Light Feeling

                                    

                                          
The sun streamed in as the morning breeze drifted through the open window. The pale curtains rustled as Keefe listened to her breathing softly beside him. There weren't many times they were allowed to feel peaceful in their lives but their mornings alone always made Keefe's heart feel a little bigger. Sophie worried a lot, which made Keefe worry about her worrying, but when she was sleeping she tended to be at peace. Her nightmares were warded away by Keefe while he gave her soothing feelings to go to sleep.
                          
"You don't have to do that," she would say. 
                          
He knew to her it felt like she was using him so they would both be able to get a full night's sleep, but he explained to her every time that making her feel better made him feel better. And not just because he could feel her emotions. She helped him feel safe, there was no one else in the world he could trust more than her. When everything went downhill, when he was convinced he wasn't worth saving, not only was she always there to pull him away from the edge but she made him feel wanted. That he was worth something. So even though she was definitely ten times stronger than him in every way, he knew he would spend the rest of his life fighting for her happiness just as she did for him.
                          
He often listened to her breathing whenever he woke up before her, which was often. They often stayed up late whenever he was able to sleepover. Not that he was ever technically allowed to sleepover. Yes, he was working on being a better person and following the rules, but one rule that Sophie never argued about breaking was sneaking Keefe over for the night. At first, it had only happened every once in a while, usually when one of them had a particularly rough night or they just needed human (elf) contact. Eventually, it started happening more and more often as they became more than just good friends. She had broken up with Fitz a while ago but they were both reluctant to leave their bubble until they had to. Right now, their friends were in a weird state of emotional turmoil, so many battles had been fought and some had pretty bad outcomes. They all agreed to take time to themselves to recover from the end of this traumatic period in their lives. It was after the Neverseen was defeated when Keefe started staying over more regularly. So far Sophie's many bodyguards had gone down in numbers but one usually still hung out around the house just to be sure nothing was still going wrong. Neither of them had any idea if the bodyguards knew Keefe slept over but they were pretty sure he would be hard to miss. Sure, the few times he came at the beginning they spent a long time making sure he could sneak past without being noticed. Now they stopped caring as long as none of the guards told their parents, so far so good. 
                          
He turned towards her and wrapped his arms around her waist and slide his leg between hers, kissing at the back of her neck lightly until she started to wake. 
                          
"Mmmmm," she mumbled with a smile as she turned in his arms to look at him. "Early riser are we?"
                          
He smiled and placed a small kiss on her forehead before replying.
                          
"I have to go soon, it's almost 5," he whispered.
                          
She frowned and put her own arms around his torso holding him against her. "No. I forbid it. Stay with me."
                          
His heart leaped, no matter how much she assured him that she's in love with him, every time she said something like this his heartfelt more full. He felt her emotions match her words as she started placing small kisses on his hand.
                          
"Anything for you my love," he said and leaned over her to kiss her properly. She giggled and then muffled herself so no one would hear her. Luckily they were on a different floor than her parents so it was near impossible for them to be heard but they still whispered almost as if it reminded themselves of their defiance. 
                          
Keefe smiled against her lips as she moved her hands through his hair. Against what he liked to tell people, it was quite the mess in the mornings and he did have to spend some time taming it in the mornings. Sophie had told him that she liked it messy so he always left it alone until he had to go home or out to see their friends.