A/N: I'm going to mark this story as complete for now, but there is still the possibility of this story getting revived at some point in the future. Hope you all enjoyed!

Keith couldn't sleep.

One in the morning according to the glowing numbers of the clock. He had slept restlessly for a couple hours, then spent the rest of the time staring at the clock.

Across the hospital room, Krolia was asleep in one of the chairs. How he couldn't sleep in the comfortable bed when is mother was sleeping upright in a hard hospital chair, confused Keith and frustrated him more than it should.

He needed to check the team, Keith finally decided. He remembered how Shiro had suffered from the inability to sleep because he worried about the team. Apparently, it was inherent to leadership.

Quietly so as to not wake Krolia, who he knew had been short on sleep during his recovery, Keith pushed his blankets to the side and slid out of bed. He groaned softly; his still recovering body protesting at motion, but he persisted.

Keith peeked outside the door, and saw no staff in sight. He grinned and tip-toed out and down the hall until he reached Hunk's door.

Surprisingly, Hunk was awake and sitting up. His parents and Shay were curled up on cots, asleep, but Hunk was watching the door when Keith peered in.

"Can't sleep?" Hunk whispered.

Keith shook his head. "You?"

"Nope."

Lance's head abruptly popped up from beside Hunk's bed. Keith jerked back and had to clamp his hand to his mouth to hold in a shout.

"Me, neither," Lance said, unconcerned about the mini-heart attack he had just given Keith. "I came here to give Hunk some company."

"What are you even doing out of bed?" Keith hissed, Lance having been the slowest to recover of the team.

"You guys were up. Sixth sense," Lance said smugly.

Keith stared at Lance, then shook his head. He was about to turn away when Lance gave a whisper-shout.

"Hey! I've got an idea!"

Against his better judgement, Keith stopped and looked back. Lance had a beaming grin on his face.

"It's been too long since we had a paladin pile," Lance said.

"What? No, we… we should just go back to bed," Keith said with a frown. For some reason, a paladin pile did sound pretty nice…

Lance smirked at Keith's wistful expression. "Come on. We'll even let you kola one of us."

"I don't know what you are talking about!" Keith hissed.

Hunk snickered. "You do so, and I know you want it." Without giving Keith a chance to protest again, Hunk tossed his blankets to the side. "Let's go. I'll grab Pidge, Lance gets Allura, and Keith, do you think Shiro would want in?"

Keith gave up and grinned. "I'm sure he will."

Lance was missing and Veronica was ready to punch someone. They were in a hospital and her little brother -who was a patient- was gone! The morning nurses didn't remember seeing him, and neither had anyone else.

Veronica ran into Matt in her stomping search, and learned Pidge was gone as well. Then Coran and Shay had come rushing out with news of missing paladins. Veronica hadn't thought it could be worse, when the MFE pilots reported that Shiro was missing!

"How can all the paladins and Shiro just disappear?" Veronica demanded. The group that had gathered all shrugged.

"We are missing one, actually," Lief said.

Rizavi gave her an "are you crazy?" look. "We're missing them all."

Lief glanced at her. "No one has reported Keith as missing."

"If Keith was gone, Krolia would have made it known by now," Coran said knowledgeably.

"It wouldn't hurt to check," Matt said, fidgeting.

Veronica led the way to Keith's room. The door was open, so she marched right in. Krolia, sitting on one of the chairs, looked up. Keith's bed was empty.

"Krolia, all the-"

"Hush!" Krolia said sharply.

Veronica jerked to a stop, and everyone narrowly avoided crashing into her.

Krolia's harsh expression softened and she stood, beckoning them to come closer. They cautiously stepped into the room and moved to see the other side of the bed, where Krolia was pointing. Instantly, everyone's panic vanished.

Shiro and the paladins had cuddled together in a pile on the floor. Blankets and pillows were scattered under them, but none of them seemed too concerned by the lack of padding.

Keith was in the center of the pile, going full-out kola on Pidge, though one arm was behind his body. The girl's face was scrunched almost in protest as Keith held her like an oversized teddy bear. Shiro laid on Pidge's other side, curled around the pair with his arm draped across them and his floating arm was missing. Lance, Keith's right hand man, was laying on Keith's right arm that was laying awkwardly behind him. Lance's back was to Keith's, and he and Allura had their foreheads against each other. Their arms were laced together and their legs kicked out from the pile. Shiro's prosthetic was actually at Allura's back, almost like he was hugging the whole team. Hunk was stretched out at everyone's head, his belly becoming a pillow for Allura, Lance, and Keith, while Shiro's head was on his knees.

"What- How- When-" Veronica stammered.

"I think everyone needed a good kola," Krolia said.

Matt, one of the few outside the paladins who knew the term, raised an eyebrow. "Humans don't kola, though."

"No, but we cuddle."

Everyone jumped at Lance's voice. Everyone looked, but the red paladin's eyes were shut. Everyone was silent until Veronica spoke.

"You all heard Lance speak, right?"

"Yes," Hunk responded for them, making the group start again. "He did."

"Are you guys awake or not?" Veronica asked.

Shiro's flesh hand moved up to his lips in a shushing gesture. His eyes opened to give the group a hard look.

"Don't wake Keith up, okay?" Shiro said firmly. "We finally got him to sleep."

Matt snickered into his hand and playfully saluted. Shiro nodded and closed his eyes. He laid his arm back down.

"So…" Veronica whispered. "Do we leave now?"

"Yes," Allura muttered.

"No, stay," Pidge moaned. "I need help."

Shiro shushed her and gently tapped her shoulder. Pidge pouted deeper and sighed. Veronica had to grin at Pidge.

Then Keith shifted.

Everyone just froze. A few panicked at the slight movement. Lance and Shiro opened their eyes.

Keith groaned in his sleep and writhed. Lance lifted his body, letting Keith pull his arm back and move it in front of him. He tucked his freed arm around Pidge and hugged her closer, then settled down.

When Keith didn't move anymore, everyone relaxed. Lance and Shiro's eyes closed.

Matt suddenly remembered something. "Hey, Pidge said that Lance always takes pictures of Keith kolaing on his phone."

Pidge's eyes snapped open and she hissed, "Don't you dare."

"Lance's phone is beside his bed," Veronica supplied.

Matt darted from the room. Pidge's mouth opened in protests that she didn't dare voice for fear of waking Keith. Shiro chuckled and some of the group had to leave before they laughed aloud.

And, in the midst of it all, Keith slept on.