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stargirl-evie · 1 year

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“Are you staying or leaving”Keefe x reader

um hello, im Evie and I’m not an experienced writer, but I like imagining scenarios with the characters and stories I like, so I figured I’d try to share them, so maybe you could enjoy them too!

I typically imagine myself in these scenarios so I apologize if the reader presents feminine or is described in any way that might exclude another reader… uh, anyways, basically this is a short one shot/ head cannon/ prompt…? (I’m honestly not sure) about Keefe Sencen meeting and sort of falling for (human) reader while in the forbidden cites. It didn’t really follow the plot or timeline of stellerloon, it’s implied that he’s in the forbidden cities much longer than in the book and that he struggles way more with adapting and it’s probably very ooc…anyways I love Sokeefe but I just though the idea was interesting :]

oh this also isn’t proofread and it’s probably really cringy but yeah, there isn’t enough x reader fics in the Kotlc fandom so I figured I’d try, feedback and constructive criticism are welcome and encouraged :))

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⭒ …

To put things simply, he was lost, hungry, confused, and currently short on cash. Turns out walking around with the money from his mothers jewelry in his pockets…wasn’t the safest plan. He’d lost a good amount of it, and probably been scammed out of most of it. He’d considered sneaking back to the lost cites to steal borrow some more of mommy-dearest’s stuff, but the idea of getting caught and possibly facing his friends caused him to quickly scratch that plan. Besides, if he could get away with it the fist time, then it would probably be even easier to take some things from one of the fancier human houses he had paced by in his travels.

So here he was, standing outside the biggest house he had seen in the neighborhood, if you could call it that- all the houses were so far apart that of you tried to walk from the first one to the last one, you might need to stop and camp before continuing to the end.

He had planned it all out-making sure to use the weird human invention called a phone- to look up the owners, make sure they weren’t very good people, or that they’d be home that particular night. He could easily levitate to one of the higher windows since no one would be around. The (l/n) family would be in their vacation home, far from here, and no grounds workers or servants would be back until the owners were ready to return.

It would be easy, slip in, grab a few valuable things, maybe some food too, then slip out and continue on his way to London. What he didn’t have a plan for, was you.

His plan had been going smoothly, he was inside and sifting through your mother’s jewelry box, when you walked in.

For a moment you both stared at each other. You, at the seemingly your age and incredibly handsome boy in black jeans and a Batman hoodie that was currently holding a pair of your mothers diamond earrings- and him at a girl, probably a little younger than him, standing in a soft pink nightgown, and holding a metal baseball bat in both hands.

That seemed to snap him out of his initial shock, and quickly throw his hands up so you wouldn’t hit him with it.

Braking your own trance, you pulled the bat back, and demanded, “Who are you? Why are you in my house? How did you even get in? Wha-”

He was quick to back up a bit before interrupting your questions, “I’m Keefe, I swear I’m not here to hurt you, I just needed to make some money real quick,I thought your family was away, I wouldn’t have come if I’d know you’d be home!” He internally smacked himself for his stupid mistake.

“Oh yeah ‘cause that makes it so much better” you said while rolling your eyes and lowering your arms and ignoring the strange feeling you got about him not wanting to be there while you were, even though it made no sense for you to be upset by that. You decided to blame it on the fact that it was 2:47 am and he just happens to have really nice hair.

You pitched your voice lower to mimic his before adding, “I swear I’d only steal from you if I didn’t think you’d be home to catch me (y/n) sorry ‘bout that.” and then swung the bat around to place the head on the floor and lean your weight against it while smirking at him.

His eyebrows shot up, surprised that you were almost joking with him right now, instead of clobbering his head with the bat, like he thought you were about to. He cleared his throat, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that, I just-actually I don’t know what I was trying to achieve with that..” He brought his arms down to wrap them around himself, before deciding that he probably looked stupid standing in front of you like that. Especially since you seemed so calm.

“Um, I should go,, I don’t, this was a mistake, sorry, I-I should probably go now-God I sound like an idiot right now. No wonder you aren’t scared of me. Not that i wanted you to be, of course i didn’t. Who would want a pretty girl with a weapon to be scared of them? Not that I think you’re pretty. I mean you’re not, not, pretty im just-“

It was time for your to cut him off, “hey! Relax ok, im honestly not sure what your rambling about right now, but you look like you haven’t eaten in days, and im going to ignore the fact that you called me ugly and pretty just now and offer you some food so you stop trying to steal from me.”

He took a step closer to you, confused as to why he was being so unlike himself right and even more confused as to why you were now offering him kindness. He focused on the emotions coming from you, trying to figure out if you were only helping him out of pity, but only finding empathy and a few more frantic vibes.

You shifted under his suddenly intense-and very close (seriously when had he backs you up against your mothers vanity chair)-gaze, the moonlight steaming through the open window highlighted his eyes and you could see in your proximity the striking ice blue and the darker flecks of azure, cobalt, and royal blue. but you shook your head and forced yourself to ignore his stunning eyes to push him back and question why he had gotten so quite and intense.

He apologized and stepped even further back. “ I guess I was trying to see why you were being so nice to me.”

“And you thought the best way was to push the limits of stranger danger and stare into my soul all intensely with your snowstorm eyes?”

You had meant to be teasing him, but the words came out quieter then you meant them to be, and he seemed to pick up on the later half more than the first.

“So… you were staring at my eyes?” There he was, flirty and teasing and giving you a smirk that had your insides doing weird flippy-floppy things they didn’t usually do.

You felt your face get warm, and you prayed to whatever higher powers there might be that your face wasn’t nearly as red as it felt.

Not that it mattered of course.

He gave you another smirk before letting out a laugh that would have the best choir angels embarrassed by their singing abilities. And that had your betraying face warm even more.

“C’mon, let’s get you something to eat before you push me into this mirror” you quickly turned to the door to lead him towards your own room.

He followed you down the long hallway while teasing you about the pink hue that still refused to let up, particularly due do his continued torture.

You grabbed a coat from your closet and pocketed some cash before leading him out the front door.

“So where are we going (n/n)? I didn’t see anything down this way to eat while I was stalki-er, uh, looking up this place.” He cringed at himself for reminding you about the circumstances of your meeting.

You ignored the word slip and the little nickname in favor of describing a little town with plenty of back alley restaurants that you often snuck out to eat at when your parents were actually home.

He caught the shift in your mood when you mentioned your parents and decided to risk asking about it, besides, how much weirder could this first meeting get?

“Sooo…. I’m kinda confused about something.” “Yeah? What’s up?” You slowed slightly to look at him while he spoke, noticing his slight shift in tone.

“Well, you don’t have to answer or anything, since you don’t really know me-”

“Oh wow, uh sorry to interrupt, but it feels like I do, given how easy it is to talk to you, strange that we only meet what? An hour ago?”

He stoped walking completely to stare at you. “Really? Only an hour? Huh it does feel like we’ve know each other longer…”

The both of you fell quite for a moment before walking again, this time with your destination in sight.

“Uh anyways, why are you here, if your parents and staff are away?” He focused on you emotions to make sure he hadn’t seriously overstepped.

“Oh, well, we don’t really agree about much, or anything really. They’re jerks that only care about money and showing off to other people about how perfect they are. My mom is always taking about how young men approach her about leaving her husband because shes so ‘naturally’ beautiful and my dad is always bragging about how incredibly smart he is and how good he is at handling his business. They like to talk about how well they raised me, even though they never spent time with me or did any of the parenting stuff, and they like to parade around like they’re better than everyone when really, they’re miserable together and they’re always doing shady shit behind the scenes of their business. When they said they wanted to go on a cruise around one of their vacation homes I refused to go with them because they’d just ignore me and force me to play along with their stupid charade.”

By now you were standing in front of a tiny Italian restaurant with low lights and tall booths, very warm and inviting, the perfect safe space that just so happened to smell amazing. And Keefe was more than ready to eat whatever smelled so good. Even if it meant more of the god-awful human water.

But he couldn’t help but stop to watch you for a minute. It was insane how easy it felt to be around you, and safe. He had been in the forbidden cities for months and this was the safest he’d felt in a very long time. Everything about you felt like a complement to him. Even your shitty social status obsessed parents were another way you were similar.

You looked at him, and for a moment he wondered if the weird emotional flurry around you meant you felt the same way. “Keefe? We should head inside, and you can tell me about whatever led to you breaking into my house.”

You giggled at him, it was soft and sweet and he absolutely believed that you could bribe any of the councilors to do your bidding if you wanted to with that laugh.

The rest of the night (or rather, incredibly early morning) was spent sharing every detail about both his and your lives, even when he confessed that he was an elf you barely bat an eye, and he could tell that you genuinely didn’t mind that his mom had done all kinds of weird shit to his head.

You shared your own secrets as well, and you marveled at how accepting he was. Everyone and everything faded away, and for a few hours you were simply two teens that could really understand each other, and it was you best either of you had felt in a very long time.

As the sun came up you took him to the roof of a flower shop that had yet to open for the day. Together you sat and shared the desert from the restaurant while you described your passion for drawing, and he described his. Everything just seem perfect and both you and him wished it could last forever.

Of course things could never be that easy, after all, he explained why he was in the forbidden cities, and you understood that he would probably return to his world eventually, but that did nothing to stop the overwhelming desire to kiss him and run away together.

Even as he explained how his empathy worked and you tried to get your emotions in check so he wouldn’t think you were insane for developing such strong feelings in the span of a few hours, nothing could shadow them.

And when he looked at you, even more intensely than that first time he read you in your mothers bedroom, you couldn’t help but feel like he felt the same way.

He leaned forward slightly and you met him halfway, there was a hairs space between you, and you could feel his warm breath, see all the different blues in his eyes, and smell his soft skin…

“Wait Keefe.”

He froze and his eyes opened so wide you almost worried they would crack like real ice.

“Yes (y/n)? Is something wrong? Did I say something or-”

You cut him off before could spiral, trying to make your emotions clear so he wouldn’t worry so much.

“ I have to ask, after everything you’ve said, are you staying or leaving?”

He paused before pulling back and letting out a deeply emotional sigh. “I have to go, there’s still so much I don’t know or understand, and I still haven’t made it to London to look for those people and, wait! What if, and I know this might sound crazy but…”

He trailed off looking afraid to continue. You could feel your heart beating faster than ever before, and you tried to not get your hopes up. Gently, you urged him to continue, especially since these next words could change everything for you.

He said your name in a way that made your soul tingle and your stomach knot, “Would you be willing, to leave with me?”

You stared at each other for a moment, before you closed your eyes and quickly but softly pressed your lips to his. For a moment, your were scared, for a moment, you considered pulling back, for a moment, you thought you read all his teasing and flirting wrong and completely ruined the best night of your life, and then? He was kissing you back. He was wrapping an arm around your waist and cupping his hand around your face. He was blushing and nervous and probably feeling everything you were feeling.But he was kissing you back. And everything felt perfect.

Slowly you pulled apart and he reseted his forehead against yours while closing his eyes.

The two of you sat there, on the roof of the flower shop, bathed in soft light of the rising sun, practically glowing in each other’s arms.

It would be risky, but leaving everything behind for him seemed worth it, not that there was anything really keeping you here. Maybe you were crazy, but leaving with him felt like the best idea you had ever had, and you were not going to give that up.

He could only hope that none of this would put you in to much danger, but he’d do anything to protect you now, and keep you by his side. Maybe he was crazy, or maybe his mom had truly screwed his head on wrong after she messed him up, but this was the best thing that ever happened to him, and he was not about to give that up.

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crymeariveronceagain · 2 years

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Keefe: Every zoo is a petting zoo if you're not a coward.

Elwin: I'm worried about you.

#kotlc incorrect quotes #incorrect kotlc quotes #incorrect quotes #source: incorrect quote generator #kotlc #kotlc keefe #keefe sencen #dadwin #kotlc elwin #elwin heslege #keefe heslege #kotlc meme #kotlc memes

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synonymroll648 · 2 years

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normal puns < sophie foster taking care of one of keefe heslege’s injuries only for him to say “well would you look at that, i’m in foster care again”

#i think i'm funny #this probably was funnier in my head #someday i'll write this into a scene so the joke is Smooth but today is not that day #sophie foster #keefe sencen #keefe heslege #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc shitpost #sokeefe

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rusted-phone-calls · 1 year

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what if we. put our hands in ice water together to test our endurance against the cold? (flirting

#kotlc #This is what canon said i do not make the rules.#sokeefe #sophie foster #keefe heslege #keefe sencen

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squishmallow36 · 2 years

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So for the keeper art challenge hosted by @an-ungraceful-swan I got Keefe, so here are my Keefes:

Taglist (lmk if you want to be added/removed!): @stellar-lune @gaslight-gaetkeep-gayboss @kamikothe1and0lny @nyxpixels @florida-fruity-frog @poppinspop @uni-seahorse-572 @solreefs @never-mourn-the-good @rusted-phone-calls @when-wax-wings-melt @cotyledon-tomentosa @good-old-fashioned-lover-boy7 @dexter-dizzknees @abubble125 @hi-imgrapes @callum-hunt-is-bisexual @xanadaus @callas-pancake-tree @hi-my-name-is-awesome @katniss-elizabeth-chase @cherryys-stuff @arson-anarchy-death

#these have been in my drafts forever #kotlc #keefe sencen #kotlc keefe #keefe heslege #keeperartchallenge #if anyone can tell me what i based right keefe off of i'll give you...a thumbs up #yeah i got nothing

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you-have-been-frizzled · 2 years

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on the days where the pain in his leg is really bad Fitz uses a cane that Dex made him. originally he was ashamed of needing it because his whole life he had always been expected to be perfect. so Keefe and Sophie covered it in Dragon stickers that Elwin gave them to help him feel more comfortable using it.

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keeper-of-the-lost-dadwin · 1 year

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The pain of remembering is worth the danger of forgetting

@creetchure I was your secret Santa

Elwin was forgetful. He had been since he was born and would continue to be until his wanderling had sprouted. He could forget just about anything.

He would forget whether or not he had grabbed his schoolbooks. He could misplace things resting in his hand. He would repeat actions over and over again, caught in an endless cycle. He had tried to overcome it; little scribbled notes had once surrounded him. Alas, they weren’t much help when he ended up putting off and consequently forgetting to write down his reminders.

So, he went on being as forgetful as ever, gradually adjusting to it. He resolved to look on the bright side, there was no harm in double checking after all. He had an eternity to live, five minutes searching for a tunic was merely a blink of an eye.

When moving to splendor plains, it was easier to manage. His official doctor stuff was organized throughout the manor. His personal belongings were kept in a separated, homier wing. This meant nothing traveled too far.

One thing he still forgot about was food. He forgot to eat most nights, usually spent refining some remedy or other. This habit was quite enabled by the arrival of one Sophie foster. Even if he ate three meals a day, his food would spoil long before he had reached the end of it.

Food wasn’t sold to be eaten occasionally by questionably healthy bachelors. It was sold to be eaten by families with many stomachs to fill. So he let it rot, only getting rid of it once the odor became unbearable. As neglected as anything else in his home.

Then came a certain Keefe Sencen. He was just a kid, no more than a baby really. His seventeen years were nothing compared to Elwin’s centuries. Yet those 17 years had been filled with so much pain.

None of which he deserved. He was a great kid, as full of mischief as he was. He was kind and smart, despite what his parents had told him. He deserved the world, but Elwin couldn’t give him that, despite how much he wanted to. What Elwin could give him was a gentle, loving home.

And so he did. A home filled with soft words of praise, filled with love and safety. A home where Keefe wouldn’t need to worry about being good enough, where he could just be himself.

Part of that included giving him good food. Fresh fruits and pastries that would fill him up. There would be no more days of forgetting to eat, not with a kid to take care of.

He had come home early one evening, not having to tempt bullhorn from anyone that day. It was the least stressed he’d felt in a while, without the looming threat of death hanging over one of his kids.

He passed keefe getting a snack as he went to his room to change. He glanced at his plate and immediately knew something was off. He ignored it, thinking it was nothing urgent.

He took off his work clothes and put on comfy pajamas. He had no expectation of going to bed anytime soon but getting comfortable a bit early never hurt anyone.

He went to the kitchen to make himself a snack, willing to put off making dinner that much longer. He sat down with his food and greeted his son.

He took a better look at what he was eating. There were bits of mold on the edges of his food. Keefe wasn’t eating with his eyes closed, so he had to have known it was there.

Elwin felt queasy. How long had keefe been eating rotten food? How much had he eaten? Even if he hadn’t gotten sick didn’t mean there wasn’t a risk now. How horrible of a parent did he have to be not to notice it? Why would Keefe be eating rotten food even after Elwin had made sure there was always fresh food in the house?

He realized he had zoned out for too long. He shook himself out of his stupor to actually fix the problem. Worrying wouldn’t help Keefe, wouldn’t make him stop.

“There’s mold on that, darling,” Keefe finally looked up from his plate, startled by the sudden breaking of the comfortable silence.

“You’ll get sick if you eat that”

He looked like a cornered animal, a guilty expression painted on his face. “I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to eat the rest of the food in the pantry. The kind that wasn’t rotten. I thought you would get mad,”. He looked sheepish, as if this was in any way his fault.

Elwin couldn’t believe it. Keefe thought that Elwin would get mad at him for eating. Eating the food Elwin had specifically gotten for him. How could Keefe believe that? Who had made him believe that taking care of himself was something bad?

He knew the answer to that of course. He knew all too well how Keefe’s “parents” had treated him. It sickened him to even think of anyone willing to do that, especially to their own son.

“Did Cassius and Gisela make you eat spoiled food?” He spat out the names, as if that would fix all that they’d done.

“Yes,” Keefe whispered, as if to keep Elwin from hearing. He curled in on himself, as if trying to hide himself from Elwin’s fury. That only made him angrier, how could Keefe believe he was the one Elwin was mad at? As if Elwin could ever actually be mad at him.

“My dad made it clear that whenever I was grounded, I wasn’t allowed to take food from the pantry. I would keep a small stash of food hidden under my bed. I didn’t know if you would be okay with me taking your food, I figured you wouldn’t care about what you couldn’t eat.”

Elwin was horrified. “Your parents let you starve?”

“Well, not really. I was smart enough to learn how to get food anyways. Besides, I was only ever grounded for a couple weeks at a time.” He blurted it out so quickly he almost tripped over his words. Whether he wanted to explain it to defend his parents, or just to make Elwin less angry, he didn’t know.

“That’s not okay honey, no matter how easily you were able to actually get food. Your parents can’t starve you. They can’t just not let you have food.”

Keefe nodded, apparently finally understanding. "I’m sorry for worrying you”.

And back to square one.

“You have nothing to be sorry about. I should have made it clear that you were welcome to everything in my house, what’s mine is yours.”

Elwin invited Keefe to join him on the couch to watch a cheesy human movie and eat some popcorn. Once the movie finished, they went to bed, having forgotten what had transpired just a few hours earlier.

That was the end of their food struggles, they managed to fix one of the kinks that came with building your own family. And if Elwin made sure to throw out any food that had gone bad from then on, well, it never hurt anyone to be on the safe side.

@song-tam

#kotlc secret santa 2022 #my writing #angst #hurt/comfort #dadwin #elwin heslege #keefe heslege #look at me writing #canon compliant #based on that one tumblr prompt

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elwin-at-your-service · 7 months

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Elwin have you adopted Keefe or what??

“Or what,” unfortunately.

I would absolutely adopt him and parent that poor little guy all better to the absolute best of my ability, but unfortunately the elven legal process doesn’t recognise him as being in need.

Because the Council seem to have an inability to recognise incompetence when they see it.

#ask dr elwin #keefe heslege #speaking strictly about incompetence in the context of Cassius and Gisela’s parenting of course #not the Council’s own #because I wouldn’t say such a thing #that would be treasonous #which I am not #at all #*cough*#just let me get a throat lolly for that tickle…#I’d make a great parent though

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keefe-heslege · 1 year

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"I don't want to mess this up. Please don't let me mess this up"

*unholy screeching from me*

#kotlc #keepers of the lost cities #kotlc shitpost #keefe heslege #keefe sencen #sophie foster #sokeefe #stellarlune #stellarlune spoilers

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moonlarked · 1 year

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We should do dadwin week

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc elwin #elwin heslege #keefe heslege #dadwin

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corruption-exe · 2 years

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(for the heels one). Keefe secen

Oh ho! You've picked a bold one. These ones with the outfit as a bonus:

No questions asked.

At first, it started as a joke, but Keefe found out that he could tower over everyone else, including Wylie, so they stayed. Keefe adapted to them quickly.

Also, Assius was being a heteronormative bitch, so Keefe bought 6-inch heels to spite him. Elwin supports him.

He can run really fast in them and to annoy biana, he bought the most hideous ones he could find and strut into the room like that mean boss character while singing musicals in the most annoying off-key voices.

Sophie and Biana both regret it. Biana for the dare and Sophie for the human culture she exposed to everyone (more on that on later things)

Thanks for the ask!

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #biana vacker #kotlc keefe #kotlc headcanons #kotlc sophie #kotlc biana #keefe heslege #sophie foster-ruewen #kotlc hc #kotlc headcanon #Heels ask #bob scrambles to ramble

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the-one-and-only-aroace · 2 years

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Before legacy cuz spoilers keefe stays in the healing center after school to avoid his dad and then makes up excuses about helping him but they just hang out

#dadwin #kotlc #keefe #kotlc elwin #elwin #elwin heslege #kotlc keefe #keefe sencen #keefe heslege

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crymeariveronceagain · 2 years

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Keefe getting into fights

mkay but you gotta understand that you 100% asked for these feelings

The first time Elwin met his son, the kid was ten years old.

Elwin didn't know that was his son, yet. He'd figure that out later.

"It's not my fault!" Keefe's voice was high-pitched and screechy, affronted and sharp and everything a kid would be, when being dragged through the hallways, his nose bleeding profusely, tears in his eyes, his whole body trembling and shaking.

"You're a lying little brat," snapped Alina, as she dragged him. "I'm going to contact your parents."

Keefe looked like he was going to cry.

"What happened?" Elwin said, startled.

Alina sighed, deeply, dropping Keefe's arm with an exhausted air.

The little boy glared up at her with all the rage of ten forest fires.

"This kid was picking fights and got what was coming to him. Fix him up, will you, Elwin? I need to go hail Lord Sencen about his son. Again."

The little blonde boy winced.

Elwin nodded, once, his eyes still on the broken, bloody nose, on the kid in front of him. "You go do that, Alina. I'll handle this."

Alina huffed. "Good luck. He's a troublemaker, and--"

"Goodbye, Alina," Elwin said, shooting her a bored glance. "I can handle this."

Alina rolled her eyes, and then spun away, and the door slammed shut behind her.

The little boy winced. Elwin exhaled, sharply. "Stars," he said, "She's mean, huh?"

Two big, ice blue eyes looked up and met Elwin's gaze. Then, the kid nodded. "Yeah."

"What's your name, kid?"

"Keefe."

"Nice to meet you, Keefe. I'm Elwin. Wanna get your nose fixed?"

Keefe nodded, and then winced in pain.

So, Elwin dug out a Snotelek-Gro(tm) potion from his cupboard, and checked the ingredients. "What's your last name, Keefe? I need to make sure there's nothing in here that'll make you sick."

"Sencen," Keefe answered.

Elwin walked over to his files, and flipped through the S last names.

There was no Keefe Sencen. He looked again.

No Keefe.

"Hmm," Elwin said, out loud. "Is Keefe a nickname?"

Keefe looked upset. "It's my middle name."

"What's your first name?"

Keefe looked even more upset. "C...Cassius."

Elwin checked his files. Then he smiled. "Found it!"

Keefe looked like he was going to cry.

Elwin respectfully ignored it. "Alright," he said, "You don't have any allergies. Let's fix your nose up, huh?"

Keefe watched him, doubtfully, as though by asking for his first name, some boundary between them had been crossed, and he hated Elwin as much as he hated Alina.

Elwin poured out the correct potion dosage. He handed it to Keefe in the little cup. Keefe stared at it as though it was poison.

"It's gonna taste pretty gross," Elwin said, conversationally. "But it's like really cold bean mash. It's pretty nasty, but it's gonna make you feel a lot better. Then we can clean your nose, once we don't have to worry about it hurting anymore."

Keefe stared at the cup for ten seconds more. "Okay," he said, and chugged the potion.

His whole face squinched in disgust. "Blech," he said, "You're right, that's awful."

Cute, Elwin thought. "I know, right. I should really get a berry flavored one. But they want my medicines to taste bad so no one breaks in and tries to grow themselves another arm for fun."

Keefe's eyes went wide. "You can do that?"

"Only if you want to drink potions like that one you just drank but worse," Elwin said, with a note of warning.

Keefe's shoulders dropped in sorrow. Elwin decided he liked this kid.

He put gloves on and helped clean the kid's face off. He hoped he wouldn't see the kid for a while, and that he'd stay out of whatever trouble he'd been starting.

But, Elwin saw him three weeks later, this time being dragged by Sir Rosings.

"What's the problem?" Elwin asked.

"Fighting," snapped Sir Rosings. "Honestly, my one day to deal with children, the little ones, and there's a huge fight! And this one is all to blame!"

"No I'm not!" Keefe half-shouted. "It's not my fault! Markiel started it!"

Sir Rosings rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna call his father. You deal with this mess."

Elwin glanced at Keefe.

The poor kid had a black eye and a split lip.

Part of Elwin wondered where the other kids were. Had they just beat up Keefe, but gotten away without a scratch? It seemed unlikely that that would have just been any old fight, then.

He helped Keefe over to the cot he had on the side of the room. The kid looked like he was about to fall over. Elwin checked him for a concussion. He seemed okay. Just needed an ice pack or two for his face.

"What happened, Keefe?" Elwin asked, finally. "You're a good kid. What's up with the fights?"

Keefe looked like he was about to cry.

Elwin sighed, and then pulled out two ice packs. "This one's for your face," he said, "This one's for your lip."

He grabbed a stuffed animal from his cupboard full of stuffed animals, and handed it to Keefe. The little boy's eyes widened.

"What kind of animal is this?"

"A gulon," Elwin said, brightly. "They're super stinky, but super cute."

Keefe nodded, and held it close to him.

"Wanna talk about what happened?"

Keefe shrugged. "It doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"I still did something wrong."

Elwin wondered what was going on in this kid's head, and why he seemed so tired, so world-weary, so exhausted. "Why?"

Keefe's eyes teared up, and Elwin watched as he tried to choke it down. It was a little disturbing to watch a ten-year-old try to stop themselves from crying with a practiced ability of one of the elite level students that Elwin always saw and thought had been told too often that crying was only for girls when they were little.

He looked at the kid, the little little boy, and decided to take a gamble. "You know," he said, "This room is the crying room, honestly."

Keefe blinked, startled. "Huh?"

"This is the place people are always allowed to cry in, because if you're here, something hurts. So you never have to try not to cry when you're here. I always tell that to these older boys, who are taking Elite classes. They always try not to cry, but I always say, "It's okay to cry if it hurts."

Keefe looked like he didn't believe Elwin, but some of the tension left his shoulders. "They were being mean to Fitz."

"Fitz... Vacker? That nice boy who broke his arm two months ago and needed pain medication every day for a while?"

Keefe nodded. "He's my best friend."

"Isn't he a year older than you?"

"We're in the same level."

Elwin nodded. "Why were they being mean to him?"

"He's always so perfect, and no one likes being worse than him," Keefe's face got angry. "And they make fun of him. Behind his back. They call him mean names and talk about how he's cheating and how he's stupid and how he's only the top of the class because his dad's a powerful Lord."

Elwin blinked.

"And today," Keefe's face got even angrier, like little flames had lit behind his light blue eyes. "They said something so mean and Fitz heard it. And he got all sad and scared because he works really really hard to be good at school. He's actually really bad at reading, but he has to pretend to be super good, because he wants to get really good grades, and so he got all sad and I got super mad and I had to get them," Keefe sighed, softly. "But they got me first."

Elwin listened, quiet. "Maybe talk to a teacher?"

Keefe looked as though Elwin had advised him to eat a worm. "I have! They don't think it happens."

Elwin nodded, slowly. "I believe you. I used to get bullied a lot in school."

Keefe's eyes went wide. "Why?"

Elwin tapped his glasses. "They thought I looked weird."

Keefe sighed, and then collapsed back on the bed. "I wish I'd been able to hit them harder."

Elwin sighed. "No," he said, going over to his files to write up a report of the incident. "That's not gonna help anything. They'll just match that way of dealing with problems."

"Yeah?"

Elwin nodded. "If you hit someone, they'll wanna hit you back. Or they'll go after Fitz."

Keefe's eyes went wide. "Oh."

"You better figure out a different way to handle the situations," Elwin said. "I know you can."

Keefe nodded.

Elwin saw him again the next week.

And the week after that.

Each time for a fight.

Elwin watched the kid with concern.

Every time he got in a fight, the teacher would snarl something about calling his parents, and the kid would flinch, but would get a look in his eyes that made Elwin nervous.

"Call my mom," Keefe said, one day, to Magnate Leto. "Call my mom instead of my dad, please."

The Magnate looked at the kid.

Elwin looked at the kid.

"Your father is your preferred contact."

"He's not preferred to me!"

Elwin glanced at the Magnate.

Leto blinked, then nodded. "I'll call your mother, today."

And Keefe lit up.

Elwin worried.

Months passed, and the kid kept getting into fights, constantly. Elwin just, watched.

Helped. Offered support.

Bandaged the kid's cuts and bruises. Patched up another kid's broken nose.

One day, Elwin decided to do some reading.

There was an article, published in some journal.

It caught his eye because it was titled, "The Many Reasons Aggression Occurs in Young Children."

He read it, quietly.

There were many reasons.

It could be a coping mechanism, he read, if someone has a lot of pent up feelings that they can't get out. It could be taught, that fighting was the way to solve their problems. It could be from boredom, from a level of dissatisfaction.

The last one caught his eye.

Children will also act on aggression to receive attention.

Elwin blinked at it.

He kept reading.

In unstable, neglectful households, it can be common for young children to act aggressively towards their peers in order to receive attention, no matter what kind, from adults in their lives. Parents need to pay attention to children who cause trouble. Teachers need to pay attention to children who cause trouble. Troublemakers get noticed, and if a child needs to be noticed, they will often do whatever it takes to get noticed, even if that involves getting hurt or acting agressively.

Elwin re-read that paragraph.

And he read it again.

The next paragraph started with the line: The worst thing to do here is to ignore the child, or give them only negative attention.

Elwin blinked.

If they receive only negative attention, but they are still starved for attention in general, they will seek out that attention, even at the cost of themselves. However, if the child associates positive attention or care with their aggressive behavior, this will just encourage them to do it more often.

Elwin exhaled, softly.

Well.

He knew what he had to do.

Keefe showed up in his office the next day, battered and bruised as usual.

"Hey, Kiddo," Elwin said, happily. "I wondered when you were gonna show up."

Keefe blinked, seemingly startled.

"Who's the teacher today?"

"Sir Rosings got mad and made me walk myself. He's calling my dad right now."

Elwin nodded. "Let's get you patched up, and get you back to class, huh?"

He watched the kid go over to the cupboard where Elwin kept his bandages.

Elwin watched the kid fix himself up, while chattering absently about life, and friends, and who he'd been fighting, and why he'd gotten in the fight, and he sat down on the bed, and smiled, brightly at Elwin.

Elwin looked at the little kid, and understood exactly what was going on.

"Hey, Keefe?"

Keefe smiled brighter. "What?"

"You know you don't have to be hurt to come hang out with me, right?"

Keefe blinked. "You're a nurse."

"But you don't have to be hurt to come see me. You can just come to hang out."

Fear flickered through the little boy's eyes. "Are you mad I'm here?"

Elwin quickly shook his head. "Nah, kid. I just wondered if you knew you didn't have to be hurt to come see me. It's fine if you come see me just to talk."

Keefe looked down at the floor, and then nodded.

"Wanna come back tomorrow? I can give you a sucker from the candy jar if you didn't get in another fight."

Keefe's whole face lit up. He smiled like sunshine had drenched him. "You mean it? Do I get to pick what flavor?"

Elwin nodded. "You just can't get in another fight."

Keefe nodded, excited. "I won't! I promise!"

He was back the next day, his face bright, and he took his sucker with a thrill that only a ten-year-old can.

Elwin felt some small level of relief flood him. At least this kid wouldn't be fighting so much. And, if he lost a ton of suckers just to accomplish that, it would be worth it.

#kotlc #kotlc dadwin #dadwin #kotlc keefe #keefe sencen #thanks for the ask!#kotlc headcanon #kotlc headcanons #kotlc keefe sencen #kotlc elwin #elwin heslege #kotlc elwin heslege #keefe heslege #keefe headcanon #tw fighting #tw bullying #elwin kotlc #elwin adopts keefe au

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