Arrival (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic)

That Thing

"What do you think you're doing?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"You know exactly what I mean by that, Ryo, or did you not think I wouldn't be informed of your transfer until you got here to my garrison showing up on my doorstep unannounced?"

"Oh, that." Ryo sighed, sitting up straight in his seat in the conference room despite having been rousted from his sleep by one of the adults at the Japanese garrison so that he could have a late-night conversation with his older brother because Takashi ordered them to do so. "You do realize it's four-hundred hours over here, right?"

"And it's eleven-hundred hours over here. What of it?" Takashi stood there in his gray uniform, arms crossed, not caring that he'd just had Ryo woken up in the middle of the night.

"What of it? It's the middle of the night here, Takashi, and you..." Ryo pointed his finger at Shiro, "...ordered them to wake me up, change into full uniform, and dragged me to this conference room so we could talk. You could have waited another four hours or so. You only did this because you're pissed."

"And I don't have a reason to be pissed off at you?" Takashi said. "Because I'd honestly like to know when you planned on telling me, Ryo."

"It's none of your business," Ryo snapped. "And..."

"It is absolutely my business," Shiro snapped. "Don't pretend like it's not."

"Then don't pretend like I don't have a reason to be pissed off at you as well!" Ryo snapped, glaring at Takashi. "You of all people have absolutely no right to judge what I do with my life. Absolutely none."

"It is if your intentions are to take your anger at me out on Keith."

The words stung. Ryo sat there, his arms crossing his chest, his eyes widening as he started to shake the mental fog created by being woken up in the middle of the night for a late-night conference call. Takashi—he was giving him that look which indicated he meant business.

"So..."

"Excuse me?" Ryo's hands clenched at his sides, and he closed his eyes in an attempt to control his temper.

"You heard me. You're not to be coming here just to mess with Keith. You're reasons for being angry at me to have nothing to do with Keith..."

"Liar," Ryo ground his teeth together. His mind went to the picture he'd been sent, the one which revealed the truth of the matter.

"We've been through this before," Takashi said, keeping his voice firm, not bending even an inch. "Keith has nothing to do with our personal disagreement, so leave him out of it."

"Akira." Ryo's fists tightened, wishing Takashi were there so he could slug him so that he could knock some sense into his older brother. Of course, that wouldn't go over well, as Takashi not only outranked him at the garrison, he outranked him within the family.

"Don't!" Takashi let out a hissing sound, but his eyes flashed with anger. "Don't you dare go there! That has nothing to do with Keith."

"That's a lie." Ryo fiddled his PDA out of his pocket.

"So stop trying to bring him into something that doesn't involve him, that he doesn't need to be worried about."

"Except it does involve him." Ryo turned his PDA on, still glaring at Takashi while keeping an eye on what he was doing on his PDA.

"There's enough for him to worry about without you coming round here, using him as target practice for some personal grudge that you have against me. He doesn't need yet another..."

Ryo held up his PDA, glaring at Takashi, waiting to see how his brother reacted. He saw his brother's facial features falter, his eyes widening in horror as his jaw dropped. Ryo felt the corner of his mouth twist up in glee, having always liked getting the upper hand on Takashi ever since he'd decided to attend the garrison in America instead of the one in Japan.

"Where did you get that?" Takashi's voice softened.

"None of your business," Ryo said, turning his phone around and looking at the picture now saved to his PDA so he could look at it when he wanted. His mouth twisted up, feeling good looking at that picture. "Are you still going to lie to me, Takashi?"

"Ryo, you have absolutely no clue what kind of mess you've created."

Ryo's head jolted up, still feeling a large amount of anger and resentment. "Mess I've created? I've every right to see Keith. You had absolutely no right to deny me that."

"That's not what's going on. I really am trying my best here," Takashi sighed. "And you have no idea..."

"Your best?" Ryo shook his head. "How is this trying your best? Why do you get to decide what's best?"

"Because I've got a better understanding regarding what's going on."

"Only because you already made the decision, I'm not to know what's going on, and you're still not going to tell me, are you?"

Ryo watched his older brother's mouth open. Takashi looked like a fish out of water.

A sigh escaped from Ryo's mouth. "You aren't going to tell me? Even after I confronted you..."

"Could we just both agree to do what's best for Keith?" Takashi said.

"You mean what you've decided..."

"Ryo," Takashi interrupted. "Please. You do not know what's going on in Keith's right now."

"Because..."

"It's not that simple. Not at all. And if I tell you...." Takashi's mouth clamped shut.

"Tell me what?"

Takashi took a deep breath. "Just, things happened today, so getting the message you regarding your transfer during the middle of it all was very inopportune. So..."

Ryo watched Takashi swallow. "So what?"

"Can we promise each other to be civil to each other for Keith's sake?"

"That wouldn't happen to be because you don't want him to have a bad impression of you, is it?"

"I..." Takashi glanced away. "How about I fill you in more when you get here? Rather than over video chat? There are a few—issues you need to be aware of."

"Issues?"

Takashi frowned. "Do you really think I'm going to let you see Keith before talking to you? And you really have put me in a difficult position."

"I didn't put you in that position," Ryo muttered. "You're the one who put yourself into a difficult position. And can I go back to bed?"

"Yeah. See you when you get here." Takashi said as if they wanted to see each other. Ryo certainly didn't.