Lance was seated on the couch in the lounge room, talking idly with Pidge. Hunk and Keith emerged from the kitchen, laughing and discussing the potential of food goo. Lance glanced up to view his own body sauntering into the room, torso muscled visible through the wife beater tank, sweat pants hanging lowly on his hips. He felt a wave of discomfort inside his own boxers, and he glanced down to see a tent forming. His brow furrowed and a blush stained his pale cheeks as he looked back up at Keith. He crossed his legs to hide his embarrassment and wondered how often Keith felt that way when Lance entered the room. Was he always this… attracted to him? Or was it a weird side effect of the spell?

"Hey, Pidge," Hunk called when he saw Keith and Lance staring at one another. "Come help me with this cube that the Baarans gave us."

Shrugging, Pidge rose from her seat and followed the yellow paladin out of the room, leaving Keith and Lance alone.

Keith sat awkwardly beside Lance. "This sucks."

Lance nodded eagerly. "Totally sucks. Why did the bonding spell have to switch our bodies?"

Keith leaned back, his tank top riding up ever-so-slightly. "How the hell do we switch them back?"

"Shiro said we have to get along, bond," Lance sighed. "I guess it's like that old saying about not understanding someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes."

"I had to take a shower like this," Keith grimaced. "I think that trumps walking in your shoes."

Lance nodded in agreement. "Well, we could talk. Learn more about each other. I mean, I never knew you had so many scars."

"I never knew you were so fit," Keith murmured softly. "Yeah, I guess we could talk."

"Come on," Lance said, standing. Keith followed suit, shuffling after him down the hall.

They returned to Lance's room, and Lance sat on his bed, patting the space beside him for Keith to do the same.

"It's weird, looking at my own face when I talk," Lance frowned.

"Tell me about it," Keith groaned. "How do you deal with being this tall? I have to duck through every single doorway."

The blue paladin barked out a laugh. "I'm used to it. How do you keep up with this, though?" he asked, running a hand through his fluffy hair. "It's so heavy!"

"I'm used to it," Keith countered with a chuckle. "It's always been thick."

"Why is your skin so dry?" Lance demanded, extending pale arms out before him. "No offense, dude, but I've met armadillos with softer skin than you."

Keith raised a brow in amusement. "Meet a lot of armadillos, do you?"

Lance faltered for a moment. "I- ugh! That's not what I meant. I just mean… You're the one with the dry skin!"

Keith shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't pay much attention to how my skin feels. Usually more focused on fight training."

Lance shuddered at the thought. "I put immense care into my skin. Run your hand across your face- I mean, you know, my face."

The red paladin narrowed his eyes curiously before doing as he was told. He lifted a tan hand and ran it down his cheek, eyes widening at the silky texture he met there.

Lance's lips stretched into a proud grin. "See?"

"Fine, you have nice skin," Keith shrugged. "I don't see why that's important."

The blue paladin sputtered. He opened his mouth to retort, but finding no reply, he closed it, eyes widened as he gazed at, well, himself. "Okay, that's it," he stated. He rose from his bed and grasped Keith's wrist, dragging him out of the room.

"What's it?" Keith questioned cautiously. "Where are we going?"

They arrived at Lance's bathroom, and Keith nearly choked at the sight of just how many beauty products the Cuban boy owned.

"What the hell is all this for?" he inquired.

Lance turned to him with a smirk. He gestured to a cluster of about seven different bottles and tubes. "Those are all for my face." Another three bottles sat nearby. "Those are lotions." He then turned and gestured to the vast collection inside the shower. "Those are all hair and body products."

Keith simply stared at him. "Why do you need so much stuff? I thought only girls put this much time into their looks."

Lance feigned a wounded expression, which was most comical to see expressed on Keith's features. "I'm going to show you how to take care of your skin, buddy. Come on, we'll start with a cleanser."

He plucked up a bottle of transparent pink liquid and a cloth. He poured a small amount of liquid onto the cloth before handing it to Keith. The latter simply stared at it before looking back at Lance.

Lance sighed, pouring cleanser onto a second cloth. He then turned towards the mirror, gesturing for Keith to do the same, and dragged the cloth across his face, allowing the cleanser to collect any dirt he may have accumulated during the day.

Keith felt awfully feminine as he copied the other boy's actions, but seeing Lance's face peering back at him made him feel like he was in a masquerade, and no one knew who he really was, so he didn't feel quite as embarrassed.

"Now, the scrub," Lance stated. He selected a tube full of mint green goo and squeezed a fair amount onto his hand, and the same onto Keith's. He then held his hands under the water and rubbed them together to form a lather. He lifted his hands to his face and smeared the suds across his skin, closing his eyes as to not rub soap into them. Keith followed suit, stifling the voice in his head that told him to cease whatever the hell he was doing. Besides, the minty scrubby stuff smelled really good, and Keith noticed, with a blush on his cheeks, that this must be why Lance always smelled nice. Yes, he absolutely noticed that Lance smelled nice.

"And now," Lance stated as he splashed water on his face to rinse away the suds. He grasped a towel to dry off with before picking up the tube of pale pink lotion. "Moisturizer."

Keith cringed. He'd heard that word before, but it had always sounded so feminine. "Do I have to?"

Lance deadpanned. "Unless you want your skin to be rougher than a cat's tongue, yes, you do."

Keith opened his mouth to protest, but he didn't have much of an argument. He'd already admitted that he didn't take care of his skin – it probably was rougher than a cat's tongue. Though, he was currently tending to Lance's face, so his own skin wouldn't be harmed if he didn't participate. But he didn't particularly want to incur the wrath of the man who did this to himself on a regular basis.

He accepted the dollop of lotion that Lance dropped into his palm, and though he had a slight idea of how to apply it, he watched Lance first anyway, just in case there was a special ritual of moisturizing your face that he was unfamiliar with.

Lance smeared the pale pink goo all over his skin, rubbing it in with a contented hum. Keith complied, and he wouldn't admit under physical torture that he enjoyed the sensations it left on his face. Lance rubbed off any excess lotion between his hands, and Keith caught on, doing the same.

"Wasn't that nice?" Lance beamed, expecting praise. Keith didn't want to disappoint that bubbly face, even though it was currently his own face, but he also wasn't ready to become spa buddies with the blue paladin.

"Uh, sure," he shrugged.

Lance's eyes narrowed. "You liked it. I know you did."

"What did you do to my hair?!"

Everyone heard Keith's screech, though it had come through in Lance's voice. A day after their bathroom bonding, the other paladins had found out one way or another that Keith and Lance had switched bodies. Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge all took great amusement in their situation, offering little advice to help speed up the spell's course.

Lance, still in Keith's body, was currently sporting a rather attractive man-bun. He had brushed Keith's unruly mullet and had managed to find a hairtie buried at the bottom of his belongings. His raven locks were pulled back to the top of his head and secured lazily into a small bun, a few stray hairs sticking out here and there. Clearly, Keith had never tried tying his hair up – the mullet had flat out refused for a good hour before Lance had forced it to comply.

"I tied it up," Lance shrugged innocently as he sauntered into the kitchen. "Your hair is a mess, Keith. I don't know how you leave it in your face all the time."

"I like it in my face," Keith growled through gritted teeth.

"If it makes you feel any better, your hair fought back," Lance countered. "Took me an hour to do this."

"That was my hair telling you to knock it off," Keith pouted. He had no way to retaliate – Lance's hair was barely short enough to require washing, let alone brushing or styling.

"Don't even think what you're thinking, Mullet," Lance warned, narrowing his eyes.

Keith offered him a smirk. "You're the one with the Mullet now."

Realization washed over Lance's Keith face and he exhaled a childish whine. "No fair."

"How long do you think this spell will last?" Hunk inquired as he stood behind a counter in the kitchen, mixing alien ingredients into a bowl and hoping for the best.

"A while," Pidge replied, adjusting her glasses. "They can't get along for more than a few ticks. It's like as soon as they realize they're being civil toward one another, they have to make up for it with extra fighting."

Shiro nodded slowly. "Pidge is right. I wish those two could just knock it off. With how badly they get along, they could be stuck forever."

"It would be so much easier if they would just confess," Hunk sighed, spooning the mixture onto a baking sheet.

"Yeah, it wou- wait, what do you mean?" Pidge inquired, turning to narrow her eyes at the brunet.

Hunk shrugged. "Lance confided in me like several quintants ago that he hates Keith so much because it's easier than being in love with him, which he totally is. He'll just never admit it, thinking Keith thoroughly hates his guts."

Shiro smirked. "Funny you mention that, Hunk. I recall Keith admitting to me that he was so mean to Lance because he refused to admit how much he admired him."

Pidge's gaze darted between Hunk and Shiro, finally landing on the latter. "Keith has feelings? How did you get him to admit them?"

The team leader laughed. "Keith will discuss just about anything when he's sleep-deprived. Get him really tired and ask him about Lance – he won't shut up until he passes out."

The tech genius of the team grinned slyly, her golden eyes shining beneath her glasses. "I have an idea."

Exhausted, the paladins returned to the castle, clad in battle armor with sweat dripping from their brows. They had spent an entire day practicing Voltron drills, and it had taken more effort than usual to form Voltron and produce various bayard-given weapons with Lance and Keith in each other's bodies. They had managed to pilot their own lions, since the robotic cats sensed their paladin's souls, but the controls had been off. Though Red and Blue could feel Keith and Lance, respectively, they too were confused by the switch, and a little hesitant to cooperate.

The five paladins collapsed on various pieces of furniture in the lounge deck. Shiro had wanted them to bond as a team before running off to their rooms and showers. Keith, clad in blue paladin armor as his red armor didn't fit Lance's lanky frame, was nearly asleep as he leaned back against the cushions. Shiro and Pidge shared a sneaky glance – that was just the state they wanted Keith to be in.

Lance inhaled a yawn, lifting a pale hand to cover it. "Can we go to bed now?"

"Nah, we should talk," Shiro insisted. Lance sat to his left while Keith was on his right, head full of short brown hair falling on his shoulder as he gave up on trying to stay awake.

Pidge sat on Keith's other side. "Hey, Keith. Who's your favorite paladin?"

"Don't have one," came the red paladin's sleepy mumble.

"Aww, sure you do," the green paladin grinned. "Think about it. Who do you like the most?"

Shiro and Hunk waited with bated breath for Keith's reply."

"Mnn… like Lance…"

Lance, for his part, was conked out, head thrown back against the back of the couch, lips parted slightly. Shiro shimmied out of his spot between them, allowing Keith to fall against Lance's shoulder. He turned and curled into the warm chest under him, wrapping his arms around Lance's. Pidge stifled a snicker as she rose from the couch and shuffled away, not wanting to wake either of them. Hunk followed Pidge and Shiro out of the room.

Keith awoke warm. Slightly uncomfortable, but as he shifted his body, he discovered that he'd fallen asleep in his armor. I must have been exhausted… he mused to himself. He'd never passed out in his armor before. A glance down at his chest had his thick brows furrowing in confusion. Why was his armor blue… Oh. He and Lance were still under that damn spell.

Speaking of Lance…

A glance to the left told Keith that the warmth that had lulled him to sleep was, well, his own chest. Lance, in Keith's body, was still asleep beside him, one arm now limp at his side when before it had been wrapped around Keith.

The red paladin rose quickly and shuffled down the hall towards his room. He took his usual dark grey t-shirt and black jeans from his closet before heading the bathroom to shower.

By the time he was ready for the day, brown locks sticking up in odd directions and t-shirt just barely reaching his hips- because Lance was tall- Lance had already risen and showered as well. His blue-and-grey baseball shirt hung over his ass, and his blue light wash jeans were scrunched up at his ankles. Damn their height difference, he mused in his head, though he'd always thought it was cute. He enjoyed tilting his head down to meet Keith's eyes, the feeling of authority and protectiveness that came with being taller than the red paladin. How it would feel to take his pale face in his hands and brush that damn mullet out of his eyes and press his lips to-

Stop that, Lance scolded himself. Never going to happen.

"Uh, guys?" Hunk said hesitantly as he sat in the lounge deck with Pidge and Shiro. "I remember something else about Lance confessing his feelings for Keith to me."

Shiro lifted a brow. "What is it, Hunk?"

The dark-haired paladin blushed. "Keith might know about it. The day after we came back from Baara, I saw Lance in the kitchen and, since they were supposed to be bonding, I asked him if he told Keith how he felt. Except it was Keith in Lance's body, and I didn't know that, so I kinda accidentally told Keith."

Pidge exhaled a laugh. "That is the best mistake you've ever made, Hunk."

Shiro allowed himself a small chuckle. "Well, those two should be figuring themselves out soon. They're both crushing on each other, and if Keith knows for sure that Lance likes him back, he might finally do something about it."

The other two nodded in agreement, hoping that their leader was right.

"We need to talk."

Hearing his own voice startled Lance out of his thoughts, and he looked up from his lap. Keith lingered in the doorway, his clothes just a touch too small for Lance's body, an unreadable expression on his tanned features.

Lance nodded simply, gesturing for Keith to come into his room and sit down. Keith awkwardly complied, dropping onto the bed beside Lance.

"The day after we went to Baara, when this switching mess first happened…" Keith began, trailing off and letting his eyes wander around the room. "I went into the kitchen and Hunk started talking to me. He didn't know I was me; he thought he was talking to you." Inhale. Exhale. Stare at his lap. "He asked if you had ever confessed your feelings to me."

Lance stared at his own face, gulping audibly. "He… he did?"

Keith nodded. "I just said no, because what the hell else was I supposed to say? And he left it at that. But I couldn't stop thinking about it."

"Suppose it's time to come clean, then," Lance sighed. "Keith… I don't think I ever hated you. I was always attracted to you, but you were too cool for me, so I made up this dumb rivalry to get your attention, because there was no way you'd ever look in my direction, much less be my friend. As we started working together as paladins, I realized that I didn't just admire you. I fell in love with you."

Keith swallowed, lifting his gaze to meet Lance's. "I was always so short tempered with you because I was afraid that if I were too nice, I'd let loose something personal, like how I truly felt. I thought that the best way to keep you from finding out how attracted I am to you would be keeping you at arm's length. But then I just wanted to protect you, and I didn't have a valid reason to because we're supposed to hate each other…" He exhaled a sigh. "I'm in love with you, too."

A soft hum sounded throughout the room, and purple smoke surrounded the boys. They each found themselves dizzy and off-balance, but before too long, they were once again seated on Lance's bed. Only now…

"We're back!" Lance exclaimed. He patted himself down and gazed at his tanned limbs, ensuring that he was truly back in his own body.

Keith exhaled a sigh of relief, running a hand through his thick raven locks.

Lance scooted closer and rested a hand on Keith's thigh. Keith turned, nearly brushing his nose against the Cuban's.

"What now?" the red paladin inquired breathlessly.

"This," Lance countered. He lifted a hand to rest it on Keith's face, holding him close as he leaned in. He connected their lips without hesitation, humming into the kiss. His free hand found Keith's hair, tangling in the dark strands and tugging gently. The red paladin groaned in response, shifting closer until he was straddling his companion's lap, running calloused hands down his toned chest. Lance's tongue poked through Keith's slightly parted lips, invading his mouth without waiting for permission (not that Keith would have denied him). Keith growled, wrestling the brunet's tongue with his own, going so far as to take the muscles between his teeth and suck on it. A whimper sounded in Lance's throat, and his nails scraped the base of Keith's neck. The paler boy ground his hips against Lance's, fisting his hands in his shirt, drawing him impossibly closer. The tan hand that had been on Keith's thigh slid around behind him, spreading his fingers to grasp as much of the red paladin's ass as he could.

The kiss broke as both boys were in desperate need of air. Their foreheads rested together as they panted in unison, sapphire eyes gazing into amethyst.

"Shit," Lance hissed as he struggled to catch his breath.

"All the time we wasted fighting," Keith panted, "when we could have been doing that."

"Sounds like we got a lot to make up for," the Cuban grinned, drawing his partner into another kiss.

Shiro was the first to question why he hadn't seen Keith or Lance since he left them on the couch the night before. He shuffled down the hall towards Lance's room, having already checked Keith's and found it empty. He could only hope that the boys had found some way to bond by now, knowing they wouldn't last much longer trapped in each other's forms.

He stopped at Lance's door, preparing to knock when he found it wide open.

"Ah- Keith!"

The sight that met Shiro had all of his blood rushing to his face. He turned on his heel and stormed back down the hall, preparing to warn his ship mates not to venture anywhere near Lance's room.