Kangst for the Soul

1

I don't own Voltron.

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Keith hummed to himself as he walked to the kitchen on the castle. He had a red towel on his still damp hair and his jacket was being held in his left hand. For once, a small smile was on his face and his normally guarded eyes seemed more trusting. Of course, the only reason he was smiling was that he was alone, Lance was scouting a nearby planet with Shiro, Hunk was helping Coran with keeping the Castle safe, Princess Allura was resting and Pidge was making some new invention.

He had originally been training but he had gotten hungry and, after a refreshing shower, decided that he had done enough to earn breakfast. As he turned the corner he looked up just to walk into Pidge, who was carrying a robot. When he walked into her, the robot when flying, crashing into a wall and breaking. Keith froze, looking from the ruined robot to where Pidge was staring at the wreck with wide hazel eyes.

"Pidge, I'm sorry, I didn't s—" he was cut off as the shorter paladin turned and glared at him.

"Didn't what Keith? Didn't see me?! Well maybe you should pay attention to where you're fucking going! Honestly, out of everyone in this stupid piece of shit I expected you to be the only one who actually was aware of your surroundings, or are you more stupid then you seem! Because to not see me, you would have to be blind." She hissed, spitting each word out like it was venom.

"I—I—I'm s—sorry." Keith forced out, flinching away from her slightly. However, he forced his face to remain impassive and subtly pinched his thigh when he stuttered. "I—I can help you fix it?" He offered, feeling horrible for breaking something she obviously worked hard on. Pidge snorted and picked the broken machinery up, almost cradling it as she violently pushed past him.

"No thanks, knowing you, it would only get worse and there would be no way of repairing it. Besides, you probably would of needed to actually finish that engineering course at the Garrion to understand what I was trying to build."

Each word felt kinda like she had punched him. Suddenly he wasn't hungry at all. He felt sick. Why didn't he look where he had been going? He gritted his teeth and rubbed harshly at his eyes, hunger forgotten as he quickly walked past the kitchen, not seeing Hunk watch him pass with wide eyes.

POV CHANGE

"What the hell Pidge?" Hunk hissed when he was sure Keith was out of earshot.

"What?" The girl asked innocently, looking at Hunk with startled eyes.

"Don't what me missus, you know that Keith has a hard time with what people might think about him. Yet you had to make it sound like you wanted to strangle him! What the hell?" Hunk asked pointing a metal spoon accusingly at her. Pidge gulped and looked down.

"I guess I was kinda horrible..." she murmured.

"Kinda? More like 10-headed-fire-breathing-hydra-horrible! What you said was uncalled for and rude!" Pidge scowled.

"But he broke my-" she started, but was cut off.

"No buts! Keith apologised and you rubbed it in his face! Then he offered to help and you told him he was too dumb! What is wrong with you!" Hunk seethed, trembling. He was rarely this angry, let alone with one of his friends.

"I... I..." Whatever retort she was ready to fire died on her tongue as she remembered the look of hurt that had shimmered in Keith's indigo gaze. She bit her lip and her fingers twitched slightly. "I... I need to apologise..." she whispered, looking down.

"Yes, you do." Hunk agreed. "... I can go and get him if you want..." he offered when the younger girl didn't move.

"I—I'd like that... please..." she finally muttered after a minute of nervous fiddling with her tools. Hunk nodded and headed out the door picking up the forgotten towel and jacket as we went.

It took him a while to find the red paladin, curled up in Reds hanger. Keith's head was buried in his hands and he was trembling.

"..Keith..?" He asked, tentatively stepping further into the hanger. A slightly strangled whine was all he got back, prompting him to come closer. "Are you ok..? Do you... Do you want some space?" Keith shook his head and Hunk walked over too him, sitting beside him and putting a hesitant hand on the older boy's spine. The eighteen year old lent into the warmth his body provided and Hunk smiled slightly and began rubbing Keith's back as the Korean teen began to relax.

After about five minutes or so, Keith finally raised his head. His eyes were slightly puffy and there were dried tear tracks on his pale cheeks. He sighed quietly and rubbed his eyes before looking at Hunk and offering him a small but sincere smile.

"... Thanks... I guess I needed that..." he muttered, ducking his head shyly. Hunk smiled and pulled Keith closer too him, wrapping his arm around the boys waist in an enthusiastic hug. Keith froze for a moment before smiling and relaxing, leaning into the taller boy. They stayed like that till Keith's stomach rumbled and Keith face turned red in embarrassment. Hunk laughed and let go of him to stand up and pull Keith too his feet.

"How about we go to the kitchen and I whip you up the best space waffles there are while Pidge apologises. Yeah?" He asked. Keith bit his bottom lip as he thought for a minute.

"But... she has no reason to apologise... I should of been looking where I was going..." he finally muttered, hunching his shoulders slightly and turning away from the yellow paladin. Hunk sighed and turned Keith to face him, looking serious.

" Keith, Pidge had no right to say what she did to you, you've already apologised, and you offered to help, and thats all that matters. She has no right to yell at you and have a go at you when you offered, or to tell you that your too dumb because you were kicked out of the Garrison. You didn't deserve any of that, and now she needs to apologise to you , ok?" He said, making sure to keep eye contact the entire time. Keith nodded slowly, indigo eyes wide with shock as Hunk began pulling him to the kitchen. Keith was silent the whole way there, and hesitated when entering the kitchen. Pidge was still at the table, talking quietly to Coran. Both looked up when Hunk waltzed through the doors and Coran quickly excused himself when he glimpsed Keith standing in the doorway. Hunk waited as Keith nervously walked in to take a seat opposite to Pidge, looking at the floor the entire time.

It was silent for a good 10 minutes, giving Hunk enough time to put the space waffle mix in the oven and stare pointedly at Pudge from behind Keith. The bespectacled girl sighed and adjusted her glasses for the nth time before taking a breath and finally looking at Keith.

"Hey, Keith... I'm... I'm really sorry about what I said earlier... I—It wasn't right of me... C—Can you forgive me?" She asked, fumbling over a couple of words. Keith looked at her, guarded indigo eyes studying her face before Keith nodded slightly.

"... You're forgiven." He muttered. Pidge's face broke into a smile so wide Hunk was surprised her face didn't break in half and she quickly ran around the other side of the table to hug a stunned Keith, chatting excitedly about a project Keith could help her with. Hunk caught Keith's eyes and they both smiled at the same time. That was until Hunk realised he had left the waffle batter in the oven too long and pulled out a tray of charcoal. Then Keith and Pidge laughed till Hunk threw one at Pidge, the nimble girl dodging as the door opened to hit Princess Allura in the face.

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