A/N: So this is my first Voltron fic, and it will be a collection of character study one-shots. I'm just planning on doing one-shots about the paladins, but I'll do one for Allura and Coran too if that's requested. I apologize for any errors and wonky tenses in advance.
But, anyways, reviews would be greatly appreciated because if these one-shots are a hit I might do a multi-chapter story!
Keith Kogane did not need anything. He also did not need anyone. For as long as he could remember it had always been him and him alone. Along the way people may have pretended to care for him, or forced themselves into his life, but one fact remained. No matter what, Keith had always been by himself.
He did not need parents, or foster parents, or guardians. He did not need an adult figure in his life to care for him. It would have been nice to have his real parents to take care of him while he was growing up, but that hadn't been possible. Similarly, it would have been wonderful to find good foster parents or guardians, but that also had never happened. Keith had grown up without an adult's help just fine, so he did not need one in his life. Especially not now.
When it came to relations outside of family members and adoptive family members, he did not need friends or enemies or significant others. Friends induced complicated feelings and emotions he did not have time nor the patience to deal with. In the end he'd just chase them off with his inability to use words and show any emotion besides anger. And enemies were even less desirable because they'd be good motivation to give into the uglier side of his personality. Keith gave into his anger and viciousness enough the way it was, and he certainly did not need a person to aim those less savory emotions at. Significant others would be an even worse nightmare to have than friends or enemies. He would never be open enough, or communicate well, or show them love and affection in the proper amounts. He would be too protective, maybe even a bit controlling. He would worry himself sick, and worry led to anger, and he would most likely take that anger out on his significant other. So while he basically ached to form connections with others, none of it was worth the drama that would surely ensue.
His whole adolescence was a cycle of thinking he needed, and then realizing he did not need anything, or anyone, because he was the only one he could depend on. If he needed something, he had to do it himself. But then he met Shiro, and so, maybe… Just maybe, he did need something. Or, really, someone.
Shiro was kind, and patient, and willing to listen and help, and just an overall wonderful person. Somehow, surprisingly, Keith got along beautifully with the guy and they ended up being friends (which Keith had swore he did not need). Really good friends, so good they could have easily been mistaken for brothers. Life was looking up the more Keith started to think he needed Shiro. He got into the Galaxy Garrison, he easily became number one in his class, he got to fly and fight and be useful. It was all too good to be true!
And it was too good to be true, because Kerberos happened. Shiro had gotten the spot as the pilot for the mission, and promised to come back, but then the mission was labeled a failure due to pilot error.
The first month without Shiro was pure hell. Every corner Keith turned he expected to see his best friend around, every classroom he entered he expected to see Shiro sitting at a desk or talking to the teacher, every time he went to the training room or flight simulator and needed help he expected his brother to show up because that's just how it always had been after Keith joined the Galaxy Garrison. Shiro was never there though.
The second month was less agonizing, but he got into trouble more often because apparently he needed to listen more (Keith did not need anything, did not need to do anything!) and 'shape up'. He was the best pilot the Galaxy Garrison had now, and "he better not end up failing an important mission like his predecessor had, because he was better than that". However, none of that stopped him from doing a little investigating into what really happened on the Kerberos mission.
It was the start of the third month without Shiro when Keith was kindly forced to leave the Galaxy Garrison and banned from ever returning. By that point none of the information he had gathered on the Kerberos mission was useful, and he was beginning to realize something. He did not, had not, actually needed Shiro. Everybody eventually left him, and though he was certain Shiro hadn't disappeared in space on purpose, he always ended up by himself. Keith did not need anything, or anyone. All he needed was himself, because the only person he could depend on was himself.
He moved to the desert and never looked back, though the loneliness was hurting him now more than ever. But he did not need. Keith did not need anyone because they always left him. Keith did not need anything because nothing was dependable. Keith did not need because to need implied that one must have something or someone to live, and the only thing he must have to live was himself. So, he only needed himself.
Of course, this mindset was a problem when Shiro reappeared from space (with a purple, glowing cybernetic arm and without the Holts) and then he suddenly found himself in space in a blue lion spaceship with Shiro and three other people he hardly knew at all. And his mindset of 'he only needed himself' was certainly going to be an even bigger problem when he learned from an alien princess who had been frozen for ten thousand years that Shiro, him, and the three strangers were supposed to become a team. A team of flying lion spaceships that could all join together to form a giant robot. A team that was supposed to magically save the entirety of known space from a crazy emperor alien who had spent the last ten thousand years amassing and strengthening his empire.
It had all certainly been far easier said than done, and totally was not a piece of cake.
Of course Keith's mindset of not needing came back to bite him in the ass. First when he needed to win over the Red Lion's trust and then multiple times when he had to bond with the team and open up to them.
When he first realized there would be no getting out of the space war he had been unwillingly dragged into, and then told he needed to bond with the Red Lion, he instantly shut down. Just to prove to the others (mostly Lance), he could of course win the Red Lion's trust, he would. But that was all the effort he would really put into this team.
All of that was shot to hell when he saw how badass and amazing the Red Lion was. There was no way he was backing out of this Voltron stuff then. He… Keith needed the excitement, the opportunity to do something useful and positive, the chance to take his anger and make it a drive to never allow the Galra Empire to reach Earth and the other planets it hadn't yet.
Bonding with the team had not been easy at first. In fact, he would have opted out of it if it hadn't been needed. Bonding with the team had been needed to save the universe. Keith had needed to do something that was bigger than him and his problems, so he set those problems aside and… Did what had needed to be done. He'd grown closer to the strangers he had flown out into space with.
Keith had come to enjoy Hunk and Pidge and Lance, even Coran and Allura. Keith had come to realize how much he had missed Shiro. Keith had come to realize being the Red Paladin and defending every being in space was actually a very gratifying and rewarding job.
Over the months (maybe it had been years?), the 'he only needed himself' mentality had faded away, withering up and making way for emotional and mental growth. Keith started to try and express his emotions more, to trust others and speak more openly to them, to stop being so antisocial and enjoy the company of his… Friends. That was what Hunk, Lance, Pidge, Allura, and Coran had become to him. All of them, specially Shiro, were his friends that he would do absolutely anything for. He would lay down his sword and die for them if that's what it took to save them.
Because, through all the bonding and fighting, they had grown on him immensely and he didn't know what he would do now without them in his life.
Keith needed Hunk's worry and stability (most definitely his cooking), needed Pidge's sarcastic and mischievous attitude and her reliability to solve any problem, needed Lance's insufferable jokes and infectious energy, needed Shiro's support and love, needed Allura's optimism and curiosity, needed Coran's vast knowledge and guidance. Every little aspect that made each of them uniquely them, whatever it may be, Keith needed it in his life now. They all brought out the best in him, and he needed his best.
Not only that, but they all gave him things he had not known he needed, but now knew he did. They gave him the love and support he had always needed, they made him feel useful like he had always needed. Whatever he had secretly always needed, they gave it to him or made him feel it. Keith had never felt so whole in his entire life before.
It had taken many years and some odd adventures in space, but Keith had finally found that he did need quite a few things. Quite a few someone's, actually.
Keith Kogane needed Takashi Shirogane, Lance McClain, Hunk Garrett, Pidge Gunderson (Katie Holt), Allura, Coran, and Voltron (mostly the Red Lion).