Season 8, Episode 1: Launch Date

Surprise? Happy NaNoWriMo lmao. Just go ahead and chug your drinks.

I told y'all, I've never abandoned a story, and I'm not going to start when I only have twelve episodes left of this whole show. But damn, it's been a year. Also exciting news, I have a cat now lmao. Her name is Shrimp, and she sat here and watched me write this whole thing. (Also dang, forgot how cringe the end of this episode is to watch. The rest of it was fun though lol)

"Hold on! I'm getting all shook up!" TV Pidge shouted.

Pidge blinked, clinging to her pillow, and opened her mouth. Shut it again. Looked at Bae Bae, sleeping peacefully next to her, and then back at the crew. "Is this a PRANK?"

"Launching tomorrow," Hunk said, sitting down across from Lance in the cafeteria. "The big day. It seems like forever ago when we piled into the Red Lion and blasted out into…it's the fucking BLUE lion."

Lance bit down on his lip to keep from snickering. "You sure you aren't color blind, buddy?"

"I'm going to lose my mind."

"And Keith is friendly! He's happy all the time! I mean, they got it so wrong!"

"I resent that," Keith muttered off set.

"Keith, the mics can still pick up your irritated grumbling," Alfor deadpanned.

Keith flushed red. "Right. My bad."

"I have one more item to discuss," Shiro announced. "It's our last night on Earth, and we've got a lot of hard work ahead of us. We may not be back home for years. So I'm ordering you to get fucking lit."

"Shiro the cameras are rolling."

"I am well aware."

"Maybe, if you want to you could have dinner with me tonight?" Lance asked anxiously. "A-And my family? Dinner with me and my family? My mom's cooking for our last night together, I just thought you could join us."

Allura sighed. "That sounds wonderful, but I– are you laughing?"

Lance pointed instantly at Hunk, who dropped his hands and looked innocently at the ceiling. "Hunk was making faces at me!"

"What are you grounded for?" Allura asked curiously.

Colleen snorted. "She's grounded because apparently my daughter thinks that running away from home and galivanting off into space without her mother's permission is an acceptable activity for a 15-year-old."

There was dead silence, and then Pidge whirled around. "Well APPARENTLY, finding my brother and saving my father from an intergalactic tyrant DOESN'T GET ME A PASS."

"Not on your life young lady."

Allura and Romelle blinked. "Right, we're just gonna go," Romelle said weakly.

Alfor pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose. "That was a little intense, guys."

"Someone doesn't remember that time I snuck out to a party, apparently," Allura muttered. "Cause it was exactly this intense."

"If you weren't an adult I'd ground you," Alfor muttered into his hand.

"I love shopping," Nadia sighed. "Don't you Ina?"

Ina gave her a side glance. "It's a primal urge from when collecting and gathering was a means of survival."

"It just calms me. Like skydiving. Now come on, I'm gonna shop this mall so hard."

"Cut!" Alfor called. "Girls, you're still rolling."

"Oh come on, that was so in character," Nadia protested. Ina nodded in agreement, and Alfor sighed, reaching out without asking and taking the thermos Bradley offered him.

"You're right. We'll keep it. But knock it off."

"Noooo promises."

Behind the Scenes

"I'm not doing it."

"Pidge-"

"I am not doing the stupid voice, Alfor."

"Aw come on Pidge, it's hilarious."

"Shut it Lance, or we'll see how hilarious you think it is when I shove my foot up your-"

"OH kay," Alfor interjected. "Pidge you just have to do it for like, five minutes."

"I can't believe I signed a contract for this, I demand a raise."

"Well, I'm going on a date with her tonight, and-"

"WHAT?" Coran shrieked. "But you're not royalty! Or Altean!" he shouted, getting closer to Lance's face. "And you're DEFINITELY not Altean royalty!"

"Whoa Coran, ch- oh my god, how much garlic did you eat before this scene?" Lance wheezed, stumbling back a few paces.

"I needed to make sure you looked appropriately terrified," Coran said, twirling his mustache.

Alfor sighed. "Someone get him a mint?"

Lance sighed and knocked on the door, blinking when it slid open and revealed Coran in a massive purple chair in front of a roaring fireplace, a pipe dangling from his mouth. "I'm sorry, is that a giant portrait of Alfor and Coran?" was the only thing he could manage to get out of his mouth.

"That's a little gay," Pidge commented from off set.

"Just a little," Allura admitted.

Alfor put his head in his hands. "This show is a little gay," he grumbled.

"Man, I wish," Keith snorted.

"Could be way gayer," Hunk said with a nod.

"Man, you can be a real hard guy to find when you wanna be," Lance huffed, climbing up to sit next to Keith on Black's snout.

Keith spared him a side glance. "Hey Lance – what the FUCK are you wearing?"

"Keith! PG!"

"He's wearing cookware, Alfor, why didn't anyone warn me?"

"You watching the sun set?" Lance asked.

"Yeah. Might be a while before we get to see it again."

Lance hummed. "Man, I'm really gonna miss this place."

"That's why we've gotta end this war," Keith said, shutting his eyes for a moment. "And we're gonna do it with the Lance that's the Paladin of the Red Lion, the Lance that's always got my back. And the Lance that knows exactly who he is and what he's got to offer."

"Cut! Perfect, guys!"

"Seriously, how could that be mistaken for anything but gay?" Pidge demanded, flinging her arms out.

"We are but two queers in a hetero world," Lance said dramatically, flinging his arm over his eyes and sliding off of the Black Lion prop and onto the floor.

Keith snorted. "Get up babe, you're gonna make wardrobe have to clean your outfit again."

"KEITH? What? No, no, no, no! No way, NO."

"Lance never brings girls home. You must-"

"NEVER. Not in a million decophoebs, okay? All that guy likes are knives and space wolves."

"Wrong," Keith protested from off set. "I also like pretty Cuban men and cheesecake."

"I'm going to have an aneurism," Alfor grunted.

"You truly feel that way?" Allura managed.

Lance took her hand and settled it on his chest. "With all my heart."

Allura leaned in slowly, and Lance followed. At the last second they broke apart, cracking up.

"Cut!" Alfor said, handing his clipboard to Bradley. "Guys, what the heck?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lance wheezed. "It's just so straight."

"Allura, you're literally in a relationship with a man," Alfor whined.

"We're bi and pan, there's nothing straight about that," Allura snickered, wiping a tear from her eyes. "I can't take it seriously."

"This whole cast and crew is just gay, apparently," Alfor said with a roll of his eyes. "Take five, we'll shoot again."

Behind the Scenes

"The whole cast and crew is gay, huh?" Allura said, leaning against her father's office door. She was back in her normal clothes, hair braided over one shoulder as she studied her father. "That's the first time I haven't heard you separate us from you."

Alfor cracked his neck and capped the pen he was using to make some markings on the next week's script. He tapped the end of it on the book and glanced up at his daughter, shrugging. "Never thought I gave off the impression I was entirely straight, love."

Allura straightened, eyes flickering over Alfor quickly, her tiny smirk slipping into a look of startled surprise, like she hadn't expected him to agree with her. "I thought-?"

Alfor stood, leaving the pen on the desk, and stepped over to Allura, setting his hands on her shoulders and squeezing, gentle. "After your mother passed, I had time to do a lot of soul searching. It was just…never important," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Or at least I never thought it was. So I never brought it up. Seeing you kids be so at ease with everything…" he tilted his head and gave a small laugh. "Made me think I should have, that maybe it was more important than I thought."

Allura pressed herself close to her father's chest, winding her arms around him and holding onto him tightly. "It's very important," she said, voice cracking. "To me. And it should be to you."

Alfor hummed and pressed his hand to Allura's head, kissing her scalp, at a loss for words. "Well. Thank you, love."

"I love you," Allura mumbled into his shirt.

Alfor breathed, shutting his eyes and clutching his daughter just a little closer. "I love you too, sweetheart."

I'm promising nothing except for the fact that I WILL finish this fic.