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Darkness. Keith drove blind between the flashes of lightning. Even with his headlights at their highest, the downpour hindered his view and rendered everything before him an Edvard Munch painting.
A whimper from his right let Keith know Kosmo, his blue heeler, was just as bothered by the weather.
With their snout between the driver's seat and the middle console, Kosmo's wines were low enough (and frequent enough) to convince Keith to drop one hand from the steering wheel he otherwise held with white fists and scratch between the ears sitting flat on Kosmo's head.
"I know, boy," Keith said between the loud squeak of windshield wipers. "But we're almost there, okay?"
The two had been en route to Shiro for a housewarming party when they were caught by the downpour. Now, instead of arriving a night early to enjoy the extra time with his childhood mentor-turned-pseudo-brother without the forced pleasantries from a social function where he only knew the hosts. Well, now Keith would be lucky if he didn't accidentally fishtail into a ditch in this hurricane-adjacent weather.
He briefly flirted with the idea of pulling over and calling it quits- sleeping in the car until the rain settled to a pitter or the sun rose. He'd done it before when he'd been too tired to drive home after a day of masonry work. He'd park in the backlot of a supermarket and push the driver and passenger seats forward before hopping to the back to nap on the floor. His jacket? A makeshift blanket and cover depending on the hour and number of vehicles in the lot.
But he wouldn't. Not this time. Not when another one of Kosmo's whines had Keith sparing the big baby a second glance. The poor boy had already been cooped in the car for over two hours. The last time he'd gotten to stretch out his canine legs was when Keith last stopped at a rest stop to pee and read the desert facts posted around billboards.
Instead, Keith pushed forward. With both hands back on the steering wheel, he brought his speed down to a crawl and squinted toward the night for a sign that read Garrison Townhomes.
Keith had just taken his eyes off the road to check what the billboard to his left read when a body shot across his line of sight and straight into the middle of the road.
Forced to slam his brakes, Keith's seatbelt stabbed at his sternum, and the wheels skidded to a halt before Keith could hit the bastard in front of him.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Keith yelled before checking on Kosmo. Kosmo, who looked right as rain even half across the middle console, perched up on his front paws and barking at the man outside.
Keith was just as ready to yell at the pedestrian to get off the goddamn road when his words caught.
Wide-eyed and in only a pair of plaid pajama bottoms, the stranger outside had red scratches along his arms and red around his nose. Keith could even make out the start of a bruise along the side of his face when he brought his arms up to shield themself from Keith's headlights.
"Hush," Keith gently pushed Kosmo back on his haunches.
Working on autopilot, Keith put the car in park and dimmed the lights before carefully exiting the warmth of his truck. The entire time, the stranger stood frozen. His bright blue eyes flickered between Keith, Kosmo, and the direction they'd come running from.
Keith tried to follow his sight but could only make out the faint outline of a fence and a path lined by some trees. It didn't look like there was anything or anyone following. So unsure of what else to state but the obvious, Keith raised his voice over the rain. "You're hurt," he said.
The stranger nodded. They looked ready to bolt now that the headbeams weren't right in their eyes.
Keith took a step forward but stopped when all that did was make the stranger take two steps back. "It's okay," Keith said as he raised his hands to show he wasn't holding anything. That he wasn't a threat. "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. See?"
The man's chest rose and fell in quick succession as he caught his breath. The only sound was from the rain as it hit the pavement.
"Listen," Keith tried again, "Why don't you get in the truck. You can tell me where you need to go. I'm not from here, but uh. I can take you to the hospital if you tell me where to drive? Or maybe the police stat-"
"No police!"
The man looked ready to bolt again, and Keith quickly amended. "Okay, no police. I won't take you there. Sorry. Hey, I'm sorry, okay. But I really don't know where else to take you. I'm supposed to be visiting my brother, Shiro. He lives around here. His fiancé is like a nurse. Do you wanna go there? I can take you to him."
"Shiro?" the man repeated like the name meant something to him.
"Yeah, Takashi Shirogane. You know him?"
That seemed like the correct answer because the stranger took a hesitant step toward Keith rather than making for the darkness. "Yes. Shiro is…. He's good."
"Good?"
"Mhm. And Adam."
He'd said Shiro's fiance's name with some hesitancy, but the fact that he knew it told Keith enough. Shiro and Adam were familiar to the blue-eyed stranger.
"Okay, okay. Well. Why don't you climb in, and we can head there together. Do you know how to get to them?"
"You don't?" they countered with a suspicious lilt.
A tired laugh escaped Keith before he could tamper it. "If it weren't raining, maybe," he admitted, "But I can't make shit out in this storm."
The stranger looked down at their own two feet, which Keith now noticed were bare, before again looking back at where they'd come running from. A look passed over their face. Fearful, almost. But before Keith could ask any more questions, the guy squeezed blue eyes shut and wiped away the wetness from their face. "I can tell you how to get there," they said with new determination, "You aren't too far."