Disclaimer – I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender. The story also contains a mention of Tolkien's Hobbits and their birthday system, but it is not a crossover. Today's fic is written for Hunk's birthday, January 13. Hobbit birthday's just seemed so… Hunk. This is written for the B-Day Blast challenge, but also my 2017 prompts for prompt number 32. The prompt was friendship.

Hunk's Hobbit B-Day

Hunk's eyes blinked open as an alarm went off near his head, his entire body darting up. His big clunky hands reached out to grab the alarm, wondering why he set an alarm at all, let alone one to go off so early. As the yellow paladin turned off the alarm, a lightbulb went off in his head, his eyes widening as a smile spread across his face. The yellow paladin stood up, getting dressed and adjusting his clothing so he looked rather smart, the words to the birthday song coming out of his mouth, the words "time to spread some good cheer" replacing "happy birthday dear Hunk".

The first place he stopped on his birthday mission was Shiro's room, letting the door swish open in time to catch the black paladin doing sit ups. The expression on the older teen's face was hysterical, as Shiro simply stared at Hunk, the rhythm of morning exercises interrupted. Then, the corner of the black paladin's mouth twitched. "Hunk is something wrong."

"Nope! Nothing's wrong!"

"Except you're up really early."

"I'm up early to interrupt your exercise routine!"

The corner of Shiro's mouth twitched again, this time twice. The black paladin cleared his throat. "Hunk. Are you feeling all right?"

"Of course I am. Today, Shiro, you are going to relax, and leave everything to me." The rather horrified look on the black paladin's face did not go unnoticed. "Don't worry Shiro. Everybody needs a break, so today, you're going to be taking a break." Hunk watched as Shiro stared at him, a dumbfounded look on his face. "That means Shiro, unless the Galra attacks, you're not to be in uniform, and your not to participate in training."

"You can't run training Hunk."

"Yeah, but Coran or Allura can, and they already do."

"I don't think Allura will appreciate the idea of me, of all people, skipping out on training."

"She'll understand when I tell her." Hunk paused, twiddling her thumbs. "Though she can be a bit scary." The yellow paladin pointed a finger at Shiro. "If I catch you on the training deck, or in your uniform I will pull your cheeks. Or maybe your ear." The yellow paladin walked away from the door, letting it slide closed, and waited. His eyes narrowed after a few minutes, realizing Shiro wasn't coming out and headed to the door. This time Shiro held a hand to his heart, almost as if he were having a panic attack. "Shiro!"

"What!"

"You're supposed to be changing out of your uniform, you know! So I can take you to the lounge area, where you are going to spend your day relaxing. Got it?"

Shiro gave Hunk an exasperated look. "Hunk…"

The yellow paladin crossed his hand. "Nope! No buts! It's gonna happen!" The door closed again, and after a few minutes, Shiro came out of the room rather sheepishly. Hunk proceeded to push him towards the lounge area, before sitting him on the couch. "So. Your job is to stay here, and rest."

"By that, you mean nothing?" Shiro let out a sound of exasperation.

Hunk's eyes blinked. "Well, yeah. That's what relaxing means. Well, you can eat, sleep and poop, but that's it. Doctor's orders."

"You're not a doctor Hunk."

"Yeah, but I've never once seen you relax. What's wrong with taking a nap." Hunk patted the black paladin on the shoulder, before scooting to the door. He pointed at Shiro. "I'd better not catch you doing any leadership stuff! Take a nap today!"

He was then gone before he could he heard Shiro mutter. "Wonderful. Naps. My worst nightmare right now."

~V~

The next person to do something for was Pidge. Waking up early should have been a good thing, as it meant that Hunk could clean up her area a bit. The yellow paladin knew this meant not reorganizing things, but he could at least dust things and put them back. However, he found the youngest of the paladins there, her computer next to her, fast asleep. Letting out a sigh, Hunk closed the computer screen, before scooping up Pidge to carry her to her room.

Upon getting to the room, Hunk found that the mess Pidge made extended to her room. With his foot, he nudged a path so he could safely get her to her bed, before pulling the covers up. Shaking his head, Hunk folded his arms, speaking in a whisper. "Seriously Pidge. One of these days you're going to get hurt."

The yellow paladin proceeded to clear a path despite the fact he knew this might set Pidge off. The last thing he wanted was for his "new" little sister to trip over something. A grin spread across his face, the plans turning about in his head as he headed to the bridge to set up the special present for Lance that he knew his best friend would get a kick out of. He fiddled with the controls, setting the music to go off at a time, a rather big grin spreading on his face as he headed to the kitchen area to make more plans. Presents were a wonderful thing, particularly when they were for someone else.

~V~

The music coming over the loudspeakers woke Lance up, but not completely. His headphones snapped off, and his hands started to absentmindedly beat on his lap in rhythm, his shoulders soon moving along to the Cuban music. His fingers snapped, and soon he was going into his morning routine getting dressed, his hips moving along with the music as he stood up, and soon he was awake, and moving through the door to his room moving to the dance as he did so. As he moved along the halls dancing, he passed by Keith, who looked rather confused and bewildered.

Lance's fingers snapped out, smirking at the red paladin. "I've got the rhythm, and you don't Keith." He continued down the hall, not paying any mind to anything else going on until he found Allura with a rather bewildered look on her face as well. "Hey, baby. Want to dance?"

"Um, no." The Altean princess gave him her usual dirty look, and yet Lance remained oblivious as his body continued to move to the music. "What are you doing?"

"Dancing." Lance continued to move along the hall until he crashed into an immovable object, his entire body going rigid.

"Lance…"

The blue paladin looked up to see Shiro glaring at him his arms crossed. "Um. Good morning Shiro."

"What did you do?"

Lance's eyes blinked a couple of times. "Um. Whatever it is, I didn't do it."

"Lance!"

"Hunk did it!" Pidge's voice rang out, the irritation quite evident. "Hunk touched my stuff!"

Shiro let out a groan. "Great. Today seems like it's Hunk's Super Good Deed Day gone totally wrong."

~V~

"So, I'll try the paladin lunch." Hunk watched as Coran's eyes widened, not to mention twinkled with joy.

"Hold on a sec. It will take me a bit to prepare." Coran piped up, diving into one of the storage areas before bringing out the grotesque meal which looked like something just died.

The yellow paladin pulled in his lip, worrying it, sniffing the air for the cake he'd just finished baking, cooling and decorating for Allura, as he thought that would be more in line with something she would like. Rather hesitantly Hunk reached out a fork, taking the noxious substance on the eating utensil before putting it into his mouth. The gag reflex attempted to kick in, but he swallowed and took another bite. Coran seemed quite pleased.

It was then that Allura came into the room, and Hunk set down his fork despite the fact his stomach was now felt really bad. "Hey, Allura! I made a cake for you!"

The yellow paladin picked up the cake and started moving it towards the female, only for his body to have a literal gut reaction causing the cake to go flying right into Allura's face. He then tilted over, vomiting onto the floor. "I am so…" Hunk looked up at that point, his mouth stuck on open as Shiro stepped in the room, with a very stern look on his face. The yellow paladin pointed a finger at him while Coran's jaw dropped at the mess. "Shiro. You're supposed to be resting."

"That's a little hard to do when you're making more work for me Hunk. Not only was loud Salsa music blasting across the intercom, but you touched Pidge's stuff."

Hunk's mouth formed into a pout. "Lance loves his Salsa music."

"That was rather obvious."

"And Pidge would have killed herself with all that stuff in her room."

"Hunk…"

"I got it. I'll clean up this mess."

"No. Don't…"

"Bother? I shouldn't bother?" Hunk's lip trembled before he walked out of the room with a rather dejected look on his face."

~V~

Keith's morning didn't start off well. Loud Salsa music blared through the sound system for some strange reason, making him think Lance had something to do with the loud annoyance which woke him up sooner than he would have liked. He wasn't surprised to see the blue paladin dancing in the hallways, though seeing Lance up that early was an anomaly. His own hands reached up as he tried figuring out the moves out of pure curiosity, only for Lance to make a smart aleck response regarding his moves.

Shaking his head, he went to find Shiro, who was likely looking for Lance. A frown was on the black paladin's face, but Keith's eyes widened. "Early morning training?"

"Sorry Keith. I've got to figure out what Lance is up to. Hunk's also told me I'm supposed to be resting today, possibly taking a nap, but then this happens."

"Nap?" The red paladin's head tilted as Shiro disappeared. His eyes narrowed, remembering how the older teen wasn't sleeping correctly. In fact, the black paladin's reactions to certain things had been a bit odd. Letting out a sigh, he headed to the training room, only to find training by himself when he'd wanted to train with Shiro – particularly after running into the older teen – just didn't work. He wandered again, this time ending up in the kitchen.

Where he saw what looked like birthday cake all over Allura. Keith couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sight, pointing his finger. The next thing he knew, his face was being slapped, hard. "Um…"

"Really bad timing buddy." Shiro piped up, making the red paladin realize the older teen was actually in the room. Allura, of course, left the room. "Hunk put Salsa music on today, touched Pidge's stuff, and just barfed all over the floor, so I've got to clean it up."

"Not to mention the fact he's the reason the princess is a mess like she is."

"Oh…" Keith felt himself shrink away. "I guess… I'll go find something to do." Finding something was finding Hunk. He found the yellow paladin moping in the lounge and walked over, his head tilting to the side. The other paladin finally noticed him when he cleared his throat, and the bigger paladin looked up at him with eyes which reminded him of a puppy. Such eyes were always hard to resist. "So…"

"Keith." Hunk stood up then, his mood suddenly improving. "I'm going to hug you."

"What…" Suddenly, Hunk was hugging him, and Keith felt his entire body tense up. The next thing he knew, the yellow paladin was sitting on the couch. "Um…"

"I couldn't think of what to get you. You always look like you need a hug, though."

Keith's eyes blinked a couple of times. "Why are you getting me something?"

"It's my Hobbit gift to you."

"You're what?"

"It's my birthday. I do Hobbit gifts." This caused a moment of silence. Hunk's hands suddenly started to gesture. "So, there's like, this book series. Lord of the Rings. They've got these human-like creatures that are about half our size, which is why they're also called halflings. They go around barefoot, and have fuzzy hair on their feet."

"Okay…"

"Well, when they have birthdays, instead of getting gifts, they give them away. So, I started doing Hobbit gifts. It's gone very badly. I mean, I made Shiro mad at me, instead of getting him to relax for a bit."

Keith pushed his lips together, sitting down next to Hunk. He reached up and tugged on Hunk's sleeve without looking him in the eye. "I know you're not supposed to give presents back, but…"

The next thing he knew, he was hugging the big guy in return, before jerking away, his eyes to the ground. Hunk began to blubber. "Oh my gosh! That was the best birthday present ever! It really made this day go from bad, too… well, it turned it around big time."

The red paladin looked up, watching how ecstatic Hunk looked, but choose to say nothing.

"I mean, you're the last person anyone would expect to be giving a hug, who'd ever give a hug. So, it really means a lot that you did."

Keith remained silent for a bit longer but then took a deep breath. "Can I tell you something if you promise not to tell the others?"

He could feel the heat rush to his cheeks, knowing that what he was going to say wasn't something he talked to anyone about. The thought delighted Hunk. "You mean, you're going to tell me a secret nobody else knows about? That's so…"

"Not me. I know. And sort of. Shiro knows already."

"Oh. Well, yeah, I can keep a secret."

The red paladin took a deep breath. "I'm autistic.

Hunk became silent, and for a moment Keith thought he should leave the room. "Oh. That actually explains a lot."

"What do you mean?" The red paladin looked up so he could look up at the yellow paladin.

"I mean, you didn't get Lance's cheer. You're uncomfortable with people touching you. Struggle with expressing your emotions."

"Yeah, there is that." Keith worried his lip, wondering where this conversation would go.

"So, what is it like for you?" The question startled the red paladin. "You don't have to answer. I'm just wondering what it is like for you."

A sigh of relief left Keith's mouth. "Well, that's a first. Most people just, I don't know, find out and spaz."

"Did Shiro spaz?"

"He's my older brother. Of course, he spazzed." The red paladin suddenly froze, his eyes drifting over to look at Hunk.

"I actually already knew."

~V~

The fact Keith was opening up to him was amazing, and honestly the best birthday present ever. Keith's facial features though showed how uncomfortable he was talking about the subject, but the look on his face when he blurted out the fact Shiro was his older brother screamed that the smaller paladin felt shame for keeping such a thing secret. Hunk felt bad for him. "I actually already knew."

It wasn't a lie, and yet Keith approached cautiously. "How?"

"My big brother told me. He said to treat you and Shiro like ohana." He watched the red paladin remained tense. "In Hawaii ohana means family. And no, Lance doesn't know. See. Good at keeping secrets." Hunk took a deep breath. "Shiro really did spaz out when he found out."

Keith shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, well, he was already spazzing about how others treated me. It only made him even madder, as it's who I am. I don't, though, like being this way. Different."

"Yeah, but you're like, the top pilot in our class."

"Who got kicked out for disciplinary issues." The red paladin shook his head. "Shiro and I've still not talked about that. We've not talked about anything really."

"What did happen?"

"When Shiro…" Keith took a deep breath. "When I thought he died, I went back to being a hikikomori."

"What's that?"

"It's kind of a Japanese term for shut in. I skipped class. I didn't even leave the house, except to go and ride that bike we worked on. The few times I did manage to get to class, I just found it too much." Keith swallowed, then revealed something Hunk hadn't expected. "I actually like hugs, but I don't. I don't know how to explain it. I also don't like trying new foods, but yours looks nice, and tastes good, even though sometimes it has a weird texture. I wasn't comfortable with the Salsa music this morning. It was loud."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to do something like that."

"That's also why Shiro got mad at you for doing that. Also…" Keith took a deep breath. "I appreciated your hug, and I appreciate the fact you're looking out for Shiro."

"He's kind of over doing the military routine, isn't he?"

"That would also be my fault. If he's on a strict routine, then I am as well, even if were world's away."

Hunk poked Keith lightly, making the smaller paladin look him in the eye. "Best birthday present ever, you opening up to me."

"You're welcome. I like you're… um…"

"Hobbit gifts?"

"Yeah. That idea." Keith stood up. "I'm over stimulated, so I'm going to go and take a walk."

~V~

Routine was important, and not simply because he was a military man. Routine was one of the things which kept things as normal as possible for him and Keith before he was sent away on the Kerberos mission, but also meant that his younger brother had structure while he was gone. Different last names, but same parents, nothing would change the fact they were siblings or the fact he'd fight tooth and nail for that younger brother of his. It always hurt watching Keith struggle to make friends, but also deal with his feelings. It hurt to see the young teen lock away his feelings due to the fact he couldn't control them otherwise. Keith was like Spock, and yet Keith didn't know who Spock was.

The Galra messed all of that up, but somehow they'd both managed to get back into a routine.

However, Hunk had messed up that routine.

It started with Hunk interrupting his morning exercise with the insistence that Shiro nap despite the fact the older paladin was cautious regarding sleep due to the nightmares that came with. Sometimes he'd check on Keith at night, but not too much lest the red paladin suspects something. Then, he'd normally have a private training session with Keith, so that while they might not talk, they did something together, and the smallest of the male paladins remained focused during the day.

The Salsa music blared to life, and he found himself hunting down the wrong paladin for causing such a disturbance. If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed Keith was actually coping with the loud music, but have realized that training would have prevented the teen from becoming over stimulated. However, Pidge started spazzing on him, and then came the incident in the kitchen. Keith also got slapped by Allura, and Shiro wasn't sure how to deal with that, yet Keith seemed to handle it well.

Except Keith took off like he usually did when he got over stimulated, so Shiro followed after.

This meant Shiro saw the whole exchange between Keith and Hunk. He stepped in, watching carefully, knowing full well the fact Keith didn't notice him in the room meant he was focusing inward rather than letting everything in the location overstimulate him. When he was gone, Shiro spoke up. "So..."

"I am so sorry Shiro!" Hunk blurted out.

"No, I'm the one who should be apologizing. To be honest, I probably owe Keith an apology."

Shiro watched the yellow paladin narrow his eyes. "I don't understand, what for."

"For underestimating him. I mean, I've not seen him for over a year. I guess me being gone like I was doing him some good."~

"Don't say things like that." Hunk began to pout.

"Hunk, a year ago Keith wouldn't have been able to do what he did. And yeah, I saw everything." Shiro pushed himself away from the wall. "Thank you for letting him open up to you like that, and happy birthday buddy."

He then left the room, leaving Hunk a bit confused.

~V~

Hunk's day suddenly went very well, although the conversations between him and the two brothers were strange. Mostly strange on Shiro's part. Lance came up to him after lunch time. "I am so sorry!"

"What for?"

"I forgot it was your birthday. I've never forgotten it is your birthday. Not since we've become friends."

"That's okay. I got to actually bond with both Shiro and Keith today, so it's all okay."

"That's…" Lance's eyes widened as Hunk started to walk away. "Wait! You did what! No fair! I mean, on the bonding with Shiro part. And bonding with Keith? How!"

"That's my secret." Hunk couldn't help but smile.