The Sencen Solution (Keefex)

The Star

The next day was the longest of Keefe's life. He couldn't sit still in any of his classes, he was miles away when anyone tried to speak to him, and he couldn't stop the nervous glances he kept shooting at his friends.
Now, Keefe considered himself a pretty good liar, he had to be whilst living under the same roof as his father, but by mid afternoon, even the ever distracted Sophie could tell something was off.
"Okay, spill," she ordered firmly as she slid into the seat across from him.
Keefe glanced up at her, slightly startled at her abrupt appearance, before turning his gaze to the rapidly growing shadow that was falling across the table, marking the arrival of the rest of their group.
One by one, they all sat down, eyes never leaving Keefe's own shifty gaze.
He decided that the best course of action would be to play dumb, and gave them all a confused smile.
"Hello to you too, my wonderful friends, I'm doing well, thanks for asking."
"Keefe, cut the crap," Fitz sighed. "You've been acting weird all day."
"Weirder than usual," Biana added.
Keefe gave her an unimpressed glare and turned his attention back to Fitz.
"Dude, I'm fine," he reassured his friend, giving them all his very best 'everything is fine, don't worry about me, I'm definitely not going to test a potentially dangerous theory without any research or backup, smile.'
No one seemed to be buying it.
"Keefe," Sophie began cautiously. "You know you can tell us if anything's bothering you right? If something happened with your-."
She cut herself off, but Keefe could fill in the blanks himself. The others could too, considering the sympathetic looks he was getting.
So that's what this is about, he thought to himself as warmth spread through his chest. They think my father's behind this.
He opened his mouth to correct them, but stopped himself. If his friends thought he was acting strange because of his father, then that meant no one would suspect what was really going on.
"I-," he paused, then took a deep breath to seem believable.
"Yeah, things are a little tense right now. He's really been hounding me about grades recently and... yeah, I've just been under a lot of pressure."
He chanced a look at his friends faces, and felt his heart constrict at the sincere pity that he saw in their expressions.
He felt awful for having lied to his friends, but it was necessary. He didn't want to get everyone's hopes up if his 'lead' turned out to be wrong, or worse yet, put everyone in danger if it turned out to be right. No, it was better this way.
Besides, he thought to himself, I didn't really lie. Things really aren't great right now.
He turned his gaze to Dex, who was looking back worriedly. He would know more than anyone, Keefe thought bitterly as he suppressed a shudder at the memories of the last time Dex visited Candleshade.
Keefe blinked, and shook himself out of his revelry. He turned back to his friends and plastered a slightly more real smile back onto his face.
"But seriously guys, you don't need to worry. Everything'll be fine once this blows over."
Though none of his friends seemed overly happy with his answer they didn't push it, and Keefe let himself relax as they moved on to lighter topics of conversation until the end of lunch.

Once the last bell of the day finally rang throughout the school, Keefe was out of his seat in an instant, already on his way to his locker to grab his things and leave.
  He was, in fact, in such a rush that he didn't notice the body behind him, up until the moment he slammed right into him as he turned to leave.
  Acting fast, Keefe reached out to steady the boy he'd run into to stop him from falling to the floor, heart seizing when he caught sight of who he was holding.
  "Dex, hi! Sorry!" Keefe managed, still gripping the younger boy tightly.
  "Hi," Dex responded, a somewhat bewildered look in his periwinkle eyes. He shook his head.
  "It's my bad anyway," he continued. "I, uh, should have warned you I was there."
   The two boys righted themselves again, and Keefe went about gathering the things he'd dropped during the collision.
  He turned to face Dex again, once he had a hold of everything, and was taken aback by the blush that had overtaken the other boy's face.
Keefe had just opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, when Dex started to speak.
  "Sorry about all that, I just wanted to check on you... you know... after earlier." His eyes met Keefe's again, and he smiled weakly before continuing.
"I remember what it was like speaking to him for a minute, I couldn't imagine everyday."
  Keefe didn't know what to say. He could feel the same emotions he'd felt at lunch come rushing back tenfold, and he could only hope Dex didn't notice the sheer affection he was sure was shining in his eyes.
  Dex kept speaking.
  "And, I just wanted to let you know that there's always a place for you at Rimeshire if you ever want to get away for a bit."
  Now Keefe really didn't know what to say, and the emotion threatened to choke him. He could feel himself tear up and tried to discreetly wipe his eyes before Dex saw.
He got the feeling that he did, but was too nice to mention it.
  "I-." Keefe took a breath to steady himself.
"Thank you, that- that means a lot. I'd love to."
  Dex smiled.
  "Great! If you're free this afternoon..." he trailed off, gaze lingering on the floor.
  Keefe felt his heart squeeze. He wanted to say yes so bad. He could almost feel the familial warmth of Rimeshire already, but... he just had to wait one more day.
  "I would love to, but I have one more project to finish first," Keefe answered, voice heavy with regret.
  Dex looked a little disappointed, but just smiled again and gave Keefe a nod.
  "That's alright, I totally understand."
  "Tomorrow?" Keefe suggested, hoping he didn't come off as too eager.
  Dex just smiled brighter and nodded again.
  "Tomorrow," he agreed.

Keefe smiled the entire way home, and not even the cold walls of Candleshade could wipe it off.

•••
Finding the star wasn't as easy as Keefe thought it would be. Everything was dark, there was a chill that wouldn't leave, and, after the fifth time he tripped over something he couldn't see, he was very glad he decided not to invite the others.
Fitz would have found it in five minutes, he thought bitterly. He always was better at this than me.
He sighed and checked his makeshift map again. Sophie would have found it immediately by accident.
He tried to shake these thoughts away and turned his face skyward once more, scanning for where the star should be.
So what if I have trouble finding one little star? I'm good at other things, like... well... ouch!
He'd tripped again.
Truth be told, he always did kind of feel like the least valuable of the group, and as much as he told himself that doing this alone was out of protection for the others, a small part of him knew, deep down, that some of the reason he was doing this was to prove that he could. That lazy, prankster Keefe could handle something important by himself.
And, maybe impress Dex while you're at it, his traitor mind supplied. He shook himself off and kept searching.
Finally, after another ten minutes of looking, Keefe came across a star that had to be the right one. He checked his map again, just to make sure, but there were no other stars that it could be. It was this one or bust.
"Okay," he mumbled to himself as he dug the stellarscope out from his pocket.
"Here goes."
He took a deep breath, hesitating for only a second, before readying the stellarscope to capture the star.
It was a little difficult to hold the scope and turn the necessary knobs himself, but after a brief struggle, he was holding the bottled light of Imperium.
Keefe held it up cautiously, well aware of its potential danger, and slowly brought it closer to his face for inspection.
It didn't look special in any way.
The light was pale and slightly foggy, and it swirled sluggishly as Keefe tilted it back and forth in his hand.
It definitely didn't look like something that would strip away his inhibitions.
He paused, assessing his emotions. He certainly didn't feel any different.
With a sigh, he dropped the hand still holding the bottle to his side.
Now he was really thankful that Dex wasn't here to see this. And that he wasn't aware of Keefe's dumb plan to begin with.
And to think, I could have been with Dex all afternoon, Keefe groused bitterly, mind recalling their earlier conversation.
If I hadn't somehow convinced myself that this could work, I could be with him right now. I could see his smile, make him laugh. I could watch his eyes light up, or run my hands through his hair, or see what happens if I-"
Keefe froze.
Now, Dex was someone that occupied his thoughts often, but... this was a strange train of thought, even for him.
He shook his head vigorously, as if to shake those images from his head.
I'm sure it's nothing, he reassured himself. I'm just being paranoid. I'm always thinking of Dex anyway. It's not weird to imagine the wonderful colour his cheeks would turn if I reached out and touched them. Or what he'd do if I-."
Keefe stopped himself again. He shook his head violently, but the thoughts kept coming.
He glanced wide eyed at the bottled star still in his hand, then dropped it to the ground as if he'd been burned.
Shit.

Behold! Plot!
Hi again! It's been awhile (sorry), but we are nearing the end I think! One or two chapters left!
Thank you so much for sticking with me!
As always, feel free to point out any mistakes you see, and I absolutely love to hear your thoughts on the story!
Stay safe and thank you for reading!!
-L