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Chapter Text

Age is no Guarantee of Maturity

The castle of lions were on the forest planet TZ03 Nova, that had a primitive race of green and brown flecked aliens as inhabitants; that had long arms and shorter legs and a long tail, and reminded the team of chimpanzees, apart from the tail and that they were taller.

The primitive race was called Goba, and were a old friend of the Alteans, their planet held many of the ingredients that Coran used to make his food goo, along with many other fruits and herbs, Hunk had watched everything with wide starstruck eyes, and given away happy noises. They had landed in order to refill the pantry and get the food that gone bad out and replace it.

As they worked on it, Lance had found a fruit that was big as a ping pong ball and tasted like strawberries, the texture reminded him of grapes as he munched on them, they were like candy, if you took one, you couldn't stop.

Coran, Keith and Hunk were the ones who worked most on pushing the filled carts back into the castle.

  "Hunk! you got to taste this!" Lance called running up to Hunk and handed him one of the fruits. Hunk looked at it with surprise before he threw it into his mouth and chewed, his eyes widened as the taste ran down over his tongue when he broke the skin of the fruit. "Good right!"

  "Yes, where did you find them?"

  "On the bush over there." Lance said and pointed.

  "Is it safe to eat these?"

  "I've eaten ten of them and I feel fine." Hunk shrugged and took another one. "Shiro! You got to try these." Lance called as he ran up to the Black paladin who gave Lance a confused look as he put the lid on the last cart.

  "What?" he asked

  "Try them! they taste like strawberries!" Shiro took one still looking confused as he sniffed at it, before taking a test bite, Lance saw how his eyes opened like Hunk's had, and he put the remaining fruit into his mouth.

  "I never thought i'd miss strawberries this much." Shiro chuckled. he took two more from Lance's hoard before he sent the blue paladin away to help the others.

  "That's all of them! Good work paladins." Coran said and smiled.

Allura said farewell to the leader of the Goba tribe as they all stepped back on the castle.

It was during dinner that Lance regretted eating so many of those fruits, he looked down at his bowl of food goo without any apatite left, Hunk didn't look al that better, and he was the one who had the biggest apatite. Even Shiro semed less hungry than normal.

  "Now now, you three have barley touched your food goo." Coran chided with a pout. Pidge and Keith were the only paladins who semed to eat, Keith who never really ate much, was wolfing down the food while Pidge ate slower.

  "Sorry Coran, I'm just not all that hungry." Shiro apologized.

  "Ugh I feel sick." Lance groaned pushing the bowl away. "I shouldn't have eaten so much of those fruits."

  "Fruits? What fruits?" Coran asked looking to Lance, Lance reached to his pocket and picked up one that he had planned to save to later, Coran paled at the sight of it. "Quiznak." the older Altean said, making everyone halt. "How many did you eat?" there were a hardness in Coran's voice which made Lance give him a worried look.

  "Uh... 15, 17 I think..." Lance said scratching at the back of his neck "Why?"

  "Please tell me they're not poisonous?! I ate seven!" Hunk worried. Coran turned to look at Hunk then his eyes trailed to Shiro, the Black paladin had grown pale.

  "Oh no, how many did you eat?"

  "Three..." Shiro said slowly.

  "Coran, what's gonna happen to them? are they dying?" Pidge asked her food forgotten.

  "No, they're not gonna die, but this fruit is a de-aging sort, I never thought I see them again..."

  "De... aging?" Keith stared at Coran, the Altean nodded "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "Uh... guys, why is everything getting bigger?" they heard Hunk ask in a less deep voice and turned back to Shiro, Lance and Hunk to find how they were visibly shrinking, their clothes hung loose around them. Keith pushed away from the table to gape at them.

  "OH MY GOD!" he barked.

Allura sighed as she looked at the now de-aged paladins; Shiro was staring at his hand and prosthetic hand that had shrunk and de-aged with him, he was dressed in a smaller version of his normal clothes, his hair was the same apart from longer and fluffier, he stood next to Keith and looked up at the Red paladin who stood with his arms crossed, a badly masked panic on his face, Pidge was non the better she held a small baby Lance in her arms, looking unsure how to hold the baby properly, he was only dressed in a diaper as he munched on his hand and had a stare of with a sweating Pidge, Hunk stood next to her, tears in his eyes as he wore similar clothes to his normal ones, apart from that they were smaller and his pants were a pair of shorts.

 "I know nothing of human young, I will leave them in your hands while I and Coran try and find something that will re-age them." Allura said.

  "What?!" both Keith and Pidge cried out "No! We can barley take care of ourselves! let alone three kids!" Pidge stopped when Lance started to fuss

  "I'm not a kid!" Shiro said sending a look to Keith who gave him a unhappy look back.

  "You're 13!"

  "Keith! my body de-aged, not my mind!"

  "Keep telling yourself that, Lance and Hunk act like kids." Keith bit back, getting a annoyed look back before Shiro huffed and crossed his arms pouting.

  "You will be fine." Coran said as he and Allura left them alone in the common room.

Silence fills them before Lance's fussing turns to a full blown bawl, and then Hunk is following crying as well, Keith and Pidge shares a panicked look.

  "We're gonna die." they whine, before they tried their damn hardest to calm both Hunk and Lance; Hunk was easy to calm down, but Lance was harder, since the baby didn't really talk, just trash in Pidge's hold and wailing, before Shiro takes Lance from Pidge and pulls him against his shoulder, swaying on his feet till Lance's hiccups and sobs trail off to sniffles and blown raspberries. Hunk sniffles, it doesn't take long before Coran reapers.

  "I looked thru the castle and found some of Princess Allura's old toys." he empties the container on the floor and Hunk was there in a matter of seconds searching thru the contents with interest and sparkling eyes. Pidge sits down on the sofa bring out her laptop and tapping away, while Shiro takes a seat next to her, moving Lance to sit on his lap, the Cuban boy reaches for Hunk and gives away a gurgling noise, Hunk looks up and grabs a chewing toy in the form of a blue lion and hands it over to Lance who squeals and starts to munch at it. Keith slumps to the floor with a tired sigh as he watches the now younger teammates act.

  "How do you do this Shiro? How did you survive?"

  "I ask myself that question every day." the 13 year old former older brother replies, poking Lance in the side getting a squeal from the blue paladin who tips to the side and giggles and laughs at Shiro keeps poking his sides.

  "Age is no Guarantee of Maturity" Pidge grumbles as she holds Lance's left foot as the Blue paladin kicks at her hard while grinning, Pidge is not sure if he is aware of who they are or if he's just a evil baby. Shiro is still tickling him and Lance is kicking hard, to try and get his foot free but also to kick at Pidge's thigh harder.

  "Hunk! No don't eat that!" Pidge hears Keith cry out and she looks up to see how Keith, with some struggle snatches a strange looking toy from Hunk's hold, only causing the five year old to go teary eyed and starts to cry, Keith panics as he tries to calm down the crying yellow paladin, Keith looks like he want nothing more than to start cry himself.

Pidge sends a look to Shiro who's sitting next to her, 13 years, two years younger than her, she's not sure how to feel about suddenly being the second oldest of the team.

  "Why did you have to eat of that fruit?" she asks, she get's a sheepish expression in return as Shiro turns to look at her.

  "It... tasted like strawberries..." Shiro mumbles "Also Lance really wanted me to try one..." Pidge groans.

Some time later Lance fell asleep in Shiro's lap, he looked a bit uncomfortable before he saw how a blanket had been along with the toys and reached for it with his foot before bundling Lance up in it and laying him in the crock of the sofas cushions and back rest, the baby huffed and moved one hand to slowly munch on his fingers. Hunk was deeply interested with trying to pluck a cube apart, Keith had fallen asleep against the sofas other end. Shiro got up from where he sat and moved over to the pile before he found a marker and his eyes sparkled as a smirk grew on his lips.

  "Wha yu gonna dwo?" Hunk mumbled in confusion as he looked at Shiro who grinned.

  "Pay back." Shiro said and uncapped the marker and sneaked over to Keith. The marker moved over Keith's face as Shiro tried to keep his laughter to himself but he yelped loudly when Keith grabbed his wrist.

  "You better be happy that you're younger now or I would punch you." Keith grumbled and opened his eyes to look at Shiro who gave him a sheepish grin, but didn't look apologetic. Keith grabbed the marker Shiro dropped and smirked, Shiro screeched when Keith pulled him close and started to scribble over Shiro's face. "You can't beat me at this you lil shit! I will always win!" Keith let go of the pen before he started to tickle Shiro instead.

  "I wan to plway to!" Hunk cried and threw himself at them, Keith and Shiro gave away a wheezing noises before Keith started to tickle Hunk as well.

Pidge looked up when silence took over the room to find how Keith was looking down on a sleeping Hunk and Shiro, he looked up and shared a look with Pidge.

  "I think we might acutely survive this..." Keith breathed, Pidge snickered and gave him a nod.

  "Also think of all the blackmail we will get." Keith snorted at that.

   "Paladins!" Allura calls loudly several vargas later, jolting Lance awake causing the baby to scream aloud and wail in anger at being woken, Pidge barley reacted as her computer crashed to the floor as she picked up Lance from where he was, still bundled up in the blanket and pulled him close like Shiro had done before, it didn't take long before Lance only sniffled and hiccuped. Keith had jerked upright at the princess sudden call, making Hunk and Shiro fall off him and crash to the floor, Shiro looked mildly betrayed while Hunk whimpered and grabbed his head in pain. Keith quickly apologized and helped Hunk sit up. "Oh dear me, I'm so sorry." Allura apologized "I didn't mean to scare you all."

  "It's fine." Keith said and looked up at her. "What is it?"

  "We found the antidote." Coran chirped as he appeared behind the princess. Shiro looked up and got to his feet.

  "That's good, I'd like to return to normal."

  "Me two!" Hunk called

  "There's only one problem..." Coran said, the others steeled themselves and gave him all their attention "It's a plant that grows on the high mountain tops of the Brivlian, and that planet is several quintants away, even by wormhole.

  "But I've set course for it, so we will reach it in a week." Allura said and smiled. Keith and Pidge groaned loudly. The noise a baby made before it started to cry suddenly reached everyone's ears and Pidge stiffened when Lance started to wail.

  "Hey, hey, what's-" Pidge choked on her words and gagged holding Lance away from her, the baby just keep crying, punching the air with his small fists and kicks with his legs. "I'M NOT CHANGING HIM!" Pidge shouts, causing Keith to pale.

  "Oh my god, Why!" he cries before he pushes himself to his feet taking a still crying Lance from Pidge, careful not to touch the diaper. "Coran, do we have more diapers? and baby stuff?" Coran hums before he nods.

  "Follow me." Keith looks to Lance who's still crying, but more muted now as he sobs.

  "You better not remember this, Lance." Keith hisses as he follows after Coran.

Allura looks after them with a blank face before she turns to Pidge, Shiro and Hunk.

  "Well then, who want's to play a game of hide and seek?" Pidge startles.

  "No, I'm to old-" she trails of when Hunk grabs her sleeve and shakes her arm

  "HIDE AND SNEEK! PWLEASE!" he calls beaming up at her, Pidge grimaces, sending a look to Shiro to plead with him only to find him giving her puppy eyes. What the FUCK!? she shouts in her head.

  "Ugh! Fine."

  "YAY!" Hunk cheers while Shiro beams, Pidge groans again as Allura chuckles at them.

Keith enters the common room again looking mildly mortified as he sit's down on the sofa with a sigh, holding Lance in his arms, the baby seems content now when he's clean and dressed in a onesie that made him look like the blue lion, he's sitting in Keith's lap playing with Keith's hand, seeming content with studying it, Keith's not up for a crying Lance so he let's the child be.

It's not long before he hears the others and they enter the common room, Hunk looks like a sun with how much he's beaming.

  "What did you do?" Keith asks as a disgruntled Pidge slumps onto the sofa next to him.

  "I lost at hide and seek, Hunk won." she replies "How did... you know?" she of handedly gestures to Lance.

  "Fine... I think, your turn next time."

  "Wha- No! I wont!"

  "You're not getting out of it." Keith says staring Pidge in the eye, she stares back and the stare of begins. 

  "FINE!" Pidge snaps throwing her arms in the air. "I'll change him next time..." she crosses her arms and looks away with a grumble of curses.

  "Pidge! Language!" Shiro calls from the floor where he's helping Hunk build a big tower of cubes.

  "He's still the same, oh my god." Keith laughs at that but yelps when Lance bites around his finger.

 "Ow, no! no biting." Keith pulls his hand away only making Lance whine, Keith looks the baby in the blue eyes "I have no idea if you're just being a little shit because it's me, or if you were like this as a child." Lance struggles slightly and Keith put's Lance down on the floor, it doesn't take long before Lance has crawled over to the others, grabbing one of the big cuddly toys. A blue lion, as big as him, he hugs it tight giving away a blubbering squeal. Keith chuckles slightly "Of course he would go for the blue lion."

  "Paladins, we have reached Brivlian, Ready your walking shoes and get ready for some hiking." Coran calls as the paladins enters the bridge, Keith looks like he's about to crash any moment as he hold Lance in his arms, Pidge doesn't look that much better, dark circles hangs heavy under both the red and green paladins eyes. Shiro and Hunk doesn't look troubled, and Lance is toying with Keith's collar of his jacket.

  "Why can't we take one of the lions?" Pidge asks with a tired but hopeful voice.

  "Sorry, number 5 but the planet has a weak ecosystem, the best is to land at the foot of the mountain and hike up, also you are to eat the berries of the flower and you will return to normal in a quintant, it will give you immense growing pains."

  "Coran!" Shiro says face pale as Hunk is hiding behind him shaking.

  "Don't worry, the castle have strong pain killers that will numb the growing-pain, so that you can sleep peacefully." Allura explains and smiles, which seems to make both Shiro and Hunk relax, Lance gives away a happy gurgle as he grabs a hold of Keith's hair and pulls making the red paladin grimace.

  "Can we land and get this over with?" he asks. Coran and Allura nods and slowly they enter the atmosphere of Brivlian

Keith being the oldest get the baby wrap carrier to carry Lance in, it's pink all to his horror, but he grumbles and takes it, the faster they get to the mountain and finds the berries of the flower the faster things will get back to normal. Pidge holds Hunk's wrist to not loose him while Shiro moved to the lead of their group, Coran and Allura assures them that there's no dangers and that they will wait by the ship. Shiro shrugs and they starts to move up the path of the mountain.

The two suns shine down on them behind the thin clouds as the path gets a bit steeper, Pidge makes sure that Hunk can keep walking as he munches on a cookie Coran give him before they left.

  "I hope we find that flower soon." Pidge grumbles as she walks "I hate the outdoors, nothing but sun burn and poisoned oak."

  "I hope we don't get stuck like this. I don't know how I feel about being bossed around by a 13 year old..." Keith grumbles, Shiro scowls slightly but doesn't say anything.

  "I didn't sign up for babysitting either." Pidge points out with a deadpanned face and monotone voice, Lance had fallen asleep someway from the start till now.

The path grows steeper again and then they reach the top and the big field of the green flowers with pale blue berries under the leaves. Pidge walks forward and takes one and holds it out to Hunk who looks at it in confusion, Shiro takes one himself and pups it into his mouth only to do a full body shiver and swallow hard and grimace.

  "It is very bitter." he grimaces letting his tongue hang out, Hunk looks a bit unwilling at the berry Pidge is holding out to him.

  "You wont get back to normal unless you eat it, Hunk." Pidge says Hunk whines before he grabs the berry bites hard and swallows before wolfing down the rest of the cookie to get the awful bitterness out of his mouth.

  "Come on Lance, you got to eat it!" Keith whines while Lance fusses turning his face away and pouting. "You wanna stay a baby forever?!" a whine leaves Lance as he looks up at Keith with teary eyes. "Eat it." Keith says pushing the berry against Lance's lips, Lance swats with a hand to get it away, giving away a angry noise, but as he does he opens his mouth and Keith is fast to squish the berry and push it in so that Lance won't choke on it, Lance shiver and trashes wildly, before he swallows and screams in anger, tears falling from his eyes as he punches and kicks at Keith's chest, making the red paladin grimace. "You will thank me tomorrow." Keith grunts out.

The next day at breakfast shows Keith and Pidge almost drowning in their food goo from lack of sleep, even if they had given the other three the painkillers it didn't keep them from fussing and crying. They had kept Pidge and Keith up the whole night.

  "Morning." Shiro says as he enters, back to normal and dressed in his normal clothes, Hunk and Lance follows talking about something, they all look a bit ruffled hair in all direktions from the sleep. Pidge and Keith looks up at them and grunts in reply.

  "Whoa, you two looks like shit." Lance comments.

  "Hey, be nice to them." Hunk chides

  "Not easy to sleep, with you three fussing and crying the entire night." Pidge grumbles and returns her attention to the goo.

 "I'm questioning the Alteans painkillers... they doesn't work." Keith grumbles as a reply.

  "Are you two okay?" Hunk asks.

  "NO! You three were a pain in the ass to care for!" Pidge and Keith wails

  "Ah, sorry about that." Shiro and Hunk apologizes

  "I can barely remember anything from when we left the Goba tribe." Lance frowns scratching his head.

  "Oh thank god..." Keith exhales along with Pidge. It takes a while before Shiro and Hunk realizes what it is they're so happy about and burst out laughing.

  "What?!" Lance asks giving the black and yellow paladin a suprised look.

  "Sorry- it's just-" Shiro tries only to snort and laugh before he manages to calm down slightly "You were a baby, they had to change your diapers." Lance's face pales before it explodes in red and he looks mortified turning to stare at Keith and Pidge, Pidge sit's with her hands clasped before her face and eyes closed, face turned to the roof as she's crying, Keith has his face in his hands.

  "Don't eat anything from another planet unless Coran tells you it's safe, okay." they sobs out.

Lance screams and hides his face in his hands, several long muffled curses in Spanish pours from his lips.

Chapter Text

5: The open door might have been tempting, if not for the smell.

Pidge wasn't sure what time it was, only that the others was asleep, unless Lance had started fussing. She was moving towards the kitchen with a drowsy Hunk to get a glass of water to the young yellow paladin, he had woken her up with a pitiful look on his face, as she had sat up from the pile of blankets, they had thrown to the floor to stay together in one room, she had cast a look to Keith to find him lying on his back like a starfish, out like a light, with Lance on his chest and Shiro at his side.

She yawned as she entered the corridor to the kitchen, only to halt when she saw light fall out from a open door, that wasn't the kitchen, in the dim corridor. Hunk blinked and looked up at her.

  "Did somwone foget to tun off the light?" he asked in a tired mumble.

  "I don't know." they walked closer only to get three stepps from the door when the smell reached them, Pidge gagged and Hunk turned green, Hunk slammed his small hands over his nose while Pidge took a deep breath thru her mouth, regretting it instantly when she could taste the smell. her curiosity was spiked, but the horrible smell made her reconsider and she turned around and ushered Hunk with her to take the long way to the kitchen.

The two forgot about it when they returned to the room and fell asleep along with the others, it was first when morning came and they caught the scent flowing from Coran that they remembered and Hunk with a whine asked why Coran was stinking, the older Altean had looked suprised at first, before he had scowled at the two of them, telling them it was a very nice scent, and that it was common on Altean. Pidge and Hunk shared a look, but didn't say anything about it, just came to the same understanding that they despite themselves were kind of glad Altea was gone, along with the smell... still they had no idea what was in that room.

18: Nightmares

Pidge woke up with a wheeze when a heel kicked down on her chest, she sat up with a grunt massaging the hit spot as she looked around in the dark room. Shiro was hogging one of the blankets lying horisontal so that his feet was on Keith's stomach, Lance slept on the blankets on his stomach, in the typical pose babies had, the blanket was bundled around him as he snored softly. A whimper reached her ears and she looked to her side where Hunk was twitching, and kicking blanket tangled around him, tears were in his closed eyes as he whined and whimpered. Pidge placed her hand on Hunk's shoulder and shook him lightly.

  "Hunk, it's just a nightmare, wake up." she whispered a pained grunt left Hunk as he jolted awake. He bolted to a sitting position, hair in all direktions and the sleep shirt, his yellow shirt that he wore normally but now was far to big for him fell to the side to bare one of his shoulders, he looked around with panicked eyes, before Pidge managed to get his attention. "Hunk, hey, breathe, it was just a bad dream."

Hunk turned to look at her, tears overflowing his eyes before he crawled over and Pidge picked him up to hold him Close, it felt weird being the older one who had to give hugs when that usually was Hunk's job, Hunk clung to her as he sobbed.

  "Wanna talk about it?" Pidge asked silently as she started to brush her fingers thru Hunk's dark locks, rocking them gently.

  "I- I drembt tha we wud be stugk wlike dis, an tha- tha onwly you an Keff wud be abwle to fight. An I don't wan tha!" Hunk sobbed as he hid his face and sniffled and sobbed.

  "Hey, it will be okay, Hunk. Allura and Coran said they know where the antidote is, we're not far from the planet either, and this part of the universe is pretty empty due to that no one lives here." Pidge said as she hugged Hunk closer "You, Lance and Shiro will get back to normal, and everything will return to how it was before."

  "It won be as bewore." Hunk mumbled "I remembwer ewery thing."

Pidge blinked and stared down at Hunk as he fell asleep again, she cast a look to Lance feeling colour drain from her face, if Hunk remembered, and Shiro clearly remembered, then did that mean, Lance would remember as well?

Chapter Text

2: “Look into my very tired eyes and ask yourself if I care. The answer is no.”

They were about two days away from Brivlian, and Keith just wanted to sleep.

For once he just wanted to sleep for longer than an hour, not get awoken by Lance screaming for attention or Hunk and Pidge's loud voices as they talked excitedly to each other about something Keith was to tired to even try to figure out. Allura and Coran were talking as Coran feed Lance who was more interested in trying to throw the food goo around than eat it, while Keith tried not to fall asleep in his own food. a hand smaller than what he was used too placed on his shoulder and he blinked turning his head slightly to find Shiro giving him a worried look.

  "You okay?" Shiro asked tilting his head, Keith glared at him in order to keep him in focus. "You look like you're about to dive into your food goo any second." Keith blinked slowly before he opened his mouth.

  "I just want to sleep, wake me up, never." Keith pushed the food go away and got to his feet, swaying slightly as his vision blacked out at the edges, before he moved towards the common room. Shiro looked after him with pursed lips and a slight frown, he cast a look to Pidge to see that she looked about as tired as Keith, but was more alert than him.

Shiro finished his goo before he left the table to find his little, now older brother. Shiro blinked when he saw Keith, he had fallen asleep on the floor, body lying in a uncomfortable position, Shiro looked around wondering if he was to ask Allura for help, he walked over and poked Keith on the cheek, the red paladin grumbled and opened one eye to look up at Shiro.

  "Are you planning on sleeping on the floor?"

  "Yes." Keith bit out

  "You'll get sick."

  "Look into my very tired eyes and as yourself if i care. The answer is no." Keith grumbled and closed his eyes again. Shiro huffed before he left.

He returned with Allura who chuckled at the sight before she picked up Keith with ease, Keith huffed in annoyance. Allura put him down on the pile of blankets and pillows on the floor in the room the paladins shared, Shiro pulled a blanket over him and Keith snuggled into the blankets and pillows more before he was fully out like a light.

Shiro and Allura shared a look and Shiro grinned while Allura chuckled, they left the room letting Keith sleep.

Chapter Text

25: Bath time

Lance was shuffling across the floor in the blue lion onesie chasing the mice that chattered among themselves as they evaded his small hands, Lance was laughing as he followed them, eyes sparkling. Keith watched from the table, cleaning his blade of Marmora dagger.

Coran entered the room holding a bowl of something, he gave away a cry when the mice ran around at his feet, causing him to drop the bowl.

A shrilled scream was heard and Keith dropped his dagger to just gape at the bowl that was upside down over Lance, the baby was sitting up turning his head around from side to side making the bowl move, a brown goo clung to the floor and the onesie. Coran bent down and picked up the bowl, Lance blinked, covered in the goo, he moved his hands and arms looking unhappy, tears growing in his eyes as he tried to get the goo away by waving his arms, a scream of anger left him as he kicked his legs against the floor. not happy with the sticky position he was in. Keith stared, if Lance had been is normal age he was sure he would have laughed, but now, he looked down right pitiful as he wailed about the goo. Keith put his dagger back in it's sheet, before he walked over as Coran picked up the crying blue paladin. Lance sniffled and hiccuped, looking disgruntled, and he was pouting.

  "Looks like a bath is in order." Coran mused with a smile. "Take him to the bathroom, i'll be right back, i got to get some needed essentials." Coran said as he handed Lance over to Keith who took the baby with a stiff hold, Lance whined as he tried to get the goo away by waving his hands and arms again. Keith opens his mouth to ask, but Coran has already left the room, Keith looks back to Lance who looks up at him with teary eyes

  "Please, don't remember this when you return to normal." Keith pleaded as he began to walk towards the bathroom. he put Lance down on the floor as he started the water, testing how hot it was and changed the temperature after that, before he turned to Lance who gav him a kicked puppy look. Keith sighed as he started to get the onesie of, it gave away slick noises as it was removed from Lance's body.

Keith had managed to get the onesie of when Coran entered the room, he held a few bottles of something in his hands, he took one and put a drop into the pouring water, bubbles rose and a pleasant smell filled the room.

  "What is that?" Keith asked as he removed the diaper as well before putting Lance down in the water, Lance was at once enthralled by the big bubbles and started to splash his hands and kick the water.

  "Some baby oil, i found it not so long ago, it is Allura's old bottle, i'm mostly suprised that it's stayed untouched for so long." Coran said "Also i got some shampoo and soap to get the goo away." Keith nodded as he turned of the water once it reached to Lance's waist, the blue paladin slapped the water again before trying to grab the bubbles, he laughed. Keith removed his jacket and put it away before he pushed up the short arms of his t-shirt and put his hands in the water and poured some gently over Lance's shoulders, chest and back, Lance blinked and looked up at him, before he slapped the water hard, sending a big wave that splashed Keith in the face, drenching the front of his t-shirt and hair, bubbles clung to him as well, Keith spluttered and blinked his eyes open. Coran snorted next to him and Lance was grinning, a familiar glint in his eye.

  "Why you little-" Keith started but when Lance kicked the water again, sending another wave at Keith did he close his mouth and managed to avoid most of it this time, Coran got drenched instead.

  "Now Lance, you're the one who's supposed to bathe, not us." he chided with a slight smile on his lips.

Keith had given up about saving his clothes from the water a long time ago, and was currently rubbing shampoo into Lance's hair in nothing but his underwear while his clothes along with the blue onesie and some of Coran's clothes was in the washer and dryer. Keith had found himself staring at the scars that littered Coran's body at first, before he looked away. Lance was giggling as Coran used the soap to get the goo away from his body. Keith grabbed the shower hose and placed his hand so that Lance' wouldn't get the water in his eyes as he washed the shampoo away. Lance gave away a gurgled laugh as he splashed the water again, Coran opened the drain and handed a towel over to Keith who picked Lance up from the water, only making the blue paladin whine and cry again. Keith rubbed him clean with the towel but lance still cried.

  "You can ask Coran about fixing that Altean pool once you're back to normal and bathe for as long as you like." Keith grumbled ruffling Lance's hair with the towel.

Coran rose up from the floor, winching slightly at his stiff knees as he moved over to the washer and dryer that was done, he dried himself of before he dressed in his clothes again, taking over from Keith to get Lance dressed in the onesie while Keith took on his clothes again.

  "Whoever it was that said babies were easy to bathe, lied." Keith grumbled causing Coran to burst out laughing as he picked up Lance from the floor, the blue paladin yawned and as they moved back to the room he fell asleep.

  "Out like a light." Coran chuckled gently. Keith sent Lance a tired smile.

  "Let's just hope he stays asleep for a while."

Chapter Text

22: “You’re warm.”

  "You're warm" Pidge grunted as Hunk had taken seat in her lap as she worked on something in Green's hangar.

The green lion had been intrigued by the yellow paladins sudden tiny-ness. Yellow had been less calm about it, moving uneasily as he looked down at his paladin. Black's tail was twitching as she growled now and again, Blue didn't seem to mind her paladins sudden lack of age. Red just looked annoyed at all of them.

  "Yu awe cwosy." Hunk replied, moving slightly to get more comfortable, but he didn't move away, as he watched as Pidge worked, she sighed bet didn't feel like removing him either, she could hand't the heat he radiated, it was, kind of nice, like a personal hot water bottle, but she was glad she didn't have that time of the month during this, she wouldn't have managed to handle it.

Pidge kept working on her computer, Hunk watched with interest, now and again asking questions or giving her a idea on how to fix something. Pidge noticed when he grew heavier and halted her fingers over the keys, casting a look to Hunk to find how he had fallen asleep, she chuckled lightly as she kept working, letting Hunk sleep.

24: Puppy piles/Blanket Forts

  "PWUPPU PWILES!" Hunk suddenly called as he entered the sleeping room, and before Keith had time to react threw Hunk himself at him, Keith wheezed when the five year old crashed onto his stomach, Pidge burst out laughing from the door followed by Shiro who held Lance, they were all dressed in their pyjamas.

  "Don't throw yourself at people- Hunk!" Keith groaned as he pushed himself up on his elbows to look down at the yellow paladin who grinned up at him, Hunk pushed himself up to his feet and bunched over to Pidge "Bwlanket fwort!" he called, Pidge blinked before she grinned.

It didn't take long before the green and yellow paladin started to build the blanket fort.

  "Keith! get your tall ass over here!" Pidge called as she struggled to fix the last piece that would make the fort standing. Keith groaned in an exhale as he got up and fixed what the two had problem with. Hunk crawled in first laughing, Lance had struggled out from Shiro's hold and crawled inside as well giggling.

  "Yu two!" Hunk called as he looked at the other paladins, Pidge crawled inside, Shiro and Keith shared a look before Keith's shrugged and moved inside as well followed by Shiro.

Allura and Coran checked in on them a while later, Allura hid her mouth behind her hand as she snickered, Coran chuckled, the paladins were out cold in the blanket fort, Keith in the middle since he was the biggest, Hunk sleeping like a starfish with arm and leg over Keith's chest as he snored and Lance slept deeply at the crock of Keith's neck, while Shiro used Keith's leg as pillow and Pidge was lying on his shoulder.

Chapter Text

  "Cadet Shirogane." Shiro jolted back to alertness from where he had zoned out at the table in the cafeteria on the Garrison, a teacher stood before him with a tired expression.

  "Yes, sir?" Shiro replied quickly sittning up straighter.

  "Come with me."

  "Oh you're in trouble now." Matt snickered only loud enough that Shiro heard him. Shiro sent Matt a slightly annoyed look before he rose to follow the teacher.

They walked along the corridors before they stopped before the door to the staff room.

  "There is someone Commander Iverson want you to meet."

  "Who, Sir?"

  "His name is Keith Kogane, he's a first year and a promising pilot, he have beat some of your records, but he has some discipline issues, he wont take orders, Commander Iverson hopes you might be able to get through to him."

  "I'm not sure how much of help i can be, sir... what makes you think this kid will listen to me?" the teacher just gave him a look before opening the door and letting Shiro in.

in a chair sat a boy with black wild hair

  "Cadet Kogane." the teacher said, the younger cadet turned to look at them while he stood up. He was holding a towel with ice to his bruised cheek, his uniform rumbled, and it was clear he had been in a rumble with another cadet. "This is Takashi Shirogane." the younger cadet just nodded. Shiro took some steps forward and held out his hand and gave the black haired teen a smile.

  "Nice to meet you Keith." the cadet looked at the hand before he took it looking at Shiro.

  "I can't say the same... Takashi." the teacher opened his mouth to say something but Shiro was faster

  "Please, call me Shiro, that's what my friends call me." Shiro smiled and he saw how something changed in Keith's eyes before a fain smile grew on Keith's lips.

And Shiro knew that his half year left as a cadet, would be very very interesting.

*

Shiro watched Keith as he and Pidge tried to get Lance to eat, but the blue paladin wanted none of it.

  "Come on Lance, open up. Here comes the blue lion." Pidge said before she made a air plane noise.

Lance opened him mouth surprisingly, but then he blinked and his eyes teared up and he opened his mouth making the goo run down his jaw at the same time a wounded noise left him.

  "I can't believe you made him eat his own lion." Keith commented. Pidge gave away a choked noise. Lance screamed before he started to cry loudly, tears streaming down his cheeks while he hit with his tiny hands at the table and kicked hard.

 "No no, it's not the blue lion, it was just food! Blue is still in her hangar, please stop crying!" Pidge whined

Shiro sighed and slumped out over the table, things had changed so much since then.

Chapter Text

Keith wasn't sure if he was going crazy or not, Lance was not sleeping very well , sobbing and whaling, wich was draining for both him and Pidge, Shiro had at some point grabbed Pidge's headphones and fallen asleep to the music that they were playing, ignoring the two arms struggle with the whaling baby of the blue paladin.
Hunk was trying to help, but seeing Lance cry made him cry as well. Allura and Coran had tried to help but it only caused Lance to cry louder.

It had been three tiresome and draining days and nights when Lance finally fell asleep and slept.

Pidge was out like a light the moment everything got quiet.

Keith exhaled and went to get something to eat.

He was in the mid's of fixing a strange neon looking sandwich when a click made him look up to see a small plant in a smal pot stand on the counter.

  "... what?" he asked aloud, then he saw the dark mop of hair on the other side and leaned over the counter to look down at Hunk "Hunk? what are you doing?" the five year old looked up at him and beamed

  "Plant fo you." Hunk said and standing on his tiptoes pushed the pot closer to Keith.

  "You game me a plant." Keith asked in disbeleif

  "Yes" Hunk said still smiling. Keith stared at him in silence, Hunk stared back still smiling.

  "I can't even take care of myself, how do you expect me to take care of a plant?!"

  "You made Lance sweep."

  "He tired himself out." Hunk shrugged before he ran out from the kitchen, leaving the plant on the counter. Keith picked it up, it was small and reminded him of a small tree despite having a blue team and neon pink leaves . "Where did he even get this? we haven't stopped at a planet since they all got turned to children." Keith turned the plant in his hands unsure what to do with it.

He grabbed the sandwich and started to eat, the plant seemed to glow gently. He was startled out of his stupor when the door to the refrigerator slammed shut, Shiro stood there eating some leftovers from a couple days back.

  "Please tell me Lance isn't crying again." Keith said in a tired voice. Shiro shook his head

  "Nope, he and Pidge are dead to the world, they aren't even snoring."

  "Oh thank god." Keith said and slumped over the counter closing his eyes.

Chapter Text

"I didn’t think chicken pox was still a thing but apparently it is because you’re sitting here miserable and I’m trying to comfort you with my really dumb jokes and I don't know how to fix this”

Lance was not happy.

In some strange way the baby had managed to catch chicken pox, all to Allura and Coran's horror, they had put the child in quarantine to not have the sickness spreading in the castle, the only down side, no one was able to care for him without wearing the paladin armour with the helmet sealed.

No that was an understatement, Lance wasn't happy he was down right miserabel.

Shiro and Hunk tried their best to be there while the others tried to explained about what chicken pox was to the two Alteans.

Lance whined on the bed in the room he had been put in, a miserable expression on his face, his eyes were red and puffy from crying while his nose ran from both the crying and sickness, his chest and cheeks were covered in the small red dots of the chicken pox.

  "Do you know why the chicken crossed the road?" Shiro asked as he held Lance in his arms, dressed in the paladin armour, that in some strange way changed size to fit them. Lance only grumbled in reply

  "Why did de chicken cwos de woad Shiwo?" Hunk asked, there he stood on the floor trying to get Lance to smile.

  "Uhhh To get to thier best friends house." Hunk blinked up at him in confusion. "Knock knock?" Shiro then said

  "who's dewe?"

  "The chicken." Hunk giigled, but Lance only whined in distress. and Shiro sighed looking down at the baby who looked like he was about to cry again.

  "'ance not happy." Hunk said with a pout

  "That he's not buddy..." Shiro said "I didn't think chicken pox was still a thing, but apparently it is." Shiro lifted Lance enough to be able to look at him "Because you're sitting here miserable and i'm trying to comfort you with my really dumb jokes and i don't know how to fix this"

  "'ance will get bettew i know it" Hunk said and smiled. Shiro sighed and gave a tired smile back. Lance huffed before he decided that sleeping was way better than being awake and fell asleep in Shiro's arms

Chapter Text

Pidge was sitting on the blanket in the room all the paladins shared after the others were de-aged, she was tapping away on her computer. Keith was sleeping further away, dead to the world as he regained the energy he had lost by taking care of the others, Shiro and Hunk were with Coran as Lance entertained himself among the blankets, blubbering sounds and trying to say words.
Pidge looked up when the plant Hunk had given Keith was suddenly slammed onto the computer before her. Pidge lifted her eyes to look from the plant to Lance who was ginning at her.
"You gave me a plant." she stated, Lance nodded giving away something that vaguely sounded like 'yes'.
The two silently stared at each other before Pidge looked at the plant then at Lance.
"I can't even take care of myself, how do you expect me to take care of a plant?" Lande gave away a happy gurgle before he slumped to the side grabbing one edge of a blanket and began to roll up in it until he had turned himself to a burrito.

A cry made Pidge look up to see how Lance was struggling to get out from the blankets. Keith rolled over snuggling into his pillow showing no sign of waking. Pidge sighed before she got up and looked down at Lance.
"Do you trust me?" she asked, the baby blinked up at her before he instantly shook his head. "Smart choice." Pidge snickered before she untangled him from the blankets before flowing a raspberry on his tummy, making the baby shriek.
"What the 'ell are you doing?" Keith suddenly asked groggily as he looked at them, hair wilder than normal and eyes still clouded by sleep.
"Nothing." Pidge said with a grin "Go back to bed, i got this." Keith only grunted before he flopped back down and was asleep again in seconds.

Chapter Text

Allura was glaring at the paladin, they had all just gotten back to normal yesterday, and yet, here ALL of them stood several years younger but not as dramatically as last time.

  "Why. Would. YOU. ALL. EAT. THE! FRUITS! AGAIN!" she shouted making all of the youngsters hide behind a younger Shiro. Pidge gave away a scared noise, all of them having become 5 years younger.

  "Now Allura, we can explain." Shiro said raising his hands.

  "I sure hope you can!" Allura said placing her hands on her hips.

  "We didn't eat the fruit. We ate some of the newest food goo." Shiro explained.

  "New food goo?" Coran asked, sharing a look with Allura.

  "That's.... my fault... I put some of the fruits in the food goo machine before I knew they were de-aging." Hunk mumbled and hid more behind Shiro when Allura glared at him. Allura exhaled harshly before she turned on her heel and started to walk towards the bridge again.

  "Then we better get back to that planet again to get you back to normal!" she barked. Coran sighed before he looked at the now younger paladins.

  "Well then, it will take a while before we get back to the planet, in the meantime let's try some training."

  "WHAT?!" all of them expect Shiro and Keith shouted. "Are you out of your mind?!"

  "My mind is exactly where it needs to be, now, now, altean children can handle this, and so can you."

  "Coran-"

  "Start training sequence level 10!" Coran called as he ushered the paladins into the training room, they were already dressed in the paladin armor that wrapped and formed around them to fit despite them all shrinking.

A droid landed on the floor before them and different kinds of obstacles appeared from the floor until an obstacle Course was created.

  "The game is simple, don't get caught." and with that Coran left the room to go back to the window where he could watch the training.

*

When Allura came back to the training deck to tell them they had arrived it was to five androids destroyed in a pile on the floor and the paladins all perched on the obstacles. Pidge hung from the roof where her Bayard was shot stuck on the roof. 

 Keith was perched on top of an obstacle Bayard out and Lance was as high up he could get on a net, his gun pointing at the androids. Hunk and Shiro were on the floor. Hunk panting for breath and Shiro standing protectively over him.

  "What on Altea happened here?!" Allura asked.

  "I had them do some child training." Coran said from the observation deck. Allura just huffed before she looked at the paladins

  "We have reached the planet, let's go, once you're back to normal can you shower."

*

None of them was too keen on wandering up to mountain again, nor eating those sour fruits to change them back. But alas it had to be done.

Once they were back to normal the whole castle was searched for the fruits and the new food goo was disposed of.

Chapter Text

The mice woke up by the sound of a loud scream caused by the castles now youngest inhabitant. 

Lance had fallen asleep on the couches in the common deck and the others had let him sleep there.

It might have been a good idea, if the baby hadn't ended up getting an ear infection during the night and was now bawling his eyes out from the pain and want of being cared for.

The mice hurried over and did the best they could to try and make the baby feel better, but nothing helped, Lance even batted them away as he cried his eyes out and screamed.

The mice shared a look before Chuchule and Plachu ran off to see if they could find something to make so that the others woke up. While Platt and Chulatt tried to continue to care for the crying, screaming baby.

The alarms started blaring making the two mice jerk and squeak out in startled fright, and Lance halted his crying for a moment before he did everything again but 10 times harder.

Hurried steps reached their ears and with Chuchule and Plachu at the top to lead the way the others came running.

Allura gently scooped Lance up and tried to sooth the wailing baby.

  "What's wrong with him?" she asked looking at the others. Pidge was rubbing sleep from her eyes and Keith yawned having a sleepy Hunk clinging to his arm.

  "Hmm." Coran hummed as he brought up a device that scanned Lance's body. "There seems to be an infection in his ear, how now that happened." Coran stated.

Pidge and Shiro grimaced at that.

  "Aw you poor thing. How do we fix it?"

  "He might get a fever and other things due to the infection." Shiro piped up rubbing at one eye.

  "Coran." Allura said

  "Yes, Princess?"

  "Ready the pod."

  "Right away."

Coran walked off to fix the healing pod as the others followed along. The mice sighing in relief when they didn't need to be the adults of the situation any more.

When Lance emerged from the pod later he was back to his usual happy baby self.

Chapter Text

Keith Sneezed.

And Sneezed.

And sneezed.

When the attack calmed down he was sniffling before acting as if nothing happened.

  "You okay?" Shiro asked as he looked up from the tablet.

  "I'm fine." Keith croaked out, voice one the borderline of hoarse.

It kept going, Keith started coughing and Shiro decided to keep a better eye on him. 

It had been about a week since Keith's sneeze attack, and Shiro knew he was in a bad shape, he shivered from the chills or took of his jacket when the heat waves washed over him. It was clear he had a fever and a quite high one at that, but he was stubborn.

Shiro knew that. But he also knew that it would take about a week before Keith just accepted that he was sick, and then he would cling to whoever ended up closest when he crashed.

And crash he did.

Shiro had been in the common deck reading up on new information, and getting used to having his 13 year-old body again. He was just glad he didn't end up in puberty’s claws, which would have been far to embarrassing.

Keith stumbled inside couching badly into his elbow and sniffling pitifully before he stumbled forward and crashed face first into the couch Shiro was sitting on.

Keith groaned before he wiggled forward to throw his arms around Shiro's waist hugging his older now turned younger brother closer.

  "Finally accepting that you're sick?" Shiro asked as he started to card his fingers through Keith's hair.

  "Shaddap!" Keith croaked out hiding his face in the cushions.

The next days were spent with Shiro doing his best to care for Keith who clung to him the best he could, if not just carrying Shiro around like a big teddy bear. Shiro huffed but let it happen.

Pidge and Allura snickered when they saw it, and Hunk wanted to be carried too, Coran was the one who did that, on the mourning of his back that only held without cracking for about 30 minutes. Allura took over the carrying after that as Pidge and Lance did their best to care for the space uncle.

When Keith’s fever grew worse Shiro forced him to stay in bed and sleep. Shiro asked Pidge and Allura to come in with food for the two of them and medicine for Keith.

The red paladin slept like the dead, now and again waking up from a cough attack or because he needed to stumble off to the bathroom. During these times of wakefulness Shiro made sure Keith ate and drank and also took the medicine.

Some days later Keith was back to normal. Whatever made him sick was apparently something that only half galra's could suffer from. To the relief of the rest of the crew. Despite them not wanting Keith to get sick again.

Chapter Text

Shiro had gotten sick. But he was just as stubborn as Keith when it came to ignoring the cold and keep powering on.

It might have worked when he was an adult, but now as a child it did not work all that well. Keith tried his best to make Shiro just stop and go to bed and take medicine and sleep it off, since that was how kids got better.

medicine, food and sleep.

It took Keith almost the whole day to just get Shiro to stay in the bed, he had to bodily hug around the sick 13 year old like an octopus to keep him from walking off. Only problem was... Keith fell asleep.

Keith woke up to the bed empty and older brother gone. a growl left him as he shot up from the bed and threw the door open.

  "SHIRO!" he shouted making Pidge and Hunk screech, the two had been about to pass the door when Keith threw it open.

  "YOU ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" Pidge cried as Hunk started to cry from the fright. Keith grimaced

  "So sorry, I'm so sorry! Have any of you seen Shiro?"

Hunk sniffled and nodded before the five year old pointed towards the main deck.

Keith hurried towards it, as he left Hunk with Pidge.

Keith found Shiro on the main deck tapping away on some of the screens before he couched into his elbow and sneezed and swayed a bit on his feet from the fever.

  "I told you to sleep!" Keith snapped making Shiro jolt and spin around to stare at him, stumbling a bit when the sudden movement made the world swim around him.

  "Keith-"

  "You're sick, you need to rest, not run around and do who knows what! Sure call me a hypocrite, but Go to sleep! And stay in bed till you've gotten well again!" Keith said, and he kept ranting only to halt when he caught sight of the tears growing in Shiro's eyes. "Oh no! no no no, don't cry! Please!" but it was already too late, Shiro started crying loudly. And his already runny nose grew worse as the floodgates opened.

Keith floundered a bit before he ushered Shiro towards the bathroom where he knew there were tissues and medicine.

After making Shiro blow his nose several times into the tissue and stroked away the tears with another and made sure Shiro took some more medicine, was Shiro almost sleeping standing up, and drained after the crying and sickness.

Keith gently picked him up and smiled as Shiro snuggled closer to him.

  "You're warm..." Shiro mumbled before he let sleep finally claim him.

  "Yeah? Well, you're warmer." Keith said gently as he made his way back to the room.

Chapter Text

Keith yawned as he walked into the room to see how Pidge was sitting in a ring, she had dragged Shiro with her and now, he, hunk and Lance were all holding hands, even if the 6 months old baby didn't actively hold anyone's hand.

Keith blinked and stared.

  "Do i wanna know what's going on?" he asked hesitant sending a glance back the way he came.

  “I’m the platonic filling in a poly-romance chain.” Pidge said with a grin as she made her hold on Shiro's and Hunk's hands swing.

  "What..?" Keith asked in a slow tone, as if expecting to get it before he finished the word.

 "I get to hold so many peoples hands, it’s amazing!" Pidge laughed with a big grin.

Keith sent a look at Shiro who shrugged and Hunk seemed content with the situation from the giggles that left the five year old.

  "I am not awake enough for this..." Keith sighed.

  "JOIN US!" Pidge barked and soon she got both Shiro and Hunk to chant along with her, even Lance made some noises similar to the words. Keith groaned and sat down between Hunk and Pidge.

  "Happy now?" he asked as Pidge grabbed his hand and Hunk took his other.

  "Yes." Pidge grinned.