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“Kolivan?”
Keith opened the door of his room after a couple of knocks echoed. The leader of the Blades, and his personal mentor, stood outside. Keith stepped aside, allowing him in.
“Something wrong?” Keith asked, locking the door again.
“There is something I would like to talk to you about.” Kolivan started, folding his arms behind his back. “I would just like to ask you something.”
“Yea?” Keith tilted his head to the side and crossed his arms.
“How do you humans demonstrate affection for each other, in a way to say that one is important to you?”
“Uh... what ?”
Kolivan shifted his weight awkwardly between his feet, “I just thought that now that I have five earthlings around that I would learn some of your customs.” He averted his gaze and continued, “So, how would you do that?”
Keith narrowed his eyes trying to read through Kolivan, “This depends on who the person is. There's different ways to do that depending on who the person is to you.”
“If it was your parent, how would they do that to you?”
“I don't know, my parents left me.”
“Oh—. I'm sorry.”
“It’s okay...”
An awkward silence lingered for a moment. Kolivan cleared his throat and cautiously tried again.
“However, you must have an idea of how a parent would do that to their children, correct?”
“Uh, yeah—,” Keith scratched the back of his neck, “I— I think they must tell their children that they're important to them. And maybe a hug, too. We hug the people that are important to us.”
At those words, Kolivan walked up and bent forward, opening his arms and wrapping them carefully around Keith.
“Uh…Kolivan?”
“Matt told me what happened— or, what almost happened.”
Keith's body stiffened, muttering “It was the only way—”
“Keith—”
“They all were going to die!” Keith pushed Kolivan away just enough to slip from his embrace, “I had to do something, okay, I couldn't let that happen!”
“Keith.”
“This is war, people die in wars.” Keith snapped, crossing his arms over his chest and averting his gaze. He paused, and then spoke up again almost in a whisper, “Besides, you guys can go on without me.”
Kolivan straightened his back again, taking a couple steps closer to Keith. “Perhaps soldiers in a war are in fact replaceable. But, you , are not.” He lifted one of his hands and gently dragged Keith's chin in his direction, “You, as your own person, as an individual, you're irreplaceable, Keith.”
Keith turned his gaze away and a tear rolled down his face. And then another. And another . Kolivan wrapped his arms around him again, this time firmly, and pulled him close.
“You're important, Keith. You're important to me. And not just because you're one of us now, a Blade. You're much more than a title or a mission. I hope you understand that.” Kolivan's words were as soft as he could make them. Keith let out a loud sob and unfolded his arms, wrapping them around Kolivan and allowing himself to cry.
Kolivan held him closer and nuzzled his hair. Keith was so tiny in his arms. A comforting purr rose in the back of his throat, and he continued nuzzling him. Perhaps purring or nuzzling were not exactly how humans comforted one another, but for a moment Keith was not a human that showed up in space with a glowy knife. He was a very tiny Galra cub that needed to be told how important he was more regularly. And if this would require a hug a day, or whatever else humans might do, then that's what Kolivan was going to do for this, now his , cub.