"Your bayard changed to a sword?" Keith's eyebrows arched in surprise.

"Heh, yeah. It just kind of… happened?" Lance's explanation was weak at best.

"Do you know how to use it?"

"Do I- of course I know how to use it!"

"I didn't mean it personally, Lance." Keith said placatively. "It's okay if you aren't great with a sword yet, you haven't been working with one for very long. You're an amazing sharpshooter, but that came with practice. I'm sure that if the bayard summoned a blade for you then you're more than capable of wielding it."

"Oh. Um, okay, then. Thanks, Keith." Lance was baffled. Did Keith really just compliment him? And basically say he believed in him?

"It's just the truth, Lance." Keith shrugged. "Now, do you want me to give you some pointers?"

Lance, now a little uncomfortable because the situation was not familiar in the slightest, resorted to his usual get-out-of-awkward-settings-mode. "Ha- some pointers- because it's a sword-"

Keith ignored Lance's babbling and took his knife out of his belt. The blade activated, providing Keith with a weapon that he could parry a sword with.

Lance regarded him for a moment before steeling his nerves and pulling out the red bayard. It morphed into the Altean Broadsword again and the weight was somehow comfortable, natural. He gripped the handle anxiously and raised his weapon to meet Keith's.

"The thing about swords is that they're an extension of your will. It's not like a gun- fighting like this is up close and personal. The sword will follow the arc of your arm and all the force comes from your own body." As Keith spoke, he stepped closer until they were at a good position to spar. "It's a powerful tool, but only if you use it correctly."

Lance tried to focus on the words that Keith was saying, but he found himself too focused on how close they were, how that black suit clung to his body in a way that the paladin suits never had, how… nice it actually was to see him again. Hopefully his subconscious absorbed some of this information because at this rate the only thing Lance had learned was that Keith had somehow gotten even more muscley. How was it legal for someone to look so good in a skintight suit?

He parried on autopilot when Keith swung at his face. He may have also yelped.

"Focus, Lance." Keith scolded. "Learning how to use this sword is a matter of life or death."

Lance kept swinging the sword, but the fighting quickly got more intense. It became difficult to be everywhere that Keith was, to move in response, to just flat out avoid getting his ass kicked. Keith was just so damn fast. Lance didn't think he'd ever be able to fight like him.

"C'mon, Lance." Keith narrowed his eyes and ramped up his attacks again. "Focus."

Lance closed his eyes and parried a thrust, trying to hone in on what he was doing and get his head in the game.

With another yelp he went flying as Keith swiped his legs out from under him. He hit the ground hard.

"Oww." Lance groaned, grabbing the bayard from where it had slipped from his grasp. "What was that for?"

"You aren't trying hard enough."

"I'm not trying hard enough?!"

"Yes," Keith suddenly growled, stalking forward. Lance's eyes widened.

Keith swung at Lance and the sharpshooter scrambled to intercept the blow. "You have to work harder, be quicker, the longer the fight drags on the more tired you'll get while wielding a broadsword."

Lance gritted his teeth but couldn't think of a retort; Keith was right. He started to press forward, pushing on as much as he defended.

But only a moment later Keith dealt a blow so hard that his bayard was wrenched from his grasp. Lance cursed and lunged for it, sweeping upwards as he did so as to counter the blade Keith swung at his heart. The resounding clang echoed through the training deck.

Lance huffed, breathing hard. Keith didn't even break a sweat. Lance narrowed his eyes. Why did Keith just have to be better than him at everything? He let out an indignant scoff and swung as hard as he could towards Keith, but Keith just jumped backwards to throw off Lance's balance.

Keith lunged forward to rap him in the side with the flat edge of his blade. "You're leaving your defenses up, remember to use your shield." Lance gritted his teeth.

He grudgingly summoned the shield and used it to block Keith's heavy hits, letting the holographic energy absorb the crushing impacts while he tried to follow kis movements.

But Keith danced around him and rapped his back before Lance could turn around again. "Stop fixating on your defense- you have to go on the offensive if you want to win!"

Lance just angrily jabbed his sword in Keith's direction. He fumed, humiliation burning in his temples. Why did Keith just get to waltz back here to the castle and show off? Lance'd show him.

Keith eased up for just a moment and Lance took the opportunity. He pressed forwards, bringing his blade down in an arc over his head and slamming it down into Keith's. He swung again with all his might, sending Keith's blade flying. All of the sudden Lance was stretched out in a lunge, the edge of his blade a hair's breadth from Keith's neck. He panted, eyes narrowed, glaring at the boy in front of him.

It was over.

Keith's breathing was ragged now. His chest heaved but he looked… proud… if only for a moment. Lance just stared at him; silence fell over the pair. Their eyes locked and neither did anything but breathe heavily.

Lance couldn't help but wonder if Keith felt the same way he did in this moment. He wondered if Keith felt the charged air and electricity that crackled between them. He wondered if Keith wanted to be closer, like he did.

Lance was afraid to speak and ruin whatever this energy was that was between them. Standing so close to him, staring so deep into Keith's eyes, Lance suddenly knew just how much he had missed him.

Keith wondered if Lance knew how lonely the days had been without his awful jokes and charged personality. Did he know how much Keith had just wanted to go back home? To be with his friends again? To be with Lance again?

"Lance-"

"Keith-"

They both stopped talking abruptly. They both hesitated to continue. They both floundered for words and came up blank. Lance fumbled around in his brain, wondering where all his anger had gone, and where all this fondness had come from.

"You- You're not bad with the sword." Keith said, finally looking away. He cleared his throat. Adversely, Lance couldn't tear his gaze away.

"Yeah…" Lance murmured absently. Neither one of them moved until, slowly, Lance lowered his bayard. Both boys straightened automatically.

Keith opened his mouth to speak but snapped it shut for some un-apparent reason. He nodded once at Lance before turning around on his heel and walking away, out of the training center. Even after the door slid shut Lance stared after him and a flush rose to his cheeks. He clapped his hands over his skin to hide the red tint and he yelped in pain and irritation as he accidentally slapped his own face and dropped the bayard again. The noise it made when it hit the ground startled him even further.

Stop blushing. He thought furiously. Why am I blushing anyways? It- it must've just been the exercise. Yeah, that was it.

He scooped up his bayard and slunk out of the training deck, intent on forgetting that any of this happened. Keith did not just compliment him or help him out. Lance did not swoon over Keith, he did not blush just thinking about it, and he most certainly did not like Keith in any way other than as a friend. He shuddered- he should probably shower to cool off the blood rising to his cheeks.

His flushed face was just due to the exercise. Nothing more.

Just. The exercise. Right. Yup.

Lance groaned and covered his face with his hands.

Nope, it was definitely Keith.

Keith leaned back against the door to his room(it had stayed his even after all this time), face red and heart pounding. It was just the exercise, right? No homo-?

Keith groaned and thunked his head back against the door. Nope. Full homo. Definitely.