggling in front of him all the way.

They eventually reached their destination and stepped into the diner with windswept hair, a big grin on Keith’s face as Shiro lead them to the booth.

“So you liked that?” Shiro asked nonchalantly as he slid into one side.

Keith looked up at him, grin still plastered on his face, nodding feverently. “Yeah, it was so cool Shiro. We were going so fast a-and we were really flying and the wind was blowing in my face so much it was a little hard to breathe, but not like scary not breathing, it was the best feeling in the world.”

Shiro chuckled a bit, a warm feeling growing in his chest. “Yeah, I know what you mean buddy, that’s my favourite part about the hoverbike. You know the Garrison has extras, maybe we can both go out one day and you can try driving.”

Keith’s face went awestruck all over again. “Really?”

“Yeah, if you’re up for it we can go and test it out. See how you like it.”

“I- um, yeah. That would be really great. Thanks Shiro.” Keith responded, disbelief crossing over his face with the undertone of pure excitement.

“It’s my pleasure kiddo, now let’s get something to eat.”

The conversation had fizzled out after the talk about hoverbikes. Keith retreated back into himself, however Shiro sensed he felt a little more comfortable around him, not shying away as much from looking at him and maintaining their small talk as they ate.

Once they had finished and walked out the door back towards the bike, Shiro smiled as he queeried, “Long way back?”

Keith beamed, nodding as he accepted the helmet from Shiro.

They rest of the session had passed by fairly quickly, Shiro showing Keith around the Garrison campus, to all the classrooms and flight simulators. Shiro told him about how classes were structured and where students stayed while they were attending the school.

They had ended off their day in the hangar for some of the Garrison’s retired shuttles, pausing at the Calypso. Looking at it, Shiro had a determined feeling in the pit of his stomach, reminded of how inspired it had made him to become a pilot. The feeling of needing to do it, no matter the obstacles that stood in his way. It was his passion. A passion he was determined to follow whatever the cost. Smiling, looking at Keith as he rattled off facts about the ship, he wondered if he was feeling the same way.

---

All too soon, Keith was being dropped back off at the library to walk back to his house. He climbed off the front of the hoverbike and smally waved goodbye as he watched Shiro drive off back to his apartment. However, though the moment was bitter, there was a small light ball reluctantly settling in his chest growing with the knowledge that in a few short days he was going to see Shiro again.

---

Shiro awoke Wednesday morning to an alarm going off and Adam sitting up groaning, turning on a bedside lamp whilst shutting the blaring noise off. Shiro turned over onto his back, rubbing his eyes and staring up at the ceiling blearily, taking in the world as if it was his first time seeing it.

“M’rning” Adam sighed softly, stretching his arms above his head and dropping them back down to his sides, looking at Shiro.

Shiro only huffed out a breath of air and turned back onto his side, pulling the blanket up over his shoulder. “S’ too early to be up. Goodnight.”

Adam laughed softly, half lying on his side, one arm propping him up slightly and the other resting over Shiro’s body. “I know, but we’ve gotta get up, you know, be adults. That kinda thing.”

Shiro scrunched his nose in distaste. “Adults, when did we become those, can’t we just go back to being sixteen again?”

Adam hummed fondly beside him. “What, back to when we were competing everyday, trying to best each other in piloting whilst pining madly for one another behind the scenes?”

Shiro let out a little laugh at that. “Yeah, nevermind, this is much better,” He spoke, turning back over to look up at Adam, an expectant look on his face.

“Now that’s what I thought. Come on, we gotta get out of bed, what should we make for breakfast?” He said, rolling away from Shiro. He got out of their bed and stretched again, looking out their window onto the Garrison campus below them.

“Coffee,” Shiro replied, slowly dragging himself out of bed as well, feet coming into contact with the soft carpet below.

Adam scoffed a bit. “Now that is something that I can’t argue with.”

Shiro was midway through his morning coffee and breakfast when he got a phone call from Sandalwood Middle School. Quizzically looking down at his phone, he picked up. “Hello?”

“Hello, is think Officer Shirogane speaking?” A female voice greeted.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“Hello Officer, it’s Ms. Wilson calling. I just wanted to inform you that we have Keith down at the office. He got in a bit of a fight with one of our other students, it got physical. Because of this, as disciplinary measures he will not be allowed to attend his mentorship today.”

Shiro was a bit taken aback. “Oh, um. Are you sure? I had some things planned for today, I could talk to him as well.”

Ms. Wilson spoke again. “Unfortunately we cannot allow that, especially considering that the fight got physical. There is some paperwork that needs to be filled out and guardians that need to be called. It will likely take the majority of the day. We are very sorry, Officer.”

Shiro frowned, “No, it’s okay. Just let him know that I will be waiting for him Saturday.”

“Okay I will, thank you for your cooperation and understanding Officer.”

The phone clicked as Officer Wilson hung up.

Shiro frowned, walking back into the kitchen where Adam sat at the bar, a questioning expression on his face.

Shiro sighed. “Keith got into a fight at school. He can’t attend the mentorship today.”

Adam frowned but hummed in understanding. “Well that sucks, I’m sorry Takashi.” He took a breath his face lifting a bit, “But hey, I guess you get to enjoy a day to yourself today. I don’t teach any classes until the afternoon so I’ll be around until then.”

Shiro’s spirits lifted a little. “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I’ll go pay Commander Holt a visit this afternoon.”

The morning passed by blissfully uneventful. Shiro and Adam had drove out a ways from the Garrison campus to take a walk down a hidden trail that they used to sneak off to when they were younger. Reminiscing in old memories, fingers intertwined together, they took in the lazy desert heat of the late morning. Coming to sit on a small cliffside, they looked at the students seemingly as small as ants running around in the campus below, listening to the hum of the city in the near distance. They watched the hours tick by until Adam had to go to teach.

Once the afternoon had rolled around and Adam had left, Shiro found himself crossing the campus towards Commander Holt’s lab. He had been his TA during his time as a student in the Garrison and they had grown very close. Shiro had looked up to him as a mentor, always sharing his wisdom in a caring dad-like way.

Recently -and extremely underwraps- the Garrison council had been inquiring about a mission with Shiro, Commander Holt, and his son, Matthew. He was just a couple years younger than Shiro, finishing up his last year as a student at the Garrison. They had also grown close at his time at the Garrison, sharing a few classes as Matt had accelerated through his courses. He was one of the smartest people that Shiro knew, not to mention he was outright hilarious.

He approached the door to Commander Holt’s lab and knocked firmly a couple times on the door.

“Come in!” He heard the commander call from the other side.

He opened the door and stepped into the familiarity of the lab. Sterile countertops, computers, and complicated machinery were lined up against the walls. A large desk sat in the center of the room, multiple chairs pulled up around it.

Matt occupying one of them.

“Hey Shiro!” He called brightly, looking up from his laptop and smiling at him.

“Hey Matt,” Shiro greeted, smiling back at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?”

Matt frequently left his classes early -or didn’t go at all- having completed coursework early, sneaking out into his dad’s lab.

Matt playfully gasped back at him, eyes going wide. “They’re onto me! God, whatever you do, just please don’t tell my dad.”

Sam scoffed popping his head out from behind a machine that he was testing. “Hey Shiro, what brings you here today?”

“Hello commander, just thought I’d stop in and pay you a visit. My mentorship got canceled today so I wanted to see if there was anything I might be able to help you with and catch up.”

Sam clicked his tongue in remembrance. “Right! You got approved for the mentorship, how’s that going?”

“It’s going okay. Keith’s a really good kid at heart. I don’t think he’s had the best upbringing, he’s a little tough to get through to at times but he has so much potential. I really want to help him.”

Sam smiled. “You just gotta show him that, he’ll warm up to you, I’m sure. I’d love to meet him sometime.”

Shiro smiled back at that, “Yeah, next time we’re on campus I can bring him by.”

The rest of the afternoon passed easily, Shiro helping the Commander with his project and Matt with his assignments. Before he knew it, the school day was over and he was heading towards the flight simulators to meet Adam after he was finished teaching.

“Hey, how was the Commander?” Adam asked, seeing him in the entrance way to the simulation room as he powered down all the machines.

“Really good, Matt was there too, we all caught up.”

“That’s good,” Adam chimed, drawing out the “o” sound, preoccupied with shutting down and logging off of the master computer. “Hey, do you want to go out for dinner tonight? We haven’t in a while, thought it might be kind of nice. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.”

Shiro smiled with a warm feeling in his chest. “Sure, that sounds really good.”

_________________________

Keith woke up Saturday morning, head fuzzy, a small pit in his stomach.

Everything was sore.

Slowly he willed himself awake and out of bed, getting ready for the day much more lethargic than usual. He couldn’t put a finger on why but he felt off. He supposed that it could have been from the fight, but the injuries hadn’t been that bad and he definitely felt worse presently than he did the previous day. Nonetheless he had the mentorship today and he couldn’t -didn’t want- to skip it.

Shiro had messaged him on the tablet earlier asking if he could bring some breakfast for them to the library while he helped him with some of his schoolwork to start. He then said that if they got it all done, they might be able to try out the hoverbikes afterwards.

Keith’s stomach did a little flip at that. Though he really really wanted to ride the hoverbike again, he wasn’t sure he wanted to today. However, he couldn’t bring himself to say no, so he got ready and headed out the door towards the library.

As he approached the library doors Shiro was already there, waiting for him with a backpack on his back, smiling as he approached.

Keith got a fuzzy feeling in his chest seeing him smile. He always looked so kind, so genuinely happy to see him. He could not think of why. A dark part of him constantly considered the possibility that it was all a lie, that he was trying to get something out of him and once he had it, he was going to leave. However, there was an overwhelming want in him to believe that Shiro really did want to help him, that he wanted to be with Keith. He felt himself reluctantly leaning into that feeling.

“Hey Keith, how are you?” He asked, smile still evident on his face.

Keith looked up at him responding sheepishly. “I’m okay.”

“That’s good to hear, now come on, let’s get the boring part out of the way quickly so we can move onto something more fun.”

The pit in Keith’s stomach had continued growing as they had sat down to do his work, settling in the middle of it, churning uncomfortably as Shiro pulled out some food. He was expected to eat it. He took a deep breath in, willing himself to calm down as he managed a couple of bites of fruit slowly and unsure. He couldn't understand why he was feeling unwell but it frustrated him. He wanted to be able to focus on his work, focus on his time with Shiro. However, it was becoming increasingly hard, mind going fuzzy, concentrating on keeping his breathing even as the pit began to turn into uncomfortable nausea settling over him.

“So I heard you got in a bit of a fight the other day. Are you okay?” Shiro asked about half an hour into his homework.

Keith nodded, keeping his breath steady, not confident enough to say anything.

“Okay, that’s good. Do you want to talk about it at all?” Shiro asked again, leaning over his paper and circling a silly mistake Keith made with his pencil.

Keith shook his head, no, he really didn’t want to talk about anything right now but he especially didn’t want to talk about that. He sat for a second, the nausea increasing, his mouth watering a little bit, his hand making a fist in his lap.

Shiro frowned, Keith could practically feel him deflate a little bit, which made him feel a little bad. “Well, okay. But if you ever want to talk about anything Keith, I’m here, I’m safe.” He paused, observing Keith for a second. “Hey, are you okay? I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry if I did something.”

Keith shook his head almost exasperated, closing his eyes, swallowing and taking a deep breath before he responded. “No, it’s not you. I uh- I just don’t feel very well.”

“Oh,” Shiro said, realization coming to his eyes. “What doesn’t feel well, are you sick or are you nervous?”

Keith just shrugged, he was only able to half concentrate on what shiro was saying to him still trying to breathe past the fluttering feeling in his stomach, fist still tight in his lap, mouth still flooding with saliva.

“Okay,” Shiro said gently. “How about we go outside for a bit, get some fresh air? Then we can decide what to do.”

Keith nodded numbly, world spinning for half a second as he stood up, setting his jaw and following Shiro out of the library.

Shiro was hovering anxiously beside Keith as they walked a ways down the side walk, slowly and cautiously. “Okay buddy, you gotta help me out here. Can you tell me what’s not feeling good? Are you hurt? Did something happen? What am I missing here?”

Except Keith couldn’t answer, he couldn’t even walk every step making everything so much worse, his stomach churning wildly. Stopping dead in his tracks beside Shiro as he tried to take a couple breaths in. A part of his mind vaguely registered he probably looked very strange standing on the sidewalk eyes closed, breathing heavily through his nose. He felt a hand coming to rest on his shoulders and he flinched harder than he meant to.

“Sorry,” Shiro’s voice came soft beside his ear, hand still resting on him -he must’ve been crouched down beside him. “It’s okay, just breathe, you’re okay.”

Keith felt a whimper in the back of his throat, hands shaking as the nausea reached its peak. Desperately trying to keep breathing he tried to ground himself with the feeling of Shiro’s hand on his back. However, the feeling just continued to get more and more intense as felt his body give a violent shake and pitched forward to vomit over the sidewalk in front of him.

Chapter Text

Shiro stood frozen to his spot for a second. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting to happen, but it definitely wasn’t that. He felt a ragged breath from Keith against his palm which brought him back into the present moment.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re okay,” He said, voice even and low into Keith’s ear.

Keith didn’t look up from where he stood, hair hanging over his face, his back shivering underneath Shiro’s palm. “I’m -I’m so sorry,” He stammered hoarsely in a small voice.

Shiro’s brows came together on his forehead, a small frown on his face. “Hey, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about. Can you just tell me what’s going on? I’m feeling a little lost.”

Keith took in another breath. “Just not feeling good, stomach hurts.”

Shiro nodded, trying to think of the best course of action. He raised a hand to feel Keith’s forehead, frowning slightly at the warmth present under his palm. “Alright, can I take you back to your house? Or call your foster dad? Tell him what’s going on.”

Keith shook his head. “He’s not home, out of town on a trip…please don’t call him,” He added.

Red flags started going off in Shiro’s brain. That would be a discussion for later however, he needed a plan of action for right now. “Alright, I won’t but I’m a little worried. Can I take you to the clinic just to make sure everything is okay?”

Keith hesitated, for a moment Shiro was afraid that he was going to say no, however he gave him a small nod and Shiro breathed a sigh of relief.

“Okay kiddo, come on, let's get you to the car,” He said standing, hand resting gently just below the nape of Keith’s neck, guiding him back towards the library parking lot.

The walk was slow moving, Keith still a bit shaky on his feet. However Shiro had got him settled in the passenger seat and quickly went back into the library to gather their belongings before he settled himself in the car and typed in the coordinates for the nearest clinic.

“When did you start feeling sick?” Shiro ventured, trying to get enough information about what was going on as he could.

“Dunno,” Keith mumbled softly. “This morning I think,” His head listed against the window and Shiro was suddenly acutely aware of how exhausted the kid looked.

“Hey, you can fall asleep if you need. It’s okay.”

Keith shook his head weakly. “M’ not tired.”

“Alright,” Shiro spoke softly, “but if you need to, you can.”

The drive from the library to the clinic was short, and Shiro thought that Keith might have been half dozing as the approached the building. However, when the car came to a stop Keith wearily sat upright, taking his seatbelt off.

Shiro quickly got up, making his way around the car to let Keith out, who looked apprehensively at the clinic.

“Do I really have to go in?”

Shiro frowned slightly, “Yeah buddy I’m sorry. I just want to make sure everything is okay.”
Keith sighed, but nodded, trudging towards the building, a bit unbalanced on his feet.

They got checked in fairly quickly, -the clinic being blessedly almost empty- an enthusiastic nurse behind the counter gathering Keith’s information and then giving them a number to hold onto until it was their turn.

They had settled into chairs in the waiting room, Keith hunching forward on himself, hands wrapped around his stomach shivering slightly. Shiro hovered beside him, unsure and concerned.

“You look kinda cold there kiddo. Do you wanna steal some of my heat?” He asked opening up one arm so that his side was open for Keith to lean into him.

Keith looked at the offering wearily for a second before his apparent discomfort overruled his decision, listing into Shiro’s side and settling lightly into the warmth. Shiro stayed still for a second before gently settling his arm across Keith’s shoulders, satisfied when he didn’t quite flinch at the touch.

They stayed like that for a while until their number was called and they were showed down a hallway, the nurse handing Keith a cup for a urine sample before bringing Shiro to the exam room to wait for him. He took a seat across from the exam bed and let out a breath that he wasn’t even aware he had been holding.

In the silence of the small office, he became hyper aware of everything going on around him. The sterile smell filling his nostrils, the constant ticking from the clock on the wall above his head, the squeak of his shoe as he bounced his foot up and down. The constant drone of nervous energy radiated around him, seeping into his thoughts and settling into his bones.

It very suddenly occurred to him how out of place he was.

He had no idea how to care for a sick child. He didn’t know if he was overreacting, if he was overstepping boundaries. He didn’t know how to treat a fever or soothe nausea. He couldn’t even care for himself when he was sick most of the time, running himself until he couldn’t carry on, with Adam waiting to pick up the pieces for him.

The clock kept ticking above him.

The smell of the clinic became nauseating.

His shoes kept squeaking against the floor.

Panic began setting in.

He wasn’t sure he could take care of Keith.

He wasn’t fit to be a mentor, he was still missing so many pieces in life. There were so many questions he didn’t have the answer to. He was book smart, sure, especially for his age, constantly coming out on the top of his classes. However he was realizing that mentoring somebody took more than book smarts. It took composure, leadership, and a certain level of astuteness to have the confidence to take charge in stressful situations.

A memory flashed across his mind, his mother, collapsing in front of his eyes, on the floor, motionless. He hadn’t been fast enough, he hadn’t known what to do, he hadn’t made the right decision.

He couldn’t make the right decisions.

His breath came in sharp and rapid.

He couldn’t lose it. He squeezed his eyes shut so tightly he saw stars.

Stars.

Another memory began flickering into his brain, settling over the others like a blanket, warm, protective, blocking them out.

He was ten years old, sitting on the roof of his house with his grandfather, summer air warm and humid, drifting peacefully around him, time seemingly intangible.

“And that one there,” his grandfather pointed up to the sky above them, “Do you remember the name of it?”

Shiro focused his gaze to where he was pointing focusing on a bright star sedentary to the right of their position. He nodded his head. “Regulus.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his grandfather’s lips. “Very good. Now if you look to the left of Regulus, you should see two more bright stars, and diagonally up from that there’s another one. And if you keep connecting the dots you should see more upwards from that one and to the left,” He explained, all while Shiro once again directed his gaze towards his grandfather’s pointing. “And all those stars make up the points of the constellation Leo, a lion.”

Shiro smiled at that, he had always liked lions, their power and prowess radiating off them, big manes and strong bodies that effortlessly asserted dominance and assurance. Plus they could roar.

“Now,” his grandfather continued in a voice that carried years of wisdom and knowledge. “Many people think that the paramount feature to a lion would be its strong jaws that can tear into the flesh of its prey, or its tenacious claws, with their ability to grab its prey and hold it still, making it stronger and more powerful than most other animals.” He shook his head slightly. “Those assumptions could not be more misguided. You see, the true strength of the lion lies within the Cor Leonis,” He gestured back at the star Regulus. “The lion's heart. For within lies an abundance of courage and fortitude. The heart of the lion is brave, it can deal with any kind of danger or fear without fault. The lion heart is not selfish, it cares deeply for others, it will not bring harm to those without reason. It resides not only within the lion Takashi, but within all of us. If you have faith in that and let it guide you, you will grow up to be the man that I know you are meant to be. Never forget that.”

He let out a slow, steadying breath and opened his eyes back up to the clinic’s room around him. “I won’t,” he whispered, barely audible.

Not a second later, his attention was diverted to a door opening to the left of him as Keith timidly walked back into the room. He took a seat on the exam table, the paper covering it crinkling roughly underneath him. He immediately hunched in on himself, arms again folding over his stomach.

A pang of sympathy rang out through Shiro’s body. “Everything okay kiddo? The doctor should be here soon.”

In response Keith just shrugged his shoulders, staring into his lap.

Another pang.

“I’m really sorry you aren’t feeling well buddy, that’s never any fun. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure out what’s going on and get you feeling better really quick though.”

Keith nodded and silence fell upon the room once again, occasionally interrupted by the opening and closing of doors in the hallways and doctors having discussions with patients in different rooms.

Shiro didn’t fail to notice how violently Keith flinched when there was a sharp knock on the door.

A woman walked in, white lab coat stark against blue scrubs and a stethoscope resting around her neck, dark brown hair gathered in a ponytail at the top of her head. “Hello, are you Keith Kogane?” She questioned in a kind but firm voice.

Keith nodded, small.

“Okay, my name is Doctor Aldrich, I’ll be taking care of you today. Can you tell me what’s going on?” She looked back and forth between both Shiro and Keith.

Shiro spoke up. “He’s not feeling well, he has a low fever and he threw up earlier. I think his stomach is pretty sore.”

Doctor Aldrich nodded in understanding. “Okay Keith, when did this pain start?”

“This morning,” Keith spoke, voice barely above a mumble.

“Alright, and is there pain in your stomach or is it more upset?”

“A little bit of pain, it’s more upset though.”

She nodded again. “Can you tell me where the pain is?”

Keith gestured towards the center of his stomach.

“I see, can I get you to lie down for me? I’m just going to quickly feel around to make sure everything feels okay.”

Keith looked reluctant, however did as he was told, lying back against the exam table.

The doctor slowly and deliberately felt around Keith’s stomach, he cringed at every touch.

“Does it hurt when I press here?” She asked, pressing her hands firmly into his stomach.

“Yeah, a little bit.”

“Okay, and does it hurt just after I take my hands off?”

“Not as much.”

“Alright, thank you. You can sit back up now.”

Keith slowly took a seat again, hoisting himself up slowly, discomfort hastily hidden on his face.

“Okay Keith, have you had any blunt force injury to that area? Anything hit it hard?”

He shook his head.

The doctor nodded again, this time looking at Shiro.

“I don’t feel anything that would cause any immediate action right now, nothing feels distended in his stomach and if there is no possibility of a blunt force injury I am not concerned about internal bleeding. It is likely something viral that his body will have to fight off on its own. However, keep a close eye on his symptoms. If the pain continues to worsen or moves to the right side of his stomach take him to an emergency room as soon as possible. Also take him to the emergency if the vomiting persits to the point that he cannot keep down fluids. Other than that, lots of rest and fluids until the symptoms improve, I’m sorry there isn’t much more that I can do for you right now.”

Shiro nodded, slightly relieved at the information. “No, it’s okay, I just wanted to make sure that everything was okay. Thank you doctor.”

“It’s no problem, I hope you start feeling better soon Keith,” She said, small smile on her face before walking out of the room, door open behind her.

“Alright kiddo let’s get out of here.” Shiro said, getting to his feet, waiting as Keith hopped off the exam table, gently resting his hand back over his shoulder.

Once they got back into Shiro’s car he sat for a moment apprehensive before addressing Keith. “So you mentioned your foster father isn’t home right now?”

Keith nodded.

Shiro shifted a bit in his seat nervously. “So there’s nobody at your house that can take care of you?”

“I can take care of myself,” Keith said sharply.

Shiro frowned, choosing his next words cautiously. “I know, I’m sure you can, but you don’t have to right now. If something gets worse I want to make sure that you can get the care you need. I can help you.”

Keith looked as though he wanted to fight, however sank back into his seat tiredly. Shiro could tell that he felt worse than he was letting on. “So what are you going to do?”

Shiro took a hesitant breath in. “Well, I could take you back to my apartment for a bit, until you are feeling better or your foster dad comes back into town. Adam and I have a spare bedroom that we can set up for you. If you’re not comfortable with it though we can figure out another plan, just let me know.”

“Okay,” was the only response Shiro got.

“Okay what?” He questioned patiently. “Okay we can go back to my place or okay you aren’t comfortable with it?”

“The first one,” Keith spoke softly.

Shiro nodded, “My place it is then.” He said a bright tone, attempting to mask the lingering concern he felt as he typed in his address into the car.

Shiro cast a glance towards Keith as they settled in for the drive, he was listing against the window again, eyes open however they looked distant and worried.

“My place is about half an hour away from here, it’s right by the Garrison campus. Adam is very nice, I’m sure he’ll like you.” He nervously tried to fill in the silence as the car bobbed along the desert highway. “Are you feeling okay, are you nauseous, do you feel like you’re going to throw up?”

“Not going to throw up.” Keith mumbled.

“Okay, let me know right away if you start to feel sick though.”

“Mhmm,” Keith quietly hummed in response.

The rest of the drive was spent in relative silence, Keith shifting against the window every so often in an attempt to get more comfortable, half dozing by the time they reached their destination.

Shiro quickly got out of the car and opened Keith’s door to guide him half asleep and disoriented up to his place.

He knocked a few times on the door, he had texted Adam briefly in the car to let him know that he was bringing Keith over, however he figured that Keith meeting Adam in a deliberate way was better than him running into him in the apartment.

They waited for a few moments in the hallway before the door opened up to reveal Adam, small smile on his face, slight concern in his brows.

“Hey Adam,” Shiro said softly as he shuffled himself and Keith into the entrance way. “This is Keith, he isn’t feeling very well and he’ll be staying here for a while.”

Adam, nodded as if it was the first time he was hearing the information. “Well it’s nice to meet you Keith, Shiro has told me lots about you. I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well.”

Keith didn’t look up from his gaze that was focused on the tile floor underneath him, shrugging in response.

Adam didn’t seem to mind however, simply gesturing for the both of them to walk into the main room of the apartment. He met Shiro’s gaze for a second, eyes full of sympathy and concern, Shiro gave a slight nod before guiding Keith to their living room to have a seat on a long grey couch. “Okay, so this is my place, the bathroom is over there,” he gestured with his hand, “And the bedrooms are just down that hallway. If you’re feeling up to it you can go take a shower and get cleaned up a bit, while Adam and I finish setting everything else up,” Shiro suggested, noticing the boy could probably use a shower.

Keith huffed out a breath and looked up annoyed at Shiro, as though he was about to fight it, because of course Keith didn’t like taking showers. However Shiro kept firm. “It’ll probably help you feel better, it doesn’t have to be long. Just enough to clean up a bit.”

Keith looked up again, slight pleading in his eyes before scowling and looking back down at the floor. “Fine,” He mumbled.

Shiro nodded gratefully, leading Keith into the bathroom and showing him how the controls worked. “Uh, okay. Um- if you need anything else just yell?” Shiro said exiting the bathroom, silently praying that Keith would not need anything else.

He waited for the moment until he heard the shower turn on before he walked back out into the kitchen where Adam was standing, he smiled at him.

“Cute kid you got there, I think he likes me,” He teased.

Shiro huffed a breath of amusement. “He takes a little while, but I’m sure he’ll warm up to you.”

Adam scoffed, “Of course he will, have you met me?” He winked at Shiro. “Anyways, he should probably eat something, huh? It’s getting close to supper time. I can make something that’ll be easy on his stomach, just broth and noodles or something if you want to go put the sheets on the bed in the guest room.”

Shiro nodded, eternally grateful that Adam seemed to have more of a gameplan than him. “What would I do without you?”

Adam smiled, “Well you and your kid would probably be eating a microwave dinner right now for one.”

Shiro opened his mouth sarcastically taken aback to protest, however he closed it again knowing that Adam -though he was joking- was probably right about that.

Adam leaned over the counter pouring some chicken broth into a pot, “Mhmm, that’s what I thought. Now, bed sheets, go.”

Shiro laughed lightly, turning around to go complete his assigned task as Adam busied himself in the kitchen.

He emerged from the room not five minutes later and was greeted with Keith staring rigidly into the kitchen, towel in hand.

“Hey buddy,” Shiro said gently, however Keith jumped at his voice nonetheless. “Let me take that from you, go have a seat on the couch. Dinner is going to be ready soon.”

They ate supper in the living room that that night, Keith sitting so close to Shiro he was almost on his lap and Adam sitting across from them at their coffee table. He frowned at Keith who had eaten around a quarter of his soup but was now just stirring around the contents of the bowl with his spoon.

“Not hungry?” Adam ventured, worried about overstepping boundaries.

Keith hunched in on himself even more and shrugged his shoulders up.

“No, no, it’s okay. Here, let me take that for you. You don’t have to finish it,” He replied, getting to his feet and whisking away the trio’s plates.

Keith looked up at him confused as though he was expecting a different response from him.

“Thanks Adam,” Shiro called as he headed back into the kitchen to put their dishes into the washer.

Once he was gone, Keith let out a small sigh. Shiro looked down and nudged him gently. “Not feeling well?”

Keith shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut.

Apprehension began arising in Shiro’s chest. “Think you’re going to throw up?”

He shook his head again, eyes still shut tight. Shiro wasn’t sure that he believed him, however he decided not to push the subject any further. “Alright, I’m just going to go get a couple of things. I’ll be right back. Okay?”

Keith looked up at him as if he was apprehensive to let him go but nodded, arms wrapping around his stomach.

Shiro walked swiftly out of the area, not wanting to leave Keith alone for too long. He found Adam just finishing putting the dishes away as he walked in to join him. Adam glanced up to Shiro and then towards Keith sitting in the living room. “He’s really not feeling well, huh?”

Shiro shook his head. “No, he’s really not. We’re probably just going to have to take it easy tonight, watch movies, I have some work that I can catch up on on my laptop. Do we have a bowl somewhere that we can take, just incase? I’m going to go get a blanket.”

Adam nodded, reaching up into one of the cabinets above his head. “Yeah, I think we have one right here. I think we also have some kind of replenishing drink that we can give him to restore electrolytes and stuff.”

“Thanks Adam,” Shiro smiled, planting a quick kiss on his forehead before he left the room to go and collect a blanket for Keith.

He rummaged around the laundry cabinet for a while before feeling a familiar fabric in his hands. He pulled it out to find an old quilt that he had since he was a child. It was the size of a normal blanket, black and red squares patched together on top, the underside a soft black fabric. He clutched the familiar weight in his hands, memories flickering just beneath the surface of the hold.

He allowed himself a moment to be still before he walked back out into the living room, draping the quilt on top of Keith. He took a seat beside him on the couch. “Alright buddy, we’re taking it easy tonight,” He glanced up at Adam as he came back into the room, placing an orange drink and the bowl on the coffee table in front of them, taking the couch opposite to theirs once again.

Shiro had put on a movie he vaguely remembered enjoying as a kid once they had settled into their positions. Keith was leaning against Shiro, already dozing off as he pulled his laptop up into his lap, logging on to grade some papers that had been sent through to him. Adam did the same.

They had been sitting in relative silence, the movie playing softly in the background when Adam looked up from his work. He met Shiro’s gaze then drifted towards the quilt and then to Keith.

“You must trust this kid a lot, huh?” He asked gently.

Shiro shifted his gaze down to the quilt resting over Keith as well, face turning slightly red. “Uh, it- it was the only blanket that I could find.”

Adam laughed slightly, shaking his head. “Kashi, I know how much that means to you. You wouldn’t let just anyone use it.”

Shiro sighed again, Adam knew him too well. “I always used to use this blanket when I was sick, I remember curling up into it when I felt awful. It was always...comforting.”

Adam gave Shiro another knowing smile before changing the subject. “God this essay, I swear, some of my kids can fly a craft three levels above Garrison standard in treacherous conditions without flaw but still don’t know how to use the proper tense.”

Shiro smiled fondly at that, about to say something, however was interrupted by Keith stirring beside him, eyelids beginning to flutter.

“Hey, kiddo how’re you feeling?”

He let out a short quiet whine in response before lurching forward out of Shiro’s arm that was resting over his shoulders. Adam responded quicker than his counterpart, launching off of his position on the couch and holding the bowl under Keith’s face as he proceeded to lose the contents of his stomach.

Shiro rubbed his back, softly attempting to mutter reasurances to Keith until he stopped, taking in a sharp ragged breath and sagging back against Shiro’s side.

Adam stood up, leaving the room with the bowl in hand to clean as Shiro and Keith remained on the couch. Shiro was still rubbing light circles onto Keith’s back.

It wasn’t until Shiro felt him twitch against his side that he realized he was crying.

“Hey, what’s wrong kiddo, why are you crying?” He asked, gazing down concerned at the child resting against him.

“H-hurts,” Keith said in more of a groan than his normal voice.

Shiro’s concern was raised once again, pain was not a good sign. “Okay, can you tell me where it hurts?”

“My stomach,” Keith said louder, exasperated. Shiro wasn’t sure if he was completely lucid.

“Okay, yes I know. Can you tell me where?”

Keith let out another drawn out whine in clear discomfort and clutched the right side of his stomach before letting out a choked cry.

Shiro cursed under his breath. “Adam,” he called, not quite masking the growing panic in his voice.

Adam swiftly made his way back into the living room from the bathroom, worry blooming over his face. “What’s going on, Kashi?”

Shiro looked up desperately at his boyfriend. “Can you help? I- I need to get Keith to the hospital. Now.”

Shiro gathered up Keith, quilt and all in his arms as Adam opened the doors for them leading down to Shiro’s car. There was a hospital on the Garrison campus that could be used for public use that Shiro could drive to in about fifteen minutes.

Adam opened the car door as Shiro placed Keith in the passenger seat. Before he had the chance to dart around to the driver’s side the car Adam grabbed his sleeve.

“Takashi, look at me.” he spoke in a low calm voice.

Shiro’s eyes drifted up to meet Adam’s, full of composure and reassurance. “He’s going to be okay.”

Shiro took a deep breath, trying to take solace in Adam’s words.

“He needs you right now, Kashi. You can do this, I know you can.”

Shiro nodded, another deep breath entering and exiting his lungs. “Thank you Adam.”

“Of course,” he responded, releasing his sleeve. “Keep me updated, I’ll be waiting for you when you get back.”

“I will,” he said, kissing Adam softly on the lips before he got into the car and let it take them to the hospital.

The next hour was a blur.

He remembered getting Keith through the doors of emergency and him being whisked away in a little under ten minutes, the doctors diagnosing him with appendicitis.

He remembered explaining to the doctors that because Keith was enlisted under him through the mentorship program, it gave him certain guardianship rights in emergency situations so that he could consent on behalf of Keith for the operation.

Then he remembered holding Keith’s hand as they put a mask over his face, feeling it going slack in his hands as he was brought to the operation room.

He sat in the waiting area for about two hours, fiddling the quilt beneath his fingers before a nurse came out to address him, he had black hair that was shaved closely at the sides and pale skin but his face was relaxed and friendly. “You are Officer Shirogane?”

Shiro nodded, standing up to meet him halfway across the room.

“The surgery went well, we caught it pretty early which was lucky. We were able to use micro technology to make the incision and remove the appendix, so scarring should be very minimal, if there is any at all. After he wakes up he should be clear to leave, however he needs to rest for around a week as his body recovers. Give him lots of fluids and start off with bland foods before moving to ones with more sustenance. Keep a close eye on him and bring him back if there is any signs of fever, pain, swelling or redness around the incision sight. Other than that, I believe he should have a fairly smooth recovery. He is right back this way if you would like to follow me.”

It took about another hour for Keith to stir from his sleep. Shiro looked at his calm face, chest rising and falling steadily underneath the hospital blankets. His body looked so small, calm and innocent. It was a drastic difference from the closed off grimace that he usually wore. It occured to Shiro how much of a kid Keith still was, so small and fragile, exposed to things that a child should never encounter and not enough of what a child should have. It made Shiro’s heart hurt just thinking about it. He draped the quilt back over Keith’s body just as he was beginning to open his eyes.

Keith looked at him in confusion, slight panic evident on his face.

“Hey buddy, it’s okay don’t worry. You gave me quite the scare there. You had appendicitis, but we caught it early. We should be getting the clearance to leave very soon here.”

Keith nodded, slowly. Shiro figured he was still pretty out of it and tired from the days events.

A doctor came in shortly after to give him one last look over before they were given the clearance to leave the hospital.

Once they were given the okay, Shiro didn’t hesitate to help Keith out of his bed. He gave him back his clothes to change into as he left the room.

After everything was in order, Shiro guided Keith back out to the car, hand resting gently between his shoulder blades as he helped him, tucking the quilt snuggly over him. He finally allowed himself to take a breath as the car pulled out of the parking lot and onto the roadway back to his apartment.

He smiled gently as he glanced over to Keith, sleeping against the car window, blanket clutched firmly in his hands. It was there, looking at him that he began to feel truly confident in his role as a mentor. He was starting to understand what Keith needed, how to help him, when to give him space. Looking at him he just saw a small, hurting child that needed a hand, that needed guidance. Shiro gave a silent promise to him then that he would never give up on him, he would never leave him.

Shiro would show him the stars.