"Alvar! Hey man, how are you? How's college been?" I exclaimed, bringing him in for what Foster calls a 'bro hug.'

"I'm good, it's been good." He turned to face Foster. "Hey Sophie, long time no see."

She laughed awkwardly, nodding her head then looking away. I gave Alvar a look that hopefully got my message across, that she's had a rough day, a rough few months. He nodded like he understood.

"Are you back for summer break?" I asked after a moment. He nodded.

"Yeah, I haven't been back for more than a week for a long time, so I figured I'd be back for the entire break. Hopefully I'll be getting to see you two a lot more. Also, Sophie, I heard about what happened to you." His eyes softened as Sophie finally turned back to him. "I'm so sorry that happened to you, I can't imagine what you must've gone through. I'm just glad you're okay now. And on a happier note, I'm a big fan." He winked at the last part.

Sophie just nods again. I know how hard this has been for her, the entire day. I would have to work extra hard to get her to laugh for the rest of the day.

"We should probably keep going." I said, hoping to get Sophie home so she didn't have to be surrounded by strangers whispering about her. "It was nice seeing you, Alvar."

"It was nice seeing you guys, too. And I'll hopefully be seeing you real soon."

"Are you okay?" I asked Sophie when we were a good distance away. She looked really pale. "It's just Alvar, you know you don't have to be nervous around him."

"Yeah I'm fine. Sorry, I'm just tired of everyone bringing it up." I didn't know whether she meant the kidnapping or being Moonlark. Probably both.

"Don't apologize. You did nothing wrong." I reassured her. I looked down in our hands, noticing our melted and untouched ice cream.

"I forgot about that." She laughed slightly and said when I showed her mine. Hers was slightly less melted than mine somehow, but still resembled soup more than ice cream.

"I bet you can't finish yours as fast as I can." I challenged her.

"With the spoon or chugging it?" She asked, her eyebrows raised competitively. I thought for a moment.

"Spoon." As soon as we started, I realized just how flat these spoons were. I was struggling to keep any of the melted ice cream on it, but when I looked over, Foster was almost done. I wanted her to win, that was the whole point, but I didn't want to lose this badly.

So I started cheating. I forgot the spoon and just started drinking it little by little so she wouldn't notice. I jumped when she threw her spoon on the ground.

"Done." She smiled wickedly at me. I couldn't help but smile back at her, the joy on her face that wasn't there moments ago.

I laughed and rolled my eyes. "You cheated."

She gasped in shock at my accusation. "I would do no such thing." She huffed, turning away and crossing her arms.

I laughed again, wrapping my arm around her shoulder and leading her on, away from all the stares and whispers I hadn't noticed before.

I wanted to keep laughing with her here, keep making her smile, and I was glad I could do that. But, I didn't believe it. After all the faking she did before her kidnapping, what if she's just completely faking being okay? What if something worse is going on, and she's fooling all of us?"

I'll just keep a close eye on her, and always be there for her. I'll keep her safe, protect her. And with Ro trailing behind us, I knew she would be extra safe. Just as long as I stayed near her.

~~~

We made it back to the palace in record time. I changed out of my jeans into some sweats, and gave Foster a pair of sweatpants to change into. They would've been big on her before, but now they really showed just how much weight and muscle she'd lost.

She came over to the couch in my room and sat down next to me. I threw half my blanket over her, giving her the remote to pick something to watch. I didn't care if it would be some sappy romance or the most gruesome horror movie ever, if it's what she wanted to watch after today I would love it.

It ended up being a Glen Powell movie, which I didn't mind. It bothered me more how my girlfriend would get heart eyes every time he was on screen.

My phone buzzed so I picked it up. A text from Fitz was on screen, showing some link, so I clicked on it. He was more of a calling person rather than texting, so I knew if he sent me something it had to be important.

As soon as I clicked on the link, I quickly swiped out of it. I turned to Foster, needing to make sure she wouldn't see it.

"Get off your phone, you're missing the good part." I quickly said before realizing it was a kissing scene. Great, now I sound like a perv.

Though, she didn't look up. Her eyes were glued to the screen, face pale. Looking at the same article I just was.

"Prince Keefe of Eternalia and popular singer Moonlark: another publicity stunt or the real thing?"

"Shit." Foster whispered. "This is not gonna be good. I was hoping we'd have more time before it came out. It was so dumb, to be out in public together, on a date around other people." She groaned. I pulled her into my arms.

"It'll be okay." I murmured into her hair. "We'll get it fixed, everything will be okay. Anyone who knows us will know that it's not for publicity, that we're actually together. That's what matters, isn't it?"

"Well yeah, but not when I already got enough hate from your fangirls at our school. Imagine what I'm going to get from all the girls in love with you around the world. For 'stealing their chance?'" I had forgotten about the harassment she got at school, which I had thought was just an excuse to break up with me after seeing the Neverseen's texts. I guess it actually happened, but I wouldn't let it happen again. I'll protect her, even from some boy crazy psychos.

"I won't let that happen, okay? I'll get it figured out, nothing bad is going to happen, then we're going to be the hottest couple ever." She laughed slightly, the corners of her mouth tugging up.

"Sure, yeah. With me looking diseased now. Definitely hot." Even though I had constantly been thinking about how—not bad, exactly, but unhealthy—she's been looking lately, I wasn't expecting her to be so down on herself about it. It hurt, to hear her talking about herself like that.

"You don't look diseased, Sophie." I said seriously, grabbing her face to make her look at me. "You went through something and this was forced on you. It's not your fault that you weren't fed, that you couldn't get exercise or sunlight. All it looks like is that you were kidnapped, and you were hurt. But you know what? You're still the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and nothing could change that. Even if your entire face was disfigured, even if you were missing all your limbs, even if you started wearing galaxy wolf hoodies—though I might judge you for that last one. You'll always be gorgeous to me, and not just because of how I feel about you. You're beautiful to everyone. But especially me. Nothing will ever make me feel differently." She smiled hesitantly, and although I was hoping for more it was still a smile. I smiled back at her, leaning down to kiss her forehead.

"Thank you, Keefe. I love you." She wrapped her arms around me, hiding her face in my chest.

"I love you too, Foster."

After a minute of just sitting there in each other's arms, she pulled away.

"I should probably go home. Sort this out with my parents and Forkle before bad press starts spreading."

I nodded. "I'll get it figured out with my parents. Everything will be okay." I hugged her again after we stood up, then walked her outside to the gates. "Text me when you get home?" I asked.

"Yup." She replied, going on her tiptoes to gently kiss my lips.

As soon as she was far enough down the street to be out of my sight, I turned and ran to my parents' room. They were both there getting ready for some meeting or whatever in an hour.

"Keefe." My dad scolded as I bursted through their door. "What have we told you about running in the halls?"

"Sorry, this is an emergency." He must've sensed my panic as he rolled his eyes... then patted the spot next to where he was sitting on the edge of the bed. My mom walked out of the bathroom, a couple of maids still curling her hair and doing her makeup.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"So, you know my friend F-Sophie? The one that got kidnapped and died then came back and she's also Moonlark?" I waited for them to both nod before continuing. "Well we were hanging out today and some people took pictures of us and now there's some articles out about us dating. And she's already getting bad attention from her kidnapping, which people are calling a publicity stunt, and now there's this too and they're thinking it's also a publicity stunt." I took a deep breath before continuing. "Can you please help me with this? I don't know what to do and I don't want the public to hate her because they think she fakes everything, that would destroy her." My parents both looked at each other, then back at me.

I almost think they could tell I was on the verge of a major freak-out, because my mom only nodded once. I let out a sigh of relief, before my dad opened his mouth.

"Are you dating this girl?" I couldn't read the expression on his face, couldn't tell if it would be a good thing or bad thing. So in that case, it was better not to lie. I nodded, bracing for the yelling or disappointment, or even order to break up with her. Instead, my mom seemed to let out a noise, the closest thing I've heard to a squeal that came out of her mouth.

"Oh this is great!" She exclaimed, ripping out of the maids' grips to come over to me, grabbing my hands and squeezing them. "This is fantastic, Cassius, isn't it?" When I turned to look at him, I saw a slight smile on his face.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"You're dating the Moonlark." My mom told me, with her tone that said I was dumb. "You know what great publicity that will be for us? It's better than you even dating some other princess, Sophie will give you a massive following all across the world. Just as long as she doesn't continue getting bad press, which we can fix!"

She almost sounded like Biana when talking about my dating life, which was a comparison I hated. My parents only cared about what I was doing if it was something that would 'ruin' or improve my image. I should've known they'd be excited about this, but not for me. Never for me.

"We'll get this handled immediately. We can prove all publicity stunts wrong, dating and kidnapping." My dad told me.

"Thank you." I told them, still grateful for what they were doing, even if it was only for their benefit.

I watched as my mom made the call to our publicity team or whoever, watched as she smiled and nodded and used her most formal language, before hanging up.

"There, all sorted. It should be figured out soon." She told me with a major smile. It reminded me of a snake.

"Thank you, mom. I'll go let her know." I couldn't get out of there fast enough, sprinting up to my room to call Foster.

imagine this one connected tk the last one, but i'm too lazy and haven't had much motivation to write so deadlines have been catching up, plus i've been super busy which isn't fun. i hope you enjoyed it anyway, bud

Avery, out ->

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