This is prompt 5 for Keithtober/whumptober - Kerberos. You can see all the prompts if you’d also like to participate here. :)
The banging was loud and insistent; whoever was at Adam’s door was determined to see him.
Adam turned his head to look at the time on his alarm clock. As he expected, it was late enough that the announcement would have been made already, the world knew what had happened to the Kerberos Mission… to Takashi.
Iverson had informed him personally the day before as a professional courtesy, and it had taken every shred of self control he possessed to nod stiffly, and excuse himself so he could stumble back to his quarters and fall apart in private. He’d been lost in a fog of disbelief and regret since then.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the last argument they’d had before Takashi left.
He was a fool, and he wished he could take back every harsh, unforgiving thing he’d said. He wished that the last words he’d said to Takashi had been something, anything, other than ‘don’t expect me to be here when you get back,’ but he couldn’t change it now.
He’d never get to say anything to Takashi ever again because Takashi was dead, frozen in the outer reaches of the solar system, where he would remain forever.
The person at the door stopped knocking.
Good. Adam didn’t want to see anyone, whoever they were they should have known better than to approach him now. He wasn’t fit for company.
It turned out that they’d only stopped knocking because they decided they were going to yell.
“Adam! Adam!” the voice was young and broken.
It hadn’t even occurred to Adam to consider how Keith might take the news, the poor boy adored Takashi. He adored him so fiercely that Adam had jokingly likened Keith to a loyal stray on more than one occasion. Keith shouldn’t have had to find out what happened from the fucking news broadcast.
Adam lurched to his feet so quickly he gave himself mild vertigo as the blood rushed away from his head and down into his extremities. He shook himself, before rushing out of his room, and towards the Keith’s voice.
He pressed the button to let the door slide open, revealing Keith on the other side.
Keith looked exactly how Adam felt. Anguished.
His eyes were red, and there were tears flowing freely down his cheeks. His chest was heaving with emotion, his bottom lip looked like he’d tried to chew a hole through it, and Adam could see his fist shaking where it was raised, poised as if to continue knocking.
“They’re wrong,” Keith blurted.
Adam’s eyes closed of their own volition, and he felt the beginnings of a headache building behind his temples. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Adam, they’re wrong. They must be. Shiro is the best pilot at the Garrison, he wouldn’t make a mistake--” Keith’s voice shook with conviction.
He was so terribly young and naive; even the best pilots could make life-ending mistakes. Adam opened his eyes.
“Keith, he was the best pilot,” he said, as gently as he was able to. Keith’s face fell, and fresh tears filled his eyes.
“You… you believe them?” Keith whispered, incredulous the betrayed. “But-but you love him.”
His love wasn’t enough to keep Takashi here with him, safe and alive.
“I love him,” Adam echoed, he’d probably always love him. “But he’s gone.”
Keith shook his head, and his expression turned mulish.
“You’re wrong,” he spat, and then he turned on his heel and marched away, every line of his body stiff and angry.
Adam sighed, surreptitiously wiping his own eyes with his sleeve.
Keith really was like a loyal stray.
