When Stars Align (Shiro x Reader)[Voltron - Legendary Defender]

XV.

Hunk's cooking is the best thing you've tasted in three years. Literally. After a diet of flavorless mush, the steaming, savory soup he serves you is almost too much for your taste buds to handle. You don't recognize a single ingredient--it is, indeed, 'weird alien food'--but you don't care. You practically inhale your first bowl before asking for a second.

"So, Lyda," Lance says as you start on your second helping of dinner at a more reasonable pace, "Out of curiosity, how old are you?"

"Seriously, Lance?" Keith groans, and you glance between the two of them, unsure of what's wrong with his question. Is there something you're missing?

"I'm...well, I must be twenty, now." You answer, a bit shocked to discover that you honestly aren't completely sure of your age. Birthdays weren't exactly memorable in your Galran prison; time tended to blur together.

"Told you so," Keith mutters in a voice just loud enough for Lance--and you--to hear. Lance rolls his eyes.

"Why do you ask?" You inquire, still wondering if you're missing something.

"Oh, no reason!" Lance blushes, "I just...wanted to get to know you better. We're pretty close in age, so that's cool."

"Oh, okay." You nod, "How old are you?" His blush deepens.

"Seventeen."

"Wow. That seems so young." You say, and when an indignant look crosses Lance's face you clarify, "I mean, to be so far away from home. Saving the universe, and stuff."

"Oh." The indignant look fades from Lance's face, and for a moment he seems sad. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'm eighteen." Keith interjects, "Pidge and Hunk are both seventeen, like Lance. Shiro's the oldest. He's...twenty four?" You blink, not sure of what to do with this information. You'd guessed that the four younger paladins were in their late teens, but Shiro's age surprises you. Somehow, you thought he'd be the same age as you. Although, when you think about it, he must have been unusually young to be chosen for a mission to space; is he some sort of prodigy pilot?

"Hey, Allura," Lance raises his voice, interrupting your thoughts, "How old are you?" The princess, who was sitting farther down the table, turns to look at him.

"Well, I was cryo-frozen for ten thousand years..." She says, "But I suppose that kept me from aging. Developmentally, I'm only....forty six years old."

Keith chokes on the sip of water he was just taking, and Hunk's mouth hangs open. Even Pidge looks surprised as she listens to the conversation.

"Forty six?" Lance repeats, his voice jumping up an octave. Allura looks confused.

"Yes...is that surprising? I suppose it must seem old to you, being earthlings, but Alteans age much more slowly. There's not a set conversion, but in human years I'd probably be considered somewhere in the age range of twenty to twenty five."

"I'm seventy three." Coran tells the group enthusiastically. Keith begins to laugh.

"Well, Lance," he says between chuckles, "You said you like older women."

***

After everyone has eaten and people begin to filter out of the dining room, Shiro approaches you.

"Lyda," he says quietly, "Can we talk?" You nod, and nervous butterflies start to form in your stomach.

On Zarkon's ship, your relationship with Shiro was simple. Intense, but clear--you were what kept each other alive. You were necessary components of each other's lives, like food or water. But now, you're in a place where you don't need each other in the same way. Yet you can't just erase your past together--your feelings for him are still intense. You just...don't know what they are, anymore. And that makes you nervous.