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Shiro watched as Lance paced back and forth. The clothing she sported were the clothes she was more comfortable wearing in the presence of the few. It hadn’t been the best path for her, but Shiro was glad she had chosen him to confide in.
And really, he could understand why. Shiro was a trans guy, and he was also her leader. She’d find comfort talking about this with him rather then Pidge, who, while also a trans girl, wasn’t as great of a speaker and rather elusive to find. Pidge’s coming out to the team might have started Lance’s journey of self-discovery, but it wasn’t about to do a complete circle back to the beginning.
It also helped that Shiro and Lance were dating before she came out to him, but he stayed with her, because really he loved her. Lance, his wonderfully annoying girlfriend.
Lance loved it when he called her girlfriend. He always rose a giggle from the brunette. She looked like a model in the alien clothes they had gotten from the previous space mall they visited. They had all split up, Lance had originally gone with Hunk, but Hunk ended up finding Pidge and they split up again, leaving Lance alone when she got distracted by a clothing store. Shiro had been with Keith when he caught sight of Lance staring longingly at whatever was through the window. He told Keith he would meet up with him, Keith gave him a look, but left anyway, deciding to catch up with Allura and Coran who he saw exiting what he could only assume was a jewelry store. She had said she wanted something shiny.
It was a clothing store, and what she had been staring at was a dress. It had a cute little pattern on it, water themed. Shiro thought it was quite fitting for her. She seemed worried though. Her hands were stuffed into her jacket pocket and her eyes were glazed over. He nudged her gently, she looked up, catching his gaze and her eyes brightened.
“Let’s go in.” Lance nodded meekly, but let Shiro take her hand and drag him inside. The store was rather small, but there were a fair amount of people browsing. Different aliens, all different in shape and appearance. He couldn’t really read the language, but it seemed like the clothes adapted to the wearer quite like their paladin armour. Of course it would have to, an alien business wouldn’t make any business if it wasn’t universal. They had to play the game for the galactic market.
Lance looked around, her eyes wide, but she was obviously a bit shy and overwhelmed. Shiro always thought how weird it was. Lance was actually surprisingly shy, always looking for guidance and help, despite being fully able to take care of herself and boast such a haughty personality. Guess it really shows how a perspective of a person can change once you get to know them.
A clerk approached them, speaking a language none of them could understand. When neither of them could respond, the clerk began to switch through languages. Suddenly, there was one familiar to his ears, but he couldn’t speak. Lance could though. She seemed content to be able to speak Spanish with someone. She energetically spoke to the clerk, pointing to the dress in the window, making hang gestures, most likely asking for the size that would best fit her. The clerk replied, showing them to a fitting room. Shiro watched, while confused, bemused at how much joy Lance was deriving from this. They talked to one another, and Lance pointed to another dress, looked back to Shiro and nodded. She turned her head back to the clerk, who turned to Shiro and agreed.
Shiro raised an eyebrow. “What did you just agree to?”
Lance smirked cooly, brushing her hand underneath his chin. “Getting you a nice dress to match with mine, no problems with that?” There was an underlaying question to the last part of the original question. He wouldn’t get dysphoria from that would he?
Shiro leaned in and kissed her lips. “None.” Shiro was too comfortable with his body to really get body dysphoria anymore. Too muscular. He was comfortable with himself, and if wearing a matching dress with his girlfriend would make her more comfortable, he’d happily oblige. Lance grinned and shoved him into the changing room with her. The clerk returned, handing them the dresses Lance had asked for.
Shiro looked at his own dress, purple and empire waist. It was long and covered all of his scars. Lance knew him pretty well. She caught his eyes and gave him a playful wink. Yeah, she knew him pretty well. She turned around, knowing he didn’t like her seeing his scars, despite her kissing every single one in body-worship whenever they were having intimate moments. He loved hearing her voice, low and sultry, reminding him of one of those olden day stars from black and white films. Yeah no, time to change his train of thought now.
He tugged off his vest and went to pull of his full body suit. He really needed something knew, but could bare parting with his current clothes. Despite the memories they held, they never smelt horrible or got dirty. A true miracle. He was at an impasse. He gently tugged on the dress and began to feel it shift for his body shape. It was nice and snug on his skin. He liked that the sleeves came down to his wrists, but he’d fear ruining his right arm sleeve. “How do I look?” Shiro turned around and saw Lance, a bit bashful, but a bright smile on her face.
Her dress was cute, showing off her beautiful brown skin the way she liked and coming to her thigh. It complimented her body type, giving her a more feminine silhouette and making her legs even greater assets than they already were.
Lance raised an eyebrow, a bit confused by the lack of answer. “Hey Shiro, is everything okay?” She tilted her head, her bangs partially covering her eyes. Since there were no hair dressers in space, their hair had grown a bit long. Coran though, had a pair of scissors. Pidge called him Coran Coran the snip-snip man. No one would ever call him that to his face. Lance had been tactfully avoiding Coran an in attempt to grow her hair out. She was hoping it would stay straight, but knowing her family history, it was going to be a curly mess like her mother and sisters. Shiro could already begin to see the curliness taking hold at the tips of longer strands. He thought Lance would look cute with curly hair.
“You look great.” Her inquisitive expression switched to surprise, then joy.
“You look great too.” She patted his shoulder as she rested her head upon it. He liked how they both looked in the mirror in their dresses. They were both content, the happiest he had ever really seen her. Lance fiddled with the price tag, and her smile fell immediately. “Oh gosh that’s a lot of GAGs.” Shiro leaned down to look at the price tag, and took a sharp intake of air.
“You get yours. You deserve to treat yourself.”
Lance looked up, a frown on her face. “And so do you mister always putting himself before others.”
Before she could even retort, the clerk came back to check on them. Lance replied instantly, asking a few questions, and her smile brightening at the clerk’s response. She grabbed Shiro’s hands and excitedly whispered to him. “We’re in luck, they’re having a clearance sale. 70% off or higher. I’m gonna grab a few other things see if you can find a change of clothes you’re comfortable with. Refoli says we can leave our stuff here.” Lance bolted as soon as she finished speaking. He watched her eagerly looking around the store, grabbing what ever seemed of interest to her. Shiro was sure Lance hadn’t even realized she hadn’t even taken off the dress she had tried on. He could hear the clerk giggle and speak to him, but he shook his head, a bit remorseful.
“Sorry, I don’t speak Spanish.”
The clerk made a sound as if they had made a mistake. “Oh I’m so sorry. Sir?” Shiro nodded his head. “Your friend over there responded to me, so I had assumed you spoke—what did you call it, Spanish?—as well.”
“It’s fine. Spanish is a fairly common language anyway, so it wasn’t a wrong assumption.” Really, it was a miracle any of the aliens spoke any of Earth’s languages.
The clerk shook their head. “I still must apologize. Your friend spoke of spare clothing, if you are looking for pants, shirts and undergarments, you will find them near the back.” The clerk pointed near the back where few people stayed for very long.
Shiro nodded and thanked the clerk. He returned to change into his own clothes and put the dress aside, unsure if he should get it, but if it was on sale and there was enough money to spare, he would allow Lance’s indulgence.
He picked his articles for practicality over aesthetics. They would be easy to sleep and work out in. That was all he really needed. Lance seemed a little disappointed in the lack of diversity in his clothes, and allowed her to pull one thing of her choice out for him. Of course she would pull out booty shorts. Of course she would.
Lance’s selection of clothing was obviously more self indulgent. A few dresses, shirts that could double as dresses for sleeping and some short shorts. They had to put some things back to stay in budget, but Shiro allowed the wig Lance had picked up from the mid section of the store where they sold a variety of things. She said she wanted to grow her hair out long, and wanted to see how it looked first before committing.
The total was close to their budget, but they made it nonetheless. Lance was hooked to Shiro’s arm as they exited the store, the clerk happily seeing them off.
“Thanks for tagging along with me.” She whispered to him. Shiro looked down, seeing the sentimental look on her face. He rubbed her head, ruffling her short hair.
“My pleasure.” They smiled to one another and brushed each others noses. Lance’s scampered off with the bag, rushing to hug Hunk at the group rendezvous point. He could see Keith dying underneath the amount of things he was holding, obviously all not his as Allura tried to help him with it all. Coran was showing off his strength beside Keith, holding the rest of Allura’s articles with ease.
Hunk tried to look into Lance’s bag, but she slapped his hand away. These were personal things, he could hear her yell, even if she hadn’t meant to. Pidge made a disgusted sound beside Lance, wondering if it was really the time to be buying those types of things. And exactly who was she going to be doing it with? Lance face flushed as she defended herself from Pidge.
It was a good thing Shiro had an amazing poker face from reading all of that smutty fanfiction in public, because of jeez he would have been as red as Lance if that had not been the case.
Coran broke it up, saying it was Lance’s decision to keep his things private. Shiro could see the small flinch Lance made at the usage of the pronouns she heavily associated with masculinity. Shiro caught up with the group and they made their way towards the Castle of Lions. It was time to leave, they had restocked up and bought enough leisurely items to last them a while.
Shiro watched Lance run her hand through her hair, now shoulder length and curly. When she wasn’t with Shiro, she kept it tied. The others kept asking if she was going to cut it, but she kept tactfully avoiding the answer. She was wearing one of her shirt’s as a dress, with thigh highs underneath. She still wore her oversized green jacker and sneakers. She had quite an aesthetic going on for her.
“You’re supposed to talk me out of this!” She sounded stressed, and it began to manifest as anger.
“Breathe.” Lance stopped, closed her eyes and took a breath. “Good.” Lance opened her eyes. “Why am I supposed to talk you out of this?”
Lance made hand gestures, trying to explain her frustration through it. “I don’t know. It’s a bad idea? What if the team hates me or something? What if Keith makes fun of me? What if—” She began to rattle on, but Shiro raised a hand.
“Keith would never do that. He cares about you, a lot more than he cares to admit.” Shiro stood up from off the bed, moving towards Lance and gentle placing his hands upon her shoulders. “So what if the mice, and by extension Allura know? They know about Pidge, and everyone loves her. You love her?” Lance begrudgingly nodded. “And she loves you. It’s alright to be scared, I was too, but don’t be afraid of the one’s who love you.” Carefully, Shiro moved into a hug. Lance rested her head in the nock of Shiro’s neck, nuzzling up to him.
“Thanks babe.” Shiro kissed Lance’s forehead.
“You ready to go out and face the world?” He could feel Lance shake her head against his neck.
“No, but now or never.” Her voice was dreadful, but that was more the butterflies in her stomach.
“Now or never.” Shiro chimed in reassuringly.