Allura jumped back. She waited for her opponent to close on her then darted to the side at the last second, attempting a strike at his side as he passed. He swung his arm down to knock her hand away and she spun so he couldn’t get a shot at her back. This did give her an excellent view of his back though – and a good target.
	This is the best idea I’ve had in ages! she thought as she swung a punch. I should’ve thought of this first, honestly. He spun away from her incoming blow to face her again.
	Sure, fighting the training drones had been pointless, but an actual live opponent was perfect! And especially when that opponent was Shiro, who was proving himself faster, more agile, and far craftier than she’d given him credit for. He was keeping her on her toes, for sure, and – as she ignored his feint and blocked his actual strike – burning energy very well.
	No more awkward encounters, just honest sweat and good training for both of them! She doubted she’d have trouble sleeping tonight, but she couldn’t even think that far ahead right now, in the thick of the fight.
	Shiro was proving hard to hit, excellent at both dodging and blocking. He knew how to take a hit when there wasn’t a way out, though, and how to reduce the impact of it. He took advantage of his body’s full range of motion, and was always keenly aware of where she was and what she was doing. She’d caught him by surprise a couple of times, and she was fairly sure that she’d bruised him pretty badly despite pulling her punches. It didn’t seem to bother him; that handsome face had a wide grin on it as he aimed a kick for her head.
	She ducked and launched herself at him; as she expected, he couldn’t get out of the way in time. But he grabbed hold of her arms as she came in close, pulling her towards him more, and she realized almost immediately what he was doing. He fell back to the ground and used her own momentum to throw her over him. He was on his feet again before she was, even though she’d known what was coming, and, of course, he was charging her.
	Two can play that game. But instead of using his energy against him, she used her superior strength. As he came in close, she grabbed hold and threw him down to the mat. She dropped to pin him, grinning down at him beneath her.
	“Did you forget how dangerous it is to get this close?” 
	He chuckled breathlessly. “Apparently. Well-played.”
	“Another round?” she offered smugly.
	He shook his head. “I think I’m done for now. Uh, if you are, that is.” 
	Because, of course, she’d told him why she’d wanted to spar so badly. He’d taken her up on it instantly, with a wide hopeful smile that made her heart skip. He’d looked so young, so eager, so curious… and, she had, of course, been making him pay for his curiosity with constant beatings. But he was learning quickly, and she thought she’d be sparring with Shiro often in the future, energy surges or no. He was a fun and interesting opponent.
	“I should be fine. The energy surges are lessening,” she told him, pushing herself off him to stand up. “And I can’t beat my Black Paladin too badly.” She offered her hand to her defeated foe.
	“Thank you,” he sighed in relief, accepting the hand up. 
	She laughed as she pulled him to his feet. They were close, and she couldn’t help thinking of what they could’ve been doing instead of sparring, but it didn’t feel as urgent as before. It was a possibility, and one she could set aside…
	…or so she thought. 
	If she was being honest, sex hadn’t been far from her thoughts during the entire workout. But she had been able to push it away so she could throw the next punch, dodge the next kick. Sometimes it had flared – a knowing smirk from Shiro, a brief appreciation of the way his body moved, that sort of thing – but now, suddenly, it was like a spark had caught inside her.
	She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. He smelled musky, almost sumptuously erotic. She knew it was sweat, but it was …primal somehow. Had he always smelled this good? And a sensation wafted up through her memories, of that first time with Shiro when she was supposedly “pretending” and even though she couldn’t see him, everything felt too GOOD, more “good” than “good” had ever felt before, as if she finally knew the true meaning of the word and it was here and now with him.
	That’s what he smelled like right now, sweat-drenched and breathless and she wanted…
	She cleared her throat and realized she was still holding his hand. “Sorry!” She let go immediately.
	“For what?” he asked. “There are worse things than holding your hand.” And he smiled warmly, dark eyes sparkling.
	She had a sudden vision: throwing herself into his arms, kissing him hard. His hands scrabbling at her clothes as he succumbed to the same desperate need for her she had for him. Shiro pushing her down to the floor, heedless of who might come in, who might walk into the observation booth and what they’d see if they did but nothing else was as important as the need in him, in her, in both of them for each other and…
	“Allura? Are you feeling okay?”
	She blinked out of her fantasy. His brow was furrowed, the smile faded. “I’m… fine. Just… tired.” She cleared her throat again.
	He didn’t look like he believed her. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? That’s what we were hoping for.” He was still catching his breath, and she was trying not to stare at the swell and fall of his chest.
	“Yes. I mean, y-yes, that was the idea.” 
	She could feel him studying her. “So, is this a viable solution to the problem then?”
	“What problem?”
	It was his turn to clear his throat. “The quintessence surges, and my eyes are up here.”
	“OH!” But she turned her head away from him as the heat welling inside of her caught up to her cheeks. “Sorry! Sorry, I’m sorry, I was just distracted.” She bit her lip.
	She wasn’t sure if her mind had formed an association between Shiro sweating and sex or if it was a side effect of the dwindling surge. Whatever the cause, there was no denying the current situation: she wanted Shiro badly right now, and she couldn’t even blame the quintessence because he really had done a great job of helping her expend energy through fighting. 
	This wasn’t a need to vent energy. This was pure desire for this human standing in front of her.
	She looked around. Observation booth. Doors that didn’t have privacy locks (because why would you need them on the training deck). Not here. 
	“Allura, tell me what’s wrong.” She looked back to Shiro; he’d folded his arms in front of him, frowning at her in worried disappointment.
	“You need to shower,” she said abruptly. Stop smelling so… enticing. Stop being all sweaty and glistening. She belatedly softened the blow with, “And so do I,” but that just made her mind conjure the two of them showering together, wet-slick hands sliding over each other’s skin… She cleared her throat.
	He took a step away. “Do I smell that bad?” She was worried she’d insulted him, but his grin was, finally, returning. “You can just say so. Besides, it’s your fault.”
	“My fault?” she replied, arching one eyebrow. 
	“You gave me a hell of a workout, Princess.” But he started walking towards the attached washrooms.
	She accompanied him in that direction. “As you gave me, my paladin.” Did that come out sounding flirtier than I intended? She chanced a sidelong look and, sure enough, he was looking at her. Was he smirking just a little or was she imagining that?
“That’s twice you’ve said that now.”
“Said what?”
“Called me ‘your’ paladin.”
“Oh!” The blush was back. “I didn’t even realize…”
“It’s fine. I’ve just never heard you take such ownership of us before.”
“I don’t mean it like that!” she all but yelped.
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that either!” he rushed to assure her. “Just that you are our leader. We are your paladins.”
That also wasn’t what I meant. “You’re the Paladins of Voltron. If you belong to anyone other than yourselves, it’s to the entire universe, not to me.”
He stopped outside the doors to the separate shower rooms, meant to separate “teams” if necessary. He looked down at her, his smile soft and eyes twinkling with warmth again. “Understood, but I’ll always be your paladin, in my own mind, anyway.”
“Does that make me your princess?” She shouldn’t have asked it at all, and she most certainly shouldn’t have said it in that almost-purring tone of voice. But it was like the exhale to his inhale, like an unconscious action she couldn’t have stopped even if she’d wanted to.
His cheeks reddened, but he didn’t hesitate to answer, “Yes, absolutely.”
The vision of kissing him was back, and more potent than before. Shiro’s hands pulling her clothes off, his voice in her ear whispering, “my princess” fervently as he pushed her against the wall. 
She felt dizzy with need and she licked her lips. She was still looking him in the eyes, and it was almost as if she could see her fantasy in them as if on a vidscreen.
“Allura,” and maybe he meant it as a question because she’d blanked out again, but her ears heard it as a plea. In any case, it snapped the last restraint in her.
“I need you,” she said.
He blinked. “What?”
She put a hand on his chest and started pushing him into one of the washrooms. “I need you, Shiro. I need you here and now and I’m not even really sure why, but it’s like… like the instant we stopped sparring, I couldn’t stop thinking of being with you.”
“Quintessence surge?” he asked. He wasn’t resisting, just walking backwards into the room.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so? While we were sparring, I would have little flares of wanting you but I couldn’t focus on them because of the attacks. But now, now there’s no distraction and I…”
“What do you need?” he asked. He sounded like he was in Black Paladin mode: a problem had arisen and he was here to solve it. It shouldn’t have thrilled her the way it did, but, just for a second, she considered asking to go to the Black Lion, pictured him taking her in the cockpit of that mighty robot. The idea intrigued her, but the hangar was so far away and her need was so much more immediate.
“You, Shiro.” She looked him dead in the eyes as they stopped moving and summoned up the breath to say, “Whatever you want. I just need you NOW, please.”
His eyebrows went up. “Whatever I want?” She nodded, ready to plead for it if she had to, to assure him that she meant it, but he just stepped forward, wrapping his right arm around her waist and pulling her against him. His left hand brushed some of her sweat-damp hair from her face before he bent to kiss her deeply.
The sensual scent of him enveloped her, but she was so keyed up already that she could hardly notice a difference. His lips were warm and soft; even as hot as she was she still felt like melting into his kiss. She wrapped her arms around him in return and, for a moment, she felt… calm.
The need was still there, swirling around them like a storm, but she was here in the eye of it with Shiro. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so safe, so right, like this was exactly where she should be. Her energy was spiking, she could feel it jagging through her veins, driving the desire along, but for now, she was at peace. Just for this moment.
And then Shiro pulled away slowly, and her eyes fluttered open to see his, and there was no one else in the universe but the two of them as he looked at her. And just as the howling energies collapsed in on her again, he whispered, “Get your clothes off and get in the shower.”
She practically jumped to obey. For all the talk they’d just had about how she was his leader, right now she was in thrall to how badly she needed him. She noticed he wasn’t wasting time getting his own clothes off, either. She dropped her workout gear into the laundry device, then beat him into the shower stall and set it for two people. We’ll get clean at the same time. Clever man. And maybe once that raw, musky scent was gone, she’d be in better control of herself. 
	When she turned back to him, he was walking into the stall. I’ve… never actually seen him naked before. Her eyes dipped over him: aside from the scars and, yes, the bruises from their recent sparring, she drank in the wide shoulders, strong arms, broad chest, lean waist, powerful thighs and, of course, the awakening erection. She bit her lip again and wrested her gaze back up to his as he came within range of her embrace. The stall door shimmered into being and the water activated, but she hardly noticed as he kissed her again, more intensely than before. This time she didn’t feel like she was at the eye of the storm; this was like lightning.
	He pushed her back against the wall, insistent but not rough. It was cool against the heat of her skin, and it made her shiver pleasantly. “Is this okay?” he asked.
	She nodded. “Yes. Gods, yes.”
	He pressed himself against her and whispered hotly against her ear, “What do you need, my princess?”
	“I need you to fuck me,” she breathed. She was past embarrassment. “Hard, fast, now, please, Shiro…”
	“You don’t ever have to beg,” he told her as he bent to pick her up, hands under her ass. The shower rained down on them from above, but his grip seemed steady and certain, and the wall helped shore her up.
	She wrapped her legs around him and he pressed forward for another smoldering kiss. She welcomed his tongue into her mouth, and he moaned against her lips. He wasn’t hard enough yet, and it would’ve been awkward to reach down and stroke him, but she had to do something. 
	We’re being honest with each other, after all. She broke from the kiss and gathered up air enough to tell him, “The scent of you is driving me mad. I don’t know why, but you standing there all sweaty and grinning just… it made me need you.”
	He bent to kiss her neck. “I always need you.”
	“The scent is… it makes me need specific things. I’ve had so many dreams of you, Shiro, of us, but right now all I can think of is you taking me, just…”
	“Hard and fast?” he repeated against her skin.
	“Yes, but… more. I need you to fuck me but I need something else, too, I don’t know how to…”
	He looked up and locked eyes with her again. She could feel his cock – much harder now – pressing near her entrance. “I have had a lot of desperate nights thinking of you, Allura. I’ve wanted you for so long now it’s hard to think of a time I didn’t.” He kissed her briefly, almost softly, before turning his blushing face aside to whisper in her ear again. “Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, the only thing that helps is losing myself in a fantasy of you actually wanting me…”
	“It’s real,” she vowed into the increasingly-steamy air. “It’s not a fantasy. I want you, Shiro. I need you. Not just now, not just because of the surges. I couldn’t have chosen anyone else because I don’t want anyone the way I want you.”
	And that was when he pushed into her, all at once, and she was so wet he had no trouble burying himself to the hilt in her. She groaned low and gutturally, like he was balm on a burn. She tightened her legs around him, increased her grip on his shoulders. “Ah, gods, yes…” 
	He widened his stance a little, adjusted his grip, every movement sending little ripples through her. “Good?”
	She hummed contentedly, letting her eyes fall closed. 
He drew out of her as much as she’d let him then thrust back in. “Like that?”
	“Exactly like that,” she confirmed, and he set about repeating it. Every thrust made her cry out, loud enough that she likely could have been heard from the hallway but she didn’t really care. She might be embarrassed about being caught like this, but not about being with Shiro. 
	She pulled one hand back, down his chest, fingertips brushing scars as she went around his side to his back, just above where her ankles crossed. She tried to push him in deeper, even though she knew it was impossible.
	He responded with a hard thrust that wrenched a shuddering scream from her and made her dig her nails into his shoulder. She thought she might’ve drawn blood, but she wasn’t sure; with the shower going, everything was slick and wet anyway. She was going to ask if she’d hurt him when his voice, rich and husky and already ragged, asked her, “This how you wanted it, my princess?”
	“Yes.”
	“Is this what you needed?” Another singularly hard thrust.
	Another loud moan followed by, “Oh, gods, Shiro, YES.”
	He didn’t talk after that, focused on driving into her, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. 
	“Shiro, ah… you always feel so good inside me, so right… so perfect… yes, YES, just like that, please don’t stop, don’t ever stop, I’ve never needed anyone the way I need you… even before this, before the… aaah!... the quintessence surges… nnnyes, more… Shiro…”
	He buried his face against her neck to stifle his moans. She panted for breath and continued her staccato confessions. “I’m… I’m so sorry I needed an excuse… I’m so sorry I ever… but please…”
	“Don’t be sorry,” he managed. He stopped fucking her – though he was still inside her – to hold her there against the wall. “And don’t beg.” He pressed a long, soft kiss to her cheek before straightening up to look her in the eyes again. “I’m yours for the asking, Allura. You know that by now.”
	She smiled at him, brushing aside the wet fringe of white hair in his face. “My paladin.”
	He returned the smile. “My princess.”
	She pulled him towards her and arched her back a little, and he shuddered out a breath. “Finish what you started.”
	He didn’t answer in words at first, just set about obeying her. “How close are you?” he asked as he plunged deep into her.
	“So… so very… Shiro, my Shiro…” She bit her lip a little, let her head fall back against the wall and the water cascade over them.
	“Fuck, Allura… I…” He groaned rather than finish what he’d been about to say.
	“Come with me. I want us to come together, Shiro.”
	His response to that was to kiss her again, hard. It was difficult to maintain while he was pounding her like this. She clung to him until she had to rip her mouth away from his as her orgasm hit. He dropped his head to her shoulder, her climax triggering his own. She just held him, wanting him never to be farther from her than this. 
	Eventually, she had to unwrap her legs and gingerly set her feet back down on the floor. He had to withdraw, and they had to clean up. He pressed a kiss to her temple before he activated the soap cycle. She kept a hand on the wall for a little bit, just until she knew her legs wouldn’t buckle. She washed his back without his having to ask, and he returned the favor, kissing the back of her neck once the suds had been washed away. She giggled lightly and thanked him as the shower shut off.
	The dryer cycle activated, and she closed her eyes to enjoy the warm air blowing over her. When it finally stopped, the door deactivated, and they stepped out to get back to their clothes, freshly laundered and waiting for them.
“How are you feeling?” he asked as he headed for his neatly-pressed stack of clothing.
	“Exhausted,” she groaned as she picked up her panties, “but… good. Better than I’ve felt in a long, long time.”
	He smiled as he started dressing again. “Me, too. I think I won’t have any trouble sleeping tonight.”
	She nodded. “I may go to bed now and sleep through dinner.”
	“Well, if you need to…”
	“Oh, but I can’t. Coran would never let me hear the end of it. ‘You need nourishment,’” she said in a passable imitation of her royal advisor.
	Shiro snorted. “And you’d hurt Hunk’s feelings, though I’m sure he’d understand.”
	She pulled her shirt on. “So yes, I’ll come to dinner, but then it’s straight to bed.” She stretched and grinned. “I have to say, I should let you do what you want more often.”
	He had just shrugged his vest on and he stopped before fastening it. He didn’t yet have his belt, glove, or boots on, and, aside from the fact that his pants were closed, he was much as he had been during their first… encounter. “What do you mean?”
	She was confused by his confusion. “I told you you could do what you want just now. With me.” Now she was blushing, since the sweat-scent-induced lust storm seemed to have blown over. “I… assumed you’d done so?”
	“Oh.” He shook his head. “Allura, that wasn’t what I wanted.”
	Her brow furrowed. “You didn’t want to…?” She felt anxiety surge up.
	“No! No, I didn’t mean it like that!” he said immediately. “I wanted to have sex with you, and it was very good, but you were the one who said you wanted hard and fast. That’s what I gave you.”
	She breathed a sigh of relief but her confusion hadn’t abated. “But… you could have done anything, and…”
	He smiled. “I did still get what I wanted. It just wasn’t the sex.”
	She cocked her head. “Then what was it?”
	He stepped in close to her, wrapped her up in his arms, and kissed her softly. And when he pulled away, he whispered, “That.”
	“Just that?” she asked quietly.
	“We hadn’t kissed before then. Not on the lips.”
	“We hadn’t?” But, thinking back on it, she realized he was right. 
	“I’ve wanted to kiss you for a very, very long time. I… I almost said this, right at the end, but I held it back. I didn’t want the first time you heard it to be… that.” 
	Her eyes widened. “First time I heard what?” Her heart was thudding in her chest.
	“I love you.” The smile on Shiro’s lips hadn’t changed, but the one in his eyes shifted into worry. “I have since before all of this started. I didn’t think it could ever go anywhere: you’re a princess and I’m just…”
	“The brave, strong, handsome Black Paladin of Voltron,” she finished before he could deprecate himself again. “The person most responsible for restoring hope to the universe. You’re not a weapon, Shiro. You’re so much more than ‘just’ anything.”
	“It’s good to hear you say that. Thank you.” He took her hand and lifted it to his chest, pressing it there so she could feel his heartbeat. It was fast but solid. “I’m not asking you to answer or reply right now, but I felt I had to tell you.”
	It would’ve been so easy to say it back to him. But… she couldn’t be sure right now if it was really how she felt or if it was just how grateful she was to him, how happy she was to be bone-tired and well-laid. She was truly exhausted, and she knew that. “Thank you. I… I don’t want to say anything right now one way or the other, as weary as I am. You deserve a well-rested answer. You deserve the truth and at the moment, the only truth I can say with any certainty is that I want to be asleep.”
	He laughed, and she couldn’t help smiling at the sound. “I understand. I won’t ever pressure you to tell me. When you’re ready and you feel the time is right, you’ll let me know how you feel.” He dropped his hand from hers. She left it where it was for a moment, enjoying the steady thump of his life and his love for her beneath her palm, then regretfully pulled it away. 
	“Thank you for telling me, Shiro. Thank you for all of this. I’ve put you through so much without even knowing these last few quintants, and you’ve just been unfailingly understanding and helpful the entire movement. And I do know another truth: that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to find the words to express my gratitude.”
	“Well, not when you’re this tired,” he agreed.
	She snorted in amusement. “Go on; finish getting dressed and tell Hunk to hurry up with dinner. The sooner I eat, the sooner I can pass out.”
	“As you wish, my princess.” The mirth in his voice, the edge of a sly knowing tone, the slight smirk on his lips… oh, if I weren’t so worn out, I’d… But she was worn out, so she just watched him grab his remaining gear and head out. 
	After he left, she practically fell onto a bench. 
Shiro loves me. My paladin. 
And then, the memory of his voice: “My princess.”
But she couldn’t think about that now. It was all she could do to keep her eyes open. She made herself stand up and see to the last of her own dressing. She’d think about all of this in the morning, after a good night cycle’s rest.