Oop I think y'all should know what to expect from this chapter now... I do mention brief scenes, but like I describe them enough for y'all to understand

"Dex?" Lovise asked.

"Yeah?"

"Have you talked about boundaries with Keefe yet?"

It wasn't a question that Dex had expected to hear, and not from Lovise, but he had to admit that it was important. When he thought about it again, it wasn't too surprising of a question from Lovise. She was motherly, and wanted the best for him, just that she didn't do well in social interactions.

"No, actually. Guess not."

"Let me guess, you didn't think about it because it felt like things would be easy, and then you forgot?"

Dex blinked. "That's... really specific. But yeah, how'd you know?"

Lovise gave him a half-smile. "I thought the same when I was younger."

"And what happened?"

"I realized that I wasn't ready for a romantic relationship, and that I never actually enjoyed it in the first place. Either way, that was decades ago."

It was a bit jarring to realize that he didn't actually know much about Lovise. Shock turned to guilt, because he'd spent so long lamenting about the fact that he never felt needed in the friend group, when there was someone right there with him.

"Are you going to invite him over?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Probably. Time away from his father is probably a good idea. And..." his smile grew wide, showing his dimples. "I know just what the plan is for today."

"I'm worried for this..."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Fitzy!" Keefe whined. "I'm bored, and I haven't pranked the school in forever!"

"You've made a record for not getting in detention, why break it now?" Fitz replied with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't you understand, I'm bored!" He reached for Fitz's shoulders and shook them.

"How about this?" Fitz asked, gently prying himself away from the shaking. "Do it for the friend who enjoys your presence."

This got Keefe to stop. "Foster's too mean to me."

He narrowed his eyes. "What did you say?"

"Foster's too mean to me."

"Okay, first off, I take offense on behalf of Sophie. Second, I was talking about myself. I'm the friend that enjoys your presence."

Keefe's mouth quirked up into a smirk, then moved into an exaggerated 'thinking' pose. "But what if you're not enough to get me to back down?"

"Keefe, you have a boyfriend. He will miss you."

"And you won't?"

Fitz sighed at the antics. "Of course I'll miss you, idiot."

Keefe draped an arm around his shoulder. "Fine, I'll be good for today."

"Good enough."

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Wow, add that to the record," Marella commented dryly. "No detentions yet again."

"You can thank me for today," Fitz stated. "But I also used Dex's name."

"Ah yes, using my name to threaten him," Dex deadpanned, before bursting into laughter. The laughter made Dex's dimples show up, and his entire face brightened. "But also, why?"

"He likes you so much that he can't even stand the thought of staying away," Biana teased, smirking as Keefe looked away sheepishly.

"So Trouble here isn't causing any trouble this time?" Dex asked.

Keefe grinned at the use of the nickname. It made his cheeks sore, that was how much he was smiling. He wasn't sure why he was so fond of the nickname, it was just perfect.

"Trouble, how fitting," Tam mused. "He's the biggest troublemaker."

"Do you have a nickname for Dex yet?" Marella asked.

Keefe shook his head. "Not yet. I got Techie Boy and Dexy, but I'm still working on it."

"I thought you'd be good at nicknames," Fitz said. "I'm disappointed. I mean, Techie Boy just sounds like you're trying to copy Wonderboy. Or Bangs Boy. There's a lot of 'Boy' involved in our nicknames... Wow. You need to be more creative."

Keefe crossed his arms and pouted. "Excuse me. Rude."

He was definitely going to find at least one new nickname.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"You wanna come over today?" Dex asked as they walked out of Foxfire.

"Yeah. Way more fun than hanging out with my father."

Dex frowned at that, but then he was smiling again. "I have something... interesting planned. I don't quite know what to expect yet, but it's apparently very..."

"Very..?" Keefe inquired. "Should I be scared?"

He offered his hand for Keefe to grab. "Very. Now, let's go home."

He gladly accepted Dex's hand. Holding hands for light-leaping was such a mundane act, but Keefe always relished the feeling of Dex's hand in his. Every little touch, no matter how small they were, made up for the affection that he'd been deprived of as a child. A strict father and an absent- and also downright evil- mother. But none of that mattered in the moment, because Dex was by his side. There was nothing else to focus on except how happy he felt.

"Hey Keefe?" Dex called out gently. "Are you there?"

"Yeah," he whispered.

"We still haven't light leaped, you know."

He opened his eyes. "Wait, what?"

Dex shrugged. "You looked like you were lost in thought, so I figured that I shouldn't leap yet. What were you even thinking about?"

Keefe smiled at him. "I was thinking about how much I like you."

Dex blushed a beautiful red, and looked down, smiling sheepishly. "You're such a dork, you know that?"

"W-"

"For f*ck's sake, can we leave? Please?" Ro asked, her voice bored. "If I have to watch you two stare into each other's eyes like Sophitz does, at least allow me to have a place to sit down or something. I'm waiting on you two for transportation."

Both Keefe and Dex rolled their eyes, before finally leaping to Rimeshire. They went inside.

"I think there's some ripplefluffs left over, assuming that the triplets haven't gotten to it yet," Dex told him. "You can go get it, I'll go set up."

Miraculously, there were quite a lot of ripplefluffs left over, along with a little bid of mallowmelt and lushberry juice. When he entered Dex's room, he was surprised to see a large fort made of blankets and pillows, facing towards some thin and rectangular object. The object looked somewhat familiar.

"You built a pillow fort and didn't even let me help?" Keefe pouted.

Dex shrugged. "I mean, it was planned. But then the triplets got word of it, and insisted that they wanted to make it."

Keefe blinked. The triplets made that? It was so well made, and there was a distinct lack of mess in the room.

"You let them in your room?"

"I used the 'mom' card. They're already in trouble for breaking something of hers, so they don't want to risk her wrath."

He thought about that for a moment. The Dizznees in general seemed like a family that stayed calm, but if angered, they were a force to be reckoned with. And that, combined with the fact that Juline was also Squall, he could see why.

So instead, he looked back at the mysterious object. "What's that thing?"

Dex grinned. "That thing is what we are watching."

They took the food and got settled in the blanket fort. The rectangle lit up, displaying a man in green clothes holding up a sword, as he stood on top of a large green triangle. The words on there read 'The Legend of Zelda'.

"Oh man, this looks awful already," Dex murmured.

The art was somewhat low quality, but Keefe didn't think it looked that bad. Then Dex pressed a button, and the art began to move.

"Dex, what is happening?" He'd never seen art move like that before, it was so weird.

"It's called an animated show. Humans make them a lot."

"Wait. This show was made by humans?"

Dex nodded.

"That's so cool!"

"I think I'm underestimating how cool you can be, you're working with human technology," Ro remarked. "I wonder about the possibilities if we worked together."

"Of course Dex is cool," Lovise said. "Also, that sounds like a disaster, and I don't know if I want to stop it, or if I want to let it happen."

"You're probably going to let it happen," Keefe told her.

"Probably."

"Also, I'm restarting this, we missed the intro," Dex said.

The show restarted, and the introduction started. It seemed to explain the basic plot.

"If it's the triforce, why are there only two pieces? And if Ganon has the one for power, why isn't he the stronger one?"

Dex shrugged. "I have no idea. Ask Sophie, she recommended the show to me."

"Ah, Foster. That makes sense."

The show looked pretty cool actually, especially when paired with the music. However, it was no longer cool when the main character- Link spoke.

'Hey, excuuuuuse me, princess.'

All four of them burst into laughter at such a stupid line.

"This is stupid," Ro said. "This show is garbage."

"Hey!" Keefe protested, because at least the garbage show was entertaining. "Excuse..."

"Don't you-"

He grinned. "Me, princess!"

She frowned, picking at her sharp nails. "Don't you dare say that to me again."

"I find it hilarious actually, princess," Lovise chimed in.

Ro's nose flared. "I swear- what the actual hell am I watching?"

They all watched as Link flirted with Princess Zelda, and even whistled at her while she wore her nightgown.

"Keefe, if you flirt with me like Link, I might have to break up with you," Dex deadpanned.

The blond gasped. "I would never! Actually... the knowledge that it's forbidden makes it tempting."

He groaned. "But seriously though, I think it'd be uncomfortable."

Keefe nodded. "Okay, noted."

"But... maybe if we're alone, other than with Lovise or Ro."

"Either way, let me know if I overstep."

Keefe was fine with flirting, but he didn't want to come off as too sexual. All of that stuff made him uncomfortable too

"Do the same with me."

"Is there anything else you wouldn't like?" Keefe asked.

"Making out, definitely."

Keefe scrunched his face. "Oh yeah, ew. That's overrated. Besides, I've now got the info that I'm ace! You know what isn't overrated though?"

Dex shook his head.

"Cuddles!"

Dex grinned, then curled into Keefe's side. "Yes. I was actually gonna have a conversation about boundaries and stuff with you later, but honestly, I don't know how exactly I feel yet. We can just figure things out as we go. But what I do know is that I feel good when I'm with you."

"I feel nice when I'm with you too."

"Watch the damn show," Ro groaned. "The show's already bad enough, I can't deal with the two of you too."

"Woah, Zelda isn't useless!" Dex cheered, referring to a scene where she used a bow to fight off the skeletons. "She can fight!"

Ro snickered, before it turned into full on laughter. "What is this?" She gestured to Ganon badly attempting to teach the skeletons how to fight. "I wish all my enemies fought like that."

"I don't think you'd have any enemies if they fought like that," Lovise pointed out.

"W-why is there an episode about cleaning?" Dex asked. "I need a refund on my time."

"So Zelda clearly likes Link, but it feels like she's just screwing around, isn't she?" Keefe asked.

"Obviously," Ro replied. "No normal person would be wooed by three flowers and a broken table. The episodes passed by. "Did Link just... cockblock himself?"

"That's just half the show," Dex stated. "The other half is the triforce part."

"The triforce of wisdom reminds me of the Black Swan. "Too many dumb riddles and rhymes."

Even more episodes passed by.

"Link is so stupid!" Ro cackled as Zelda took advantage of the fact that she was a ghost, so she could not actually kiss Link.

"Wait, this is the last episode!?" Keefe shrieked, referring to the episode where Ganon's army had a mini rebellion. "The ending was so rushed! And they didn't even get the triforce of power!"

"I think the creator for the show died or something," Dex explained.

"That's unfortunate," Lovise said. "But at least there's no more of the show to suffer through."

"Rude," both Keefe and Ro said.

"I need to ask Foster how she found this," Keefe said.

"I think that watching humorous shows is a good coping mechanism," Lovise said.

"The show's loosely based off of a series of games," Dex added. "They seem popular."

"Can we play them one day?" Keefe asked.

"Yeah, we'll do that."

Keefe closed his eyes and smiled. He imagined the future, one where he sat next to Dex like this, doing what they were doing now. He imagined them resting in each other's embraces as they discovered new things to love. He found himself looking forward to that future.

Woah is that... a longer chapter from me? Also uh... Who wants to give me good nicknames for Dex? I'll credit you when the time comes

Hey, we're approaching the end of the first 'section' of the fanfic, and there are four of them (section 1 and 3 are prolly the longest of them, based off my notes, and four is short. Also ik section 3 is a long way away, but I can't wait to get there because my notes are fun (no spoilers tho!). Idk why I felt the need to point it out now, as there's still a few chapters left of this section. Also, since I have notes, it means that I'm no longer having to make up chapter ideas on the spot, meaning I can write faster! So updates should be a little more frequent (key word is should). Anyways, thanks for reading this far!