KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Angry: part 1 (Keefe POV)

A/N: A Keefe POV of the chapter entitled "Angry" from my main story. Part 1 of 2. Then, it'll be back to the Flashback Healing Center scenes.

Sessions were done for the day and Keefe was relieved.

It had been a good day, but he and Foster had set aside the rest of the afternoon and evening for nothing but spending time together. No studying, none of their other friends, just lots of time alone just the two of them. He was really looking forward to it.

He went to his room to change out of his Foxfire uniform and was about to leap to Havenfield when his Imparter rang.

Ugh. It was his dad.

And his dad wanted to see him. Keefe tried to blow him off, telling him he already had plans, but he insisted that it would only take a minute. So before he knew it, Daddy Dearest was striding into Keefe's room in the Gold Tower.

"I've spoken with both Magnate Leto and Master Cadence," he said immediately.

"I'm doing great, thanks for asking," Keefe said wryly as he shut his door.

His dad's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, right, you didn't say hello or ask how I was doing, you just blew past those pleasantries. Sorry. Continue." Keefe sat down in his desk chair, leaning back and placing his hands behind his head, pretending to be at his leisure despite the resentment already bubbling up inside of him.

"Well, you can't be confused as to why I'm here. Your grades—"

"Are great," Keefe cut in. "I'm doing well."

"Not well enough," Cassius spat, sneering at him. "I was the top of my year when I was in school. You have a photographic memory. The Vacker boy doesn't—and yet he outscores you every step of the way."

"Oh goody, it's that complaint again. I'm second in our year, behind Fitz, and only barely, and—"

"I don't want any more excuses about how you're a year younger than he is," his dad said, voice rising. "I want you to take this seriously. You have an image to maintain."

Keefe dropped his relaxed façade. "I don't care about maintaining an image. Leto, Cadence and my mentors have all been pleased with my grades, especially when you consider that Fitz and I are still the top two in our year when we've been through more trauma, had more interruptions—"

"All the more reason! You should be doing better than the Vacker boy, we have so much more to prove now, with your mother in Exile, and you aren't taking things seriously, you're choosing instead to spend all your time with your little girlfriend, chasing after the Moonlark and living in her shadow when you should be doing something."

"I'm not—"

But his dad clearly wasn't planning on letting him talk.

"I always knew you'd shame your family. As if your mother hasn't done enough of that already! You should be working hard to overcome that, but I'm not even surprised that you've chosen to prioritize your friends and that girlfriend of yours and be lazy and worthless—"

"Enough!" Keefe shouted, jumping up out of his chair.

He wasn't going to stand for this. Not anymore.

Not ever again.

He wasn't a child now.

He wasn't afraid. And he was way past seeking approval. He didn't care anymore, didn't want his dad's approval.

But he also no longer wanted to play it off like it was nothing, like it was amusing.

His dad was an emotionally stunted jerk who had treated him terribly his entire life, and Keefe was done.