𝓂𝒾𝒹𝓃𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 (𝒶 𝓀𝑜𝓉𝓁𝒸 𝑜𝓃𝑒𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓉𝓈 𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀)

~New Years Eve P4~

Hey everyone! I know I haven't been updating recently, but I'm back now because I am having some KOTLC brainrot and I just read one of those cliche kotlc sleepover fanfics. No, I didn't read it for anything but Dexerella. Yes, I skipped over all the parts without Dex. 

Here's some advice if you're writing one of those books: BLUSHING ISN'T THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN IMPLY CRUSHES. Have your character blurt something out a little too loud, or laugh a little too hard at their lover's jokes. Have them glance at their crush's lips, return their eyes back to their gaze. I see so many fanfiction where blushing takes up half the chapter and I get soooo bored after a while. (You don't have to completely give up blushing in your vocabulary. Just...use it less.) To demonstrate, here's some Fedex.

Please, please,  please listen to the advice above. Thank you! <3

I think you guys will be happy to know that I think I've improved my writing style lately, after reading all those books in my freetime after taking that Wattpad break. I hope it shows.

Since I've been gone for a while, I think it's only fair that I give you guys a double chapter. Enjoy.

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✩Dex's POV✩

My mind was a whirlwind of two voices battling each other inside my head as Fitz led me out of the cave. I only half noticed his concerned glances at me sticking my eyes to the sandy ground and not looking up. Maybe I should assure him I was okay. He deserved that much, to not end up worried for no reason. But I was little too lost into the endless sea of my own thoughts now, ignoring the faint teal light of the beam calling me back to shore.

One voice wanted to leave. To run far away from here, from this cave, from this place. The voice that flinched at the slightest feeling of heat, of sun, of fire. The one that sometimes didn't even want to look Sophie in the eye after what happened.

But leaving here meant leaving my friends. Leaving Fitz.

The kidnapping happened several years ago. I shouldn't be thinking about it this much. I should look up.

Look up.

Dex?

"Dex?" Fitz repeated, his dark eyebrows knitted into a line of worry. Worry that I didn't deserve, because Fitz had his bones broken just a few years ago and I was still wallowing in self-pity and all this-

"Dex." Fitz's voice was firmer now, and I forced myself to look up and meet his eyes. His gaze softened, and he gently took my hand; slow enough that I could pull away if I wanted to. "Do you want to leave?"

"No!" I said hastily. "No. I'm fine."

Fitz's frown was almost impossible to look at, his eyes impossible to stare at for more than two seconds, because they were full of the sympathy I didn't deserve.

"Nobody would blame you if you left," Fitz consoled. "I wouldn't."

I laughed sadly. "I would. If I were you, I mean."

"Well, then you're an idiot." Fitz's frown was replaced by a small smile that was easier to manage. "I don't really feel like swimming anyway."

"You love swimming, though! It's your favorite time to passive-aggressively show Biana your muscles are bigger than hers!"

"I don't do that," Fitz retorted playfully, giving me a light punch to the shoulder.

"Yes, you do. Ask anyone else." I folded my arms together across my chest, grateful that the somber air of the conversation had lifted.