-A week later, Sophie and Biana were sitting together on Sophie's flower carpet, talking about the most stereotypical bestie topic of all time; boys. For the past twenty minutes, Sophie had been grilling Biana about her fifth date with Dex in the past two weeks, when the teal eyed girl decided to turn the tables.

"What about you and Fitz? You guys confessed to one another, you're cognates, you see one another almost every day... yet you're not dating?" Biana said slyly in a temptress-like voice, sneakily looking to the side with faux innocence.

Sophie started stuttering, a deep flush settling over her face, "W-w-what do you mean? D-dating?"

"Well... yeah.. you both know that you love each other romantically, so why have neither of you made a move yet?" Questioned Biana, "You won't get rejected; guaranteed!"

Pulling at her hair slightly, she answered, "I'm just still... getting use to the idea... that's all... I mean, we have time. Neither of us are going anywhere."

"That makes sense..." Biana agreed, before continuing, "but still, you've waited for this for years... how can you wait any longer?"

"I don't know what he wants pacing wise though..."

"Girl, you've got to take a chance here; it's not even that big of a risk!" Biana threw her hands up in the air in exasperation, "You like him, he likes you; you're each other's freaking number ones!"

Tugging at an eyelash, Sophie asked, "So am I being irrationally worried about this?" Deadpan, Biana dropped her head so it smacked against the floor, and just left it there, her face buried in the plot of flowers. Sophie gasped and put a hand on her shoulder, and asked, "Are you okay?!"

"No," Biana said in a muffled voice of annoyance, "you're just killing me, Sophie. You're killing me."

---

~Fitz couldn't help but feel lost. Ever since the Cognate Trials, he knew that Sophie liked him back, but something kept him from asking her for some reason; like there just wasn't the right moment to ask or to be asked. He wasn't sure what to do about it, and since Biana was at Havenfield... He decided to TIM Dex, who he may not be close with, but the guy probably had some idea on what he should do.

"Hey, Dex, what should I do about Sophie?" When Fitz's message sent, he started to get nervous. Did he type the right thing? What would Dex say? Is it too personal? His palms started to sweat and the imparter in his hands started to shift as he waited impatiently for a response.

"What should you do what about Sophie?" Dex asked, and Fitz let out a sigh of relief, smiling slightly when he saw the next text, "Sorry, I don't think that made sense."

"It's alright," replied Fitz, "Sophie and I kind of confessed to one another during the cognate trials, and it's been a while, and we haven't talked about it..."

A few seconds went by before Dex asked, "So what you're asking is what's going on, or what you should do?"

"A little bit of both," admitted Fitz. The teal eyed boy watched with anticipation as the little dots signifying Dex responding blipped on the screen. He waited... and waited... and waited... and waited until finally, after what seemed to be ages had passed, Dex's message sent. Eagerly, Fitz scanned the message, which read:

"What's going on is that you're both nervous to approach one another," that was obvious, "so you're getting jumpy, looking for the right moment, but you guys are always so nervous that it closes all of those doors of opportunity. You guys have kind of forgotten that you're both still just Sophie and Fitz, and you need to remember that even though you guys see one another in a new light, that you haven't changed. You're expecting the unexpected with you don't need to be focusing on that. All you need to do is focus on each other and how happy you make one another. Once you remember that, the rest will be easy. You'll find the right moment, and you'll never forget it."

Slightly shellshocked, Fitz hurriedly typed his reply in a daze, "Whoa, dude, that's crazy good advice."

"Is it? Well, that's good. It was kind of a shot in the dark on my end, haha!"

"How'd you learn to think like that?" There was no reply for a few minutes, and Fitz grew worried that he had said something wrong, so he typed, "Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound offensive, I'm just curious because I'd like to learn too."

The worry in Fitz's brow left with Dex replied, "No, it's okay, I was just thinking. I sort of learned through Biana, sort of learned through a broken heart..." A pause, "I think it's just experience and time. You'll get that through your years with Sophie."

"Thanks, man," Fitz smiled to himself.

"Anytime bro," BRO! Dex had used BRO!

In that moment, Fitz knew that this would be the start of an epic best friendship.

---

=Dex couldn't help but feel an overwhelming happiness settle over him like warm blanket. It made him smile to himself as he pressed his face into his girlfriend's hair. They were sitting together on a couch at Havenfield, his arm around her waist and her head on his chest. The large pleated polyester skirt of her cranberry colored dress partially draped over his knee and scratched him a bit, but he didn't mind, he liked being close to her. From where he was sitting, he could smell her rose perfume and feel her breathe softly, two things of many that helped him remember that this wasn't a dream after all.

They were currently watching Sophie and Fitz talk out plans for the party, which they had agreed would be a mixture of a celebration for their cognateism-y thingy whatever it was called (Dex couldn't properly label the thing when Biana sat so close to him) and a second Winnowing Gala for Sophie, since she didn't have much of a first one. This time it would be more low-key, it would be more Sophie. There would be less people, less traditions, and more casual fun. It would be at Havenfield, and only her closest friends would be invited as well as their families. It would just be the backyard, orderves, and glow worms with music harvested from Sophie's ipod playing through the speakers Dex promised he'd make (child's play). It was to be a quiet night without the Neverseen, which was what they all needed right now.

At this point, it was just Sophie and Fitz planning together, even though Biana and Dex had come over to Havenfield for this very reason. They had given their two cents but were eventually filtered out since the two cognates were so efficient and seemed to stay in their heads, but Dex didn't mind, it was nice to sit with his girlfriend, especially while watching the cognates awkwardly tiptoe around one another. 

The awkward smiles and nervous glances were a prominent staple to the planning session in the beginning, but overtime they got to the point where they were having whole conversations without Biana and Dex telepathically. Whenever Sophie needed something from across the sea of papers between them, Fitz handed it to her through telekinesis without looking up, and vice versa. They were like a well oiled machine, whenever one of them finished a paper, they'd hand it to their cognate, read it over, and seem to talk things over in their heads. It was funniest when they were arguing and you could see their eyes narrow at one another out of the blue with little to no context available. If they weren't telepaths, Dex would have found it strange, but he found it even more strange that the two had confessed to one another, yet they were still nervous to ask one another out... Dex understood why, but he didn't understand how they could just tiptoe around something so big like it wasn't there. They were MBTI thinkers through and through.

"That's what happens when you overthink little things," Dex whispered in Biana's ear, his lips brushing against her skin lightly, and his face turned bright red.

Quietly, she giggled at the joke and hit his arm lightly, "Oh stop!" Her smile was wide as she stared up at him, "You know you were nervous too."

Fitz frowned and sat up, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Biana waved him off with a soft chuckle.

Sophie turned to her cognate with a dry smile, and sighed, "Ah, couples."

With a signature smirk, Fitz replied, "Don't you mean AAAAAH couples?"

"Being in a relationship isn't EW!" Biana defended.

The blonde haired girl replied with a soft smile, "You're biased, you're one half of a couple."

"So what? Are you jealous?" Dex asked, "Don't worry, prince charming will come and sweep you up off your feet one day."

Sophie mumbled something he couldn't hear, and even Fitz leaned closer to try and hear, but still couldn't make any of it out. "What was that?" He asked.

Sophie mumbled again before a soft, "Nothing." Everyone in the room was curious, but they gave up on the endeavor (for the most part), knowing that her lips were sealed, and that they weren't going to budge.

Everything then went back to the way it was before, quiet paper shuffling, and stiff with tension, so Dex stood up, announcing, "Biana and I are going to go get some of the supplies. Let us know if you think of anything else we need to add to the list."

Sophitz barely heard them, and all Dex saw were some short nods before helping Biana up, and them light leaping away together. They soon arrived at Marchanprielle Mall, and when they could hear one another over the crowds, she asked him, "So what do we need to get?"

Sheepishly, Dex shrugged, and cracked a smile, "I don't know... I got too frustrated with their obliviousness so..."

"Gnome, yes! Maybe they'll talk it out... And it's a spontaneous date for us! This is awesome!" She laughed can then asked, "Where to first, Mr. Supply Scapegoat?" She looped her arm through his, and even though they were in a strange place with strange people, Dex knew he was home.