Order #1

"Give me a job."

It took exactly three minutes for Lance to understand what was happening at his workplace Alluring Delights. It took him a minute to look up from his counter—as he was originally about to perform his classic "Oh! I didn't see you there" for the female customers. It took him another minute to recognize the identity of the supposed intruder as his supposed self-proclaimed rival, Keith. And, lastly, it took a minute for Lance to form an articulated response to handle this situation properly.

"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Of course, Lance was going to create a scene. Since business was slow as rush hour had past, Lance had nothing better to do besides pestering with his mullet-haired adversary.

Keith sighed. He was already regretting coming here. "Asking for a job…" He replied calmly, glancing up and down at the cashier. To him, Lance was dressed as a clown. However, in reality, Lance was wearing his typical Altean-inspired uniform—which was pretty generic, polo and all—but he was equipped with fake pointy ears and strange cerulean oddly-shaped crescents, one located under the corners of each eye.

What am I getting myself into? Keith asked himself.

"Ohohohoho…!" Lance scoffed, straightening himself to tower over Keith who started to become a little irritated. "No, you're not, 80s Wonder Boy. Y'see I don't have time to deal with—OW!" Lance fell to ground at the presence of a white-haired beauty. Allura, as nicely written on her custom-made name tag, had pressed her heel down on Lance's innocent toes.

"Allura!" He spurted as he vainly tries to pull his foot away from the vicious heel.

"Lance," she spoke coldly. Her British-accented voice rang in the air, causing a chill down Lance's spine. "That's not the appropriate manner to speak to your paladin." She slowly raised her high-heels away, changing her focus to the alarmed customer.

Keith definitely regretted coming here. Is minimum wage really worth it?

"Welcome to Alluring Delights, mighty paladin!" Allura greeted with a grin. The powerful blinding light shining forth from her radiant smile only strengthened her angelic deposition. However, the "mighty paladin" didn't really care. Keith attempted to block the beams with his hands; however, Allura quickly mistook the gesture as she grabbed his hands, giving off a warm handshake, and continued to smile dazzlingly. "My name is Allura, and I am the 'Princess of Sweets.' May I offer you some of our scrumptious, traditional Altean brioches or, if you wait awhile, our master pastry chef will bring out a hot batch of signature Voltron cookies! Or, how we dubbed, Voltrookies!" She chuckled lightly.

"That's not going to catch o—WHY!" Lance found himself back on the ground in pain. The cursed heel had reappeared.

"U-Um, no thank you," Keith struggled to find the appropriate response in this strange situation. "I just want to apply for a job."

"Really?" she responded, a bit shocked. It had been almost a year since she opened this bakery, trapping—she meant hiring—two desperate college students who needed to pay off their loans. Business was slowly rising, but Allura had high hopes for Alluring Delights to succeed if only they had more help. There was Coran, but he mostly helped with finance. But, now! This new comer, this new paladin just arrived inside of her bakery, asking for a job!

May Lord Frankworth of Scilltia grant me godspeed! She hoped. This boy will become a building block in my hypothetical tower of success! Alluring Delights will blossom anew, becoming the most distinguished and magnificent bakery in the world. No, I am thinking too small... It will become the most distinguished and magnificent bakery in the entire universe! Defending the taste buds of all from the rotten dishes from that awful lowlife! In the most legendary fashion, of course. This is so divine. So wonderful! So—

Keith, who still regretting his presence here, and Lance, who is still in pain, stared at Allura's wonder-lust face as she went deep down into her fantastical thoughts.

"Is she okay?" Keith asked, gingerly waving his hand in front of her face.

"Yeah, she normally gets like this some—COME ON!" Allura incidentally punched Lance's face as she snapped out of her thoughts. Lance soothed his sore face, crying silently. "I didn't do anything wrong this time…"

"Sorry, Lance," Allura apologized to the throbbing cashier. That apology was short-lasted as she whipped her attention to Keith; her smile widened. "Young paladin…!" Allura clutched his hands tightly. "We shall give you an application at once, so you can fulfill our—"

"I already finished it," Keith interrupted, casually waved the completed application in his hand. The less time spent here, the better.

"Oh! Aren't you...punctual?" Allura took the papers. "We will definitely look over this promptly! Now, are you sure you don't want—" Bells echoed through the bakery signaling the departure of their future coworker. "Oh, good bye, paladin…" She solemnly waved.

"We're making a mistake…" Lance's face cooled down, yet there was a noticeable bruise on his face.

"Lahhnnncsss…," Allura hissed at him. "You need to handle yourself better for the customers. Even if you don't particularly like them, being rude violates our code of hospitality!" Her voice was stern, but shifted into a softer tone when she noticed Lance's bruised face. "Let me get ice for that." She ducked down under the counter where there was a mini refrigerator, full of preparedly-made bagged ice for all the times she would accidentally hit her coworkers.

"I know, but we shouldn't trust him…," Lance grumbled as Allura returned with a bag. She gingerly placed it on his bruised face, not noticing Lance wildly blushing upon contact. A door behind them burst open with another employee appearing. Cladded in a similar uniform as them, but with yellow-orange crescents on his face, he was cautiously balancing three platters of cookies that resembled colorful lions.

"We shouldn't trust who?" he asked, placing them down on display. His nametag was covered in flour, but the name 'Hunk' could be deciphered from it. "Am I interrupting something?" He then sneered at the sight of Lance's flushed face. Allura stood between them, letting Lance take the ice bag, as the fresh batch of cookies captivated her interest.

"N-No!" Lance babbled, yet he was sad that Allura had stopped soothing the pain she caused. "And, I was saying that we shouldn't trust Keith…"

"Keith? Y'mean your self-proclaimed arch nemesis from high school…?" Hunk gasped dramatically, followed with a few chuckles. He organized the cookies in a rainbow-ordered fashion.

"Your arch nemesis? Really, Lance?" Allura quipped. However, her attention was solely on the cookies. She felt tempted to waste her profits by eating a cookie, but she reminded herself that she must be a strong although that blue-iced lion cookie looked incredibly scrumptious today.

"I heard that someone has an arch-nemesis?" Coran appeared behind them from his office. He quickly grabbed a cookie and took a huge bite before Allura could stop him as usual. "Delicious as always, Hunk."

"Thanks!" Hunk grinned proudly. "And Lance does, but for childish reasons."

"Childish!" Lance yelped, but quickly toned down his voice for his sake from Allura's wrath. "Remember, in middle school, he insulted my cupcakes in front of my face on my birthday!"

"Why?" Allura asked, giving in her temptations for a cookie. Father would have wanted this, she comforted herself, carefully taking a bite and knowingly ignoring Coran's sly grins.

"Apparently, he had a mild reaction to the oil Lance used," Hunk explained.

"That's what he wants you to believe," Lance stated bitterly. "Remember how he wrapped all the girls around his fingers just after I had my eyes on them."

"Apparently, Keith was the girl-magnet. Even boys fell for his mullet."

"He was always so prideful when he beat everyone in gym class!"

"Apparently, his dad was like in the military or something."

"He won all the scholarships like it was nothing!"

"Apparently, he was a good writer."

"And—!"

"We heard enough, Lance," Allura interrupted as she wiped crumbs off her cheek with a handkerchief. "What we're hearing now are just petty incidents that happened in the past. As a paladin of Alluring Delights, you must move on. Just because the two of you shared some childhood conflicts, that doesn't mean you can't work together currently and civilly." Her brilliant smile took a stab at Lance's heart. She turned to Coran. "Coran, we must go over his application to find if he's worthy of working at our fine establishment!" There was a hint of glee in her voice. She took a quick glance at Lance one more time. "Lance, fix your ears. You look like an alien."

And with that, Allura and Coran left.

"She's right…," Hunk started. "Not about your ears, but they are kind of crooked." Lance grumpily attempted to fix them as Hunk handed him a cookie which Lance accepted when finished. "Keith's actually a pretty chill guy if you get to know him better."

Lance, munching on the cookie, knew that Hunk could be right, like Hunk always said he was. However, for some reason, Lance still held on to his skepticism about the mullet-haired emo. If only there was a sign—or even signal—to show that his thoughts were not for naught.

RING. RING. A bell coincidentally rang to signal in another customer and to confirm Lance's reason of cynicism. I knew it.

It has been fifteen minutes since Keith left Alluring Delights and was currently standing outside of Galra Sweet Empire, a space-themed bakery that became an instant hit all over the district. Keith sighed loudly, mentally preparing himself for the nonsense that awaited him once the doors slid open autonomically.

"What took you so long?" A young adult male immediately asked when Keith walked in. He was sitting on a throne smack in the middle of the bakery. His purple skin (which Keith assumed must be makeup) glistened slightly from the white-tinted lights above and his golden eyes glared at Keith as if he was demanding for respect. Keith returned a look of "No." Lotor, as it was engraved in his golden nametag, dealt with the teenager's attitude for so long, this action unfazed him. "Were you successful?"

"Yeah," Keith nodded, heading towards the back of the workplace. "They didn't expect a thing." He placed on his uniform—which was admittedly as silly as Alluring Delights—and tried to find the purple makeup or even his yellow-colored contacts. Did those girls steal them again? "I am getting paid overtime during this whole ordeal. Right, Lotor?"

"Absolutely, Keith," Lotor smiled wickedly. "That princess and her foolish bakery won't know what's coming!" And with that, a totally expected manic laughter bellowed within the white-haired, purple-skinned man. Keith sighed for the third time today.

No, Shiro. I would be a responsible citizen with a normal, tax-paying job.

No, Shiro, I won't be a deadbeat like you.

No, Shiro, signing up to join a bakery with a sketchy atmosphere will not be a mistake.

Shiro…Why are you always right?