Chapter Text
Those were Dex’s last words before he emptied out the soup his mom had given him onto Keefe's shoes. This was again, going to be a very long day. And not just because Keefe had to clean the barf off of himself.
Great, Just absolutely amazing.
After Dex had finally taken an elixir for his sickness and apologized tons and tons of times, they at last were able to go change into human clothes. What good was changing their appearances if they still dressed like elves.
Fitz remembered back to the last time they did this and made himself chuckle remembering Dex’s ‘Wonder Woman shirt.
He had been given a blue hoodie and some pretty uncomfortable pants. Sophie had said it looked good on him.
He had really appreciated that. He appreciated anything Sophie said to him really.
Well, almost everything.
Now he had a simple bright yellow cardigan and a long coral dress to go under it. He was sure Biana would like to wear something like this. It was…Pretty. If that was the word you would use for it. Fitz didn’t know. It’s not like he wore dresses.
Scratch that.
The thought had brought back a memory of Biana and himself playing ‘dress up’. That was back when he was still little. Still searching for the moonlark. He’d been a bit stressed out then. Always having to run through bustling cities and loud plazas. He would never admit this, but Fitz had nearly cried tears of joy when he found Sophie.
Biana was younger than him so of course his parents made him entertain her when he was off scouting duty. She had asked him if she could dress him up and like the amazing big brother he was, he agreed. He had thought that she had meant a hat or something. And boy was he wrong. She walked out with a giant pile of frilly dresses and shiny jewelry.
“Absolutley not Biana” He had told her. She of course responded to that with her childish whining. His parents were under enough pressure with all the council assignments they were doing, as well as looking for Sophie.
Reluctantly he had agreed, not wanting Biana to go running to their parents.
They had been a bunch of his mom’s old dresses which at the time were much too big for eight year old Fitz.
He took the tiniest, and much less frilly blue dress lying next to the rest. It honestly had been quite comfortable. Of course he was a little embarrassed, after all he's a boy. And boys don’t wear dresses. But it also had been really fun, and it made him happy. To be able to make his little sister laugh of course.
He put on the coral dress and looked around, just in case. He couldn’t help himself now could he? He twirled.
The dress was made of some sort of felt with silk on the inside. It wasn’t as comfortable as any elven clothes but it fit just fine. That made Fitz uncomfortable for some reason.
He slipped the yellow cardigan onto himself and looked in the bathroom mirror.
Wow. He really did look like a girl. Fitz hadn’t been eating as much lately because of how busy they were. Yet his face was still a bit rounder then he would have liked it to be.
He heard his name being called downstairs. They were ready to leave. Fitz bit down on his lip, tasting a bit of blood. He was being nervous for no reason.
He washed his face and opened the door. Dex came out of his room the same time Fitz left the bathroom. Dressed in a green and teal striped sweater with a star on the front.
“Woah-” He whispered before flushing out of embarrassment. “-Eh Sorry!”
Fitz smirked. He needed a laugh
“Did you think I was Biana?” Dex flushed further.
“No! Why would I-”
“Chill Dex, it was a joke.”
Dex rolled his eyes and gave Fitz a dimple-y smile.
“I didn’t find it very funny, Wonder-Girl.”
Okay, Fitz was going to kill him. He grabbed Dex playfully and scruffled up his hair, which was coincidentally styled the way Biana had shown him.
“Hey! Sto-o-op!” Dex hissed, jumping on Fitz’s back. Fitz couldn’t help his laughter
“You're the one who-” Wait a second. “Dex, since when were you taller than me?” That was odd. When FItz had first met Dex, he had been the shortest out of all of them. Dex’s blush returned and he let Fitz go.
“Ah well you know, another growth spurt? I guess I've grown a bit since level two ”
And Dex was right, he had. And not just height wise. Fitz remembered when Dex couldn’t stand him, and it’s not like he could blame him. He never really realized how snobby he was. Fitz would go about his day without any shunning, or anyone making fun of his parents being a bad match. And Fitz wasn’t blind. He could see that Dex was being bullied. He just hadn’t wanted to be associated with a ‘Rotten child’. He had to be perfect, he couldn’t risk it all for a kid he barely knew. But it was different now. He knew that Dex wasn’t rotten, it was the world they lived in rather.
He was honestly a bit jealous of Dex. He didn’t have to think like Fitz, that he had to be perfect all the time.
“Hm well we better get downstairs before Sophie smites us, she’ll probably make you help her go all ‘Cognate Rawr’ on me.”
“I cannot believe you just said that.”
Dex rolled his eyes and began making his way downstairs. It was louder than before, with Linh and Biana squealing about how awesome their outfits were. Biana had on a simple flower patterned shirt with some sort of jean overalls. While Linh wore a simple black dress, Fitz would have preferred that black dress instead of the colorful coral he had right then. Cassius began warning his son to not be an idiot (too late for that ). And like always Keefe made it into a joke. He was wearing a light gray sweater and shorts of that same hue. Fitz almost didn’t hear Sophie padding down the stairs, a blue crystal in hand.
That was probably going to leap them where they needed to go. She wore a red and black checker patterned dress.
Wasn’t she playing chess?
She had a fancy white top with a few hair pins.
Sophie was-
“So cute!” Biana yipped, Linh tailing behind her. Biana, Linh and Sophie began to complement each other in the loudest manner possible, interrupting Fitz’s train of thought. That was most likely for the best.
“Well, I think you all look rather…human?” Forkle quipped. “We’ll, I suggest we say our goodbyes and get going.”
Time had gone rather fast, it looked like they had been there for at least two hours. Fitz hadn’t even had time to ask the Dizznee’s if he could look through their library for a second.
Whatever, Fitz would probably be able to find something about his nightmares in a human library. It wasn’t like humans didn’t have dreams. Sophie's sister had hailed her plenty of times to let her know about peculiar dreams she was having.
Linh and Tam hugged each other goodbye and Tam made sure to make her promise to be careful. She showed her appreciation for her brother's concern by misting him with a spritz of water.
“I’ll be fine. You worry way too much.” Tam rolled his eyes and pushed his bangs behind his ears.
“Well excuse me for trying to keep you safe.”
“I’ll be fine! I promise to hail you every night before bed and tell you how I'm doing.” She must have finally sounded genuine enough for Tam, because he laid off.
It was then when a slight pattering noise began down the stairs. The triplets must have woken up and decided to check what the ruckus was. Bex rubbed her eyes and brushed out her short red hair with her fingers.
“What’s happening?” Lex was next down the stairs followed by a sleepy Rex.
“Your brother has to go, remember?” Juline said softly.
“Awh yeah! He has to go look at humans or something. Bring me back a souvenir, Dexy!” Bex pumped her fist. Dex shrugged at her.
“I’m sure I could find you something cool.” Bex gave him a giant grin.
“How long will you be gone for?” Lex asked, adjusting his messy pajamas.
“Just around four months, but I-”
“That long?!” Came a strained voice from behind the two.
It was Rex, he was wide eyed and frantic.
“Woah Lex.” Dex chided gently. “I’ll be back soon.” His lip quivered slightly and he turned away to hide his face.
“B-but what am I going to do while you're gone?” Dex looked sad, but then he smiled and bent down to whisper something in his little brother's ear. The change in Lex’s mood was instantaneous as he hugged dex and walked away following behind his siblings.
“What did you tell him?’ Kesler asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow towards Dex. He laughed.
“Just the combination to the drawer with all my special elixirs. I specifically made it to where you can't phase through it or it’ll shock you, It’s also snow and freeze resistant. Something for Rex if those two give him any trouble”
Kesler still looked concerned.
“Well they better be triplet proof as well.”
“I’m sure Rex can’t do too much damage.” Keefe stifled a laugh. Dex sighed.
“Yeah I probably shouldn’t have done that.” Sophie giggled.
“We’d better get out of here before this place blows.”
That was a sentiment Fitz more than agreed with. But of course it was just their luck that they couldn’t get out of the house before a boom erupted in the background. “Aw Dang
it!’ They heard Rex yell from the back of the house.