Still floating in the air, Keefe tried to figure out what exactly the triplets would need him for. He had an idea- pranking, they would want his advice for a new elixir or something like that. But when he was dropped on the bed and the door was bolted shut, it seemed like pranking had nothing to do with this.

"Alright," Bex began, her arms crossed. "Mom and dad'll do this too, but we wanted to do it first."

"And if this goes wrong," Rex continued. "You won't get to date our brother."

It took a second to process the words, but once he did, he realized what was going on. Keefe groaned. It was the talk. He'd already feared having to have it with Grady, back when he liked Sophie. When Grady got serious, he was absolutely terrifying, but something about having the talk with three devious thirteen year-olds was something else.

"Okay, Keefe Leslie Sencen," Lex said.

He grimaced at his unused middle name. How the hell did they figure that out? The only person he'd ever mentioned that to was Fitz.

"I hope you realize that we mean business."

"We're not going to take too long," Bex added. "You're gonna have to promise that you'll take care of him, and make sure he doesn't get hurt. Not physically nor mentally."

"If you think we're devious troublemakers right now, you're going to dread knowing what we're capable of."

"We'll make sure that you're punished, and once that's over, mom and dad'll deal with the rest."

Okay wow, they sound scary. Remind me to not mess with anyone in the Dizznee family.

"I'll make that promise." Keefe put a hand over his heart. "I, Keefe Leslie Sencen, swear that I will not hurt Dexter Alvin Dizznee. I just want to let you three know though, that currently I'm still figuring out my feelings."

"You're not leading him on, are you?"

"No!" He replied, his hands flailing. "He already knows, but I just thought that you should know, in case these feelings don't end up being as romantic as I thought."

Though deep down, he had a feeling that it wasn't going to be the case. Being with Dex was easy, and if doing something so small like holding his hand was going to make him all warm inside, then it was hard to see why he couldn't fall in love.

"I think that's good enough for now," Bex said, before narrowing her eyes at him. "But we'll be watching you."

With that, the triplets got off of the bed and headed to the door.

"Wait," Keefe called out. "Don't uh... tell anyone about me and Dex... my father doesn't like him."

They nodded, and Keefe thought that he heard a mutter of a few curses.

"Oh, last thing!" Lex said, a grin on his face. "Keep the-" he puckered his lips. "-to a minimum."

They all giggled, gave a high give to each other and left before he could say anything else. He walked out of the room and went back to Dex.

"Keefe, you're blushing, and they were giggling. How bad was it?"

He was blushing? That was the second time that day! He rubbed his hands against his face, hoping that his skin would just cool down.

"A short version of 'the talk'."

"I see...If it was that short though, it wasn't too bad, right?"

Keefe lifted his hands off of his face, hoping that he looked normal again. "It probably could have gone worse." And because he didn't want to focus on that, he changed the topic. "Since when do you swear?"

Dex scratched the back of his neck. "Usually I have a better filter than that. But it happens when I'm annoyed or stressed."

"That makes sense." After all, he was one to swear quite often.

"Keefe?"

"Yeah?"

Dex looked at him with a more serious expression. "You didn't want to tell the others but... you told the triplets about us. Does that mean you're ready?"

"Not at all. I just figured that your family is actually accepting, and I want you to have at least one place where we don't have to pretend."

"That's really thoughtful," he said, moving over to rest his head on his shoulder. "Thank you."

Keefe smiled at the contact, and wrapped an arm around him. It was silent, as they sat like that for a few minutes. It was only when his stomach growled that he moved from the position and stretched.

"Is there any food?"

"There should be some brattails and lushberry juice, but I wouldn't put it past the triplets to take all of the food," Dex answered.

When they got to the kitchen, neither of them were surprised that there wasn't much left over. Only enough for one of them.

"Hey!" Dex shouted. "Why'd you take so much?"

"We didn't take it all!" Rex replied.

"What am I gonna eat?" Keefe wailed.

Dex laughed, and elbowed him. "You're such a drama queen, you know that?"

Keefe stared at him blankly. "A dramatic queen?" he shrugged. "I'll take it as a compliment."

He watched as Dex burst into laughter, and leaned against the countertop. "No, it means you're too melodramatic. A human term. Besides, if you need food, I'll make it."

"Ooh, food!" He cheered, and hugged him.

Dex smiled fondly, and the look did things to Keefe's heart. I really am falling for him, aren't I?

"Do you have any preferences?"

"Mallowmelt! And other stuff too. I didn't realize you knew how to bake."

"With the triplets like this, it's almost a requirement. The gnomes know that I like to bake on my own sometimes."

"To test out spices?" Keefe guessed.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Seems fitting, you're an alchemist after all."

"You wanna help out?"

"I don't know what I'm doing, but sure!"

Keefe watched as Dex practically slid across the kitchen, grabbing ingredients that he'd never even heard of. He occasionally helped out, but it was mainly for stirring and taste testing. It was then that he learned that Dex was a really good cook. And that he liked sour things. Keefe didn't mind sour food, but Dex didn't seem fazed by the sourness at all. By the end, the mallowmelt was baked to a golden brown, while their actual meal was nearly done cooking. Dex took the mallowmelt back to their room so it couldn't get stolen while they cleaned up.

There was a bag of flour that was resting by the countertop, and he was tempted to take some of the powder and throw it at Dex. He reached for it, but Dex got to it first, and the next thing he knew, there was flour all over his face and hair.

"You'll pay for that, Dizznee!" Keefe declared as he used telekinesis to grab some other type of powder.

He sprinkled it on Dex, only to be disappointed by a lack of reaction.

Wha-

All he felt was something cold fall on him, and then he registered that it was wet.

"Hey!" He whined. "My hair! Flour and water, I'll never get this out!"

Dex gave him an apologetic look. "I'll help you?"

"What happened here?" Kesler asked, startling the both of them.

"It wasn't us this time!" The triplets answered. "It was Dex and his boyfriend!"

"Keefe's here?" Juline asked.

Keefe blinked. Did she already know about Dex's crush on me?

"Uh... hello?" He waved awkwardly.

"Welcome!"

Then the two parents shared a look, before sighing at the mess.

"I was about to clean it," Dex explained.

"No one's stopping you."

Both boys nodded, and Keefe helped clean for a little bit, then went to go wash the mess that was in his hair. The cleaning process took a long time, as he had to be careful to not damage even a single strand of his precious hair. After it was finally over though, they ate dinner and then went upstairs.

He picked up a blueprint that was laying around, and was surprised by how complex everything was.

He yawned. "Sleep?"

"Okay."

Dex got up from where he'd been sitting on the floor, and started making his way to the bed.

"Can you stay with me?" Keefe asked.

Dex sighed, but it was more fond than exasperated. "Only for you, troublemaker."

He got the sleeping bags for both of them, and laid them beside each other. They fell asleep beside each other, holding hands.

(Shorter update, I know! The update was not meant to be this late, but for some reason, every time I publish a chapter, I write half of the next chapter the same day, but then I run out of ideas once I get some sleep. But hey it's now the start of March Break, so I'll be writing a lot (also I've made 1208 different ideas which is also why I haven't updated so stay tuned))

Also, Leslie being Keefe's middle name was an idea by make-kotlc-gayer on tumblr.