A/N: I would like to thank my awesome, cherry on top friends for helping with this one shot. Riley, Imani, Delenee, and the other Rylee! Lol you guys are amazing!
Pidge blearily made her way down the kitchen where Hunk had just finished making breakfast. It was some Altean mush almost equivalent to oatmeal, Pidge guessed.
Keith and Shiro were already at the table with their bowls, eating and alking. Shiro was gesturing wildly with his prosthetic arm, and Keith had a disagreeing look on his face.
Hunk's big form stood at the Altean stove, dishing out food and humming a weird pop song to himself.
Coran and Allura were sitting at the end of the table with their breakfast as well, going over the ship schematics and diagnostics together.
Lance was nowhere to be found. He was probably still sleeping. The rest of the team called it lazy, but Lance preferred to call it 'beauty sleep'.
Pidge walked over to the stove and accepted a bowl of the oat-mush from Hunk, who smiled and gave her a cheery good morning.
Pidge took her food and shuffled to the table, sitting down by Shiro. He gave her a little ruffle of her hair, dark grey eyes gazing fondly at her. Keith gave her a short 'good morning' before he returned to his conversation with Shiro.
All was quiet, until-
"Good morning, everyone!"
Lance sprung into the kitchen in a blue blur with a flourish. He flashed a brilliantly white grin at everyone before he slid into a more relaxed stance, hands on his hips.
Allura paid no mind to the brunette's antics, not even bothering to look up when she told him hello.
Unlike Allura, Coran did have the politeness to acknowledge the blue paladin when he bade him good morning.
Keith only nodded to Lance, and Shiro smiled softly at him. Hunk gave him a bowl of the orange oat-mush and a warm hug.
Lance took his breakfast to the table and sat down by Pidge. He leaned in toward her.
"Good morning," he whispered obnoxiously loudly in her face.
"Get out of my face, Lance," Pidge growled.
Lance's eyebrows rose and his blue eyes twinkled mischievously.
"Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."
Allura heard their conversation and joined in.
"I don't understand. There's a wrong side of the bed?" she asked.
"No, Princess, it's a figure of speech," Lance explained, snickering. "It means Pidge is just grumpy this morning."
Pidge growled at him again.
Lance gave Allura a pointed look.
"See what I mean?"
Hunk brought his bowl over to the table and sat by Pidge, chowing down.
Conversation between Coran and Allura resumed, and Hunk and Lance started one. Something about surfing. Keith and Shiro had abandoned their debate. Shiro turned his attention to his breakfast, and Keith turned his to Pidge, striking up a quiet conversation with her.
Then they heard it.
A small, squeaky sound.
All chatter immediately stopped.
"What was that?" asked Lance.
It came again.
"I think it was a hiccup," Hunk said, his spoon hovering over his bowl, food momentarily forgotten.
Allura and Coran both looked extremely confused by all of this.
"Please, what is a hiccup?" Allura asked.
The sound happened again, and this time, everyone turned to Shiro... Who was sitting in his chair, looking
somewhat embarrassed.
He opened his mouth, but whatever he was planning to say was replaced with a hiccup.
Lance and Hunk burst out laughing.
Pidge smirked. Keith had a small smile on his face, as if he was trying not to laugh.
"That, Princess, is a hiccup!" Lance laughed and pointed at Shiro, tears rolling down his face. "And such manly ones, too!"
Hunk's laughter increased at that, and Pidge and Keith's smiles grew mischievously. Shiro's blush blended in with his scar.
Pidge spoke up, pushing her glasses up her nose, still smirking.
"A hiccup," she answered the princess, "is an involuntary spasm of the diaphragm and respiratory organs. You can't really control them. That's what makes them so funny."
Shiro hiccuped in response. By now, the Blue and Yellow Paladins were clutching their stomachs in pain from all the laughing.
Allura and Coran's expressions changed to understanding.
"Ah, I see," said Coran. "Alteans have something similar, called bloknorbs. Basically, the same thing happens to our lungs, but instead of, hiccuping, we bloknorb. It is rather entertaining, but not quite as entertaining as this."
"Come on, guys," Shiro said. "They're not that funny. It's -hic- just a case of hiccups."
"Oh, but this is better," Lance said, giggling. "Yours sound like a baby's hiccups."
Keith let out a little chuckle. Shiro looked at him with exasperation.
"Not you -hic- too," he whined almost playfully.
"It is kind of funny," Keith answered with a soft smirk.
"Hic!"
Another round of laughter ensued.
Shiro let out a long groan and slumped in his chair.
"It's -hic- going to be a long day."
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
As soon as breakfast was cleared away, everyone made their way to the lounge room. Shiro still had the hiccups.
"Okay, guys, instead -hic- of sparring today, we're going to -hic- do some team exercises," he said.
More giggles.
"What kind of exercises?" asked Keith.
"I thought -hic- I'd let you all decide this time," Shiro said. "But before we start, I need -hic- you all to be serious. Hiccups are perfectly normal and -hic- there is no reason to laugh at them."
Lance thought otherwise.
"Shiro, yours are anything but normal," he smirked. "I've never heard baby hiccups come from a grown man's mouth."
"They're not -hic- baby hiccups!" Shiro protested.
"As much as I hate to, Shiro," Keith said, "I agree with Lance. They sound weird."
Shiro sighed.
"My uncle gets hiccups all the time from eating to fast," Hunk said thoughtfully as he sat down on the couch. "Plugging his ears usually helps him get rid of them."
Lance followed after Hunk, draping himself over Hunk's lap rather haphazardly, gangly legs splayed over the armrest of the sofa.
"I'll be fine in -hic- a minute, Hunk," said Shiro. "Right now, though, we need to focus on team building."
Pidge spoke up before Shiro could continue.
"There are actually lots of different ways to cure hiccups. Many of the methods are a little weird, but people claim that they actually work," she said. "Some people like to try using two straws instead of one when they drink, or they bite into a lemon wedge or eat a spoonful of peanut butter."
"Mmm... Peanut butter," Hunk moaned.
"I'd like to see Shiro eat a lemon," Lance called from his residence on top of Hunk.
"Drinking a little bit of vinegar is another option," Pidge added helpfully.
Shiro scrunched up his nose in disgust. "I'm not doing that."
"I should make some peanut butter cookies," Hunk mused.
Heads turned toward the Yellow paladin.
"What?" Hunk asked defensively. "I like peanut butter. No, scratch that, I really, really like peanut butter."
"Eating something sweet helps, too," said Pidge, turning back to the original conversation.
"I could go for some fried plantains," Lance said, a thoughtful look alighting his face. "Those are really sweet."
"What's a plantain?" Keith asked.
"Oh, it's like a banana," Lance explained, waving a hand in the air.
"Hic!"
Lance snorted. "Shiro needs one." He didn't even try to hide the amusement in his voice.
Shiro groaned longer than usual this time.
The rest of the paladins continued talking about ways to get rid of hiccups, laughing when Pidge suggested they hang Shiro upside down.
Shiro stood off to the side, watching and still hiccuping.
"What if he just drinks water?" asked Keith. "Isn't that usually what works for most people?"
"No, I'll be fine -hic- in a minute," Shiro said with a shake of his head.
"Come on, Shiro, it's not going to hurt you," Lance insisted. "Besides, you said you'd be fine in a minute fifteen minutes ago."
"Fine," Shiro grumbled.
Lance climbed off of Hunk and ran from the room.
He came back a few minutes later with a tall glass of water which he handed to Shiro.
"Alright, Shiro, chug!" Lance commanded.
Shiro cocked an eyebrow at him, but gulped down the water anyway.
The paladins looked at him expectantly to see if it worked.
"Hic!"
There were mixed reactions. Lance and Hunk laughed. Pidge smirked. Keith only had a twinkle in his eyes as he tried to hide a small smile. Shiro groaned.
"We can try tickling you," Pidge suggested.
"Um, no," Shiro said firmly.
Lance and Keith both grinned, mischief brightening their eyes.
Shiro recognized it, and his eyes widened as he realized what they were going to do.
"No, no, no. Nope." He put his hands out in front of him and stepped back.
By now Hunk and Pidge had caught on, and they all started advancing toward Shiro with evil grins on their face.
"Guys, I'm not -hic- kidding. Don't," Shiro warned. He retreated further away from them.
He reached back and grabbed a pillow from the nearest couch, holding it in front of him as a makeshift shield.
Everyone else had the same idea, only they used theirs as ammo.
The first pillow hit him squarely in the nose.
The second and third were more controlled, and they hit him in the head and side.
Keith used the distraction the others provided to creep around the couches and Shiro.
He climbed onto the couch that was directly behind Shiro, standing on the back of it. The others noticed what Keith was doing and helpfully pelted Shiro with more pillows.
With a mighty 'battle' cry and a powerful kick, Keith launched himself onto Shiro's back.
"Ooof!"
Shiro's knees almost buckled from the sudden weight.
"Keith! Hic!"
Laughter ensued from the other three paladins at the sound.
Coran and Allura came barreling into the room as Shiro grappled for Keith, growling and hiccuping.
"We heard a ruckus! What's going on? Is everyone alright?" Coran asked worriedly.
"Oho, we're more than alright, Coran!" Lance laughed. The amusement was so very evident in his voice now. He whacked Shiro on the head with his pillow, trying to assist Keith.
"Why are you attacking Shiro?" Allura asked, her face a mask of confusion.
"We aren't attacking him, we're having a pillow fight!" Hunk explained as he beaned Shiro.
Aside from being bombarded with pillows from every side by three people, Shiro couldn't get Keith off of his back, nor could he properly defend himself.
"Princess! Coran! I need reinforcements!" Shiro panted.
"What?" Allura asked, even more confusion gracing her blue-and-purple eyes.
"Get a pillow and help me!"
Ah.
Both Alteans picked up discarded pillows off of the floor and proceeded to hit the paladins with them while Shiro dealt with Keith.
He finally pried Keith off, pummeling him with pillows until Keith retreated toward the other three.
There were sides now: Keith, Lance, Hunk and Pidge against Shiro, Coran and Allura.
Allura went after Lance, morphing slightly so she towered over him to give herself an advantage. Pidge gave Lance back-up, defending his side from any oncoming attacks.
Keith and Hunk had formed an alliance against Coran and Shiro; Keith agilely dodging Coran and Shiro's swings, and Hunk absorbing their hits and retaliating with his own.
Laughter and screeches came from every corner of the room. Almost every tick, there was a dull thump; a pillow being slammed into someone. It really was the most joyful atmosphere. Shiro's hiccups were gone, but no one noticed. Thoughts of cures forgotten, and now they were only filled with feathery revenge.
It wasn't the kind of bonding Shiro had in mind, but this would do nicely.
•••••••••••••••••
Alright, tell me what y'all think! I love hearing your comments!