~The fight had torn Fitz apart, but Sophie had sewn him back together seamlessly. She didn't seem to mind that he held her in his lap for so long as she fed honey sweet words into his ears for only him to hear, cleansing his mind of all cold, dark thoughts for the time being. Ironically, Sophie was always warm. To the touch, to the eye, to the ear, to the sixth sense humans always went on and on about, but what elves knew as telepathically. After his fight with his sister, he had felt cold, so icy cold that it scared him. Sophie had vanquished the cold, and now he laid in her arms like water.

They were laying on his bed now, Sophie propped up against the pillows with Fitz curled next to her, an arm lazily draped across her midsection. Her fingers absent mindedly played with his hair while his eyelids drooped, their quiet smiles mirroring each other. As he rested his head in the crook of her neck, he took comfort in the smell of his cognate: vanilla. Always vanilla. It had easily become his most favorite smell in the world over the years, his favorite sight her face, his favorite feeling her telepathic presence in his mind as well as her physical presence laying against his, his favorite sound her voice, which snapped him out of dreamland for a moment.

"Do you think going out somewhere would cheer you up?"

Fitz wanted to say no (oh so badly), but they couldn't lay here all day, no matter how comfortable and easy it was, "I'm already feeling better, but going out sounds nice." He turned his head to smile up at her to see his cognate smiling down at him, and was trapped in her gaze.

"We could go eat breakfast, then go out somewhere..."

"We could pack a to-go breakfast and eat it as we walk around. We could see your sisters and brothers," he suggested, smiling inwardly.

Sophie frowned, "What sisters and brothers?"

"The moonlarks."

His breath takingly gorgeous cognate gasped, mock offended, and sat up, making him sit up as well. He was starting to have regreats because although the joke was great- had it really been worth it?

"Fitzroy Avery Vacker!"

"Tis my name, milady," He tried to give her the most innocent of looks. "What seems to be the problem?"

"You being such a goof!" She smiled, "Now, because of that, after our walk, you're stuck tagging along with me to Tam and Linh's place."

Oh no, spending more time with his cognate. Fitz was terrified. Smirking, he rolled away, onto his back, his arm draped over his forehead dramatically, "Oh no! Business work! Such a tragedy, what a travesty, how can I face the day now knowing that this is coming?"

"Oh be quiet, you," Sophie rolled her gold stricken eyes with smile on her face, "and let's get dressed, we have a big day ahead of us now."

He sighed, agreeing, and they took turns changing in his bathroom. He let her go first because that was the gentle-elfly thing to do... Okay, Okay, it was really because he didn't know which tunic went best with which jerkin, and which jerkin went best with his cape. Eventually, he got it all sorted out and they went downstairs to make their sandwiches, even though they were technically a lunch food, this was a special occasion. Though to be totally realistic, he considered all time alone with Sophie a special occasion.

After their sandwiches were made, they went walking, slowly ambling through the yard through the scattered moonlarks. Occasionally, Fitz would joke about one of them having her nose or acting like her, and he'd earn a nudge to the side. It was worth it every time. Actually, that wasn't the only thing that made him feel dashingly clever, he told Sophie that he was worried about them being separated, and insisted that they should hold hands, just in case, when really, he just wanted to hold her hand. Was that such a crime?

They didn't talk as they walked the path through the woods, they just ate their sandwiches. Fitz wanted to say something, but Sophie seemed to be thinking of something. Probably about the Black Swan in all reality, and why they had Tam and Linh go behind their backs to protect them. He wanted to give her the answers to the questions he knew she was asking herself, but in all reality, he couldn't, but he knew who could. So, even though this was a special occassion, he decided that they would have many, many more special occasions. Elves basically lived forever, right? Plus, they were going to be cognates, so they were destined to be together like this.

"Let's break off the path," he suggested with a small smile, and she nodded. Fitz lead her through the woods to a cliff overlooking a meadow. "This is the spot where my father proposed to my mother," he smiled wistfully, knowing they would use it for another purpose. Teleporting, how romantic.

"Really?" Sophie asked, smiling a little, "That's so sweet!"

"Yeah, I wanted to show it to you under different circumstances, actually," he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

Whipping around to face him, she frowned, "What do you mean?" SNAP, their rings came together and she held his hands tightly.

"Well, there's no better place to teleport on the property," Fitz shrugged a little, "and you-we need answers."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Fitz, I-" His cognate started, but he shushed her by moving their hands so his thumb pressed lightly against her lips.

"No, it's okay. We're cognates, you're stuck with me forever," he promised. "There will be other walks."

Sophie smiled at him gratefully, and let go of one of his hands so they could turn to the cliff, "On the count of three?"

"On my count or your count, because in the past, they've proven to be two very different things."

"It's not my fault you count like a turtle!"

He laughed, "Teleporting doesn't get any easier for the passenger."

"It's just because you're not a regular," she shot back. "Practice makes perfect."

"Fine, then we'll just have to teleport everywhere from now on," decided Fitz.

His cognate raised an eyebrow at him, "You want to jump off of cliffs all the time just to get somewhere with the possibility of me not teleporting fast enough and we plummet to our deaths?"

"I trust you," he said simply, and she just blinked before leading him to the cliff's edge.

"Alright, on my count. One... two..."

Fitz took a deep breath, and held her hand tighter.

"Three!"

They jumped, and Fitz kept his eyes on Sophie, because it was easier that way. A few seconds after they jumped, there was a crack and they fell into a vortex. He grabbed Sophie's other hand, their cognate rings snapping together. He watches as they drift towards a swirl of color and starts to bend his knees, knowing they were about to go through and he would have to catch himself. The swirl of color then split open with a loud crack, and they fell through. Sophie landed on her feet, and he landed on his butt. Excellent. Way to go Fitz.

Tam and Linh rushed out of their house in a panic, a giant wave at Linh's will, and shadows gathering around the two cognates.

"Sophie? Fitz? What are you guys doing here?" Linh asked, putting the wave back into the stream. Tam allowed the shadows to fall back to their objects, standing down as well.

"Did we forget that you guys were coming over, because-" Tam started, but Sophie cut him off.

"Oh, no, sorry. This was totally spontaneous. We needed to talk to you guys."

"Alright, well come on in," Linh opened the door for them.

After sitting next to one another, he noticed that Sophie was rather rigid. Her hands were on her knees, gripping the fabric of her pants slightly. Smoothly, he placed his hand on hers, and held it, squeezing softly to her her know that he was right there if she needed him. Gently, she squeezed back, taking a deep breath, a faint smile on her face.

His cognate then started explaining how she had seen them talking with Squall at Moonglade, and had heard their discussion. Tam was stiff in his seat, shadows curling around his hands and feet as if to hide him. Linh, on the other hand, had her hand over her mouth in surprise, the water in the sink starting to churn. Fitz himself just looked between the three- mainly at Sophie, but that's not the point.

"We never meant to-" Tam started but his sister cut him off by bursting out.

"PLEASE DON'T HATE US!" The water in the sink exploded upwards and soaked most of the tiny kitchen while tears pricked in the hydrokinetic's eyes.

"We don't hate you," Fitz said soothingly, "we would just want a few questions answered, that's all. Right, Sophie?"

She nodded, "Right. I just have a few things I want to know. I'm not mad, just curious... confused..."

Tam nodded, "Anything you need to know."

"First, why didn't you tell us?" Sophie held his hand tighter with her fingers.

"It was the sort of tell as few people as possible sort of situation," Linh explained, and her brother nodded in agreement.

"They actually came to me first, because I'm a shade, but Linh found out about me going out and insisted on taking part of it or she would tell everyone."

"Twins do things together," she defended.

Tam rolled his eyes at his sister, "Next question."

"How long has this been going on?"

"About as long as the Neverseen planted Marella and Keefe," Linh said quietly.

"About a year," her brother clarified.

Sophie and Fitz exchanged an astonished look. She transmitted to him, "We've had four spies in our friend group for almost a year?"

"That's half of our friend group, including us..." He deducted, transmitting back.

"So what's the next question?" Linh asked allowed, snapping Fitz out of the trance given by his cognate's mesmerizing eyes. Well... a little.

For the rest of the encounter, Fitz stared at Sophie, pretending to listen to  her when he was really lost in his fantasies of what it would be like if she loved him back. He melted at her touch like she was fire and he was ice like before, even though they were just holding hands. He knew magic wasn't real, but a small part of him doubted that knowledge every time he was with Sophie, even in times as serious as this.

He only knew it was time to leave when she stood up. Following her lead, he thanked the Song twins and followed her out, wrapping his arm around her as they went. Sophie rested her head on his shoulder, and he smiled a little.

"Thanks, Fitz, I needed that."

The words hung in the air for a moment while he savored them, "You're welcome. Let's go eat mallowmelt."

"Mallowmelt?" Sophie's face brightened a little when she looked up at him.

"I asked mom to make it in an attempt to lure you over."

"You don't need my favorite food to get me to come over," she laughed a little.

"But it helps."

"It helps," she agreed.

Later that night, after Sophie had left, Fitz laid in his bed reading when his imparter buzzed, the screen flashing with a TIM message from Tam. The question that was formed by the little pixels of the screen almost made him drop the device. 'Are you and Sophie a couple?'

Fitz's heart ached at the solid reminder that no, they weren't, even though he wished they were. He then started to wonder if it was really that obvious. Hastily shoving the thought out of his mind, he replied, 'No.'

A few heartbeats later, Tam replied, 'Oh. Could have fooled me,' and that was it.

Fitz then sat up and pulled the purple dinosaur statue Sophie had gotten him during her first year of foxfire exams. He laid back again against his pillows, where Sophie had been hours before, holding the little statue to his chest, wishing not only that he was dating Sophie, but that he had the courage to tell her how much he loved her.

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Sorry for the gushy romance. Pining Fitz is my fave though tbh.