Klance, Plance and Kidge oneshots

Grief: Denial (Part 1)

Keith tapped his foot gently to the beat of the song. His earbuds were plugged in as he stared down at his worksheet. The numbers and words seemed to float off the page and he didn't care to answer any of them. He looked over to his left at the others sitting at his table. His friends Lance and Hunk sat in the seats next to him, and Katie (or Pidge, as they called her) sat at the very end.

He checked his phone, seeing a bunch of messages and notifications. He looked up at his professor and, seeing as he wasn't paying attention, unlocked his phone and scrolled through. Most of then we're about an accident at the Garrison University. He would have been concerned, but his older brother Shiro had earlier messaged him saying that he wasn't at school that day.

"Professor Coran, may I speak to Katie Holt?" a man poked his head into the room. Keith recognized him as the counselor. Upon the sound of the name, the girl's head popped up.

"Please," Professor Coran answered, gesturing for Katie to get up. She slowly rose from her seat, a look of concern etched across her face. She followed the man into the hallway.

"I promise, you're not in trouble. We have some... news, that couldn't wait," the counselor said. They stood in the hallway for a moment, and Keith watched the exchange through the small glass window in the door. Then his phone made a ding-a-ling sound.

Brogane: Talk to Katie. And ask her to come over for dinner. She can't be alone.

Keith: What? What happened?

Before Shiro replied, everyone's attention was turned from the lecture to Katie's voice raising.

"Yeah, that's really funny. I'm surprised they got you in on it too Mr. Jackson." Katie crossed her arms. "May I go back into class now?"

"Katie. This isn't a joke. There's been an accident. Your family... they didn't make it out." Mr. Jackson placed his hand on her shoulder and she pulled away, trekking back into the classroom and plopping herself back in her seat.

Fighting back tears, she focused her attention on the math worksheet. Lance looked at her. He looked like he had something to say, but he kept his mouth shut. Hunk tried to Pat her on the back, but she shifted her shoulder so that his hand could no longer reach it.

The bell rang for lunch and Katie ran from the classroom, no longer able to stop the tears from flowing. She left the school and walked down the driveway. It was long, and she just continued walking.

It couldn't be true. Her family had to have made it out. There was no way that they were gone.

They aren't. They are going to be there when I get home.

She walked into the road, ignoring the honking of the cars skidding to a halt around her. She thought about laying on the ground, and beckoning the cars to drive. But she continued walking. She walked until she reached the nearest 7/11.

She walked in the door, grabbed four packets of gum, a bag of Salt & Vinegar chips, and she filled up the largest Slurpee cup she could find. She put in all the flavours and filled up three more for her friends back at the school. If her parents were alive, they would call her and complain about how much she had put on her card.

She thanked the cashier after packing everything into her backpack and situating the cups so that she could carry them, and swiftly walked out the door. Any minute now, her mother would call her. Any minute, her mother would lecture her for spending so much. At any second, Katie would drop to her knees and cry tears of joy at the sound of her mother's voice. The living, breathing sound of her voice.

She walked back into the school, and plopped herself down in front of the three boys, spreading out the drinks and chugging down an 8th of her own. She looked all three boys dead in the eyes as she opened the chip bag and stuffed her face, then threw three of the four gum packets on the table in front of them.

"Take 'em," she said. The boys looked at her with concern and confusion.

"What?" Katie asked.

"Katie," Hunk started. "We heard what happened. Are you okay?"

"Of course she's not okay, dipshit." Lance whacked Hunk lightly on the back of the head. "She was just told about her family's death."

Now it was Keith's turn to hit Lance upside the head. Except he wasn't light about it, causing Lance to coil forwards slightly on impact.

The bell rang, and Katie stood, taking her backpack and Slurpee cup and walking away from the boys, beckoning Keith to follow her to their science class.