Coming to Terms With It

I walked through the halls of the castle, heading back to my room. My steps echoed on the floor, and my gaze was focused on the ground in front of me.

"Hunk, thank you for getting the scaltrite."

"No problem. You know, Keith was there too."

I grit my teeth. Whatever. It's not like it mattered. It's not like Allura had looked at me like I was the scum of the earth. It's not like Hunk had been the only one to stick up for me. Whatever.

When I got inside my room I began taking my armor off, leaving my helmet for last. I removed it slowly, holding it in my hands for a few seconds. I gazed at it, and a pang of sadness clenched at my chest. Damnit. It wasn't like I chose to be Galra.

I sighed as I set my helmet down. Then a knock at my door had me turning around. "Yes?"

"Can I come in?" I heard Lance say.

I hesitated. What did Lance want? "Yeah."

The door opened to show Lance with a mischievous expression, his trademark smirk plastered on my face. I sighed inwardly. This was going to be interesting. "What is it?"

He shrugged, stepping into the room and plopping down on my bed. "Oh, nothing. Just wanted to grace you with my awesome presence."

My eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "Sure, take a seat," I deadpanned.

Neither of us spoke for a while, with Lance just sitting on my bed and kicking his long legs back and forth. The silence grate at me, making me feel increasingly uncomfortable. What was Lance here for?

Finally, he spoke. "You know, I think it's cool you're part Galra."

I frowned. "What?"

"Well, just think about it!" Lance said, spreading his hands as he talked. "Now that we know you have Galra blood, it'll make it that much easier to get around Galra security. You could just scan your hand or your foot, or something, and you're in. I think that's awesome!"

I blinked. Then I folded my arms and turned to face the wall. "Yeah, well Allura doesn't think so."

"Screw what Allura thinks." My eyes wide, I turned around to see Lance with a fully serious expression, his gaze boring into mine. "If she can't see how cool this part of you is, and how it's a part of who you are, then she can go quiznak herself."

Something swirled in my stomach, and I shifted my stance. "I'm pretty sure that's not how that word is used."

Lance laughed, and for a moment I couldn't take my eyes off him. "You get the idea." He stood up, bringing his arms over his head to stretch. He walked towards the door, pressing his hand on the button to open it. In the doorway, he turned back to look at me, a small smile on his face. "There's a reason I admire you so much, Keith. You're one cool dude."

The door closed behind him and for a moment I could only stand there. Then the full weight of his words caught up to me and heat rushed to my face, causing a ridiculously broad smile to spread. I crouched down on the floor, squeezing my eyes shut. Damnit, Lance. How am I supposed to respond to that?