During the last couple of weeks Pidge had become really tired of Lance and Keith. At first it seemed like they'd be able to get along, but then something made it turn around and now they were fighting more than ever. They didn't even fight over rational things. Earlier this day Lance had accidentally bumped into Keith walking past him. Surprisingly he apologized but nevertheless the black haired paladin had pushed Lance. Not hard, so he hadn't lost his balance but it still fired him up and before they knew it they were at it again, shouting at each other like a newly divorced couple.

That moment had been IT for Pidge and they stormed off to Allura to beg her to do something about the situation, or else they would explode.

"The next thing we know they start fighting on a mission, and honestly, someone could get killed." Allura sighed deeply, both over Pidges exaggeration and the fact that it could be extremely hard to mend the friendship of the two teenage boys at this rate. Impossible even. No matter how the rest of the crew approached the situation, they might just end up making it worse.

"Yes, Pidge. You're right. We have to come up with a plan. Please tell Hunk, Shiro and Coran to meet me here in twenty dobashes and we'll work on the problem together."

Those were the events that had led up to the situation the two troublesome paladins were in at the moment. Lance had been pouting in his room and Keith had taken out his anger on the training deck, fiercely swinging his sword at the enemies the castle provided him with, when they'd both been called to the control room. When Lance entered the room he saw the other crew members standing in there waiting for him.

Pidge looked annoyed, Hunk looked slightly worried but still a bit eager for what was to come. Shiro had that look he always had when he was thinking about something, maybe standing a bit closer to Allura than needed. Of course Keith had arrived before Lance did, and he stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed and with his fringe over his eyes, looking all dark and mysterious. The look suited him, Lance thought before punching himself in the face mentally. One does not simply admit that the classic bad boy style suits the guy you've spent a lot of time fighting with.

Lance took a deep but discreet breath, asked the others what was up and then looked towards Allura who opened her mouth to speak.

"We have a new mission. We have to acquire some supplies from the planet we'll be arriving at soon. Pidge and Coran will be taking the green lion to look for those cables they need to fix the heating system in the second storage room."

Lance tried to remember when they'd been talking about something being broken, but to be fair he usually dozed off when Coran started talking about such things, since he rarely understood it anyways. He allowed himself to cast a quick glance at Keith, who was frowning. Maybe he couldn't remember either.

"Me and Shiro will take the black lion to one of their moons. There's said to be some rare crystals I want to check out there, I've heard stories about them all my life and finally I'll be getting the chance to maybe collect some." As Allura trailed of her track her eyes started to glow and her expression went from firm to exited until Shiro lightly nudged her arm and she cleared her throat and continued.

"Hunk is going… grocery shopping," she said, in the absence of better description. Hunk smiled wider and was just about to open his mouth to blabber about what he was going to buy for what occasion for which recipe and what galactic fruit he had his mind set on, but Keith spoke before Hunk had gotten half a word out.

"What about me?" Now it was Lance's time to frown. It was like he wasn't even here. Allura paused for a second before she answered.

"You'll be staying here. Your temper hasn't really been on your side lately." Ha, Lance thought. Finally someone was doing something about Keith and his tendency to pick fights whenever they were in the same room and doing something about it. Lance felt his face forming into a big smile.

"Haha, Keith has to babysit the castle while we're gone," Lance said, determined to not look at Keith's reaction. He would just keep his gloating to himself for the time being.

"Actually…" Allura said, interrupting Lance's trail of happy thoughts. "You'll be staying at the castle with him." Lances smile fell of his face as his gaze was fixed on Alluras serious facial expression.

"The way you've been acting towards each other the last couple of weeks is simply unacceptable," Coran stated.

"And it's extremely annoying," Pidge added conclusively. The gears in Lance's head seemed to be stuck. They were going to leave Keith and him alone on the ship? On the other hand, he thought, they could just stay at either end of the castle and ignore each other until the others came back.

"And your rivalry needs to end right here right now if we are going to be able to help anyone in the future," Coran continued, pulling something that looked like a deck of cards out of his pocket. "Therefore we have another assignment for you. While we are gone, our missions might take a day or so, you are going to play a game of truth or dare."

"What?" Keith and Lance exclaimed at the same time, glaring angrily and suspiciously at each other before turning towards the others again.

"It's simple really," Pidge explained. "We have prepared cards for you, you choose truth or dare and then do what the card says. And since this is supposed to get you to actually get to know each other we have added a feature to force you to play. This feature is directly plugged into the castle, and to keep it short, if you don't play the game, there will be consequences." At times Pidge can be scary, especially since there was a pretty good chance they had actually manipulated the castle to their bidding. Lance could tell they were dead serious about this, Pidges face was not forgiving.

"If you skip a question or a dare, the castle will know, if you don't answer truthfully, the castle will know. I've also programmed the castle to keep score. If you surrender the victory simply goes to the other player. Points will be given in regard to the level of truth in your answers and how well you perform your dares. Do not disappoint me." They fastened their eyes on Lance and then Keith, clearly to emphasize how done they were with them both. Lance felt a sting of guilt when Pidge walked past him and out through the door. He didn't know Pidge was this pissed. He tried to shake the negative feeling. This was mostly Keiths fault anyway.

"Well that pretty much sums it up," Coran added and gave the stack of cards to Lance and followed Pidge out through the door. Allura shot a glance towards Shiro, who nodded and walked towards Keith, laying a hand on his shoulder, saying something with such a quiet voice that Lance couldn't make out what they were talking about. Hunk walked towards him and Lance drew his gaze away from the other boys to shoot a confused and rather hurt expression in Hunks direction.

"Dude, why?!" he exclaimed, arms raised in the air, almost dropping the thick pack of cards.

"I'm sorry, man. I just want everything to go back to normal, for you to be happy again." Hunk put his arms around Lance and pulled him into a soft hug.

"Are you kidding me? I am happy, just annoyed at Mr. I-Am-So-Cool-And-Nothing-Ever-Gets-To-Me. Nothing will come out of this, Hunk." Lance's voice was a bit muffled, pressed against Hunks chest but Hunk could still hear the slight panic in the blue paladins voice. "Nothing will come out of us sitting up all night, talking about our feelings and stuff. Does he even have feelings?! I doubt it… What would he even have feelings about? He's just full of himself."

"Everything will be fine. There's dinner for you in the kitchen, I made something special for you." Ending the hug, Hunk gave Lance a last pat on the back and walked out through the door after Allura and Shiro who'd just left. Lance stood still, staring at the many cards in his hands, wondering where these were going to take him. Maybe, just maybe, they would actually bond with each other. Maybe Lance would finally find out what Keith's problem was with him. What he had done wrong.

"Okay, Keith. Keith?" Lance looked up and realized he was alone.

In the corridor Pidge had waited for the others to catch up.

"One way or another they'll break each other," they said thoughtfully to themselves as they walked towards the hangar. "P-Pidge what do you mean?" Hunk asked, now more worried than ever.

"Do you really think they would get in a physical fight and actually hurt each other?" Pidge looked up at Hunk with a surprised look on their face. "What? No! That wasn't what I meant at all."

After they'd explained what they meant Hunk let out the breath he'd been holding, and they involved the others in the conversation, all five of them betting on how the outcome would be, every one of them sure they were right. They did all wonder though if this actually was the best idea, it could possibly just make everything worse. Except for Pidge. They were not worried at all.

Some time later, Lance was laying on the bed in his room, on his side, still staring at the cards he'd put on his bedside table. He didn't know what he should do. Maybe he should read through them all and hide those that seemed out of line. When he thought about it the most simple question could lead to intense awkwardness and the easiest dare could erase the pride he had left. He stuck out his tongue at the stupid cards, rolled over and faced the wall instead, frowning like crazy, feeling the negative feelings like a lump in his throat. He made a big deal about trying to swallow it down but the uneasy feeling stayed somewhere in his chest, pulsating with his anxiety growing.

Then, suddenly, everything happened very fast and all at the same time. Without realizing it Lance had fallen half asleep, to the point when you kinda start dreaming but the moment you open your eyes the dream is gone and the only thing left is an uneasy feeling that you've forgotten something important and wonderful. When Lance opened his eyes all he knew that his mind had fantasized about Keith. Okay fantasize might not be the right word for this. Thinking about? Just casually thinking about Keith. Yeah that's better. But why would his mind casually think about Keith?

Groaning, he rolled over but at the same time the castle made a sudden movement and Lance rolled over the edge over the bed, his shoulder and hip hitting the floor hard. The castle yanked back into it's original position which made Lance roll back, hitting his forehead against the bed, the pain making his body want to crawl into a safe fetal position, with the result of his knee hitting the bed as well.

"Holy shit," Lance muttered to himself. This really wasn't his day. Was the castle mad because they hadn't started with the stupid game yet? Or were they being attacked? No, in that case the alarms would've gone off.

"Shit," he whispered again and sat up to check that he was still in one piece. He seemed okay but his body would definitely be bruised. He sighed and pulled himself up from the floor, gathered up the cards that had fallen off the table and went to look for the stupid boy he was forced to spend time with. Some part of his mind said "Yay" at the thought of spending said time with said stupid boy. Lances sane side of his mind did its very best to not be happy about said time with said boy. Stupid.

To no surprise at all Lance found Keith training. The red paladin didn't notice the brown haired boy coming in so Lance just leaned against a pillar, trying to make himself calm again after being nearly harassed by the castle. Keith switched his sword from his right hand to his left, then back again while he skillfully kept his guard up against the simulation. His hair was flowing with his movements, his figure well trained.

Lance watched him carefully. How is it that some people can exercise and fight and still look handsome? He wished he had such skills as well. He slapped himself mentally. This was not the moment to let the self doubt get to him. And it certainly wasn't the moment to admire Keith. Was he admiring Keith? No that's not it. Dammit he really had to get to a planet with people that actually were attractive, so his brain could stop being attracted to whoever was closest at the time being. Yeah, that must be it, he was simply starved of aesthetic beauty and Keith was the last resort of the lastest of resorts. It wasn't even attraction. Just… something.

Taking a deep breath, Lance made himself ready to shout out Keith's name when the castle decided to yank over again. Lance, of course, lost his balance and fell, hitting his already hurting hip against the floor. Keith managed to stand on both feet but the simulated droid hadn't been affected by the castles mood swings and took the opportunity when Keith was off guard, aiming a kick at his leg, then a hard blow to his side, Keith first falling, then trying to throw himself out of the way of the droid's blade. The droid took a step towards Keith, putting its foot on his sword and holding the tip of the simulated blade at the red paladins exposed throat.

"You have been defeated," the droid said. "Simulation over." A hole in the floor opened and the droid stepped into it, disappearing to God knows where. Keith relaxed his muscles, still on the floor, catching his breath, staring up at the sealing. Lance stood up and walked over to him.

"Looks like you got your ass kicked," he said with a grin, looking down at the panting, sweaty Keith, who glared at him. Lance thought about how he were to express that they should start with the idiotic game before the castle got any more ideas. The trick was to be casual about it, he couldn't have Keith think that he actually wanted to "get to know" him or whatever.

Lance crouched down beside Keith, ready to mock him some more, when the castle jolted again and Lance, for the third time, lost his balance and started to fall in the direction of where Keith was currently lying. To not fall on top of him Lance fell down on his right knee, the one he had already hit earlier today and strained himself to not accidentally put his other knee on Keith's crotch, making it hover in the air before carefully putting it between Keith's legs instead of on something. He then broke the fall with his hands. His left one was right beside Keith's head, a bit of black hair trapped between the floor and his fingers, his right thumb brushed slightly over Keith's ribs before the palm of his hand hit the floor. Keith had automatically put his own hands up when Lance had started falling, both hands now against the taller boy's chest.

This had all happened in under two seconds and they both just stared at each other in silence for a moment before realizing what position they were in. Lance felt extremely humiliated, panicked and started to ramble random words. Keith was only able to hear something that sounded like "Sorry… hand… fell… didn't mean… you hurt? Sorry… I… Sorry… my knee… not on crotch…" Lance tried to untangle himself from Keith with as much grace as possible, still rambling, but stopped for a second when he thought he saw a faint blush on Keith's cheeks. Keith caught him looking and now it was time for Lance to blush, a fairly noticeable blush in fact, still feeling the warmth of Keith's hands against his chest.

"Idiot," Keith muttered as he sat up, not looking at Lance's face so Lance couldn't decide how seriously Keith had insulted him.

"It's not like it was my fault," Lance muttered back defensively. The castle gave away a creak that definitely told them that it was time to begin the stupid game.

"OKAY FINE," Lance shouted at the ceiling, hoping the castle wouldn't give away another of its earthquakes, creating any more scenarios. Lance sighed.

"Keith. Truth or dare." Keith glared at the deck of cards, not feeling comfortable at all. "Just pick something so we don't fall and break our necks or something." Keith nodded slowly, clearly still shocked from their involuntary entanglement.

"…Truth." Lance picked up a yellow card with a question on it.

"What's your favorite color?" What a stupid question, he thought.

"Well, red. Obviously."

"Yeah… obviously," Lance echoed. They sat in silence for a while, neither knowing what to do. Keith cleared his throat.

"Um… I'm gonna go take a shower and then we can um meet up in the lounge and… keep playing?" His voice went up in the end of the sentence, making it sound like a question instead of a suggestion.

"Um… sure," Lance responded, looking away. They got up in silence, then walking their separate ways, both of their minds occupied with the physical closeness they'd just experienced, wondering what the other one thought about it.

Lance picked up the cover from his bed, draping it over his head like a cape and went into the closet, closing the door behind him. He sat down on the floor, head resting against the cold wall. The cold darkness made him feel calm, until he remembered exactly what had happened just moments before and how awkward it had gotten. He put his head in his hands, wondering how the hell they could fix this. Could they really pretend like nothing happened?

"Lance," he said out loud to himself when he felt like he was done moping. "Pull yourself together. It's not like something actually happened. Grow up Lance. GROW UP. Lance you moron you are gonna come out of the closet and go face Keith and play the stupid game." Realizing which words he'd chosen, he started to giggle. Still laughing he pulled himself up and pushed a few clothes hangers to the side, dropping his blanket to the floor dramatically, opened the closet door and stepped out of it, pretending to wave and smile at an invisible audience.

"Yeah," he said quietly to the empty room, smile dropping of his face. "Lance Sanchez is not straight. Not even close. He's actually kinda gay, or whatever. Kinda gay for Kei- nooo!" Lance Sanchez might not identify as straight but that doesn't mean he's gonna cahoot with the enemy! And he certainly wasn't gonna let an empty room of pretend people believe that he was thinking about cahooting.

Sighing to himself Lance picked up the blanket and carelessly threw it onto his bed. He stared once more at the damn cards before he picked them up. They seemed to taunt him where he held them in his palm. He sighed for what felt like the twelfth time.

It was time to head towards the lounge.