A Special Gift || Klance

Chapter 2

  The walk to the training room was quiet, the hum of quintessence filling the silence. The Castle of Lions was a state of the art facility, Keith had never seen anything like it at the Garrison. Everything was polished and pristine, and if he was being honest it wasn't the most cozy place to live. Everything was high tech and completely minimalistic, nothing was ever out of place, it sometimes felt more like a lab than a home. He supposed it did have it's perks though, the training room being one of them. He wasn't quite sure what Lance would be up for as the door to the room slid open before them.

  "I haven't been in here in a while," Lance pondered giving the room a once over. "Alright Keith, what's the plan, what vigorous training have you got in store for us?"

  Keith rolled his eyes and made his way over to the weapon rack in the far corner of the room. "Since you're here I figured we could spar, unless you have any objections," Keith raised an eyebrow in question.

  "No objections here man, I'm ready to mop the floor with you," he made his way over to the weapon rack and pulled an altean sword from it's place. "You should know Keith, I'm a pretty incredible fighter if I do say so myself."

  Keith simply scoffed as he retrieved a sword of his own. "We'll see Lance, now enough talking, let's go." They made their way to the center of the room and began circling each other. Lance may have talked a big game, but Keith knew a sword better than anyone on the team. This would be a piece of cake.

  Lance made the first move, lunging towards Keith with surprising speed. He slashed his blade downward, but Keith quickly danced out of the way. In an instance Keith had turned and used his momentum to take a great swing at Lance. Lance brought his sword up in defense, buckling under the force of Keith's blow. He collected his strength and pushed back against Keith's blade sending him stumbling to the right. Lance took the opportunity to jab at Keith, once again Keith dodged the attack. Keith seized the opening and in one fluid motion knocked Lance's feet out from under him and pinned him to the floor.

  "What was that about messing up my pretty face?" Keith was panting, and he could feel sweat sliding down the back of his neck. Lance might not have won, but he had to admit he put up a good fight. A really damn good fight.

  "I don't know what you're talking about," Lance huffed, clearly just as exhausted as Keith. His hair was a mess and it fell in damp clumps over his freckled forehead. He looked up at Keith and smiled. "Not that I don't like being under you, trust me the view is lovely, but do you plan on getting off me anytime soon?" Keith had forgotten he was still pinning Lance to the ground and quickly moved away as a blush began to spread across his cheeks. Lance simply laughed, he seemed to enjoy making Keith feel flustered.

  "Sorry about that, uh, anyways let's take a break," Keith walked over to the cooler and pulled out a cold bottle of water. "I'd say we both earned it." He sat down and began to chug the cool water like his life depended on it. When he was done he looked up and nearly choked. "What are you doing?" Standing in front of him was a shirtless Lance McClain, chugging a bottle of water so fast it had begun to dribble down his chin. Keith had never quite noticed how fit Lance was until now, but he definitely noticed.

  "I don't know if you've noticed, but it's hot in here," Lance chugged more of his water before continuing. "I'm not suffering to make you feel more comfortable, not happening." Keith simply rolled his eyes. Lance loved being overdramatic.

  The two sat in comfortable silence for a bit before Keith decided to take advantage of his alone time with Lance. "So, you're really adamant about this whole secret Santa thing huh? What's with you and Christmas," he gave Lance's shoulder a gentle nudge.

  Lance was quiet for a moment before turning to Keith. "Christmas was always a big deal in my house, a real family affair if you know what I mean. My mom and sisters would decorate the house with these really gaudy Christmas decorations, my dad, my brothers, and I would belt out some classic Christmas tunes while they worked," he smiled softly at the memory. "We'd all decorate the tree together of course, family tradition. As was making delicious Christmas cookies and watching a butt load of Christmas movies. We'd do secret Santa too, it was probably my favorite part each year, it was just so fun."

  Keith couldn't help but notice the tears forming in Lance's eyes. "That sounds like an awesome time, and I know we're probably no substitute for your real family, but we still know how to make Christmas incredible," Keith gently patted Lance's back. "Even out here in the emptiness of space."

  Lance wiped his arm across his eyes before giving Keith a genuine smile. "Well as much as I love training I think I'm done for the day. We should do this again sometime, maybe next time I'll be the one on top of you." Lance gave Keith a suggestive wink before strolling out of the training room.

  Keith wasn't quite sure what to think of the whole situation. He definitely learned more about Lance, but he was also coming to the realization that Lance was fun to be around, like really fun to be around. Hearing him talk about his family had showed Keith a completely different side of Lance, one that was sentimental and sweet, not at all like the overconfident Lance he'd gotten to know. He had to admit it was nice to see, and he felt oddly happy that Lance had decided to open up to him. Regardless of all the fun though, Keith was still mostly clueless about Lance's present. He still had a lot of digging to do in just five days. Lance was a puzzle, and Keith intended to solve him.