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Keefe grinned as he glittered onto the sandy beaches of Choralmere. He let go of Ro, his personal ogre princess bodyguard, before racing down the stone path that lead to the entrance of the shimmering estate.
“Woah there, Hunkyhair,” Ro teased, grabbing Keefe by his collar. “A bit desperate, aren’t you?”
Keefe pouted. “Well, sorry for being excited to see my boyfriend. Geez, just because you don’t enjoy snuggle time with Bo doesn’t mean I can’t have a happy relationship.” Ro snarled, and Keefe wriggled out of her grasp before she could inflict avoidable pain upon him.
“I just don’t get it,” Ro complained as the pair continued walking down the path. “A while ago you were completely in love with your little Blondie girl and now, you’re head over heels with the guy you used to want to eviscerate?”
“You’re one to talk,” Keefe grumbled. “I’m not the one who—”
“I’d watch it if I were you,” Ro said with a sinister grin. “Wouldn’t want to say hi to little Bangs Boy missing a few fingers, would you?” Keefe rolled his eyes and made his way down the rest of the path to knock on the door. Linh was the one who answered.
“My brother is at the ocean,” Linh told him before Keefe could even squeeze out a greeting. “Have fun!” She closed the door before Keefe could think of an adequate response.
“You heard the girl, go have fun with your little boyfriend,” Ro pressed, shoving Keefe back towards the beach. “I’ll wait here so you two can have your private kissing session because I know how annoyed you get when I’m around.”
Keefe’s face grew hot, but he began to make his way towards the beach once more. At the far corner of Choralmere’s property, Keefe could make out the rough outline of Tam. He was standing with his back to the mansion, facing the sea. The setting sun only made the view more beautiful. Keefe took a deep breath as he got closer.
“Hey Tammy Boy!” Keefe stretched out his arms, wrapping them around Tam’s waist. He could feel Tam tensing up under his grasp. A moment later, Tam’s elbow collided with Keefe’s nose, causing a sharp pain to spread across his entire face.
“Shoot, I’m so sorry!” Tam exclaimed, turning around to find Keefe clutching his nose.
“Wow,” Keefe grinned up at him, “didn’t know you still hated me that much.”
“I-I don’t –” Tam started to say before realizing Keefe was joking. “Whatever, here.” He straightened up before lending Keefe a hand to stand up. He took it without hesitation. The moment their hands made contact, Keefe was flooded with a mix of dozens and dozens of contradicting emotions, each more complicated than the last. Tam pulled his hand away when he realized what Keefe was doing.
“You okay, man?”
“Yeah, fine. How… are you?” Tam asked.
“Good.”
After Keefe’s response, the silence between the two settled in, forming an awkward swirl of air between the two. It was the result of dating someone you used to be rivals with – an awkward situation where you find yourself suddenly having to rely on someone you used to dislike. Whilst Sophie and Biana had gotten to know the twins since they met, Keefe and Tam had chosen to make enemies out of each other from the start. Keefe found it hard to talk to Tam without throwing an insult somewhere into the mix. And they hadn’t been together long enough for Keefe to risk cracking a joke that might hurt Tam.
“Soooooo,” Keefe started, trying to prompt Tam into starting up a conversation. Tam laughed.
“Nice try,” Tam said, instantly shutting down Keefe’s attempts.
“Soooooo,” Keefe tried again, “why are you out here? Trying to act all emo and staring at the sea, Bangs Boy?” He instantly regretted the tease when Tam’s soft smile twisted into his usual sour expression. Why was dating your ex-frenemy so hard?
“No, it’s just, y’know, stuff,” Tam responded. Keefe sighed, suddenly remembering the onslaught of emotions he received from Tam a few minutes ago.
“Look, Tammy Boy, I didn’t want to have to do this, but you and your vague answers leave me no choice,” Keefe rubbed his hands together and gave Tam a wicked grin.
“Wait, what do you mea—" Before Tam had the chance to finish his sentence, Keefe lunged at him, pinning the Shade down onto the shifting sand. “Keefe, what are you…”
Keefe reached down and grabbed onto one of Tam’s hands, which were curled into tight fists at his side, and instantly began heating up when he realized the position that they were currently in. Keefe’s faced burned even more so when he realized that he was reading Tam’s emotions while they were in that position. There were heaps and heaps of embarrassment that twisted into confusion and unease, tons of shock and then, underneath it all, an intense emotion that Keefe could only describe as…
“Right, that’s enough of that,” Tam said, pulling his hand out of Keefe’s grip. He refused to meet Keefe’s eyes and was looking away in an attempt to hide the light pink blush that had spread across his cheeks. Keefe couldn’t help the way his heart pounded a bit harder. Tam was too cute.
“Sorry,” Keefe said, slowly backing off of Tam, making it even more awkward between the two of them. He flinched when Tam gave a heavy sigh, prepared for the brutal attack the Shade was going to give him about how much of an idiot he was.
Instead, Tam just looked sad when he said, “why is this so hard?” Keefe started to ask what he meant, but Tam continued to speak, “I thought that when we finally started dating, everything would be so much easier. That awkward ‘I like him, he might like me back’ phase would be put behind us and we would be the best couple – shut up – and everything would be all sunshine and glitter and flying hedgehogs, but it’s much harder than that. I-I feel like I need to filter my words now or act a certain way so I won’t accidentally shatter what we already have.” Tam finished with another sigh, still refusing to look at Keefe.
“Hey,” Keefe started softly, reaching over to grab Tam’s chin. He twisted Tam’s face towards him, making sure to ignore the swirling cloud of emotions that came with making contact to Tam. “I have those worries too,” Keefe started, “but that’s what happens when you try to start a relationship with your ex-rival. It’s not easy being kind to you, which means it might also be difficult for you to keep your snarky comments away from me. But I’ve found that the reason why I lo – like you so much is because of your saltiness. It’s because of your harsh attitude, your bitter personality, and your intensity that made me start to like you. You drew me in with your selflessness and care, your compassion for others, though you try to hide it, and all of these combined into one makes you. Wow, I’m really rambling a lot, aren’t I? Um, haha, sorry.” Keefe’s nervousness grew as the silence stretched between them once again. He had dropped the hand that was on Tam’s chin, making it impossible to read the emotions that the other boy was currently feeling. His face gave nothing away.
Then suddenly, Tam lunged forward, pulling Keefe into an intense hug that sent them both tumbling backwards onto the sand. The waves crashed against the shores a few feet away, and the sun was halfway buried by the ocean. The scene was perfect.
Keefe brought his hand up to Tam’s cheek, hesitating for only a few seconds before bringing their lips together into a kiss.
Tam was the first to pull away. He looked down at Keefe through half-lidded eyes, his mouth still open slightly. “Keefe, I… I really like you, too. And I would hate it if you stopped acting the way you usually do. Sorry, I’m really bad at these heart-to-heart things, but I do want you to know that I’m… really, really happy with you as my boyfriend.”
Keefe smiled. “I know.”