Before:

"They're together too? I mean, I can't say I didn't see it coming," Keefe snorted. "Everyone's pairing off. The only single ones left are Bangs Boy, Maruca, Fitz, and... you and me, I guess."Keefe wiggled his eyebrows, and Sophie snickered.

"For now, yes." She agreed, blushing AGAIN.

Keefe couldn't stop the hope and joy that rose in him with that statement. "Cool."

"Yeah," Sophie smiled a little wistfully, and Keefe wondered what she was thinking about. Emotions only went so far.

Either way, his life was finally coming together (and apart at the same time, but it was better not to focus on that).

He had faced the truth, and it had rewarded him.

He hailed Biana first thing, and she answered right away. "What's up?"

"Well..." Keefe let his smile grow. He was in his room at Candleshade, but even that couldn't sour his mood.

"Well..." Biana smiled as well. "What?"

"So I went over to Sophie's today." Keefe's grin grew so large he felt his cheeks stretch to an almost painful point.

Biana's eyes went wide, but she kept her composure. "And...?"

"And..." Keefe let the word drag on until Biana was practically jumping up and down in her seat.

"Keefe, if you do not tell me RIGHT NOW...."

"What will you do?" Keefe smirked.

"I'll- I'll tell Sophie your middle name!" Biana threatened.

Keefe gasped in mock horror. "No need to go THAT far!"

"KEEFE. JUST TELL ME ALREADY!" Biana shouted into her imparter, so loud Keefe almost dropped it.

"Fine. We maybe sorta kinda... kissed?" Keefe covered his ears immediately after, but it wasn't enough to drown out the scream that rang through the imparter.

Not a squeal; a straight-up SCREAM.

Keefe winced, but his smile somehow managed to grow even larger.

Incoherent words appeared in the middle of the scream. Suddenly, it cut off, and Keefe watched Biana's door bang open. She seemed to reassure her father that there was no reason to worry and waved him out.

"Sorry about that," Biana told Keefe, her voice slightly hoarse. A smile stretched across her face that rivaled his own. "I was, as you could probably tell, extremely excited."

"Yeah, I might have figured that out," Keefe laughed.

"So, are you... together now?" Biana asked.

Keefe hesitated. "Not... exactly? She said it would be awkward immediately after breaking up with Fitz."

"But she definitely likes you?" Biana checked.

"Yeah," Keefe knew his smile had turned soft. "She does."

Biana let out a squeal. "Sorry, sorry. I had to. So what about Fitz? And everyone else? Are you gonna tell them?"

That... was a hard question. "I mean... I don't think there's any reason to tell him. It's not like we're dating."

"You kissed," Biana reminded him. As if he could forget. "Don't you think he deserves to know? Especially since he's probably gonna try to win Sophie back."

Keefe tamped down his anger. "They've broken up at least twice, now. Why doesn't he give up?"

"Would you?" Biana pointed out. "Or would you let her go on her merry way, most likely ending up with Fitz again?"

Another hard question.

On one hand, it was Sophie's choice, and whatever she wanted, he would respect.

On the other hand... didn't he owe it to her to keep her options open? Maybe it was selfish, but she needed to know.

"No," Keefe had to admit. Maybe it was selfish of him. Maybe it was stubborn. But- "I wouldn't give up on her unless she made it absolutely for sure clear that she had no feelings for me. But the thing is... I think she still likes Fitz."

Biana mmmed and nodded. "I think so too."

They sat in silence for a few seconds.

A thought occurred to Keefe.

"Wait, I thought you were on Team Fitzphie." He eyed her suspiciously.

"Oh, I am," Biana smiled. "But I'm also on Team Keephie. I'm on Team-Sophie-gets-her-head-out-of-the-clouds-and-chooses-someone-already."

Keefe nodded. "I think everyone's on that team. Except for Fitz."

Biana snorted. "I don't think Fitz counts. Hey, you should talk to him, by the way."

"Right, cause that turned out amazing last time."

"No, seriously. You guys are best friends."

"Were best friends," Keefe corrected her. "Not anymore."

"Seriously? Over what, a girl you both have a crush on? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." Biana crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. "You guys have both liked Sophie forever, why now all of a sudden you break off?"

"Things are different now, and you know it," Keefe reminded her. "We... aren't the same people as we were when we were eleven."

"So? Neither is Sophie. Neither am I. Neither is Dex. But we all still manage to be friends," Biana pointed out. "And you guys were super close. What changed? And don't you dare say Sophie. Because a girl shouldn't cause that."

"But she did," Keefe whispered. "Nothing started to change until we realized we both liked her... and we still stayed friends until they got together."

"Then I think you need to ask yourself exactly how fragile your friendship had to be for it to fall apart like that."

Keefe hesitated. He'd never really... thought of that before. His and Fitz's friendship hadn't exactly been... deep. It had centered around teasing, laughing, fun. Frivolity, pranks, sports... basically all they did together. They never really sat down and... talked. Fitz had only a vague idea of what happened to Keefe with his parents, and Keefe didn't fully understand everything happening in his supposed friend's life. Maybe that was the reason their friendship had broken so easily. It hadn't exactly been meaningful, or deep.

"So?" Biana waited. "Are you going to make up with him? You know, your lifelong friend?"

"I wouldn't say lifelong," Keefe avoided the question automatically. "It's only been, what, seven years?"

"That's almost your entire life. Now answer me. Are you? Or are you gonna let jealousy and a girl break up the Dynamite Duo?"

"I rather like that name," Keefe mused. "Can I trademark that?"

"KEEFE!"

"Fine. I want to. But. I don't think Fitz does. He seems to hate me now, if you hadn't noticed all the evil glares of doom."

"He doesn't hate you, Keefe. He gets mad, you know? And he's had all this pressure heaped on him all through his life to be perfect and keep the Vacker legacy going, and then suddenly the person he likes might not register, which could make him a bad match. If he was a bad match, the entire family would practically disown him, and he doesn't want to go through that for obvious reasons. Not to mention, she likes you, and Fitz may have known that all along. Keefe, yes, he's jealous of you and Sophie. But remember, part of it is also that he's never really been bad at something, and the idea that you won something he didn't... it's grating on him." Biana twirled her fingers through her long, chocolate hair thoughtfully. "I think he really does miss you. But he doesn't recognize that feeling, and it's buried at the moment. All you have to do is bring it out."

Keefe blinked, his mind sorting through the speech Biana had just uttered. "Firstly, Sophie's not an object to be 'won', and if he thinks that-"

"He doesn't. You know that's not what I meant. Sophie chose you over him-"

"He doesn't know that yet, though," Keefe argued. "They only just broke up, and he must think he can win her back again just like last time."

"I don't know. There were a lot of hints that Sophie liked you all along. The only people who didn't actually notice were you and her. Because of course. Also, in any new relationship, there's gonna be some paranoia, and there was always a part of Fitz that was gonna wonder, what if she actually likes him? Because teenagers are dumb like that."

"I... there were hints?" Was all he could say. There had, of course, been some moments where she'd blushed, or her emotions had turned fluttery, or she'd taken his hand for no reason.

But Sophie liked Fitz.

There was no argument to that.

Until now.

"I mean, yeah. She basically acted almost the same around you as she did for Fitz, only less nervous and more... casual, I guess," Biana told him.

Keefe sorted through his photographic memory. Sophie had been a little more blushy and a little less casual around him than she did around, say, Tam, or Maruca... maybe she did always like him.

"But whatever. We keep getting sidetracked. Are you gonna try to make up with Fitz?"

There was no avoiding the question, apparently. Biana was fixated on his answer.

"I guess," Keefe mumbled. "But Fitz will be mad if we become friends again and then he finds out about me and Sophie. Like I... I guess, betrayed his trust or something?"

"He'll be mad either way... although he might not be mad. More like-"

"If you say disappointed I swear-" Keefe started.

"Disappointed," Biana ignored him. "Not disappointed in you, but in himself, that he lost Sophie or... something. But seriously. Sophie cannot be enough to break up you two, okay? That's literally the pettiest thing I've ever heard. And I'm friends with you."

"Okay, that one hurt," Keefe snorted. "But fine. I'll... try to talk to him."

"When?" Biana asked, as if she knew the conversation Keefe was planning would ideally happen in a zillion years, give or take a century or so.

"Tomorrow, I guess." If the stare Biana was giving him was any indication, he should be talking to her brother sooner rather than later.

"Make it today?" Biana suggested. Keefe frowned, but Biana shot him a sweet, begging look that somehow contained a million death threats if he didn't do what she asked.

He sighed and nodded, already planning out what he was going to say to his former/current best friend.

"Okay, I'll tell him to expect a hail later today so you don't chicken out," Biana gave him her sweetest smile and clicked away, stopping Keefe's protests before they fully left his lips.

He stared at his imparter for a second, speechless.

Biana seemed to have that effect on people.

He shook his head, putting his imparter to the side before flopping back on his bed and pressing a pillow on his face.

He couldn't help smiling as he remembered the day before, his cheeks stretching wide as they did every time the memory crossed his mind.

But the grin disappeared as soon as he thought of the upcoming conversation with Fitz.

This was gonna be painful.

Keefe closed his eyes, creating a mental brainspace to make a list of all the things he could say to Fitz. At first, most of the things were angry, about trust and betrayal and paranoia, but he crumpled those topics- they were more like rants, really- up and threw them into his mental trash can.

He had to think about calm, reasonable topics that would help him remember their past friendship.

He began again.

...

Keefe fidgeted at the front gate to Everglen. He figured it was easier to come see Fitz in person, because this way, he would be able to judge Fitz's emotions. Plus, Biana would probably be there to act as damage control.

The gates finally opened, but instead of Fitz, there was Biana standing at the other end.

"Fancy seeing you here," she grinned. "I answered because I wanted it to be a surprise. Fitz doesn't know you're coming."

"But I thought you told him?" Keefe asked, his eyebrows raised.

"Oh, I only said that so you wouldn't chicken out," Biana smirked. "And it worked, didn't it."

Keefe scowled. Who knew she could be so sneaky!

He made his way inside, through the familiar hallways he'd stayed at for weeks on end before. His first friend, his first sleepover, his first family, had been here.

He knew the way to Fitz's room by heart, but he found himself hesitating the closer he got. His feet dragged, each leg seeming heavier the more steps he took.

There it was.

Fitz's door.

The door had always symbolized a kind of escape for him, as much as his dad's beach house and his mother's apartment. It represented freedom, love, or basically anything except his tower.

The unfamiliar feeling of dread now associated with the door didn't only make Keefe nervous, it made him sad, missing the simple times now long in the past.

His hand lifted, slowly. He watched it rise, watched it land on the door in three short cracks.

The door opened.

Fitz's eyes were wide with surprise, but, to Keefe's surprise, he wasn't angry. There was a hint of annoyance, or frustration, but not any anger at Keefe.

Choosing to take that as a hopeful sign, Keefe found his voice.

"May I come in?"

Okay

I told you Fitz would be redeemed-

I literally love their platonic relationship, though. Platonic Keefitz was so sweet, I was so mad when they stopped being friends over a girl. smh

Also, I definitely based Biana's reaction on my own reaction to when two of my friends got together lol