notes: ah! first time posting vld fic on fanfiction! (perhaps i shall move all my ao3 work here now)

anyway, for my debut on ffn, i present this, which was written for a tumblr prompt from anon - "If I may, could I request a little Shallura drabble with her talking to Coran, and Coran is not being subtle about his shipping? (maybe with some threats to shiro along the lines of "if you hurt you I will toss you into the bleak expanses of space")"

Coran comes from a family of mechanics—the best in all the known universe for their legacy in creating, fixing, and innovating the finest space crafts—so it's only right for Coran to dub himself, well, a wingman.

So when he sees Allura sitting at her desk with her chin between both hands, gazing thoughtfully at the floor and chewing on her lip—a very rare position for the quick-deciding and often assertive princess—he thinks that it might be time to be an uncle for his best friend's daughter.

"Allura, I know you hate it when I uncle you but I'm wondering what's been on your mind lately," Coran asks, grabbing a chair and sliding his seat over next to her.

Of course, Coran know exactly what's been going on in Allura's head.

"I'm thinking about Shiro," Allura finally admits, after many long ticks.

Ah, there it is.

"Well. What about Shiro?" Coran presses on.

She doesn't readily answer his question.

"You've been thinking about him a lot, it seems," Coran observes.

"Yes," Allura admits. And then in a quieter voice, she adds, "Especially recently."

"I see," Coran says, nodding.

Coran would be lying if he said he didn't notice at all that Allura seemed to be growing a little more conscious of the head paladin—whether that was apologizing much more profusely when she accidentally bumped hands with him or overcompensating for paying attention to him by pretending that she couldn't hear him when he was definitely within her earshot.

And Coran would also be lying if he said that he wasn't interested at all in Allura and Shiro saving the universe—together. He'd considered it once—twice, probably more times—and he'd thought perhaps it would be very cute for the princess and the paladin to actually be in love with each other.

Of course, Coran knows less what is going on in Shiro's mind, but given the Earthling's very obvious respect and admiration for Allura, Coran doesn't think that it would be completely out of this universe to think that maybe just a little push is what the two of them might need to figure each other out.

"I just…" she says, in a huff. "I just feel like Shiro used to be a lot easier for me to talk to and work with."

"Oh?"

She quickly corrects herself. "Oh no, no. It's not like we got into an argument or something and it's not that we're disagreeing on issues—I just don't know…" She pauses for another tick. "I don't know if I'm interpreting his actions in the same way that he is and I'm afraid that if I read him wrong…well, that's going to affect how we work as a team."

Coran gives her a minute to add an extra comment before he chimes in.

"And can I ask how are you interpreting his actions?"

Allura blinks several times. "I…I don't know—but that's exactly the issue, you know what I mean?"

Coran watches Allura's furrowed eyebrows and finally decides to give her his input.

"I don't know exactly what you mean, but I think you have more than enough reason to talk to Shiro and I would urge you to tell him how you feel," Coran advises. And then he adds, "And I have the strangest feeling that you might not be so surprised to hear that he might think the same about you."

This gets Allura's attention. Her ears perk up and her eyes narrow.

"You think you know something, don't you, Coran?" she accuses him.

Coran shrugs in defeat. "I've known you for a very long time, Allura. Would it be terribly astonishing for you to know that I find you very easy to read?"

She laughs softly, wrapping her arms around herself and leaning forward into her knees. "Of course you would," she says.

He laughs as well, and then lets his chuckles fade. "You should tell him," Coran encourages her. "I believe your father would tell you to do the same."

Upon hearing about her father, she smiles gently. "You think so, Coran?"

"Yes, Allura."

Allura hesitates still. She thinks for another moment and then asks, "And you'd be fine with that, Coran?" the princess asks him, her voice rising—excitedly.

"Why, of course, I would—"

"Thank you so much, Coran!" Allura interrupts him with a strong and tight embrace. "You've been so good in helping me sort out my feelings!"

The princess immediately skips away, and it's around this time that Coran realizes that maybe he would regret endorsing any relationship for Allura in the first place.

All a little too soon, Coran realizes that their young love is totally distracting the princess from doing her duties—well, the ship is still on track to the next galaxy on schedule, but Allura could be…studying or something in her free time.

And all a little too soon, Coran affirms that he does not like how fast things are moving between the two of them—and he's already seeing their hands on each other's thighs not-so-secretly under the dinner table and hearing giggles emerge from Shiro's room whenever Coran passes by to go use the restroom and empty his not-so-young-and-elastic-any-longer bladder.

And all a little too soon, Coran thinks to himself that before things get too far, he would have to make some things very clear with the man courting his precious goddaughter.

So when he sees Shiro, with the lightest smirk on his lips, walking toward command central—where Coran knows Allura is at the moment—he thinks that it might be time to intervene.

"Ah, Shiro!" Coran exclaims, thumping his hand against Shiro's back. "How goes things right now?"

"Coran," Shiro greets in reply. He stops and turns to the older man, with a large smile on his face. "I'm doing great. I'm actually about to go talk to Allura about the upcoming mission before we swing into the next planet's orbit. And yourself?"

"I'm doing quite well myself," he replies to the Black Paladin. "Regarding Allura and you, though—" and here he leans forward and asks in a hushed whisper, "—is there something that I should know?"

Shiro's eyebrows raise momentarily and he looks off to the side with a slight flush in his cheeks and an embarrassed smile. He returns to make eye contact with Coran and admits, "I have a feeling you might already know what I'm about to tell you."

Coran shrugs. "Tell me anyway."

The paladin takes in a sharp breath, combing his hair back before explaining. "As you might have already expected, Allura and I are…well—I guess the best way to say it is—together."

Coran doesn't mention that he might have had something to do with any of that.

"Oh, my, well then!" Coran continues, in his upbeat and cheery voice. "Well…honestly this doesn't come as a complete surprise to me at all."

Then he adds, "Although I admit you two been a lot more…obvious about it lately."

"It's really only been…official, I suppose, for the last couple of days," Shiro clarifies. Then he chuckles and sighs. "You're always so astute, Coran."

"Well, leaving for bed within five minutes of each other—although not at the same time—doesn't quite count as subtle," Coran teases.

"I guess that would give it away," Shiro laughs sheepishly.

The flush on Shiro's cheeks deepens a little bit, and Coran reminds himself that perhaps he's been giving Shiro a difficult time—after all, Allura has had plenty of her own questionable choices of partners, and Shiro is certainly on a different scale of responsible and mature.

"Well," Coran tells him, softening then. "I am very happy for the two of you. And of course, I am very happy that Allura has found you. You're a talented and generous individual."

Shiro accepts Coran's compliments with a light bow of his head. "Thank you, Coran. I've been very lucky."

"I am in full support of the two of you," Coran assures the paladin. "—of course, if you hurt her, I might just throw you into the bleak expanses of space," Coran jokes.

Shiro laughs—perhaps nervously.

"Might," Coran repeats.

"I wouldn't hold it against you," Shiro replies, with a wry smile. "Throwing me halfway across a battleship was how Allura first told me that she loved me, after all."

Coran returns a small smile. "Oh I assure you that I can throw you much farther."

did that wingman pun even make sense? ah well. it is okay. i am often not understood.

with much love for Coran,

thir13enth