Shiro walked out of the Black Lion, pulling his helmet off. He always kept a spare handy near the cockpit, but he wasn’t sure how well it went with King Alfor’s clothes. He hadn’t had time to change into his full uniform.
	As he tucked the helmet under his left arm, he realized he wasn’t alone: Allura was in the hangar, staring at him, eyes wide, lips slightly parted. He smiled as he approached her, and she blinked out of her trance, red spreading across her cheeks. “So, we did it,” he said.
	She cleared her throat. “I never had any doubt.”
	“You have a lot of faith in Voltron.”
	“And in you. All of you, really, but… especially you, Shiro.”
	“Thank you, Princess.”
	“Oh, stop it. We’re not in front of the Grashnarians any longer.”
	“Thank heavens. So, I guess this means the pretend marriage is over then?” When she did nothing but nod, he teased, “Do we have to get a pretend divorce?”
	She laughed. “I feel that’s unnecessary. But, for the record, I enjoyed pretending to be married to you. I mean, the whole ‘kept prisoner through excessive politeness and dithering’ was less than ideal, but the rest of it was quite nice.”
	“Thank you. The feeling’s mutual.”
	“It must feel good to be back.”
	He nodded, looking around the hangar. “Very good.” He looked back to Allura and smiled. “I’m so glad to be home.”
	“You… consider this your home?” She seemed surprised.
	“Well, yeah. It is.”
	“What about Earth?”
	“Well, that’ll always be home, in the sense of being where I’m from. There’s a lot I miss about it. But it’s… different now. I don’t know. When I think of home, I think of being here.”
	She was beaming. “I’m so glad to hear you say that.”
	“Really? Why’s that?”
	She cleared her throat and looked away. “I… just am.”
	Something occurred to him then; he wasn’t sure why. “Oh, and as long as we’re discussing our ‘marriage’? I’m so, so sorry.”
	She looked back to him. “For what?”
	“For everything. My screw-up that forced your hand in the first place. My behavior as your pretend consort, especially the…” He pointed to a spot on his neck to correspond with the mark he’d left on hers. It was fading, but if you knew where to look, you could still see it. “I… didn’t even ask first.”
	“You did what you had to do to, Shiro. I don’t blame you for that. And if you hadn’t stopped and stared at me instead of kneeling, I would’ve been in there alone.”
	“You would’ve figured something out.”
	She nodded. “But it was nice to have you by my side through it. Just because I can do things on my own, doesn’t mean I always want to.” She reached out and took his right hand in both of hers. “You were more help than I think you know, Shiro. And I’m so very grateful to have had you with me.”
	They smiled at each other for a long moment. Shiro cleared his throat and Allura suddenly dropped his hand. “And it wasn’t all bad. There’s the fruetana, right?”
	She beamed again. “There is. I’m going to ask Hing for some before we go.”
	“And I’ll make sure they have more ready for you when you bring the volunteers back.” 
	Because it hadn’t seemed right to either of them to abandon the Grashnarians now. They were in a vulnerable position, after all, and there were still Galra stationed on the other local worlds. So the Lions and their Paladins would remain here while the Castle went back and enlisted volunteers to come help Grashnaria rebuild and fortify. Only then would they leave and go back to the main Coalition sectors.
	Which reminded him… “So, why are we way out here in the first place? You never did explain.”
	“Oh! That’s right, I’m sorry.” She pulled up a screen to one side of them. “This is the Coalition territory.” It lit up. “This is the sector we’re in now,” as another area of the screen lit up. She zoomed out. “This creates a tunnel that the Galra down here,” she pointed to a dark area, “will have to go through in order to get to the rest of the Empire.”
	“Where we can pounce on them,” Shiro continued as understanding dawned on him. “In time, we can cut this area off completely…”
	“And then we can focus attention on freeing that pocket down there, and we’ll have a good chunk of the Empire surrounded,” she finished. “Exactly.”
	“Textbook pincer movement.”
	“Cutting off their supply lines, just as you suggested so long ago.” She sent the screen away.
	He grinned. “I didn’t know you paid so much attention.”
	“It’s hard not to pay attention to you. I-I mean,” she added hastily, blush staining her cheeks once more, “you’re… you’re my cons- co-leader, after all.”
	He laughed. “You were going to say ‘consort.’”
	“We were there for nearly two movements; it’s gotten to be habit.”
	“Yeah, I was kind of getting used to it, too.”
	Silence descended on them again. He was staring, he knew it, but it would be a while before he saw her again. It might not be the best idea to tell her right now, to send her off with that weight. 
	She broke the quiet first. “Shiro, I feel like there’s something we need to talk about before I leave.”
	He kept himself from cursing. He normally liked it when they were on the same page, but now it made him incredibly nervous. But it was understandable that a perceptive and intelligent woman like Allura had put all the pieces together. He swallowed hard and nodded. “Of course.”
	“All this time, being with you, it… it’s been very nice. Even knowing it was all for the mission, it felt good to have someone beside me, to have you there to rely on all the time. It’s been a long, long time since I was able to feel that sense of warmth and security with someone.”
	“I’m glad I could be of help to you.” He waited for the “but” that was surely coming.
	She licked her lips and her eyes peered up into his. Those eyes he could so easily lose himself in, if she’d let him. He felt like he was saying good-bye to them, like this really was a divorce. 
	“I… I’ll miss it. A lot. I’ll miss you. And not just because it’ll be a bit before we get back to Grashnaria. I…” She took in a breath and exhaled slowly. “I hope I’m not overstepping my bounds here, and I want you to understand you’re under no obligation at all, but I thought… well, being married would be a bit much, but perhaps we could…” She tsked at herself, cleared her throat, squared her shoulders, and lifted her chin. “Takashi Shirogane, I would very much like to court you, if you are willing.”
	He blinked. “‘Court?’ As in… date?”
	Her brow furrowed. “I’m not sure what a fruit has to do with courtship?”
	“A fruit? Oh, no, not… not that kind of dates. Um… dating is… going out with someone, getting to know one another, but… in a more romantic fashion?” He was blushing as he tried to explain it.
	But she brightened. “Oh, yes! In that case, I would like to date you. But only if you want to! I don’t want you to do this because I’m a princess or because you feel you have to.”
	He was smiling ear-to-ear. “Allura, I would love nothing more than to be able to date you.” He was practically giddy and didn’t know how to contain or express it.
	Her smile was radiant, but before she could say anything else, her earrings lit up.
	“KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS!” the Paladins were chanting through the comm link.
	“Oh, honestly,” Allura huffed, and with a quick double-tap to the earrings, they fell silent. Shiro figured he was at least twice as red as Allura was in that moment. “Paladins.”
	“I’m sorry about that.”
	“You’ve nothing to be sorry for. Just promise me you’ll give them extra duties while I’m gone?”
	He chuckled. “I’ll keep them busy.”
	“But, you know…” She stepped closer to him. “Their idea isn’t a bad one.”
	He licked his lips and nodded a little. “I agree. But…”
	“But?” she asked, sliding a hand up his chest while the other rested on his hip.
	“But we know the Castle has security cams everywhere. They’re probably watching us right now.”
	“Let them,” she whispered as she leaned in. “I’m tired of pretending I don’t want this.” And then she kissed him.
	He didn’t realize he’d dropped his helmet; his brain only distantly recorded the sound of it hitting the hangar floor. They wrapped their arms around each other, and everything else faded away but the feel of the woman he loved in his arms, her lips pressed against his. It felt right, like he was exactly where he should be, and he never wanted this to end.
	It would have to, of course. He and his team had a planet to protect and a sector to work on freeing; Allura had to recruit and gather up Coalition volunteers. They had obligations to see to, and neither of them could turn their backs on their responsibilities. But for right now, he let all his walls drop, all his masks fall away, so they could be as close as possible.
	And even when they broke for air, they stayed close, holding one another, foreheads touching, eyes closed to better bask in the warmth and comfort of this moment. Duty would call, they would answer. But they would do it together, no matter how many worlds apart they might be.

Meanwhile, back on Grashnaria…
	“Extraordinary couple,” Welx commented. They were on the steps outside the Diplomatic Palace, taking in the sight of the Castle of Lions outside the city walls.
	“That’s one way to put it,” Giani replied. “I was gonna say ‘super hot.’”
	“Really? I thought they were kind of unfortunate-looking myself,” Hing said.
	“You need to expand your horizons,” she told them. She sighed and lamented, “We totally should have put cameras up in their rooms.”
	“Giani!” Welx scolded. “That would have been a hideous invasion of privacy! Are the performances of the erotic art theater not enough to sate you?”
	“Like all artists, I am always looking to experience the New,” she declared snootily.
	“You’re looking for self-gratification.” Hing couldn’t help rolling their eyes, but then brightened. “At least they liked the fruetana!”
	Welx sighed. “We have to create an entirely new system of government and possibly culture for our people and you two are fixated on sex and food.” She turned to head back inside. “I am going to pray for our people and you two.”
	“Something tells me we’ll be okay,” Hing said. They watched the Lions fly out of the Castle towards the city. “I have hope, anyway.”
The End