Chapter One
Keith Kogane never thought he would ever meet his mom or older brother. Well, how wrong he was.
Here he was, sitting in the back seat of his older brother's car that he doesn't remember- and for some reason has a different last name then him- Takashi Shirogane. Takashi, or Shiro as everyone calls him, was the first person that he had met outside of his Pop now.
Pop always said that his Gram and Gran died before he was born and that he was their only boy. He also told Keith that him and his mother divorced a year after he was born because she was leaving for the army and she brought his brother cus' he's older then him. An 8 year-old. Why would she bring an 8 year-old?
Who knows. That was his mother apparently.
Shiro's voice broke him out of thoughts.
"We're here, Keith."
He looked up out the window to see a one story house. It looked like it had light grey bricks mixed with a black roof. On the opposite side of the house was a garage that looked just like the house. In the middle, a rocky driveway was present and they rode up it to the garage.
When they stopped in front of the white garage door, Shiro turned off the car and said, "Welcome to your new home."
He sounded like he had just adopted a 3 year-old. But instead, he took in a 16 year-old.
"Adam should be home by now."
Keith raised an eyebrow. Adam? Who's Adam?
"Who's Adam?" Keith found himself saying curiously.
Shiro raised an eyebrow, then chuckled and said "I forgot to tell you about him, I guess." He turned to Keith with affectionate eyes. "Adam's my boyfriend. He's been my boyfriend for 4 years."
Keith made an O shape with his mouth.
He didn't know Shiro was taken. Sure, the dude was hot with his smokey grey eyes and pitch black hair with bangs that look like they were dyed a silvery snow white. But he hadn't had expected him to be gay and already have a boyfriend for apparently 4 years.
Yes, Keith did not think of it to be like that.
They walked up the driveway, carrying Keith's luggage. When they reached the front door, Shiro opened it with a pair of keys that had too many key chains on it.
He unlocked the door and opened it for the two of them. The cold, mid-October air was gone now, replaced with a heated mud room hallway that had two doors. One looked like a bathroom door and the other looked like it lead to a small kitchen and living room.
Shiro took off his shoes and placed them on a wooden shoe rack with a lot of masculine shoes. He hung his coat on a coat rack on the door to the main area of the house.
He held out his hand. Keith was confused at first. Did he want him to take his hand? Or give him his shoes?
Shiro obviously caught on to his confusion and clarified, "Your coat. Can you take it off and give it to me so I can hang it up?"
Oh. That made more sense.
Keith took off his coat and handed it to Shiro. "You can take your shoes off as well." Then he pointed to the shoe rack and hung Keith's coat up.
"Oh, alright."
Keith took off his shoes and set them on the rack and followed Shiro down two steps to an open kitchen.
The kitchen had a checkered grey and white tile, wooden cabinets, and a silver oven and stove. The tile on the counter looked marble. On the island, there was a basket that looked full of napkins and on the other side of it, had two worn wooden bar stools.
On the right side, next to the door he just came out of, had a wooden kitchen table with four chairs, each having their own side. In the middle, there was a small vase of fake flowers.
On the other side, there was a small staircase, with only about three steps, and a railing all the way at the end, and it was on the wall. The stairs led up to a dining table that had at least 7 or 8 chairs.
For the living room, it was attached to the kitchen and it had an ugly maroon carpet but it looked ok with the furniture. There was a long beige couch in front of the railing of the steps. In front of a window, there was a matching love-seat. In the corner, there was a small TV stand with a TV on it. To top it off, there was a glass coffee table, showing off memories of Shiro and a tan man with glasses.
That must've been Adam.
As if it were speak of the devil, the same tan man wearing black glasses came from the back of the house, carrying a coffee mug.
"Oh, hello Takashi" he said to Shiro.
Shiro smiled and waved at the man.
He stepped down the steps and held out his hand free hand to Keith. "I'm Adam, Shiro's boyfriend." He paused and smiled. "You must be Keith."
Keith hesitated but slowly felt relaxed around him. "Yeah." He shook his hand.
"You know it's funny," he started "You and Takashi have somewhat of a similar last name, and are half related." He lowered his hand away from Keith's and set it on his hip. "Is there a reason why?"
Keith thought about it for a bit. He didn't really know anything about his mom and Pop never really liked to talk about it.
Pop always said that he had an older brother with a similar last name. Keith thinks he remembers him saying that his half brother and him only shared a mom and that his brother's biological dad didn't want to have kids.
Keith just responded with an I don't know and the conversation moved along.
Shiro showed him their parakeets named Red and Black. Keith was a little confused on the names, but realized after a second that it was just because of the colors of the birds.
Adam showed him around the rest of the house.
In the back, there was a total of 2 bedrooms- 3 if you count the office as a bedroom, because it has a futon. The master, or Shiro and Adam's room, has a queen sized bed and a vanity on the right wall. Towards the corner, there was a shelf that had a small TV and some books on it.
And attached to the room, the master bathroom and a closet was there. In the bathroom, there was a counter with two sinks and a few colones. Off to the side of it, there was a toilet and a small shower. On the wall opposite of the door, there was a washer and dryer.
Next to the toilet, there was a door that probably led to the closet.
There was a small hallway to right of the master with a few doors. The first was the office, which was simple. It had the futon, a desk, a dresser off to the side and a small filing cabinet.
The next door, was just a small closet with the vacuum, some towels and blankets, and a few board games.
Next to the closet was the guest bath. It was just a normal bathroom. Sink with a mirror, a shower and bathtub mix, and a toilet. What wasn't normal, was a weird Japanese cat statue thing, or Maneki-neko. It was sitting on top of a shelf above the toilet.
Who knows why it's there.
The final door at the end of the hall, was his new bedroom.
It was normal as well. Next to the door was a small dresser with a few small brushes on it. (Why those were there? Keith didn't know.) On the same wall, there was a small TV stand with an old fashioned TV that still used those certain large discs. On a shelf above it and the small dresser, many discs for the TV were present. The opposite wall had a full sized bed and a vanity with pictures that looked like they belonged to some little girl. Next to the vanity, a door stood which looked like a closet one.
Keith set down his suitcase with all of his belongings, which wasn't very many things, and sat on the bed.
"We'll leave you to get settled in." And both Adam and Shiro disappeared out of the room.
Keith sighed and took his suitcase and set it on the bed, unzipped it, and started taking out the clothes he had. It was shirts, mostly black and red, and all his jeans. He pulled this one shirt that he found at the airport from Texas.
He was born and raised in Texas. The first time he left was for his flight to Altea, Virginia and now he is here. Shiro said on the car ride to the house that he was born in Texas as well, but when mom went to the army, he moved around with her and then finally settled in Culpeper. He ended up moving to this house with Adam 6 months ago when Adam's grandparent's, that lived here before them, died.
Suddenly, there was a faint barking noise coming from outside. Keith looked over to the only window in the room and opened the blinds.
There was a black and brown, large dog sitting outside his new window.
The dog was pawing at the window, like he wanted to come in.
Keith hesitantly got up and walked to the kitchen.
When he got there, Shiro was sitting at the island and Adam looked like he cooking spaghetti or something along the lines of that.
Shiro looked over to him and smiled. "Hey Keith, what's up?"
"Is there a dog that lives around here? A big, black one?"
Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Well, the neighbors have one but she's medium and blonde. Why?"
Keith sighed. "There was just a large, black and brown husky outside my window."
Adam spoke up "Oh, you mean the stray that's been around lately? The neighbors feed him but he doesn't really stay around anyone. Normally doesn't like people."
Shiro nodded. "Their youngest son and his friend named his Kosmo."
"Ok? So why was this Kosmo just pawing at my window?" Keith asked.
For the first time of that conversation they were having, Adam looked up. "He was?"
"Yeah..?"
"Like I said, he doesn't like anyone. You must be special." Adam smiled.
"Huh" Keith was special to a dog he never really interacted with. He was going to have to get to know this dog.
