moved to @pilotchosen

James is confusing. Shiro doesn’t know him that well, seeing as the pledges have only recently moved in, but he’d no doubt get to know him more as the year progressed. The screening process to get into the frat wasn’t an easy one; if James is here, it means he has a good heart, a dedication to his education and… Matt thought he was cool enough to join.

He can already tell something was bothering James, and that he was trying to hedge around saying what he was really thinking. Shiro would normally let it be but he can’t help but be concerned when whatever it was seemed to involve Keith. He’d found out about Keith’s midnight street adventure a few months before they’d actually started dating. Even though he worries and makes Keith text him as soon as the races are over, a part of him is proud that his boyfriend’s a bit of a badass.

❛ Do you two have classes together ?? ❜ Shiro guesses, now sufficiently curious about James and Keith’s relationship. He takes a large bite of his toast-sandwich, chewing quickly and brushing the crumbs from his lips. ❛ I guess we are a little different,  ❜ he muses, trying to see what he and Keith would look like to an outsider. It’s hard, since his life practically revolves around Keith these days. ❛ Are you… okay, James ?? Can I get you a coffee or make up some breakfast ?? ❜

    A leaden feeling curls up like a viper in the pit of his stomach. What kind of hole has he managed to dig himself into now? “ uh... I think we had some of the freshman classes together. we’re in the same department so I sort of see him around all the time. ” It’s not technically a lie, so he goes with it.

    He somehow manages not to cringe as Shiro bites into his ‘sandwich’ and prays that he doesn’t ask any more questions. The more he thinks about it, the more he’s starting to realize that his fixation on Keith is a certain degree of unhealthy... and he doesn’t feel like getting the everliving crap beat out of him by his fraternity president. Shiro comes off as the overprotective type for sure. 

“It was a compliment, Lance said humans usually do that to each other when meeting new people so they come off as friendly. Did I do it wrong?” She asked honestly curious, Blue hadn’t quite perfected the art of meeting new people and the way she used to do it scared more people than she hoped it would. So she decided on a new approach to the greeting thing.

“Well when we were made our creator wanted us to be able to live like a normal living being so he created secondary forms for us to travel around in without crushing anyone.” Or for that matter terrifying anyone; a ship walking around on its own was sure to make some people uncomfortable. “This way we can also build a closer bond with our paladins and talk to them as I’m talking to you now.”

    “ uhh... i guess it does help in some occasions, though that compliment bordered on flirting... never mind. you’re fine. ” The fact that Lance, out of all paladins, had taught the lion that is somehow unsurprising. 

“Yes, yes, exactly,” Matt confirms, datapad in one hand and welder in another. Matt is a hot mess, covered in dirt, grease and oil. His hair is confined in a messy bun and safety googles are resting crooked across his forehead. 

“These scans are shit,” Matt grumbles, tapping the datapad against his chin as he thinks. “To take new scans or wing it… It’s little more than scrap metal right now  but if I had some,” he utters a string of rather unusally named alien materials, “it would be like brand new. But do I really want to go all the way to Ywfak to get it?” 

Placing what he is currently holding on a nearby table. He properly puts his safety googles on and grabs some ear protection and a saw. “I AM GOING TO CUT IT OPEN TO GET AN EASIER LOOK AT THE ENGINE,” he shouts, “IF YOU HEAR SCREAMING ASSUME THAT I CAUGHT ON FIRE.” A pause. “SORRY FOR THE YELLING I SHOULD”VE WAITED TO PUT THE EARMUFFS ON.”

    He staggers back as Matt turns around, wielding his welder like a rocket launcher. With his soot-covered face and wild hair, he looks like a madman. If James hadn’t known any better, he’d be terrified. “ ...wait, is it expected that you’ll catch on fire? does this happen often? ” 

      The was spotted, not so sure how he didn’t see it before. Slight worry came

washing over the pilot. Brows furrowed together, showing the slight distress. Shoulder wounds were never good for pilots. They can grow stiff, and that is  never good either. Though he put stress on before, it didn’t help the small guilt.

      “ I should have been there sooner… ” he spoke softly, though his muscles  did happen to relax a bit, still happy to see him alive, “ You should take it easy  still. Don’t put too much stress on your wounded shoulder. ”

Ina lets her hand set on his shoulder, lingering longer than she wonders if she should. but james is smiling, and she finds that she really likes his smile. “ i’m lucky to have you, “ she admits after a moment, eyes flickering down to the ground.

how long had they been friends now? she’s lost count, but no matter what they’ve been through, they’ve been together. “ we’ve always got each other, right? no matter what? “

    “ right. always... ” he drifts off. It’s warm where their hands touch, where her fingertips lightly press against his shoulder, and her closeness comforts and terrifies him all at once. Heart pounding in his chest, he releases her hand and looks away. 

❝ just shooting these little flying altean bots here and there. you know, cool paladin stuff. ❞ he chooses to omit the fact that he has no prior training to using a blaster or sniper rifle before obtaining his bayard. it makes him seem cooler thinking he’s been doing this longer than a year.  ❝ —–veronica told me you’ve been stepping up though. MFE leader, yeah ? ❞ 

    “ I guess I am, huh? ”  His appointment as leader had been unspoken, and he’d fallen into the role naturally. He’d spent most of his life preparing for this moment and it was an honor to lead a team like the MFEs and fight to protect Earth. “ i’m extremely lucky to be working with my team. you probably can relate, being a paladin and all. ”

    It’s subtle, but James definitely notices the change in Lance. There’s a confidence there that he doesn’t remember back from their cadet days, and it makes sense — war is definitely to blame for making all of them grow up too fast. His eyes fall back to the destroyed targets and, suddenly, he’s struck by an idea. 

she is still confused, but she lets it go, not one to question their leader. the blonde reaches into the bag over her shoulder and pulls out a small tablet. “ which one were you wanting to run through? “ she asks, sitting closer to the boy and holding the tablet towards him. 

She wasn’t expecting to hear the comforting words from Griffin, and during a time when all who gushed about her brother and acted friendly towards him prior showed their true colors, which was why she was on high alert and not particularly trustful of others right now. The two of them have never been close with his behavior at times, notably his treatment towards Keith, but his admiration for Shiro was always sincere or at least as far as she knew. So she liked to think – hope – he was being sincere now.

“Thank you. I appreciate it,” Asuka gave James a small smile. “But unfortunately, the thing I want most we both know Garrison won’t do. They would rather just take the easy way out and blame it on the most obvious choice.”

    “ I never thought the Garrison would actually stoop that low...” Lieutenant Shirogane’s disease, previously the program’s best-kept secret, had been released in the wake of ‘Pilot Error’ as a way to further smear his name. Admiral Sanda had been the first to attribute the accident to Shirogane’s disability, which had incited the outrage of all those who knew better. 

“You know I didn’t mean it like that,” She huffs, nudging his leg with her foot. “I was just trying to emphasize how tiny the target is.” With a heavy sigh, she pulls her laser out of her pocket and brings her binoculars back up to her eyes with her other hand.

“I’m shining the laser on the target now. Do you see where the two beams connect? There’s a small section where it already seems cracked. Hit somewhere along that crack and humpty dumpty should fall down. Although the center of the crack, where I have my laser pointed, has the highest chance of success.”

    “ affirmative. i’ve got my eyes on the target. ” he nods, the area in question within the crosshairs of his rifle. At this angle, the cracked section is just visible enough for this to work. “ alright, here goes nothing. ”

She thought about it for a moment, and as entertaining as it would be to bite his hand, she nudged her head against his hand. She purred lightly and curled up on his lap. He has a nice scent, calm and secure in a way. What a surprise …

“It’s only breaking the rules if you get caught. And are you really going to tell on them?”

    “ Very funny, Riz, ” he grunts as he skirts past his grinning teammate and heads for the MFE jets. “ Keep your eyes peeled, kid. You might learn a thing or two. ”

Cat flops on his lap. It’s a tiring day, so she thought she’d be a little cute and be a cute cat of healing for a bit. 

“Let them have this, James. You could feel the sexual tension for miles, anyway.”