#valwritessins

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Let Romelle Smooch Girls 2025

Summary: Princess Romelle was sent to space boarding school, kissed a girl, got in trouble and is now sad bc I'm literate and thus have the power to make everything gay and angsty (rewritten)

Her chest ached as she held her breath so as not to let out a single pathetic sob. Even alone in her room, she wouldn't give the universe the satisfaction. Indignant tears stained her face with mascara none the less.

Her lungs still clung desperately to the scent of honeysuckle. When she closed her eyes she could almost imagine she was still there, in the courtyard outside the ballroom. She could still hear the rustling of leaves, could picture the way the moonlight filtered through them. Giggling, whispering, as she ran her fingertips down Viveca's arm until their hands came together just perfectly. She could still feel Viveca's lips smile against hers.

She wishes she could pause it there, seconds before they were caught. Forever. Never to see her father's disapproving scowl when she was sent home.

It feels as though her ribcage collapses in on itself as a wail tears its way out of her throat. She wanted to scream. To hit, and kick, and scratch, and hurt, like she was hurting.

Romelle began to violently pull on the hairdo Calpurnia had spent so much time on. A few hairpins ping against the stone floor as she yanked and yanked, the braids coming undone, and bun a matted mess. Her finger quickly become entangled and she wrenches her hand free, strands of hair coming with it.

She had stood up at some point during her frenzy and as butchered petals fell from the flowers in her hair, something moved in the corner of her vision.

She turns, owlish, puffy eyes staring back at her. It takes her too long to recognize her own reflection, her once beautiful dress crumpled and grass stained.

"What would your mother say?"

With a great cry she throws the mirror to the ground, the shatter surprisingly cathartic. So much so that it sends her out of her body, out of the moment. Staggering back, she falls to the floor in a heap.

Distantly, she is aware of the knock at her door, the sound of it opening. She doesn't have the energy to look. She doesn't care to look.

A tanned, freckled arm comes into her blurry view as Avok sits beside her.

The silence goes on for a while. He doesn't reach out to her. She would push him away, and he knows it.

"This is going to sound like the dumbest thing you've ever heard in your life," he starts. "But... it'll get better. Not tomorrow, or soon, but at some point the happiness you feel with seem worth today's suffering."

"I hate him." Romelle's voice sounds more heartbroken than angry. "I fucking hate him."

"And you're entitled to. Everything happens for a reason, and sometimes that reason is people can be shitty." He says simply.

There's another long pause.

"Look, I don't want to make you feel like what you're going through isn't real, and awful, and unjust." He says. "I just want you to know that there's more to life than being miserable. Even if the last few years have been hell for us."

"What would you know about any of this?" Romelle snaps, her voice coming out far to weak for her liking. "What would you know about me liking a girl?"

Avok gave a low hum in response.

"I suppose you're right." He concedes. "I wouldn't know the first thing about liking girls."

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Bright Eyes

Summary: Lance has a PTSD induced nightmare, read with caution. (rewritten)

The sky was dark but the air was hot. Each heavy breath tasted metallic, acidic air burning his exerted lungs. But Lance keeps running. Weaving around holes, around debris, around people- some running, too, others not so lucky. The sounds of destruction are everywhere, all consuming and all powerful, unstoppable.

Finally he makes it home. The front door lays useless, ripped from its hinges. The cramped interior is barely illuminated by the chaos outside, which is slowly engulfed by a sharp ringing in his ears.

In the darkness two bright eyes peer back at him, and it's all he can make out of the soldier's face. But he knows that he's being mocked. He knows by the way the soldier's fingers drum against the wooden handle of his father's axe, the bloodied head catching in the dim light.

Lance does what he'd always dreamed of doing- wrapping his fingers around the monster's throat and squeezing. His knees buckle as the gurgling starts, sputtering, gagging. Those eyes are looking up at him bewildered and afraid, and Lance would give anything to see them go dark.

But not like this.

Because as the soldier rasps out something that sounds like "Lance," he realizes the those eyes already are dark. And frantic, brimming with tears.

Keith falls to his knees on the cold tile of the bedroom floor, gagging and trembling. Lance looks between him and his own hands, dazed, then horrified. Ashamed.

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Snip Snip (2.0)

Summary: Allura gets a haircut (rewritten)

Allura shifts her weight from foot to foot outside Lance's door. She reaches out, then jerks her hand away before it even comes close to making contact. Nervously she taps her nails against each other as she glances around.

She shouldn't. She wants to, but she shouldn't.

She fights in an intergalactic war, she can do whatever she wants!

Allura flinches at the sound of her own knocking, and she realizes that there isn't really a reason to be banging on the door that hard, but at least now she can't back out.

"Princess?" Lance's voice is rough sounding, like he's half asleep- probably is. There's a beat of silence before he asks, "What's up?"

"I was just-" faking being casual- "hoping you could help me with my hair."

"Your hair? Allura, its-" He looks over to, presumably, a clock on his right, "eleven at night!"

Her face feels as little warm. "I know, but... please?"

Lance sighs, rolling his head around to pop his neck. He waves his hand, ushering her back so he can shut the door. "Alright, but this better not be some sort of prank."

Allura all but squealed, taking him by the hand and all but dragging him up to her quarters. There she threw herself onto a well-frilled stool and kicked out, sending herself spinning to face the large mirrored vanity.

"Okay, so!" She holds a pair of scissors back over her shoulder, puffing out her chest and punctuating her syllables firmly. "I would like you to cut my hair."

She meets Lance's quizical eyes through the mirror. He seems to hesitate grabbing the scissors, but takes them anyway.

"Just trimming split ends, or...?"

"Actually, I was thinking to..." her voice wavers embarrassingly as she raises her hands to just above her shoulders, "about here?"

"Are you sure?" Lance asks, though he doesn't seem as perturbed as she thought he'd be.

"Yes- yes, I'm certain."

"And Nanny and Coran aren't going to kill me?"

"I'll stop them."

Lance snorts out a laugh.

"Do you have a hair tie I can use?"

"Oh! Yes."

Lance slips the pink elastic into her hair with surprising ease, adjusting it lower on her mane until it's where he wants it, before he asks, infuriatingly, "Are you sure?"

'Yes! I'm sure!"

"Okay, hold still."

She shut her eyes tight as Lance puts the scissors into place, and the soft snipping that follows is borderline therapeutic. A literal weight being lifted from her shoulders. A prickly sensation comes against her shoulder and she realizes, grinning brightly, that it's the ends of her hair tickling her. Then the snipping stops, and when she opens her eyes she gasps.

The cut was... odd looking. Straight across and harsh, and...

And it hasn't been this short since she was 12.

She let's out a delighted screeching sound, whipping around to basically tackle her teammate.

"It's so short! I'm going to cry!"

"It's just a haircut, but whatever floats your boat." He says, laughing. "But you really should let me touch it up a little bit."

"Oh! Oh, right."

_

The next morning, Allura can be found leaning against the wall outside the lounge, taking a deep breath to steady herself before she rounds the corner.

The conversation dies immediately, Coran's bushy brows shooting clear up to his hairline.

"Wowzers!" Pidge is the first to speak- if that counts as a word.

"Digging the haircut!" Hunk says before immediately returning to... whatever convoluted mechanical project he has decided to take over the coffee table with.

"Yeah! It's cute!" Keith adds.

Coran's face quickly settles. "Dis you sleep well?" He asks.

"Yes. Yes I did." Allura replies.

There's a thunderous clattering in the doorway behind her.

"Allura, darling, what have you done?!" Nanny squawks over the supposed loss, stepping over the fallen tray and rushing over, grabbing at the Princess's hair. "It's so- short!"

"YOU!" She whirls around to face Lance as she rolls up her sleeves. "You must have done this!"

"Who am I to deny a royal request?" He replies smoothly, putting his hands up in a mock surrender.

"It's not a big deal, Nanny!" Allura, rolls her eyes- actually rolls her eyes- at her governess, who sputters.

"Allura, what has gotten into you?"

"...Mer-"

"Lance. Not the time."

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Psst... I have an ao3... its Valwritessins

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Summary: Hey remember that time several months ago when someone requested a Keith-Allura LGBT bonding moment?

Warnings: Emotions

The button, as small as it was, was precious. Sometimes Allura would just lay in bed and look at it, rubbing the face of it against her clothes to rid it of any fingerprints.

It was probably silly, she thought, to put so much value into a little metal disk. But it was symbolic, she reasoned- that although no one else knew, she did. And that was enough.

For a while.

Because she'd been thinking. For a while it didn't matter, who she was attracted to. But then it did. And then she knew. But did she really? How do you know that you know? When does thinking stop?

Allura always finds herself on the balcony when she can't sleep, but there's never been someone already there.

But there Keith is, laying on his back on a blanket, staring up at the sky before he hears the door open. He turns to look at her, and for a moment Allura is frozen there. He could probably tell something was up, but he didn’t say anything about it, just called her over.

"Wanna watch the stars with me? There's extra room."

He scoots over and pats the empty space next to him on the blanket. The princess, gingerly, lays next to him.

It's an uncomfortable silence for a few agonizing moments, because she isn't sure what to make of this. How is she supposed to get her emotions out by dramatically crying over the railing if he's here?

"Could you not sleep?" The Princess asks, and the commander hums in agreement.

"Won't Lance miss you?"

"Cliff is on Arus for tonight and they wanted to hang out" He says.

"Without you?"

"Those two tend to get pretty wild when they hang out. I didn't feel up to playing the boyfriend-babysitter tonight." He gives a small, tired laugh.

It's still a little... not weird, but different, to hear a man refer to his boyfriend, Allura thinks. And then she's thinking again, brows furrowed. A random, sudden thought crosses her mind- what if she had a girlfriend? The thought does something funny to her stomach for a second, and she feels lightheaded.

"How did you know?" She blurts.

"Know what?"

"That... you wanted a boyfriend?"

Keith seems to get what she's really asking, and for a moment he's quiet.

"Well... it's kinda confusing." He says. "It's not that I always knew I wanted a boyfriend, but I never wanted a girlfriend, really. I mean, I had puppy crushes on girls as a kid, but it never really meant anything. But once I was older and understood what being gay meant, I knew. Before then I just didn't have the words for it."

"But what if... you don't know?" She says quietly. There's another moment of silence as he considers his answer.

"I guess you don't really have to. People figure it out when they figure it out. I've known people who didn't know they were LGBT until they were middle aged."

"But what if you want to know?" The question comes with urgency, a sort of desperation she can't mask as she pushes herself up so she can look at him directly.

"You gotta really think about it." He says. "Sexuality is more complicated than you'd think. Like, you could ask yourself 'how would you feel kissing a girl versus a boy?' But how you think you'd feel could be totally different than actually experiencing it. There was this one time in middle school when I kissed a guy for the first time and it sucked. I was so confused, I thought that maybe I just didn't know what I liked, but it turns out he was just a cruddy kisser."

Allura couldn't hold back a a little laugh at that.

"But..." Keith hesitates for a moment. "Not to push or anything, but... these aren't just out-of-curiosity questions, are they?"

She suddenly feels cold and hot all over.

"No." She says.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" He asks.

"Where do I even start?"

"Wherever you want to." He said, shrugging.

There was a pause.

"I bought a pan pride pin at the parade." She said.

"Nice!" Keith says. "Has Nanny found it yet?"

"Actually she hasn't. I don't know what I'm going to say when she does, though."

Allura had another thought then, and asked, "I know this is rather personal, but... how did your parents react?"

"My dad didn't really say anything. I think he already knew, on some level." He said. "My mom..."

He took a second before he continued.

"I don't think she really understands. She really traditional, ya know? Wants me to marry a beautiful woman and have her a grandkid or two."

"She loves me, though, and nothing could change that. She said as much." He said. "And no matter what, I'm sure Coran and Nanny would never turn their backs on you. Their lives revolve around you, and not just in the professional sense."

For a moment Allura thought it was raining, until she realized that at some point she'd started crying. And for what? There she went, being emotional again. She cursed herself internally until Keith sat up to comfort her, pulling her into a hug.

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Summary: After the end of the series. The hooligans get together and play a drinking game.

Warnings: Alcohol, college-age heathens being heathens

Lance entered the lounge with a flourish, rubbing his hands together.

"Alrighty folks, the gremlin is asleep! Time ta' booze it!"

"Already one step ahead of ya!" Hunk said, pouring liquor into some of the most ridiculously small glasses Allura had ever seen.

Lance plopped himself down on the ground in front of Keith, who was curled up against the armrest of the couch. The captain leaned over to ruffle his hair.

"This is a weekend at the Garrison all over again." Said Sven.

"Is that a bad thing?" Romelle asked.

"Not until the morning after." Hunk replied, chuckling, setting another full glass down on the coffee table.

"It's bad from start to finish." Sven said.

Romelle nudged him with her elbow playfully, "Why do I feel like there's a story you're not telling me?"

"Several, actually!" Keith jumped in. "This one time-"

Sven's face went a little pink, "No, no, no, no, we're NOT having a story time."

"Yeah, Keith, give the guy a break." Lance said. "He doesn't like talking about things that happened during his goth phase."

"... Goth?" Romelle turned to Sven, who just buried his face in his hands.

"Nothing, it's nothing- what are we going to do?"

"Wellll... I was thinking Never Have I Ever." Keith had this cheeky grin on his face that the team was all too familiar with at this point.

“What are you, a teenage girl?” Sven huffed.

"Never Have I Ever?" Merla raised a brow.

"Yeah! One person says "never have I ever" followed by something they've never done, and if you've done that, you take a shot." Keith explained.

"Sounds fun." Allura said, toying with the ends of her hair. "Who wants to start?"

"I will!" Lance said. "Never have I ever gotten arrested in only my underwear!"

"Fuck you, McClain!" Sven shouted, face suddenly red as he quickly downed a shot.

"So much for being the soft spoken one." Merla said, mostly just to Allura, who's heart did a flip suddenly.

"You did what?" Romelle tried to stifle her laughter enough to ask.

"I was drunk! And I didn't break the law, it was over a noise complaint!"

"We're putting a pin in this one. When we get home, you're telling me aaaaall about this "goth phase" of yours." Romelle told him. "Who's next?"

Keith said, "I say we go clockwise. Hunk, you're up."

The man in question hummed as he thought for a moment, then grinned.

"Never have I ever thrown up on my crush."

"So it's Fuck Sven Holgersson Day today, huh?" Sven took another shot, and Romelle snorted as Allura gagged.

"That's so gross!" The Polluxian laughed, making Sven's blush darken.

"It's not entirely about you, Sven." Hunk said, turning his head to eye Keith.

"What? I've never done that!"

"Oh really? There's a guy back on base who says otherwise."

It was Keith's turn to go red.

"He wasn't my crush, he was my boyfriend!"

"Close enough, drink up, ya nasty." Lance said, passing Keith a shot. He groaned, but downed it anyway, making a series of gagging noises.

"Your turn, Princess." He coughed.

"Um..." hmm.

His was a little trickier than she thought.

"It can be anything. As mundane or weird as you want." Lance encouraged.

She chewed on it for another moment, then spoke.

"Never have I ever... kissed anyone?"

"WHAT?!" Romelle gaped at her like she'd been smacked. "You've never kissed anyone? Ever?"

"No, no one."

"You're so precious," She whispered, "so pure!"

"Am not!"

"Oh c'mon, it's nothing to be ashamed of! You do you, Princess." Lance assured her.

Allura huffed. "Well? I think most if not all of you should be drinking right now!"

And with that, everyone besides Allura took a shot, and she was suddenly, terribly embarrassed by her admission.

"I believe it's my turn now, yes?" Merla said in that smooth voice of hers as she eyed the room. She didn't hesitate before saying, "Never have I ever been romantically interested in a man."

"You married one, though!" Lance objected.

"Purely out of necessity." Merla clarified, her face twisting up at the memory.

Lance huffed, and everyone in the room took a glass save for Hunk and Merla.

Allura eyed her drink skeptically, before taking a deep breath and gulping it down. She immediately regretted it as she sputtered and coughed.

"People actually drink this stuff?!" She wheezed.

"I know, right?" Keith agreed.

"It's an acquired taste." Hunk said, shrugging.

"I want to know who this guy is, though." Romelle leaned forward, elbows on the coffee table. "Spill it, cousin."

Allura pursed her lips but didn't respond, making a point of not meeting the other Princess's eyes.

"She had it bad for Keith there for a while." Lance said.

"Keith?" Said Romelle

"In my defense," Allura cut in to attempt saving her dignity, "I didn't know he was gay."

"Do you just not have a gaydar, or are you willfully ignorant?" Her cousin teased.

"Cut her some slack, she didn't even know what gay meant when we all met." Hunk waved dismissively.

"It's my turn, right?" Romelle asked, setting her beer down on the table. She was given a few nods.

“Never have I ever...” She huffed. “Damn, I’ve done a lot of shit... Oh! Okay. Never have I ever done any type of drug!”

There was a moment of silence before Lance reached for a glass.

“LANCE MCCLAIN!”

“It was just weed, Keith, chill out!”

“I expected better from you!”

“No you didn’t. You hoped for better but deep down, you knew.”

Keith shook his head with a sigh.

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Summary: Lance has a night terror 

Warnings: Violence, PTSD

The sky was dark but the air was hot, the smell in the air acidic. Lance's lungs burned, either from exertion or inhaling whatever pollutants were hanging around him.

But he kept running- weaving through the streets, around holes, around people- some running, too, some not as lucky. The sounds of destruction were everywhere, all-consuming and all-powerful, unstoppable.

Until finally, finally he's home. It's small and it's cramped and it's never quiet.

It's never quiet.

But now all that greats him is silence.

Silence from a soldier with bright yellow eyes who just took everything he's ever known.

And Lance does what he wishes he'd done then.

His fingers wrap around the soldier's throat, squeezing despite his trembling. He's staring into his eyes as he struggles, gurgling, choking, sputtering, and Lance would give anything to see those eyes go dark.

But not like this.

Because as the soldier forces out something that sounds a lot like "Lance," he realizes that his eyes are dark. Frantic dark brown, almost consumed by black pupils, not glowing, but confused, scared.

Keith falls to his knees on the bedroom floor, taking heavy, sobbing breathes. And Lance is shaking, too, either from night terror fear or shame.

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Description: The DotU squad goes to Arus’s first pride parade in years. Cuteness ensues.

Warnings: None!

“Lean in close, I’m gonna get a picture!” Lance threw an arm around Keith as he pulled out his phone, quickly testing out different angles.

“Another one? You already have at least thirty.” Keith said, before smiling for the camera regardless.

“What? You��re gonna blame a poor guy for wanting more pictures of his beautiful boyfriend? How rude.” Lance faked a pout and batted his eyes, making Keith roll his own, but he laughed all the same.

Lance tapped away on his phone, probably sending a picture to Cliff.

“W- Hunk!” Lance turned to face the older man in the backseat. “You photo bombed us!”

“I’d say my gorgeous mug vastly improved the picture.” Hunk replied, making Allura and Pidge giggle next to him.

Lance huffed, but he quickly lit up again as he got an idea.

“Allura! Lean forward, I wanna get a picture of the two of us.”

Allura did as she was asked, propping her chin up on her arm as she laid it across the back of Lance’s head rest.

Lance snapped the picture, and she watched quietly as he covered it with rainbow stickers and hearts before adding the text “Princess’s first Pride.”

“It’s been too long since we last went to a pride parade.” Keith said, almost wistfully. “I’ve always loved them!”

“What’s your favorite part?” Allura asked as Keith squirmed around in his seat, trying to stop sitting on his flag-turned-cape.

Keith thought for just a moment before responding, “When I'm actually in the parade, I like handing out the candy.”

“I like eating it!” Pidge cut in.

“I second that,” said Hunk, “but try not to overdo it this time. Last time we gave you control over your sugar intake you threw up.”

Pidge huffed and flushed pink as Keith groaned.

“Just thinking about that makes me nauseous!” Keith gave a full body shiver.

The car came to a stop, but before Keith or Lance could even make a grab for the door handles, Nanny turned to them from her place in the passenger seat.

“Stay safe, and don’t cause any trouble!”

“Kinda hard when trouble looks for us!” Pidge’s laugh was met by a hard glare that quickly shut him down.

“Yeah, no problem, We’ll be careful!” Keith said in a rush, before throwing open the door and leaping out.

“Responsible is my middle name!” Lance said as he followed suit, gracelessly, almost falling face first into the pavement in his haste.

Pidge followed him out, eager to either get away from Nanny or to stretch his legs after being crammed between Hunk and Allura the whole way here, it was hard to tell. Hunk, ever the gentleman, let Allura exit first.

🏳️‍🌈

Pride parades, Allura concluded, were ultimately not so different from any other parade she’d ever been to. People dressed in bright colors, strange looking floats, banners and vendors and music and so on.

And yet, Allura felt wholly out of her element, what with the flags she didn’t recognize and the culture she didn’t know. They were still just as Arusian as anyone else, of course, but there’s a different history happening here, a whole different world of experiences.

Allura always feared the idea that she was out of touch with her people, but never has she felt so woefully ignorant. Before she met the boys, she didn’t even know that being gay or bi or what have you was even a thing, so she was absolutely thrown in the deep end when she found out that not only could people like the same gender, but that some of her closest friends did.

And here she was in the present, next to Lance in his “I put the BI in BITCH” T-shirt, surrounded by a bunch of people celebrating their lives for the first time in over 20 years, immediately at a loss.

“Allura!”

She shrieked as Romelle threw her arms around her and easily lifted her feet off the ground. The taller woman spun around with her a few times, making Allura dizzy.

“Careful, you’ll break her ribs hugging her like that.” Sven said, giving his almost silent laugh, more of an exhale than anything.

Romelle set her down rather gingerly after that, and Allura smoothed the wrinkles from her jumpsuit.

“This is so exciting!” Romelle’s voice went uncharacteristically high as she jumped from foot to foot. “I’ve never even heard of a pride parade until this one! And the floats are so pretty!”

It was odd seeing Romelle so giddy, but Allura couldn’t blame her. She looked like a regular young woman for once, dressed in shorts and a “proud bisexu-whale” tank top (courtesy of her boyfriend) and with a myriad of jingly, brightly colored bangles and bracelets on either wrist.

"It really is something, isn't it?" Allura replied. She'd never seen Romelle smile so much, and she wondered briefly if it was hurting her face to smile that hard.

"Let's go! I want to get a good place to watch!" Romelle grabbed her hand, leading her into a busy streets as the boys trailed behind.

🏳️‍🌈

Pride parades, Allura concluded, were awesome. Maybe it was the fact that this was the first parade she'd ever been to where Nanny and Coran hadn't been breathing down her neck the whole time. The older duo had declined coming along past dropping them off and joining her on stage for her speech. She found it... odd.

But the show- or parade- must go on.

After the floats and speeches came what Lance loved and Pidge dreaded; the market place, usually full of of fresh foods and whatnot was now stocked with all manner of shirts, flags, pins, bracelets, bags- basically if you could slap a pride flag on it, it was there.

Lance loved supporting local creators. Pidge just wanted to avoid getting trampled by a crowd of people twice his size.

They ended up splitting into groups for the sake of navigating the storm- Lance and Keith flew off like the little love birds they were, Hunk played chaperone for Pidge, who wanted something to eat (not the Hunk was complaining), and Allura opted to play third wheel to her cousin and Sven.

The trio wormed their way through the crowd to different booths, dropping cash as they saw fit. It was fun spending so much time with Romelle. They hadn't known each other for that long, but it felt like they always did, like they were old friends.

Sven had laughed when Romelle was so quick to throw a wad of money at this one vender with a "bisexual of the blade" T-shirt, but he couldn't deny that it suited her perfectly.

They found themselves at a stand with what had to have been millions of buttons, in dozens of designs. They quickly set to work scouring the collection in hopes of finding one for everyone in their little brigade. Keith was easy to find one for- the "moron-sexual" button a sure way to get a laugh and an offended gasp from Lance. Pidge was much harder, but while searching for his, Allura had a difficult enough time remembering what flags went with what label. They had rainbow pins, that one was easy. Then there was the bi flag, another easy one.

"Need any help?"

Allura looked up at one of the women running the booth. She was a little older than the princess, her hair a royal blue.

"Lots." Allura replied, laughing breathlessly. "What is... this one?

She held up one of the buttons, monochrome with a streak of purple.

"That's the ace flag."

At Allura's confused expression, she added, "the asexual flag."

"Oh! Okay, I know that one, um..." She must look so silly, the little straight girl who doesn't even know the flags, but she was curious enough to ignore her embarrassment.

"What about this one?" She asked, holding up a second button.

"That's the pansexual pride flag." The woman replied.

Okay, well, that's a new word.

"What's that?"

Oh gosh, was that rude?

Allura felt relieved, if embarrassed, when the women laughed a little.

"It's like... if someone is attractive, they're attractive. Pansexuals could be attracted to anyone, regardless of gender, I guess is how you could explain it." She said.

Oh. Huh.

"OUCH!"

Allura dropped the button back into the container as Romelle yelped.

"You alright?" Sven asked.

"Yeah, just pricked my finger." She said.

"Do I need to kiss it better?"

Romelle snorted and playfully shoved him. Still giggling, she asked, "Did you find a button you wanted?"

"No, but I don't need one. The pictures are good enough momentos." Allura replied, shrugging.

That left them with six buttons that they paid for before heading their way to their rendezvous point, a little cafe just around the corner.

Keith and Lance were already there, the former beaming at them and waving frantically to get their attention.

"So, how'd it go?" Keith asked, sipping his soda. He had a new rainbow heart sticker stuck to his cheek.

"Delightfully!" Romelle replied, sliding into a seat at the table.

"It was really something, wasn't it?" Allura said. She was exhausted, but in a good kind of way.

Pidge and Hunk arrived some time later, and the team headed back out into the summer sun. All the sudden Allura felt less tired, like she was missing something important, something she couldn't leave behind.

"Oh! I think I left my camera back in the market. I'll be right back!"

Before they could reply she was off, dashing back down the street.

🏳️‍🌈

They said their goodbyes to Romelle and Sven before cramming themselves back into their car. Hunk gave a sigh of relief, fanning himself with the rainbow fan he had gotten at some point.

"All that really takes it out of ya." He said breathlessly.

"I dunno what you're talking about!" Said Pidge as he popped a jawbreaker into his mouth.

"You're gonna rot your teeth out of your head!" Keith shot over his shoulder.

"Am not!"

"Let him live, Keith. He still just has his baby teeth anyway." Said Lance.

"DO NOT!"

Allura laughed, still toying with the pan pride button in her pocket.

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Description: (DotU) Allura gets a hair cut. Snip snip.

Warnings: Nanny being Nanny

Allura shifted her weight from foot to foot outside Lance's door.

She shouldn't do this.

She wants to, though.

It's probably a bad idea.

She fights in an intergalactic war, this should be a cakewalk.

Before she can think a second longer, she knocks, a little too loudly, and she flinches. There's a rustling behind the door before it opens.

"Princess?" He seemed surprised, rubbing at his eye with sleeve of his pajama top. "What's up?"

"I was just... wondering if you could help me with my hair."

"Your hair? Allura, it's almost 10 pm."

“I know, but please?"

He sighed, rolling his head around to pop his neck.

"Alright."

He followed her up to her room, all the while noting how flighty she seemed, turning her head about as if she was worried she might get caught. When they arrived, she quietly shut the door behind them before sitting down at her vanity.

"So what do you need, your highness?"

"...a hair cut." She handed him a pair of scissors.

"One inch off, or two?"

"Actually, I was thinking," She held up her hands just above her shoulders, "to here?"

She held her breath as Lance paused, the sounds of him playing with the scissors stopping abruptly.

"...are you sure?" He asked.

"Yes." Said the Princess. "Yes, I'm quite certain."

"And Nanny and Coran aren't going to kill me?"

"No, I'll stop them."

Lance laughed a little.

"Do you have a hair tie I can use?"

"Oh! Yes."

He handed him a pink hair tie, and with practiced ease he put it in her hair, adjusting it lower.

"And you're sure?"

"Yes."

"Sure you're sure?"

"Yes! I've been contemplating this for weeks!"

"Okay. Hold still."

Allura's heart did all sorts of tricks in her chest as the soft snipping of scissors filled the room. She kept her eyes shut tight all the while.

She was doing this. She was actually doing this.

And then so much weight was gone from her head as Lance pulled away. She could just barely feel the prickly sensation of hair just barely skimming her shoulders. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes.

The cut was straight and odd looking, having not been touched up at all, but it was so... so....

Her hair hadn't been this short since she was 12.

Suddenly a grin broke out across her face and she squealed, turning around and leaping onto Lance's arms.

"This is amazing! I'm going to cry!"

"It's just a hair cut, but whatever makes you happy."

"Oh, this is amazing!" She ran her fingers from her scalp to the ends of her hair, marveling at how quickly she could do so. "This is fantastic!"

"Okay, alright, sit back down so I can fix it up, will ya?" Lance said, yawning.

Oh, right. Probably shouldn't have been yelling at this hour.

"Okay, okay." She said, mostly to herself, trying to calm down as she settled back into the seat. She couldn't stop grinning.

+++

Allura leaned against the wall outside the lounge, trying her best to slow her heart.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

She rounded the corner.

"Good morning, Prin-" Coran's eyebrows shot up as he blinked at her, and the conversation in the room died instantly.

"You cut your hair! Looks good on you." Hunk said.

"Cute!" Keith added.

There was a moment of silence before Coran's face went neutral again and, with with an expression that could only be described as acceptance, asked, "Did you sleep well?"

Allura's shoulders relaxed.

"Yes, I did."

She joined the boys on the couch and everything was going just fine until suddenly a loud crash came from the entryway.

"Allura, darling, what have you done?!" Nanny squawked, stepping over the fallen tray and rushing over to her, grabbing at her hair. "It's so short!"

She seemed mournful at the supposed loss, fretting and twittering and tutting as she looked the Princess over.

"You!" She turned to Lance, beginning to roll up her sleeves. "You're the one who did this!"

"Who am I to disobey the Princess's request?" Lance said with a shrug.

"She wasn't thinking clearly!"

"I was thinking perfectly fine, thank you very much!"

Nanny sputtered, face red.

"Oh, you silly girl, what has gotten into you?"

"...Mer-"

"Pidge. Not the time."

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Description: Teen (DotU) Romelle got sent to space boarding school to become a Proper Lady TM but then a while later gets caught smooching her girlfriend.

Warnings: Minor homophobia in the sense that no one uses slurs or anything like that, but it’s major in the sense that it’s the main focus.

Holding in the tears burned, but Romelle refused to cry. She held her eyes shut so tight it was starting to give her a headache, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

She hesitated to breathe, fearing she’d lose the scent of honeysuckle and daisies still clinging to her lungs. If she kept her eyes shut like this, she could pretend she was still in the gardens of her boarding school, hiding among the ivy leaves, giggling, whispering, running her finger tips across Viveca's hand and up her arm as they lay in the grass. She could pretend she was still laying there as Viveca kissed her.

She could pretend they hadn't been caught. Hadn't seen the anger in her father's eyes when they kicked her out and sent her back to Pollux with her tail between her legs.

A sob wracked her body as he pulled her legs close. It felt like something was being ripped out of her, torn from her chest. She wanted to scream. She wanted to swear, and shout, and hit, to rain hell down on the stupid asshole's face. It was all his fault! He couldn't keep his mouth shut.

With a cry that left her throat feeling raw, she began to violently pull at the elaborate hairdo Calpurnia had spent forever doing for her. Hair pins clattered to the floor as she yanked and yanked, the braids coming undone, the bun becoming knotted. Her fingers quickly became entangled in the mess, and despite the pain in her scalp she tore them free.

She had stood up at some point during her frenzy, and as butchered petals fluttered to the floor from what remained of her updo, something moved out of the corner of her vision.

She turned, owlish, puffy red eyes staring back at her. It took her a moment to recognize her reflection. Her once perfect dress crumpled and grass stained, her hair a matted mess.

"What would your mother say?"

With a second great cry she threw the mirror to the ground, the shatter surprisingly cathartic. So much so that she snapped out of her hysterics.

She slowly backed away, trying to regain some sort of composure. Her back hit the footboard of her bed, and she fell to the floor like a limp doll.

She barely registered the knock at her door, or the creak of it opening. There was a moment of silence before it shut, but she didn't bother to look. She couldn't bare to look.

But then someone came to sit just a foot away, and she could tell by the tanned, freckled arm in the corner of her eye that it was Avok.

They sat there in silence for a long moment.

"This is going to sound like the dumbest thing you've ever heard in your entire life." Avok said, voice soft as he could manage. "But... it'll get better. Not tomorrow, and probably not soon, but at some point the happiness you'll feel in the future will seem worth the pain you felt today."

"I hate him." Romelle's voice came out more heartbroken than angry. "I fucking hate him."

"And you're entitled to. Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes that reason is some people are shit." He said matter-of-factly.

There was another long pause.

"Look, I don't want to make you feel like what you're going through isn't real, and awful, and unjust," Avok said, "I just want you to know that there's more to life than being miserable. I know it doesn't seem like it, because the passed few years have been hell for us, but it's true."

"What do you know about any of this?" Romelle hissed. She couldn't help but feel that he had no place to speak- what with being everything everyone could ever want to be. "What would you know about me liking a girl?"

Avok gave a low hum in response.

"I guess you're right." He conceded. "I wouldn't know the first thing about what it's like to love girls."

[lotorsshoulderpads]

Summary: After the end of the series, Merla goes home butthurt and Allura hits her up

“Just like your father…”

“SILENCE!”

“Fool.”

~

Vienna was there when Merla’s ship landed, her shoulders squared and hands folded behind her back as the Queen stepped off, followed by her guards. Her eyebrows furrowed as she carefully studied Merla. Her shoulders were tense and her jaw clenched.

It hadn’t gone well. So she didn’t bother to ask.

She followed quietly behind her and her guards to the doors of the throne room, where Merla waved for the soldiers to leave her side and take their posts outside the door. The two guards shared a brief glance of uncertainty, but followed orders. Vienna opened one of the double doors for the Queen, following her inside. The second the door clicked shut Merla’s shoulders dropped and her scowl deepened as she let out a low snarl, making the two Muses already in the room cringe.

“Didn’t go well, huh?” Sura said, sucking a breath in through her teeth.

“Silence!” Merla hissed, storming across the room to her throne and practically throwing herself down onto it, pressing her fingers to her temples.

Ceralean frowned, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Your Majesty,” Cerulean began, “With all due respect, we did warn you about getting to involved with that… Prince.”

She waved her hand dismissively at his title and Merla only glared at her. Ceralean’s face remained neutral though, sighing before coming to stand next to the throne.

“Look. He may be interesting, or whatever it is you see in him, but he’s a walking disaster. Any kingdom under his rule will only crash and burn. He has nothing to offer you.”

“Hate to admit it, but she’s got a point.” Sura called across the room, leaning against the wall. “And the boy’s got the face of a salamander.”

Merla held her head in her hands, slowly taking a deep breath to steady herself.

“He’s such an idiot! I can’t believe he would…” Merla let out a heavy sigh before sitting up. “I’m a fool for believing him.”

Vienna came over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. One of the doors creaked open and a figure tiptoed her way into the room, datapad held close in her hands.

"I'm not in the mood for a briefing, Melody." Merla sighed, shooing her away.

Melody stilled, shuffling on her feet.

"It's a message, actually." She said quietly.

"If it's from Doom, ignore it. I'm not interested."

"It's from Arus."

~

Allura had spent several hours turning and shifting in her bed before she finally gave up on sleep. Something was bothering her, keeping her up well passed midnight. She rolled onto her side to look at the clock again.

She hummed in thought before sitting up, her mice squeaking curiously as she got up out of bed. As quietly as possible she slipped out of her room, hitching up the skirt of her nightgown slightly as she tiptoed down the stairs to the control room. She flicked on the lights, squinting at the brightness. Taking a seat at the control panel, she took a deep breath before opening a line. Allura's hands paused over the buttons and she bit her lip. What does she say? Would Merla even want anything to do with them after what happened with Lotor?

Her brows furrowed, staring down at the keyboard as if it would make it type the perfect message all on its own. Maybe she should just... maybe she should just request a video call with her? She always found it easier to say what she meant when actually face to face with someone.

She typed out the message, then deleted it, then typed it again. She stared at the screen, reading the message several times over. Why was she so anxious about this? She was quick to send the message before she could back out again.

She sat back in the chair and took a deep breath, folding her hands in her lap. Exhaustion was finally catching up with her, settling into her bones and making her eyes fall shut.

~

“Arus?” Merla was in disbelief, sitting up straighter in her throne, skeptical as she asked “What does it say?”

“Princess Allura requests a call with you.” Melody said, looking down at the device in her hands.

The other muses looked to Merla, waiting for some kind of response. They were expecting some kind of outburst but were surprised when she reached her hand out.

“Let me see it.” She was suddenly monotonous again, unreadable as Melody handed her the datapad. She read it over, eventually letting out a low, short hum.

“Should we be worried, your Majesty?” Vienna asked.

“I don’t believe so.”  Merla answered, handing the datapad back to the fidgeting blonde. “Tell her I’m available for the time she requested. My schedule is conveniently clear, now.”

She said the last sentence through gritted teeth as Melody quickly left the room. She had intended to be busy helping Lotor, but that obviously didn’t work out. She sat back in her throne, crossing her legs and resting her head against her hand. This was an interesting development, one that surprised her. It probably shouldn’t have, Merla thought. They did just work together, so why wouldn’t Princess Allura want to secure some sort of alliance? Having the support of an empire like her own would have it’s benefits, after all.

“So,” Sura cut in through her thoughts, arms crossed behind her back as she paced with a crooked smile. “Chattin’ up a princess, huh?”

Vienna rolled eyes as Ceralean gave her a deadpan expression.

“Talking to someone doesn’t instantly mean showing romantic interest, Sura.” Ceralean said, “It’s kind of part of her job.”

“Oh, come on! I keep up with current events. I’ve seen Allura, and she’s all kinds of hot!” Sura said.

“Will you quit? You’re giving me a headache with your constant yelling.” Merla said, pressing her fingers into her temples.

“Okay, okay,” Sura put her hands up in surrender “Buuut if you were gonna chase skirt-”

“I certainly wouldn’t take advice from you.”