A quick disclaimer before we start: Apparently character ages are a subject of some debate in the fandom so far, so I'm just gonna stick this here: Lance and Hunk are 17, Pidge is 15, Keith is 19, Shiro is 23. I know this doesn't quite match up with what has been said, but I don't really care. That's how old they are in this story.

Anyway, let's just enjoy the fluff.

Round 1

It was the kind of thing that they'd only heard about in fairy tales. A huge ballroom with larger-than-life chandeliers dangling from the ceiling, food and decorations, all with an alien flair, scattered about. Oh, and dancing. Lots and lots of dancing.

Allura had insisted that this was merely a diplomatic social gathering, a chance for Team Voltron to gain some allies on this planet, but none of them were fooled by the title-the was a straight-up party. Apparently even the princess, in the middle of war, couldn't help but let loose and have fun every once in a while. Not that Lance was complaining, of course, but he wondered how the others were taking it, namely Shiro.

Their style of dancing at parties was odd too, or at least that's how Lance thought of it. They had to dance with partners, but it wasn't the type of thing where people ask each other and dance. It was more like walking into a mush pot, you step on the dance floor and you keep switching from partner to partner, dancing with whoever was thrown at you, regardless of gender or the type of song being played.

...ok, well, that made it sound a bit more hectic than it actually was, but Lance kinda felt that way sometimes when he was forced to dance with these random aliens. He just wanted to dance with his girlfriend, but at the moment, she was all the way across the room.

The current song that was playing ended, and Lance said a quick goodbye to his current partner. Tugging at the tie he was wearing under his shiny blue suit, he started looking for the next one. The next song would start in a few seconds, and he would like to at least dance with someone he knew...

Lo and behold, he got his wish, when Hunk's bright yellow suit appeared in his field of vision, and he immediately made a beeline for it. Lance grabbed his friend's shoulder with a relieved smile, glad he caught him before someone else could. "Hunk! Buddy!"

Hunk turned around in surprise and immediately swept Lance into a hug. "Oh thank goodness! I thought I'd lost you guys."

"I know, right? Talk about dancing till you drop. Not that I'm tired of course."

Hunk rolled his eyes. "Where's Pidge? Have you gotten a dance with her yet?"

Lance sighed. "Nope. You're the first person from the team I've caught so far."

"Same with you."

The music began to swell again, and the crowd around them started to partner up. Lance grinned and turned to his buddy with an outstretched hand. "Well, my good sir, shall we dance?"

Hunk rolled his eyes. "Lance, for crying out loud, don't make this gay."

"Hunk, you haven't seen the way some of these male aliens look at me-this will be the least gay dance for me so far."

Hunk smirked and took Lance's hand. "Ok, fair enough."

Luckily for both of them, Lance was a pretty decent dancer, so even though they were holding each other like an awkward couple at prom, Lance's skill at least made up for it.

"So..." Hunk started. "Weird party, huh?"

"Eh. They're aliens, what else can you expect?" Lance spun Hunk around, almost automatically, and continued stepping to the beat. "Besides, it's relaxing. It's nice to be able to think about something other than Zarkon and imminent doom and such."

Hunk was still blinking in surprise that Lance had gone and twirled him like that, but didn't mention it. "I...guess that's true."

"Is the food here any good?"

Hunk shrugged. "Better than the food goo, at least. But it's got this weird aftertaste..." Hunk smacked his lips together, making Lance laugh.

The tempo began to get a bit faster, and the two boys allowed themselves to be a little less formal with their dance. Hunk seemed to be having trouble keeping up with Lance's pace though.

"You ok, buddy?" Lance asked.

"I'm fine, just-how are you not tired?"

Lance shrugged and smiled to himself. "I'm just used to it I guess. Did a lot of dancing back home." He thought for a moment, then grinned even wider. "Just follow my lead, ok? Spin me around, then lift me."

Hunk scrunched his nose. "Lift you?"

"Yes, lift me. In the air. It's not a real dance unless there's a lift. And a dip."

"You want me to lift you and dip you."

"Do it, Hunk."

Hunk sighed. "Ok. Not my fault if we get embarrassed though." With that, he did as Lance told him to do.

Lance gave a loud "woohoo!" as Hunk lifted him into the air, stretching out his thin arms like an airplane and smiling like a giddy little kid. "Hey everyone! Look at my friend Hunk! He's so supportive!"

Hunk muttered something under his breath and put Lance back down. "Seriously?"

"What?" Lance smirked. "I was telling everyone how great you are! You're welcome."

Hunk rolled his eyes but gave a grin of his own. "Ok, fine."

"Aren't you gonna dip me?"

"Nah."

Lance pouted for a moment, then shrugged. "Ok, fine. How about we finish with a well-polished dab?"

They both dabbed, and while the others in the room looked on in confusion, the two boys burst out laughing. This was a lot more fun than they'd expected an alien formal dance to be. But that was probably because they'd found each other.

He was looking at Shiro.

Keith was trying to focus on the current dance he had going, but he couldn't help that he'd spotted Shiro in the crowd and was now watching him dance and chat with Allura in his arms. Keith had already heard several of the guests whispering about how amazing Shiro and Allura looked together-like an elegant couple from a fairy tale. Keith couldn't help but agree, much to his own dismay, and it didn't help that those two looked like they were having a great time. And that they both looked absolutely stunning.

"Ahem."

Keith was snapped out of his daze by an impatient whine coming from his partner. He haphazardly turned to look down at the tiny girl, who was frowning up at him with her huge amber eyes.

Keith cleared his throat. "S-sorry, Pidge. I just got a little distracted, is all."

"You stepped on my foot again," Pidge deadpanned.

"Sorry. I told you, I'm not much of a dancer."

"Well, maybe if you'd stop staring at Shiro and pay attention to me, you'd know that I'm trying to teach you."

Keith's face turned redder than his blazer. "I-I wasnt-" he stuttered, but Pidge could see right through him.

Pidge gave him a knowing smile. "Relax, will you? It's a party. Here, just follow me, I'll show you how to not step on my toes." She stared down at their feet and started moving slowly, coaxing Keith to follow her. "Just step back, to the side then forward. Now forward, side, back." She looked up once more. "Easy, right?"

"I guess."

They tried it a few more times, Pidge correcting him as he went, until Keith finally started getting the hang of it. As they picked up the pace, Pidge's soft green skirt flowed freely around her legs. It was really weird to see Pidge in a dress (he'd expressed this to her and had gotten a snappy response, as usual.) but then again, he wasn't used to dressing up like this either. Keith wasn't the social type, he barely liked casual mingling, much less having to dance with tons of strangers. At the very least, he had his friends here to help him feel even slightly less uncomfortable.

He looked down at Pidge curiously. "Where'd you learn to dance from, anyway?"

Pidge grinned widely. "Lance showed me how."

Keith fought the urge to roll his eyes. "Oh yeah. I forgot you spend every waking moment of your life with him now."

"I do not!" Pidge pouted. "I only spend half my waking moments with him. The other half is spent working on modifications for Green."

"Oh, ok, my mistake. Clearly you lead an extremely varied life."

"Shut up Keith, you're one to talk. You spend all day in the training deck. Can't you ever just chill?"

"I'm never chill."

This caused Pidge to snicker, and Keith gave a smirk of his own. The tempo of the music began to pick up, and Keith started to panic a little, but Pidge took charge. She twirled herself under Keith's arm like it was the most natural thing in the world, laughing gleefully all the way through. Keith smiled at her as she did. Pidge was usually so serious and snarky, but there were times when she would turn into an adorable ball of childlike energy. Maybe that was why she and Lance got along so well.

Speaking of Lance-

An incoherent yell sounded from the middle of the room, catching both his and Pidge's attention. Keith sighed. "Found your boyfriend."

Lance appeared to be doing some kind of ridiculous dance with Hunk-oh God, were they dabbing? Could Lance ever go anywhere without completely embarrassing himself?

Pidge seemed amused, at least, as she turned back to Keith with an eyeroll and another wide grin. "What a dork."

"You can say that again," Keith grumbled. "I still don't get what you see in him, but I won't ask again."

"Hey, not every relationship can be as perfect as yours and Shiro's," Pidge teased. "Some of us just like the carefree type, ok?"

Keith rolled his eyes and flushed again. "Whatever you say."

They didn't talk much more after that, but it wasn't too awkward. Pidge hummed along to the music as she danced, and Keith gave a tiny smile as he tried to keep up with her. As the song kept going, though, Keith found himself looking up and trying to find the others again. He spotted Allura twirling elegantly, the length of her pink dress swirling about her, while Shiro expertly brought her around and back into his arms.

Keith bit his lip and cursed himself for looking over there again. He tried to focus once more on Pidge, but Shiro seemed to notice him looking and flashed a grin his way. This of course made Keith nearly trip over his own feet. How annoying. It took Shiro literally no effort to make Keith lose focus, and he honestly didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing-

"Keith, for the love of quiznak, stop stepping on my damn feet!"

"Are you sure it's okay for us to be away from the castle like this?"

Allura gave a short huff and stared up at Shiro in annoyance. "Shiro, I told you already-the building is guarded and Coran is keeping watch over the castle. Now will you please just relax?"

Shiro looked at her apologetically, still tense. "I know, I know. I just-I get nervous when we're far away from our lions for too long, you know? You remember what happened at our last diplomatic party, don't you?"

"Yes, I remember, but that won't happen this time. Coran will contact us if anything is wrong, alright?" She assured him yet again. "There's no need to worry."

"O...kay..."

"Good. Now relax." Allura put both her hands on the taller man's shoulders and firmly pushed down on them, trying to make him release the tension in his body.

Shiro winced in pain as she did. "Allura-"

Allura's eyes widened slightly. "Oh. Sorry! I forgot you humans can be rather fragile."

"I think you just don't know your own strength," Shiro countered, rolling his shoulders.

Allura chuckled sheepishly, then gently placed both hands on his shoulders once more. She took the moment to look around the dance hall and smile in awe. "It's very nice here, isn't it? I haven't been to a gathering like this in..." her smile faltered. "A long time."

Shiro nodded silently and glanced around the room with her. Not far from them he spotted Keith trying to dance with Pidge, and couldn't help but feel slightly amused. It was a little funny that Keith was years older than Pidge and yet he was the one being taught.

Allura turned back to Shiro, her smile still wide. "Tell me, do you have anything like this on Earth?"

"You mean, dance parties? Sure, all the time." He paused. "Well, maybe not like this one. Something like this is super fancy, basically royalty-caliber." He smirked. "Though, I guess you must be used to that."

Allura chuckled. "Yes, well, it has been a while."

They continued to sway back and forth, each one lost in their own thoughts and memories. Occasionally they'd do a spin or a twirl, but Shiro was mostly content with moving back and forth. He didn't want to draw too much attention, especially with someone of the aliens looking at them the way they were.

The music's tempo started getting faster, and Allura perked up. She was giggling as she started dancing faster, dragging Shiro along with her. Thankfully, Shiro was skilled enough to keep up, but he was still surprised at sudden change of pace.

Allura seemed to be having a lot of fun, though, so who was he to dampen her mood?

Someone was yelling from the middle of the room, and Shiro turned to see that it was (of course) Lance, yelling something they couldn't quite make out as Hunk lifted him and put him back down.

Allura seemed oddly fascinated. "What was that?"

Shiro sighed. "Just Lance being Lance."

"No, I mean, why was Hunk carrying him like that? Was that dancing?"

"I guess? It was a lift. You guys don't have that?"

"No, but it looks fun! Can we try it?"

Shiro hesitated. "I...guess so..." Hesitantly, he put his hands on Allura's waist and briefly lifted her up in the air, spinning her once before putting her back down.

Allura was laughing like a little girl when she was back on the floor. "Amazing! Earth dancing is so much fun!"

"Yeah, it kind of is. Most of it." Shiro was just glad that Allura had her back turned to whatever the heck it was Lance and Hunk were doing now.

But he had to admit she was right. This was quite fun. Allura was caught up in the music now, letting him twirl her around while her dress was spinning and she was laughing. Shiro couldn't help but smile a bit. It was good to see everyone having so much fun after all they'd been through so far.

As he turned, Shiro's eyes wandered briefly off of Allura and over to the other pairs in the room.

Keith was looking. Shiro shot him a grin. Keith almost crashed into Pidge.

Allura was saying something to him, but paused and followed his gaze. She then gave him a grin, along with a nudge. "Shiro," she sing-songed, "I know it's hard to keep your eyes off him, but you should probably pay attention so you don't step on my toes."

Shiro just rolled his eyes and spun a laughing Allura around once more. "Whatever you say, Princess," he sighed. Honestly, Allura was amazing, but her tendency to tease could get on even Shiro's nerves once in a while...

The song was drawing to a close, and Allura spun around once more, ending their dance with a tight hug that almost lifted Shiro off the ground. He gasped for air at her strong embrace, but luckily it was over quickly enough.

Allura didn't seem to notice. "Well, I guess that will be all for now."

Shiro chuckled. "I guess so. See you soon, Princess."