#also my tongue us ever so slightly bleeding and its kinda annoying

[cowwatcher]

cut my tongue on a lozenge

[mcgonnagle]

Happy happy birthday to my fellow fangirl, EdWin squad companion and amazing friend @winryofresembool !!🤗🎉 A super long time ago you gave out this sort of prompt to write something based on the topic of Ed‘s leather pants, and I do keep my promises^^ (And if you’re wondering why it turns serious and angsty about halfway through I DON‘T KNOW EITHER)

Anyway, I hope you have a wonderful day and a year filled with lots of chocolate (both the cake kind and the EdWin kind xD❤️❤️) 

It was the stupid pants.

More precisely, it was Granny finally forcing the boys to clean out the suitcases that had been sitting in the corner of their room for weeks.

But really, it was stupid, infuriating Edward Elric, who never in his life seemed to throw anything away. Because why in the world would he still have a pair of leather pants at the bottom of his suitcase, when to the best of her knowledge, he hadn’t worn those since they’d split up that day in Briggs?

And maybe she should have known better than saying out loud how small they seemed now, but noone besides that idiot could have somehow twisted that into her calling him short. Which apparently he now had to somehow disprove by putting on clothes that were never ever going to fit-

„Brother, it’s really not necessary“ Al sighed next to her on the bed.

She’d been helping him look through the clothes he’d brought from Central, sorting out the ones he‘d already grown out of. Al had lamented the loss of the first shirts he‘d picked out for himself in more than five years, but honestly, she was glad she’d never seen him in those. It was still scary to look at him sometimes, as if he’d be blown away in the slightest breeze like a dandelion seed-

„I‘ll show you! Just you wait-“ Ed finished pulling up the stupid pants with a grunt, and admittedly, they came up quite short on the ankles.

They were also very tight higher up.

Ed didn’t seem to care though, or was willing to ignore it for the time being as he turned around with a grand flourish. The effect was slightly ruined by his struggle to stay upright.

Winry snorted, and she could hear Al shake his head with a long-suffering sigh, muttering something like „Oh, Brother“.

„What are y‘all laughing for? Shut up, I‘m taller than you-“

He kept wriggling around, apparently trying and failing to pull up the zipper with-

Her tongue caught behind her palate.

It wasn’t like- she’d seen Ed in underwear countless times, hell she’d seen him naked after his surgeries, and it wasn’t something she’d ever given a second thought too-

She knew she loved him of course, had even admitted it out loud to Granny, but there was still something profoundly embarrassing about realizing that your childhood friend had a nice ass. Like really, really nice.

Winry could feel her cheeks grow hot, and bit the inside of her lip, hard.

She forced herself to look away, focusing instead on evading the foot he kept waving around in front of their faces, presumably to show off that he had indeed outgrown the stupid leather pants.

It was a beautiful foot, if she did say so herself, with the new suspension system she’d installed three weeks ago shining through at the heel, smelling slightly of Brautmeier‘s Best Machine Oil, now that the idiot finally remembered to properly take c-

Was that?- Was that actually?

„Edward Elric, why the hell is there a huge dent on your dorsal plate?! What did you do?“

He stopped whatever height-related rant he‘d been yabbering until now, and gulped slightly. Then he narrowed his eyes at her.

„Well if anything it’s your Granny’s fault, that old hag has been a total slavedriver and wouldn’t shut up about the roof leaking in the workshop-“

„Ed you absolute moron, we all told you to take it easy with your arm, and you keep insisting on doing everything on your own-“

She forced herself to take a deep breath and slowly unclenched her fists.

„Well what happened? Did your hand spasm again and you dropped the hammer?“

His eyes widened for a second before turning dark.

„So what if I dropped the hammer? My leg works fine. And you know what? My arm is fine too, I punched the literal incarnation of God in the face with this arm, so I think I can handle a fucking roof-“

She could vaguely hear Al struggling to get off the bed (at what point had she stood up?), telling her and Ed to please calm down, but the blood rushing in her ears seemed to drown out every other sound and if she could just make that bloody idiot see reason for one second-

„Well you obviously can’t handle a fucking roof, not if you’re damaging your automail while y-“

„See this is why I don’t tell you things, you’re always freaking out about the tiniest things! You’re-“

He stopped himself when he saw her blinking away tears, which only made her more angry.

„You’re such an idiot“, she shouted, and cursed her voice for sounding so screechy. She whirled around, and left the door rattling in its hinges on her way out.

Al could sort through the rest of his shirts himself. Hopefully.

Or maybe that stupid brother of his could do something useful for once, that didn’t result in him ruining her automail, and hurting himself, and-

She gripped the wrench in her pocket tightly, and imagined herself giving Ed a good, hard whack on the head.

She turned to the workshop, in need of a distraction, and started with the first thing on this week‘s list, which was measuring and recutting parts for an arm they‘d upgrade in four days.

It was a good arm, an interesting project because she could combine the lighter alloy she worked with at Garfield‘s with her earlier designs-

It was still not quite enough to get her mind to stop thinking about stupid, nerve-racking Edward Elric.

For all of his patience with Al‘s slow recovery, he remained just as reckless and prickly with his own as he had been at eleven.

Maybe it was frustration after they’d beaten all those impossible odds, or maybe he just didn’t want Al to see that the arm he‘d sacrificed himself for wasn’t working perfectly; whatever the reason, Ed‘s arm was a taboo topic and it annoyed her to no end.

The metal grinder was whirring loudly in her ears, and so she didn’t notice the knocking until it was accompanied by a particularly loud clang of metal against metal and Ed‘s irritated voice calling „C‘mon Winry don’t be a bitch, I‘m trying to apologize here.“

She shut the machine off and set her goggles aside.

„Sorry, I didn‘t hear you. Come in.“

The door opened and closed while she began to clear her work table.

She could see him shift his weight from one foot to the other out of the corner of her eye.

„I‘m sorry for yelling at you. I didn’t mean that- what I said. I‘m sorry.“

„It’s okay. I guess I overreacted a bit.“

„Would you- would you consider fixing my leg? I mean, it still works and all, but it ain‘t that pretty I guess-“

Winry gestured to the chair next to her. „Sit down, take off your pants, you know the- wait“.

She threw the screwdriver into the closest drawer (even if that one was for measuring instruments, technically-well nevermind) and hated, hated how her breath hitched in her throat.

„Why in the world are you still wearing those damn pants?“

His face turned red and he looked away. „I- couldn’t get them off“, he mumbled, waving vaguely with his right hand for emphasis. Oh.

„And Al refused to help me! He said it was my own stupid fault, and that I should go beg for your mercy or whatever-“

„Of course I‘ll help you! Just uhh- can you hold up your boxers if I pull?“

„Umm- yeah sure.“ His cheeks were flaming when she knelt down in front of him, his eyes fixated on the anatomy posters on the wall.

„Okay, so I‘ll just-“

„Uhuh.“

„Right.“ She could feel her ears growing hot, and bit her lip. Don’t be ridiculous, she told herself, you‘ve helped your patients with this a thousand times. The fact that this is Ed should make it easier, if anything.

By the times she‘d managed to peel the pants off down to knee height, her lip was bleeding, and Ed‘s forehead was covered in sweat. Also he seemed to be mumbling something incoherent.

„Look, the hardest part is done. I think it’s easiest for the rest if you sit down, Ed. Ed?“

„-lium, Calcium, Scandium-“

„ED!“ She added a slight punch to his side for good measure, and he blinked at her.

„Uhh yeah.“ They hobbled over to the chair together, her supporting his shoulder.

„Why did you put them on anyway? I mean-“ Ed sat down with a grunt,and she rolled her eyes.

„I mean, you know that you‘ve grown since last year. You knew that these pants wouldn’t fit you. So why-“ she finally managed to pull the last piece over his feet, and threw the damn thing on his lap.

„Why did you do it?“

He leant back on the chair, crossing his arms behind his head and avoiding her eyes.

„I guess I had to prove to myself that I really can’t be the Fullmetal alchemist anymore“, he answered finally, his mouth pulled into a crooked smile.

„Because your pants are now too short?“ She raised her eyebrows.

„Well, I always made them myself, so it actually- ugh I don’t know, damnit Winry, they were a part of it too, my pants, my jacket, my boots, my coat- never got that one back from Mrs. Bradley now that I think about it-

I know it’s kinda pathetic, but I guess I had to really see it again-“

„It’s not pathetic“, she replied, careful to keep her voice neutral, and hopefully keep her face from pulling into any weird grimaces.

„Well I obviously can’t wear them anymore, so maybe I should give them to some kid in the village, someone who can appreciate my edgy-“

„ I don’t know, or you could keep them for your kids someday.“

Damnit, why had she said that? Her head was spinning as if she’d just gotten off of Rush Valleys most terrible rollercoaster, and Ed‘s face was rapidly approaching tomato colour.

„Win-ry“, he choked, and this clearly was a discussion for later, way, way into the future-

„Forget I said that! What I meant to say-“ was there something she’d meant to say? Well, she had better think of something fast-

„Don’t call yourself pathetic. Please. You gave up something really important to you, even if we got Al back. If I had to give up automail- I guess I would feel very lost for a while.“

„But I‘m not lost! After all those years I‘m finally back home, right, this is everything we wanted, and I‘m happy, I am, it’s just-“

He was breathing hard, fingers clenched around his knees so tight the knuckles shone white.

Their eyes met, for a second, and then he looked away again, lips pressed into a thin line.

„I guess I never imagined myself becoming this useless“.

„Ed you’re not-“

„I know, I know. And I‘d do it all again, obviously, because in exchange I got Al, and my friends, and y-“

His ears turned red again. He raised up his right arm, clenching and unclenching his hand, and she caught herself waiting for the familiar click-click-click of her first automail.

„It’s just, I started alchemy when I was five. First it was just fun, and then Mom liked it, and then I thought I had to get her back, and then I had to get Al‘s body-

Point is, I‘m not good at anything else. I don’t know anything besides alchemy, I can’t even figure out how to fix a stupid roof-“

„Will you shut up about the damn roof? I‘ll fix it tomorrow, if it bothers you that much-“

„More like it bothers Granny that much“, she heard him mutter-

„-and about the alchemy thing, I guess you just have to decide what you want to do with your life now. Not your mom, not what you have to do.“

She touched his jaw lightly, crouching down to meet his eyes.

„Just because you can’t do physical transmutations anymore doesn’t mean you stop being an alchemy freak though.“

His eyebrow twitched. Then the corner of his mouth.

„That’s rich coming from you. Damn gearhead.“

„Speaking of“, she lifted herself back up, „I still have to fix that foot of yours. You’re a walking disgrace to Rockbell automail right now.“

He snorted, probably about to spout some smartass remark, but she sent him a withering glare.

He wisely decided to shut up.

„Thank you, Win“, he mumbled amidst the clanking of her hammer.

„Seriously. I owe you one.“

You could wear those pants again. Get Al to adjust the size-

Out loud, she said: „Don’t worry about it. We’re all home now. That’s what counts. We have time to figure things out, right?“

[cinnamonsugarsheith-blog]

(jail)Bait and Switch

Pairing: Sheith, bg onesided Allurance, bg onesided HunkShay

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Student/Teacher, Kissing, mild dirty talk and Keith’s filthy 18 year old brain, implied blowjobs, quite a bit of curse words, Keith is A Tease

Summary: Keith’s physics class gets a new student teacher. Keith has every intention of being as annoying as possible, but Oh Shit He’s Hot.

Keith fucking hates this class. He hates math. He hates fucking "I did not spend twenty years in school for you to call me Mister" Dr Slav. He hates that it's fucking first period. He hates that fucking Lance McClain sits behind him and pokes him in the back of the neck with a pencil whenever he falls asleep.

If this class wasn't literally required for him to take for the degree he needed to work at Space X he Would Not be taking it.

So when they come back from spring break and Dr Slav introduces his new student teacher he has decided he is going to at the very least have a little fun during it by annoying the shit out of them.

He damn near chokes on his own tongue when Dr Slav introduces Mister Takashi Shirogane as his new student teacher though. No one should be able to make purple argyle look that fucking good. No one. Mister Takashi "call me Mister Shiro" Shirogane had silver hair that made Keith question if he needed to change his career path to sugar baby and dark eyes that hid behind glasses and a sharp scar across his nose that made him look just a little bit dangerous and fuck if that wasn't a thousand watt smile. Ugh. Yeah. He needed to change his plans. Scratch operation annoy the shit out of the peppy student teacher. Begin operation get the student teacher to bend him over the desk. And from the looks of the rest of the class. He had competition.

Something was on his side though, because the next day Dr Slav asked him to hang back after class. "Mister Shirogane, this is the top of the class, Keith Kogane. He has a bit of a disciplinary problem. And a mouth." Keith could feel Slav glaring. " But if you're looking at my seniors for a research assistant. This is the only one worth glancing at." Shiro laughed good naturedly. "I think you have a great group of student, Dr Slav." He adjusted his glasses, pushing them up the bridge of his nose. "But, it's good to meet you Keith. You must be some student to catch Slav's attention." Keith hoped he looked as effortlessly cool as he was trying to with his hands in his pockets and his gaze towards the door. "Yeah. Same." "Um, I'm looking for a research assistant to help me with my senior thesis. I'm an astrophysics major and I'm really hoping to help send the first manned mission to Kerberos... Its--" "One of Pluto's moons. Is it paid?" That seemed to catch Shiro off guard and he blushed. "N-no! But I'd be happy to give you rides to the lab at campus and meals and stuff while you're there. I uh... Yeah. The schedule is flexible, but you look like you're a flexible kinda guy and well if you're interested..." Keith had to mentally force himself not to Flip Out at the student teachers seemingly completely unintentional double entendre. He had no problem showing Shiro just how flexible he could be. He grunted. "Guess I'm interested. What are the hours." Shiro scribbled down his number on a sticky note with a quick "text me tonight, you're going to be late to English!" It wasn't until half way through English that he questioned how Shiro knew that’s what he had next.

The new english lit student teacher was here on a visa if her accent was anything to go by.  He thought about annoying her since Shiro had been a busy, but Lance wouldn't stop hitting on her. He pitied the heck out of her for that. Thank God his next class was not with Lance. "Heard you new student teacher is hot," Pidge stated without pretense. "Yeah, Lance says he looks like a nerdy Adonis." Keith shrugged, and passed Pidge a white powder to mix into their solution. "I guess." "And then slav asked you to hang back." Pidge wriggled her eyebrows at him. "What's up with that?" Keith smirked, hand reaching into his pocket for the sticky with Shiro's number. "Wouldn’t you like to know.

He texts Shiro an "its Keith from Slavs class" that night and falls asleep thinking about Shiro's strong hands pinning him to the chalkboard and asking him why his homework is late. When he wakes up he has a text "Hey Keith, Hope We can meet up soon to discuss specific hours. I'd love to give you a tour of the lab and observatory! --Shiro" What kind of dork signed their texts? He'd see him in class today. No point in texting back now. He scrounged through the closet for the jeans that were both the least dirty but also the tightest, a black pair, and grabbed the first shirt he found. He'd wear his jacket all day anyways. When he pulled into the school he was early and he strategically hung out on his motorcycle near the teachers lot until he saw Shiro get out of the noisiest station wagon the school had ever seen. He was shocked the thing was still running. Time to make his entrance.

Keith ran full force into his student teacher. And then proceeded to cuss as said student teachers nose started bleeding where he’d for all intents and purposes headbutted him. “Shit, Mr Shiro!” He was helping pull the man up and pressing the sleeve of his hoodie to his nose before the older man could stop him. “You okay?” He straightened the man’s bangs as he continued to press the cotton of his hoodie to his face. “Maybe we should go to the nurses office?” Shiro looked defeated, clearly not wanting to talk with his students hand pinching his nose shut. “’s go to the nurse.” Shay helped Keith slip off his black hoodie and continued to keep the pressure on Shiro’s nose. “You’re lucky Keith here knows a decent amount about first aid.” She smiled. “He’s gotten his fair share of bloody noses.” Keith snorted. “I give more than I get.” “Well I can see that.” The secretary ruffled his hair. “Now what happened here? I really hope you’re not picking fights with teachers.” “It was an accident, just ran into each other in the parking lot not paying attention.” Shiro nodded in agreement, slowly releasing the pressure on his nose to see if the bleeding had stopped. “Keith, I’ve got to go field attendance calls. You take good care of Mister Shirogane.” With that Shay slipped out of the room. “I think it’s stopped,” Shiro said hesitantly. “I’m sorry.” “It’s okay. It was an accident.” It wasn’t. But they were in the basically closet that served as a nurses office and he was close enough to see the creases next to Shiro’s eyes when he smiled and he couldn’t feel even a little bit bad. “Yeah–” Keith wetted some paper towels in the small sink and passed them to Shiro “– but I should’ve been more careful.” Shiro shrugged, and then gave a small smile as he wiped at his face and hands. “I mean if you really want to make it up to me, you can always take me up on that assistant position.” Keith took another step into the man’s space and held his hand out for the red tinged paper towel he was holding. Shiro handed it to him. He put two fingers under Shiro’s chin and tilted it up. He licked his bottom lip and dabbed the damp towel under Shiro’s nose again, gently, and then across his bottom lip. "Missed a spot.” He smiled. Shiro flushed the most brilliant red and gaped. Keith stepped back easy, tossing the bloody towels into the trash can under the sink. “And I think I’d like to see that lab, Mister Shiro.” Keith skipped first period and spent it hiding on the roof with Ezor, who was doing an art independent study and had her corner litteredp with paints and bright stained puddles where chalk pastels had been left in the rain and a smattering of scarf scraps that had been hacked up for their fringes. He couldn’t pretend to be cool in front of Shiro any more today than he had. Maybe skipping class would make think Shiro think he was mysterious or something though. Fuck it. “Ugh I wish the models Mr Iverson used in class had your bone structure. "M not modeling Ezor, I’m ditching. "Well you’re sitting perfectly still in my space, so I think that makes you my model.” She winked. He grunted and made an effort to move every thirty seconds after that. By the time lunch rolled around Lance still hadn’t seen him that day and was shocked when he plopped down next to Pidge and started shoving fries into his mouth. “Dude where were you this morning? Mr Shiro said he needed to give back your hoodie. You left it with him this morning?” Hunk choked on his milk and Pidge gave him the most conspiratorial of grins. “Yeah, so? Didn’t feel like listening to the Slave driver. Sorry.” “Are you…?” He waved his hands vaguely in the direction of the building where their physics classroom was. “Waving my hands?” Lance glared and lowered his voice. “Are you sleeping with the student teacher?” “Not your business, Lance.” Lance looked like his head was going to explode. “I’m gonna have to ditch game night, by the way, guys,” he changed topics, sort of. “Shiro has something to show me at campus.” He was definitely going to give Lance an aneurysm. “Okay. Suit yourself. We were gonna plan Monsters and Mana. Matt even volunteered to be the Dungeon Keeper.” Pidge got up to bus her tray. “Damn.” Keith did love M&M… But hot TA and fodder to hang over Lance’s head. “I’ll have to catch it next week.” He waited until most of the students had left the school to move his bike to the teachers lot next to Shiro’s car. He debated the pros and cons of positioning himself leaning against the hood of the car or straddling his bike when Shiro came out and opted for the bike. When Shiro stepped out of the school he caught Shiro’s swallow even as far away as he was. Keith grinned to himself and pocketed his phone. “Follow you?” “Yeah, it’s not too far.” Keith pulled his helmet on and waited for Shiro to get into his car before revving his engine just slightly more than he maybe necessarily needed to. It was indeed not too far. He was pretty sure this was the school Pidge’s brother went too. They parked in a garage and Shiro let him stash his helmet in his back seat while they toured the lab. Shiro talked animatedly about rocket ships most of the walk to the building and he promised he would wash his hoodie and get it back to him tomorrow. Keith shrugged.

"So you'd have to be in the lab at the same time as me since you're not a student but I'm usually here by myself unless Dr Holt comes in on the weekends--" "As in Sam?" Keith cut him off "Uh... Yeah. Samuel Holt." "Sorry, I'm just. His daughter is one of my best friends." "Oh yeah! Katie’s a sophomore now, right? And at your school too." "She goes by Pidge now, but yeah." Shiro laughed. "She used to hate when Matt called her that." Well. There went all his grand plans for trying to be the The Cool Guy. As soon as he talked to the Holts, that was going to be out the window. Shit. Might as well do what he could while he could then.

He perched on the side of Shiro's L desk kitty corner an ancient desktop as he pulled up data spreadsheet after data spreadsheet. "What--" he leaned forward, bracing one arm on the back of Shiro's chair and letting his breath ghost over the side of Shiro's neck and ear "--does this spike here mean?" He pointed out a blip in the data on the screen. He could see Shiro's shoulder tense under his thin sweater. "Um, it's a fraunhofer line from an element suspected to come from Kerberos." He leaned in a little closer. "Doesn't look like one I've ever seen." Shiro swallowed and turned his head to look at Keith. "No. No, it doesn't. Is this. Um are... Am I reading into this?" His face was positively red. Keith tilted his head just enough to question and seized this perfectly presented moment. "No, Mister Shirogane, I'm really interested in accepting this position under you..." There was only a few inches between their faces and Keith wanted nothing more to kiss this adorable man, but it was too soon. He sat up, never breaking the eye contact he had with Shiro, and slid off the desk. "What hours are you wanting me here?"

His student teacher couldn't look him in the eyes the rest of the week. His hoodie was folded neatly on his desk Friday morning, smelling of detergent and Shiro. He was probably making up that last part because he was crushing like a thirteen year-old girl. But fuck it.

His friends teased him about this as he burrowed his nose into it for the tenth time during lunch. He begrudgingly called Lance for help that night. "Black or blue jeans?" "Uh...." "Lance just tell me which one makes my ass look better. I know you know." Keith could practically see Lance putting the pieces together in his head. "Why~?" "Just tell me." "You're going to go see Mr Shiro, aren't you~?" Lance sing-songed into the phone. "Lance." Keith warned. Lance laughed. "Nah man, if this works, there's hope for me and Allura. Blue jeans. The dark ones. They bring out your eyes. And wear that baseball tee you think makes you look girly. The red one. Don't wear your bike boots. Sneakers. You've been doing that bad boy thing and it's dumb." "Have not." He hope Lance couldn't hear him pouting. "Have too. Mr Shiro is a nerd. Bad boy will catch his attention, but it won't keep it." Okay so maybe Lance had a point. "Thanks." "No problem! Let me know how it goes tomorrow!"

Keith bused to campus bright and early the next morning and could have kissed Shiro when he pressed a large iced coffee into his hands. Shiro laughed as he sucked down half the drink in five minutes. "I know, but it's best we get as much done in training as we can before Matt gets here and tries to tell you how to use a 'flux capacitor.'" Keith nodded and leaned against the wall of the elevator. "I think this is the first time I've seen you without your bike jacket. Didn't ride today?" "Too tired." "I'll give you a ride home when we are done here then." It wasn't a question, so he didn't respond, but he tried not to think too hard about how Shiro had noticed that he wasn't wearing his jacketo They ended up at a diner off campus and Keith was mildly less attracted to Shiro watching him try and fail to fit a burger covered in mac and cheese into his mouth without making a mess.

However this gave him the opportunity to reach out and wipe cheese sauce off  off Shiro's cheek with his thumb and the bunny in headlights look he got in response was so worth how disgusting he thought it was to lick it off his thumb. "What?" He asked when Shiro put his flushed face into his hands. "That was um..." "It's not my fault you're a messy eater." Keith did his best impression of Shiro's thousand watt smile. Shiro just nodded, then squeaked when he felt Keith's sneakered foot rest gently on his knee under the table. "So how do you like student teaching?" "Uh, it's good. Overall I mean. Everyone has been really great. Slav’s difficult, but..." Shiro shrugged. "And the students?" "Oh, um. You guys are a good class?" He offered weakly. Keith grinned. "Nah, I skip once a week and Lance is an ass. And I'm pretty sure half the girls have given you love letters by now." Shiro squirmed in his seat. "Well I'm not..." "Straight?" "How...?" "Straight men do not wear argyle, Mr. Shiro." "Um... You can just call me Shiro. When we aren't at school. All my friends do." "Are we friends?" Keith didn't bother to hide his smirk. "I'd like us to be.... Friends" Shiro said thickly. "Yeah?" Keith let his foot fall --dragged it-- down the inside of Shiro's calf. "Is this something..?" "I mean I'd say an assistant is more of a working relationship, but if you wanna be friends we maybe do something fun sometime." Smooth, Keith, so smooth. "Ah, I guess you're right... Maybe a movie? Or the arcade? What do people do to socialize these days?" Keith smiled. "Too much time in your books?" "You have no idea."

When Shiro pulled up to his house to drop him off he wasn't quite sure what to do. A hug seemed too forward, but nothing weird too? "See you Monday, right?" Shiro asked. "Yeah. Monday." He nodded. He hesitated for a moment, but reached for the door handle, opting to not push his luck any further than he already had. He stretched as he got out, feeling his shirt lift a bit and smiled to himself where Shiro couldn't see him when he made a noise in his throat. He'd have to make it a point to wear this shirt more often.  He almost had the door shut when Shiro blurted out his name. "Mmm?" He hummed and reopened the door. "Do you uh... Maybe want to catch a movie tomorrow?" "I think I'd like that a lot," he paused, "Takashi...." And gave Shiro what he really hoped was a sweet smile. Pidge would probably tell him he looked constipated. Definitely the most red he'd ever seen Shiro's face. Noted. "Co-ol," his voice caught half way through the word. "Text me?" "Sure thing." This time he shut the door and walked into the house before Shiro could respond. He was going to have his own personal flailing freak out and he needed the door between them when that happened.

Keith text Lance to tell him it went well and put his phone in his desk drawer to avoid texting Shiro too soon. When he did text Shiro, an hour later, it was with a short "you have anything you want to see tomorrow?" Fantasy Shiro in his head responded "You, baby, in my sheets." Real Shiro text back "there's a new horror movie out that looks pretty intense, but there's a sci-fi one that Matt says is really good too" Keith looked at the movie at their tiny local theater and could not find any horror movies. What the heck. "Horror sounds good, I can pick you up on my bike if you're not scared of riding." Also because Shiro's thighs around his hips. Keith groaned at the thought. Hell yeah. Shiro sent back an excited smiley and a "3:30 or 6?" Shiros thighs around his hips and his arms tight around him in the cool spring evening. 6:00pm. DEFINITELY 6:00pm.

He arrived at 5:30 on the dot the next evening, back in his usual leather riding gear, hair tied up in a ponytail. He handed Shiro a helmet and let him get situated before warning him he was going to want to hang on, smirk entirely devious. He was a speed demon without the desire to get Shiro to curl around him as he took sharp turns and whipped through yellow lights. Shiro was a surprisingly good sport about it whooping excitedly and shifting his body smoothly behind Keith. Having Shiro pressed against him felt as good as expected and he may have done a few unnecessary turns in the parking lot just to enjoy it an extra moment. Keith bought the tickets despite Shiro insisting that he had been the one to invite Keith. "You can get popcorn." "We are getting popcorn? What do you think I am, made of money?" Shiro tease, poking him in the ribs. Keith swatted his prosthetic hand away with a yelp. "Well I was kidding, but clearly not, since my assistantship isn't paid." Keith pouted "Hey, I offered to pay for the tickets!!" Shiro put a hand on his lower back and guided him towards the concession lines. Keith leaned into it, and practically melted when he didn't move his hand as they came to a stop at the back of the line. "Soda?" Shiro asked when they were up next. "Coke. I'm not an animal." Keith replied without hesitation. "God, you're perfect. Matt always makes us get diet fanta. I didn't know there was diet fanta." Shiro gave a shiver. Keith laughed. "Yeah, that's Pidge's favorite too. Nasty." They collected their things and Keith strategically lead them to a set of seats that already had the middle armrest raised so he wouldn't have to try to be sneaky about it. They sat shoulder to shoulder with the popcorn on Shiro's lap and the soda balanced between Keith's thighs. Shiro knew a shocking amount of movie preview trivia, which he blamed on Matt. And Keith insisted that he was unfit to teach physics because he liked Star Wars better than Star Trek.

It was not nearly as thick as he had been laying it on, which, he would later decide after a four way call that lasted the better part of two hours, was probably good. This was fun and easy and even though less direct "Takashi" was still blushing and smiling an awful lot. He did set his hand on Shiro's thigh about halfway through the movie though. And to his credit Shiro only tensed for a second before realizing Keith wasn't going to do anything else, and relaxing. The "horror movie" was actually a thriller with ghosts. It was not scary, but Shiro startled repeatedly, and Keith could feel him twitching every time a character did Something Very Stupid onscreen. Keith shifted and leaned over to whisper in Shiro's ear, "Ya know, he looks kind of like Slav... And the blonde guy looks like Mr Iverson with hair." Shiro snickered and turned to whisper back, "You're totally right!”

Keith leaned into Shiro's shoulder a little more after that. When it was over it was completely dark outside. "You want to grab food or...?" Keith let the question hang, holding the extra helmet out to Shiro again. "Sure, there's a Waffle House a few streets over?"   Keith hummed and lifted his leg over his bike. "And I will pay!" Shiro readily settles his hands on Keith's hips when he situated himself again. And his brain was telling him how easily those hands.... Ugh. Why did he think riding his bike was a good idea again?! But then Shiro's legs settled along side his and he remembered exactly why. He just had not very thoroughly thought out the nuances of this decision.

Thankfully it was a short ride to the Waffle House, but it was bittersweet. He had to turn things back up juuuuust a little when the waitress told them they were just the cutest couple. "Yeah, Takashi is gorgeous. I'm a lucky guy." Shiro fumbled, clearly wanting to play along, but missing the beat as she asked for their drink order. "It's uh... I'm sorry." Shiro fiddled with his placemat. "For what?" Keith raised an eyebrow. "That she thinks we are a couple." Keith shrugged, trying to figure out how to best play that. "I don't mind. I meant that... You're gorgeous. And smart to boot? You're a hell of a catch." He winked. "Like you're not." And there was the hand over his mouth. "Takashi, are you flirting with me?" Well that sulky glare was probably deserved.

"Are you?" He pushed. "Are you?" Shiro hedged back. "You're too smart to have any doubt that I'm not." Shiro let out a huge sigh. "Oh thank fuck. I thought I was being a creepy pervert." Keith laughed aloud at that.

"I'm 18. No harm, right?" He gave Shiro a lopsided grin. "I know. Your birthday is on the class roster." Shiro sighed. "If you weren't 18, I wouldn't have asked you to be my research assistant. Matt can get a little... Weird.... Sometimes. " "Yeah he gets it from his sister." "Wouldn't it be the other way around?" "Absolutely not." "So um...." Shiro started after the waitress interrupted to take their orders. "I know you're 18, and it's not for lack of... Ah... Attraction. " He cleared his throat. "But I think it may be best to wait until after you graduate to uh... Start anything." Keith raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Think you can keep your hands off me for that long?" "No, but I'm going to try." Shiro sulked.

"Challenge accepted." Keith grinned wolfishly and took a drink for his water Shiro groaned. "You're gonna kill me.” Keith tongued at his straw between his teeth, still grinning. "Only if you don't fuck me." "KEITH!" He laughed again. "What?"

Keith drove Shiro back to the apartment where he apparently lived with the Lit student teacher, Allura, and leaned back against him, dreading the moment Shiro would uncurl from around him and get off the bike. They took their helmets off and Shiro twirled his short pony tail, humming thoughtfully. "I had a lot of fun tonight." "I did too..." He tilted his head up a bit and Shiro made a noise of protest before he pressed a firm kiss to Keith's cheek. "See you tomorrow?" "Yeah..." Shiro watched as Keith secured the spare helmet. "See that star up there?" Shiro nuzzled his neck, a little hesitant. "Between the far one on this constellation here..." He took Keith's hand and pointed. "And this real dull one here?" "Yeah?' "That one's ours, baby..." Keith blushed and sunk back against the solid mass behind him. "It should be about... There" he took Keith's hand to another point in the sky. "When you graduate." Keith nodded, understanding. Shiro pressed a kiss beneath his ear. "That's when I bend you over Slav's  desk and fuck you until you forget everything but my name." "Oh fuck." Keith felt like the wind got knocked out of him as Shiro got off the bike. "What?" Shiro winked and grinned, looking at him over his glasses. "You started it." Keith swore the entire way home.

And that is how the next two months went, they would whisper salacious something's into each other's ears and press kisses along jaw lines and go home and pant the others name until they were an utter wreck, but Shiro kept fast on his promise of not until Keith graduated. And Keith was doing his best to break him. Prom night was close. Matt had bought Pidge a shitty handle of vodka and she had split it between the four of them before forcing her brother to drive them to the dance. They were all sloshed and he absolutely stole his chance to ask Shiro to dance with him. Shiro twirled him around, innocently enough, while Allura led Lance with a hand on his waist and Hunk roped Pidge into some semblance of sober slow dancing, staring longingly at secretary-slash-nurse Ms Shay. Shiro leaned close, and his hand tensed over the thin sweater covering Shiro's muscles. "Exams are next week. Have you thought about what you want if you get an A?" His lips just closed the barest bit over the edge of Keith's ear lobe and he about died in Thace's borrowed suit. "Shit. Whatever you're willing to give me." Shiro chuckled. "Now where's that cool, in control Keith I met the first week of class?" "You've fuckin ruined him," Keith huffed. "Tell me, baby." Shiro spun him and pulled him close. God, this man. "Want you to--" "My turn!" "Pidge, we are--" "Shhhhhhhhhhh. Best friend privileges. I have to protect your honor. Go dance with Hunk. Help him impress Miss Shay. He's trying. But it sucks." "Hi, Katie," Shiro greeted evenly. "If you hurt him, I will ruin your fucking life. Takashi Shirogane. Born 2/29/2031 to Mira and Kunikazu Shirogane in Osaka Japan. Immigrated to America in 2035. Dropped out of Galaxy Garrison's pilot program due to a suspicious training accident and relegated to Altea Tech's Astrophysics undergrad." "You've done you research?" "My brothers labmate or not. Keith is special." "I know, Katie. I mean to do right by him. I swear." She nodded and settled her head on top of his chest for the remainder of the song. "I'm gonna hold you to that...." Shiro held his pinky up. "I swear, Katie." She nodded and linked her pinky. "I trust you."

They left Shiro's station wagon in the teachers lot and Keith drove Shiro back to his house just off campus on his bike. "You uh... Want to come in?" Keith got off without question. "So uh... Katie....?" Shiro started, cracking open a beer and passing it to Keith. It was prom night. Fuck it. Keith groaned and took a long drag.  "What did she do?" "More or less? She is going to fuck me up if I hurt you...?" Keith nodded sagely, staring into the distance. "Holts scare the shit out of me." Shiro lifted his beer and they clinked in a cheers. "Shiro....?" "Yeah?" "I don't want to be cliche as hell... But... Could you. At least kiss me tonight? I mean… for real?" Shiro wasn't half a step away before he finished the question. "Thought you would never ask." Shiro sealed their lips together, trying in all his pent up frustration to not push too much, and hoping the last two months of WANT came through.. And it did, Keith was practically melting with Shiro's hand cupping his neck and his prosthetic tight around his waist.

Shiro pulled away heavily. "You have me so fucked up..." "Huh?" Keith wanted back. Shiro snorted and spoke against Keith's plush lips. "'m torn between wanting our first time to be slow and loving, on my bed 'pstairs... Show you how beautiful you are to me... And fucking you stupid over that fucking morons desk. For spite." Keith groaned and dropped to his knees in an instant. "Let me show you instead?"

Shiro couldn't look Keith in the eye during class after that and Keith took joy in asking a ridiculous amount of questions during prep for the AP exams. He passed with a 4. Probably because Slav was insane and force them to know exceptions to the exceptions. Thace and Ulaz threw a modest graduation part for him, and he was glad for the year to fucking FINALLY BE OVER WITH.

Shiro took him on an official proper date. Where he drove. To a restaurant with cloth napkins. And then to a bar with a band. Shiro twirled him around the dance floor again. Except neither of them wore an an uncomfortable suit and he could definitely roll his hips against Shiro's without another chaperone flipping their shit. Shiro nips at his earlobe when he does that. He did it again. Smirked when Shiro's thumbs dig into his hips to pull him closer. "You are the worst." "You're not my student teacher." Shiro growled against the column of his throat. "You're right, Baby. I'm not."