saints and soldiers » klance

10: (BONUS) Trust Me

Looking for something I've never seen
Alone and I'm in between

Shiro swallowed the rest of his coffee in one pull and tossed the cup in the trash, pulling his hand through his hair with a sigh. College was kicking his ass, and he had only barely started first semester. It was going to be a ridiculously long four years.

The tapping of his fingers against his leg tripled in speed. He didn't have any classes today, but he felt like he needed to be doing something. He hated sitting around idly. Being bored for any length of time drove him absolutely insane. Stir-crazy in half a second flat. He had to get up.

He gave the barista attending the counter a friendly wave, and she smiled back at him as he walked out the door. This coffee shop was so close to campus that it got an insanely heavy student traffic, including but not limited to Shiro. He was there pretty much every day, sometimes twice a day. He probably drank too much coffee, but he didn't know how else he was supposed to function on the three hours of sleep his workload afforded.

He walked aimlessly for an hour, growing more frustrated with every passing minute. He still wasn't doing anything. His fingers started tapping against the bicep of his folded arms as he waited at an intersection. New York was interesting- diverse, fun- but sometimes it was frustrating to live there. Like when the intersections came to a standstill.

So. Damn. Frustrating.

He sighed, started tapping his foot along with his fingers. He saw a businessman give him a sidelong look but ignored it. Maybe Second Chance would let him do something even though he wasn't scheduled for today. Maybe he could find a gym. Or a class. Or a workshop. Something. He just had to find something to occupy himself with.

He was considering going back toward campus- he was the head of a few different committees there, he could probably find something that needed to be done- when he caught movement in the corner of his eye. He turned to find its source.

Two people were walking down the street side by side. They looked remarkably similar, but one was clearly more feminine, with longer hair and... prettier features. Brother and sister, had to be. The boy looked to be about Shiro's age, while the girl was maybe twelve or thirteen. Each had one hand on a book they appeared to be sharing between them, reading as they walked down the street. They didn't seem to notice anything going on around them.

A smile quirked up the corners of Shiro's lips. It was adorable, actually. If he had a sister, he'd want to be like that with her.

He was so locked in his reverie, so busy watching them, that he didn't notice that they had started into the street even though the crosswalk light was still a blaring red.

It took him a moment to process, but then his entire body stiffened with alarm. "Sh-!" The expletive was carried away on the wind.

A metro bus was barreling right toward them, and didn't look like it was stopping any time soon.

"Son of a-" Shiro started. The bus was bearing down fast, way too fast for such a busy street. He didn't waste time thinking about it.

While the rest of the people waiting at the corner for the crosswalk light to turn stared with mouths gaping open, Shiro lunged forward, way too far into the street- how had they managed to get so far out here without him noticing?- and grabbed each of them by the arm, yanking them back toward the sidewalk and hauled them up onto the curb just as the bus blew by with a shriek of the horn and a cloud of exhaust.

Both of them were looking up at him with mouths gaping open. The sameness of face and expression might have been comical under any other circumstances.

"Are you okay?" Shiro asked, looking them both up and down to check for injuries. They looked okay, but Shiro's heart was still pounding. If he'd been half a second slower...

Both of them were still looking at him, all three frozen in place as the light on the crosswalk finally turned and people started moving forward all around them.

"Well," the boy finally said. "Shit."

After another moment of blank staring, Shiro started to laugh shakily. The entire thing was just so absurd. What had just happened?

His laughter became uncontrollable, shaking his entire body as he doubled over, trying to breathe and mostly failing. He knew he was probably hysterical, but it was kind of hard to care.

Just when he was starting to think that he really, really needed to stop, another voice joined his, laughing just as hard. He looked up, tears blurring his vision, to see the boy and girl both laughing as well, the boy out loud and doubled over like him, the girl silently with tears rolling down her face.

"Maybe- Mom- was right," the boy gasped through his laughter. "We do- read- too much-" he cut off with an even sharper cackle, and all three- despite the other two not knowing Shiro- collapsed against each other, laughing so hard they couldn't breathe, so hard that tears rolled down their faces and passersby stared like they were insane. Maybe they were.

It took them several more minutes to pull themselves together, but when they did, they straightened, and Shiro took a step back. The boy looked at him. His expression was sober now as he adjusted his glasses and turned sincere eyes on Shiro. Shiro almost had to look away at the intensity and intelligence behind intriguing light brown eyes.

"Seriously, I can't thank you enough," he said. "You saved both our lives," he added, wrapping an arm around his sister's shoulders. Shiro managed a small smile. "It was nothing," he said, kicking himself for sounding like every cliched movie hero ever. "I'm just glad you're both okay."

The boy nodded and smiled, and Shiro caught his breath- holy shit.

"Matt Holt," the boy said, extending a hand to shake. Shiro took it, saying, "Shiro," and he couldn't resist smiling back.

The girl was tugging on her brother's arm. "Coffee," she said insistently, her face just as adamant as her tone. She turned to Shiro and smiled at him, still pulling at her brother's sleeve. "Pidge," she said, extending a hand toward him with that same smile on her face, even as her brother winced. Shiro laughed and shook her hand. "Shiro," he said again through his laughter.

Matt finally succeeded in prying his sister's hand off his sleeve. "She's seriously addicted to coffee," Matt said apologetically as she started bouncing on her toes again. "She's only twelve but I swear she couldn't live without it." She shook her head emphatically and Matt rolled his eyes in a fond/exasperated kind of way.

"Um," Matt said, fidgeting a little, "want to come with us? We're just getting coffee, but it's my treat."

Shiro smiled. Something about this boy...

"Sure, I'd love to," he said, and Matt smiled back at him.

The three of them turned and walked back down the street.