Since, according to the Blade doctor, he didn't have a concussion, Keith simply stopped fighting against the urge to go to sleep on the way to the Castle of Lions. Kolivan seemed to have come to the same conclusion, or maybe he just didn't care, but either way he made no attempt to stop Keith from falling asleep.

Keith easily slept through the entire flight, and was only startled awake when the jet roughly landed inside the castle. Kolivan may have been an excellent spy, assassin, or even space ninja, as Lance liked to call the Blades in general, Keith thought with a small grin, but he wasn't really that skilled of a pilot, and Keith would've been able to bring the jet down much more smoothly than Kolivan. It was a comforting thought, somehow, because not being without fault at everything made Kolivan seem more… well, not human, obviously, but more approachable, more real.

Whatever Keith had been musing about was blown away when Kolivan helped him out of the jet, and he was immediately assaulted by Hunk.

"Keith!" Hunk cried, looking dangerously close to tears already. "We missed you so much!"

Keith let go of Kolivan to lean more onto Hunk instead, and Hunk immediately took it as an invitation for a hug. It took Keith by surprise, a bit - though in hindsight it really shouldn't have, this was Hunk - but it only took him a few seconds to bring his own hands around Hunk's back.

"Hey, Hunk. Long time no seen," Keith said, words slightly muffled by the fabric of Hunk's shirt where his face was currently pressed. "Where's the others? Are they okay?"

Hunk sniffled a little, but let somewhat go of Keith, still keeping one arm around him as both a means of support and a remainder of the hug. "Yeah, they're fine. Shiro and Allura are off doing diplomat stuff, and Pidge and Lance are on a mission. They didn't need Yellow, so I stayed back to prepare dinner for when they return."

Keith smiled. That sounded awfully domestic, almost like they weren't caught in the middle of an intergalactic war where they could be attacked any second. He really couldn't say he minded.

Hunk was still talking. "...were already gone when Kolivan called, so nobody knows you're here yet, oh man they're gonna be so surprised to see you, in a good way though, they're gonna be so happy! We really missed you, buddy!"

Leaning a bit more into Hunk, Keith sighed contently. "Yeah. I missed you guys too."

Suddenly, a hand clasped down on Keith's shoulder. "Keith, my boy! It is so good to see you, even though I'd rather we reunited under better circumstances than you being injured! Tell me, how badly are you hurt?"

Something about Coran's concern he was so openly expressing for him tugged painfully at Keith's heartstrings; it just felt so much like home. Even though Coran's fussing had used to drive him up the wall when he still was a Paladin, now it made his insides feel all warm and tingly.

"Not badly," Keith promised, "Got hit in the head, but I'm already cleared for that, it's nothing bad. And I broke my ankle. That's why I'm here."

"Alright, infirmary now, chop, chop," Coran said, clapping his hands together and already walking towards the door.

Keith turned awkwardly from where he was still being held in a half-hug by Hunk. "Uh, in a tick, let me just…" he looked towards Kolivan, trying to think of something to say as a goodbye, but Kolivan beat him to it.

"I'll be leaving you in the capable hands of the Voltron Paladins, little one. I trust you will find your way back to us once you are fully healed." With that, the leader of the Blade turned to leave before Keith even had time to comprehend the affectionate nickname Kolivan had just called him, in front of Hunk.

"Uh, yeah, sure, thanks… for taking me here, I'll… I'll see you later," Keith blurted, decidedly looking anywhere but at Hunk.

But of course, Hunk wouldn't just let it go. As soon as Kolivan had left, his head whipped around towards Keith. "He called you little one! Does he call you that a lot?"

Keith shrugged uncomfortably. "Just sometimes. It's probably because I'm shorter than all of them. Don't read too much into it."

"He called you little one," Hunk repeated. "That's so cute!"

"Hunk," Keith groaned. "Coran's probably waiting, let's just go."

"Right, right, sorry. Okay, so, you probably shouldn't walk, or can't walk, right? Oh, I know! I'll give you a piggyback ride, can I give you a piggyback ride?"

Keith looked at him with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "Absolutely not. Just support me or something, I'll be fine."

What he wasn't prepared for was the kicked-puppy look Hunk suddenly was sporting. "Aw, Keith, come on. Please?"

"Ugh. Okay. Just this once. And just because it's you." Keith figured he could let Hunk have this, at least nobody was around to witness it. Nobody but Coran, but Coran, for all his cheerful boisterousness, could be very perceptive and subtle when it was necessary, so Keith didn't have to worry much about his dignity.

He shifted his weight away from Hunk, and hissed in pain when he accidentally jarred his broken ankle jumping on Hunk's back.

"You okay?" Hunk asked, hooking his arms underneath Keith's thighs to secure him in place.

Keith sighed. He hadn't felt much pain after the injury had happened, and on the way back from the mission he'd still somewhat been on adrenaline so it hadn't hurt as much. Getting the bone set had been painful, but it hadn't lasted long, and then they were already in the jet again where he'd slept, so he hadn't been in pain either. But now that there was neither sleep nor adrenaline to keep the pain away from him, he was becoming more aware of the steady throbbing in his ankle that increased with any wrong movement he made. "Yeah. Don't tell the others, though, but this really hurts. A lot." He didn't know what made him admit it, usually, he tried to downplay injuries as much as possible, but now, something about the painfully familiar atmosphere in the castle he had missed so much caused him to speak the words before he could stop himself.

"I know, buddy," Hunk said, his voice softer than before. "It's a broken bone, they hurt. Don't you worry, though, Coran will fix you right up. He probably even has some of those strong Altean painkillers for you."

Keith grinned. "He figure out the right dosage for humans yet?" The last time Coran had given those painkillers to any of them had been when Lance had a simple headache from taking one hit too many from a training bot. As it had turned out, Alteans needed much higher doses of painkillers than humans did, and Lance had ended up being so drugged he'd been unable to speak anything but Spanish for two days, and at some point, he'd even tried to start a conversation with the food goo machine.

Hunk laughed as he remembered the incident. "He did, so he probably won't drug you into oblivion. Though I'm not sure if he's figured out how to include your Galra DNA in the equation, but I bet we can figure something out." He entered the infirmary and carefully deposited Keith on the examination table, stepping away to give Coran room to work.

"Did you already get medical attention from the Blades?" Coran asked as he felt around Keith's ankle carefully.

Keith nodded. "They set it, but nothing more. I said it wasn't necessary, if they splinted it, you'd just take it off and do it again yourself to make sure it's right."

Coran nodded proudly. "You are right, son! I would have done that, indeed." He was quiet for a moment, stroking his moustache thoughtfully. "I'm not sure how to proceed with your ankle, though. Normally, you would have to go in a pod, but like I already told Kolivan, those are out of order at the moment. I don't have anything to heal broken bones, either…"

Shrugging, Keith said, "Just splint it, and I'll be fine." Compared to the other times he'd had to spend in a cast as a kid, or even at the Garrison once, this was going to be over quickly if he only had to wait for the pods to be fixed.

Coran eyed him doubtfully. "Are you sure, Number Four? That sounds awfully cruel, you will be in a lot of pain."

"I can handle it. I've broken bones before, and on Earth, we don't have healing pods. We just let broken bones heal on their own." Keith didn't think what he said was particularly strange, and Hunk's expression didn't change, but Coran looked at him in horror.

"You snap your bones in half and let them heal on their own? Just like that? But that must take ages to heal, and you'll have to live with the pain for the entirety of the healing process! Unless humans' bones heal a lot faster than Alteans'?"

Keith shrugged again, and Hunk explained, "I dunno how long you guys take to recover from broken bones, but for us it's like, six weeks. And the pain gets better once the limb is immobilized."

"Which is why I'll be fine if you splint it," Keith added.

Coran looked very pale and like he was about to be sick but he didn't argue, muttering about how crazy Earthlings were the whole time he worked on splinting Keith's ankle.

"So," Keith started, addressing Hunk, "How did the pods go out of order? Did you get attacked?"

"That, oh man, no, that was funny, actually," Hunk laughed, "So, we were kinda tinkering with them, Coran, Pidge and I, to adjust and improve some stuff, because while Altean tech is amazing, it's still ten thousand years old so we were trying to make some changes to it. All the wires are lying open because we're literally in the middle of work, and then Lance comes in because he's bored, slurping a milkshake. He gets closer to see what we're doing, doesn't watch where he's going, trips over my toolbox, and spills the milkshake all over the wires."

Keith snorted. "No way."

"Yes!" Hunk cried, "And he was just there on the floor, watching as it all short-circuits, smoking and crackling and generally looking not good at all, and he just mutters Oh no very quietly. Pidge and Coran yelled at him, but in retrospect we all think it's hilarious. Except for Lance."

"Oh man," Keith commented, still chuckling lightly at the mental image of Lance frying the entire pod system with a milkshake. "Only Lance."

"Yep," Hunk confirmed. "Only Lance. Oh, hey, Coran, you're done?"

"Indeed! Keith, do not put any weight on it until we get the pods back in order. Now, you are free to leave. You were very brave, my boy!" Coran declared passionately, and Keith could've sworn he was getting teary-eyed. What the fuck.

"Yeah, yeah. What's next, you gonna give me a lollipop?" Keith grumbled sarcastically. Next to him, Hunk gasped, scandalized.

"Was that- Keith, stop making jokes when the others aren't around! They never believe you do that!"

Coran tilted his head inquiringly. "What's a lollipop?"

"It's some sort of candy we have on Earth," Hunk explained, "Doctors give them to kids after an examination as a reward."

"Oh!" Coran exclaimed in sudden understanding, and marched off towards a cupboard, rummaging through the supplies he kept in there. It took him maybe thirty seconds before he reemerged triumphantly, rushing back to Keith. "I knew I still had those from when Allura was a child. She used to get quite fussy during medical examinations." Without waiting for a reaction, he shoved whatever he'd found into Keith's mouth, nearly making him choke on the thing. "Alright, I'll leave you boys to yourself now."

Oblivious to Keith's glare, Coran exited the room and left the two of them, one of which was trying very hard not to laugh out loud, the other trying and failing not to blush in embarrassment.

"I don't suppose I can ask you not to tell the others about this?" Keith asked around the candy in defeat.

Hunk snickered. "Nah, sorry. Lance would probably find out I'm keeping something like that from him, and then he'd haunt me in my dreams. Does it at least taste good?"

"Not really. Apparently, Alteans like their candy spicy but also kind of… salty? And I feel very weird eating something that is more than ten thousand years old."

"Ew, you're right, I didn't even think of that," Hunk laughed good-naturedly. "So, uh. You hungry for some real food? I made cookies when I heard you were coming home, you like peanut butter, right? They're not peanuts, obviously, but they taste like peanuts, they just got kind of a weird texture. I can get you to your room and bring you some cookies, if you wanna? I kinda need to start making dinner, so…" Hunk trailed off, seemingly uncertain about how to proceed.

Keith furrowed his brows. A few months ago, he would have taken up on Hunks offer to drop him off in his room and leave him to himself. But after weeks of spending all of his time off missions in an empty room with no company that felt way too much like his days of living alone in the desert for his liking, he found himself craving the presence of another person.

"Actually," he began carefully, "Can I come? To the kitchen? Maybe I can help you with something."

Hunk stared at him in surprise for a moment. "Uh, yeah! Yeah, of course, that's even better. Kitchen is it, then. I'm sure I can find something for you to cut up."

He let Keith climb onto his back again and took off to the kitchen. After getting seated on a chair, Keith was handed a knife, a cutting board, and a massive, weird looking blue vegetable.

"I forgot what those are called, but they're good. Not really comparable to anything we have on Earth, but still good. Just dice them, then add them to the bowl over here," Hunk instructed.

Cutting the vegetable was a soothing kind of work, repetitive and mindless enough for Keith to allow his thoughts to drift off as he and Hunk worked side by side in silence. The cookies Hunk had made - for him, his brain supplied, and he decided he liked that thought - were on the table, next to the chopping board, and once he'd tried the first one, Keith found himself practically stuffing his face with those delicious cookies.

He only slowed down when Hunk first looked at the cookies, then at him, then started chuckling. But then his amused expression morphed into concern and he asked, "Keith, are they feeding you at all over there?"

Keith nodded, already biting into another cookie. "They do feed me," he began. "But, Hunk." Setting the cookie down on the table, he stared Hunk in the eye with a serious expression. "The Blades don't eat anything but food goo."

Hunk recoiled in disgust. "You can't be serious! All this time, you've been eating food goo?"

Keith nodded gravely, and Hunk threw his hands into the air. "Unbelievable. I thought Coran was the only one with such a terrible taste, I didn't expect anyone else to be this misled."

"Oh, it gets worse," Keith said. "Not only they don't eat anything else, but they actually like it, too."

Now Hunk really looked like he might be sick, and Keith couldn't help but laugh at his horrified expression. "It's cool, buddy, that just means I'm extra looking forward to your cooking tonight."

Determination set on Hunk's face. "Oh, trust me, you will eat the best damn food in the galaxy tonight my friend. I will personally make sure of that!"

"My saviour."

Just as Hunk was about to say anything else, the door opened and loud chatter immediately filled the room.

"Hunk, my best friend in the entire universe, please tell me dinner is ready. I'm starv- Keith? "

"Hey, Lance," Keith said, taking another bite of the cookie. "And Pidge, hi."

" Keith," Lance repeated, picking his jaw off the floor. "We haven't seen you in ages, we started to think you were dead!"

Keith rolled his eyes, shifting on the chair so Pidge who had run up to him could hug him properly. "You guys called me like, last week."

"Details, details. Why are you here? Not that you shouldn't be, but still, why? Anything happened?"

Between two bites of delicious cookie, Keith said, "Broke my ankle. Kolivan sent me here because of the pods, but I heard you completely fried them."

The look of utter betrayal Lance sent towards Hunk was enough to make Keith snicker and almost choke on a cookie crumb. "You told him about that?" Lance cried.

"Sorry, man. He asked how the pods broke. I couldn't just not tell him," Hunk shrugged.

Lance let out a sound like a wounded animal and slumped over the table pitifully. But then his eyes locked on the cookies, and he immediately perked up. "Oh boy, cookies. "

"Hey," Keith protested, "Those are mine. I've been living off food goo for the past weeks. Hunk, tell him."

Hunk nodded seriously and whispered, "It's terrible."

"Aw, c'mon, don't be like that. You don't need all of them."

"Fine. I suppose you can have one. "

They continued to bicker, Keith fruitlessly trying to defend his cookies from Lance and Pidge's hands as they took turn stealing them from the plate.

Just when dinner was almost ready, the door opened again, and Shiro and Allura entered. Almost simultaneously, they froze in their tracks when they discovered Keith sitting at the table. "Keith!"

Keith gave them a small wave. "Hey guys."

Shiro quickly made his way over to Keith to pull him into a quick hug. "Why didn't you tell us you were coming? You okay?"

Keith went over the events of the past few hours again, and by the end of his explanation, Allura lightly clasped his shoulder in a friendly gesture and smiled at him. "Well, we are certainly happy to have you here again. Even though you should know, you are always welcome here, even without an injury."

Keith gave a small smile in return. "Yeah."

After dinner, nobody actually seemed to look forward to going to their own room, so they ended up hovering in the sitting area awkwardly until Hunk proposed they'd all sleep in there together tonight. "A sleepover so we can make the most of Keith being here," he'd said, and everyone had been quick to agree.

That's how they ended up with a literal nest of blankets and pillows on the floor of the sitting area, all curled up around each other with Pidge's laptop, watching some old movies she'd saved on there.

What they hadn't expected was Keith drifting off to sleep pretty much fifteen minutes into the first movie. He fought to stay awake, eyes occasionally closing slowly before he jerked back awake, but it quickly began to look like a losing battle.

"Dude," Pidge said sceptically, "Do you sleep at all, or are you off doing whatever fucked up stuff you do twenty-four hours a day?"

Trying to look more awake, Keith shrugged. "Yeah. Kolivan forces me to sleep three hours a night."

Lance rolled his eyes. "What an evil, evil man, forcing you to sleep. How dare he."

"You know three hours isn't enough for humans?" Pidge asked, eyeing him warily.

"I do. Kolivan doesn't. He never asked, I never told. 'Sides, Galra only need three hours. And I'm half Galra, so I'm good," Keith muttered, not very keen on discussing his sleeping habits with the entire team.

He wasn't winning this, though. Shiro frowned at him. "That's the point. Half Galra. Your human half wants sleep. Listen to it."

"Ugh. I can't just sleep while everyone else fights, though. That's not how it works," Keith argued. He already had to make up for too many things as it was, he didn't need anything else added to the list.

"Kolivan will understand if you tell him. He wants his people in peak condition, he'll rather have you sleep for a few hours more than getting yourself killed in battle just because you're sleep deprived," Shiro replied patiently.

Lance stared at Keith for a few seconds before he unwrapped himself from the blankets and Hunk's arm and stood. "Be right back. Coran's still working on the pods, right?" Without waiting for a reply, he turned and left the room.

Keith watched him leave before he turned his attention back to Shiro, but he didn't manage to come up with a reply as he had to suppress a yawn and Shiro looked at him like he'd just made his point for him. Which he probably had. Damn.

"Go to sleep now," Shiro told him. "We'll talk about this tomorrow."

Grumbling something incomprehensible, Keith burrowed his face in his pillow. He tried to stay awake for a few more minutes, but it wasn't long until he was out like a light.

When Lance came back, he gave no explanation for what business he'd had with Coran. He simply slid back into his place between Hunk and Pidge and let Hunk wrap his arm around him again. "He asleep?" he asked, poking Keith experimentally. When Keith didn't stir, he gave a satisfied nod. "My hand is still attached to my body so yep, Mullet's out."

"Oh, hey, Lance, now that Keith's asleep, I can tell you," Hunk said in an excited half-whisper, turning his head towards Lance. "You'll never believe what Coran did after he was done patching up Keith."

Not even Lance's howling laughter could wake Keith up, which was very unusual for him. Normally, he kept his guard up even when asleep. But here, amidst his family, he felt safer than he had in a long time, safe enough to sleep for a solid eleven hours.

And if Coran took a day or two longer to repair the cryopods than he'd usually have, well, there certainly weren't any ulterior motives from any of them behind it.

Idk why it ended up being so much Keith & Hunk interaction but I can't say I mind.

Not sure if I'm satisfied with this or not, but uh, let me hear your thoughts please?

And yes, Lance did go tell Coran not to hurry with the pods so Keith could stay with them a bit longer. Just uh. Not sure if that was clear.

Also, I love broody, angsty Keith just as much as most of us, but I also think he can be silly sometimes (I keep remembering that scene in S1 where they're celebrating with the Arusians I think, and Keith is just openly laughing with Hunk) so here's him being silly.

Uhh yeah I think that's it, it'd mean a lot if you told me what you think of it!