Christmas for Dummies (and Aliens)

It's Christmas, but how do you celebrate such a holiday on a spaceship billions of miles from Earth, snow, trees, and anything festive, and two of your group don't even know what Christmas is?

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For peppermint-soup on tumblr, who requested a gen fic with the paladins introducing Allura and Coran to Christmas. Merry Christmas, pep!

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It was a day, much like any other day, when Pidge found Lance sulking in a hallway. He was leaning against the wall as if he'd lost all hope in the world and only the solid mass of metal beside him was keeping him on his feet.

"Uh, hey, Lance," she greeted, curious but not sure she wanted to get involved. Likely it was something overly dramatic and unnecessary causing Lance to act this way. Then again, maybe it was something important, some injury or illness or news from home that had Lance acting this way.

Lance turned watery eyes on Pidge and she knew it was something overly dramatic and unnecessary.

"Hey, Pidge," Lance answered in a quiet, sad tone of voice. "Merry Christmas."

For a moment, Pidge only blinked. Merry-?

OH! It must be Christmas back on Earth! Lance was the team member who kept track of things like that, marking off days on a mental calendar so he knew how long they'd been away. But, if it was Christmas, why was he so sad?

"Merry Christmas," Pidge responded haltingly, seeing as Lance was clearly not happy. "What's wrong?"

Lance sniffled and Pidge hoped snot didn't start dripping out of his nose. She'd always hated seeing snot drip out of people's noses. It just sat there on their upper lip, moving millimeter by millimeter closer to going straight into their mouth and that was just gross. No thank you.

"I gave Allura a present," Lance started, staring down the hall. "A homemade present. You know, obviously, because it's not like we've docked at some super space mall or whatever. And homemade presents are the best, full of meaning and the feelings, you know? And…and…she wouldn't take it."

His head dropped to his chest in disappointment. It made sense. Lance was always flirting with people, especially Allura. Especially when he knew it wasn't going to work out, at all, not in the slightest. But Pidge wasn't sure if he'd ever made them gifts before, and besides, it was Christmas. Turning down a Christmas gift was kind of mean. For a moment, Pidge wondered what Lance had managed to make for Allura on a ship in the middle of space, but then she dismissed it. That wasn't the point. Pidge had never considered Allura mean before, but now?

"Hey, wait a minute," Pidge said aloud. "Does Allura even know it was a Christmas present? Maybe she thought you were just flirting again."

For a moment, Lance didn't move. He continued to stare down at his feet. Then he popped up like a jack-in-the-box. "Holy smokes, Pidge! You just might be right!"

And he rushed off down the hallway like his shoes were on fire, leaving Pidge standing in the hallway where he'd been.

…

…

Lance's mood hadn't really improved by the time lunch rolled around and everyone gathered in the dining room to eat.

Hunk had prepared a fantastic feast once he'd realized what day it was. He imitated cranberry sauce and ham and fresh bread as best he could, warm noodles and buttery space-crab, and had even attempted turkey, pumpkin pie, and eggnog. Once she was seated, Allura looked around at all of the glorious looking food in surprise, then glanced at Coran, who couldn't even pout in the face of all these beauties. Hunk had truly out done himself.

"What's the occasion?" Allura asked of her paladins.

"It's Christmas!" Hunk cheered, throwing his hands up while Pidge and Keith were already taking bits of food from different trays and piling up their plates.

The princess nodded. "Ah, yes. Lance did mention that." The blue paladin slumped in his seat a little. "I believe it involves giving gifts to those you have affection for?"

Hunk nodded, but it was Pidge who answered. "Yeah, but it's more than that. Families get together that day to spend time with each other, even if they're usually busy. You eat good food, you exchange presents, you drink way too much eggnog, and entirely too much singing happens, if you ask me." She popped some space-ham into her mouth and didn't even flinch at the flavor.

Allura blinked. "So…it is not a holiday for lovers?"

Shiro shook his head. "You're thinking of Valentine's Day." He shrugged one shoulder. "I mean, in some countries, Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas, is sort of a holiday for couples, but…Christmas is meant for family. At least where we lived."

Now the princess turned to face Lance, frowning. She placed a hand on his shoulder, which made him lift his head. "I am so sorry for how I reacted to your gift," she apologized gently. "I thought you were merely attempting to gain my romantic affections, as you do. But I am honored you consider me family, Lance."

Whether these words really made Lance feel better or not was up for debate. She'd apologized and was being very kind, considered them family like they considered her, but she'd also just said that they were like siblings and that nothing romantic was ever going to happen between them.

"So this….plethora of food," Coran broke through the moment, motioning to the table between them. "Is this all part of Christmas?"

It gave Hunk great pleasure to tell Coran about all the different kinds of food eaten at Christmas. He knew about the different delicacies eaten in Japan (Shiro confirmed), Korea (Keith was as intrigued as everyone else), Cuba (Lance boasted about how his family made the best food in all of Latin America), all over America (Pidge just ate more food and nodded), and four different Polynesian groups, as well as Russia, Italy, France, Romania, and England. Not all of it was strictly 'Christmas' food, but it was traditional food eaten on or around December 25th in those countries.

By the time Hunk was done talking about food, everyone was pretty much done eating his space feast. They each had a cup of space-nog in hand and apparently it tasted pretty great because Keith had already had two cups full before the others even tasted it.

"Is this stuff alcoholic?" Shiro asked Hunk in a whisper, seeing Keith sitting with one arm curled on the table top, the other being used to prop up his drooping head.

"Uh, no. I don't think so," Hunk said. "Then again, who knows. It's alien food, dude."

Shiro hummed and sat up straight in his seat. He'd keep an eye on Keith just in case, and in the meantime it was probably best if they stopped drinking the stuff.

"I have an idea," he said to the table at large, gathering everyone's attention. "Christmas is a time for gift giving, so how about we all give each other gifts?"

It was decided that each person would give one other person a gift. Lance wasn't allowed to give a gift to anyone, because he'd already given Allura something. And Allura wasn't allowed to received anymore gifts, because Lance had already given her one. They put everyone's names into a program on Pidge's computer and it spat out who was giving gifts to who.

In the end, the gift giving ended up like this: Allura would give Keith a gift, who would give Pidge a gift, who would give Hunk a gift, who would give Coran a gift, who would give Shiro a gift, who would give Lance a gift. Granted, it didn't have to go in that order. They could give a gift as soon as they came up with one.

Now came the task of finding gifts on a spaceship floating around several thousand miles from any civilized planet.

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…

Coran was jumping to give Shiro a present almost as soon as they'd left lunch. "We have a similar holiday on Altea. Or, rather, had," he corrected himself, "So I know exactly what to give you!"

While the others went off in search of inspiration for their own presents, Shiro followed Coran through the halls to the room where King Alfor had once resided.

"Hey, Coran," Shiro said, "What are we doing here?"

A huff while Coran messed with a control panel by the door. "This room has the capability of projecting whatever images you program into it. For awhile, as you know, it was home to King Alfor's memories, but that's not all it can do. If I can get it to listen to me," he grunted, the panel zapped him in response, "then I can make it project what I want, and that'll be your gift."

It was a bit unusual, and not something that one would ever receive on Earth, but that just meant Shiro was intrigued. Coran was weird, but he had their best intentions in mind at all times.

Suddenly the room flashed and lit up with the image of –

"What?" Shiro gasped out, taking a step back.

It was a Galra ship! The purple lights along the walls, and the design of the hallways, were things he could never forget, or mistake for anything else.

"Coran-" Shiro turned toward the door, but it wasn't there. Coran wasn't there.

So was this an illusion, the creation of the memory chamber? Or was this real and Coran being there, and Chrismas, had been a dream? Shiro's pulse raced as he heard footsteps coming from down an adjacent hall. There was nowhere to hide.

From every hallway came sentries, guns held close to their chests. They were all machines, but even Shiro would be powerless against this many enemies. What could he possibly do?!

Fight. He could fight.

Shiro's Galran arm blazed purple as he raced toward the sentries, who lifted their guns at him. Before he could land even one blow, Shiro heard Coran's voice – "Shiro, wait!" – and then he was falling. The ship around him dissolved, taking all of the soldiers with it, and all that was before him was a long fall to some unseen end.

Someone grabbed his leg and Shiro jerked to a stop just before he was too far gone for saving. His arm deactivated and Shiro looked up, past his own feet, to see Coran lying on the walk way above him.

"Why in the quiznak would you run off the edge?!" Coran wheezed.

Coran pulled Shiro up to safety and then Shiro, after checking there were no enemies in the room, stared Coran hard in the eyes. "Why would you project that here?!" he shouted, angry in a way he normally wasn't. "Why an enemy ship?! Was that a hologram or something more, something real? Could they see me too? Coran!"

Waving his arms around wildly, as if the motion could make a forcefield between himself and Shiro, Coran said, "It was a hologram! A fake! Goodness, I don't know what you're so worked up about. That's the point of Christmas, isn't it?"

Christmas? The reason they were even in this room to begin with flooded back to Shiro and he sucked in a sharp breath.

"No. Christmas is a time of joy and hope. The Galra are the exact opposite of that," he said, his voice quieter but still hard like steel.

Coran's face fell. "Oh dear. Oh my. It seems I have completely misunderstood you," he said. "You see, on Altea, our main gift giving holiday is Watsenplot, which celebrates the time of year when the spirits of the dead are most likely to return to walk among us. An archaic notion, but one that still held credence up until the end of our time."

Halloween, Shiro thought. It was like Halloween. So why gifts? Was it like candy back on Earth?

"Alteans gift each other with representations of our worst fears during Watsenplot, as a means of scaring away the spirits and keeping the receiver safe for the next year from any bad influences," Coran explained.

His heart rate finally returning to normal levels, Shiro took a deep breath and held it. He let his remaining anger fade away now that he knew the action hadn't been done with malice. "I appreciate the gesture, but please never ever do something like that again," he said.

Coran frowned, then looked thoughtful. "I suppose I can promise that, but then what am I meant to give you as a 'Christmas' gift?" he asked, using air quotes for the word 'Christmas.'

Placing a hand on Coran's shoulder, Shiro said, "Something nice and peaceful would be great, if you have it."

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As soon as they'd left lunch, Pidge had gone to the hanger she used as her work room and began programming. Anyone walking in would think she hadn't just been asked to give someone a gift, but really she was hard at work on it.

A shadow appeared in the hall outside the hanger – someone walking toward the door. Pidge briefly caught sight of Keith with something metal in his hands before he'd passed the door and disappeared again.

She could've sworn she heard, "-leaping nine ladies dan-," echo to her off the walls in a sort of sing-song tone, but the acoustics were bad in the hanger and wasn't sure. What did that even mean anyway? Was it part of her present from him?

Figuring he'd tell her later if it was important, Pidge went back to her computer.

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…

After leaving Shiro in a peaceful hologram that resembled an Earth forest and river, Coran headed for the kitchen again. Loathe as he was to admit it, he actually enjoyed the food Hunk prepared. It irritated him that some human child could use Altean ingredients better than he could sometimes, but it had happened.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Hunk barreled out of the door to the dining room to greet him. "Oh, hey, Coran. Perfect timing!"

Coran nodded. "Hello again, Hunk. What have you been up to?"

Hunk put his hand on the back of his head. "Well I was sitting here just thinking about what I could give you on a giant spaceship in the middle of space with only space stuff around us, and I thought maybe I'd cook you something but I already did that with lunch and you actually ate it, which was really kind of amazing you know? But so anyway, I didn't know what to give you and then it hit me!"

A bit thrown around, mentally, by the onslaught of Hunk's nervous words, Coran just managed, "What hit you? Does something need fixing again?" in a stern voice, knowing Hunk probably broke it himself, before Hunk bowling right over him again.

"RECIPES!" the bigger man cheered. "You ate my food, and you liked it! So what better gift than the recipes I used to make it, right? Then you can make that food whenever you want."

And he held out one of the computer tablets that Coran had shown them how to use shortly after their arrival in the castle. On it was a list of dishes that seemed, at least vaguely though Coran didn't recognize any of them, to correspond to what had been eaten at lunch. Clicking on one of them brought up, as Hunk had said, a list of instructions for how to prepare the food. It would probably be rude to say traditional Altean food was better. They were celebrating an Earth holiday after all. Besides, in the case of these recipes, it might not even be true.

"-used to laugh and call him names. They never let poor Rudolph, join in any-"

Coran blinked, looking up at Hunk, who wore a similarly confused expression. "Who is Rudolph?" he asked.

Hunk shook his head and brought his hands to his cheeks. "I'm more confused about who was singing."

Furrowing his brow, Coran said, "It was Keith." Hunk just stared at him with wide eyes. "Well….wasn't it?"

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The statue looked remarkably like her.

Allura stared at the miniature of herself sitting on the table before her. It was made of bits of dark clay and various rocks, gemstones, string, and random baubles and bric-a-brac. Apparently while stranded on an alien planet and fixing his lion so he could rejoin the group, Lance had just kept stuffing things into all the pockets of his jacket and suit and compartments in his lion. That meant he had plenty to work with when he decided to make something out of all the junk he had lying around.

He was quite talented, at least in the artistic department. One day she might even let him know she thought so, when his ego wasn't quite so big.

"-ness. Light and life to all he brings. Risen with healing in-"

"Keith!"

The soft strains of some sort of song ended abruptly at her call. A few long moments later, Keith edged into the rom. His cheeks were bright red, matching his jacket, and there were bits of metal in his arms.

"Yes, princess?" he asked, cautiously.

What did he have to be cautious about? It was only Allura. A glance at what was in his arms and Allura thought she understood. He was working on his gift right now. What those pieces of broken metal would be used for, she didn't know. But if Lance could make something great out of scraps, she was certain Keith could too.

Clapping her hands together, Allura said, "I was just about to come looking for you. I have your gift ready."

She brought forth a box that was as long as she was tall. When it was settled between them, Keith seemed to lose his hesitance. "Oh," he let out. "What is it?"

Opening the box revealed at least a dozen Altean outfits. Allura smiled at him. "I found these in one of the many rooms in the castle. They used to belong to an Altean noble who visited my father and I shortly before the Galran attack," she told him. "And since I doubt that Duke Nufar has any more need of them, I thought perhaps you would like them."

It took twenty minutes of Allura holding up outfits for Keith to inspect before he agreed to wear one. The first layer of the outfit was almost a bodysuit, but not quite tight enough. It came in two parts, one for his lower body and one for his upper, and adjusted itself to Keith's size just like the pilot suit had. It was completely black. Allura told him it was water and fire proof, though Keith couldn't imagine why that was important in a nobleman's clothes.

The second layer was a deep and rich blue, and included a light, airy tunic and cream white pants that ended just above tall, black boots. The front of the boots was harder than the back or sides, and reminded Keith of greaves but much more flexible and comfortable.

The outermost layer was a black vest that matched the boots and which seemed to be made of similar material. There were etchings in the light material that Allura said symbolized Duke Nufar's home country and culture, but which Keith didn't understand. It looked very regal though. And over his forearms was the same, light weight material, again black, with a curved edge that trailed beyond his elbow but didn't restrict his movement. On the back of his wrist sat the same Altean symbol that appeared on both Allura and Coran's clothes, and even Allura's crown. The coverings reminded Keith of bracers.

And that's when it hit him. Duke Nufar's outfit, as noble and formal as it appeared, was also armor. That's why it felt almost weightless on him despite the layers, and why it didn't restrict his body in any way. The man who'd worn this before was a duke, but he'd also been a warrior.

"Thank you," Keith said, and even let Allura give him a hug.

"You look like proper nobility now," Allura teased him. "It's too bad there's no court to receive you."

As Keith walked around the ship that day, Lance spotted him wearing his new outfit first. The other paladin was outraged that Keith had gotten such a gift from Allura, and that he looked so good in those clothes too. Lance even went so far as to say that Keith was only wearing the clothes and looking that good because he wanted to one-up Lance again.

Keith honestly had no idea what he was talking about, told him so, and then walked away while Lance pouted after him. Still, Lance's reaction made wearing these noble, rich clothes more than worth it.

…

…

"So if you press here," Pidge instructed, touching the bottom left corner tile, "you can change what kind of pattern it uses, like the picture or colors, or how many squares there are on each side. It's got three preprogrammed levels of difficulty already, but I figured you'd want to do the rest yourself."

She handed the rubix cube over to Hunk, who held it like it was a precious Balmeran crystal. Right now every side of the cube was blank grey, but he knew a single touch to that bottom tile would bring it to life.

His eyes sparkling, Hunk beamed. "Thank you, Pidge!" He held the cube in one hand and squeezed Pidge to him tightly. "Thank you thank you thank you!" She coughed when he released her and adjusted her glasses. "Oh my gosh this is the best thing ever. I can't wait to get started! I love rubix cubes!"

Pidge nodded. "I know. I saw three in your room back at the Garrison and you used to bring one to class once in awhile."

That gave Hunk pause. Pidge had noticed the cubes in his and Lance's room…and remembered that all this time? She'd paid attention to what he did in class? He resisted the urge to hug her again and simply squeezed the rubix cube gently in place of her small body.

"You're kind of amazing. Did you know that?"

They both looked toward the door at the sound of someone whistling "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" while they walked. A few moments later, Keith walked through the door, holding something behind his back. It was actually too big to be hidden behind him so pieces of metal were sticking out to either side. He stopped whistling as soon as he saw Pidge and Hunk standing just inside the door to Pidge's workroom. He was wearing some seriously fancy clothes. It was like he was Altean royalty or something.

"Oh. Hey," he said, his eyes flickering between them.

"Hey, Keith," Hunk greeted, still smiling widely. "Look what Pidge made me," he held up the cube, "Isn't it awesome?!"

Keith eyed the rubix cube like it might explode. "Uh, yeah. Yeah it's great."

"What are you wearing?" Pidge asked, not unkindly. She leaned forward to inspect him but didn't move to circle him, given he was hiding something behind himself on purpose.

Clearing his throat, his cheeks pink, Keith said, "They were a gift from Allura."

Hunk whistled approvingly. "She knows what she's doing, too. You look good, man. Very Altean. Leader-like, you know?"

Keith nodded jerkily, his cheeks getting pinker by the second, and turned his attention to Pidge. "Uh. This is for you." And he pulled the metal from behind his back.

It really was bits of metal. Pieces of metal - broken during an attack, eroded from age, or purposefully resized - had been shaped into something resembling an evergreen tree. It looked sharp in places and worn smooth in others, and it was kind of ugly. But the words 'To Pidge, From Keith' were carved into the base of the tree, which made something in Pidge soften. As soon as it was in her hands, she knew she'd do her best to keep it forever. Partly because these guys were her family now and she treasured things from family, and partly because Keith looked so uncertain about giving it to her.

She smiled, though Hunk looked a bit wary about letting her hold what could be a death weapon (if she tripped) so close to her face and neck. "Thanks, Keith. It's great."

Her words made Keith's shoulders un-tense and the worry bleed from his face until he just looked like normal Keith again. He nodded. "You're welcome."

He left soon after. Hunk waited until the sound of Keith's footsteps were gone before turning back to Pidge. "So…what are you gonna do with it?"

Setting it on her table, Pidge shrugged. "Put it in my bedroom, I guess."

"A-are you serious? What if the ship gets all shook up again or something?" Hunk worried. "That could skewer you in your sleep. You'd be Pidge-kabob in a second!"

"Shhh!" Pidge admonished, eyes flicking to the door momentarily. "It stays."

And that was that.

…

…

Shiro was headed for Lance's room to give him his present when he saw Keith walking down a hall just ahead. He almost called out, but then he heard it: music.

"-this very minute. It hasn't snowed a single flurry, but Santa, dear, we're in a hurry, so…Climb down the chimney. Turn on the brightest string of…light I've ever seen."

He was stunned into stopping. Keith was singing a Christmas carol? It felt stupid, but the idea that Keith knew Christmas carols, at least, well enough to sing them randomly in the halls, had never occurred to Shiro.

Just as Shiro was considering asking Keith about the carols, Keith's voice faded out. He'd waited too long and Keith was gone. It was probably for the best. Keith would likely be embarrassed to know he'd been caught singing to himself. Well, at least it wasn't Lance who heard him.

Speaking of which.

Shiro knocked on Lance's bedroom door a minute or so later and it was quickly opened by a bright eyed Lance. The bright eyes weren't from excitement. No, they looked more like he was bored and desperate for a distraction.

"Merry Christmas, Lance," Shiro said cheerfully, holding out the fabric in his hands.

Lance held it in front of him curiously. It was green. A bright green, the same color as the sky on the planet Shiro had landed on after the wormhole had destabilized.

"But…Shiro, this is-" Lance stammered.

Shiro nodded. "The people of Papikuri gave it to me while I stayed on their planet," he confirmed. "I want you to have it. It's a pilot's coat."

The jacket jerked along with Lance's hands. He lifted wide eyes to Shiro. Another nod.

"Only the best pilots on Papikuri get to wear the green of a pilot coat," Shiro said. "As far as I'm concerned, you deserve it, Lance. So wear it with pride."

Suddenly he had his arms full of lanky teen as Lance wrapped himself around Shiro like a squid. It only lasted long enough for Shiro to return the hug and pat Lance on the head once. Then Lance pulled back, his gaze flitting between the jacket and Shiro with equal amounts of awe and excitement.

"Oh my quiznak!" Lance shouted, once again probably misusing the term. "Shiro! This is the greatest thing ever!" He swung the jacket around and slid his arms through the holes. "It even fits perfectly!"

He didn't think to ask how it fit perfectly, if Shiro had come back to the castle wearing it and Shiro was so much bigger than Lance. The truth was that Shiro had borrowed the necessary materials from Coran and pulled the jacket in so it matched Lance's size. He was glad to have guessed Lance's measurements pretty correctly. It was actually still slightly big on him, but for Lance, that seemed to be the perfect fit. Just like his other jacket.

"Come on," Shiro said, breaking into Lance's bubble of excitement gently. "Let's go see what the others are up to."

Lance snorted as they walked. "Keith might be dressed like some stuffy lord dude, but I," he said with importance, puffing out his chest, "am an ace pilot."

…

…

Keith was sitting in the lounge, in his fancy clothes, with Coran and Allura when Shiro and Lance arrived. Or, rather, he looked like he was pinned in place by the combined curious stares of the two Alteans.

"Hey, my peeps," Lance greeted loudly. "What's up." It wasn't actually a question.

Allura clapped her hands together. "Oh good. Perhaps one of you can explain it to us, since Keith won't." She shot Keith an annoyed look that made him wither in his seat.

"What's the problem, princess?" Shiro asked as he and Lance drew near.

Clearing his throat, Coran said, "When we came in, Keith was singing a song about a snowman. Now, he's explained what snow is and what a snowman is, but he either cannot or simply will not tell us how a snowman can come to life because of a hat."

There was a moment of silence where the four standing members of Voltron just stared at each other while Keith looked like he wanted to die on the couch. Then Lance burst out laughing.

"Shut up!" Keith spit up, though he was far too embarrassed to manage to sound nearly commanding enough for Lance to listen to him.

"Keith-Keith-K-Keith-," Lance spluttered through his laughter. "Keith was s-singing Frosty t-he S-snowm-man?!"

In the end, Shiro was left to explain the story of Frosty the Snowman as a children's tale and the magic of the miserly magician's hat. Allura and Coran were both pleased to get their answers and disappointed to learn it was simply a story. So Shiro moved the topic to other Christmas songs.

"There's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," he said.

Coran perked up. "Ah! Yes! I heard that one today as well! They, whoever they are, called him names, right?"

Shiro glanced at Keith, who averted his gaze. "Right," he said slowly. "Anyway, there are a lot of other songs too. Like…Joy to the World. Up on the Housetop. Silent Night. Santa Claus is Coming to Town," Keith shifted uncomfortably and Shiro plowed on quickly, "Carol of the Bells. All I Want for Christmas is You. We Need a Little-" he stopped, remembering this was also one that Keith had sung today. He cleared his throat. "My point is, there are a lot of Christmas songs. Do you want to, maybe, learn some?"

Then Keith wouldn't have to be the only one singing.

…

…

Pidge and Hunk put an end to the caroling. Mainly because Hunk rushed in crying and holding his hands over his ears while Pidge asked, loudly, how an alley cat and an opera singer ended up on the ship.

…

…

Hunk made another fantastic feast for dinner.

"Dude, Hunk, I'm not gonna be able to fit into my pilot suit if you keep this up," Lance complained in a friendly tone as he shoveled food into his mouth.

"That doesn't seem to be stopping you," Keith said pointedly, giving Lance a mildly disgusted look. Still, he had his own plate of food and was on his second cup of space-nog again.

There was a forkful of food an inch from Pidge's mouth when she gasped and sat back. "Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed.

Everyone looked to her in either shock or confusion. She took out one of the tablets for the ship, entered a code, and suddenly the white lights around the room turned red and green, and the mood of the room became very Christmas-y.

"I reprogrammed the lights," she explained, looking proud of herself. "We don't have a tree, but that doesn't mean we can't have Christmas lights."

The other paladins smiled at her and relaxed a bit further into their seats.

"How fascinating!" Coran claimed. "On Altea, red and green lights meant a baby had been born. They were used at parties celebrating a birth!"

"Christmas is also a celebration of a birth," Shiro explained. "In the Christian religion, their savior, the son of God, Jesus, was born on Christmas in a manger. A lot of Christmas songs are about it, and churches hold special services about it every year."

He hoped that was enough for them. Shiro was really not looking forward to answering religion questions right now. Luckily, they didn't ask any more.

"We have…had," Allura corrected sadly, "a similar belief on Altea." She smiled. "In the beginning, there was Alta Mura, the mother of all Alteans. Shortly after the birth of Altea, there was a great battle between the gods and the dark ones. Alta Mura defeated the darkness, but it used up all of her power and she fell into a deep sleep to recover."

Coran nodded and curled his mustache like he was some sort of sage. "Ah, yes. All Alteans know this story." He pointed at the paladins one at a time. "It is believed that, one day, the darkness will come again and, in a time of great need, the sleeping Alta Mura will awaken to lead her army into battle once more. And this time, she'll defeat it forever and Altea will have eternal peace."

Allura sighed. "Sadly, I'm not sure how much I believe in Alta Mura anymore." She frowned down at her food. "Altea is gone. It was destroyed, and no goddess came to save us."

The paladins glanced to one another. Allura was a princess, stronger than any of them, who had been sleeping for ten thousand years before they arrived. And she was leading them, her army, through battles against the Galra, the darkest darkness any of them had ever encountered.

That sounded like Alta Mura to them.

Shaking herself, Allura smiled. "Regardless, we fight on. If no one will save us, we will do the saving. But this is a happy time, and I apologize for dampening it with talk of darkness."

Pidge shook her head. "Don't worry about it. This has been a pretty good Christmas, all things considered."

"Yeah," Hunk agreed. "I mean, we're out in the middle of space fighting in some terrible war against purple space aliens and we got presents. How cool is that?"

"And good food," Keith chimed in.

"And Christmas carols," Lance teased, throwing Keith a smug smirk and a wink. Keith, to his credit, just frowned and didn't respond.

Shiro smiled at their princess. "We've had a great day."

Allura smiled back. "And we have enjoyed learning more about your culture. Thank you so much for sharing this with us."

Holding his cup of space-nog up, Shiro said, to the table at large, "Merry Christmas, everybody."

A chorus of 'Merry Christmas' came back to him, and they all drank. It probably wasn't alcoholic, but the space-nog still made them feel very good inside, like the lights and their friends did outside. It was, war aside, a very merry Christmas.

…

…

fin.