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"Don’t expect me to be here when you get back."With those parting words Adam left his and Shiro’s shared apartment, the door sliding behind him. He didn’t think he could ever regret those words as much as he did. He’d been mad, of course. He didn’t want Shiro to go. He wanted Shiro to stay here with him. He wanted them to get married and be happy. Then the Kerberos mission had come up, and naturally Shiro wanted to go on it, and naturally Adam had been entirely against the idea. They fought about it, and then Adam left, too worked up to stay. He came back the next morning to a note on the nightstand beside the bed, Shiro’s engagement ring resting on top of it.Adam,
I love you, and I need you to know that. With that said, you know I have to go on this mission. I can’t refuse an opportunity like this. Do me a favour: keep the ring. If at any point you decide you really can’t stay with me after this mission throw it away. But, if any part of you can still find it in you to love me, then keep the ring and give it back to me when I come back. I love you, even if you don’t love me
- Takashi Originally Adam hadn’t planned to keep the ring, but every time he went to get rid of it he felt something stopping him. Honestly it shouldn’t have been so difficult, but it was. As mad at Shiro as he was he couldn’t throw the ring away. He’d asked Shiro to marry him because he loved him, and Shiro leaving for the Kerberos mission didn’t change that. Adam still loved him. He came to that conclusion two days before he got the news from Iverson. Something went wrong on the Kerberos mission. Something about a pilot error. Everyone was presumed dead. Adam’s blood went cold, his head filled with cotton, and his heart was suddenly put in a cage, confined by chains. He remembered watching Keith Kogane punch a wall before walking away, and honestly Adam felt like doing the same thing. Maybe that would help him breathe again. But, of course, he couldn’t. He was an adult. He couldn’t do something like that and get away with it. So, instead of punching a wall, he went to his and Takashi’s apartment, collapsed on Shiro’s side of bed, which was cold from lack of use, and cried. He wasn’t sure how long he cried, he just knew that it was most definitely a long time, because by the time he stopped it was dark and cold. It took Adam a long time to get over Takashi’s disappearance. He refused to leave the apartment for three days, and only left because he ran out of food to eat. He didn’t return to teaching for another two weeks, and even then he wasn’t entirely focused on his students. And he absolutely refused to enter the flight simulator in fear of crashing it and seeing the words “SIMULATION FAILED” flash across the screen in bright red letters. That would mean a pilot error, and unlike him Shiro never got to see those words. He didn’t get to climb out try again. He just got death. Eventually, though, Adam stopped crying. He started focusing, and he left the apartment frequently, usually with friends like Curtis, who claimed he’d go crazy if he stayed in that apartment too long. The one thing he still wouldn’t do, however, was get in that stupid flight simulator. He still couldn’t bare the thought of it.Days started to blend together, with the same things going on, prepared lessons being taught, the occasional outings, and then a night spent in a silent apartment, wishing there was the sound of Takashi mumbling under his breath about his work. Wishing there was the smell of burning food because Shiro couldn’t cook, but god he tried. Just generally wishing Shiro was there in any capacity. Then, something out of the usual happened. While Adam was teaching Iverson came in, calling him out. He followed the man out of the room and into a private office, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest. “Yes?” He asked, wanting to know why he was dismissed, feeling somewhat defensive because the last time this happened he was told Shiro was dead. “We’ve received some new… information,” Iverson started, seeming to somewhat dance around the topic. Probably because he was about to admit he was wrong. That was the only kind of topic Iverson danced around.“Well, you wouldn’t call me here if you didn’t plan to share, would you? What new information did you receive, captain?” Adam knew he was being short, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted Iverson to spit it out so he could get back to his class, which was probably mass chaos at the moment because it was unsupervised. Iverson cleared his throat before answering. “It appears we were wrong. The Kerberos didn’t go down due to pilot error. Matthew Holt has sent a message. A warning of sorts. Now, this doesn’t confirm Takashi or Samuel’s safebeing, but I thought you should know.” “Show me the message,” Adam demanded. Iverson raised and eyebrow, “I’m sorry?” He asked. “I said: show me the message. I need the proof,” he claimed, and seeming to understand Iverson nodded slowly. He pressed a button on a control pad and a hologram screen came up with Matt’s face on it. Adam covered his mouth with his hands. He and Matt had been pretty close friends before the Kerberos mission. They were both fighter pilots, were both decently good but never felt the need to be at the top, and they both cared way too much about their studies. To see his best friend alive was a pretty big shocker. The message he brought with him even more so. The gist of it was aliens were trying to take over the universe, and earth was on their take down list. It was kind of scary, though the creatures didn’t seem all that menacing. They were basically purple space cats. Not the most threatening thing if you asked Adam. He didn’t mention Shiro, but this video gave Adam hope. Hope that Shiro was out there. Somewhere lost in space, trying to find his way back home.Adam had gone to that empty apartment that night with a little bit of hope. In his pocket, as it always was, was Shiro’s ring. He’d kept it with him, always keeping it in his pocket, using it as a remembrance of the man he loved. Now he had the smallest flicker of hope that he would be able to give it to Shiro someday.A few more months went by quietly, no more videos, no more calls, no more nothing, but Adam still held onto that hope, refusing to let it blow out.It was a rather unremarkable day, with Adam teaching his class about how all the controls worked inside of the different ships. He had his back turned when the door opened and closed, he just assumed it was a late student and continued writing, but then he heard a girl whisper out, “oh my god…” That definitely caught Adam’s attention. He turned around, about to ask the girl what she had seen to make her speak her statement, but his question caught in his throat, because soon his eyes were landing on a familiar person. A height he knew by heart, a person too young to have white hair and yet still it was there, and then those greyish eyes. Eyes that he’d stared into for hours. His piece of chalk dropped, because stood before him was Takashi Shirogane himself. Takashi had that familiar smile on his face as he looked at him. “Adam…” he whispered quietly. “Oh my god, Takashi!” And then Adam was running top speed, throwing himself into Shiro’s arms, pulling him close. The class went silent, clearly not expecting that move. These students hadn’t attended the Garrison when he and Shiro were together. Shiro tightened his hold on Adam, burrowing his face in Adam’s shoulder. “I’m home,” he claimed quietly, “I came back.”Adam carefully pulled back from Shiro, his eyes locking on those familiar grey ones. He pulled out a silver ring from his pocket. “I’m still here,” Adam promised, and Shiro’s face broke out in a grin as he pulled him back into a hug. And if that evening Adam was lying on the couch with a book in hand, listening to Shiro mumbling under his breath in annoyance, enjoying the fact that the kitchen smelt like burning food because Shiro couldn’t cook, but god he tried, well no one else had to know that.