Work Text:
There was about two weeks till Valentine’s day and with things finally having settled on Earth and on board the Atlas, Lance was ready to make his move. He felt like he and Shiro had been skirting around what was between them for months while things were working out on Earth and the Coalition and Lance felt confident that Shiro would react positively, he just needed to ask the other man out properly and get things set in motion. The problem however seemed to be simply asking the Captain.
Lance chewed on his thumb nail a bit as he considered his options. Shiro had always been amused with his flirting, maybe trying some of that and easing into asking would be a good idea? It was a Lance patented method of getting people to like him. Perhaps it would carry some good luck for the process.
Lance wandered the Atlas a bit looking for Shiro. The day had been slow and they had finished their last meeting over an hour ago. There was no telling what Shiro had gotten into after that as being a Captain had a lot more responsibilities than Lance’s position. He perked up seeing Shiro walking with Keith and Krolia coming down the hall towards them.
“Hey Shiro, have a minute?” Lance asked glancing at the two others that walked with Shiro.
The Captain of Atlas glanced up from the reports on the screen in his hand and smiled brightly at Lance before nodding a moment, “Go ahead you two, I’ll catch up in a minute.”
Keith smiled a bit shaking his head but led his mother down the hallway past Lance, clapping him on the shoulder as he went. Lance grinned back and moved to stand before Shiro.
“Hey there are you tired? ‘Cause you have been running around my head all day..” Lance grinned leaning against the wall as he gave a cheesy smile to Shiro.
Shiro chuckled a bit shaking his head, Lance’s lines never failed to amuse him.
“I am a bit tired but its appropriate for how much work there has been. How are you holding up Lance?” Shiro returned back good naturedly.
“I’m doing okay. I’m a little peckish though. Do you have any raisins?” he asked and was proud at how serious he came across.
“Raisins?” Shiro asked a bit bewildered and bless his soul he actually paused a minute to pat his pockets down to check.
“I would take a date too..” Lance grinned again and Shiro let his hand drop and a disbelieving grin crossed his own face.
“Oh Lance. You-”
“Captain Shirogane!” One of the younger crew members came scurrying down the hallway towards them and Shiro instantly stood straighter.
Lance hadn’t really noticed how much more relaxed Shiro seemed when he spoke to the Red Lion Pilot. He made him feel good to recognize the positive changes he brought about in Shiro.
“Sorry Lance, we can continue this some other time, duty calls.” Shiro purposely winked, making his own small joke and Lance snorted a bit at the word choice as the Captain and technician walked off.
Opportunity number one didn’t work as successfully as Lance was hoping but any interaction with Shiro was always really nice. Lance wasn’t too discouraged and immediately started making plans for his next chance.
------------------------
Two days later Lance made the brilliant decision to simply ask Shiro how he’d like to be asked out. Of course Lance couldn’t be that straightforward so he approached Shiro under the guise of advice for asking his own crush out.
They were sitting in one of the lounges that was rarely occupied due to how far away from everything was. Lance had found it had amazing views of space and reminded him of the Castle of Lions. Shiro liked the peace and lack of public eye. Being the Captain was exhausting and not having the space to turn that aspect of himself off was draining. The first night the two had found themselves occupying the space together had led to a small silent agreement to meet once a week after dinner to decompress.
Lance got there second tonight after dinner. Shiro had ducked out from the dining hall early when a bunch of kids started whispering and giving Shiro longing looks. Any other time it would be fine but Shiro was already stressed from the training simulations that had gone very poorly today with the new potential MFE pilots. Lance had watched Shiro quickly dump his tray and head out of the room with purpose in his step.
Lance moved and sat across from Shiro in the lounge and grinned, “My, my, Captain Shirogane! Please please pay attention to me next!” he teased lightly.
“They mean well enough but some days I just need a break..” Shiro sighed slumping back further in the chair he occupied.
“I get it. No worries. I was actually hoping you could give me a little advice though if you’re not too worn out?” Lance asked and did his best of play it off nonchalantly.
“Absolutely Lance. You know I’m always here for you and the other Paladins. We’re family.” Shiro offered perking up a bit now recognizing Lance was serious.
“Well.. I have a crush on.. Someone here on the Atlas and I want to confess.. What do you think is the best approach?” Lance asked as his eyes darted about nervously.
“Oh? Lover boy Lance is seeking out romantic advice? How unusual... “ Shiro teased in return and Lance in return chuckled a bit.
“Yea well.. I’m pretty serious about this and don’t want to mess it up.” Lance explained and Shiro frowned a bit.
“Lance I’m sure however you approach this person, if you’re you and being honest, I’m sure your feelings will be conveyed.” Shiro explained.
“Right, right of course. I just.. If you were being confessed to how would you like it? I don’t think I’ve ever been confessed to so having some insight would be appreciated.” Lance prompted.
“Hm.. Let’s see... “ Shiro considered as he glanced out the window to the view of space and the stars gleaming.
“I’d probably most prefer someone to be straightforward with me.” Shiro finally answered after a small passage of silence between them.
Lance considered this and after a silently longer pause looked at Shiro and made the decision to give it a try.
“Shiro, I like you a lot, would you go to dinner with me?” Lanced asked and trying to keep himself from getting too eager.
“Yes! Exactly like that Lance! That would be a perfect confession in my opinion.” Shiro’s smile turned into a yawn.
“Anyway I’m exhausted today so I’m going to cut this visit short if it’s okay with you? We have that early morning call from Arus tomorrow.” Shiro explained standing up and heading towards the door, “G’night Lance.” Shiro slipped out easily.
Lance sat there flabbergasted at the exchange. Shiro couldn’t be that dense. No way. Lance groaned and fell back against the chair back, sinking down a bit to support the crushing disappointment that conversation brought. If being straightforward like that didn’t work Lance was worried nothing might. An idea struck Lance in that moment.
If straightforward didn’t work, maybe leading around the bush would.
-------------------------------------------------
It took Lance three days to coordinate the entire ordeal. Things were kind of getting close to Valentine’s day but honestly? Lance just knew this was going to work! He sat in their usual lounge they occupied in the late nights and waited patiently. He could wait patiently. It was for Shiro after all.
There were elaborate clues all over the Atlas that if followed properly would lead Shiro to this room and he’d understand that Lance had a very specific question to ask him and then Lance could just do it.
Lance rocked on his heels a bit humming while he waited. As time passed he moved to sit on a lounge seat. Perhaps Shiro had gotten called into a meeting. Or maybe one of the cadets on board needed him. There were a lot of options that could have distracted Shiro granted how popular the guy was. Lance sighed a bit letting his head fall back to rest on the back of the lounge seat. Maybe Shiro figured out it was Lance and decided not to come?
At the thought, around nine in the evening, Lance heard the door sweep open and someone step in. Lance jolted up to a stand, grin bright on his face as he looked to the man who had just entered.
Lance’s entire body drooped as he stopped Iverson walking into the room.
“Commander Iverson? What are you doing here?” Lance asked a bit disappointed and a bit nervous.
“Did you put these around the ship boy?” Iverson held up the series of notes that Shiro was suppose to find and Lance depressed even more where he stood.
“Yea they were for.. Well I guess it doesn’t matter.” Lance muttered kicking his foot at imaginary pebbles that were supposed to make him feel better.
Iverson stood there a bit awkwardly for a moment before stepping closer and setting the letters on the table near Lance.
“I.. I know I’m not the person you wanted to find those and I’m certain I’m not the person you want to hear this from but…” Iverson began as he moved from the table to sit on the couch nearby.
“If you want to confess to someone, while this sort of nonsense seems like a grand gesture, it leaves a lot of room for error. You need a plan that is efficient and sure fire. I recommend flowers and a direct confession personally.” Iverson offered.
“Oh god” Lance groaned throwing his head back, “Sir are you really offering me dad advice?”
“Well not per say but.. Yea I guess I am? I don’t mean to patronize you boy, you’ve come a long way from those cargo pilot days. In this matter though you still seem kind of green and I just.. I want to see you kids happy.” Iverson offered a bit awkwardly but genuinely.
Lance straightened a bit and looked the commander over in a new light. It had been years since Lance had properly answered to the man as a subordinate- returning as a Paladin of Voltron had raised his rank significantly. When he had left however, he and Iverson had not been on the best of terms and initially when Lance had returned he had been leary of Iverson. In recent times it had seemed like the man genuinely respected team Voltron and what they brought to the table, even after the war had been finished and the Coalition were at work to rebuild peace through the universe. Lance nodded slowly as he accepted Iverson’s words.
“I.. I didn’t really know you felt that way I guess? I mean I know we’ve come a long way from when I first started as a fighter pilot but I didn’t realize how deep your well wishes for us went. I… Well. Thank you for that Sir. I appreciate it. Oh and I appreciate the advice. I’ll try to give it a shot but it didn’t seem to work the other day when I tried saying it straight forward.” Lance sighed again discouraged again from the memory of failure with Shiro.
“You’ll get there Lad. Don’t be too discouraged.” Iverson grinned as he stood up nodding to Lance as he moved to the doorway to leave.
“And don’t stay up too much later. Even if you have off tomorrow yet you should mess up your sleep schedule too much either.” Iverson chidded and Lance groaned again.
“Yea Sir thanks.” Lance couldn’t help the light grin that graced his features as the commander left the room and Lance had to consider what his next option would be.
Tomorrow would be another day.
-------------------------------------------------
The next day Lance determined to try Iverson’s straight forward approach got up and purposely sought out Shiro. Wandering the Atlas however always had a bit of a challenge to it nowadays with being a Paladin of Voltron, even on an off day.
“Mr McClain!” his name was called and Lance glanced back over his shoulder as a cadet ran over.
“I’ve heard about your amazing sharpshooting abilities! I was hoping you could give me some pointers?” the cadet asked and Lance glanced around a moment for Shiro before shrugging a moment and nodding.
Lance spent almost an hour talking to the cadet about shooting and how to improve accuracy. When Lance finally slipped away he continued at a brisker pace. As he rounded another corner of the Atlas an alarm blarred just as he locked eyes with Shiro. Lance audibly groaned but turned on his heel toward the armory where his paladin armor was stored and got prepared for whatever had sounded the alarm. He ran and met the rest of Team Voltron on the flight deck with the MFE pilots, suited up and on stand by. Keith glanced around and called into the comms.
“Command what was the alarm for?” Keith asked as they stood before their lions prepared to go.
“Nothing this was just a test alarm. We’re running drills on various systems and thought we might as well test this as well.” Command chimed back through the comms.
Lance had flashbacks to when Allura and Coran had run similar drills in their early paladin days on board the Castle of Lions. Lance groaned but said nothing else as they all returned to the armory to return their armor and continue about their day.
When Lance finally freed himself it was just about lunch time so he headed to the mess hall intending to eat with Shiro. Upon arriving and collecting his food however he found out from other members of Atlas that Shiro had been called away for a meeting over the lunch period. Lance frowned getting a bit frustrated but accepting the situation. He’d catch Shiro later.
Except as it turned out the rest of the day got busier and busier for Lance and Shiro. No sooner would Lance get his eyes on Shiro and the man’s name on his tongue would an announcement call for one or both of them to opposite ends of the ship. Lance, for having a day off, got called into more meetings than when he was actually scheduled to work. Lance finally dragged himself into the mess hall for dinner and found Shiro there. He perked up for only a moment when he also noticed that Shiro had a rather large crowd of people sitting with him, engaging him heavily in conversation about whatever topics Lance couldn’t be bothered to consider in that moment. Lance was beyond frustrated and tired. He had tried all day to get ahold of that man and here he was before Lance but essentially unavailable.
Lance grabbed a meal pouch and left the mess hall to take his dinner in his quarters. Valentine’s day was in three days and Lance would need those three days to mentally accept that he wasn’t going to be doing anything for that day afterall.
-------------------------------------------------
The next three days kept Lance busy as he bounced around from meeting to meeting and conference calls with different alien planets and Coalition meetings. It was exhausting and Lance threw himself into it 110% to help distract himself from how much it sucked the this Valentine’s day would pass as they all usually would.
If he went harder in the train simulations with Keith, the Voltron leader said nothing about it. If he was a little more silent than usual while Hunk and Pidge tinkered together they didn’t mention anything about that either. Lance would never admit it out loud but he was pouting. There wasn’t anything worse than being upset and being not even sure how to confide in his friends about it. They were all aware of how he and Shiro seemed to tiptoe around each other but none of them seemed concerned about February fourteenth approaching rapidly.
The morning of February fourteenth Lance woke up and immediately called central command from his bed telling them he’d be taking the day off. They agreed passively and Lance rolled back over in his bed, content to ignore the day.
Around lunch time his hunger won out however and he trudged to the mess hall in his uniform barely tucked to standard. He grabbed something quick and headed back to his room. A note with a flower taped to the door awaited him however.
Meet at our usual lounge?
-Shiro
The note was short and simple and very unassuming however the flower put a twist to every letter on that note. Especially when put in context to the author of the note.
Lance chewed his lip nervously as he quickly slipped into his room to change before heading up to their lounge to meet with Shiro. Lance didn’t want to get his hopes up but it was so hard not to. He wants this to be exactly what he thinks it is and he wants to be content in his bubble. He slows down before the door to the lounge unsure in this new thought. If he never went in and confirmed it then he could live delirious with the idea that Shiro had invited him for some sort of Valentine’s day plan. Lance was pretty sure there was some theoretical cat that perfectly described this scenario. He chewed his lip nervously as he rocked between his feet feeling unsure for the millionth time since all this start back out in space on the Castle of Lions.
He pulled in a deep breath, ducked his head and pushed the release to enter the lounge. He stepped inside and peaked around in awe. The lounge looked lovely and clearly very well thought out.
Soft twinkling lights were strung up around a small table that was near the window that had their favorite view of the stars. On the table was some food and drinks with a small assortment of flowers in a vase. The best part was Shiro standing there in his casual clothing, nothing fancy but familiar and comforting.
“...Shiro?” Lance asked as he stepped into the room further near the table and taking note in the small candles and the nice linen tablecloth.
“This is what you’d be trying to talk to me about for the past few weeks right? You wanted to do something for Valentine’s day today right?” Shiro asked smiling kindly and gesturing to the table pleasantly.
“I.. Y-yea but how? I mean. How did you know..?” Lance asked at a loss for words and overwhelmed with everything.
“I mean Lance you weren’t exactly subtle in asking me how I’d prefer to be asked out.” Shiro winked a bit clearly teasing the Paladin.
Lance’s eyes widened and a deep blush crossed his cheeks, “Shiro I can’t believe you played me like that!”
“I had to! You made it too easy there. Anyway the food is going to get cold, Lance will you come sit with me and be my Valentine?” Shiro asked holding out his hand.
Lance grinned wide and stepped forward, grabbing Shiro’s hand and nodding eagerly, “Absolutely!”