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One day, Pidge gets the group together to make an announcement. She rubs the back of her neck, nervous, and smiles awkwardly at them all.
“So, what’s this about, Pidge?” Shiro asks.
And Pidge ducks her head as she says, “Well, you know I said I’m a girl? Well, there’s something else I want to tell you. I’m a trans girl.”
She has to explain what this means to Coran and Allura. But once they know, they join the others in reassuring Pidge that she is accepted.
As he pats her back, Coran knows he should make an announcement too.
The day after Pidge came out as transgender, Coran clears his throat at the dining table.
“Paladins, I would like to tell you something,” he says. He wrings his hands together, smiling.
Beside him, Shiro squeezes his arm. “Go for it, Coran.”
“Well, if I were to use your human terms, I am gay.”
The Paladins (except for Shiro and Allura, who already know) all stare at him. And then they smile.
“That’s cool,” Lance says.
“Yeah, thanks for telling us, Coran,” Hunk says.
Coran grins, knowing they would have accepted him anyway but still so pleased for this reaction.
“Do you have a sexual orientation, Shiro?” Coran says as they get ready for bed one night, buttoning his pyjama shirt.
Shiro splutters with laughter. “Um… I guess so. Everyone has one, even if they don’t know what it is. Why?”
“I don’t know,” he says, getting into their double bed. “I was just wondering.”
“I’ve never really given it much thought,” Shiro says. “I guess I’m bisexual. But I thought I was straight until I met you. Then I…” He starts to blush. “I fell in love with you.”
Coran smiles and kisses him. “I love you, Number One.”
“Coran, are you autistic?” Shiro says.
Coran nearly chokes on his water, turning to look at Shiro. He starts to twist the ends of his moustache, wondering why he is nervous.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because Keith’s autistic and you remind me of him sometimes. Are you?”
Coran nods. “Yes, I am. Is that a problem?”
“Of course it’s not,” Shiro says, sitting down beside him and putting an arm around his shoulders. “It’s great. ‘Cause now I know how I can help you to the best of my abilities.” He smiles and kisses Coran. “I love you.”
Coran smiles.
Shiro and Coran have been in a relationship for three months now, but Coran can’t be the only one who can’t work out how to describe their relationship.
“We aren’t boyfriends,” Shiro says when Coran raises the issue. “Because that makes us sound like kids.”
“Yet we aren’t husbands or spouses, given that we are not married,” Coran says, nodding and twisting his moustache.
“So… how about partners?” Shiro suggests. “It’s gender neutral and quite formal and seems mature. And I’d be more than happy to introduce you as my partner.”
Coran smiles, kissing him. “So would I… my partner.”