𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚃𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 - 𝙺𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙺𝚘𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚎 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛

Chapter Fourteen - "Filthy, lowballing Unilu hoodilums!"

"The Unilu were traders and pirates that roamed the galaxies and dealt in black market goods. Umvy spice, by-tor water, little bottles of infinity vapour. Of course, you had to bargain. No one could bargain like the Unilu. Last time, I ended up giving away three-quarters of my shipment of Lango in exchange for a pogo oscillator,", Coran rambled, ending with a small chuckle. 

"Father was not pleased about that,", Allura laughed at the memory before being interrupted by a certain Cuban boy. 

"Well, while Coran is picking up his lenses, I'll take you shopping for something sparkly,", he claimed, sliding over to Allura and smiling flirtatiously. Before she could react to his advances, however, Coran had appeared in the middle of the two, making them jump away and evoking a small squeak from both them and you. 

"This isn't shopping! You're not wandering around saying 'Ooh, what a lovely pink hat! This is so becoming!' ", he exclaimed, mimicking a female voice and making a face as he exaggerated his impersonation of a casual shopper. "No! I can't allow Allura to get anywhere near those filthy, lowballing Unilu hoodlums!", he fumed. 

"But I'd love something sparkly!", she smiled brightly, clasping her hands together and leaning towards Coran eagerly, like a kid who wanted their mother to buy them more toys. You giggled at the exchange, looking to Keith who seemed to be struggling to not do the same. Wow, they could be children sometimes. Though, you were sure they were giving you plenty of practice for your child. 

"Look, you're the only one who can operate the castle. You need to be resting after all you've been through,", he reasoned with her, turning and ignoring the defeated look she gave him as she slumped forward. "Now, let's ready a pod for our mission. We need to get in, find the scaultrite lenses and just get out,". 

"Shotgun!", Lance called, running towards the ginger with a cheeky grin. 

"What? No! You have to be in the pod bay to call shotgun!", Hunk whined, running after him.

"Since when?", Lance humoured him, still racing the other male. 

"Uh, since forever? That's shotgun etiquette! I wrote the book,", Hunk replied, now trying his hardest to catch up to Lance. Shaking your heads, you, Keith and Pidge followed behind at a more regular pace, walking sensibly to the pod bay, leaving Allura and Shiro behind to discuss what they were to do while you'd all be gone. 

--

Now seated rather close for comfort in the pod, you sat quietly and listened as Coran and Lance - who had gotten shotgun - communicated with the four of you over the intercom. After racing like children, Hunk and Lance needed a minute to recover, so they hadn't been too loud compared to before. 

"Hello? Backseat passengers? Can you hear me?", he asked, seeming to be testing whether the communications system did still, in fact, work. 

"Oh, it's so comfy up here. Extra legroom, heated seats! Oh, man!", Lance bragged, the smirk he wore practically radiating through his voice. While three of you weren't bothered, Hunk was still salty about the situation, mumbling incoherent phrases about Lance under his breath. Curled into the corner of the seat so that you wouldn't disturb Keith, you rolled your eyes playfully, finding their competitive nature entertaining. 

"Now, these swap moons are very dangerous environments. So be on your toes. No weapons or communication devices of any kind!", at the mention of it being dangerous, Keith's eyes fluttered open for a split second, glancing in your direction as they held a gleam you couldn't quite understand. "Also, I've brought along some disguises,".

At that, we all shared wide-eyed looks, a little concerned as to what Coran had in store for us this time. Reaching his hand to you, Keith pulled you towards him, you sitting upright and properly to give you a little more room as you waited to see what Coran had brought.