Book Two: KOTLC One-shots and More

Peaceful

A/N: @thebookwasbetter651 requested this bonus chapter to my main story. It is set while Sophie and Keefe are dating, somewhere between the "The Clearing" and "Decisions" chapters. It is actually describing an event mentioned in another bonus chapter in my one-shot collections entitled "Distracted (Keefe POV)".

"Why not?" Keefe asked Sophie, giving her his most ridiculous—and adorable—pout.

"Because I don't want to!" Sophie replied with a laugh.

"Please? Please please pleasepleaseplease?"

"Keefe! For the last time, I am not helping you buy a pet gremlin and sneak it into your room. If that thing got loose—I'm sorry, I mean when it inevitably got loose—it would wreak havoc all over the tower!"

Keefe smirked. "Exactly."

Sophie laughed again. "No, Keefe. I know Master Cadence isn't your favorite—"

"And what better way to keep her busy than having to organize a total clean-up of the Gold Tower?"

"It would be the gnomes that would clean it up," Sophie pointed out.

"Not if we convince the gnomes to refuse to help," he argued.

"I'm not sure that's in their nature. Why don't you just...I don't know, slip a prank elixir into Fitz's shampoo or something?"

"Whoa," Keefe replied. "I'm going to tell Captain Cognate you're offering him up as a recipient of my pranks."

"It's not like he's not used to it," she told him.

"Which is exactly why pranking Fitz is so tired," he answered. "I've done it so many times over the years, he's learned not to react."

Keefe let out a dramatic sigh when Sophie shook her head. He even threw himself down onto the bed beside her, acting like she'd broken his mischievous little heart.

"You're ridiculous, you know that?" Sophie told him.

Keefe slowly sat up, smirking at her. "I know. And yet, you love me anyway."

"I do," she agreed as she leaned in to kiss him lightly on the lips. When she pulled away, Keefe's ice blue eyes were very playful.

"I'm going to wear you down eventually," he promised. "And convince you to be much more mischievous in the future."

Sophie shook her head ruefully. "I mean, we could always prank Lord Cassius. I'd totally be up for that."

Keefe snorted. "Not even our bodyguards would try to stop us," he agreed.

"Has Ro ever tried to stop you?" Sophie wondered.

"Okay, fair point. She's never tried to stop me from pranking someone, even when she was guarding me full time. But Gigantor, on the other hand, has stopped us many times." Keefe sighed as he laid back down, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm so tired."

"Since when?"

"Since you refused to help me prank Lady Cadence. You don't know how exhausting it is, Foster, having to deny my very nature."

He had such a martyred look on his face that Sophie couldn't help but laugh and roll her eyes at the same time. But she also reached out a hand and swept it softly through his artfully messy hair. "Somehow I think you'll make it through this hard time."

Keefe's expression cleared at once. "That helps," he murmured as he scooted closer, resting his head in her lap. Sophie smiled at the look of total contentment on his face as she continued to play gently with his hair. For some reason, he really liked it when she did that. It was a surprise, at first, since he was so protective of his hair. But his tranquil sigh made it clear how much he loved it.

Keefe shifted so that he was lying on his side, giving Sophie access to more of his hair. The conversation mercifully shifted away from gremlins as they talked about their workload at Foxfire, about the way their world was successfully finding a 'new normal' after the years of chaos and tumult, and Sophie's somewhat regular check-ins with Amy. The whole time, Sophie ran her fingers softly through Keefe's hair, neither of them caring that she had destroyed his careful style.

Eventually, the conversation began to slow down. There had been amiable silence for a few minutes before Sophie said, "We need to make starkflower stew soon. It's been a while since we made some and gave it to Calla."

Keefe said nothing. It was only then that she noticed that he had gone very still and breathing had slowed down into a steady rhythm.  Sophie carefully leaned her head forward, craning her neck to see better.

Keefe's eyes were closed.

He'd fallen asleep.

Sophie smiled to herself. This was a first. She knew that he found it relaxing when she played with his hair this way, but he'd never actually fallen asleep. She didn't know how long to let him nap before she woke him up, but decided a few minutes would be okay. She rested her head against the wall and let her mind wander. But when she also started to get drowsy, she decided it was time to wake Keefe. She couldn't risk falling asleep too. She pulled her hand out of his hair and brought it to his shoulder, nudging him gently. "Hey," she murmured. "Keefe. Time to wake up."

"Hmmm?" Keefe said groggily as he slowly sat up.

"You fell asleep," she told him, smiling at his wild hair.

"Whoops," he mumbled. "Sorry about that."

"I didn't mind," she promised. "You only slept for a few minutes. It was...nice. Peaceful."

Keefe grinned at her, the sleepiness slowly leaving his eyes. "I remember thinking the same thing after you had that nightmare, and you fell asleep in my arms under the Panakes. I sat there for a long time after you fell asleep, just thinking about how awesome it was. I loved it."

Sophie smiled. "I remember."

Keefe sat up straighter so he could see his reflection in the mirror across the room. He let out a sort of laugh-groan combo when he saw his hair. "That's an interesting look."

Sophie shrugged. "Doesn't bother me," she told him. "You don't mind, do you?"

He shook his head. "Not at all. It was definitely worth it." He leaned in and kissed her. "More than worth it," he whispered when they broke apart.

Sophie didn't know how she'd ever managed to make such an incredible guy look at her like that--like she was the best thing he'd ever seen--but it made her heart swell every time he did.

"I love you."

"That's good. Otherwise the whole hands-in-my-hair thing might be kind of weird."

Sophie rolled her eyes and gave him a playful shove. He just smirked and brought one hand up to gently stroke her cheek. "I love you too."

This time, Sophie reached for Keefe and pulled in him close, kissing him as she once again wove her fingers into his hair, lightheaded with happiness and contentment.

But when Keefe finally broke the kiss, he smirked at her and said, "I told you that not pranking people leaves me exhausted. I swear, if you don't help me cause some serious mischief, then I'm going to end up falling asleep in my sessions and failing out of the Elite levels."

Sophie tried to glare at him, but felt a traitorous smile curl her lips instead. Even so, she shook her head at him. "Nice try."