"Okay, who keeps stealing my pens?!" Pidge declared as she entered the kitchen. Green leaped in the room growling as she carried Pidge's backpack in her mouth.

Hunk and Yellow glanced up from bowl of batter he'd been stirring and Lance paused mid-chewing as Blue peeked over the table.

"Um...not me?" said Hunk with a raised eyebrow.

"And definitely not me," Lance said as he leaned back. "Especially after the death glare you gave me for borrowing your hairbrush."

"I'm serious," Pidge said as she took her backpack from Green and unzipped it.

"When we left Earth, I had twenty pens." She held up two plastic packages of black pens. "I've used six, but somehow I'm down to ten. So, who keeps taking them?"

Lance blinked and asked "I'm more curious on why you have twenty pens."

"I write a lot of notes, okay?" Pidge snarled. "And since I have yet to find anything similar to a ballpoint pen in space, I'm milking the ones I have."

"Maybe it was Shiro, or Keith?" Hunk offered.

"I bet it was Keith," Lance announced with a raised hand and Blue raised her paw in agreement.

"Shiro wouldn't take my supplies without asking," Pidge replied with her arms folded, "and I can't imagine Keith needing a pen for anything. He's either spending time training, with us or meditating in his room."

Hunk frowned. That part was true. Truthfully, there were times he worried about Keith a bit. He seemed so focussed on being a perfect paladin that he barely seemed to do anything else. That couldn't be healthy.

"Then maybe Coran or Allura?" Lance asked with a shrug.

"Again, neither would take things without asking and why would they want my pens?" Pidge retorted.

"Well, that just leaves the space mice," Hunk replied as he pushed Yellow away from poking her nose into the bowl. "And if they didn't take them, I don't know what to tell you."

"Maybe you just misplaced them somewhere," Lance offered. "The castle is a big place, wouldn't be hard to lose something as small as a pen."

Pidge sighed with a huff as she took the seat next to Lance. "Yeah, I guess," she grumbled. "But it's just going to drive me crazy wondering what happened to them."

Hunk was silent as he returned to stirring. It was rather weird. It wasn't as if pens could get up and walk away.

However, as the rest of the day passed, he ended up almost forgetting about it entirely until right before bed.

He yawned as Yellow followed him through the halls into his bedroom. "Man, I'm beat," he said to Yellow as he patted her. "I'm ready to crash as soon as my head hits the pillow-"

The door to Pidge's room cut him off causing Hunk to jump slightly and then paused.

Wait, last I check, Pidge was still in the hangar, so who would be in her room?

He gulped as the thoughts of ghosts popped into his head. He was SO not ready to deal with that again after what happened last time and he froze as he heard footsteps.

Yellow jumped in front and growled to protect them as a figure appeared. Yellow ceased her growling and Hunk tilted his head in confusion.
"Red?" he asked.

Red paused and tilted her head to the side as she looked at Hunk with something small hanging out of her mouth.

"Okay, what were you doing in Pidge's room?" Hunk asked as he kneeled to take a closer look. "That's her private space and you shouldn't-" He trailed off as he recognized the object in her mouth. "Wait..IS THAT PIDGE'S PEN?!"

Red didn't linger longer enough to confirm as she sharply turned and dashed down the hall.

"No, wait, RED GET BACK HERE!" Hunk said as he and Yellow gave chase.

Thankfully, he didn't have far to run as Red made a sharp turn into Keith's room. Hunk slowed his pace and gestured for Yellow to keep quiet. Maybe, if they were lucky, they could sneak up on Red. Hunk tiptoed and opened the door by a small creak.

Red was sitting up on the floor offering the pen from her mouth, and he spied a familiar gloved hand reach for it.

"Thanks, Red," Keith's replied as he took it. "I have no idea where you keep finding these-"

"Keith?!" Hunk exclaimed as he shoved the door opened and Yellow peek through his legs. You're the pen thief?!"

Keith jumped as he shoved something small inside his jacket, but once he regained his composer. "What? Pen thief?"

Hunk groaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Man, Lance is not going to let this one go."

"What are you talking about?" Keith said as he waved the pen around.

Hunk peeked through his fingers before letting his hand drop to his side.

"Pidge's pens have been going missing and it's been driving her crazy," he stated. "She's been paranoid and looking for clues everywhere...Well, more paranoid than usual. You remember last week with the baking sheet and the signal boost and Coran's moustache catching fire?"

Keith gave a slow nod.

"Worse than that." Hunk stated. "Anyway, point is, she thought someone was taking them, which didn't make sense, but...well..you have them."

Keith gave a thoughtful look as he studied the pen and then looked to Red. "Is that where you've been getting me the pens?" he asked. "From Pidge?"

Red nodded and growled as if she was saying "Of course! What's the big deal?"

Keith moaned as he rubbed his eyes. "Should have known it was too good to be true," he muttered and looked to Hunk as he handed over the pen. "Sorry, I swear I didn't realize Red had been stealing from Pidge."

"Pidge is the one you need to apologize to," Hunk said as he took the pen, but then frowned. "Although...why did you need so many pens?" He gave a shrug. "I don't think I've ever seen you write anything down."

And on that note, why did you keep going through them so fast? Hunk thought.

Keith froze, and suddenly seemed shy as he fiddled with his fingerless gloves.

Hunk winced. "Sorry, Dude, did I..ask something I shouldn't?"

It really wasn't Hunk's business, and if Keith wished to keep it secret that was his right. "Look, I can just tell Pidge I found this on the floor-"

"No, no," Keith said with a sigh as Red rubbed her head against Keith's leg for comfort. "I owe an explanation, but…" He chewed his lip, "just promise me you won't laugh."

Hunk frowned and exchanged a confused expression with Yellow. "Alright, I promise."

Keith seemed to relax a bit and Hunk noticed Red got rather excited as he reached inside his jacket. He brought out a small leather bound book, at least that's what Hunk had thought until Keith handed it to him.

Keith was blushing like crazy as Hunk took it and realized from the feel of the paper that it was a sketchbook. Hunk suddenly felt uncertain if he should open it, but with an approving nod from both Keith, Red and Yellow, he did.

The first couple of pages were doodles. Some of animals, designs, and even some comic characters he recognized, however, the next few pages were rough sketches of landscapes and more detail drawings of wild animals.

Hunk studied the sketches, and then grinned slightly as he found various sketches on the space mice, Red and even random head shots of the others. There was a cartoony version of Coran twirly a mustache that made Hunk chuckle.

"You said you wouldn't laugh," Keith said with a pout.

Hunk stopped and realized what Keith meant. "Sorry, Dude," he said as he held up the sketch. "But this is funny."

Keith blinked and his frown tightened. "Oh..um..that is meant to be funny."

Hunk's eyes softened as he stepped closer. "Did you sketch these?" Hunk asked dumbfounded.

Keith nodded with the blush still on his cheeks.

"Dude! Where on earth did you get a sketchbook?!" Hunk asked.

"I've always had one," Keith replied. "My jacket has a large inside pocket, so I've always kept a small sketchbook in there." He fiddled with the tip of his hair.

"Doodling helps me relax when I'm feeling anxious."

"Ah, okay, I get ya" Hunk said as he flipped through the pages. He could relate to that, it was why he enjoyed baking cookies so much. "Does Shiro know about this?"

"Shiro gave me that sketchbook," Keith explained as Red growl, "but besides him, no one knows."

"I see," Hunk said quietly as he found a sketch of himself smiling and laughing. He even sketched me, Hunk thought in shock. I can't think of ANYONE that ever tried to draw me.

Keith gave a sigh. "Look, you don't have to pretend," he said, "I know they're bad."

"Bad? What are you talking about?" Hunk said in amazement. "I'm not expert, but this is incredible to me."

Keith was taken aback and looked to Red in shock. "Really?"

"I've only ever been able to draw stick people," Hunk admitted, "but this is way better than anything I could have ever drawn."

A thought then struck him and he closed the sketchbook. "So...you've been using Pidge's pens to sketch?"

"Yyyeeaahhh," Keith said with a deep sigh as he cast a glare in Red's direction. "I lost the one pencil I had and Red had been bringing the pens." He shook his head. "I swear I had no idea they were Pidge's."

"Pidge will probably forgive since you didn't know," Hunk said with a shrug, "but you should have just asked for a pen." He raised an eyebrow. "Frankly, it's a bit weird to see you so shy about this."

"Why is it weird?" Keith said as he blushed a bit again. "I'm not allowed to be a bit uncomfortable with people seeing my drawings?"

"No," Hunk said as he sat down on Keith's bed. "I mean, you're so confident in flying and sword fighting, it's just a bit surprising to see you not be a hundred percent certain on something."

Keith tapped his fingers against his elbow. "It's just a private thing I've always done," he said slowly. "I tried showing an art teacher when I was a kid once and she said they were just chicken scratches."

"Seriously? That teacher had to be like crazy," Hunk said as he flipped the pages of the sketches. "These are really great…" He trailed off as he reached a page that was full of random scribbles and dots.

Hunk blinked as he flipped. "What are these?" he said as he pointed to the page of scribbles. "Some kind of abstract art?

Keith glanced and sighed. "Those are Red's drawings."

Hunk blinked and glanced down to the small lion. "Red's?"

"She saw me sketch and decided she wanted to draw too," Keith said as he held out a pen to her.

Red gleefully snagged the pen by holding onto the tip and then pawed at Hunk's leg to lower the sketchbook. Curious, Hunk complied and watched Red happily scribble all over the blank page and even added a few dots for good measure.

"Huh, I feel like I'm watching a scene from How To Train Your Dragon," Hunk commented as Red continued.

"How to what?" Keith asked.

"A movie, think Pidge actually has that one on her laptop," Hunk explained. "Will show you later."

When she was done, Red dropped the pen from her mouth revealing the top part was now a bit crushed. Hunk frowned as he picked up the pen.

"Is this the other reason Red keeps stealing pens?" he asked.

"With both her and me sketching, we've been going through them a lot," Keith explained as he took the notebook back.

Hunk went silent as he shut his eyes in thought. He glanced to Yellow who tilted her head and nodded as if she had been thinking of the same thing.

Hunk relaxed and patted Keith's shoulders. "Alright, here's what we'll do," he stated. "We'll go tell Pidge what happened and as a result you're going to tell everyone about your sketchbook."

He shook a finger. "You don't have to show them your drawings if you don't want to, but you're going to tell them."

Keith looked ready to argue, but he gave a nod. "That's..fair."

"In exchange," Hunk said, "I'm sure, Pidge and I can find something you could use for a makeshift pencil." He grasped his chin. "For all we know, Coran might have something you can sketch with."

Keith blinked surprised. "You guys would do that?"

"Course we would, you need a way to destress too," Hunk said as Yellow nodded in agreement. "Cooking is my way of doing it, and clearly sketching is for you."

Keith chewed his bottom lip. "You..don't think Lance would tease me about it do you?"

"He'll only tease that you felt the need to keep it a secret," Hunk said. "He won't mock your drawings themselves, and even if he did, I'm certain the others would tell him to knock it off, okay?"

Keith gave a half smile, looking more relaxed than he did before. "Alright, I trust you, Buddy."

Hunk smiled, but jumped slightly as Red gave a growl. Keith sighed as he glance down. "Yes, I'm certain you can get your own pencil."

"If not, we'll make you one," Hunk said in agreement. "And chewable proof one."

Yellow growled as she pawed at his leg.

Keith snickered. "I'm thinking that means Yellow wants in on it too."

Hunk sighed. At the rate they were going, the lions were just going to cover half the castle in art.