#voltronvalentinesexchange

He was gasping for breath by the time the attack faded, and he looked up to find the whole team staring at him in shock.

Well. Shiro was pretty shocked himself.

Lance, completely baffled, tried, "...Nya?" and mimed the paw again.

Shiro's throat emitted a strange whistle as his lungs tried to force a laugh through it and he tried to force the laugh back, and then he doubled down as the laugh won the fight.

"Dude," Pidge said wonderingly. "Dude."

Shiro concurred.

"I can't believe Shiro's laugh button is the nya meme," was Hunk's contribution to the discussion. "Nice going, Lance."

"Uhh," said Lance, breathless and warm, "y-yeah." He cleared his throat. "Thanks."

At the tone of his voice, Shiro's stomach gave a neat little flip under the spasms of laughter.

(Which... may have been why Shiro found it so funny. Lance had this way of leaving him unbalanced lately—a little more hesitant, a little more nervous, a little more giddy whenever he caught a smile, or heard him in the next room over. Good sense said, He's attractive and you trust him, of course it wouldn't be so strange if you came by a crush, while the rest of him didn't want to think it was possible that he could be attracted to someone, anyone, especially not one of his own paladins.)

The door to the seating area hissed open, revealing Allura and Coran, who both looked decidedly serious. "Paladins, we've just received a distress sig-... -nal... What's gotten into everyone?"

Lance turned to face the door. "Nya?" he said, a testing smirk tweaking his mouth as he repeated the 'nya' gesture.

Very slowly, Allura raised her hand to her own cheek, and cautiously mimicked him. "...Nya."

Lance looked like she'd just made his entire life.

The whole scene was about as heartwarming as it was ridiculous, but Shiro still couldn't help the twinge of jealousy in his chest as he caught his breath.

"We're coming," he assured the two, and then, to the team, "Suit up. We need to get ready."

He got a nod from Hunk as Pidge hopped up off the couch. Lance snapped off a lazy salute, then got up to stretch the kinks out of his back.

Shiro hung back and pretended he wasn't admiring the sight.

He caught up to Lance as they all filed out to their lions, touching his shoulder before he could get too far ahead.

Lance looked back, sharp gaze going soft in question when he caught Shiro's eye.

Pushing aside the happy little pulseskip, Shiro said, "Thank you. I haven't laughed like that in a long time."

It wasn't quite what he wanted to say, but it was what he should say. Lance's shoulder was warm, strong under his hand, and it twitched a little at the words.

...Surely Shiro was just imagining the blush on Lance's face?

"You should laugh more," Lance blurted, and then clapped a hand over his mouth. Through his fingers, he added, "I mean, like, it's great, hearing you laugh."

Shiro's own face felt hot as he processed the words. "...Ah."

"It's a nice laugh!" Lance said defensively. Shiro probably shouldn't have noticed the bright spark in his eyes quite as much as he did. "You sound... happy."

Shiro blinked once, twice, and then said, "...I am."

There was a funny tangle of realizations that accompanied the words, about just how unhappy he'd been before, how warm Lance made him feel sometimes, how age-old wounds were finally starting to stitch themselves up after all this time. They sank down into his being slowly, chased by another twinge in his chest, one that whispered insidious words to the tune of you might be in over your head for him one day.

"...Shiro?"

And just like that, Shiro was back where he was supposed to be. Everything went back under the rug, compartmentalized for contemplation at another time. "Hm?"

Lance raised a hand into a fist beside his cheek and said, "...Nya."

"Pfffft."

The noise that escaped Shiro didn't really do justice to the sudden freefall that had gripped his gut, the feeling of having missed one crucial step and come by a cliff completely on accident.

He couldn't. He couldn't.

Not here, not now, not Lance—

And yet.

And yet.

Lance was grinning brightly, delighted, almost-but-not-quite looking like Shiro had made his entire life, and Shiro didn't have any other explanation for why it felt like he was losing his grip on something precious.

"You have a nice laugh," Lance said again, fondly, and Shiro found heat racing up the sides of his face.

He coughed awkwardly into his fist, flustered and squashing down the wild urge to babble, and managed a strangled, "Thank you."

Shiro for smoothest man of the year? Maybe.

In the next life, perhaps.

Lance's smile grew, mischevious and warm, and suddenly Shiro couldn't quite bear to look at him.

"We should suit up," he suggested instead, pretending it was professionalism and not near-panic that had him dodging Lance's gaze.

Lance flinched, shoulder jumping under Shiro's palm, always so expressive and so open, and babbled, "Right, right, going!" and all Shiro could do was let him go and watch him leave.

Unsettled, Shiro trailed after him, splitting off to join his lion as Lance launched himself down his own chute.

Black's engines rumbled soothingly under his hands when he activated her systems, a cat's hymn for healing, and oh...

This was one of those moments, where everyone was lingering together in the Holt’s family room. Allura and Shiro were cuddling on the loveseat, hands intertwined and whispering comments to each other as the night went on. Lance and Hunk were discussing the upcoming prom with Matt, their hushed voices not too distracting from the Netflix movie playing.

Pidge was curled into the corner of the couch, squished between Keith and the arm of the couch. She shifted, tucking her feet underneath her as she leaned her body to rest her head against his shoulder. She split her focus between the movie and the steady breathing of the guy next to her. Tucking her hands into the pockets of her oversized sweatshirt—previously property of Keith—she let her eyes fall closed because she wasn’t worrying about classes or exams or club meetings. Dozing off was simple, especially when his arm snaked around her torso and pulled her close.

“-idge. Pidge? Did you hear my question?” Allura’s voice roused her from her light sleep.

“Huh? No? What question?”

Allura smiled, a sneaky grin growing broader with each word. “What are your plans for prom?”

“Stay in, sleep. Listen into Dad’s police radio and laugh at the sheer amount of kids from our school getting arrested for being drunk?” In reality, she had no plans. She wasn’t about to venture the crowds of a dance alone. Not when the last time she got dressed up, no one seemed to know who she was and the girls seemed shocked that the tomboyish nerd could draw the eye of some of the popular crowd. Seeing the disappointment in Allura’s face, Pidge hastily added, “No plans. It’s not like I have a prom date, anyway.”

Pidge yawned again as Lance barged into the conversation, inquiring, “And there’s no one who you hope would ask you?”

Pidge scowled at the lanky guy in front of her, studiously ignoring his suggestive expression and the side glance towards Keith. She snorted, trying to brush it off dismissively. “Please, if anyone were to ask me, the apocalypse would happen.” Her tongue seemed leaden, and she didn’t want to say anything more.

“Better than having to run the protective big brother act, right, Matt?” Lance’s grin only seemed to increase.

“I’ll go with you all as friends, if it stops you from asking.”

Allura seemed a bit disappointed, but replied, “Aw, fine. At least you’ll go.”

It was only once everyone had returned to their other conversations that she found herself glancing up at Keith. Thankfully, her own face was no longer red, but there was something… more stoic about him. They’d been friends since elementary school, and there was always this mutual understanding they had, the ability to understand the other’s feelings.

Why was he so unreadable in this moment?

*

Allura spent three hours on Pidge’s hair and makeup before prom, giving the now-bespectacled girl a cat eye and pale green eyeshadow. Her hair was pinned back with flowers and an olive-green headband, with ribbons braided throughout. Allura’s fairylike inspiration was clearly evident in Pidge’s hair and makeup. At the very least, Pidge was able to avoid being doused in glitter.

Her dress was a full-length green with a violet iridescent overlay, a fortunate find from a consignment shop. Pidge’s prescription-less glasses rested in her small handbag, along with her phone, as the parents insisted on hours’ worth of pictures. Pidge once again found herself backing away from the crowd of parents, friends, and classmates.

She had nearly made it to the car when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

“Sneaking away?” Keith’s voice nearly makes her jump.

“Like you weren’t also,” Pidge replies, grinning. “Tired of pictures?”

“Not like I have a date,” he points out, “so there’s no point in it, really.”

Her heart stills for a second, and she’s thankful for the layers of foundation that Allura caked on her face. Otherwise, her face would be a splotchy red. “Together alone,” Pidge teases, nudging him in the side, “Oh, what a painful existence.”

He grins back at her. “At least we’re not the ones avoiding each other,” he says with a furtive glance back towards their friends.

“Don’t leave me alone during the dance?”

Keith grins. “Where else would I go?”

*

The bass from the DJ’s music choices spanned through the ballroom, and Pidge fidgeted in her dress. The napkins on the table were littered with jokes back and forth, tic-tac-toe games, and other random doodles between the two. Their chairs were moved together so that Pidge and Keith were sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, and Pidge found herself resting her head against his shoulder.

She pursed her lips together, silently wishing that they were here as an actual couple, that he had asked her to prom.

Keith poked her in the forehead, a concerned look on his face. “What’s wrong, Pidge?”

“Nothing,” she replied hastily.

“You’re scrunching your face. Normally I’d be taking pictures as proof, but Allura stole my phone.”

“Speaking of,” Pidge says, grateful for the chance to change the topic, “why did Allura steal your phone?”

“Something about human interaction.” He shrugged.

“Guess I don’t count as a human.”

He snorted at that. “You’re my favorite human.”

Her heart fluttered again. “Same to you.”

The music changed, this time something a bit calmer. Keith shifted his shoulder in an attempt to give her a nudge. “Hey, want to dance?”

“I’ll step on your feet.”

“I think that would be worth it.”

He led her to the outskirts of the dance floor, holding her hand the entire time as they weaved their way through the crowd of mostly-inebriated classmates. The song was fun, and Pidge was thankful to be spending time with Keith. Neither of them were fantastic dancers by any means, but at the very least she found herself smiling, genuinely smiling for the first time that night.

She only stepped on his feet once, when she attempted to twirl around during a faster song, and her wedges landed on the toes of his shoes. Bending over in mock pain, he burst out laughing at her concerned look. It elicited a punch in the shoulder, but her heart was fluttering again, like it was just the two of them in the entire world.

The song shifted to something slower, the last dance of the night, and all the non-couples began to leave the dance floor. Her eyes landed on their other friends, all of whom were grinning, giving thumbs-ups, or sending winks in her direction. Way to be inconspicuous, guys.

“Pidge,” Keith began, drawing her attention back to him. “Did you want to stay?”

She couldn’t find the words, and barely dared to look him in the eyes. Her heart screamed yes, but they weren’t a couple. They weren’t dating. He didn’t even ask her to prom. “We can go.”

She had begun to leave the dance floor when he caught her hand. “Pidge?”

“Yeah?”

He cleared his throat. “I think… what I meant was… May I have this dance?”

The smile that blossomed across her face was dazzling, and it felt surreal. They swayed to the music, this time without her stepping on his feet, and she couldn’t help the goofy grin on her face. There was no need for words as they moved in tandem, both staring into each other’s eyes.

“Hey,” they both said simultaneously as the music was about to end.

“You first,” Keith insisted.

“I uh,” Pidge stammered over her words as the sound came to a halt and the DJ began thanking everyone for showing up. “I wanted to say thank you.”

“You’re definitely welcome.” Was it her, or were his cheeks turning pink? It must have been the lights, right? “I also wanted to say something.”

“Oh?”

“I didn’t ask you to prom because I didn’t think you wanted a date,” he continued, “But I figured now’s a great time as any to ask… Will you go on a date with me? Like, a real date? Because I like you. A lot.”

She reached up, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. Standing on her toes, she placed a kiss to his cheek. “You know what? Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And guess what?”

“What?”