Work Text:
"Confrontational"
Keith was having a good day. He was happy that his team, his pack, and Shiro and Adam were at the same place. He hadn't thought anything was going wrong until he heard the growls.
He recognized the growls as his mother's. He followed the sounds and found himself at Shiro's and Adam's apartment. He opened the door and saw an amazing sight. Adam was being restrained by Shiro, and Kolivan was holding Krolia back. Krolia was growling at Adam.
"How dare you say I don't care about my kit!"
"You don't have the right to call him your 'kit'!"
"He has always been my kit!"
"You left him!"
"Adam, that's enough! We've been through this before!" Shiro exclaimed.
"Why aren't you upset with her, Takashi? We raised Keith here at the Garrison, where she just abandoned him and his father!"
"I didn't abandoned them! I left to protect them!"
"Some protection! Keith's father died, and Keith went into foster care!"
At the mention of his father's death, Keith whimpered, drawing everyone's attention.
"Keith?"
"Kit?"
"Why are you two fighting?" Tears appeared in Keith's eyes. "You're family."
Seeing the tears in Keith's eyes caused Krolia and Adam to get loose from Shiro's and Kolivan's holds and head over towards Keith. Keith realized that they meant to hug him but didn't want them to hug him if they were still fighting. He growled in their direction, which did cause them to pause but only for a moment. They continued coming closer, causing Keith to back up. He bumped into someone behind him, and a quick look showed him it was the Paladins, specifically Hunk. Keith smiled and turned around fully to hug the Yellow Paladin. Even though he was surprised, Hunk still wrapped his arms around his team leader.
Out of his periphery, Keith could still see Krolia and Adam coming closer. He turned his head and gave a short hiss, which startled the two of them as he had never made that sound before. Even though Keith had never made that sound before, both Adam and Krolia could tell they were supposed to stay back.
"Take it easy, Space Cat." Lance came up next to Keith and Hunk. "By the way, you know you're getting a group hug, right?"
Keith gave a tiny smile and purred. "Of course." Having heard that, Lance and Pidge joined the group hug. "But does anyone know how this started?"
"I can tell you, Keith," Allura spoke up, patting the spot next to her. Keith was released from the group hug, and he took a seat next to the princess. "We were doing introductions. Well, it was myself and the Blades as Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro knew Adam. The introductions were going well until Krolia mentioned she was your mother. Adam seemed to take offense to the fact that you allowed her back into your life so easily after what he called abandonment."
"Everyone thought it was abandonment, except for my Dad and my Mom, of course. In truth, she left to protect me mostly when I was a few months old."
"How could you know that? You couldn't have remembered it," Adam argued.
Keith sighed. "I saw it. When Mom and I were in the Quantum Abyss, there were these flashes of light that showed us mostly events of the past. This was one of the first events it showed us over the course of the two years we were there."
"Two years?" Adam echoed.
"Yeah. Time passes differently in that area of space. It was two years for us but only a week to you guys. It really gave me the time I needed to reconnect with Mom. It was awkward at first, but then we talked about what happened and were shown events that healed the hurt caused by her leaving."
"So, you didn't just immediately accept her back into your life." Adam sounded like he finally understood what was going on.
"No, I didn't." Then, it hit Keith why Krolia and Adam had been so hostile to each other. They had misconceptions about each other's role in his life and perhaps thought they were being replaced. Keith chirped at the two of them, beckoning them close. Krolia immediately came over and knelt on the floor next to Keith's legs. Keith waved Adam over, and the brunette officer mimicked Krolia's position. "Both of you are important to me. So important that neither of you can be replaced. After my stint in foster care, Adam and Shiro were like a set of parents to me."
Adam snickered. "It was more like I was the parent to a sharp tongued cadet and a wild, disaster of a lieutenant."
"Touché, but the point remains. Can you two at least be civil to each other?"
Krolia smiled and hesitantly nuzzled Keith, glad when he responded with a nuzzle of his own. "Of course, kit." She turned to Adam. "I think we got off on the wrong foot as my mate would say."
"Your mate sounds like someone I would have gotten along with."
"Undoubtedly, so do you have any stories about Keith growing up?" Krolia stood up.
"Mom!"
"Of course, and I will swap them for any stories about baby Keith." Adam also got to his feet.
"Adam!"
Krolia grinned. "Deal."
Keith buried his head in his hands. He was going to regret having those two make up; he just knew it.
Fin