KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Distracted (Keefe POV)

A/N: This is a bonus chapter from my main story. It fits somewhere between "The Clearing" and "Decisions". This chapter chronicles a day Dex described to Sophie in "Decisions".

Keefe sat in one of the cozy armchairs in the common area of the Gold Tower, notebook and pencil in hand. Fitz was in the chair next to his, dutifully reading a book on telepathy.

Boring.

Keefe was having fun sketching him, though.

Or...sketching a caricature of him, anyway.

A caricature where Fitz's nose was practically buried in the book.

Fitz had explained that it was a lot of work, keeping up with Sophie in their telepathy sessions, and he didn't want to let her or Tiergan down.

Which Keefe totally understood, but still.

Sophie was busy with Biana, and Keefe had already leapt to Havenfield earlier that morning to help Grady and Edaline with some of the animals, so there wasn't much left to do at Havenfield.

Dex was working with his dad in Slurps and Burps.

Tam was probably free, but Keefe would never be that bored.

Reluctantly, he'd agreed to "study" with Fitz, but only because Fitz had insisted that he needed to finish that book before they went outside to play bramble.

Honestly. Weekends were supposed to be for fun. Foxfire structured their studies in a way that ensured the prodigies could get most, if not all, of their work done in session or in study hall.

Unless you were an overachiever like Fitz Vacker.

Or trying to keep up with a crazy talented Cognate, which was what Fitz was actually doing.

But Keefe was bored. His girlfriend was busy, his best friend wanted to study, and his other best friend was working.

Thankfully, Keefe was good at entertaining himself.

So he added the finishing touches to his sketch before prodding Fitz in the side. "Check it out!" he said proudly, holding up the picture.

Fitz looked up and let out a long sigh. "Seriously?"

"What?" Keefe asked innocently.

"Not sure I love the word bubble you put above my head."

Keefe smirked. He'd added a word bubble that merely said "But we're Cognates!!!" in big letters.

"Art is all about honesty," Keefe reminded him.

"I don't talk that much about being Cognates," Fitz argued, shaking his head.

But Fitz couldn't quite hide the amused grin on his face.

He was too used to Keefe's teasing after all these years to be bothered by it.

"Sure, sure," Keefe agreed in a mocking voice. "You've only mentioned it eight or nine times today."

"Only once, and only in the context of why I need to study before our next telepathy session," Fitz corrected him. "Listen, I promise, if you'll just find a way to keep yourself occupied, then we can do whatever you want--within reason," he added quickly--"later this afternoon."

Keefe smirked. "You promise?"

Fitz just rolled his eyes and went back to his book.

"I'm going to go to Slurps and Burps," Keefe decided. "Maybe Dex will let me help him create some new elixirs. I have lots of ideas for some epic prank elixirs."