Keith knew he was being stupid.

Rationally, he knew that it was idiotic. In his head he knew that this fear was silly. Logically, he knew that it couldn't hurt him. He knew that it was probably more scared of him than he was of it. Keith knew all of this- he really did. 

But even then, he was unable to stop the unexplained fear that clenched his heart the first time he saw it. He backed into the wall, putting as much distance between it and him.

He was being stupid, and he knew it.

But knowing he was being stupid did nothing to quench the high pitched (and rather girly) scream that escaped from his dry throat when the spider-like creature raised one of its hairy legs from just behind the kitchen cabinet. It didn't stop him from screeching when it scuttled across the kitchen floor to the other side of the room.

He knew that the alien spider meant him no harm, and he knew that his fear was irrational. But he screamed anyway. It was loud enough that it caught the attention of the other paladins, who immediately rushed to his aid. 

With a loud crash and a grunted reprimand of 'Dammit Lance.' the other paladins stood in the kitchen doorway, bayards drawn.

Shiro looked to Keith, searching him for injury or wounds. Lance glanced about the room, in search of an enemy or another form of danger. When both paladins found nothing, they sighed and lowered their bayards, prompting the others to do the same.

"Keith, are you okay? What happened?" Shiro asked. Keith looked down, fighting to steady his heart rate and keep his face a neutral colour.

"M'fine..." He grumbled, avoiding eye contact as the slight heat crept up from his neck to his cheeks. He looked to the far wall, only to spot the spider once more. His heart froze for a second.

Keith shrieked again and jumped behind Hunk; hoping that the biggest paladin would be adequate protection against the terrifying beast.

"What the hell?" Pidge said, looking around for the apparent danger. After a few moments she managed to trace Keith's gaze to the spider on the wall.

"Really?" she deadpanned, shooting Keith an exasperated look.

"Shut up." he replied, adopting an embarrassed scowl and ducking further behind Hunk.

"Oh my god-!" Pidge gasped, struggling to get the words out around her sudden laughter. She snorted as Shiro elbowed her in the side to no effect. "Keith is scared of spiders!"

"Laugh it up Pidge, I bet there's something you're scared of." Lance said, locating a cup and tossing it to the waiting Shiro, who proceeded to catch the creature. He left the cup there so he could dispose of it later.

Keith relaxed slightly, coming out from behind Hunk with a thunderous expression on his face. He glared at the others, his expression daring them to make fun of his fear. When no one said anything, he moved his gaze to the floor and began to glare holes into the surrounding tiles.

"Ice cream." Lance said suddenly, breaking the building tension.

"What?" Keith said, looking fully at the blue paladin. He furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Ice cream." Lance repeated, watching the cup with a thoughtful look on his face. He refused to look to Keith as he said this, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

"What about it?" Hunk asked, unsure as to how the frozen treat had anything to do with the current situation.

"I'm terrified of it," Lance explained with a shudder.  "Mama once asked me to go out with my younger family members to get some and it. Was. Terrible." 

A lopsided grin formed on his face, though he still didn't meet Keith's eyes. "Honestly, nine kids of varying ages, being taken care of by an irresponsible thirteen-year-old? Never again."

Shiro, picking up on Lance's intended purpose of sharing his fears, began to speak.

"Button down shirts, I never liked them" Shiro admitted, looking to the ceiling in thought. "They take too long to get off and I feel trapped;" he began to unconsciously fiddle with the sleeve that covered his prosthetic arm. "I'm not very good with buttons."

Hunk cleared his throat. "Electric mixers," he confessed. "I watched a movie where someone got shocked by one. Haven't picked one up since."

Having already said something, everybody turned to look at Pidge, who blushed and looked away.

"What're you looking at?" She grumbled, crossing her arms defensively in front of her. Hunk and Lance looked at each other and grinned, before dive-bombing the smaller pilot.

"What are you doing?" Pidge started, trying desperately to wiggle out of their combined grasp. "Stop!"

"You have until zero before we tickle it out of you." Lance said, fist bumping Hunk when his words caused the green clad paladin to pale significantly.

"You wouldn't dare." she snarled, horror adorning her face.

"Three." Hunk started cheerfully, adjusting his grip so he could free one hand. He held it up in front of Pidge, wriggling his fingers.

"Two~" Lance smirked, hovering his hand over her side tauntingly.

"O--"

"Okay okay!" Pidge shrieked, sighing in relief as she was released. "Teddy bears."

Keith raised an eyebrow at her, and she rushed to explain.

"When I was four, Matt edited my teddy so that it growled whenever I picked it up..." Pidge muttered, looking pointedly in the opposite direction of the rest of the group.

The other paladins began to laugh and Keith allowed himself to smile slightly. His team had just shared some of their most embarrassing fears, all to save him from his own humiliation. They had opened themselves to ridicule to make him feel better. He appreciated that.

It was just like having a family.

a/n 9.4.2017 | General edit; helping the flow of the story and fixing pronoun errors for Pidge.
Also, if any of y'all wanna make a cover, that'd be amazing! (We give credit in the story description, and a shout-out in our message feed!)