There was a pause, and then Lance yelled, in a shrill voice, "Okay, START!"

Pidge adjusted her glasses, snatched up a pillow, and charged out, keeping low. Shiro followed, holding two pillows, and faced off with Coran, who was swinging the – yes, it was a bean bag.

"You won't take me down, Shiro!" he cried, winding up for a swing. He let out a battle cry, and Shiro ducked beneath his arm and smacked him full in the face with his own pillow.

Coran staggered back, mouth full of fabric, and Allura plowed into Shiro, two pillows slamming into him from opposite sides. He fell off-balance into the area between the couches, landing on a pile of blankets, and immediately held one up to fend the princess off.

Keith darted up behind Coran and disarmed him.

On the other side of the room, Matt had just swung a pillow into Hunk's stomach, which of course didn't budge him in the slightest. Lance shouted with glee and, holding a folded blanket in front of him, barreled into Matt. As they struggled to get back to their feet, Keith flattened the blue paladin with the bean bag.

Matt rolled away, landing on his knees just in time for Pidge to swing with all her strength. He was at the perfect height for her to bash him in the face, and he went down in a tangle of arms and legs, right on the edge of the lounge. Coran, who had joined Allura in trying to subdue Shiro, reached up and grabbed his ankle.

"PIDGE!" shouted Matt. "We're on the same team!"

She grinned. "Oops."

"What do you mean, 'oops'? Make Coran let go!" Matt hollered and twisted wildly. Hunk settled the question by picking him up, carting him over to the blue tent, and dumping him in. Dusting his hands off, Hunk loaded his arms with five pillows, then clasped them to his stomach and chased Pidge across the room.

Keith and Lance were still wrestling over the bean bag. Shiro hefted a pile of blankets on top of Allura's head and vaulted out of the lounge area.

Coran streaked across the room, shouting, "Coran attaaaack!"

Shiro pivoted on his heel, caught his arm, and wheeled him directly into Hunk's path just as the yellow paladin neared a wall. Hunk backpedaled desperately, but too late – he and Coran smashed into the wall.

Pidge hopped up and down and cheered.

Lance and Keith stood, teetering wildly, on the seat of one of the couches as they yanked the bean bag around. Allura struggled upright, shedding blankets in all directions, glanced up and grabbed Keith's ankle.

With a yell, the red paladin lost his balance. Lance and Allura grabbed the long bean bag between them and charged Shiro. Unfortunately, he and Pidge were preoccupied with laughing at Coran and Hunk, and the bean bag caught Shiro directly in the stomach.

Pidge leapt onto Lance's back, clinging with her knees, and he shouted. "No, that tickles! AAAAAHHH!"

The most satisfied smirk Shiro had ever seen spread across Pidge's face, and she called, "Matt! Help me with this guy!"

Lance flailed. "No Pidge no Pidge no Pidge NOOOOOO! Hunk, Allura, help!"

Matt pinned Lance's arms to the ground, and Shiro freed himself from the bean bag in time to grab Lance's ankles.

Pidge sneered and poked mercilessly at his ribs. Lance shrieked. "HEEEEELLLLLP!"

"I'm coming, Lance!" cried Allura breathlessly, stumbling forward.

Shiro looked up. "Matt! Keep 'em occupied! Pidge, Keith, cover me!"

"Got it, Shiro!"

Keith and Allura engaged in an actual sparring match, blocking and swinging and ducking. Pidge and Matt took on Hunk and Coran. Shiro grabbed Lance, who was still weak with laughter, under the arms and dragged him into the pink tent.

Dumping him in the blankets, he said, "Okay, you're in prison. Stay here."

"What?!"

Shiro ignored him and rushed back out. "Team! Take Coran down and get him to our fort!"

"Roger that."

By now, Allura had surrendered to Keith, who was guarding against any escape attempts. Coran tried to rescue her, but Pidge and Matt clung to his arms, dragging him around. Shiro moved threateningly towards Hunk, who backed across the room and right off the edge of the lounge.

"Um, okay!" cried Coran, now buried beneath eight or nine pillows. "You win!"

Shiro tossed his pillow at Hunk for good measure.

Pidge high-fived Matt. Both of them turned to Keith, each holding out a hand to repeat the gesture with him.
He looked uncertainly from one to the other, his right eyebrow lifting questioningly. "Umm. . ."

Matt's mouth hung open. "Really?" He glanced across the room to where Lance was.

Lance shrugged. "Uh, Keith – high five? Fist bump?"

Keith blinked. "What does that even mean? I mean, I know what it is, but why do people do it?"

Shiro tuned out the consequent attempts at explanation as Coran spoke to him. "Allura and I are going back up to check on things. The rest of you, have fun!"

Allura cleared her throat. "Hunk," she said tentatively. "Would you be able to make more of that delicious –" She turned to Matt questioningly.

"Hot chocolate," he supplied.

"Ah, yes. Thank you. Would you make more hot chocolate?"

"Sure," said Hunk, straightening his vest. "Actually, I'll could make it right now, if that works. "

"Thanks, pal!" exclaimed Lance. "That sounds great – we can have it while playing space checkers or something."
"Good idea!" piped in Pidge. "I'll go get our video game, too!"

Pidge and Hunk rushed off, and the remaining four were left staring at each other. Keith was the first to speak. "We didn't actually use the forts much."

Lance smirked. "Yeah, but now . . . four of them, four of us. What'dya say?"

Shiro unfolded his arms. "Fine by me. Bean bag's off-limits, though."

This time, Lance claimed the blue, Shiro the purple, Matt the green, and Keith was left with pink.

Lance stuck his head out of his tent. "Oh, look, Keith gets pink!"

Keith looked up at his fort and shrugged. "It's the closest color to red."

Then, while Lance was busy sighing dramatically, Keith flung a cushion, hitting him in the face and knocking him back into his own fort.

The next five minutes or so were rather slow. Pillows flew over the top of each fort, but because of the distance no one landed an actual hit. Lance attempted to use a blanket for a sling, but gave up after realizing how unwieldy it was.

Pidge came back in, walked casually to the lounge with her laptop and the game, and sat down, completely ignoring the pillows that sailed by on all sides.

Matt popped his head out. "Whatcha doing, Pidge?"

"Fixing a glitch in the game's programming."

Matt narrowed his eyes. "You mean you're trying to find a cheat code."

She waved a hand. "Same thing." Twisting around to sit on her knees and look at him, she explained, "There's something in the glove that gives you infinite lives if you hold it right, so I'm tracing it down and wiring it to the consol instead."

Lance tossed his pillows to the side, indicating he was currently not involved in the fight, and crossed over to watch her. "Can you do it?"

"I should be able to."

"Good, 'cause there's this level I can't get by and . . ."

A well-aimed pillow from Shiro's tent hit Matt in the face. He recovered quickly, then rushed over to Keith's tent and ducked inside.

The commlink Shiro wore on his belt beeped, and he pulled it out. "Allura?"

"We've reset the crystal and the main systems. In case of attack, we'll be able to wormhole away."
"Is there anything you need us to do?"

"Not at the moment. I have a number of radio calls to make, and Coran's calibrating the long-range sensors."
"Okay. Let me know if you need help."

He clicked off the comm and hooked it back on his belt before realizing that it was strangely quiet in the lounge. Taking a cautious step to one side, he shifted the edge of the purple blanket until he could see out. Lance was still sitting behind Pidge, but he was concentrating very hard on not looking in Shiro's direction.

Pidge was smirking.

Shiro waited. A faint scraping noise sounded just in front of him, and he leapt out, snatching at the would-be intruder.
Keith dove to the side, avoiding him easily. Wiry arms caught Shiro around the waist, knocking him to the floor, Matt's voice laughing evilly in his ear.

At the same moment, Lance lurched to his feet and joined the fray. Shiro went limp on purpose, waited until Matt's grip loosened the slightest bit, then tossed him off.

Matt careened into Lance. Shiro got to his hands and knees, and Keith landed on his back.

"What – Keith! Three against one?" Shiro gasped, struggling to free himself.

"Yup."

Shiro twisted, hooking an arm under Keith's, and hauled him aside. "How exactly is that fair?"

From the ground, Keith gave him his best 'you're-being-dumb' expression and replied, ". . . It's not."

Matt latched his arms around Shiro's ankles.

"Surrender, fearless leader!" cried Lance dramatically. "Or – or . . ."

Shiro grunted, tripping a little. "Or what?"

"Hey, I'm still thinking!" said Lance defensively.

Keith and Matt proceeded to tackle Shiro from either side while Lance mused aloud. "Well, I could eat all those little ginger cookie things."

Keith interrupted. "He doesn't like them much."

"Oh. Hang on . . ."

"Stalemate," announced Pidge. "I got it working, Lance! Infinite lives!"

Shiro fell flat. Matt rested an elbow on his shoulder, struggling to put him in an armlock, and Keith and Lance rushed to help him.

Pidge was still chortling to herself. "This is so cool! Want to try it, Matt?"

Matt looked torn. "But – I've never beaten Shiro before."

"Ha," said Shiro, his face somewhat mashed in a pillow. "That's for sure. And you've spent half your life trying."

"Hey!" Matt said indignantly. "That was back at the Garrison. I was a lot smaller back then."

Shiro twisted his head until he could glance up at him. "A 'lot' smaller?"

"Yeah! I'm at least two inches taller now . . ."

Conversation died down for a moment as Shiro nearly broke free, then Matt continued, "Maybe even two and a half."

Shiro relaxed, gathering his strength for a final effort. "Yeah, but you still have the physique of a string bean."

Matt put a hand on his head and shoved him back into the pillow. "I'll have you know, Captain, that I am four pounds heavier than I was when we launched the Kerberos mission."

"Four pounds, wow," said Shiro, and bucked him off. Then he caught Keith by the wrist and elbow and jerked so that Keith overbalanced, fell across Shiro and landed on Matt. Then, moving methodically, he sent Lance through the air and reeling into the other two.

Pidge glanced up, snorted, and looked back down, completely unimpressed.

Shiro squirmed out easily and stood up, folding his arms as he gazed down at them. "Still want me to surrender?"

Keith growled half-heartedly, and Lance tried to look offended, but Matt just lay where he had fallen, one arm cast dramatically over his face. "Pidge, help."

"Why?"

He rolled onto his stomach and looked at her. "Uh, because Shiro just beat me again?"

Pidge cast him one uncaring glance and shrugged. "So? Eat more."

Matt gasped. "Left for dead by my sister, my only little sister. Tackled by my superior officer, who should be helping me –"

"Oh, now you remember my rank," said Shiro, reaching down to help Keith and Lance up.

Matt ignored him. "– Abandoned by my allies . . ."

"And besides," interrupted Shiro, kicking a blanket over Matt's face. "You were the one who attacked your superior officer first."

Matt clutched his chest, wheezing for breath as he got up. "My well-founded complaints tossed aside like – Oh, wow, cocoa."

Hunk had just come into the room, and Matt's voice switched back to normal so quickly that even Lance looked at him in astonished respect. "Dude, I think you're a better actor than I am."

As Matt took a bow, earning an eyeroll from Pidge, Hunk passed around the tray. "I already brought Allura and Coran theirs," he said, flopping down on the couch. "They said they'll be a while."

Pidge rushed over to show him what she had done with the game, and Lance brought out a few board games. Waving his cup around dangerously, he called, "Who wants to play checkers?"

Shiro raised a hand. Hunk, Pidge, and Matt were all clustered around the game consol – as Shiro looked over, Pidge slapped Matt's hand away from one of the wires – and Keith just stood where he was.

Matt slapped Hunk on the back. "This is so awesome! We can finally beat that level! Lance, can we use your save file?"

"No, wait for me!" Lance tossed the checkers box to Shiro and rushed to join the others. "There's a special power I just got . . ."

Shiro turned to Keith, holding out the game questioningly. "I've played against Coran before," he said. "It's just like checkers back home."

Keith sat on the floor across from him and began setting it up. "You wanna be red or black?"

They both looked down at the pieces, back up at each other, and grinned.

"Okay, so that was a pretty unnecessary question . . ." Keith admitted.

Longer chapter tonight, because I'm so nice. . . ! :) Actually, I finished the story, so I'll be posting the rest of it this weekend, one way or the other. Thanks for reading, and please drop a review! :)