Inspired by a fanart I saw on Twitter, here is a fan-made story to explain how our beloved black Paladin knows the choreography of Gashina by Sunmi...
The story takes place somewhere after season 4. Except in this version it's Shiro with the longer bangs (I am not here to discuss the legitimacy of the current Shiro this is for fun take several seats!)
Enjoy!
Shiro followed the laughing voices until he reached the main deck. Lotor had taken his leave for the day to prepare for the Kral Zera ceremony with Coran's help. Today, the team allowed themselves to have a little moment of celebration: one of the green Paladin's greatest mission was finally completed.
Pidge and Matt were both sitting very closely to their father. Matt had one of his arms wrapped around his father's while Pidge held his hand and kept talking and moving their free hand. The Paladins all seemed to be laughing at the story they were telling the group.
"What did I miss?" Shiro asked while sitting down among the group.
"Pidge was telling us about a talent show they did as a child," Allura explained while wiping a tear from her eye, "Earth children really are no different from Altean ones."
"Is it the one where they wanted to be Captain Hook?" The black Paladin asked.
"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!" They replied while singing the lyrics in an exaggerated, raspy voice that provoked a new wave of laughter. "Did you mention how you played the fairy in that play?" Shiro then replied with a smirk on his face. Everyone turned to look at Matt. "Really?" Lance asked, leaning in closer to see his reaction. Matt wasn't the type to be so easily intimidated by blackmailed memories of his childhood. Besides...
He had something way better up his sleeves.
"I sure was," Matt replied while flipping his bangs to the side, "the most beautiful fairy on earth!"
"Most dangerous performer of the play," Pidge added jokingly.
"Oh really? The only performer I'd be afraid of here is Shiro."
"Well, he was the most popular Paladin during the Coalition recruitment tour..." Hunk recalled.
"Oh no, I wasn't referring to that, dear Hunk." Matt then looked at Shiro dead in the eyes and lifted his arm, shaping his fingers like a gun and swayed his head left and right. "No," was all he could say with a straight tone.
"Oh oh, Shiro got a secret?" Lance realized.
"This I gotta hear," Hunk said as he shifted his position to be more comfortable. As the team insisted on him telling the story, Shiro looked at Sam for support. "Shiro, it would make for a great story, better than Captain Hook."
He groaned. He knew the story would resurface eventually, just not here and not this soon. He thought about it, letting the anticipation build up before letting out a sigh. "As you all know, the Garrisson has an annual show to help raise funds for local organisations. One year, the show was to be set up by anyone ranked as a captain or higher. Iverson suggested that I performed a private number for anyone purchasing a "Captain's special" ticket..."
"No recording devices allowed," Matt interrupted. "Word got around that Shiro would do the special performance and they sold out practically overnight!"
"Poor boy had perfumed love letter coming in waves weeks after the show," Sam added while laughing. "Iverson wasn't happy about the fact that his office smelled like a flower shop."
"It was his idea to begin with," Shiro mumbled.
As the Paladins asked him more questions, Princess Allura remained oddly quiet. With her focus mainly on the war, she now realized that she knew very little about the human race and now felt guilty for not getting to know them better. Allura decided that now was just as good of a time to try and catch up on lost time. "Shiro?" She whispered shyly.
The ongoing conversation died down when everyone heard Allura's tone. "Yes, princess?" he said, showing her that she now had his full attention. "I don't mean to... to embarrass you but..." She said unsure. "But I now realize that I know very... very little about humans and so... would you mind... maybe performing?"
Silence. Everyone looked at Shiro, waiting to hear his response. His cheeks slowly started turning red. "I don't mean to dissapoint..." he started.
"Oh come on Shiro!" Matt whined. "You cannot be all serious all the time: this is a war!"
"He's got a point there," Hunk added, "When's the next time we'll all be as relaxed as we are now?"
"We should totally enjoy while we can, and that includes you big guy," Lance concluded.
Shiro turned his head towards Pidge and Sam. They both lifted their shoulders with a facial expression that spelled out your call. He scratched the back of his neck. The choreography wasn't too physically demanding, it was more about the precision of the gesture than about how many moves were in sequence. But even now, the only thing that worried him wasn't the Paladins' presence.
It was Princess Allura.
Her request was legitimate: she had never truly seen any dance style that was uniquely from Earth. So to be exposed to hip hop, kpop specifically, and in such a seductive form... did get him worried. But the look she had in her eyes made his insides stir.
He was just hoping her opinion of him didn't drastically change.
"Matt, get the song ready before I change my mind," he finally said. A wave of cheers erupted from around him. Matt couldn't run any faster: he grabbed Pidge's laptop and plugged it onto the ship's speaker system while Shiro got up and stretched lightly.
"Is there any way to dim the lights?" He asked, making Lance gasp dramatically "I am so here for Shiro the !" He dramatically declared while putting a hand to his forehead. Allura showed him the console and he dimmed the lights to his satisfaction.
He got into position and pointed a thumbs up towards Matt who pressed play. The song played a part of the ending before the replay kicked in and it picked up from the top, giving Matt enough time to run back to his spot. "Wait, isn't this Gashina? the K-pop song?" Lance whispered.
But nobody answered him because Shiro's expression completely shifted, transforming him into something completely different.
Allura's hand flew to her heart. She now understood why he hesitated about performing this piece. It was so... So provocative, so raw. Nothing on Altea could have prepared her for this. It was a rare moment where he showed not only complete control but complete confidence in his body's abilities. His eyes were transfixed on her while her gaze followed every one of his gestures. Allura wasn't completely sure of what she was witnessing but whatever it is only made her altean markings glow and her heartbeat accelerate. Seeing the way she reacted only made Shiro grin even more seductively while performing.
When he unexpectedly took a bow at the end of the first chorus, everyone errupted in cheers and Matt jumped off the floor to hug him. " I swear you still got it man, totally on fire! Did you see his eyes?" He said while turning towards the others and trying to imitate his suave attitude, "hi, my name is Shirogane, but you can call me space d..."
"That's enough Matt," Shiro quickly interrupted him while grabbing a water pouch, his face returning to its familiar kind look. "Okay, that's it," Lance declared while standing up, "I need a tutorial NOW!"
As the rest of the team kept showering him with admiration, Sam noticed how the princess' marks hadn't stopped glowing yet. He quietly grabbed a water pouch and handed it to the princess. " Shiro is filled with surprises, isn't he?" She jumped, surprised by his sudden presence next to her. When she saw the water pouch he was handing her, she gladly accepted it. "Alteans don't ever dance like that... this was... fascinating to say the least."
"It is," he replied.
"Lance mentioned something about... K-pop. What is it?"
"A descendant of a music genre we call hip hop: created from a place of dissappointment and anger by people who weren't being heard by their leaders, it uses different mixtures of upbeat rhythm, sound mixing and body movement to evoke their emotions. It began as a small regional trend and in less than half a century is now a worldwide phenomenon."
"What was this song about?" She then asked. M. Holt scratched his beard. "If my memory serves me right, the girl is singing about the person she loves leaving her behind no matter what she does. In the end, realizing her love was no longer reciprocated, she decides to move on. But she can't help but wonder 'why did you leave pretty me behind?' Really a sad story when you research the words."
Her gaze went back to the black Paladin who was now teaching Lance the moves that accompanied the chorus. She tried to imagine a younger version of him and couldn't decide if he was someone who really liked a particular song or who used his experience with heartbreak to help others.
The end! Tell me what you think!
P.S. for those who are wondering: Sam Holt basically gave out the history of hip hop in two sentences.