Tie Me Down

by themightypookums

Everyone has a secret. Whether it's big or small, everyone has something they're hiding. Keith's life is run by his secrets which will inevitably catch up to him. They are his oldest friend. They've left him cold and cynical about life but his perspective starts to change when new faces come into his life and show him that secrets can be so much more than something to fear.

2. Chapter 2: Hesitate

"Have you ever gone days without anything happening?"

"Huh?"

"Just hear me out. You go days, maybe even a couple or weeks or months, without anything special happening. Days just kind of happen. They blend together, but then you notice that tiny things you never noticed before were all leading up to one thing. One life changing event that you were never expecting to happen. Do you know what I mean?"

"I think I do. So, what was this life changing event?"

"Hang on, I'm getting to that. But first, the little things. They're important."

---

Chapter Two: Hesitate

Keith stood on the lawn of the large campus of the college. Large trees scattered around the quad were in the beginning of their yearly colour change. Shades of burnt orange and crisp yellow mixed in with fading green on long, nimble branches. The canvas bag that hung over Keith's shoulder was heavy with the textbooks that were shoved haphazardly inside during his race to get ready after his alarm went off for the seventh time. The entire feeling was foreign to him while watching the swarms of students moving along the concrete paths from building to building. He hadn't been to school in over two years, and there was a reason why. It was strange how the racing of his heart in his chest was so familiar even after all that time that passed. He could feel his exhaustion finally catching up with him when he was suddenly not moving. He had barely slept as he worried over absolutely everything he could worry about but his adrenaline had managed to mask his tiredness up until he was finally staring up at the stone building at the end of the wide path leading from the parking lot.

"This is such a bad idea," he muttered quietly to himself but still loud enough to be heard by outside forces.

"Oh, come on, it won't be that bad," the voice said from his side. He turned his head to face the bright hazel eyes behind large, round glasses perched on the end of a round nose. "It'll take a bit to get into the rhythm, but once you're back in the swing of it, it's like riding a bike. You remember what it was like in high school, right?"

"I tried really hard to forget," Keith muttered and turned his head back to stare across the quad at the main building with the large clock sticking up from the middle of it. "I wasn't entirely the best at riding my bike in high school."

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Well, you shouldn't have any problems. Just don't freak out and you'll do fine. I mean, you did well, even though you were a notorious delinquent who almost resorted half of the teachers to alcoholism just by being in direct proximity of you," she explained with a crooked, amused grin. "But other than that, you were fine."

"Wow, I forgot how much of a pain in the ass you are when you don't have your brother around to put you in your place," Keith explained sarcastically. He had known the year younger girl since she blew through two grades worth of classes in on year back in high school and was put beside Keith in his advanced Physics class. How did she do it? It was a continuous mystery even to Keith. The young girl was awkward and weird but Keith liked it.

"That's some big talk from the guy who if I leave would have to walk home thirty blocks," Pidge retaliated. "And we wouldn't want you too vulnerable or the aliens might find you and take you back home where you came from."

Keith cracked a small smile at that. "Alright, this could go on for a while," he replied and started towards the main building that loomed directly in front of him from across the courtyard.

Pidge's eyes widened. "Does that mean you concede?" she asked excitedly as she followed closely with quick footsteps in order to meet Keith's long strides.

"For now," Keith snapped. "I concede for now," he elaborated with a strong tone.

Pidge let out a loud roar of laughter that Keith rolled his eyes at. She basically lived off making Keith feel small and wrong, but his pride was too great to ever admit that she was right, even if ever conceded. The halls of the college were surprisingly busy. There were students clothed with matching shirts that had five colours (black, red, yellow, blue, and green) scattered all around the main lobby handing out flyers and cheering some sort of chant having to do with five important personality traits: leadership, humility, intelligence, strength, and compassion. Keith internally groaned at how completely cheesy the chant was. He was too lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice the large mascot of a lion weaving its way through the crowd to high-five students trying to make their way inside. Keith quickly dodge out of the way at the last minute to avoid being roped into an aggressive chest bump between the lion and a large dude wearing a backwards cap who was exceptionally loud and rowdy.

Once the crowd thinned out, Keith could breathe normally. Pidge seemed strangely unbothered by the obsessive noise and heavy crowd, as if she was completely blocking out the entire thing so she could focus on getting to the destination. There was a line out the student administration office on the main floor that Keith and Pidge joined as loud cheering echoed from the cafeteria down the hall. Pidge was busy on her phone as soon as they were standing still as Keith looked around the room packed full of people getting schedules and having their photos taken. Keith watched as a group of young girls giggled softly while exchanging their new student cars back and forth to each other. They couldn't have been older than eighteen.

"Pidge, you don't have to stand here with me," he turned to his bored looking friend to say. He didn't want to be left alone in the foreign place with absolutely no direction but he also felt bad enough that she had to pick him up hours before her first class even started. She finally looked up from her phone with furrowed eyebrows. "I know you don't have to be here. You can go find something else to do."

"And leave you to fend for yourself on the first day?" she replied and let out a sharp, sarcastic laugh. "Please, I'll end up finding you cowering in a corner somewhere. No, you need me."

Keith could have let out a loudest relieved sigh, but he decided against it. Instead, he opened his mouth to retaliate with some snarky comment but was suddenly sent off kilter when he was suddenly smacked into from behind. The force almost knocked him down but he caught his balance as Pidge instinctively grabbed his arm.

"Ah! I'm so sorry!" the worry sounding voice shouted. Keith quickly spun around ready to give whoever crashed into him a piece of his mind but stopped when he realized the voice came from a rather husky young man with olive skin and a worry filled expression. He was carrying a large box that hid his face before he turned slightly for Keith to see his dark brown eyes and orange bandanna he had tied around his forehead. There was something naturally calming about him and Keith was immediately reminded of a large teddy bear for some strange reason. "Are you okay? I—I'm so sorry. I couldn't see where I was going, not that that's a fair excuse to run into someone, but I'm still so sorry!"

"It's okay man," Keith said as he lifted his hands to wave them slightly. "Stop apologizing. It's all good. Do you need any help?" he offered kindly, pushing aside his prideful need to be an asshole while under the intense watchful eye on his only friend standing next to him.

The young man shook his head frantically. His worry disappeared to be replaced with a wide, bright smile that made Keith feel warm. "No, I'm alright. I just have to watch where I'm going. Thanks though!" he said loudly before trotting off with the boxes partly obstructing his vision in a dangerous manner that made Keith nervous.

"He's not your type, Keith," Pidge spoke up after the silence dragged on too long.

Keith's eyebrows were narrowed together in confusion. He quickly spun his head around and his friend's attention was back on the glowing screen of her phone but her mouth was stretched up in a wide grin that took up half her face. "Where the hell did that come from?" Keith asked bitterly.

Pidge lifted her eyes to look up at him through her eyelashes and over the rim of her glasses. When Keith looked at them directly they didn't look so big and intense. He swore Pidge only wore the glasses to add that effect, not because she needed them for her vision. "Weren't you flirting?" she asked in response with a genuine tone.

"What? No! I don't—what?" Keith snapped confusingly. Pidge knew exactly where to jab Keith to make him the most uncomfortable: his flirting skills. Why? Because he had absolutely none.

"Hm, well, that's embarrassing. My bad," Pidge replied with a shrug of her shoulders and her attention shifted back down to her phone again.

Keith turned his body to face the same direction as the line, mostly so he wasn't looking directly at his friend anymore in case she looked up again and noticed his burning cheeks. "You need to get out more and interact with people," Keith explained in a low mumble as he scratched at his arm through the sleeve of his jacket. "People who aren't your brother or me." The scar was itchy again. It healed but it was constantly itchy.

"Meh," Pidge replied with a bored tone.

Keith rolled his eyes and was grumbling under his breath but none of the words were loud enough or distinct enough for Pidge to understand what he was saying. "I can help who's next," one of the secretaries behind the office desk called out loudly.

"That's you," Pidge spoke up without missing a beat. Keith's itching stopped instantly as he frowned and he quickly looked around to realize she was right. The line had been dwindling away quickly without him even noticing.

The woman didn't look up as Keith hurriedly stepped up to her desk. Pidge hung back a few steps and snickered occasionally from whatever she was reading on her screen. Probably memes. It was always her damn memes. "What's your first and last name and your program you've applied for?" the woman suddenly asked, her voice flat and monotone.

"Keith Kogane, Astronomy," he answered a little too quickly. He couldn't shake his nerves. Pidge had him too flustered and he hadn't had enough time to sort himself out. The older woman sitting behind the desk glared up over the top of her glasses at him as her hand ceased writing. In that moment he wondered why people with glasses enjoyed giving him that look. He was a fucking magnet for it. Adam did it. Pidge did it. Even the random woman behind the desk did it. Was he really that weird? Keith shrugged off the thoughts when he realized the silence had droned on for too long. "K-O-G-A-N-E," he spelled out with a small, crooked grin to try to make light of the tense situation with the intense woman.

The woman rolled her eyes as she continued. There were multiple forms passed over the counter that Keith had to sign and then he was suddenly standing in front of a camera with flash big enough to blind an elephant before he had a chance to ask what the hell exactly he was signing. He was pretty sure his soul and first born had been claimed at some point in time. Pidge seemed amused by the complete look of confusion as Keith was manhandled around the room by the secretaries before being led back to where she was standing. Keith was still blinking as he stepped out of the main office with Pidge slightly ahead of him to lead the way. The blinding spots across his vision made it hard for him to see his own picture on the laminated card he was given, even when he held it up to his face almost touching the tip of his nose.

"Want something to eat?" Pidge asked as she gently nudged her shoulder against the dark haired boy moving his card further and closer to his face in an attempt to get his vision back.

"On you?" he asked teasingly and gave up trying to tell whether he looked even remotely human in his photograph to slide the card into his pocket.

"Eh, why the hell not. I'll indulge your first official taste of crappy cafeteria food," she answered with an amused tone that made Keith slightly worried. He wasn't expecting her to agree and her answer was no instilling much confidence in him about asking.

The loud shouting over the pulsating dance music from the cafeteria grew louder with each step that Keith and Pidge took down the hallway lined with metal lockers and plaques Keith was too uninterested to really take a moment to look at. Once they were in the large open doorways, Keith stopped. The room was spacious and packed full of people sitting at the tables or standing near the doorway. The music was coming from a speaker across the room where the floor rose a bit higher from where Keith and Pidge stood and a group of students wearing the same multi-coloured shirts as the students in the main lobby were dancing around to the fast pace of the music.

"What the hell is this?" Keith asked with a bitter tone above the loud beat of the music that had everyone in the room moving.

He wasn't expecting the sudden presence behind him and the obstruction of his vision as something was tied loosely around his head. "It's fun, Mullet," the sudden voice against his ear said. The warm breath that ghosted over his skin made him shiver. The nickname immediately made his blood boiled but there was something about the way one of the hands of whoever was behind him gently moved over his shoulder that made him relax. Pidge giggled lightly from the side. "Enjoy the party, you two!" the faceless voice said over the loud noise. Keith quickly removed the crimson bandanna that had been tied over his eyes to turn his head so he could see who it was but he only caught the the fistfuls of colourful fabric and caramel hair disappearing into the crowd of students.

"Welcome to Voltron College, Keith," Pidge turned her head to say loudly over the music. She pushed the green bandanna up to her forehead as she smiled wildly. Keith's eyebrows were furrowed together in complete confusion as his friend leaned in closer to him. "Where the motto is: Go Down Swinging."

"When I say Vol—!" a voice yelled above the music and the noise of the crowd. Keith's head quickly spun around to see the olive skinned young man who had crashed into him in the office standing on a chair to scream above everyone, "—you say tron! Vol!"

"Tron!" the crowd screamed back with just as much enthusiasm as him. Keith was right confused and completely second guessing his decision.

"Vol!" the boy shouted again with equal, if not more enthusiasm than the first time.

"Tron!" the crowd repeated loud enough to rumble the windows that lined the opposite wall.

Keith stared at the red fabric in his hand. It was such a strange feeling being a part of something so high energy and crowded. He was there but he felt completely disconnected from it all. His arms crossed over his chest as he let out a heavy sigh through his nose. He was scowling out of confusion as he watched the crowd erupt in loud cheering and ludicrous dancing to the heavy bass in the loud music. "This place is weird," he muttered just loud enough for Pidge to hear him.

"You'll fit in perfectly than," Pidge retaliated before she spun around to make her way towards the attached room where the food was kept. Keith snapped his head around, his mouth cracked open to respond bitterly but she was too far gone to shout over the noise.

Lunch was a shared mixture of a tuna sandwich, some questionable cut up vegetables, and some slices of pizza that surprisingly tasted good despite their bland look. After lunch was the tour. The campus had three main buildings. The main administrative building had the library, the majority of the staff offices, and some classrooms used mainly for the business programs. The athletics building had a workout room, a gymnasium, a pool, and some more classrooms. The third and final building was made up of lecture rooms, the majority of the classrooms, and some offices for the professors. It was all confusing and disorienting for Keith as they wandered down the halls with Pidge's mouth going a mile a minute, but he got the main idea of it all in the end. The tour ended with Keith standing in front of the open doorway into a classroom on the fourth floor full of loud chattering and laughter. The haze of halls and doors was washed away as he shoved his hands into his pockets after rubbing them along the rough fabric of his jeans. His palms were so sweaty.

"I have classes until late evening," Pidge spoke up above the conversing voices inside the room as she was tapping her thumb against the screen of her phone. "Do you want to wait for me or take the bus home?" she asked but her voice was distant background noise to Keith. He had been walking around with a small rock in his stomach all day but it wasn't until he was standing in front of his first class that it all hit him. The rock turned into a boulder, his mouth was full of cotton balls, and he couldn't hear anything over the heavy ringing in his ears. "Hey, Space Cadet!"

Keith was jostled harshly from his thoughts by the old nickname when the small fist smacked his shoulder. "Ow! What?" he snapped bitterly.

Pidge rolled her large eyes. "Snap out of it, alright? You're like a deer in the headlights," she explained with a low tone, shoving her phone into her back pocket so she could adjust her glasses. "Just let me know if you decide to go home. If you don't, I'll message you when I'm done my classes," she ordered. Keith was used to the bossy tone she had, it was nothing new to have to deal with. Her small hand smacked against his back with a hollow thud that made Keith shrug his shoulders hunch forward with a grunt. "Now, get in the damn classroom. Stop being so afraid, and be a grown up."

Keith's lips turned down in a deep pout. He slid his hands out of his pocket to cross his arms over his chest as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I am a grown up," he muttered quietly, highlighting his pout with the sad tone he had.

Pidge scoffed loudly, her lips moving together to blow raspberries to emphasis the disbelief. "No, you're not. You think you are, but you're actually a child," she replied bluntly. "You have the emotional capacity of a toddler."

"I do not!" Keith shrieked a little too loudly and turned his head to notice Pidge making her way down the hall away from him. "Hey!" she shouted. He couldn't fight if she wasn't there and if he couldn't fight then he couldn't say he won. Pidge knew that drove him crazy, so naturally it's exactly what she did.

"A whimpering child!" she shouted back over her shoulder with a wave of her hand, earning judgemental looks from passing students.

Keith was muttering quietly under his breath a string of curse words as he watched the short brunette disappear around the corner of the hall. He was playing the argument in his head, trying to find something to hit her back with in the future when the time was right. He wasn't just going to let it go. That would be too pride-less. He turned his attention back to the classroom and was humming low and steady quietly in the back of his throat when a voice suddenly spoke up from behind him. "Going in?" the accented voice asked.

Keith's shoulders tensed having been startled before he quickly spun around. The older man had orange hair with a thick, well-groomed mustache and sparkling blue eyes. The wide grin formed on his face made his skin wrinkle at the edges of his eyes and mouth telling Keith that the man did that a lot. You know…smiling. "Uh, y—yeah," Keith answered nervously.

"Well, let's go then!" the man said loudly as he shifted behind Keith to grab his shoulders. Keith started to protest against the contact but his jumbled words and panic was no match for the man's tenacity. "There's no use standing around out here when there's learning to do!" The man was shoving Keith into the room to give him one bigger shove once they were through the doorway. "Alright!" Keith stumbled forward a bit. Fire burned his cheeks when he noticed all conversations had ceased and eyes from all around the room were trained on him. "Is everyone excited to learn about the wonders of the universe and all it holds?"

Keith awkwardly slumped his head as he quickly found his way to an empty seat across the room next to the large window. The view looked out into the courtyard of the school where the tall trees were swaying lazily with the breeze. A few burnt coloured leaves would break off from the branches in the movement to dance to the ground. The orange haired man was standing at the front of the room, his fists pressed to his hips as his eyes scanned the group of students. "I am your professor, Coran Hieronymus Wimbleton Smyte. For those of you too lazy to remember that, Coran is quite fine."

Keith set his bag down with a soft thump as he let out a small, sharp sigh. He felt exhausted. The lack of sleep and having to be up so early in the morning was taking a toll on his body. "Now, you folks may be thinking this is all going to be a piece of cake because you're all such smart individuals, but that kind of thinking is dangerous," Coran continued but his voice had shifted much lower than before. "This program is hard. Many people drop out within the first year. It takes discipline and hard work to pass. So, prepare yourselves for lots of late nights. My suggestion: invest in a good coffee maker now!"

Keith groaned quietly in the back of his throat as he let his head drop. He pinched the bridge of his nose before he rubbed the pads of his fingers against his closed eyelids. Coran wasn't kidding. The entire program had a heavy workload no matter what class he was looking at. Why did I agree to this? Keith thought to himself every minute that he looked over the syllabus for the Introduction to Astronomical Observations class and Coran droned on and on in the background. The boulder that was in Keith's stomach was a mountain. He felt like he could throw up at any minute as he looked over all the content and assignments. So many damn assignments.

Half an hour into the class and heavy footsteps suddenly came to a stop in the doorway. Coran was halfway through a sentence when he stopped, making Keith look up from the piece of paper that had been handed him to see the young woman standing in the doorway panting heavily. "Sorry," she apologized, pushing her glasses up her face. "I got here as quickly as I could," she explained through a few heavy breaths.

"No worries! Just don't make a habit of it, Miss—," Coran started to reply and dragged on the last word to try to coax a response from the disruptive girl.

"McClain. Veronica," she answered and stepped into the room. Coran nodded in understanding before he picked up right where he left off as if he hadn't been interrupted. Keith's attention was back on his syllabus; having lost interest in what was happening. Veronica moved across the room and stopped at the empty spot next to the raven-haired boy. "Are you alright if I sit here?" she asked and tapped her fingernail against the surface of the table a few times.

Keith looked up at her with a confused expression before shifting his attention to the empty chair and then back up at her. "Unless you'd rather sit on the floor," he responded sarcastically.

It was an unexpected natural response to Keith that came off surprisingly rude. He was expecting a flash of anger across the girl's face but instead she smiled. It was strangely soft and yet mischievous all at the same time. Keith enjoyed it. When she sat down, Keith caught a sweet scent of strawberry from whatever fragrance spray she was wearing.

The anxiety in Keith's chest was quickly accompanied by the nauseating sensation that stuck to his throat as he left the class. It felt like it had gone on a lot longer than only four hours and by the end he could barely keep his eyes open as he listened to Coran. When he stepped out of the classroom he could have gone home, but he thought it would be better to try to get his bearings around the place first rather than risk falling asleep on public transportation.

Some of the halls were familiar from the tour Pidge gave him but there was still a lot of ground to cover, most of it in the building he was already in. He made his way up and down the halls laid out in an H format with stairwells at each point to take note of as much as he could. For the most part he could tell that each floor was dedicated to certain program departments, but there wasn't anything to distinct. A few of the rooms were still occupied by classes but the majority of the building was empty. Keith took a guess that Pidge was probably in one of the closed rooms on the second floor that was mostly made up of science labs and had the fewest amount of classrooms to compensate for the large lecture halls on the main floor.

Keith had wandered through all of the levels to finally reach the bottom floor. One of the lecture rooms was being used for a History class that had a poorly constructed timeline pulled up on the large projector screen as students fought to stay away in the seats. Keith shook his head as he continued down the hallway to stop at the end where it branched off either to the left or the right. The right stretched down to the stairwell but when Keith looked to the left, his interest was peaked. A hand painted banner hung over the double doors that said: Welcome to the Heart of Voltron! Keith's curiosity was peaked. Through the initial set of double doors was the stairwell but another set of doors was on the other side of the stairs, unlike the others he had gone through in the building.

He didn't hesitate to push through the doors from the stairwell and instantly stopped. The long hall continued to the left at the end and Keith instantly noticed the walls were different from the rest of the building. They were covered in large, colourful murals painted on to cover every square inch of the bland white wall underneath. Painted posters were slapped on the walls and doors in a scattered, random fashion and there were a few statues and sculptures made of clay or metal next to the classroom doors as if they were guards standing watch. Keith observed every detail of everything as he walked through the empty hall. As he was making his way down the hall, observing each and every painting of a cartoon character or Albert Einstein with Ray Ban sunglasses, he was becoming increasingly aware of the muffled high tempo music playing loudly from around the corner and further down the hall. There was something about the beat that drew Keith further to the left turn in the hall so he could hear the lyrics more clearly. The song suddenly calmed down to some small plinking in the background as the singer continued.

Pardon me if I came on too strong,
I just felt that we might get along.

Keith's footsteps disappeared under the music. He passed by a large painting of a white lion baring its teeth.

I've been known to be wrong but,
Butterflies don't tell lies, don't be shy, come on.

Keith reached the corner and the music was hitting louder. Whoever was playing it wasn't holding back from almost blowing the speakers. The vibrations were heavy enough to be felt through the solid floor.

Yeah, what are we waiting for?
Take my hand and say no more.

The music was coming from a room at the end of the hall where the door was slightly cracked open and warm light from the setting sun outside peaked through to leave a thin line along the white floor. The music was swelling up from its calm lyrical bridge to add a techno feel to the intense beat.

Let's get out and explore,
And then dance in our bare feet on the bedroom floor.

Keith was at the door. The music carried on without any lyrics to allow the beat to fill the hall. Keith's hand twitched at his side. He wasn't sure why his curiosity had pushed him so far in a thoughtless daze, but there was just something about it all that made him want to figure out what was on the other side of the door. It was almost as if a hand was on his shoulder and would give him a sharp turn to left or right to get him to stand right where he was. He pushed down the strange thoughts with a small shake of his head to touch the handle of the door but he stopped when his phone suddenly vibrated from his pocket, startling him back into reality. He felt like he had been in a trance that wiped his memory of how he got there almost instantly. His hand flinched away from the cool metal to dive into the pocket of his jeans.

Class ended early. Meet me by the car, if you remember where that is, Keith read from Pidge's message.

Keith scoffed as he rolled his eyes. He shoved his phone back into his pocket but hesitated to leave as he stared at the door in front of him. The music still blared loudly from the other side. His jaw clenched and, with reluctance against his curiosity, he turned away to stomp quickly down the hallway towards the stairwell that cut off the jumpy beat of the music he left behind.

~/~

The foggy first day quickly turned into a foggy first week. Keith got lost three times, was late to two classes, and even ended up sitting in on a lecture for an Economics class that he didn't clue into until about half an hour through. It was physically and mentally draining, but what was strange was that his mind kept circling back to the music he was drawn to from his first day. The beat of it was stuck in his head and he found himself humming it sometimes when his mind travelled away from paying attention to his professors. He even caught himself humming it while doing dishes at home once and turned to see Adam staring at him with the most confused, wide eyed expression he had ever seen on the brunet before.

"Bedroom Dance."

The voice startled Keith. His elbow slipped from the edge of his desk and he almost didn't catch himself before his head smacked against the flat surface. "H—Huh?" he asked quizzically as he quickly spun his head around. He could have tried to pretend he didn't do quite possibly the most embarrassing thing imaginable, but who was he kidding?

Veronica shushed him with a long, thin finger pressed to her lips that were turned up in a small, amused grin. The professor was turned, her hand raised with a stick of chalk poised between her stumpy fingers. The sudden noise had caught her attention but she was blindly searching through the crowd for the culprit with her obnoxiously thin, drawn on eyebrows set together in a scowl. When she was satisfied that there would be no further disturbance, she turned back to the board and continued with her lecture.

"The song you were just humming, it's Bedroom Dance by Knapsack," the brunette explained with a hushed tone to keep from attracting the professor's attention.

Keith felt out of place all of a sudden. He was aware how completely out of touch he was with anything to do with modern trends and fads which meant his lack of knowledge of an obvious song that, not only he could hear blaring through the school halls, but was also picked up by a classmate he didn't know was embarrassing but not surprising to him. Naturally, faking confidence was his only choice. "You know it?" he asked a little too loudly, a little less confident, a little more panicky and awkward. His eyes shot sideways to wait for the turn of the professor but instead got a dirty over-the-shoulder look from the student in front of him. He mouthed a meek apology and turned his attention back to Veronica when the student returned to his note taking. "I heard it once and now I can't get it out of my head," he added as he focused hard on trying to keep his voice lowered so he wouldn't bother anyone around them.

"I don't blame you, it's a catchy song," Veronica replied with a small smile. She was surprisingly good at multitasking. She was able to take notes as she spoke with Keith without missing a single important word that came from the professor's mouth. "I'm just a bit surprised you know it. It's not exactly a Top 40 Playlist choice."

"Do I look like someone who listens to the Top 40 Playlist?" Keith asked flatly, his face scrunched up with an expression that made Veronica try to stifle a crooked grin when she gave him a sideways glance.

She looked away without saying anything and Keith took the break in silence as the cue that the conversation about the song was over, even though he wanted to talk about it more. Well, actually, he wanted to talk about everything around the song the day he heard it, but he barely knew the girl next to him. She was surprisingly easy to open up to with her bold attitude and bright smile. She kind of reminded Keith of how Pidge was when he first met her.

"You know," Veronica suddenly spoke up after the background drone of the professor carried through the room for almost five minutes, creating a social wedge between her and Keith, "we've sat beside each other in three out of five of our classes and I still can't tell from your illegible writing if your name is Kevin or Kieran." She had paused her writing for a moment to flex her fingers before diving right back in to her note taking.

Keith quieted the chuckle that escaped his throat. It had never crossed his mind how they never had a formal introduction to each other. They blew right by it and jumped straight to sarcasm and teasing. "It's actually Keith," he explained and tapped the end of his pen against his blank notebook.

Veronica's hand stopped writing again and she hissed sharply when she pulled in a breath through her clenched teeth. Her face was contorted twisted up in painful embarrassment. "Wow, I was way off," she said jokingly. Keith liked that about Veronica. She was funny with a bit of dark humour, and nice. Keith jumped slightly as a hand was suddenly presented in front of him. Veronica was facing him, her crooked grin had softened slightly to something more genuine. "It's nice to officially meet you, Keith."

The boy nodded as he griped her hand in his and gave it a few sharp shakes. The girl with naturally tanned skin and calming light blue eyes made Keith feel calm. Even through his awkwardness and obvious embarrassment, she never dwelled on it. She made the classes together a little less painful. It had been a while since he made a new friend so it was like a breath of fresh air after being locked in a muggy room for so long. "So, what's your scar?" Keith stopped. His brain was dancing through thoughts as he was packing his books into his bag when the question shot from Veronica's mouth.

"What?" Keith snapped in pure confusion. His face was twisted up, eyebrows furrowed together and the left side of his face scrunched up almost comically.

Veronica rolled her bright eyes. She removed her glasses from her face to wipe the lenses. "Your scar. You know, the thing that makes you weird and damaged," she explained as if it was the most normal thing ever and set her spectacles back on her face. "My brother always says that everyone has a scar. It's who makes them who they are underneath all the bullshit."

"That's kind of a personal thing to ask, don't you think? I mean, we barely know each other," Keith explained with a panicked tone. He didn't know how to dodge out of the conversation. He couldn't physically leave because she was standing in the way so he had to somehow maneuver his way around her wall tearing, overly invasive question. He was exposed and he didn't like it.

Veronica had a piercing stare when she wanted to. She held Keith's shaky gaze for a long time in silence that only broke when her phone started to ring from her pocket. "Alright," she finally said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Alright?" Keith repeated with strong confusion.

"Well, now I've got an idea of what kind of person you are. How someone answers that question always brings out the base of their personality," Veronica explained plainly. She pulled her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans to look down at the screen. Her face dropped with a frown and a small sigh.

"You are weird," Keith mentioned as he felt his nerves slowly slip away.

"And you have major trust issues," Veronica retaliated sharply. The nerves instantly came back as Keith felt exposed. "But I don't judge." Keith couldn't reply before Veronica pressed her phone to her ear. "Yeah, I'm coming. I just finished class," she answered with to whoever was on the other end. "Well, tell him to be patient," she snapped gently. She lifted her bag from her desk to throw it over her shoulder with a heavy, irritated filled sigh. "Yeah, I know who I'm talking about. You don't have to remind me," she muttered quietly and faced Keith as she moved the phone so it wasn't next to her mouth. "See you Monday, Kevin," she said teasingly with a wink before he turned away so Keith couldn't respond. The raven-haired boy was baffled as he gently waved goodbye to the girl as she strode out of the room, phone still pressed to her ear as she continued her conversation.

Keith packed himself into the passenger seat of the green Beetle for the final time that week so Pidge could take him home. He hated not having his own vehicle but he had to admit he enjoyed just the feel of the soft engine through the seat as he listened to Pidge's podcasts played through the speakers. It was nothing like Red, but it was good enough to keep the feeling of being homesick away.

The elevator ride up to the seventeenth floor was long and slightly shaky. Maintenance on the building was long overdue. All Keith wanted to do was lay down and close his eyes. He was exhausted from having to adapt his new sleeping schedule to his school schedule. He was still having troubles falling asleep which made getting up in the morning all the more difficult.

The door shut with a quiet click behind Keith as he dropped his bag on the floor next to his shoes. Cosmo's collar jingled as he quickly shook his head from the couch where he could always be found when everyone was out. The springs in the couch cushion groaned as Keith's weight landed heavily against them. His head pressed against the canine's side to have his splayed hair blend with the thick, midnight black fur. The animal turned its head to give Keith a small lick on the cheek almost as a soft greeting before putting his head back down with a sigh.

"Hello to you too," Keith said in a tired mutter. His eyes closed as he yawned loudly. "Have a good day?" he added knowing full well that there would be no response but not caring anyways.

Cosmo was a soft cushion with calm, steady breaths that quickly lulled Keith to sleep. He knew he was tired because of the dreamless state he was in that lasted until he heard a small slam and the canine was suddenly shifting underneath him. His pillow was off the couch and trotting towards the door as he rubbed tiredly at his still sleep covered eyes.

"Having a nice nap?" Adam asked while kicking off his shoes. His hands were occupied by grocery bags he didn't put down until he made it from the living room to the kitchen.

"I was," Keith grumbled through his tiredness. He stopped rubbing his eyes and pushed himself up to sit with his legs crossed and his back pressed against the back of the couch. "How was work?" he asked through a heavy yawn.

"Uneventful," Adam answered loudly from the kitchen. There was some soft clattering and then the man stuck his head through the archway with a small grin. "And school?"

Keith hummed quietly. "Same," he answered with a soft mutter.

"Have you made any friends yet?" Adam asked and ducked back into the kitchen to continue putting away the groceries he had carried inside. "Or are you choosing dark and broody as the go-to personality?"

"Haha," Keith chortled sarcastically so Adam could hear him from the next room. "If you must know, there's a girl I sit next to in a few classes. Her name's Veronica. She's pretty cool," Keith explained. Adam was back in the doorway, eyebrow cocked quizzically. There was a skeptical question in that expression that made Keith internally gag. "Oh, shut up."

"What?" Adam asked loudly. The grin on his face couldn't be contained. "I didn't say anything." Keith rolled his eyes. Adam finished putting away the groceries and then joined Keith on the couch with two yogurt cups and two spoons. He handed each of one to Keith as he let out a soft sigh and the raven haired boy knew there was something on the tip of the man's tongue. "You're surprising me, Keith." Curiosity formed on Keith's face as his head cocked to the side slightly. Adam peeled open his yogurt container to stir around the contents. "Honestly, I thought you wouldn't have lasted the week."

"So supportive. What would I do without you?" Keith asked sarcastically, his voice painfully flat that made Adam regret his words but not enough to take them back.

Adam licked the yogurt off his spoon. "Stop being so dramatic," he retaliated. "It's a good thing. You're on the right track and I'm proud of you."

"Stop it, you're being sappy," Keith said with a disgusted tone and finally opened his container. "Thanks, by the way," he added softly directing towards the food Adam gave him.

Adam smiled. It was soft and full of amusement. It felt weird to Keith how different everything was since the day they rushed to the hospital—to Shiro. "I'm glad you didn't leave that day, Keith," the brunet said as if he was reading Keith's mind about his regret of almost walking out of the apartment without taking a look back. Keith stopped stirring. His body had gone rigid. There was still a strange sensation in his chest of feeling like the outcast to the happy couple but there was also a small flicker of hope whenever he was met with care. Or maybe it was embarrassment. Keith couldn't be entirely sure.

The door opened and Shiro stepped inside with a long, exacerbated sigh. The new presence instantly broke the tension in the air which was a relief to Keith who felt like he was standing on a stage with a spotlight on him as a crowd of people waited for him to do anything remotely entertaining. Cosmo, who had been lying patiently on the floor, was immediately up with a wagging tail to meet the newcomer. Shiro rubbed the canine's head roughly, making the shepherd groan when he focused on its tall ears.

"Heads up, Adam is being sappy," Keith spoke up first trying to show to himself that the tension between him and Adam wasn't more than a momentary thing. He shoved a spoonful of yogurt into his mouth.

Shiro chuckled without turning his attention away from Cosmo. "What else is new?" he asked bluntly as if it was the most obvious thing in the world Keith could have said.

"You look tired," Adam mentioned to his lover with dark, heavy bags under his eyes.

"Lots of paperwork, not enough caffeine in the world to put up with it," Shiro answered and kicked off his shiny black shoes before he walked over to flop down on the couch. Adam had put his yogurt down on the small coffee table so Shiro could rest his head on the brunet's lap and he gently rubbed the tired looking man's temples with gentle care. "But, the guys didn't tell the new guy I had a prosthetic arm. It was funny up until it almost got too serious."

"Glad to hear you becoming a desk jockey hasn't tarnished your good sense of humour," Adam explained with a genuinely happy grin. It was a sentence that had a tint of sarcasm but it was more than likely just his tone because he obviously was glad. So was Keith, but he would rather keep that to himself.

Shiro smiled back knowing full well the man his head rested on was being genuine. Adam leaned down to kiss Shiro attentively on the forehead. The show of affection made Keith gag dramatically as he stood. "Gross. Affection. Dirty," he said with a disgusted tone as he quickly vacated the room, shoving another spoonful of yogurt into his mouth.

"Oh, you just wait, one day you'll be all gross, affectionate, and dirty too," Shiro replied and Adam laughed wildly to the point that Keith's body shivered as he made a disgusted sound.

"Doubt it," he grumbled quietly.

~/~

Heavy footsteps thumped against the sidewalk in a quick rhythm as small puffs of clouds escaped from Keith's lips. The moment he stepped outside he felt the bitter cold against his skin through his red pullover sweater and black leggings. He immediately let out a loud whine that was cut off when a strong hand landed a blow to his back, practically knocking the wind out of him.

"Let's go," Shiro said with a crooked, amused filled grin that made Keith roll his dark denim blue eyes.

He was struggling to keep up with Shiro at the jogging pace the man set. His mind was a cloud of random thoughts jumbling together, tumbling back and forth like clothing in a dryer. He didn't notice Shiro had come to a stop until he crashed into the solid plain of the older man's muscular back. Keith stumbled back with a small grunt and shook his head as if to shake out the jumble of thoughts.

Shiro quickly spun around. He was panting heavily, but not as heavily as Keith was. Gloved hands pressed against his knees as he leaned forward, his chest heaving. "Wow, you are a mess," Shiro said with a small chuckle. "Where were you there, Space Cadet?"

"Shut up," Keith responded bitterly more towards the childish nickname than anything. "I'm just out of breath," he added and straightened his back with a groan. They ran for thirteen blocks and Keith's body was screaming. The muscles in his calves throbbed and his lungs were begging to air.

"You're out of shape," Shiro corrected the boy who lifted his hand to flip him off. "Come on, let's get some caffeine. Maybe then your mind will be on straight enough to focus."

Keith looked up to see Shiro pointing across the street to a small café nestled between two buildings; one a law office and the other a pizzeria with apartments on the two levels above. The tiny bell above the door rang loudly as Shiro pushed it open. The café was busy. There were some empty tables scattered all around the room, a small stage in the back corner with black sheets hung up against the wall, and above the back half of the room was a small balcony where more bistro-style tables and chairs were. The employees wore black pants, polo shirts, and pine green aprons. One of them waited a table near the door, her long blonde hair thrown in a braid and pinned up behind her head in a bun. She looked up at the sound of the bell above the door to flash a wide smile at Keith and Shiro.

"Find a seat, gentlemen. I'll take your order in a moment!" she said far more chipper than was needed.

Shiro led the way through the tables to one next to the large window. The quiet indie music played from the speakers mounted around the room to be slightly drowned out by conversation between the customers taking up the tables. Keith's eyes danced around the room to examine the amateur paintings hung all along the walls. It worked well with the dim lighting and simple décor.

"Sorry guys!" the blonde waitress said loudly as she approached the table. "I apologize for the wait. It's been mad in here all morning and to top it all off, I'm down a server," she explained with a scrunched up expression. "Anyways, what can I get you? Something chocolatey? Something sweet? Or maybe something on the bitter side?"

Shiro was visibly amused by the waitress' high energy and bubbly personality. "Latte," he answered as he pointed to himself and then shifted to point across the table. "Black coffee for sourpuss."

"Sourpuss?" Keith lifted his head to ask with knitted eyebrows.

"Got it! I'll be back in a bit," the girl said with a loud, chipper tone before she took off to duck behind the counter where two other people were moving around making drinks and sandwiches that hissed in the panini grills when pressed between the hot sheets.

Keith rolled his eyes in frustration of having been ignored when he voiced being offended by the nickname. "Alright, time for real talk," Shiro leaned forward, his elbows on the table to fold his fleshy fingers with his artificial metal ones.

Keith threw his head back with a low groan that earned a judging stare from the table next to them. "No real talk," he groaned with a pleading tone. "Please," he begged.

Shiro shook his head rapidly. His black and white hair swayed back and forth with his movements. "Nope, it's time for real talk," he demanded. His tone was flat and serious. Keith exhaled sharply through his nose as he tilted his head back forward. He wouldn't meet Shiro's gaze as he crossed his arms stiffly over his chest. "Do you really have to be like this?"

"Don't you already know the answer to that question?" Keith retaliated bitterly.

Shiro hummed and nodded his head left and right a few times. "Alright, you got me there," he answered bluntly. Keith rolled his eyes. Shiro's chair scraped gently against the floor suddenly. The strange sound made Keith shift his eyes just as the older man reached over the table to flick him hard on the forehead.

"Ow!" Keith shouted and covered his forehead with his hands. "What the hell was that for?" he groaned while rubbing his palm against the sore spot.

Shiro sat back down and folded his hands together on the table. "Come on, Keith, just talk to me. Like a normal person, not a brooding child trying too hard to mask his emotions."

Keith growled deep in his throat but couldn't stay frustrated at the dark eyes that stared at him so intensely from across the table. "Okay. Alright," he replied in a defeated tone as he waved his hand dismissively. "Just nothing too deep or embarrassing, okay?"

Shiro's face brightened instantly. He slid his chair forward a bit and leaned forward to prop himself on his elbows. "How is school?" he asked.

"Uneventful," Keith answered naturally in the quickest response. He was taken aback by himself and the strange reaction he adapted from Adam.

Shiro scowled. "Keith, you promised," he growled with a warning tone.

Keith was waving his hand again. "I know. I know. Sorry, it was just a reaction," he explained truthfully. Shiro's expression softened. "It's just—I don't know, it's just different. I'm not sure how to…feel," he said and his nerves took over his tone to make his voice quiver.

"You know, it's amazing," Shiro said with a sigh as he sat back in his seat. Keith's eyebrows were furrowed together and before he could say anything the older man was already speaking. "I've never met anyone who actively sabotages themselves without even trying to like you do."

"What?" Keith snapped. There was anger in his tone but it was masked over by his nerves.

Shiro opened his mouth but quickly snapped it shut. His eyes shifted and he was smiling half-heartedly to the server walking over with their drinks. "Here you go," she said as she set the large mugs down. "Anything else?"

"Not right now, thank you, Romelle," Shiro responded, reading her name off the small tag pinned to the left side of her chest. She smiled before she spun around and bounded off towards another table. Her chipper voice could be heard indistinctively in the background blended in with all the other conversations. Keith pressed his palms against his mug. The warmth radiated through the ceramic to heat up his skin. "Keith, you are so wrapped up in your own head that you don't even get how completely ridiculous worrying is."

Keith scoffed and shifted in his seat to release the pinch in his lower back. "I'm worried because this isn't easy. I thought I'd be done with this. You remember what I was like in high school," he explained, his face twisting up into a deeper and deeper scowl as he spoke. "It doesn't necessarily bode confidence."

"I remember you were a goddamn nightmare," Shiro answered bluntly. Keith rolled his eyes dramatically to avoid the intense dark eyes boring holes into him. "But you were one of the smartest damn kids in your class. The problem was that you let the problems you were going through sabotage your life." Keith briefly lifted his eyes to meet Shiro's before allowing them to drop back down again. "I mean, I don't blame you. I think anyone in your position would have done the same thing, and it may be partly my fault that you fell in with the crowd that you did and I allowed it, but now is the time to turn it all around." Shiro was grinning wildly. "You've been doing so well. You've really shown a change just in the last few weeks. Don't let it all go to waste because you're scared."

"I'm not scared," Keith snapped. Again, it was an instinctual response that made Shiro roll his eyes. "You're scared," the younger boy mumbled quietly and lifted his mug to take an experimental sip.

"Are you done?" Shiro asked bluntly. Keith mumbled a mocking response that was indistinct but made Shiro chuckle lightly. "Alright, fine, why don't you tell me about this girl in your classes?" Keith's eyes shot up quickly. His face was contorted in a deep scowl. Shiro shrugged his shoulders. "What? It's called pillow talk for a reason."

"Well, stop it. It's gross," Keith responded with a dramatic shiver before he took another sip.

Shiro exhaled a small laugh. "Well, come on. You haven't made a friend, outside your delinquent pals, since Pidge. I'm curious to know about this girl who you've apparently taken a liking to."

Keith shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno. She's cool. She's in a few of my classes but she actually makes them bearable. She's super smart too. I've seen the notes she's taken and they're expert," he was explaining but paused when his mind suddenly shifted to a different thought. The catchy tune was back. Shiro's head tilted quizzically. Keith noticed the older man's expression and he slowly shook his head. "I—um—heard this song on my first day. When I was waiting for Pidge to finish her class I wandered the campus building. There's a wing at the school, I think it's the arts wing. When I went in to take a look around, I heard this music," Keith found himself explaining naturally. Shiro's head was still tilted but his expression was relaxed as he listened carefully. "It's weird because I've had the song stuck in my head all week."

"That's unlike you. You're probably the one person in the world who doesn't enjoy music," Shiro took the chance to say. "Which still makes you the weirdest person in the world."

Keith was rolling his eyes again. "Okay, I'm sorry, but why the hell would anyone want to listen to someone whine about their problems to a beat? It just doesn't make any sense," he explained with a fired up tone that made Shiro grin. "These people should be getting professional help from therapists, not making music."

"Like I said, weirdest person in the world," Shiro repeated and lifted his mug to take a sip of his latte.

"Alright, fine!" Keith shouted as he banged his hand against the table. The sudden jolt made the sugar dispenser rattle against the table to dance dangerously towards the edge. Both Keith and Shiro's eyes widened in fear as they watched the glass container almost walk itself to its death of a freefall against the laminate floor. After a moment of them both staring when nothing happened, Keith pushed the container further back onto the table before he continued to speak. "Anyways, just don't blame me when I'm kicked out of school because I'm failing my classes because I'm too dumb to know what's going on." He lifted his mug but stopped before touching his lips. "You know how I am in a class setting."

Shiro hummed in a low tune that made Keith's shoulders tense. He wasn't expecting such a relaxed sound. "I am highly aware of how you are in class settings," the older man replied in a dry, bitter tone that made Keith feel just a little guilty.

The conversation carried from Keith's schooling to Shiro's work. Having lost a rather important limb, Shiro's boss thought it was a good idea for him to take it easy. Shiro hated the idea, he even threw a fit at home that Adam struggled hard with calming him down as Keith sat in his room hugging his knees to his chest listening to the loud shouting and heavy banging. He felt guilty for what happened. He couldn't get it out of his head. Some nights he stayed awake thinking about it. Other nights he woke in a cold sweat having had a nightmare about Shiro lying in a pool of his own blood with no one around to help him.

Shiro gave in to the request and it was all because of Adam. The desk work was tedious but everyone the man worked with was supportive. He was never alone and he always came home with a new story that actually didn't made Adam's heart stick in his throat with worry. Shiro's favourite past time at work was using his missing limb as a gag against new people or even some of his co-workers who continuously forgot about it. It was mean humour, but Keith enjoyed listening to the stories, even if they did make his chest tighten painfully.

Shiro got up from the table to pay at the counter once they were finished. The room had thinned out slightly in the time that had passed but it was still surprisingly loud, mostly because of a group of high school girls who were giggling wildly from the far corner. The music wasn't as drowned out as before from the conversations.

And sometimes living's too hard.
We're like two halves of one heart,
We are, we are, we are.

Keith picked up the flyer set to the side on the table. It had a daily listing of events that happened every night after seven pm. Mondays were open mic nights dedicated to comedians. Tuesdays had amateur karaoke. Wednesday was the only blank night and Thursdays was dedicated for ladies' night. Friday was open mic night for aspiring musicians. And the weekend was interchangeable weekly, whatever that meant.

You don't have to say I love you, to say I love you.
Forget all the shooting stars and all the silver moons.
We've been making shades of purple out of red and blue.

"Come on," Shiro's voice suddenly growled as a strong hand landed on Keith's back, "we're not done with our run."

Keith sighed heavily. His back arched forward as he stood up. His chair scraped back against the floor quietly when the back of his legs pushed against it. "Why do I have to come running with you?" he asked in a low mumble, his hands shoved into this pockets of his sweater as he followed Shiro.

Sickeningly sweet like honey,

"Because you were getting flabby," Shiro answered with an amused grin. Keith scowled.

Don't need money.

Shiro threw open the door and the stack of flyers on the table next to it was picked up by the heavy chilled breeze that blew through from outside. Keith immediately ducked down to start to pick them up with his back facing the door. Heavy, running footsteps and panting breaths suddenly ducked in through the doorway where Shiro was standing, holding the door open as he waited.

"Slow down! You're gonna hurt yourself!" a voice yelled from the distance that sounded strangely familiar to Keith as he gathered up the scattered pieces of paper.

All I need is you.

"Sorry. Excuse me. Gracias," a second familiar voice said with heavy breaths and the footsteps moved further inside the café.

Keith stood to place the flyers on the table and stepped through the doorway as their server, Romelle, started shouting from far behind them. "Are you kidding me? You're forty-five minutes late!" her voice carried shamelessly across the room.

All I need is you.

The door shut behind them and completely cut off the noise of bickering voices, quiet playing music, and the tiny bell that rang from above the door anytime it moved. It wasn't until he was a few steps away that Keith found himself stopping, his body moving on its own to turn around to face the café briefly with furrowed eyebrows, back tingling with something he couldn't quite put his finger on but it was there nonetheless.

---

Songs:

- Bedroom Dance by Knapsack feat. Matt Van

- for him. by Troye Sivan feat. Allday