2019 Voltron Whumptober Collection

20 Trembling

Word Count: 1,858

It was quiet on this side of the Garrison.

Keith liked the quiet.

It was nice.

His thoughts weren't as loud when he was alone like this, walking on his own, without the threat of Shiro corralling him back to his room with the memorized sentence that it's after hours to be walking around. Or James and his crew rounding the corner ready to take him to whatever place they spotted out to beat him up for the day.

Instead-

It was quiet.

Keith liked the quiet.

Of course, he wasn't nieve enough to believe he was out just for a little peace.

Thin fingers played with the stray corner of a note shoved in his pocket, the bit of paper sticking into his skin for a moment before he flicked it back again.

It wasn't that concernable to him at first, just something another student slipped to him the last hour of classes, he didn't even bother reading it until he got back to his room with the full intent of sleeping until the tardy bell rang for tomorrow's classes-

Till his eyes finally pulled it out boredly to see what was written on the page-

And froze.

In all honesty, Keith had been expecting some hate note, or a crude drawing of him with- I don't know- a noose around his neck or something. You know, something he'd see and then immediately forget because it wasn't worth his time and effort trying to track down the bully who thought it'd be funny to sketch him hanging off a tree by his neck.

Instead, it was a very specific note, demanding they meet in a very specific place at a very specific time "or else."

Now that sparked his interest.

If anything, he'd go just because he was curious.
What was going on here?

Keith knew, somewhere he knew this was a bad idea, meeting up with this person in an area that was clearly not being patroled by any ranked officers during this time. But, then again, if it was a fight they're looking for (which they probably were, let's be honest), maybe the most he'd get out of it was a black eye, possibly a couple of bruises, a sore joint for a few days, but it wouldn't be anything super severe. Keith knew how to take care of himself, and if a fight was the case, he was more than capable of keeping it from Shiro until they faded, he was kind of an expert when it came to covering up fights that happened during or after classes.

This wouldn't be any big deal.

Nothing more than a bone to pick for him being better than anyone else, or maybe a few taunts that he was only here because Shiro allowed him into the space program in the first place.

It was no big deal.

Honest.

His sweaty palms spoke otherwise.

(He'd gotten in one too many fights already this year.  If this did get out (whatever it was), he was out on the streets, or worse, back in a foster home. Keith was walking around the Garrison on borrowed time already, he knew Shiro's luck with convincing the school board to keep him enrolled would eventually run out, and what would happen when it did? What if it was this time?)

((What if he was done after this?))

Keith covered another corner, looking over his shoulder for the billionth time in the last minute to make sure he wasn't being followed. The last thing he needed was someone else getting in on the prospect of beating him up.