~It's been a week since Sophie and Fitz started hanging out like normal teens, since they told one another "I love you" platonically. Well, Sophie had meant it platonically, but Fitz... quite the opposite. He pretended he meant it platonically so she wouldn't be weirded out or anything, so she wouldn't run away from the awkwardness of it all. She didn't feel the same way, and he knew it. She was just too good for him, too good for anyone in his opinion.

It was selfish of him to hope she'd fall for him, he was like the moon, while she glittered like all of the stars in the night sky. Hoping that she would fall for him was like saying he owned all of those stars, and that was egotistical at best. Him wanting her to love him the way he loved her was wrong. He had to accept that somehow, even though he had a gut feeling that his crush wouldn't go away so easily. It didn't help that they had hung out after school alone every day since they went to Atlantis. Actually, they were hanging out again today. They were going to go to Moonglade to watch the stars, nothing special. They were just going to sit there on a blanket, staring up at the sky.

Even so, he was still anxiously combing his hair over and over again, even though it was already set neatly, with twenty minutes before Sophie was to come pick him up. His nerves were bound in a tight knot in his stomach, while his fears set up camp in his throat. What would they talk about? Would she mention the whole "I love you" thing? Would she say she loved him again? Would she mean it? No, that's selfish for him to think that. Would he blurt out his feelings? Would she run away? Would he have to sit in unreciprocated love forever? Selfish. Would he get over her? He didn't want to. He didn't think he could. Would they talk about Biana and Keefe being a couple? Would they talk about what Keefe said to Sophie previously, and how he had hurt his sister? Would she confess that she liked Keefe all along? How could he stand that? Stand the thought of her with someone else? One day he would have to. He didn't want to, he wanted her! No! Egotistical. He couldn't own the stars, he was just the moon. He had to reliably shine with her, marvelling at her beauty while she paid him no mind. After all, the world is much bigger than the earth, moon, and stars. Stars were everywhere, saw every kind of celestial body imaginable, while he was just one moon. He couldn't keep her all to himself, he was already her cognate. Maybe if they weren't cognates, she would... no. He can't give that up either. He didn't want to choose, he wanted to be both her cognate and the owner of her heart.

Thoughts like this surged through his mind until he was violently combing his hair faster and faster as tears fell from his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder that smelled like nail polish and floral perfume. He crumpled to the floor in response, the comb clattering against the counter, and he could feel his sister lower down next to him. Her fingers brushed against his forehead, and he couldn't open his eyes to look at her.

"Oh Fitz... you've left bruises at your hairline," Biana said quietly as she opened a cabinet, still sitting next to him. "What's wrong?"

Fitz didn't say anything, and let her tilt his face up gently. His eyes were still closed, and tears continued to roll down his face. She touched him as if she were touching glass, using feather like strokes over the marks left by the teeth of the comb to apply some sort of salve. A bruise-fixing salve he suspected.

"Fitz, talk to me," his younger sister begged, cradling his face in her hands. Her thumbs were over his eyelids, trying to open them so he would look at her. When he didn't say anything still, she sighed.

"If you don't tell me what's wrong, I'll tell Sophie you've been crying, and you can talk to her about why, because gnome knows you can't say no to her."

His eyes instantly snapped open. She wasn't wrong. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, only an awkward squawk and more tears. Nonetheless, his sister pulled him into her arms, and held him tightly as he just hung there at her mercy. Fitz cried for a little longer until he could fathom the words he was trying to say, "She doesn't love me, Biana, and I don't deserve her anyways."

"What makes you say that? Of course she loves you! And no one deserves her more than you," Biana sounded shocked.

"She could never love me like I love her," his voice cracked heart breakingly so. "She's so amazing, Biana, and I-I-I'm just me. I know you've told me that I'm wrong about that before, that we've been through this situation before, but these thoughts just keep coming back! You work so hard to help me, and I always listen, and I'm fine for a while after that, but eventually they come back again, and then here we are again experiencing the same thing again, like déja vu. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

"Fitz, it's okay," she said soothingly, "I know it's a lot, but it'll work out, okay? What you're feeling now, what you're thinking now isn't what is always going to be. Your fear is getting the best of you and mixing with your undying love for Sophie."

"How do you know?" He sniffed.

"Well, sometimes my fear mixes with my love too, and I get like this too. I can't control it either, but I remind myself that I can love, and I want to love, and suddenly, in the moment, nothing else matters to me. All the little fears and doubts start to disappear, and the sun comes out again. You have to find the thing that helps you calm down too, but it may take a while. Until you do, you could tell her how you love her, how much you love her."

"I'm not ready," he whispered, still thinking about what could be the thing to calm him down.

"That's okay, it may take a while, but you'll get there, one day."

Fitz took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, Biana, for always being there for me."

"And thank you, Fitz, for being there for me."

Frowning, he asked, "What do you mean? You don't come to me like this."

"Emotions are my strong suit, and not yours, but you're very good at academics and logistics, unlike me. You've been helping me with homework since I started Foxfire."

She wasn't wrong, and it made Fitz quiet. He felt a little bit better.

"I guess you're right," he decided.

"See? Now let's get you cleaned up before Sophie gets here."

"Oh gnome! She'll be here in five minutes!" Fitz bolted upright and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked terrible. His hair that he had violently combed earlier was now stuck up at weird angles, and there was a streak of neon pink salve just under his hairline. His eyes were red and puffy, and his face was drenched, but that wasn't the only think his tears had soaked, his tunic was soaked all the way down to his lace up jerkin, the hem of which was also wet. His pants had droplets of water, and when he looked up, he saw a huge tear stain on the shoulder of Biana's dress. "I'm so sorry... gnome, how am I supposed to clean this up?"

Biana giggled, "Now leave that to me! I'll have you done before she gets here."

Fitz put his full trust in his sister for this operation. She first had him wash his face and apply some lotion to it while she picked out a new outfit for him to wear. She came back with army green straight leg pants, a white tunic that gathered at the wrists, a cobalt lace up jerkin with faint, silver embroidery, and his black cape. Quickly, he changed while Biana went to fetch a salve to take down the puffiness of his eyes.

He was taking a breath, eyes closed, waiting for the salve to complete its magic when Alden announced that Sophie was here. Fitz gasped, "What do I do? It's not done yet!"

"I'll stall her," Biana declared, and was gone with the slamming of his door.

Nervously, Fitz counted the amount of seconds he had left before he could wipe it off in his head, "101... 100... 99..."

When he finally reached 0, he tried to wipe away the salve, but it moved like molasses. "You've got to be kidding me," he whispered to himself as he stumbled to his sink, letting the water run as he tried to quicken the process of getting the weird stuff Biana had brought off his face. Sophie was waiting for him.

As soon as the last bits were off, he dried his face and practically flew down the stairs. As he got towards the bottom, he slowed down, trying to 'play it cool'. He smiled at the sight of Biana showing Sophie her latest designs in her sketchbook, and nearly tripped down the stairs at the sight of his two favorite girls-his two favorite people smiling widely.

"Hey girls, what're you guys looking at? Designs for Biana's latest collection I assume?" He approached them, smiling as best he could through his nerves.

"Yeah, they're awesome!" Sophie exclaimed, a faint blush on her cheeks that Fitz assumed was from all the smiling. He could have sworn that he saw her stars brighten, and felt his moonlight grow brighter as well.

"Evening wear is always fancy, which is practically my middle name!"

"You don't have a middle name, " he pointed out.

"That's why I said it's PRACTICALLY my middle name, there's a difference," pointedly said Biana, and the three laughed.

"Well Mr. I-get-too-caught-up-in-astronomy-homework-that-I-forget-to-get-ready, shall we head out?" Sophie asked teasingly, and he could have sworn that his heart melted a little with joy.

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Sorry. I'm ready now."

"Have fun you two! Don't stay out too late, and don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Biana teased and ran upstairs before Fitz could chuck something at her. She was a really good sister, but that didn't cancel out the classic little sister troublesomeness part of her.

"You know, I never thought Biana would say that," Sophie said thoughtfully.

"I mean... she is my little sister," his face was so red, he was worried that it would be permanently stained that way.

"I know, but it's more of something adults tell us, you know, while tensions with the Neverseen are high and there's a chance for us to go out and do something stupid."

"Thank gnome she misunderstood what Biana was trying to say." Fitz thought to himself, relieved.

"Yeah, you're right, that is weird," he laughed a little awkwardly before offering her his hand. "Shall we go?"

Smiling a smile that was so dazzling, it probably could have put out the sun, she took his hand, and in response, she lead him to the leappad.

"Moonglade!" He shouted, looking into her eyes hopelessly as they dematerialized into the light. He had a feeling that tonight would be magical.

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There's a sketch of Fitz's outfit in the fashion book!