Bonding Performance

Chapter 1

"I'm sorry, you...what?"

"It's quite simple!" The alien's smile literally reached her bulging eyes as she addressed Shiro. "All I'm asking is that you prove your alliance with us by partaking in one of our largest cultural events. Surely that isn't too much to ask?"

Shiro's jaw was stuck, parted with no noise coming out, so Lance took it upon himself to cut in. "Of course! We'd be happy to help you with this event!"

All eyes turned to Lance, some with confusion and some with disbelief, but the alien woman beamed even more, clasping Lance's hands in her webbed ones. "Wonderful! We expect to see you at the performance, then!"

They watched her walk away before turning on Lance.

"Dude, what was that?!" Hunk fretted, but before anyone else could explode, Shiro held his hand up.

"Let's approach this calmly. There's no reason to yell at Lance."

Lance pouted with crossed arms. "You act like I just committed a crime. All they're asking is for us to make an appearance at their weird festival! Why is that so hard?"

"Because they said they practically want to flaunt us off like we're some weird pieces of jewelry!" Keith retorted.

"Well of course you're mad about it, since you don't have any sense of fashion. I for one think it'll be fun to dress up and go on stage!" Lance flashed a smile as the rest of the team turned to Shiro, who sighed.

"I know it isn't exactly in your comfort zones, but if we want the people of Yeurov to join the alliance, we'll need to do this. It'll be easy—all we have to do is make an appearance in front of their people."

"Yeah, with whatever weird outfits they choose for us. Sorry Shiro, count me out." Pidge was already turning to walk away. "After all, they never said they needed all of us to show up, right?"

"Wait, what?" Hunk perked up, glancing around before running after Pidge. "In that case, I don't want to do it, either!"

Lance waved them off in irritation, but in a way, this was perfect. After all, any time he got to spend with Shiro was nice. And Keith, too—assuming Keith was participating. He turned to Allura, who watched Pidge and Hunk walk back to the castle with a sigh.

"I suppose they technically didn't ask for all of the Paladins. Very well. You three will have to suffice."

"What?!" Keith immediately turned to Shiro. "I've got more important things to do than to let these people parade me around! Can't you and Lance just do it?"

"Oh, quit your whining. If we let you off the hook you'll just spend all day training, like usual." Lance dismissed, doing his best to ignore his nervous sweat. What if Shiro did let Keith off the hook? He didn't mind having alone time with just Shiro, but getting to see both Keith and Shiro in alien clothes would be a dream come true—Lance could already imagine the exotic clothing showing off their muscles.

Luckily, Shiro patted Keith's shoulder with a gentle smile. "Pidge and Hunk are already sitting out—we should at least have more than half the team there. Sorry, buddy."

The color drained from Keith as Shiro and Allura walked ahead to further discuss how to manage the alliance, leaving Lance grinning next to Keith. This was already looking like a flawless victory.

"Can't wait to see you finally put on something other than that awful red jacket!" Lance poked Keith, only to flinch away when Keith turned on him with burning eyes.

"I am not dressing up!"

***

At the end of the day, of course, it wasn't Keith's choice, and Lance relished in his own excitement as their dresser provided them with the standard cultural robes for the festival, each one tuned to the color of their lion.