Once Keith was sure everyone was tucked into bed, he darted out of his room towards the training area. He didn't expect to bump into anyone so almost had a heart attack when he saw Lance standing in the middle of the room. He was holding his gun and shooting at the little bots, eyebrows furrowed in concentration. Keith lingered in the doorway, not wanting to break his flow.

Lance's jaw was tense as he ducked beneath a series of shots from the bots before raising his shield. He grunted, stumbling back as the shield was pelted with bullets. "Come on..." He murmured to himself, raising his gun and demolishing three of the bots in the air. Once Lance had called to stop the sequence, Keith made himself known.

"Well done, Lance. You were really good." He said, walking further into the room. Lance turned to look at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"I- I don't think I'm at the same level yet. I need to- to work harder." Lance mumbled, placing his bayard into a pouch around his waist.

"No one is expecting you to be at the same level, Lance. You're making progress and that's what's important." Keith kept his voice soft as he placed a hand on Lance's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. His body was tense; as if he had been frozen with a beam of ice. "Last movement you couldn't even hold a gun."

Lance glanced down at his bayard, shaking his head to himself. "It's not good enough."

"Yes, it is good enough. You're getting better slowly. The next step is sparring with us and then, over time, maybe you'll become comfortable with fighting again."

"Do- Do you think-"

Keith nodded, pulling the blue paladin in for a hug. "I know, okay? If you want, we could practice sparring together before you try it with the others. I'll go slow and stop as soon as I think something's wrong."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Of course I would."

"...Now?"

"It's probably best we wait until tomorrow. You look tired." Lance did look tired. He was hunched over and blackness rimmed both eyes in the form of nasty bags. His face was pale and his forehead was drenched with sweat from all of the training. "Maybe you should shower whilst I practice and then we can go to bed."

Lance nodded slowly, "Sounds like a plan."

-

Keith stood about a metre and a half away from Lance, weaponless. Lance was in the same position, hands clenched into fists as he waited for a signal to begin. "You sure you can do this?" Keith asked, voice soft so that Lance knew he was allowed to back out if he needed to.

Determined, Lance nodded his head. Keith counted them in before racing forward and pressing Lance into the wall. The blue paladin's breath hitched but, other than that, he seemed calm. He grabbed Keith's arm with his right hand, twisting it behind his back and shoving him backwards.

"Good work. Maybe you can beat me this time, Sharpshooter." Keith was taking a shot in the dark with the quip. He wasn't sure if Lance would take it well or even play with it, throwing something equally as smart back.

"Just you wait, mullet-head. Stop going easy on me, I can take it." The nickname, even with its negative connotations, made Keith's lips form a wide smile. It was almost like the old Lance had returned for a brief moment. (Almost.)

Keith's eyebrows climbed his forehead. "Okay, let's see what you've got." Keith threw a punch towards Lance's shoulder but the boy was quick to duck out of the way. A grin spread across his face as he realised how skilful he had been. "That was good!"

"Stop complimenting me and actually try to hit me, mullet."

Keith smiled fondly before darting to the left to catch Lance off guard. The blue paladin twisted his head around but wasn't quick enough to stop Keith from knocking him to the ground. Realising just how hard he had tackled Lance, Keith's confidence faltered. Lance took a long moment to compose himself and fight away the panic trying to eat at him but soon rolled over so that he was on top. He took a deep breath to steady himself and his emotions, eyes examining their position for a plan of attack. He pressed his hands into Keith's wrists, pinning him down so that he couldn't get up.

"Ding ding!" Lance announced, raising his hands in the air as a victorious smile spread across his face. His voice was shaky with panic but Keith didn't want to call him out on it. If Lance was coping himself, there wasn't a reason for him to focus on it and potentially make it even worse. He didn't want to ruin the progress Lance was making by being overly worried. "I beat you, mullet!"

"Yeah, you did..." Keith didn't even feel offended or defensive: he was immensely proud.

"Next time, try harder, okay? Don't be afraid to hurt me."

"Okay."

-

Lance grunted as Keith slammed him down against the floor, eyes scrunching shut in pain. "That's more like it." Lance seethed, struggling beneath Keith's grip. He growled as he flipped them over so that he was on top. His leg was in between Keith's and their faces were just centimetres apart. "Don't let me win this time."

"I didn't let you win last time." Keith muttered, trying his hardest to shove Lance off of him. He failed.

"You so did." Lance was breathing heavily, droplets of sweat making their way down his face. Keith's mind fell down the gutter whilst he tried to desperately get it out. (He couldn't help but wonder what Lance looked like when he was on top of him in another situation.) "And I think I'm victorious yet again!"

He slammed a fist into the air, jumping off of Keith without a second thought. The red paladin's face was the colour of a tomato as he scrambled onto his feet.

"Are you okay? You seem distracted?"

"Yep, yep, I'm fine." Keith turned away so that he didn't have to make eye contact with Lance in his flustered state.

"I- I didn't hurt you, did I?" Keith didn't respond because, despite everything, it was still heartbreaking to watch Lance's mood do a 180 within ticks. One moment he was on top of the world and, the next, he was crumpled up on the floor again. "I- I'm just as bad as him." Lance's voice trembled as his confidence faltered completely. His body was quivering and even Keith could see that. His eyes were glistening over with tears as Keith shook his head.

Realising he was still yet to respond, Keith swallowed and attempted to formulate the words he needed to say. "No, no, no, I'm not hurt. I'm happy that you won, alright? Your fighting style is improving and your confidence is really good. You didn't hurt me, Lance."

"A-Are you sure?"

"I'm 100% certain, alright. Let's go shower."

"O-Okay."

-

They trained for countless nights until Keith didn't feel like he had to 'go easy' on Lance anymore. The one night Keith had won, he admitted that he hadn't been putting as much effort into the fighting as he could have. Lance had whined and told him to fight him a second time, using all of his strength that time. He did and came out victorious but Lance was too happy to be angry at him for holding back. When they had curled up in bed that night, Lance had cried into Keith's shoulder, telling him about how much more confident he felt. Keith had stroked his hair and told him about how proud he was.

The next quintant, they both went to training. When Lance didn't go straight to the bench, Shiro looked at him with thin, concerned eyes. "I'm going to fight today." He announced, moving to the centre of the room to take on an opponent. "Anyone but Keith. No offence, dude."

Keith grinned, throwing him a thumbs up. "None taken."

"Hunk?" Shiro offered, making the yellow paladin shrug and nod.

"Don't go easy on me."

"Are you sure? I don't-" Hunk started but Lance cut him off with a shake of his head.

"Don't. I can handle it."

Lance won the fight by a mile, doing an embarrassing victory dance whilst Hunk pulled himself back up onto his feet. Keith pulled him into an embrace, despite how sweaty he was. The other paladins were staring at the pair with dropped jaws and wide eyes. Lance pulled back from the embrace and flashed a grin. "I've been practicing. You proud of me?"

"Hell yeah!" Hunk exclaimed, taking his turn to pull Lance into a hug. "You've done so well!"

"Thank you!"

As Pidge and Shiro moved to the mat to spar, just as Keith lightly hit Lance on the back. "Well done." Lance didn't say anything but his smile was enough.

-

Keith grabbed Lance's shirt and pressed him into the wall, both of them breathing heavily.

Lance let out a loud laugh, "I thought you were going to aggressively make out with me then." Keith's entire face flushed red as his grip on Lance's shoulder faltered. "I can totally see you being the kind of person who enjoys angry sex."

"Lance, shut up. We're trying to fight." Keith replied, gritting his teeth together and turning away.

"What? Is it turning you on?"

"Don't flatter yourself!" They lapsed into silence as Lance leaned forward. Keith remained as still as a statue whilst their lips came in contact with each other. Keith didn't pull away that time. He melted into the kiss, pushing Lance back into the wall as the seconds passed. Once they pulled back, Keith's entire face represented the colour of his suit. Lance's did too.

"You're not taking advantage of me," Lance said, as if reading Keith's mind. "I want to kiss you. That's why I did it."

"Are you sure?"

Lance nodded.

"Then... can you do it again?"

A smile broke out across Lance's face as he pressed his lips back into Keith's, pulling him close once again.