Chapter Text
Keith was not a fan of overly complex plans. He never had been, preferring to react on instinct and let his body's own muscle memory act before his brain had time to trip him up. But that didn't mean he couldn't come up with a plan, and a pretty good one at that - he absolutely could. It usually involved starting with changing the conditions of a fight to be in his favour, then a big empty spot in the middle mentally labelled 'go with your gut', finally followed by some idea for how he'd get away once he had done what he needed to.
The middle part was especially important. After all, "No battleplan ever survives contact with the enemy." Or something like that; Keith couldn't actually remember for sure who said it, but it had proven itself to be true.
But this time, Keith had no idea how to change the initial conditions to be in his favour. He needed to get a read on the situation, gather as much data as possible, and work out a plan of attack. Then he could get an answer to his question.
Was Hunk some kind of Sex God, and had he used his powers on Shiro and Lance?
The rational part of his brain helpfully pointed out that this was a stupid question, and that he was definitely overthinking this. Yet he couldn't shake the idea now that it was in his head.
Morning training had moved from increasingly ridiculous obstacle courses (The snake-course had been utterly pointless, as far as Keith was concerned. When would they need to run anywhere while all tethered to each other at the waist? And why did touching anyone else in the line have to be an automatic fail?) to Gladiator survival matches, which thankfully gave Keith some respite from his thoughts.
But now the team were slumped on the floor, Coran handing out drinks and encouragement in equal measure while everyone took a break. This left Kieth's mind free to study his team-mates and read way too much into every little gesture. Like Lance leaning towards Hunk and Shiro as they spoke, or Hunk's hand on Shiro's shoulder as they walked, or Shiro looking at Lance as though he were trying to figure something out.
Perfectly innocent stuff that he was all of a sudden noticing.
Shiro gave Coran a smile and nod as he accepted the drink, relaxed in a way that Keith realised he hadn't been for a while. Which in turn made Keith realise that he himself also hadn't been relaxed in a while, even before yesterday's sudden revelation. When was the last time he relaxed?
"Maybe Hunk could help?"
Kieth ignored the memory of Pidge's voice, hoping that the heat he felt flooding his face would be written off as an after effect of training. Although... Keith could ask Pidge if she thought Lance and Hunk were... what, together? Or if she thought Shiro might have... also... with Hunk and Lance...
Well, Keith needed to phrase the question better than that before he asked. Pidge probably wouldn't laugh. Much.
"Are we done for now?"
Speaking of. Pidge had pulled her helmet off and was running her hands through her hair, teasing it out.
"Not quite," Coran answered. Lance groaned and flopped dramatically sideways. Coran paid him only enough mind to drop a drink on his chest, eliciting a small "Oof" noise before before he handed another drink to Hunk with an encouraging grin, saying something that Keith didn't catch, but that made Hunk blush and smile widely in response.
Shiro raised an eyebrow at Lance and nudged him in the side with his foot, which Lance batted weakly at, hand hovering in the air over Shiro's ankle before he let it fall aside. Keith's eyes were immediately drawn to the movement (had Lance gone to rest a hand on Shiro's leg, but changed his mind? Or was that just a shoo-ing motion done really sloppy?), then across to Hunk who poked Lance in the other side, making him flinch. Keith had noticed that Hunk was touching Lance a lot more than usual. That lent some support to Keith's theory that any relationship might be a recent thing, then. Unless this was some kind of reassurance thing? Thinking about it now, Lance had seemed a little more distant lately.
This was getting ridiculous. He needed to focus on something else.
"In a hurry to get back to your project?" Coran asked Pidge, handing the last drink to her with a knowing smirk. Keith suddenly remembered his own drink and took a long swig.
Pidge nodded. "Seriously, I'm so, so close to getting it to work. I know I am. I just have a couple of small things to work out."
"Anything I can help with?" Hunk asked, draining the last of his drink. Pidge considered it, and Keith quietly began choking despite knowing that Hunk DEFINITELY wasn't offering that kind of help. Keith was just quietly losing his mind.
"Maybe. An extra pair of eyes and someone to talk out loud to might help." Pidge leaned forwards with a glare. "But no touching anything I don't tell you to touch, no pressing random buttons and you bring the brain food stash." She settled back.
"I promise, barring an emergency, you will be free to work on that all afternoon." Allura spoke, immediately drawing all attention to her. She moved to stand just outside of the group, a data pad of some kind in one hand. Keith found himself sitting up straighter, despite knowing he hadn't been doing anything wrong. Not obviously wrong, at least. Speculating on your team-mates sex lives was probably wrong to some degree.
Even Lance pulled himself up to a casual reclined pose, rather than the discarded puppet sprawl he had going on before.
"But first, I'd like to try something new," Allura continued. Shiro sent Lance a preemptive Look, getting in before he'd even made his "about to say something dumb" face.
Lance had a whole range of 'Something Dumb Just Occurred To Me' faces. Keith was still cataloging them all. Lance... said nothing. Didn't even look like he noticed the warning. Odd.
"I hate it when you say that," Hunk groaned and gave Allura a clearly unconvinced look. "Every time you say that, it ends badly."
Allura spared him a small smile before looking down at her data pad. "I've been digging through the old team training program suite, and I've found something that I think will benefit all of you. It's a Tag Out exercise."
Keith met Pidge's eyes for a moment, confirming that neither of them had any idea what that was.
"Only one Paladin will be on the field at a time." Coran began filling them in. "All other Paladins will be outside of the field, watching. The program will adapt to your strengths and weaknesses until it finds a strategy that you're not individually capable of beating. When that happens -" Coran held out a hand and slapped it with his other hand loudly - "You tag out with another Paladin who CAN beat that strategy. No other Paladin is allowed on the field until their hand is slapped."
"The idea of this exercise is to recognise your own weaknesses, and to know when you need someone else to help." Allura finished.
"At least, according to the blurb." Coran added cheerfully.
Keith felt cold dread rush through him. This was going to suck. Hard.
He knew perfectly well that he tended to forget his limits and let anger (Blood Lust, his mind substituted against his will) take over. He was used to doing things himself and assuming he could do everything, which he'd mostly managed to do. More or less. Either way, he knew he was so used to thinking only in terms of himself that he often forgot that he had a team of people with other skills.
He half expected Allura to be looking directly at him, like she'd picked this just for him. Except... she was looking directly at Lance, whose forced casual position was completely undermined by a look of tension and... shame? Whatever it was flashed across his face too quick for Keith to get a proper read on it.
"It's also about knowing what skills your teammates have," Coran grinned behind his moustache.
"And knowing when you personally have a skill that can help, then convincing your team that you can offer that." Allura finished, looking around at the rest of the team. Shiro looked thoughtful, while Pidge and Hunk both looked at each other, wearing matching expressions of trepidation.
"Hey, easy done. I'm full of skill," Lance spoke through the tension that was starting to build, a ridiculous smirk plastered on his face.
"You can't be 'Full of Skill' Lance. That's not a thing." Pidge admonished, hauling herself upwards with a huff.
"Then how is 'Skillful' a word?" Lance countered.
"Because it is, and that's not how words work." Pidge kicked at Lance's arm as she walked past, knocking it out from under his head. He rolled with it onto his back and stuck out his tongue.
Shiro stood, offering out a hand to help Hunk to his feet before doing the same to Lance, almost flinging Lance upright and drawing a surprised laugh from him.
"Woah there, Big Cat," Lance grinned, steadying himself on his feet. Shiro huffed in response, smiling apologetically and...
... Blushing?
Keith's brain stalled. He blinked once, knowing perfectly well that he was staring, but right now a blink was as close as he could manage to looking away. It could have been a flush from standing up and pulling other people up. Otherwise, Lance had just called Shiro 'Big Cat', and Shiro had blushed.
Also, where had 'Big Cat' come from? Had he heard that before? Had anyone else heard that? Why did no one comment?
Keith was sure he saw Lance hold on to Shiro a little longer than needed before pulling his hands away. He needed to stop staring. Immediately.
"This is going to suck, isn't it?" Hunk groaned, echoing Keith's earlier thought and breaking him out of his trance. He curled his legs under him, standing in a single smooth motion and walked after the rest of the team.
Coran only nodded. "Of course! That's how you know it's helping."
Of course something would go wrong.
It started smoothly. Hunk volunteered to go first before Allura had the chance to volunteer someone, to which she seemed only mildly put out. Shiro was a little glad that someone volunteered, since apparently he was not allowed to go first.
None of them had any idea what to expect when a section of the training deck had shifted and developed artificial 'terrain' around him, but Hunk had gotten into the rhythm of it once the first Bot had been taken down.
The rest of the team had paced around the edges, trying to get a good view. Lance and Pidge in particular were shouting encouragement and warnings most of the time Hunk was in the field. The lone gunman Bot was followed by a small hoard that tried to overwhelm Hunk with sheer numbers, but given Hunk's usual Area Effect method of shooting, the program set that strategy aside pretty quick. It was only when one of the Bots took flight and began zipping quickly between blasts that Hunk ran for the perimeter to bail.
"Hunk! Tag me, I can totally take this one!" Lance called out, hand held up as though for a high five.
"Hunk, don't listen to him, he's an idiot," Pidge countered, cupping her hands to shout onto the field. "It's moving in a set pattern. I know what it's going to do."
"Sorry, Bro!" Hunk shouted, veering off towards Pidge. He slapped her hand as he passed, momentum carrying him off of the field to collide with the wall.
"Harsh!" Lance shouted.
Pidge slid to a stop behind one of the digitally generated 'Rocks', watching the Bot zip towards her before firing her Bayard's dagger right into it's path. The Bot collided with the blade, and Pidge triggered the electric current with a loud whoop as the bot sparked and fell.
"Alright, fair enough." Lance called from the sidelines, slightly sheepish.
The next iteration didn't fare much better against her, as Pidge ignored Keith's suggestion to tap out to him long enough to work out that she could use her Bayard to grapple up one of the larger digital rocks, exposing the more cover-focused flight pattern the next Bot had adopted. Lance and Hunk cheered loudly as she brought her blade down on it, punching it into oblivion.
The Bot changed strategy completely, this time attacking from below. The generated terrain raised the whole field up slightly, and the Bot took advantage of this to go 'Below' ground and attack, effectively removing Pidges ability to track it by sight.
The first attack knocked Pidge off her vantage point, sending her rolling down the steep slope to the ground level of the field below. Shiro heard himself call out her name, voice joined by the rest of the team only to be cut off by Pidge rolling to her feet stiffly and holding a hand up for silence. Shiro could see Pidge's mind working overtime as she tried to detect any sign or sound that might indicate the Bot's location, but there was nothing until suddenly the Bot burst upwards, limbs spinning out and knocking Pidge's feet from under her. The next attack was at her head, knocking her helmet off.
Pidge looked around fearfully, unable to predict where the next attack would come from. She rolled away from a volley of laser fire that was launched from somewhere nearby and made for the nearest boundary.
Of course - she was looking for a pattern, but this time there was none. The Bot had switched to random attacks, and Pidge's fight reflexes weren't fast enough to keep up with it. She also lacked the weight to provide any resistance to its tripping attacks - when it lashed out, it sent her flying. The best people to tag out with in this situation were either Shiro or Kieth, and Shiro was the closest, even with Kieth running to get himself in a better position.
"Pidge!" Shiro called, dashing sideways along the barrier.
"Shiro! You got this?" Pidge replied, leaping over a rock and swerving towards him.
The Bot leaped out of the ground beside her, knocking her over. She rolled, turning just in time to watch the Bot drop back below ground level.
Matt turned back, reaching towards him, arm outstretched and eyes fearful. He was close; if Shiro could reach him, could grab his hand, they wouldn't be separated. They were trying to take Matt away, though he wasn't completely sure where. The only thing he could think was that if they took Matt, he would be left here alone. He couldn't do that. He couldn't let those monsters take him. He had to protect him from the horrible figures in robes that walked amongst the prisoners like they were inspecting livestock, selecting their specimens for study or... other tasks.
Shiro spotted the inconsistency quickly, much quicker than he normally did when hit by a flashback. They weren't like normal memories, not even the overwhelming ones that bought smells and emotions with it. Memories didn't completely obliterate the real world around you. His flashbacks were more like an hallucination, and it was only the continuity that gave any clue that he was not actually seeing Matt.
Everything was going well. Why wouldn't his mind just let things go well?
Shiro darted forwards just enough to reach Matt. It wasn't Matt, he knew that. This was Pidge. This was Katie. He pulled Matt in towards him, swinging the smaller man behind him to shield him with his body. They were too small for Matt.
The robed figure glided towards him soundlessly, no indication that it even needed to step. It wasn't there. Matt let out a frightened gasp behind him. He wasn't there. He knew perfectly well that what he saw wasn't real. So why hadn't it faded yet?
Behind him, Matt tried to tug himself away from Shiro's grip. He stopped when Shiro didn't release him.
"Shiro!" He heard Kieth's voice, calling his name, and his mind warped it into Matt's voice behind him. But it was Kieth's voice, and Kieth hadn't been there. Keith was running towards him, he could hear his footstep on the training room floor, but his mind glossed over the noise. He felt like he was scrabbling, trying to rip away a membrane between himself and the real world to grab onto something from the now, something that would pull him out. He felt himself shake his head, trying to clear his vision.
"Shiro?" a closer voice, but not Pidge's... Lance's voice. He'd been nearby. Lance wasn't here, some other being knew his name, was calling it out. Warning him not to resist.
No, he knew their voices. He just needed to grab onto them somehow.
"Come on Shiro, buddy, ease up." Lance's voice, quiet but with an edge of panic. He tried to turn towards it, but he couldn't seem to turn away from the robed figure before him. The smell of burnt wires and blood filled his senses, the fear and despair thick in the air around him. "Shiro? Come back to us." Dammit, he was trying! His mind tried to grip onto the voice, steadier and quieter than the scene he was in should have allowed. Warmth hovered over his arm, not touching him but enough to feel. "Easy, Big Cat."
That was it. That was new, recent, something he'd never been called before his escape. Something that placed him very firmly in the now. His mind grabbed onto it, pulled himself out of the past with a lion's roar and the feeling of flying.
On instinct he moved, stepping forwards and crouching down low, arm alight. Behind him Pidge stepped back, Keith and Lance by her side in moments. He twisted, moving before he heard a sound, the first indication that the Bot was even there being the clang of metal on metal as his hand collided with it. It erupted into sparks.
"Yes!" Lance's fist shot into the air in triumph. "Damn, that was awesome!"
Shiro stood and turned to give a reassuring grin to his team. There was a 'thank you' on the tip of his tongue that died when he saw the group behind him. Lance looked excited and proud of him, but Keith was looking back and forth between himself and Lance, a strange expression on his face. Keith had been staring at most of the team all morning, so that wasn't too much of a surprise really, but this look was different. Less calculating, more... Shiro didn't know. Pidge was also staring at him, expression best described as 'complicated'.
"Pause the training!" Pidge shouted.
"Program paused," Coran answered from the observation room.
Pidge stepped forwards without hesitation. "Are you OK?" she asked. "What was it? What did you see?"
Shiro hesitated. Should he answer? He didn't really want to answer; it was only a moment, there was no important information in that flashback. His reluctance must have been clear, because Pidge stepped back and looked down, guilt written into her body language.
"You called me Matt."
Shiro froze. He hadn't even realised he'd spoken. Judging by the way both Lance and Keith whipped their heads around to look at him, they hadn't heard him. Hunk joined the group, moving to stand beside Lance and sharing a look with the blue paladin before looking at Shiro gently.
Shiro thought he understood it. If he didn't want to talk, Hunk would move everyone on. That was enough to ease the sudden tension in his body and make him want to at least say something.
"When... We were chosen as potential fighters for the arena," He began, haltingly, "Matt was picked first. They tried to take him away, and he reached out to me, like you did. I grabbed him, I... tried to protect him, keep him with me. So they brought me along too."
He looked over to Pidge, who looked back at him and offered up a watery smile. "Sorry," she said, a hand going up to her face to play with her glasses before she remembered she wasn't wearing them and moved her hand to her neck instead. "I know I shouldn't have pushed."
"Fair warning man, I'm about to hug you." Hunk spoke before, true to his word, he enveloped Shiro in a hug that nearly knocked him off balance. Shiro huffed and wriggled a bit, trying to readjust himself to free his arms up. Hunk let up enough for Shiro to pat him on the back fondly, hiding a smile behind Hunk's shoulder.
"Do you... want to stop training? Or keep going?" Keith asked uncertainly.
Shiro considered it. Stopping would be kind of nice, but... "No, I think I'm good to keep going," He decided at last. Keith scanned his face, but whatever he saw must have been OK, because he only nodded.
"Hunk, budy, you're gonna have to let go before the Bot starts up again." Lance leaned forwards, head tilted to try to catch Hunk's eye.
"Yeah. I think an attached Hunk might be too much of a handicap for even Shiro." Pidge added playfully.
"But I could be like a Tortoise Shell for him. Extra armour plating, and a Gun. Gun Tortoise." Hunk responded. Thinking about it now, this hug had gone on for a while. How does one gracefully exit a Hunk Hug?
"Tortoises aren't known for either their agility OR battle prowess." Pidge at least was able to suppress a laugh and respond completely straight faced.
"Aww," Hunk whined with fake disappointment. He pulled back, resting a hand on Shiro's shoulder briefly before stepping back to the group.
Shiro walked into the field and looked up to the viewing deck, just able to make out Allura and Coran leaning looking out over the group of them. He gave them a thumbs up.
There was nothing for a tick, and then -
"I don't really know what that means," Coran's voice came over the speaker, "So I'm just going to un-pause the program, OK?"
He could hear Lance facepalming as the last shred of seriousness the moment might have had dissolved.
Shiro made it through a further four iterations of the Bot's strategy before finally having to tap out when the Bot became three Bots attacking from a distance. He traded with Lance, who made quick work of the smaller flying enemies.
Of course, Lance then stayed in too long. He started the next variation acting like his usual cocky show-off self, but his demeanour shifted to something more serious around the Bot's second adaption against him. It wasn't long before Hunk and Pidge's encouragement became warnings. This Bot used a combination of ranged firing and fast, close movements with some kind of energy staff, leaving Lance almost constantly on the defensive.
"Stop being an ass and tag me in already!" Keith shouted, shadowing Lance from the sidelines. Lance scampered behind a digital rock as a volley of shots were fired at him.
"No, it's cool! I've TOTALLY got this!" He shouted back, returning fire. Any certainty in his voice was immediately undermined when the Bot swung around the rock and dug the staff under his armour, flipping him.
He eventually managed to sneak himself into some hidden spot, out of sight of all of the viewers, and launch a surprise attack to knock the bot down, shooting it while it was pinned under him.
Lance barely had a moment to breath before the program launched the next attack, a heavily armoured, heavy punching Bot. It ran at Lance like a rhino, knocking him down and proceeding to mercilessly beat him into the ground.
Shiro kept himself in check by reminding himself that Coran and Allura were up on the observation deck, and they wouldn't let any training program seriously injure one of them. If nothing else, it wasn't good strategy. Even so, it wasn't a fun fight to watch for any of them. Hunk and Pidge had abandoned encouragement and warnings entirely, switching to shouting instructions on how to get to the edge of the field to tag Hunk in. Keith fell silent, but he looked like he wanted to jump onto the field and either strangle Lance or break the Bot to pieces. Shiro couldn't be sure which was more likely.
Eventually Lance made it to the edge to tag Hunk, collapsing to his knees with a pained groan. Pidge leaned over Lance as he tried to catch his breath.
"What did we learn?" she asked. Lance whined in response.
Hunk proceeded to wail on the Bot, using his Bayard as a battering ram so effectively that the Bot's next strategy was to become a heavily armoured, un-moving gun turret.
Hunk dealt with that by simply flipping it over and jumping on it.
Hunk tagged out to Keith when the bot became too fast for him, and Keith was just as bad as Lance when it came to knowing when to quit. Keith managed exceptionally well at first, but as the Bot refined its strategy, Shiro could see Keith getting more and more frustrated. That was clearly the Bot's 'plan'- small but constant attacks, aiming to frustrate and keep Keith on his toes rather than injure. At times Shiro was sure he could see Keith pull himself back and try to refocus himself, muttering 'Patience' under his breath, only for the Bot to interrupt and get him on the back foot again. The repeated annoyances eventually drew Keith into a screaming, frustrated chase.
"It's a Kobayashi Maru!" Hunk shouted over the sounds of battle and Shiro's reminders to keep focus, stay calm, patient... "Failure is the point!"
Keith stopped in his tracks. "A who?"
"Don't ask, just Tag." Pidge shouted. Keith shook his head as though trying to clear his mind before he quickly tagged Shiro back onto the field.
Allura called the training finished when Shiro managed to perform a volleyball spike on the Bot, throwing it into the far wall of the training room.