Of The Stars

Chapter 7: Kerberos

The Kerberos launch was coming up; only one more month to go. Matt had officially graduated from the Galaxy Garrison with top marks, one of the best Engineers to ever come out of the Texas campus. He was now 'Officer Holt', which Keith sometimes found himself tripping over. For almost a year Matt had been one of Keith's only male friends. Actually, aside from Hunk, Matt was his only male friend. Shiro didn't count – Shiro was a mentor and a brother figure. Adam didn't much care for him, James was a dick, BlueEyes was still clinging to the rivalry he'd made up, James was a dick, Kinkade was friends with James, James was a dick, Meijer was kinda weird (and that was coming from an actual alien), and James was a dick. All of this made Matt and Hunk his only guy friends.

Huh, now that he thought about it, he didn't really have that many friends in general. Nadia, Ina, and Katie were about the only real girl friends he had. With Hunk and Matt it brought the grand total up to 5. But as his father said – quality over quantity, and Keith loved his friends. They were all great in their own ways.

He hadn't seen much of Matt lately though, Katie complained about it sometimes, and his girlfriend Beth dumped him because of it, but Matt didn't seem too heartbroken. Keith and Katie had gotten closer, talking on a regular basis via text and hanging out occasionally at the Holt's house with Matt. It had taken him ages to understand her messages, Matt had even written out a 'Pidge to English' dictionary to help him decode each message. Why the words to/too/two had to be replaced by the number was beyond him. But at least that was understandable! The word 'l8r' had literally taken him 15 dobashes to decode, and in the end he'd asked Nadia for help.

They were planning a good-bye party for Matt and Shiro. Originally Keith was in charge of absolutely nothing because according to Katie he's 'a socially oblivious idiot'. Which was fair. But Keith had appealed to her more devious side and walked away with decorations. He was terrible at decorating, and colour coordinating, and everything involved in that department. But BlueEyes was excellent at it, and loved it, and for some reason Keith really wanted to impress him. Maybe it was because he felt bad for constantly one-upping the guy, or perhaps it was because he wanted to prove he could handle some responsibility, or maybe it was because Lance had this gorgeously radiant smile that made his eyes sparkle. Who's to say?

BlueEyes had been passed over for every single one of the Garrison's LGBTQ+ Club's events. He'd applied to be on the decorating committee each time, and each time it was the same 4 people that ran the show. Lance had grumbled about it being too 'cliquey' and was starting to become disheartened; Keith hated to see the light dimming in his star. So when he begged, pleaded, and bartered with Katie to win the roll of decorator, it was with the sole intention of asking BlueEyes to help.

"Oh, hey Keith!" Hunk's warmth radiated off him, spilling out of their dorm room and enveloping Keith in a blanket of heartfelt welcomes.

"Is that Mullet? We don't want whatever he's selling!" Lance's voice carried through the door and Keith rolled his eyes.

"Ignore him! What can I help ya with buddy?"

"Actually - I'm here to see Lance." Hunk froze, his eyes shooting wide before an absolutely massive grin spread across his face and Keith blushed, deeply.

"WHAT? Tell Mullet I'm not here."

"I can literally hear you Lance!"

"Leave your message at the tone: BEEP!" Keith laughed, but decided to play along.

"Yes, hello Lance? This is Keith. I could use your help decorating for Matt and Shiro's going away party! Call be back when you get his message. Click." He winked at Hunk who was giggling uncontrollably, and walked away.