A Chance For Him

Chapter 8: Insincerities

Keith and I sat in a comfortable silence and the way back to the castle. Our hands were almost touching on the bench. Once we got there, I bragged about the farm I'd lived on my whole life, up until the Garrison. While Keith helped me find the sable. Pidge and Allura got together sometimes to create a holographic map of the castle ship, that was added to our space phones.

After I'd taught Keith how to properly groom a cow, we went back to the carrier ship to unload the rest of the day's shopping. I grilled him thoroughly about past pets and animals he liked, as the fair-sized pile of shopping bags was moved to the kitchen for sorting. I put away the perishable ingredients for Hunk, so they wouldn't go bad, and left the rest for him to sort. He was the sort of cook the believe everything had its place and every place had its thing. He followed that belief almost religiously.

"The only time I've ever seen Hunk get aggressive, was when I'd moved things around in the little kitchenette the lunch ladies gave him." I told Keith as we sat on the couch in the resting area.

Keith laughed once, then abruptly went silent, forehead crinkling. I softly pressed my finger to the space between his eyebrows. He jumped, startled.

"What are you thinking?" I said gently.

"That's my line." He grumbled back.

I raised my eyebrows. "It's just-" He started defensively. "I can't figure you out."

"Figure me out?" I wasn't quite sure I liked where this was going. "I thought I'd been being pretty transparent."

"That's the problem. You're so- so..." he struggled with the wording, "open. Nobody let's people that close, everyone has a few secrets. You just let me in. No barriers. It- it scares me. Being trusted like that, loved like that, without having to put in any effort. It's... unsettling."

"Ohhh. So, that's what you're getting at." I grinned, "would it make you feel better to know that I have my insecurities to."

He looked more surprised by my answer than I had expected.

"Insecurities?"I nodded.

"You?" I nodded again. "But you're the most confident person I know. Even Shiro's never been that confident."

"Ah, ah, ah," I chided, "That's where you're mistaken, I'm just a better actor. Not to mention, Shiro is every straight-forward, I have a hard time believing he could fake confidence if he wanted to."

"Acting?" I looked at Keith in response.

"Let me tell you a story about my childhood."

"Are you trying to change the subject?"

"No, I'm just trying to put things in perspective." He leaned back, allowing me to continue. "I warn ahead of time, this isn't one of the happy farm stories I've been telling you, and pretty much everyone, since I got to the Garrison. This is one of those stories that makes people uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable?"

"Yeah, for instance, if someone were to ask you about you're parents. You ever notice how some squirm when you tell them you're adopted."

"Yes."

"It's similar to that." I suddenly felt really insecure. "Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes." Keith's voice was more assertive than I'd ever heard it.

I took a deep breath. "Ok," I took another, "ok, than I'll tell you. But, this is something I haven't even told Hunk or Pidge before."