Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Keith, you can’t stand here all day.” Keith shifts at Allura’s words from behind him. He knew that he couldn’t stand outside the door to the Altean castle’s kitchen all day. He knew that at some point he had to go inside and do what he and Allura had talked about and yet, he really didn’t want to do so. So many things could go wrong! It’s why he hadn’t come and done it after his and Allura’s first conversation.

“I can.” He’s aware of how petulant his voice must sound because he feels Allura slowly sliding her arms around his waist. Although the rest of the castle knew that they were a couple now, Keith still felt odd displaying their affection so openly, so he squirms a little bit. However, this only causes the Princess to tighten her grip.

“Keith.” She whispers it in his ear, in that breathy tone that always got the raven-haired male to pay attention. “Why did you ask me to come with you to the kitchen?” He nearly groans at that, instantly regretting asking Allura to come help him with his task.

“So that I wouldn’t chicken out again.”

“Exactly. So, go invite him back to our room to talk.” She straightens up as she talks, her arms slipping away from his waist. Keith wills his feet to walk forward, to just enter the kitchen. But they don’t listen and his heart begins to pound more. Sighing, he turns and rests his forehead against the corridor wall. “Keith?”

“It’s not that easy.” He says quickly, trying to avoid getting the Princess worried about him again. She had worried when he had had a panic attack a few weeks ago about the current plan to stop Zarkon and had stayed up all night just watching over him. He didn’t need her worrying like that over him ever again.

“Why isn’t it?” The Red Paladin relaxes the minute he feels Allura’s slim fingers running through his hair reassuringly. It was such a simple action but one that felt safe and reassuring for him. He focuses on his breathing and straightens up after a little while, only to catch a glimpse of the Princess’ concerned expression.

“Because…” Keith bites his lip, trying to find the right words to articulate what he was feeling. He glimpses at Allura and sees her watching him patiently, waiting for him to find the words he needed, so he takes a deep breath and tries to focus. “What if he isn’t interested in having a relationship with me? Or what if he is, but not if I’m dating you at the same time?”

“I’ve seen how he looks at you Keith. He’s definitely interested in you, but as for being interested in me too – you will have to ask him.” Keith makes a strangled noise at that. He didn’t want to ask Hunk that. It had been hard enough to explain it to Allura who he was already dating and then he had found out that Altean culture had always seen multiple partners as the norm. Allura found it as normal as the sun rising and Keith had still been awkward. He couldn’t imagine what he would be like telling Hunk.

“What if he’s not interested in dating you though?”

“Then like we discussed he can date only you if he wants, and you can date us both.” Allura takes a few steps forward, closing the distance between them and gently pulls Keith into a loose hug. The Red Paladin doesn’t fight her and instead leans forward and rests his head on her shoulder without thinking too much about it. “But Keith, you’re stalling.”

“Maybe.”

“If you don’t do it; I will.” Keith looks up at that and pulls a face. He half wanted Allura to do it, but he also wanted to do it himself. He could do it himself. Allura was right it wouldn’t be that hard. He had managed to tell Allura about his crush on Hunk eventually after all. And this was only inviting Hunk back to their room, it wasn’t as embarrassing as that.

“Wait here.” The Red Paladin murmurs before moving to the kitchen door and walking in to see Hunk reading something off a tablet. The Yellow Paladin looks so focused on the ingredients he was mixing in the bowl and Keith can’t bear to interrupt him. He goes to turn back and leave only to squeak when he sees Allura watching him.

“Keith?” Keith tenses at Hunk’s soft voice and turns back around slowly. “Did you make that squeak?” The raven-haired boy knows that at this point he might as well just accept defeat and walks over to the counter to lean against it. Something that, from the way he leans back a little, Hunk hadn’t been expecting.

“Uh… yeah… What are you cooking?” He says rather hurriedly, trying to shift the attention away from his embarrassing squeak. Plus, he was always happy to hear Hunk gush about whatever he was currently cooking or baking. He liked seeing the way the taller male’s warm brown eyes lit up as he explained his dishes and it was what had caused Keith to fall in love with him.

“Allura gave me one of the Altean cookbooks and told me her favourites… I think the Earth equivalent is Swiss Roll.” Hunk says with a grin as he gestures towards the thick volume open on the counter. Keith recognises some of the Altean symbols but is more focused on the fact that Hunk was making something for Allura. Maybe Allura had been wrong about Hunk having feelings for him. “Or at least that’s the closest thing we have to compare it too.”

“Oh…” The Red Paladin isn’t aware how sad the initial exclamation is until he looks up and sees Hunk’s eyebrows knitting together. He is suddenly aware that it showed just how disappointed he was that Hunk was making something for Allura, and not himself. He hated how jealous that made him look.

“You okay Keith?”

“Yeah just…” Keith looks over his shoulder at the door he had come in from and frowns a little when he sees Allura mouthing something at him. He had no idea what she was mouthing but he notices she moves very quickly out the way before he turns around and sees Hunk staring at the doorway. “Just… doesn’t Swiss Roll take ages to make?” He says, trying to distract Hunk from seeing Allura. He didn’t want to try and explain that to him just yet.

“Not too long, why? You wanting to hang out?”

“Kind of… I want to talk to you in mine and Allura’s room…”

“Why?” He can hear the confusion in Hunk’s voice. The tone that makes it clear that he doesn’t understand why Keith needs to take him to a different room just to speak to him. And Keith gets that. He knows that he could just tell Hunk in the kitchen but honestly, he was scared of having Lance or Pidge walk in while he was trying to explain to Hunk about how he had a crush on him. He didn’t want to be teased for having feelings for Hunk, just like Lance and Pidge had done when him and Allura had told everyone that they were dating. He couldn’t go through that again. Especially when he didn’t know how the Yellow Paladin was going to react.

“I… it’s embarrassing, can we just talk there?” The Red Paladin admits as he shifts awkwardly. Something that he knows is painfully obvious to anyone who looked at him, and judging from the way that Hunk leans over to check the recipe, Hunk was taking him seriously.

“Sure, this recipe says this needs to chill for an hour or so, so I’ll meet you there in like five minutes?” He says softly as he starts to cover the top of the bowl in what looks to be the Altean version of clingfilm.

“Yeah…” Keith lets his voice trail off and he starts to walk backwards out of the kitchen, only to be caught by Allura when he nearly falls over her foot as the door shuts behind him.

“You did it baby.” She praises with a kiss to her boyfriend’s forehead. A kiss that Keith definitely did not deserve. He didn’t do anything to deserve that kiss, he hadn’t even asked Hunk out. All he had done was invite the other male back to their room to talk.

“Not quite, he’s coming to our room to talk.” He says once Allura’s pulled back from the hug a little so they could walk back to their room. Although, he’s not surprised that once Allura hears that he hadn’t asked Hunk out, that she stops walking to stare at him. She doesn’t look mad or even upset, she just looks confused.

“I thought you were asking him out.”

“I thought about Lance or Pidge seeing me ask him and panicked.” The Red Paladin admits and as his eyes drop to the floor he feels the firm grip of the Altean Princess pulling him into a tight hug.

“Oh Keith.” Allura doesn’t sound impressed, but from the look on her face, Keith can also tell she had expected this. Keith had expected this himself after all. He remembered trying to  explain his desires to Allura, and she came from a culture where it was generally accepted. Hunk didn’t. Hunk came from a culture where it was still highly stigmatized, and Keith didn’t not want to be hated because of that. “Do you want me to be there when you explain?” She asks as she loosens her grip for them to continue to walk.

“I would prefer it if you were, it might help if I panic and forget to explain something.”  Keith decides as they reach their room. They had shared it ever since their final battle with Zarkon, when Shiro had disappeared. He had been thankful for the company, to have the Princess to cuddle up to when he needed it. To be able to turn and without her asking any questions, just hide his face into her shoulder and stay there. It had been comforting, so it made sense to him that he wanted her company when he told Hunk.

“Then I will stay.” She says it without hesitation, like there was never any doubt that she would do this for him. It was something Keith adored about his girlfriend and their relationship. They didn’t question each other’s boundaries. Allura knew that he wasn’t ready to tell her about his parents and so she didn’t ask about it, or about which of his parents had been Galran. While he didn’t ask about Altea, he waited for Allura to bring it up and then asked questions that would allow her to explain more if she wanted.

“Thanks, Allura.” He leans up and gently kisses her cheek as the door opens for them.

The room wasn’t as bare now that they shared a living space. Gone were the days where the only thing to clutter the room was Keith’s jacket. Now they had strands of traditional Altean decorations, that they had made together out of something that felt like paper, that hung from the ceiling and several photos were hung on the wall. Keith didn’t mind that most of the belongings were Allura’s, it meant the room felt lived in. It felt like a home, and that was all he had ever wanted.

“So, Hunk’s going to meet us here and you’re going to ask him out and then explain it to him?” The Princess says it as though it’s so simple, and he doesn’t blame her. It was simple, he was just anxious about Hunk’s reaction, about Pidge and Lance’s reactions. And because he was anxious, he wasn’t thinking clearly.

“Yeah that’s the plan.” He responds as he flops backwards onto their bed, causing several pillows to bounce and cover him. Not that he minded, he just needed to think of how he was going to word it to Hunk.

“It’s a pretty simple plan, you can do it.” She reassures as she next to him, immediately fixing the pillows while her boyfriend stares at the ceiling.

“What’s the plan?” Keith tenses at Hunk’s voice and scrambles to sit up. Neither Keith or Allura had heard the door open and now standing awkwardly in their room was Hunk. He was no longer wearing his apron, his hair is still messily tied up with his headband and some of the mixture is on his cheek, and yet; Keith still thinks he looks beautiful.

“Uh…my plan to ask you out.” Keith explains as he feels his cheeks heating up. He really hadn’t expected the conversation to go this way so fast. He had been expecting to ease into the topic, but being thrown in the deep end was something that he had learnt to cope with since becoming a Paladin.

“I thought you were dating Allura?” There was the reaction he had expected. The reaction most people would have when being asked out by someone that was in an established relationship without any news of a break up. And he knew that yes, sometimes people would cheat on their partners but when Allura’s hand was resting on his knee he had assumed that Hunk wouldn’t be so oblivious.

“He’s still dating me.”

“But…” Hunk shifts his weight as he talks and Keith gnaws on his lip. He recognised those signs as Hunk trying to figure out what he wanted to say next. It was usually seen in delicate situations where Hunk knew that saying the wrong thing could blow up in his face, and Keith is touched that the Yellow Paladin is being considerate. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” He finally admits and Allura squeezes Keith’s knee in response. They had guessed that this was more than likely going to be the result of telling Hunk, and she knew that the Red Paladin had to be feeling more relaxed now at the anticipated reaction.

“I want to date both of you.” Keith admits softly before he takes Allura’s hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. It’s mainly to reassure himself but he knows she’ll get some comfort from the action too.

“At the same time?”

“Yes.”

“You want to date me?” Hunk sounds shocked and it makes Keith return to biting his lip harder as he nods in response. Had he unknowingly hit a raw nerve by asking Hunk out? He had been fairly certain that Hunk would be okay with it, after all he had been okay with Shay’s advances from the looks of it. “Why?”

“Because…” Hunk’s question stumps the Red Paladin. He had never thought that it would come up. His biggest worry had been Hunk not understanding the concept of dating two people at the same time, not that the bigger male would be concerned as to why he wanted to date him. He feels his heart pound and looks at Allura for help.

“Hunk, if I may, Keith came to me a few movements ago and started to tell me about how he finds it attractive that you tie your hair up when you train and bake. So, I decided to pair you up for that mission on the Weblum.” Allura says softly and squeezes her boyfriend’s hand, deciding to be supportive for now. She could tease him later about it after all. “It was so he could get to spend some one on one time with you and he came back and gushed to me all night about how you had been amazing.”

“He did?” Hunk sounds shocked by this knowledge and it makes the Princess laugh a little. She had thought it was obvious that her boyfriend was crushing on the Yellow Paladin. She had seen the stares, the way Keith would linger, or be the first to volunteer to help Hunk wash the dishes or train. Maybe all Earthlings were just oblivious. A quick glance at her boyfriend gave her an indication of just how embarrassed he was and she gives him yet another squeeze.

“He wants to date you because he enjoys your company and spending time with you, that much I can assure you of.” Allura says before turning back to Keith and nudging him to speak. She knew she couldn’t do everything for him, but hopefully the smaller male was feeling a little bit more confident now. Although judging from the shade of red he was, that was not the case.

“I don’t get how it would work though. That’s my main worry. Like do the pair of you come as a package deal or would I just be dating Keith? And even then, do you have to come on dates if me and Keith ever have one? Or are we free to do our own stuff whenever we want to?” Keith smiles a little at hearing Hunk ramble. He liked it when the other male rambled. You could see his brain working at a hundred miles a second, it fascinated him and at the same time it was endearing, even if Keith couldn’t keep up with his questions.

“Keith would be dating me, and dating you. We don’t have to date each other if you don’t want to. We would make some guidelines as well so that we know what we all want from the relationship. That’s what me and Keith both agreed on.” Allura explains after a few minutes when it’s clear to her that Keith had not managed to keep up with his questions. Hunk moves slightly towards one of the hanging decorations as he thinks it over, admiring the yellow, red and pink as the room falls into silence.

“I’d like to give it a shot.”

“Give what a shot?” Keith asks almost immediately. Had it actually worked out the way he had been hoping? It would be amazing if it had but he wasn’t trying to get his hopes up. He knew how easily he could have misunderstood Hunk’s words.

“Dating both of you. I would like to try it.” The Yellow Paladin manages to say it before all three of them jump at the sound of the alarms blaring. “Answer the alarms and then discuss it further?” He suggests as he hits the button to open the door.

“It’s a date.” Allura says as she pulls Keith to his feet. She can feel the Red Paladin vibrating with energy as she watches Hunk run off to the bridge. What she wasn’t expecting was to have him pull her down for a fairly passionate kiss.

“Thank you for helping me ask him Allura.” He whispers before taking her hand and running with her to the bridge. He was desperate to answer the alarms so that they could discuss things further.

Chapter Text

Hunk was nearly bouncing out of his Lion before he had even touched back down in his hangar. The fight had been long yes, but Allura had given them very specific instructions from the Castle using the Blade of Marmora intel to help take down the Galran fleet they had encountered. It had been a little hard with only four Lions, but Hunk knew that there wasn’t much they could do about Black being out of commission just yet.

Hell, Hunk wasn’t even sure he wanted to think about how they would have to fix that problem. One of them would have to take over as the Black Paladin while Shiro was missing and that was not a conversation the Yellow Paladin wanted to have just yet. Keith would be reluctant to replace Shiro, and Hunk didn’t want to leave Yellow. He didn’t know about Pidge, but he knew Lance would be curious about it. Allura probably would be too.

No, the conversation that the Yellow Paladin wanted was the one that was going to be taking place in Allura and Keith’s room. The conversation about them, and this relationship, about how it was going to work. He doesn’t try to lie to himself as he walks down to the room, he was nervous. He had seen how happy Keith and Allura were when he had agreed to try the relationship out. Although, he did chalk that up to the fact that they both knew what this relationship would entail. He still wasn’t sure, and was very much looking forward to the pair of them explaining it to him.

He was so excited he hadn’t even gotten changed out of his paladin armour before he left to have this conversation, and had only gotten halfway to his partners’ room when Lance snagged him by the elbow and tugged him into his room.

“Lance,” Hunk’s voice is deceptively light, a tone that he normally reserved for when Lance was in trouble and he wanted the brunet to realise that as quickly as possible. “What are you doing?” He asks as he watches the Blue Paladin hit the lock button on his bedroom door.

“I need to talk to you.” Lance whispers it as though it’s a big secret and Hunk shifts his weight from one foot to the other. He would just have to wait to talk to Keith and Allura. No big deal. They would understand.

“Go on then.” He says as he leans against the wall. He notes that Lance had gotten changed since leaving his Lion. Well, changed was a bit of an understatement. He had taken the armour off and left the black suit on underneath. It looked good on Lance, and was something that the Yellow Paladin knew he had to be truly comfortable to do that himself.

“Did… Did Keith seem rather excited about blowing up a Galra fleet to you?” Hunk loves Lance, he really does but every now and again; Lance says something that tests his patience. This was one of those times. He knew that Keith’s mental health had been a big concern for Lance since Shiro’s disappearance, but he also knew why Keith was in a better mood than usual and he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to share that with Lance just yet.

If he knew what the relationship would entail maybe he would feel differently. Making a mental note to tell Lance everything after it was all explained to him, Hunk thinks back to the battle. Keith had seemed a tad more excited than usual but he had just thought that it was cute, and not really anything to comment on.

“Does it matter? Maybe he was just happy to blow up a fleet? It is the first mission that we’ve had in a while.” He didn’t say that it was their first mission since they had lost Shiro. He didn’t want to be the one to say it, as though the words would carry throughout the castle and everyone else would hear it. He didn’t want to do it, so he bit his tongue. Lance, as usual, seems to understand his true meaning and nods.

“Yeah, it’s just… I guess it’s just been a while since I’ve heard him joke so openly.” Lance scratches the back of his neck as he talks and Hunk wastes no time in pulling the smaller male into a tight hug.

“Keith will be okay Lance, he has you and the rest of us looking out for him. We’ll get Shiro back and it’ll be okay.” He murmurs into the brunet’s hair as he feels the familiar feeling of Lance melting into his hold. It was almost like they were back at the Galaxy Garrison.

Lance had always done this at the Garrison. Every time they failed the simulator when they had gone back to the dorm room they shared, they just hugged. More often than not they fell asleep curled up on Hunk’s bunk together. It had been a comfort thing for Lance because he was so used to having hugs from family members whenever something went wrong, and when he had explained it to the taller male he had agreed to be a surrogate for that. He hadn’t minded helping then, and he certainly didn’t mind now.

“I know he’ll be okay… just what if Shiro doesn’t come back?” Hunk moves his hand to rub at Lance’s back at the murmur. It was a thought he hadn’t wanted to entertain but he could now see that he was going to have to do so. “We’ll need a new Black Paladin…” The brunet mumbles it as he hides his face into Hunk’s shoulder, a familiar sign that he knew he was overthinking.

“Then, we find a new Paladin, people can switch Lions or maybe Allura will become our Black Paladin.” Hunk keeps his voice soft and reassuring, knowing that that was all Lance needed right now. “But, I think it’s something we should speak about as a team, okay?” He adds as he starts to steer Lance towards his bed. “For now, I think you should get some sleep.”

“Are you going to stay?” The brunet asks it in that quiet voice and Hunk’s resolve nearly crumbles. If he wasn’t going to have the conversation with Keith and Allura he would one hundred percent stay with the Blue Paladin. There wouldn’t be a single thing that would stop him. But he didn’t want to let the pair of them down, so instead he helps Lance into bed and takes a deep breath.

“I’ve got something that I need to do, but I will come see you afterwards. I’ll bring you some of those beans that make a pretty good coffee substitute.” He says as he tucks his best friend in. He hears Lance’s murmur of approval and seconds later, his friend is out like a light. It was something that had always amused the Yellow Paladin. Lance could fall asleep anywhere and no one, not even the dead, could wake him before he was ready. Lance had always described it as a talent and honestly, Hunk didn’t want to argue with him. It was pretty impressive after all.

Hunk’s careful as he leaves not to create too much of a sound, even though he knows it won’t wake the Blue Paladin up. It was more out of habit from sneaking around the Castle ship while everyone slept, or from when he woke to use the bathroom on those rare nights that they all slept in the main common room together. Pidge and Keith woke at the tiniest noise. Pidge wasn’t too bad, she was just always disorientated by the sound, and Keith usually tried to throw a knife at the offending noise. Whereas Allura just stared at whatever had made the noise before rolling back over and going back to sleep. As a result, he had gotten very good at navigating silently in the dark.

This time he manages to make it to Keith and Allura’s room uninterrupted, only to hear Allura chiding Keith. The door opens so slowly it’s almost painful to reveal the Princess knelt at Keith’s side tending to a wound on his arm. Keith, like Lance, had shrugged the armour parts of his suit off, the only difference being that the top portion was hanging around his waist.

“How’d you injure yourself?” Hunk asks before he can even stop himself. Seeing the pale skin of Keith’s upper arm covered in what was honestly too much blood for it to be a small cut.

“He forgot to strap himself in, Red did a flip and he ended up crashing into the console and his armour stabbed him.” Allura explains as she grabs a blue liquid to clean the wound site free of blood. She doesn’t seem to do so gently, a fact that is backed up by the way the Keith winces a little bit.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll make sure I strap myself in next time.” Keith says it rather dismissively and the Princess responds by pressing a little too forcibly with the cloth she was using. It makes Keith yelp and he pulls away a little. “Okay! I’ll strap myself in next time, Princess.” He mumbles as Allura starts to wrap the bandage around his arm.

“You better or I’ll announce your bad habit over the communication channels.” Hunk can’t help but snort at that, an action which earns a look of mock betrayal from Keith. He hadn’t meant to snort, but just the idea of Allura telling the entire team that Keith was reckless and didn’t strap himself in was highly amusing, considering Hunk was the only one that used the straps in the first place.

“Don’t encourage her.” The Red Paladin’s tone is one of offence but the smile on his face says something entirely different. It was as though conversations like this were common in their relationship, and at that thought Hunk feels a little in awe of their closeness.

“I get the feeling she would do it whether I encouraged her or not.” He says with a soft smile at Allura who’s putting the first aid kit back in one of the cupboards. The Princess doesn’t say anything to his statement, but she does flash him a quick grin which is enough to confirm his suspicions.

“More than likely yeah, but I can pretend.” Keith says as he starts to pull the undersuit back on, something that Hunk is thankful for. He didn’t want to stare at Keith’s chest the entire time they were talking. Especially not when every time he did so he couldn’t help but worry at how small the Red Paladin was. He had gained some muscle lately, but it was still clear just how much of him was skin and bone. “So, we have a lot to discuss.” Keith says as he taps the bed that he was sat on, indicating that Hunk should join him. The taller male doesn’t hesitate to cross to him and sit down as Allura settles down in a chair opposite them.

“Maybe Hunk should ask any questions he has first, Keith?” The Princess brushes a small amount of dirt off her dress as she talks, as though they were simply having a discussion about the weather. She doesn’t seem phased by the topic, making Hunk wonder just whose idea it was to initiate the relationship with him. “I’m sure it’s very daunting for him.”

It was.

“You’re right Allura.” Keith smiles a little awkwardly at the Yellow Paladin, as though trying to apologise for getting ahead of himself. He had forgotten that starting a polyamorous relationship wasn’t going to be as easy for Hunk as it had been for Allura and himself. And the last thing he wanted to do was make his new partner uncomfortable.

“It’s more I don’t get how it works?” Hunk says after a few minutes of deliberately choosing his words. “Keith is dating Allura, but he’s also dating me and I’m dating Allura, is that right?” He asks as he fiddles nervously with the gauntlets of the Paladin armour. He really didn’t want to mess this up.  He hears the small chuckle from Keith and then the smaller male is taking his hands in his.

“That’s right. Think of it as a triangle.” He squeezes Hunk’s hands as he talks, a small smile on his face. He had known that explaining it to Hunk would be a bit of a challenge given how unfamiliar with the concept he was, and for Allura it had been something she had been well aware of as she had grown up exposed to it. Hunk, as far as Keith knew, had had none of those experiences.

“We don’t have to do activities as a trio, unless all three of us want to.” Allura added as she focused on plaiting her hair while she talked. Keith knew she did that when she was nervous, and from the quick glance he shares with the larger male – Hunk had noticed that too.

“So, I could take you both on separate dates if I wanted?” Hunk asked, mainly for clarification because while he thought he understood what they were saying, this was a situation where he needed to make sure. He smiles, feeling Keith’s thumbs slowly massaging circles into his palm to reassure him, something that he had seen Allura do countless times to calm him down.

“Of course, Hunk.” Keith keeps his tone soft and looks up at him with such a soft smile. “I wouldn’t mind going on a date with you, I don’t think Allura would mind either.” He adds, flashing his girlfriend a smile, if only to see her cheeks flush slightly. He had known his statement would embarrass her but he wanted Hunk to see it too.

“In that case… you both mentioned working out guidelines for the relationship? Can we hold off on that until I’ve gone on a date with you both? I want to make sure that this is what I want.” Hunk asks as he squeezes Keith’s hand. He had seen the slight blush on the Princess’ cheeks and had found it rather adorable.

“We should be the ones taking you on a date.” The Red Paladin murmurs as he drops the eye contact from both of his partners. He had spent more than a few hours planning the perfect date for the Yellow Paladin and he really didn’t want that to go to waste.

“Would you prefer to take me on a date Keith?” Hunk asks as he starts to massage his thumb against Keith’s hands. “Because I would be okay with that. Same goes for you Allura.” He adds as he smiles at Allura. He was more than happy to let the pair of them take the lead until he was certain that this was what he wanted.

“I would like that.” Keith’s voice is quiet and so unlike him, that Hunk isn’t sure that it’s him that was speaking. He hadn’t seen Keith that quiet in a while and he had forgotten just how much it concerned him.

Maybe Lance was right about Keith’s mental health state?

“He’s spent hours planning the perfect date before he had even asked you out Hunk.” Allura’s says as she crosses over to sit next to Keith on the bed. There’s a small, cheeky grin on the Princess’ face and from the way that Keith’s cheeks immediately flush a deep scarlet; that wasn’t something that he had expected her to divulge.

“Allura!” Keith’s tone is playfully scandalized as he leans into his girlfriend’s side, a small smile on his face. Clearly, he was very happy with Allura, and that makes Hunk happy, they both deserved to be happy after all.

“What? If you’re going to make me blush in front of Hunk, I’m going to do the same thing.” The grin on the Altean’s face only grows as she teases the smaller male, her hand running through the raven’s hair. Her slender fingers working his hair free of tangles. It’s unclear to Hunk who finds it more relaxing but the sight itself is endearing.

“I told you I didn’t need to encourage her.” He keeps his voice soft as he teases the Red Paladin, mainly because he can see Keith starting to drift off in Allura’s arms. He didn’t blame him in the slightest. The battle had been long and tiring and he kind of wanted his own bed at the minute.

“I know, I know. So, I’ll get you tomorrow night after training?” Keith forces his eyes open to say that before he settles back down. Hunk knew from the nights that they had all slept in the common room that meant that he was close to falling asleep

“I’ll look forward to it.” Hunk said with a soft smile as he stood up from the bed, his hand dropping Keith’s as he moved. “And Allura, we could go out the night after?” He adds as he passes her the blanket that she gestures for.

“Sounds good to me, now go get some sleep Hunk.” Allura reaches over and gently squeezed Hunk’s hand as she takes the blanket and wraps it around the smaller male with great care. “I’ll look after this sleepy boy.” She adds as she gently lays him down in their bed, so that she could get changed after Hunk had left.

“Night Allura.” The Yellow Paladin says as he reaches the door, his eyes falling on Keith who had fallen asleep and was now cuddling the blanket close. He looked away to give Allura a smile before leaving the room. He hadn’t forgotten that he had promised to Lance that he would come back to him, so instead of heading back to his own room; he went back to Lance’s.

Hunk was fairly surprised that Lance had woken up when he got back to his room.  After all he had left the Blue Paladin to sleep when he hadn’t put his face mask on and he knew just how much Lance hated breaking his routine. However, Hunk wasn’t surprised to walk in to Lance dancing to music that wasn’t playing. A day had yet to go past were that hadn’t happened.

“Hunk!” Lance calls out as he turns to face him, his face now covered in the green face cream he used. “You really weren’t gone long.” He doesn’t sound like he’s judging him, but for some reason; Hunk still feels like he was on trial. Maybe it was just the best friend intuition that Lance possessed.

“Yeah, I just had to talk to Keith and Allura about something.” Hunk says it as he moves to grab the spare blankets and pillows from Lance’s cupboard. He was going to set up a bed on the floor next to the Lance’s bed, as opposed to sharing the bed with him. He would need to ask Keith and Allura if they were okay with it before he did it again.

“Ah the lovebirds, they both doing okay?”

“Yeah, I… I’m dating them both?” He hears Lance whirl round on his heel and the clatter of a lid hitting the floor. Hunk knew that Lance would find the news shocking but he hadn’t expected him to find it that shocking.

“Wait, what?!”

“I mean I’m going on a date with both of them…but yes, I’m dating them both.” The larger male says as he starts to strip the white parts of his armour off. He felt comfortable enough doing that around Lance, especially when the other wasn’t watching him. “Now, if you excuse me, I really want to sleep Lance.” He states it simply as he slipped under the pile of blankets that served as his makeshift bed.

“Fine, sleep now, details later.” Hunk can’t help but laugh at that. He knew that his friend wanted all the details but there wasn’t much to tell him other than that just yet. Besides, even if he didn’t want to tell him, Lance would just coax it out of him. So, instead of arguing he just nods and settles down to sleep.

“Night, Lance.”

“Night.”

Chapter Text

Keith was extremely nervous about his date with Hunk. It had been all that he had thought about during their daily training. He knew that Lance and Pidge weren’t happy about the extra training that he had requested they be put through, but they were now a Paladin short. He didn’t want to find a replacement for Shiro, so making sure that they were all up to the same standard was the only thing that he could think of for them to do.

Allura had agreed with him after all, and now that Shiro had gone she was now the acting leader until Shiro either came back or they found a new pilot for the Black Lion. Something that the Red Paladin really didn’t want to do. He wanted to believe they would find Shiro any day now. He had shut down any discussion about a new Paladin because, in his mind, finding a new Paladin meant admitting that they were not going to find Shiro. He didn’t want to give up hope just yet.

“What are you thinking about?” Allura asks as she starts to fix Keith’s fringe, revealing his beautiful, violet eyes so Hunk could see them clearly. They were the feature she admired the most about him, and she hoped that Hunk would feel the same way about them.

“Shiro.” The Red Paladin doesn’t see the point in lying to his girlfriend. She always knew when he was lying anyway, and she would get the truth out of him eventually. Her hand falters as she moves the final strands of hair out the way before she nods. She didn’t want to make Keith dwell on such a sad topic, especially not when he was meant to be going on a date.

“I thought you’d be thinking about that date.” She says softly, adjusting his familiar red jacket. He hadn’t worn it a lot lately due to a malfunction in the castle’s temperature regulator that made it warmer than normal, thankfully Coran had managed to fix it earlier in the day. She had missed seeing the smaller male in his red jacket. It suited him a great deal.

“I mean… I am but it’s more nervous thoughts about the date.” That didn’t surprise Allura. She had expected him to be nervous. She had gotten to know him extremely well over the course of their relationship and knew that he had something that the Earthlings called anxiety. Shiro had explained it to her once and told her how to help ease his anxiety. She liked to think that she had gotten good at doing so, but there were still days that she wished that Shiro was there to tell her what to do.

“You’ve got it all planned out though, remember?” She moves her hands down to take his in hers, a small smile playing on her lips. The Princess knew dates were nerve-wracking regardless of the amount of planning, but she just had to remind Keith that he was in control of this situation, not the anxiety.

“I know, but what if he doesn’t like it?” Keith’s voice is shaky, wracked with nerves and it nearly breaks Allura’s heart. She knew just how much effort he had put into thinking about this date, and how he lit up each time he had explained it to her. She didn’t want to see him lose that spark just because of nerves.

“Keith, he’ll love it.” Allura starts to rub her thumbs in circles across his palms, a technique that she had learnt from Shiro. She liked the way it made all the tension drop from the smaller male’s shoulders. “Will it help if you walk through the date with me again?” She asks when he looks back up at her.

“I think it would help, do you mind?” He sits down on their bed as he talks, knowing that he still had to put his shoes on. Allura wastes no time in sitting next to him, her hand resting on his thigh.

“Of course, I don’t mind Keith.” She didn’t know why he thought she would mind. She enjoyed hearing him talk about anything that he was interested in. She loved seeing the way his eyes lit up when he talked about his interests.

“So, we take the Red Lion to that planet you were telling me about, Luanova, and then we pick some fruit before we lay under the stars just talking.” Keith’s voice already sounds less shaky as he explains the basic plan for the date and she gently squeezes his thigh.

“Which fruit are you going to try?” Allura asks, hoping that her boyfriend had remembered which fruits were okay for the pair of them to eat. She really didn’t want them to end up getting injured or poisoned from eating the wrong ones.

“Inkberry, dewberry, tear blade, moon joy and sun violet.” He recalls almost instantly as he pulls his boots on. He had been thankful that Allura had schooled him on the fruit that was less likely to kill them. He can’t imagine poisoning Hunk or himself would have been a good first date.

“And which do we avoid?”

“Raven vine, thimbleberry, chramire, aabline and nizrore. I have the little cards you made for me.” He says as he stands back up, his heart beginning to pound once more. He didn’t understand why he was so nervous. He hadn’t been this nervous about his and Allura’s first date. Maybe that was because they had already started to date before they had gone on an official date?

“Have fun Keith, you can tell me about it when you get back in the morning. I’ll be spending the night with Lance having a... what did he call it again? A ‘spa day’?”

“Sounds like something he would call it.” Keith chuckles, his tension relaxing a little. Allura gives him a soft smile as she gathers her bathrobe and towel. The raven-haired male nods at that and pulls her close to give her a quick kiss.

“Have fun yourself Allura.” He said softly as he gently pulled away, a small smile on his lips as he started to walk out their room. He had no doubt that Allura would have fun. After all, she got on with Lance rather well now that he had stopped flirting with her. For now, Keith had to push that out of his head and focus on his date with Hunk. The date was going to go well. If he kept his focus on that, it would be fine.

He almost ran to Hunk’s bedroom now that he was ready. He couldn’t wait to see how Hunk reacted to the date that he had planned meticulously for hours now. He takes a few minutes once outside of Hunk’s door to compose himself. He was nervous, but the excitement was starting to take over, something that he was thankful for. He wanted this date to go perfectly and he wanted them to enjoy themselves. Taking a deep breath, Keith went to knock on the door only to jump when Hunk opened the door.

“There you are Keith, I was just going to come see if you were ready.” Hunk doesn’t sound displeased that the smaller male was late but that wasn’t what Keith’s first thought was.

His first thought was somewhere between panicking because the door opened suddenly and admiring how the larger male’s shirt clung to the muscles that he had seen in action countless times.

“Did… Did I keep you?” Keith knows he sounds worried but what else was he meant to sound like? He had showed up late after all. He hadn’t meant to, but his anxiety had needed to calm down somewhat before he had seen Hunk. Otherwise the Red Paladin would have become a puddle of nerves upon seeing his boyfriend.

“Not at all, I just had a feeling that Lance was going to come ask me to join in on his Spa Night and I didn’t know how to turn him down.” Hunk admits as he turns the light off in his room, the dull glow of his communication tablet still powering down lighting up his bed.

“You could have told him that we had a date.” The raven-haired male reaches for Hunk’s hand as the Yellow Paladin leaves his room. His fingers barely cover the back of the larger male’s hand, but holding Hunk’s hand makes him feel warm. Safe.

“Yeah, but then he would question you, and I wasn’t sure whether you wanted to tell people.” And at that, Keith nearly melts into a puddle. He hadn’t even expected Hunk to be considerate of that, but apparently, he hadn’t told his best friend everything just yet. It was a pleasant surprise.

Keith has a small smile on his face when he says, “Thank you.” They walk past his and Allura’s room on their way to the hangars. He was thankful that the larger male hadn’t asked what they were doing yet, he didn’t think he would be able to keep it a secret if he did. He had caved the very second Allura had asked him all those nights ago, albeit it had been partly her idea for this date, and telling her had helped him improve the date in certain areas. So, he doesn’t regret telling Allura, but he knew he would regret it if he told Hunk any details of what he had planned.

“So, what’s Allura’s plans while we go on our date?” Hunk’s question throws him for a loop. He hadn’t expected to hear him ask that. He had honestly been expecting to be asked about their date, not their girlfriend. It was a nice surprise and he didn’t mind telling him about her plans briefly. He knew Allura would tell him in more detail during their date tomorrow night before she asked how their date had gone.

“She’s going to Spa Night with Lance. She seemed excited.” He responds after taking a few moments to compose himself. He didn’t want to seem too shocked to be talking about Allura. It could give Hunk the wrong impression.

“Don’t Alteans really like spa treatments though?” So, Hunk had been listening to Allura explain about the face masks that night during the common room sleepovers. He really hadn’t thought Hunk had seen the way the Princess’ eyes lit up when she explained the properties and ingredients of her favourites to Lance and Pidge. But knowing that he had paid attention made Keith a lot happier.

“Yeah. They make their own creams and face scrubs. It’s quite interesting to watch, less interesting to get them tested on you.” Keith says with a short chuckle. Allura had tried several of her face scrubs out on him and, while he enjoyed seeing her happy, he would much prefer it if she didn’t test them on him. He never could remember to keep up with using them, even if they would make his skin softer.

“Is this more of Allura leading a Spa Night without Lance knowing?” Hunk laughs as he talks, the sound deep and full of genuine happiness. As though he already knows the answer to the question that he’s asking.

“Kind of?” Keith says as he enters the code on the keypad to Red’s hangar. His heartbeat beginning to pound in his ears as he thinks about what they were actually going to be doing on Luanova. “Alteans see spa treatments as rituals from what I remember, so she’ll give him a history lesson while helping him relax.”

“I’m sure Lance will enjoy that. Now, what’s your plan for us?” He asks as he gives the smaller male’s hand a gentle squeeze as they approach the Red Lion. If it meant them travelling in the Lion then it was definitely something he had been planning for a while and that only made the Yellow Paladin more curious.

“It’s a secret,” is not the answer that Hunk wanted but, seeing that small smirk on Keith’s face as the Red Lion lowers her head for her Paladin, was more than enough to make up for the vague answer. Keith looked rather adorable when he smirked but Hunk knows that loving that smirk was a dangerous game. It meant that he would cave in to anything that the Red Paladin wanted the instant that Keith used it on him.

“Aw, not even a clue Keith?” He says in his best pleading voice, an action that causes the other male to snort as he walks into his Lion, dropping Hunk’s hand so that he can prepare the controls. Keith smiles as he sits down in his chair, and Hunk can’t help but wonder if Red greeted him the same way that Yellow greeted him.

“Luanova.” Keith’s voice is soft as he finally speaks a few minutes later. Hunk had nearly missed it, and spent a few brief seconds trying to figure out if that meant anything to himself before looking down at the Red Paladin who was now focused on flying Red out of the castle.

“What?”

“That’s your clue. Now admire the scenery while we fly.”

Hunk laughs at that before he turns his attention back to the scenery, stealing glimpses at the smaller male every now and again. He hoped it wasn’t a long journey, he was eager to see what Keith had planned.

Chapter Text

Hunk noticed a change in Keith once the Red Lion touched down on Luanova. The smaller male had shrunk a little in his seat and was taking deliberate breaths as though to calm himself as the Lion steadied herself on the planet’s surface. He didn’t want to interrupt the other male’s breathing by talking, so instead he put his hand on his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“You okay Keith?” He keeps his voice soft, recognising the signs of anxiety from the times that he had helped Shiro and Lance. He ran his thumb over his palm in small circles and watched how he reacted to it. He smiles a little seeing how Keith’s shoulders visibly lost the tension in them the longer he continued the motion.

“Yeah… I don’t mean to be so anxious…” Hunk wants to pull the smaller male into a hug at that. Keith had no reason to be apologetic about being anxious about this date. Knowing that he had spent a long time planning this and making sure that it was perfect meant that he was expecting him to be nervous. And even if he wasn’t nervous about that, Hunk was sure that the idea of a date would unnerve any of the paladins. He knew for a fact that it unnerved himself.

“You’re not the only one.” He tries to keep his tone soft as he gently pulls Keith up out of his seat. He smiles a little at the fact that the other male only reaches his shoulder, the brief thought that Keith has a size kink crossing his mind as he brushes Keith’s fringe out the way. “Keith, this is my first date.” He explains when he realises that he hadn’t been entirely clear with his words, if Keith’s confused look is any indication.

“Oh, then I better make sure it’s a good one, right?” His voice is soft, but it doesn’t have the tone of someone that was anxious, which he was thankful for. Knowing that Hunk was nervous too made him feel less stupid for worrying over this. It amused him when he thought about how anxious he was about a date, especially because he had had no problem taking on Zarkon way before he was skilled enough to.

“I’m sure it’ll be perfect because it’s with you.” The taller male’s hand drops from Keith’s fringe and quickly finds his hand once again. The Red Paladin likes the difference in the size of their hands. It felt safe having his entire hand enveloped by Hunk’s. He never wanted to let go, although considering how flustered he can feel himself getting; he does consider it.

“Between you and Allura, one of you is going to kill me out of embarrassment.” He murmurs as he presses a button on Red’s console to open the door for them both. His anxiety prickles a little at the thought of actually starting the date, but he pushes it back down. He could do this.

“Would that really be such a bad way to go?” Hunk asks as he watches Keith pick up a small backpack and sling it over one of his shoulders. He can feel his curiosity rising as he wonders why the backpack was necessary but he doesn’t ask the smaller male. That could wait.

“I suppose it wouldn’t be.” He says with a grin before tugging Hunk along with him to the exit. He couldn’t wait to see Hunk’s reaction to Luanova, or to start the date properly.

The minute they step foot onto the pink grass of Luanova Keith looks up at Hunk, gauging his reaction. He wanted to see if it was the same as the one he had had when Allura had showed him the planet. He had been in awe over the planet’s pastel appearance and how much it appeared like a fairy tale.

“It looks like it’s made out of cotton candy.” Hunk says as he takes a few cautionary steps towards one of the bubble gum blue trees with its orange star-shaped fruit. “It’s beautiful Keith…” He adds as he looks around the field that they were stood in. There were countless trees, all of them were the same shade of blue, but each tree had a different fruit.

“I’m glad you like it.” The Red Paladin focuses on getting out the two Tupperware containers that he had brought so that they could gather the fruit and when he looks up he sees Hunk looking at him confused. “Allura taught me which fruits were poisonous and I thought we could pick some fruit together… and then just sit and talk.” He explains, leaving out the part about how he wanted to watch the sunset with him. No, that could come later.

“Keith…” Hunk starts before he stops himself. He knew that Keith was nervous about this date, and how much he had planned it, but he couldn’t find the words to reassure the raven-haired male that this was perfect. Just the two of them together, away from their paladin duties for a little while. It was perfect and Hunk just didn’t know how to convey that to him. So, he picks up the other male and hugs him close.

“Do you like it?” Keith whispers as he nuzzles into his hold. He had dropped the Tupperware containers when the Yellow Paladin pulled him into the hug, but he wasn’t complaining.

“It’s perfect Keith.” He whispers back before running his hand down Keith’s back reassuringly. He places him back down on the grass gently and picks up the containers. “Now which fruit should we be collecting?” Hunk asks as he squeezes Keith’s hand once again.

“Okay, there’s five that Allura knows are definitely safe for us to eat, so I thought that we would collect them.” The Red Paladin’s voice is tinged with excitement, this was the part he had been most excited for if he was honest. He had enjoyed collecting the fruit with Allura, even if they had made it into a competition. So, he was eager to collect them with Hunk, even if he knew Hunk wasn’t as competitive as Allura.

Hunk turns to Keith with a curious brow raised, “Like a competition?”

Keith grins at that. He hadn’t expected Hunk to be up for a competition, but he was more than happy to take the chance now that it had shown itself.

“I mean if you want it to be.” The smaller male lets go of Hunk’s hand and shoves his hand in his pocket to get the small cards that Allura had made him before looking up at him. “You up for a little competition?”

“Of course, I am.” Hunk says it confidently and from the smile on his face, Keith has a feeling that for once the brunet isn’t pretending to be confident. That he really is that confident about it being a competition. “What are the five fruits that we’re collecting then?”

“Inkberries, dewberries, tear blades, moonjoys and sun violets.” He holds up the card for each one as he says their names and he sees Hunk’s smile grow with each one. He passes him one set of the cards, thankful that Allura had made two copies for them. “It tells you how to harvest them on the card as well.”

“Did you make these cards?” Hunk asks as he flicks through them again. The detail was quite intricate and he couldn’t imagine Keith having the patience to make something like that.

“Allura made them for me.” Keith admits it quietly before giving Hunk a small smile. “How long would you say is a fair amount of time for this competition?” He asks as takes the communicator out of his pocket.

“About half an hour sounds good.” The taller male watches as Keith starts to set up the timer before a thought occurs to him. “Keith, how will we decide a winner and what do they get?” He asks as stops him from pressing the button to start the timer.

“Uh… well we’ll know the winner by who has the most fruit in their box… but I don’t know what they should win.” When him and Allura had done this, they had played to see who chose the position the next time they had sex, but he really didn’t want to suggest that to Hunk.

Well, not this early in the relationship at least.

“We could play to see who gets to ask the first question when we sit and talk…” Hunk suggests after a few minutes. He assumed that when Keith had said they were going to sit and talk that that was what he had meant. It was normally what people did on dates, right?

“That sounds good, you ready?” Keith asks as he looks up at the brunet, his violet eyes determined. He watches Hunk nod before he hits the timer and seconds later the pair is running to opposite ends of the field.

Thirty minutes later, Keith and Hunk are running back to where Keith’s backpack was laid abandoned in favour of their competition. The Red Paladin had tied his jacket around his waist as he had picked the fruit and Hunk smiled seeing the slight muscles on his arms. He really had started to fill out since they had arrived at the Castle.

“So, you did well?” He asks as he ruffles the smaller male’s hair. He could see that Keith’s Tupperware container was full, but so was his own so it wasn’t a very good indication to who had won.

“I think so, but… let me set up the tent before we see who won.” Keith answered softly as he rummaged through his bag only to pull out a smallish Altean tent. Allura had explained to him how to set it up in such a sophisticated way, only for Keith to realise that it was basically the Altean version of a pop-up tent. He flicked his wrist and smiled when it popped up just like the Princess had showed him.

“Is that a pop-up tent?” Keith turned and grinned, hearing the shock in Hunk’s voice before he crawled into the tent, marvelling at how much bigger the tent was than he had expected. He knew that it would keep himself and Hunk warm and shielded from any rain that could happen during their stay. Allura had made sure of that after all.

“Yeah, it’s an Altean one, now join me inside and we can talk.” Keith patted the empty space next to him as he talked, before rummaging through his bag to find the blanket that the Princess had insisted he bring in case they stayed overnight on Luanova. That hadn’t been in Keith’s original plan, but if it happened he didn’t think he would mind. After all, spending the night on a beautiful planet eating fruit with his gorgeous boyfriend wouldn’t be a bad addition to his plan.

“Oh, it’s a lot bigger than it looks.” The Red Paladin had been expecting to look up from the bag and see Hunk next to him. What he hadn’t expected was to look back and have Hunk’s face mere centimetres from his. Keith felt his face heat up almost instantly but the soft look on Hunk’s face only made the blush creeping across his own about twelve times worse. “You really do have beautiful eyes.” Hunk whispers as he brushes stray strands of Keith’s raven hair out of the way.

“T… Thank you…” The Red Paladin half wanted the ground to swallow him whole. He was barely able to cope with Allura complimenting him and they had been dating for a few months now. Having Hunk compliment, him made his heart swell a little and he makes a mental note to tell the Princess that someone agreed with her compliments, even if he knows that it would encourage her to compliment him more. “Should… should we maybe try some of the fruit?” He mumbles in an attempt to get the date back on track rather than him thinking about how kissable Hunk looked.

“We should but, it looks like there’s something else on your mind.” The Yellow Paladin’s heart was pounding extremely fast as he talks. So fast that he is absolutely certain that Keith can hear it and if he could hear it that he would figure out that he wanted to kiss Keith. Not that Hunk was embarrassed by the fact that he wanted to kiss Keith. This was a date after all, and people kissed on dates. Right? God, he should have asked Lance about it before he left, he was not experienced enough to know what to do.

“I…” Keith’s voice trails off and without thinking about what he was doing he leant against Hunk, his forehead resting on his chest. This was embarrassing to think about. It’s not even that he was nervous about kissing Hunk. He hadn’t been this nervous the first time him and Allura had kissed, but then again, he had already known how she felt about him. With Hunk this was a date so that the Yellow Paladin had time to process his feelings.

“Keith?”

“I was thinking about how much I wanted to kiss you.” If Hunk had thought that his heart was beating fast before that was nothing compared to the rapid rhythm that had started up at Keith’s confession. The fact that the Red Paladin wanted to kiss him made his cheeks flush that little bit more.

“Oh, well I was thinking about how kissable you looked, so I don’t think I would mind if you kissed me.” It felt strange admitting it to someone, especially given the fact that Hunk had never really thought about kissing anyone before. Well at least not seriously.

“You wouldn’t?” Keith’s voice reaches a pitch that he wasn’t even sure he could hit and he sits up, his face now level with the Yellow Paladin’s. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears and his hands were beginning to shake. He really hadn’t planned for this, but he was so glad that Hunk was veering so far off plan. It made it much more exciting.

“No, I really wouldn’t mind.” Hunk can’t help but smile as he talks and Keith felt that if his heart pounded any faster, it was going to explode. The feeling is only intensified when Hunk’s hand rests against his cheek to steady him. Instead of comforting him, the only thought that consumes Keith is the thought of how big Hunk’s hands were and how that might be fun in other parts of their relationship. “Would you mind if I kissed you?” The Yellow Paladin drops his voice to a soft tone as he moves a little closer, the space between them now mere millimetres.

“I’d like it if you did kiss me.” Keith whispers it and mere seconds later he feels Hunk’s lips against his. They were different to Allura’s, Hunk’s were chapped, a sure sign of him biting them due to anxiety, but Keith didn’t care. He can’t help but move closer to his boyfriend, hands still resting on his shoulders as they both pulled away, their cheeks pleasantly flushed. Keith can’t bring himself to look up at his boyfriend now, instead he moves to lean into Hunk’s side before pulling the blanket over them both. “Shall we have our fruit now?” He murmurs before squeaking in surprise at Hunk’s arm snaking around his waist.

“I think that would be perfect.”

Chapter Text

“I think we should find a new Black Paladin.” Lance says during the lunch break of the team’s training session. Hunk had known that Lance was planning on bringing the topic up for discussion, he had just been expecting more warning and it to be a little bit more subtly. Although it was Lance he was talking about, subtle wasn’t exactly his strong suit.

“You what?” Keith, understandably, wasn’t impressed. Whether that was because of Lance’s incredibly unsubtle way of bringing it up, or because he was exhausted, Hunk didn’t know. He hoped it was just that the Red Paladin was tired. Tired Keith he could cope with, angry Keith he had yet to cope well with.

“I think we should find a new Black Paladin.” Lance repeats as Keith pushes his half-full plate away from himself, his appetite sinking as his stomach began to churn. He didn’t want a new Black Paladin. He wanted Shiro back.

“I didn’t think I misheard you.” The Red Paladin stands as he talks, Allura goes to reach for his hand, no doubt to offer comfort, but he pulls away sharply. He didn’t want comfort or help, he just wanted Lance to know that he can’t get away with saying stuff like this. They didn’t need a new Black Paladin. They needed Shiro back.

“Look, no one can replace Shiro, Keith, but it’s time we at least discussed it.” Deep down, Keith knows that Lance has a point. He knows that they should at least discuss it, but he can’t do that. Discussing it meant admitting that Shiro was gone for good and he wasn’t ready for that. He wasn’t ready to do what Shiro had asked of him. There was no way he would be able to lead them into battle like he had. Keith couldn’t do it.

“Why? Did you want to take over from his job?” Hunk nearly flinches at the bitter tone in Keith’s voice, at least until he notices how the smaller male is refusing to make eye contact with any of the team. He knows it must be hard for Keith, given his and Shiro’s history but even Hunk hadn’t thought that he would take the suggestion this harshly. “Because if you want the job so much you can take it.”

“I don’t think that was what Lance meant Keith.” Pidge’s voice is soft and when Keith looks at her, he feels something akin to annoyance. If she was being made to do the exact same thing he was but by replacing Matt – she would be reluctant too. Any of them would be if it was someone they cared for as much as he did for Shiro. So why couldn’t they see that?

“And if it was you having to take over for Matt would you be willing to do it so easily?!” He can’t help the shout that escapes from his lips, or the tears that start to spill down his cheeks. He can’t stop feeling as though he’s about to shatter from everyone looking at him. He wants it to stop. He needs it to stop.

“Keith…” Lance drops his voice down to a soft tone and walks round the table to Keith’s side, something that Hunk hadn’t expected his friend to do. Lance had always been wary about comforting the smaller male, something he always attributed to the fact they didn’t always get on. So, to see Lance making an effort made the Yellow Paladin happy especially given his current dating situation. “We know Shiro’s important to you, but we need to continue to fight we’ve started. The universe needs Voltron still.”

“I know… I know…” The Red Paladin seems hesitant and he looks around awkwardly, still avoiding eye contact with everyone. Allura manages to grab his hand this time and the instant Hunk sees the black-haired male’s shoulders slump he knows Allura is massaging his palm. It seemed to be the only way they could get him to relax after all.

“Keith, is there something you want to tell us?” The Princess says it softly as she takes his other hand in hers. She had had so many conversations with Keith about Shiro and the Black Lion but none of them had resulted in her boyfriend telling her just how he really felt about the inevitable decision they would have to make. He always danced around the issue or tried to distract her. But, she had a feeling that because it was something the team was bringing up, they would get a clear answer. It just might not be the one that they wanted to hear.

“If… If I say we need a new Black Paladin then we’re admitting that Shiro isn’t going to come back… and I’m not ready to take over like he wanted…” His voice cracks three times and he hates it. He hates everything about it. “And I don’t want to do that… and even if I do we’re still a Paladin too short…”

“Keith…” Allura isn’t sure her voice can convey just how sorry she was that she had made Keith admit something so vulnerable in public, but she tries her hardest. She knows that she’ll be comforting him for a while after this, but if it meant seeing the more vulnerable side of her boyfriend, she really didn’t mind.

“Keith, did Shiro want you to take his place?” Hunk speaks softly and he isn’t surprised when four sets of eyes turn to stare at him. He doesn’t care about Pidge or Lance’s confused stares, he meets Allura’s concerned eyes and then he looks to Keith. The Red Paladin looks terrified and Hunk doesn’t blame him. Leading all of them into war, a war that they were too young to be fighting, it had to be a terrifying thought.

“He did… when we got separated after that first fight with Zarkon. He was convinced he was going to die before you all could rescue us. He made me promise that I would lead you if something happened to him.” The Red Paladin admits it nervously, as though now that the words had been said out loud he would have to follow through on them regardless of what he wanted to happen next.

“And your reluctant to keep that promise?” Lance doesn’t sound offended or outraged at Keith’s reluctance, he just sounds confused. But, it’s not what Keith wants to hear at that minute. He wanted to hear that it was okay for him to be reluctant to take over. That it was okay for him to refuse the position that was being forced upon him. That it was okay for him to refuse because in his mind that meant that Shiro was gone for good.

“I don’t want him to be gone. That’s why I don’t want the job.” Keith mumbles it and looks at his hands, relaxing a little more when he sees Allura still massaging his palm. He was so thankful that the Altean had gotten used to his bouts of anxiety, he only hoped that Hunk would be able to cope with them as well.

“Hey, even if you take over his place as the Black Paladin we’re not going to stop looking for Shiro.” It’s Pidge’s turn to sound somewhat offended as she looked up at the other Paladins. Hunk knows why she sounds offended, the days he had spent in the laboratory with her since arriving here had meant that he had learnt a great deal about Matt and the rest of the Holts. It also meant he knew that Pidge wasn’t going to give up searching for her family until she had found them both. “Shiro’s family, and we don’t give up on family or let them get left behind.”

“Did… Did you just paraphrase Lilo & Stitch?” Lance ruffles Pidge’s hair as he talks and Keith finds himself laughing a little as the Green Paladin tries to fix her hair rapidly. It didn’t sit right with him seeing the Blue and Green Paladins talk about such dark topics, he much preferred it when they could joke around with one another. It wasn’t good for anyone to be serious all the time.

“Maybe.”

“I find myself agreeing with this Lilo and Stitch. We aren’t going to leave Shiro behind Keith, we’ll find him. But for now, I’m afraid it isn’t as easy as you all think it is to replace a Paladin” Allura forces herself to keep her tone light, knowing that this decision is out of their hands. Hunk however, seems to be the only one that sees her composed look falter.

Pidge tilts her head curiously. “What do you mean by that?”

Allura smiles slightly when she sees the curious look on the other girl’s face. She wasn’t surprised that it was Pidge that was more intrigued by her words. The Green Lion had always provoked inquisitive reactions from Trigel, the Princess shouldn’t be surprised that Pidge was the same.

“The Lions choose their Paladins.” Keith murmurs it quietly and shifts under all their gazes. It’s then that he realises why he was so scared about being chosen, he was scared of being chosen to be the leader. He had such a distinct feeling that him leading would result in more time spent in the healing pods for all of them. Even Coran somehow. “I’m not wrong, am I?” He asks when he notices that Allura is still staring at him in shock. He had listened to her on those nights when she had told him everything she knew about the Lions and the Paladins of Old. He had wanted to know everything, even if part of him now wished that he didn’t want to know some of it.

“No, you’re right, I just didn’t realise how much of that you’d remembered.” The Princess seems shocked and Keith can’t help but grab her hand to squeeze it gently, a small smile on his face. He liked surprising her like this.

“So, what does that mean for us?” Lance says it rather quickly, hoping to interject the two lovebirds staring at each other. He was glad they had both found people they loved, he just wasn’t good with seeing them act all loving towards each other. It seemed out of character for them both at times, especially when months ago Allura hadn’t been the most welcoming of Keith’s Galran heritage.

“It means that it’s not up to us who pilots the Black Lion. It’s up to the Black Lion.” Allura can’t hide the grave tone in her voice. She knows how serious this is, especially at this stage in the war. Zarkon may be out of action, but taking the time to learn how to reform Voltron with a new Paladin was something she had wanted to try to avoid as much as possible. Every time she had tried to focus on how it would turn out, it had only ever seemed to end badly. “But, we’ll try that tomorrow. For now, get some rest.” She says, mainly so the team had a chance to prepare for the day’s training tomorrow, and partly so that Keith could come to terms with what they were doing. She knew that it usually took him a while to process big decisions like this and that was why she had given them all the rest of the day off.

Naturally, Pidge and Lance were the first to vanish, both of them talking loudly about the video game that they had bought from the Space Mall a few movements back. And it’s as the kitchen door closes behind them that both Hunk and Allura turn to look at Keith. Concern seems to radiate off both of them and Keith starts to move as though he wanted to leave the situation.

“Keith, are you okay with the plan for tomorrow?” She doesn’t ask how he is. She knows asking him that now would cause him to retreat into himself, something she very much wanted to avoid happening ever again. Last time it had happened she had thought she had lost him entirely. The thought of that happening terrified her and she never wanted to see that happen again.

“Sounds good.” Keith answers, nearly grunting, and lets his hand slip free of the Princess’ so that he can move towards the door. “I’ll meet you in our room later Allura.” He adds as he leaves, walking in the opposite direction of Pidge and Lance. The door shuts again and Hunk hears Allura’s audible sigh as she rests her head in her hands.

“Is Keith okay?” Hunk finally says after a few minutes. He had been wondering whether Allura was going to talk or just sit there, head in hands for a while. He hadn’t minded the silence, it was nice to sit in silence with Allura. There was no pressure to talk and that always relieved him.

“If I’m honest? I don’t think he is. He was hit really hard by Shiro disappearing, he just retreated into himself and I didn’t know what to do Hunk, it was terrifying.” The Altean runs her fingers through her hair as she talks, pulling her hair out of its bun. It was something that Hunk knows she only does when nervous or upset. Given the subject matter, it’s not surprising that she was raking her fingers through her hair, trying to neaten it somewhat.

“What do you mean?” Hunk knows that Allura shouldn’t be telling him this. He knows that this should be stuff that he heard from Keith, but he also knows that the Princess was extremely good at keeping secrets. That and if the Princess was scared by it, he knew it was a serious matter. The quicker he was aware of it; the better.

“He’s always so strong and he shows all of you this tough façade, but when you’re alone with him like I am, he’s just so vulnerable and open. He’s a lot more anxious and wary now. I only hope that when we find Shiro again, it helps him.” She knew she wasn’t asking for much by hoping for that, but given just how cruel the universe had been to her she wasn’t holding her breath.

“I think it will help, Allura. Keith’s stronger than we give him credit for, and he has both of us now, as well as a team who will help him find Shiro.” Hunk wasn’t sure when he had gotten up from his seat. Maybe it was when it looked like the Princess was about to cry, maybe it was as he began to talk. Either way, as he pulled Allura into his arms it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Allura felt safe in his arms. “It’ll all be okay soon. I promise.”

Chapter Text

Allura wasn’t nervous. Having a date with Hunk wasn’t a terrifying idea and it definitely did not make her feel like her stomach was going to implode when she thought about it. She was not nervous about her date. It was going to go fine and they were going to enjoy themselves.

Except she was nervous.

She wasn’t terrified, that was too harsh of a word to describe what she was feeling. Anxious was probably a better word for it, but either way it made her breathing quicken when she thought about Hunk joining her. She just hadn’t decided whether that was in a good way or not yet. If Keith was here she would have felt a bit better. He would have told her that she was overreacting and that everything would be okay. He would have played with her hair and told her the same sweet things he always told her when she got herself worked up like this.

But Keith wasn’t here, he was off working through his own issues and Allura didn’t begrudge him that. Keith needed to work through his issues about one of them becoming the new Black Paladin. She only hated that she couldn’t be the one to help him. Partly because she knew how he would react to her asking to help and how much worse it would make the entire situation. She was not going to make it worse again. She was going to go on her date with Hunk, then when Keith crawled into their bed that night she was going to hold him and make sure that he knew he was loved.

Hearing the knock on their bedroom door Allura smiled, remembering that she had told Hunk to meet her back here once he had gotten changed out of his Paladin armour. She had taken the time to have a quick shower before she had gotten changed into her usual dress and her muscles had been so thankful for that decision. They no longer ached from the day’s training which meant picking up the traditional Altean chest wasn’t as painful as it would have been. Grabbing one of the bags off a hook, she opens the door and can’t help but smile when she sees Hunk standing there waiting for her.

“That’s a fancy looking chest, Allura.” Hunk’s eyes had immediately fallen on the chest she was holding and she can’t help but grin. She had assumed Keith was the only one distracted by sparkly things. Apparently, she was wrong.

“It’s something that belonged to my mother.” She says softly as she falls into step with Hunk, leading him to one of the observation decks on the Castle Ship. It was one that only her and Coran knew about simply because she had shown the other Paladins the larger one on the floor below. She hadn’t been ready to give up what had become hers and Keith’s private observation deck, but now she felt comfortable enough to show it to Hunk. If he was going to be part of their relationship it was only right that she shared this with him.

The observation deck itself was fairly small. It was a circle shaped room and half of the wall and ceiling was entirely glass, giving its occupants a stunning view of the stars. The floor was filled with cushions and pillows, all of which looked like they would be incredibly soft to sit on. Allura slips her shoes off once they enter the room before she moves to a patch of red and pink pillows. She puts the chest down before moving a low table in front of where she sits. Hunk wastes no time in joining her and he relaxes as he sinks into the pillows.

“This feels really comfortable.” He says with a soft smile as he watches the Princess unlock the chest on the table. “You said it belonged to your mother, right?” He asks as he sits up a little bit, curiosity burning at what could possibly be in the chest.

“Yeah, father made her it as a wedding gift. She kept all the gifts from their courtship and their wedding in here.” She explains as she ties her hair back in a ponytail, knowing that the next part could get very messy and she had no desire to wash her hair free of paint once again.

“That’s really sweet.”

“I thought so too.” Allura smiles at him as she pulls the paints and paintbrushes out the chest, counting them as she did so. Once she’s certain that she’s got all of them out of the chest she turns and looks up at Hunk. “You’re a lot more patient then Keith, he couldn’t wait to ask me what it was we were doing.” She says it with a smile and Hunk laughs a little bit hearing that. Considering how reserved Keith had been about their date he found it a little hard to believe, but then again; he had seen how quickly his patience could be worn down by Lance.

“So, what are we doing, because it looks like we’ll be painting?” Hunk asks once he’s stopped laughing. The Princess smiles a little at his question and she nods.

“It’s an Altean tradition. We paint our partner’s dominant arm with little things that remind us of them, then save them as prints.” Allura blushes a little as she explains her planet’s tradition and Hunk grabs her hand to squeeze it.

“That sounds beautiful.” He reassures as their fingers lace together, his long fingers easily covering hers. “Do you have any you can show me?” He asks, hoping to relax her a little bit. He understood perfectly what they were going to do, but hoped that if she showed him some other ones that it would relax her. Allura nodded at his question and grabbed something from the chest. She unlaced their fingers to spread four sets of papers out and smiled softly at Hunk.

“This one is my mother’s,” She shook her head before deciding to narrate to Hunk using her parents’ names, “Illyria’s. Of what she painted on Alfor, and this is the one that Alfor painted on her.” She explains as she gestures to two prints that were both mainly hues of blue and purple. “And these two are Alfor and Coran’s.” She adds as she gestures to another one filled with blue and green, and one filled with orange and blue.

“Alfor and Coran were together?” Hunk asks quietly as he inspects the small details in the prints. The swirls of blue and the science motifs that would have been on Alfor’s arms all those years ago. The deep purple stars that were for Illyria and the orange lines of navigation coding that would have been on Coran.

“They were. I was too young to really realise, but looking back on it now, it was painfully obvious.” Allura says as she gently gathers the prints before laying down another three prints. Hunk recognises the scrawl of Keith’s name in the bottom right of one of the prints and smiles, realising that it must be the one Keith had done for Allura. He gently runs his fingers over the outline of one of the Altean Pods and looks at her confused. Why did that remind Keith of Allura? “Do you remember when we couldn’t figure out how Zarkon was tracking us?”

“When you and Keith ran away?” Allura looks down a little at that, still feeling guilty over her and Keith’s reactions to the situation. “Yeah, I remember.”

“That’s when we became a couple. There’s not much to do when you’re travelling in a pod for several vargas. So, we talked and everything just kind of happened from there.” She explains as she runs her fingers over the small circlet that Keith had painted. “We just didn’t tell you all for a while because it was new and we didn’t want to ruin it.”

“Oh, I entirely get that. So, if these are yours and Keith’s, why does he have two?” Hunk asks as he looks at the two that Allura had to have painted. The mix of reds and oranges swirling up the prints that looked like fire, the small red Voltron emblem and Keith’s Marmora blade only confirming Hunk’s suspicions.

“Because we pick the dominant arm most people only get one, but Keith is ambidextrous, so I got to do two.” Allura smiles softly as she starts to put them away before smiling up at him.

“That makes sense. Who’s going first?” Hunk can’t hide his excitement. He already had an idea forming and he was eager to paint it. She always reminded him of the Balmerra and the crystals that grew there and powered the Castle Ship and he wanted to include them.

“You can go first if you want.” She offers as she starts to roll up the right sleeve of her dress up to her elbow, cursing herself for forgetting to put on a sleeveless dress. She was curious as to what Hunk would paint and when she sees him taking the silver paint and a brush, she smiles. She had seen him decorating cakes and biscuits that he made and knew that he had an eye for detail so she kept her eyes focused on the brush as Hunk started to paint crystals around her wrist. “Balmerra crystals?”

“Yeah, when I think about you I’m reminded of those journeys we’ve made to the Balmerra, and the fact they power the Castle that you fly.” He explains in a soft voice as he moves the brush across to get some more paint before continuing to paint crystals, unaware of just how much he had made the Altean Princess blush at his words. He continues to paint the crystals until they were halfway up her forearm before starting to paint the flowers he had heard her talking about before. He smiled when it looked like they were growing out of the crystals, which was exactly what he wanted.

“Juniberry flowers, why?” She asked quietly as she brushed a stray strand of her hair back behind her ears. She didn’t know why Hunk had painted them, but she was pleased that he had remembered her favourite flowers.

“On Earth when people want to surprise their partner they’ll give them their favourite flowers, and these are your favourites… so they remind me of you.” Hunk explained quietly, his own cheeks flushing as he painted a few more flowers down her arm.

“I like the idea of that surprise.” Allura says softly before watching him move on to painting some of the coding that she recognised from Coran’s print. Her eyebrows must have furrowed at that because Hunk laughs a little at her when he looks up briefly to get some more paint.

“It’s the coordinates of the planets that we’ve saved together.” He explains as he finishes the curve of one of the numbers with a smile.

“You remember all of them?” She asks it, the awe showing in her voice despite how hard she was trying to hide it. Hunk nods as he moves onto the next string of numbers, numbers that Allura instantly recognises as the coordinates for Olkarion. “That’s quite impressive…”

“Thank you.” He says before letting them fall into comfortable silence as he finishes painting the string of coordinates, occasionally adding a few geometric shapes in to break up the lines of coding. Once he was convinced that his design was finished he leant back and looked at Allura. “So, now what do we do?” He knew they were meant to make a print out of it but he didn’t know how they went about actually doing that. Allura however, seemed ready to go. She had grabbed a plain sheet of paper and gestured for Hunk to hold it flat on the table before resting her arm dead in the middle of it.

“Now curl it round my arm and hold it there for a few seconds.” She says softly, smiling as Hunk follows her instructions perfectly. They both fall silent again as they wait for the paint to imprint on the paper, and he marvels at the fact that at no point does it feel awkward or that he needs to talk. It was nice and a refreshing change after being friends with Lance for so long.

Allura gently moves his hands away from the paper after about a minute and lets the sheet of paper unfurl itself to reveal Hunk’s design in its entirety. It shimmers in the light and it just makes him grin. He was so proud of it and when he sees it still decorating Allura’s arm, he’s even happier.

“That was a lot easier than I expected.” He says as he signs the piece with the pen she gives him before watching her move the paper to the other side of the table to dry. “My turn to be painted now, right?” The Princess nods and seconds later Hunk’s right sleeve is rolled up to his elbow.

“Not everything is needlessly complicated.” Allura watches him as she reaches for the gold paint and a new paintbrush. Her mind swirling with ideas for what she could paint on his arm. She knew that she wanted to include the Balmerra crystals because when she had seen how determined he was to save the Balmerra, that was when she could first pinpoint her crush on him beginning to bloom. She wanted to include the ocean and the beaches partly because Keith had told her they were important to Hunk’s heritage, but mainly because he reminded her of the Altean fairy tales about the Gods.

“I know, but everything else seems to be at the minute.” He keeps his voice soft, knowing that any further discussion could get onto sensitive topics. Regardless of whether he wanted that or not. Allura makes a noise of agreement before starting to paint an ocean scene on his arm, the crystals growing out of what looked like coral and rock formations. “Balmerra crystals and the ocean?” He asks, hoping to return to a happier conversation.

“The crystals are because that’s when I first started to realise I had a crush on you.” She admits it without meeting his eyes, but she knows that she’s made him blush because he falls silent. “Admittedly I realised it several phoebs later than would be ideal.” She adds as she paints a mermaid’s fin at the bottom of the ocean.

“And the ocean?” Hunk manages to ask it despite his embarrassment and this time it’s Allura’s turn to flush with embarrassment. She wasn’t sure whether he would find it stupid or not so had been hoping that he wouldn’t have asked about it. But apparently, she was not allowed that luxury. She takes a few minutes to make sure that she remembers the bare bones of the story at least as she continues to decorate Hunk’s arm in gold paint.

“It’s from an Altean fairy tale about how the ocean on Altea was formed by a God that wanted to impress his lover with a gift grander than any she had ever received before for their anniversary.” She starts before pausing to get more paint for the crystal she was painting. “He starts creating small versions of the ocean in the weeks leading up to the celebration and making sure all the fish and plants thrive, making sure to help them any way that he can before he makes the ocean.”

“And this reminds you of me?”

“Yes.” Allura says it so confidently as she puts her paintbrush down to wrap the paper around Hunk’s arm, content with her design. “The gifts are your courage and bravery Hunk, the anniversary is this moment, right now. You’ve become such a strong person since you became a Paladin and it shows when you pilot Yellow now.”

“That’s kind of embarrassing.”

“The truth usually is.”

“Did… did the woman like the ocean?” He asks to try and get the topic off himself. Allura smiles a little and signs her design once she’s unfurled it from around Hunk’s arm. Once it’s safely off to the side she moves around to sit next to Hunk, and leans into his side.

“She did, but she appreciated the hard work her lover put in more.” She looks up at him as she talks and smiles when she notices him staring down at her. “I think it’s a nice little story, don’t you?”

“It’s certainly romantic, Allura.” Hunk doesn’t add that the entire notion of watching the stars with your lover would be romantic back on Earth. He had a feeling that the Princess already knew that. Instead he moves slightly and gently presses his lips to hers. He’s unsurprised by the fact that she’s more confident than Keith when she kisses him back, and finds her hand to lace their fingers together.

“Just like you.” Allura whispers as she pulls back from the kiss, only to dissolve into laughter when Hunk looks at her surprised and a little embarrassed. “You’ll see that I’m right eventually, just like I was about you becoming the Yellow Paladin.” She says as she settles back into his side to watch the stars. Hunk doesn’t argue with her, instead he keeps her fingers laced with his, smiling as he turns to watch the stars.

Chapter Text

Keith didn’t like this. He hated staring up at the Black Lion resting in her bay. She looked how he felt, exhausted and very much not wanting to do what was about to happen. He kept his eyes focused on the ground, not wanting to make eye contact with anyone just in case anyone started to ask him how he was. Keith knew how he was, he didn’t need them asking him.

He was not okay.

The idea of one of them replacing Shiro had been something he had tried to work through on the training deck but it hadn’t worked. All that had happened was he had received some new scars to patch up and more conflicting thoughts. He knew that one of them had to replace Shiro, and he knew that Shiro had wanted it to be Keith, but Keith didn’t want it to be him. He knew the universe needed Voltron and that him leading the team would give them Voltron again, but he didn’t want to have to deal with his grief and leading the team all at once. He just didn’t know how to articulate that to the team.

He knew that Allura would tell him that everything would work itself out and that Shiro must have seen something within him to want Keith to lead. And it wasn’t that Keith disagreed with her or with Shiro, he just didn’t think he would be good in his current state to lead. He had a feeling that it would end in disaster and this was one time he really didn’t want to be proven right. Being proven right would only hurt him more because he couldn’t articulate fully why he was so reluctant. He just knew that this felt wrong to him.

He looks up briefly as Pidge talks to Coran about how the Black Lion hadn’t responded to her either, his heart sinking a little at the sight. She had rejected Lance, Hunk, and Pidge now and while Allura was currently trying, with each passing moment it was becoming clearer to him that he was going to have to try. Something that Keith very much did not want to do, especially not when he knew it would confirm his fears.

“Keith?” Coran’s voice is hesitant and Keith reluctantly looks up. He had to remember he was mad at the situation and himself, not the people around him. The older man looks at Keith with such an apologetic look, as if to say that if he had any say; Keith would not have to do this. But it’s a look that offers him little comfort. “Are you ready to try?” He asks, as though he knows that the Lion will reject Allura too.

“I can’t really say no now, can I?” He tries to pass it off as though he’s joking but he knows no one buys it. They can all hear the reluctance in his voice as he takes that small step forward. He keeps his eyes focused on the Lion in front of him as he waits for Allura to emerge. If he looked anywhere but the Lion he knew that he would see the other three Paladins’ expressions of pity. He didn’t want to deal with that either.

When Allura does emerge unsuccessful, Keith wants to hold her. He would much rather comfort her then try and take control of the Lion. But he hears Coran call his name again and instead Keith looks to Hunk, hoping that he’ll understand what he means as he steps towards the Lion.

There wasn’t the presence of energy within the Black Lion like there was with Red and that throws Keith off. He wasn’t used to the lack of energy and he lingers behind the pilot’s chair and just takes in the sight of the Lion. The Bayard was still in its holder and it makes Keith falter. They had finally gotten it back and gotten the Black Lion out from under Zarkon’s control, only to lose Shiro in the process.

It wasn’t fair.

They were Shiro’s Garrison tags and Keith wastes no time in slipping the chain round his neck and under his armour. They were the only physical thing he had left of Shiro and he would not lose them. Sighing, Keith turns his attention to the pilot’s chair and bites his lip.

“I should try.” He mumbles it to himself, every inch of his body screaming for him not to do so, that he could just lie and say that the Black Lion had rejected him without him trying. Part of him knows that that option is pointless. Part of him knows that regardless of what he wants he was going to end up piloting the Black Lion.

And still you fight me. Why?

Keith blinks at the voice in his head and it takes him a few seconds before he realises it’s the Black Lion speaking to him. The faint hum of energy hangs in the air and he looks down as he sits in the chair. Was he ready to explain to the Lion why he didn’t want to pilot her?

“Because I don’t want Shiro to be gone! I don’t want to replace him! I can’t replace him and I’m just going to lead them all into danger.” Keith rests his head in his hands and feels tears threatening to overspill. “He wanted this for me when he thought he was going to die…and I can’t do it! What if I die?! Then someone has to replace me! What if I get one of them killed?!” He can’t help the tears that fall as he shouts into his hands, his voice cracking as he shouts into the void.

What makes you so certain that you will fail? Red has told me all about you. She says you’re a good pilot and you rely on your instincts. You remind her of Alfor.

The Black Lion’s words stop Keith in his tracks and he rests his head in his hands. He wasn’t sure why he would fail, he just knew that he would. He couldn’t explain it, it was just this feeling of dread that he had, and had had ever since Shiro had first mentioned it.

“I don’t know why… it’s just a feeling that I have.” He finally admits defeatedly as he leans back in his chair. “I just don’t think I would be a good enough leader.” He’s not surprised that his voice is quiet. He hated admitting stuff like this. He would much rather just keep it tucked away and deal with it on his own.

Shiro thought that too. It was why Zarkon was able to track you for so long, as it prevented me from creating a strong bond with him. All of you have your own insecurities about being Paladins but Shiro had faith in you, and it’s because of his faith in you that I am willing to let you be my Paladin until his return.

“But what if Shiro’s wrong?”

Do you really think he’s wrong?

Keith knew the answer the minute the Black Lion spoke to him. He didn’t think that Shiro was wrong. He knew that it was just his doubt self-projecting and him over-worrying. It was something that he had explained to Shiro during the ride to the Blade of Marmora base. And after Shiro had known Keith’s worries he had spent the ride back explaining why Keith would be a good leader and why he wanted him to lead. It hadn’t eased his anxieties completely but it had helped put some things in perspective. The mission he and Hunk had gone on to the Weblum had helped with that too.

Yellow told me about that mission. He said you were good at calming his Paladin’s anxieties. That is what Shiro sees in you, Keith. You may not be able to see it yourself, but trust me it is there.

He leans back in the chair and looks straight ahead. Almost refusing to acknowledge what the Black Lion was telling him and reaches out to touch the controls before stopping himself. He had spent weeks trying to find Shiro to no avail, having the Black Lion on his side would help immensely, especially given how strong her bond was with Shiro, and yet Keith can’t bring himself to try and move her.

Are you scared that even if you do take his position and you and the team do try to find him – you won’t find him? Or that you’ll find him too late?

Keith’s eyes widen at the Black Lion’s words before it sinks in – that that was exactly what his worry was. What if they were too late? What if they found Shiro and the Galra had gotten him again? Or what if they found him and he was dead? If he didn’t take the position as leader he could kid himself, imagine that Shiro hadn’t been missing. He could pretend that they were still in limbo where it was both too late to save Shiro, and where he didn’t need saving. It was safe there.

I can assure you that you’re not too late. I still have a connection with him, and I will help you find him. I want my Paladin back just as much as you want him back Keith, but I need you to want to help me. I need you to try.

“I’ll try, but only for Shiro.” He says as he moves the seat closer to the main control panel. His hands dancing over the buttons that seemed foreign to him, despite being the same ones that were in the Red Lion, just a different colour. Taking a deep breath, Keith wrapped his fingers around the levers and pushed them forward so that the Black Lion would sit upright. He barely bats an eyelid at the roar she lets out, accepting it as something that needed to happen. It needed to happen to let the rest of the team know that the Black Lion had chosen him. Keith sighs but takes a few minutes to gather the courage to leave the Lion, knowing that he was going to get a whole host of questions from the team. Questions he didn’t want to answer or particularly deal with right now. He didn’t think he could deal with them without crying and if he was to be the leader now, he couldn’t do that. They needed him to be strong.

Shiro needed him to be strong.

When Keith is certain that leaving the Black Lion won’t result in him immediately collapsing in either Hunk or Allura’s arms and sobbing; he walks slowly down the ramp, Black Bayard in hand. He notices the soft look Allura gives him and knows that they would be having a talk later on, they always did when something big like this happened. Hunk would definitely be included too, that was something that Keith was going to make sure happened. Hunk was part of this relationship and he needed to be treated as such.

Allura takes his hand as he walks near her and he takes the opportunity to be the first one to squeeze, something that makes her look at him with confusion. He felt marginally better about their situation after talking with the Black Lion. Sure, his anxieties weren’t completely gone, but when would they ever be? He was always going to have doubts, but at least they were somewhat under control for now.

“I’m still not happy about it, but I’ll pilot the Black Lion until Shiro comes back.” Keith says it, his tone clipped and short as he tries to make sure that they understood his terms for this. “And, I’m only doing it until Shiro is back.” He adds before blinking when he hears the high-pitched alarm blaring. Coran wastes no time in bringing it up on the tablet that he carried and Keith sees his face fall at the alert. “What is it Coran?” He asks, straightening up a little as he talks.

“It’s the leader back on Puig, it’s a distress call. I’ll go back to the bridge and answer it, you should all get to your Lions in case we need them.” Coran explains it hurriedly as he runs back to the bridge, Pidge and Lance following him without hesitation. Hunk goes to follow, only for Allura to grab the back of his armour and pull the two remaining Paladins into a hug.

“Mine and Keith’s room after this mission. I think it would be for the best if we could all relax together.” Allura murmurs as she keeps them both held close to her. Hunk smiles a little at being included in one of their hugs and murmurs in agreement before looking at Keith.

“I think that’d be nice, I do owe you for blowing you off to train yesterday.” He says before kissing her cheek gently.

“That you do.” She grins before pushing Keith back in the direction of the Black Lion, her cheeks still flushed slightly from the chaste kiss he had given her. “Stay safe Keith!” She calls before running with Hunk out of the hangar doors.

Chapter Text

Hunk didn’t like how tense both Keith and Allura had sounded over the comms channels on the way back from Thayserix. Sure, the mission had been a bit of a disaster. Prince Lotor had set them up at Puig and then had managed to separate them and nearly get them killed on Thayserix. And Hunk knew that Lance and Pidge were blaming Keith and his leading style, but Hunk didn’t see where his boyfriend was solely to blame.

Yes, Shiro wouldn’t have ordered them to follow Prince Lotor when three of them were in new Lions. And yes, Shiro wouldn’t have ordered them to go onto an unknown planet without knowing what the atmosphere and the planet entailed. But, Keith wasn’t Shiro and the two had vastly different life experiences and leadership styles. Shiro had trained as a commander and a leader at the Garrison, and had more experience leading Voltron. Keith had none of that. And knowing all that, Hunk didn’t think it was fair to pin the blame solely on Keith.

He knew that Lance and Pidge wouldn’t listen to that logic though. They were annoyed about the near-death experiences and Keith’s reckless decisions. Both things that Hunk could understand being annoyed about, but that didn’t mean that he approved of them yelling at Keith over the comms channels, and having to listen to Keith trying to defend himself.

Keith hadn’t even wanted to lead them. It was clear to Hunk that he was anxious about the entire thing, chewing him out was not going to help improve his confidence about that. It was just going to make it worse and he had no idea what would happen to Keith if they kept berating him like this.

“Pidge, Lance, how about you both shut up?” Hunk snaps, and from the silence that falls over the comms channel none of the other Paladins had expected him to speak so harshly. “We all made mistakes okay? We all thought going after Lotor was the best option, none of us protested particularly hard when Keith said we were going after him. But we’re all alive and uninjured, and that’s the important thing.” He keeps his tone harsh as he flew the Yellow Lion into his hangar, taking a moment to lean back in his seat and calm himself down.

He hadn’t meant to snap at Pidge and Lance, but hearing them talk to Keith that way hurt. It hurt because he could hear Keith trying not to cry. He could hear every time his voice cracked as he apologised over and over again for putting them all in danger and it made Hunk’s stomach churn. Keith had been trying to do the best he could and no-one else seemed to see that.

Sighing to himself, Hunk got out of the Yellow Lion, a plan already forming in his mind. He already knew that Keith had a sweet tooth, and knew that Allura did too – even if she would never admit it. Making the decision to go grab a few of the treats he had baked before that morning’s training session, Hunk turns left out of the hangar bay and heads straight to the kitchen, knowing that both Keith and Allura deserved some treats after that mission. They had both tried their best on the mission, and Hunk felt that it needed to be appreciated.

With his arms full of the treats, Hunk headed down to his partners’ room, only to stop when he sees Pidge waiting outside their room too. She had no reason to be there, unless she was planning on apologising to Keith. And even then, he wasn’t sure that Keith would want to see her.

“What’s up Pidge?” She jumps at the sound of Hunk’s voice and looks around nervously. It was as though she hadn’t expected to be caught. Not that that surprised Hunk. If she was truly were there to apologise, he would be a little concerned. He knew just how much she hated apologising, and the lengths she would go, to avoid having to apologise at all. It was more likely that she wanted to borrow Keith or Allura for an experiment.

“I want to apologise to Keith, but Allura won’t let me in.” Her answer takes Hunk by surprise. He had been expecting Keith to be the one that didn’t want company, so to hear that Allura was the one refusing company made him wonder just how much Keith was hurting.

“I’ll tell him that you’re sorry.” He says it without any hesitation, just wanting Pidge to leave so that he could check on his partners without her raising her suspicions to Lance. He didn’t need them both to start teasing him. She seems content with his answer, nodding before she moves to go back into her room as Hunk knocks on the door.

“Pidge, I already told you that you can’t come in.” Allura sounds stressed and the ball of worry in his stomach starts to grow in size. How many times had Pidge tried to get in? It couldn’t have only been once or twice judging by the tense tone of Allura’s voice.

“No, Allura it’s me.” He bites his lip as he talks, hoping that Allura would let him in. He wanted to check on Keith and her. He really wanted them both to be okay.

“Ah Hunk, the door’s open.” Hunk notes how different Allura’s voice is now and he frowns a little. She sounded a lot happier now that she knew she was talking to him and it makes him wonder just how much Pidge and Lance’s comments had affected her. It was something he would have to take up with his friends later, but for now he had two people to cheer up.

He slips into the room with a bit of difficulty and smiles when he sees that Keith and Allura were both sat on the bed in their pyjamas, Allura’s arms around him. They looked cute together and Hunk couldn’t help but feel that he had been blessed by some divine being to have them both want to date him. Smiling to himself, he turns and puts the treats onto the small dresser that they both shared before making his way to the bed.

Keith lifted his head when he heard Hunk approaching, only to squeak as he felt himself being hugged by Hunk and Allura. Their arms felt safe and warm. It was the sort of comfort that was sorely needed after the battle at Thaseryix. He had already apologised over and over to Allura on their way back to their room. He really didn’t like the fact that he had put her in danger just so that he could try to stop Lotor. It wasn’t like him to do something like that.

Maybe something was wrong with him?

Keith started to chew on his lip, he would have to talk to Coran about it. It was probably the best option. He would just have to make sure that Coran wouldn’t tell Allura or Hunk, which he knew would be nearly impossible. If it was as serious as Keith thought it would end up being, Coran would immediately tell them, which would be good because then they would know when he was getting bad again.

But on the other hand, Keith had a very good idea of what the problem was and he hated talking about it. He hated appearing weak when he told people that he sometimes had thoughts of killing himself. He hated the pity looks he got from people that knew, the questions he got about whether he really was okay when he looked sad. The mollycoddling. He hated all of it, and he didn’t want to have Hunk and Allura do the very same thing he hated.

“Keith, were you listening?” Allura brushes Keith’s hair back as she talks. She had liked Hunk’s idea a lot, a night under the stars seemed perfect after the stressful mission, and she hoped it would help Keith settle down and get some well needed rest. He looked like he needed it after all.

“No, what were we talking about?” The Red Paladin looks up at his partners with confusion. He hadn’t even heard them speaking, he had been that lost in his own thoughts. He pouts a little when Allura laughs, but that pout quickly vanishes when she gives him a chaste kiss.

“I suggested that we could all go sleep in the observation deck and I brought snacks in case you just want to sit and talk for a bit.” Hunk explains, one of his large hands finding Keith’s and giving it a gentle squeeze. He didn’t mind that Keith had zoned out of the conversation. He had thought that he had fallen asleep at first and had been relieved that he was finally relaxed enough to sleep. “Would you like that?”

Keith took a minute to think it through. He would be able to spend time with both his partners, away from the stress of the team and a mission, and finally relax. It would be nice, and there would be no pressure for him to talk.  He nods at Hunk, only to blink when he stands up.

“In that case, the pair of you should get changed into some pyjamas, then bring your blankets and quilts down to the observation deck.” He cups Keith’s face when he sees how confused he looks and gently kisses him. “I’m going to go get it set up for us.” Hunk explains when he pulls away. His and Keith’s cheeks were both flushed scarlet from the spur of the moment kiss, and Hunk had a feeling that no matter how many times they kissed; this would always be their reaction.

Allura smiles slightly as Hunk gives her a quick kiss, only for his blush to worsen, before he gathers up the treats once more so he could leave. She turns to Keith and runs her fingers through his hair with a quiet murmur of his name. He seemed distracted still.

“You okay Keith?” She stands as she asks, walking to the wardrobe they shared to get their pyjamas. She took out her usual nightgown before offering Keith the shirt and pants that he normally wore when they had their team sleepovers. She knew he would prefer to sleep in just his boxers, but they were going to have company, and she had a feeling it would just embarrass him more.

“I’m fine Allura.”

She doesn’t believe him.

“You sure?” Allura asks it as she turns to strip out of her undersuit. Keith is thankful she turned around to get changed, his head was already messy with intrusive thoughts, he didn’t need the sight of her to get him aroused as well. He shrugs out of his clothes to tug his pyjamas on before he thinks about replying. He didn’t want to worry her.

“Just a bit stressed from the day… I think some time with just you and Hunk will do me some good.” While not technically a lie, Keith still felt bad saying it to her. He would find the right time and place to tell her and Hunk. He owed that to them, but for now he would have to work through it himself.

“Some rest might do you some good as well Keith, you’ve been training pretty hard lately.” She keeps her voice gentle as she walks to him, almost as though she was approaching a timid creature. Keith smiles at her and stands up before pulling her in for a hug.

“I know… Just with Shiro gone, I feel I have to work that little bit harder. It’s what he wanted for me.” He says softly, resting their foreheads together as he takes a moment to just relax with Allura. It had been a while since they had had the chance to do so.

“I don’t want you to burn yourself out, and I’m sure Hunk doesn’t either, just remember that okay?” Allura kisses him gently once he nods. They both knew that Keith would keep training as hard as he had been, and that was mainly because he was too stubborn to change his habits now. But, at least now he knew that it was worrying her. “Now, let’s go to Hunk, you can both braid my hair.” Allura grins, and when Keith laughs at her, she realises that maybe Keith really was okay. Maybe he hadn’t been lying.

Chapter Text

“Hunk, wake up.” Hunk wakes up with a jump at the sound of Allura’s voice so close to his ear and looks around for her immediately. It wasn’t hard to find her, apparently her markings glowed in the dark, something that Hunk was thankful for. He gently pulls her closer to his side and watches as she stops him by pressing her hand to his chest. “Did Keith tell you he was going somewhere?” She asks as she gingerly plays with his fingers.

“He’s still asleep, right?” Hunk asks as he lifts his right hand to rub at his eyes. Only faltering when he realises that Keith had fallen asleep hugging his arm, it shouldn’t have been that easy to move it away.

That’s when Hunk turns to his right and sees that Keith is gone.

The blankets where he had slept were strewn around as though the Red Paladin had been tossing and turning in his sleep. His slippers were gone too and just that makes Hunk’s heart sink that little bit more. There was no note to indicate where he’d gone, or anything of the sort for that matter.

“Do you have any idea where he would have gone?” Hunk asks as he looks back at Allura, her hair messy around her shoulders. She had taken out the braids he and Keith had done before she had settled down to sleep, and her hair looked like it had a lot more volume than usual. Hunk liked it.

“Normally he goes and trains, but the Castle is showing that the last person that accessed the training deck was Lance.” Allura lets out a deep sigh as she talks and Hunk pulls her into a tight hug, not caring that she was sat on his lap. “He doesn’t normally leave in the middle of the night Hunk, I’m worried.” She murmurs as she rests her forehead against his shoulder.

“I’m worried too, he seems a little distracted tonight…” Hunk runs his fingers through Allura’s hair as he talks. He wasn’t sure whether it was to keep her calm, or himself calm, but it seemed to be helping them both. Allura’s heart rate seemed to be slowing down to its natural rhythm and Hunk breathes a sigh of relief.

“I think it’s his anxiety.” She says softly, keeping her face resting against his shoulder. She didn’t want to move. She felt safe in his arms, like everything was going to be okay if she stayed there. Hunk would help her find Keith after all. “He was so worried about replacing Shiro, and then both the missions went badly… I think he feels bad for getting us into that situation on Thaseryix.” Allura doesn’t blame Keith for feeling bad about Thaseryix. He had been so desperate to prove himself to the rest of the team, and he had tried to act like Shiro, when that wasn’t what the team needed. They needed Keith to be Keith.

She wished she had told him that.

“Where does he normally go when he’s anxious?” Hunk asks as he starts idly plaiting Allura’s hair. His hands needing to keep busy or else they’d start shaking and Allura would know he was feeling anxious. When he got nervous he had to keep his fingers moving. It meant that he usually had something that he could fiddle with in his jacket pockets, but for now Allura’s hair would do.

“To the training deck, myself, or Shiro.” Well, that was a dead end, and from the look Allura gives him, she’s all too aware of that. Her earlier panic was beginning to make much more sense to Hunk now.

“Is there anything other than training that he does to help cope with it himself?” He asks as he moves on to plaiting another part of the Princess’ hair, his fingers moving rapidly through the strands.

“He normally comes here and sleeps.” Allura answers after a few minutes of silence. “If there’s anything else, he hasn’t told me.” She looks up at Hunk and Hunk’s heart nearly breaks when he sees the sad look in her eyes. He leans in and gently kisses her before pulling her close.

“We’ll find him, just give me a minute to think of a plan…” He murmurs it against her hair and when he feels her nod; he relaxes. He takes a deep breath and plays with her hair as he thinks.

Searching the entire castle would take too long. There were so many rooms and Keith was known for crawling in the vents on occasion. Even with the two of them searching, it would take too long, and roping in Coran, Lance and Pidge was out of the question. If Keith had hid because he was anxious, having one of them three find him would only make it worse.

The only other option would be to have the Castle’s system scan the entire ship, but to do that they would have to go to the bridge and wait for the scan to be completed. Unless they could access the cameras on Allura’s comms tablet. If they could access that they could see when Keith left the observation deck and where he went afterwards. That would be the better option, especially as it would allow them to track his movements through the castle as they followed him.

“You have your comms tablet, don’t you?” He asks as he brushes some of Allura’s hair behind her ear, being careful not to get it stuck in her earring. She gives him a small nod and he kisses the top of her forehead, trying to reassure her without words that everything was going to be okay. He knew how much that didn’t help when you were worried. “We can use the cameras to see when he left and where he’s gone if you can access the feed.” He explains, smiling when the Princess sits up, a determined look on her face.

“I entirely forgot I could use them…” Allura murmurs as she grabs the tablet, still not moving off Hunk’s lap as she starts tapping access codes at a speed Pidge wishes she could reach. “It should only take a few doboshes to connect.” She says once she’s put the tablet down on her lap.

The two sat in anticipatory silence while they wait for connection to finish. Hunk was carding his fingers through Allura’s hair as they waited, finding the movement soothing for both of them. At least until an alarm blared from the tablet causing them both to jolt apart.

“It’s from the Black Lion, it’s requesting to board.” She can’t identify the tone of her voice. She can’t tell whether it’s anger that Keith had gone flying or relief that he was coming home. Hunk however can identify it.

It was hurt.

“Let him board. We’ll go greet him.” He says softly as he pulls her to walk with him. He was unsure how Allura was going to react if she went alone. He presses the button on the tablet to answer the call and hears Keith swear under his breath when he sees Allura.

“Allura, don’t shout at me yet, give me chance to explain then you can decide to shout.” Keith says rapidly, his eyes never once wavering from Allura’s. The Princess hesitates for a second when she hears that before she nods.

“We’ll meet you at the Black Lion’s bay.” She keeps it short before disconnecting the call, and allowing Keith access to the Castle once more.

If Allura had been unable to tell whether she was angry before, by the time they got to the Black Lion’s bay; she could definitely tell. She hated the fact that Keith had just up and left in the middle of the night. He could have woken her or Hunk and told them. Or left a note! Anything would have been better than nothing. Hunk had noticed her quiet rage and kept squeezing her hand gently, trying to offer what reassurance he could. He didn’t know what else he could do. She was, after all, entirely justified to be angry at Keith for leaving in the middle of the night again.

Hunk has to pull her back the minute the Black Lion lands in the hangar, he knows that she would have stormed over if she had the option. And knowing Keith, that wouldn’t end well at the minute. He walks with her to the Lion and waits for Keith to emerge. When Keith does emerge, he looks sheepish and to Hunk’s surprise he was still wearing his pyjamas.

“I know you’re mad Allura, but let me explain first please.” Keith says it as he walks to Allura, going to take her hand until she pulls it away from him. It was something he should have expected. He had left her countless times in the middle of the night when he had been unable to sleep and each time she had reacted badly. He just always forgot to tell her.

“You have one dobosh.” Her voice is quiet, but Keith hears the firm undertone in it. He knows he’s in trouble with her, but when he looks at Hunk and sees the same worried look; he bites the inside of his cheek. He had forgotten that dating two people meant two people to worry over him. Two people to tell when he left.

“Black roared at me, it woke me up, so I came to her and she flew me to find Shiro….” He keeps his explanation quick and to the point. He didn’t know exactly how long a dobosh was but the tone in Allura’s voice said that he shouldn’t test her at the minute. When he looks up he sees the shock on both their faces and he shifts his weight awkwardly.

Had they not expected him to find Shiro?

“You found Shiro?” Hunk repeats it and Keith is a little hurt by his tone. He had meant it when he had told the team that he wouldn’t give up on finding Shiro. He owed so much of his life to Shiro, it was only right that Keith dedicated so much time to finding him and bringing him back safe, as many times as it takes.

“Black found him, but yes… he’s sleeping in the back…” Allura pulls Keith into a tight hug once he’s explained and rests her head against his shoulder. A soft murmur escapes the pair of them when Hunk joins in the hug and his arms pull them both towards him. It felt nice being squished in the middle of the hug.

“I’m glad you found Shiro, but next time you decide to run off in the middle of the night; wake us up and tell us please.” Allura scolds him and gently presses a finger to his nose. She didn’t want to tell him how much it worried her when she woke and he was gone, he already knew that. She just wanted him to know how relieved she was he was okay. And from the way that Keith’s face softens – he knows.

“I didn’t mean to worry you.” He whispers before he kisses her cheek gently. He really hadn’t meant to worry her. She had to know that.

“I’m always worried when it comes to you.” Allura whispers it back and Hunk feels like he’s intruding on a private moment. It was like something straight out of a fairy tale and it made him happy that he was allowed to be a part of it. Smiling, he gently kisses both of their cheeks, only to smile more when he hears Keith and Allura laugh.

“What are you going to do with Shiro?” Hunk asks as he looks back towards the Black Lion. He was happy their leader was found, but he was concerned about the state that Shiro would be in. He had been gone for months in the hands of the Galra. Hunk could only hope that he hadn’t been forced to fight once again.

“I told him to ring me on my comms when he feels up to talking and he can tell me what happened.” Keith says as the hug dissolves, his hands immediately finding Hunk’s and Allura’s. Something inside him felt more relaxed now that Shiro was back, like maybe now the sleepless nights would be less frequent. He could only hope for that. “For now, I could do with some sleep.”

“You can sleep in the middle this time so you can’t escape so easily.” Allura jokes as they start to walk back to the Observation Deck. Keith knows it’s a joke and despite laughing; he couldn’t deny that at this moment that sounded like a brilliant idea.

Chapter Text

Shiro didn’t know what he was talking about. He didn’t know just how awful Lotor and his Generals were. How they had terrorised the team in his absence. How Lotor had nearly gotten Allura killed on Thayserix, and how the Generals has nearly defeated them in the Ulippa system. And when Keith had tried explaining that to him – he had just dismissed Keith’s concerns.

That wasn’t the Shiro he knew.

Shiro looked like Shiro and he talked like Shiro, but it was just different enough to make Keith doubt it. He gave conflicting orders and didn’t seem to take Keith’s concerns seriously anymore. It felt different somehow, like he wasn’t entirely there and it made Keith wary. He didn’t like the way it made him feel. He didn’t like the way it was making him retreat back into training to clear his head. Keith had just been getting the hang of his emotions and then Shiro’s disregard for his own opinions on how to lead the team had plunged him back into his spiral of self-doubt.

Which was how Keith had ended up training late at night and getting hit by a training bot hard enough to be wounded. And because the universe hated Keith, it had been Lance that had walked in as the bot’s sword had slashed at his side.

“Whoa! Stop training exercise!” Lance shouted as he ran to Keith’s side as he fell to his knees. From what the Blue Paladin could see the cut looked particularly nasty. It was bleeding and the sword had torn through Keith’s shirt. “Take off your shirt I’m going to get the first aid kit.”

Keith didn’t feel like obeying Lance’s order, yet he knew it was for the best. At least if Lance patched him up he wouldn’t have to ask Hunk or Allura too and they wouldn’t see the amount of injuries littering across his torso. Not that it was better for Lance to see them. Keith would have preferred that no one saw them, but the stinging pain in his ribs was enough to tell him that he wouldn’t have been able to patch himself up this time.

Sighing, he slips off the black shirt, wincing when it strains his new wound. He hated that he was having to have the brunet bandage him up because he was certain that Lance would comment on the other scars on his body.

“Did you not see the bot?” Lance asks as he kneels back at his teammate’s side, his fingers gentle as he runs the antiseptic wipe over the cut. The raven-haired male looks up at him confused at his question. He didn’t get what he meant. “You seemed distracted while fighting it, did you not see the bot?

“I don’t think I did, it just kind of snuck up on me.” Keith responds, running his fingers through his hair. He honestly couldn’t remember, and the painful sting of the antiseptic wipe on his cut was not helping him think.

“That’s not like you.” That gets Keith’s attention though. He knew Lance liked to watch the others train, Hunk had mentioned it to him after a battle a few weeks back. But it had never occurred to Keith just how much Lance had to have watched them in order to know how to assist them during their usual moves and tactics.

“What do you mean it’s not like me?”

“I’ve never seen you get distracted while training, that’s all.” Lance says offhandedly as he puts the gauze pad on the wound. His fingers quickly pulling the roll of bandage over Keith’s skin so that the gauze stayed there. “Is there a reason that you’re distracted?” Keith doesn’t like the tone of that question. It seems to imply that Lance knew something already, and that made him wonder if it was obvious to everyone what his problem was. He really hoped that it wasn’t.

“It’s something stupid.” He mutters as he tugs his shirt back on, not wanting Lance to stare any more than he had to.

“Keith, you never get distracted, you’re usually hyper focused when training. But judging from the number of scars on you, something’s wrong and talking about it might help.” Okay, so it seemed that Lance didn’t know the actual problem, he just knew something was wrong. Which gave Keith a bigger problem to deal with.

Lie or tell Lance the truth.

Keith had a feeling that either way, this was going to be a bad idea. Lance was just going to tease him if he told him the truth. But, the alternative was to lie and then pile this on Allura and Hunk at a later date. And they were already too concerned about him. Making sure that he wasn’t training for too long at a time. It was nice, and he felt loved, but it didn’t make him feel comfortable with telling them that about his issues with Shiro or that the thoughts were getting bad again. He was scared that they would dismiss his concerns as well, or just not agree with the action he wanted to take because of it.

But Lance… Lance just seemed to know that something was wrong, and knowing him, he wasn’t going to drop it until Keith told him something. Keith didn’t think Lance would dismiss him considering the brunet had come to him a few days ago with his concerns about their now being six Paladins, but he also didn’t think he would agree with the action he wanted to take.

It was an odd predicament.

“Look, it’s a huge complicated mess.” Keith starts as he looks at Lance. Lance had taken the lull in the conversation to lay on the training deck floor, staring up at the ceiling as opposed to looking at Keith. It was odd. It reminded him of all those times he had been brought into counsellors to figure out why he kept getting booted out of foster homes.

“I’ve got time.”

“The Shiro that I rescued… I don’t think it’s the real Shiro.” He murmurs, looking down at his hands. It felt horrible to say out loud and it made Keith’s heart sink a little. He was admitting to someone that he didn’t think it was the real Shiro. Lance was going to think he was crazy.

He shouldn’t have said anything.

“What do you mean?” He looks over at Lance as the brunet talks and is surprised to see him sitting upright, a puzzled look on his face. That certainly hadn’t been the reaction he had been expecting.

“Shiro never used to fight me when I said that the team should try doing something a certain way. He used to take it into consideration… but now he just seems to shoot down any idea I have.” He fiddles with the hem of his shirt as he talks. He was well aware that his words sound like a bratty child that isn’t getting his own way, but there was no other way that he could think of to tell Lance just how he felt. “It just doesn’t feel like the Shiro I know.”

“Is that why you’ve been training more?” Lance doesn’t move to lay back down, sensing that this wasn’t going to be an easy topic for the Red Paladin to speak about. He keeps his eyes focused on Keith, noting how he keeps fiddling with his shirt as he thinks.

“You noticed?” Keith forces himself to smile a little. He couldn’t bring himself to outright tell Lance how bad it had gotten. He needed time to work up to that.

“We’ve all noticed. Hunk asked me if I had upset you earlier.” But hearing that Hunk had thought that Lance had upset him makes him bite his lip. He had been right. If it was obvious to Lance it was obvious to everyone else, which meant that Allura and Hunk probably already knew that something was weighing on his mind. “So, is it the reason why you’ve been training more?”

“It is why I’ve been training more. It’s the only thing that clears my head enough for me to be able to think.” Keith looks up at Lance as he answers his question and relaxes a little seeing that Lance looked concerned. He had been so worried that Lance would tease him, and yet the Blue Paladin was doing the opposite of that.

“Have you told Hunk or Allura about this?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“They’re already worried about me, I don’t want to make it worse.” Keith looks away as he answers that question. He knew that his reasoning for not telling them didn’t make sense. He knew that he should tell them but, he was so used to struggling on his own that it was hard to let people in to help. Especially when he was scared they would leave like everyone else he had loved.

“Keith, you’re dating them, they’re meant to worry about you. If they weren’t worried about you it would mean they didn’t love you.” Lance’s voice is quiet but firm. He didn’t want to make Keith close himself off again, but he knew that the Red Paladin needed to know this. He needed to know that isolating himself wasn’t a good idea. “And by not telling them what’s worrying you, you’ll only make them worry more when you eventually do tell them. They’ll wonder why you didn’t feel comfortable telling them this before it got to be too much for you to handle alone.”

Keith’s eyes drop to floor again as he hears that. He knew all that. He just didn’t want them to leave him because he was too much of a problem for them to handle. He didn’t want to have to tell them that he was having suicidal thoughts again. It would hurt too much. But, telling Lance… that didn’t seem so scary. In fact, telling Lance seemed a lot easier.

“Lance, I don’t want to tell them how Shiro and myself clashing made bad thoughts crop up again and how I just want it to end. I already worried Allura with those thoughts when Shiro disappeared, I don’t want to do it again.” He admits after a few minutes of mulling it over. He’s surprised to see that Lance’s expression doesn’t change once Keith’s admitted his insecurities.

Maybe Lance understood more than Keith realised.

“I know it’s scary, but you have to tell them at some point, or you risk losing them both. Hunk and Allura will worry yes, but that’s because they love you.” Keith nods at that. He knew Hunk and Allura loved him. They showed him that every time they were together. “Then tell them, because if it’s obvious to me that something is wrong with you, it’s more than obvious to them.” “And they would do better to hear it from you, than from me when it’s too late.” Lance gives Keith a sad smile as he talks, both of them not wanting to think what too late would mean, or how much it would crush Hunk and Allura to know that they could have stopped it.

“You’re right… I should tell them.” Keith says it quietly before catching the look Lance gives him. “I will tell them.”

“Do you have any idea as to how you’re going to deal with your concerns about Shiro?” The question takes the Red Paladin by surprise, he hadn’t expected Lance to take those concerns seriously. And yet Lance was. Maybe he had noticed the little differences in Shiro too.

“Kind of, I spoke to Kolivan about it. He mentioned that something they’ve been seeing in a lot of the data at the minute is something called Project Kuron, and it keeps mentioning Shiro’s prisoner number.” Keith explains, remembering the feelings he had had when Kolivan had first told him about Project Kuron. He had been immediately cautious because it could have meant nothing, but now that Shiro was back and they were still getting test results from it back – he was worried. “Kolivan wants me to go to base to help investigate it.”

“So, you’d be leaving the team?” Lance doesn’t sound as shocked as Keith had thought he would be. He sounds resigned and maybe a little upset. It was at times like this Keith wished he didn’t have so much trouble trying to read people’s emotions.

“At least the problem of fitting six Paladins in five Lions will be solved.” Keith tries to joke, but when he sees the weak smile on Lance’s face he knows he shouldn’t have tried.

“I didn’t want you to leave though.” Lance murmurs, suddenly regretting coming to Keith about his worries. He hadn’t wanted Keith to leave. Sure, he said it jokingly from time to time, but he had never meant for him to leave. “You better come back, Mullet.” Lance adds as he pulls Keith into a tight hug, his arms narrowly missing his bandaged side. Keith can hear the unsaid threat in his words, the threat that he better come back for Hunk and Allura’s sake.

“I’ll be back soon, you won’t miss me for long, Sharpshooter.” Keith whispers as he hugs Lance close, knowing that while he hated most physical contact; Lance needed it at the minute.

Chapter Text

“Are you sure that this is what you want Keith?” Hunk can’t help but feel saddened by the prospect of Keith leaving the team, even if it was only for the duration of his mission. Keith had said his rather reluctant goodbyes to the rest of the team, before dragging Hunk and Allura to the hangar so they could wait for Kolivan together. He looked nervous but if Hunk was in his position of having to spend the foreseeable future with Kolivan, he would be nervous too. Keith hadn’t told them much about his mission, just that he needed to do it, and he would explain it to them both before he had to leave.

“I am.” Keith, in fact, wasn’t sure that this was what he wanted. He knew that he wanted to know whether it was the real Shiro. He knew he might not get the answers that he wanted; but he needed the answers regardless. “Kolivan needs me for this mission, but before he gets here I need to be honest with you both.”

“What do you mean Keith?” Allura touches his hand as she talks, her eyes immediately concerned. She knew that it took a lot for Keith to be honest with them, but normally she knew when he was hiding something. This time, she wasn’t sure what he could be hiding.

“I don’t think the Shiro I rescued is the real Shiro. He feels off to me, and Kolivan keeps getting results from the Galra Empire for a Project Kuron. Which would be fine except that it keeps mentioning Shiro’s prisoner number over and over.” He talks at a mile a minute, worried that his partners would hate him from hiding something this big from them for so long. But when he looks up he sees the understanding looks on their face. Maybe they understood why he hadn’t told them?

“Which is why he wants your help.” She murmurs, rubbing her thumb over her boyfriend’s hand. She understood why Kolivan wanted Keith immediately. Out of all the Paladins, Keith was the one that knew Shiro the best, and is the one that would know if something was off in the test results. She understood yes, but that didn’t mean she was entirely happy about him leaving for an undetermined amount of time.

“Yeah, but… there’s something else too.” Keith shifts as he talks. He knew he had promised Lance that he would tell them, but he hadn’t anticipated how much his stomach would churn when he thought about telling them. But, a promise was a promise.

“Oh?” Her and Hunk ask it in unison, both of them immediately concerned at what else their boyfriend could have to tell them.

“Because Shiro and me keep clashing, I keep having intrusive thoughts. I don’t think anything is going to happen because of it but… I think you both need to know, just in case.” He admits quietly and squeaks when Hunk pulls him into a hug. He wasn’t surprised that he had hugged him. Hunk had never heard that he dealt with intrusive thoughts after all.

“Are they happening frequently again?” Allura looks concerned and rightly so. She knew that Keith had dealt with those thoughts over the entire course of their relationship, and thankfully he had never acted on them, but Keith had never told her outright that he kept having them. Normally she had to ask first.

“It’s usually only when I have nothing to focus on, which is why I’ve been training a lot with Lance lately.” Hearing that helps Allura relax, at least while Keith is focused on his mission he wouldn’t have to deal with those thoughts alone. “It helps distract me, and he’s been telling me stories about Hunk.”

“Wait, what?” Hunk does not sound impressed at that, and Keith can’t help but smile a little. He had known that Hunk would immediately think that it was embarrassing stories, when in fact it had all been stories where Hunk had been helping someone. It was sweet.

“He told me about the time he was panicking about an exam and you stayed up with him all night and helped him get through it. I thought it was sweet.” Hunk can feel himself growing flustered when he hears Keith recall the story, and he makes a mental note to have a word with Lance about telling them stories like that.

“It is sweet.” The Princess whispers when she sees how flustered Hunk was. She enjoyed embarrassing both boys, but Hunk was so much easier to embarrass. Although that could just be because he wasn’t used to her teasing like Keith was.

“God, you two are embarrassing.” Hunk mutters as he tries to hide his face behind his hands. These two would be the death of him.

“Would we be your partners if we didn’t embarrass you?” Keith asks as he gently kisses Hunk’s cheek, smiling when he sees Hunk blush a deeper shade of red at the affection. “Kolivan said I would be able to video chat with you both most nights. He said it was important for Galrans to keep in contact with their mates, and I didn’t really want to ask why.”

“Understandable.” The Princess murmurs it and starts to wipe at her eyes. It was so close to Keith being gone, and she was a little too upset for him to go without her crying a little. She was going to miss him after all.

“Allura, are you okay?” Hunk asks as he catches sight of her tears. He didn’t like it when Allura cried, it didn’t suit her.

“I’m fine… I’ll just miss Keith and I…” Allura throws her arms around Keith and buries her head in his shoulder. “I wish you didn’t need to go, but I know it’s important to you.” She murmured into his ear, smiling a little when Keith wrapped his arms around her.

“I love you too Allura.” Keith stroked his hand down her back to reassure her before looking across to Hunk. “I love you too Hunk.” He said softly. He didn’t want to leave without telling Hunk that he loved him. He deserved to know, even if it did make the Yellow Paladin flush scarlet.

“I love you too Keith.” He whispers before looking at the Princess nuzzled into Keith’s side. “I love you as well Allura.” He added, his cheeks flushing that little bit more as he admitted his affection for her.

“Both of you get over here.” Allura murmured as she pulled them both into a tight hug. “I love you both so much.” She whispered as she smiled at her two beautiful boyfriends, only to bite her lip as Kolivan’s ship landed in the hangar, her grip on Keith’s Blade suit tightening.

“Come back safe Keith.” Hunk whispers before straightening up as Kolivan greeted them. The elder male seems to watch them out of curiosity before he inclines his head at Keith. “He doesn’t talk much, does he?”

“He doesn’t feel the need too.” The Red Paladin smiles a little before running his fingers through Allura’s hair. He had known that she would be clingy towards him, but he hadn’t expected her to be this bad. “Kolivan will make sure I come home safe Allura, I’ll be back before you know it, I promise.”

“You’d better, or I’ll come get you.” She whispers before pulling away from him to stand next to Hunk. “Stay safe Keith.” She adds, leaning into Hunk as they watch Keith board the Blade of Marmora ship. Hunk’s arm slips round her without him saying anything. They both knew Keith would be okay. The half Galran was tough and could hold his own, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t both feel better when they knew that he was safe back at their base.

After all, worrying that much about someone showed just how much you loved them.