Let me show you - A Sokeefe story

Sand

The walk back to the shore went by quickly, too quickly. Even though they walked in silence most of the way it wasn't awkward, the silence was almost serene. Occasionally they would bump into each other, and more than once Keefe had to stop Sophie from falling.
When they were a few feet from the shoreline Sophie stopped, causing Keefe to shoot her a look that seemed to ask if she was okay without verbalizing it. She only nodded. She wanted just one second longer, hating that the peaceful moments they had in the water would soon be forgotten. It had been so long, too long since she and Keefe had spent any time alone.
Years prior Sophie had realized that there were many different sides to Keefe Sencen.
When he was around everyone he could almost mask his pain with jokes, almost. When he was around his parents- in the beginning, he was more timid, almost afraid. In recent years he's stood up to his parents more, after realizing how truly dreadful his mother was and how twisted his father was. Even with them he could mask his feelings, his emotions. Which was quite the feat since his father was also an empath, or maybe he didn't mask them as well as Sophie thought and Lord Cassius just didn't care.. None of that mattered though.
Because when Keefe was with Sophie it was completely different. She could see through his mask, but when she and he were alone it was almost like she didn't even have to. He barely kept his mask up around her. Letting her see the most vulnerable parts of him.
No jokes, no teasing, just the real Keefe.
Okay well, maybe a little teasing and a few jokes still happened when they were alone. Actually... Probably more teasing happened when they were alone. Which didn't really make sense.. Sophie knew Keefe teased her so he wouldn't accidentally lead on Biana, it was probably just second nature to him now. They had been friends for years and Biana had seemingly moved on so Keefe probably just teased her still because that was the kind of friendship they had.. He just enjoyed tormenting her with his teasing comments, yeah, that make sense. But something about it still made Sophie's heart flutter.

She looked up to see Keefe watching her, waiting. He did that a lot; waited for her to think things through uninterrupted, he just watched, probably monitoring her emotions making sure she wasn't feeling too angry or too guilty about things. Sophie was so grateful to have Keefe in her life. Sometimes she worried, though, that she leaned on him too much. She reached up to pull an eyelash but Keefe slid his hand in hers and pulled them down so they hung between them, "I'd like for you to keep the rest of your eyelashes tonight, Foster."

She didn't know why but the comment made her cheeks burn, hopefully it was too dark for him to notice. Keefe tugged on her hand lightly until she took a step forward, they walked the rest of the way back to where Ro and Sandor had been waiting. Ro groaned upon seeing them, "can we go inside now? I'm getting really tired of all the wind. And Gigantor sucks at conversations." Sandor grumbled in response.

Sophie said, "Yes' at the same time Keefe said "No." Ro was the one to grumble this time.

"No?" Sophie asked, keeping her voice low. Keefe just smiled, "not just yet, Foster." He tightened his hand around hers, sending a zing of warmth through her. Which would have been great but it just reminded her of how cold she was. Sophie tried and failed to regulate her body temperature. She cursed herself at how bad she was at the skill.

Keefe noticed she started shivering, "OH! I'm such an idiot." Ro interjected, "can't argue with you there, Lord Hunkyhair." Keefe just rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, and two towels appeared in his hands. Sophie always forgot about Keefe's new ability, actually she was pretty sure he forgot about it sometimes too. He handed one to Sophie and threw the other over his head, dropping her hand to roughly rub the towel through his hair. Sophie just wrapped the towel around her, wrapping her arms around herself.

Sophie couldn't help but notice how cute Keefe looked as he pulled the towel down, letting it hang around his neck. He shook his head in a way Sophie had only seen dogs do. She let herself wonder if this is how Keefe should have always been. If his parents hadn't been complete psychopaths, if the Black Swan and the Neverseen had never even existed, if Keefe could live in a completely blissful state- Sophie thought this is what it would be like. Midnight swims, and beach trips with his friends. Maybe even camping, Keefe would probably enjoy camping. Sophie made a point to tell him this before another thought sprang into her head. In this perfect world she had created for Keefe, for her friends. She wasn't in it. The Black Swan never existed, so neither did she.