@ChandelierHead and @ImaSokeefeFan, your Sokeefe requests! You both had similar requests so I basically just put them together and here we are!

(this is my very first Sokeefe oneshot; I haven't written it for weekly and no one requested it before now so it's strange to me that Sokeefe, one of the most widely known kotlc ships, is one of the only ones I haven't done yet)

Enjoy!

Calla's tree was peaceful today.

Petals drifted gently down to the grass below, spiraling around as they were caught in the breeze. The ocean below the cliff rushed gently, waves crashing against the shore down below. A sweet smell perfumed the air, the sun was warm, and the grass was soft.

There was absolutely no reason for Sophie to be stressed (not here, not now) but she was.

Stretching out on the grass did nothing to ease her anxiety, and none of the countless positions she moved to helped either.

Her finger tapped anxiously on her knee, and she simply couldn't stop the thoughts flowing through her mind; the responsibilities piling up and ticking past as she went through exactly everything she should be doing but wasn't.

And not only that; no, her brain decided she wasn't worried enough and added in some longing and wishing and hoping for something that would never happen.

Ice blue eyes and messy blonde hair swirled around in her head, and she couldn't get the sight out of her mind.

A Panakes petal fluttered down and landed in her outstretched palm, almost as if Calla was smiling at her from her tree. Sophie rubbed the soft surface gently, taking care not to crush the delicate petal. Pinching it between her fingers, she held it up to her nose, inhaling the sweet scent of the Panakes before letting it land back on the ground.

She tried to stop thinking about him; every time he crossed her mind, he was there for at least a few hours, muddling up her thoughts, and she was trying to be peaceful.

It was working.

At least, that's what she was trying to convince herself.

It was working just as well as being peaceful was.

Sophie sighed, flopping back into the grass. She squeezed her eyes shut and ignored the thumping in her ears, dismissing it as her loud heart.

"Sophie," a familiar voice sounded (not her heart; footsteps) right next to her. Rousing her from her thoughts (her unwarranted, unwelcome, completely wrong thoughts).

She bolted upright, and her thumping heart fluttered (she ignored it, of course) as she glimpsed Keefe's hand: outstretched, to help her to her feet.

She took it, nervous jitters spreading through her body at the intensity in Keefe's eyes.

"What's up?" she asked apprehensively, struggling to obey the voice that was telling her to let go of his hand.

He was dressed nicely today.

"Come with me," he grinned. She must have imagined the seriousness in his eyes, because he was all smiles now. She pushed away the twinge of disappointment. She had no right to be feeling these things about him (not that she was, of course) and he didn't need to be involved in anything right now.

She definitely didn't.

But at the same time...

Keefe grinned at her, holding his crystal up to the light. They glittered away, Sophie clinging to his hand as they rematerialized in a meadow.

She'd never get used to the beauty of the Lost Cities. The vibrant green grass, colorful flowers, and clear blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds never failed to amaze her, and this meadow seemed to have a special brilliance.

Or maybe that was the effect of the ice blue eyes taking in her reaction, paired with a smirk.

"Like it?" Keefe asked, a hint of nerves in his voice. As if there could be a possibility of her not liking it.

"It's... beautiful," Sophie responded, inhaling to catch the scent in the air. It smelled like... mallowmelt?

Keefe grabbed her hand and led her up a small rise, and a picnic blanket came into view. Sophie stopped, covering her mouth with a gasp as she glimpsed the large basket sitting on the red checkered blanket.

"Keefe..." she breathed, the words flooding from her mouth with a gasp. "You set this up?"

He laughed, letting go of her hand to shift back and forth on his feet self-consciously (Keefe was a lot of things, but he certainly wasn't self-conscious), rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah. Do you like it?"

"I love it," Sophie promised, not daring to consider what this gesture might mean. That it could- that he could-

"Want to eat?" Keefe interrupted her musings (thankfully), pulling her out of her daze.

"Yes, please," Sophie grinned. One of her favorite childhood memories was going on picnics with her family. She liked it better inside, anyway; the thoughts were quieter there, and it was hard to hear her parents true voices when the wind was blowing them away.

How had Keefe known she'd needed this?

A break from the constant stress of the elven world, her new place as the moonlark and the Black Swan's (and the Council's) figurehead.

Just a day where she could be... her.

They unpacked the basket quickly but carefully, arranging the food on the blanket. Sophie smiled as she saw the foods from her human years; somehow, Keefe had snuck into the Forbidden Cities to get them, and there were human cupcakes and sandwiches and snacks.

He even got pretzel sticks, somehow.

"Are picnics an elven thing, too?" Sophie asked before taking a bite of her nostalgic peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It wasn't gnomish produce, but it still managed to taste good.

"Nope," Keefe responded cheerfully. Sophie caught a hint of red moving up his cheeks as he said, "I watched a human movie and there was a picnic and I figured you might like it..."

"Thank you," Sophie blinked. The picnic was pretty cliche for a reason; it had come from a human movie. She grinned.

She'd always wanted to go on a (not date, she reminded herself) picnic with one of her friends.

She was a romantic in that way, at least.

As if the sky wanted to provide the most cliche scene from a movie, Sophie felt a raindrop on her head. (she didn't even know it could rain in the Lost Cities; this was the first she'd seen of it).

Keefe cursed under his breath as rain started to fall in earnest, drenching them. Sophie bit her lip as disappointment washed over her at the ruined picnic.

Back to stressing and working, it seemed. Trying and failing to relax under Calla's tree and waiting for an excuse to move.

They shoved the food back into the basket hurriedly in no particular order, shaking their wet hair out of their eyes as they shook off the grass stuck to the bottom of the basket.

The sun was gone, covered by the dark gray clouds that replaced the puffy white blobs from just an hour before.

"It wasn't supposed to go this way!" Keefe frowned, shoving his sopping wet hair from his forehead.

"It's okay, Keefe-" Sophie tried, reaching for his hand.

He turned towards her, annoyance churning in his shining ice blue eyes as he said, "I had a plan! It was supposed to be... perfect."

"What do you-" Sophie flicked rain off her hair absentmindedly, wincing as it landed on her back with a splat.

"Today was supposed to be the day, Sophie." Not Foster, she noticed. Sophie.

"The day for... what?" she could hardly ask the question through the butterflies swirling in her stomach.

"The day I told you I loved you!" Keefe shouted. He was angry at the weather, she knew, and he tended to blurt out things when he was angry. Or feeling any emotion, really. She could see the moment his eyes widened, his hand reaching into the air as if he wanted to snatch back the words.

Pretend they were never said.

But with the words, time slowed to a halt. But even though Sophie's heart stopped and her lungs ceased to take in oxygen and her mind stopped thinking, the rain kept falling. It landed on her clothes and her hair and her skin, the water droplets sliding down her cheeks.

It almost felt like crying.

"You-" was all she could choke out, and time started again. Stuttered, and continued its pace.

"I- I didn't mean-" Keefe's blonde hair was limp against his forehead with the rain. His clothes were soaked through, and his normally humorous ice blue eyes were panicked.

Sophie reached for his hand, and he watched as her fingers twined with his.

"What are you-" was all Keefe managed to get out before Sophie pressed her lips against his.

For a moment, she was afraid he wouldn't kiss her back, but then his surprised lips responded and pressed into hers, his arms wrapping around her waist and playing with the dangling wet strands of hair.

She twined her arms around his neck in response, curling her fingers through his wet hair and spiking it up as they moved closer.

When they finally broke away, Sophie was pretty sure Keefe was just as speechless as she was, for once. A blush covered his face (probably matching hers) and her lips were tingling from where they'd touched.

"I love you, too," Sophie whispered, even if the words felt strange coming out of her mouth. She wasn't the type of person that threw the words around, after all; they were strictly reserved for family.

"Even though I ruined your picnic?" Keefe mumbled, his breath warming her lips from where they stood, barely an inch apart.

"I like it better this way," she told him, a smile curving her lips. 

She brought their lips together again.

Picnic scene, some Sophie angst, yep yep! It's harder to write Sophie angst for some reason and I have no idea why.

Keefe angst, Biana angst, Tam angst, Fitz angst, Linh, Marella, Dex angst is easier than Sophie angst

Hm

Anyway, I love those cliche kissing in the rain picnic things, because like I can imagine Keefe standing in the rain screaming "I LOVE YOU" or something dramatic like that. I have no idea why or how I can imagine that, but I can, and I live for it.

(I realized halfway through this that Sophie could be changed out for Fitz and this could totally be Keefitz, or honestly Keefe could be switched out for Fitz and it could be Sophitz. My imagination is great and that just shows how cliche I write. If you wanna imagine it that way go ahead; I'm totally not multi-fangirling over Sophitz, Sokeefe, and Keefitz right now)

This note turned out longer than some so I'll just finish it off by saying comment, tell me if you liked it, the usual! Love y'all!