Dog Days // Sheith

Chapter Four: Hiding Around Corners

Keith stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, blinking slowly and scrubbing at his cheek. Like a lot of people, he hadn't realized how drunk he was until he had stood up. He'd wobbled through the crush of teenagers to get to the bathroom where he turned on the faucet and drank cool water out of his hands, a few messy mouthfuls before turning the tap off. His cheeks were lightly flushed ( was i that drunk?) , his hair messy from Lance ruffling it to aggravate Keith, in which he had succeeded in doing from the moment Keith had thumped down the stairs into Lance's basement.

It was Lance's nineteenth birthday and he was well liked enough that it seemed like everyone in the Garrison project had showed up to help him celebrate, which meant that the basement was suffocatingly hot and even louder, between the music, the talking, the hollering of success or loss from the beer pong table that Lance was currently dominating. Keith had come because Lance was in all of his classes and they seemed to keep talking to each other even after they had taken a swing at each other within the first week of the semester. Also, Pidge had pouted and pleaded and Keith hadn't been able to say no to her since they were eight years old.

The bathroom door swung open, snapping Keith out of his stupor with a jump.

"Oh- sorry. It wasn't locked." Keith knew the guy who had stumbled in, Takashi Shirogane ( shiro ). He was in his graduate year and had already been given his deployment orders for the moment he was no longer a cadet. He was Heiress' pride and joy, even though he hadn't been born here, and Keith had run into him once or twice on the training deck late at night when apparently, neither of them could sleep. They never talked much, but they had sparred a few times. Keith never won.

"It's okay," Keith mumbled, turning on the faucet again to wet his hands and scrub them over his face. "I was just..."

"Yeah." Shiro laughed a little, leaning in the doorway. "You're looking a little glassy there, kid."

Keith scowled, shoving his hair back from his forehead. "I'm fine." He groused, and he shouldered past Shiro, their eyes meeting for a moment before Keith was folded into the crowd.

They ran into each other again. Keith was dancing as much as one could when there wasn't even a hand's width between him and the next person. He had a drink in his hand, drunk, his eyelids heavy and his head lulled back. He bumped into someone. There was a firm chest against his back, and Keith blinked up. Takashi Shirogane. He was incredibly handsome even at his angle in the low lights, with dark hair and sharp eyes, a jawline Keith reached out to touch without thinking ( he was so warm ). Takashi Shirogane smiled a little at the touch, saying something Keith didn't catch.

"I wanna smoke." Keith replied regardless, and Takashi Shirogane was good enough to lead him to the basement stairs, helping him up with a laugh and a hand on either shoulder. They wound up on the back porch, Keith fumbling with his packet of cigarettes until he had one between his lips. He cursed under his breath when his lighter didn't work on the first, second, third try. Shirogane made it work, and Keith leaned in to the set the tip of the cigarette alight. He mumbled a thank you, staring out at the dry grass and scatter of children's toys in Lance's backyard. He had lots of younger siblings. They were staying with an aunt so that they stood a chance of getting some sleep tonight. Keith exhaled smoke through his nose.

"How are you doing there?"

"M'fine." Keith asserted again, flashing Shirogane a blurry smile. "You can go back down if you want."

"No, I needed some air anyway. Let's sit down, okay?" He watched with an amused smile as Keith managed to make a mission out of folding down onto the step, a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Shirogane kept a hand on him to steady him, squeezing his shoulder lightly. "Good?"