Nobody was entirely sure how it came to this.

From what they could gather from Pidge's ramblings, Shiro had pushed her out of the way when a weird alien plant started spitting out some spores, and next thing they knew he was barely able to walk. There was something that shook them about seeing their fearless leader lying sick in his room, but they kept it together while they waited for Coran to explain what was going on.

Pidge looked at the picture Coran was holding, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "I mean, it kinda looked like that," she told him. "The petals look like the right color, but the center was more, uh...aggressive."

Coran brightened and scrolled to the next image on the holo-screen. "Ah yes, of course, you saw it when it was spreading its spores-how about this?"

Pidge nodded. "Yeah, that was it!"

"As I suspected." Coran shut of the holo screen and straightened his posture. "Shiro's been doused in the spores of a Dorinamubs flower."

Keith frowned. "Is that bad?"

"Well, the spores will cause temporary paralysis and may cause a fever," Coran replied. "But not to worry-all he needs to do is rest for a day, and he should be better by morning."

Everyone seemed relieved. Shiro looked up from where he was sitting in his bed, and smiled. "Thanks, Coran." He turned to the others. "You guys don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine. You can go."

"You sure?" Hunk asked nervously. "He said you might get a fever. Are you feeling chilly?"

Shiro just kept grinning in amusement. "No, Hunk. If I feel anything, I'll be sure to let you know."

"If you want to call us, just tap that little button I put next to you," Coran piped up. "One tap means you're hungry, Two taps means you need to be carried to the restroom. Three taps means that you're experiencing an allergic reaction to the spores, which is rare, but possible. Signs of which include facial swelling, loss of your voice, and elbow pain for some reason. Four taps means-"

"How about he just taps it once," Keith snapped. "So we know he needs us?"

"Well, if you want to be vague and confusing about it, sure!"

"I think," Allura finally spoke up, cordial as always. "We should just leave him to get some rest, don't you think?"

They all sighed, but nodded in agreement. Keith gave Shiro a reassuring pat on the shoulder on his way out, and his friends slowly began to file out of the room.

Lance paused briefly at the door and turned back to Coran. "Wait. So, is he going to have to stay in bed all day?"

"Well yes," Coran replied. "If you expect him to get better as soon as possible."

Lance frowned, as if worried about something, but then nodded and left the room.

Pidge lingered behind, her mouth hanging open as if she wanted to say something, but hesitated.

Shiro blinked. "You okay, Pidge?"

"I just feel kinda bad," Pidge murmured. "You're sick in bed, and it's all cause you wanted to protect me."

Shiro smiled. "Pidge, don't worry about it. You would've done the same for me, I know that. It's what we do. And I'm going to be fine, so don't feel bad.

Pidge smiled back, putting her hands in her pockets. "Ok. Good. Um, I'll be in the common room if you need me-er, well, tap the thingy or something. See you."

Shiro nodded at her on her way out, and then he was alone. He leaned back on his pillow, trying and failing to move his stubborn legs before giving up. All he could do now was follow Coran's advice and get some rest.

When Shiro tapped the button the first time, Hunk was in his room in a flash, oven mitts still on his hands as he looked Shiro over in a panic.

"What's wrong?" Hunk asked as soon as he was there. "Is your face swelling up?"

Shiro almost wanted to laugh at Hunk's over the top reaction, but instead he just gave him a reassuring smile. "Uh, no, it's not that. I just...needed someone to grab that cup of water from the table over there." It felt kind of pathetic that he needed help just to grab something from across the room, but it wasn't like he was going to complain about that now.

Hunk breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, right, right sure. You're probably thirsty. We should've brought that closer to you from the start."

Shiro gratefully too the cup from Hunk and took a swig to quench his thirst, while Hunk just hovered over him awkwardly.

"Man, it must stink to have to sit in bed all day, I'd get totally fidgety if I was in your place," Hunk muttered. Then he realized that wasn't helping and cleared his throat. "Uh, anyway, you need anything else?"

"No thanks, I'm good. You can go back to your baking."

Hunk blinked, as if confused that Shiro knew what he'd been doing, before realizing that he still had his mitts, as well as a cookie in his hand. "Oh. Pff. I just finished, actually. You want this cookie? I came here so quickly I forgot I was holding it."

Shiro's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of a cookie, and he nodded. "Sure. Thanks, Hunk."

Hunk grinned proudly as Shiro ate the cookie, seemingly enjoying every bite. "No problem. I might go make another batch for the others. Anyway, I'll see you later. Tap that button if you want me to fluff your pillow or something."

Keith showed up to check on him next, though his visit was unprompted. Shiro was simply sitting in bed with his eyes closed, when he heard the door to his room whoosh open. Keith poked his head in, sweaty from the training he'd been doing, and took a couple steps into the room.

"Hey," Shiro said to him with a smile. "Need something?"

"Huh? No, not me," Keith replied. "I came to see how you were doing."

Shiro smiled wider and leaned back against his pillow. "I'm doing fine, thanks. A bit bored, if I had to complain, but I can't say I mind the day off."

Keith nodded. "Understandable." He paused, apparently unsure of what I say next. "So, uh, do you want me to leave...?"

"Well, if you have something else you'd rather be doing, I won't stop you." Shiro stopped to think for a moment. "Though, I was thinking that I'd like to take a nap-it's just a little hard to reposition myself when can't feel the bottom half of my body." He grinned up at Keith again, trying to play it off as a joke, but Keith's eyes widened.

"Oh, I can help you with that," Keith responded. He took a few deliberate steps toward Shiro and grabbed onto his feet, tugging his body forward until Shiro was lying down. Unfortunately, Shiro hit his head on the back of the bed on his way down, yelping both in pain and surprise.

"Ow..."

Keith paused, looking toward him apologetically. "Oh, shoot-I'm sorry."

"It's okay, just kinda surprised me is all," Shiro chuckled.

"You sure? That looked like it hurt."

"It's okay, really. Don't beat yourself up about it." Shiro knew that if he didn't pacify Keith about it now, he'd probably feel guilty about this tiny thing for hours. He could be a little overbearing like that sometimes, but it wasn't really a bad thing. "Thanks for helping, Keith, I think I can take it from here."

Keith didn't seem convinced, worriedly looking over Shiro once more, but he slowly nodded. "Sure. No problem. Sleep well."

"I'll try. See you later, Keith."

Keith left just as quietly as he came, and Shiro was once again alone in the silent room. Hopefully he'd actually be able to fall asleep this time.

It seemed that his friends weren't content to just wait for him to tap on the button, since just about an hour later, Pidge was in his room again. Not that it bothered him much, it was obvious he wouldn't be sleeping right now anyway.

"I was getting lonely," was her excuse. "And the others are all just too loud to be around."

Shiro didn't quite believe her, but there was no need to mention it. He listened to the click-clacking of her keyboard while he stared at the ceiling. He was hoping that the rhythmic sounds would help him fall asleep, but as it turned out, Pidge's typing was far from rhythmic, what with all of her sudden stops and spontaneous rushes. Instead he decided to talk to her. "So what are you working on?"

"Mmmmm," Pidge hummed in response, taking a second to register his question. "Just fine-tuning a mod for the lions that I was working on a while back." She paused, then suddenly stood up and turned to him. "Can I see your arm for a second?"

Shiro was a little confused, but hesitantly turned as much as he could so she could plug the computer into his cybernetic arm. "Why do you need this?"

"Good way to test the program. Can you turn it on? But like, on a low setting."

"Um." Honestly, he'd never considered that his arm would have settings, considering how he only used it in fights, but alright. He did the best he could, hoping he didn't burn Pidge's computer in the process.

But it seemed that the computer wanted to burn him instead, because next thing he knew, a jolt of electricity travelled up his arm, and he flinched in pain.

"Ow!" He deactivated his arm with a cringe, shooting an annoyed look at his friend. "Pidge!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Pidge hurriedly unplugged her computer in a panic. "Are you okay? I-it was supposed to react to heat, but it reacted wrong-I don't know, I might have messed something up in the code-"

Shiro sighed and rubbed his shoulder, where the shock had hurt the most. Luckily, I hadn't been strong enough to do any real damage. "It's fine," he sighed. "Just. Maybe use something else to test it next time."

"Yeah, of course." Pidge saved her work for the time being and put the computer aside. "Hey...maybe the shock did something to fix the paralysis?"

It didn't sound right, but Shiro tried moving his legs anyway. "Nope."

"Aw," Pidge looked at the floor. "I remember Matt once told me something about shock treatments." She grinned cheekily. "You wanna try again?"

"Thanks, Pidge, but I think I'd rather sleep this off."

Shiro had tapped the button again in hopes that Keith would come back and help him get back into a sitting position-since his body just seemed adamant not to go to sleep right now.

But instead, Coran showed up, ready to cater to Shiro's every whim. Were his friends just taking turns answering his calls? It was a bit of a gamble, apparently, tapping the button and seeing who would show up. Hey, at least it was some kind of entertainment.

"Alrighty, then," Coran said as he finished unnecessarily cleaning out Shiro's blankets and fluffing up the pillow behind his back. "Finished with that. Are you comfortable? Hungry? I'll see if I can sneak into the kitchen and grab you something. Hunk has been keeping the whole place to himself making food for the pa-I mean, entertaining himself."

Shiro shrugged. "That would be fine. Actually, what I really want to do is get out of the room a little. I hate being stuck in here for so long."

Coran nodded understandingly. "Yes, I'm sure you're quite bored. I remember catching the Dorinamubs spore myself when I was a wee lad. One quintant of lying around feels like decaphoebs." He grabbed a nearby chair and sat down, settling in. "But don't worry, my boy, I'll gladly stay here and entertain you. How about I tell you about the time I went down into the jungles of Gajik and fought a gang of spider-people?"

Shiro tried not to let his dismay show on his face. Coran's stories were...interesting, but they were long and usually very confusing. "Sure," he said hesitantly, not knowing quite how to turn him down when he was stuck here. "But, uh, if you're going to be talking for a while, do you mind helping me lie down again first?"

Coran's stories, odd as they were, at the very least made him feel like he had some company. It was actually a bit disappointing after he left, and Shiro found himself tapping the button pretty soon afterward, hoping for another talkative member of the team to appear.

He got his wish, luckily, as Lance was more than happy to lounge around in his room and talk to him. At least this time Shiro could actually understand what was happening in the stories he was being told.

"...and she would just shrug and tell me she was okay with anything, didn't matter where we went or what we did," Lance was saying, recounting one of the apparent many dates he's had. He turned to Shiro curiously. "Why do girls do that? Are they just indecisive, are they bored with you, or do they just not care as long as they're with you?"

Shiro shrugged. "I'm really not the person to ask about this."

"Ah." Lance stopped talking for a second, staring at the ceiling. After a moment he spoke again. "Hey, do you have a TV in here or something?"

"Nope," said Shiro. "It's just me and my thoughts."

"Yeesh." He turned his chair to face Shiro and grinned. "Ok, let's play a game. Uhhh, let's see. Ok, I'm thinking of something...round...and soft...and tastes good."

Shiro grimaced. "Tastes good?"

"Yeah, especially the ones covered in powdered sugar."

"I-please tell me you're talking about cookies or something."

"Donut holes, but you're close enough." Lance replied, not seeming to notice Shiro's sigh of relief. "Man, I'm actually craving those right now. You think Hunk could bake some space donut holes while he's still in the kitchen?"

Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Sure, if you ask him. Is he still in there? I thought he only baked this much when he was stressed."

Lance hesitated for a second but then waved his hand in the air. "He's fine, don't worry about him-anyway, how are your legs doing? Getting any pins and needles yet?"

"No. I don't think anything's changed at all, to be honest with you. Maybe it just takes longer for humans."

Lance frowned. "Aw, that's not good. I was hoping you'd at least be better by tonight. The others and I were...planning something."

Shiro turned to him curiously, but Lance didn't say more. "Planning something, huh? Well, who knows. Maybe some miracle will happen by tonight and I'll be instantly cured."

Lance responded with a nod, but he didn't get to say more as the door whooshed open once again. Allura walked gracefully in, holding what looked liked a book to her chest, and paused when she saw Lance.

"Oh," the princess said. "Hello, Lance. I didn't know you'd be here."

Lance shrugged. "No worries, princess, Shiro and I were just starting to play a game."

"I see. Well, this will only take a moment." She turned to Shiro with a smile. "How are you, Shiro? Feeling any better?"

"A little," Shiro replied with a smile of his own. "Thanks for asking, Princess."

"Of course," Allura replied. She tucked a strand of her silver hair behind her ear, then stood up straight again. "I actually thought I'd bring you something, you know, so you don't get too bored."

She handed Shiro the book she was holding. It was a thick and old-looking Altean storybook with a purple cover and a dazzling illustration underneath the illegible title. It looked like some kind of fantasy adventure novel from what Shiro could tell.

"My mother gave it to me," Allura explained happily as he looked it over. "I used to read it all the time when I was sick. It made the ordeal so much more bearable."

Shiro nodded slowly flipping through the pages and looking over the Altean writing, all of it looking like gibberish to him. "Wow, thanks, Allura. That's really nice of you. It certainly, uh, looks like a nice story."

Allura seemed confused for a second, then her smile vanished. "Oh! Oh, that's right! You can't read Altean!" She took a step backward and put a hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "I am so sorry, I completely forgot-"

"Hey, don't worry, I could just...look at the pictures."

"I feel so stupid," Allura continued berating herself for her mistake. "Perhaps I could get you the audio version? Though, the only versions I have are the monotone narrator and Coran, both of whom ruin the story in their own way."

Shiro laughed. "It's okay, Princess. I appreciate the gesture, really. I'll just flip through it for now and get back to you on the audio book."

Allura smiled again. "Alright. You're welcome."

They didn't say anything for a second, so Lance spoke up again. "Hey, so. I'm still here, just so you know."

Allura seemed to jump a little, but then she shuffled closer to the door, as gracefully as she could make shuffling look. "Yes, of course. You can get back to your, uh, game?"

Lance stood up and stretched himself out. "Well, if it's okay with Shiro, I was actually thinking I'd head back out. We got, uh, things to plan, remember?" He gave Allura a look that he probably thought was subtle.

Allura nodded quickly. "Yes, I remember. We'll come back and check on you then, Shiro?"

Shiro continued flipping through the book, but turned to them with a nod. "Sure, you guys go ahead. Help me lay back down before you go?"

Once he was comfortable, Lance and Allura took their leave, and Shiro thought he heard the princess express her embarrassment once more. "I looked so stupid..."

Shiro chuckled to himself as he ran a finger along the spine of the book. It really was sweet of Allura to give him this. All of his friends were being sweet to him, really. He'd been focused on his own boredom and frustration with the situation, he almost hadn't noticed. But they'd been spending their day with him, giving him company and making sure he had whatever he needed.

He'd be stupid not to appreciate friends like these.

Shiro awoke with a slight start, regaining consciousness before he even opened his eyes. He wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep or how long he'd been out, but he supposed it was a good thing. He was even starting to get some feeling back in his legs, though they still just felt like heavy sacks of flour.

Shiro sighed, eyes still closed. Maybe he could just try slipping back to sleep. Before he could try, however, he suddenly realized that there were whispers around him, and that he wasn't alone like he thought.

Shiro finally opened his eyes, and it took him a second to figure out what he was seeing. The room was dark, with only a single, tiny orange glow casting a soft, warm light. As his eyes adjusted, Shiro noticed that all,of his friends were crowding around his bed. Hunk was in the middle, holding something in his hands.

A cupcake, Shiro realized, with a candle in it.

"Oh hey, look!" Pidge whispered. "Looks like he woke up after all."

Shiro was confused, and spoke to them at least. "I...what are you guys all doing in here? What's with the cake?"

"Surprise!" They all suddenly shouted. Lance blew on a party horn in his mouth, and Coran tossed a handful of confetti in the air. They all grinned eagerly, crowding around him even more as they waited for his reaction.

"Wha-huh?" Shiro stammered.

"Happy Birthday, dude!" Hunk exclaimed. "We brought the cake and presents here for you!"

"Yeah, we were setting up outside," Lance added, "but since you're stuck in here, we decided to bring the party to you, instead."

"I wanted to make a bigger cake, but the space ingredients weren't quite right. Cupcakes and cookies and stuff work though, right?"

"And don't forget the presents!" Pidge chirped, holding up her own wrapped box above her head.

Shiro sat up slowly with Keith's help, taking in everything that was going on. "Are you guys serious?" He asked with a laugh. "I didn't even remember it was my birthday."

"Of course you didn't," Keith leaned against her wall and gave him a cheeky grin.

"Pretty easy to forget these things when we're always so busy with Zarkon," Coran mused. "But not to worry, I'm always prepared for a celebration. I've got my Fomalan cards with me at all times, who's up for a game?"

Allura plopped herself down at the foot of Shiro's bed, just to get away from the rest of the crowded room, and smiled. "Coran, that game lasts for hours. We should probably eat first," she turned to Shiro. "I hope you don't mind that I gave you my gift early."

Shiro was still smiling, touched at what his friends had put together for him. It was just his dumb luck that he was stuck in his room on his birthday of all days, but they wouldn't let that ruin it for him. Really, what did he do to deserve them?

"No, I don't mind," he replied softly. "Thanks, guys, this...I-I don't know what to say."

"Don't say anything then," Pidge replied simply. "Just let us sing for you."

Shiro laughed. Coran blew a note on a weird Altean instrument to help them sing, but it didn't matter, since they were all horribly out of tune anyway. Not that it mattered, it was music to Shiro's ears either way.

Happy Birthday, Shiro.