Feelings of Inadequacy

An: I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender.

I know I should be working on the next chapter of Binding Contract but this plot bunny popped up and I had to finish it.

Summary: The five times Keith felt like an inadequate boyfriend and the one time he felt like the best boyfriend in the world. Kidge.

A full orchestra played soft music in the ballroom of the Voltron Coalition Base while the occupants toasted to Universal Cultural Day. The soft lighting coupled with strings of white lights wrapped in toile gave the room a truly magical appearance. The purpose of Universal Cultural Day was to improve understanding of the various races in the Voltron coalition. The event was going well but the Black Paladin of Voltron stood stalwart in the corner critically surveying the room.

Ambassador Bii-Boh-Bi was talking with the other ambassadors only they were having a hard time understanding him. Ambassador Klaizap was on a pedestal to make conversation for him easier so he didn't have to keep straining his head to look up. Ambassador Luxia was in a special tube filled with water and a speaker that allowed her to communicate with others. Olia, Veronica and Matt seemed to be sharing stories. Allura was with…

"Keith stop doing that," Shiro said coming to stand next to him with an extra glass of wine in his hand. "Take this," he held it out to him.

"I don't want any," Keith said turning his nose up at the drink. Alcohol dulled his senses and his senses needed to be on full alert.

"At least hold it and blend in," Shiro advised. "Fighting in Voltron is not the only responsibility of being a paladin."

"I know that," Keith said through gritted teeth. He had been repeatedly told that he had to fulfill the diplomatic responsibilities as well.

"At least talk to someone," Shiro requested, "Not Pidge," he added when he saw Keith looking longingly in his girlfriend's direction. She looked beautiful tonight dressed in an off white floor length gown with green lace lining the top and bottom of the dress. He really wanted to be close to her but she was following orders and mingling unlike him.

"You are not making this any easier," Keith complained.

"Look," Shiro said nodding his head across the room where Ambassador Bii-Boh-Bi stood. "Go and inquire about his people."

"You can't be serious!" Keith exclaimed. "Only Coran understands what he says."

"Just nod your head as he talks. You need to make him feel welcomed and understood. That is the whole point of this function," Shiro said.

Keith growled under his breath, "I thought as a team you let members who specialize in certain areas work in those areas. This is completely Allura, maybe a little bit of Lance with his big mouth but most definitely Allura."

"And as I explained before the members of coalition want to mingle with all the Paladins of Voltron, particularly the Black Paladin. Don't make me order you to go and mingle," Shiro threatened.

Keith scowled, "What if there is a threat?"

"Then the MFE's will deal with it. Earth defense is their priority not yours. You have the wider universe to concern yourself with," Shiro said seriously and nodded his head again in the direction of Bii-Boh-Bi.

"Ok I'm going, I'm going," Keith reluctantly said. He grabbed the drink from Shiro and walking. He took one sip, then two; who was he kidding he needed the whole drink if he had to talk to Bii-Boh-Bi. He held the glass to his mouth, tipped his head back and emptied the contents of the glass.

"I don't think when Hunk chose the wine for this occasion he wanted people to gulp it down," Pidge teased coming up next to him.

"If I'm to talk to all these Ambassadors tonight then I'll be gulping it down," Keith said sourly.

Pidge gave him a small smile and linked her hand with his squeezing it slightly for support. "You'll survive. I know you will."

The music came to a sudden halt and Keith tensed, every nerve in his body instantly became alert.

"Relax," Pidge said with an amused smile, "It's just Lance."

"Lance?" Keith questioned.

Pidge nodded at the stage where the orchestra was. There standing in front was Lance with a microphone in his hand.

"What the hell is he doing?" Keith asked horrified. Maybe he was wrong about Lance being able to do this.

"You'll see," Pidge said with a twinkle in her eye.

"Good night Ladies and Gentlemen, as many of you already know I'm Lance McClain, the Red Paladin of Voltron. What many of you may not know is that my girlfriend is an Altean and in honour of Universal Cultural Day I'm going to sing her a traditional Altean love song." Lance turned back to look at the band, "Ready?" he asked. The conductor gave him a thumbs up and he turned back to the ballroom his eyes scanning for Allura.

Pidge leaned in closer to Keith, "I walked in on Coran teaching Lance the words to this song last week. It was hilarious. I have it on video to show Allura tomorrow."

The music started and Lance started singing. Keith had no idea what he was singing but he had to admit that Lance didn't sound bad at all. He noticed that all of the women in the ballroom were swooning, including his own girlfriend.

A feeling Keith was unfamiliar with stirred within him. He wasn't quite sure what it was but suddenly he felt like maybe he might be failing in his relationship with Katie. He thought he was a good boyfriend but did she want him to sing to her like this? Did she want him to get up on stage and declare his love for her in front of a room full of people?

"No," Pidge said interrupting his thoughts.

"What?" Keith said. He had completely zoned out. Lance wasn't on the stage anymore. He was in the crowd surrounded by females while Allura tried to get through the crowd to her boyfriend and the orchestra had resumed playing music.

"I can see the gears in your head turning. No, do not sing in public. I've heard you Keith and it's for my ears only. Everyone else will make fun of you and if they make fun of you then I'll have to kick their ass which is very unbecoming of a Paladin of Voltron. We're only supposed to beat up on bad guys," Pidge said cheerfully.

"I thought I told you to talk to Ambassador Bii-Boh-Bi," Shiro said angrily.

"It's my fault," Pidge said. "I couldn't bear to talk to the Ambassador from Taki any longer so I stopped Keith on his was to Ambassador Bii-Boh-Bi."

As it usually did, Shiro's face softened with Pidge's excuse. He always let her get away with everything.

"Look is that Slav coming this way?" Pidge asked.

"Slav!" Shiro said not even looking in the direction Pidge was referring to. "I think I see Ambassador Olia and I need to have a talk with her." Shiro quickly left them alone.

"How long do you think it's going to take for him to realize that Slav isn't here tonight?" Keith asked Pidge.

She shrugged, "What does it matter? It bought us some time. You look ravishing in this Tuxedo and I want you all to myself." She pulled him along to the exit that led onto the balcony. There was no one there yet.

"Now this is my kind of party!" Keith said moments before he captured Pidge's lips with his own.

It was the usual time of the week, submission of the Voltron weekly report to Shiro. This week had been relatively quiet. Allura had gone on two diplomatic missions with Hunk, Pidge was busy in the lab and he and Lance trained all week. He knocked on Shiro's door and entered when he gave permission. He found Shiro with wrapping paper in his hand staring at a machine. Shiro looked up at him, "That the report for the week?"

"Yes. What are you doing?" Keith asked staring at the strange machine on Shiro's desk. It took up a considerable portion of the large oak desk.

"I'm trying to wrap this but I don't know where to start," Shiro asked confounded.

"What is it?" Keith asked.

"It's one of those fancy coffee machines they have at that barista shop that Dustin is always visiting. He spends an exorbitant amount on his coffee so I thought I would save him money by getting him this for his birthday. As his boyfriend I should have the best gift at the party," Shiro said.

"Ah," Keith said. "And you walked upstairs with that and no one noticed?"

"No, it came in three boxes and I asked Pidge to assemble it for me," he explained.

"Do you know how to use it?" Keith asked.

"Pidge also showed me how to work it," Shiro answered.

"And why didn't you ask her to wrap it for you?" Keith pointed out.

"I did. She refused. Told me to check with Allura or Romelle, that was more their specialty," he revealed grumpily.

"And have you called them?" Keith asked.

"No, I thought I would try myself before I did that but I have no idea where to start. This isn't some gift you can just shove in a gift bag and hand to someone," Shiro grumbled.

"I'll just leave you to it?" Keith said.

"You're not even going to offer to help me. Surely you've had to wrap some strange tech gadet for Pidge's birthday?" Shiro asked.

Keith paused. He hadn't gotten anything for Pidge's birthday but she had gotten him a traditional Japanese katana for his last birthday.

"I have another meeting to get to," Keith lied and turned to leave the office. When he reached the door he stopped and turned back to Shiro, "Don't call me when you need to move that thing. It looks very heavy."

He stayed long enough to see Shiro's eyes widen as a new problem came to light.

That unsettling feeling he had at the Universal Cultural Day was back. It bothered him all day. Come night time he couldn't sleep. He lay in bed on his back, one hand under his head staring at the ceiling. Pidge was curled up beside him.

Half way through the night she put her cold feet under his knees and he flinched. How the hell were her feet so cold? He tried to move away but her feet kept following him.

"Stop running away from your boyfriend responsibilities," Pidge joked shoving her cold feet under his thigh.

His entire stomach dropped. Pidge had realized what a terrible boyfriend he had been. Was she going to break up with him?

He was surprised when she placed her hand flat on his chest, directly over his beating heart and asked in a very tender voice, "Keith what's wrong?"

"What makes you think something is wrong?" he answered sullenly.

"Because usually you're the big spoon that keeps me warm. There is that and when I came to bed you were staring at the ceiling and you're still staring at the ceiling now and my gut is telling me you haven't stopped staring at the ceiling. Something is wrong." Her voice was so full of love and concern. He was sure that if there was enough light in the room, her facial expression would reflect those feelings.

Keith remained quiet though. How do you draw to someone's attention to the fact that you forgot to get them a birthday gift?

"Keith, I don't magically know what you're thinking. I know I get it right most of the time. I have a pretty advanced algorithm in my head that catalogs all of your facial expressions and actions to figure out what you're thinking but there is a limitation to that. Do you know what it is?" she asked in a calm voice.

"No," Keith swallowed heavily.

"Information, I need information to process and I'm not with you 24/7 so sometimes Keith you actually need to tell me what's bothering you. I can't help you unless I know. Now speak," she ordered.

Keith knew he had to tell her so he decided to start at the beginning, "Dustin's birthday party is coming up…"

Pidge sat up straight, the sheets pooling around her petite waist, "Oh no, I forgot to get us gifts for the party." She picked up her wrist computer from the bedside table and made a note to get gifts before she lay back down next to him. "Sorry, you can continue."

"What makes you think my problem wasn't gifts for the party?" Keith asked curiously.

"Because it wasn't," she answered knowingly.

"I missed your birthday and I didn't get you anything." There Keith said it. He had drawn her attention to a massive mistake he had made.

Pidge punched him in the arm, "You idiot. You didn't get me anything because we left on a mission two weeks before and we came back from that mission in such a state most of us were hospitalized for a week!" She placed her hand flat on his chest between his well defined pecs she was always talking about. "If its bothering you that much, next year I want to go that planet with the hot springs, just the two of us no clothes allowed," she said. "You can plan that for next year."

"Ok, we can do that but you're not angry?" Keith asked relieved.

"Of course not. If I remember correctly and you know I have a memory like an elephant, we were all thankful just to return in one piece. Forget about it," Pidge encouraged him.

Keith nodded, the feeling in his gut started to recede. He felt his body begin to relax and wind down for sleep.

"Don't relax yet, you have to fulfill your responsibilities of keeping me warm at night," she said teasingly as the hand on his chest started to move lower over his washboard abs that she claimed she loved.

"If you continue any lower, I'll be using a cardiac activity to warm you up," he growled lowly. She knew exactly what her touch did to him.

"That's exactly what I had in mind!"

He quickly moved his body on top of hers and kissed her passionately.

Keith made his way to the kitchen to get a light snack after training. It was important to replenish his body after such vigorous workouts. Today he had spent a little bit too long on the training deck. Usually an hour was good but today he spent two. He had his katana with him and he let himself get carried away with the various katas. He knew Pidge was working on something for Shiro today, and Lance and Allura had taken the day off to go on a date off world. There was also something special going on for Hunk but he couldn't quite remember what. He had glimpsed the heading on a memo but had deemed it not very important so he hadn't read it thoroughly.

He walked through the door to the kitchen contemplating how hungry he was when Hunk screamed at him.

"Stop!"

"What?" Keith said tensing his free hand wrapping around the handle of the katana while his eyes tried to locate the threat.

"I have the soufflé in the oven," Hunk said through gritted teeth. His face had gone red and he looked like a volcano about to explode.

"The what?" Keith asked confused. He was trying to figure out why Hunk was so angry.

"The soufflé, did you not read the memo I sent you guys? You know the one that said the kitchen would be off limits to everyone during a certain time period which is now," Hunk said with clenched fists.

Keith's memory finally reminded him what the title of the memo had been, "You mean the one about that dinner thing?"

"Dinner thing! This is not a dinner thing! This is a perfectly planned and well executed dinner to celebrate three years of being with Shay. It most definitely is not a dinner thing. Just by opening the door you could have changed the pressure in this room and caused my soufflé to drop! Or did you want my soufflé to drop?" Hunk accused.

"Why would I want your soufflé to drop, whatever that means," Keith grumbled.

"Because you're jealous you can't cook for Pidge. Pidge loves my cooking. Her favourite dish is my chicken cacciatore. Can you cook her chicken cacciatore?" Hunk asked. "No of course you can't."

"I was just here to get a sandwich after training," Keith said pointing to the back where he could get a sandwich.

"You should have been here an hour ago that is why I locked off the kitchen for this time period. No one is ever here and to be safe I sent the memo so no one accidentally walks in and what happens, Keith accidentally walks in," Hunk said as a timer went off. Hunk ran to the stove and turned the contents of a pot. He glanced in the oven, "Thank Voltron its fine but you can't leave until I say, not until my soufflé is safely out of the oven."

Keith slowly made his way towards the back of the kitchen as far away from the frantic Hunk as he could get. He didn't know what had happened to replace the calm and collected Hunk with this rabid creature. Keith made his sandwich and then sat at a table and tried to work on the weekly report while Hunk bustled through the kitchen. Keith couldn't comprehend why Hunk was preparing dinner when lunch hadn't even passed yet.

That unsettling feeling started to return again. He finally managed to put a name to the feeling. It was inadequacy. He wasn't being the boyfriend that Pidge deserved. He had never cooked for Pidge or tried to do any special dinner either. Quite frankly he wasn't sure of the exact date that their relationship started. It was kind of complicated. Did she want something like this?

"I'm sorry man," Hunk said disturbing him from his thoughts. He turned to find Hunk standing next to him with a plate of various tapas. He placed it in front of Keith as a peace offering. "I've just been so tense trying to make tonight perfect. What I said was way out of line and I didn't mean it. I don't know where it came from but it's not true. Ever since Lance got up on stage and sang that song for Allura all the women on base have been talking about how romantic he is and how he's the perfect partner. I guess I just wanted to make sure I'm being the boyfriend that Shay deserves. All I can do is cook so I hope that's enough."

Keith nodded his head completely understanding what Hunk was talking about. "You're the best of us Hunk. Shay is lucky to have you. Tonight will go perfect." He knew the best way to accept the apology was to eat the tapas so he picked one up and ate it.

"You can leave now," Hunk said.

"After I finish," Keith said picking up another tapas. They were really good.

For the rest of the day Keith couldn't shake the feeling that he was failing again. He decided to order some chicken cacciatore from a restaurant in town and take it to Pidge in her lab. He hadn't cooked it but he hoped it would count.

"Hey I brought dinner," Keith said showing her the bag with the food. Kosmo was curled up at her feet keeping them warm. His pet space wolf lifted his head in the air and smelt the aroma. He wagged his tail in approval.

Pidge turned to look at him, "Oh great, I was just about to call you to see if you wanted to get a pizza or something since you know, tonight is Hunk's big night."

"Yeah, big night," Keith said putting the bag down on a counter where they usually ate. He took the boxes out one at a time and put them on the table with one going on the floor for Cosmo, while he watched her. She was putting her station into sleep mode which meant she was hungry. She joined him at the counter and eagerly opened the box. He watched for her reaction but was disappointed when he saw a slight frown appear.

She looked up at him and sighed, "For the record, chicken cacciatore is not my favourite dish and you don't have to cook for me. We're kind of an order in couple."

"Hunk told you about earlier," Keith surmised. "What is your favourite dish?"

"My mother's lasagna," Pidge answered honestly picking up her fork and sampling the chicken.

"That is a good lasagna," Keith agreed. He remembered the sensations that lasagna had invoked in him the first time he ate it. It was probably the best lasagna he had ever eaten. He then had a realization, "We can never tell Hunk that."

Pidge gave him a conspiratorial smile, "I know. Hence his belief that chicken cacciatore is my favourite dish."

Keith nodded. That made sense. He started eating his food but something else was bugging him. He knew if he didn't voice the question he would be staring at the ceiling again and Pidge would eventually drag it out of him. "Pidge, when is our anniversary?"

Her cheeks turned pink in embarrassment, "I'm not really sure. I mean we could use a couple of dates. There was our first kiss but we didn't get together after that. Then there was the first time we slept together during that mission but we still weren't together after that and by the time we had our formal first date we were an official couple so I don't really know. What I am sure about is that we've been together for more than a year."

"Do we need an anniversary?" Keith asked.

"After watching Hunk and Shay put so much energy into theirs I would say no," Pidge then turned a deep shade of red, "If we last and get married then we would have an anniversary date then."

Keith nodded, "We'll see how things go."

Keith couldn't believe that his pet space wolf was making him feel inadequate. He thought he had solved that issue. An animal, especially one that was your pet, was not supposed to make you feel that way yet Cosmo was. He finished his meeting early and decided to wait for Pidge in her lab, rather than wait in their room. He knew she was working on some device for the Olkari people. Hunk was helping her and while they had completed the physical device Pidge was still working on the programming.

When he arrived she was bent over her console typing away. She hadn't noticed his presence and Keith liked that. It gave him a chance to sit and observe her in her element. She stopped typing and stared at the device.

"Cosmo I think I need to open this thing up again can you get,"

Before she could finish her sentence, Cosmo disappeared and reappeared with a tool in his mouth. Pidge patted his head and took the tool from him. A few moments later, she held her hand out and Cosmo took the tool from her, disappeared and returned with another.

"Excellent," she said in delight. "I don't know why Shiro keeps insisting I need an intern to help me. I have you."

The process continued, with Cosmo coming and going getting what Pidge wanted. Keith hadn't realized that Cosmo did that for Pidge. Sure Cosmo had brought him to Pidge a few times when she wanted to see him but he didn't realize his wolf fetched everything for her. Was this why Cosmo liked to spend the afternoon in Pidge's lab after he trained with him the morning? Did his wolf know that Pidge needed him and he was there for her?

Keith couldn't believe he was letting his wolf upset him. It wasn't like he could help Pidge. He didn't know what anything in her hand was much less where to go to fetch it. Speaking of which, where was Cosmo getting the tools from?

Suddenly, the comm in the lab flicked on, "Pidge, Cosmo is taking my tools again."

"I know, I had to open this thing up and adjust some of the wiring to get the code to work," Pidge said.

"But he slobbers all over them," Hunk complained. "You could at least wipe them and return them."

"Sorry," Pidge said. "I didn't know if you could wait that long to get your tools back. Next time."

"It should trouble me that there will be a next time but I know better," Hunk said ending the call.

Pidge sighed and looked at Cosmo. Suddenly his wolf appeared in front of him and Pidge turned her head in his direction when she heard the sound of Cosmo appearing over there.

"Oh you're here," she said surprised.

"Yes," he answered.

"Can you clean some tools for me and return it to Hunk in Yellow's hanger please?" she asked.

"Yes, just show me which ones," he replied earnestly to her.

"Great," she said closing up the device. She placed five tools on another counter. "You can do these. By the time you finish I should be done and we can walk across together."

Keith nodded. He picked up an old cloth and started to clean them but Cosmo really did slobber all over them. He left the lab and went down the corridor to the janitor's closet and removed a bucket and cleaning solution. He filled the bucket with water in the bathroom and added the cleaning solution. He returned to the tools and cleaned them. By the time he was finished Pidge was fist pumping in the air. She had finally gotten the device to work.

"Let's go," she said.

Keith went to the cupboard where she kept empty bags and placed the tools in them. He walked to the door where Pidge and Cosmo joined him. She turned off the lights and locked the door. He returned the bucket and cleaning solution to the janitor's closet on the way out. Pidge wrapped one arm around his waist and he wrapped his free hand around hers as they walked in the cool crisp air. Cosmo trotted along quietly besides them.

"Thank you for doing this for me," she said sincerely.

"You don't need to thank me. Hunk sounded quite angry," he said to her.

"Oh you heard all of that," Pidge said surprised.

"Yes," Keith answered in a bored voice.

He saw her eyebrows scrunch together, a sign that she was thinking.

"Just how long were you standing there?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

Keith smirked. He was not going to answer that question.

"You know I can check the security footage right?" Pidge said to him to convince him to talk.

He still wasn't going to answer her. He heard a little bit of mystery in a relationship was good and despite what she said about the security cameras Pidge wouldn't check them.

"Fine keep your secret. I won't tell you what Lance did today that pissed Allura off," Pidge said trying another tactic to get him to talk.

Keith scoffed, "The whole base knows about that. He sat on the space mice. Don't worry I'll make sure not to sit on your space caterpillars."

Pidge gave a very unladylike snort, "They float in the air so kind of hard to sit on them. As long as you don't use them for batting practice, we're good."

"I was never a fan of baseball," Keith said.

They arrived at the hanger to find Hunk struggling with a device.

"I knew you needed it right away," Pidge said digging in the bag Keith had for one particular tool and taking it over to Hunk.

Hunk looked at it astonished, "Did you break it and buy a new one? There's absolutely zero grease or dirt on here."

"No, Keith cleaned it like you asked," Pidge explained.

"Maybe I need to borrow your boyfriend to clean my tools for me and that sounded rather dirty. I swear I didn't mean it that way," Hunk insisted.

"You can have him after I've used his services thoroughly and if that sounded dirty then great!" Pidge said with a wicked smile.

Hunk looked at Cosmo pleadingly, "Please take these two rabbits away!"

Keith was peacefully headed back to his room to shower after training with Cosmos when Matt Holt stopped him.

"Keith, I need your help," Matt stated.

Keith frowned. What kind of help did Matt need? He was not a scientist.

Matt pointed at Keith's face, "I think that's the confused look. Pidge told me about the confused look. Usually I would ask Pidge to help me but she's on Olkari and if I tell her what I need help with she'll probably beat me up on behalf of Veronica."

"What did you do?" Keith asked curiously. He was aware that since Veronica became pregnant Matt was consistently getting on the wrong side of her mood swings. Pidge was constantly encouraging her brother to actually pick up a maternity book and read it so he would understand what his wife was going through.

"I might have mistakenly told her to stop complaining about gaining weight she was pregnant and there was no way she could avoid getting fat," Matt explained.

"That's true," Keith said agreeing with Matt.

Matt laughed, "Some advice," he said placing his hand on Keith's shoulder, "Don't tell Pidge that when it's your turn. Apparently the fat word is a bad word and should not be used. So I need to get an apology gift or she might blow my head off when I get home."

"I don't see how you need my help yet?" Keith replied.

"I need some company at the mall. Pidge is always saying we need to spend more time together and really get to know each other so I think this might be a great opportunity to do that, once you have nothing planned," Matt said. "Plus you got that fantastic tool set for Pidge. She's been going on for days about how it's the best gift she's ever gotten. You have to be good with the gift giving thing if you have my sister over the moon."

Keith smirked. After the Cosmo incident he realized that if he bought Pidge all the tools she needed, then he could solve two problems with one gift! His challenge had been determining what tools to get. He got Hunk to make a list of all the tools Pidge borrowed. He discovered that there was no one set that carried all those tools so he bought the tools separately and made his own case for Pidge. He patted himself on the back for a job well done and Pidge patted him in more pleasurable ways after she declared her love for the tool set.

"Please," Matt begged.

Keith thought it over. He had nothing urgent planned for the rest of the day. He was supposed to be on three days' rest having just returned from a particularly difficult mission with the Blades. Allura and Hunk were on another diplomatic mission and Lance was running a course on sharp shooting in the Garrison. He had nothing to lose by going and if Pidge wanted them to hang out more he could at least give it a shot.

"Sure, I'll come along."

Matt drove them to the mall and Keith gripped the sides of his seat the whole way. Matt was a terrible driver. For someone who was supposed to be smart he took an awful amount of risks on the road.

"Do you have any idea what you want to get?" Keith asked.

"Jewelry, when in doubt get jewelry," Matt stated as if he was reciting a rule.

They both looked at the mall directory to figure out where the closest jewelry store was. They found the store and Matt suggested that Keith might want to look at some of the rings and pointed to a section of the store that contained engagement rings. Keith glanced in the direction but now wasn't the time for that. He followed Matt to a sales clerk. She showed them a variety of earrings and Matt settled on a pair of tear drop rubies. He paid for it and they exited the store.

"Matt, Matt Holt?" a guy called.

They both turned around to see a man with a base ball cap, jeans, T-shirt and a football jacket.

"Uh, yes," Matt answered.

"You don't remember me," the guy said.

"No," Matt admitted.

"Well I was a few years below you but I was in your sister Katie's class, Trip Connor. You must have heard her talk about me," the man boasted.

A light dawned in Matt's eyes, "Yes the guy that was constantly teasing my sister in class calling her a nerd!"

Keith's eyes widened. He had never heard about this. They had talked about his high school days, it was hard not to with Griffin being the leader of the MFE team but they had never talked about her high school days. Was that something he should have asked her about and shown interest in?

Baseball cap dude didn't even recoil at Matt's description. "It wasn't like that. It was nothing but love between us."

"She certainly didn't feel that way," Matt replied dryly.

"Why don't you tell her I'm in town I would love to catch up," the man suggested.

Matt looked at Keith, "Is Katie available this week?"

"No," Keith answered firmly.

"How are you so sure?" the man asked.

"Where are my manners," Matt suddenly declared. "This," he said pointing at Keith, "Is the Black Paladin of Voltron, also known as the leader. Not only does he know my sister's mission schedule but as her boyfriend he also knows her personal schedule so if he says she's not available she's not available." Matt then looked around and dropped his voice to a whisper. "And trust me you don't want to challenge him on this. I've seen him fight and he can wipe the floor with your ass." Matt then looked down at the time on his wrist computer. "Look at the time we need to go. Nice catching up with you Tipper."

"Trip," the man corrected.

"I'll let Katie know we ran into you," Matt said.

Keith followed Matt's lead back to the car in silent contemplation.

A few days later when Pidge returned she called him out on staring at the ceiling again. They had a long discussion that night about what her high school days were like and how she felt about it now. Keith made a mental list of all her bullies in case he ever ran into one again.

Keith decided to skip training again that morning in favour of staying in bed with Pidge. A few days before he had a scare when he couldn't raise Pidge on the radio after Green took a direct hit from a very powerful canon. The Lions may be near indestructible but their pilots won't. Hunk and Lance pulled the Green Lion out of the combat zone and Keith set his sights on dismantling that canon with his jaw blade. He took great pleasure in doing so while he waited for word on Pidge.

An agonizing ten minutes later he got word from Shiro that she was alive but knocked unconscious. The bad news was they wouldn't be able to form Voltron but Keith hadn't cared one iota about that. Since then he had found it very difficult to leave her side. She was lucky not to break any bones but her body was extremely sore and bruised. He knew she needed help with some stuff. Griffin told him he was being a clingy boyfriend but that didn't bother him. He had this driving need inside of him to ensure his girlfriend was safe and until she was back to 100% he would hover and cling!

Pidge's comm started to ring and Keith tried to reach across the bed to silence the unit before it woke her up. Her body was healing from the trauma and as a result Pidge was more inclined to sleep in on mornings. He was too late though for Pidge's small hand enclosed around the comm before he got to it. He felt like murdering whoever dared to wake her up.

"Hello," her sleepy voice said.

"Katie!" Romelle's exuberant one said.

Keith growled and Pidge lightly slapped his arm.

"I suppose your dinner went great?" Pidge asked as she stretched out besides Keith. That meant she was up for the day and he much rather her stay in bed and rest.

"It was absolutely horrendous," Romelle said furious.

Keith did a double take at how quick her tone changed.

Pidge sighed, "What happened? The last I heard you had collected the food from Hunk."

"Oh I did. I had the table all perfectly laid exactly as Hunk instructed but all he wanted to do was get laid. Like an absolute fool, I let him and he left right after claiming he was tired. I told him if he walked out that door it was over but he still walked out so I guess I'm officially single. There's an Earth saying about moving on to someone else so I'm going to try that. Allura and I are going shopping. Don't worry we'll pick up something for you to wear to the club tonight."

Keith narrowed his eyes; the last outfit Romelle picked up for Katie barely covered her ass.

"We'll be by this afternoon with Shay and we'll do our nails, hair, makeup and dress. Lance is being a spoilsport though. He is insisting that he has to come along because he has this ridiculous notion we'll get into trouble."

"That's because you usually do," Keith piped up. "And count me in as well." He knew there was no way he could convince Pidge to stay home so that meant he had to go.

"Keith?" Romelle said surprised, "You're still there. Usually you're beating up on some poor training robot."

"He's taken a few days off," Pidge explained with a happy smile.

"Why can't I get a boyfriend that will take time off to take care of me?" Romelle complained.

"I'll see you later Romelle," Pidge said ending the conversation. They both knew Romelle was about to go off on a rant.

Keith growled voicing his disapproval of going to the club when she terminated the call.

"You can't convince me not to go," she said.

"I know. Let me know what time to be ready for and I'll pick you girls up," he offered.

She wrapped her hands around him and kissed him deeply, "Thank you."

During the day Pidge told Keith he could collect them at Romelle's room at nine. Hunk, Shiro and Dustin all signed on to go as well. They decided to go in two cars, Keith's and Shiro's. Keith knocked on the door at nine sharp. There was loud music coming from behind the door and he could swear he also heard some giggling. He knocked on the door again. The longer the door stayed close the more his irritation grew.

"Let me," Lance said appearing behind him. He made two fists and pounded both hands on the door screaming at the top of his lungs to let him in. The door opened and he almost fell on top of Pidge but Keith's quick reflexes pulled the taller man away from his girlfriend.

"Hi," Pidge said with a bright smile. The first thing Keith noticed was that her lips were painted a bright red colour.

He surveyed her up and down. She was wearing a red halter dress that stopped just above her knees. Keith was quite pleased that they finally picked an acceptable dress for her until she turned around. The dress dipped all the way down to the top her butt showing off all of her back.

He looked angrily at Romelle, "Must you always get her something so revealing?"

"Must you always have a stick up your ass?" Romelle retorted.

"It's there so I can pull it out at the appropriate time and beat annoying people!" Keith replied.

"Ok settle down you two," Pidge said. "Shiro is downstairs waiting with Hunk. Shay will obviously be going with them which leaves the rest of us with you Keith?"

She was looking at him earnestly to see if that was ok. "Let's go."

The ride to the club was uneventful. Lance sat up front with him and the three girls sat in the back. Keith dropped them in front of the club, he had learned previously that when girls were in high heels you needed to drop them as close to the door as possible, and then parked the car. He was fortunate enough to get a spot next to Shiro.

Dustin and Shiro were waiting for him and they walked back to the club together. The others, not including Pidge, had already entered the club since the Paladins were VIP customers. She was waiting next to a rather large security guard by the VIP entrance for them. Keith's hand fell to the small of her back to guide her through the door. His hand contacted her bare skin and he felt goose bumps form under his touch. She was very sensitive on her back.

Inside, the group claimed a table in the VIP area and ordered two bottles of wine and beer. After a few rounds of drinks, they decided to head to the dance floor. Keith remained behind at the table with a tall glass for ginger ale. He was the driver and the one that needed to keep a clear head tonight. Plus he wasn't much of a dancer. He preferred to stay seated and observe. The VIP area was a few feet higher than the dance floor which gave him a clear view of what they were up to.

Hunk and Shay were swaying out of time at the edge of the dance floor, Shiro and Dustin had disappeared off to the back where Keith knew some of the couples went to make out, Lance, Alllura, Romelle and Pidge were grouped together dancing. Lance was a great dancer and the girls liked to dance with him. He often rotated between them.

As expected, Alllura, Romelle and Pidge attracted a lot of male attention. Everyone that hit on Pidge, she directed towards Romelle who relished in the attention. There was one man Keith noticed that was having a hard time accepting no. He came back a second time to try and dance with Pidge but Lance headed him off by dancing with her. The third time Keith saw the man approach, he stood and started heading over to his girlfriend.

He watched horrified as the man put his hand on Pidge's wrist. She tried to twist out of it and turn his hand behind his back but he saw pain reflect on her face as she tried to twist since her muscles were still very sore. She used another technique just to break the man's grasp on her hand. Any other day she would have handled herself easily but with her health in its current state she needed a little bit of help.

The man tried to hold on to her again but Keith stopped his hand.

"She said NO!" he said firmly.

"Fuck off dude," the man said pulling away from him, "No one asked you. I saw her first," the man insisted.

Keith clenched his fist tightly. He really wanted to punch this man in his face. "No is no. The sooner you learn that the easier time you will have."

"If you're trying to impress her by playing hero," the man accused him

"I don't need to impress her, I am her boyfriend already," Keith said.

"Oh so you think because you're her boyfriend she couldn't possibly want the attention of a better man," he spat at Keith.

Keith wanted to hit him but he felt Pidge's small hands wrap around his left fist.

"He's not worth it," she said to him.

Keith looked up at the man, "Just get lost!"

"No, she wants me. You don't speak for her," the guy refused.

"I can speak for her because she allows me to speak for her and I will break your face for her because it will keep her from bruising her knuckles and getting blood on her dress. Though considering the colour tonight, no one will notice it. You have three seconds to get lost," Keith said raising his fists.

Pidge gave a resigned sigh, "If you must rearrange his face go ahead."

"Whatever," the man said stepping away.

Keith watched him go while Pidge wrapped her hands around him.

"Thank you. I have the best boyfriend in the entire universe who knows when to help and when to let me handle things," she declared proudly.

Keith felt warm flood his chest at the praise. "I think I'll stay here a bit with you."

She looked up at him surprised, "Are you sure? I know you don't like to dance. You don't have to stay."

Keith wrapped his arms around her, "We can sway," he offered. That was really all he knew how to do.

"Ok," she said resting her head against his chest as they swayed slowly while the rest of the club danced to the quick beat around them.

Keith thought back to the rings in the jewelry store and he felt like it was time to start looking.

An: Thanks for reading.