They're playing hearts, because none of them are carrying anything of value worth betting, and he isn't drunk enough to be talked into losing a game of strip poker. Much better to play a game where the three other parties don't have motivation to gang up on him…Oh…that's a thought worth examining more closely, later.

Takashi plays the last card of the round, and that's game. Shiro has officially kicked all their asses. God, he's bored of playing cards. Also hungry. Maybe? Yes, it's his lucky day, after all. The weird alien snack bar he'd picked up at their last stop on a space station is still in his left pouch. Score. He's just about to take a bite, when he notices the three pairs of grey eyes trained on him. Right, no ones had dinner, "Um, you guys want to split?" Won't be much for any of them, but should keep stomachs from growling at least.

Champion and Shiro both shake their heads as Takashi reaches out a hand, "Sure," He says eagerly. Keith breaks him off half and waits for him to take his first bite. Takashi's face puckers up like he just bit into a lemon. Which is a pretty apt description of the flavor. There's a reason he never got around to eating this bar. Keith snickers, as Takashi chokes it down and sends him a big eyed look of betrayal. He doesn't feel the slightest bit guilty. Takashi turns to Shiro instead, "I can't believe you let my sweet Keith grow up to be such a mean person," He says accusingly.

Shiro shrugs, "He did that all on his own."

Keith snorts, "Like either of you are innocent." People wouldn't call him Golden Boy, if they knew how Shiro had behaved around his friends.

"I don't know what you could possibly mean." Shiro says all false innocence, putting a hand to his chest.

"Two words. Alarm Clock." Remote control installed into his alarm that let Shiro change it's time whenever he wanted. Keith had spent a week of confusion arriving at class progressively earlier and earlier until his clock finally went off at 1 AM on a Saturday and he realized who he needed to murder.

He gets three smiles of fond remembrance. Ah, so everyone in the room is guilty as sin and fair game then.

Keith finishes off his half of the bar. Still just as sour as he remembers it, but way better than nothing. Which is what he has now. What are they going to do for food? "Hey Shiro, how long are we going to give Allura before we try and get off planet on our own?"

Shiro breaks out of his revelry and looks out the small window. A small slice of the quickly darkening sky is visible, "We'll start scouting around for an escape route tomorrow." He says slowly, thinking, "If we haven't heard from Allura by tomorrow night, we'll make our own way." Sounds like a reasonable plan. They won't starve by then.

"If we can find a clear spot, Red will come pick us up." Keith offers. That will save them the trouble of figuring out how this particular planet likes to arrange its shuttle controls.

"We'll see. The only open places I know of are the space port, which will be heavily guarded, and the ocean, which we'll have to find a secondary means of transportation to." Eh, it'd been fun to see the looks on Takashi's and Champion's face when Red swooped down to pick them up, but he's fine with any means that get him off planet and don't involve maiming a bunch of people.

"I know this is a stupid question," Takashi says from where he's shuffling the cards, "But I've got to make sure we aren't overlooking the obvious. Is there a reason we can't just give these aliens back their device? If they get it back, they might not care as much about catching us and security could relax."

He's not wrong, but, "Lotor's men have infiltrated the planet. We barely got the relic away from them this time." And not without consequences as their two guests demonstrate, "If we give it back, they'll steal it for themselves. Used properly this could easily turn the tide of the war in his favor." Keith explains. Hard to believe this hadn't come up sooner. The blind trust Takashi and Champion have shown by following them without question. Sure they were all being shot at, but Shiro and him could have easily been the bad guys.

"What war?" Champion cuts in. His tone suddenly harsh.

Keith looks over, Champion's face is stone. Deadly serious, "The war against the Galra Empire." Hadn't Lotor's name made it obvious?

"You're a rebel?" Champion shouts. Jumping to his feet, shock and anger evident on his face. Keith follows him up, hand on his bayard. Is Champion a Galra sympathizer? He can see Shiro doing the same beside him, prepping to dart in at the first sign of violence. They're both in their casual clothes from sneaking into the temple, but there are two of them. A fight would be in their favor. Champion spares one glance for Shiro, then focuses back on Keith, "Do you know what they do to rebels?" Champion hisses.

"No, not particularly," Keith says, he takes a cautious step back. He needs space to properly wield his sword. Champion starts to follow him then stops, seeming to finally register the impending violence of the situation. Champion takes his own step back. Keith relaxes his grip, but doesn't take his hand off his bayard. He won't start a fight if Champion doesn't.

Champion shakes his head, pulling on his forelock in a stress move Keith recognizes from Shiro, "The lucky one are executed immediately." His voice has gone low and quiet, "The interesting ones go to the druids. The examples are sent to the arena. Drugged up to the point they're either too weak to fight or would tear their own mother to shreds." That sounds like personal experience. Keith looks back at Shiro. Was killing the Empire's examples something he had to do? He can't tell from his face, "Keith, rebels die horrible deaths." Champion continues, he doesn't sound angry anymore, more borderline distraught. Is he worried about Keith's safety? Oh.

Keith lets go of his bayard and steps forward. Ignoring Shiro's hissing at him to stop, he places a hand gently on the front of Champion's shoulder. Champion looks to his hand, to his face, and back again, "I am a paladin of Voltron. Defending the Universe from the likes of the Empire is my job." He'd do it even if it wasn't, but job was harder to argue against.

Champion's hand reaches up and clasps his own, "You're going to die, if you fight them." He says, almost pleading.

Keith smiles up at him reassuringly, "I'm a little better armed than most." To put it mildly, "When we get off planet, I'll show you." Voltron was probably still hibernating in his universe. Without that weapon, he can see how the fight might look hopeless. Though that hasn't stopped the Blade.

Champion doesn't believe him. He looks over Keith's shoulder at Shiro and snarls, "You're going to get him killed."

Shiro hesitates a moment longer than Keith would like before replying, "Keith makes his own choices." He does. Shiro may have given him the message that his help was needed, but he's the one who jumped at the call.

"You should have talked him out of it," Champion hisses back.

Shiro grimaces at that accusation. Keith yanks his hand free, jabbing a finger into Champion's chest, "Shiro's not responsible for me fighting the Empire. I chose to risk my life for the greater good, and you don't get a say in that." His sympathy for Champion's concern has evaporated. He won't be guilted out of doing what's right.

"You're going to die," Champion repeats, hands falling to his sides.

"That's my decision," Keith replies, glaring at him.

Champion deflates when faced with his anger. Looking away.

"…right. Sooo, anyone want to play another round of hearts?" Takashi asks.

.

They play several more boring but blessedly silent games.

Keith's temper has cooled by the second round of hearts. Enough so, that he can look over at Champion's rotating expressions of upset or guilt and feel bad for him again.

He's really convinced that Keith's going to die. How can he judge too harshly, when he'd do the same in his position? If Takashi was talking about going to Kerberos despite knowing what was going to happen, he'd have gotten pretty pissed too. Didn't matter if Takashi wasn't his Shiro. They shared the history and pieces of personality that made him fall in love with Shiro in the first place. It's impossible not to care about his well being. No, he's pretty much has to forgive Champion. That or he'd be a massive hypocrite. Doesn't mean he's going to apologize. Asserting his ability to make his own decisions isn't anything to feel sorry for.

He doesn't know who starts it, but someone yawns and suddenly they are all doing it. It's gotten pretty late. The sky outside long ago gave up even a hint of the sun. "I'm out." Keith lays down his cards. He'd actually had a good hand for once, but he's tired and the floor isn't going to get less hard the longer he stays up.

"Sleep in here," Shiro says, while rounding up all the cards. Nothings been said, but looks like everyone's been ready to turn in for a while. Someone just had to go first.

"That the plan," Keith replies. He's seen way to many horror movies, to wander off in the abandoned building on his own. There might be alien hobos after his kidneys out there.

Keith stands up and looks around. Everywhere looks equally uncomfortable. Despite his survivalist reputation, he's always managed to make sure he at least has a broken down couch to sleep on. Bruised hipbones and waking up sore aren't worth saving a little bit of time by not scanning around apartment dumpsters for thrown out furniture.

"You can sleep on my lap if you want," Champion says from behind him. The words sound like a come one, but when he turns, Champion is just looking at him. No quirked eyebrows or shit eating grin, that come with Shiro's really obvious suggestive remarks, "I know how you hate sleeping on the floor," He almost says yes, both because Champion is right about his hatred and as a sign that he's forgiven the man, but from the corner of his eye, he catches the way Shiro has gritted his teeth.

"Thanks, but I think Shiro would miss having his teddy bear," Keith says instead. He doesn't know what Shiro's problem with the Champion is, but he's not going to do things that make him obviously uncomfortable just because they haven't had a chance to talk about it yet.

Champion hides it well, but Keith has practice at reading Shirogane facial expressions. He still thinks he's in the doghouse.

Their sleeping arrangements are the best they can make of a bad situation. Takashi rolls up his officer jacket in a makeshift pillow and crashes on his own in the cleanest spot he can find. Shiro picks a wall with a good view of the door, and Keith curls up in his lap as promised. Champion ends up along the same wall, about five feet away. Shiro has trouble sleeping if he can't see the entrances of a room. He's not surprised Champion's the same way.

Despite his exhaustion, Keith has trouble falling asleep. Champion keeps looking over at him sadly whenever he thinks Keith's eyes are closed. It hurts his heart to see, and makes his brain whirl with thoughts. He hasn't asked, but the prisoner uniform Champion wears matches the one Keith found Shiro in. The only reasonable conclusion is that in his universe, he hasn't escaped the Galra.

When Shiro first came back, he put on a brave face to lead their nascent team, but behind closed doors, he'd just wanted to hold and be held. He'd been so starved for kind touches, that on their days off they could lay together for hours doing nothing at all. Shiro is better now. He no longer needs those long periods of time except on very rare stressful occasions. The Champion, though, he's just been freed from his cell for the first time in who knows how long, and he's still alone.

Keith sighs, "Hey," Keith smiles softly as the Champion looks over to him. He wiggles an arm free from Shiro's hold, "You don't have to sleep all the way over there," He pats the ground beside them, "Come over here, and you can hold my hand while we sleep," It's a pitiful offering, but Champion looks at Keith like he just offered him the world. He scoots over and picks up Keith's hand without hesitation. Holding it with both of his own. There we go, that's better, "Night," Keith settles against Shiro again, purposefully not looking up to see what Shiro thinks of this development. They'll talk in private tomorrow. He needs to establish what boundaries with Shiro's doubles will make him comfortable, but for now, they'll settle for this. A little comfort for another hurt soul. Shiro can deal for one night.


End Note:

Holy cow, I did not expect this part to end up so long (This is what happens when I outline beforehand).

Champion heavy chapter, but well, I've got a lot to establish with him.

Also, up to ya'll to decide who suggested strip poker.