Word count: ~2.0k words

It's been a bit since the last upload, but here I am with it finally!!! Chapter a little short compared to normal, but i think this will be enjoyed anyway!

warnings: none? i think?

"So where are you two going?" Keefe as Sophie brushed her hair, preparing for her shopping trip with Biana.

"Are you inviting yourself along?" Sophie asked as she watched them use some of their newly bought hair products. "Why is this even in my room."

They turned to her with a grin. "Dunno. Good mirror, I guess." They turned back to the mirror they were both standing in front of and gave it a wink.

She rolled her eyes, ignoring the odd yet pleasant feeling that was the familiarity of having Keefe invade her personal space. "If you're coming with, bring some money."

"What for?"

"Fitz's birthday is soon. We're just gonna go buy some gifts."

"Ooh, cool."

"Biana'll probably ask about yours."

"Nothing a little secretive-ness can't fix. Worst case scenario I, be annoying and just make her guess."

"Sounds like something you'd do."

"What's that supposed to—Foster get back here!"

•~•~•~•~•~•

"Soo," Biana began as they started walking through a large shopping mall, "Keefe, when's your birthday?"

They grinned, stretching casually as they walked. "Why don't you guess?"

She rolled her eyes. "Really? Fine, February fifth? Am I close or way off?"

Sophie caught the flash of a startled look on their face, as if they didn't expect Biana to actually guess. Well, they'd deal with it.

"I dunno, you tell me."

She groaned. "Ugh, I do think your birthday isn't until next year—"

"They happen every year???"

"Keefe I will strangle you," Biana warned, dragging them into a clothes shop. Sophie laughed to herself, because she was surely about to drown them in clothes. It wasn't the goal of the trip, but it was to be expected of a shopping trip with Biana.

Sophie didn't enter with them, because she'd thought of a good idea for FItz's gift. During one of their hangouts, late in the night, too tired to do anything but not enough to sleep, they laid curled up on the beanbag couches at his place. He was scrolling through some website on his phone and she'd turned to sneak a few glances at him—it wasn't her fault the lighting was really nice in the room!—and found him on some online shop looking at rings. That was about a month ago, and considering she hadn't seen him wear any rings, she could assume that he hadn't bought any.

As she entered the first jewellery store, she briefly lamented the prices. They weren't that bad, and she was paid well in the flowershop, but she'd always been one to save money. Not like buying Fitz a nice birthday gift would be a waste of money; plus he'd bought more expensive stuff for her in the past.

She peered closer at one of the rings, finding it to be really interesting looking. There were three that intertwined into one; gold, silver, and rose. They all had a matching floral engraving around it.

"It can be worn as one ring, but they can also be taken apart," the jeweller explained. "You want to hold it?"

"Uh, sure," she replied.

It'd have been better if they split into two, she'd give Fitz the gold since he often wore gold jewellery, and she could take the silver to match—would he find it weird if she wore a ring to match him? What about the third then? Maybe she could use it as a gift? Though, she could just gift an expensive ring to just anyone—

"Matching rings, really Foster?" A voice asked from behind her, causing her to whirl around in shock, the rings flying out of her hands.

To her annoyance, Keefe caught them with ease, a smug look on their face.

"Where's Biana?" she asked.

"On her way, she says the clothes there weren't worth it. But you didn't answer my question. Matching rings? Oh, there's three. Flowers on them too? Betcha can't identify the flowers here."

"Sure she can," Biana said, as grabbed Keefe by the arm. "You don't get to run off like that."

"Looks like carnations to me," Sophie said.

They whistled. "Well, look at that."

Sophie resisted the urge to just take the rings and shove them back towards the jeweller, but they were really pretty, and—

"What about the size?" Biana asked, holding one of them. "Looks tight for my finger, so it wouldn't fit him."

"I've got a bigger size, and I've got something to help deal with when it's loose," the jeweller said. "It'll cost a little bit, but not much."

"That's fine, thank you," Sophie said, because what ultimately sold her on buying the rings was that they were cheap considering they were three.

"So," Keefe asked, their cheerful tone at odds with the furrow of their brows, "what'cha gonna do with the third?"

Sophie shrugged. "I'm not sure." She could also tell there was likely some unspoken confession of does this mean you plan to confess?

Sure, some of the flowers they gave each other had some romantic connotations, but she was sure that he wouldn't ignore the fact that many people who confessed to their crush used carnations as an alternative to roses. Or maybe they'd just continue to toe the line. She had to admit, she'd probably do that if she were in his place.

...she was just going to buy the rings before she chickened out.

•~•~•~•~•~•

Once they finished their shopping, the three of them headed home. Biana went back to her place and Sophie and Keefe began packing what they had away from plain sight. Sophie didn't get much so she finished earlier, and went downstairs. To her surprise, Fitz was there in the living room, pacing back and forth.

"You okay?" she asked, and he started, turning to her with wide eyes.

"Yeah," he said, a little breathless, "I'm fine."

"Did something happen?"

"Everyone's fine, nothing happened."

She glanced up at his eyes, and was surprised that his gaze wasn't on her at all.

"Let's go to my room," Sophie offered, taking him by the arm as they went there.

They entered her room and casually sat down on the bed. She didn't let go of his arm, and was pleased when he didn't move away.

"You hang out with Keefe a lot," he said from beside her.

She stared up at the ceiling. "This again? Is something wrong?"

"No," he said, but she could feel his arm tense a little. "I'm just jea—" he cut himself off.

"You're just..?"

"I'm just... scared of change, I guess? You're a little different, you didn't go outside too often unless it was with one of us or one of your stress-walks. I remember how it took a bit before you warmed up to Biana and I, and I get that Keefe was your online friend before—and that you're older and more mature and have better social skills, and I should be happy you've made a close friend this easy, it's just—"

"Hey," she whispered, turning to face him. "I get it."

If she were a little braver, she'd try and close the gap between them. It was a fear of change that stopped her from doing so. This close friendship between them that had been built for so many years, could an unrequited love break it all down?

"I'm jealous of Keefe," he said so quietly, she thought she was imagining it, but then he continued on. "I thought I could go the rest of my life with us like this, but I've realized that I can't just keep my feelings hidden."

Her breath hitched, and his hands moved to hold hers, her heart beating wildly. She wondered if he could hear it, if the rhythm in her chest was in tune with his.

"I'm in love with you, Sophie."

Oh, those words. How long had she longed for him to say those words, with those teal eyes of his gazing at her so intensely, holding her hands so gently, smiling so beautifully?

"I've wanted to date you since we were in high school," she confessed. "And then you gave me that yellow rose—"

"I didn't know!" He said, turning away sheepishly. "I bought yellow to suit the gold in your eyes, and then I looked up flower meanings the next day and realized what they'd meant. And when I decided I was going to tell you, you gave me the alstroemerias."

"No way," she said with a groan, "Are you telling me that we could've been dating since then?"

He covered his face with his hands. "All because of flowers." He uncovered his face. "Well, I did get you flowers, actually. I left them downstairs. We can go back down and I'll give them to you."

"Okay," she said, smiling, because she was pretty sure this meant that they were dating. "But first..."

She cupped his face with one hand, watching as his gaze dropped to her lips. She leaned in and—

"Oh, Foster," Keefe's voice interrupted, and they both ended up whirling to see them standing at the doorway. "Was I uh—interrupting something?"

She barely stifled a scream and resisted the urge to throw several pillows at them. Fitz's hand that was holding hers clenched, as if doing the same.

"I am..." Fitz began, his voice hard with irritation, before he took a deep breath, "I am going to get the flowers."

"I'm so about to yell at them right now," she muttered.

"Good." He nodded, then left the room.

"Oookay," Keefe said, "your heart's all red, I know you're mad—"

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She asked, standing up. "I'm 'mad'—gee I wonder why!? The door was open, you could read the room, you couldn't have waited for two seconds!?"

They put up their hands in surrender. "Look, those bright pink hearts you two had are exactly why I'm here—"

"You interrupted us on purpose???" She marched up right up to them and jabbed them with a finger. "You've seen my heart, you know damn well how much that meant to me, you even stole my first kiss—"

"Foster listen to me! I can't let you kiss Fitz because I don't want to put him in danger!"

"How would that—" all the anger drained out of her when she remembered. "Wait, but isn't that only if he's upset?"

"Can we really say for certain when it comes to this whole thing? We've already had an exception happen once, we can't let it happen again."

Sophie closed her eyes, hating the fact that they were right. "It only happens for a kiss on the lips, right?"

"Yeah. I really am sorry, by the way."

"Okay, fine. Thanks for telling me."

She went to go see Fitz, who was holding the bouquet of a variety of different flowers that she knew symbolized romantic love.

"Thank you," she said, giving them a hug. And because she'd hate to keep this much from him, she said, "I can't kiss you yet."

"What? Weren't you trying to initiate—is this about Keefe?"

"I can't say why," she said, looking down at her feet. "I'm not ready yet. It shouldn't be for long, okay?"

"You can't say why," he repeated.

"No, I can't."

"But you were so ready to—"

"I know. Just... drop it for now, please? And don't bother asking Keefe, there'll be no point."

She didn't yet have the courage to look up at his face, but she hoped that she wasn't already ruining things. All she could hear was a deep breath, and then:

"Okay. If that's what you want, I'll wait for when you're ready."

Sophie looked back up at him and smiled softly. She stood on her toes and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."