Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Drip Drop

He could never ignore the sound of the drops falling to the ground, landing on the cold metal floor of the facility. The splash of when they landed in a puddle that had formed under them. But it wasn’t always like that.

Drip Drop

They were always present, always there, never ending. But he didn’t mind, not anymore at least, now he used them as a way to tell that he was sane.

Drip Drop

Whenever he could hear the drops land, he was conscious and in control of his actions. But he knew that he had to get away from them, away from the facility that had kept him, experimented on him for who knows how long.

Drip Drop

He had learned the guard shifts, timed them and memorized them. He had worked so long to break the lock without them noticing, without them even suspecting a thing.

Drip Drop

He was almost out, not a single guard had seen him, but soon they’d realize that he was gone and would start looking. He had to get out before things would get too difficult, he’d have to keep going.

Drip Drop

He had finally reached the exit, the sound of the drops getting faint behind him. Barely registering. He had to keep going, he couldn’t afford to stop, he had to go on, when he was still in his own mind.

How far had he walked? For how long? He couldn’t hear the drops anymore, something that had been such a constant for so long. How long had it been?

He was tired, but he couldn’t stop, he couldn’t, he had to keep going, he couldn’t stop, he had to escape, had to be sure, he couldn’t go back there, never again.

Something, someone? Came towards him. What was that? Who?
Can’t let it get him.

“Sh----o!”

It said something, but before he realized that it had been his own name, something he hadn’t heard for such a long time, he was suddenly so close to the desert sand. Or had he been like that for a while? He wasn’t sure

Then-

Nothing.

Chapter Text

“Coran, I don’t know.” Shiro said, the two of them walking down the hallway towards the classroom, the morning sun shining through the windows of Shibusen. “After everything that happened, I’m not sure I’ll be a good teacher.”

“Nonsense! You’ll do great!” The cheery redhead stated matter of factly. “Besides, you already signed the contract, to late to back out now.”

Shiro chuckled, he already knew it was too late, but he couldn’t help the doubt that was nagging at the back of his mind. Although it was reassuring to know that he wouldn’t be alone in this, that he’d have someone to help him. He just hadn’t had the chance to meet his new partner, he’d only ever heard of her. She was amongst the best meisters despite never having landed a long-term partner.

“Ah, Shiro, let me introduce you to your partner.” Coran said when they had just about reached the door. Standing there was a young woman, with dark skin and long, curly white hair. Her eyes were like crystals due to how blue they were and Shiro couldn’t help but stare.

“Shiro, this is princess Allura of Altea. And Princess, this is Takashi Shirogane, or Shiro, for short.” Coran introduced them.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Shiro.” Allura extended her hand for a shake, suddenly noticing his missing right arm and was about to pull her hand away. “Sor-”

“Pleasures all mine, Princess.” Shiro said, cutting her off, grabbing her hand before she could pull it away and gently held it instead of shaking it.

How Quaint. She thought, smiling due to the gesture and the fact that he had tried to ease her shame in such a way.

Coran then cleared his throat, gaining their attention once more.

“Well I’ll leave you too it then, Allura, here are the reports on the students.” He handed her a binder that only contained a few pieces of paper. “And Shiro, these are the same papers along with a few others related to your rehab and such.” He handed Shiro another binder.

“Now off you go, the students are already waiting!” Coran said and nudged the two of them closer to the door. Patting them on the back and wishing them good luck.

“And if there’s anything you ever need, don’t hesitate to call me!” He said before leaving them alone by the door.

“Well...here goes nothing.” Allura said before opening the classroom door, Shiro only a few steps behind her.

When they entered, it wasn’t what they had expected. Thankfully nothing was broken but the students seemed to be arguing about something, something that had gotten them yelling and throwing things at each other.

“Oh Come on Keith, I’m not the problem here, the problem is you and your mouth!” Lance exclaimed, one foot on the desk as he’s pressing a finger against Keith’s chest. His face only a few inches from Keith’s.

“Oh really? My mouth is the problem, at least mine’s not dead inside.” Keith retorted, pushing Lance’s hand away from his chest. An eraser then hit him on the forehead, causing him to rub the spot.

“You guys are both idiots.” Pidge said from their desk, going through their bag and taking out trash and other things of the sort.

“Guys, please stop fighting, they’re all good.” Hunk said, trying to calm everyone down. He had his hands on lance’s shoulder, gently trying to pull the other teen away.

“What, is going on here!?” Allura shouted, getting all of their attention.

“I’d like to ask that myself?” Shiro said, one eyebrow raised as he looked over the room, making sure that nothing was broken, that and other reasons.

“They were arguing about Ice Cream flavours and it got rather...heated.” Hunk explained, rubbing the back of his head and laughing awkwardly.

Shiro sighed, they were all still just kids, it wasn’t so strange for them to have meaningless conversations. “Just sit down, alright?”

They all nodded before they sat down in their seats, Allura and Shiro finally got around to introducing themselves and taking role call, not that they really needed to, since there were only four students.

“No way, Shiro? The Death Scythe? Dude’s like my hero.” Lance whispered to Hunk who he was now sitting next too.

“Hey Shiro.” Keith said.

“Hi Shiro.” Pidge said.

“Wait what?!” Lance shouted, looking and pointing at Pidge, Keith and Shiro “You know each other?”

“He’s kind of a family friend.” Pidge explained, looking sad for a moment while looking down at their desk.

“He helped me out a few years back.” Keith then explained.

“Hey you two.” Shiro smiled at them, it was nice to see a few familiar faces, though he had no idea that Katie had cut their hair, or when they started going by Pidge. “But we need to start this, seems like you all have some problems to figure out.”

“First we’ll need a place to solve them all.” Allura said with a wide smile that made Shiro a little bit nervous. “I’ve already asked if this was alright. Thankfully they were all on board, actually thought it was a great idea! So during the time we’re tutoring you, we’ll all be staying together!.”

Everyone was shocked, even Shiro. None of them had heard anything about this and were quite confused. They all lived at the dorms anyway, so it wasn’t too much of a bother to move somewhere else for a little while, or however long the tutoring would take. And Shiro didn’t exactly have his own place at the moment, just the temporary apartment he’d be given.

The drive through death city didn’t take too long as the place they were staying wasn’t that far from the school. And they were all pretty excited about the new place they’d live for the time being, wondering what it would look like and if they’d have to share rooms or not.

Once the cars stopped and they all stood outside, they couldn’t help but gawk at the big building in front of them. It was a white mansion with a lot of lion decor. It didn’t have a very big drive way but the backyard seemed to be a bit bigger, though a tad empty with only some rose bushes by the edges.

“Holy! We’re gonna be staying here?! This place is huge!”Llance exclaimed, pulling at Pidge who didn’t even notice it as they themselves were staring at the huge building.

“Isn’t it a little too big for just the six of us?” Hunk asked, though he wasn’t complaining, the place looked beautiful and probably had a huge kitchen he could try things in. All the new dishes that he wasn’t allowed to try in the dorm kitchen.

“Welcome to the Castle of Lions everyone.” Allura said, moving so she was standing in front of everyone. “It has a training area, a classroom, kitchen, bathing area, everything we’ll ever need for our time together. You’ll all be getting your own room as well.”

“Can we go in?!” Lance asked excitedly, practically jumping due to excitement. “Can we pick our own rooms?!”

“Yes and yes, go ahead Lance.” Allura answered, gesturing them to all go inside.

The four young students all ran inside, trying to get past the other as they jammed the door, trying to push each other away so they could be the first one to go inside. Eventually they all ended up falling on top of each other at the doorway.

“Calm down everyone, you’ll get your chance to explore whether you’re the first one in or not.” Shiro chuckled, standing behind the pile of groaning teenagers. “Now go explore.”

With that, the four of them scrambled up again and started running through the mansion, looking through every door on every hallway. Making sure to not miss a single thing.

“This kitchen is huge!” Hunk said with sparkles in his eyes. He began to go through the cupboards and fridge, fantasising about all the things he could make in there. It was sleek and modern, with a lot of new brand name appliances that he couldn’t wait to get his hands on.

“Wow, what’s this room for?” Pidge said, they’d found an empty storage room, but it would be a mighty fine room for a lab. It would be a huge improvement from the little corner they had claimed as their own in the dorm room.

“This place has a sauna! A sauna!” Lance said, lying down on the wooden seats. “I love this place!”

Meanwhile, Keith stood on a balcony overlooking the backyard, wondering how he had ended up here. He didn’t regret having Lance as a partner, and not just because he was a sword. He did find him a bit annoying at times.

“Keith, hey Keith! Did you know this place has a sauna!” Lance barged onto the balcony, ruining Keith’s quiet moment.

“I heard you the first time Lance.” Keith sounded annoyed, not that he really meant it to.

“Why do you always have to be like this?” Lance asked.

“Like what?”

“You know, all, Edgy McCool.” Lance answered, making a gesture with his hands for emphasis.

“...what?” Keith was confused.

Allura had noticed Shiro walking around, unlike the others he seemed to be a lot more attentive, looking at every door, opening them and checking the windows. As if he was looking for something.

“Shiro? Are you alright?” Allura asked, regretting not announcing her presence beforehand as she saw him tense up.

“Princess?” Shiro asked as he turned around. “I..yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure, you seem rather...paranoid.” Allura couldn’t help but notice, she knew he had been missing for a year, but very few knew exactly why and she wasn’t one of them.

“I do?” Shiro honestly hadn’t realised what it looked like, he had gotten the habit of noting down the exits wherever he went “I mean, I probably do...sorry if I worried you Princess.”

“No need to apologize Shiro, it’s allright.” Allura chuckled “If you’d like, I can see if I can find the blueprints of the building?”

“Thank you, Princess.” Shiro smiled. “But we probably should go round them up, get them to go home and pack up their things if they’re going to stay here.”

“And don’t you need to go get yours?” She asked.

“I don’t have that many things, I don’t need to go right away.” He said, rubbing the back of his head with his remaining hand. All he really did have were a few change of clothes, he hadn’t exactly had the time to go shopping after the time he spent in the mental ward. And the fact that most of his old stuff had been given away since he was thought dead for that year he had been missing.

Allura couldn’t help but feel sad, wondering what on earth had happened to the young man standing in front of her. “Come on, once we send them off we can talk about what we’ll need to work on with them.”

“Can you guys believe it!” Lance exclaimed as they headed for the dorms to get their things. “We’re going to live in a mansion!”

“We know Lance, we were there.” Pidge said, excitement obvious in their voice.

“It’s gonna be a little weird though. Moving into a new place and all.” Hunk said.

“What, you homesick or something?” Lance teased.

“I am, we’ve been in Death City for so long, I miss living on an island.” Hunk said, he really did miss Hawaii.

“You’re weird, I have a huge family at home so getting away from them is great!” Lance lied. He missed his family, a lot. He missed his siblings and his abuelita. He especially missed his mom and her hugs. “What about you Keith, you homesick too? You’ve been pretty quiet. Then again that’s nothing new.”

“I’m not homesick.” Kinda hard when you didn’t really have a proper home.

“You’re totally homesick.” Lance said.

“Guys we’re here.” Pidge said and nudged them as the car stopped.

It didn’t take them very long to pack up their things, they were all pretty excited after all. It was a bit harder for Pidge thanks to all their little trinkets and inventions, which Hunk couldn’t help but want to prod at and touch which only earned him an earful from Pidge.

After they had said goodbye to the dorms, not that any of them were that sad about it, a mansion with 6 people would be quite the improvement.

Meanwhile, Allura and Shiro had their own things to figure out.

“Alright, seem like they all have a similar problem. Communication or just, not getting along.” Allura noted as she read through the reports.

“You’re right, but with the right motivation, they could be a great team.” Shiro said, trying to figure out how to help them all out.

“Well at least we know what we need to do for them.” Allura said before she went for the other files in her binder. “But that’s not all we need to work on.”

Shiro took his own binder and took out the mission files, he wasn’t sure what to expect but not this. “They want us to investigate possible Galra activity…”

“Seems like it, it’s going to be hard since we’ll need to tutor as well.” Allura added, noticing a copy of something that Shiro had written after he came back.

“Shiro….” She began. “Your handwriting….it’s atrocious.”

“What?” He then saw the report she was holding and understood what she meant and couldn’t help but laugh. “Sorry about that, I’m still getting used to writing with this hand.”

“Thankfully it’s legible.” Allura said with a slight laugh, Shiro’s laugh was quite contagious. “I’ll read it later. I need to see if my things have arrived.”

“Want me to help?” Shiro offered, it was more out of instinct rather than anything else.

“I can handle it myself thank you very much.” She said in a matter of fact tone. “But thank you, I appreciate it.”

“I never said you couldn’t Princess.” Shiro laughed and followed her to the lobby where a few bags were waiting.

Allura walked over to them and lifted majority of them with easy, leaving a couple for Shiro to handle. Shiro couldn’t help but stare in amazement, he knew Allura was strong but those bags did not look like they were light at all.

“What are you staring at? My rooms this way.” Allura said when she was halfway up the stairs, gesturing with her head for him to follow.

“Y-yeah, yeah, right, on my way.” Shiro shook his head before he went over to the last bag which he easily managed to hold with his one arm. Once he felt how heavy they were, he looked back at the Princess, and smiled. She really was impressive.

Chapter Text

“Why are we all sitting in a circle on the floor?” Pidge asked, though the others were wondering about their current situation as well.

“We’re going to get to know each other.” Allura explained, which only got her more questioning looks and raised brows.

“Good partners can trust in each other, so we’re going to start by working on that.” Shiro explained “As to why we’re all doing it together, it’s because we need to work as a team.”

“So it’s just a trust exercise?” Hunk asked, in all honesty he had been getting a little nervous about the whole thing. “That’s not too bad.”

“We’re all going to say something, something intimate about ourselves.” Allura began “That alone can be hard, but knowing something intimate about each other can help build a bond, and that is what you all seem to be lacking in.”

“We won’t ask you to tell us anything you’re not ready to reveal.” Shiro added, he had suggested that they would not start with this, but for what they had planned, this was the best place to start. Especially considering if they’d have to take them on missions.

“I’ll start.” Allura said, preparing herself for what she was about to tell the others. “I miss home, my father’s ill and, all I want to do is go home and be there with him. But he insists I stay here and do some good for the world, and I just can’t say no to him.”

“That’s rough.” Pidge said, they somewhat understood how the Princess felt, the pure want of being with a certain family member, or members in their case.

“Anyhow, who wants to go next.” Allura shifted the attention off of her. She may be the tutor but this exercise was also for her and Shiro.

There was a moment of silence before anyone spoke, it was a hard exercise depending on how much a person wanted to open up to others. And of course everyone needed some time to figure out what they wanted to say and how much they were willing to say.

“I...I wish I was stronger…” Hunk finally broke the silence, looking down as he fiddled with his fingers. “I’m not that brave and, I can get scared pretty easily. I just...really wish I wasn’t.”

“Hunk, Hunk, my man. You’re one of the toughest people I know, seriously. Once you set your mind on something, you do it, no matter what. Plus you’ve put up with me all this time.” Lance tried to cheer up his friend, if it was anything he was good at, it was that….most of the time.

“Hunk, strength and bravery aren’t always what you think they are. Simply admitting this was brave enough.” Shiro reassured him. “And true strength comes when you have something you feel the need to protect. You just need to figure out what it could be.”

“Thank you Hunk, for being honest.” Allura said, giving him a reassuring smile.

“I miss my family….” Lance then said. “I mean, since we’re being honest here. I come from a really big family, and we’re all pretty close. It’s just….weird being away from them for this long.”

“And I thought you weren’t homesick.” Hunk teased.

“I’m not homesick Hunk!” Lance defended himself. “Just….family sick….or something.”

“It’s alright being homesick, Lance.” Allura said. “We all have someone we miss.”

“Not me.” Keith suddenly said, causing them all to look at him. “I’m an orphan, and I never really stayed at one place for too long. I never had a family.”

“Oh...I’m sorry Keith. I hope I didn’t offend you.” Allura apologized. You’d think that something like that would have been in the report about him but whoever wrote it either didn’t know or simply didn’t care. And if they didn’t care, Allura was going to sock them in the face.

“It’s alright Allura, I don’t really mind all that much.” Keith reassured her.

“Ok, even I find that sad dude.” Lance added.

“Anyway, I guess the only ones left are me and Pidge.” Shiro said, noting that Keith actually looked a little uncomfortable.

“I...I’m looking for my brother and father.” Pidge managed to say. “They went missing….a little over a year ago.”

“What?!” Hunk, Lance and Allura all said in unison with Keith looking just as surprised.

“Sam and Matt Holt are my father and brother, respectively.” Pidge explained. “They went missing...along with Shiro.”

“Shit man, that’s awful.” Lance said, looking worried. “So that’s how you knew Shiro?”

“Matt was my partner through my time here at Shibusen, he helped me become a death scythe.” Shiro said with a forlorn expression. He could never get rid of the nagging feeling that it was all his fault that they got caught, that they got separated.

“What happened?” Pidge began. “I know I shouldn’t pry but, please. I need to know.”

“We got captured by the Galra.” Shiro stated. Everyone went quiet at the mention of the Galra, no one really got away from the Galra once they were captured, especially not while still sane at least. “We got separated at some point but. I don’t really remember much.”

Even if Shiro hadn’t said much, Pidge only looked more determined because at least now they had something to go on. It was more than what they’d pulled from the school’s database where it only said that they were missing in action. Even after Shiro had returned, nothing really changed.

“Now that we’ve all shared something. It’s on to the next exercise!” Allura clapped her hands and stood up.

“Princess, let’s give them a few minutes first.” Shiro said, standing up as well. “Also, I need a few minutes.”

Allura looked at him for a few minutes, mulling it over before sighing. “You’re right. Alright, everyone be back here in fifteen minutes.”

Shiro stood out on the balcony, staring at the ground below. He wanted to know what had happened to his old partner. If only he could remember, but every time he tried remembering, he only met with nothing. And the few times he did remember, it always happened at the worst of times.

“Shiro…”

Shiro tensed and turned around quickly, his head telling him to be on guard as if there was something dangerous near by. When he did turn around, he was met with Pidge.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you…” Pidge apologised, rubbing their arm.

“No, no, it’s alright.” He breathed out. “Did you need anything?”

“I was wondering about Matt.” Pidge began. “What was the last thing you remember?”

“The last thing I remember?” He started thinking, going through his memories to see if any of them could help. Suddenly it was af if there was a flash, a sudden peace of memory, but it was of Matt, injured.

“Shiro? Are you alright?” When Pidge put their hand on Shiro’s shoulder, he jumped. But it was enough to get him out of his mind.

“I remember Matt getting injured, but he was alright.” Shiro said. “I can’t remember anything else, I’m sorry.”

“Injured! Are you sure he was alright?!” Pidge looked worried and as if they were about to panic.

“Pidge, calm down. I can’t explain it, but I just know he was alright.” Shiro tried calming down the young teen.

“Are you sure? I mean, how could you know?” Pidge was still on the verge of panicking.

“Katie. You have to trust me on this.” Shiro said, for once actually using their name.

“I….alright, sure, fine. I’ll try.” Pidge said. “And please don’t tell the others.”

“Your secret’s safe with me. I promise.” Shiro said while ruffling their hair. “Now let’s go back, alright?”

Pidge nodded and they started walking back to the training room together. Everyone else had already arrived in the room and Keith and Lance were disagreeing on something as usual. Hunk was talking to Allura about something so Pidge and Shiro were the last to arrive.

“Ah, Shiro, Pidge. You’re here.” Allura said as she noticed them arrive. “We can move on to the second exercise then.”

“What is the second exercise anyway?” Hunk asked.

“Hopefully something more normal.” Lance then said.

“Quite normal actually.” Shiro began. “We’re doing Soul resonance training.”

“Wow, that’s…..very basic.” Lance said.

“Basic, yes, but important and something even long term partners have to do every once in awhile.” Shiro explained, walking closer to Allura and held out his hand. “You ready Princess?”

“That I am.” She took his hand and he transformed, becoming a pair of two blades connected by a chain. One blade was a Wakizashi while the other was broken and Allura couldn’t tell what kind of blade it had been before.

“Seems like our wavelengths really do match.” Shiro chuckled.

“Was there ever a doubt.” Allura then said. “Alright everyone, pair up.”

Lance and Keith begrudgingly got together and Lance transformed into his tactical short sword form. While Hunk transformed into a hammer that was just about the size of Pidge.

“I do believe you all know what to do, correct?” Allura asked.

“We send them our wavelengths.” Keith said.

“And we send it back, but better.” Lance added.

“Good, but don’t overdo it, it’s just a simple exercise.” Allura said. It would be best if the training room wouldn’t be ruined on the first day.

It didn’t take long for something to go wrong. Keith and Lance started arguing about something.

“Boys, boys, calm down.” Allura said, they really needed to do something about those two.

“I am calm!” They both said in unison.

“Yeah, about as calm as a crazy person.” Pidge retorted.

“Pidge, please don’t make it any worse.” Hunk said.

“Princess, I think we need to postpone this kind of training.” Shiro said. “But I have another idea for what we can do.”

Before Shiro could say anything else, he was interrupted by a grumble coming from Pidge’s direction.

“Sorry.” Hunk apologized.

“How does that even work.” Pidge wondered as Hunk transformed back.

“Magic probably.” Lance shrugged after he’d returned to his human form. “But I’m getting real hungry, let’s go get something to eat.”

Shiro transformed as well. “Go ahead.”

With that the four teens ran out of the training room. Leaving Allura and Shiro alone.

“Uhm..Shiro.” Allura lifted up her hand, the hand that Shiro was still holding.

Shiro let go of her hand and looked away, trying to hide the blush forming on his cheeks. Somehow he hadn’t even noticed that he was still holding her hand.

“I guess we’re making them dance.” Allura then said, noticing the slight blush on Shiro’s cheeks and decided to divert the conversation somewhere else.

“Mainly Keith and Lance, I believe that Hunk and Pidge are doing alright.” Shiro said, still looking away from the princess. “They just need to talk to each other more.”

“Agreed.” Allura said with a thoughtful expression, her hand on her chin. “Getting them to dance with each other will be quite hard though.”

“They don’t have much of a choice.” Shiro chuckled. “But let’s go eat before they empty the kitchen.”

“You’re right.” Allura agreed with a chuckle of her own.

When the teens arrive at the kitchen, they were met with quite the surprise. Coran was standing over the stove stirring in something. He had on a pink frilly apron which only added to the shock for the others.

“Coran!!” They all exclaimed in unison.

“Ah, kids, just on time!” Coran said as the entered the kitchen. “The stew is almost ready.”

“Stew? You’re making stew?” Lance asked, noticing the weird smell coming from the pot.

“Yes, it’s an Altean recipe. Quite delicious if I do say so myself.” Coran said proudly, moving the pot over to the table where seven plates had already been laid out. “It’s guaranteed to get your energy up.”

The teens all sat down, looking at the pot with the steaming stew in the middle. Concerned if it really would be good for their health judging by the smell. It didn’t exactly look healthy either

“Here goes nothing?” Hunk said as he put some of the stew on his plate and carefully tasting it. It wasn’t exactly the tastiest thing ever but he was hungry and right now, he didn’t really care.

“So? How is it?” Lance asked, carefully watching Hunk to see if he’d drop dead.

“It’s alright.” Hunk said in between bites. “Had much better, but also worse.”

“Excuse you?” Coran was a bit insulted by Hunks word, but he just didn’t know how to appreciate Altean cuisine.

“I see the kitchen’s still standing?” Shiro noted as he entered the kitchen, Allura not far behind him.

“Coran! I see you arrived earlier than planned.” Allura said as she sat down by the table, eagerly putting some of the stew on her plate. She couldn’t wait to start eating it, even if it wasn’t nearly one of the best dishes from back home.

“I didn’t have a class to teach today, and I knew you’d probably need some help here sooner rather than later.” Coran said. Happy that at least somebody could appreciate his cooking.

“Well you’re not wrong.” Shiro said, sitting down at the end of the table and hesitantly put some of the oddly smelling stew on his plate. After he had tasted it he realised that the smell wasn’t the only odd thing about it. “Did you make anything else, to go with it, like rice?”

“Sorry, I only made the stew.” Coran said, honestly he hadn’t considered making anything else with the stew, it had been a tradition in his house to eat it by itself.

“I’m going to make some rice.” Shiro sighed. “I guess you don’t have a rice cooker?”

“Sorry, no.” Allura shrugged, never thought they’d ever need one.

“What’s a rice cooker?” Lance asked, having still not dared to taste the stew right away.

“Exactly what it says on the tin.” Shiro chuckled, a part of him wanted to call Lance a heathen, but he thought against it. “I guess I really do need to go home and get some of my things.”

Lance shrugged and finally decided to taste it, only to be rather disappointed by the lack of flavour. “Hey Coran, what did you use to spice this?”

“Salt and pepper of course, most of the flavour comes from the vegetables and meat.” Coran explained, hoping that at least somebody other than the princess enjoyed his cooking.

“You’re kidding me, salt and pepper? No wonder this is so flavourless.” Lance complained, who even considered salt a spice?

“Flavourless?!” Coran was more insulted than by Hunk’s words. And at least shiro had been polite enough to spare his feelings somewhat.

“I’m Hispanic Coran, calling salt a spice is like an insult to my tastebuds.” Lance said, standing up and going to the spice cabinet, hoping that there’s at least some good spices there. Thankfully there were some he could use to at least try giving the odd stew some flavour.

“Hey Lance, bring me some too.” Hunk called out, if anything, he’d be the one making it taste good.

“You guys are being rather rude.” Pidge said as they slowly ate the stew, admitting that it really didn’t taste that special.

“It actually doesn’t taste too bad.” keith said.

“Thank you Keith.” Coran said.

“Your favourite Ice cream flavour is Strawberry.” Lance pointed at Keith.

“Are we still talking about that?” Pidge sighed. “Besides, everyone knows that the best flavour is chocolate.”

“You’re both wrong, it’s lemon, hands down.” Lance said.

“Calm down and eat will you?” Shiro said as he put a bowl of rice on the table and sat down. “Besides, mint is the best flavour of ice cream.”

With that they stopped and continued eating, lance and Hunk with more flavoured stew and pretty much all of them had added some rice to their plate as well. All except for Coran that is, who still thought his stew was absolutely delicious.

“Pidge, Hunk.” Allura began once everyone had finished their food. “I want you to keep practicing Soul resonance with Coran. Lance, Keith. You’ll be joining me and Shiro in the training room.”

“We’re splitting up?” Keith asked. “Why?”

“Because you need different training, Pidge and Hunk will be working on communication as well.” Shiro explained. “You two need to work on something a little more different. So meet us in the training room in half an hour, alright?”

“So, what are we doing?” Lance asked once they were assembled in the training room.

“Dancing.” Shiro said, causing the two teens to drop their jaws.

“I am not dancing with him.” Keith said as he turned to leave, only to be blocked by Allura.

“Oh yes you are.” She said, pushing him closer to Lance.

“Get in position, you’re doing the waltz.” Allura said moving back to Shiro. “I do hope you know the waltz.”

“Of course I know the waltz, who doesn’t?” Lance crossed his arms, even if he knew the waltz, dancing with Keith wasn’t happening.

“I don’t.” Keith admitted, with him moving around for most of his life, dancing really didn’t matter that much.

“Great, Lance will lead!” Allura said gleefully.

“What, no, not happening.” Keith said backing away.

“I’m afraid you don’t have much of a choice, Keith.” Shiro said, putting his hand on keith’s shoulder and squeezing, non verbally telling him that there was no way out of this.

“I’m not dancing with him, I rather like my feet as they are, thank you very much!” Lance was now the one trying to back away, only to bump into Allura.

“Well you’ll need to teach him.” Allura said, still with a gleeful tone.

“Why are you doing this to us.” Lance asked.

“Because you need to learn how to work together.” Shiro explained, letting go of Keith while at it. “Dancing is a great way to learn cooperation, which is something you lack in. That is why you’ll be dancing until you can work together.”

“Wait, so you’re saying that you’re going to make us dance with each other until we get along?!” Lance exclaimed. “That’s evil.”

“I guess it is.” Allura said with a smile that Shiro matched. It was a smile that made the two teens gulp.

“You best get started, the sooner you begin, the sooner it’ll be over.” Shiro chuckled.

“Fine.” Keith said, and moved so he was standing in front of Lance.

Lance begrudgingly move his hands in position, one hand on Keith’s waist while the other was extended out. Keith knew at least that he was supposed to put his hand in the extended one. He wasn’t sure about what he should do with the other one.

“Put it on my shoulder.” Lance had noticed Keith’s confusion. “And just look at my feet and follow.”

Keith nodded and looked down, moving his feet to follow Lance once he began. He made a few mistakes and Lance complained about them, and Keith retorted each time, only for them to be stopped by either Shiro or Allura.

And then they had to start all over again.

“It’s been hours, please let us stop.” Lance said as he collapsed on the floor due to his aching feet and tired arms.

“Yeah, for once I agree with him.” Keith said.

“Well since you agree.” Allura nodded. “You can go.”

The two teens ran out of the room as fast as they could, making sure that neither Shiro or Allura could stop them. Their action only made them laugh though, they finally got them to work together in the end.

“Well at least they’re off to a good start.” Shiro chuckled and turned to Allura, who had her hand extended out towards him. “Princess?”

“Care for a dance?” She asked and tilted her head.

Shiro smiled softly at his new partner. “It would be my pleasure.”

Chapter Text

Keith and Lance crashed on different sofas in the lounge where Pidge and Hunk were fidgeting with the TV. There were cords all over the place and a few open players and boxes around them. It was anyone’s guess as to what they were doing.

“Shiro and Allura are evil, I swear.” Lance complained while massaging his sore feet after the repeated abuse they had suffered thanks to Keith.

“What did they make you do?” Hunk asked, looking at the two exhausted teens collapses on the sofas.

“We’re not going to talk about it.” Keith said, turning away so no one could see his face turning slightly red.

“Nope, never ever, at all.” Lance agreed.

Pidge then looked at them, noticing Lance rubbing his feet and how read the tips of Keith’s ears were. “They made you dance, didn’t they?”

“What?! No!!” Lance tried, a blush creeping over his face as well. Lance then glared at them. “What makes you think that?”

“Oh they totally did, they made you dance!” Pidge exclaimed before they started laughing, imagining them dancing.

“It’s not funny! Keith’s a horrible dancer!” Lance tried defending himself.

“Am not! You’re just a bad teacher!” Keith shot back.

“Wow, actually surprised that Lance knows how to dance…” Hunk shrugged and tried to get Pidge to stop laughing so they could go back to working on the TV so that they could get it to work. Though it was a bit harder than he thought since Pidge couldn’t seem to stop. “Seriously Pidge, it’s not that funny, we had to dance too.”

“I thought we weren’t going to mention that.” Pidge finally stopped laughing when that mess had been mentioned again. It hadn’t exactly been a graceful dance even if they both knew what they were doing. It just ended with some sore feet and Pidge being crushed under all of Hunk’s weight, Pidge died that day.

“Ok, I’m gonna go get my mask.” Lance said and stood up. “Gotta look good.”

“How can you even stand those, don’t they get uncomfortable?” Pidge asked, finally going back to fidgeting with the TV.

“Have you even tried one?” Lance asked with a raised brow.

“...no…” Pidge admitted, not that they ever really wanted to try a facial mask.

“Well, we gotta fix that now don’t we.” Lance grinned. “You’re all getting a mask.”

“What?” The other three asked in unison, all slightly worried about their faces.

It didn’t take Lance very long to run to his room, get his stuff and come back to the lounge where Pidge and Hunk seemed to have managed to turn on the TV and were going through some channels. “Well we finally got some channels on this thing, but only like, three.” Pidge was talking as Lance walked in.

“I got the stuff, everyone sit down.” Lance said, lifting the bag of beauty products in the air. “I’m going to make you beautiful.”

“Why am I afraid.” Hunk asked.

“Don’t know, but I’m scared too.” Pidge then added, both of them looking at Lance.

“I’m leaving.” Keith said, only to have his arm grabbed by Lance.

“Oh no you’re not.” Lance said, pulling Keith to the sofa chair and sitting him down. “I’m gonna smear this all over your pretty face alright, and you’re going to like it!”

“Pretty face?” Keith asked.

“Doesn’t matter, your stupid hair is in the way.” Lance said, getting a headband to pull away Keith’s bangs. With a wet rag, he started cleaning Keith’s face before applying the mask on his partner, who kept grimacing from the odd sensation. “Stop making faces.”

“Can’t, this is weird.” Keith said, trying not to move much.

“Well I’m almost done, Hunk, Pidge, go wash your faces.” Lance said, without looking away from Keith.

Once he was done with Keith, he moved on to himself then Pidge who had almost as hard of a time staying still as Keith did. When he was halfway done applying the mask over Hunk’s face, Coran appeared in the entry way.

“What is going on here?” Coran said, wondering why the lot of them had green stuff covering their faces.

“I’m giving them facials, come on, I’ll make you pretty.” Lance explained and gestured Coran to join them as he finished applying the mask on Hunk.

“Well, there’s no harm in trying.” Coran shrugged and joined them in the lounge, waiting for his turn.

“What are you doing?” Allura asked as she stood in the doorway, looking at Lance applying a mask on Coran.

“He’s making me beautiful!” Coran exclaimed happily.

“You’re joining as well.” Lance said “No one is getting out this now.”

“Nope, not doing that.” Shiro said as he turned to leave, only to have his arm grabbed by Allura.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.” She said and dragged him inside.

“Do I have to?” Shiro whined as he was being dragged inside.

“Yes and Lance, do Shiro next.” Allura said and sat Shiro down on the sofa and took the seat next to him and waited for her turn.

Once Lance had finished Coran, it was Shiro’s turn who despite his earlier reluctance, listened to Lance and did whatever he asked him too. Which Lance was very thankful for since the others always moved to much or kept talking while he was applying the mask. Allura was also a bit better than the others, she did talk a bit but stayed quiet if Lance asked her to, even for just a moment.

Once everyone’s face were covered with green masks they couldn’t help but laugh at each other and how ridiculous their all looked. Though Lance was very proud of himself, finally he could at least share some of his interest with others, most wouldn’t even let him talk about it let alone actually let him apply masks on them. Then again he had been a little demanding.

“How long do we need to keep these on?” Keith asked, still finding it a little uncomfortable.

“Oh you can take it off now if you want, pretty sure it’s been fifteen minutes.” Lance explained, he probably should have paid attention to the time.

“Don’t you sleep with yours on?” Keith was confused, beauty products tended to do that to him.

“Oh no, that’s my overnight face masks, this is just a normal one.” He gestured to his face, of course he wasn’t going to use his overnight masks on everyone, his brand was quite expensive after all.

“They seem to be getting along now.” Coran whispered to Shiro and Allura.

“Indeed.” Allura agreed.

“Well they only needed a little push in the right direction.” Shiro agreed, hoping that he could clean his face soon. Though he couldn’t help but to get a little excited about it all, he did like his face being smooth and nice.

---

After everyone had cleaned their faces and the older three gone to do whatever they had been doing before they got roped into a beauty routine with Lance. The teens were left alone again in the lounge to talk.

“So there I was, my arm, now a sword, lodged into the door and mami just as confused as I was.” Lance ended his story. How he learned he was a weapon had always been an interesting day and a lot of it had been spent trying to rummage through his family tree to find the last known weapon. Turns out it was his great-great-great grandmother.

“But seriously, I have a lot of siblings and like, none of them are weapons, just me.” Lance then added.

“That’s so weird.” Hunk said. “Everyone in my family is a weapon.”

“Wait, really? Is it famous?” Lance then asked, suddenly much more curious about Hunk’s heritage than he had ever been before. “What’s your surname again?”

“Garrett, and no, we’re not famous. We’re a lot more family and home oriented so we tend to just go back once we graduate.” Hunk explained, understanding fully well why they’d just want to go home after graduation.

“You’re right, never heard of you guys.” Lance sighed, slightly disappointed.

“I just come from a family with a lot of meisters.” Pidge then said. “I mean, my brother’s one, my mom was one, and so on and so forth.”

“Oh yeah, your brother was Shiro’s partner right? That’s how you and Shiro know each other.” Lance said, suddenly remembering that Keith had also known Shiro before this. “What about you Keith, how do you know him?”

“Long story.” Keith simply stated, not really in the mood to tell them everything.

“Come on, I shared something, Hunk shared something, even Pidge did.” Lance said, pointing at Keith. “Now it’s your turn.”

“Fine.” Keith sighed. Knowing full well that he wouldn’t give up until he told them at least something. “He helped me out when I was a kid, alright?”

“Oh? What did you do?” Hunk asked curiously.

“I ran away from the foster home…” Keith began. “Shiro found me hiding out and, when the lady asked him if he’d seen me, he lied and said that he hadn’t.”

“Why did he do that?” Lance asked this time.

“Apparently he wanted to hear my story first, said that I must have a reason to hide from her.” Keith explained, thinking back to the time when he was only just barely ten years old.

“Sounds like Shiro.” Pidge said while reminiscing to when Shiro came by their house with Matt. “He always did have this weird sense of duty.”

“Wow, and then what?” Lance asked again, getting really interested in his partners past.

“He let me stay at his place for a while. He even convinced me to become a meister.” Keith said. “Then I somehow got stuck with Lance.”

“Oh come on, you love me!” Lance pretended to be offended, knowing well that their partnership began in a very odd way. Who knew that getting lost in the desert was a good bonding experience.

Hunk then yawned, reminding the others that it was getting rather late and they were tired. Funny how a good time can get you to forget things like that. Though it was the first time something like that had happened with all of them together.

“Maybe we should head to bed.” Pidge said, yawning themselves. “We got classes tomorrow.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Keith agreed and stood up. “See you in the morning.”

With that, they one by one went over to their rooms, some fell asleep the moment they got into their pajamas and slumped on the bed. Some had to put on an overnight mask. Some were stuck contemplating about their life. And some ended up tinkering with some tech they had invented to see if there were any news of their family.

---

Three am, three hours of sleep. It was a little longer than usual. Normally he’d be lucky if he would at least get two hours. But three hours was much better. Shiro guessed that maybe this whole thing wouldn’t be too bad, it at least seemed to help him rest a bit.

It didn’t stop the nightmares though.

Shiro ended up going for a walk in the mansion, going past everyone’s rooms, checking the kitchen, through the entrance hall. Eventually he found himself in the lounge and decided to sit down for a bit. He would have turned on the TV, but for now, he’d prefer sitting in the silence.

The silence was broken by the sound of footsteps. They were soft and careful, cleary whoever they belonged too was trying to be quiet. Shiro tensed, looking at the entryway as the footsteps got closer and closer. He calmed down when he saw it was only Allura.

“Shiro? What on earth are you doing up this late?” She asked, slowly moving forward. She hadn’t missed how tense his shoulders had been.

“I could ask you the same thing princess.” Shiro said.

“Well I asked first.” She said as she sat down next to him.

“I couldn’t sleep.” He answered. “I keep getting these nightmares, I’m used to it though.”

“I couldn’t sleep either.” Allura then said. “I’m too worried and anxious.”

“About what?” Shiro asked.

“Many things, my father, the kids, the mission.” Allura then lowered her voice. “You.”

“What?” Shiro was confused, had he heard right? Was she really worried about him?

“Oh, it’s nothing, we probably should head back to our rooms, try to sleep some more.” Allura stood up and tried to take her leave, somehow she felt embarrassed for what she had said. Though she didn’t go very far as Shiro grabbed her hand, making her stop.

“Princess, are you really worried about me?” He couldn’t help but ask, in all honesty, he was rather curious.

Allura sighed, well she might as well just admit it. “I am, I’m worried that, you won’t open up to me, that we won’t be able to be partners. I do like you Shiro, I may not have known you for long. But there’s just something, something that makes me feel like I’ve known you for as long as I can remember.”

“You’re not the only one who feels that way, Princess.” Shiro admitted, letting go of Allura’s hand. “Ever heard of soulmates?”

“You can’t be serious…” Allura turned around, looking at him questionably. “We don’t even know if that’s real or not.”

“I was just kidding princess.” Shiro chuckled. “It just made sense.”

“I guess you’re right.” Allura chuckled as well. “But we really should go back to bed.”

Shiro sighed before nodding “You’re right.”

They then walked together in comfortable silence, the presence of the other simply being enough. But their moment was cut short as they reached the door to Allura’s room.

“Well….Good night princess.” Shiro said as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Good night Shiro.” She said, opening her door. She didn’t go in right away but instead, turned to look at Shiro once more. “And Shiro?”

“Yes Princess?” He asked, hoping that he hadn’t done anything wrong.

“You don’t have to call me princess all the time.” She began, moving closer and kissing him on the cheek. “Allura is just fine.”

She then quickly went into her room and closed the door behind her. Sliding down the door until she was sitting on the floor, covering her blushing face in her hands, a wide smile on her lips.

Meanwhile, Shiro stood frozen outside the door. It had just been a simple kiss on the cheek. Something so innocent and simple. Yet he couldn’t help but blushing like a teenager and practically skipping to his room from joy.

For both of them, falling asleep would be hard, but when they did, it was a dreamless sleep and they didn’t wake up until their alarms went off. Something that hadn’t happened for a very long time for either of them.