Jaith/Jeith week on Tumblr day 4, prompt is "hoverbike". I'm a huge slut for sharing a motorbike or something like that while holding onto the person in front because it's low key cuddling, bye.

James hates breaking the rules. Keith knows James hates breaking the rules. And sneaking out at night to ride a goddamn hoverbike most definitely counts as breaking the rules. Yet, Keith is currently standing in the door fully clothed, goggles his head and a second pair dangling from the hand he's holding out to James, and a borderline manic grin on his face.

Keith also knows for some reason James can't say no to him, and it really isn't fair how he chooses to use that knowledge.

"Keith, c'mon, you can't be serious," he groans, knowing fully well how serious Keith is about it.

Keith doesn't even bother saying anything, just keeps holding out the goggles for James to take, staring at him without even blinking.

"Keith…" James tries again, weakly, but determined not to go down without a fight.

No response.

"God damnit, fine," James snaps, snatching his jacket from the coathanger and taking the goggles from Keith as he shoves past him out of the door.

Keith catches up with him within seconds, and James doesn't even have to look at him to know there's an incredibly smug look on the asshole's face.

"If we get caught, you're dead," James hisses at him, unsure about who he's more irritated by, Keith, or himself for always cracking when Keith tries to rope him into something.

"You should consider removing that stick up your ass, Griffin," Keith replies easily, clearly not even bothered by the comment.

Not for the first time, James wonders how they went from insulting each other with the lowest shots imaginable and punching each other in the face to… this. Keith's only opened up since Officer Shirogane started actively spending time with him, and James is quite grateful for it. Keith accepted James' awkward apology about the uncalled for comment about his dead parents and even apologized for throwing a punch, even though James kind of deserved it. And now… James has to admit, Keith isn't so bad. Somehow, they're friends now, which apparently means James has to be dragged into all kinds of nonsense he'd most definitely prefer not doing. But of course, his opinion doesn't count one bit when it comes to that.

He sighs heavily, accepting his fate once again. He agreed to it after all, so there's no use in complaining now.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?!" James complains when he's presented with that… thing that looks like an absolute death machine, especially if Keith's the one driving - or flying, or whatever - it.

"Relax, Shiro taught me how to ride it," Keith explains easily, looking more excited about being on the hoverbike than he's looked about pretty much anything else since James met him, which is honestly about the only reason why James even considers going along with this.

His reluctance must be more than obvious, because suddenly Keith is frowning a little, looking away uncertainly. "I mean… if you really don't want to, you don't have to. But I'd make sure nothing happens to me, trust me."

And that's what tips the scales, really. James… does trust Keith. It's crazy, and he probably shouldn't, but he does, for some reason unbeknownst to him.

"I trust you," he decides, already knowing it won't be long before he comes to regret his choice as he's climbing on the hoverbike behind Keith.

"Thank you," Keith says, soft and unguarded, and it's almost enough for James to drop all the doubt he has about the whole thing. Almost.

But Keith is warm and James can smell his hair from where he's pressed closely to Keith's back, partly because there isn't much room on the seat, partly because he has his arms wrapped tightly around Keith's middle so he won't fall off.

Then, Keith starts the engine and suddenly they're above the ground and speeding past the rocks in the desert, and it isn't as horrible as James thought it was going to be. In fact, it's kind of a good feeling, the wind in his hair, the landscape passing by in a blur, the sensation of freedom, and Keith.

Keith laughs joyfully, which is kind of a small miracle because Keith never laughs, and the sound is enough to make James' cheeks heat up, and damn, when did his crush get this bad?

And then, Keith is steering straight towards a cliff.

"Keith, what the hell are you doing?!" James yells, voice nearly drowned out by the wind. Suddenly he's reminded why this was a bad idea, an absolutely terrible idea, and Keith is an absolute nutcase.

"Trust me," Keith screams back at him, and maybe that statement was enough to get James onto the hoverbike in the first place, but it certainly doesn't work nearly as well when they're nose-diving off a fucking cliff at full speed.

James isn't even able to scream, all the can do is holding onto Keith for dear life and hoping for whatever mighty being there is to save them.

The mighty being turns out to be Keith himself as he pulls the hoverbike up in the last possible moment before they shatter on the ground and they safely continue dashing over the sand before Keith finally slows them to a stop.

"Keith, I swear, I'm going to murder you," James tells him weakly. His entire body suddenly feels like jelly and he lets himself collapse limply against Keith's back, burying his face against Keith's shoulder from behind. His arms are still locked around Keith, and he doubts he'll be able to let go anytime soon. With how badly he's shaking from the adrenaline, he's sure he'd fall right off the hoverbike if he tried.

"Shiro was teaching me how to do it," Keith recounts proudly, completely ignoring the death threats he just received. "I only nailed it for the first time yesterday."

James chokes. "You- you've only been doing this for the second time and thought it was a good idea to drag me along?!"

"Yeah. But it worked out fine, didn't it?"

James can't find the strength to argue. Instead, he just keeps his head where it's resting quite comfortably against Keith as they're flying back to the garrison at a more reasonable speed, wondering once again why he's even friends with Keith.

Here's the link to the Tumblr post for this event for anyone who's interested: post/177174562099/james-and-keith-week-is-anyone-really-surprised