I accidentally gave the first three days titles that start with S, now that I noticed I wanna keep it going, so I'll have to try to find titles with S for the rest of the week.
Day 5 of Jaith/Jeith week on Tumblr, prompt is "Shiro". Enjoy!
"Dude, why do you keep staring at Captain Shirogane like that?" Rizavi asked when James glanced at the Captain out of the corner of his eyes one too many times and not as secretly as he'd thought.
"I'm not staring at him, shut up," James hissed, actively trying not to blush, which was kind of stupid when he thought about it because he had never actually met anyone who had been able to control whether they blushed.
Needless to say, it didn't work. "If you aren't, then why is your face red?"
James needed new friends.
A little too quickly, he stood, nearly sending his chair toppling over in the process. "You guys are terrible. Now excuse me, I've got… stuff to do!"
Marching out of the room, he tried not to make eye contact with anyone, not his friends, and certainly not Captain Shirogane. He nearly headed towards the training facilities but remembered in time that Keith was there more often than not, so he turned on his heels and went for the hangar. He couldn't just take his fighter and go out for some flying without permission, and he wasn't Keith after all, but he could still wash it or something.
He was in the middle of scrubbing his fighter with a sponge when he heard someone approach and didn't even have to guess who it was.
"What do you want, Ryan?" he asked curtly, not even bothering to turn around to face him. He'd thought he had made it quite clear he wanted to be alone - because of course he knew they didn't believe his half-assed excuse - but of course, his friend had to show up anyway.
"Tell me what's up," Kinkade told him, and it wasn't even nearly a question. And Kinkade could be stubborn, that much James knew.
But so could he, quite honestly. "I don't know what you mean."
"Stop being a dick. This is about Keith, isn't it?"
James nearly dropped his sponge and hoped sincerely his hair would hide his ears that were very obviously bright red with how they were burning.
"I thought this was about the Captain, how did we get to Keith?"
"I don't know. You tell me."
"You know what? Fine," James half-yelled, throwing the sponge to the floor in frustration and hopping off the fighter to stand in front of Kinkade. "I need him to like me, okay? I can't read the Captain, at all. I have no idea if he likes me, respects me, hates me, or if I even exist to him. I wouldn't blame him if he hated me!"
"Why would he hate you? He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who randomly hates people, you know," Kinkade moved, but James just groaned, frustrated his friend wasn't getting it.
"It's not random, that's the problem," James cried. "He was already friends with Keith when we had that huge fight in our first year here, he knows what kind of shitty things I said to Keith back there. And we weren't the best of friends after that, either."
Kinkade hummed in understanding. "And now you want him not to hate you because..?"
James stared at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you this stupid or are you just pretending to be? Keith is basically his little brother. And everyone knows big brothers are scary protective!"
"Ah," Kinkade said simply, and James really didn't like it. "So you finally admit you have a crush on Keith."
And shit, he played himself. "I… never said that."
"Whatever you say. Look, just get your shit together, Griffin. I'm sure he doesn't hate you. That incident happened years ago when you were both kids. You've grown up, he knows that. He won't blame you for being a jerk back then anymore. Besides, everyone deserves a second chance."
James hated to admit it, but Kinkade has a point. Captain Shirogane does seem like a reasonable person, he probably wouldn't hold any grudges, would he..?
"Ugh," James complained. "I hate this!"
"I know," Kinkade said, patting James on the shoulder comfortingly before he headed for the exit. "Remember to get your shit together.
That evening, James decided to get his shit together for real, as Kinkade had put it so eloquently.
"Captain Shirogane? May I talk to you in private for a moment?"
"Sure," the Captain replied, giving him a friendly smile as he got up and followed James out of the door and to a more private room. James hoped he'd still be as friendly when he figured out James' feelings for his baby brother.
Captain Shirogane closed the door and looked at James expectantly. "So, what did you want to discuss?"
"I… uh-" Suddenly, words failed him. He hadn't exactly prepared a speech, but he had gone over what he wanted to say a few times that afternoon, but somehow, he'd forgotten just about everything.
"If I may," Captain Shirogane interjected gently, an amused smile on his lips. "I wanted to talk to you as well, so I can go first, if that's alright. I have a feeling it's about the same thing."
"Y-yeah, sure," James muttered, embarrassed, and then added, "uh, sir!" quickly when he realized he'd forgotten.
Captain Shirogane watched him with an unreadable gaze. "Are you serious about Keith?" he finally asked.
"I- we-" James stuttered, completely caught off guard. "Keith and I aren't…"
"I know," the Captain said, "But you could, if you two just stopped dancing around each other. Don't worry, I told Keith the same thing."
Now that was… "Does that mean-"
Captain Shirogane sighed. "It's not my decision who Keith gets to be with, but even if it were, you're a good guy, Griffin."
There was a pause, Captain Shirogane contemplating his next words, and James just completely and utterly speechless.
"Look," the Captain finally said, "Just… please don't ever hurt him intentionally, and don't just leave him one day without warning or an explanation. He's been through enough in the past." And he only just learnt how to trust again, that went unspoken, but James knew nonetheless.
"I also know you've been through a lot, so be good to each other. Talk. Better one time too many than not enough. Talk about problems, and about your happiness. You never know-" the Captain cut himself off with an odd glint in his eyes, and James had a feeling he was witnessing something he wasn't meant to see, so he averted his eyes and nodded slowly.
"I- yes. I'm very serious about him. Thank you," he said, offering Captain Shirogane a small smile of gratitude.
As he left the room and walked through the hallway, he mulled over the Captain's words. Talk one time too many instead of not enough, he'd said.
James took a deep breath to steel himself before he made his way to the training facilities. He had to talk to Keith.
I dislike the "Big brother/dad allows someone to date THEIR sibling/kid" trope because in my opinion, people are free to choose who to be with (with obvious restrictions, I wouldn't let my 15 year old date a 25 year old), and especially if fathers or brothers of girls threaten potential boyfriends or try to keep "their little girl" away from boys, that really rubs me the wrong way, but I dislike it with all genders. That's why Shiro says it's none of his business who Keith dates, as long as he's happy.
Also, don't make someone promise not to leave their partner ever. Sometimes, feelings change, you can't do anything about that and it's not fair to guilt someone into staying. And hurting someone might sometimes happen accidentally, as long as you acknowledge you hurt your partner and apologize for it, that's not the end of the world. Shiro's not asking the impossible here, he basically just wants James not to be a dick to Keith, and not to leave him without talking shit out with him so he can try to understand.
But that's enough with the relationship talk, thank you for reading!
Here's the link to the Tumblr post for this event for anyone who's interested: post/177174562099/james-and-keith-week-is-anyone-really-surprised