Third day and still going.
Matthew Holt
Keith thought he might just die.
The only thing keeping him grounded to life was the insistent tap, tap, tap of his feet against the floor. It was probably too late already, cause he could see the light. It burnt his retinas in a subtle sort of way. He closed his eyes, only seeing the red spots of the light's doing. He let out a small whine. He has heard rumors that it lowered the pain level but it didn't seem to do anything. Cautiously and carefully, Keith opened his eyes again to face the horrible beam of light raining down on him. He could already feel the warm heat of death crowning him. He let out another low whine.
"Stop being overdramatic," he heard distantly. Shiro poked him in the leg like it was a form of comfort. It wouldn't work now. Keith was too far gone. He could only respond in a miserable huff. "Keith, there is like thirty other kids here -" it was too late to play with the other kids. They have all slowly gained the faces of his sworn enemies. He will never give them a chance. "- they need rooms too." Keith huffed again. Obviously, they didn't need rooms. They were so berserk they could be mistaken for animals. Animals slept outside. Survival instincts will kick in eventually. "We just have to be patient." Any longer and Keith will be in the cold, clammy clutches of the reaper himself. He didn't have time to be patient.
He heard Shiro sigh and basically heard the pout in his voice, "Keith, you're gonna hurt your eyes."
Keith closed his eyes again, only red spots were seen under the lids. He made a mumbling noise that sounded vaguely like, "Better?"
Another sigh erupted from Shiro's mouth somewhere and Keith heard him continue scribbling in his notebook. Probably graphing Keith's pain level. If anything it has skyrocketed now. A blonde woman came out of the office. She strode to the people next to them and gave them a key. Keith peeked to see who was the lucky candidate. James Griffin. Probably the key of the gateway to hell. James had no place in Keith's heaven.
He closed his eyes again since Shiro wasn't too impressed about his staring into the light. What Shirogane didn't know was that this was an easier few steps to death. People could die in their sleep. If they got a key right now, Keith might survive. When the blonde woman returned, it was only to go back into her office. Keith decided he didn't like that woman. She kept giving him false hope. He didn't like the janitor either. He was just sitting there, reading a magazine with a 'the floors can clean themselves' look on his face.
The floors absolutely did not clean themselves.
After three other lucky students got their room keys (all to which Keith gave a 'take me with you' sort of look) the woman finally chose them. Keith noticed the tag 'Merida' on her breast pocket.
"Alright," she said shortly, handing Shiro a key. "I was unsure of which room to give him at first. Not many people of his age. But, there is a lone boy in room B14 that will allow a roommate of any age. Come with me and I will show you to your room." Keith got off the chair in unison to Shiro, slinging his bag over his shoulder and they both followed Merida out the door.
They walked down the hallways of the Garrison for a while. Keith took in the walls, the hanging lamps and desks laid out at the walls. Orange streaks and boards led them to the dormitories. They walked a few more steps before they stopped in front of a door with an orange 'B14' on display. Shiro gave Keith the key and ruffled his hair. "I got somewhere to go. But have fun."
Keith glared at Shiro's action. He watched as Shiro walked back down the halls. He stepped toward the door and laid the key on the scanner on Merida's command. The door whizzed open and Keith saw a messy room with a bunk bed. There was one desk in the corner next to the window. Magazines were strewn on the floor. They were shoved together like it was roughly tidied up. At the desk sat a boy with light copper brown hair and amber eyes. His glasses glinted in curiosity. From the notebooks on the desktop, Keith assumed he was studying.
"Matthew Holt, this is Keith Kogane. Your new roommate," Merida said shortly, before leaving the two alone. Keith felt uncomfortable under the boy's gaze. He wasn't in his Garrison uniform. Instead, a NASA shirt and dark sweatpants. He seemed overjoyed to see Keith, in a quiet sort of way.
He must have noticed he was staring to long cause he hopped to his feet, nearly tripped over his magazines and held out his hand. "Er - um - hi, Keith! W-Welcome. To the dorm! Welcome to the dorm. And the Garrison." Keith hesitantly shook his hand.
"Hi," he said simply. He dropped his bag at the bottom bunk and sat down. The door whizzed close automatically. Matthew scratched at his neck uneasily and sat down at the desk.
"So... you were accepted into the Garrison, huh?" he asked.
Keith cocked up an eyebrow, "Um... yeah, that's... kinda why I'm here."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Matthew said hastily. "I know that. Just... er…" he started playing with the study work on his desk. "...making conversation." He turned back to Keith after some awkward silence. "You take the bottom bunk then?"
Keith shrugged. "If you have the top bunk, yeah."
Matthew nodded, "Yeah."
Keith decided to ignore him. He laid down on the bed and stared up at the bottom of the top bunk. He saw Matthew turn back to his work in the corner of his eye. Thank god.
XXX
A week has passed and Keith and Matthew made a silent agreement not to talk to each other. Matthew didn't seem to happy about it but obliged either way. They worked into a routine to walk into the room, study and then sleep. They never talked. Sometimes when Keith was sitting up in bed, struggling to sleep, he would hear Matthew tossing and turning on the top bunk. Every now and again, making a noise of frustration. He probably also had struggle sleeping. He once heard him talking on the phone, mentioning 'Pidge' and 'Katie'. ("Hey, Pidge!"
"..."
"Sorry, Katie.")
Keith didn't ask any questions.
Matthew has left a while ago to hand in some sort of report, so Keith was alone to his own thoughts. Shiro hasn't met Matthew yet, despite coming to the dorm so much. But when Keith mentioned he was a 'Holt', Shiro gaped and started talking about a man named Sam. Before he left he said something about 'making friends' and left.
Keith considered it for one second before letting it go. Feeling bored of the messy, quiet dorm room, Keith jumped off the bottom bunk and walked out the door. He was still in his Garrison uniform, which annoyed him immensely. But despite the uncomfortable wear, Keith kept it on.
He walked down the hallways, considering finding Shiro when voices caught his attention. It sounded like... Matthew. And a couple of other boys. He snuck around the corner since the voices didn't sound too friendly. He saw Matthew holding his arm, his cheeks flushed. They were laughing around him after saying something. Keith noticed Matthew's textbooks scattered on the floor. One word came to mind. Bullies.
Keith has had experience with bullies most of his life. The most previous one being James Griffin at the last simulator class. He felt bad for Matthew. Embarrassed in front of them. It could've been the previous event when he tripped into the Garrison swimming pool with a full bag of notebooks. Keith didn't talk to him about it, of course, but Matthew had seemed pretty miserable rewriting his homework. He wasn't sure what pushed him to it, but the next thing he knew, he was walking toward the crowd.
As he drew closer, he noticed they were much taller than him. But he didn't mind the height difference. He pushed past them toward Matthew. "Holt, you okay?"
Matthew looked up, startled. "Er - yeah. Fine."
"Aw," cooed the tallest kid mockingly. "Is your tiny roommate here to help you?"
Keith spun around as the bullies started laughing again. "What did you call me?"
The boy crossed his arms smugly, "Tiny? Aw, you don't like that?" He added leaning down to come eye to eye with Keith. Keith didn't mind his short stature, it was an advantage point. It helped him out a lot. But he didn't like people pointing it out.
Matthew pulled Keith back a bit when he noticed his fist clenching. "Don't do anything stupid. Just ignore them." He turned to them. "Look, I don't know what your problem is, but don't take it out on Keith."
The tall one sniggered, "Keef? Is that your name? Suits you right, kitten."
XXX
"He should've known better," Keith said, his arms crossed as Matthew hopped around the dorm. He has been talking for the last half hour.
He spun to Keith with a half frown, half smile. "Should've known better? Should've known better?! My god, Keith! You punched the guy right in the stomach! While Iverson was walking past! You got detention your first week. Detention. You seriously didn't have to do that!" He ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know whether to thank you, scream at you, be happy or utterly terrified."
Keith shrugged. "It was a customary gesture. You needed help." He smirked up at Matthew. "Besides, what kind of tiny roommate would I be if I left you like that, Holt?"
Matthew studied Keith for a while before holding out his hand, a nervous smile on his face. "Call me Matt."
Keith considered it. He knew Shiro wanted him to make friends, but he hasn't really thought this through. Shrugging and simply thinking 'YOLO', he accepted Matt's hand and said, "I allow you to talk to me now."
Matt smiled. Bright instead of nervous. "Awesome."