Arrival (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic)

Counceled

"Perhaps you should stop looking at your PDA. Particularly since it's not on."

Keith's head jerked up as he sat in the super comfy chair in Veronica's office. He'd brought his PDA with him, stuffed into the inner pocket of his jacket as he and the garrison psychologist passed by some of the other cadets and garrison staff. He was sure he could hear them whispering about the transfer student—the one who could give him a run for his money.

"Keith."

"Sorry. They were talking about a transfer student." A thought crossed his mind, his eyes focusing on Veronica despite not ever being thrilled at being in her office, even though he did enjoy the big comfy chair. "Do you know anything about that? The transfer student that is?"

"You really shouldn't pay attention to idle gossip, though in saying that we're here to talk in part about the idle gossip you just so happened to read in the forum thread along with some other things." She tapped her pen against her clipboard. "Though knowing you, you'll be distracted until I tell you, and you'll find out anyways that yes, there is a transfer student. The thing is..."

Keith tilted his head, watching her put her pen to her lip. "What?"

"Knowing Shiro, he'd have preferred to tell you himself."

"Shiro," Keith frowned.

"It's not that he's trying to control your life or anything like that. He..."

"No!" Keith held up his hands, knocking his PDA off the arm of the chair. "I mean, I wasn't thinking that."

"Oh?" She pushed up her glasses. "What were you thinking?"

"I hate this stuff," Keith muttered, sinking into the chair, not bothering to fetch his PDA from the ground.

"Yes, but it's necessary."

"If you say so."

"So, my question?"

"Shiro's always trying to make things easier for me when he doesn't need to, but that's starting to be a problem, isn't it? I mean, that's what the kid implied, that I'm hurting Shiro."

"Well. I see we got to one of the topics I wanted to cover. And no, contrary to what that kid said, I heard from some of the other cadets involved. Something about him falling short of what's expected for the cadet who graduated with the best scores in our space program?"

"Yeah. That."

"He's not. It's complicated, to be honest. And—speaking of things being complicated for Shiro, the transfer student is Ryo Shirogane."

Keith's eyes widened. "His younger brother?"

"I don't know of any other Ryo Shirogane," Veronica said. "And, here is where I ask how you feel about that, you know, given..."

"It's kind of a relief," Keith said, looking at the ground. He leaned forward, picking up his PDA.

"Because you won't have to hear one side of their arguments anymore?"

"Well, there is that," Keith looked at the ground. "I was kind of hoping that Shiro wouldn't be treating me as his favorite anymore. I mean, it's what everyone wants, right?"

"It's seriously not what everyone wants, but Ryo being here—I don't think your relationship with Shiro will change."

"You can't say that," Keith muttered. "And, I want them to get along. Ryo is his brother. They're family. And I didn't like the fact I was—well, you know, kind of a replacement, I think."

"You weren't."

"But..."

"Ignore the arguments you managed to overhear. You only ever heard one side of the conversation. More importantly, when I say your relationship isn't going to change, I mean Shiro will not stop being a part of your life."

"And how is that fair to Ryo?" Keith said, tilting his head up. "Even though I heard only one side of the conversation, I know that Shiro hasn't been back home, which is one of Ryo's irritations."

"As I said, and Shiro's told you, you're not a replacement."

"Still..."

"You really need to stop taking to heart what other people say. At least the negative stuff, because it would be nice if you took to heart some of the positive things, you know." She pointed her pen at him. "And by that, I mean all that trash talk in the forum thread, for which each person involved is definitely going to get a stern talking to."

"Why?" Keith felt his throat tighten. "They're right in saying I was wrong for losing my temper. It's been bothering me that I didn't get in trouble for that. I should have gotten in trouble for that, but..." Keith looked at the ground. "I don't like the fact I didn't get in trouble. I don't like special treatment."

"I know you don't. The thing is..."

"I don't think there's a justification for not punishing me."

"The same logic can be said for there being no justification for not punishing the others involved in past incidents, yet there's been a tendency for that to happen."

"Yeah, but I'm the one losing my temper. I'm the one starting the fight."

"But not without provocation." Veronica pushed up her glasses with her finger. "And that's what we, the adults, will be working on, which is the other thing I wished to discuss with you. It's why we're going to be talking to students one-on-one from that forum thread but keeping an eye out for future trouble."

Keith looked at the ground. "So more special treatment? They don't like me because of that, but there's no reason for the teacher to handle things differently."

"There are reasons there are some exceptions for you, but intervening when the other students oppress you, or when they antagonize other students to get a response that is meant to get the other person in trouble—it's actually our job to intervene. And that's something I want you to understand before I let you out of here."

"Yeah. Nope. Still don't get it." Keith frowned at his PDA.

"Okay. Then how about we settle for you know I said what I did, and you think it over, while I'm also giving you the order to stick to the classroom forum threads for the time being until we can get a handle on this situation?"

"I guess. It doesn't feel like anything new. Can I go back to my room? I'm supposed to be grounded."

"Yeah. About that. On top of walking you back, you're not in trouble. Just go back to class when you're ready, but when you do, Shiro and I were talking about how to handle the situation, such as having someone walk with you between class."

"No! And..." Keith clenched his PDA. "That's just going to make things worse. And..."

"Okay. So let's head back to your dorm room." Veronica picked up her own PDA. "I'm sending a message to have dinner dropped off for you. It will be one of the older cadets whose not bothered by all the drama. You be sure to eat everything, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah." Keith sighed, wishing they wouldn't bother with someone who was as much trouble as he was. He didn't say as much.