Perfect Imperfection (Voltron: Legendary Defender Fanfic)

From the Heart

"I'm sorry. I can't reciprocate your feelings."

Allura stared at the red paladin, watching his face droop, and tilt to the side. The fact he couldn't look her in the eye right now said a lot, as he avoided eye contact when something was bothering him. The Altean princess brushed a lock of her long white hair behind her pointed ear, her chest hurting due to the rejection. "Can I ask why?"

"Because you deserve better."

Allura took a deep breath, remembering the fact the red paladin had major insecurities regarding himself, even though one would think the top pilot in his year wouldn't have any kind of insecurity complex. No, Keith wasn't the one to expect an insecurity complex from, but Lance was. "Let me ask a different question then. Do you have feelings for me?"

Keith looked up, speaking completely from the heart. "I'm not a replacement for Shiro, Allura."

The Altean princess took another deep breath, brushing back the lock of white hair again. Said hair stood out against her dark skin, and she closed her bright blue eyes. Her tone of voice quickly changed as well, becoming harsh, almost lecturing, but in reality simply showing irritation at the stupidity in front of her. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm not going to repeat myself."

"Then let me repeat my previous question. Do you have feelings for me?"

"I promise, I'll get him back for you."

Allura took a third deep breath, watching the red paladin turn to leave. "Okay. Maybe confessing to him right after Shiro disappeared on us wasn't such a good idea."

~V~

Allura slipped into her room, letting out a deep sigh. "Why? Why did he have to be like that?"

The space mice sat in front of her as she brushed her long white hair. Sometimes, with as much time it took to care for the white hair, she wondered if she would be better off with the shorter hair. Coran would, however, likely flip at such an idea, and so she brushed it aside. One of the space mice scurried onto her finger, and her eyes widened. "Really? You think I should do something so that Keith understands I don't care about Shiro."

The space mouse nodded their head, their eyes twinkling with excitement.

Allura held up her finger. "I should write him a letter, letting him know how much better he is than Shiro." Her crystal blue eyes suddenly fell, as did her mouth into a frown. "Wait..." A deep sigh escaped her lips, and she buried her face into her hands. "Compared to Shiro, he's imperfect."

The mice began to chatter, lecturing her through the psychic bond they shared.

"I know!" The female pulled away from her hands. "To me, Keith is perfect despite all of those flaws! How..."

Again, the mice began to chatter.

"Oh. Tell him that I love all of his imperfections. I don't know how well he'll take that, but I guess I could. Actually, I'm really worried he'll take it badly. Are you sure?"

Yes, the space mice were sure. Allura took a deep breath and started to write her letter.

~V~

Dear Keith,

I'm not sure how to explain this to you, but I'm not interested in Shiro. I'm not sure if you're going to believe me. Even if Shiro was here, I'd still pursue you. Actually, I probably wouldn't out of fear that he'd give me some kind of lecture about how I shouldn't be pursuing romantic interests with the crew. He's a stickler for the rules. And no, that's not why I wouldn't pursue him. The person I want is you.