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When Shiro had gone into space, he had never imagined he’d have to explain the concept of a trust fall to an alien.
Alteans didn’t have ‘trust falls’ as it were—at least, not in the same way humans did. According to Allura, the Alteans had concepts that were similar, but not the same. When he had explained to her what a trust fall was, she had been confused and then proceeded to explain what Alteans did in contrast. Many of the exercises she described involved either weapons being aimed at you, while you had to remain unflinching, or having your partner’s back in a training battle and putting their safety above your own. The latter reminded Shiro of one of the team building exercises he and the rest of the paladins had done at the beginning of their training.
Shiro didn’t know if he was ready for the former just yet, even though he knew that Allura wasn’t actually going to stab him anytime soon.
Allura found the concept of a ‘trust fall’ to be quite curious. “Will you show me?” she asked, tilting her head to the side as an excited grin broke out on her features.
Shiro was reluctant at first—if only because he was sure they had more important things to do than reaffirm their trust in one another. However, the castle was in working order, and the other paladins and Coran were off doing their own things in their free time, now that the day’s training sessions had finished. Shiro had almost forgotten that that this was supposed to be a time for him to relax… he supposed sharing culture with Allura could be considered a relaxing activity.
“You’re going to need to stand up on something… tallish, in order for this to work, princess,” he said.
That was how Allura ended up standing on the dining table. Seeing as Shiro was rather tall, it was the only thing he could think of that would work. He helped her up, holding her hand as she climbed in order to steady her.
“Now what?” Allura asked, looking at him for some type of explanation.
“Now, I’m supposed to catch you,” Shiro said, “If I catch you—”
Allura frowned at him. “If you catch me?” she asked, looking utterly baffled. “Of course you’re going to catch me—I fail to see the point of this…”
Shiro sighed before motioning for her to turn around, lips quirking upwards in mild amusement. Allura crossed her arms, still looking confused, but she turned her back to him.
“And now?” she prompted, tone remaining curious even in spite of her confusion.
“And now, you put your arms out like you’re an eagle,” Shiro instructed.
“An eagle?” Allura asked without turning around.
“Um… like a—what’s the word?” Shiro trailed off, trying to think of an equivalent Altean species. “Like a creature with wings. Put out your arms like you have wings.”
Allura laughed, but did as he requested, peeking over her shoulder at him.
“And then you just fall—”
Shiro cut off abruptly as Allura didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence before she tilted back. He caught her, of course, underneath her arms—he never would have forgiven himself if he let her fall so she could hit her head on the floor. He was thankful for his quick reflexes; otherwise, she might have hurt herself.
“Allura—” he began, tightening his grip on her as he helped steady her on her feet again.
While Shiro had been on the verge of panicking, Allura was laughing, clearly finding the entire thing hilarious. She only stopped laughing when she realized that he wasn’t, turning in his arms to look him in the eye. A worried frown appeared on her features.
“Did I do it wrong?” she asked.
“You were supposed to wait until I told you to go,” Shiro said as he released her, now that she was steady again. Still, he kept a hand firmly on her shoulder—he didn’t know why he did, perhaps to keep himself steady as his own shoulders relaxed.
“But I trusted you to catch me if you saw me falling,” Allura insisted, looking even more confused than she had before. “You’re sure we’re doing this right? It seems like a redundant exercise.”
“That’s because, usually, this is an exercise that’s done by people who don’t trust each other yet,” Shiro tried to explain. His heart rate had slowed down somewhat from the shock of Allura just falling like that, but he still took a deep breath before he continued. “If you don’t catch your partner then they won’t want to catch you.”
Allura perked up at the explanation. “Oh, I see now,” she said as her expression brightened again. “Could I try then?”
Now, it was Shiro’s turn to look baffled. “Could… you try?” he repeated.
“To catch you, of course,” Allura insisted, “You caught me, so I have to catch you now—I am understanding the point of this exercise correctly, yes?”
Shiro hesitated for a moment—but not because he didn’t think that Allura would be incapable of catching him. If she had been Pidge, perhaps he would have argued against it, but Allura had thrown him roughly twenty feet, one-handed, while wearing heavy armor. He doubted she’d have much trouble catching him if he fell—he didn’t need to fear banging his head on the floor, even if she misjudged how easily she could catch him.
“It’s only fair, Shiro,” Allura reminded him as he remained silent.
Shiro sighed, but relented and smiled as he nodded. “Alright… we’ve got some time.”