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Keith had been in the home for a few years and he had sort of gotten used to it. It was crowded and sometimes Keith would still get overwhelmed by the noises of other children but he had learn to make peace with it. He didn’t really have any friends because he seemed standoffish to the other children. The truth was he just didn’t really know how to interact with other people. He didn’t smile often, not since his dad died, and that scared off some of the children. And because of this, he tends to get misunderstood by other people.
The first time someone assumed Keith is an asshole, it was when he attempted to help Jacob who had a dislocated shoulder. Jacob fell of the tree when the adults weren’t around. There was so much screaming and crying because it’s the first time something like this had happened. Keith was coincidentally nearby and he knew immediately that Jacob dislocated his shoulder after taking a look at it. Keith has once dislocated his shoulder too but he learned how to set it back on his own. It hurt like hell, but it will be fine after the shoulder is set back. Other children were comforting Jacob while Keith said: “This will hurt, but we need to set you shoulder back.” And while Jacob and other children were still confused by what he meant, he fixed Jacob’s dislocated shoulder in one swift go because he knew from experience that it would be better for this to be quick. Jacob let out a pained yell and cried even louder than before. “Keith broke my shoulder!” The other children were horrified and started yelling at Keith: “You are such an asshole!” “How can you be so cruel?” Keith tried to explain that he was merely treating Jacob’s shoulder but none of them would listen to him. That’s when the adults finally arrived. They looked at Jacob’s shoulder and deemed it already fixed. They told Jacob that he should avoid using it for a while and after hearing what the other children said, they reprimanded Keith for the possibility of making things worse. “I was just trying to help!” Keith finally yelled and stormed off, tears prickling his eyes. That’s the day when he learned that not all good intentions would be appreciated by people.
The second time it happened, there’s a new boy, Jimmy at the home. He was friendly to everyone, including Keith. Keith had learned to keep his guard up but even his wall was beginning to crumble. Jimmy would spend time with him, unlike the others, and they would talk sometimes. They would share their candies and treats whenever they got some. Keith thought he finally found a friend until all things went south. A wealthy couple came to the home to adopt and the children were ecstatic. The couple wanted to choose those with high potential, so eventually Keith and Jimmy were chosen because they were the ones with highest academic score. The couple seemed more interested in Keith because of his overall potential. Jimmy was jealous and when the wealthy couple went back because they needed time to reconsider, Jimmy shoved Keith into their room angrily. “You are just a nobody, Keith. How dare you robbed me of my chance!” “Jimmy?” Keith never thought he would see these expressions on Jimmy’s face. Jealousy, envy and anger. “You thought I really see you as a friend? I pitied you so I spent time with you! And now you are trying to sabotage my chances at a new life?!” Keith felt his throat closed up, “I didn’t… I am not trying to sabotage any…” Before he can finish his sentence, Jimmy punched him in the face. And after that, he lost his cool. Their verbal fight turned into a brawl and Jimmy accused him of starting the fight first when they were asked about it. Keith got assigned more kitchen duties as punishment while Jimmy sprout more lies to the other children about how Keith was an asshole who was jealous of Jimmy. The other children loathed him more after that. Keith cried himself to sleep that night and told himself that he won’t ever befriend anyone again.
After the first two times of being misunderstood, Kieth no longer made the effort to explain himself. Why waste the effort when no one would listen to what you say? He wasn’t really surprised when someone called him an asshole for the third time. This time it’s a student from the garrison. “I saw what you did, asshole. You punched Griffin so hard that he still has a bruise today. What did you do that for? Scared that he will catch up to you?” Of course he didn’t know that James provoked him and hurt him with his words, he just saw James talking to Keith and Keith suddenly punched him. Keith feels the tiredness creeping up again and sighed: “It’s none of your business.” It isn’t that he’s not hurt by all those assumptions and accusations but he’s forced himself to ignore the sharp twinge in his heart everytime this happened. It’s okay, he will be fine even if he’s misunderstood. At least he has Shiro who believed in him now.
Since then, years have passed. Keith barely noticed it, since fighting in an intergalactic war tends to have all of your focus. He found a family, even though they are not related by blood, he found his mum, he found his place in the universe just like the younger him always wanted. As he and the other paladins hauled the ticking bomb off earth and started crashing, he saw his life flashed across his eyes and he can’t really feel any regret. He found his family and his place, that was enough. The team misunderstood him as a lone wolf, but they never taunt him with malicious intent. They never assumed other things that were not true. They treat him with love and care he never received before he met Shiro. He tried to fill his heart with these content feelings even when pain exploded all over his body, and then he was engulfed by darkness.
“Now that I think of it, Keith is just socially awkward, you know? He tried to comfort me when I found out my family wasn’t at the garrison. He may be blunt and straightforward but he cares about us.” That voice… Hunk? Keith tried to find out what’s going on, but he just really can’t find the energy to open his eyes. “Yeah, he tried to comfort me too when I was doubting my place in the team. Although he did a shitty job at it but I did feel better after that. And during the game show, he chose me so I could leave the show but when he was asked about the reason he says some snarky reason, like we were supposed to believe that!” “The nickname “Lone Wolf” doesn’t really suit him, huh?” “Well, I used to tell Keith that he’s an awkward cinnamon roll to rile him up.” “What’s a cinnamon roll? I like the sound of it.” Lance, Pidge, Shiro and Allura? Then he remembered, the crash! Are they alright? He finally managed to open his eyes and found that all of them are fine, somewhat battered and bruised, but all of them are alive. He let out a sigh of relief. Coran was the first to notice that he regained consciousness. “Oh look, the sleeper finally awakes! How are you feeling?” Keith mouth curved upwards and replied: “Been better.” “Group hug with our cinnamon roll!” Hunk announced and they hugged him without aggravating his injuries. Keith was stunned for a moment before he smiled and returned their hugs. It took him a long time to tolerate being misunderstood and taunted, but affection and hugs? He certainly can get used to this. Whatever strings of coincidences brought them together, Keith was grateful that he found them.