The castle was extremely loud all the time; Keith couldn't stand it. Normally, he was able to put up with it and huff off to his room, but for whatever reason Lance had started to bug him even more when Keith tried to leave. "You can't leave! Hunk just found a bunch of alien board games!" or "Dude, you're such a partypooper! It's just one loogy!" were common to hear.

So, just to try to find some peace, Keith headed off to his lion's hangar. The claim of 'bonding time!' was enough to get everyone to leave him be. Maybe he shouldn't have yelled…whatever, he could blame it on Lance.

Entering the hangar was enough to loosen the tight nerves and muscles Keith kept clenched. "Hey, Red," Keith greeted in a whisper before patting the paw of his lion. Red looked down and crouched to face her paladin easier. She could tell Keith was stressed, so she wanted to help him feel better if she could. Keith gave her smile and patted her nose. "Man, I'm glad you can't talk…" he mumbled as he slumped against the robot's side. "I get enough of talking just from being in the same building as everyone else here…"

Red whined and curled around the boy, which made him snicker. It always surprised him how caring the robots could all be, considering they were built for destruction and fighting. But, he wasn't going to complain so long as he didn't get the Cub Treatment like Lance and Pidge got quite often.

However, something new happened when Keith leaned against Red's stomach. Vibrations filled the room and practically bounced Keith, making him grab for Red's elbow.

"How can a robot PURR?!" Keith shouted, which caused the purring to abruptly stop. He looked up to see Red looking at him with almost a sad expression. "I didn't – you just caught me off guard is all!" Keith crawled around to Red's front, reclining against her paw. He didn't want her to feel bad! "Just…maybe not so loud next time? The floor is really hard to bounce on."

A softer purr escaped the robot and acted a lullaby as Keith started to fall asleep against the cool metal. Red laid her head on the unoccupied paw, further protecting Keith from whatever might enter the hangar. Before long, Keith unconsciously moved to lay closer to his lion's face. He curled up around her chin and laid a hand on the side of her paw.

"Princess, what was that?!" Coran shouted as he ran to Allura. Had a spacequake happened?!

Allura giggled and shook her head. "It seems that the red lion is very content with her paladin…"

Looking at the monitors, the two watched Keith and Red sleep. They hadn't ever seen those two so relaxed, and doubted they ever would again.

"He almost looks sweet like that," Coran said with a chuckle.

Yes this one is shorter, but sweeter in my opinion. I feel like Red would be very mothering once her paladin earned it.

And, boy, has Keith earned it.