Warmth (Klance Warmth series Book 1 of +4)

13: Blistering Contact

"Admit it."

"No."

"Admit it."

"No."

"You're a horrible liar."

"I am not."

"Yes you are."

"Quiznack you."

"Now you're just evading the question."

"No!"

"Then admit it."

"It does not bother me."

A snort. "You really need some lying practice."

"I'm fine."

No response.

"I swear."

Silence.

"Ugh, okay fine! It fraking stinks in here."

"Called it."

"You know what Keith? Frak you too."

Keith, the jerk, just sniggered at him. Lance tossed a brief glare at the Red Lion's paladin in his side view screen before returning his gaze to the front. His nose was wrinkling from the putrid smell of unwashe prisoners. No disrespect meant, but seriously. Gross. He'd have to give Blue a deep cleaning as soon as he got the chance. He'd turned the air circulation system on full blast hoping that would help dilute the smell. Instead, all that did was spread the smell throughout the entire place. Lance was trying very hard not to take deep breaths.

He vaguely wondered if Blue could smell this too. An uncomfortable rumble in his head was a sad affirmative. Blue could definitely smell it and she did not like it one bit. Poor girl. He sighed and pushed the controls as far as he could, urging Blue to go faster. The quicker they got back to the Castle, the quicker he could unload his smelly passengers and deep clean his Lion.

"How much further?" Keith asked.

Lance studied the star map on his right view screen for a few moments. "A few more doboshes," he answered. He blinked and squinted at the map, "Frell," he muttered. "It looks like that Galra battlecruiser's there too."

"What?" Keith gasped, actually looking directly into his view screen at Lance. "You're sure it's the same one?"

"I'm almost positive, yes. That crazy commander Sendak detected something he said was similar to the Lion's signal when he first reported my capture to Zarkon," he explained. "I figured it was the Castle but I wasn't sure until now." He shook his head. "I sure hope Allura and Coran have gotten the particle barrier up and running. Otherwise they'll be sitting Stadigs on that planet."

"So speed up?"

Lance nodded. "Yeah."

He realized what he'd just agreed to a tick too late and let out a cry of dismay when Keith's Red Lion blasted ahead of him. "You-! Not fair Keith."

"All's fair in war, Lance," Keith replied with a teasing grin.

Lance glowered unhappily. "You may be faster, but that's just 'cause your Lion's built that way. Doesn't mean you're a better pilot than me," he shot back in frustration.

"Is that a challenge?"

Lance grinned. "I don't know, is it?"

Keith met his gaze in the view screen. They both grinned and pushed their Lions to the limits. Lance wasn't as fast, but he bet he could out-maneuver Keith. He dove his Lion down so it flew just below and behind the Red Lion and pressed several buttons in a sequence provided to him by his Lion. Blue was apparently enjoying this game and wanted to play too. Lance grinned and executed the command.