Tam was cursed. Everyone wanted him to suffer. Now, not only did he have to live with Keefe, in the same room, but now he had to almost hold his hand for his ability to work.
A shock went between them, snapping both into focus.
"I draw into the dark, so you should try gathering the light," Tam advised Keefe. He felt Keefe pull in light, but a different type of light. "Now try channeling it forward."
Keefe did that, and with Tam concentrating his power to make sure he didn't blow up everything, Keefe shot a beam of bright multicolored light out of his free hand. They both stared directly ahead as they kept the beam flowing for a few more seconds. Tam felt Keefe let go, and quickly snuffed out the light before any damage was done.
"Wow," Keefe whispered as the light disappeared. Tam shook his head in disbelief.
At the same time, the two looked down at their hands. In his concentration, Tam must have slid his hand down because their hands were tightly interlocked. They stared at the occurrence in shock until Tam ripped his hand away, mortified. When he hesitantly looked back at Keefe, he saw he was covered in sweat, swaying on his feet, his face red (though that was probably from embarrassment). Tam caught him before he collapsed.
"You good?" he asked, hoisting Keefe's arm over his shoulder in case he fell again.
"Just exhausted," Keefe replied hoarsely.
"Okay, I'll get you inside." Tam slowly and carefully lead Keefe inside and upstairs to his room. He pulled back the dividing curtains and sat Keefe down on his bed. Keefe's heavy breathing subsided slightly and the red drained from his face.
"That's better," Keefe said, yawning. "Ro's going to be mad you didn't come get her."
"Would you rather be flopping outside on the ground because I can drag you back out there right now," Tam countered.
"Hey, I didn't say I was mad, there's no need to be salty at me," Keefe protested defensively. Tam smirked, then remembered an important topic he meant to bring up.
"I don't think we should update Glimmer on any of this training stuff. As much as I want to trust her, she won't even take her hood off. She could be gathering information on your progress for…"
"Psycho-evil mom?" Keefe finished. "We could have Ro make sure she hasn't set anything up to spy on us while we're training." Tam nodded.
"It's a plan then," he agreed. "You rest, I'll go get Ro before she murders both of us."
Keefe and Tam put their plan in action immediately. Ro was happy to keep Glimmer away out of distrust. Many more awkward hand-holding training sessions over the next few days left Keefe more and more exhausted. They'd figured out that the light Keefe was channeling had five different beams, which made sense since his parents had boh taken five different elixir bottles. Elwin and Livvy were still doing research on the elixirs, but both believed the bottles contained serum from each of the unmapped stars.
Sophie stopped by almost every day, and forced Keefe to take a day off after seeing how exhausted he was after a week and a half. He spent that day talking with Sophie and eating an unhealthy amount of E.L. Fudges. Tam used the day to hang out with Linh and Marella. By the next day, Keefe was rested enough to resume his training.
As the days passed, Keefe and Tam became more comfortable around each other, and were able to fluidly combine their abilities. Keefe was shocked he could actually work with Tam without feeling like he was going to explode. Keefe could feel Tam's emotions more easily without as much tension between the two.
"I think we should try combining our abilities," Tam said at the beginning of a session.
"Are you sure that won't cause a massive explosion?" Keefe asked. Tam shrugged.
"I honestly don't know, but we should at least try it." He held out his hand, and Keefe nervously took it. The usual shock went between them before Keefe felt the rush of determination coming from Tam as the shadows began to swim through his mind.
Both of them reached out their free hands and gathered energy from their abilities around them. They locked eyes and nodded before blasting their power forward. The light and shadows swirled around each other before fully combining in a churning mass. Keefe and Tam struggled to hold on to the immense power coursing through them. Keefe squeezed Tam's hand, a signal they had made up when Keefe was ready to stop. Tam acknowledged him by squeezing back, and they both released the energy in an impressive burst. The energy collected until it exploded into nothing.
Keefe felt the adrenaline drain out of him. He tightened his grip on Tam's hand as he fell to the ground. Tam barely caught him in time, and could barely support his weight. Keefe could feel Tam's fatigue as they stumbled back inside. When they made it to Keefe's bed, they realized they were still holding hands. They quickly let go of each other as they collapsed onto the bed. They laid there for a few minutes, catching their breath, before Tam spoke.
"That was fun," he said tiredly.
"Tam, you continue to surprise me," Keefe teased. "I didn't know it was possible for you to have fun when the only person you're with is me."
"And you keep surprising me by actually calling me Tam."
"Well, I guess we should be on even ground." Keefe and Tam turned their heads to look at each other.
"You, know," Tam began. "It's honestly kind of a shame. I'd been brainstorming some good nicknames."
"Really, like what?" Keefe inquired.
"I don't think its worth saying anymore."
"I guess you're right," Keefe agreed. For absolutely no reason, Keefe started snickering.
"What is it?" Tam asked, smiling.
"I honestly don't know," Keefe replied. Tam started laughing too, and soon they were both in hysterics. Hearing the commotion, Ro burst into the room. The terrified look on her face as she saw the two caused Keefe and Tam to laugh even harder, clutching their ribs.
"What is happening?" she demanded. More laughter. "Wow. Never did I think I'd live to see the day when the Keefester and the Angst Machine were actually getting along."
Keefe and Tam exchanged looks, continuing the hysteria when they saw their now teary-eyed faces from laughing so hard.