Chapter Text
You know what they say if at first you don't succeed...
Alarms screamed throughout the castle and Hunk should have jumped to his feet. Instead, he rolled to the edge of his bed. Lance will wake me if it’s real . Hunk thought, letting his eyes slip closed.
“ Paladins !” Allura’s voice called. “ We are under attack !”
Hunk’s eyes snapped open. Allura. The Paladins. Attack. Hunk flung himself out of bed, and onto the floor. His feet slipped out from under him and he flailed his arms, but it was no use, he was falling before he could stop himself. Hunk bounced once off the ground and then lay against the floor, his face stung.
Hunk could almost hear the other students and instructors at the Garrison laughing at him, Lance telling him to chin up and stand. It took him a second to remember that this was not the perpetually dusty tiles of the Garrison, but the cool, newly-cleaned floors of the Castle.
Hunk pushed himself up and ran down the hallway. The lights blinked red and the alarms wailed. Hunks bare feet slapped and slipped against the ground, threatening to trip him again. He was pretty sure his pajama bottoms had somehow become backwards. Hunk burst into the control center.
“WHO’S ATTACKING?!” he cried
In the control center, Shiro, Keith, Pidge, Allura, and Coran sat patiently. A list that hovered in front of Allura had one item switch to green and what looked like a timestamp freeze. One last item at the bottom continued to tick away.
“Four dobashes and thirty-seven ticks.” Allura read.
Shiro scowled. He was in his armor. Beside him, Keith was wearing his normal, day clothes, but looked ready to spring into action. Pidge was in his clothes too, but only had his socks on his feet and was missing his glasses. He leaned against his chair and rubbed his eyes. No one looked worried enough about an incoming attack.
“What’s going on?” Hunk asked.
“We are running test drills at the request of Shiro.” Allura said, tying her hair out of the way and into a bun. “You are a full dobash behind Pidge, three behind Keith.”
Hunk looked to Shiro. “Why couldn’t you have told us we were running a drill?” he groaned.
“That kind of negates the point of a test drill.” Pidge said, stifling a yawn.
Hunk was not sure if Shiro wanted to thank Pidge for his insight or scold him for his sarcasm. Instead, Shiro shook his head. “Cancel the alarms.”
Allura typed the command into her screen and the sirens and lights stopped. The sound rang in Hunk’s ears regardless.
“Didn’t you guys do stuff like this at the Garrison?” Shiro asked. “Hunk, in the time it took you to get here we could have been blown up. Pidge, you don’t even look like you got any sleep. What were you doing last night? And where is Lance?” As soon as the words left Shiro’s mouth, the door slid open. The room fell silent except for Lance slurping his steaming fresh coffee and the brush of his slippered feet on the polished floor.
“Good morning, everyone.” Lance sang. He smiled at the princess. “Allura, looking as lovely as ever.”
Allura scowled. “Where have you been?!”
Lance framed his face with his free hand. “You think a face this beautiful goes without rest?”
Hunk gave one look over at Lance. He overslept. Or for him, woke up on time.
Allura opened her mouth like she wanted to scream at him, but no sound came out. Hunk was not sure if she was too shocked or she had too many things to scream.
“Lance.” Shiro said, his tone dangerously even. “Do you know why we were called here this morning?”
Lance took a sip of coffee- or what passed for coffee in space. “Nope. Just saw Hunk’s door open. Went to the kitchen first, didn’t see you guys. So, I came down here.”
Shiro took a deep breath. “Gentlemen, we are here because we have been chosen to protect the universe. All those who are innocent, downtrodden, and those who we wish to avoid that fate. Tell me, are we acting like the elite fighting force we’re supposed to be?” The room went silent. “Okay,” Shiro said, “everyone get ready for lion training, we have a lot of prep work to do for when the Galra come back.”
Pidge and Keith shuffled out without another word. Lance stayed to try and pry Allura’s attention away from her computer. Hunk wiped his hands on his pajama bottoms and cleared his throat. Shiro looked up from his computer. He had dark circles under his eyes, worse than when they had found him, and his skin was pale.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” Hunk said, “I’ll try harder next time.”
Shiro’s lips quirked up in a smile. “That’s all I ask of you, Hunk. Now go get ready.”
Hunk offered a salute to his leader, and it made Shiro break out in a genuine smile. Hunk turned on his heel like he was trained to do, and caught himself before he slipped on the hem of his pants. He walked out of the control room as fast as he could without looking panicked and hoped no one had seen.