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“What are you even nervous about?” Keith's grumbling falls from under a blanket burrito on the couch. He pops his head out to glare across the room at Lance. “You already scored the second date.”“Easy for you to say!” Lance huffs back. “You knew Shiro for years before you started dating. It was easy for you to get together.”Keith rolls his eyes. “You've been friends with Allura for a while.”“Not the same!” Lance cries, calling over his shoulder. He's too busy pacing back into his room to deal with his roommate's complaints. Keith had it easy, dating his childhood friend and not some gorgeous, way-out-of-Lance's-league badass that he met his freshman year of college.Sure, she'd been his first-year mentor, so they'd spent a lot of one-on-one time together... But mostly discussing how Lance was doing adjusting to college. He'd had a massive crush on Allura then, and two years later, with Allura set to graduate and go to law school in less than two semesters, Lance had finally put his mouth where his heart was and asked her out.The first date? Absolutely perfect, if Lance says so himself. He'd done everything right—taken her to dinner, complimented her outfit, played all his cards right. It worked, too, because as he was dropping Allura off at her apartment in his old pickup truck, she'd leaned over the console, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and kissed him until they were breathless.And then, with a grin and a goodnight, she was closing the car door behind her and making her way into her apartment.Of course, even with one date in the bag, it wasn't like Lance could relax. He still had to keep it up.“You realize,” Keith calls from the living room. “That you can't keep stressing about every date this much. You'll wear yourself out.”Lance slowly walks to the living room doorway, leaning against the door frame and pinning Keith with an unamused glare. “I seem to remember someone spending nearly the entire morning stressing over his outfit for his first lunch date with Shiro. A lunch date! It's casual, Keith! And besides, your mullet ruins every outfit anyway!”Keith leans his head back over the armrest he's laying against and glowers at Lance, upside-down. “Just get over yourself. Allura likes you well enough. You'll be fine.”The doorbell rings.“Shit, gotta go,” Lance scrambles to grab his wallet and keys from his room.“Allura's picking you up?” Keith asks.“Yeah,” Lance explains as he hurries to the door. “We decided we'd take turns planning dates.”Keith sighs at Lance's melodramatics. “Then you really have nothing to worry about. Have fun.”Lance sticks his tongue out at Keith, even though he's not paying attention to see it. He opens the door, greeted with probably the most beautiful woman he'll ever see in his life.Okay, so he's smitten. So what? Keith's done his fair share of pining (read: drooling) over Shiro.“Hi,” Allura greets cheerfully. She has her hair pulled back into a braid and is wearing a simple black cami and shorts. “Ready?”“As I'll ever be,” Lance replies. He goes for smooth and probably comes out more breathy than he intends.“That'll have to do,” Allura quips back. She offers her elbow out. “Your majesty?”Lance snorts, but links his arm with hers, like a princess being led. “I thought you were the Queen.”Allura considers. “Does that make you my knight in shining armor?”“Your wish is my command, your highness.”“Wonderful,” Allura says, sounding pleased. It warms Lance's heart. “My first command is for you to find me something shiny.”“M'lady,” Lance says seriously. “As if anything could compare to the glitter of your beautiful eyes.”Allura laughs and glances over at him. Lance grins at her. She drops her elbow and instead reaches for his hand to intertwine their fingers. She's smiling the whole time.A moment later, however, they have to separate to get into Allura's car.As soon as the engine's on, Allura blurts, “I didn't plan anything as fancy as last time.”“I have no expectations,” Lance replies, and then winces. “Wait. What I mean is... I don't care? Ugh—”Allura glances over at him, questioningly.“It doesn't matter,” Lance finally manages, “As long as it's with you.”Allura giggles. “It's okay. I get it.”Lance lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. “I'm not joking... Or just saying it. I really like spending time with you.”“That's... really sweet, Lance,” Allura says. “I hope it goes without saying that I reciprocate the sentiment.”“Still, might be nice to hear it.”“As if your ego needs any more inflating,” Allura teases. “But you're right. I do enjoy spending time with you. I like you. A lot. You're funny and smart and caring and...”“And?” Lance prompts.“Really cute,” Allura finishes firmly. “All your hot rugged boyishness.”Lance finds himself in a rare situation: speechless. Instead of a decent reply, he chokes out a: “Can I kiss you?”Allura's smile is soft, fond. “Of course. Always.”Before she finishes her response, Lance is surging across the console of her car, a mirror of their first kiss. His worries from before have melted away, replaced by adoration.Keith was right. Everything will be fine.Allura's kiss is sweet, tinted mint by her lip balm. Lance thinks he's falling in love.His face feels warm as he pulls away. “Well,” he says softly, and then has to clear his throat to make his voice work. He pats the dash of Allura's car. “Our carriage grows restless, my liege.”Breathless, Allura laughs. “We should get going, then.”Lance settles back into his seat, but keeps his gaze on Allura. “Where are we going?” It doesn't matter where, really, as long as she's with him. But it might be nice to know.“There's this ice cream place just outside of town my uncle always raves about,” Allura explains. “I thought it might be fun to try? There's a park nearby, too. We could play volleyball if you want.” Allura glances over at him, a challenge in her gaze.“Oh, you're on. Girlfriend or not, you're going down.”“Yeah?” Allura challenges. “We'll see about that.”When they arrive, the ice cream is sweet. The kisses? Even sweeter.