little fitz perfect

Two

"Are you going to tell me what happened last night?" Biana asked the next morning after everyone had left.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, come on. You and Dex went to do your hair or whatever— it looks awesome, by the way— and then suddenly Dex comes back, packs up his stuff, and leaves. And I didn't see you for the rest of the night."

Fitz reached up and touched his hair, hardly believing he'd actually gotten it dyed. By Dex. Who probably didn't want to be friends with him anymore.

Fitz didn't blame him.

Biana sighed when Fitz didn't answer. "Just tell me what happened, Fitz."

"Nothing," he mumbled, turning to head back to his room. Biana blocked him.

"I get that you don't want to talk about it, but... something's definitely up. I'm not gonna force you to tell me, but you should talk to Dex." She vanished and walked away.

You should talk to Dex.

Fitz sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his blank imparter screen. Why would he talk to Dex? Wouldn't that just make things worse?

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Grizel asked from the doorway. She and Woltzer had been doing her nightly patrol of Everglen when the kiss had happened, which took a while thanks to the massive size of the property.

"It's nothing, really," Fitz told her. "We just... had a little argument," he lied. They hadn't actually argued. But it was easier than explaining what had really happened.

"I see." Grizel didn't seem to believe him, but thankfully didn't say anything as Fitz put away his imparter and took out some of his Foxfire things. He was studying because he needed to have good grades if he wanted to get into the Elite Levels. It had nothing to do with the fact that he needed to keep himself distracted.

Not that the distraction worked. His mind kept wandering back to how Dex's lips had felt against his, then how Alden had told him it was wrong for him to kiss someone of the same gender.

But how could it be wrong if it felt so right?

He couldn't avoid Dex forever. He knew that. But maybe he could put off their next one-on-one conversation... for eternity. It wasn't that Fitz didn't want to talk to Dex, he just didn't know if Dex wanted to talk to him.

The day passed far too quickly for Fitz's liking, and soon he was sitting in his room while Grizel, once again, did her patrol with Woltzer.

He found himself staring at his imparter again. Three words. Three words and Dex would be there on the screen and he could talk to him, or apologize, or whatever.

But he couldn't make himself say them.

Show me Dex.

No, he couldn't. What good would that do?

"Show me Dex."

He almost didn't realize he'd said the words out loud until Dex's flustered face appeared. "Oh– Fitz? What are you—"

Fitz clicked off the imparter.

He covered his burning face with his hands. Dex had actually picked up. Fitz hadn't thought he would do that.

Fitz laid in bed later that night, too tired to stay awake, but too anxious to get any sleep. The sooner he fell asleep, the sooner morning would come, and when morning came, he would have to go to school. He wasn't sure if he was ready to face everyone, to face Dex.