Here's a second chapter! Yay! Don't know how good this is gonna be… I don't know how, but this is still between Neverseen and Lodestar. I just don't know how to write that one because I think Keefe joining the Neverseen was the stupidest plotline ever… Oh, and Tam and Linh are already at Foxfire by now. Just thought I should mention I'm really bad at writing romance and that stuff, so this will most likely be awful. Enjoy!

It had been more than a year- the best year of Keefe's life.

Alden and Della were so much better than Lord Cassius, it was scary. When Keefe got a ninety-six on a midterm exam, he'd expected them to be mad, but they were… proud. It was the best feeling ever, when people were proud of you. Keefe didn't know how Fitz and Biana handled it.

Speaking of the younger Vackers, it was the best living with them. Keefe didn't know why he'd ever thought living with no siblings was ok. It was basically one never ending game of Base Quest and sleepovers. Fitz and Biana were already so used to having him there, it didn't even seem to matter that now he had his own room there. Yeah, that's right- a room he could decorate however he wanted!

Possibly the best part was not having to hide who he was. A few weeks into his stay, after much prompting from Fitz and Sophie, Keefe came out to Della and Alden. The two had just hugged him, and told him he'd always have a place with them. They had let him stay. They just...accepted it.

Keefe's days were made up of Foxfire- with the best friends anyone could ever ask for- and playing Base Quest and Bramble at Everglen and thinking up pranks and eating peaceful meals with Alden and Della. It was the best existence he could ever imagine, except for one minor detail:

His huge crush on Tam Song.

"You really should tell him soon," Biana said from her spot on her pink bed, obviously bored with the conversation they'd had a billion times. This had become a weekly tradition- the two would meet in Biana's room and gossip about boys. Sometimes Sophie would join them, and that one time Marella did, though she never came back. But today Sophie had some emergency at Havenfield to deal with, so it was just the two housemates.

"But I don't know how," Keefe whined from the floor. "Plus he doesn't like me, remember?" This was always part of the script- then Biana would say 'just be yourself!' and Keefe would mutter something about how he sucked and they'd argue until Biana gave up and suggested they go do homework or talk about something else. But this time Biana mixed it up a bit.

"If you don't want to tell him, I'm tired of pushing you," Biana said, suddenly giving Keefe her full attention. "But if you don't, you're both missing out on great guys. And I've seen the way he looks at you sometimes. Trust me, it'll go way better than you think it will." She pulled out a book about collecting soil and bark, clearly cuing Keefe to leave. And leave he did.

She's wrong, Keefe thought as he walked into Foxfire the next morning. How would she know? He hasn't told her… right? What if I did tell him? What would happen? "Keefe?" Keefe turned around to see- yup, Tam, looking as emo as ever in a black tunic and cape. "Sophie wants to know if you're coming to Everglen. To celebrate the fact that the year's almost over and… yeah."

Keefe shrugged, trying to pretend like it was no big deal. "Whatever, Bangs Boy. You'll be there too?"

"Yeah, unless you have a problem with that?"

"Should I?" Keefe inwardly flinched at that. He wouldn't blame Tam for not liking him. Even after their little moment-in-the-bush, they had gotten right back to insulting each other at every opportunity. It was probably better that Keefe pretended everything was normal, but it still hurt a little when Tam just shrugged and walked away. Whatever, it'd just be easier if Tam hated him. Because there was no way that, even if Tam did like him, that they'd ever be matched.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of Mentors and books. Not that Keefe didn't love learning but… he didn't. Why couldn't they ever learn anything useful? Like how to fight ogres or how to summon creepy memories of your mom or how to successfully be in a rebellion… those were classes he could pay attention to. At long last the day was over, and Keefe leaped to Everglen to grab his stuff before heading over to Havenfield for the epic sleepover with Fitz and Biana.

The only other person already there was Sophie, who was busy dealing with a T-Rex when the Vackers/Sencen arrived. Keefe had always wanted a pet T-Rex, but his parents said no. Pity. He could cause even more havoc with a T-Rex than a gulon. She turned around and smiled when she saw them, running over and ignoring Grady and the gnomes' struggles with Verdi. "I got you this," Fitz said shyly when she reached them. He pulled out a teal box, containing a silver bracelet.

"Oh, thank you," Sophie blushed, staring deeply into Fitz's eyes while Keefe and Biana gave each other the 'gag me' look.

"Not that I'm not appreciating the Fitzphie eyestare session," Keefe jumped in. "But I think Verdi's getting a little irritated at the veggies." He pointed to the dinosaur, who if anything had started thrashing around on her rope more since Sophie ran off.

"Oh!" Sophie said, rushing over to help again, this time with Fitz following. Keefe and Biana gave each other twin looks of disgust before running inside to get set up for the night.

A few minutes later, Dex, Linh, and Tam all arrived, and Sophie finished dealing with the dinosaur. Edaline had made a huge dinner, and the rest of the night was spent eating sweets and talking about the last year and the plans for next year. That was the year before Keefe and Fitz would try to get into the Elite levels, so that ought to be stressful. Keefe was trying not to think about it. At least he didn't have Lord Cassius breathing down his throat anymore. Throughout the night, Keefe tried to avoid looking at Tam at mainly succeeded, except for during dinner when he looked up at the wrong moment and their eyes met… but that was unimportant. After a few hours the boys all went into their room for the night at the insistence of Sandor.

"Ugh, would you and Sophie just admit you like each other?" Keefe groaned after having to watch Fitz and The Mysterious Miss F. flirt for hours. It was the most annoying thing Keefe had ever seen, especially because they were so oblivious. Like, no one could honestly be that blind, could they?

"We weren't flirting!" Fitz protested from his sleeping bag. "We were just talking!"

Tam shook his head. "Dude, I don't know if you're kidding right now, but I really hope you aren't that blind. It's been obvious since… practically the day I met you and you both jumped off the cliff." And that was how far Keefe's life had fallen, that that was a perfectly normal statement that merited no comment.

"Yeah, even I can see it," Dex added. Keefe was pretty sure that he'd had a crush on Sophie, but apparently he didn't anymore? This group was confusing.

Fitz, desperate to change the subject, quickly said, "Well, what about the way you and Biana were staring at each other during dinner?" Dex blushed as Keefe laughed. Diana was a thing? Well, why not? That made sense. Keefe would need to tease Biana about it later.

"What about you Tam? You got any boys you're making goo-goo eyes with?" Dex asked. The perfectly innocent question made Keefe's heart almost literally stop for two seconds. God, he was glad none of his friends were Empaths. He was almost tempted to read Tam's emotions, but that would require touching. Tam looked like he was considering his answer before shaking his head.

"No, I don't think so." Keefe pretended that his heart hadn't cracked at those words. It didn't matter anyway. It wasn't like he'd had any hope Tam would like him before. But officially knowing that there wasn't hope...that still hurt. The conversation drifted to the end-of-term tests, and Keefe could relax just a little.

After a little longer, all the boys drifted off to sleep for a few hours, until Keefe woke up to hear the roars of an animal he didn't recognize. Ugh. This never happened at Everglen. Even after whatever it was shut up, Keefe still couldn't fall back asleep, too busy thinking about… well, really nothing but he was pretty sure he wasn't asleep. After what felt like an hour, the Empath quietly walked outside to Calla's tree.

Even at night it was beautiful. The ground was covered by a blanket of pale petals, and the ocean made a soothing turquoise background. Keefe sat down under the tree and stared at the ocean, hoping it'd at least make him tired to no avail. Someone cleared their throat behind him, and he turned around to see Tam staring at him. The effect of the silver in Tam's eyes and hair against the starlight… Keefe was trying really hard to not think about it.

"Why are you out here?" the Shade asked. He looked a little bored, but that was just his usual expression.

"Got woken up by… something. Couldn't fall back asleep. How 'bout you Bangs Boy?"

"I'm not usually good at sleeping." Tam shrugged. Keefe felt like that was a comment which needed further discussion, but let it go in the interest of he wasn't doing so hot at sleeping tonight also. Tam sat down beside him, and they both stared out at the waves. This was the only time him and Tam had been alone together like this-silent and peaceful. Keefe really wanted to start yelling at the top of his lungs.

"So," Tam started. Keefe could feel the awkwardness coming off the boy, so strong they didn't even need to be touching to be sensed. "You excited for the tests?" Keefe laughed.

"Yeah, so excited to have a bunch of old elves stare at me while I take tests on information I'll probably never need. What about you?"

"I get what you mean. At least the classes at Exilium were somewhat useful. At Foxfire it's all "capture this tornado!" and "blow this rock up!" It gets dull real fast."

Keefe nodded, and the silence came back. It got so bad that he almost asked Tam if he wanted to let Verdi out of her cage when Tam grabbed his hand.

Keefe stared at him. This was weird. It wasn't bad though. Tam's hand was a perfect mixture of soft and hard, warm and cold. It felt like… it was where Keefe's hand belonged. He could feel Tam's emotions- nervousness and happiness and something else… something that was buried too deep for Keefe to reach it. He decided he liked holding Tam's hand.

"Sorry," Tam muttered. Keefe was 90% sure he was blushing, but he couldn't be certain. "Linh told me to and-" "You gotta listen to the Girl of Many Floods, I get it. But… why'd she ask you to do this?"

Tam looked like he was really regretting his life choices now as he stared at the ground. "Because I…" He mumbled something Keefe couldn't hear. "I'm sorry, what?" Tam whipped his head up to glare at Keefe. "Because I like you, idiot!"

. Keefe was pretty sure those five words broke his brain even further. "Uh… ok. Why?" Those were probably not the smartest words he could have said, but too late now. And had Tam lied when he'd said he didn't like anyone earlier?

Tam looked even angrier as he started ranting. "Why? You asked me why? Are you serious? It doesn't matter why! All that matters is for some reason I can't quite realize, I do. It's annoying and I hate it but I do. And I just told you all this and you just ask why? I-" Keefe had, by this point, gotten bored of this and kissed Tam.

The kiss was, oddly, Keefe's first besides for the infamous dare-kiss with Biana. It felt nicer than he was expecting. He was feeling his overwhelming emotions, but also Tam's. It was the best thing he'd ever done. After way too short of a time they broke apart, gasping for breath. They could barely look at each other when Keefe muttered, "Was...that Ok? Sorry if it wasn't…"

"No it was great," Tam assured him. "I mean I have nothing else to compare it to, but it felt great and I think it was great…" The two resumed staring at each other. Keefe wondered what would happen next. It wasn't like they could ever really be a thing, could they? They couldn't really get crush cuffs or go on dates and they weren't even allowed to date… "So what now?" he asked.

Tam stared out at the sea. "Well… I think we have at least an hour until morning…" That was all it took before Keefe started kissing him again. At that moment, none of it- the Black Swan, the Neverseen, match lists, this world's expectations- mattered. All that mattered was that they had each other, and that was enough.

Hope you guys enjoyed this, and hope that they weren't too OOC! I might make another chapter to this… still puzzling that out. Anyway, hope you all have a great day! Later potaters!