How Did We Get Into This Mess - KOTLC Oneshots

Look At You | Chapter One | Look My Way

( Tag anyone you know who ships fedex! There aren't enough fitz x dex stories out there )

Dex perkily walked into the Foxfire cafeteria, an unusual bounce in his step for a place holding so many terrible memories. The new memories made with his friends were starting to coat over the bad, though they weren't the reason for Dex's uncharacteristic happiness.

It was Slurp and Burp's.

The little shop in Mysterium mostly contained Elixirs, with other novelty items. It was a funkily decorated place with wavy architecture and unexpected curves. Since Dex had become a regent, the already popular store jumped in purchases, with citizens vying to see the youngest male regent in history.

It was quite possibly the best present he had ever received. Birth funds made it so money wasn't a necessity. The entrance of so many new customers meant people were caring less about prejudices like multiple children, or talentless elves.

Everything seemed great today, cast in an optimistic light. The dna locks even tasted good! It was Cinnacreme, Sir Bubu's favorite.

Plopping down into his usual seat next to Marella and Keefe, he eyed the shiny teal fruit. It was a sour, soft food, almost like a pear. A longing gaze was cast at it, a pining so deep-

"Dex, just take it. Nobody else likes it," Marella complained, throwing the fruit at the Dizznee's face.

"You'll bruise it," he exclaimed, gingerly searching for damage. Sophie laughed from across the table, scooching over slightly as Biana sat down, luxurious brown locks swept off her scarred shoulder.

Dex's eyes darted up as Keefe waved someone over, eyes squinting at the perpetrator. Chocolate brown hair, gleaming caramel skin, teal eyes, obnoxiously white teeth- it was Fitz, sitting alone at another table.

Stina and Sophie exchanged looks, making Dex wonder if they knew something he didn't. Fortunately, he was incorrect. For the time being.

"I'll talk to him," Stina announced, standing as the Song twins arrived. She primly walked over to the despondent Vacker, voice inaudible from the distance.

"What did we miss," Tam asked bemusedly. Linh glanced around blankly. Tam was usually the more logical of the pair, Linh tuned mostly toward emotional discrepancies.

A resounding shrug came from the group, Marella annoyedly blowing her bangs out of her face.

Stina returned, her face a proper jumble of confusion.

"He won't say anything when I ask. Just deflects."

Throughout the day, various attempts were made to figure out what happened. Fitz wouldn't even exchange simple pleasantries with Dex, let alone explain. Maybe Dex was wrong about the Elvin world overcoming their stupid narrow minds. Even if they didn't, this was worse.

"Biana, what did I do? I don't know what could have offended him," Dex moaned, stretching his arms for the measuring tape.

Biana bit her glossy pink lip, trying to puzzle out a reason

"I've got nothing. He seemed fine at breakfast, before Father had a meeting with him," Biana mused. "I haven't the slightest idea what they could've discussed to result in this."

Dex scrawled a quick equation on the wall as the Vanisher turned on her sleek emerald sewing machine, stitching together rich yellow chiffon and muslin. Dex worried with a sheet of metal, his anxiety on overdrive.

Keefe came out of the dressing room, modeling his new russet tunic with various dorky poses, swaying along a miniature catwalk. The red rug served as the red carpet, Keefe flirting with imaginary fans.

"Oh."

Well there answers that question. Alden had told Fitz to stay away from Dex. The only issue was trying to pick from the many reasons why.

"Do I really look that bad, Techmaster," Keefe jokes. "Did I . . . shock you into silence?" The blonde shimmies backwards before twirling, popping out his hip with a wink.

Dex shook his head, Biana's mouth still dropped open.

"No, not that. I think we just figured out half of why Fitz is avoiding me," Dex said breathily. It was a lesser of two evils, returning a fair share of Dex's self-confidence.

Keefe leaned in. "Don't waste any time, Give me the deets!" Normally Dex would have groaned at the outdated human reference. Now he didn't even blink.

Biana took over, hands shaking. As the days went on, it got harder to ignore her father's detestable actions, off-handed remarks. It was as if he had always been plucking the string of a harp among his soulsong, and Biana's hearing range had only now improved so much so she could no longer write the sound off as a brief phenomenon.

"We think . . . we think my Father told Fitz to," she stated quickly. Keefe raked a hand through his styled blond hair, remembering a similar conversation he'd had with Alden.

"Old man loves to meddle, doesn't he." Keefe picked up a stray spool of thread, twitching with frustration. "But why now?"

Dex hadn't even thought about the timing.

"Maybe because of my family," Dex suggested.

Keefe waved the idea off.

"Alden knows to pick his battles, if that was the case, this would have gone down a long time ago. It has to be something more recent. He wouldn't risk something like that now you're a regent. He would look bad." Biana coughed delicately. "Sorry, congrats B."

Biana bobbed her head, brainstorming.

"It has to be something about appearances," she pointed out. "Pride."

"Well, you're the resident Vacker expert," Dex commented. "What could ruin the Vacker Appearances." Biana gave it a few seconds of thought.

"Anything less than perfect." Dex had already come to a conclusion, however flimsy.

"Maybe he just doesn't want Fitz consorting with his opponent," Dex shrugged.

It was simple enough. So simple he was beating himself up having not been able to find out sooner.

"He doesn't want his son consorting with a loser," Dex spat bitterly. No matter the fact Fitz would be the one to have won.

A moment of silence was allotted for mourning. The clear marker of a death of a father figure, the moment long overdue. They could no longer be clinging to wisps of memories.

"Mom can't file a match fail," Biana whispered, eyes watering. "It would bring too much shame." She hiccuped as Dex and Keefe wrapped their arms around her. "Even if she did, someone in the Matchmakers would block it from approval."

Dex mentally went over the legal system bylaws.

"Can't she appeal to The Council," the technopath asked softly.

Biana shook her head.

"With problems like the Neverseen, she would look entitled. Mom doesn't want to waste the Council's time," she sobbed.

Della was an emissary with top secret missions for the Council. Surely they owed her this much!

The trio comforted each other in silence, Dex's own problems paling in comparison to Della's.

( This was part of my nanowrimo project and I never got around to uploading it on wattpad! Stay tuned for the three other chapters I'll be uploading immediately after this. There are so many things wrong with the match system- do y'all think there could be any version that might actually be beneficial? Thoughts? )