ɪ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ᴍʏ ᴛᴇᴀᴄʜᴇʀ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ - ᴋᴇᴇꜰᴇx/ᴅᴇᴇꜰᴇ

Well This is Awkward

Study hall was... awkward, to say the least.

All of their friends had definitely noticed when they walked in holding hands, but none of them had bothered to mention it.  A few prodigies started whispering to each other while making 'stealthy' glances their way.  And a few had even laughed as they came through the doors with their fingers laced together.

And among the few was Ro and Lovise who now knew the whole story and both swore to forever hold it above their heads, of course.

Keefe had doomed them both.

And then, as if things couldn't have gotten anymore uncomfortable for them, when they were with their friends, by the lightleaper, ready to go home, somebody had yelled, "KEEFE, DON'T GO GETTING TOO TOUCHY NOW!" as said boy had grabbed Dex's hand.

And if their friends didn't know by then, they definitely had to have known by that point.  Especially when Fitz had mumbled, "You guys are going to Dex's house?...  Dex, isn't your whole family supposed to be helping out at Slurps and Burps today after school?"

And wow did it get worse when Dex turned completely pink and lost all will to form coherent sentences.

"Yeah, but Lovise and Ro will be there, right ladies?"  Keefe had swooped in.

But like the demons they are, they replied with, "I thought you two wanted to be alone?"  "We can come if you want, but we're staying down stairs the whole time..."

The nerve!

Keefe groaned as he flopped onto Dex's bed.  They were barely two hours in to this whole mess and he was already tired of it.

"Yeah,"  He heard Dex say as the spot next him sunk with a weight.  "This is... Not ideal.  And I think Ro and Lovise deserve a little something for the way they acted back there."

That snapped Keefe out of it a little bit.  He turned his head so that his vision was met with Dex's hip until he lifted his eyes.  "I agree.  A nice elixir that'll make their voices croak like toads would be lovely."

Dex snorted.  "I don't think that exists, but I'll do my best."

Keefe grinned at the idea as he rolled himself into a seating position.  "So..."

"So..."  The two boys stared down at their feet until Dex got up and grabbed a notebook and a pen, clicking the pen a few times.  "What's the story?  How'd we... you know."

"When Lady Belva started acting like a creep."  Keefe mumbled.

"Would love to say that," Dex said, "but I don't know how realistic that is."

"Got any better ideas?"  Keefe turned his head again to look at Dex who was staring at the blank piece of paper in front of him with genuine seriousness.  His facial expression was one of deep concentration until it broke and he grinned, showing off his perfect dimples.

"You remember that whole eckodon fiasco?"

Keefe blew air out of his lips, making a noise like a human plane for a moment before stopping.  "Who doesn't?"

"We could say that I started getting a crush on you then and asked you out once you were back from the Neverseen?"

Keefe weighed the idea.  "I like that beginning, but I don't know about that last part.  Everyone kind of knows I was, like, majorly into Sophie at that point."

"Okay..."  Dex said slowly.  "What about after we infiltrated Nightfall then?  You weren't - or, excuse me - you didn't act as head-over-heels for her then."

"That sounds good.  I mean, I did flirt with you a few times then, so it'd workout in case anyone has a weird memory.  And we could say that you were pretending to have a crush on Foster.  Oh she'll freak."  Keefe chucked at the idea of Sophie thinking that she'd kissed Dex virtually for nothing.

Dex paused in his writing.  "You flirted with me?  When?  Why?"

Keefe snorted.  Only Dex could confuse flirting for teasing.  "Let me think... When you complained about nobody holding onto you-"

"I didn't wanna pass out!"

"when I took note of your growth spurt-"

"That's not flirting."

"when I begged Sophie to tell me if you were okay after having your sweet, innocent, fragile heart crushed... The list could go on, my friend."

"I wasn't even there for that!"  Dex snapped.  "And what do you mean sweet, innocent, and fragile?"

"Dex, honey, you're getting defensive over not noticing that I was flirting with you."  Keefe said in a soothing tone.

"But you weren't!"

"Shh, shhh."

Dex pulled away as Keefe went to wrap him in a bear hug.  "Get your filthy hands off me."

Keefe put his hand to his heart as if he were wounded.  "But, Dexy.  My heart.  My feelings.  My pride... I..."  Keefe fell back onto the bed, dramatically.  He'd hoped to get at least a snort out of the stubborn Technopath, but he received nothing, even as he struggled to sit back up.  "Okay, fine, but we need to figure out what we're okay with doing and what we're not at all okay with doing."

Dex tilted his head in confusion.  "What do you mean?..."

"Like, uh,"  Keefe took the notebook and pen from Dex's hands.  "Where are you okay with me kissing you?"

"Huh?"

Keefe rolled his eyes.  "Would you survive if I kissed your cheek?  Yes or no?"

"Yes?"  Dex's tone was more of a guess, but Keefe would take it anyways.

"Cool."  Keefe wrote it down.  "What about... your forehead?"

"I think anywhere on my face should be fine as long as it's not... you know.  Unless we're in dire need for some reason."  Dex mumbled.  He played with a loose string on his comforter.

Keefe nodded.  "Same here.  Hands and neck okay?"

"Neck?"  Dex winced.

Keefe cleared his throat.  "Just a peck I mean.  It's fine with me, but if it's not with you that's okay."

Dex looked away, turning pinker.  "It's okay I guess.  Just don't make it your go-to."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Dizznee."  Keefe said, scribbling everything else down.  "What else do couples do?"

"Hold each other's waist?"  Dex guessed.

Keefe nodded.  "I already know you're okay with that, so we're both good there... Would you survive if you had to sit on my knees?"

Dex coughed.  "Okay, where and when would I need to sit on you?"

Keefe shrugged in defense.  "I'm just trying to think of stuff touchy couples do!"

"But we're not a touchy couple!"

Keefe raised an eyebrow.  "You and I both know that we are so touch starved it hurts."

"Ugh.  Fine."  Dex covered his face.  "I'm okay with whatever you want to do as long as it's not weird.  Or actual kissing-kissing unless we need to."

"Oh hell no!  I wouldn't do that.  And same here."  Keefe said, quietly.  He set the notebook and pen aside.  "So, you fell for me a few years ago and asked me out about a year ago?"

Dex nodded.  "And we've been keeping it a secret since we were worried about how people would react."

Keefe held out his hand.  "Sounds perfect."