KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

AU/AE: Stellarlune 37 (Keefe POV) Part 1

A/N: I really thought I was done with the AE/AU arc (that takes place from Stellarlune 37 onward) but lately the idea of telling it from Keefe's perspective has been on my mind. I thought it might be interesting to explore his thoughts and emotions and how they led to what happened between him and Sophie. My mind couldn't let it go, so I finally decided to just write it!

***Just a reminder, this arc (in 4 chapters this time) gets a little spicy, but also shows how Keefe's struggle before and after the 'incident' is both similar and different compared to Sophie's. And again...spicy, occasionally, but NEVER explicit.

Keefe had never, in all his years of knowing Sophie, been as surprised by her as he was when she appeared outside his hotel room that night with Dex and Tam.

Dripping rain water all over the carpet.

And as she lunged forward and threw her arms around him, he didn't even care that she was soaking wet. He just wrapped his arms around her waist and held on tight.

Oh, how he'd missed her.

After a moment—during which they broke apart and he ushered all three of them into his suite—Keefe began to realize that her emotions felt different, somehow. He hadn't realized right away, since his own emotions had swelled up at seeing her again.

She was somehow both happy and sad at the same time. Excited but wary.

And...fluttery?

But maybe that was just nerves. Feeling awkward because he'd left her that letter.

That was probably all it was.

But then when he turned to look at them more closely, they were all shivering from the cold—Sophie especially.

So he pulled himself together and tried very hard not to be hopeful.

"I'd ask if you guys missed me," he said with a smirk, "but I know Tammy Boy didn't, and I assume Dex did a little, and I can definitely feel how much Foster missed me." He beckoned them to follow him as he headed toward the bedroom. "I also assume you're here for a reason, so why don't you change into some dry clothes before we talk?"

"Oh, yes please," Dex agreed. Tammy shrugged but looked like he'd love to be wearing dry clothes, even if he did have to borrow them from Keefe.

"Good, because Foster's practically turning blue."

Keefe felt Sophie's gratitude, only it felt so warm and her flutters picked up again.

Did she...?

He was afraid to even think it as he glanced at her. There was a strange sort of longing in her expression and he didn't know what to make of it.

Or...he was afraid to take it at face value, anyway.

So he quickly looked away and turned to rummage through the dresser, pulling out clothes for each of them.

"Jeans are super uncomfortable, so I'll just grab some pajama pants and t-shirts. Foster, I'm sorry, they'll be a bit big on you, but if you don't mind wearing mens' pajama pants you'll be a lot warmer."

Keefe let Dex and Tam take turns using the bedroom to change, but showed Sophie to the bathroom.

The hotel's laundry service had dropped off his clean laundry earlier that evening. It was still sitting neatly folded in a laundry basket on the couch, so he set aside the clothes and brought the empty basket over by the bathroom just as Sophie was opening the door. But then...

She walked out of the bathroom, self-consciously tugging at the hem of the over-large t-shirt. The clothes were big and baggy on her, and yet somehow, she had never looked more attractive. Keefe couldn't quite place it, but it felt oddly intimate, somehow, seeing her wear clothes that were technically his.