"NO!" Shiro screamed and bolted upright, his head nearly hitting the headboard.

It took him a whole minute to grasp that he was in his bed, in his room, in the Castle of Lions, and that it was the middle of the night. However, this realization didn't make him feel any better. His heartbeat was way faster than healthy, his sweaty hair stuck to his forehead, and he was panting so hard that he was sure he was going to hyperventilate if he didn't pull himself together soon. But worst of all, his prosthetic arm was throbbing with pain, so sharp that it sent nauseating waves through his entire body.

Shiro was used to have his fair share of nightmares - lucky for him, his time as a Galra prisoner provided him with countless moments to hunt his mind at nights - but dreams about the time his arm was removed were the worst. His memories of the exact procedure were still foggy, but he did remember a flash of purple light and a horrible, excruciating pain, the kind of pain that makes you think you are going to die at any moment. He had absolutely no interest in reliving this sensation in his dreams, but unfortunately, his brain had other plans.

All he wanted was to curl into himself and go back to sleep, but he knew it was a lost cause with his arm was hurting like this. But he couldn't keep sitting here either. He had to clear his mind, to get out of this place and -

The room suddenly felt so much smaller than before, as if the walls were closing on him. Shiro gasped and darted out of the bed, his blood pounding in his ears. He punched the door button and stumbled into the dim hallway. He had no idea where he was headed, all he knew was that he had to get away get away get away -

His body bumped into something and he nearly lost his footing, but managed to catch himself at the last second. The other person, though, wasn't so lucky.

Lance was sprawled on the ground, his blue robe tangled around his legs. His mask-covered face stared at Shiro in utter confusion.

"Lance!" Shiro blurted, too shocked himself to help Lance up. His breathing was still wrong.

"Ow," Lance mumbled and pulled himself to a sitting position, rubbing his head. "Dude, you're like a brick wall." He squinted at Shiro. "So whassup... goin' out for a snack?"

Shiro took a long, steadying breath, and that seemed to help. His arm was still hurting though, and he fought back a wince, hoping that Lance was too sleepy to notice his distress. "No," he managed to say.

"Me neither. Just wanted a drink. Dry throat, y'know." Lance stood up wobblingly and rubbed his eyes, careful not to smear the face mask. "Didn't expect to run into - whoa, Shiro, are you okay? You're really pale." his slurry voice was filled with concern as he finally realized the disoriented state of his leader.

Shiro's mouth twisted and he instinctively took a step back. "I'm fine," he said, but a sharp spasm shot through his Galra arm at the exact same moment. He gasped again and grabbed it with his human arm, leaning heavily on the wall.

Lance's eyes widened in panic. "Um, I don't think that this is the definition of 'fine'," he said in a squeaky voice. "Ohhh, this is bad, this is bad... please tell me what to do, Shiro, I'm not exactly an expert for alien prosthetics. Do you need a pod? A pill? Should I get Coran? Or Pidge, I can go get Pidge, she probably knows more than me about - "

"There's no need to call anyone," Shiro said through gritted teeth. He appreciated Lance's concern, but all this hysterical babbling gave him a headache. "I'm fine. It'll pass on its own. Just... go back to bed, okay?"

"Ah, no," Lance crossed his arms defiantly. "Do you really think I'll just leave you when you're hurting like this?"

"Well there's nothing you can do about it, so you might as well leave me alone," Shiro barked, unable to think straight anymore.

Lance looked as if he got slapped, and Shiro immediately regretted his words. He shook his head in frustration. "I'm sorry," he rasped. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry... so sorry..." he felt a stinging sensation behind his eyes and squeezed them shut.

"Hey, stop it," Shiro heard Lance's slippers shuffling across the floor until he stood right in front of him. "It's okay. Come on, look at me. Can you open your eyes and look at me? Please, Shiro."

Shiro slowly opened his eyes and looked down at Lance. The Blue Paladin's face was contorted in a mix of fear and determination.

"Listen, man, I don't fully understand what's going on," Lance said. "But one thing I know for sure - I am not leaving you until you calm down, and right now you are the opposite of that. So how about you come with me to get a glass of nice, cool water? This was what I was going to do anyway. What do you say? It's just water, I swear."

Shiro blinked. His mind felt hazy all of a sudden, and he barely heard what Lance was saying. But Lance kept looking at him expectantly, so he finally managed a clumsy nod.

"Good." Lance placed his palm on Shiro's lower back and guided him through the hallways until they reached the common room. He led Shiro to a couch and pushed him gently until he sat down. Shiro's muscles complied on their own. He wasn't used to be manhandled like this, but right now his mind was too blank to argue.

"Wait here. I'll be right back." Lance ordered and darted out of the room. He came back after less than two minutes, holding two glasses of water. Apparently he had washed off his mask. He offered one glass to Shiro, who took it with a shaky hand, but didn't bring it to his lips.

"Drink," Lance ordered again and settled on the other side of the couch, watching Shiro intently.

Shiro finally took a few small sips. The water felt amazing against his burning throat. He sighed. "Thanks, Lance," he said tiredly. The spasms in his arm became a dull throb, but the pain was still there.

Lance nodded, still looking extremely worried. "Are you ready to tell me what happened?"

"I - " Shiro swallowed hard. There was no way he could tell Lance about his dream, but he couldn't lie to him either, not after he gave up sleep to take care of him. "Bad dream", he muttered. "That's all. It happens to everyone."

Lance frowned. "A bad dream that makes your arm hurt like hell? Doesn't sound like something that happens to everyone."

Shiro's breath was caught in his throat again. No, he couldn't possibly tell him, he couldn't tell anyone, talking about it would only make it more real -

"Ahh, sorry, I'm sorry!" Lance called and scooted closer to Shiro, panicking all over again. "I didn't mean to - you don't have to tell me if you don't want to - "

"Tell me a story," Shiro cut him off without thinking.

Lance shut his mouth at once.

"A story?" he repeated after a few seconds. "Like, um, a bedtime story, or - "

"No, that's not what I meant," Shiro looked at the ceiling in despair. Dear god, he was really going insane. "Just, I don't know - tell me something, anything, so I can - I just need something else to think about, okay?" his tone was begging now. "Please, Lance."

Lance didn't say anything. The poor boy seemed so flabbergasted that Shiro mentally kicked himself. That's it. He was going to tell Lance to forget it, that he was feeling better already and that they both could go back to bed -

"I switched Keith's shampoo with food goo."

Shiro's head shot at Lance's direction. Lance was looking down at his knees, his ears red.

Shiro quirked an eyebrow. "You did what."

"I switched Keith's shampoo. With food goo." Lance raised his head to meet Shiro's eyes. His entire face was red now. "Look - it was Pidge's idea, okay?! I mean, you have to admit, that'd be totally hilarious, because honestly, that guy's hair is just ridiculous, I don't get how someone can walk around with such a huge mullet, so we just thought, maybe the goo will mess up his hair so bad that he'll have to cut it, or at least make it look less mullet-ish, and even if he doesn't, it'll still be a hell of a prank, and god knows this guy is begging for a good prank - "

Shiro couldn't hold it any longer. He burst out in a hysterical laughter, his entire body shaking uncontrollably. His voice sounded like a screech in the large room and his stomach was starting to ache, but he just couldn't stop.

Lance simply stared at him through this entire time, not sure if this sudden laugh attack was a good sign or not. His shocked expression only made Shiro laugh harder, to the point where he was sure he was about to wake the entire castle.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Shiro relaxed and wiped his eyes. "Oh man," he wheezed. "I'm sorry, buddy. You probably think I've lost my mind or something."

Lance shook his head feverishly. "N-n-no, it's cool!" he blurted. "I, um, I'm glad you found it funny. I was expecting to get scolded or something."

"Oh, I'm totally going to scold you," Shiro said in amusement. "It's not nice to play tricks on your teammates like this, Lance."

Lance shrank into himself. "I know," he muttered. "It was probably a bad idea... but it seemed really funny on paper."

"I can imagine." Shiro straightened up and rubbed his stiff neck. "So... how did Keith react when he found out?"

"What? Ah, no, still hadn't found out," Lance blushed again. "I did it after he went to bed. You see, he said that he was going to train first thing tomorrow morning, and since he's probably going to hit the showers right after that..." his voice died down.

Shiro hummed. "So, technically, no damage has been done yet."

"Nope."

"And if you go now and switch it back, Keith will never know about it, and won't be mad at you."

"Yeah..." Lance sighed. "Guess it's the right thing to do, isn't it?"

"It sure is," Shiro agreed.

They sat in silence for a while.

"Or we can just leave it like that," Shiro said. "After all, it's just food goo. It won't hurt him."

Lance nearly fell off the couch. "Are you serious?!"

Shiro caught Lance's expression and chuckled. "Just remember that I didn't know anything about it." He winked.

Lance's upper lip curled in a tentative smile. "Sure," he said. "Man, I didn't know you had it in you, Shiro. We can make it our thing! Shiro and Lance, pranksters of the universe - "

"Don't push your luck."

"Yes sir."

Shiro smiled at Lance fondly and rubbed his Galra arm again, only to find that it didn't hurt at all.