Arrival (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic)

Always an Outsider

He hated school.

Keith stared wide-eyed at the floor of the locker room at his soaking wet garrison cadet uniform, a complete blob of orange, white, and black just lying there on the floor. He'd never liked the orange color, having always preferred the color red, yet that uniform was something that was his, one of his few personal belongings in the world.

Someone thought it great fun to break into his gym locker while he was in gym class, take the uniform he'd get in trouble for not wearing outside of gym class, and thoroughly soak the clothes while leaving them there on the floor in front of his opened locker to make sure he found them to know just how much he wasn't wanted there at the garrison.

Well, by everyone, it seemed except Shiro.

Keith's fists clenched at his side, his eyes focused on the puddle forming around his uniform, his mind trying to understand why anyone would do something so spiteful, and yet he knew. He knew all too well how much the teachers thought him an utter nuisance—every teacher that is except Shiro. And every one of his fellow cadets in the high school program, perhaps even the college program, hated his guts, particularly since Shiro had taken a liking to him.

Keith definitely hated school, but getting accepted into the garrisons program for secondary education did nothing to change his stance on school, even with school now having flight simulators, intended to help train the astronauts of tomorrow who would help the intergalactic space program to continue and thrive. The fact that he adapted to the simulations with ease and was good at them didn't change the fact that he'd only ever found that one thing he was good at when it came to school.

"Well, there's running around on the track like there was today," Keith thought to himself, continuing to stare at the soggy mess in front of him, his eyes wide. At the same time, his mind struggled to understand how anyone could be so in control, despite knowing full well everyone had plenty of reason to hate him. He did, after all, have a temper. Gritting his teeth together, he muttered Shiro's mantra. "Patience yields focus."

His hands continued to form fists, tightening even, his mind burning as he heard chuckles from the other male cadets assigned to his gym class. Keith swallowed, noting showering was out of the question if there was nothing to change into. He continued staring while the others filtered in, knowing there was an even bigger problem in that he'd be in massive trouble if he wore his gym clothes to his next class, the teacher probably blaming him for the incident.

"The other cadets wouldn't do this if you weren't giving them a reason to do so," sounded like something they might say, and he'd agree with them that he did have a habit of doing things which got on the other cadets' nerves. He'd rather be in the simulators right now rather than hearing the other cadets in his gym class laugh at his current predicament.

"He's always such a nuisance," someone said, while another said, "Don't get why Shiro picked him."

"Patience yields focus," Keith muttered. "Don't be a burden to Shiro."

Shiro, after all, felt like the one good thing in his life. However, specific individuals liked to remind him that Shiro was the only reason he was in the academy, making him want to get through the academy without being too much of a burden on Shiro. However, day after day, he felt he kept failing in that regard.

"Focus. Don't be a burden," Keith muttered, low enough that nobody could hear, knowing full well there were those at school who would take advantage and turn his words around, twisting them to mean something else. He gritted his teeth, urging himself not to lose his temper, not to make things harder for Shiro.

So far—

Today he'd not lost his temper.

Today—

On the floor was his cadet uniform, soaking wet and unusable until dried out. Around him, other cadets were laughing at him.

"He deserved it."

"I know I'm a nuisance, and I know I deserve it. I just..."

"Why did Shirogane pick him of all people?"

"I heard it's because Shirogane is slipping, losing his touch. It won't be long now before..."

Keith's eyes widened even more, hearing someone say something terrible about Shiro, the one person—

Shiro, after all, was the one person ever willing to give him a second chance since his dad died, the first person to put in any effort no matter how distant he tried to be, no matter how much he tried pushing Shiro away in an attempt to alleviate the disdain the rest of the cadets in the program felt for him.

Keith saw red.

One might say he heard red, or perhaps what he heard was him letting out a yell, before swinging out with his first at the face of the person who'd said something about Shiro, much in the same way James Griffin not long after they were both admitted to the program made a snipe about his parents—the mother he didn't know, and at the same time, his father who died, sacrificing his life as a garrison firefighter.

His fist made contact with the other boy's jaw, and he found himself drawing his first back again, only for someone to grab him from behind, attempting to pull him off while calling out his name. "Kagone!"

His last name. And it wasn't, for once, another one of the teacher's but a fellow student, but at that moment, he felt the other student's fist hit his cheek, making him wish that whoever had a grip on him would let him go. He broke free and got in one or two more hits, while another voice said, "I was going to...."

"Lance. Now's not the time," said a third person.

Hunk. Arguably Hunk didn't pick on him like the other students and was even friendly, but then he was nice to everyone else in the high school program. He wasn't the person who grabbed him, who was holding him again.

"Kagone! You're going to...."

Keith elbowed the person in the chin and turned to glare at them, only for the kid he'd clocked before to take advantage and tackle him to the ground as whoever it was muttered something.

"...to make things worse for Shirogane...."

At that moment, Keith froze up at the thought of—letting someone pummel him for once seemed like the right option as he felt a fist smash into his eye, his typically fiery temper quelled.

"...if you keep this up." And then—

The other person was pulled off of him, his head spinning as someone—someone with relatively large hands, so it must be Hunk, helped him to his feet. He glanced up, his eye swelling slightly as he looked at James and Lance attempting to keep the other cadet off of him. He stared.

"What the hell is going on here?"