Chapter Text
Shiro's gut hasn't stopped churning since he got out of the shower and realized that the time had finally come. His hands were all shaky when he tried to comb his hair into a nice part – but his bangs kept flopping back down, even when his mom tried to help him fix it with gel. He should have known then that he was going to be a wreck all night.
His palms are sweaty where they rest on his knees and he's probably leaving damp spots on his slacks, but they're going to get wrinkled anyway just sitting here in the backseat of his parents' station wagon as they keep going on and on about how they can't believe he's gotten so big and how they want to get pictures of him and Keith together and-
Oh man... just thinking of Keith makes him feel sweatier. He's probably going to sweat right through his dress shirt and vest. Did he even put deodorant on? Is he going to be all stinky when Keith gets close to him for the pictures? When are they even going to take the pictures?
And what if Keith wants to dance... he'll have to lift his arms and then Keith will see his sweaty pits... oh man...
His braces feel like they're chafing the inside of his lips, and not even sucking the spit back into his molars seems to help. He just hopes they're not all gross and bloody when he's with Keith... what if he wants to, like, kiss or something?? Shiro doesn't even know how to kiss, and he's pretty sure Keith doesn't either, and neither one of them have ever said anything about it, and he thinks they might just be going to this thing as friends but he forgot to like ask after he got the tickets for him and Keith, and his mom gave him money for both of them, so that kind of makes it a date maybe, except he's only fourteen and Keith is only thirteen and he's pretty sure Mrs. Krolia and Mr. Tex would kill him if he tried to kiss Keith and-
“Shiro?” His mom is smiling at him from the front seat. They're already parked in front of the school gym, and Shiro spent his whole planned 'calm down' time panicking in the back seat about his sweaty hands. “Do you have your tickets, sweetie?”
Shiro pats his pocket, pulling out the two sparkly rectangles with their school's logo on it, and nods at her.
“Remember,” his dad adds, turning around in his seat to clap Shiro on the shoulder, “you can call us any time if you want to go home, and you never have to do anything you don't want to do, okay?” Shiro nods again, tongue thick in his mouth. His dad smiles at him, more than a little knowing. “Keith's a good kid, smart... handsome too. You're gonna be fine.”
“Thanks,” Shiro croaks, feeling his ears steam and suddenly needing to be out of the car. “I'll call you to pick me up when it's done?”
“Any time,” his mom assures him, “I talked to Krolia, you can stay over there tonight, or Keith can stay over with us, or no sleepover, just let us know, okay?”
“Y-yeah... thanks mom.” He sucks in a deep breath and lets it out slowly, counting to ten as he grips the door handle. “Okay, I can do this... I'm going now.”
His dad grins at him. “Go, be great.”
Shiro nods at him again and hops out of the car and into the cool night air. They agreed earlier that they would wait for each other outside, not wanting to look like nerds alone in the hallway, so Shiro slinks up to the doors of the gym and waves to his parents as they drive away.
He fishes his phone from his pocket and flips it open, meticulously beeping out 'I'm here' to Keith, even though Keith never checks his phone, and Shiro is at least twenty minutes earlier than they agreed to meet because he was nervous that they'd be late and maybe get into an accident and then Keith would be stuck waiting for him and-
Yeah.
He's about to slip his phone back into his pants when it chirps with an incoming text from Keith.
'k, we r close'
At least that gives Shiro less time to panic. He pockets his phone and then rustles through his other pocket to triple check that he still has the tickets. Just in case. His braces still feel funny, like his teeth got bigger when he was showering and now they're gonna look funny or something, and running his tongue over them obsessively doesn't seem to be helping. Plus, he's pretty sure he heard somewhere that stress causes pimples and he's probably gonna get a big honking zit right on his nose by the end of the night.
Krolia's giant red truck pulls into the parking lot with a roar that rattles the thoughts right out of Shiro's head. He's glad that he's up close to the door, otherwise her tires probably would have splashed nasty dirt slush all over his clean pants and then Keith wouldn't like him.
Well... Keith would probably still like him, he's not very good at keeping his clothes clean either, but that's not the point.
He can see her and Tex turning around to talk to Keith, probably telling him to call if Shiro is a total weirdo, and then his dad reaches out to ruffle the little sprout on the back of Keith's head as he flings the truck's door open and catapults himself onto the concrete.
“Ugh! Love you bye!”
Krolia honks twice, waving at Shiro as she brings the truck around and zooms out of the parking lot. Keith dashes over to him with his face all wrinkled, trying to flatten the back of his hair. “It's cold out here.”
Shiro nods, tongue once again stuck to the roof of his mouth as he looks at his friend. Keith's bright red button down looks nice – really nice... and it looks like he put his shiny shoes on too. Shiro's mom made him wear his tonight, she said that his converse would ruin the line of his pants – whatever that means.
“Do you wanna go in?” Keith asks him, fidgeting as Shiro just stares at him like an idiot.
“Oh, right, yeah.” Shiro coughs into his fist, then offers an arm out to Keith like they do in those old movies. Keith takes it, because he's a good friend and isn't about to point out the fact that nobody does this anymore, and they might just be here as good friends and oh god what is he doing. “I have the um... tickets.”
“Cool.” Keith grins at him, still holding his arm. Shiro wonders if he can feel the thudding of his pulse in the crook of his elbow. “That's good, cause I don't.”
Shiro chuckles at his friend's joke, but he knows he sounds weird. He just needs to get out of his own head, it's just Keith after all. Except that Keith has never really ever been just anything.
He pulls the door to the gym open and ushers Keith through to the little waiting area near the locker rooms, which is kinda awkward when he doesn't let go of Shiro's arm so they do this weird shuffle until the door bumps against Shiro's heel and sends him stuttering a step forward.
Their math teacher cocks an eyebrow at him. “Hey kids... tickets?”
Shiro stuffs his free arm in his pocket, praying they didn't fall out in the fifteen steps they'd taken since he last checked, but they're thankfully still there. The teacher takes them with a grunt, punching a hole in the ends before handing them back and waving them into the main gym area where the lights are dimmed and the latest pop hits are blaring through tinny speakers.
Keith smiles at him and gives his arm a pull, always the one to jump in headfirst. Shiro is always grateful for it though, his life would be less than half as fun without his best friend to come up with all the exciting things they do... like even coming tonight. Shiro probably wouldn't be standing in a gym covered in string lights if Keith hadn't asked him if he'd seen the flyer. Of course he had seen them around, and he knew the eighth grade dance was coming up... a few people had even asked him about it, but Shiro wasn't really interested in standing in the corner watching his classmates do the Cotton Eyed Joe dance for a few hours – unless it was with Keith. He'd do anything if Keith is the one asking.
So when Keith pulls him over to a table covered in glitter and cheap party favors Shiro can't help but smile at him, even if it shows the braces that might have gotten bigger in the past few hours.
“Hey um... I like your shirt,” he offers as they settle into their chairs, still sitting close enough that Keith hasn't had to let go of him yet. “It's really red.”
“Thanks,” Keith smiles at him and brushes his bangs from his eyes. “I like your vest and everything, it makes you look like one of those guys on the covers of those books in Ms. Montgomery's classroom.”
That hadn't been quite the effect Shiro had been going for, but Keith is kinda right, even if their shirts are usually a little more billowy than the purple button down Shiro has on underneath it.
“Oh! I almost forgot.” Shiro fishes around in the pocket he had stuffed his phone into, hoping he hadn't smooshed the flowers in there as he pulls them out with an awkward flourish, “I think this is for your uh... wrist maybe? Or I think there's a pin too, I'm not sure.”
Keith laughs, but it's not mean, and sticks his skinny arm out for Shiro to slide it on. He grins down at it and then fishes a similar one out of his pocket – but red flowers instead of purple. “I got you one too.”
They're both smooshed, and they're both perfect.
Shiro likes how their matching wrists look with their arms together like this, even if he thought it might be stupid when his mom gave it to him earlier. Sometimes moms have good ideas too, maybe.
They sit there together, just touching arms and watching their classmates dance to music that Shiro doesn't really like, but is happy to tolerate for Keith – and then a slow song comes on, and all of a sudden the spotlight flooded dance floor starts to thin out. Keith glances up at Shiro, who is busy worrying his lip against the edge of a bracket, and gives his arm a squeeze.
“Do you think we're supposed to dance?”
Shiro almost startles at the question – he knew it might be a possibility, probably if Keith thought they were going like together together and not just two losers, and they are wearing matching flower things now, so it makes sense that he might think they should be dancing like the other together people are, but-
“We can,” Shiro shrugs, trying to suss out how Keith feels about it without giving his nerves away, “if you want to, but we don't have to just cause we're supposed to.”
Keith nods at him, seemingly satisfied with that answer.
The song passes, then another one starts, equally slow, and he looks back up at Shiro – swallowing hard, almost like he's nervous too as he wipes his free hand on his pants. “Well, what if we just kind of danced right here?”
“Okay.” Shiro stands too fast, nearly dragging Keith up and tripping them both on the leg of the table. “Oops-”
“Guess you really wanted to dance,” Keith laughs again, untangling their arms just to kind of tangle them in a new way. They're a little bit over-under, and a lot bit stiff.
“I'm not really sure how to do this,” Shiro admits quietly, hoping that if he beats Keith to noticing he won't make fun of him... not that Keith would ever make fun of him, probably. “So uh... if you do...”
“Nope!” Keith chirps, grinning up at him as he steps in a little bit closer, “but I think you just kinda... hug and sway?”
“Oh.” That sounds easy enough to Shiro, so he shuffles a little closer too, sliding his arms around Keith's back to do the hugging. He totally knows how to hug, probably. “Like this?”
“I think so.” Keith shrugs under his arms and his own come to wrap around Shiro's waist, cause he's so much shorter. Shiro could probably tuck him right under his chin, which... sure is a thought. “Seems about right.”
Then they just kinda... sway.
It should probably be more awkward than it is. It probably looks a lot more awkward than it feels, at least. But Shiro is pretty pleased with the situation considering his sweaty hands are safely hidden from view and he doesn't think he has any pit stains yet. Of course, Keith probably never has to worry about those, even though he's always super sweaty in gym class, cause he's always cool as a cucumber. He never cares what anybody thinks about him, so why would he care about some dumb old dance? Shiro wishes he could be more like Keith sometimes... but then Keith looks up at him and smiles, and his face is so nice and open that Shiro can only be glad that he's himself – the person that Keith smiles at. He tries to smile back, but winces a little when his lip gets caught on the hook on his bracket.
“Ow...”
“Braces hurt?” Keith asks him, full of sympathy even though his own teeth are perfectly straight and white and pretty all by themselves. Shiro's just glad he doesn't have to wear the headgear anymore.
“Yeah, a little.” He shrugs, trying to play it all cool and tough like those guys in leather jackets in the movies – but without the smoking. He hasn't cried from his braces since they had to wrench the back ones off his molars and reposition them, which he thinks is pretty good. “Not too bad though.”
“Kay.” Keith nods at him and shuffles in a little closer, until their shiny shoes are bumping and probably scuffing each other. “If um... they hurt too bad let me know.”
“Kay.”
Keith is always thinking of Shiro like that, he's probably the nicest boy he's ever met – even if other people say he's kinda weird. Shiro doesn't think so though, they've been friends since as long as he can remember, and Keith always shared his cool lion toys even back then in the sandbox. He's never made fun of Shiro's big ears that stick out, or his braces, or the way he just got all clumsy when he grew six inches out of nowhere... Keith's not that kind of person. Keith is the best friend he's ever going to know, and he just hopes that they get to stay together forever.
For now though, getting to dance with him is enough, even if they might be doing it wrong... especially when he can feel Keith's arms squeeze around him when he gets brave, or maybe sleepy, and lets his forehead thunk onto Shiro's chest.
He wonders if Keith can feel how fast his heart is beating.
Maybe Keith's is beating just as fast? But it would be kinda hard for Shiro to find out... he'd have to hunch all the way down there and then try to come up with a reason to put his ear to Keith's chest, and he's pretty sure that's not what the older kids mean when they talk about playing doctor.
The song ends and Keith looks up at him but doesn't let go – he just stands there hugging Shiro and smiling, making that fizzy bubbly feeling in Shiro's chest grow like he's going to explode – like that time him and Keith tried to chug coke and eat mentos just to see what would happen and then threw up all over Mrs. Krolia's rose bushes... except in a good way.
“Hey Shiro?” Keith squeaks out, his hands bunching and unbunching in the back of Shiro's dress shirt. “Are we um... is this like a here together sort of thing?”
He glances off to the side where there are a few couples trading kisses on the dance floor before Mr. Iverson can come break them up, then back down to their feet, like he's afraid to see Shiro's answer.
“It could be?” Shiro hedges, worrying his lip against his bracket again. He knows his ears are starting to steam, and if Keith looks up they're definitely gonna give him away. “I mean, if you want it to be like, a together thing.”
“But do you want it to be?” Keith presses, mouth pinched when he looks back up at Shiro, “You don't always have to go along with what I want...”
Shiro shrugs, painfully aware of the sweat starting to pool on his hands where they're pressed against Keith's back. “I always want what you want, you're my favorite person... my Keith.”
It's not quite surprise that flickers across Keith's face before he lurches forward to bury it in Shiro's chest – and not quite disbelief either. Shiro is pretty sure it was a good face, even if Keith is trying to break his ribs hugging him.
“I want what you want too,” he muffles the words into Shiro's vest, not budging an inch from where he might be trying to smother himself, “you're my favorite person in the whole world and I- … I really like you.”
Shiro's heart catches in his throat, stalls, and restarts again beating double-time. Keith can definitely feel it now. “I really like you too,” he croaks, leaning down to tuck his chin over Keith's head like he wanted to before. His hair is super soft, and he smells nice.
He just wishes his hands weren't all shaky and sweaty, or he might try to hold Keith's.
Maybe.
But Keith pulls back to look up at him, all pretty eyes and cheeks so red they match his shirt, and Shiro forgets wanting to do anything at all but just look at him.
“When we get older, um...” Keith trails off, swallowing hard as he smooths his hands down Shiro's vest. “Maybe we could... be... something?”
Shiro nods, probably too fast to be cool, but he's biting his lip so hard it's making the metal dig in and he thinks his heart is going to explode and Keith is so pretty and nice and wow. “Yeah, maybe like... next year? When we're fifteen?”
It seems awfully far away, being fifteen years old – especially since Keith is only thirteen now, and Shiro only just turned fourteen, but he's willing to wait for this. For something... as long as it's with Keith.
Keith, who looks like Shiro's just given him the best present ever. Keith, who rises up onto his tip toes to bump his forehead against Shiro's, like he sees his dad do to his mom sometimes.
“Thank you, Shiro.”
“Don't thank me!” Shiro laughs and hopes his breath smells okay when he's up so close. “I would be anything with you, Keith.”
“Pinkie swear?” Keith asks with all the seriousness he can muster, unclenching one hand to bring it up to Shiro's face.
“Pinkie swear.” Shiro confirms, gratified that Keith's pinkie is as sweaty as his own hands are, even if it's probably a little gross when they slip together. “It's you and me forever.”
“Forever then,” Keith agrees, his pointy chin jutting out as he throws his arms around Shiro again.
Since the serious business is all sorted out, they just kinda go back to swaying – even when the songs start to get fast again and their classmates all get on the floor to do those stupid line dances. A few other kids try to wave them over, to get them to come join the big party, but Shiro is perfectly happy just to be here with Keith all night in their little bubble – even if it means they had to buy tickets to stand under the twinkle lights covering their gym ceiling.
“Hey, you think Iverson got up on a ladder to put those all the way up on the ceiling?”
Keith lifts his cheek from Shiro's chest to squint up into the rafters, then shakes his head. “Nah, he's kinda old... I bet they made Matt's dad do it. He could probably build a cool robot that hangs lights in like two seconds.”
“You think?”
“Yeah, why not? He's got a roomba.”
Shiro can't argue with that logic, so he doesn't, and decides to enjoy the ambiance in all its mystery.
Still, even with the pretty lights and the glitter and streamers and all that... the dance is honestly – with the exception of his best friend – kinda boring now that they've been here for like ever. He feels like he's got the whole dance experience down now, they looked at some people, did some dancing... he doesn't really trust the snacks over by the table if Mr. Coran made them...
And to be honest his feet kinda hurt from all this hugging and swaying. Shiny shoes are not nearly as comfy as his converse, even if his mom thinks they make his pants look better. He's pretty sure Keith would've thought his pants look okay either way.
“Hey, um... did you wanna have a sleepover tonight?” Shiro asks when the loud pop song finally stops blaring from the stage. “My mom said it was okay.”
“Yeah, mine too.” Keith nods and steps back a little to look around. Shiro looks with him, and realizes the gym is about half empty anyway. “Did you wanna come to my house so we can watch the stars?”
“Sure!”
“Okay, lemme call my mom...” Keith untangles their arms to fish around in his pocket, pulling out his phone with a look of surprise. “Oh wow, it's already like eight thirty.”
Shiro's surprised, but not surprised too – time seems to get away from them pretty often.
“Hi mom,” Keith says into the phone, then hunches his shoulders and blushes, shuffling a few feet away as Mrs. Krolia talks to him. “No, we didn't. No... moooooom.”
Shiro grins at his friend as he huffs and crosses one arm across his chest with a pout. Mrs. Krolia is always funny – but especially when she's teasing someone who isn't Shiro.
“Shiro is gonna stay over tonight, okay? Can you just come pick us up? And ask dad to get the star fort ready?” He pauses, chewing on his thumbnail as he listens to her, then smiles. “Yeah... thanks mom, see you soon, love you bye.” He flips his phone shut and turns back to Shiro. “She'll be here in like ten minutes.”
“Neat.” Shiro nods, then jerks a thumb out into the hallway. “I'm gonna use the bathroom before we go.”
“Kay.”
He's washing his hands when Ryan waves at him as he steps up to the other sink. “Hey, man.”
“Hi, Ryan.” Shiro waves back with a smile, Ryan is one of his favorite people to study with, even if Keith doesn't really like his best friend. “Did you have fun tonight?”
“Yeah, it was cool.” Ryan nods, then smiles at him like he knows a secret. “Did you and Keith have fun? I saw you two dancing.”
“Yeah, it was really cool... we liked the little snowflake decorations that the key club made – that was you guys, right?”
“Yeah, they took forever to cut out. James got super picky about how many points each one was supposed to have so we had to get rid of all the four cornered ones for the string.” He shakes his head with a laugh as he dries his hands on his pants. “Boyfriends, right?”
“Oh!” Shiro squeaks, more than a little caught off guard. “I didn't know you two were together.”
“Aren't you and Keith?” Ryan asks, avoiding the question with the beginnings of a blush. “I just kinda figured you could tell since... ya know.”
“Us? No... not yet at least.” He can't help ducking his head, a little shy and a little sheepish as he scuffs at a loose tile on the floor. “I kinda thought we had to be like... older.”
Ryan shrugs, but he's still smiling when Shiro looks up again. “I dunno... sometimes maybe you know? Anyway, have a good night, dude.”
Shiro watches him go as he dries his hands. Ryan is a smart dude... maybe he's onto something.
The thought pokes at him the whole drive to Keith's house, even when Mrs. Krolia ruffles his bangs and asks if they had a good time. He thinks he said yes, because he did – he always has the best time with Keith, of course. She just gives him a knowing smile when they get home, stopping them in the living room to take a picture for Shiro's mom before letting the two boys dash up the stairs with the promise of bringing up a plate of snacks in a few minutes.
Mr. Tex is just finishing setting up the fort when they burst into Keith's room and he accepts a hug hello from Shiro as Keith scrambles into the blanket-draped canopy and pillow nest tucked under the big bay window. It's Shiro favorite place in the whole world, and Keith's dad goes through all the trouble of setting it up for them at least once a month. He's even got the telescope dialed in already.
Snacks arrive right as they've changed into the spare pajamas Shiro keeps in Keith's dresser, and it's the perfect way to finish the day. Mrs. Krolia even flicks the light off and shuts the door as she heads downstairs, leaving them alone in the glow of the sticky stars they put up on the ceiling back in third grade.
It's quiet.
Keith looks really nice in the moonlight that comes in from the big window – especially when he grabs Shiro's sleeve and tugs him over to look at Mars. It makes him think of Ryan's words again, and he can feel himself going hot all over.
“Hey Keith?” he asks into the quiet after they've brushed their teeth and settled down into their little fort – their two sleeping bags zipped together into one huge one like always.
“Yeah?”
There's a rustling as Keith turns to look at him, his face curious and open where it's awfully close to Shiro's.
“Fifteen is a long way away.”
A private little smile curls Keith's lips and he ducks his head. “Yeah... but I think it'll be worth it, right?”
“Yeah, of course...” Shiro trails off, swallowing hard as he wiggles a tiny bit closer, his hand creeping to find Keith's in between their bodies. “But um... do you think maybe... sometimes you know?”
There's a frown line between Keith's eyebrows as he looks up at Shiro, but his fingers creep too – until they're touching in a way that's almost holding hands. “Know what?”
“That sometimes someone is gonna be really special to you for your whole life?”
“Oh. Well, yeah.” Keith nods, his hair moving across the pillow and into Shiro's space, like Shiro has said the most obvious thing in the world... and maybe he has? “I don't need to be fifteen to know that you're gonna be that.”
Shiro sucks in a breath, and can't even be embarrassed when it whistles spit past the rubber bands on his braces, because Keith sounds so sure.
“Can I kiss your cheek?” he whispers into the dark, barely able to hear himself over the pounding of his own heart.
“Only if I can kiss yours too.”
Shiro nods and wiggles forward until they're right up close, and Keith's hands clasps all the way with his. He can hardly believe his own daring when he swallows all the spit in his mouth and leans closer, just grazing the skin below Keith's eye, and presses a kiss there with a shuddering exhale.
Keith sighs with him and his hand clenches tight around Shiro's fingers. He waits for Shiro to pull away before stretching up and returning one right next to Shiro's mouth – because he's always been the brave one. Then he's pulling away with a shy smile of his own.
“Your lips are soft.”
“Thanks,” Shiro whispers back, grateful that his mom packs chapstick into his bag, “so are yours.”
“Thanks.”
They lay there for a moment, just smiling and breathing into the shared space... and then Keith yawns so hard it ruffles Shiro's bangs.
“Heh... I guess that means we should sleep.”
Keith buries his face into the pillow as he nods, blushing and sheepish. “Probably...” He peeks one eye out and squeezes Shiro's fingers again. “Goodnight, Shiro.”
Shiro squeezes back, feeling that squirmy ache again as he looks at Keith under the soft glow of the stars. “Goodnight, Keith.”
He closes his eyes and hopes he'll dream of the boy holding his hand.