Sleeping on Your Shoulder
Garrison briefings were terribly dull when the planet or universe was not in immediate danger of being destroyed or invaded. Being raised in the traditions of Altean royalty meant being very familiar with protocol and politics, but humans seemed to have a talent for conducting lengthy meetings based on little to no new information.
"This could have been an email." Allura heard Pidge grumble under her breath. The smallest Paladin sat to the princess's left, her arms folded over her chest and body slumped in her chair. Allura could tell her fellow teammate was just as annoyed with this silly meeting as she was, although she had no idea what an email was.
The briefing room was crowded with other Garrison officers, aliens, and nicely dressed humans that she had just recently discovered were leaders of their respective groups. She recalled Lance explaining the concept of countries to her when she was first introduced to the variety of diplomats. Altea had similar divisions, but all were led by her father, the King of Altea. On Earth, there did not seem to be a clear leader that all humans looked to for guidance. Loyalties were scattered and everyone in the room seemed to have their own personal agenda. It made the princess uneasy and it was probably that feeling of distrust that kept her awake through this dreadful rundown.
Years of sitting through meetings had trained her body to keep a proper, respectful posture, even after sitting in the same spot for at least a varga. She could not, however, shed the bored look on her face or stop her obsessive drumming on his fingers against the arms of the chair.
"- and so with the recent updates made to the Garrison's communications systems we can -" It only took a moment of tuning in to the officer's report before his words faded back into the background. Sure this information pertains to her to some degree, it was not necessary to listen to all the added updates that she had no use for.
Her emerald eyes fell to her fidgety finger as she allowed her mind to wonder for a bit more. Her first thoughts were of her current project. After General Holt had shown her the Altean inside the monstrous machine used in an attempt to kill her and her fellow Paladins, she had dedicated much of her time to aiding the humans in discovering how exactly the robot was able to harvest an Altean's life force and use it as a power source. However, she could only think about the project for so long, before slipping down a trail of darkness and mourning. So she pushed those thoughts into the back of her mind and forced herself to think of something less intense. Of course, it didn't take long for her thoughts to travel to her second most thought of topic. Her mint-colored eyes drifted to her other teammate sitting beside her, this time to her right.
She took a few ticks to take him in. He was wearing his Garrison uniform, similar to her's. Before they all wore the same orange and white suits, but as part of the Garrison's appreciation for the Paladins' involvement in the mission to liberate Earth and save it from annihilation, they were each given their own unique uniform. It was basically the same as what they had before, only this time they each wore their own colors that matched their Paladin armor. Where there once was orange, she now sported a pastel pink. The boy beside her had on his signature royal blue that made his baby blue eyes pop. Though she noticed she couldn't see his familiar azure pupils since they were covered by his drooping eyelids. That's when she realized his head was hanging forward at an uncomfortable looking angle and that his breathing was slow and rhythmic.
"Is he out of cranker? Sleeping during a meeting!" She hissed in her head as she narrowed her eyes in disapproval. She couldn't blame her fellow Paladin for dozing off during this dreadfully boring meeting, but it was still extremely unprofessional of him. A Paladin of Voltron is held to higher standards than most and must be an example for those they are around. Not passed out and drooling during a briefing!
She gave a nervous glance around the room to see if anyone else had noticed Lance's unconscious state. To her relief, everyone's attention was either on the speaker or anywhere but on them. Twisting in her seat, she prepared herself to nudge her friend awake, but she had made the fatal mistake of looking at him. Now that she was turned in her chair, she had a much better view of his face.
It was still aimed downwards, his messy brown hair hanging loosely over his forehead. His eyes were closed lightly and his lips were slightly ajar. As she predicted, a single string of saliva leaked down the corner of his mouth. She used to be so disgusted by how much humans salivated while resting, it was strange and at first, she thought it was a sign of illness. She soon learned during the past few years of living with the Earthlings that this was just a simple sign of deep sleep.
"How is he able to do that?" She wondered to herself as her face became thoughtful and she studied the boy's face some more. It amazed her how he was able to sleep like this. No matter how uninteresting the information may be, she was still in a room filled with people, all of which she knew would catch her the moment she began to nod off. Not only that, but the way his neck was bent at an awkward angle made her flinch. There was no way he was comfortable in that position. For her to have any hopes of sleeping, she had to be lying down with her head properly supported by at least three fluffy pillows. Yet her Lance was, soundlessly snoozing in his chair during the middle of an intelligence briefing.
Again, she repeated to herself, how was he doing that? "Certainly," she thought confidently, "he would not be able to keep it up for much longer."
She gave him a pointed stare as she waited anxiously for his body to inevitably lean too far forward, which in turn would naturally jolt him out of his slumber. Only she did not expect for him to open his eyes for just a split second, before falling in her direction. Unprepared for this action, her whole body tensed the moment his head touched her shoulder. His head felt heavy resting on the edge of her shoulder, the spot warming instantly upon contact. A few strands of his soft, brown hair tickled her exposed neckline. The minty fragrance of his cologne drifted to her nose, making her heart pound against her chest. She squeezed the black leather arms of her chair and her ocean eyes darted around the room frantically. Her first reaction was to shove the boy off her, but she forced herself to remain still. No one was watching them yet, and pushing him would only result in attracting unwanted attention.
Finally, she looked over to Pidge, being careful to only turn her head. She gave a silent plea to the green Paladin and as if she had read her mind, the younger female looked up to meet her gaze. Allura gently gave a small side-nod and her eyes flickered between Pidge and the boy napping just inches from her face. The brunette's eyes widened behind her glasses and she covered her mouth to hide the laughter that bubbled up inside of her. Allura's eye narrowed in annoyances at her teammate's reaction.
"What do I do?" She mouthed, hoping the smartest Paladin would at least be able to offer a helpful suggestion, but all the other girl did was shrug her shoulders and mouth back, "Don't wake him."
Allura's left hand balled in a fist as she clenched her teeth and scowled at the other Paladin's lame attempt at a joke. Clearly, Pidge would be of no help to her. Turning back to the subject of her agitation, her features softened a bit. Different than before, he now looked extremely comfortable. Apparently, her shoulder made a decent pillow. His face was even more relaxed than it had been originally and the added weight seemed to bother her less the longer he stayed. His breath was pointed downward so she couldn't feel it under her uniform, but the soothing sound calmed her racing heart. If she were being honest with herself, this situation would not bother her as much if they were in a more appropriate place. The more she thought about him, the closer his tantalizing lips felt to her own.
She wondered if he tasted sweet like the sugary treats she had tried while being on Earth, or if he tasted more like the salty ocean that he spoke so often about. Upon realizing where her thoughts were leading, a dark crimson blush stained her cheeks. She cursed herself for letting her feelings get the better of judgment. It had to have been several doboshes that had past, and yet, her shoulder was still occupied by the silly Cuban boy who had somehow weaseled his way into her heart. The corner of her lips twitched up and she found her head slowly lowering to the side, resting gently on top of his chocolate mop of hair. Within a few ticks, she felt her eyes flutter shut and she took in a slow drag of his natural, boyish scent. Between the relaxing aroma and the peaceful rhythm of his quiet snores, she too felt herself drifting off into another world.
"Should we, um, wake them up?" Hunk asked as he rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous habit.
"We should leave and lock them in for the night. Teach them a lesson for sleeping during an important meeting." Keith grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face.
"We're not locking them in." Shiro reasoned, though he too wore a disapproving frown.
"Yeah, 'cause they'd probably like a room all to themselves for the night," Pidge said with a smirk as she placed a hand on her cocked hip.
Her male teammates all gave her a mortified look at just the idea that she had now planted in each of their minds. She simply shrugged them off, before reaching for her backpack that was still hanging on the back of her chair. It was about a third of the way into the meeting that everyone noticed the two unprofessional warriors cozying up to each other. Turns out, Allura was a loud snorer.
Once everyone discovered two of the five Paladins of Voltron were out for the count, General Holt decided it was a good time to end the briefing. Many were appalled by the blatant rudeness of the sharpshooter and the princess, forcing the other Paladins to apologize on their behalf. It was a very embarrassing situation, to say the least, but not as bad as the punishment that would be coming to the sleeping beauties.
"Give them an extra hour of training every day for a week," Shiro suggested as he turned to Keith. The Black Paladin nodded his head in approval.
"And maybe I should talk to the kitchen staff. Make these two wash dishes for a few hours too."
"Ah, come on guys," Hunk stepped forward and gestured to the slumber duo still in their chairs. "Look how adorable they are. Do you really want to punish these two blossoming lovers?"
Shiro's frown deepened and Keith's face twisted with disgust. With a raised hand, the ladder stressed for Hunk to never call Lance and Allura lovers ever again.
"Okay, okay," the yellow Paladin threw up his hands in defeat, "but maybe we should go easy on them, I mean, that was the most boring meeting in the history of meetings. Frankly, I'm surprised I wasn't the one to pass out." He ended with a half-hearted chuckle.
Shiro and Keith exchanged a brief look, then finally Keith let out a sigh and nodded his head. "Okay, fine, no kitchen duty, but they are going to put in a few extra hours of training and apologize to everyone who was at the meeting."
Everyone either nodded or voiced their approval after their leader laid out the punishment. Keith then stepped closer behind the pair, who were cuddled up as close as they possibly could be while still sitting in their respective seats. As he stretched his arm out to shake them awake, a much smaller hand slapped his away.
"Pidge, what the hell?" Keith hissed as he coddled his now stinging hand.
She hushed him with an "Shh." "We can't wake them up yet!" She said in a loud whisper.
"Why not?" Keith challenged, mimicking her whispering.
With her signature mischievous smirk, she pulled out her phone from her bag and waved it in front of her friends. "Not until we get some quality blackmail."
Keith grinned back at her and glanced over at the other two men beside them. Shiro shook his head, but a ghost of a smile appeared on his face. Hunk tapped his finger against his chin as he mulled it over before his lips broke into a wide smile.
"Do it." He instructed Pidge and without hesitation, she scrambled over to the other side of the meeting table, so that she had a better view of the blue and pink-clad couple. She held up the phone over her eyes and took several pictures of them. There was no way she'd let them forget about this one.
