a/n: starting out with a classic! wordcount: 3k

Keefe frowned.

"Sophie, what is this?"

"I'm sorry," she pleaded, brown eyes desperate, "There was only one room left for you guys. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to share."

"Ugh," Keefe grumbled, glancing over at Tam, "Only for one night."

Their latest mission for the Black Swan had them staying in one of their hideouts for a few days, and it just so happened that Keefe and Tam had to share a room.

Which both of them hated.

Sophie's hair trailed behind her as she scurried out the door, leaving Tam and Keefe alone.

"So..." Keefe said, letting the word drag out, "You gonna help me move this?"

Tam sighed, stepping out of his shadowed corner, "Sure."

With Tam's help, Keefe was able to shove the bed from a corner into the middle of the room, with the headboard against the wall. Then Keefe grabbed a marker and drew a line across the room.

"Where did you get that marker from?"

Keefe smiled ruefully. "The curse of being an artist; having a huge art supply stash at all times."

Tam rolled his eyes and turned away. "I wish I didn't ask."

"Anyways, this is my side." Keefe pointed at the left. "And that's yours."

Tam rolled his eyes, muttering about Keefe's dramatics, but he moved his stuff nonetheless, sticking to his side of the room, while Keefe did the same.

Keefe turned and rummaged through his bag, finding a pair of soft pajama bottoms. He took them over to the bathroom and quickly changed before heading back to the room.

Keefe noticed that when he entered, Tam seemed to have a hard time keeping his eyes off of him, which he didn't enjoy in the slightest. Not at all.

Keefe flexed his arms, displaying the fact that he was shirtless.

Tam smirked. "I'm surprised you actually have abs."

Keefe let out a mock-gasp as Tam's gaze lowered to his stomach.

"You have a scar." The statement had a hidden question in it.

"Yeah, uh, it's from King Dimitar."

Tam made a noise of annoyance, to which Keefe privately agreed. If he could help it, he would never see the ogre king ever again.

The silver-banged boy kept staring at Keefe, who was trying not to blush from the intensity of his silver eyes.

He needed a distraction, and quick.

"Like what you see?"

A fiery blush took over Tam's face as he walked closer, toeing his side of the line.

"Shut up."

A silver glare under silver bangs, a beauty within it that made Keefe feel pinned like a butterfly to a corkboard.

The words slipped out before Keefe could help it. "Make me."

Oh, he was definitely blushing.

There was a long moment where they both stared at each other, and Keefe tried to settle his fluttering heartbeat.

Tam was close enough for him to touch, if he just reached out a hand-

Before Keefe could do anything stupid like kiss him, Tam turned, heading back to his bag. He grabbed some clothes and quickly went into the bathroom.

Leaving Keefe alone.

The bedsprings made a soft, practically indiscernible noise as Keefe sat on his side of the bed, staring out the window at the dusky night sky.

He would rather be anywhere but here. He hated this.

He hated it because he found Tam rather cute and now they were sharing a room, so it was likely that Keefe would get no sleep whatsoever.

Tam entered the room, dressed in a pair of simple black pajamas. Keefe almost regretted the fact that he couldn't see Tam shirtless, but quickly pushed the thought down.

He lounged on the bed, a hand underneath his head, and gave Tam a winning smile. "Ready for bed?"

Tam rolled his eyes and tugged on his bangs simultaneously, which Keefe found rather impressive. He then clambered into the bed, muttering, "I hate you."

Keefe snuggled into his pillow with a grin. "You love me."

Tam didn't respond except to clap twice, plunging the room into darkness. As Keefe sleepily whispered goodnight, a problem soon presented itself.

While the bed was large enough for both of them to sleep on their seperate sides, it only had one blanket. Who's stupid idea was that, anyway?

"Quit hogging the blanket," Keefe grumbled, his back to Tam. He tugged the blanket a little closer, getting a small scrap to cover himself while Tam laughed.

Keefe was suddenly reminded of how he and Fitz used to be like this, how they had sleepovers all the time and Fitz constantly hogged the blanket, claiming that it was his house so he had it. The memory made him smile, though a little wistfully. That had been before the Moonlark appeared, before his life had completely changed.

A breeze blew across the room-a window was probably cracked open just a tad-and it rippled across Keefe's body. He was very much regretting the fact that he slept shirtless.

As he shivered, Keefe closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep. He jumped when he felt warm breath ghost across the back of his neck, making his skin prickle.

"Are you cold?" Tam whispered into his ear.

"...Yeah."

Keefe could practically hear Tam's smirk."You could just regulate your body temperature, idiot."

"Shut up and share the blanket already."

Tam scooted closer to Keefe, slowly creeping the edge of the blanket over Keefe's body. As usual, Keefe was impulsive, so he grabbed Tam's hand and kept his arm draped over him.

Tam let out a soft gasp of breath as their bodies pressed together, and Keefe sorta wished he was facing Tam so he could see his expression.

The night seemed to last forever, and Keefe was wondering if he had made Tam uncomfortable when he finally felt Tam relax against his side with a soft sigh. Keefe smiled, grateful for the warmth, and drifted off to sleep.

But morning came, and Keefe could barely bear to open his eyes. He wanted to sleep for just a moment longer, but then their door was being rudely knocked on and Ro intruded, shouting for them to wake up.

When Keefe opened his eyes, he was alarmed to find that his sight was covered by fluffy blackness, but then realized it was just Tam's hair.

Wait, what?

At some point in the night, Keefe must have shifted around in his sleep, because now he and Tam were facing each other, with Tam cuddling into his chest. Keefe had no shirt on. He needed a shirt, otherwise things were going to be awkward.

Before he could do anything, Tam squinted up at him and said in what was possibly the softest voice ever: "Good morning."

Keefe nodded, too stunned to reply.

He finally realized that the warm feeling of sleep and contentment was coming from Tam, from Bangs Boy. It was amazing that Tam had any other feelings than shady sarcasm.

Tam blinked a few times and finally seemed to realize what was happening, with his face squished into Keefe's chest and Ro staring at the both of them, a smirk on her face.

"Well, well," Ro laughed, "You two seem to be getting along just fine."

At the sound of Ro's voice, Keefe's body finally started working as he shot away from Tam and ended up falling off the bed. He lifted his face off the floor, and said, "Shut up."

Keefe struggled to his feet and walked to the bathroom, trying to seem like a normal person. He quickly changed and headed out to try and salvage the morning.

Ro looked up at him as he entered, then continued filing her nails. Though she looked uninterested, Keefe knew that she was dying to hear about what had happened last night.

"So!" Keefe kept his tone bright, staring at the wall right next to Tam. "Breakfast!"

"Yeah, I'll, uh, join you in a bit. Go on without me." Tam practically shoo-ed him out of the room, and Keefe couldn't help but feel like he was running away after a one-night stand. Which was stupid, he wasn't running away. And it wasn't a one-night stand or anything.

"Well, Funkyhair," Ro grinned as she walked with Keefe down the hallway, "You and Tam?"

Keefe stopped in the hallway and turned to glare at her, trying to fight his blush. "First of all, no, I don't like him like that!"

"You're a terrible liar, blushie boy."

"And secondly, that was an accident! I was cold and he was sharing the blanket, so just shut up and don't say a word to the others."

Ro laughed, patting Keefe on the back. "You got it, lovebird."

Keefe sped up, leaving Ro behind him as he finally got to the dining room and sat down at the table next to Fitz and Dex.

"Good morning, all." He yawned, biting into a ripplefluff.

He was greeted with sleepy responses, and was slowly starting to relax. No one knew what happened last night.

And then Sophie sipped her coffee and stared at Keefe. "By the way, Keefe, how did you sleep? Considering you shared with Tam and all that."

"It was fine." Keefe kept his answer curt, noticing Linh raising her eyebrows. She was definitely going to interrogate her twin brother later.

Keefe stuffed his mouth with another ripplefluff, trying to keep his mind off of Tam.

And he managed to do that for most of the day, busying himself with whatever tasks he could to avoid talking to Tam.

But time moves on, and eventually, night fell. Keefe trudged back to his room and changed as fast as he could, sitting on his side of the bed.

Then Tam entered, and stared at Keefe quizzically.

Keefe gulped.

Tam simply went to change, not asking any questions. Yet.

When Tam came back, Keefe clapped the windows closed, making the darkness of night spread through the room.

Almost as if by an unspoken agreement, the two lay closer to each other than the night before, both staring up at the ceiling.

Tam spoke first, breaking the delicate silence. "Were you avoiding me?"

"Maybe."

"Why?"

Keefe tried to find the words to explain the jumble of emotions inside of him, but he couldn't. He opted for the simplest solution.

"I'm sorry if, um, this morning, if that made you uncomfortable."

There was a long pause in which Tam looked over at Keefe, surprised.

"No, I'm fine with it! I guess I'm used to snuggling for warmth with Linh, anyways."

Keefe didn't quite know how to respond to that. Tam didn't often speak about his time in Exilium, even though he still wore the bead necklace draped around his neck.

"I'm, um," Keefe tried to put it in the least creepy way possible, "I'm okay with us..."

"Snuggling for warmth?" Tam finished.

Keefe was glad the darkness hid his blush. "Yeah, I get cold pretty easily."

"Whatever you say."

They slept the same way they had the night before, but it was different now. It was different because Tam was pressed flush against Keefe's back, relaxed and cozy and cuddling him like a teddy bear.

In another world, this could be romantic.

Keefe hoped that Tam couldn't hear how fast his heart was beating, or how clammy his skin might be.

He closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

He was successful in that up until he woke up. Well, Keefe usually woke up in the morning, but right now it was either late at night or very early morning.

In his sleep-crusted haze, he tried to figure out why he was awake. Then he realized he could no longer feel the warm, comforting presence of Tam.

That sent panic through him, and Keefe finally looked around. In the dim light, he could see Tam sitting up on his side, head in his hands.

"Hey," Keefe whispered, his voice cracking slightly, "Are you okay?"

Tam looked over at him and sighed. "Sorry. Nightmares."

Keefe sat up and gently put an arm around Tam. "What were they about?"

"A lot of things. Death, destruction, pain. My sister hating me, you hating me."

Keefe frowned. "I don't hate you."

"I know! But this stupid shadowflux keeps preying on my emotions, keeps giving me nightmares and I-" Tam's voice was thick with tears. "I hate it."

Keefe paused. Emotions was something he might he able to help with.

"Hey, lay down, okay?"

Tam obediently did so, snuggling into Keefe's side. He placed a hand on Tam's head, gently brushing a few strands of hair off his face.

Keefe drew on the power deep inside him, his ability as an Empath, and sent a wave of calm throughout Tam.

"Close your eyes, try to sleep." Keefe whispered, concentrating on Tam's emotions. Every time his fear or anxiety went up, Keefe calmed him down.

Then Keefe did something he would have done for no one else. He began to sing.

Tam cracked an eye open at the sound of it. "Not only art, but good at music too? You're practically perfect."

"Shut up, I'm nowhere near perfect. Now let me sing."

Tam rolled his eyes, but closed them again.

Keefe sifted through his memories and remembered a song his mother had sang to him once, when he had a bad dream. Since the Lost Cities had no music, it was probably a song she had found in the human world.

The melody was soft and sweet, a lullaby that sang of the sun setting and tomorrow being better.

Tam's breathing slowly evened out as he finally fell asleep in Keefe's arms.

Keefe continued the song for a few moments after that, then let the melody drift away as he felt himself growing tired.

In the last few moments before he fell asleep, Keefe leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to Tam's cheek.

The next day was pretty much the same, with Sophie helping out the gnomes with... something. Keefe wasn't sure what. However, instead of ignoring Tam, Keefe talked to him every chance he got, making the butterflies in his stomach increase.

He eagerly awaited for night to come, though he wasn't sure why.

When they both got back to their room after speedily changing, Tam and Keefe just sat on their bed and talked. The conversation went from a dare from Ro to Tam talking more about Exilium and shadowflux.

Finally, the conversation petered off, and Keefe took that as a cue to clap twice, closing the windows.

As they laid together in the darkness, Tam spoke again.

"Thank you. For yesterday."

"Yeah, of co-"

"And also. Thank you for today, for a few minutes ago, for talking to me and listening to what I say. For being here for me."

Keefe blushed. "Y-yeah, of course."

The silence that followed seemed unbearable for him, so he spoke again.

"And I don't just sing for anybody, you know!" Keefe huffed, "Just for you. Because you're-"

"Because I'm?"

"Because you're special. To me."

Keefe would willingly die now that he blurted that out, but then Tam sat up, his voice almost... hopeful?

"Special how?"

Keefe huffed again as he sat up, trying to look anywhere but at Tam. But Tam, as usual, caught his attention. In the night, Tam's silver eyes seemed like they were softly glowing.

It was beautiful.

Keefe found words spilling out of him all of a sudden. Wow, not just an artist and musician, but a poet, too!

"Because you're sarcastic and stubborn and you don't trust easily, but when you do, you're protective and loyal to the people you care for. You've been hurt, cast out of the family, but you didn't give up for both you and Linh. You became friends with me even when I was rude at first, even though I went through that coma, and you, you.

You talk to me even though I can be awkward or hide away, and you trust me, enough to tell me about yourself. Because you don't care if we share a bed and if we snuggle or if I sing you to sleep. And you're..." Keefe faltered. "You're my favorite person here."

Tam stared at him for a long moment, mouth open and eyes wide in shock. Then he put a hand on Keefe's cheek and leaned closer.

He froze an inch from Keefe, his eyes searching Keefe's face desperately like he was looking for an answer. And Keefe knew what question he was asking.

"Kiss me, you idiot."

Tam closed the gap and kissed him. It was a clumsy kiss, since he couldn't see in the dark, his lips landing closer to Keefe's cheek than his mouth.

Keefe laughed softly, and they kissed again, properly this time, the butterflies in his stomach turning to fireworks.

Finally, they pulled apart slightly, resting their foreheads against each other.

Keefe was content to gaze into the depths of Tam's silver eyes forever, but then he spoke.

"So I'm your favorite person, huh?"

"Shut up!"

"Make me."

"Oh, I will."