Keith-Centric Oneshots

Comparisons

(TW: death, child neglect If any of these things upset or trigger you please click away and find a different chapter or story to read. If there are any other warnings I need to add, please tell me so I can add them.)

Growing up, Keith was used to being compared to others. He’d been in the foster system since he was six. As a child, he was shy. He wasn’t used to having to deal with large groups of loud, noisy people.

Most of the homes he was in heavily preferred the more loud social kids. Because of this, he was always pushed to the side and ignored. It got to the point that he was so desperate for attention that he began to act out. He would start fights at school and in the homes, he let his grades drop, and even break items. Because, in Keith’s mind, the negative attention was better than no attention.

However, what he didn’t expect to happen, was that he would begin to get compared to other children. It was something the adults loved to do.

“She never starts fights.” “He always has good grades.” “Why can’t you be more like___”

It was a constant, nonstop cycle.

It didn’t start to affect him until he started to be compared to people he was close to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Keith was sitting on the swings with his best friend, James Griffin. The two had gotten used to it just being the two of them. Most of the other kids were intimidated by Keith, and James preferred how quiet Keith was compared to the other kids.

As the two continued to swing, they noticed one of the teachers was walking over to them, guiding a young girl along with her. The two stopped in front of the boys. They got the hint and came to a stop.

“Can you two come here for a moment, please?” The two boys stood from the swings, slowly walking towards them. The teacher smiled at the two before she spoke again. “This is Madison. She’s new to our school. Would you two mind introducing yourselves?” James smiled before extending his hand for the girl to shake. “Hello, my name’s James!” She smiled at him as she shook his hand before turning to Keith.

Everyone was looking at Keith expecting, but he continued to stare blankly at Madison’s extended hand. “Can you introduce yourself?” Keith looked up at his teacher, who was beginning to look annoyed, before shaking his head and looking at the ground.

He heard her huff quietly before guiding Madison away to introduce her to the other children. As she walked away, the two boys heard her mumbling under her breath. “Why can’t he just be more like Griffin?” Upon hearing that Keith’s head snapped up to look at her, before turning to see James’s reaction.

Said boy was beaming, very clearly happy to be considered a model student.

Keith huffed before turning and walking away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meeting Shiro was both a blessing and a curse for Keith.

A blessing in the sense that he provided a feeling of security. He was the first person that didn’t immediately back off when Keith got defensive. He gave the younger boy space when it was obvious he was overwhelmed, but stayed close enough that he could calm him down if he was at risk of hurting himself or others. Him and his boyfriend Adam were the first people that ever went out of their way to make sure Keith felt loved, and that he knew that he would always have a place in their hearts, home, and family.

The curse part came when classes officially started.

Keith was being mentored by mister golden boy himself. Shiro was top of his class. He was the youngest pilot in history. He was known all around the world as one of the greatest pilots in all of history. People expected a lot of him and anyone he mentored or taught.

That included Keith.

Keith made a lot of mistakes. It was completely normal. He had no previous piloting experience, he was young, and this was his first year at the school.

However, the instructors were a lot less forgiving of his mistakes than they were of others.

“Shiro would never do that!” “Shiro never made mistakes like that” “Shiro never acted like this” “Shiro is never this disrespectful”

He heard this so much that he almost began to resent Shiro. He began to get exhausted with the constant scrutiny.

He brought up the issue with Shiro and he told him to just ignore it.

So he did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

James walked into the lunchroom alone. As he got in line he scanned the lunchroom. He noticed Keith walk into the room. He watched as the other boy got into the room and got in the line.

He got his food before going and sitting at one of the tables. He began to eat as he looked around the room. The room was just as loud as it normally was. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a voice on the loudspeaker.

“Attention students! We have received news that the Kerberos mission was a fail. We have concluded it was as a result of pilot error. We have lost some of our best men. You may have the rest of the day off to do any mourning you need to.”

The entire room was silent, everyone taking in what they were just told. The silence was interrupted by a loud crash. Everyone's heads snapped to look for the source of the noise. They all watched as Keith ran out of the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day the entire class was quiet. Eventually Keith walked into the room and the teacher began to speak.

“Class as I’m sure you know by now the Kerberos mission was announced a fail. We are going to talk about all of the errors that were most likely made by the pilot that lead to this catastrophe. So the first thing we are going over is-. Yes keith?”

Everyone looked to the back of the room where Keith was sitting with his hand up. They all waited for him to speak.

“I thought Shiro didn’t make mistakes”

A/N Sorry for the weak ending. I couldn’t figure out how to end it. Anyways I hope you enjoyed, have a nice day.