Autumn Crocus // Sheith

I

Rainy Nights

They met about about 11 years ago. But who's counting?

He was his light, he became his everything..

He killed him.

..Well not exactly.

Keith Kogane was a 21 year old graphic design student at X-University. A lonely introvert that really only went outside to get coffee to aid with his all-nighters.

However, he did have some friends. Three to be exact. Two were guys named Hunk and Lance.

Hunk was a 20 year old heavyset guy with a big heart to match his big smile. He was majoring in culinary arts but minoring in geology. The guy was an amazing cook and was always there to comfort Keith when he was too stressed. He was a great hugger too.

On the other hand, there was this guy Lance. He was also 20. Keith couldn't stand him, but there was something about him that made their friendship work. It was probably the fact that they both questioned their existence often and met up to have the occasional existential crisis together. Lance was studying marine biology which was the most random field to study in. In Keith's mind, that is.

Lance and Hunk were dating, and to top it off, they were roommates.

The last was his best friend, Pidge Holt. She was the youngest of their friend group, age 18. Pidge was a quiet tech wiz that often sat in the same coffee shop in between classes. They met because they had the same alien patch on their clothes.

Pidge dorms with her older brother, Matt.

The two remain friends mostly because of their common interest in conspiracy theories and having conversations about anything and everything and anything at two AM.

And those were his friends. His crazy, funny, stupid, hatable, get-drunk-with, share-conspiracy-theories-with, best friends.

And he loved them.

And those were his only friends.

However, Keith did have one more friend. From a long time ago, that is. They had been friends for ages. Inseparable until Shiro left.

But then he saw him again.

Him.

Takashi Shirogane.

He went by Shiro, the oldest and definitely the maturest. He was 25, tall, muscular, kindhearted, broken, lost. Great person.

It was the weekend. Keith was at Pidge's dorm room because they both needed herbal tea and vaporwave music to ease their minds and forget the stress of the week.

Matt had barged into her room, asking where something was. Keith couldn't remember what.

In that instant, his eyes settled on his childhood friend. Takashi Shirogane. As close as they were, Keith hadn't seen Shiro in years. When Keith was 17, Shiro left for the military. He had talked about joining for so long that it wasn't a surprise when he enlisted. It wasn't so much as abandoning him as much as it was Shiro going to do what he wished to. But Keith supported him. He waited for him.

He waited for a long time.

Wide eyed, the two stared at each other before Keith jumped up, ripping the earbud from his ear and rushing to Shiro, throwing his arms around him. The two shared a loving embrace.

Since the creation of the hug, there have been only five hugs that were rated the most loving and the most pure. That one left them all behind.

The two instantly reconnected, beginning to rebuild their friendship and making up for lost time. 

Shiro has studied aerospace and astrology for reasons Keith found beautiful.

His reasoning was:

"If aliens ever do choose to visit us, I wanna be so smart that they choose me to go with them. I sure as hell don't want to stay here for the rest of my short and meaningless life."

It was just beautiful to Keith.

Although he had only one year left of college and such, he once told Keith that he had plans to go to space and do much bigger than himself.

So beautiful that Keith couldn't help falling in love with him.

Over the course of two years the two grew closer. They often walked to classes together and hung out on the roof tops of the dormitories.

The two had made countless memories with each other. It had felt as if they knew each other for years. For decades. Forever.

How could he not fall in love?

One night, the two were sitting side by side. The moon was bright and full and the sky was a shade of deep blue and sprinkled with glistening white stars. Clouds lingered by the corners of the sky.

Keith couldn't help but stare at Shiro as he gazed off into the distance. The skyline was blurry due to the clouds.

That night, Shiro told Keith that he was in love with someone. He didn't say who, just that he was in love. He said they were beautiful. They were amazing. They had practically changed him. He loved them. He loved them with all of his heart.

But Keith, a man used to rejection, assumed the worst. He knew it. He knew Shiro loved someone. He knew from the bottom of his heart that he had his beautiful gray eyes set on someone else.

Keith's heart broke in two. He could feel it fall to the pit of his stomach and wither away. Keith stood, clenching his fists. He didn't want to cry in front of Shiro, but he knew he would if he didn't leave. Shiro tried to coax him into sitting back down.

Keith shook his head, his eyes burned with hot tears.

He took a few steps back. He bit his lip to keep from saying anything.

Shiro stood with him, taking a few steps towards him. He placed a hand on Keith's cheek.

Keith couldn't take this.

He began to run.

He could hear Shiro calling his name behind him as he stumbled down the stairs in a tearfully blind rage.

He bursted through the entrance of the building, beginning to run down the sidewalk.

People stared at him.

It didn't matter.

It was raining.

He didn't care.

He ran.

It's not like he knew where he was running to. All he knew was that he had to get away from that rooftop.

Away from Shiro.

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Sorry about the constant updates to this chapter.. I did a bit of cleaning and editing since I remember rushing on this chapter!

~Skuu