"Team bonding is important," Shiro said. "It's important that build strong foundations for it. Without it, we're not much of a team."

Hunk raised his hand but started talking before Shiro gestured to him. "But...aren't we like...already a team? We all trust each other. ...I think."

"We do," Shiro agreed. "But it can't hurt. I was just thinking that we should split up, maybe into pairs-"

"I'll take Keith," Lance blurted out.

Keith did his best not to laugh from across the room. Lance's eyes flicked to him as he shrugged sheepishly.

"You will?" Hunk asked.

"Yeah...I mean…" Lance looked to Keith for help but received none. He didn't look away, though. Their gazes stayed on each other while he struggled. "We're rivals...y'know. We need to bond!"

"Didn't you already have a bonding moment?" Pidge asked.

Lance shushed her.

Shiro continued, but not without raising an eyebrow at Lance. "Alright. Well now that we've established Lance is going with Keith...I was thinking that we could start with a couple physical exercises first-"

Keith coughed. Grinning, Lance stared at him. Keith reddenned.

"Whoa, Keith," Hunk said. "You okay, buddy?"

"Fine," Keith managed. He looked back up, making eye contact with Lance, who joked and laughed at him without saying a word.

"I just want to make sure that we're a strong team," Shiro said. "And we stay that way."

Lance raised his hand like he was in a classroom. He looked Keith dead in the eyes as he said, "That's a good point, Shiro. It's hard to build trust. But once you get past that, it feels really nice. I think we should get started. It's so hard that we should probably go. The longer we wait the harder it'll get."

Pidge very obviously fake coughed into her hand.

Keith's cheeks blushed harder. Lance wore a smirk and angled it at him. Keith cleared his throat. "Yeah. What Lance said."

Lance didn't even wait for Shiro to answer. He headed for the door. Keith followed. "Great! Catch up with you guys later!"