Who Wants to be Batman?

Tam: Oh, Really?

Oh my. Keefe is currently crying. Well, so am I, but that's besides the point. After a while, I break the hug. Keefe falls to the ground, still a sobbing mess. I kneel down.

"What happened to you?" I ask, putting my hand on his shoulder. He rubs his eyes.

"I-I think I got something in my eyes," he sniffs, shaking.

"No you didn't."

"What happens when your best friend dumps you?"

"Woah, really? What happened?" I ask.

"Uh, well," he sniffs again. "Fitz called me, and was acting really weird." Sniff. "And then," sniff. "Sophie calls me to say that you're having a breakdown, and that," sniff, "Fitz doesn't want me to talk to him anymore." Sniff. "Because," sniff, "because," sob, "because of us." And then he completely breaks down, bawling like a toddler who didn't get enough mallowmelt.

"Do you need me to murder him?" I ask, one hundred percent serious.

"No, I don't think so," he sighs, trying not to laugh, but fails.

"I'm serious," I poke his chest. He looks up.

"You'd do that for me?"

"If you wanted me too," I say, kissing him on the forehead. I don't think I've ever done that. Even to my sister. Keefe looks mischievous now.

"Hmmm, well, you could scare him or something. Give him a piece of your mind." He's rubbing his hands together, smiling, but his eyes are still red.

"Yeah, that sounds good." We start hatching a plan to scare the pants off of Little Mr. Wonderboy.

***

At lunch, Keefe sits next to me. Fitz is as far away as possible from us, and Sophie sits across from us.

"Hey guys!" She says a little bit too cheerily. I raise my eyebrows.

"Hi, Sophie!" Keefe kind of shouts this, but Fitz ignores it. Dex doesn't though.

"Uh, what was that about?" He asks. Keefe just shrugs.

"And, uh, is it true? What Linh told me?" This is still Dex. I am aware of my face becoming hot. Fitz clears his throat, loudly. Linh, who is on the other side of me, buries her face in her hands.

"Uh," Keefe looks at me, and I shrug. "Yeah. It is." Dex nods.

"Cool? I don't really know what to say," he says slowly.

"Eh, I don't know either," Keefe shrugs, looking at me again.

"Just don't go telling everyone," I say. Linh looks at her plate.

"And don't be a jerk about it," Keefe looks pointedly at Fitz, who looks the other way. Biana looks confused.

"What's going on, Fitz?" But she's looking at Keefe questioningly. Fitz doesn't answer.

"Basically, your brother is a jerk, and is no longer speaking to me." Biana raises her eyebrows. "Because of Tam and me."

"What?!" She looks flabbergasted. "Why Fitz?"He looks up.

"It's not right," he says, still avoiding our gaze. Biana slaps Fitz. Sophie looks like she might kill someone. She stands up.

"FITZ YOU IDIOT!" Okay, Sophie is officially on another level of craziness. "THAT'S SO HOMOPHOBIC!" We all look at her, confused. She sits back down. "Oh, yeah. Homophobia is basically an irrational fear of gay people." More confused looks. "Being gay is being attracted to the same gender." Faces of realization. Keefe raises his hand.

"Then I'm not gay." He puts his hand down.

"Oh? Have you," Sophie blushes. "Have you had crushes on girls too?" He nods, and she blushes again. That girl! All that blushing!

Hey, Keefe. A frightened look from him. Shadow whispering usually freaks people out. Are we ready for operation Idiot Wonderboy? He nods, just a little bit.

"Um, Keefe?" Biana says. "What was that?"

"What? Oh, I was just spacing out."

Hey Wonderboy. He jumps.

Who is this? Oh, right. Telepaths.

Unimportant. What is important is that I know about Mr. Snuggles.

YOU WHAT? Ouch. Too loud.

Yeah, and if you're still a jerk to Keefe and Tam in five minutes, the secret will be leaked.

No! I think he's scared. Wait a second. Is this Tam? Ah! He knows it's me!

No, no, it is a powerful being.

Knock it off, Tam!

This isn't Tam! Fitz glares at me. I try to look confused.

Give it up, Bangs Boy. At this point, I explode.

"You wanna fight, Wonderboy?!" I say, getting up and blowing my cover. Fitz laughs, but looks a little scared. Keefe grabs my shoulder.

"Yeah, sure, but you don't want to go about ruining your hair," he sneers. "Am I right?" Keefe lets go of my arm, and I jump onto the table, charging at Fitz. Sophie looks taken aback, Biana looks worried, Linh looks scared, Keefe looks angry, and Dex looks like he just wants to shrink. I jump at Fitz, who looks genuinely terrified. He topples over onto the ground, and I'm pretty sure I hear something crack. He screams, and now someone is pulling me off of Fitz, and someone else is yelling for me and Fitz to get to Elwin.

***

"Tam! What were you thinking?" Elwin looks horrified. "I didn't know that you could do that. You're usually so quiet. What happened?" I shrug.

"Fitz was insulting me." I look down at Fitz, who is laying on a bed, passed out. He broke a collar bone. Keefe rushes in.

"I-I can explain," he huffs. Elwin looks curious.

"Yes, Keefe?"

"Well, uh," he looks at me, and I nod. "Tam and I.... We... uh. Well, urm, wekissed." The last part is a little hard to understand. "And, uh, it, uh, somehow got out in our friend group, and, uh, Fitz wasn't--isn't okay with it. Tam and I, we, uh, wanted to turn Fitz around, because he's my best friend. Was. I didn't want him to be like this anymore." He sighs, and then sniffs, no doubt trying not to cry. "I'm really sure what happened."

"He called me Bangs Boy, and I snapped," I say quietly.

"So did his collar bone." Elwin raises an eyebrow. I nod.

"Well, I kind of jumped on him."

"Oh. Okay then." Fitz stirs. He opens his eyes.

"What? Where am I? Oh," he winces from the movement.

"He's awake!" Elwin gets a ball, and does some sort of light thingy. Fitz sighs.

"Okay, you should be set, but first drink this." Elwin holds out a small pale purple bottle. Fitz takes it, and gulps it down, grimacing. He looks at us.

"Guys," he looks down.

"What." Keefe clenches his fists.

"I-I-I'm sorry," He looks up at us, and then looks back down. He gets up and walks up to Keefe. Then, Fitz hugs Keefe. He pushes away. FItz looks at me, and his eyes are sort of sad.
"Not.... Not yet, Fitz," Keefe says sadly. Fitz walks out of the room. I pat Keefe on the shoulder, and follow Fitz.

"Tam, you're supposed to see Magnate Leto," Elwin calls after me. I hear foot steps, and look behind me. Keefe. He quickens his pace.

"Wait up!" I stop. He catches up to me and grabs my hand. "I'm coming with you. It's my fault as much as yours, and... I want to be with you." He squeezes my hand.

"Okay then," I nod and squeeze back. We continue down the hall.