Together?- A SOPHITZ fanfiction (UPDATES ON HOLD)

Sticky business

Sophie gasped at the sight, ran out, and bumped right into Fitz who stepped back when he saw her pale face. "What is it? Sophie, what is it?" he demanded. She shook her head and gestured for him to see. When he went in, she heard a gasp. "WHAT THE F***? WHAT THE F***!" he exclaimed. She heard incoherent words of apology and explanation. Sophie went in to find the guys beet red on opposite sides of the bed, looking anywhere but at Fitz. "WHAT THE-" He stopped when Sophie touched his arm. She turned to look at Tam and Dex. "Since when?" she asked. Dex looked down. "It's... been a little while," he muttered. Sophie shook her head and Fitz ran a hand through his hair in disbelief. "How? And-and why?" he demanded. "I think you should sit to hear this..." Tam spoke up for the first time.

Fitz grabbed 2 chairs from the plush seating arrangement in the corner of the room and sat down, with his arm crossed, leaving the boys standing in the middle of the room. Sophie softly closed the door shut and locked it. She sat down and looked at them, sadness in her eyes. Dex spoke up first. "I-well... We started talking a little after you got unmatchable. First, it was just as friends. Tam would listen to my technopath stuff and it turns out he liked to fiddle with tech stuff as well. We would hang out here and there, nothing more," he said, struggling to communicate. "Then, we realized we had a lot more in common than we thought. We kinda just liked to talk and so we would hang out at my place. I invited him over one night after it had gotten really late and he was like sure! So then we talked some more and... Do you want to say it, Tam?" he looked at him as if to say help me. Tam sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I basically told him I was into guys."

"He didn't really know how to respond. So we didn't talk about it again. After the whole Paris fiasco, after I read my matchmaking list, we both went out for a walk and I told him that there was no way I would just marry a girl. That I would rather leave the lost cities than do that. And Dex agreed. I thought he was insane, but, well... A little help here?" He sounded exasperated. Dex grumbled. "I realized soon after... well... after I, uh... kissedsophie... that I didn't like it. At all. And that I really didn't like girls that much and that I was just confused. He said it was cool and we just kinda shrugged it off. After that, the school year started and we didn't see each other. But then, when we had a weekend break, we would hang out all over again. Tam was acting really weird around me one time and I asked him what was up and he just wouldn't tell me. Well, we talked, and, turns out, we both really liked each other. What I thought was just me really liking him as a friend turned out to be something else," he explained. He then blushed really deeply and tugged at his collar. "So we decided to keep whatever was going on between us quiet for a little while. We were gonna tell you, it's just... This is a BIG deal."

Sophie thought about it. She suddenly realized the obvious- she had never met a same-sex couple in the lost cities. It was always a man and woman and they almost always had kids. She suddenly felt immense sadness for the 2 of them. What must it feel like to feel so out of place? The lost cities were not progressive enough to Sophie's liking and it didn't surprise her to find out that these relationships were... more than frowned upon. "So... what are you gonna do?" she asked tentatively. Dex shrugged. "Nobody knows except you guys now. I know what Tam thinks about this but... I don't want to be a bad match. I see the pain it causes my parents. And how would people react to us? There's never been anybody open about, well... this!" He gestured between him and Tam. Tam stood up straight. "I don't care what people think. I can do what I want and just because I like different people doesn't mean I have to be treated like vermin." The silence following that statement was stifling.

Sophie didn't know what to do with this information. What could she do? She was just a child (although she was 17,) and she had no control over people's thoughts. She was too tired to deal with this. "Look. I have nothing against you two... being together. I just want you guys to be happy. But can we talk about this later? We're not in the best mindset to deal with this information." Sophie looked up to see their expressions. Tam had the same resigned, impassive face, and Dex looked sad. "Yeah, sure," Dex said. Sophie stood up. "I'm sorry," she said. She then unlocked the door and walked out. As she roamed down the hallway, bare feet on lavish carpets, she could hear the murmur of conversation between Fitz, Tam, and Dex. Sophie couldn't handle that information at the moment.

She crossed the stretch of lawn that separated Everglen to the party. People had calmed down- a small crowd was still dancing, but many had left the party. Others were keeled over in their chairs, knocked out in the grass, or asleep in the seating areas around the bonfires that had been extinguished. Sophie scanned the crowd for Grady and Edaline and found them talking to Alden and Della. "...I'm just worried about them. They're growing so fast..." Sophie approached, trying to stifle a yawn. Upon seeing her adopted daughter, Edaline smiled. "Hey, Sophie. Did you have fun?" she asked, hugging her. "Yeah. I'm tired. Can we go home?" asked Sophie. She felt like a child but it was true; she was exhausted. "Of course," said Grady. "Thank you so much. This was a truly amazing celebration," said Grady, who was saying goodbye to the Vackers.

Sophie looked for Biana and Lihn, maybe Keefe, but couldn't find them. Gnomes were walking around, passing warm mugs of Derrylore, a drink supposed to help with hangovers. After a few sips, the elves light lept home, sleepy children having already gone to sleep in the comfort of their parent's arms. It was almost 6 am by the time Sophie made her way back to Grady and Edaline. After thanking the Vackers for the party, they left Everglen, arm in arm, and light lept to the comfort of Havenfield. Sophie stumbled into the shower, letting the warmth wash away all her worries. She was scared for Dex and Tam. Tam had proven to be reckless before and she didn't want anything bad to happen to her friends. What could they do? Sophie stepped out of the shower and pulled on flannel pajamas decorated with purple dinosaurs. She struggled with her hair before using one of Biana's elixir's to untangle it, leaving a strange coconut smell in her hair. She almost tripped over her discarded dress and stumbled into bed.

More exhausted then she could describe, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.