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[bigbrained]

[Being core members of the Voltron coalition meant that sometimes the team had to spread their forces thin in order to take care of everything that required their attention. Sure, they had other allies who could hold their own -the Blade of Mamora for example- but it had a little more impact if the paladins themselves saved a colony or planet, as opposed to more Galra.

In other words: politics.]

I mean, I understand what Coran was saying but I still think it's kinda dumb, right Keith? [Undeterred by Keith's noncommital 'uh huh's and 'yeah's, Hunk continues on as he follows Keith's lead and slows down his approach. They're going to have to try and sneak up on this installation or risk the Galra retaliating against the captured techs for calling for help.] They've been around way longer than we have, and fighting for way longer too! It kinda feels like we're shoving them out of the way to get all the glory. Not that that's what we're doing, but it sure feels like that's what we're doing. I guess in the end it doesn't really matter who gets the job done so long as the people are saved, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Right? Do you have a bad taste in your mouth too, Keith?

Comments

[bigbrained]

[God...Keith's leg must be real bad for him to be so hunched like that. They're both gonna have to be careful.]

S'fine, I- had Allura show me some stuff after Lance got hurt. [Realizing that none of them could even read medicine bottles was a scary experience, one that Hunk immediately wanted to rectify.

He holds out a hand, the other gingerly cradling his side.] There should be one with blue stripes along the bottom, and another one with red letters.

[whatsacactus]

[He nods, starts picking up bottles and holding them in his suit's little lights to find the ones Hunk is talking about. For calling human medical practices barbaric, the Alteans matched it pretty closely in a lot of this smaller stuff. But he'd give a lot for them both to have a week in a healing pod.]

Okay this looks like one. [He holds out one bottle, red letters he thinks. Hard to tell with his vision blurring a little.]

[bigbrained]

[Hunk takes it, squints at the bottle as well before cracking it open and shaking out three little iridescent pills.] Here, you take one too.

[whatsacactus]

[He looks at the bottle in his hand, then the pills Hunk holds out to him. honestly? he trusts hunk with this kind of stuff entirely.He would just as soon make sure the bleeding stops and call it a day. so he grabs the pills and hands him the other bottle.]

Which is this that I'm taking?

[bigbrained]

[Yeah Keith you take one pill, you beanpole, give those back before you get high as balls. Hunk is the one taking two.] Painkillers. We're gonna have to get moving soon, right? [Hunk's gonna dry swallow those two and then some of the anti-inflammatory tablets also. Actually, there should be some water around here in emergency supplies...

With a hand to the side of the hull Hunk pushes himself up painstakingly to his feet. His side doesn't hurt as terribly as he thought, he probably just moved too quickly when he woke up.] Yeaugh... Okay, not as bad as before. I'm good, I'm good...

[whatsacactus]

[maybe he needs to be!!

probably safer to not, his head is swimming right now. So he gets a breath and just dry swallows it because it's faster and gets ready in case hunk needs help]

How long do you think it's been?

[nevermind his helmet is right there and he could just check himself.]

[bigbrained]

No clue. Mannn, should've asked Coran the average day-night cycle for this outpost...

Hang on, hang on a sec. Don't get up, I'm gonna check on Yellow. [And go find some of those supplies, too. It's not easy to do in the dark but Hunk knows the inside of Yellow almost as well as his childhood bedroom, and even on his side he doesn't have much trouble navigating around to the pilot chair. There's the supply bag, in a manual compartment below it, but first...

Hunk circles around the chair, reaching up to place a hand on one of the controls. He clings to the chair, listening desperately; he and Keith will need to leave if they don't want to be captured, but that means abandoning Yellow to the Galra.] Come on buddy, [Hunk whispers, squeezing the throttle. He doesn't know how long he stands there, listening painstakingly for a response that never comes.

Eventually he has to give up, not without great reluctance, and he stops to place a hand on the console first.] I'll come back for you, buddy. I promise.

[It hurts, much more than he thought it would, but Hunk still draws out the supplies bag and slings it over his right shoulder before feeling his way back to Keith.] Okay, I've got the stuff. We should get moving.

[whatsacactus]

[Hunk is gone. He still doesn't have a good grasp of what time it is or how long they were asleep, but he knows they should move. And he knows he's still exhausted. Maybe that blood loss thing is something he should be more concerned about from now on. Keith started with sitting up, back against the wall(floor) and rests his head back.

While waiting, it becomes laying on the floor on his not-hurting side. He's definitely sure his rib's cracked now, but the pain killer Hunk gave him is helping with it a lot; he feels like he can breathe and that's good. That's better.

But he makes the mistake of getting comfortable there, on that hard floor and sleep gradually overtakes him again. He's just... So tired. He'd been going almost nonstop for a solid twenty-four hours when they crashed here.]

[bigbrained]

...Keith? Keith? [Hunk drops the bag and falls to his knees next to where Keith's slumped onto the ground, feeling around his mouth for a breath, for something- oh shit, what if he misremembered the medicines, what if he just killed Keith-]

[whatsacactus]

[What if his Galra genes are deathly allergic to Altean medicine? What if the dosage was too high for his body makeup? What if ...

He was just asleep. He stirs a little, groggy and bleary eyed.]

Wha? 'm up-- 'm up. [He starts pushing himself up to one elbow and winces, holding his side because oh god that one was bad.]

[bigbrained]

[What is that. Why are you holding your side.] What's wrong? [Slips an arm under Keith's neck and shoulder to help him stay up without putting any weight on his elbow, other hand hovering nervously above where Keith's gripping his side.] Are you hurt somewhere else? Without saying anything?

[whatsacactus]

It's fine. [Immediate instinct reaction. But he eases into his hands to help him up. God this is stupid. If he'd just had a better plan, this wouldn't have happened. They'd be back at the castle giving a report and sleeping in their beds.]

It's fine, I'm fine. Just, slept weird.

[bigbrained]

Don't lie, [Hunk says, maybe a little sharper than he usually would. He huffs out a breath, resting his hand over where Keith had been clutching and presses lightly.] Here?

[whatsacactus]

[God, he's just - he's tired, and not for the first time thinking about how empty his stomach is. Everything that's wrong.

He grips at Hunk's arm and tries not to let on how much that hurts, but god it does and he can't hide it that well.] St-stop.

[bigbrained]

[Hunk does, immediately; barely even an inhale, for god's sake, Keith would've tried to hide it the entire time, wouldn't he?] So what d'you think? Bruised rib? ...busted?

[Turns and stretches for that med kit, dragging it over and popping the latch to rummage through it.] Either way we better bind that up. Can you get your armor off?

[whatsacactus]

[God. Okay. Sitting up. He can do that, he can stay upright. He'll focus on the second question, starting to get his chest plate off.]

It's fine, just sore. [That is literally not what it was like five seconds ago. But like hell will he make Hunk worry more, even as he's getting his body suit peeled down to show a dark, dark bruise on his side. It's Not Good, definitely cracked. No doubt in his mind now that he's seeing it even in this shitty light.]

...So a little bad.

[Keith.]

[bigbrained]

[The firm set of Hunk's jaw probably shows how he feels about that, but instead of saying anything he just silently digs through the kit. Binding a fractured rib is usually a bad idea, but in the short term it'll help Keith move around more easily. Once they're out of immediate danger they can remove the bandages so he can breathe deeply.

Yeah. Just...concentrate on what needs to be done. Not on the sick feeling of having to abandon Yellow in the wilderness, potentially to the Galra, and not on how Keith still doesn't trust Hunk as a capable teammate. Just focus on the short term.]

[whatsacactus]

[Hunk isn't talking. Which, he doesn't know Hunk as well as Lance and Pidge, but he knows that's bad. He fucked up not telling him. Or he fucked up downplaying this. Or both!

He's just fucking everything up.

He thought he could do this.

He tightens his grip on Hunk's arm, but not from pain. He's scared he just did something to their friendship, something he values a lot more than anything else in his life.]

...I'm sorry.

[ How much worse can he screw up without getting Hunk killed, or Yellow taken by the Galra if they haven't tracked them already?]

[bigbrained]

[Hunk unwinds the wide gauze carefully, holding down one end as he wraps it around Keith's torso, not too tight but not too loose as to be pointless. The silence between them is weighty, so much so that he almost doesn't catch the apology.]

...Be honest with me. Are we just baggage to you, man? Would you rather be doing all this stuff alone? [Hunk doesn't honestly know what the answer is. Sometimes, with Keith, it's good. Sometimes it's really good, and they're all working together and laughing together. Sometimes Keith smiles so big it lights up the room; it's rare, but it happens.

And then sometimes he shouts I'll do it myself and flies off, leaves them behind. Sometimes...it really does feel like they're all just a bunch of dead weight to him.]

[whatsacactus]

What?

[No, seriously, what? All his thoughts stop with that question, even with Hunk's fingers delicately wrapping against his chest and sides and he'd kind of started focusing on that.]

No, it's... I'm not.

[Fuck. Fuck words, fuck not being able to just directly beam his thoughts to Hunk without having to verbalize them fully. If Yellow were up, they could try that but nooo he had to get her shot with whatever that thing was. That's his fault. He got Hunk's lion trashed.

Keith keeps a hand on Hunk's arm and sits back again when he's done.]

I'm not good with people. [There's a no brainer. He's always been alone, except when Shiro was with him before. But any time he wasn't?] I'm not used to teams or- or people having my back besides Shiro.

It's not you guys. I was finally feeling like I got the hang of all this [he gestures to everything around them] and... Then it all changed again. [When Shiro disappeared. When Keith's role in the team changed, against his will. He didn't want this.

He looks Hunk squarely in the eyes. He needs Hunk to know he means this.]

I promise, it's not anything wrong with you. I'm just used to doing everything alone.

[The Garrison after Shiro left.

The shack in the desert.

Searching for Shiro in all that debris.]

[bigbrained]

[Hunk returns that stare for a good ten seconds of silence before he blows out another breath, letting his gaze drop and nodding.] Okay. I get that.

[So, that means he's going to have to adjust a little bit. Now that he's sure, now that the little splinter of self-doubt's been yanked out by Keith's sincerity, he can keep going on like he was. So hiding his injuries, all the jumping up before Hunk's finished, all the not letting Hunk help is Keith just doing his usual loner thing. Not because he thinks everyone else would just slow him down, but because he's still not used to running with a partner, or a team.

Maybe Keith's actually kind of bad at this. It's a little startling to think of Keith as bad at something, but then again he's real bad at words, so maybe not that startling.] Look, so you know, when I do this? [Gestures to the bandages around Keith's chest,] It's not me doing everything. I need you here, man, you know that. Without you I'm gonna be a nervous wreck, probably just lay facedown and cry. Taking care of people, carrying heavy stuff, like, that's easy for me.

All the stuff you do? Jumping into a Galra base alone, making split decisions, pushing on even when it's tough? That's the stuff I'm garbage at. I need you to do that stuff or I'll probably die out here.

[whatsacactus]

[At least Hunk isn't mad at him. Keith will take that little bit of positive and hold it close to his heart because it's what he needs right now. He still hasn't taken his hand off Hunk's arm and he doesn't really want to either; he idly rubs his thumb against it and takes a little breath in.

Progress. It's... Something, all right.]

Well. I can't let you die, so I guess you're stuck with me out here.

[bigbrained]

Oh thank god. [Hangs his head and sighs.] Seriously, if you were out and I was responsible for us living through this? Like, my grand plan was to find a cave nearby and just cry into my hands until Allura and Shiro got here.

[whatsacactus]

[He's definitely smiling now. He wouldn't let that happen to Hunk in a million years. Pidge if there was no choice, Lance definitely but not Hunk.

He. Really feels like he should seal this conversation somehow. What do most people do?

Keith uses the arm he's holding to pull himself up and. Carefully give Hunk a hug. That's normal right? This is how most people end heavy discussions or show they resolved arguments.]

[bigbrained]

......... [Oh Keith. Hunk snickers but he wraps his arms around Keith, carefully. Geez, they're both so banged up it's like two cracked vases trying to cuddle.] Thanks, Keith.