beaming | keith kogane

XII | groan

☀

—

keith | 3:52 p.m.
i'm sorry for saying those things earlier.

keith | 3:53 p.m.
it wasn't in my right to assume those
things before i knew you.

band-aid brand 🩹| 4:04 p.m.
it's fine! you had your reasons!

band-aid brand 🩹| 4:05 p.m.
i hope you're still up for costume shopping. ;D

keith | 4:07 p.m.
it's the least i owe you.

band-aid brand 🩹| 4:07 p.m.
:D

I GROANED, tossing my phone onto the bed. It flopped on the blankets, bouncing once before smacking the bed sheets screen first. Why did I agree to these things? Guilt, maybe that's it. I shook my head, ignoring the flowering feeling in my stomach. It fluttered a few times before I crushed it, cursing it into the inner depths of my mind.

I'm glad that there's a valid reason that she doesn't like me. Not that there wasn't in the first place, but I never really suspected it. I don't like making assumptions in that category. Now that I know that she swung that way, I didn't have to worry about her even potentially being affected by my love sprite. What Haneul said really started to add up.

Even then, although that sense of relief flooded me, I still felt like it was a truth that was hard to swallow; almost like a pill that goes horizontally down your throat instead of vertical. I glanced down at my phone, tempted to text her one last time for personal confirmation with her before deciding otherwise. It isn't really my business, so I'll drop it.

I felt around in the back pocket of my jeans, feeling a wad of some sort on my butt. I brought out the money that I was supposed to use, letting out a tired sigh and lazily stowing it away in my bedside drawer. I didn't feel like getting up to get my wallet. I stared at my phone again, realizing that Y/n was the main person I'd contacted all week.

I've seen her at school, on the way there and on the way back, including today's events. I haven't gotten around to actually text, call, or talk to Perla. Lance hates me. Pidge hates human interaction. Hulk's busy studying for culinary school and Shiro and Allura are in their last year at the academy. The rest of us don't graduate until next year.

Pidge is going to graduate a year late, however, due to her skipping like three grades to catch up to us. Gym is a required course and most of us took it in our eighth year at the academy, but she refused to, so she has to make it up next year; otherwise, she isn't allowed to graduate from the academy.

Now that I was listing off people, I didn't have a valid reason for not texting Romelle. I'd talk to her sometimes and we occasionally hung out, but I'd usually rant and ramble to her about everything and she'd tried to get me distracted from it. I guess Y/n took her spot, as mean as it sounds. I wonder if she hated me for when I lashed out her.

I boredly opened Instagram, scrolling on it. I wasn't one for social media, but the memes were good enough to keep me hooked. I saw that Lance posted a picture, something about Perla and a date, but I didn't bother to like it. I just kept scrolling. The building number in my messages distracted me, but I tried not to stare too long.

I knew that they were all messages from girls; all because of my goddamn sprite. I hated this side of me. Sure, the wrath side was useful. It helped in battle and was just all around scary, the perfect defense mechanism. My love sprite was different. It gave me nothing, but problems, didn't give me any weapons or upgrades, and didn't give me a humanized sprite to interact with.

It was a whole fucking letdown; a disappointment. Romelle and Perla had said the same thing to me once, they told me that maybe it would kick in later on. Still, I doubted that hypothesis. I reluctantly grabbed my phone again, hearing it ding. I squinted my eyes at the bright light, slowly opening the message app.

romelle 🌿| 4:17 p.m.
i know i said that perla could handle it,
but i just found out from allura that she's
not talking to you.

romelle 🌿| 4:19 p.m.
do you maybe want to talk. . . ?

romelle 🌿| 4:20 p.m.
you just seemed bothered the other day.

keith | 4:20 p.m.
lol blaze it

romelle 🌿| 4:22 p.m.
you're unbelievable! 😡

romelle 🌿| 4:22 p.m.
i'll be over in ten minutes with movies.

romelle 🌿| 4:23 p.m.
don't be lazy, make some snacks.

keith | 4:19 p.m.
bITCH I DIDN'T SAY YES

[ READ AT 4:25 P.M. ]

keith | 4:19 p.m.
k 🙄

I rolled my eyes. Romelle was one of those people that was annoyingly determined; once she put her mind towards something, she refused to let go of it until it was achieved. It was irritating to deal with, but it was something that I oddly admired in her. Romelle and I weren't exactly buddy-buddy, but we had an odd dynamic.

She made me act a little bit more feminine and didn't try to make me all open with my emotions. Most of the time, it consisted of us watching Disney movies, screaming at the TV because we were too attached to the characters, and occasionally—just occasionally—I'd let her paint my nails and she'd let me paint hers.

I figured out that purple looks pretty fierce in comparison to my skin, but nobody else needs to know that. In fact, our little tea time events were almost secret. Most people didn't think we got along at all because we were polar opposites. She was heavily involved in the student body and tended to be more of a stern upperclassmen towards underclassmen.

It was slightly amusing to watch people younger than you cower in fear over one of your slightly best friends.