Lance wasn't in his bedroom when Hunk went looking for him. Hunk briefly considered checking Blue or the lounge, but then he saw that Lance's personal care items were missing from his dresser, and he smiled smugly to himself. He knew exactly where Lance was.

Sure enough, the communal bathroom was fragrant with steam, and Lance was standing in front of the row of sinks and mirrors. He was wearing his pajamas, fabric sticking to his skin in places where it was still damp, and a towel was wrapped around his head. All of his bottles were lined up in a row, and he was touching the tops delicately, humming to himself. He was already deep into this, his favorite relaxation routine, eyes half-lidded and muscles going loose, and it made Hunk smile even wider to see it.

He glanced up lazily at the sound of Hunk's entrance and gave him a slow smile in return. "Hey, man. Wanna join in?"

"Always. I'll just hop in the shower and be right with you. You'll wait for me to start?"

Lance nodded affably and fiddled with his hair, rubbing the towel hard enough that it started to fall off his head.

Hunk chuckled and raced back to his room for his own towel and pajamas. He rushed through his shower, a little too quickly for it to be truly relaxing, but it was an essential part of the ritual and he didn't want to keep Lance waiting. Finally, they stood in front of the mirrors, side by side, opening up Lance's bottles one at a time and using them together. Lance sometimes paused Hunk when his technique was bad and showed him to do it. He even got picky enough a couple of times to grab Hunk's hands and lower them to his sides, then rub the product in Hunk's skin himself.

"No, dude, you go in little circles. Like this. See how much better that is?"

Hunk hummed, eyes falling shut as Lance rubbed little circles into his temples and cheekbones. "Mmm, yeah. That is nice."

"Told you. Pay attention to me, I'm the master."

"Yeah, you are." Hunk was amused and sincere in equal measure. Lance truly was the master at self-care, and it was always a pleasure to join him. The others were crazy for thinking it was too fussy and time-consuming to bother with. That was the point. All this time spent doing little things, going through a long process step by step and simultaneously making your skin both look and feel amazing... It was the essence of relaxation.

Hunk knew it wasn't enough, not really. He could feel it in the small tremors of Lance's fingers, see it in the deep wrinkles underneath his eyes, the downturned corners of his mouth. Today had been horrible for Lance, and one meticulous skin care routine was not going to make all of that stress and pain go away. But it was a start. A good one.

When they were finished, Hunk helped Lance gather up all of his bottles and take them back to his room. Lance arranged them on his dresser in an artful pile, ready for the next time. Hunk looked around his room and rubbed the back of his neck. "You wanna hang out here for awhile? Or go to the lounge? Anything you want, man, I'm all yours for the evening."

Lance clicked his tongue. "You don't want to cook dinner or anything? I know you need to de-stress, too, and the kitchen usually does that for you."

Hunk shook his head. "There are plenty of leftovers in the fridge thing. Besides, not everyone is gonna be there, since Coran and Allura are gonna be stuck taking care of the refugees for awhile. It's not the same if I don't get to cook for everyone."

Lance nodded. "That's true." He looked into Hunk's face with a sigh, and yep, that exhaustion was still dragging on him, it was clear to see. "I was gonna head to Shiro's room, actually. Wanna come with?"

"Of course."

Lance scooped up the pillow and blanket off his bed, and they went. Shiro's room was just a few doors away down the hall, and it was already open, of course. It always was.

This was the home of the castle's Semi-Permanent Blanket Fort and Sleepover Zone, No Jerks Allowed, as declared by Lance and Pidge. The malleable Altean architecture had allowed them to expand Shiro's bed alcove to three or four times its original size, and then they had hung blankets over the opening, placed blossom lights inside, and piled in the blankets and pillows to create a veritable swamp of bedding.

One or two of the other crewmembers always spent the night with Shiro here, guarding him from nightmares and memories, unless he kicked them all out to try sleeping on his own again. Lance was still the most frequent cohabitant of the space, but they'd gotten to the point where Lance could spend the night in his own room pretty much anytime he wanted to, knowing that Shiro would be well-cared for. Still not ideal (Hunk knew Shiro got frustrated sometimes that he still couldn't go more than a night or two without needing company), but a vast improvement over the previous state of affairs, when either Shiro was entirely alone or Lance was the only one helping him.

Hunk and Lance piled into the bedding swamp, chatting about inconsequential things. Hunk drew up short with a yelp, and Lance went still, when a lump of blanket already inside the fort unexpectedly moved. Then a dark, touseled head peeked out, and Hunk's shoulders relaxed. "Hey, Keith. Didn't expect you to be here already. Did Shiro find you?"

Keith shook his head and slowly extricated himself from the blankets. He ended up leaning against the wall opposite from where Hunk and Lance sat, his eyes cast downward. He looked flushed and unhappy, mouth in a disconsolate scowl. Hunk tilted his head, not sure if he was seeing right in the dim light, but... Yeah, those were probably tear tracks down Keith's face. He'd hidden here to cry by himself. They must have startled him just as much as he'd startled them.

Lance plopped down into the bedding with a weary sigh, watching Keith mournfully but not approaching him, respecting his body language's request for space. Hunk couldn't help it, though. He dared to scoot closer, though he didn't get quite close enough to invade Keith's personal space. "Hey, buddy. You wanna talk about it?"

Keith started to shake his head, then paused. He tilted his head back against the wall and peered up at the blossom lights, watching them twinkle. "I just..."

Lance moved closer, too, leaning on Hunk's shoulder. "Were you thinking about the kid?" His voice was soft, hesitant, and Hunk's throat seized up.

Keith let his eyes fall shut in a slow blink, then opened them again. "No. I...it sounds heartless, but there's nothing we can do for him now."

Hunk made a noise of denial. "It's not heartless." He opened his mouth to go on, but Keith shook his head and cut him off.

Keith scrubbed his hands over his face. "No, I was thinking about... What if this happens again? There's no reason it won't, now that this tactic has occured to them. What if next time it's a race who doesn't have a miraculous clotting factor? What if it's a bunch of kids, not just one? What if it's families, fathers and mothers and kids, and we...and we..."

Hunk's hand closed into a fist, and his throat tightened even more. He could barely breathe at the thought of it. Next time it might be him who had to make the impossible choice. Or Pidge, or Allura. What if the Empire figured out that Team Voltron was looking for Sam and Matt Holt and brought them out to use as leverage? How could any of them deal with that? They were so close now, the seven of them, so much like a family, that Sam and Matt felt like family to all of them, too, by the transitive property.

"Hey." Lance crab-walked closer, less hesitant now to reach out. He put out a hand, shaking minutely, and rested it on Keith's blanket-wrapped shoulder. "That's why we made the choice we did today. Part of the reason, anyway. We have to show them that this tactic doesn't work. If they know that we'll accept the collateral damage and destroy them all anyway, sentient shields are useless. It just puts their soldiers in a position where it's easy for us to slaughter them. So they'll have to stop doing it. It is..." He swallowed. "It is heartless, yes. As you said. But... We made the only choice we could."

Keith looked at him bleakly. "I know. But... They probably aren't going to give up with one trial. What if we have to do this again? I don't... I don't know if I can, Lance. This time was hard enough."

Lance had no answer for that. Neither did Hunk. Lance shook his head. Hunk closed his eyes.

Keith's body language was more open now, so Lance and Hunk settled down on either side of him, backs to the wall, and stared at the blossom lights.

"Maybe..." Hunk started slowly. "Maybe we should tell Allura that we need a break. Just for a few days. We've been doing these prison missions non-stop, and it's definitely wearing on all of us. Plus our allies are getting a little tired of taking in refugees. I think the Sylosians are basically at capacity already, and the Balmerans, too. It might be time to come up with a new plan, or at least tweak this one a little bit."

"I don't want to give up," Keith murmured, and Lance nodded.

"We all want to find Matt and Sam," Hunk said, because it was completely, uncontroversially true. "And we will. Just...maybe not tomorrow."

The thought sat heavy on all of them.

They heard the outside door of Shiro's room opening and a rush of footsteps, a clatter of armor falling on the floor, and a huff of frustrated breath. Then Pidge dove through the blanket opening straight into the middle of the pile of bedding. She landed on her stomach, limbs splayed, face buried in a pillow. She folded her arms over her head, and she screamed, loud despite how muffled it was.

All three boys tensed, but didn't move, just staring at her. Pidge was still wearing her underarmor, having only stripped off the outer plating, and she still smelled faintly of the mud planet below. Lance wrinkled his nose, Hunk winced, and Keith didn't react.

After a long moment to take this in, Hunk slowly sat forward off the wall. The relaxation he had managed to achieve with Lance was wearing away, first damaged by Keith's distress, and now by Pidge's uncharacteristic behavior. Sure, she had her moments of anger and doubt like the rest of them, but it was incredibly rare to see her so enraged and frustrated that she had to scream into a pillow.

"Pidge?" Hunk moved a little closer and hovered a hand over her back, then lightly set down. "Are you okay? Did something happen with the refugees?"

Pidge made a muffled noise into the pillow. It sounded affirmative, though Hunk wasn't sure which question she was responding to. He hummed in curiosity and scooted closer, settling down at her side with his hand flat on the middle of her back. "Another dead end, huh? No one had news about your family?" He rubbed her back in smooth circles, heart aching with sympathy.

A long, long moment. Then Pidge shook her head.

Hunk halted for a moment, confused. "No? So someone did have news about your family?"

Pidge nodded. Lance caught his breath, and Keith blinked and sat forward, hands closing into fists at his sides. Hunk glanced at them, then back to Pidge.

She was so upset. Whatever she had learned, it must not have been good. "Can...can you tell us?" Hunk asked. "It's okay if you don't want to." He heard his voice tremble. He desperately wanted to know, but he didn't want to cause her more pain. Shiro would be along soon, Hunk had no doubt. He could tell them what had happened if Pidge didn't want to or wasn't able to.

Pidge sucked in a few harsh, choking breaths, back heaving under Hunk's hand. Then she slowly pushed herself up to a sitting position, hair sticking up in wild clumps and face wrenched with distress. She looked at Hunk, then at Keith and Lance still sitting against the wall, both of them staring at her without blinking, hardly breathing. They all really, really wanted to hear Pidge's news, no matter what it was.

Pidge snorted and rubbed her hand under her nose, then looked into Hunk's face. "Someone had news." Her voice was as rough as her appearance. "But he refused to tell us. Shiro and Allura are still arguing with him, but I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to come here and yell about it." She looked at Lance and Hunk, showered and moisturized and in their pajamas, and she let out a mournful sigh. "Sorry for barging in like this. I should have cleaned up and calmed down first."

"No, it's okay." Hunk kept rubbing her back. "Do you want us to fight that guy for you?" He tilted his chin at Keith and Lance. "All of us will do it, absolutely. Just give us five minutes to suit up, and we'll be there, bayards blazing. I can't believe he won't tell you." His voice went high-pitched in outrage. "How dare he. Why the quiznak not? What is wrong with that guy?"

Keith and Lance both nodded in solidarity. Pidge let out a harsh chuckle and rubbed her face again. "No, don't. It's... It's not his fault, not really. I get it. He said... He wants us to save his planet, first. Then he'll tell us about Dad and Matt. He just... He's trying to protect what's his. I get it, and I don't want to fight him or hurt him. It just, it's really frustrating, that's all." She ground her teeth together and let out another strangled noise, fists pounding down on the bedclothes. "Ugh! Why does everything have to be so hard?"

"What the what now?" Lance asked, incredulous. "We would save his planet without blackmail, no problem. It's what we do. Has he never heard of Voltron or something? He doesn't know that already?"

Pidge sighed. "Yeah, that's what we all were trying to tell him. Me, Shiro, and Allura. We told him over and over again that we would save his planet no matter what, it was the paladin way to answer all requests for assistance. But he just keeps insisting that we help his people first."

Keith grunted in disapproval and flopped over on Lance's shoulder, but he seemed too wrung out to respond with his usual passion. They were all tired, all done in by the events of the day. Hunk gave Keith and Lance a concerned glance, and was marginally reassured to see them leaning against each other so easily. At least all of the paladins were a cohesive team now, no matter what difficulties assailed them. Everything they were dealing with would be a lot harder to bear if they didn't trust each other, but they did. Their teamwork and trust was rock solid, and Hunk was grateful for that.

Hunk rubbed Pidge's back. "Well, maybe Shiro and Allura will be able to convince him. We just have to believe that everything will work out."

Pidge nodded miserably.

By the time Shiro joined them, expression wan and disgruntled, Pidge had cleaned up and all four of them were sacked out in the blanket fort, half-asleep and leaning on each other. Shiro didn't seem surprised to see them all here, just gave a quiet greeting as he rolled onto his back in the middle of the fort, already showered and in his full-length pajamas. Pidge lifted her head up from where it was resting on Hunk's calf and looked into his face, then grunted and lay back down.

Shiro sighed and gave her a commiserating look. "Trazo will not be moved. That's his name, the Unilu we were arguing with. Trazo. He finally gave us that, though little else. He doesn't trust us, and he doesn't want to wait any longer than he has to for his people to be rescued. So Allura is a laying in a course for his planet, Belikor. It's an Unilu colony that's been under Galra rule for a long time, but lately it's been getting harsher, as evidenced by Trazo being imprisoned. According to him, his crime was very minor, but he was convicted of treason and packed into the prison system anyway. After we set them free, Trazo assures us that he can direct us on where to go to find Matthew and Samuel Holt, but that's all he's giving us for now."

"I'll give him something for now," Lance grumbled, pounding his fist into his palm without even shifting the rest of his body where he lay jammed between Hunk and Keith. Keith chuckled darkly, making Lance's head bounce, but didn't otherwise comment. Hunk just shook his head.

Shiro rolled over on his side to face them and gave Lance an understanding smile, his face softer now as he let his frustration with the situation fade. "Let's not worry about it, okay? There's nothing else to be done. We should rest up tonight, and tomorrow we'll get all the info we can from Trazo and do recon before making our plans for liberating Belikor."

"What about the Anabaxi who still need treatment?" Hunk asked.

"We're bringing the rescued prisoners along on the ship, and we'll keep rotating people in and out of the pods as quickly as we can without risking anyone's health. Most of the Anabaxi want to return to Anabax once they've recovered, but we'll deal with that when the time comes."

"So we're officially considering that a liberated planet, not just a prison raid now?" Pidge asked. "That'll add to the load of planets we have to defend. Belikor too, come to think of it."

"Yeah." Shiro rubbed a hand over his face. "Like I said, let's not worry about that tonight, okay? We've just been through a rough mission. We need to heal up before we take on the next one. No use borrowing trouble."

"Sure."

They tried to relax. Lance made a joke, Keith joined in, and they all started conversing as lightly as they were able. Still, a strained atmosphere hung over them, dampening everyone's mood.

The paladins drifted off to sleep, one by one. Hunk didn't even remember falling asleep. He felt himself drifting into a sort of meditative haze, where he could hear the light buzz of Keith and Lance's conversation, undergirded with something warm and solid and pleasant that provided a foundation for his world, his consciousness, his everything. The yellow lion, calm and sure and steady. He wasn't quite sure when he had started to be able to feel her presence so strongly, even when they were separated by the bulk of the castleship, but it was a welcome addition to his mental landscape and had been for quite some time.

Hunk slept surprisingly well, all things considered. And when he woke the next morning, it all started again.