Take Over

Chapter 16

Third Person P.O.V

Keith fidgeted in his seat as the paladins talked cheerily around the table. What Allura did still hurt him, but Lance insisted that he come to dinner, he had even been stupid enough to say "see you at dinner". He had to come.

Lance glanced at Keith, never stopping his conversation with Pidge. He looked uncomfortable and Lance felt a little bad that he had forced him to come. His ears were flicked back when he had come to get Keith, so he was still sad. Lance just wanted to know what was making him feel this bad, it had to have been something one of them had done, but who?

"Dinner," Hunk placed an extravagant bowl of space goo on the table, "is served." The paladins laughed as they dug into the bowl, trying not to spill the goo anywhere. Pleasant chatter filled the room, grinding on Keith's ears as he stared at his lap. He wasn't hungry - yes, he was - he really wanted to leave. His tail flicked around and he hastily sat on it, biting his lip at the small flash of pain.

"Are you alright, Keith?" Pidge asked as she scooped up some goo.

"Yeah, uh, f-fine," Keith mumbled before quickly looking up, "I-I mean, I'm alright." The table shared a look, all eyes on Keith as he tried to look everywhere but them.

"Are you sure?" Shiro placed a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Do you not feel well?"

"I-I'm fine," Keith waved him away, "Eat."

"Only if you do too," Shiro countered, resulting in a small nod form Keith as he plated the green food. He took small bites as he listened to the conversations around the table.

"Pidge, how's locating your family going? Any closer?" Lance asked as he waved a spoon.

"Yeah," Pidge lit up, her glasses reflecting the shine in her eyes, "I'm really close to something, I can feel it. The programme I made..."

"Hunk," Shiro gave the boy an appreciative nod, "You've managed to make the goo taste not-goo, nice work."

"Hanks," Hunk swallowed his goo, "I've been trying something out to make it taste..."

"Keith," The boy turned to face Allura, "Are you sure you're alright? You're...ears are flicked back and you're barely eating," Allura whispered as the others kept talking. Keith's ears seemed to flick even farther back at the way she said ears, almost like it was something nasty in her mouth. He gave her a small nod, his throat closing as he pushed down tears. He told himself not to cry, cry when dinner is over, but his heart was hurting at the thought of how uncomfortable he made Allura, possibly Coran too.

He knew it would take a while for them to get used to him, but he had hoped the two would at least try. He can't say anything about Coran because the author barely puts him in unless she wants to torture Lance, but the last chapter Author-chan put Allura in as being wary of Keith and that made him cry.

He had thought she was alright with him, but he was wrong. Keith forced himself to eat quickly, wanting to leave the table as soon as possible. He didn't know how long he could keep himself together.

Allura smiled at the boy, him returning it with a feeble one and she flinched. She didn't want to dislike Keith, it wasn't his fault his mother was part of the race that decided to wipe out her entire life, but she couldn't help it. She needed someone to blame and he was always around, it was perfect. She felt guilty for acting and thinking the things she did, that's why she asked if he was alright. She didn't want her actions to affect him badly, the altean just needed to vent.

When she talked to Coran about it, he agreed to disagree about her actions, not telling her to stop but not waving the whole thought away. They were the last two alteans because of the Galra, the race that Keith shares half of his DNA with. Yeah, they know he wasn't there or that he did anything to help, but he's still Galra, still half-evil.