"Still nothing?"

Lance leaned over Shiro, trying not to grimace as the action caused him to lock eyes with Shiro's blank, unseeing ones.

"None..." He said, not even looking up as Matt entered the infirmary, moving straight to Lance's side.

"You should probably get some rest, Lotty," he said, resting a hand on the girl's head. Her tongue was poking out as she attempted to tie the string of Shiro's overlayer, fumbling with a simple knot Lance had taught her the day before.

"Al... most..." She said, standing on her tiptoes to see better. Matt made a move as if to help, by Lance stopped him with a wry grin.

Lance was watching carefully anyway, just to make sure it was properly done up. It would be embarrasing for everybody involved if it wasn't tied well enough. He doubted Olly would be able to concentrate and do her job if there was a naked buff dude in front of her.

(Not naked, he reminded himself. Shiro did have a thin suit on, not unlike the one Lance found himself in when he cane out of the Castle's pods.)

Then again, it was thin enough that it didn't leave much to the imagination.

Though he wasn't entirely sure that Olly was interested in human men.

... Or men, now that he really thought about it.

"Mux was wondering if you were up for going to the shooting range sometime." Matt said, pulling Lance out of his thoughts. "He said to tell you that it shouldn't be too awkward, and that it's not like you have to hold a conversation with him."

"I've got a lot on my plate right now, I don't exactly have time to play around, Matt." Lance replied, bringing up a screen next to Shiro's head.

Matt pursed his lips. "You need to take breaks, y'know."

"There!" Lotty said, giving a proud nod at her work and stepping back.

"Great job. Could you go fetch Olly for me?" Lance asked, tapping the screen to zoom in on a line of data.

"Sure thing!" Lotty chirped, and skipped out of the room. A second later, she stuck her head back through the door. "Don't go anywhere, Mr Rolo!" she said, and was gone again.

"I see what you mean by the 'mr' thing." Lance said, holding back a laugh as he minimised the screen.

"If I could move properly, I'd be giving you the finger." Rolo said, scowling. Matt leant over and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I've got you." He said, following up with flipping off Lance.

"Why do you humans find that offensive, anyway?"

Lance grinned. "Depends on who's giving it, because it's usually in good humour."

Rolo rolled his eyes. "I'm never going to understand your strange culture."

"Eh, humans have a lot of cultures." Matt said, and Rolo scoffed. "I'm serious! Every country has its own distinct style and culture, you can't really expect every human to have the same ideals."

Rolo made an indistinct noise. "Well, you two're pretty similar, so I'll take a stab and say this guy's the same."

"Shiro's a great guy." Lance said in agreement, opening a new screen to fiddle with the bed's settings. "He was my hero for a long time before I met him."

Matt snickered, and Lance gasped theatrically. "What? Do you mock me for my life choices?"

"Nah, it's just funny to hear you refer to this disaster of a person as a hero."

"Yeah, well, he can't be worse than you." Lance said, and the bed slowly lifted so Shiro was somewhat sitting up. Matt readjusted his pillow and sheets, a half thoughtful look on his face.

"True, true..." He said, moving to the foot of the bed to fix the sheets there.

Rolo shuddered. "Could you maybe give him a visor or something? The dead-eye stare's a little creepy."

"Hmm?" Matt looked up at Shiro, before blanching. "Yeah, you're right. That's a bit scary. Can't be good for his eyes, either."

Not seeing any other options, Lance reached over and closed Shiro's eyes himself. He pulled his hand back quickly, grimacing. "That felt like I was closing the eyes of a corpse."

"If it's any consolation, it looked that way too."

"Matt, how is that consolation?"

He shrugged. "No idea. So Olly's coming to do some work?"

Lance nodded. "She's taking casts of Shiro's stumps and taking measurements, and designing a new arm and leg for him from scratch."

Matt gave a low whistle, pulling up the seat next to Shiro's bed and sitting down. "Snazzy."

"She's not going to build them before he's truly awake though, we're not even sure he'll want new prosthetics."

"I wanted a new leg to replace this hunk of junk but she said it was fine as long as maintenance was performed correctly." Rolo said, leg shifting slightly in an attempt to move it.

Matt chuckled. "Yeah well, I'm pretty sure yours was made from scraps."

Rolo was silent, and Matt's chuckles turned into full laughter. "Oh my god it was."

"... can you flip the finger to yourself?"

Lance made his way over to Rolo, grinning. "How 'bout we get those exercises done so you can do it yourself?" He said, reaching for Rolo's closer hand. "Also, you have one less finger than we do, so does it even count?"

"I reckon so." Matt said. Lance rolled his eyes.

"You just think it's hilarious to teach aliens swears and rude gestures."

"I'm right, aren't I?" He leaned back in his chair, propping his legs up on the edge of Shiro's bed and tucking his hands behind his head. "Besides, technically we're the aliens - there's only a maximum of..." He trailed off, doing some quick maths in his head. "Seven. Seven humans in space."

"And somehow three of them ended up here." Rolo drawled as Lance massaged the palm of his hand. "That's nearly an invasion."

"Maybe so."

Lance paused in his movements, turning to stare at Matt over his shoulder. In return, he gave a shit-eating grin.

"Matt... that meme died when my abuela was on the internet."

"It was never really a 'meme', it's more of an abstract reaction."

"I'm not even gonna ask."

"Good choice." Lance said, going back to his massaging. He gently pulled each finger in on Rolo's hand, holding them in a fist. "Okay, try to hold this for as long as you can." He said, releasing Rolo's hand.

He counted how long it took for Rolo's hand to loosen again, nodding in approval. "You've improved." Lance noted.

"Doesn't feel like it." Rolo muttered, looking away.

"Yeah, it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount," Lance said, curling in Rolo's thumb and holding it for a few seconds. "But it's still progress."

"I should be out in the field, or flying, or something."

"You should be resting and recovering." Lance stressed, moving to flex Rolo's wrist. "And I should probably apologise for not being able to do this with you enough."

"'S fine. Just draws out the recovery rate."

"And I know you want it to be faster, so I'm sorry that—"

"Don't worry about it, man. I know Kelaan's not up to her usual load of work, so you're stretched thin. I'm not going to be annoyed because you're busy with other things."

Matt leaned back so he was looking at Lance and Rolo upside down. "I'm amazed Kelaan was able to do all this and more alone," he said. "I mean, sure, we've picked up a lot more people since you arrived, but wow, she had a lot of work."

"Has." Lance corrected. "Has a lot of work. I'm only taking over her duties for a short time. Hopefully she'll be back to work in no time, and I can be back on missions soon."

Matt snapped his fingers as a thought came to him. "Oh yeah, about that - Captain said Muxis didn't actually have the right to pull you off active duty so—"

"Does that mean I'm not grounded?" Lance said hopefully. Matt sucked in a breath between his teeth.

"Oh no, you're officially grounded until further notice."

"Don't see why..." Lance muttered, rounding Rolo's bed to start with his other hand.

"Did you forget?" Matt sat up straight, turning in his chair to actually face Lance in partial shock. "You punched Muxis in the face."

Lance pulled a face. "He had it coming, with what he said."

"... Did I... miss something?" Rolo asked, lost in the conversation.

"It's..." Lance ran a hand over the star shaved into his hair. "A long story. It all happened while you were out."

"Does it have something to do with that dude?" He managed to jerk his head a little towards Shiro.

Matt nodded. "Yeah, it's a mess, and -surprisingly - I have nothing to do with it."

"I find that hard to believe." Rolo replied, and Lance started to massage his hand.

"The point is, there's a lot going on and the medical side of it's kinda lacking staff right this moment." Lance said. "The duties keep piling up and at this rate, I'm going to have to look after Kelaan too."

The three of them lapsed into silence, Matt turning back to Shiro and pulling up a screen, Lance working his way around Rolo's hand.

"Hey kid," Matt said after a few minutes perusing the data in front of him. "Fix that posture, you're a cadet."

"Not anymore, sir." He shot back, and Matt turned to him, an eyebrow raised. "I mean, I technically dropped out."

"Guess you're right." Matt said eventually, nodding as if to say 'fair enough'. "But that hunched back isn't going to help you later in life, kid."

Lance sat up straighter, back popping a little into place as he did so. He let go of Rolo's hand so he could lean back, cracking the rest of his back with a satisfying sound.

Matt shuddered. "That's gross."

"You're the one who told me to sit up straight."

"I'm back!"

"Hey Lotty," Matt greeted, lifting a hand to wave at the girl.

"Mr Rolo didn't move, just like you asked." Lance said, and he shot a look to Rolo, who looked like he had a string of curses on the tip of his tongue. He curled in Rolo's fingers, holding them for a moment. "Same as last time, ready?"

He counted under his breath, Lotty watching everything with her seemingly endless enthusiasm.

"Can I do that?" She said, pointing to Rolo's hand. "Can I help Mr Rolo with his exercise?"

Lance blinked, before a wide grin spread over his face. Of course - why hadn't he thought of that before?

"You sure can, Lotty;" Lance grinned at Rolo's murderous look, moving to the side so that she could take his place. "Be gentle, alright?"

"Alright."

"So where's Olly?" Matt asked, and Lance finally realised that Lotty had come back alone.

"She's grumpy."

"About what?" Lance asked, picking up his datapad and flicking through his complied notes for Kelaan and Koadda.

"She said 'Pilot left without saying hi to me first'." Lotty traced her finger over Rolo's, her tiny hand fitting inside his palm. "And Roy said that Pilot had a mission, with Nyma and Vi and Lahnce, but you're Lance so I asked what she meant and she said 'no, not Lance, Lahnce' but that still made no sense so she said 'just tell them Olly with be there later, she's grumpy because a friend didn't say hi or bye'."

Matt hid a snicker in his hand.

"I also said that I was gonna come keep Rolo company so he doesn't murder the brat."

Lotty puffed out her cheeks. "I'm not a brat, and Mr Rolo wouldn't do that."

"Only 'cause I can't move." He muttered, and Matt's mirth grew.

"Oi, everyone's a brat at your age, I was no exception." Roy moved into the infirmary, dropping to sit on the end of Rolo's bed. "Olly's sulking because Pilot didn't even step foot in Base. Lahnce basically came in, grabbed Nyma and Vi, and they were gone again."

"So why are you here without her?" Matt asked, "This is the first time I've seen you apart by choice."

"I do it all the time." She waved a hand, dismissing his words. "Olly usually drags me everywhere, but when she's having some downtime I can wander."

In the dim light of the infirmary (Rolo's request, his eyes weren't still used to full brightness), Roy's eyes were brighter, almost glowing.

"That doesn't answer why you're here and she's not."

"Fluffy, I told you - she's sulking, and I wanted to come chat with Rolo, is that so hard to believe?"

"For you? Yeah."

Shaking his head, Lance tuned out the rest of the conversation, focusing on his reading instead.