It’d been a long day, and Shiro was looking forward to some solid bunk time. If he dreamed at all on nights when he was this tired, he couldn’t remember them. He never quite got enough sleep, with the night terrors throwing him into wakefulness more nights than not, but every night he could make it through without waking was good. Right now, he wanted nothing so much in the entire universe as a single night’s peaceful rest.
	So he was more than a little surprised to see Allura in his room when the doors slid open. “Princess,” he greeted her. “Can I help you?” She was in a faintly-shimmering robe the light blue of a cloudless summer sky. Her hair was down, and she was smiling. He walked in and let the door close behind him, assuming that she needed to speak with him privately. Hopefully something good, judging by that smile? But then why not just tell me in front of everyone else?
	She chuckled at his polite question. “We’ll help each other tonight,” she said, before opening the robe and letting it drop to the floor.
	“WHOA!” He looked away hurriedly, feeling his face catch fire. She wasn’t wearing a single stitch, and he flailed for the door’s control panel to set the privacy mode so no one else would walk in and see her like this. So much for being tired.
	“You seem… surprised?” She sounded confused.
	“A BIT!” he declared. “Can you put the robe back on, please?”
	“Why?” Now she was sounding hurt. Dammit. “Does the sight of me not please you?”
	“Uh… that’s definitely not the problem.” He cleared his throat, tried to think of the unearthly cold of deep space, and unzipped his vest, yanking it off hurriedly and holding it out towards her, still keeping his eyes averted. “If not the robe, then this? Something? PLEASE?”
	After a tick or two, she took the vest from him. He waited until he heard the quiet zzziip! before he risked looking at her again. His vest barely covered her decently, and she had her head turned, eyes closed as she sniffed at the collar. “Mmm. It smells like you.”
	That’s not helping as much as I’d thought it would. “I could use an explanation.”
	She looked back to him. “As could I.” She folded her hands in front of her, brow furrowing as she cocked her head. “This is the next step. I would have proceeded with this before now if we hadn’t been so busy of late.”
	“Next step of what?”
	She frowned. “Of our courtship.”
	“Courtsh-…?” His eyes widened. 
	“You… you didn’t know we were courting?” She sounded suddenly very fragile, and he wasn’t used to hearing her sound like that. It made him ache a little that he had shaken her so much.
	He came over and escorted her to the edge of the bunk. “Sit. I think we need to have a talk.”
	“Obviously.” She sounded a bit steadier as she sat but she looked down at her hands in her lap, fidgeting.
	“Explain to me about this courtship?” he asked gently. He kept a hand on her back, hoping it would soothe her (and since she was only wearing his vest, it was one of the few decent places he could touch her at the moment).
	“I hadn’t thought it necessary, but… I suppose I must.” She was still looking down at her hands. “I know that your culture is different from mine in a great many respects, but you were following the steps so perfectly… If anything, I assumed you were being cautiously old-fashioned, in order to obtain Coran’s favor on the match, since he’s the closest thing I have left to a father.” She cleared her throat.
	He rubbed her back consolingly. “What steps?”
	She sighed. “The first was that time on the bridge, when we were in the Scattered Rings of Rynox.”
	“The Sca-… oh, the iceberg graveyard?”
	“Yes, that,” she agreed. “When I came onto the bridge, intending to work, and you took my hand, suggesting I rest more. I… even thought you might offer me some comfort, but of course we were attacked before that could happen. The intent seemed clear enough to me. In Altean culture, that was the opening, the offering of courtship.”
	“Really? Just taking someone’s hand and urging them to go back to bed?”
	“Well, not just that. It was the way you did it, the tone of your voice, the…” He could barely see her blush on her cheeks, but her ears darkened with it as well. “… the softness in your eyes. It was the depth of your concern for me, your willingness to express it… I thought it meant more than it did. I’m sorry.”
	He cleared his throat and was silent for a moment. He stopped rubbing her back, trying to think of what to say. In the end, he decided to let her continue explaining. “Were there more steps after that?”
	“Of course. We don’t go straight from an offer of courtship to…” She gestured down at her bare legs, but she still wasn’t looking at him, and her hands folded themselves back into her lap.
	“What were the other steps?”
	“Does it matter?” She turned her head away.
	“Hey.” He reached a hand out to her far cheek, pulling her face back towards his so he could look her in the eye again. “It matters.” He smiled encouragingly.
	She blushed again and looked down, and he let go.
	“The next step was when you and the paladins were teaching Coran about… ballbaskets?”
	“Basketball,” he corrected with a faint grin. 
	“I was watching from the observation room as the six of you played, and then I wanted to come down to get a closer look. And it seemed to me that your style of play changed once I was on the training deck with you.”
	“Changed?” He tried to think back to that day.
	“You seemed more… how do I put it? More… showy, perhaps a touch ostentatious.”
	“Ostentatious? I was n-…” But then he remembered. He had started showing off a bit (and spent the next three days denying it to Keith). She had seemed thrilled with his flashy baskets and perfectly-executed jump shots (when he could pull them off), and he knew that because he’d looked to her to see her reaction every time he scored. He blushed.
	“You were,” she insisted gently. 
	“I… suppose I was,” he admitted.
	He caught the edge of her smile. “I thought you were demonstrating physical prowess, and, honestly, I thought it was a bit much at first. I already know how good of a fighter you are. But then it occurred to me that perhaps you wanted to show off something more peaceful instead. Something that was fun and non-violent, given that we are in a perpetual state of war. And that spoke well of you.” She paused before adding, “And seeing you smiling and happy made me happy in return.”
	His blush spread. “Um, well… thank you.”
	“It had been so long between the hand touch and your next required demonstration that I worried you had thought better of courting me. I hoped it was just the war distracting you, but I couldn’t be sure. I was relieved when you seemed to be showing off for me. And then a few quintants later we sparred together, right on schedule.”
	He remembered that one immediately. “Oh, you and me versus all those training droids?” He grinned. “That was a hell of a workout.”
	“It was meant to show how well you could protect me, or, well, that’s what it would mean in Altean courtship.”
	“Not that you typically need protection,” he commented.
	“Of course not,” she agreed immediately, “but a demonstration of the willingness and capability to do so – on the off-chance it might be required – is important. And you had asked me to join you, so I thought that was your desired purpose.”
	He shook his head. “You’re going into the field more, you’re out there in the fight with us. I wanted a chance to practice fighting alongside you, just as I’ve practiced with all the paladins.”
	“Oh.” And she fell silent.
	It was getting harder for him to remain quiet. He was going to tell her when she spoke up again.
	“And then, of course, you provided sustenance for me.”
	That threw him a bit. “I… did what?” 
	She looked at him again, finally. “You brought me food last movement.” 
	He was still confused.
	She sighed. “You picked up two dishes of supper and brought one to me. You even bade me enjoy it and you smiled, and… Well, traditionally, you would have made it yourself, but allowances must be made for the fact that we’re in space and…”
	“…and I’m not much of a cook,” he finished for her.
	She chuckled. “You have made all the required demonstrations: of concern, of prowess, of desire to protect and to serve. You smiled and were kind, and I already know that,” she lowered her gaze back to her hands in her lap, “that you are brave, loyal, strong, and compassionate.” She murmured something else, and he saw her ears practically light up with her blush.
	“What was that last part?”
	He had to strain his ears to catch her saying, “And you’re also very handsome.”
	And now he was blushing again. He cleared his throat.
	Her voice was closer to normal volume as she finished up with, “You have made your required demonstrations and so it was my turn to let you know they were accepted, welcomed, and returned. This was to be a night of joy and pleasure to move us into the next stage of courtship. But if all of your actions were truly just coincidence and happenstance, then naturally you would not feel for me what I feel for you.”
	She was done explaining, but even if she weren’t, he couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. “I never said that, Allura.”
	She risked a sidelong look at him. “Never… said what?”
	He swallowed hard and smiled, hoping he didn’t look as nervous as he felt. “I never said I don’t return your feelings. I… I did show off for you a bit, playing basketball. I did want to impress you. I didn’t think of it as part of any sort of courtship, but I did like seeing you smile at me. I…” Come on, you can do this. She embarrassed the hell out of herself, after all. This isn’t nearly so bad. “I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen the first moment I saw you. And since then, my feelings for you have only grown.”
	She raised her head to look fully at him as he continued.
	“You’re so strong, so brave, so driven and passionate. You’re intelligent and clever and you – you awe me, Allura. I can’t believe this is all real sometimes, but it is and there’s nowhere else I’d rather be than here with you.” He took his hand from her back so he could (somewhat awkwardly) pick up one of her hands in both of his own. “I wasn’t intentionally ‘courting’ you, but then I never thought you’d be interested in such a thing with me. I would love to get to know you better and, um… more personally,” he finished, before wincing. “That sounds terrible. What I mean is…”
	“You would like to court me?” she asked, face lit up with hope.
	He looked into her eyes and nodded. “Yeah. I really would.”
	She was blushing again, but her smile was radiant. “Perhaps you could teach me about Earth courting customs?”
	“I… can teach you about some of them, anyway. There’s a lot of different ones.”
	“I’d be happy to learn.”
	“Good.”
	“But, if you could set my mind at ease about something?” She bit her lower lip in worry.
	“Of course, Allura. What is it?”
	“You… you aren’t disgusted by my body, are you? That’s not why you asked me to cover up, is it?”
	He blinked. “N-no! No, that is definitely not… You… you look incredible. But it’s just, well, that was a little sudden, that’s all, and I… I’m not sure I’m ready for that step yet…”
	“You need to ‘catch up’ to me, is that it? Because I am, in effect, farther along in the courtship than you are?”
	“Uh…” He thought about that and nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
	She rose to her feet and he stood automatically, out of respect. “I understand. I’m sorry for all of this misunderstanding. We’ll have to be clearer about things going forward.”
	“Yes, we will. But I look forward to it.”
	“As do I.” But she sighed regretfully. “I suppose I have to give you your vest back now.” She hugged herself. “I like feeling surrounded by you.”
	He cleared his throat. Inky cold blackness of space, he reminded himself. Frigid winds of the Antarctic testing site. “I… do need it back at some point.” 
	She motioned for him to turn around and he did so with mixed feelings of regret and relief. There was the rustling of fabric and then she was standing next to him, once more robed as she offered his vest back to him. He thanked her as he accepted it. 
	“I should let you get some sleep. We can discuss this more tomorrow.”
	He escorted her towards the door. “Absolutely. Thank you for… enlightening me, Princess.”
	“Allura,” she corrected, “and thank you for your understanding about all of this.” She brought up the door control panel and undid the privacy lock. It slid open in response. “And, one more thing?”
	“Hm?” he asked pleasantly.
	“Do your people kiss? During courtship,” she clarified.
	He smiled and nodded. “Yes, we do.”
	She stepped towards him, sliding her hands up his chest to loop behind his neck. It was almost a reflex to drop his vest so he could wrap his arms around her. His eyes fluttered closed as their lips met. His heart felt like it was going to thud out of his chest, and he had no idea how much time had passed when she finally pulled away again.
	She beamed warmly at him as she stepped away. “Good night, Shiro.”
	He returned her smile. “Good night.” 
	She turned into the hallway and the door closed behind her. He let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding. He had been bone-tired when he’d first walked through the door this evening, but that seemed like an entire lifetime ago. He was still exhausted, but he had a feeling that any dreams he had tonight would be good ones.