Y/n's POV

Finally, after wanting to just have a day to chill, we were going to a space mall.

"We need to get in find the scaultrite lenses, and just get out." Coran says.

"Shotgun!" I shout, running ahead.

"What? No, you have to be in the pod bay to call shotgun." Lance calls, running after me.

"Since when?" I sass.

"Since forever? That's shotgun etiquette! I wrote the book." Lance sasses back. I reach the ship first, but Lance pulls me backwards and shoves me aside. I sit up to see him sitting in the passenger side, grinning.

"Haha, I win." He smirks. A low growl makes ends his laughter and he sheepishly smiles at the Orange Lion. "Oh, I mean-Y/n, you can have shotgun." Lance slides out of the seat and holds the door open so I could get in. Orange reduces her size slightly so she could fit in the cockpit and slips inside. Keith raises an eyebrow at me as Lance quickly jumps into the back.

"I hope Coran doesn't mind if I bring a friend." I say. Keith chuckles before joining the other Paladins in the cargo hold.

"Hello? Back passengers? Can you hear me?" Coran speaks into the intercom. I smile and lean closer to the mic.

"Oh, Lance, it's so comfy up here. Extra leg-room, heated seats! Oh, man! I can't believe you gave it up for me. You're so kind." I sarcastically say.

"Stupid shotgun." I snicker as I hear Lance mutter under his breath. I spot the moon and we land swiftly. I follow the others into what definitely appears to be a giant mall. Orange sticks by my side, nuzzling my hand as we walk.

"Now, these swap moons are very dangerous environments. So be on your toes. No weapons or communication devices of any kind! Also, I've brought along some disguises." Coran says, too happily in my opinion. He quickly decks us out in disguises. I was the only one who looked normal, wearing a black shirt, a dark cloak, boots, and dark pants.

"Uh, Coran?" Lance speaks up. I look at the others and silently laugh. They looked like a bunch of kids dressed up for Halloween. "This Unilu swap meet looks an awful lot like a regular mall."

"It does seem to be a little cleaner than I remember." The Altean says after taking a moment to look around. "Still, be vigilant. The Unilu are cut-throat wheeler-dealers. So keep your hands on your coin satchels."

"My satchels are empty." I say, touching my pockets.

"Let's just get this over with." Keith sighs.

"Yes, right. Everyone, let's fan out, search the area for teludav lenses. We'll meet by the giant ticking clock here in one vaga. Don't be late, and try to blend in." Coran quickly hurries off. I look at the others.

"Why don't we split off in twos? Two sets of eyes work better than one. Well, in Lance's case, one and a half." The others laugh at my statement, while Lance just huffs and crosses his arms.

"Alright. Pidge, you go with Lance. Hunk, you'll probably do better on your own. I'll take Y/n." Keith splits us up and we walk off to find the lenses. A flash catches my eye and I walk over to watch a knife demonstration. Keith stands by my side as we watch.

"Let me show you this wonderful workings of the Galasu X-90 Extreme Blade System. It slices, it dices, it kills, slaughters, and skins and constantly stays razor sharp! Look at it cut through this bloato fruit." The alien quickly cuts through the fruit, showing us. "Paper thin. How much would you pay for this knife? But wait, there's more! How many times have you had to fight off a charging rock monster and then go immediately to a picnic? All the time, right? The Galasu can cut through rocks and still cut bloato fruit paper thin. Now how much would you pay? Seriously, how much? I have a lot of these to unload."

"I just had a question." Keith approaches the alien.

"Fine! What do you got?" The alien asks.

"Have you ever come across something like this?" My eyes widen when I see Keith's blade. The alien grabs and inspects it.

"Whoa, this craftsmanship is incredible! And is this a luxite blade? The planet they mine that from hasn't existed in decafebes. Where'd you get this?" The alien looks at Keith.

"Someone gave it to me." Keith simply replies.

"Okay, that's vague. Tell you what, I'll give you 1,000 GAC to take it off your hands."

"It's not for sale." I could sense Keith's instant defense and find myself grabbing his hand. The only response I get from him was a squeeze of his hand.

"Two thousand." The alien bargains again.

"No, thanks. Give it back." Keith reaches for the knife, but the alien pulls back.

"How about this? I keep the knife and you beat it before security gets here. I know it's stolen."

"It's not stolen. If he says someone gave it to him, he didn't steal it." I growl.

"You his girlfriend? Then tell me where he got it." The alien demands. Before I could answer, his eyes grow wide.

"Is that an Altean lion?!" I follow his gaze to Orange, who had been at my side the entire time.

"What's it to you?" I say, glaring at the alien.

"I'll make you a deal. I'll give you back the knife, but I get the lion." The alien responds.

"No way. Not going to happen." Keith stands in front of me and Orange, blocking us with his body.

"Fine, I get the knife, the lion, and the girl!" I scream as the alien throws now-unhidden ropes at me and Orange. I fall to the ground, tangled in them.

"Stop it! Let her go!" Keith jumps on the alien, snatching his knife and pushing the alien back. He quickly slices through my ropes and helps me up. Orange had managed to slice her own ropes and now stood over the alien, teeth bare.

"No, please, don't hurt me!" He whimpers.

"Orange, come on!" I shout as Keith pulls me after him. Orange huffs at the alien one final time before running after me. Keith pulls me into an alley between two shops and we stop to gather our breath. Orange reduces her size to the size of a small house cat and climbs onto my shoulders.

"You okay?" Keith asks, concern in his eyes as he checks me for any injuries. Orange licks his hand as it passes by her.

"I'm fine. Thank you for getting me out of there." I respond.

"It was my fault that happened. I wasn't about to let that slime-ball take you." Keith says. I smile, blushing slightly.

"Now, let's go look for those teladuv lenses."

Keith's POV

Y/n had to run to the bathroom real quick. Now was my chance. I spot the florist shop and walk in.

"Hello, how may I help you today?" A rather-tall female alien walks up to me. She had a flower dress on and flowers in her green hair.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you have any orange flowers." The alien nods and leads me to the back of the store. A single orange flower sat in the midst of similar red ones. I smiled. This was the one.

Y/n's POV

I come out of the bathroom, only to run into Hunk.

"Hunk?"

"Y/n! He's right behind me!" Hunk squeals. Keith appears behind me.

"Who?" Keith asks.

"Pirate number two and three! My lucky day!" I look behind Hunk and see what appears to be a security guard.

"Just great. Run!" The three of us run, the security guard on our heels. I spot Lance and Pidge, obviously having just bought something.

"Time to get moving, guys! Security's on our tail!" I shout, grabbing Lance's hand and pulling him after me.

"There's the rest of the crew!" The security guard laughs at himself as we start to run once more.

"Everyone up on Kaltenecker!" Lance shoves the closest person to him up onto the cow. Which was me, by the way.

"Did you buy a cow?" Hunk asks.

"It was free with purchase!" Pidge replies, climbing up in front of me. I end up between Keith and Pidge, frantically searching for Coran. Keith instinctively put his arms around my waist to steady me whenever we hit a bump. His arms on my waist was the last thing I was worried about at the moment, though.

"There he is!" I shout, pointing at a familiar orange head.

"We gotta go, Coran!" Keith shouts.

"I got the scaultrite lenses!" Coran jumps up, grabbing Hunk's hand as we fly by, and off we went.

"There's the exit!" I look up at Pidge's shout.

"Get back here!" The security guard groans as we pass through the exit. "Doggone it! You better run! Don't let me catch you in my jurisdiction again, pirates!"

"Oh, so you can't follow us outside, huh?" Lance stands on our cow-ride's back to taunt the guard, only to be hit in the face by a post.

"Oh, Lance."

Keith's POV

"We got our lenses!" Coran shouts gleefully as we enter the Castle. I follow the others into the control room.

"Excellent! Now, we can get the teludav up and running." The others' voices fade into the background as I look at Y/n. She was petting Orange at the moment, face scrunched. She always scrunched her nose and furrowed her eyebrows when she was lost in thought. When should I give it to her? Would now be a good time?

"...we need to get moving." I snap out of my thoughts as Shiro speaks. "We're headed for the Blade of Marmora's headquarters."

"I'll plot a course." Allura says.

"While you're doing that, I'm gonna hook up the video game Lance and I bought."

"Yeah! Let's get this baby set up." Lance cheers. The bandage on his forehead, placed there by Y/n, made me laugh slightly at him. I see Y/n leave the room and follow her, leaving the others to find out how to set up their gaming system. I follow Y/n to her room. I reach into my pocket and pull out the flower. Luckily, it hadn't gotten smooshed in our escape.

"Y/n?" I knock on the door.

"Yeah?" Her face peeks out and I find myself lost in her e/c eyes for a moment. It's now or never.

"I...I got you something from the mall. I wanted to give it to you." I hold out the flower and Y/n's eyes light up.

"Oh, Keith, it's gorgeous!" Y/n smiles. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."