Work Text:
Strike. Block. Parry. Thrust.
Lance thought he was doing okay with his sword training. It’d only been a few weeks since he’d unlocked the sword form of his Bayard, but he’d made a lot of progress already, and he knew that he had Keith to thank for much of that. Though the Castle’s training systems were good for practice, Keith’s tutoring really helped. Keith wasn’t always around due to his full-time work with the Blade of Marmora, but he usually visited the Castle a couple times each week.
Keith was currently here for another visit, so he and Lance were sparring together. His dueling style was so intense that Lance had to move quickly to keep up. Thankfully, Keith was holding back from using his full potential as a quick and agile martial artist, but…
“Faster,” Keith ordered, attacking relentlessly. “Don’t let my strikes get so close.”
Lance would have made some snarky comment, but he was honestly too short of breath to do so. He could barely intercept each strike in time. He was running on pure adrenaline at this point.
Keith lunged toward Lance, nearly “stabbing” him in the chest with the practice sword, and Lance narrowly dodged, leaving him off-balance. The next strike knocked him over, and he laid on the ground, trying to catch his breath. Keith extended a hand, and he accepted it, standing up with Keith’s assistance. He ended up leaning heavily on Keith, and the closeness caused a thrill unrelated to the prior sparring to run through him.
“That style is suited to neither Lance nor his blade.”
Lance startled and looked to the side of the room. He’d forgotten that Lotor was watching. Lotor had come in a few minutes prior, waiting for Allura to get off of a call with the Coalition leaders, and asked if he could watch and give feedback. Keith had liked the idea.
Keith didn’t seem to like it anymore. “Is there a problem?”
Lotor stood and walked closer. “He wields an Altean broadsword, yet you’re teaching him a rather Galran style.”
“It’s not a Galra style,” Keith protested. “It’s just how I fight.”
Lotor raised an eyebrow at him as if Keith had just proved his point.
Keith folded his arms, glaring challengingly at Lotor. “You think you can do better?”
“I personally use a hybrid style, but I have learned some of the Altean styles, especially the one that Broadswords are suited to.” Lotor walked over to a rack of training weapons to select a sword. “The Princess will be out of her meeting soon, but I can show Lance the basic forms first.”
Lance hesitated before shrugging. “Sounds good.” He shifted into a fighting stance.
“Excellent.” Eyeing Lance’s form, Lotor walked back over with a practice sword. “Your stance needs work,” he said, not unkindly. He set the sword down for a moment and touched Lance’s back, adjusting his posture. Lance tensed at first, but he let Lotor adjust his stance, rolling his shoulders back and his hips forward. Every touch was startling but somehow welcome, and Lance didn’t know why.
He also didn’t know why Keith seemed bothered by all this.
~~~***~~~
“Hunk, buddy?” Lance needed advice from his best friend. It’d been a while since, in addition to Keith, Lotor had started training him, and a lot had changed since then.
“What’s up?” Hunk looked up from his project, and his warm eyes put Lance at ease.
Lance sat on the edge of the table, next to but not disturbing Hunk’s project. “So, you know how when Lotor first offered to teach me, Keith was weirdly upset about it even though they got along fine any other time?”
Hunk nodded.
“Well, lately, they haven’t been arguing at all . They get along great. They’re always asking me about each other when they’re not at the Castle at the same time. And when they spar together…” He smiled ruefully. “The sexual tension is so thick I could blast a hole in it.”
“So, you’re going to play matchmaker?”
Lance winced.
“Oh, you like one of them,” Hunk realized. “Which one?”
Lotor , Lance thought. He’d always been ‘jealous’ of the prince’s looks and agitated whenever they were in the same room. Though Lance could be oblivious to his own feelings when it came to guys, he couldn’t deny that he was often distracted whenever Lotor trained him, and physical contact felt electric in the best way.
But then Keith’s face came to mind, and Lance paused. He remembered how irritated he used to be around Keith, just like whenever he denied crushes on guys. Lance did feel a thrill when they were close, and he had caught himself staring at Keith more than once. Looking at his feelings objectively, he realized the truth. No wonder he’d felt heartbroken when Keith left—
“Lance?” Hunk’s voice broke through his thoughts.
Meeting Hunk’s eyes, Lance whispered, “ Both .”
Hunk looked surprised for a moment before smiling. “Oh, that’s easy.”
“Easy?!” Lance cried indignantly.
Hunk raised his hands in surrender. “If you like both of them, and they like each other, then you could be polyamorous together.”
Lance froze. That was a pretty attractive idea…
Hunk patted Lance’s knee. “Just consider it.”
~~~***~~~
Block. Dodge. Counter. Evade.
Lance thought he was doing pretty well, considering that he was up against two master swordsmen working together. Sure, he was only defending, and they were clearly going easy on him, but he’d already lasted for a while. Utilizing his now months of training, Lance felt a rush of victory as he countered one of Lotor’s strikes with his own sword while using his shield to block Keith’s knife, though he had to step back from them both as they struck again. Still, exhilaration raced through him as he fought.
However, the combat was fast-paced, and exhaustion set in, making his actions increasingly sluggish. As Lance countered one of Lotor’s strikes, Lotor swept his leg out while Keith elbowed Lance’s breastplate hard , and Lance fell. Two blades were leveled at his throat.
“Yield,” Lance panted. He groaned and laid down, trying to catch his breath.
“Time?” Keith asked.
Lotor glanced at the ticker on the wall and smiled. “Five doboshes and seven ticks.”
Lance sat up, fueled by sudden excitement. “Seriously?”
“Yes. You did very well, Lance.”
“Woo…” Lance cheered weakly, victorious but utterly wiped out.
Keith smiled amusedly, and both Lotor and Keith helped Lance to his feet and helped him to a bench, where they all rested and drank water while Lance caught his breath. Sitting between them, however, made Lance’s heart race faster. It’d been about a month since Lance had talked to Hunk about his feelings for these two, but Lance hadn’t had the courage to tell them yet. He’d noticed them more openly showing interest in each other, and he was afraid that he’d lose them both soon if he didn’t say anything.
Right now, fueled by his victory, Lance felt like he could finally say what he’d been meaning to say for so long. He took a deep breath. “Guys?” Wait, no, that was an awful start. “Lotor? Keith?”
Keith looked over at Lance suspiciously. “Yeah?”
“We’re listening.” Lotor’s expression showed concern.
Lance took another deep breath, then blurted out, “Ihaveacrushonbothofyou.”
Keith tensed as if startled. Lotor seemed to take a moment to parse out what Lance said, but then his eyebrows raised in an expression of open surprise.
“Sorry!” Lance was blushing hard now. He wished he hadn’t said anything. “I-I know you like each other, and—”
“WHAT.” Keith looked almost scared as he glanced from Lance to Lotor.
Lotor averted his gaze as his cheeks darkened. “You… shouldn’t assume…”
Lance’s heart sank.
Lotor looked back at Lance and Keith warily but curiously. “…that I do not also feel that way about you, Lance, as well as Keith.”
Suddenly hopeful again, Lance looked anxiously from Lotor to Keith.
Keith looked stunned for a full five ticks, then muttered, “YeahIlikeyoubothtoo.”
Lance laughed in relief and grinned at both of them. “Then can we date? All three of us?”
Lotor raised an eyebrow. “You will have to teach me your customs, but I would certainly like to formally court you both.”
Keith still looked stunned, shaking his head in disbelief. “Sure, why not?”
Lance gently took and held the hands of both of his boyfriends while smiling at them. His boyfriends .
Today was a great day.