Work Text:
“Found you.”
Keith’s sigh let out a frustration he didn’t feel. “Go away, Holt.”
Matt did exactly the opposite, balancing his lunch tray one-handed as he dropped down to sit beside Keith. He was wearing a shit-eating grin that Keith half wanted to slap off of his face.
“If you really don’t want company, don’t make yourself so easy to find.”
Keith raised an eyebrow as he looked sideways at the tiny crevice between two buildings, the hard packed dirt beneath them, and the dumpster they were scrunched against. He’d had to take a maintenance hallway to get here.
“Exactly,” Matt said waving his fork around. “Quiet, out of the way, strictly prohibited from students. Exactly the kind of place Keith Kogane would go to get away from everyone.”
“You’re an idiot,” Keith said because he couldn’t think of a good comeback.
“Categorically untrue.” Matt took a bite of mashed potatoes and made a face. “I’m pretty sure they put mustard in these.”
“Why would they do that?”
“They mistook ground mustard for garlic powder?”
There were plenty of good reasons that Keith steered away from the cafeteria lunch. Neither of them commented when Matt nudged his apple—the only food that could pass for edible on his plate—toward him. Keith took it, but didn’t eat it yet, instead turning it over in his hands. They sat in companionable silence for a while.
“You wanna hear about psychrophiles?” Matt said.
“No,” Keith replied, not keeping the smile out of his voice.
“Sure you do. They’re bacteria that can survive in extremely low temperatures, like negative thirty-nine degrees Celsius kind of cold. They vitrify at these temperatures which means they basically turn into glass.”
“What?”
“Pretty cool, right?” Matt’s eyes were alight the way they always were when he talked about microbiology.
He went on for a bit with Keith only half listening. He was concentrating more on the cadence and tone of Matt’s voice than the words. Keith had been grasping at metaphors just out of reach for a way to describe it. Chamomile, he decided now. Smooth and warming with a touch of honey sweetness. Yeah, that described Matt Holt perfectly.
Keith’s hands were cold like he’d long since dropped the mug and watched the tea seep into the ground.
A poke in the shoulder jolted him.
“Hey, you awake?” Matt laughed. “I haven’t even told you about thermophiles yet.”
“You think you’ll find a lot of those on Kerberos?” Keith asked bitterly.
Matt’s face fell. “Keith…”
A mixture of shame and resentment filled his chest. He turned away. Matt put a hand on his shoulder and he immediately shrugged it off. He was being childish, he knew, but he didn’t care.
“It’s not official yet…”
“It basically is,” Keith spat. “Shi—Professor Shirogane told me. You’re a shoo-in. They just have to sign the paperwork.”
Matt was quiet for a moment before letting out a sigh. “Okay, yeah. I wasn’t going to tell you until it was confirmed, but you’re right. They really want me on that mission.”
“And do you want to go?”
Matt was more taken aback by the question than Keith expected.
“I’ve always wanted to go to space. That’s what we’re here for.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Matt dragged his fork through his potatoes. “I get to go to space. I get to go with my dad and Shiro, coolest, most record-breaking pilot ever. And I get to use my specialty to look for signs of life outside of our planet.”
“You get to freeze your ass off on Kerberos.”
The corners of Matt’s mouth quirked up. “Exactly! No downside here! Except… leaving.”
It was wishful thinking that Keith could almost hear a “you” at the end of that sentence.
“It won’t be forever,” Matt said. It wasn’t clear if he was talking to himself or Keith.
“Years.”
“Years isn’t forever,” Matt said pointedly.
Close enough, Keith thought but didn’t say.
“Two years at most, including travel,” Matt continued. “And guess what, you’ll be graduating by then. So, maybe I’ll just stay on Kerberos and you can come up to get me.”
“I’m not going to fucking Kerberos,” Keith scoffed.
Matt batted his eyelashes and leaned way too much into his personal space. “Not even for me?” Keith shoved him away, knocking his lunch tray to the ground. Matt howled with laughter.
“Piss off, Holt,” Keith said through his own laugh. Matt was the only one who could make him do that. As much as he wanted to be annoyed, he was actually amused. Anyone else who tried to get that close to him would receive a swift fist to the face. But Matt had shouldered and prodded his way in. The hollow space he’d be leaving behind would be bigger than Keith had ever wanted to surrender to another person.
Matt straightened with tears in his eyes. “Seriously though. I want you up there with me.”
“They’re not going to ask a first year space cadet to go on the mission.”
“No, doofus.” Matt poked him again. “I mean once you’ve finished training. I want you out there flying.”
“If I finish training, you mean.”
Matt tried to swat at him, but Keith dodged it.
“You’re going to finish,” he insisted. “’Cuz you’re going to be one of the greatest pilots out there. I mean it, Keith. I wanna be part of your crew someday.”
Keith looked away, hating how he could feel heat rising to his face. Matt had listened patiently to his complaints about strict teachers and stupid classmates and calmly told him repeatedly to stick it out. He loved flying (or at least the simulator led him to believe he did). But school sucked whether he was learning about space travel or not.
If there was one person he would consider making it through for, it was Matt Holt.
“I’ll try,” he said lamely.
Matt stared him down. “You’ll do it.”
The bell shrilly interrupted their conversation before Keith could reply. Matt scooped up his lunch tray and hopped to his feet. He offered his hand to help Keith, just as he always did. Just as he always did, Keith ignored it. Unoffended, Matt tapped the hand that held the long-forgotten apple.
“Make sure you eat that. You need something in your stomach.”
Keith’s stomach was turning, but not wanting to see Matt turn into a mother hen, he reluctantly took a bite and trudged after him. They slipped back inside and parted ways almost immediately. Matt was sneaking back to the cafeteria to put his tray back. The teachers were all too charmed by him to reprimand him for being late, the bastard. Keith, on the other hand, had to sprint if he wanted to make it to class and avoid his fourth tardy of the month. Matt gave his shoulder a solid clap before heading off.
Halfway down the hallway, he turned back and gave Keith a rigid salute.
“See you later, Captain.”
And then he was gone before Keith could even form a goodbye.