“You okay, babe?” Hunk asks. “Yeah,” Keith says. “It’s just – a lot.” Hunk frowns, absently pulling Keith in closer, as if to protect him. Keith goes willingly, deep-rooted affection preventing any irritation he normally feels at being manhandled. Hunk does it with such instinctive care, it’s impossible to be annoyed.  “We can go back to the ship, if you want,” Hunk offers. “Or go somewhere quieter?”  Keith shakes his head immediately before realizing Hunk is still scrutinizing the crowd. He eyes it with personal dislike, as if the crowd has personally offended him by making Keith uncomfortable The thought brings a furl of warmth to Keith’s chest and a slightly smug smile to his lips.  He reaches up to catch Hunk’s jaw and gently turn it towards him. Hunk follows with a look of bemusement. Keith leans up and presses a quick kiss to Hunk’s lips.  “Nah,” he says. “It’s date night.”  Hunk grins, and Keith leans back in for one more quick kiss. When he pulls away, his lips taste sweet, like the sugary orange confection Hunk bought a few hours ago. Hunk’s gaze follows Keith’s tongue as it swipes the taste from his bottom lip. Tugging on their joined hands, Keith pulls them back into the crowd and through.  They pass through the crowd with some effort and pop out on the other side, escaping the main boulevard to walk along the backs of the stalls. The sky arches overhead in a tessellation of blues. The carnival lights hover in shifting lines, neon jewels crisscrossing the dark of the sky. Behind the vendors is quiet and still, only a few aliens meandering past. The rest of the crew is out here somewhere, wandering and exploring. They’d spotted Ulaz and Shiro once – Shiro’s head thrown back in laughter while Ulaz watched with a helpless sort of fondness. The others had vanished shortly after they’d separated, but Keith doesn’t worry, for once. They’re safe, he knows – and so is he. Hunk threads their fingers together and starts walking along the dark side of the carnival. From this vantage, it’s easier to pick out the different stalls and signs without being distracted by the crush of the crowds. They glow in impossible hues against the night sky, pinks and greens and blues. Below them, tides of aliens undulate among the stalls. “Holy shit.” Keith lunges forward, jerking Hunk by their joined hands. “Keith?” Hunk asks. “What is it?” Keith continues to gape, too stunned to do more than stare. Hunk steps up to his level and peers along Keith’s sightline. “A…hippo?” Keith breathes. “A – what?” Hunk asks, but Keith is already pulling them in a singleminded beeline towards a stall. Prizes hang in lines along the side of it, and as they near, it quickly becomes clear which of these caught Keith’s eye. A hippo – plump and plush-looking – hangs in an upper corner of the wall. Keith stops just below the plushie, gawking. It isn’t exactly accurate with its four eyes and purple-mottled fur, but the jaw is unmistakeable. “A hippo,” Hunk laughs. He wraps one arm around Keith in a hug, careful not to pink Keith’s arms down. “Hey! Hey you!” Keith jerks around defensively, arms raising up. An alien looms over them, a bent pillar of semi-transparent…stuff. It quivers a bit, like a disconcertingly large mound of food goo, but the way the carnival lights reflect in its blue flesh is more like glass. “Back off,” the alien says. “We don’t let thieves like you around here!” “We’re not thieves,” Keith retorts. The alien quivers upward in something like indignation. It has no arms to cross, but Keith can imagine it anyway. “Then why are you skulking around back here instead of playing the game, eh?” the alien demands smugly. Keith rolls his eyes and pulls Hunk back towards the other side, but Hunk doesn’t budge. “What’s the game?” he asks. The alien made a flubbering noise, like a gust of air through flaps of rubber. “It is the mightiest of games in the universe, the truest test of strength in all the worlds!” it declares, sliding back along their slime trail. Keith and Hunk follow, the trail crunching crystalline under their boots. They round the corner. “The Undefeatable Ubeta!” the alien announces. Keith blinks. It’s a hammer game, one of those strength tests from old circuses but with more lights and unreadable writing. Hunk pauses, and then pats Keith’s arm.  “I got this, babe.”  Keith smiles a little, settling in for a show, as Hunk strides forward to where an oversized club lays at the foot of the game. The alien trills in alarm.  “No, no, you are a mere Terran!” it yelps. “You cannot withstand the might of the Ubeta!”  Hunk hefts the club in one hand and glances the alien’s way with a raised eyebrow.  “I’ve fought Zarkon,” he says nonchalantly. “I think I’m good.”  He throws a grin and a wink over his shoulder at Keith, and Keith grins back. Turning back to the machine, hunk rolls the club once in his hand before looking to the alien.  “How high for the hippo?”  “The ippo?” the alien asks.  “Yeah, the hippopotamus,” Hunk says, gesturing towards the prize with his club.  The alien falters a moment before huffing out a wet breath and straightening up to its full height.  “The uh – the i-ipo-eepo-tomus is the very top, of course,” it huffs.  ‘Of course,’ Keith mouths, rolling his eyes. Hunk just turns back to the game. He hefts the club once more, lifts it high – and swings.  A few minutes later, they are walking back to the ship, the hippo snug under Keith’s arm. Behind them, the alien can still be heard sputtering about cheaters and the Intergalactic Gaming Agency, and the game’s bell continues to ring. From the way Hunk lodged the ball in the game’s upper sensor Keith doubts the Undefeatable Ubeta will be facing any more challengers in the near future.  “Y’know,” he says, “you didn’t have to do that for me.”  Hunk flushes, rubbing the back of his neck abashedly.  “I know,” he admits, “but the way you just…lit up” – he shrugged helplessly – “I just like seeing you smile like that.”  Keith smiles, ears burning scarlet. He leans in, wrapping his arms around Hunk’s chest and pressing a kiss to his cheek.  “Thank you,” he says.  Hunk stops to enfold Keith in his own arms and pull him back in for a full kiss. The crowd still presses in around them, a tugging and pushing tide, but with Hunk’s arms around his chest and Hunk’s heartbeat thumping in time with his own, Keith can’t think of a single place he’d feel safer.