#shallura headcanons

[autisticlancemcclain]

Could you explain your position on Shallura? Since Allura was established as a teenager when she started dating Lance and Shiro was very clearly an adult. I can understand the bi shiro headcannon but the shallura thing worries me

i am going to remind yall that i have been in this fandom since 2016. and in the early seasons, allura was not established as a teenager. in fact she was coded as older, as closer to shiro's age -- there was a specific divide between her and the younger paladins that she did not have with shiro. they made her younger (both explicitly and in mannerisms) as the show went on. and i do not give a fuck about voltron like...post s4 and i didn't even watch s7-8. so like. especially with older fics, im going to enjoy shallura.

[lyxanislive]

152/366 - HAPPY PRIDE

[breezycheezyart]

More headcanons please

🥺

👉👈

Gah, you've twisted my arm!! Alright, alright, I give!! 😩

One night cycle when Shiro was roaming around the castle, he heard the most beautiful sound drifting from the supposed empty ballroom. It was Allura's singing. He would stay hidden and listen until he felt sleepy and would return to his room, keeping this secret to himself. Eventually, she catches him and they have a nice night talking about altean culture 🥰. (NOTE: If I happened to get this from a fic and just didn't remember, I apologize. I've gone full delusional for this ship, so I'm unsure which is my content and which is content I've consumed lmao)

Speaking of fics, whatever outcomes that have happened in shallura fics where they spar, have absolutely happened. Make of that what you will 😉😏 (this is a call for more shallura sparring content, including myself)

One of the perks of having a shapeshifting lover is that your spooning options expand! Wanna be Big Spoon, Little Spoon? No problem! Perfect cuddles every time.

They've definitely practiced the "Bob, THROW ME!" Incredibles Toss™. Took a couple of tries and trips to the healing pods, but they got it down and it was totally worth it!!

Shiro Stop Staring At Your Beautiful Wife Challenge Failed for the 45728394th Time. He's definitely walked into walls while doing this.

Do you ever think about how Shiro's color scheme reminds you of the night sky and Allura's is like the dawn of a new day and just sigh in your soul because they are just so perfect for each other? Yeah.

The Black Lion and Allura talk about how much of a Good Boy Shiro is. Black has also told her how much of a GIGANTIC crush Shiro had on her and how much of a struggle it was to prevent from letting him know it was reciprocated. Seriously, it was painful. Black gets a refreshed paint job and maintenance as a reward/apology.

Which is stronger: Shiro's Lovesick Puppy Eyes or Allura's Super Sad Pout? This is a hotly debated topic amongst the paladins.

Despite their best efforts to be good models for the other paladins, they end up learning curses in each other's language. Coran disapproves, until reminded that only a few shots of nunvil gets him cursing like a sailor.

Sometimes Allura's (and Coran's) ears twitch when they hear something. Shiro finds this very cute. Allura counters that Shiro's ears turn pink when flustered. He finds this less cute (which prompted said ears to, in fact, turn pink).

Shiro casually places his hand in the small of Allura's back and her brain goes brrrr

Allura scritches the back of Shiro's head and his brain goes brrrr

Shiro has Normal Feelings™ about Tollura.

Allura has Normal Feelings™ about Shiro's chest when he crosses his arms.

Spinning hugs are the best. Doesn't matter who lifts who, it's always lovely to see 💜

[boyprinzessin]

also recently my interest in shipping has shifted from romance and more to "I want to study you" so it's changed my perspective quite a bit but also put me in a weird position bc I know shipping can mean very different things to different people.

my priority is typically a means of character exploration and storytelling, which is why I could be considered a "Junko/Komaeda shipper" as an example, when I don't actually want them to be in a relationship really? I headcanon Komaeda as gay actually, it's more like I want to watch two cars drive at each other at full speed and then take very detailed notes.

I won't really refer to myself as a "shipper" of them though because it tends to imply interest of their relationship as romantic or sexual rather than destructive. I'm interested in the destruction and what it has to say about them and that goes for quite a lot of my "ships" because I am a big fan of mutual murder attempts and human disasters.

I think I got off topic, the part that relates to the shallura thing is that shipping can be more about character exploration than thinking characters would make a good couple and that is likely part of the reason why people will choose to disregard aspects of canon that would get in the way of that.

[shalluraweek2023]

I have been so busy lately but I swear I’ll get some prompts for the Shallura week in June. (Need to check which week would work).

It’ll be a Shallura Headcanons prompt week, either one you’ve come up with, one you’ve seen and like, a va’s headcanon for their character, etc.

Some prompts ideas:

Shallura first date headcanon

LGBTQ+ headcanons

First time one or both dropped their guard

Altean courtship/Earthling courtship

Childhood stories

A common Altean thing or Earthling thing that just confuses the other

What else is on the castleship??

And of course a free space

If you have any prompts that you’d think would be great please share! Or any of the above really interest you. ☺️

[thaliagrayce]

i've been talking abt my voltron playlists and @iveofficiallygonemad asked to hear them and i want to share with anybody who wants!! i know they're not perfect, i'm working on them & trying to make them better. if you have any recommendations for any of them, let me know!! there's like A Lot and i want to give a lil explanation for most of them, so i'm putting them under the cut ^-^

SO first i have my favorite one <3 it's just. all of them. it's the whole team. it's a mess and it's a bunch of different genres because it's them fighting over the aux cord on a road trip. it's them trying to make each other laugh or annoy each other or play something catchy enough it will infect everyone in the vicinity with brain worms.

Hunk: i'm pretty happy with my Hunk playlist! chill vibes. he strikes me as the kind of guy who listens to calm music to try to find his own calm, and that's what i got here :)

Pidge: this is messier and less cohesive than my usual playlist because frankly i think pidge would have a shit taste in music. all over the board. this is a mix of meme songs and 8-bit covers and vocaloid and stuff that i think pidge would genuinely connect with, and i think pidge listens to all their music on shuffle without any regards for genre or mood because they're a gremlin. nobody gives pidge sole control of the aux.

Coran hears 80's music for the first time and loses his mind. He thinks ABBA is humanity's single greatest achievement.

Lance: i have ideas about where I'm going with this but haven't really settled yet. Lance seems like the kind of boy that loves to dance (is that canon? i forgot) so most of these are Bops That Make You Move in some way or another. he likes to present an upbeat face to the world, so there's no angsting in this playlist! we are clinging to the things that make us happy with both hands until our knuckles turn white!

Keith: i'm gonna be honest. i made him a playlist but i honestly don't think he cares about music very much. it's very important to some people! he's just not one of them! i haven't cracked this playlist open in a while but i'm pretty sure it's full of songs that i think he would conceivably train/work out to.

Shiro: this playlist involves the dumbest headcanon i have for shiro that has just not left me alone since i first thought of it. most of the playlist reflects the fact that he had an emo phase in middle school (that one isn't a headcanon, you just have to look at him to know) but BUT there are a few songs on here that are on here because. little known fact. he also went through a Twilight phase that he told nobody about. (keith knows. keith was there.) he has the entire twilight soundtrack memorized. he moved past the story but the music stays forever. he used to daydream about slow dancing to Flightless Bird, American Mouth. the first time Coran mentions that they have to avoid a place because there's a supermassive black hole there, he has to bite his tongue in order to keep a straight face. do NOT ask me why i believe this so wholeheartedly.

Allura's playlist sucks right now. I think it's because in my heart of hearts i know that, were she on earth today, she would go fucking nuts for taylor swift. i have ambivalent feelings for taylor swift. i cannot do allura justice like this. if you see my vision and have recs as to what might actually fit her, PLEASE.

Klance: i haven't done it yet but i'm gonna go through this and sort it to be a sort of progression of their relationship, starting with the more combative Rivalry songs, then slipping into "oh shit oh shit" songs, then maybe ending on the more lighthearted purely romantic songs <3

(i have two songs in a shallura playlist which does not at all encapsulate how much i'm obsessed with them. the tiny cop inside my head is just constantly screaming at me that i'm going to get yelled at for liking shallura. i am going to kill the cop inside my head.)

[3cosmicfrogs]

Wife mutual back again to ask about, you guessed it: Voltron AU where canon Shiro is replaced with our wife (either gen or ship of choice)

I swear to god the only thing I think about isn’t Voltron (it’s not. I also think about women)

aw fuck yeah, more Wife asks! 5 headcanons, let's go!

Ok so shiro either came out aged 5 or aged 25, there's no in-between. Because late coming outs are super valid: after a Super Fun Year of no bodily autonomy whatsoever, shiro spends actually very little time (listen, there's aliens and weird machines, no one volunteers to parent these teenagers) contemplating his relationship with gender and decides that bodies are weird, gender is a fuck. But 'woman' doesn't really have a zing to it, yknow? and then keith the absolute autism hurricane goes "why don't you just be a dyke then?" and while the rest of the room descends into Discourse ("can you even reclaim that, keith?") shiro is having several rapid-fire realisations because oh. OH.

I don't think she'd have gender dysphoria? More like general dysphoria on account of the arm etc? Still, while she used to be confident in the dating scene she's a bit intimidated nowadays. Because suddenly women are also hot??? how deal??? semi-confident gay -> useless lesbian magical girl transformation sequence.

I don't think anything would actually change plot-wise from canon? Except of course this is an AU and will therefore be Good. I don't have any ships in mind for this au so i guess anything goes? except not shallura because i dislike shallura. im gonna hit ulaz with my transgenderification beam just to shake things up a bit. would be fun if during the reunion episode they're spiderman-memeing each other.

Her eyeliner skills were always impeccable and her lipstick skills are even better. It never smudges, it's sharp, it's wine-red and ever-present... it's borderline supernatural at this point

She thinks dresses are lovely, sure, but absolutely thrives in a corporate powersuit. i will leave you with this image.

[markoftara]

⇢ ˗ˏˋ markoftara: index ࿐ྂ

― i moved to @erectrohammered and wanted to list down my taglist for future references (especially on mobile since my current theme redirects you immediately to my new blog)

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[roguepaladin]

Idk if you're still looking for Shallura headcanons but here's one of mine: Shiro takes Allura out on a picture perfect date in hopes of finding the perfect moment to propose: fancy dinner, dancing, whole nine yards. But he doesn't propose until they're walking outside and it just starts pouring rain. They're both soaked in their nice date clothes and Shiro proposes then and there saying "This is perfect because it's not. WE'RE perfect because we're not" They're both crying and it's sweet

Loved the idea, and I agree-

They are perfect!!

[nicolethealpaca]

Shallura College AU Headcanons

• Shiro and Allura meet at a little cafe on campus

• They both ordered the same drink and grabbed the same cup (sappyamiright?)

• Allura gives it to Shiro when the barista comes with another of the same coffee

• Shiro: you know it tastes better if you put Redbull in it

• Allura: quiznack

• Shiro:

• Allura:

• they keep on talking and it takes them a while to realize there's a line behind them

• Allura: you know I think it would taste better with Monster in it

• Allura: *gets trampled by angry customers*

• soon enough they exchange Snapchat users and go to their separate dorms

• Shiro rooms with Keith

• Allura rooms with Shay and Pidge

• they continue to debate about coffee and its various combinations with other drinks at night over black screens

• then filtered selfies

• then those weird up close eye pictures

• they agree to meet and taste taste Gatorade with coffee and Monster and Redbull and asgkkfdahjf

• tastes surprisingly good

• not really but they like it bc it keeps them awake so they can either

(A) study more

(B) talk more

• updating soon

• add ideas

[autisticlancemcclain]

What’s your most hated fandom characterization for each of the main 7?

hoo boy am i glad you asked. although i’m gonna be real, my issue is less with fandom characterization, because you do you i don’t give a shit, and more with how people go batty if you personally are not a fan of fanon characterizations.

like, lemme be obvious and talk about my biggest example. i am a brown eyed lance truther. we know this. the amount of weirdo comments, weirdo DMs, and weirdo asks i get is atrocious. i post a lot of them bc they’re so stupid they’re funny but the amount of people per week that tell me to kill myself is lowkey wild. the amount of people that love to say some variation of “i liked your fic but you ruined it by making lances eyes brown! his eyes are blue!” and i’ve checked other brown eyed truther’s fics — either they delete their comments better than me, or they do not get the same thing. idk what the deal is lol.

i will concede to the point that i’m a contrarian and annoying about it, but a list of the following non-fanon headcanons/characterizations i hold that have been commented on in some derisive way:

- bitchy hunk (lol)

- non “cinnamon roll too pure and baby and good for this world” hunk*

- allura is a good character (🤡)**

- allura is a sweetheart

- allura is not a drill sergeant

- kuron was a good iteration of shiro

- red paladin lance/black paladin keith/blue paladin allura

- retired shiro

- pidge is not cruel

- pidge is not an infant and can handle things a regular 14-15 year old can handle

- small details are irrelevant (think lances family, exact prekerb details, etc)

- keith gyeong and lance sanchez

- fucking brown eyed lance. i’m saying it again

- tall keith

- non omega keith***

- readmores

- autistic lance

- adhd keith

- non asshole/cruel keith

- comphetting gay lance****

- shallura

- bi shiro, demi keith, essentially any sexuality headcanon that isn’t mainstream

- hunk who isn’t food obsessed

- that’s about it

*stop infantilising hunk

**the allura hate is ridiculous and largely rooted in anti-Blackness. it should not be a fight to say that she had a reason to feel betrayed by keith’s heritage, that she did not “get in the way” of klance, that her death was stupid and ridiculous, that she is often pushed over in favour of klance (not as in she’s less popular, but that her/her death are used as a plot device to further klance), and that she is as interesting, nuanced, and multifaceted as the rest of them.

***people, inevitably, feminize characters in fandoms (largely because many people in fandom are young women, i know i feminize characters simply bc i’m making them like me and i’m feminine lol), and my issue is that people (in the general sense, not everybody) love to feminize keith and then get really mad if anyone else is feminized. this is not about fem or trans woman keith btw. this is about people omega-ifying him and then losing their MINDS if i don’t share that headcanon.

****i literally only wrote this once and then never again because people lost their minds. but as much as i love bi lance, i think it’s interesting that usually, when we see “boy crazy” or “girl crazy” characters, especially if they have a lot of chemistry or homoerotic tension with a same-gender character, people are like oh ya that’s comphetting. that character is desperately trying to outrun the gay thoughts. but with lance, who was definitely girl crazy and cared more about having a girlfriend than actually dating and falling in love (think “mrs blue lion” — he didn’t give a fuck about who he was marrying, so long that it was a girl), calling him gay will have people saying you’re erasing bisexuality. as if he was not fucking straight in the show. so.

sorry this is so bitter and ranty lol. been in a mood

[breezycheezyart]

I am living for your headcanons. They are so adorable :)

Please can you do more? <3

Can always count on anon to enable the shallura brainrot hehe 💜 [cracks knuckles] Let's cook!

~~~~

Whenever they go to different planets, Shiro takes pretty (and safe!) flora back to the castle in secret and does his best to take care of them. He gifts bouquets to Allura to cheer her up, since she can't see juniberries from Altea. It really warms her heart 💜

Shiro and Allura absolutely gossip about each other to the space mice, the former knowing they'll tell the latter how pretty and brilliant he thinks she is. Or how handsome and a little silly she find him, hehe.

Dancing in zero gravity, WALL-E style~

Random but they can both do a split! When doing stretches for their training, Allura just lifts her leg straight up. Shiro is like "!! You can do that too?" At her confused expression, he drops into a split and she's like "Oh!! Yes!" and copies him lol. It was a really cute moment also made mental notes of how flexible the other is [cough] what?

Shiro tries very hard to have Normal Feelings™ about hearing the usually diplomatic princess express wanting to kick the shit out of galra scum. Totally doesn't find it hot, nope.

Allura once saw Shiro take of his gloves with his teeth and she has Totally Normal Feelings™ about that. Absolutely doesn't wear more of her long sleeved gloves more often while she flirts, nope.

When Shiro is playfully teasing/bothering her too much while she works and just pushes him down one handed onto his seat, "Sit." "...I'm sat 😳."

Allura pretends to still be bad with guns/blasters so that Shiro can give her hands-on instruction on how to hold them correctly 😉

Shiro has told and even drawn up whatever Earth's constellations he remembered to Allura, so she constructed--to the best of her ability and with the help from the other paladins--a simulation of the night sky for him. Shiro doesn't cry often, but he did then 😭

Before they were TOGETHER together, fellow diplomats from other planets would mistake the two for spouses. It was flustering at first (and a delight for the paladins to tease them with) but when it kept happening, they just gave up correcting folks lol. Now there's a rumor going around about the dramatic romance between The Lost Princess and The Leader of Voltron [coughThePrincessandHerKnightTropecough]. Coran embellishes random "juicy details" to whoever will listen lol

Allura gives Shiro a once-over, "Hm. King Alfor would approve." "? Approve? Approve of what?" "😌" "Wait, Allura, approved of what--?"

They hold hands a lot. Not even necessarily as a romantic thing, it's just comforting for them. Handholding is shallura culture™

[littlespacestars]

Shiro teaching his kids about his Japanese culture....😍

I live for that. Heck, I live for Shiro teaching Allura about his culture. No, even better, Shiro and Allura teaching each other about their cultures. Lovely and everything I want, yes. 

[mckinlily]

.match

Alteans marks are the source and subject of many legends. Cellica, they are called. Babies are born with skin entirely unadorned; the cheek marks are the first to appear about the same time the babies begin to sit up. They start as lighter patches of skin that quickly develop the stiffer, smoother texture of cellica. When the cellica develop to their full fledged color, the baby is taken to the local Priestess for their Naming Ceremony, where they are officially recognized as part of Altea. Throughout childhood and into the beginning of puberty, other marks appear. Along their arms, down their back, over their legs and hips. Although most cheek marks look the same from Altean to Altean, the others vary. The general placement and symmetry remains the same, but some are rounder, some more angular. Some come in continuous lines while others are broken up in patterns.

There’s a lot of superstition about cellica. Only those found on the cheeks are shown to the public--the rest are reserved for partners, family members, and very close friends. There is an old superstition that the shape of your cellica reflect the shape of your soul; to see one’s cellica is to see the essence their soul. Old wives tales and folk lore talk of evil alchemists using the shapes of one’s cellica to cast spells on them. Those tales are considered works of fictions these days, but the general belief--that these are something personal, private, to be shared only under the conditions of greatest trust--remains. The most personal marks are considered to be those that reside on the inside of one’s wrist. These marks tend to be slimmer, more delicate and intricate, and even the most brazen Altean who many be willing to walk with both their arms bare for the viewing will cover their wrists with bands or bangles. Hands are no longer so very scandalous as they once were, but most Alteans will still wear gloves. Even Allura’s fingerless gloves were considered risqué by certain members of the court when she first donned them, but she considered them quite old fashioned.

But other superstitions are more fun. There is a whole market of books and holo-vids and lectures claiming to “interpret” cellica ranging from personality to romance and destiny. The scientific community agrees that cellica are merely the result of random genetic variation and seem to serve a purpose in channelling and keeping one’s quintessence at a healthy level. While this is generally known by the public, is has done nothing to stop the public interest in cellica readings, rather like the Altean equivalent of horoscopes. Sure, everyone knows it’s basically nonsense, but it’s fun to imagine, is it not?

And the most persistent and enticing superstition is that the shape of your cellica will match those of your soulmate. Skeptics will point out that the definition of a match is left so vague and the variation between marks so common, that it is possible to claim any two people’s cellica “match.” Which, indeed, is exactly what happens. Some poor souls spend their whole lives chasing the perfect match or believing they match anyone they come in contact with. But most often, partners choose each other first and then find the similarities that “prove” their cellica compatibility later, thus perpetuating the legend. There are a multiple schools of thought theorizing which marking styles are compatible, which complement each other, which ones should never go together. And thus it is entirely possible for any combination of partners to confidently claim they were “fated.”

Like most children, Allura grew up imagining of the day she would share her cellica marks with someone special. She had little interest in courting and romance now, caught up as she was in studying and training and all the other duties that came with being a princess, but later (whenever later happened to be) she dreamed of baring her arms to someone she loved while they did the same and tracing out the similarities drawn in their skin. 

But then there was the Galra and the war--even if she had wanted to court, she didn’t have the time--and then waking up ten thousand years later to a people who were gone and a war that was still waging. Any thoughts of soulmates and romance were completely wiped from her mind, replaced by righteous fury, vengeance, and the need to survive. 

Allura keeps busy: planning battles, training the paladins, and most of all, trying to develop her new skills with quintessence. Alchemy had always been something other people did. Allura was more interested in fighting or flying or even law and diplomacy. But now her magic is essential to their survival and all she has to go off of are vague memories and Haggar. She is determined and desperate, racing to learn as much as she can because what she doesn’t know could be what gets someone killed. 

(...one of the paladins killed. Allura had never thought of finding family outside the one her blood gave her, never thought she’d need to, but they wormed their way in and they can’t--she can not lose them now.)

Allura may not know much about alchemy and magic, but it doesn’t take long for her to realize one of her cellica have changed. Where once was a delicate half-moon of shimmery pink inside her wrist is now a disfigured blob, duller and smeared like spilled oil. Horror strikes sharp pain in her sternum that works its way into something heavier and colder as she remembers Haggar’s red and jagged marks. In a sick way, it makes sense. Cellica have always been connected to quintessence, and she has been using more and in ways she had never imagined. Perhaps if she had someone older, someone knowledgeable and experienced to guide her, she could learn the tricks or skills or whatever it is to avoid it. But she doesn’t. She’s completely alone, the only other alchemist being Haggar, and she has to learn because otherwise innocent people will die.

Allura will never run away from the people who need her. Not again.

So she fights, and she learns. She battles Haggar to a standstill and tries so, so hard not to look at her arms. But sometimes she can’t avoid it, and she can hardly bare what she finds. The delicate, intricate cellica on the insides of her wrists are shattered now. Some splatter like spilled numvil, others have gone dull and sickly grey. New marks, disfigured and without symmetry smear over her arms and into her palms. They look like dead things, pressed into her skin and now a part of her. Some marks start out pink but turn grey-white and misshapen, and that’s somehow worse.

Allura tells no one. She knows that cellica are simply a quirk of genetics, that they have no bearing on the worth or character of a person, and that there had been those when Altea was still alive with disfigured or missing cellica who lived perfectly happy, valuable lives. It doesn’t change how she feels. Tainted, defiled, broken. She can’t even bring it up to Coran, the shame too much for her to bear. It was well known that when an Altean loved someone, truly loved them, and in moments of greatest intimacy, their cellica could light up like a personal galaxy. Allura has known since she first woke up that she will likely never have someone to glow for her, but she must now face the fact that she will never be able to glow for anyone else. Not without looking more patchy than starry and highlighting the broken and dead places where her cellica should be. The idea of it repulses her. She’s incapable of love like she wants--like she should--and she feels so broken, tainted and alone. 

But she can’t stop. Whatever she does, she won’t stop until the Galra are defeated and the universe is free again. If the personal cost is her marks and her soul, so be it. It is no one’s burden but hers. She wears her sleeves long and tight, says nothing, and carries on because that was what she was built to do.

Or, at least, that was what she meant to do. But the paladins are nothing if not unpredictable and perhaps no one more so than Shiro. He’s patient and thoughtful. Strong enough to survive the arena, the Galra, and everything they throw at him. And stronger still to remain kind through it all. He’s her strongest ally (tied with Coran), and over time becomes her closest confidant. They discuss the war and the strategies they need to survive, but their conversations frequently turn to something more. Shiro is curious about Altean history and culture and willing to listen no matter how long she babbles on. And although he doesn’t ask and she certainly doesn’t mean to tell, she ends up retelling old folk tales which leads to myths and cellica.

“There’s this old superstition that your cellica will match those of your soul mate,” she says.

“Is it rude to ask someone what their cellica look like?”

“Yes,” says Allura. She remembers her own cellica, damaged and meaningless now. She sighs.“Though perhaps not in my case.”

“Because you’re the princess?” says Shiro, looking adorably earnest and confused.

Allura almost laughs at him, but she can’t. Instead, she wraps a hand around the wrist where the damage is greatest. “No,” she says. “Because they won't match anyone anymore. Even if I did find more Alteans. They’re--they’re ruined.”

“Oh,” says Shiro. He doesn’t quite reach out for her, but his face emotes empathy.

And Allura doesn’t know why she does it, but she removes her gloves and pushes her sleeves up. The sleeves are too tight to get past her elbow, but it’s enough. Her ugly, shattered and disfigured cellica are on display. She holds them out to Shiro saying, “They’re supposed to be pink. And symmetric--” symmetry had always been important, no matter who you asked “--and not like this.” 

Shiro takes her hands, eyebrows pulling together as he scans over her arms and then back to her face. “Is this from the war?”

“Fighting Haggar,” Allura confirms. “The damage has stopped spreading mostly, but...” But it was there, irreversible, the price paid.

Shiro’s expression is sad but too deep to be pity. And he doesn’t tell her she shouldn’t have done it: he as well as anyone knows the costs of war. “I’m so sorry,” he said softly instead.

“It’s...” Allura means to say “it’s fine,” but Shiro is gentle and here, and it all comes tumbling out. The stories and the fear, the superstitions, the glowing and how she will never be able to show someone her love without also reminding them of how she was broken, and the way she feels tarnished, less of a person.

Shiro listens through all of this, his eyes moving between her face and her arms and back again. He’d asked if it was all right for him to touch her marks, and Allura hadn’t said no, but she hadn’t quite said yes either, so he remained, only holding her hands and gently squeezing her fingers. 

Eventually, Allura removes one of her hands to wipe at her eyes. She feels exhausted and heavy, and while sharing has lifted some of the burden, it’s also opened wounds she had been trying so hard to ignore.

Shiro hasn’t spoken in a while. Finally, he gets up, and Allura has the sudden, irrational fear that he’s leaving.

“Close your eyes,” he says. “Or just...” he hitches his shoulders uncomfortably, “don’t look.”

He turns his back on her, but then Allura realizes he’s messing with the hem of his shirt and she immediately looks away, cheeks hot. The idea of Shiro taking off his shirt, even if she isn’t looking, even if humans have very different standards of privacy is horribly embarrassing. She can hardly bare to hear the rustle of his clothes. 

Shiro huffs a soft laugh. “Okay, you can look now.”

He’s sitting in front of her again. His shirt is off, but he still has on the vest he normally wears on top of it, thank the Ancients. Allura is in no way ready to see all the skin of his chest right now. 

Allura is so distracted by her embarrassment, it takes her a minute to notice that Shiro is holding out his hands to her the same way she had to him earlier.

“I know it’s not the same, but...” He trails off, his lip caught between his teeth like he’s nervous.

It occurs to Allura that she’s never seen Shiro’s bare arms. She never questioned it before. He was the oldest of the paladins, and though Allura now knows that humans don’t have marks or any reason to cover their arms as they get older, it simply made sense to her that Shiro’s would be covered. But they’re bare now, and Allura is looking. Most noticeable, of course, is the Galra arm, the silver metal that she had seen before, though now she could also seen the red, scarred, and puffy skin where the metal meets flesh. The sight pains her.

But the other arm is possibly worse. There are scars running from a shiny welt behind his thumb to the gnarled knot over his shoulder. They come in all shapes and sizes, some patterned like claw marks, others smears as if entire chunks got melted or burned away. Still others arc and fracture like electricity. There’s a whole world of pain and endurance and torture in just one arm, and Allura has to be mindful of her strength so that she doesn’t crush his hands in her fury. 

“Just...” says Shiro when she doesn’t respond. He shrugs uncomfortably, looking both nervous and tentatively hopeful. “I’m not symmetric either. We match.”

We match. Allura’s eyes meet his. His smile is nervous--no, embarrassed. His shoulders hunch in even as he holds his arms out to her, and Allura realizes he keeps his scars covered for the same reason she hides hers. Because they feel shameful, tainted, and reminders of pain and trauma. 

And yet Allura doesn’t see Shiro as broken. She can’t. He is the strongest person she has ever known, and she takes a certain, vicious pride in knowing he was strong enough survive this--that he came back to them and leads and fights with them now. The scars are proof that the Galra tried to destroy him. But they didn’t. Shiro is still here, noble and determined as ever, and lending his strength to keep them going every day.

Allura looks down at where their hands rest between them, both covered in random, ugly and disfigured marks. Shiro is right: they do match. Not because of any lore, but because they have both fought--and lost and suffered and picked themselves up and kept fighting because they refuse to be defeated. These are marks they wear so that others won’t have to. Marks of sacrifice, of love and determination.

Both of them would die to save the universe. But they haven’t. They have lived.

Allura gently squeezes Shiro’s fingers. She doesn’t have words, but she doesn’t have to because Shiro understands. For the first time since her first cellica changed, she doesn’t feel so very alone.

“Thank you,” she says softly.

“You don’t need to thank me.” Shiro takes his arms back, tucking them against his chest. His cheeks are red, and he ducks his head. “I know it isn’t pretty.”

Allura places her hand on his shoulder. Seeing the same emotions in Shiro and reflected back at her is strange but also freeing. “Shiro,” she says. “Nothing about you is ugly or shameful. I promise you.”

Shiro’s eyes look over-bright for a moment, but he still smiles. “The same is true of you, Allura. A million times over. We are so incredibly lucky to have you.”

It’s Allura’s turn to blush, and a few spots among her ruined cellica lighten, a disjointed attempt to glow. But this time, next to Shiro who has scars and loss of his own, she doesn’t feel so very broken.

Allura still wears her sleeves long. She will probably never show her cellica to anyone, even though Coran and the paladins are as good as family. The loss is still deep. But when she looks across the bridge, Shiro is there, with his own dark sleeves and hidden pain, and when he catches her looking, his eyes gleam with determination.

They may not both be Altean, but they have clearly been marked by the universe in their unique ways. They match, and perhaps that’s all cellica and soulmates are about in the end: a promise neither one of them is alone. 

[braincoins]

Hi, I'm new here, but I saw your request for prompts and had to ask. What do you think of Shallura, with Shiro showing some flying tricks to the inexperienced Allura? I loved their chaotic energy at the end of season 1 and would like to see more, but with Allura in Blue.

Shiro stared at her for a moment, then cleared his throat. “Of course, Princess. I’d be glad to help.”

She glanced around. “Don’t say that so loudly, please.”

“We’re the only ones on the bridge.”

“Coran’s hearing is excellent.”

“Coran is at the other end of the Castle.”

“Please.” She folded her hands in front of her demurely. “Just don’t say it so loudly.”

“I’ll... be more careful, Princess.”

She huffed. “And how many times must I ask you to call me ‘Allura’?”

“At least once more, clearly. Come on, let’s use Blue to practice.”

“Not Black?”

“Not Black,” he agreed. 

“I can pilot any Lion,” she reminded him.

“Blue will be... friendlier.” 

So they went to the Blue Lion’s hangar. Initially the Lion seemed to ignore them. 

“I just want to practice,” Allura explained. “I would never take you away from Lance.”

And only then did the Lion lay down and open its mouth to let them in. 

“I still say we could have practiced in Black.”

“You don’t know Black,” Shiro replied. As the seat moved back, he gestured to it grandly. “Princess.”

She rolled her eyes at his continued insistence on using her title, but took the seat. It moved forward to piloting position, and Shiro came to stand - well, he was bent over a little - behind the seat. 

“What are you having trouble with?”

“I don’t know, just... well, not everything, but it’s so different to the Castle.”

“Let’s launch first and then we can start working on it.”

“Oh, right.” She took firm hold of the control sticks, and... nothing. More nothing for a few more ticks, and only then did Blue launch from its bay out into open space.

“Did you do that, or did Blue?” he asked.

“I... I think it was Blue,” she admitted.

“Okay, well, we’re out here now, so hopefully Blue will let you learn on your own. Now, tell me more about the problems you’re having.”

She went into detail about the differences between the Castle and the Lions, most of which Shiro could have guessed. There was obviously going to be a huge difference between a command ship and a fighter, even setting aside the bonding requirement.

“You are bonding with the Lion first, yes?”

She shifted in her seat. “I’m... not really sure how to. I mean, I managed it once, but that was the heat of battle, I was desperate, and it just felt like it happened, not like something I did. Besides, I don’t want to... I mean, it feels... wrong to try to do that.”

“You’re not overriding our bonds to our Lions,” he assured her. “This is a bond you have with them already, because of whatever it was King Alfor did. It’s different.” He laid his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry about that.”

She smiled at him, just a little. “You’re sure?”

“Very. Blue wasn’t even going to let us in until you let her know you weren’t trying to replace Lance. The Lions wouldn’t let you do something like that. So don’t be afraid to establish your own bond with them.”

She closed her eyes, apparently set on working on that immediately. He smiled a little wider, watching her, letting himself notice all over again how beautifully regal she looked whenever she did... anything.

“Oh!” Her eyes flew open. “I... I can feel Blue now!” She looked to Shiro. “You’re right; she’s very friendly.”

“Try some basic maneuvers first, and if it goes well, I’ll show you a trick or two I learned in flight school.”

Her eyes lit up and she refocused on piloting. Whether it was her now-established bond, the dangling of that particular carrot, or both, she did well, and the Blue Lion swooped and dove through the inky blackness of space.

“How’s that?” she asked.

“Very good. Now, I’ve already learned how to adapt this to Lion controls...” He laid his hands over hers on the sticks, squeezing lightly when he needed to, but mostly doing very gentle pushing - not really moving anything, just to give an idea of the movement that would be needed - to illustrate the move. “Blue will probably do this even more elegantly than Black would, and not just because it’s a smaller Lion.”

“Oh? What’s the other reason?”

“Because someone more elegant is piloting,” he said. 

She blushed. “Shiro, how can you give me such beautiful compliments and still not use my name?”

“This is flying practice time,” he said instead of answering. Because the answer to that was Using your title is all that keeps me from showering you with compliments every time I open my mouth. Because I need the reminder that you are above me, beyond me, or I’ll get my hopes too high. “And it’s not just a compliment: it’s the truth. You... you do everything elegantly, Princess. And the attitude of the pilot matters a lot more than you’d think. Think about how Keith flies versus how Hunk flies, for example. They’re both very physical pilots, but Keith favors get in and get out quick, where Hunk tends to just ram forward. They have different approaches, and part of that is down to the type of Lion they each have, but it’s also down to their personalities.

“You, Princess, will bring your elegance to every Lion you fly.”

Was it his imagination, or were her eye marks glowing a little? “And you, my paladin, are a warrior poet.”

“Try the maneuver,” he told her, feeling his own cheeks heat now. There was something about the way she said it - “my paladin” - that made him smile.

And, as he’d expected, she pulled it off...more or less. “I don’t think that was terribly elegant.”

“Well, you’ll get there in time,” he promised her. “With practice.”

She did it a few more times, and already he could see that promise coming true some day. They headed back to the hangar.

“Thank you for your help, Shiro,” she said once they were back aboard the Castle. “I... appreciate it more than I can say.”

“You know you can ask me for help anytime, Princess. With anything.”

“I know that you’re willing to help,” she agreed, “but it’s the actual asking that’s hard for me.” She released the control sticks and leaned back in the seat. “Just getting the words out is hard sometimes. I’m... not used to needing help, let alone asking for it.”

“You’ll get there in time. With practice.” He grinned at her.

She snorted and shook her head. “Says the man who won’t even call me by my name.” The seat pulled back in preparation for her to stand.

But Shiro took the opportunity to drop to one knee in front of her, a knight - a paladin - kneeling before his princess. He made sure he was looking her in the eye when he said, “You can ask me for anything, Allura.”

Her eye marks were definitely glowing now, and she smiled. “Thank you, Shiro. For everything.”

[roguepaladin]

Shallura Headcanons - In another universe where Allura lives her and Shiro travel the galaxy for more Alteans and when Shiro is needed back on Earth they video chat - After Shiro came back, he got Allura's ability to understand the mice and uses this as a way to secretly woo her - They share a workout routine because they both can bench prench each other - When they have kids, Shiro brench presses Allura holds the baby, with Allura she uses one hand holding Shiro and the other with the baby

There was a ALOT to pick from here, but the video chat idea stuck with me most after reading, but I also can’t resist drawing the babbus, so have a tiny Junko.