(Y/n)'s P.O.V.
Lance and I arrived in the dining room a few doboshes later, him leading me as I trailed behind with my arms crossed. Everyone else was already seated, and Lance instantly walked to what seemed to be where he routinely sat. Feeling out of place, I stood in the doorway awkwardly, my arms still crossed as I tightened my grip on both limbs. I felt everyone staring at me and I felt even more like an outsider suddenly. Shiro turned in his seat and sent me a warm smile before scooting his seat over slightly and pulling another hovering chair beside him.
"You can sit next to me, Cyanizak," he said kindly, and my eyes widened slightly at the simple gesture behind my helmet for a moment before I let out a soft exhale, walking over and taking a seat next to Shiro.
Why are all these people so nice?
"Thanks," I murmured, still somewhat apprehensive. I sat on the edge of the seat stiffly, my feet planted an even distance on the ground and shoulders squared, my posture perfectly straight and my arms tensed at my sides as I kept my head bowed slightly. Lance took notice of my uncomfortably pristine way of sitting and laughed a little bit. I raised my head to look at him, confused. He was slouching on the back of his seat with an arm propped up, looking completely carefree.
"Geez Cyanizak, chill. You don't have to sit like you're about to book it 24/7," he stated, waving a hand in the air vaguely. I tilted my head at his strange usage of words, but didn't question their meaning. I understood what he meant for the most part.
"Oh. It was a part of my training," I stated blankly, then tried to loosen myself up, imitating Lance's slouched posture and only succeeding in looking like I was a hunchback. "Like this?" Lance shot up in his seat, offended as he stared at me with his mouth agape.
"Pah! I do not sit like that!" He protested, but everyone else had already burst out into laughter at my attempt to copy the way Lance sits.
Pidge pitched in, wiping amused tears from the corners of her eyes as she snorted slightly, "I don't know Lance, that was pretty spot on!"
"Good one Cyanizak!" Hunk complemented through his laughter, patting me on the back.
"That was quite amusing," Allura added, smiling. Even Keith was laughing.
"Monkey see, monkey do," he teased, and Lance huffed, pouting while I was still trying to figure out what was so funny.
"Nice try, Cyanizak," Shiro chuckled, "but how about you just stick to whatever is most comfortable?"
I nodded and went back to my straight posture, but now I was a bit more relaxed. I wasn't on the edge of my seat anymore, my shoulders rested comfortably, and I crossed my legs loosely, resting my arms across my chest.
"Better?" Shiro asked, and I nodded again.
"Cyanizak?" Allura asked, and I turned my gaze to her, tilting my head for her to continue. "I would like to apologize to you for assuming that you were some sort of Galran spy sent to gather intel or assassinate us. It was wrong of me to accuse you of something based on my own biased opinion. I'm sorry." The table went silent.
"Yeah, me too," Keith admitted quietly, "I'm sorry. I started it." Then Coran walked in, balancing several dishes of what looked to be green goo.
"I would like to apologize as well," he pitched in as he set the plates of green goo in front of each of us, "I also made a poor decision to blame you based on unjustified - actually nonexistent - evidence. I'm sorry." I stared at them through my helmet visor incredulously, caught off guard by all the sudden apologies.
"Uh... It's fine..." I responded awkwardly, unsure what else to do. Luckily, this seemed to diffuse the tension at the table and everyone let out an unconscious sigh.
"Well!" Coran clapped his hands together, sitting next to Allura. "Everyone eat up!" Everyone else nodded and began eating. Keith scrunched up his nose slightly, swallowing a lump of the green goo and sticking his tongue out as he continued eating.
"I still don't think I'm used to this... stuff," Keith complained, shovelling another spoonful of the green goo into his mouth. Almost everyone at the table agreed, excluding Allura and Coran, who had been eating that 'stuff' the entirety of their lives, and Shiro, who happily ate the green goo over whatever had been rarely served during his time as a prisoner to the Galra.
Shiro eats it without hesitance, not surprising. That man has a gut of steel and a heart of gold.
Shiro began blushing lightly and everyone else stared at me, then burst out into laughter again. It was then that I realized I had said that aloud.
"Um, thanks," Shiro replied, embarrassed and humble as ever.
"Man, Cyanizak, you're a riot!" Lance exclaimed between fits of laughter.
A riot? I suppose I do cause a riot.
This time, luckily, I kept my thoughts to myself. Even if I hadn't everyone was laughing too hard to notice. I looked down at the plate of green goo in front of me and picked up the spoon, putting a hand to my mask. The lower half dissolved as my visor had earlier, revealing my face below my nose, mainly my mouth and jaw.
Shiro's P.O.V.
I was listening to the younger paladins complain about the Altean food and I only shrugged, not minding the flavor of the mush. Cyanizak's comment caught me off-guard though.
"Shiro eats it without hesitance, not surprising. That man has a gut of steel and a heart of gold," they said, seemingly absentmindedly. I blushed at the complement. That was what they thought of me so far?
"Um, thanks," I replied bashfully as all the other paladins laughed.
"Man, Cyanizak, you're a riot!" Lance exclaimed between fits of laughter. Cyanizak seemed to ponder on this for a moment, then picked up the spoon beside their plate of untouched goo.
I'm surprised it took them this long to even consider eating. They must be starving. Wait, how are they supposed to eat without taking their helmet off?
I watched as Cyanizak put a hand to the lower half of their mask, the material dissolving to reveal their mouth and jaw. My eyes widened and I glanced at the other paladins, who were still laughing and distracted, then looked back to Cyanizak, taking mental note of what features I could see. Their skin was a pale (S/c) and their lips were chapped. They scooped up some of the green goo with their spoon and put it in their mouth, swallowing the mush and removing the spoon from their mouth.
"I don't see what you're all complaining about. This is the best food I've had in years. Probably the only edible food, too," Cyanizak stated, and I was shocked to hear a feminine voice rather than the usual robotic, altered one. Their voice seemed to cut through everyone's laughter as the other paladins and the Alteans looked over, stunned. Everyone was silent for a moment as we all stared at Cyanizak in bewilderment. Cyanizak cocked their head at us, eating more of the goo quickly.
"What? Have you all never seen someone else eat this food willingly or something?" Cyanizak said sarcastically, their elbow on the table as they casually held their spoon up. Keith huffed and leaned back in his chair.
"Human," he stated quietly so that all of us could hear, and no one protested.
"Soooooo... you are a girl...?" Lance spoke up, his voice tinged with hope and a bit of oncoming flirtation. I shot a stern look to Lance, warning him, but I was curious too. Cyanizak stared at him blankly.
"Well I don't have a dick, so yeah, girl would make sense. I'm literally wearing a skintight combat suit. Did you just think I was some alien male with tits?" They asked, their voice laced with sarcasm, but then they paused. "Actually, alien male with tits isn't that unlikely. Ugh." We all deadpanned at their statement, but Lance only nodded, seemingly understanding.
"That's happened to me one too many times," he said. We all looked to Lance, unsurprised. Cyanizak quickly finished their food and restored the bottom half of their helmet.
"Is there anywhere I can wash and rest?" they asked, standing up.
"Oh, yes," Allura responded, "we have an extra room in the same hall as where the rest of the paladins sleep. All of the rooms have their own bathrooms. The extra room can be your room, if you choose to stay here. If my memory serves me correctly, your room will be next to Shiro's and across from Pidge. " Cyanizak nodded, crossing their arms.
"And where would that be?" They asked, leaning to one side. I was about to volunteer to show them, but Pidge stood up, walking over to Cyanizak.
"I can show you. C'mon," she said, and the two left the dining room. I smiled at Pidge's offer to Cyanizak.
I hope you stay with us, Cyanizak.
A/N: Hey, My Lions! I know it's been a really long time since I last updated, and I apologize for that. School has kept me busy, and I've been losing a lot of motivation. But! I won't be discontinuing the White Lion. Hopefully, I'll be posting an A/N explaining some things soon. Also, are you all okay with being called she? Or would you all still prefer they, just to keep it relatively gender neutral? Anyway, thank you all for sticking with me so far. I have noticed that I hit 17K, and I want to do something special. Until next time, Bai My Lions!
