ɪ ᴛᴏʟᴅ ᴍʏ ᴛᴇᴀᴄʜᴇʀ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ʏᴏᴜ - ᴋᴇᴇꜰᴇx/ᴅᴇᴇꜰᴇ

Hide and Seek

Happy Pride, lovelies!!

To both Keefe and Dex's surprise, convincing mostly everyone to play hide and seek at Rimeshire. The only person who'd seemed a bit more hesitant was Tam, however according to Linh that was because he was just in the middle of a 'really good' book.

Rimeshire's grounds were expansive - even more so than Everglen - plus there were triplets just waiting to cause havoc - so the first thing Dex had to do once everyone had arrived was set an abundance of ground rules. They weren't allowed to go past the lake or inside, climbing the trees was allowed, but only if after thirty minutes of hiding you screamed, and everyone was to avoid the triplets at all costs. Not to mention, if the seeker gave up looking for the last person, they, as well as everyone else, owed that last person a dare. However, if the last person was found, they owed everyone else a dare. And as for the bodyguards, who were less than slightly thrilled at the idea, they were to also hide somewhere near their charge.

"Alright sooooo," Biana began, playing with a strand of her hair, "who's counting first."

"I think it should be Dex." Fitz smirked. "I mean, it is his house. He knows it better than any of us - well, except maybe Keefe. How long have you been here, dude?"

Keefe snorted before Dex could break out into nervous hives or something. "Oh, not that long. It's not my fault you guys are slow-pokes."

Sophie turned her head to hide her smile while Biana simply rolled her eyes.

"And anyways," the blond continued, "why should Dex have to count? Every time we play this at your house you're always the first to hide. All for Fitzy counting say 'I'"

The vote was unanimous - excluding a somewhat unhappy Fitzroy of course who now had to count to 100 so that everyone could find a good place.

Dex tugged on Keefe's shirt to insist that he follow him as the proteges all took off in different directions into the trees. The second they were far enough away from the rest of the group, Dex spoke up and grabbed his hand. "I know a perfect place! Come on!"

They ran along the same dirt path they'd taken that morning on their walk until they got to the lake and Dex dropped his hold on Keefe before walking into the water.

"Uh - no. Sorry, Dexy but I am not getting soaked again. I'll just levitate to the top of a tree or something."

Dex turned around, putting his hands on his hips, though the gesture was less effective due to half of his body now being concealed by the dark water. "Oh, come on. You can dry off in a minute."

"Babe, I don't know if you know this, but you're standing in water." Nonetheless, slowly, grumbling, Keefe took a few steps into his water. "And I can't hold my breath for that long!"

Soaked socks were not a nice feeling and he'd had enough of them for the day. He was so getting back at Dex for this.

By the time Dex had gotten neck deep he realized something, turning around to grab onto Keefe once more as he looked at Ro and Lovise who had yet to enter the water. "Why don't you guys - uh - hide in one of those bushes over there?"

Lovise glared daggers at him while Ro snickered and dragged her away.

"Seriously, Dex," Keefe tried, "what are we doing?"

"We're going to a secret place."

"A secret place? Uh - shouldn't you not show me it then?"

Dex looked at him, deadpanned. "Are you going to tell anyone about it?"

"I - no." Keefe sighed.

Dex grinned at him before leaning over to peck him on the cheek. He then sunk down into the water.

Keefe sighed before following in suit. The water was freezing, but once he opened his eyes he could see clearly despite how murky it seemed from above. There were even a few little fish swimming around.

Dex pulled on a strange looking rock which apparently turned out to be a handle.

Keefe stared at it wonder where the trap door lead to as Dex held it open.

Slowly, he made his way in, though his landing was almost worse than Sophie's would have been and he had to roll out of the way to avoid being landed on by Dex.

It took the blond a moment to realize the room was dry and that he was breathing as he regained himself. Keefe looked up to see a hand being offered to him once again.

"Where are we?" He demanded. "Why isn't there water in here? Is this cheating, Dizznee?"

Dex rolled his eyes, pulling his wet hair away from his eyes. "I said we couldn't go past the lake. Not that we couldn't go in the lake."

"You sneaky little devil."

Dex grinned as his dimpled caved in his cheeks. "I know. I did learn from the best though. But now we have who knows how long to ourselves."

Keefe raised an eyebrow, wrapping his arms around Dex's hips lazily. "Why did you invite everyone over then? If we just get to be alone. Not that I'm complaining."

Dex shrugged. The boy's arms found their way around Keefe's neck. "Well I only just got the idea of hiding in here once everyone came over. Plus, now they owe us a dare."

Keefe smirked before realizing something. "Uh - so - how do we dry off again?"

"Oh!" Dex realized, pulling away. "Come on, we have showers in here!

"What even is this place?!" Keefe asked as he followed Dex through a door. Both rooms he'd been in so far were very small, though these walls weren't painted blue. Instead, they were a simple white with a tiled floor. In the room was two odd-looking stalls. They reminded him of the changing rooms at Foxfire.

"It was made for the triplets and I by our uncle a while back as a play house sort of thing, but we haven't used it too much for a while. Everything still works though! And the gnomes use it to relax sometimes."

"Dang." Keefe said in awe. "And I have to take another shower today?"

"Sorry." Dex mumbled sheepishly. "But after that we can play human video games or something."

Keefe tried not to think about the 'or something' too much. "Okay then! I like that idea."