happy valentines day all of you <3

platonic sodex for this chapter :) sorry i know there isnt much romantic development between the main ships but i hope its decent anyway!!

--dex dizznee--

"Woah, this place..." Sophie lets out a fascinated breath at the spa room.

Crystal lights fill the place with a soft, pink light. The bath in the center of the spa is abundant in clear, warm water, one or two purple flowers floating on the surface. There are bean bags of pink and purple pastels near the far left corner of the room, a table of nail polish colors next to it.

"Gosh darn Vackers," I mumble loud enough for Sophie to hear. She laughs shortly, half of her attention bestowed upon the magnificence of the room. She tramples over to the bath, still in her bathing suit and slows down once she is inches away from the pristine quartz, carefully stepping in as to not spill one drop of the water. She sighs appreciatively as she sinks into the bath, leaning her head back to dip her hair in.

I walk over to the edge of the bath where a few white, slim bottles sit on the edge of the quartz. I read the lables: Bubbles Galore, Shimmer Delight Strawberry Shampoo, Cleansing Conditioner. There is a small plate of heart-shaped soaps and cucumber slices there, too, and I feel a smidge out of place in a place so heavenly when I might still have potion ingredients in my nail beds.

Sophie doesn't seem fazed. She moves around in the water, then towards me, and I feel my discomfort disappear. Well, most of it.

Sophie reads the lables and snorts. "Shimmer Delight Strawberry," she reads and bursts out laughing. I can't help but laugh too at the over-the-top names the bottles have, especially as I swim over to another section of bottles across the bath and read those aloud.

"Magical mango makes your dreams come true," I say, and Sophie's nails dig into the quartz as she laughs so hard she can't breathe. She examines the bottles herself and her eyes light up.

"Oh, look! Sparkling pink lemonade!" she exclaims, hastily unscrewing the bottle. She takes a swing of the drink and hands it to me expectantly.

"No way, after you just put your mouth on that thing?" I fake scoff and Sophie rolls her eyes.

"Real adopted cousins share their own pathogens," she says all too seriously and I fall into the water.

"Fine." I reluctantly take a sip from the drink. The citrusy sweet liquid sizzles in my throat as I swallow.

Sophie's expression turns serious. "So."

"So." I repeat with a smile. "How did it go?"

Sophie sighs dreamily and it takes everything in me to resist rolling my eyes at her. Oh, she has it bad. "Biana's amazing. And the kiss was everything I could hope for and more." She blinks and the faraway look in her eyes ceases to exist. It's my turn now. "What about you?"

"About the same." I smile and remember the adoring smile on Fitz's face after I finally pulled away, his dark brown hair tousled but cuter than anything I've ever seen in the world. He looks at me like I'm the only thing that matters and I love him so much it's bordering physical pain.

Sophie smirks at me, but doesn't say anything. Her gaze softens as she looks at me and even though she doesn't say anything, I have an idea of what she's thinking. The two of us have grown so much, come so far, that as I gaze at Sophie I can barely remember how she looked when she stepped into Slurps And Burps for the first time.

We are so much stronger now, but I miss the days when I woke up with my head free of the past.

Sophie swims over to me and leans her head on my shoulder, and for one fleeting moment I am reminded of the past. We stay like that for a while until Sophie hums and swims over to the nail polish. She holds up a lavender polish and grins.

"I'm down." I swim to her. "Who's going first?"

"You can. Biana taught me how to paint nails the right way last week. I wanna practice my skills." Sophie wiggles her eyebrows. "Color?"

"Uhhh...what would you recommend?"

"Dex, just because I know how to paint nails doesn't mean I know what color you look good in."

I groan. "Fine." I look at the selection myself and a cool green color catches my eye. "How about that one?"

Sophie nods and unscrews the cap, then motions for me to set my hand down on the quartz. She gingerly coats each nail with the glossy paint and covers them with a layer of golden sparkles. She smiles hopefully as I inspect her work.

"Don't you think the gold is a bit much?" I quickly add as I see her smile falter, "Not that it doesn't look amazing, of course."

"C'mon. What does that term mean in the first place?" Sophie asks me. She grins triumphantly when I fail to answer, and places a dark red polish in front of me. "My turn now, Dexy."

I mess up the job on the first nail, accidentally using the brush on Sophie's skin. I smile sheepishly. "Sorry." I do the rest of the nails badly, finishing the job with the same golden glitter.

"Don't you think the gold is a bit much?" Sophie repeats.

I fling a glob of red polish at her face, right in between her narrowed eyes. "Oh, it's on, Dexy," she snarls, and picks up the bottle of cool green.