Broken fingers //Voltron high school AU

Part 7: The Broom Closet

Note: Saucy ;))))

One month later

Keith sat alone in the back of the library, scrolling through his phone. He'd had a free period and decided to spend it in a secluded place where people were likely to not see him. The library was perfect.

Keith had started ignoring Hunk, Pidge, and Lance whenever they tried talking to him. Eventually they got the memo and stopped trying. It was good for Keith. He didn't need to talk to anyone all day, and for lunch, he's skate to the closest diner and eat there, though most of the time he skipped food and just had coffee. Other wise, he'd keep his head down.

The snow had started to fall. Keith wasn't used to it falling this early, but the town was farther north then anywhere else he'd lived before. It was just a light powder, but it was noticeable. Keith only wore sweaters that were too big and occasionally his red jacket. He barely talked at dinner anymore. It was obvious that Shiro and Adam were worried, but they knew Keith, and asking him about it would only make him push them away more. Keith was the type to open up on his own time, not liking to be pushed.

Now the bell rang and Keith grabbed his stuff, hurrying out of the library and weaving through the quickly growing crowd with his head tucked down.

Keith felt something ran into his shoulder. He stumbled, but a hand came around his wrist, which had gotten thinner, and kept him on his feet. Keith looked up and met the sky blues eyes of Lance McClain. He fidgeted nervously with his hands, picking at the skin around his nails.

"Sorry," he mumbled and went to turn, but Lance grabbed his wrist again.

"Keith..." he said, his eyes sad. He sighed determinedly and pulled Keith aside, into a broom closet, and shut the door. Keith stared, opened mouth.

"Were gonna be late for class. I hope you know that." Keith crossed his arms, leaning against the metal rack that held bottles of cleaning liquid.

"Yeah I don't care," Lance waved his hand dismissively, "what I do care about is what's up with you. I know I only talked to you for like, a week, but then you started getting distant. Did something happen? Did I—we..." he paused, "did we do something wrong?"

Keith shifted his weight to his other foot, "no, it wasn't you, it was- just- look, man I don't like being close to people, ok? That's it. It's my fault. Can I go now?" He pointed towards the door.

Lance frowned, "no you can't. 'It's my fault' isn't good enough for me. I don't really know you, but I want to. You seem cool. Why can't you just accept that?" He asked as if it were the easiest thing in the world.

Keith threw up his hands, "Some people just don't enjoy the company of others! Why is that so hard to understand," he yelled. Without waiting for a response, Keith stormed out. The halls were empty. Keith didn't care if he was late, he just wished his time had been spent better.

"Keith!" He heard Lance call. He turned, walking backwards. Sadness was still in Lance's eyes when he said "I'm sorry."

"So am I." Keith turned back around and hurried away, leaving Keith staring after him.

***

Science class was torture. The teacher, Mrs. Haggar, was an absolute chair and talked more about the Lord then science. Keith thanked that Lord when the bell rang. Though, he only lasted a few minutes before he was grabbed and pulled into a supply closet. Again. But this time, his grabber was Lotor. Keith instantly became ten times more nervous, again picking at the skin around his nail. Pain poked his finger, and he looked down to see that it had started bleeding.

Before Keith could shove his hands in his pockets, Lotor grabbed his wrist and stuck Keith's finger in his mouth, sucking off the blood. Keith jumped, snatching his hand back.

"Lotor, please. Can't we just forget that one night and be done with it?" Keith said quickly, in a low voice. For some reason he didn't want anyone to find him in there.

"This cannot be done with. I'm bored and you're fun to freak out." He crosses his arms, watching Keith shift uncomfortably. "I saw you and the boy Lance come in here earlier. I wasn't happy."

Panic speared through Keith's chest, "Don't do anything to him, please," Keith's eyes went wide.

Lotor smirked. Suddenly he was pushing Keith against the wall, covering his words with his mouth, and pinning his arms against the cold concrete. Keith was too shocked to struggle at first, but by the time he tried to get away, it was too late.

He was trapped.

***

The roof of the ice cream shop was cold under him where he'd dusted the snow away and sat. The shop was closed, since it was early winter. But he still found a way up onto the roof.

Keith stared down at the white-dusted road blankly, but not really seeing it. After Lotor had left him in the closet, Keith had felt like forgetting the rest of school and had slipped out the door. Shiro called the type of mood his was in "brooding emo". But Keith couldn't bring himself to laugh at the silly name for a very real feeling. He hadn't been able to even imagine facing anyone else. It had been too easy to leave.

Keith pulled his arms into his sweater, not wanting to feel the cold air against his raw hands. He closed his eyes and listened to the quiet hush of winter. Keith had found that he loved the sound of winter. It was nice white noise when Keith was thinking. Shiro would bring him hot coffee to warm his hands while he saf under the gazebo in the backyard.

Despite his newfound love for winter, Keith missed Texas. He missed the simple school full of kids that didn't care about anyone outside their friend group. And in middle school, the entire grade was a friend group. It wasn't huge, full of variety and complex people that needed to be navigated around like a rough patch of ice. Yes, variety was good, but sometimes Keith missed simpler times. He missed his dad.

Keith stood, carefully making his way to the edge where he'd climbed up. He jumped down onto the dumpster, then to the ground where he'd left his board. Keith brought it to the rode, then got on and pushed off. He sighed as he went, heading to the skate park. Keith hadn't been practicing recently, but he wanted to keep his skills sharp.

When he got there, he was glad to see it was empty. He started practicing kick flips and grids. He talked to himself as he did, the words getting carried away in the gusts of cold wind. A few hours passed before Keith decided to finally go home, sore I placed where he'd fallen.

His board under his arm, Keith walked across the field. The sky was getting dark and the lamps were coming on, casting pools of yellow light on the snowy grass. Ahead, Keith noticed three figures under one of the laps in the black top. As he got closer, he saw their faces.

It was griffin and his two friends, and they were smiling sickly at Keith.

Note: mysterious ~('-'~)