Court of Feathers

One

Word Count: 2,149

Shiro looked up into the rearview mirror for what felt like the billionth time in the last hour. Did he look okay? Was everything in place? The medals lined along breast was the only sound in response to his thoughts as they tinkled as he turned the wheel, moving through the crowded intersection, a horn sounded behind him when they were forced to come to a stop for the seventh time in the last ten minutes.

Driving around the main highway at rush hour on a Saturday afternoon didn't seem like the best road to take, especially on a time crunch, but Shiro was nervous for once in his life, and completely forgot to take the back roads to the Garrison, and it was gonna cost him some major time. But that wasn't the main thing running circles through his brain at the moment, even though, he would admit that was part of it.

What if they don't get there in time? What if he didn't look presentable enough for the occasion? It wasn't like they sent him a dress code or anything, so Shiro tried to find his best clothes for receiving an award. Oh, God, what if-

"You look fine." A voice from the back seat spoke up.

Shiro, was jolted out of his thoughts and looked up in the rearview mirror catching sight of the teenager hunched over in the backseat, back to staring at his phone screen again. Keith looked back up to meet his eyes in the mirror a minute later, and he smiled lightly at Shiro's bewildered expression. "You were worrying again."

Shiro looked back at the road as he hit the gas pedal lightly. Of course, Keith would recognize his useless tapping on the steering wheel, it was a habit he had picked up, and it wasn't exactly one he was proud of.

He looked down for a moment at his prosthetic, the shiny metal reflecting off the afternoon sun peeking through the clouds before vanishing again, and the main source of his constant tapping.

After he had lost his arm in an explosion that nearly cost him his life, the Garrison had given him the opportunity to temporarily retire from duty, and Shiro gratefully accepted the time off from all of the chaos. He had been given the best mechanical prosthetic money could buy and was sent back home to spend time off with his little brother who didn't seem to be the same person he had left behind.

He looked back up through the mirror again, Keith's dark hair was now covering his face as he tapped away on his phone.

Shiro couldn't help but feel that something was off with Keith when he had gotten back. He was happy to see him, sure, they spent the majority of Shiro's first day back talking about how it went and what it was like. Keith wanted to follow in his brother's footsteps in the future and Shiro was happy for that and for him, but something just felt. Off, like, he didn't know what. It was something that he couldn't place his finger on, nonetheless something was definitely wrong.

But he wasn't about to go out and bug him about it. After getting kicked out of high school, for landing a kid in the emergency room, Shiro was now stuck with the problem of what to do with Keith when he left for duty again.

Of course, he was old enough to take care of himself, and Keith reminded him repeatedly of that, but Shiro felt guilty for leaving his younger brother alone by himself for however long he was sent off for. He didn't want Keith to get himself into trouble again, and it didn't exactly help that Keith never even told him what the fight was about in the first place.

"He got on my nerves." He always said when Shiro pushed for information, "and he was asking for it." That was all he would say on the topic, choosing then to change their direction on the conversation to something else and Shiro unhappily went along with it, he wasn't typically the one to pry, so he just hoped Keith would tell him when he was ready to. Until then he'd just have to wait for it.