Dance With Me
Allura came walking into the room in the most sparkling dress Keith had ever seen in his life. It was a beautiful dress of deep purple with thin straps on her shoulders and when she moved her dress shimmered like polished amethysts underneath the pale moonlight .
She smiled at him as she made her way to his side, looking him up and down in his Paladin uniform. "You look like you're enjoying yourself so far."
"So far so good, no crazy traps by Zarkon going off so that's a good sign." Keith chuckled as he looked around the dance hall of the Castleship. The rest of the team was out socializing with each other and with their guests that they had invited to celebrate their temporary victory over Zarkon. They did their best to smile and stay positive but the lingering sadness that hung over them from Shiro's disappearance was evident.
Allura noticed it consuming Keith the most as he tried his hardest to hide his true feelings. He would smile like was enjoying himself but she knew he was just putting on a show for her so she wouldn't worry about him.
"You know Keith...you don't have to stick around if you don't want to." Allura commented, gently touching his shoulder and giving him a tender squeeze.
Keith looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"
"Of course. I wouldn't make you stick around if you really didn't want to. It's up to you if you want to keep us company or not." Allura replied simply, trying to hide her deep concern in her voice.
The lights dimmed as the room became illuminated with only the dimmest spheres of light. Coran spoke up among the crowd and announced, "Thought we'd try something we haven't done in a while, it's time for everyone to couple up and slow dance on the dance floor. Let's all do a little bonding tonight shall we?"
At first everyone looked at each other like they had no idea what to do next. Since none of them had danced intimately with each other since the days before the war against Zarkon. But once a young timid couple came to the dance floor and started to slow dance together, everyone remembered the fonder times and joined them in pairs like Coran had suggested.
Allura saw Keith shift his feet uncomfortably and saw him steal a glimpse of her before turning his head away. "Keith, would you like to share a dance with me?"
"A what?"
"A dance." Allura repeated cheerfully, "I'm sure you have dances back on Earth like this as well. It will be fun, please. For me?"
It was hard to say no to Allura when she looked at him with her big blue eyes. So Keith gave a sigh of defeat and a smile. "Sure."
He offered his arm to her and together they walked down the staircase to the dance floor. He instinctively placed his hand around her waist as she firmly gripped his hand and shoulder. Slowly they started moving around in small circles and in that moment a new feeling began to grow between them. Keith started noticing the little things about Allura that he hadn't thought about before, like how small her hands were compared to his and how soft her skin was. At the same time, Allura noticed how strong Keith's arms were and how he reminded her a great deal of an Altean knight of old.
"I gotta admit this is...nice." Keith confessed after a moment of mutual silence between them. "I haven't slow danced like this since I was in school."
Allura smiled and leaned her head down on his shoulder. "It is isn't it? It feels right dancing with you like this."
"Thanks for convincing me to dance with you."
"Anytime."
They stayed like that for quite a while as they enjoyed each other's company on the dance floor and for a brief moment in time, Keith felt like he was able to forget about his worries in Allura's presence.