ON THIN ICE

Pidge was dead to him. Of all the things she could have introduced Allura to, "Yuri on Ice" did not have to be one of them. The show was ancient so why did she have all five seasons and the movie downloaded to her laptop, anyway?

Now here he was, freezing his butt off, wondering how badly he was going to embarrass himself today. He'd never even used roller skates before and had no clue how to balance himself on razor thin blades, especially on a slippery surface.

Allura was bouncing with excitement though, her mittened hands clapping with glee as she watched other skaters gliding smoothly around the pond. She'd visited frozen planets with her father but was not allowed out of the castle for security reasons. So when they decided to spend time on Earth he wasn't too surprised when she asked to see snow in person.

Once the rest of the team had gathered along the edge they stepped cautiously onto the ice one by one. Pidge went first, holding on to Lance for balance. Lance then used Allura, and Allura held onto Hunk. Of course Keith, being the least excited to try this, wound up being last. Unfortunately that meant Hunk was using him as an anchor for a moment.

It was a very short moment.

Hunk's momentum pulled Keith out with him, and soon he was gliding out of control straight toward Allura. He could see the look of panic on her face as he neared, and she slammed her eyes shut as she braced for impact. Keith flailed his arms hoping to find something to stop him when suddenly he found himself being pulled in another direction.

"Are you okay?" asked an unfamiliar voice.

One of the skaters, a young woman likely in her twenties it seemed, had managed to pull him away in time to avoid a crash. They were moving somewhat quickly away from the others, his teammates growing smaller by the second.

Finally he remembered his manners and managed to stutter out a thanks to his rescuer. She smiled in return before slowing and swinging around to face him. The young woman was wearing gear that made Keith believe she skated competitively.

"So...do you have a name?" she continued, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Keith. My name's Keith. Um, what's yours?"

She smiled and held out her hand to shake his, and as he returned the gesture she introduced herself. "Tracy."

Thanking her once again, Keith suggested he introduce her to the rest of the group. As they skated back the young woman placed her arm under his elbow to help keep him upright, chatting his ear off as the went along. He learned that Tracy had indeed competed on the national level, and Keith was sure that Allura would be thrilled to watch her practice.

The mood when they reached the team was not what he was expecting, however. Lance, Hunk, and Pidge all wore knowing smiles; Lance playfully punched him on the arm and muttered something about a nice catch. Allura seemed angry, which confused Keith. The skater had protected her as much as she'd protected him, and the Princess was always more gracious than she was being at the moment.

Keith worked his way through the introductions, tripping over his words as he got to Allura because he almost forgot to drop the "princess" part. He really didn't want to have to explain that she was an alien from a planet that had been destroyed ten-thousand years ago.

Tracy gave Allura slightly more consideration, pausing a moment before speaking. "Ah, you must be his girlfriend, right?"

At that the red paladin choked on air, his face beginning to grow uncomfortably warm. He hoped no one noticed how quickly he denied the assertion. For her part Allura remained quiet, her eyes blown wide before narrowing suspiciously. They'd been too careful about keeping their blooming relationship under wraps for now to let their cover be blown this way.

Lance, of course, being Lance, decided that Keith had not sufficiently called dibs on their new friend and began to turn on his charm. He asked her to demonstrate some of her moves (and then bragged a bit about how he was almost selected for the Olympic swim team but had to give up his dream in order to join the Garrison as a fighter pilot.) Tracy, for her part, seemed unimpressed and kept trying to engage Keith in conversation.

"So, are you a pilot, too?" she asked, leaning into his arm which he just realized she was still holding on to.

Before he could even open his mouth Allura's voice cut in sharply. "Yes, he's our captain for that matter."

This is so not good.

Keith decided to try to smooth things over by encouraging the one thing he knew they had in common. "Yeah, um, Tracy, could you show us those moves? The girls would love to see it, I'm sure."

Wrong. So very, very wrong.

He knew that look. That was the look Allura gave him when he'd done something foolish. Maybe encouraging the young lady who'd rescued him to stick around longer wasn't the best idea he'd ever had. But it was already out there and he couldn't very well take it back now.

"Sorry, I'm rather out of practice," Tracy apologized. "I skated doubles and had a terrible accident. I only do races now."

With that she pulled up her coat sleeve to show a portion of a rather nasty looking scar on her forearm. Keith winced instinctively, noting that he had some that looked only slightly worse- and those were from sword fights.

"It was a bad enough cut that I lost some strength and flexibility," she continued, her countenance darkening. "I tried retraining but I could never perform to the same levels as before. Speed racing only requires leg strength, so I do that now."

"I'll race you. Loser takes the winner on a date," Lance interjected, waggling his eyebrows for effect. "But I must warn you, I have expensive tastes."

Tracy let out a hearty laugh, nearly doubling over as she gasped for air. "You have no chance of beating me," she answered, pausing a moment as if considering something. "I'm pretty sure none of you could….except maybe Keith," she finished, winking at the now doomed pilot.

Keith was trying to think of a way to nicely decline, looking desperately to Allura as if she could somehow telepathically send him a proper excuse. Instead she crossed her arms, glowering at Tracy in an apparent attempt to scare her off. It didn't work.

"I'll race you."

The team turned to look at Allura with curiosity. Everyone there knew she had no experience and looked curious as to why she would take on such a challenge. Keith felt his gut tense up as he understood exactly what was transpiring between the women.

"Count me in." His only hope right now was to get everyone on board and hopefully dissuade the other two from following through.

He looked over to Allura, trying to suss out her feelings. The last time he'd seen her that angry was when they'd faced off with the Alteans from the alternate dimension. This was not going to end well, in any reality.

Turning around to look for backup from the team, he realized that Hunk had already returned to the edge of the pond while Pidge was trying to drag Lance away from the scene. At this point nobody wanted to get involved, not that he blamed them.

Tracy turned to speak to him, once again leaning in way closer than was necessary. "We'll go to that orange marker and then come back. Don't go past that point, the ice is thinner there and could collapse under your weight."

"Got it," he responded, looking over Tracy's head to Allura. "Did you hear that? Stop at the orange marker then come back."

"Yes, thanks," she replied rather curtly. Keith felt a lump form in his throat as she cut her eyes away. He'd hurt her, albeit unintentionally, and he needed to make it right.

"Will one of you do the honors?" Tracy called over her shoulder to the remaining trio on the shore.

Pidge counted down from three and they were off. Keith was not going to win, that much was sure, but he didn't want to lose either. If he was second place then he wasn't beholden to anyone.

Unfortunately it seemed Allura didn't catch on to his plan and was right on Tracy's heels. As impressed as he was to see his secret girlfriend blaze her way across the frozen surface he was equally starting to worry about whether she'd be able to stop when the time came.

Too soon he saw his fear come to fruition. She didn't know how to slow herself down and was going to blow past the warning marker. A quick burst of speed pushed him forward enough to grab her wrist as he attempted to pull her back. The sudden change in momentum caused them to spin momentarily before coming to a stop.

When they stopped Keith realized how violently his heart was beating. He couldn't help but recall the time they'd been ejected into space, how he thought he was going to lose her then as well. Instinctively he pulled her into his arms, holding onto her as tight as he could while peppering her face with kisses. At this point he didn't care who saw them, he wasn't going to let her go any time soon.

Allura held gripped his hand as they skated towards the others. Tracy had already made her way over and appeared to be saying goodbye. When the newly outed couple arrived she greeted them with a dejected smile.

"Well, I'd like to say I won but I'm not sure I want to impose on this," she said, motioning towards them emphatically. "But it was fun, so thanks for entertaining me for the afternoon."

With that she waved and sped off to the other side of the pond.

Now Keith was bracing himself for the onslaught of questions he was sure were going to follow. His mind was racing trying to plot a course to explain away his behavior earlier. Instead of confusion, however, the others just laughed and turned to leave.

"Shiro is going to be pissed! He's the only one that bet they weren't dating," Lance joked. "He's going to owe me one week of castle chores. How about you guys?"

"Same," said Hunk, pumping his fist into the air. "I'll get to spend time visiting Shay instead."

Pidge snorted, adjusting her glasses for emphasis. "You guys should've gone for the big payout."

Everyone looked at her impatiently, wondering what her wager had been.

"Chores for a week and I get his dessert for a month!"

Allura laughed, then looked at them disapprovingly. "I can't believe all of you were betting on us," she chided.

"You think that's bad," Keith pouted dramatically. "My best friend bet against me!"