Inhibition

A Long Day

"Oh, they're back!" Pidge announced as the Red, Yellow and Blue Lions flew toward the castle, heading toward their docking bays.

Allura had sent Hunk, Lance and Keith out on a fight-and-rescue mission to a planet that had sent out a distress signal, since the castle was still too damaged to be dependable in a fight. Pidge had stayed back, to help with repairs. It wasn't like they could form Voltron, anyway.

Pidge ticked off the seconds until she could tell that they were in the castle. It didn't take long. Five... four... three... two...

"This is all because you were trying to look good in front of some weird alien girl!"

That would be Keith.

"Correction-- I was pretty cool, and she's a fish alien girl. Aw man-- Mermaids, fish people-- I really was meant to pilot the Blue Lion! Put me in the water any day!"

And Lance.

"You were so focused on doing backflips in your lion that I got hit with debris!"

"You were the one who charged out of your lion like a madman, swinging without thinking!"

"Hey, hey, guys-- chill out! We got back in one piece, right? And the Lilirians are safe!"

And that would be Hunk, trying his best to keep the two from killing each other.

"Tell that to my left eye!"

"Well, you know, they say that the ladies like battle scars," Lance offered, just when they got to the control room doors. Allura and Pidge glanced at each other, then rolled their eyes and waited for the trio to walk in.

"You're the only one who cares about that," Keith rebuked.

The doors slid open, revealing Hunk standing between Keith and Lance, looking exhausted. All of them were pretty banged up, but Keith had a HUGE blue-purple bruise around his left eye that made him kind of look like season three Prince Zuko.

"I take it the mission didn't go as planned," Allura remarked flatly, crossing her arms.

"Does it ever?" Hunk answered with a shrug, but Keith was covering his bruise with a hand and glaring at Lance through his fingers.

"The Galra attacked at a bad time," Keith grumbled. "Normally the Lilirians would have been able to defend themselves against a force that size pretty easily, but there was this weird firestorm going on that apparently comes from the moon."

Allura sighed. "I'd thought that might be a possibility. As I said before you left, Liliria is an aquatic world, but its fiery moon, Liliara, is almost half of the size of the planet and its gravitational pull causes problems. It's because of that interaction I thought it best to send the two of you. I suppose that may not have been the best idea, even with Hunk as balance."

"I dunno-- Keith and Lance did most of the work, since my lion really is bad with water." Hunk yawned, stretching. "Maybe we should all just relax. I'm gonna go eat some space goo."

Hunk left the room, and Pidge could hear him whistling as he strolled off down the hallway. Keith and Lance, meanwhile, were left in front of Allura, who was staring them down like a stern mother. Pidge, meanwhile, did her best to pretend she was invisible.

"Without Shiro here, I'm going to be relying on you two more than ever. That means you have to stop squabbling and start acting responsibly. Keith, you must stop acting rashly. Lance, you have to stop getting distracted during missions!"

"Alright, we get it, Princess. But it's hard for me to think clearly when my head's pounding," Keith mumbled sheepishly. "I'm gonna go use one of the healing pods."