This one takes place over the period of at least a month.

It starts with Hunk and a blanket.

Apparently he had not been joking when it comes to Caregivers and blankets, of which there seem to be a lot more scattered around the Castle Ship than there previously were, a multitude of bright colours and different textures of soft. He's pretty sure Pidge and Lance have both squirreled away the ones they like best, Lance in his room and Pidge… he's not actually sure where Pidge hid hers, but no one's been able to find the one with the gear pattern anymore.

In any case, Shiro is suddenly finding himself wrapped in blankets as often as not when he's starting on a mental downwards spiral and they aren't in the middle of a mission or something equally important. In fact, everyone is finding themselves wrapped in blankets these days when they're looking down, and it's getting to the point where Hunk isn't the only one doing it, either. During the debriefing on their last mission, Lance had actually gotten up from the table at one point, wandered to the corner, wandered back, draped a particularly vivid one over Keith's shoulders, and then gone back to his seat like nothing had happened. The look on Keith's face had been amazing.

It could be condescending. It could be smothering. It could be insulting.

It feels like the team is drawing closer together than before, learning to have each others' backs in situations other than battle. It feels okay to accept these offers of support, and to offer them in turn.

Someone makes a blanket patterned with images of Coran's mustache on it. No one will admit to doing it, but everyone agrees that it is the best blanket.

It continues with Coran and stories.

One day Coran just sits down beside him and begins to talk about the war back at the beginning – not the battles or the strategies or the alliances, but the bits that came in between. The moments there was time to breathe and the reality of the situation and their actions would strike home, the moments there was no time and it struck anyway, all accompanied by that quirky manner that keeps things… not exactly light, but reassuring. A thousand stories with the underlying message, 'It's okay, what you're going through is normal, others have trodden this path before.' An oddly comforting concept, for all that it means others have had to suffer like this, because it means that this state has the potential to be something he walks through – it does not have to be the end of his journey, even if the path is long and hard.

But it's Allura who takes him to the room where the stored memories of her father once were and reveals that Alfor was not the only one to leave a copy of himself behind.

"My father understood the importance of these things," she says softly, hands not grasping her skirt as they enter the chamber, "He understood… perhaps better than I do, that our soldiers were also people, and the complexities that result from this."

The Castle has over a dozen memory-based AIs whose sole purpose is to function as therapists, half of them of species other than Altean. One is Galran, an odd reminder that once the two species must once have been close allies (and it's strange to see one not dressed in some sort of uniform). Allura teaches him how to call the mind healers up on the display.

Now he has guides to assist him in navigating his path. It helps.

Pidge thinks the whole AI chamber, while seriously cool, is inefficient.

Shiro finds this out the day she plunks a round disk the size of a tablet and the thickness of a good novel in front of him with a triumphant expression. "It's a personal interface with the Castle's AI library," she announces, "So that you can pick your location to talk to them without having to worry about a repeat of the Crystal Venom incident."

"Is that seriously what we're calling it?" Keith asks absently, leaning forward across the table he and Shiro have been discussing strategy at so he can see the device better.

"You got a better name that doesn't have any potentially horribly triggering words for anyone in it?"

"…no."

"The yes, that's seriously what we're calling it."

Shiro and Keith are both suitably impressed when Pidge shows Shiro how to activate it and a small version of Healer Flooble appears. The merman – Shiro can't pronounce the name of Flooble's race, even in his head, and the description of the teal and cream being is close enough – hovers above the disk, his tail gently moving to hold him upright in the non-existent water, his voice as clear and soothing as ever. "Good day, Takashi. Is there something you wished to discuss?"

"Not at the moment, sir," Shiro replies politely, and explains about the disk. The AI healer nods in approval, turning to Pidge in the same movement.

"You have my thanks, and that of my colleagues, for finding a way for Takashi to more easily interact with us and the rest of the library. It is heartening to be able to offer support once again."

"No problem," Pidge tilts her head in acknowledgement. Flooble smiles, nods once more at Shiro, and vanishes as the disk deactivates.

Shiro picks it up and turns it over in his hands. He's known Pidge for quite a while now, but somehow she keeps surprising him with just how gifted she is when it comes to technology. "Is there anything you can't build?"

"As far as you know? No. Especially not if I'm tag-teaming with Hunk."

There is a quiet moment where everyone in the room who is not Pidge is grateful for the fact that she chooses to use her powers for good, and also that Hunk is probably the closest thing their world has to offer in regards to incorruptible. Keith coughs and pulls Shiro from a worrisomely detailed hypothetical world where Pidge has decided to take over.

"Uh, you said that that thing's connected to the Castle's AI library?"

"Yeah?" Pidge cocks her head to the side, waiting to see where this is going.

"Does it have more than just… medical AIs in it?" at her nod, a little spark lights in Keith's eyes, one that Shiro hasn't seen since the last time his friend was talking alien and cryptid theory, before the Kerberos mission. "Could you make one for me, too? I could show you some good aerial combat maneuvers in return or something."

Pidge considers. "I'll do it in exchange for a look inside Red. No unsanctioned modding or anything," she adds at the protective look this earns her, "I just want to see if there's any differences between her and Green – I didn't have much of a chance to look at Blue, and there hasn't been an opportunity for me to check any of the other lions over until now."

"…all right, as long as Red's okay with it."

"Sweet!"

Shiro catches sight of Keith with his own disk (Lance has dubbed them PALs and the name, to Pidge's horror, has stuck) not long after. A small, holographic Galra is standing on it, gesturing animatedly as they speak and dressed in red presumably casual-wear. He leaves before he can be spotted or overhear what they are saying, but not before he sees the slight smile on Keith's face.

'Hunk got me some tinted goggles. He is my new favorite paladin.'

The note has been slipped neatly under his door. The handwriting is a little different than he remembers, but, well, his own writing has also changed since he received his new arm, and it's close enough that he still recognizes it.

'You're my third favorite,' it continues, 'Mostly because Katie will hack my arm or something if she's not second – don't ask me how she'd find out even though this note is on paper, we both know she would.'

This brings a slight grin to his face, in spite of himself, because he does know.

'I'm a little surprised I never thought to get a pair of these on my own – full sunlight or brightly lit rooms are kind of too bright now, so they're really helpful. And they look kind of awesome. So I'm either wearing them or have them with me pretty much all the time now. Just, you know… so you know.'

The next time Shiro catches sight of Matt in a room, sitting on the arm of a chair and chatting with Lance, he pauses instead of walking past or giving a slight wave from the doorway, takes a moment to look Matt over and see the shorter man is indeed wearing a pair of dark-lensed goggles, sleekly adding to the rather accurate 'space rebel' look he's currently sporting. And it's enough. For now, it's enough to let him step across the threshold and walk over to the other two.

(And, he decides in this moment, one day it's not going to be necessary.)

Matt looks up at the sound of his footsteps, a huge smile blooming as he draws nearer. "Hey!"

"Hey," Shiro responds, a touch shy after so long.

"Perfect timing!" Lance announces, flopping to lean backwards over the sofa to stare at Shiro and completely derail any potential awkwardness before it can even start, "Shiro, you're a sensible, stylish man, explain to this heathen why fingerless gloves are awf-" his eyes drop to Shiro's left hand, and the black, fingerless glove covering it, "-ful…" he is silent for a moment, before his eyes rise to meet Shiro's gaze, a world of exaggerated disappointment in them. "Betrayed by my own superior officer."

It's enough to startle a snort of laughter from him before he reaches down and bodily moves Lance so there's room for him on the sofa, too, the blue paladin complaining in an over-the-top, ridiculous fuss that makes it impossible for ice to even think about forming, and therefore there's no need to break it. So instead he asks the question that's been on his mind for awhile now. "How's life in the Castle treating you?"

"Not bad," Matt admits, "Though the food was better with the Rebel Alliance."

"Wait, what?" Lance sits up from his theatrics abruptly, "Is that a Star Wars reference? Please tell me it's a Star Wars reference."

Matt gives him an 'I'm rolling my eyes at you even if you can't see them' look. "Naturally. Star Wars is important."

And that is just… that is so very much a thing Matt would do- heck, it's a thing he literally did, and even as Shiro thinks this Matt is proudly confessing to his code name being Red Five, and it just…

Something loosens in Shiro's chest.

(Yes, he realizes as it does, one day the goggles definitely won't be necessary.)

OoOoOoOoO

It was Allura. Allura made the mustache blanket with the Castle synthesizers. She made it as a bit of a joke and didn't expect the group to like it so much, but is glad they do – humans can be so confusing sometimes. And I will stand by my headcanon of the paladins wrapping each other in blankets when one of them is down.

I will also maintain that any species that tried to get to space before inventing psychiatrists got sent back until they did. You don't get to be a space-faring race unless you know to how to treat mental health as well as physical. (note: the Galra used to have them, but Zarkon got rid of them early on in his reign – they kept saying things he didn't like about his mental state of health). There's a wide variety of them because each AI has a different personality and bedside manner. #GetTheseKidsSomeTherapy2017

Also, the Galra and the Alteans were probably extremely close at one point, as I don't think they'd even accept candidates from races they didn't trust deeply to be paladins of Voltron, and I like to imagine there's a lot of cultural data from various species in the Castle, since Alteans were supposed to have been great diplomats. Therefore Keith's learning a bit about his mother's culture from back before Zarkon Ruined Everything™. I see Keith enjoying this kind of learning as well – he strikes me as curious, but in a more 'go find out for myself or talk to an expert' way than 'find a book on it' way. And yes, going with the fanon that Keith has always had an interest in aliens and the unexplained. Also, I'm not SAYING the Galra he's talking to is a subtle shout-out to notllostel's OC Lori from tumblr ( notllorstel . tumblr post/ 147260843728/ creates-voltron-oc-gets-really-attached-well-then #notes) ( notllorstel . tumblr post / 147363377391 / i-love-your-galra-red-paladin-design-and-the) except yes I am, because I love Lori with the passion of a thousand burning suns. Also, if someone could tell me how to insert links on AO3, that would be great…

Flooble never actively served on the Castle as a therapist, but he was extremely gifted at it and allowed an AI copy of himself to be made for this purpose.

Red Five is another Star Wars reference, bonus points if you know what it is without looking it up. Also, in my heart, Matt and Shiro are a pair of unrepentant fans of the series and will quote, reference, and joke about it with each other at the drop of a hat.

Finally, fingerless gloves are great, as a person with poor blood circulation who doesn't like to have their whole hands covered, I don't know why some people are so against them.