Disclaimer: I do not own Voltron. If I did, there would be a lot more Hunk and Lance content.

The Real MacGyver

After a high-speed chase away from the Garrison, their hover bike plunging off a cliff, and them traveling across the desert, waiting in Keith's shack for Shiro to wake up was awfully boring. Once Hunk's heart had finally slowed and Lance talked him out of his panic regarding how they had gone against the Garrison, there really wasn't much to do.

And well, Hunk was only slightly better at being idle than Lance was. And he tended to be a bit nosy. So really, it was somewhat predictable that after poking around Keith's things and checking out the conspiracy board, Hunk would turn to the next interesting thing in the shack. Since Lance was still trying to make something to snack on from what Keith had in his kitchen and Pidge was fiddling with the electronics, Hunk had turned to Pidge's bag to find a much quicker candy bar to eat.

What he had found instead under Pidge's laptop, other equipment, and notes was a diary.

And well, Hunk couldn't exactly say that he knew how to keep his nose out of things that weren't his business.

He was curious! Pidge had always been so standoffish that he barely knew anything about the communications student. He couldn't help himself.

So, Hunk had ended up learning a lot more about Pidge's personal life than he really had a right to know at that point. Which, wow, there were some big bombs there.

What really interested Hunk was, as he pointed out once Shiro had awakened, the data that Pidge had collected. If Voltron was as important as Pidge's research made it sound, then they had to find it first.

Still, how had a night on the town with Lance and Pidge ended up like this?

"Can you really build a detector from this?" Pidge asked while glancing over the pilfered wires and electronic bits.

"If Hunk says he can build it, then he can." Lance helpfully supplied from where he was helping Keith pry open the device with the last part he needed.

Hunk ignored them as he pieced the different parts together. He could see in his mind's eye how each could connect together to make exactly what he needed. This was one of the reasons why he loved engineering in the first place. Being able to take things apart and putting it back together or making something new.

And he may not have created a Fraunhofer line detector before, but he knew the principles behind creating one, and that was really all that he needed.

Hunk was in the zone and before long the device was done.

And when he looked up, Hunk found an… interesting conversation going on.

"How did you set the stove on fire?!" Lance was shouting as he frantically scooped up the fire extinguisher and blasted it at the burning stove.

"I thought you were boiling water for ramen!" Pidge had hunkered down next to Hunk and was watching it all play out with wide eyes. "How do you even – "

"I leave for ten minutes to put my hover bike away, and you guys let Shiro near the stove?! He can't cook!" Keith yelled. Shiro wasn't looking at any of them.

"Well, thanks for letting us know!" Lance waved the smoke away. Luckily, it appeared the fire had gone out.

"Uh…" Hunk glanced from one person to the next and they all looked at him back at him. "I finished it." He held up the reader for it and the attached scanner.

"Ah, good." Shiro cleared his throat. "As soon as we eat, we can make some final preparations and then head out to find this Voltron."

Pidge, Lance, and Keith all threw Shiro a deadpan look before looking back at the stove. Lance then shot a desperate glance at Hunk.

"Uh, how about we see what I can do with the stove first?" Hunk offered.

At Pidge and Lance's grateful expressions, he knew he made the right decision.

And besides, if he could make a Fraunhofer detector out of scraps, then getting Keith's poor, foam-covered stove to make something decent couldn't be too hard.

The possibilities of technology were endless in space. Just the Altean technology alone was a candyland for Hunk and Pidge. Though even with the possibilities that they presented, it still didn't mean that it would do everything that they wanted it to do.

Or worked like it was supposed to do.

"So, this will allow us to message you?" Shay leaned over him to watch him work on the communicator.

"Well, it will though not at the moment." Hunk explained, fiddling with the inner workings of the communicator and picking up some parts from another one he'd taken apart. "10,000 years hasn't been the kindest to it, but once I fix it up, you'll be able to contact us."

"I see." She settled next to him. She didn't say much more, but continued to watch, just like when he had been fixing the pod.

Hunk found her presence comforting, a warm glow spreading in his chest.

It's just – Shay was so amazing. Her people had been treated so badly by the Galra, she had been treated so badly, but she had still been willing to help them even though she didn't know them. Even though she had paid the price for helping them.

And now that her people were free and allow to do what they wished, she just wanted to watch as he worked.

"Do you enjoy doing things like this?" Shay asked, tilting her head in wonder.

"Yeah." Hunk glanced up at her and gave her a quick smile before looking back down. "One of my moms is a mechanic, so I was pretty much raised learning how to take things apart and put them back together. I was the only kid really interested in it." His smile softened as he thought about his family. "They supported me going to the Garrison because it's one of the best places for engineering and I thought working with the space travel tech would be cool."

"And was it?"

"Well, yeah, but the stuff out here is even cooler!" Hunk quickly said, not wanting her to think that he didn't want to be out here. Her sweet laugh reassured him. "So, is there anything you like to do? I mean, when you didn't have to do what the Galra wanted you to?" He couldn't help but be curious, but the twist in his gut reminded him that she hadn't really had much freedom until now.

Shay hummed thoughtfully, obviously not taking offense. "I never really had time to think about doing something else. I did want to look at the sky." She looked up at the sky above them, happiness shining through now that she had achieved her dream. "I suppose there is time to figure out what I want now. Thanks to you."

"It was really because of you that we could do this at all." Hunk told her, and the way she looked back down at him took his breath away.

"Then we saved each other." Her eyes crinkled up from her smile.

Feeling flustered, Hunk returned his gaze to the communicator, something he actually understood. All it took was a few more wire replacements, and then he snapped the communicator closed. Eager to test it, he switched it on, and he grinned at the glowing light.

"See! It works!" Hunk grinned at Shay as he handed it over to her. "Now you can call us if something were to go wrong like…" He trailed off for a moment as his brain supplied all ways that things could go wrong, so he quickly switched tracks, "Or if you just wanted to talk, you can do that, too."

Shay reached out to take the communicator and her hand lingered on his for a moment. Her smile never left. "Thank you, Hunk."

Somehow, Hunk knew it was for more than the communicator.

Missions that required boarding Galra ships never seemed to go their way.

Hunk was reminded of that as Keith swore ferociously. Hunk turned to see that Keith's leg was pinned under a fallen control panel, leaving him trapped on the floor. He didn't even hesitate before running over and lifting it off of him.

They were trying to keep ahead of the Galra by using Pidge's algorithm to get the jump on them. But really, between these attempts at taking the fight to the Galra and the never-ending pursuit of Zarkon, they were tired.

Hunk was surprised that they hadn't started making mistakes like this earlier.

So one break-in onto a warship to gather information had turned to Hunk, Keith, and Lance covering Pidge while Shiro lead the Galra outside on a merry chase using the Black Lion as bait. With Lance up in the rafters to pick off the sentries one by one while Keith and Hunk handled the floor level, things had been chaotic but okay. Until a stray blast had collapsed that panel onto Keith's leg.

Keith hissed as the panel was pried off him, hand immediately reaching down to check his leg. "I think I just bruised it." He assessed from his careful prodding.

"Can you walk?" Pidge hadn't even looked up from all the commotion, all of her focus on the script appearing on the screen before her. A glance told Hunk that she only had about 75% of the information downloaded.

Keith gingerly tried to rise to his feet, using his sword as a support.

And if Hunk wasn't there to catch him, he would've fallen flat on his face. "Yeah, that's not happening." He said as he steadied Keith.

Keith growled. "We're kind of in firefight. I can't sit out."

Keith's words reminded Hunk that, yeah, they had been getting shot at moments ago. But though he could still hear shots flying, none of them seemed to be near them.

Hunk peeked over his shoulder and his eyes widened. Galra sentry bots littered the floor by the door, a charred hole in the face of each one. Blue blasts were still coming from up above, taking care of any sentries that came near the entrance.

A grin came over Hunk's face even as Lance's voice crackled over the comms. "I got you guys." He heard Lance shift a bit. "Keith, do you need to be carried?"

"No!" Keith shouted indignantly, but that didn't negate the fact that he was leaning on Hunk for support. His face twisted at Hunk's raised eyebrow. "Look, if we could just… find some way to brace my leg, I should be fine. It's just badly bruised."

Now there was a thought. Hunk looked around at the contents of the room even as Pidge squawked, "Where are we going to find a brace here?"

"Hold on for a sec." Hunk said, ignoring Keith's yelp as he put him down on the ground. He hurried over to the broken control panel his mind already whirring.

A few pieces of long, thin metal were easily pried off the remains, and some wires easily torn out. If he could just bend the metal a bit… Hunk glanced at his bayard. That would do.

He adjusted his grip on his canon, and he brought it down as a makeshift hammer. The metal bent, forming a supportive curve. He then did the same for the other pieces.

Reaching into his pouch of tools around his waist, Hunk brought out his mini drill and quickly made holes along the long edges of the metal. Perfect.

Hunk turned back to the others and distantly noticed Pidge and Keith staring at him like deer in headlights. Lance's chuckle broke over the comms like waves, "It's times like this when I'm reminded of why you're the hunkiest of Hunks."

Hunk's lips quirked up, but he focused on his task as he crouched down, clasping the metal around Keith's shin and lower thigh, then threading and weaving the wires to hold the brace together. With a few final twists, it was done. "How does that work?" He asked, holding out a hand for Keith as he rose up.

Using his hand as leverage, Keith slowly got up. He wavered for a moment, but the brace held. It wouldn't last long, Hunk knew, but it'd be enough to get back to the castle and some real medical treatment.

Keith tested it for a moment, and then shot Hunk a grateful look. "Thanks."

At that moment, Pidge's program pinged. "Alright, we're done here." She quickly finished things up, pulling her tech from the interface.

Lance swung down from his perch. "Let's blow this popsicle stand!"

Hunk laughed, readying his bayard. "Right, dude."

Together, the four of them easily cut through to where their Lions were waiting. Hunk was pleased to see that the brace held the entire time.

Hunk knew that he was a worrier. Sometimes he worried too much and spiraled into an anxiety attack, but luckily, Lance was usually there to pull him out of it.

Lately though, Hunk had been able to do nothing but worry. It wasn't overwhelming, just low-key, constant worrying. And personally, he felt that he was well within his right to do so.

Because Shiro had disappeared without a trace.

And none of them were okay with that. Keith went out to where they battled Zarkon everyday looking for some trace of him. Coran was helping Pidge with her search for her brother, because she understandably wanted to find at least someone she cared about. Allura was trying to build alliances between planets to fight off the Galra. Lance was making arrangements with the Blade to free planets still under Galra rule, which Hunk was also helping with, as well as trying to look after everyone to varying degrees of success.

But things didn't feel as safe anymore with Shiro gone. Safe was a funny thing to feel in the first place when there was a war going on, but at least when Shiro had been there it had felt like there was an adult around who knew what was going on. Sure, Coran was an adult but it wasn't the same thing at all.

And it had brought to Hunk's attention that any of them could disappear just as easily.

Hunk didn't think he could handle losing Lance or Pidge, or Keith, Allura, or Coran, or really any of their friends they'd made out here.

He had needed something to fight back the worry that constantly wiggled in the back of his mind. He'd needed a project that could not only distract him from his worries, but perhaps also alieve them to a degree.

And he was kinda surprised he hadn't started something like this earlier after the whole wormhole incident.

Hunk delicately handled the tiny machine, prodding it gently with his screwdriver. He squinted at it, even though the magnifying glass between him and the device was making his view as large as he could get it.

It was almost done. Just a few more adjustments and this one should work. Then he'd just have to do it again and again until he had enough for everyone.

"What are you doing?"

Hunk looked up at Pidge's question, startled by the interruption. He hadn't really seen much of Pidge in the last couple of days except for when Lance had forced her to eat. She looked relatively alright, a lot better than he had expected, though he figured that was mostly from Coran's assistance and Lance's motherhenning.

She peered down at his work, taking in the tiny circuitry under the magnifying glass.

"Tracking device." Hunk admitted, his gaze drifting back to it as her head snapped up to stare at him. "I'm going to install them in both the helmets and suits. They'll release a signal at a frequency that only the Castleship and Lions can pick up."

The weight of his words hung in the air, and Hunk knew that Pidge knew exactly why he was doing this.

"Neat." Pidge finally said, adjusting her glasses. "Need some help with the scanning system?"

Hunk pretty much had the scanning system all set up, but with Pidge's programming skills… "It'd be much appreciated." He nodded at her.

Pidge made her laptop appear from nowhere and Hunk directed her towards what he'd already gotten done. The two worked in silence for a while, the only sounds coming from Hunk's tinkering and Pidge's typing.

Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Pidge was the one who broke the silence. "I can't lose anyone else." Her voice was so small that Hunk was horribly reminded that she was only about 15 years old.

"Me either." It was different for Hunk, he knew, since he didn't have a parent and a brother lost among the stars but still.

Lance, Pidge, Keith, Allura, Coran, Shay…

Shiro.

"I'll make sure that won't happen." Hunk stiffened his resolve and from the corner of his eye he could see Pidge relax a bit.

He was not going to lose anyone out here.

"You want me to what?" Hunk felt the blood drain from his face as Lance's face twisted with horror.

"That isn't necessary, Shiro!" Keith snapped over the comms. "Both Hunk and Lance could just sneak around without doing that!"

"It would increase their chances of success." Shiro was cool compared to Keith's fire. It was nice to see that some things didn't change.

Though the two of them arguing, something that had been happening more and more since Shiro's return, was quickly becoming the new norm.

Still, Hunk's stomach churned at the thought of doing what Shiro had asked.

"Hunk," Keith's voice cut through the fog in his mind, "don't feel like you have to – "

"Keith." Shiro's interruption didn't help their fight.

However, the sounds of their argument abruptly cut off. Hunk blinked and noticed that Lance had turned off both of their comms. His eyes were serious as they looked into Hunk's.

"Okay. Now they can't interrupt." Lance withdrew his hand from turning them off. "What do you want to do?"

It was supposed to be a relatively simple mission. They had infiltrated a Galra base on this planet, hoping to free the prisoners and gain some information, since the planet really couldn't be saved at this point and all other people had left already. Pidge had gone to the control room to do her thing and keep an eye on the situation, while Allura and Keith went in one direction and Lance and Hunk had gone in the other.

Lance and Hunk hadn't found any prisoners but Allura and Keith had already evacuated the ones on the base. Pidge had also managed to get her information and slip back to her Lion. Hunk and Lance were the last of the team in the base.

And there were a bunch of Galra and sentries between them and their Lions as those stationed there realized that the Paladins were sneaking around.

So Shiro had proposed that Hunk could build a bomb as a distraction and to take out the Galra at the same time.

"Lance, I…" Hunk could do that. He knew he could make one if he had to, but… "I…" He wrung his hands together, and glanced nervously out of their hiding spot.

"Hey," Lance placed his hand on his shoulder, redirecting his gaze back at him, and gave him a strained smile. "It's just you and me. We're not going to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"Lance, do you agree with Shiro?" Hunk quietly asked him. Lance was good with strategy games and had been one of the top students when it came to strategy classes at the Garrison. If anyone knew what the better option was, it would be Lance. "Or are you on Keith's side?"

Lance's support of Keith had been steadfast since the Lion Switch. Hunk hoped that wouldn't affect his decision.

Lance frowned at him. "Okay, before I'm on Keith or Shiro's side, I'm always on yours." Hunk cracked a grin at the show of loyalty. "And they both kinda have a point.

"Given our experience from the Garrison, I have no doubt in the mind that we could sneak around and get back to our Lions." Lance explained. "It's also true that a distraction to draw the Galra away would help our chances to get away." His twisted a bit, and Hunk knew where he was going. "But it doesn't necessarily have to be… a bomb."

Hunk was by no means an idiot. He knew that in the time they'd been out here, he'd probably played a role in killing people before. The Robeasts had someone in them. Though the Galra relied on sentries a lot, there would have been actual people in ships and bases they had destroyed. But a bomb just felt… so personal and direct.

And he knew that Lance, whose fighting skills were at their best in precisely taking out his opponents with his shots, would understand that.

And if it helped their chances…

"Well, maybe I should…" Hunk hesitated.

Lance just stared at him for a moment before he pulled up a map Pidge had sent them. He studied it for a moment. "Could you make something that doesn't necessarily blow up?" At Hunk's raised eyebrow, he pointed at one of the rooms on their side of the compound. "This room is a storage room, but from what Pidge found, it's basic yet necessary supplies. If a patrolling sentry saw smoke and some sparks coming out of there…"

"They'd immediately call others in case something was catching on fire." Hunk caught on to the plan. He smiled. This was something he was much more comfortable with.

It didn't take much effort to sneak to the designated room. Once there, Hunk easily converted a machine he had picked up on the way there to meet their purposes. A few tweaks here and there was all that was needed. All he would have to do was flip a switch and it would start spitting sparks and coughing out smoke.

"Just need turn the switch." He told Lance who was keeping watch at the door.

"Okay." Before he could flip it, Lance grabbed onto his arm and started pulling him away.

Hunk looked in confusion as Lance kicked a piece of metal in the doorway to stop the door from closing. "Uh, Lance, I didn't turn it on yet. Kinda have to do that."

"I know." Lance didn't stop until they were all the way at the other end of the corridor. At that point, he shifted his blaster into sniper rifle mode. Bringing it up to his eye, he took a breath and pulled the trigger.

Hunk watched in amazement as the blast hit the switch, turning on his makeshift smoke machine. "Whoa…"

"Come on." Lance tugged him away. "The next patrol should be here in about a dobosh."

The two of them snuck away, and they shared a slight grin as they caught sight of the Galra rushing towards their distraction, leaving the way to their Lions open.

The thought only occurred to Hunk as they started closing in on the Lions. "Lance?" Hunk paused as Lance glanced back at him. "What are we gonna tell Shiro and Keith? I mean, we didn't really do what either of them wanted."

Lance looked troubled for a moment before he shrugged. "It was my idea. If either of them have a problem, they can take it up with me."

With that, the last of Hunk's anxiety fell away. Sure, he knew that someday he may have to take drastic measures like what Shiro had asked, but at least it wasn't today.

And he couldn't help the chuckles that escaped as both he and Lance realized they'd left their comms turned off as Keith's voice ran through their Lions' speakers about how he'd thought they'd blown themselves up.

Hunk grinned.

Finally, they were complete.

He snapped on the comms. "Pidge! Lance! I finished them!" His smile grew as he heard an actual squeal from Pidge and a small "yes" from Lance. "Come to my work room to test them!"

Hunk shut the comms to two excited shouts. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. He'd been working on this for a while, trying to work out all the kinks and it seemed like he'd finally gotten things right.

Given how hard they all worked and how stressed they could get over having the fate of the universe in their hands, they deserved to have something like this.

Pidge, surprisingly, was the first to arrive. Lance had been the one to propose this in the first place, after all, but Pidge had been enthusiastic for it as well.

Her eyes lit up as they gazed upon his project. "Ooooo." She reached out for them, making a grabby motion. "Gimme."

"Not until Lance gets here." Hunk gently pushed her away, purposefully ignoring her pout. He glanced at the door, slightly worried.

Lance had been withdrawing since Keith had left for the Blade. Maybe it had started before that, but it was after that that Hunk began to notice it. He wondered what was up with that and hoped this lateness wasn't part of it, because Lance was usually the first to be in line for something like this.

Just as Hunk started thinking he might have to go collect his missing friend, the door slid open and Lance's wide grin greeted him. "Guess who's visiting with Kolivan?"

Being pulled along by Lance, Keith's expression told Hunk that he had no clue what's going on.

"Keith!" Pidge jumped up and went to hug him. Hunk laughed and followed her over. "How's the Blade treating you?" Embarrassed by the show of affection, she leaned back and jokingly punched him in the arm.

"Well enough." Keith said.

Hunk pulled him into a hug as well, lifting him off the floor. "The Castle's been so quiet without you, man. It's good to see you!"

"Thanks." After being set down, Keith took a look around. "So, Lance got really excited and pulled me down here without saying what was going on. So what's…" His eyes fell upon Hunk's work table and instantly started shining a bit. He gave a small gasp. "Did you…"

Hunk nodded at the unfinished question. "Ta-da!" He flourished a hand at his completed work.

On his work table sat four hover boards, each board in one of their colors. It was while lounging around one day that they had discovered that they all had had one back on Earth, and they had swapped stories about various stunts they'd done. After Lance had wondered aloud if they would be able to find any out here, Hunk had offered to try making some himself. He'd messed around with his own enough times to know how they worked.

Lance rushed over. "Ah, can I?" He glanced up at Hunk, hands hovering over the blue one.

Hunk nodded. "Go ahead!"

With a mad grin, Lance grabbed his, Pidge and Keith following close behind. They set theirs down and jumped on. Within moments, they were zooming around Hunk's work room.

After seeing that they really working, Hunk had tested them and been 90% sure the boards would work without a hitch, Hunk grabbed his own and joined them. Laughter echoed from the ceiling.

Lance suddenly passed Hunk, heading into the hallway, "Last one to the Black Lion hangar's a rotten egg!"

And well, not even Hunk could turn down that challenge.

The four of them practically flew down the hall, the one in the lead constantly changing. As they passed through the hall with their bedrooms, Hunk swore he caught sight of a startled Shiro as he managed to take the lead.

Pidge passed him as they went by the bridge, Allura giving a startled shriek as she quickly stepped back inside the room.

Lance retook the lead as they were forced to dodge Coran in the hall. Coran's shouts for them to be careful followed them the rest of the way.

Keith was the one who managed to just edge past Lance as they zoomed through the door to the hangar, and that was also when he lost his balance from the speed. Keith's pinwheeling arms did nothing to help him regain his balance as he tipped over and fell off his board.

And then it was like a chain reaction. Lance couldn't stop in time and fell over Keith, Pidge crashed into him, and Hunk brought up the rear and fell on top of them all. They ended up as a shouting pile of limbs.

Hunk was the first to laugh as he rolled off and looked at how hilarious everyone looked in the pile up. Lance and Pidge quickly followed and even Keith was chuckling too. Their faces were bright with happiness and somehow it felt like even the Black Lion approved of their merriment.

And seeing his best friends in the whole universe so happy, Hunk was glad that he could use his skills to bring smiles to their faces.

AN: Happy Birthday, Hunk! Here's a fic in celebration of Hunk's birthday.

I really like fics that help highlight Hunk's engineering skills, so I decided to do one myself. Sorry if it's a bit vague as to what he's doing when he's working, but I am not an engineer and really have no clue what would go into making this sort of stuff. Anyway, the title is what it is because I commented to someone once that Hunk is totally MacGyver if he's capable of creating that detector thing in episode one from scraps in Keith's shack. I liked the sound of it so ta-da! I hope you enjoyed it!