You're My Brother

A Compassionate Gesture

If anything bugged Keith more than Griffin's stupid attitude, Lance's annoying and awful 'tricks', and the sheer hatred most officers felt for him, it was being alone.
For the past eight years, Keith has been alone, and he's hated every second of it.
   Like Christmas, New Years, Hanukkah, and quite frankly, any other holiday, Thanksgiving was about family and love. The whole point of 99% Of thanksgiving dinners is to tell emotional stories and give heartwarming toasts that tell why you're thankful for your friends, your pets, your job, your belongings, your house. Whatever you're thankful for, you share it. Perhaps the most important one of all, is your family.
   Keith lost his.
   No mother, no father, no brothers or sisters. No aunts or uncles, no grandparents or cousins. No one.
   Thanksgiving is tomorrow and everyone else has someone to spend it with. Everyone but Keith.
   As he sat alone in the dining room, eating his Garrison cafeteria meal, his ears picked up a small tapping on the floor outside. Footsteps.
   He looked to the doorway, but immediately looked away when he saw who it was.
   Adam and Shiro, walking hand in hand.
   Keith cringed at their obvious show of affection. Not because they're both men, not at all. Keith is incredibly accepting of the two and others like them. He simply despises love. He doesn't understand it and avoids it. Sure, he's happy for them and anyone in a relationship, but Keith is fine on his own.
   It wasn't hard to tell that they were talking about him. He heard his name at least eighteen times.
   Okay, it was more like four, but it doesn't matter.
   "Should we ask him...?" Keith heard Shiro quietly ask his partner.
   "I guess..." Adam responded, his voice was softer than Shiro's, making it harder to hear. "He doesn't have.... But would... okay...?"
   Keith only got fragments of their conversation and decided to ignore them until they engaged him in conversation.
   "Hey, Keith!" Shiro took a seat next to him, showing his usual, kind smile. "We've got a question for you."
   "If it's about my grades I don't want to talk about it..."
   "Your scores are fine, Keith." Adam commented. "We have a... different sort of question." He added, sitting on the tabletop, with his feet on the seat.
   "We were wondering if you had... plans for tomorrow..." Shiro asked hesitantly.
   "Why would I have plans...?!"
   "So that's a no."
   "Of course it's a no, Adam. I'm an orphan. Orphans don't have families!"
   "That's not what I meant..." The Officer clearly felt bad for offending the teen, but said nothing more."
   "We're only asking because," Shiro paused, not knowing how to phrase his question.
   With a sigh, Adam finish what Shiro was trying to say. "Takashi and I were wondering if you'd like to spend it with us."
   Keith dropped his fork. "What...?!"
   "Yeah. Takashi thought you'd like to spend it with... well, friends."
   "I don't think you see me as a friend..."
   Adam flat out scoffed, he didn't try to hide it either. "Are you joking?! You and Takashi are the closest thing to brothers this world has to offer. You won't admit it, but you definitely see him as a friend."
   "And we more or less so see you in the same way." Shiro placed a comforting hand on Keith's shoulder, "you shouldn't spend the holidays alone. We'll treat you to dinner."
   "You realize that you're at least seven years older than me, right?!" Keith shrugged, "it'll be weird. What if they think you two are my dads?!"
   "Oh..." Shiro sounded and looked hurt by that last statement.
   "Not that you two being together is a bad thing! I don't mind it. I mean, it's fine. I just—" the cadet groaned, giving up on finishing his train of thought. "Please don't think I'm homophobic...."
      "It's fine." Adam took a deep breath, trying to figure out what the boy was getting at. "So you wouldn't mind going," he passed, saw Keith nod and continued, "but you don't know what it'd be like because you haven't gone out in public with another person since you were—I'm guessing—five or six."
   "Yeah... Something like that..."
   "Then I guess it's a good thing we're more like brothers than anything else." Shiro quickly commented. "Brothers are socially awkward beings, take Matt for example. We'll just say we're brothers and people won't judge."
   "Fine..." The Cadet got to his feet, tray in hand. "But we're not really brothers."