Arrival (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic)

So Much Trouble

He was in so much trouble that it wasn't funny.

Keith sat there, looking down at his knees, still dressed in his gym clothes while everyone else was dressed in their cadet uniforms, making him feel even more out of place, like the monster he was. "I shouldn't have lost my temper. I know I shouldn't have. Now..."

Now he was in so much trouble.

Keith's hands which rested on his knees, twisted into fists. He swallowed, his shoulders tensing. The garrison program wasn't a regular school, so things did work differently here, yet that didn't mean they were any less forgiving of students than a traditional school. There were times he wondered if the only reason he wasn't kicked from the program was because of Shiro.

He didn't think Shiro would have that reputation of losing his touch, of being at risk for losing everything he'd worked so hard to earn if it weren't for him.

"I'm such a burden." Keith thought to himself, not saying it to anyone around him despite the fact the four other boys sitting there just outside of the principal's office were likely thinking the same thing—that, and Shiro should never have picked him for the garrison program, using his resources to get in such a messed up kid like him. He could also see in his head his cadet uniform, soaking wet and unusable, proof he didn't belong.

"What were you five thinking, starting a fight in the locker room? You're garrison cadets, for crying out loud?" The principal was speaking, no, roaring at them as he usually did when Keith was involved. He wasn't sure if he'd ever heard that person speak in a normal tone of voice, except for perhaps assembly. "You should all know better! I mean, you're..."

They paused. Keith, out of curiosity, lifted his head slightly so he might glance up—in time to see the principal was looking right at him, singling him out. Keith's mouth opened, and his head dropped. He was, after all, the one who didn't seem ever to learn, no matter how much Shiro tried drilling into his head that mantra. Keith swallowed.

"Tell that to whoever decided to soak Cadet Kagone's uniform during gym class." James—that's who was speaking. Keith didn't understand why, though.

"Yeah." And that was Lance.

"That was mean," Hunk said, which made sense as he was—he was Hunk.

"Why? Why are they all of a sudden..."

"Which wouldn't have happened if Cadet Kagone could learn to stop pissing people off," the principal snapped.

Silence. Keith relaxed his hands from the fists he'd formed. "Well. It's true, isn't it? That's the consequences for being such a—I don't know what I am, to be honest."

"That's..." James again.

"That's mean!" Hunk protested. Keith's head lifted, looking at the bigger kid whose lip jutted out in protest. "That's your answer to him getting bullied?"

"And your answer is for all five of you to end up in a full-out brawl?"

"It wasn't a full-out brawl," James said.

"And it wouldn't have happened if that idiot hadn't said something about Shiro," Lance retorted. "Keith just did what we all wanted to do. And I'll be fine confined to my quarters with Hunk. Big whoop!"

"Yeah!" Hunk said.

"Enough. I don't..."

Keith took a deep breath. "Take responsibility for yourself and your actions." His hands twisted into fists. "Don't punish them." Silence again. "It was my fault."