"I'll come back for you Shay, I promise!"

Hunk sighed, pacing the halls of the castle. There was no way to sugarcoat it; he was stressed. He promised Shay he would come back for her, but what if they couldn't beat the Galra? What if they had Shay locked up for helping him and Coran? What if they killed her or tortured her for information? Oh god... for information she doesn't have. Hunk felt sick to his stomach. He leaned against the wall. No, he couldn't let himself think like that. He needed something, anything to distract himself. Could he sugarcoat something? No, Hunk stop it! They were getting close to the Balmera. He didn't have enough time to bake anything worthwhile. That's what he usually did to calm down, but he only had maybe half a varga before they arrived. He looked around, wringing his hands. Maybe he could tinker with something?

Heavy footsteps echoed off of the walls as Hunk made his way to the lab. He stood in the doorway, glancing up to see Pidge standing at a desk, facing away from him. She was typing something on her computer. He groaned and ducked back behind the wall before she turned around, snatching some tools from a nearby table as he left. As much as he loved Pidge, she wasn't exactly someone who could effectively comfort him and that's what he needed right now. He looked back over his shoulder as he made his way towards his room. He'd just lie in bed or something. Maybe he could dig into the electrical panel on his wall. Did his room even have one? He collided with something solid.

"Oof!" They were taller than him. That meant- "Shiro!" He jumped back. Hunk bent his fingers back slightly with his other palm, "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"I was looking for you, Hunk."

"Me?" Hunk raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah. I just wanted to say..." Shiro folded his arms over his chest, "well, you were right about Rolo and Nyma. Obviously, you're a great judge of character and I should've listened to you. We should've been more careful."

"Honestly, Shiro, Yeah. We lost a lot of time. Time we could've spent getting to the Balmera faster. For all we know the extra time could cost us Shay's life. The entire mission even."

"I know. But," he placed a hand on Hunk's shoulder. His metallic arm clanging softly against his armour, "we can't just leave people stranded when they need our help." Hunk looked down at his feet, twiddling his thumbs, "They didn't need our help. They crossed us and tried to steal the blue lion. Considering our track record the next time we let our guard down we'll have more casualties than just Lance's pride... and internal organs"

"Hunk, please. You have to trust that the team will learn from our mistakes. You have to have faith in us. You've known most of the team longer than I have, you know that you're dealing with capable people." Hunk tried to respond, but his throat burned and constricted. He chocked out a breath. No, please not in front of Shiro. He pulled away, pressing his back to the wall. Tears streamed down his face as he sank to the floor. Shiro looked taken aback. He paused for a moment before kneeling next to Hunk. He had his knees pulled up to his chest and his shoulder were shaking in silent sobs. He couldn't keep his hands still. He needed to do something or he'd have a total meltdown. Even more than he already was. Shiro rubbed circles on his back. It was a bit comforting, but his hands itched. He took a shaky, deep breath, "Shiro, c-can I- can I see your arm. Please?"

"Um. Alright." He shifted uncomfortably as Hunk grabbed his Galra arm, pulling one of the tools he collected earlier out of his belt. He opened the control panel, ignoring the small interface system and reaching behind it to fiddle with the wires. The software aspect was Pidge's thing. Interesting. He worked his way around the prosthetic's mechanics, managing to elicit several reactions from the arm; finger movements, the purple glow, temperature changes in the metal, even the awakening of a small magnetic field. It was all fascinating, but more importantly it gave his hands something to do. Maybe he could rewire things to be a little more convenient. He wouldn't dare change anything major without Shiro's permission, of course. He moved aside one of the wires to look at the back of the interface system. He must've pulled the wire too much because Shiro jumped with a gasp and his arm snapped up involuntary, hitting Hunk in the face. He pinched his nose to stem the flow of blood. Shiro pulled his arm away, "Hunk! I'm so sorry."

"Nope. That was my fault."

"You're bleeding!"

"Yeah, no kidding." He reached over, knocking the panel closed with one hand, "let me secure it closed again."

"No, I've gotta you a tissue or something."

"Shiro, stop. You can't go running around with your arm open. It's dangerous." Shiro sighed. Holding out his arm for Hunk. He grabbed one of the tools and carefully retightened the bolts around the panel. He'd since given up on trying to stop his blood from dripping onto the dull and scratched metal with which he was working. For precision's sake. He pulled back, "there!" He glared down at the arm, "do you ever clean that thing? The joints have gotta be full of crap. It's probably restricting your movement."

"I have showers."

"This is a piece of advanced technology, Shiro! It needs different care than your real arm did." Shiro looked down at his arm for a long moment, flexing the fingers slightly. That probably wasn't the best way to put it. He abruptly stood, offering Hunk his left hand to help him up, "Let's get you a tissue. You're bleeding all over the place." Oh man. Shiro did everything with his Galra arm, he assumed that Shiro was right handed before... everything. He definitely did that on purpose, "okay, but let me clean your arm before we get to the Balmera." He lowered his voice, "You have a team that needs you, I get it. But you can't do anything for them if you're constantly neglecting yourself to the point that it's causing you serious issues." Shiro kept his gaze straight ahead as they walked back to the lab, "You have needs, Shiro. Take care of yourself." Hunk sighed as Shiro quickened his step a bit, "Pidge." She turned to face them, "Woah, what happened to Hunk?"

"Don't worry about it Pidge. I just need a tissue."

"Sure thing" she tossed a box of tissues across the room. Shiro caught it with his left hand, but fumbled it and had to use his right to keep it from dropping. Hunk gave her a smile, "thanks, Pidge!" Shiro handed him the box and took a seat by the nearest table. Hunk rushed to the bathroom to take care of his nosebleed.

Shiro was having a difficult time with losing his dominant hand now that he was doing smaller tasks and using his fine motor skills more. In the gladiator arena he would've only needed it as a weapon, which the thing is great for. But as a tool it's not exactly the most precise or easy to control. He'd seen Shiro get frustrated after breaking things or accidentally burning himself or even struggling to handle magnetic kitchen appliances. Once he accidentally lit Keith's jacket on fire trying to do a load of laundry. He tried to sew on another bit of fabric to fix it before Keith noticed, but that was a disaster. He ended up having to ask Lance for help. He had laughed it off at the time, but Hunk could tell that it really tore him up. After a few minutes the bleeding stopped. He splashed some water on his face and headed back to find Shiro.

He was sitting in the same place Hunk had left him in, staring at Pidge typing across the room. Hunk grabbed the various rags he used for wiping down tech as well as a bottle of cleaning solution. That will do. He paused for a moment before grabbing some more products and scraps of fabrics. If he's working on Shiro he might as well go all the way, right? He plopped himself down across from Shiro, moving some tools out of the way before dumping his load on the table. Shiro eyed the pile, pursing his lips, "is all this really necessary?"

"Do you want your arm to work?" Shiro rubbed the back of his neck and lay his arm on the table. Hunk looked over the metal appendage. Shiro jumped when Hunk called out, "Hey, Pidge! Could you toss me the green brush?"

"You know it!" Pidge whipped the brush at him. Hunk barely caught it, "be careful with that!" He huffed as he plopped back down. Shiro looked thoroughly confused, "is that... a toothbrush?"

"The Altean equivalent, yes. Coran gave it to me. He said he used it to clean watches and such" Hunk pushed Shiro's sleeve up to his shoulder and wiped down his entire arm with warm water. He got to work scrubbing away the layer of grime on the surface of the metal with the cleaning solution. Getting in all the crevasses was a bit of a challenge, but he wasn't doing anything in halves for Shiro. He finished up the cleaning process with more water. Shiro went to stand up, thanking him, but Hunk pinned his arm to the table, "I'm not done."

"Hunk, don't polish it. I'm going to go fight in like five minutes."

"Correction; you're going to go fight with a gorgeous piece of machinery attached to your shoulder in like five minutes." Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose but didn't protest any further. Pidge came up behind Shiro, looking over his shoulder. He jumped when she spoke, "I gotta say, Hunk, that's a fine looking piece of tech." Hunk gave the two a warm smile, "there you go, Shiro!" He held his arm up to the light, twisting it to see all the angles. The light metal shone like brand new, reflecting their surroundings. A cautious smile graced Shiro's features, "thank you, Hunk. This actually looks really nice." He bent and straightened his arm, "moves a lot better too."

"See, didn't I tell you?"

Shiro chuckled, "Yeah, I guess you did."

Allura's voice rang over the comm, "get ready, Paladins. We're arriving at the Balmera." Everything; the worry, the fear, the sick feeling rushed back. It was time. Hunk's heart sped up as they made their way to the bridge. At least he had managed to distract himself and give Shiro a hand, no pun intended, in the process.