I count down the days, then the hours, the minutes, even the seconds before midnight. 3-2-BEEP BEEP BEEP! The alarm sounds only one second before the big day. I groan to myself, throwing the covers off of my still-clothed body. Happy birthday to me, I think sarcastically, jogging toward my lion's hangar. This is the third birthday I will have had in space so far, and it's already off to a bad start. Upon entering Red, the controls pop up as my chair slides forward. Through muscle memory, I wrap my gloved hands around the navigators and blast out of the hangar, meeting my teammates and flying in sync. Though I'm hoping for some kind of comment from at least one of my fellow paladins, but of course, there's none. Everyone is focusing on the mission at hand. I sigh, joining my friends in the gigantic robot that is Voltron, ready to save whoever it is that needs saving.

Though Lance is my boyfriend, he gets really irritating... a lot. His constant rambling about one thing or another really isn't helping that fact that I don't want to be here. "Lance. Shut. Up," I growl at him through the headset, using the sword to slice through the cold vacuum of space. "Woah, edgelord420 over here is even angstier than usual," he responds, earning a "Nice one!" from Hunk. I roll my eyes and focus on the enemy. A Galra fleet is attacking a small planet that Allura had earlier identified as Nekio. Instead of flying in individually, we had discussed that it would save time to form Voltron at the beginning of the battle instead of waiting. Shiro leads us through the atmosphere, and we float several feet above the surface, where terrified Nekians are fleeing for their lives. As soon as we appear, thousands of tiny battleships all turn their lasers on us, trying to get the newfound nuisance out of the way. Hunk fires his shoulder cannon, wiping out the entire fleet until all that's left is the battle cruiser. I can almost imagine the horrified look on the commander's face as he watches all of his troops get blown to smithereens. Before the cruiser can jump to hyper-speed, Shiro shouts for me to use my bayard, which I summon without hesitation, jamming it into the keyhole dramatically. I can feel the sword form, and with a small twist of my wrist, the battle cruiser is lost in a huge explosion.

When we arrive back at the castle, Coran meets us with a post-battle snack, which I decline, and with that, I walk back to my room bitterly. Glancing at the clock that reads "1:30 AM", I throw my boots across the room and fall back onto my bed, happily greeting the sleep that overcomes me. I wake to the smell of food goo wafting down the hallway, the scent of burning rubber along with it. Yep, Coran definitely made breakfast. Groaning, I stand up, stretching my aching joints. Everyone had already gone their own ways, or that's what it seems like when I enter the dining hall. The only one left in the room is Pidge, who has headphones on and is typing away furiously. I sigh, dishing out some of the green goop that we're forced to eat. Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting. I wanted to hear several "Happy Birthday, Keith!"'s at the very least, but everyone is avoiding me. Or at least that's what it seems like. Maybe I'll just head to the training deck and let off some steam. I finish my food goo and hand my plate to the robot that Pidge built. She designed it specifically to wash dishes so that we don't have to. It's nice, and takes a lot of work off Coran's shoulders.

The walk to the training deck is very uneventful, or at least until I run into Hunk, who is hurrying in the opposite direction. "Ah! Sorry Keith! Um, where are you headed?" He asks, stuttering and mumbling. Something is up, I can tell. "I'm going to the training deck to see if I can get to training level 7 today," I answer, satisfied. Maybe if I get to a new level, I'll at least feel somewhat happy with this crappy birthday. "OH NO! Uh, I mean, you shouldn't go in there. Pidge accidentally threw up." I feel my face scrunch in disgust. Everyone on this castle-ship knows how I am with vomit. If I see one drop of it, there's gonna be two times that amount coming from me. "Yeah, it's all over the place. Just try, um, the library, maybe?" He says, though I'm not sure whether he's asking a question or making a statement. Ok, well time to avoid the training deck like the plague... and Pidge too, I think, turning on my heel and heading toward my room. At the very least I can listen to some music, or mess on the phone Pidge made me. I have no intention of going to the library, books are boring, and I've had enough books from the Garrison to last me a lifetime.

I pass Lance on the way there, and he hides something under his shirt. "What's going on, Lance?" I ask him, hoping he'll tell me something valuable. "Uh, Pidge peed in the kitchen so I was just on my way to clean it up," he says, his face contorted in some sort of shameful grimace. "Geez, what is up with Pidge today?" I ask, genuinely worried. "What do you mean?" He confusedly says.

"Well, according to Hunk she just threw up on the training deck."
"Oh. I guess she's just sick or something."
"I guess so. Hey, what's today?"
"October 23rd, why?"
"No reason."

I sigh, turning back toward my room. My own boyfriend forgot my birthday. I can't believe this. The clock says that its only 12:30 PM, meaning that I still have a long, boring day ahead. The next person I encounter is Pidge. Upon seeing her, I push my body flush up against the wall. "Keith... what are you doing?" she asks in a very monotonous voice. "Are you okay? What's going on with you?" I ask, sidestepping her. "What are you talking about? I'm fine!" she answers, confused and annoyed. "Hunk said you threw up on the training deck and Lance said that you peed in the kitchen? Are you okay?" I ask again, just to be sure. Her face contorts with rage, then its like she has an epiphany. "Oh, yeah, that. No, I'm not feeling too well," She says, coughing. I jump back, hissing at the germs erupting from her mouth. "Bye Pidge," I shout behind me as I sprint until I get to my door. I enter, collapsing in a sad lump on my bed. Not even one birthday wish? After last year, you'd think they'd remember, I think as I curl up into a ball, wrapping my blanket around me. I didn't get birthday wishes from anyone until I met Shiro. He became like my brother. Every birthday I had at the Garrison, he'd make a huge deal, and everyone would give me good wishes and stuff. At first, I didn't know how to cope with it, but then I got used to it, and I started being kind to others on their birthdays. Once we got to space and Shiro made a huge deal about my birthday again, everyone in the castle marked my birthday on their calendars, making sure they remembered. For the past three years, we've celebrated my birthday together as a family. They are my family. They're the only family I've ever known, and now they don't even remember my birthday.

Bad thoughts fill my mind. They come and go as they please, though most choose to stick around. I almost feel as though they have stopped caring. I feel tears sting at my eyes, threatening to spill over. I dab at them with my blanket, shaking with the sheer effort of trying not to cry. It's too late though, the tears have started falling. When we became a team... no, a family, I felt wanted, needed, even. Now I just feel like a nuisance. I put walls up for a reason, just so that this wouldn't happen, and look what happens when I let them down. I'm a grown man crying over some stupid people not telling me to have a happy birthday. What am I, 5? I need to pull myself together. The thoughts continue to race through my mind as tears run down my face, staining it. I feel my eyes throbbing with the effort. It feels like my brain is going to spill out of them.

I stay like that for a good hour, sobbing into my pillow until I have no more tears left. Then, I stand up and walk towards Red's hangar. Red always listens to me, no matter what. I pray to every entity out there that I don't meet anyone on my way, and thankfully, I don't. I don't want anyone seeing my tear-streaked face, or my puffy eyes. I don't want them seeing my hair after it's been matted wet with tears and pushed out of the way repeatedly. I sniffle, sitting down in front of my lion, opening my mind to her. 'Keith, what's wrong' She asks after about 0.2 seconds of the connection being open. I spill my guts to her, shaking angrily, then sadly. There are so many emotions. "When Lance's 18th birthday happened this year, we threw a party for him, and we invited Shay, Rolo, Nyma, Beezer, Plaxis, Even Kolivan! Everyone brought him stuff and celebrated with him. I know I'm just being insecure, but how could they forget me so easily?" I ask her, fists furling and unfurling. She sends my sympathetic vibes, telling me she's sorry, and she'll talk to the other Lions about it. I shake my head, standing up. "I'm going to go talk to them about it," I say, and with one last 'go get 'em!' from Red, I close our connection and storm out of the room.

I have to be calm in order for this to work, I think, If I just go and yell at them, I'm not gonna get any reaction but a bad one. Calm down, Keith, come on, chill. It takes a good five minutes to calm myself down, standing outside the door to the training deck. I assume that they are there, because it's one of the places I'm supposed to be avoiding. I knock on the door thrice, making it open up. As soon as it opens, my jaw drops to the ground, my eyes widening. I imagine I look like a cartoon character. There are streamers covering the entire room, balloons floating overhead, and a "HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEITH!" Banner on the wall. The banner looks like it's handmade, with Allura's fancy script forming the words. In designated colors (black, yellow, blue, green, orange, pink), there are different drawings and signatures. There's a table full of wrapped gifts, presumably from the space mall. In the center of one table, there's a cake with a printed picture of my face, with "Happy 19th Keith!" written in red icing. Everything is red-themed, just like how everything was blue-themed at Lance's party earlier in the year. "SURPRISE!" is the line that made me simultaneously jump and scream as everyone jumps out from behind well-hidden spots. Everyone is here, most of the Blades, Team Voltron, The Alteans, the Balmeran family, Kaltenecker, Rolo, Nyma, Beezer, and some other aliens that I can't quite name.

"I spent the entire day thinking that you guys were avoiding me and that you forgot about my birthday. I can't believe you all... but this is the best party I've ever had, thank you so much," I say to my best friends, my teammates, my family, however they want to label themselves. "You mean so much to me, and if I were still stuck on Earth with nothing to do and no one to give me birthday wishes, it would honestly not be a very fun time. You guys are the best friends, family, whatever, I could ever ask for. Thank you all."