One Incoming Message

Glowing shops lined the beautifully paved streets, and markets were placed neatly over the commerce sector of the trade-heavy planet Team Voltron was currently visiting. The big, grandiose boutiques and sketchy, cheap markets were bordered by equally impressive numbers of glossy, black joints and various themed clubs for the citizens' entertainment. The people on the streets were rather similar to Earthlings and Alteans—they varied in size and shape; had skin colors ranging around pale white, warm yellow, deep brown; and spoke with many different accents. The whole set-up of the planet reminded Shiro of Las Vegas in the American state of Nevada.

All the grandeur was truly astonishing, but what else could be expected of a planet named Kazinoch? If Shiro was correct, it stemmed from the Greek word for casino.

Despite all the entertainment vouchers, they were technically here on business terms; the Princess of Altea (and Voltron) had been in contact with the President of Kazinoch for a few days to work towards a new alliance. The point in landing here was diplomatic, not a pleasure venture. When they learned this rule, the paladins all seemed to express their remorseful feelings in different ways, but none objected more than Lance, whose eyes shone and mouth practically watered whenever they walked by a kiosk on the road.

So Shiro knew when he saw the seven small gift boxes in Lance's hands—packaged in pastel colored paper with a pretty, white bow on top of all of them—that something terribly, terribly awful was going to happen to Team Voltron. And when the ecstatic Blue Paladin approached Shiro with a gift box for him, one with purple wrapping paper and a fancy bow, he hesitated greatly before opening it up. After all, this was Lance. Shiro couldn't think of what the boy could have possibly gotten everyone, and he didn't really want to find out.

But as the co-leader of Voltron it was probably along the lines of his job to do so.

The box was rather small in size, a rectangular package. There couldn't be anything too dangerous in such a small package, but he was trying not to jinx himself. The last time there had been a "present" for the team, Lance got them a small, aggressive alien colony he had mistaken for a cluster pretty rocks.

Said rock colony took weeks to exterminate from the castle. Thinking of it still makes him shudder; he had found a whole family of beady-eyed, crab-like creatures running amuck in his closet.

And hopefully it wasn't anything extremely embarrassing. Shiro still hadn't forgotten last month's gift exchange when Lance boxed-up everyone's underwear and sent them around as a "prank".

"Open it already!" Lance exclaimed impatiently, inconveniently disrupting Shiro's raunchy thoughts. "I had to wait in line at the Apple store for hours!"

The Apple store? Shiro squinted a bit at Lance; his memory may not have been all that good, but he was pretty sure Apple was an American corporation. How the hell could Lance be at an Apple store when they were thousands of light years away from Earth?

Unless…

As if he could read the question right from Shiro's face, Lance gave him a coy smirk. "Yeah," he said with an air of pride, "I pulled some strings." To express how utterly cool he must have thought himself, Lance spread his hands out like he was smoothing out the table cloth on an invisible table. It looked a bit dorky.

Not that Shiro would admit that to the young boy's face.

"Apparently, the local aliens are total black-marketers!" Lance continued with a short laugh. "They went down to Earth and duplicated the iPhone design."

"You bought phones from a black-marketer?!" Shiro sputtered. "You weren't even supposed to be out of the castle!" He could feel his inner-dad coming along, the need to reprimand rising high in his throat. Kids these days: they don't know a scam when they see one. Or in Lance's case, they don't know a scam even when they're actively participating in one.

"Chill, Shiro, chill. You'll be thanking me." Lance crossed his arms and grinned smugly. "Now you can finally flirt with Allura without the whole team listening in on your 'helmet talk'."

"First of all, I do not flirt with Allura." Shiro turned the box over in his hands and listened for the thump of the phone against the side of the box. Just to make sure that's actually what it was. "And secondly, where did you get the money for this, Lance? Aren't these supposed to be expensive?"

"Hey, when you're a defender of the universe, people are very open to giving you discounts," Lance explained with a slight pout. He must have noticed the doubt in Shiro's eyes—after all, what else can a guy do when a broke-ass teenager manages to score a killer deal?

"That," he went on to say as he pushed the box into Shiro's chest, "and Keith owed me from last night."

Shiro had no idea what "last night" referred to, but he hoped the young boys weren't corrupting themselves by placing bets and gambling. He wouldn't be surprised if they had decided to hit the town while the responsible adults were asleep, but he would be extremely exasperated. He and Allura sometimes joked about putting leashes on the teens just so that they would be easier to keep under control.

"Oh, my God, Shiro, open the box!"

Obviously, Lance was at the end of his patience.

With a grumble under his breath, Shiro nearly immediately obliged. His fingers were a bit careful in peeling off the purple wrap as he was still rather hesitant. What if Lance got him some weird phone? Like…like one with hundreds of cat memes and dad jokes downloaded onto it?

Shiro realized that was to the extent of what he could possibly imagine Lance doing, so it was a bit of a petty self-argument. With a loud and satisfying rip, the paper came off and the phone came out of the box.

"Huh," Shiro said unconsciously. He turned it over in his hands, eyes running over the thin and futuristic design. It was plated black, and instead of the iconic apple with a bite taken out of it on the back of the phone, the symbol seemed to be a symbol in the country's native language—he thought it to resemble a stick figure. Shiro was a little surprised that the phone looked about as close to an iPhone as a knock-off could get.

"Great, right?"

Shiro almost forgot Lance was in the room with him until he spoke. He found himself nodding and powering it on. "This was nice of you, Lance," he murmured. "Thank you."

Lance blushed from the praise, rubbing the back of his neck. "No probs, Shiro. I'm gonna go give Hunk his." He made finger-guns and pointed them at the Black Paladin while his feet shuffled back. "Smell ya later!" He literally moonwalked out of Shiro's room.

"That kid…" Shiro rolled his eyes and turned his eyes to the screen. For some reason, looking at this made him feel a little sick on the inside. While the phone was completely beautiful and he was grateful Lance didn't give him a colony of pests again, that feeling that something was bound to go wrong settled deep in Shiro's gut.

Shiro wasn't going to find out he was right until tomorrow, when he would make a complete, utter fool of himself.

"Oh, my! Coran, look at this! It makes my hair grow flowers!"

Shiro had to purse his lips to keep himself from smiling. The boys and Pidge had managed to introduce Allura to an app called "Snapchat", something that Shiro had heard of in the past but never indulged in.

The way her big blue eyes lit up when she swiped past the filters, the pink flecks shining brighter in her dilated pupils, and the absolutely adorable expression on her face was very, undeniably endearing. He tried not to stare too much, but with a face like that she was probably used to people looking at her.

He had only realized recently, after they rescued Allura, why his whole body seemed to be heavier and clumsier than usual whenever he was around her. He had really grown to like the princess, and his admiration of her leadership skills was evolving into something he couldn't quite explain. Of course, it wasn't love or anything…Shiro was ninety-seven point six prevent sure that wasn't the case. But as a guy who hadn't fallen before, he couldn't ignore the possibility that hey, maybe he was in love with a beautiful alien princess that he'd known for only a month and only happened to meet by pure fate. A chance encounter, it was.

But it sounded much too much like a fairy tale. Only children were made to fall in love so quickly with one another, and Shiro was an adult. What he was feeling for Allura was surely only platonic.

Just because he noticed the graceful way she held herself and the way the corners of her eyes wrinkled up when she laughed and the smell of her flowerly, Altean perfume and how her hair billowed around her like the softest shade of moonlight didn't mean that he, Takashi Shirogane, was in love. Friends noticed these things about other friends, surely.

Shiro got a bit lost in his own thoughts—as he usually did—and just watching her face. It turned up and seemed to be getting closer, closer, closer…

Until that face was right in front of him. Shiro was taken aback by her sudden closeness; he had never been in such proximity with the princess before, except for that one time she grabbed him and flung him across a room.

"Shiro," Allura said, determination set in her features, "give me your numeral code."

"My…what?" he asked, blinking.

"You know, the number assigned to your cellphone?" She tilted her head. "Oh or is it…phone number?" She looked so inquisitive as she tried to justify what she had just said.

Shiro allowed himself a tiny chuckle and nodded. "Yeah, phone number. Here, let me see your phone."

Her slender finger grazed against his as she passed it over. It seemed Lance had gotten a pink case for the princess, one with a tiny black lion charm hanging on a little cord that dangled from the top. Shiro's eyes shifted up to hers in a bit of confusion, but he dismissed it; it was probably just what came with the case…maybe…

Or Lance was being a little shit by messing around with them. That was highly plausible. And it was, of course, effective. Shiro ignored the heat in his cheeks as he navigated to Allura's small contact list.

It maybe did or maybe didn't irk him a bit that she had everyone's number except for his. Nevertheless, he punched in his nickname and phone number before handing it back to her.

Their hands brushed again, but this time her warm fingers touched his metal ones. He shot her an apologetic glance (he knew they were cold) but she didn't seem to mind.

"I actually have to start preparing for my meeting with the president," Allura said, tucking the phone away in an inconspicuous pocket of her dress. "I'll be sure to send you a message later, Shiro. You too, Coran." With that, she turned and walked off.

Shiro forced himself to tear his eyes away from her retreating figure, exhaling a small sigh. He looked around the control room of the castle, but there was no one to be seen save for Coran. Like the princess was off to her duties, the paladins should have been too—Allura wanted them to keep a patrol over the town in case there might be any suspicious Galra activity. Coran was to keep watch from the satellite scanners on board so someone would be with the ship.

He rounded each of teens up by heading to their usual spots in the castle (Hunk and Pidge were in the kitchen, Lance was in his room, Keith was in the training room) and split the team up into patrol groups of three and two. He trusted Hunk and Pidge to do a good enough job on their own, but he didn't trust Lance and Keith to patrol successfully without bickering, so he placed himself with them. After a brief team talk with the group over who was taking the west and who was taking the east, they had departed into the city.

As usual, the outside was bustling with life. The sun was high in the sky, reflected on the windows of parlors and beauty salons the paladins passed on their patrol. The people were laughing and moving about the streets all around them, generally keeping a bit of a distance from the strangers but not a hostile one. Perhaps it was Lance's wolf-whistles and flirty winks that kept them at bay.

Time passed, and the patrol felt more like a leisure stroll if Shiro were being honest, but he was trying to look as serious about it as possible for Lance and Keith. The former was on his phone and laughing his head off.

"Shiro, you've got to check this out!" Lance exclaimed brightly. "It's a face swap filter."

Shiro glanced back at him with no interest. Lance liked the weirdest things, he swore.

"…Why just Shiro?" Keith mumbled. "I'm here too, you know."

"Oh, Keith!" Lance said with a sly grin. "I didn't even notice you were there."

"Tch!" Keith's cheeks flared bright red. "You're such an a—!"

"Boys!" Shiro shot them reprimanding stares. "Can we just get along for an hour or two? Please?" He rolled his eyes and urged them along down the street. Both of them fell quiet, and Shiro pushed Lance's phone out of his face when the blue paladin tried to swap their faces. Maybe he should have just gone with Pidge and Hunk and left these two to deal with their issues alone…

Well, no that wouldn't have been good. Allura would surely have been upset with Shiro if the citizens of Kazinoch thought badly of the paladins because of Keith and Lance's public spats.

Ping!

Shiro jumped into a fighting stance immediately when he heard the loud noise. His eyes darted around, and he hissed at Lance and Keith, "Get down!"

The two boys just looked at each other and then their leader. Shiro was about to snap again, but he thought to himself if Keith wasn't following an order then something must be wrong.

"Shiro…that was your phone," Keith said slowly.

Shiro blinked and quickly returned to standing. Who would be messaging him? He fiddled around in his pocket for the phone until his fingers found purchase with a soft clink. Metal against metal was a sensation he was beginning to learn, albeit regretfully. Shiro turned on the screen with a bit of mutual curiosity—Lance and Keith were peering over either of his shoulders to see.

"ONE INCOMING MESSAGE," the screen read. "Princess Allura."

"What? Allura told me she doesn't text!"

"Because she didn't want an idiot like you blowing her phone up all the time."

"Listen here, mullet-boy—"

"Shut up, both of you." Shiro opened up the message and squinted to read it.

Allura: Do u have thyme to talk threw call? Sorry my written English is not best…

Her typos were so adorable. Shiro found himself nodding in response, but stopped when he remembered she couldn't actually see him do that. His heart began to thump, thumb hovering over the icon of a blue phone next to her name. He should be able to do this; he talked to Allura all the time. It was just a little call, he told himself. There was no reason to be getting so flustered.

But then suddenly, he locked up tensely and his eyes blanked.

"Mom, I'm okay," he said into the phone. "I promise, I'm not up to anything bad!"

"Oh, I know, Takashi, I just…can't help but worry," a very soft voice answered on the other line. "Be safe, dear. Mommy has to go back to work now."

"Bye, Mom. I love you."

"I love you too, Takashi! Good night." The line beeped softly, dead.

And he was alone again.

"Shiro?"

Lance's voice dragged him out of his flashback. Shiro felt a headache coming on and ignored the other two paladins' questions as he pressed down on the phone button.

Shiro raised the phone to his ear.

Brrrring. Brrrring. Brrrring. Beep!

"Shiro! How is the patrol going?" Allura asked. "Sorry for bothering you right now, I just got worried since you're with Keith and Lance and I know how they can be…"

"It's going well," he answered, "we're not seeing much trouble around or anything." He hesitated—something didn't seem quite right. "How did you know I was with Keith and Lance…?"

"Coran told me," Allura answered. "I checked up on him first. All's well for him as well."

Shiro buried the little twitch he felt on the inside when he learned he wasn't the first one she had called. Stop being silly, Shiro.

"And you, Princess? Should you really be on your phone right now?" Shiro was only concerned for her, but he felt as if his tone might come across as interrogative or accusing. Allura had more sense than to call during a meeting, he knew, but he couldn't refrain himself from asking.

Allura's laugh was light and airy on the other end. "No worries, I'm more than allowed. The President fell ill, so now I'm returning to the castle. Should I join Hunk and Pidge on patrol?"

"No," he said instantly. "Join me."

"But…are you not with Keith and Lance?"

Shit. Shiro's face heated up; he had completely forgotten about that. It wouldn't make sense for them to have a patrol group of four when they could just split into three and three, but…

"I know I am," he sputtered, "but what I meant was, it would be a lot more efficient if you and I broke off into our own patrol group, because we'd be covering more ground faster. You know?"

Lance gasped sharply. "Shiro's ditching us! Shiro's ditching us for Allura!"

Shiro didn't have the energy to give Lance another glare because he was waiting so insistently for Allura's answer. He swallowed nervously and his Adam's apple bobbed in his throat. He hoped his messy cover-up was good enough of a reason to explain why he asked for her company.

"Yes, you're right. I'll come find you, and maybe we can take a look at the sister city nearby." Allura sounded content. "Farewell for now, Shiro."

The flashback popped into his mind again, and he answered softly, "Bye, Allura. I love you."

Silence ensued—both on the other line and on his own end. Keith and Lance both stopped in their tracks and gawked at Shiro.

Shiro felt the sweat pouring down his face and could hear his heart hammering in his ears. What the hell. What the hell. Hopefully he was just dreaming, and he really didn't just confess to Allura, in front of the paladins no less. It was a habit he couldn't stop himself from partaking in.

Shiro was torn between wanting her to answer and not wanting her to answer at all. He was also heavily considering slicing his head off with his Galra arm.

"I, uh…I love you, too, Shiro. Bye now."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

She hung up.

Oh, God, oh, God, oh, God.

Shiro pulled the phone away from his ear slowly and felt his blush spread to his ears. It was so uncomfortably hot. He should have just told her it was an instinct, explained to her the only person he used to call was his mom, and he'd say that all the time to her, just anything to avoid making him seem like the hugest idiot ever, but it was too late for that now.

"So…you guys are like a thing or what?" Lance purred. "Who would have guessed? Shiro and Allura…Shallura."

Oh, how much he was despising this boy right now.

Patrolling with Allura was the most awkward thing Shiro's ever had to do in his life (and he's had to give Pidge the talk, mind you).

She didn't mention anything about their phone call earlier, and he felt grateful on one hand, scared on the other. There's no way that didn't affect her at all—she had gone completely silent when she had heard it—so he had a feeling it was going to come up eventually. Shiro's premonitions were usually not asinine.

"This way," Allura said, pointing to a bridge at the very edge of the town. They had been walking in an uncomfortable silence all the way here, about an arm's length away from each other. Shiro inhaled a deep breath before nodding. Together, they advanced.

"So," Allura murmured, and Shiro's gut started to sink, "what was that all about?"

"I'm so sorry," he blurted, feeling like an impudent teenager, "It's just something I'm used to saying to my mom, back when she used to call me all the time, and…I guess I just thought of that and I didn't mean to say it, but—"

"You're rambling." Allura's face flushed a bit and she avoided his gaze. "It's okay, Shiro. I know it's possible for friends to love each other." She smiled brightly and offered him her hand. "I wasn't lying when I told you it. You're one of my closest friends."

Shiro stared at her outstretched palm for a long time, his jaw agape. Her expression was inviting and captivating, full lips quirked up slightly in a small smile. A soft breeze swept by and picked up the stray hairs around Allura's face, the pesky ones that seemed to fall out from her bun when she didn't want them to, the ones that Shiro thought were as attractive as her, and they framed her cheekbones so perfectly right then.

He allowed himself to look up at her eyes, the ones that reflected his image so clearly back at him in the sky of crystal blue, space of pink stars, and didn't feel so afraid anymore.

He raised his left hand and put it in hers.

"Yeah," Shiro whispered. "I feel the same way."

And as they walked into the city, each paying more attention to the other than the glorious scenery and the job they were supposed to be doing, Shiro thought to himself that maybe getting a cellphone wasn't the worst thing to ever happen to him.