KOTLC One-shots

Affection- Platonic Keefitz

Word count: ~1200 words

Okay, request #2 of 4! This time, platonic Keefitz! Nothing specific was requested, so I decided to write more about them being younger, including a first meeting.

Also this made me realize that I haven't written from Fitz's pov before, and I'm still unlearning some of the bad things that I've thought about him, so like, I hope this ends up good?

Fitz loved the Vacker name since he was a young child. His dad worked and did things for the Council, and it all seemed really cool. His older brother would occasionally help him, and he was just so cool. He wanted to be just like them.

So at age six, when he was offered the opportunity to help his dad out for a secret mission, he gladly agreed. He was being helpful, and he was going to the Forbidden Cities. All he had to do was find the elf in hiding.

However, he didn't realize just how difficult such a thing would be. He knew that the world was big, but seeing the thousands upon thousands of humans was... a lot.

It was there that he had learned a lot of the wrong stuff that went wrong there. Watching a car run over someone, only to just drive away without a second thought. Robberies. Fires. The hatred that was clearly there, despite how many people tried to claim otherwise.

With all these people, how was he supposed to find the mystery elf?

•~•~•~•~•~•

Despite everything, he constantly kept searching. For most of his day, he would go around and explore, hoping that his new lead wouldn't bring him to a dead end. When he would arrive home, he would train with his skills.

This was what it was like for years. He was twelve now, and was preparing for the entrance exams for Foxfire. Naturally, with all his practice, he passed.

But going to Foxfire meant that he couldn't go to the Forbidden Cities as often. He still went- he would sometimes skip his Foxfire lessons just to do it. But seeing the elves walk in the halls, or the humans gathered in a theater, it made him realize just how alone he was.

He never really went out of his way to talk to others, and most only approached him because of the fact that they recognized him as a Vacker. But once that feeling of awe wore off, he was alone again.

That was... until he met a little blond boy with ice blue eyes. It was during P.E., when a boy came up and asked to be his partner for the activity. He was familiar with the faces of the elves who were in his class last year, but he didn't recognize this guy at all.

"I'm Keefe, wanna be my partner?" His eyes were closed as he smiled widely, his hand outstretched.

Fitz couldn't refuse that. So he took Keefe's hand and agreed. "I'm Fitz."

After the activity was over, Keefe ran back up to him. "Hey, Fitz, wanna be friends?"

He smiled. "Okay."

•~•~•~•~•~•

Despite the two of them being friends, they didn't hang out for too much in the beginning. But when his dad learned about Keefe, he encouraged Fitz to go see him more. They sat together at lunch and would have random conversations.

How it felt being with Keefe, he could see it on the faces of the humans. Two people sitting side by side, laughing together over a joke that he didn't understand.

With being lost in the Forbidden Cities to having to work extra hard to do well in Foxfire, being with Keefe was just relaxing. It was a constant in this complicated life.

When midterms hit, he was proud that he was able to get really high marks. Keefe was only a few points behind him, but when as he opened his mouth to congratulate Keefe, he saw that the blond boy started sulking.

"What's wrong?"

"This isn't good enough!"

"That's really good though," he said, because he didn't quite understand what was going on.

"My father wants me to have higher marks, and I'm gonna get in trouble for this."

"Oh."

He was always encouraged to score high, but he had never been led to think that if he didn't get perfect, he wasn't good enough.

"You want me try and cheer you up?" He offered, because he didn't quite know what to do yet.

Keefe nodded, his big blue eyes gleaming with tears. Fitz fought the urge to wipe them away.

They went to Everglen and sat outside. Fitz pulled Keefe into his lap, and rocked gently. It was there they that cuddled until Keefe was ready to go home.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"You're really the Lord of Snuggles, you know that, right?" Keefe joked one day, about a year later.

"You're sitting in my lap right now. You know that, right?" The arms that were wrapped around Keefe held tighter.

The blond leaned back into his touch. "Irrelevant."

•~•~•~•~•~•

As time started passing by even more, they stopped ganging out with each other as much. It wasn't a conscious decision... it just happened. He met Sophie and a whole bunch of other things started to happen.

Then his dad's mind broke, and he could feel himself breaking inside. He needed consolation, but at the same time, talking to someone just felt so difficult. He would end up snapping at them, only distancing himself even further.

When the situation was dealt with, he did his best to try and rectify his mistakes. Make apologies. He was glad that his friends were understanding.

"It must have seriously hurt a lot," Keefe said. "And I wasn't really around to support you as much as I should have."

"You helped, it was more than I could have asked for.

"Fitz." Keefe's voice was firm. "Sit in my lap."

Usually, it was the other way around- Fitz was taller, so it was just easier that way. But as he sat down, it was soothing, just sitting there and doing nothing. He missed it a lot actually.

•~•~•~•~•~•

After that, they stuck together a bit more often, especially after all the revelations that Keefe had about his family. They were both going through so much, but they understood each other, and would do their best to comfort the other.

Being in Alluevterre was a surprisingly pleasant experience, because they had a surprisingly large amount of time to themselves, despite all that was going on. They would just sit, sometimes in silence, or sometimes there would he rambling. It depended on what they felt like.

•~•~•~•~•~•

When Keefe left for the Neverseen, Fitz was absolutely heartbroken. How could his friend do that for him? After all that they'd been through together, how could he just leave like that? When he learned his true intentions, things made a little more sense, but he still couldn't help but feel angry. Because he missed Keefe.

Even when he came back, even though he itched to just reach out and grab his hand or something, he just couldn't. It ended up taking a long time for their friendship to even begin healing, and it was a difficult process. But it was completely worth it.

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Hey Fitzy," Keefe greeted.

"Hey," he replied.

"How's studying going?"

"It's okay. I'm just about finished for the day."

He grinned. "Cuddles?"

Fitz returned the smile. "Cuddles."