"Hunk?"

Hunk was definitely not used to hearing Allura calling his name like that—like she wanted to talk to him, not just issue orders. And he wasn't entirely sure he was comfortable with it, either.

Shiro talked to him, sometimes. That was fine—he was the team leader. Lance talked to him. Even Pidge talked to him now, since they spent a decent amount of their free time collaborating. It stayed mostly work-based, sure—with a generous side helping on Pidge's end of don't touch my stuff—but still, the younger paladin showed much more interest in Hunk than had been the case back at the Garrison. Keith…wasn't much of one for talking, and Hunk could respect that.

After Lance and Pidge, he actually talked the most often to Coran. The guy talked more at Team Voltron than he did to them, but he was friendly, and more importantly, he knew the castle-ship upside-down and backwards. Hunk had to spend most of his time training, but in his free time, when he wasn't watching Pidge learn the ship's computers from the ground up, he was following Coran, helping with general upkeep and picking up whatever random information the man saw fit to share. Coran was perfectly content just being listened to most of the time, and Hunk didn't mind the chatter. He didn't want to be roped into chores too often, but he had to admit that he learned a lot, too. Coran was very good at what he did.

Allura, though? Most of the time, the only person who talked to her directly was Shiro. So, yeah, he might be kind of nervous as a person, but as far as he was concerned, he was justified in being a little nervous about Allura talking to him. "…Yes, Princess?"

"This might sound like sort of a strange question, but…have you been in the AI chamber recently?"

Oh. Oh, dear.

He winced. "Uh…yeah?"

"I'm not mad," she hurried to assure him, "just…I wasn't really expecting anyone to go in there. There isn't much to see anymore, after all."

"Right. I…" This was what he got for sticking his nose in everything, Hunk thought morosely. "I just…look, I don't really have a good reason, I'm sorry to pry—"

"It isn't really prying," Allura said softly. "It's all right, Hunk. Thanks for cleaning up the shards."

"You're welcome," Hunk said automatically. "I just thought it'd be a little dangerous, you know, like what if someone fell in there and got cut or something? Or a torn suit—that could be really dangerous if it went unnoticed, and—"

"I understand," she reassured him. "I just wanted to check, that's all. I'm glad that you take looking after the ship so seriously."

"Of course I take it seriously," Hunk said, shrugging. "It's kind of our home now."

"I'm glad you feel that way."

Allura smiled sadly at him before turning to leave, and then somehow something else slipped out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about it. "Princess…"

She turned back, surprised.

"Look, it's probably none of my business, but…" Hunk forced himself to pause. Deep breath in, deep breath out; this was the sort of thing that was worth saying slowly. "I'm sorry about your father. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you."

The look that flitted across the princess's face was…complicated, Hunk decided. Like she wanted to be polite, or happy that he cared, but she couldn't quite manage to be either of those things just yet. He fought back a wince of sympathy.

"Thank you, Hunk," she murmured. "It…hasn't been easy."

"Is there anything we can do?" he asked. "Like…I don't know what sort of traditions Altea has, but if it would help to do something in his memory…?"

"I have all the memories I need in here," she said, resting a finger lightly on her temple. "I've already made my peace with my father's passing."

"Okay," he said, nodding. "But if you ever need someone to talk to, we're all here for you, Princess." He was a little intimidated to talk to Allura, sure, but she was part of the team—a precious, irreplaceable part. If talking with her more often would help, he'd get over his nervousness.

He thought her eyes were a bit glossier than normal for a second, but then she blinked and the moment was gone. "I know," she said, and disappeared back the way she'd come.