It was when the morning light the next day began to transition into afternoon that Allura became worried. Pidge and Shiro, especially Shiro, were normally up way before this. Hence why Allura was on her way to his room and practically running down the hallway. Normally she wouldn't be so nervous, but after recent events…well, she just wanted to make sure he was okay. Once she was in front of his door, she knocked, but received no answer. Concern growing, she opened his door and stepped through.

To her relief, the first thing she noticed was that the room was dark and calm, with only a sliver of light permeating underneath the shade on the window. It glowed brightly, illuminating the two lumps still underneath the blankets in bed, and Allura breathed sigh of relief. There were Pidge and Shiro, perfectly fine and whole, just terribly exhausted. It took her a moment to figure out where one of them ended and the other began, wrapped around each other as they were. Shiro was using the smaller girl as a pillow, head laying on her middle, body angled towards hers protectively, almost hiding her from Allura's view. Pidge in turn was curled forward at an angle that looked uncomfortable, but it allowed her to bury her face tightly against Shiro's upper back, almost to the point that it was underneath him. The princess wondered how she could breathe properly, but obviously she was managing somehow, Shiro's head rising and falling subtly as her side moved up and down.

Shiro's breathing changed suddenly, transitioning from smooth, deep and drowsy to shallower breaths that moved up from his diaphragm to his chest. His eyebrows drew together in a furrow, and his eyes slowly blinked open. It was as if some buried internal alarm could sense that someone else was in the room and was obnoxiously demanding that he return to consciousness. With a touch of melancholy, Allura realized that this was more than likely the case. It was probably another behavior he had had to develop in order to survive in the Galra prison.

Still, what he did next surprised her. The instant his eyes opened, he sat up suddenly, body going rigid. His expression changed almost imperceptibly, so subtly in fact that Allura wasn't sure she was seeing things right. She saw, or at least she thought she saw, the sleepiness flee only to be replaced by a potent flash of fear. For a moment, a creature of instinct that was rapidly deciding between fight and flight had taken over the body of the black paladin, and in that moment Allura didn't know who he was anymore.

And then it was gone. Shiro's posture relaxed and his eyes became familiar to Allura again, brightening when he recognized the person in front of him. He raised a hand to rub one of them, greeting her in a thick voice, "Hey, morning. Everything alright?"

Still taken aback, it took a moment for the princess to regain her bearings before she assured him, "Oh, yes, everything's fine. I apologize if I startled you, I was just worried. You're usually up much earlier than this, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Shiro immediately looked sheepish. "Ah, yes. Of course. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Her gaze drifted down to the other occupant of his bed with a fond smile, and Shiro turned his head to look down at her as well. Pidge was still miraculously asleep, only curling up a little more once she was free from the weight of Shiro's head on her ribs.

"She was having a rough night," he explained, "She came to my door, and I told her she could stay here. Turns…turns out we both needed it."

Allura smiled understandingly, and said, "I'm sure you did. I can only help her so far. I'm so glad she has you to turn to, Shiro. And likewise, I'm glad that you're finding solace in her too. It's beneficial for both of you."

He smiled as well, and lifted his head so that the brand of sunlight sneaking through the window cast itself over his face. It lit up his countenance and shone behind his eyes, haloing them in an otherworldly, morning glow that made the princess of Altea speechless. "Have to have your paladins in top form, right?" he said jokingly.

Recovering quickly, she shook her head. "Not just that." She moved soundlessly forward, stopping once she was in front of him. "I want to make sure my friends are doing alright too. You're all very dear to me."

Allura placed a hand on the side of his face, the warm light shining there making him look so inviting that she felt compelled to touch him, and added, "You especially."

Shiro's chest froze, his heart tripping over itself and his lungs completely forgetting how to perform their primary function. Soft warmth seemed to rise from his toes all the way up his throat, and it compelled him to lean his face into her hand briefly, stuttering, "T-Thank you, princess. I appreciate it."

They remained like that for a moment, before Allura suddenly regained her composure, taking her hand back slowly, her face flushing a bright red. "I-I-I mean, because you're the head of Voltron," she tried to clarify, "You out of the all the paladins must have a clear head."

"Of course."

"If we can't count on you, the whole team falls apart and the universe is doomed."

He tried to prevent his grin from growing any bigger, but failed, and said sincerely, "Yes, I understand."

She looked pointedly away from him, choosing instead to give the wall behind him her undivided attention, before telling him forcefully, "And my offer still stands. I feel bad that I can't help you more, so if there's anything you or Pidge need, you are to come and ask me for it. No arguments. That's an order."

"Yes princess," Shiro replied promptly.

"Good. Glad you understand." She nodded once, punctuating her statement, holding her head high and her shoulders back in a dignified manner. "I'll see you downstairs in a bit then."

He dipped his head, almost mockingly, but when he looked up, Shiro was still smiling, and Allura found it completely unfair that that smile made him look as beautiful as it did.

Before she became any redder, she nodded back, trying to maintain her sense of authority and holding his eye as she began to back out of the room. When she felt the doorframe nudge against her hip, she turned around, only to smack face first into the wall beside the doorway. Immediately she whipped back around, her white hair fluffing around her with the motion.

"D-Door's a little fu-further over," Allura stammered, jerking a thumb towards the traitorous doorway. Before Shiro could say anything, she swiftly slipped out through said open doorway, disappearing in a wave of skirts and disgruntled hair. She left in her wake a muddled idiot who could do nothing but grin, the warmth in his throat trickling back down to settle in his breast, tingling pleasantly.

"Would you two just fuck already?"

Shiro nearly leaped off the bed, swearing under his breath when he looked down and back behind him to see that the sleepy, somewhat annoyed question had come from Pidge. She was scrubbing one of her eyes, her hair sticking up in every direction as she regarded him.

"So you weren't asleep just now?" Shiro pointed an accusing finger at her. "How long have you been up?"

"Brilliant deduction," Pidge yawned, "And long enough to know you need to stop pissing around the bush and get the princess to fuck you."

"Pidge!" Shiro hissed through gritted teeth.

"I'm just saying," she continued, undeterred, "Maybe if you both got laid you'd loosen up."

"Oh stop it," he said exasperatedly, "I don't have any feelings for her and she doesn't have any for me, that's just a fact."

Pidge snorted loudly and mockingly laughed, "Okay dude. So then you don't, at this very moment, look like Lance after he catches sight of a sweet piece of ass."

"No, I don't," Shiro sighed, rubbing a hand over his face tiredly.

She paused for a minute, before grinning in a way that made his skin crawl. "Oh I get it," she concluded, "You're just scared to tell her."

"Pidge, that's not"-

"Yes it is. You'll dive headfirst into a fleet of Galra ships guns blazing but you're too afraid to tell Allura she's pretty."

"I will pillow smother you, young lady."

Pidge dissolved into a fit of giggles, unable to keep her straight face any longer, and Shiro saw it fit to partially make good on his threat. He took his pillow and smacked it over her head, trying to muffle out her laughter, but it only made her giggle harder, until she pushed the pillow off with tears in her eyes. Shiro tried to glare at her sternly, but found that her laughter was dangerously contagious, and ended up falling victim to it.

Once the fit passed, the two of them sat in companionable silence for a moment, before Pidge sat up on her knees and wrapped her arms around him in a sideways hug.

"Thank you," she murmured, "It felt good to laugh like that, after...you know."

Emotion swelled in Shiro's throat and stuck there, and no matter how many times he swallowed, he couldn't force it down. Instead, he awkwardly patted Pidge's head, ruffling her hair for good measure. He cleared his throat, and demanded in a rough voice with no real heat behind it, "Alright now, move it or lose it, I'm starving and I have to pee."

Pidge released him and plopped back down on the bed, eyeing him with false offense. "Excuse me your majesty, didn't realize I was blocking your royal path to the bathroom."

Shiro shook his head patiently, rising from the bed as he told her, "I can tell you're feeling better this morning. I'm glad."

"Yeah," she affirmed, sliding off the bed as well and stretching, raising her arms over her head, "I am."

He started to head out of the room, but was stopped by Pidge's hesitant utterance of his name. Shiro stopped in the doorway, looking over his shoulder to regard her. She was standing in the middle of the room, caught in the stream of sunlight, a faraway smile softening her face. Pidge spoke to the floor when she said, "I mean it; thank you. It felt like I was with Matt for a while. I'd tease him like that all the time, you know?"

The lump of emotion returned to Shiro's throat, and he couldn't stop himself from crossing the room and pulling Pidge against him, reassuring her, "And I'm going to make sure you get to tease him like that again."

She nodded against his sternum, unable to find the words. They weren't necessary anyway.

They stood like that in the warm patch of sun for a moment, before Shiro nudged her towards the door, telling her that he had a feeling today was going to be much brighter for the both of them. And Pidge couldn't help but feel that he was right as she followed him out, leaving their silent haven and stepping into the noisy, uncertain world that lay beyond it.

But she wasn't stepping into it alone.

A/N: Okay last one I promise, I just wanted to write some fluff and end this fic on a happier note. Hope you enjoyed!