Chapter Text
Keith stared blankly at the readout in front of him for the umpteenth time, the Altean figures continuing to confuse him, “Coran, I think the oxygen in my suit’s a little low?” It was a good enough guess, he thought, he and Shiro had been on a pretty long mission recently and had needed to be using the oxygen in their suits for the better half of it.
Coran frowned slightly as he looked at the readout from Keith’s suit, “You’ll be fine lad, there isn’t any cause for you to have your visor down when you get to the surface and we can refill your suit when you get back.”
Keith hummed in acknowledgement, silently congratulating himself for guessing correctly, “Thanks Coran.”
Keith headed out of the bridge and finally slipped his helmet on over his head.
***
Hunk was so sick of alien ships, the Saccaphine were supposed to be easy to loop into the coalition. With a decent amount to give and a lot to gain from an alliance with Voltron, the team had assumed Hunk and Keith would be able to play diplomats for an afternoon and that would be it.
One more species in the coalition, just like that.
But no, because of course not. As soon as the red and yellow paladins had docked, they’d been taken into custody. Unable to fight back because, in Allura’s words, if you need weaponry for a diplomacy mission, you’re doing something wrong.
Hunk and Keith had been able to handle themselves hand to hand for a bit, but it had become significantly harder to fight when their attackers brought out stun guns.
The two had woken up in a chamber-like room, there were no marks or seams on the walls, not even a door. There was, however a small square indent in the ceiling. Judging from the lack of door, and the aches running up and down Hunk’s back, that was probably how they’d been put in the room.
The floor tilted downward slightly toward a small drain in the centre of the room, there were vents lining the tops of the walls, Hunk didn’t want to think about what these only defining features of the room were for.
They’d only been in the room for a few minutes when a hazy white mist had started to creep out of the vents. Both of them had lowered their visors immediately, staring wide eyed at one another.
“What do you think that is?” Keith said quietly, walking toward the vents, unafraid now that each of them were protected from the strange gas.
Hunk could only shrug in response. He was sat cross-legged against the opposite wall, eyes following the red paladin as he walked, Keith hadn’t stopped pacing the side of the cell since the vents had opened, scowl firmly plastered across his face.
After about 20 minutes of mounting boredom, Hunk finally let his eyes wander away from the red paladin, looking forward dejectedly, “How long are they gonna be?”
Keith’s head snapped over toward the other, “I don’t know Hunk.” Keith was sounding especially frustrated, even for him. “Don’t you think I would have told you if they’d gotten back to me?”
Keith stopped his pacing, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he glared at Hunk. “You would have heard them anyway!” His voice rose as he spoke, cracking as he got more frustrated. “You’re wearing your helmet too!” Keith turned and punched the wall harshly before sliding down into a sitting position, burying his hands in his hair and pulling harshly.
Hunk sat still for a moment. That was weird, even for their notoriously hot-headed red paladin it usually took a lot more than a weird room and Hunk to make him snap.
Hunk shook his head out of his shocked stupor, “Hey man,” he started slowly, raising his hands in mock surrender, “I didn’t mean it like that, I’m sorry.”
Keith breathed out slowly, retracting his hands from their death grip on his hair. “No,” he mumbled, “don’t be sorry, you didn’t- you didn’t do anything wrong, I’m sorry.”
“How’s your hand?”
Keith shook his wrist out, “Its fine.”
They sat awkwardly for a minute, both staring at the floor.
“So…” Hunk wrung his hands together, “are you feeling a little-”
“I think I’m nearly out of oxygen.” Keith’s voice was blunt as interrupted Hunk.
“You- what?”
“I mean, I think so anyway? I can’t read the Altean but it was running low before we came down here, and I think it’s getting kinda hard to breathe?”
Hunk stared blankly at Keith for a moment, “But… I thought, I thought Coran checked over your suit after your and Shiro’s mission?”
“We weren’t even supposed to need our helmets! I didn’t know we were gonna get gassed!” Keith was getting wound up again, breaths coming more harshly as he tried to reign in his temper.
“Okay… okay that’s fine, we can deal with this, but I need you to calm down, okay?”
Keith nodded slightly, before tilting his head back into the wall, “I’m okay, I’m sorry.”
“How about we stop apologising for a minute and try to figure this out, first off, you need to sit still and stop talking so much.”
Keith nodded, looking up curiously at Hunk as the bigger boy stood, Keith looked hazy from how much of the gas had seeped into the room.
Hunk tried to swallow his worry as he jumped up, and with a burst of his jetpack he tried to pry apart the join between the hatch and the rest of the ceiling.
They’d tried that already of course, along with trying to kick in the vents and wrench up the drain. None of it had worked then, none of it worked when Hunk tried for a second time.
Hunk used his jetpack again, powering his entire body into the hatch, hard. It didn’t even jolt and he fell to the floor with a groan.
“Hunk?” Keith was breathing noticeably deeper, almost panting as he leant towards the yellow paladin.
“I’m good.” Hunk gasped, “I’m good, apparently that technique doesn’t work for opening hatches or combining lions.”
Keith let out a small huff of amusement, he looked over at Hunk in a wide-eyed panic as he choked, trying desperately to take in a full breath again.
Hunk moved over to Keith’s side, holding him up by his shoulders, “Breathe Keith, I need you to breathe in.”
Keith finally managed a small inhale and slumped against Hunks hands; he was sucking in small, frantic breaths as he choked and tried to blink away tears. His helmet was flashing red now, small intermittent bursts of light glowing through his visor.
“Off,” Keith managed to splutter, “hel- helmet,” He coughed and shuddered in Hunks hold. “Please.” Keith’s hands trembled as he tried to unlatch his helmet.
Hunk held Keith’s hands still with one of his own, “Okay… okay I’m going to take it off… okay.” Hunk lifted his free hand up to dissipate Keith’s visor.
Keith sucked in a deep breath; a look of relief flashed across his face as he continued to breath, deep and quick.
“You good?” Hunk looked worriedly down at the older boy.
“I’m-” Keith coughed, “I’m good.”
“Right.” Hunk looked doubtful as he tried to assess the red paladin’s state. “Just- just tell me if that changes, okay? And try to slow your breathing a little alright bud, I don’t want you taking in any more of this stuff then necessary.”
Keith nodded dazedly, focusing wholly on staying still and calm.
“Good, okay… I’m gonna work on getting us out.”