Too Real: a Sokeefe Fanfic

Chapter 1

Sophie Foster was in an empty room, staring slightly to the right. The Neverseen had fled, not bothering to cover their evidence before fleeing.

Keefe rushed into the room, his hair rumpled beyond even his own taste. He untied the bonds, and after Sophie's hands were untied, she suddenly seemed to start back to life. She screamed and started thrashing as wildly as she could with her legs still in bonds on the metal chair. Keefe grabbed her arms.

"Hey, hey, HEY!" he shouted. "It's me! You're okay!" Sophie's eyes were wide and Keefe couldn't tell if she recognized him. "It's me," he said softly. "Keefe. Remember me?" She froze.

"Keefe?" she asked. He nodded and released her arms now that she was calm. She pulled him in tightly and hugged him tightly. A wild laugh escaped her. "Keefe?" she replied between choked chuckles.

"Yeah, I'm still Keefe. What?"

"I love you." Sophie said. "I missed you so much, and now I know why. I love you." Her words were slurred and the next wave of hysterical laughter didn't exactly suggest Keefe should take her seriously.

"Um..." Keefe said, trying not to take what she had said to heart. "Well, I'm here to bring you back from here, right? I'll just bring you right to the Black Swan. And...how about we don't talk for the rest of the way?"

"No talking?" Sophie looked up at him seriously. "I can do that...for you, Keefe."

He laughed nervously. "Remember, no talking."

Sophie nodded and stayed silent until they reached the streets of Berlin, Germany, where she'd been captured.

Mr. Forkle rushed at Keefe as soon as he'd appeared, but Sophie happened to let out a peal of shrill laughter, and he just pointed dumbly towards the infirmary.

Keefe repositioned Sophie from carrying her Bridal Style so that she was now leaning heavily on him, clinging to his neck. He wrapped his arm around her waist, seeing how little control she seemed to have over her limbs. Sure, she was normally adorably clumsy, but if he'd let go of her now she would've collapsed into one of the walls in the narrow hallway.

And then laughed.

He flinched when Sophie pulled his arm further around herself, and tensed when kept her hand on top of his. Keefe quickened his pace, and handed her off to Physic.

"I don't know what's going on! She just keeps talking, and it's like she's drunk or something. She's saying, like, super random stuff!" Keefe said, exasperated.

"What was she saying?" Dex said. Keefe hesitated. Sure, she had been practically shouting this stuff, but he could never see her saying any of it normally.

"Well?" Mr. Forkle asked. When in doubt, make it into a joke, Keefe figured.

"At first she was all like, Keefe, I love you, so I was like, duh. Then I basically told her to shut up, because she was not okay, and then she was talking about Fitz and Dex and Bangs Boy, so I just brought her back here." Keefe looked awkwardly away from the other boys and Mr. Forkle.

"Um, what?" Fitz asked, breaking the silence. "What was she saying about me?"

Mr. Forkle cleared his throat. Everyone looked to him. "Sophie is currently being treated by Physic. All I ask is for Keefe to please refrain from telling anyone what Sophie said while under the influences of this...drug." All of the boys nodded absentmindedly.

Everyone except Keefe gradually drifted out of the room. He was focusing on a memory.

————

Sophie had locked eyes with him. Keefe remembered smiling warmly, the way you might when you see a baby.

"The thing I didn't want to tell Fitz during Cognate training was that I had a crush on him." Keefe winced involuntarily. "I just realized that now I'd have to tell him that I used to have a crush on him, Keefie." He froze and muttered "Don't call me that."

"Aww, Keefie, don't be jealous. Didn't I tell you that I loved you? You aren't gonna take me for granted, Keefie."

"Remember what I said earlier?" Keefe hated the tone he felt himself adopting.

"No talking." Sophie said. "But I needed to tell you...I love you, and you shouldn't be jealous." She looked up at him. "Jealous of Fitz." Her words were so slurred that 'shouldn't' sounded like 'shuh in.'

Desperately trying to ignore her, Keefe jogged as quickly as he could to the place where he could light leap from.
"You know, you're a good rescuer, Keefe." Sophie kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for saving me."

Keefe realized that he was smiling.