chapter 3

Shiro leaned back in his seat, not even trying to hide the look of skepticism from his face. “We’re going to be doing <i>what</i> now?”

“Sleeping inside your lions!” Coran said brightly.

The paladins sat in a small common room that they had adopted as a hang-out spot, all of them looking back and forth at each other and wondering if they should take this seriously.

“I know those chairs are comfortable, but I don’t think I could exactly fall asleep in one,” Hunk said.

“Of course you wouldn’t be sleeping in the cockpit.” Coran gestured at the wall. With a quiet mechanical hiss, it opened up and a cot with a pillow and folded blankets on top rolled into the room. “There are small living quarters in each lion, quite useful for long-term missions away from the castle.”

“And why are we doing this again?” Pidge crossed her arms, looking just as skeptical as Shiro felt.

Allura, sitting across from the others, finally spoke up. “I’m sure you’ve all be able to feel your lions, like they might be speaking to you. The longer you work with them and spend time with them, the clearer that communication will be. Even just sleeping inside will help advance that bond as well.”

Shiro couldn’t argue with that. He thought it might even be a good idea, now that he was thinking about it. At the back of his mind, however, he could feel his shadow didn’t agree. They always hid whenever he did anything in the black lion and that fear was keeping an edge to his skepticism that didn’t totally disappear.

“Right now I would like you all to sleep in your lions at least once a week, though there will be no limit if you decide it’s comfortable.” Coran pushed the cot back into the wall. “I’ll make sure there are cots delivered to each hangar and you can set them up however you like. Any other questions?”

The only reply was a murmur of no. Coran and Allura left, presumably to go make sure everyone got something to sleep in and continue making sure the ancient castle was in working condition, and everyone slowly went back to what they were doing on their first ever day off. Probably not an actual day off, Shiro realized as he closed his eyes to think. They were probably supposed to be preparing to have their little camp-out in the lions. Either way, it meant he had a lot of free time suddenly on his hands and he didn’t like it.

Shiro stood up and stretched. Even on a free day he could still train on his own. Preoccupied with his own thoughts, he missed the way Keith’s worried gaze followed him out of the room.

Half an hour later, Shiro was in his armor and entering the training room. He looked down at his right hand and frowned. Would his arm and the presence haunting him – clearly the same being by this point – cooperate? Shiro wanted to face the training bots again, to power through whatever made him freeze last time, but he couldn’t do that without a weapon.

“Come on. Work with me here.” Shiro took a deep breath closed his eyes. He focused on trying to make his fingers sharp and clawed, the deadly weapon he <i>knew</i> he had used as a prisoner. “Please?” he added softly.

A memory of the metallic taste of blood rushed over his tongue as soon as he spoke. When he opened his eyes in shock, Shiro could see the slick black material that was his arm seeping out from under his armor. Within seconds his arm up to the shoulder was covered. When he flexed his hand, his fingers sharpened into dangerous claws.

In the back of his head he could feel his shadow waiting for something and Shiro laughed out loud when he realized what it was.

“Thank you. We’ll get the hang of this sooner or later,” he said. A sudden wave of sadness washed over him at the thought, though he couldn’t say why.

Shiro quickly shook it off. He was there to practice and train, not try to get back his lost memories. With a determined set to his jaw, he activated the training program.

*

Keith sat in the comfortable rec room trying to relax. He had a juice pouch of fizzy water, an audiobook that had taken most of the morning to download through their stolen wormhole internet, and what he would argue was the best place to sit on the round couch (the very center of the curve, for anyone asking).

None of it was working.

He knew Shiro was going to keep training. Either in the black lion or in the training room or running laps around the castle… Whatever it was, it was just pushing Shiro closer to burning out, physically or mentally.

Finally Keith couldn’t take it anymore. With an impatient sigh, he coiled up his headphones and stood up.

“Think fast,” he called out to Lance, tossing his unopened drink in his direction.

“Wha – OW.”

Keith couldn’t keep the smirk off his face as he slipped out of the room to search for Shiro. It faded quickly, though, as he worked his way around the giant castle. It was quiet and eerie away from the others. The sheer scale of the building around him made it clear how many Altaens were supposed to fill it. Old ghost stories tried to come to the forefront of his mind as he made his way down to the training room. It took longer than it should have as he went out of his way to cautiously explore and search for Shiro.

He was in a thoroughly unsettled mood when he finally got to the entrance of the training room. Through the doors he could hear the high-pitched squeal of ripping metal. What the hell was Shiro doing in there?

Keith opened the door to a scene of pure carnage.

Metal pieces of training droids littered the floor. In a brief glance around the room, Keith thought saw the heads of at least three of them, completely torn from their bodies. Splashes of what might be oil or hydraulic fluid covered the wide floor to match black scorch marks from overloaded electronics. And in the very center of the simulated massacre was Shiro.

Something shiny and black covered his right arm up to the shoulder and tendrils of it reached across his chest and around his neck. In one hand was the still sparking severed arm of a droid and while the other was empty, knife-like claws extending his fingers to unnatural lengths. Shiro was slumped over, chest heaving. He didn’t seem to notice Keith staring in fear and awe, fighting every instinct in his body telling him to run away as fast as he could.

Keith took a shaky breath and suppressed a full-body shudder. This was <i>Shiro.</i> Shiro wouldn’t hurt him. He steeled his jaw and took one step forward, then another. Keith finally made his out of the entrance and into the training room proper where he took another breath to speak.

“Shiro?”

At the sound of his voice, Shiro’s head whipped up and his body tightened into a fighting stance. He bared his teeth and threw away the arm in his hand but none of that made adrenaline spike through Keith like his <i>eyes.</i> They were pitch black, devoid of any white or even the familiar soft gray of his irises. He glared daggers at Keith and raised his black right hand before a convulsion wracked his body with a shout and he fell to his hands and knees.

Whatever dangerous spell had frozen Keith like prey under a serpent’s gaze was broken in and instant. He rushed forward, jumping over scrapped robots to kneel by Shiro’s side. The black substance had retreated by the time Keith got there and carefully placed a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. When Shiro finally looked up, whatever had possessed him was gone. Keith wished he knew if it had totally disappeared or simply been suppressed…

“Shiro? Can you hear me? What – what happened?” Keith couldn’t keep the echoes of his previous fear out of his voice.

“We’re fine,” he insisted, shaking his head weakly. He leaned on Keith and slowly moved into a sitting position. “It was just training.” Shiro put a hand to the side of his head like he was in pain.

“Training? Or did you want to test out how fast the castle can repair things?” Keith bit his tongue to keep from saying any more. At his words Shiro finally looked around at the destruction around him.

“Oops.”

Keith sighed as the last of his adrenaline rush pumped through his veins. Little robots on treads emerged from the walls to drag broken parts and pieces away while he tried to figure out what to do next. He <i>had</i> to get Shiro out of here. What had happened to him was terrifying in more ways than one. He turned his head to get a closer look at Shiro’s expression and he looked just as confused and scared as Keith felt.

“Ugh. Gross.” Keith pulled his face back as a plan slowly formed. “You smell like a locker room,” he lied.

“I do not,” Shiro grumbled, drawing away and crossing his arms stubbornly.

“Do, too.” At least he was back to singular pronouns, Keith thought. He crossed his arms as well. There was no way Shiro could out-stubborn him.

Shiro frowned at him until he finally sighed. “Fine. I’ll go clean up.”

“And change out of your armor.” Shiro’s face darkened for a split second before he threw up his hands.

“Fine! Fine. What are you gonna do, wait outside of the showers to make sure I actually change?” He looked over with a raised eyebrow.

Keith huffed and turned his nose up, hoping that it would hide the blush that rose to his cheeks at the idea of Shiro fresh out of the shower. “I’ll meet you in the hanger with Red. You can help me find that living space Coran said the lions have.” He stood up and held out his hand to help Shiro to his feet. Shiro took his hand after a worrying amount of time, finally hauling himself to his feet. Keith gave his hand one more squeeze before letting go.

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it,” Keith started slowly, “but just. Be careful. With your arm. Whatever it is… it’s dangerous.”

Shiro held his right arm protectively against his chest with an expression that Keith couldn’t get a read on. “I know.”

Keith waited as the silence stretched out after that. If Shiro wouldn’t say anything now, pressing him wouldn’t help.

“You’ve got an hour. Tops. Anything more than that and I’ll send Lance after you.” Keith watched with relief as Shiro groaned.

“I get it, okay? Today is for taking a break. As terrible an idea as that is.” Shiro followed Keith out of the training room. “I’ll see you in <i>less</i> than an hour. Promise.”

They parted ways as Keith headed down to the hangars and Shiro to his room. The whole walk down to his lion, Keith debated if he should tell anyone about what he had seen.

*

Shiro felt uneasy the entire time he had been in the red lion. The sensation was different and familiar at the same time, and the closest thing he could compare it to was meeting a friend’s parents for the first time. He couldn’t feel Red the same way he could sense his own lion but the feelings of judgment and scrutiny made their way through to him nonetheless. Making things worse, as they seemed to have a habit of doing, his shadow railed against the close examination by Keith’s lion. By the time Shiro managed to politely excuse himself, his head felt like a church bell on a wedding day: ringing and hollow. The guilt he felt for bailing out so quickly after Keith had found the promised living quarters didn’t help.

“Are you ever going to give me a break?” he murmured under his breath, rubbing the palm of his right hand.

There was no reply. Not one he could understand in words, anyway.

Shiro finally sat down outside the large door of the black lion’s hangar. He knew she was waiting for him but he felt so rattled from the day’s events that he didn’t think he could accept the welcoming aura just yet. From the way he had lost control in the training room to the way he felt Red examining him under a microscope, everything that had happened to knock him further and further off balance.

With a quiet sigh, Shiro shoved everything into the back of his head and shut it away. There was no reason to think about it now, not when he couldn’t do anything about it. Another sigh worked its way out as got back to his feet. He couldn’t put things off any longer, even if he wanted to. A press of a button slid the hangar door up just enough for him to walk inside. Waiting faithfully was his lion, whose eyes lit up the darkness as soon as he walked in. At her feet and dwarfed by Black’s imposing size was the same cot and blankets that he had helped Keith take inside Red. She gently nosed them forward towards Shiro.

“You’re excited about this, huh?” A grin worked its way to Shiro’s face before he realized it. “I guess we should figure out where to put this.”

Black opened her mouth without delay, and Shiro shook his head wryly before pulling the lightweight bedding inside.

“So where’s this secret bedroom supposed to be?” Shiro looked around while his shadow pouted in the back of his mind. Hate was a strong word, but they seriously disliked every moment he spent inside his lion. The prospect of spending the night seemed to be making them more cantankerous than usual.

“Oh, come on. Don’t be a baby.” It was a relief to be able to speak out loud without fear of someone seeing him and Shiro let himself continue. “What’s one night gonna do to you?”

Frustration boiled over before the shadow locked down into their sulk again.

“See? Nothing.” Shiro slid his hands across a panel close to the same place Keith had opened in the red lion. “If you were that angry about it, you’d have something to say, wouldn’t you?” He ignored both his shadow and Black trying to show their disapproval. When he continued to stay silent, a growl rumbled through the cockpit.

“Okay, fine! I’m sorry.” As soon as he grudgingly apologized, a door handle popped up out of the wall.

Shiro cautiously pulled on the handle. A door revealed itself from the panel and slid to the side with a hiss.

The new room was paneled in the same material as the cockpit and entry into the lion. It looked to be about three meters by five, housed in the very center of the mech. From the way its walls were jointed and split, Shiro thought it might fold in on itself or compress in some manner to accommodate the transformation into Voltron.

“I can’t believe you had this hiding in here the whole time.” Shiro walked in slowly while pulling his cot behind him. Against one of the longer walls was a recess that looked like it would just fit the makeshift bed. A pleased purr echoed in his head when he pushed the cot into place.

It only took a few moments for Shiro to unfold the blankets and fluff up the pillow to his satisfaction.

“Still a little early to go to bed,” he thought aloud. “I guess I can just get a snack and call it quits ahead of schedule.” Shiro made a mental checklist of the things he wanted to bring back. Anything to keep his mind occupied so he didn’t have to open up anything he had compartmentalized. A terrible habit, he knew, but it kept him sane as a prisoner. How he knew that was a mystery but he was sure it was the truth.

“Do you think the Altaens used Tupperware?” Shiro wondered on the way to the kitchen.

“They used to, yeah.” Shiro found himself flinching away from Hunk, who had joined him in the hallway. “I mean, they still do, but they used to, too. Wanting to pack a lunchbox for the lion sleepover?”

Shiro had to take a moment to calm down; it had been a while since he had been caught off-guard like that. “Yeah, something like that.” It was only then that he was able to see what Hunk was doing. He had a muddy apron on over his clothes and a huge basket in his arms full of carefully separated leaves, roots, and flowers. “What is all that?”

“As much as I appreciate the ease and function of food goo… I really gotta find something else to eat, man.” Hunk held the basket up proudly. “I took a trip around the area with my lion and got a good selection of the local plants. If I can find Coran, I was going to ask if there’s some kind of lab or science-y area where I can check to see if any of these are harmful to eat.”

“If you need somebody to try out any recipes, let us know,” Shiro said quickly, apparently fast enough for Hunk to quirk an eyebrow at his enthusiasm. “…food goo isn’t really cutting it for us either,” he added weakly.

“I’ll make sure to put you at the top of the list for new recipes,” Hunk said slowly. Shiro didn’t understand the odd look Hunk was giving him and just brushed it off.

They split up when Hunk heard Coran speaking with Allura down another hallway, leaving Shiro to himself again. It wasn’t until Shiro replayed their conversation in his head that he realized he referred to himself in the plural again.

Disturbed and with yet another incident to try to tuck away out of sight in his memory, he did his best to gather what he needed for his overnight stay in the black lion and head back to the hanger.

*

I hate it when we sleep.

Shiro can feel my dread while he undresses and for once this is one emotion I wish I didn’t share. While we’re awake at least I’m not alone…

“Don’t tell me you have nightmares, too.”

<b>If only.</b> Hours of darkness, locked away without even Shiro’s dislike for me to listen to… A nightmare would be pleasant in comparison.

Shiro sighs, reading whatever I managed to project to him as some sort of agreement. “We’ve been through some shit. It would be nice if I could remember any of it.” His left hand crosses the stark border where his skin stops and my flesh forms his arm. He may not remember how it was lost, but I do. The flash of anger I feel startles him and he pulls his hand back.

“Sensitive subject,” he mumbles. “Sorry.”

<b>Of course it’s a sensitive subject! The Galra tortured you, they tortured both of us-!</b>

Frustration threatens to overpower me until <i>she</i> makes her presence known. The black lion. Watching like anything I do could hurt Shiro. I ball up in the back of his mind. It’s a strategic retreat, so she doesn’t try to take me from him. Not hiding…

Shiro gets in the cot and tucks his back against the wall. Even without a conscious memory of it, he knows this is the safest way to sleep. As he closes his eyes he holds his right arm to his chest. I try to believe that it is because he somehow knows I want that small comfort but the lie feels hollow even as I think it.

He falls asleep quickly. It stings, knowing that the lion’s presence is more soothing to him than mine. I do my best to settle and rest, but something changes as he loses consciousness. The lion, only an outside force before, is suddenly inside the cage I’m trapped in with me.

My panic speeds up Shiro’s sleeping heartbeat. She’s finally there to root me out, to leave me nothing but a husk for Shiro to use like a tool – like what the Galra wanted me to be –

<b>Stay away from me!</b> I lash out, a feeble attempt to get her to leave me alone. I only realize what I’ve done when it’s too late. There’s no way she’ll just leave me here after I tried to hurt her.

But nothing happens.

<b>Why aren’t you trying to kill me?</b>

There’s no anger or malice that I can sense from the black lion, no spiteful vengeance. Is it a trap? Is she trying to get me to let my guard down so she can end me more easily?

<b><i>Why do you think I wish to kill you?</b></i>

Shock ripples through me only to be followed by anger once again. <b>Shiro is your pilot! I’m just a prosthetic. He doesn’t remember me; he thinks I’m dangerous, a disease, parasite-</b>

<i><b>Stop.</i></b> The firm command is accompanied by a sadness that I don’t understand. <i><b>Little one. Why do you think I stop him from mocking you?</i></b>

I can’t answer. It never occurred to me that she would do something like that for <i>my</i> benefit.

<i><b>The hurt in you runs deep. I will not let him add to it, if I have any choice in the matter.</i></b>

There is truth in the lion’s words that I can’t deny. I find myself slowly releasing tension and no longer bracing for some kind of attack. <b>He doesn’t mean it,</b> I say, weakly trying to defend my host. <b>Or… he wouldn’t if he remembered… </b>

<i><b>We will speak of other things,</i></b> she says firmly. <i><b>Shiro I can observe and get to know through his actions. You are more opaque to me.</i></b> I sense her settling in and it occurs to me that this is the first time I’ve been able to truly speak with someone since we escaped.

<b>I still don’t understand what you want with me.</b>

<i><b>To get to know you, of course.</i></b> She says that like it’s the most obvious conclusion. <i><b>As you said, Shiro is my pilot. But you are part of him.</i></b> It appears I won’t get a better answer than that. <i><b>So let us introduce ourselves, little one. I am the black lion of Voltron. You may call me what you wish, within reason. And you are?</i></b>

<b>My name is Frenzy.</b>

*

When Shiro woke up he could tell that he had slept better than usual. He didn’t have to spend the usual ten minutes stretching and relaxing tense muscles, and for once he felt like he had actually slept instead of run laps overnight. Maybe Coran was on to something, making them sleep out here.

Still shirtless and in his underwear, he grabbed the alien Tupperware full of food bars from under the cot and took it into the cockpit. The consoles lit up as he plopped down into his seat. Munching on his flavorless but necessary breakfast as he checked things over, Shiro tried to put his finger on what else felt different. It was only when he focused on his shadow that he realized they were… calm. Maybe even… happy? It was a far cry from the night before, when they were sulking over the stay in the black lion.

“You’re in a good mood,” he mumbled around another food bar. “How do you feel about going for a walk and checking the weather?” There was a positive response from his shadow, and a purr around him from the lion. “Guess that’s a yes.”

Shiro didn’t feel much like flying; once they launched from the castle, he quickly landed and set the lion in an easy trot towards the horizon.

The sun was still just short of rising and the sky was a soft blue. Out towards the west there were still a few stars visible, and a converted thermometer showed a comfortable temperature outside. Finally Shiro couldn’t take it any more. With a quick maneuver of the controls he pulled to a stop a few miles from the castle.

It took some work explaining to Black exactly what he wanted, along with some creative climbing, before Shiro managed to perch on top of her head. He sat down right between her ears and stretched his legs out to watch the sunrise, enjoying his first moment of peace in what felt like a lifetime.

“Funny how you don’t think about missing home until you’re already gone.” His words were quickly whisked away with the early morning breeze. It was the subtle differences between Arus and Earth that made him all the more homesick.

“I guess I don’t mind nostalgia. And at least there’s still a home to go back to.” Shiro closed his eyes and rested his left hand on his arm once again. This time there was no violent reaction from his shadow, only a muted echo of his own muddled feelings. When he opened his eyes to look at his arm, the soft light seemed to penetrate the surface and make the inside shine with tiny silver motes.

Shiro was still turning his arm, watching the strange way it almost sparkled, when he felt more than heard another lion approaching. He knew his quiet time alone wasn’t going to last long, but he had at least hoped for a <i>few</i> more minutes.

“Shiro? What are you doing up there?” Keith’s voice finally interrupted his thoughts. When he looked over, he saw Keith’s head poking out of the open mouth of his lion. Before Shiro could try to reply Keith was already gone.

“Okay…” Shiro wondered exactly what he was doing until he saw a hatch open up in one of the red lion’s ears and Keith climb out a moment later. “Aw what, did you have one of those the whole time?” he asked Black accusingly. He could have sworn he heard a mischievous laugh in reply.

Red put a paw up on Black to reach high enough for Keith to jump from her snout over to where Shiro was still sitting.

“Sleep well?” he asked, sitting down next to Shiro.

“Yeah, actually. Better than I have in a while.” Shiro looked over at Keith, who still had a serious case of bed-head. He allowed himself to take a step back into the nostalgia and find it adorable, though he tried not to think of the last time he saw Keith like that. “How about you?”

“Same. It was nice not to have to stim for a half hour just to feel tired.” Keith looked startled at what he just said and quickly kept going. “The bed wasn’t the most comfortable but it was better than the shack. Maybe I could rig up a hammock instead.”

Shiro shook his head with a grin and turned back to the view while Keith rambled on. With the sun in his eyes, it was easy to miss the way Keith kept looking over at him from the corner of his eye.

“Hey where are you guys? Coran wants us in for breakfast and then to start training asap!” Lance’s voice echoed from somewhere inside the lions and Shiro grimaced. This really was the end of his quiet morning.

“We should get back before they come looking for us.” Shiro stood and stretched, only then remembering that he was almost totally undressed. “Do you want a lift back with me or do you want to try to climb back down to Red?”

“I’ll just – climbing down is fine; it’s no problem-” Keith was already sliding down the side of Black’s snout to where his lion was waiting to catch him.

Shiro watched him with a sigh. Keith always did have to do things the hard way.

*

Keith breathed a sigh of relief when he finally stepped out of Red and into the hangar. He couldn’t keep the image of Shiro from that morning out of his head. It definitely wasn’t because of how he looked stretching in the morning sun. Something shoved him hard from behind, making him stumble, but when he glared over his shoulder the lion seemingly hadn’t moved.

Fine. Maybe it was a little bit because of that. What had stood out at first, though, was the scars. Shiro was covered in them. Burns. Slashes and cuts. What even looked like giant <i>bite</i> marks. What had happened to him?

He was still trying to figure out what was more painful to think on (how Shiro got hurt or trying to compare him to the last time Keith had seen him nude) when he met with the others on the way to the dining area.

“Great job training today, guys. We’re really getting the hang of Voltron.” Shiro was practically beaming at his teammates, apparently still in whatever good mood had possessed him after his overnight stay in the black lion.

“Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that crashed ship?” Lance, as loud as ever, mimed a kick before plopping heavily into a seat. “Must have been a couple kilometers.”

Keith couldn’t stop himself from trying to take the wind out of Lance’s sails. “Yeah, that’ll come in real handy when the Galra challenge us to a football match,” he said, putting as much subtle venom as he could without being downright sarcastic.

“Hey, I did something cool and you can’t handle it. I get it.” Lance shrugged, Keith’s words rolling off him like water on a duck’s back.

“Your kick ruined our balance. We fell.” Keith frowned. Why would Lance want to insist something that obviously failed was so cool?

“...the falling part was Hunk’s fault.”

“Hey!” Hunk stood up for himself with a glare from the next seat over.

“All right, save it for fighting the Galra.” Shiro cut off any quip Lance was about to spit out as he sat heavily in the seat at the head of the table. As much as Keith wanted to get in one last jab, he didn’t want to ruin the genuinely good mood Shiro seemed to be in.

“Welcome back!” Coran emerged from the kitchen with a huge plate covered in a cloche. “How was the workout?” he asked while Keith got comfortable in his own chair.

“We’re getting there.” Shiro’s answer was much more toned down than the praise he was giving the team just a few moments before. “How close are you and Allura to getting us off Arus?”

“I know it doesn’t look like much,” Coran started, waggling a bushy eyebrow, “but the castle <i>is</i> our way off the planet.”

Shiro turned a flat stare towards him. “The point is, we’re sitting ducks here.” Keith did his best to keep a frown off his own face. That’s the Shiro he was used to now, for better or for worse.

“Don’t worry, we’re making real progress,” Coran said confidently. “In the mean time, to keep your mind off those ducks and where they sit, I coaxed out something new from the nutrition generator!” With a flourish, he set the plate down on the table and lifted the cloche.

After a puff of steam dissipated, they were met with… something. It didn’t look like food, that was for sure. There were lumps, to put it delicately, oozing out of holes in some kind of… rock? The holes where the wormy lumps had already fallen out made Keith’s skin crawl. He would stick with lukewarm goo, and so would everyone else at the table judging from their expressions.

Maybe not everybody. Shiro had a frown on his face but he looked suspiciously interested. He had been eating a lot more, enough that even Keith had started to notice. There was no way he was tempted to actually try that. Absolutely not. Right?

“Coran, I <i>just</i> got used to the food goo and I’m making progress on figuring out what natural resources around here are edible. Are you really trying to throw a clog in the gears now?”

“What? It’s packed with nutrients, exactly what a paladin needs!”

Hunk leaned over to give the ‘food’ a closer sniff. Keith considered him a braver man than any of them. “Eugh. It smells disgusting!”

“To uncultured palates perhaps,” Coran said right back.

“Now I <i>know</i> he’s fucking with us,” Keith mumbled to himself.

“Look, <i>this</i> is edible,” Hunk said, pulling out a sad, wilted bundle of leaves from inside his armor. Keith didn’t even want to know why he had it in there. “It smells better, and I can <i>promise</i> that it tastes better. <i>And</i> it doesn’t make me feel nauseous from trypophobia. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go make a salad. I will call for help if I break out in a rash again.”

Shiro watched Hunk make a break for it and Keith couldn’t decide if he was jealous of being able to leave, or coveting the vegetation Hunk was taking with him.

“Where’s Pidge?” Shiro asked, changing the subject. “He parked the green lion and ran off before the rest of us could regroup.”

“He’s probably checking on those prisoners we rescued.” Oh god. Was Coran eating some of that? “Most of them have finally been cleared to come out of the cryo-replenishers today.”

Keith could see the tired sigh Shiro tried to hide as he got up from his seat.

“Open the hatch. Food lion coming in!” Coran had speared one of the food lumps and shoveled it into Shiro’s mouth before he could stop him. Keith winced and next to him Lance whispered a faint, “rest in peace, buddy.”

Shiro chewed. And then he swallowed. After a moment he opened his mouth once again.

“You know, once you get past the taste. And the smell. And then the aftertaste. I guess it’s not that bad?”

“See! Now you can tell the others -”

“But the texture.” Shiro shook his head as he interrupted Coran. “If I want to feel like I’m chewing on connective tissue, I’ll let you know.”

Coran’s shoulders slumped.

Shiro turned to leave before turning back and mumbling something to the older Altaen that made Keith feel like he was hearing things. He shook his head and got up from his seat, making sure to yank the back of Lance’s chair as he was getting up to startle a shout out of him. Maybe he could go convince Hunk to share his salad.

*