AN Look buddy, I don't have any explanations other than I'm rom-com garbage, I will love Shallura until I stop breathing, and there are still tropes I have not written.

"It's a dare."

"A dare?"

"Yep." Matt thumped his heels against the counter, a terrible habit he and his sister shared. "You go to the movies by yourself, workout by yourself, eat lunch by yourself unless I come harass you—"

"It's not my fault I pack a lunch and you eat fast food everyday—"

"—you never hang out with the guys unless we hope, beg, and plead, and you never, never go out on dates. You are officially dared to do something fun."

Shiro shot Matt a flat look over the table arrangement he was making (white roses for purity, daffodils for chivalry, baby's breath for innocence). Matt was a great friend, but had a habit of thinking he knew what everyone needed. Mainly in regards to Shiro.

"I don't need a raging social life," Shiro said flatly. "I need to finish this arrangement by three."

"Party pooper."

"Gladly."

"You're still dared."

"Fine," Shiro sighed, adding another daffodil. "I'll catch a movie with you and Pidge next week or something."

"Nope, no, that's a cop out. Watching a movie in silence with your coworker and his sister doesn't count."

"Geez, Matt, why's this so important to you? I've got a flower shop to run, I don't have time to play anymore."

"I dare you to ask the girl next door on a date."

"I've barely even—wait, what?"

"Girl next door. You. Date."

"…My married next door neighbor?" Shiro asked, envisioning the odd, cat-loving people that lived in the apartment next to his.

"No, not the—holy hell, Shiro, don't be dense. The girl next door," Matt said, emphatically nodding at the wall to Shiro's left. "Tattoo girl."

"I—no."

"You didn't even consider!" Matt slid from the counter, scowling. Shiro cleared him head and shoulders, but Matt looked ready to rumble.

"I barely said hi to her in the two months the parlor has been open!" Ink Drop was Hanakotoba's new, slightly quirky neighbor. Shiro had been surprised when he heard a tattoo parlor was moving into their glossy sugar cookie and potpourri street, but Ink Drop had done well. It had a charmingly retro aesthetic, mixing polished modern metal and stained wood. The people who worked the parlor were much the same, with carefully styled clothes and limbs full of designs. The girl Matt was talking about was pretty in an unreal way, with dyed white hair that hung in impossibly perfect waves down her back.

The thought of her going out on a date with Shiro was impossible, because one, he'd have to actually speak to her, and two, she would actually have to think it would be a good idea.

Shiro added another rose to his arrangement, trying not to pay attention to the soft whir click of his right mechanical arm move.

"Shiro."

"What, Matt?"

"Shiro, c'mon, look at me."

Shiro heaved a sigh and turned to face him. "What."

"Really, though. You've been clocking in a lot of time here at the store, since your bike accident."

Bike demolition, really, but his therapist said it wasn't beneficial to dwell on the negative.

"And that's fine, like, it's your store, but…it kinda feels like you're hiding out here from the rest of the world."

Shiro worked his jaw. If he tried denying it, he would just look guilty. If he agreed, he would be cracking open a whole galaxy of things he couldn't handle.

"You think one date with a stranger will keep me from being a recluse?"

"I think it's a step towards believing you don't have to be a recluse."

Shiro looked back at the table arrangement, poking a few stems into place.

"Is…that a yes?"

"I dunno, Matt. It's just—I've got a lot on my plate, and I don't—it wouldn't go anywhere, and we work next door and—so many things could go wrong."

"Or not wrong, with the right attitude."

Shiro scowled, cursing Matt's undeservedly sunny world view. He finished the arrangement then marked its sheet as completed. He looked back at Matt.

"Look. I appreciate this, but…like I said, one date isn't enough to undo all of this," he said, gesturing at himself. Matt was completely unimpressed with Shiro's physical and mental damage. If anything, he looked more determined, overly helpful bastard.

"Then make it three."

"What."

"You heard me."

"I really don't think I did."

"Three dates, Shiro. Ask her on three dates. Make them playdates for all I care, but do something other than arrange flowers and hang out with your geek employee and his sister."

"Matt, you can't—"

"Shiro! Make a new friend! It's not hard, preschoolers can do it."

Preschoolers didn't typically have prosthetic limbs, hideous scars, and part of their hair turned white from shock.

If this doesn't work out, I'm kicking his ass, Shiro told himself a few days later. He'd tried to quell Matt's suggestion, but the seed had grown roots. It was just making a new friend, that was it.

Ink Drop was empty when he walked in. Except for tattoo girl, who was browsing her phone behind the counter. Her white hair was twisted in a bun, and she wore a white short sleeve shirt that displayed the tattoos lacing her forearms.

"Oh, hello," she said. She handed him a bright smile, which turned confused as she registered his face. "Don't you own the flower shop next door?"

"Uh—yes. I—actually this is a bit stupid," he said, walking closer.

"Should…I be concerned?"

"Hopefully not." Shiro gave an embarrassed smile, then glanced back at the door. "You don't have any customers scheduled, right?"

"No?"

"Okay." Shiro let out a soft breath. He'd made it through college. He'd survived the bike crash. He handled physical therapy. He could do this. "My friend dared me to ask you on a date. Well—three. Three dates. And…I would like to ask you, but with your complete knowledge of what's going on, so you are completely free to say no, I promise."

The girl blinked, then gave an uncertain laugh.

"Ooooookay that was a disaster, I'm sorry about that," Shiro said, closing his eyes.

"It…wasn't good," she agreed. Her eyes were lighter than he'd expected, hazel, maybe. They were currently wandering to his prosthetic arm. They flicked back to his face. "Care to try again?"

"I'm worried what I'll say if I do," he admitted.

The girl laughed again, though this time out of grim amusement. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

Shiro shrugged, fighting the smile on his own lips. "I…would like to ask you on three dates. However, there are no expectations involved, so don't worry about things being awkward if you say no. It would actually be pretty reasonable if you did."

"Why did your friend dare you?" she asked, leaning an elbow on the counter. Lilies stood out on her arm, the petals belling out to reveal their stamens (purity, he thought, unless they were red, in which case they meant hatred).

"I…honestly have no idea," Shiro said, which was less of the truth than he'd like, but it was more of the image he wanted. "I guess he thinks I'm wasting my life in the flower shop, not talking to anyone outside of business."

"And why me?"

"Proximity." He gave a smile that was more grimace than anything. "It sounds a lot worse when you put it on paper."

She didn't say anything for a long moment. "What did you have in mind?" she asked.

"What?"

"For the three dates. Did you have a plan, or were you simply hoping I'd say no?"

"I…was hoping you'd say no, but I was thinking something basic. Lunch, maybe, and then…I don't know, a nice, friendly walk in the park."

"With a surprise at the end, surely," she said, expression mock-serious.

"Oh yeah, with bubbles and fireworks and a secret hideaway and everything."

The girl smiled. "I think that sounds lovely, honestly."

Shiro gave her a confused smile before it dawned on him—shit wait no—and she held out her hand.

"Allura. What's your name?"

"I—uh, uhm, Shiro," he stammered, taking her hand. "But—you're not—you're not really considering…"

"Maybe a little."

Shiro was admittedly terrified when he walked the ten steps from Hanakotoba's front door to Ink Drop. He'd checked his clothes and his hair and his breath compulsively before he had left (which earned a smug comment from Matt, which had, in turn, earned the bird), and now he was opening the door and he was walking through and he was calling out and he was officially too far to turn back.

"Allura?" he called.

"Be out in a second!" she called from the back.

"I can handle it, Allura," a man said.

"Oh, no, Coran it's totally fine, I just—"

An older, redheaded man stepped into the front, eyes zeroing in on Shiro. He had a carefully groomed mustache, tweed vest, and collared shirt. In all, he looked like he would have been more at home on a vintage box of cigars or in an old-fashioned boxing ad, rather than a tattoo parlor. Then again, it certainly explained the retro décor.

"Hello there! Are you looking for any particular design today, sir?" he asked, his accent—Australian, maybe?—pinging brightly in Shiro's ear.

"I—uh, no, I was just—"

"You're not unhappy with a recent tattoo you got, are you? Allura is one of the most talented artists I've seen in lightyears, and I'll not tolerate anyone smearing her good name!"

"Oh, what, no, that's not at all what I was trying to do," Shiro said, trying to decide if the man's fisticuffs position meant he was actually going to take a swing at him. "I—we have a date, is all?"

"—Chin Crunching Coran is what they used to call me back in th—what did you say, a date?" The man stopped dead, blinking at Shiro for a long moment before narrowing his eyes and sidling closer. He had face tattoos, Shiro realized, tiny light blue triangle looking things on his cheekbones. "And, what exactly is it you do? How did you meet Allura, when was this all arranged? As her close family friend, I consider myself to be the gate keeper of—"

"Uh…I work next door? At the flower shop? And I asked her a few days ago, so…"

"Shiro, I'm here," Allura said, bursting through the door to the back. Her bag was barely hanging on her shoulder, and her wide eyes said she feared exactly what was happening up front.

"A-ho, so we're going on a date, are we?" Coran looked at Allura, eyebrows arched.

"Yes," she said, quickly walking across the room. "It's fine, that's a thing people do, sometimes."

"Why didn't I—"

"Coran, you're not actually going on the date with us, so of course I didn't tell you. Shiro, ready to go?"

"Yeah, I just—"

Allura grabbed his hand and marched out of the tattoo parlor, ignoring Coran as he called, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"I am so sorry for that," Allura said, head ducked in embarrassment as they hurried out of sight. "I was busy and hoping you'd be running late so I could be out front when you came, but…"

"No, it's totally fine," Shiro laughed. "If you'd come over to Hanakotoba, I promise Matt would have been just as awful."

"Why aren't there more normal people in the world like us?" she asked, shaking her head at him.

Shiro smiled, thinking that they hardly looked like 'normal people', since he wore all of his trauma on his skin and she wore all of her wonder.

They paused at the corner of the strip mall, Allura glancing around. She realized she was still holding his hand and sheepishly let him go.

"I didn't even ask, are we driving or…what are we even doing?"

"We're walking there. Do you want it to be a surprise?" he asked.

"Oh, uhm, sure. Why not?"

"Okay, well, we're going this way." He gestured toward the road, and they set off together. He stole another look at her out of the corner of his eye, and Shiro almost felt dizzy at how good she looked. She wore her curly white hair down today, and it shifted and bounced against her back with all the delicateness of a cloud. Her shirt was just plain black, but her skirt was impossibly cute with little cherries bouncing along the hem. And then there was the fact that said skirt showed a lot of her legs. Shiro had always known she was tall, of course, but knowing how much a person had to look up to meet your gaze was very different from seeing just how long their legs were.

He fixed his eyes ahead to keep himself from taking a second, more obvious look.

"So, is this date inside or outside?" she asked.

"Inside. Why, are you trying to guess what we're doing, after all?"

"Not really, I just…well, I don't exactly know what to say at the moment, and I figure discussing the date is a good place to start." She gave a small frown, eyebrows pulling in together. "Although, I did say I wanted it to be a surprise, didn't I?"

"You could always tell me about how you became the most talented artist Coran's seen in lightyears. Or how he became the gate keeper of whatever in your life."

"Oh, that." She gave an embarrassed laugh and glanced away. "He's just an excitable family friend. He means well, obviously, he's just…over-zealous."

"Is he always like that?"

"Unfortunately, yes. He was my father's best friend. Coran used to tell all of these wild tales about how he and my father would get up to all sorts of mischief when they were younger. Sometimes I wonder if it's true, while others…it's completely possible."

Shiro grinned and gave her a friendly nudge. "Really, though, you're an artist? I mean, you work in a tattoo parlor, but you draw?"

"Mm-hm. My tattoos are all my design," she said, holding out her arms so he could get a proper look. They were a wild mix of things; stars and flowers, animals and music notes, a little bit of every lovely thing Shiro could think of. The detail was immaculate, from the dark eyelash lines of the pansies (thoughtfulness) to the weathered trunk of a cherry tree (gentleness and the transience of life).

"They're not quite done yet, but you get the idea."

"Are they going to go all the way up your arm?" he asked, gesturing slightly to her shoulder. Surprise murmured through him when he realized her arms weren't just toned, but also muscled.

"Mm, no, they'll stay partial sleeves," Allura explained. "But I'd like to add white to them, for contrast. Maybe red or something."

"I think that will look very pretty," he told her, imagining the starlight kiss on the brown of her skin.

Allura flashed him a grateful smile, one that was sweet for its shyness. Shiro grinned back, stomach turning. She really was very pretty.

"Uhm, we're going to turn here," he said, gesturing ahead of them. Allura tapped the crosswalk button, then turned to him.

"So, what do you do when you're not working? Or being dared to go on dates, of course."

"I—oh, uhm, I don't know," he stammered. He suddenly wished he had taken Matt's advice and started a hobby after the bike crash. He was so boring, compared to a visual firecracker like Allura. "I…I mean, I garden. Does that count?"

Allura broke into a wide grin that she tried to hide behind her hand. "I'm sorry, I'm not laughing at you, it's just…it's a bit picturesque, isn't it? Someone owning a flower shop also having a garden."

"I don't see anyone making fun of you for drawing in your off hours," he said, stepping into the crosswalk.

"No, I suppose not. I don't know, drawing just seems artsy and quirky. But gardening takes a good deal of time, doesn't it? Watering and weeding, pruning this, fertilizing that…" Allura gave a small frown, tilting her head. "What actually do you garden?"

"Flowers, obviously," Shiro said, giving in and cracking a smile. "But that's mostly to attract the bees. It's not really a garden, since I live in an apartment, but I have a lot of potted plants. Tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, some herbs, snap peas…"

"Oh. That's really not a joke, then."

"Nope. My aunt—she's the one that raised me—she was fond of gardening. She's the one that started the flower shop, actually." Shiro had grown up gardening and had naturally folded tending plants into his lifestyle. After his aunt had died, he had kept gardening to remember her. After his accident, he had kept gardening to cope.

"Do you have any pictures?" Allura asked, eyes bright.

Shiro grabbed his phone and leafed through his pictures, then showed her. It was a shot of his walkway, the side by the rail practically overrun with greenery.

"Oh, that's wonderful," Allura breathed.

Shiro gave a tiny smile and flicked to the next picture. "It's…I dunno, it keeps me occupied."

"How much do you get from it? Produce-wise, I mean."

"A good bit," he said, shrugging. "The tomatoes give a fair bit, the strawberries are alright. The cucumbers are stingy little—" He coughed, not really certain if he was allowed to swear in front of Allura on the first date. Why was dating a skill that got rusty, why couldn't people just hold onto everything like it was riding a bike? "Uhm, the thing that produced the most were the peppers, but I got rid of those."

"Why's that?"

"I realized I don't actually like peppers?" he said, shrugging.

Allura blinked in surprise, then laughed. "That's a very good reason, then. Hm. I don't even know what I would start with. What do people usually go for when they garden?"

"I honestly have no idea," Shiro admitted. "I've been gardening since I was maybe six. Would you want flowers or fruits and vegetables?"

"Uhm…flowers. Those aren't easy to kill, are they? Normal ones, I mean, not anything strange or exotic."

"They're pretty alright." He considered her, then said, "If you wanted to grow something, I'd say dahlias or geraniums. Maybe lilacs."

"Oh, those all sound wonderful. But the lilacs, mm, I love the white ones."

"White's good, but I think the light purple ones are the best."

Allura frowned again, suddenly caught by logistics. "But they grow to be big, don't they? Trees, if you let them, right?"

"Maybe not lilacs, then. If you want something that will stay small, you could try daffodils or some other bulb plant."

"I'll have to think about that," Allura said, nodding.

Shiro pointed her to the building just ahead of them and said, "We're right here."

Allura glanced up at the sign, frowning at him. "The…animal shelter?"

"Yeah. Do you like dogs?"

"Well, yes, I'm not a monster. But…" She trailed off, seeing the sign that said advertised puppy rentals. She looked at him, eyes big.

He grinned. "Yeah. We get to cuddle puppies for the next hour."

Ten minutes later, he and Allura were settled in a room as a handful of different kinds of puppies crawled over their laps. Allura giggled helplessly as she held a fluffy golden retriever in one hand and nudged some sort of German shepherd mix away from the hem of her skirt with the other.

"This is ridiculous," she laughed as another large puppy tried to clamber onto her shoulders.

"So, what do you think?" Shiro asked. "Better than a picnic."

"Much better. Here, take a picture of me." Allura carefully pulled her phone from her skirt pocket and handed it over to him.

Shiro snapped a few pictures, then stole a few seconds of video so the world would have evidence of Allura's laugh.

"Here, we've got to get you as well," she said, taking back her phone and scooting some of the puppies to the ground.

"No, I'm good, I mean—"

"Shiro. You're covered in puppies. It's adorable. Give me your phone."

He sheepishly handed it over, thinking that he honestly couldn't remember the last photo he had taken of himself. Since before the crash, surely.

"Aaaand lay down."

"Lay down?" Shiro gave her a look. "You realize I'm not one of the dogs, right?"

"Yes, but I also realize how much cuter it would be if you're literally covered in puppies." Allura stood up, stowing his phone in her spare pocket as she scooped up the more relaxed puppies.

"But—they could step on my face and—"

"Shiro. Honestly." She gave him a stern look that was slightly undercut by the cherry skirt and puppies squirming in her arms.

Shiro laid down and obediently scooted a few of the dogs closer. Allura settled a few of the puppies by his head, then straightened. She snapped a few pictures, then said, "How do you feel about being snuggled to death by puppies, Shiro?"

"Wait—are you recording?" he asked, making to sit up then catching himself before he sent a puppy with adorably floppy ears tumbling to the ground.

"Yep. Answer the question!"

"It's…less comfortable than I'd imagined?" he said as a larger puppy snuffled around his face.

"Oh, come on. Nothing good to say?" Allura scrunched up her nose at him.

"Uhm, it's the happiest I've been while also being uncomfortable."

Allura laughed again, knees bending in delight. She knelt beside him and helped move the puppy from walking on his face. "You're hilarious. Which puppy is your favorite?"

"This one, because he seems ready to fall asleep." Shiro picked up a small, sleek black puppy with a tiny star on his chest.

"You are literally no fun. What about this guy, with his adorable little tail?" Allura picked up what looked like a tiny pit bull and made him nose Shiro's cheek. "He's so happy, his whole body is shaking."

Shiro laughed as the dog licked his neck and sat up. "Okay, if you're done making an idiot out of me."

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," she said, handing back his phone.

"You weren't the one laying down with puppies."

"Of course not. I have a black shirt on. You'll notice I'm only snuggling the short-haired, dark puppies. I can't walk out looking like a lint ball."

Shiro gave her an incredulous look, then snorted and shook his head. "Glad to see where your priorities lie."

Allura gave him a devilish little smile, then picked up another puppy. They spent a few more minutes playing with the dogs before one stepped on Allura's hand and she whispered, "Ow, quiznak."

"I'm sorry, what?" Shiro laughed.

Allura stared at him, eyes wide like she had been caught in the middle of a secret. "I…uh, oh, it's nothing. Just…I don't know, it's a word my family made up."

"What was it again?"

"Quiz…nak." The slightest bit of blush entered her cheeks.

"And what on earth is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, it's just…when I was a kid, I had a bit of a swearing problem," Allura said. "My parents didn't like that, of course, because they were…uhm, well, they were in politics, and they couldn't have their daughter swearing in front of all their constituents or what not. So Coran told me to make up a word to replace whatever I wanted to say, but was different enough that I wouldn't accidentally say the real thing."

"And…what does 'quiznak' stand in for?"

"I don't want to be responsible for poisoning the puppies' ears," she said with a mock grimace.

"Damn, okay, that bad." Shiro's worries about offending Allura's delicate sensibilities suddenly seemed a lot more ridiculous than they had before.

Allura laughed and shrugged. "I don't know, Coran's always coming up with silly stuff like that. You saw how he is. He just…bounces through life, I suppose."

"Yeah? How do you move through life?"

"Mm…I float," she decided. "You?"

"Shuffle."

"What?" Allura laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'm usually pushing other people along, so I can't move too fast."

"Who are you pushing along?"

"Oh, all sorts of people." Shiro shrugged, watching a puppy nibble on one of the fingers of his right hand. It considered, gave him a somber look, then snuffled around until it found his flesh-and-blood hand. "There's this one guy, we grew up together. And he's…oh, he's a mess," Shiro said fondly. "Takes things too serious, doesn't know how to talk to people, teen angst and anger issues wrapped into one tidy package."

"That sounds like a lot of fun," Allura scoffed, a doubtful quirk to her eyebrows.

"Nope, it really wasn't. Not at first. But, I dunno. He's had it rough. Once I figured out he was an adrenaline junkie, and once he figured out I wasn't going to bail once I got bored with him or whatever, we became close."

"So where does the pushing come in?"

"I'm pushing him to do all sorts of things. Apply for college, try to make new friends, do something more than brood and feel like the whole world is conspiring against him." Shiro shrugged again, smiling softly down at his puppy as he made it dance on its hind legs for a brief moment.

Keith had been his lifeline, and vice versa, for so long. They were like inverses of each other—Shiro made sure he kept himself safe from the world through gloss and polish and an armful of accomplishments, while Keith kept the pain at bay through hostility and impossibly high standards. The number of times Keith had crashed on Shiro's couch as he waited to time out of the foster care system were only matched by the number of times Shiro had come over to Keith's new apartment and just sat in the silence, unable to cope with his aunt being dead and owning a business and abandoning his hopes of joining the police.

And then Keith had decided he needed to figure out his life on his own. He had been sick of college and his mom had suddenly come back into the picture and Keith had realized that he couldn't simply subsist on spite and 'the good old days' for forever. He'd needed some time. That was fine, he was barely twenty-one, and Shiro had had his life sorted basically since he was born. Shiro understood why Keith had needed some time.

He just didn't understand why that meant he had to be cut out of Keith's life completely.

"So do you seek out these must-push cases, or do they come to you naturally?" Allura asked.

Shiro smiled. "They're all over. You just gotta have your eyes open."

Allura blinked at him like she didn't know what to think, returned the smile. "Yes, I suppose you're right."

Shiro wished he still had a camera out, because that was the moment he wanted down for eternity.