The paladins were back at the Space Mall.
Ever since getting their last visit all cleared up, the paladins had been allowed back inside. Even Coran!
Now, they were in the Earth store. Or, at least, just Coran and Allura. They were both feeling homesick for Altea, but they were surrounded by things that reminded them of home. The paladins didn't have that luxury; not even the stars were the same.
The two figured that, maybe, as a reward for all they have done, they would buy the paladins all sorts of things from Earth.
The only problem was that they didn't know what stuff was good, or what stuff was just terrible.
The shopkeeper didn't help much, either. He didn't know what any of the stuff was actually called, or what they did.
Allura and Coran settled for some stuff they found interesting, hoping that the paladins would enjoy them.
When they got back to the Castle, they called all of the paladins to the "Break Room," as they liked to call it.
"What's going on?" Shiro asked. Allura took a very, very deep breath.
"Paladins, we noticed that you are all feeling homesick," Allura started, using the word Lance had once called them. She saw the paladins either look down at the floor, or avert their eyes, or stiffen slightly. Lance opted for sitting down on the cushion.
"Coran and I recently went to the Space Mall, and we decided to bring back some things from the Earth Store," she said, relaxing when the paladins brightened slightly.
Coran started pulling out their loot to show to the paladins. Thankfully, they grabbed all the right stuff. Each paladin reached for something different.
"Whoa! I didn't know that Earth store had a guitar!" Lance exclaimed, picking up the-did he call it a guitar? - and putting it across his stomach. He strummed it a little bit, turning the thingies on the sides, eventually making it produce a beautiful sound.
Keith reached down and picked up a pad of paper, along with some of that wood.
"Pencils and a sketch pad? I can live with that," he said, trying (but ultimately failing) to contain his glee.
Shiro grabbed the strange looking machine.
"Is this a karaoke machine?" he asked. The other paladins looked over and nodded.
"Hey, Shiro, if you can hook up a mic, I could play something while you sing!" Lance said, causing Shiro's face to turn red.
The paladins all laughed good-naturedly at the look on Shiro's face. Pidge reached down and came back up, eyes literally shining.
"NO WAY. IS THIS A 3D MODEL SCALE PUZZLE OF THE TITANIC? THIS HASN'T BEEN SOLD FOR THE LAST 20 YEARS BECAUSE IT WAS TOO HARD FOR PEOPLE TO PUT TOGETHER!" Pidge exclaimed.
"Well, you get to prove you're better than all those tryers, don't you?" Keith asked. Pidge squealed in excitement.
Hunk noticed a bunch of seeds, and some potting soil. All of these seeds... they were Earth seeds! Imagine the wonders he could make by growing this garden!
"Wow, Hunk, I never knew you had a green thumb!" Lance said.
"Me neither! Although, it does look a bit green, doesn't it?" Coran asked, he and Allura studying Hunk's fingers.
"No, no, that's a phrase on Earth. It means you're a good gardener," Lance explained. Coran and Allura ceased to examine Hunk's definitely-not-green fingers.
"Lance, do you even know how to play that?" Keith asked Lance, to which Lance smirked.
"Name a song," Lance commanded. Pidge's hand shot up.
"Africa!" she said. The other paladins agreed with her, and Lance just shrugged.
"Ok," he said, starting to play. It sounded exactly like the actual song, and Pidge closed her eyes to listen.
Keith nudged Shiro and plugged the microphone into the karaoke machine. Shiro shook his head vigorously, but Keith convinced him when he whispered that it was for Pidge.
Shiro started singing along in time to Lance's playing, which stayed right on course.
"I hear the drums echoing tonight, but she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation," he started. Lance never lost time, and as Shiro continued to sing, his voice got stronger, and he got more comfortable.
"She's coming in 12:30 flight, the moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation. I stopped an old man along the way, hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies. He turned to me as if to say," Shiro sang. His voice rang loud and clear, and the paladins were all impressed.
Allura and Coran looked around in interest when the other paladins joined in the song.
"Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you!"
Even Keith was singing. Lance did a fancy little strum-tap-strum on his guitar, and everyone joined in the main chorus.
"It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you! There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do! I bless the rains down in Africa! Gonna take the time to do the things we never have!"
Lance played a little longer, then ended the song. The paladins were all in good spirits, laughing, humming, or congratulating Lance and Shiro on their performance.
"Hey, Keith, are you a good drawer?" Hunk asked.
"I-um, well, I- uh..." Keith stuttered. Shiro nudged Keith, then put his arm around his shoulder.
"I once caught Keith sketching something in his Garrison barrack. It looked awesome, so, to answer for Keith, yes, he's an excellent drawer.
Keith turned as red as his armor.
"Cool! Could you draw something for us?" Lance asked. Keith tried to say something, but it came out more as a bunch of nonsense.
"Let's take that as a yes," Shiro said, earning a glare from Keith.
Everyone gathered around him as Keith opened up the sketchpad. He sharpened one of the pencils and started drawing. He made a circle, then drew two intersecting lines inside it. As he added more and more details to the drawing, he forgot that everyone else was there. Keith switched hands every once in a while, to make drawing certain things easier on himself.
The paladins + Coran and Allura could only watch on in awe as Keith seemed to devote his very being to this drawing.
They started making out certain details of the picture. Shiro's little floof of hair (yes, I'm calling it that), Lance's signature smirk, Hunk with a slightly unsure smile on his face, and Pidge smiling wide. They were in their paladin armor, crowded around two crouching figures.
The figures turned out to be Coran and Allura, Coran playing with his moustache, and Allura laughing at the antics of the chaos all around her. They looked so happy, so much like a family in this picture, that the paladins wondered if this was how Keith saw them.
Without warning, Keith stood up. He exited the room. The others rushed to follow him, eventually ending up at Keith's room. They stood at the doorway patiently as Keith grabbed what he was looking for.
He walked back out of his room carrying a bunch of multicolored pens. They all went back into the breakroom, wondering what the quiznak Keith was up to.
Keith grabbed a black pen and started outlining the picture. He colored Shiro's armor and some of his hair black. He continued to color the paladins according to their real-life figures, not even paying the others any attention anymore.
"Done," he declared, putting the last pen back in its container. The others stared with open mouths at Keith's creation.
"Dude... this is AMAZING!" Lance practically screamed. Keith shrugged.
"It's not my best work, but if you say so..."
He handed the picture to Lance, then turned around and walked out of the room.