Written for Day 6 of Sheith Month: Pre Kerberos.
I don't know why I so favour poor Matt being 100% Done with Shieth's nonsense over each other but here we are - I do, and so when Matt waved his hand at the Pre Kerberos prompt to volunteer his POV, this is what unfolded.
Matt bolted upright, his vision blurry and one eye twitching. It took him a moment to identify the sound that had disturbed him from his sleep, and then he was immediately distracted by the realisation that he had fallen asleep.
Matt groaned, rubbing both hands over his face and pushing his glasses further askew. He had intended to study all night, not fall asleep over his desk. . .
A repeated chime from the door startled him and he jolted sideways, lunging to his feet.
"Fuck. Right." Matt scrubbed a hand through his hair on the way to the door, glaring at Shiro, whose broad shoulders faced the room and who appeared to be sound asleep still. He reached for the pad to open the door and hoped belatedly that it was not a commanding officer.
It wasn't. Matt squinted one eye, peering at Shiro's friend. He was drawing a vague blank. Most of his brain was either still asleep or still caught in the depths of finer engineering calculations.
"Hello?"
"Right. Hello." Matt said. Possibly he should have actually gone to bed last night. Muddled wasn't unusual for Matt when he was sinking into studies and calculations, but he didn't usually lose English or relatively basic social functions entirely.
"Shiro . . . asked me to go see one of the newly commissioned ships with him today?" Shiro's friend said slowly, either uncertain of himself or wondering if Matt was an idiot, it seemed. Keith, his name was Keith, and now Matt felt more foolish than ever because he had heard Shiro say it approximately five thousand times, even if he didn't usually talk to Keith much himself.
"Oh right. Uh. It's early." Matt said, then realised he had no idea what time it was. And Shiro was perfectly capable of getting up early. And of inviting his- "So, finally going on a date, then?" he asked, stepping back and gesturing to invite Keith in.
Keith pinked. "No, of course not! Just. . . He wants to show me. And I want to see, of course." He shrugged, walking gracefully inside.
". . .of course not." Matt said dubiously. "Shiro's still asleep, have fun with that."
Keith stiffened, turning and staring at Matt as he closed the door. "What?" he said faintly.
Matt gestured to Shiro, still sacked out on the lower bunk. He could have woken Shiro - it was never that difficult, and it wasn't like Shiro was unpleasant in the mornings - but Keith's not quite panicky expression was rather entertaining. "I'm not waking him up. You want him, you wake him up. What time is it anyway?" he asked, glancing at the desk, but the clock was somewhere behind or under some of the books or papers spread out there. Or possibly he'd knocked it on the floor again. Matt leaned over to look.
"Seven." Keith said, edging cautiously towards the bunks. "You're sure. . ."
"Look, he invited you to go out, it's his fault he's not up." Matt said, and flopped into the chair by his desk with a yawn. He hadn't even told Matt he was making plans to go out this morning - possibly so Matt wouldn't say anything about the not-date. He slouched against the desk on one elbow and watched, amused, as Keith - who, from what Matt had seen and Shiro's stories, mostly seemed to ignore such trivial concerns as 'embarrassment', 'shame', or censure from peers or even instructors - slowly reddened even more, tentatively approaching Shiro on the bunk but not quite reaching out to him.
After a couple of minutes Matt was tempted to yell Shiro's name and see if he woke up - that would, no doubt, also be entertaining, to see his reaction to waking and finding Keith right above him. He waited, though, eyeing Keith.
The sooner they left, too, the sooner Matt could crash for some more comfortable sleep himself without interruption. That did weight the scales a little further towards going to help, but then he would have had to get up again. Matt sagged a little deeper in his chair just at the thought of it. Possibly he should have climbed to his bunk directly rather than returning to his place at the desk.
"Shiro?" Keith finally said, voice soft, and clasped a hand around Shiro's shoulder, shaking him gently. "Shiro, it's- it's Keith. Wake up?"
Shiro mumbled in his sleep, then rolled over. "Keith?" he said, a slow smile spreading over his face. "Keith. . ." he repeated, his gaze soft as he looked up at Keith.
Right, Matt thought. They weren't dating. Not only that, the very idea of them dating was ridiculous, Matt. He thought he could feel his eye twitching again. Probably it was because of lack of sleep - and sleeping on his books - but he was more than willing to attribute it to Shiro's ridiculousness.
"Good morning, Shiro." Keith said, pulling his hand back slowly. "I'm sorry if I'm early."
"Early?" Shiro's brows drew together and Matt could see the rest of his brain coming online properly now. "Oh! Keith!" He shoved himself upright in a flurry of blankets, then out of bed entirely. "I'm sorry! I must have forgotten to set my alarm, and I was up late!"
Matt eyed Keith. His eyes were fixed on Shiro's biceps - bared by the tank top he had slept in - and Matt would be willing to bet that he was not hearing a word of Shiro's apologies right now.
Shiro went to get a change of clothes, then hesitated and moved back towards Keith, who finally assured him it was fine and apologised again for coming early. They took a minute to establish they both still wanted to go and see the new ship together, then just stood there, Shiro holding a clean shirt, smiling bashfully at each other.
"Oh just go out on your not-date and pretend you don't want," Matt hesitated for a split-second, "to kiss and fawn over each other and be gross, and leave me alone here to get some sleep."
"Matt!" Shiro's face was going painfully red and he couldn't look at either Keith or Matt any more.
Deciding it wasn't going to get any easier by waiting, Matt hauled himself up from his chair. "Look. Shiro. I'm sorry but you two are all but dating and I really wish you would put me out of your misery by actually doing it." he said as he caught hold of the ladder and hauled himself up into his bunk.
"I- You- Matt." Shiro said again, but didn't get any further.
"Is that true?" Keith asked softly, with a wondering expression, and Matt was so done, how could the other cadet have missed the way Shiro looked at him or- Well, he supposed Keith probably didn't get to hear Shiro's Keith is amazing speeches. Lucky Keith. But still. "Shiro? Do you want. . . I mean-"
"Keith! I- That is. I. . . Do you. . ." Matt watched Keith inch closer behind Shiro, reaching out to him and barely brushing his arm with tentative fingertips. Shiro jumped like he'd been shocked, eyes widening.
"Please just go. And call it a date. And go. Together. Away." Matt said, burying his face in his pillow and refusing to look at them again. His eyes felt like they're been sandpapered, he wondered how late it had been when he actually fell asleep on the desk.
Although he'd count the lack of sleep and the lack of studying worth it if his exhaustion-loosened tongue pushed Shiro into doing something about his crush.
Matt could vaguely hear them speaking in low murmurs, but they were too quiet to be heard easily. He lifted his head when he heard the door open, just in time to see them slip out hand in hand, and mentally gave himself a high five before planting his face back in his pillow.
Good. Maybe Shiro would be happy.
Matt fell asleep just as he realised he couldn't remember if he was supposed to be meeting Commander Russo today or not.
The ship they're going to see is a newly commissioned Garrison ship that Shiro has already admired on a trip with one of his advisors; it is not the ship for the Kerberos mission, that will come later.