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The people around them had all felt the tension in the air for years before something actually happened. Their friends had teased them and tried to set them up but nothing had come from it. Most of them had given up, except the most romantic ones. Vex herself had almost stopped hoping.
The time never seemed to be right, there was always another problem in the way or someone else had drama that got in the way. She had practically given up the idea of having a relationship, on acting on her feelings when Percy made a move.
It was a normal night for the gang, they were all together in the house they rented. Like most weekends they were drinking and playing video games, yelling and laughing. Pike and Grog were at the controls of the game, calling each other names and being rowdy. Scanlan was laughing at them and Keyleth and Vax were sitting together in one of the armchairs, talking about something. Vex herself was standing at the table where they had put all the drinks, pouring herself another one.
“Having fun tonight?” A familiar voice asked her, posh accent ever so clear.
“The usual.” She said with a smirk, looking at the white-haired man she’d been captivated with for the past two years. He smiled, and held his own glass up in a salute. She could feel the ever-present sparks in the air and it made her frustrated. It almost made her angry that nothing seemed to happen between them.
“I was hoping we could talk a little.” He confessed, tearing her out of her own thoughts. “Maybe in the kitchen?” She lifted an eyebrow but agreed.
The kitchen wasn’t as hot as the living room, and filled with blissful silence. She loved her friends to the end of the world and beyond, they were her family truly, but man were they loud at times.
“What do you have on your mind Percival?” She asked it with a teasing voice, everything and anything to avoid any kind of tension.
“I need to ask you a favour.” He confessed and thought for a moment. “My family have been invited to a large function… party or whatever rich people call their gatherings.”
“Depends on what they want to convey to the outsider.” She said with an eyeroll, remembering all the miserable hours she had been forced to the formal events by her father.
“Yes. I haven’t quite figured that out yet. I’m in a little bit of a sticky situation though, and I kind of need some help.” He paused, stopping himself from babbling more.
“Of course, Percy.” She nodded, wishing it would help him relax.
“Just, uh, wait until you’ve heard the whole of it…” He cleared his throat and Vex pressed her lips together to keep quiet. “I’ve been telling my family I can’t go to these things before because I uh, have a girlfriend.” She raised her eyebrows at this, Percy wasn’t the type to lie. “And since it’s been so long they’ve requested that I bring her to this thing.”
“And you can’t tell her that she can’t go?” Vex had a feeling where this was going and she felt very uncomfortable about it. “That she’s busy or something?”
“Well, first off, this isn’t for another three months, so they figure she’d have a good chance to come. And my siblings have been… well if I show up alone they’ll figure it out.”
“So… why don’t you tell them the truth? Or tell them you’ve broken up? The less amount of lying the better?” Not something people would think would come out of Vex’ mouth, since she was very good at lying. There was a time when she had done it almost for a living.
“They want to set me up with someone. Someone I’ve already turned down.” He continued, trying to rationalise his action of asking her.
“Okay…” Her shoulders had risen due to the discomfort she was feeling.
“And I already have someone else I would rather…” He trailed off and Vex blinked.
“Percival.” She said after a little while.
“Yes?” His voice was small, clearly nervous.
“I’ll go with you, but this isn’t… this isn’t a great idea.”
“I know.” He agreed and thanked her. She only gave a nod, shoulders still tight and left the kitchen.
She didn’t go back to the rest of the group. She went to her room and looked at her ceiling, wondering what was wrong with her. Why did she agree and why didn’t she just ask him out? Why she was like this around this man, she never could figure out. Her mind was rushing with thoughts, but sleep came over her either way.
Things were awkward between her and Percy after that conversation, and the others were quick to notice. They had always been good at picking up on these things, and they’d been together for such a long time all of them that any change was easy to spot. Vex ignored their attempts to speak to her about it. She knew they would all tell her what a horrible idea the whole thing was, and she agreed. This wouldn’t do her any good, and it wouldn’t do Percival any good either, nor the relationship with his family. She couldn’t see that it could end with anything other than heartbreak on her side.
Days passed without them speaking about it. Suddenly it was a week away and Vex had a fancy dress in her closet. It even kind of matched Percy’s tie. It was a Saturday and usually the whole gang would be out at the bar. This night Keyleth and Vax had stayed home and Pike had work for once, so it was her, Percy, Grog and Scanlan sitting in a booth. They were telling stories, but mostly listening to Scanlan’s lavish tales of touring the world with his (previous) band. Laughing at the stories, she found, was a great way to escape her own mind. Then Grog went to get something more to drink, Scanlan went to flirt with some lady and Percy was the only one left with her.
“I’m sorry.” He said softly when they were alone. She looked at him in surprise. “For making everything weird and awkward.” Percy was usually the best with words in their group so seeing him fumble was unusal.
“I did agree to it though.” She said, trying to reassure him, but it was hard. Things were awkward, there was no denying it.
“But I didn’t mean for it to become this mess. You don’t have to go with me.”
“I already got a dress for the occasion.” She smiled at him. “Let’s just forget about it for tonight.” She stood up. “Come on, dance with me.”
Say what you want about Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Kolossowski de Rolo the third, but he was a great dancer. He always seemed to find his way when it came to moving to the music and his partner. Vex thought she was an okay dancer herself, but anyone could be a good dancer if they danced with someone like Percy. She smiled as they moved in sync and he smiled back at her. The music slowed and they did the same, Percy put his hands on the small of her back and she stepped a little closer, not really thinking about it. Her hands ended up on his back and shoulders. They didn’t say anything, just looked at each other, both feeling the same electricity. It was the same feeling they always had felt. Vex narrowed her eyes after a few moments and thought to hell with it all, throwing caution to the wind and pulled the man closer and into a heated kiss. He sputtered, but found himself quickly in the kiss.
“Let’s go home.” She said when they separated and he nodded, pulling her with him by the hand.
They ended up in his room at the house. After a few heated kisses both on the way home and inside the room, she took the time to look around for a bit. Vex had never been in Percy’s bedroom, only in the workshop he kept in the basement. It was sparsely decorated, with a bed hastily made and a messy desk on each ends of the room. It was smaller than her own, and the walls were mostly bare. She walked to the few pictures on the wall, hung above his desk. He followed her there. One of the pictures was of his family, parents and siblings all dressed up in fine clothes. It was a reminder that he came from money, although he never really spoke about it or showed it off.
“You really did have dark hair before we met.” She said, looking at a young, barely a teenager, Percival with dark brown hair like the rest of the family. She watched him now, twenty-five and hair turned white. Young Percy had a look of innocence on his face, but the same thin framed golden glasses.
“I did.” He agreed. “That feels like more of a dream than memories.” He confessed softly. She hummed, thinking about her childhood felt very much the same to her, part dream, part nightmare. The other pictures were of their friends, pictures of them goofing off mostly. One of them included their lost friend and she felt a pang of sadness and regret at the memory. The last picture was of herself and Trinket, her dog. They were lying in the grass, and the dark brown dog was on top of her, licking her face. She was laughing.
“I don’t remember this picture being taken.” She said, touching the glass.
“I got it from your brother.” He confessed. “I think it might have been before we met.”
“Hm, maybe.” She looked at him, smiling at his blush. “Trinket was so small.” Her large dog looked like he was still a puppy in the picture, and he’d been about that size when they’d first met Percy. She stepped closer to him again. “I can leave. Go to my own bed and this can be something we forget about.” She didn’t want to, she could confess to herself.
“Honestly Vex’ahlia, I don’t think I could ever forget kissing you, no matter what happens.” He took a step closer too and they were almost pressed against each other. A hand cupped her face and his soft lips covered her. It was a far cry from the heated kisses they’d shared so far, this one was soft and spoke of feelings and promises of all the things she was terrified off. But she didn’t step away, she didn’t break contact. Instead she pulled him closer, feeling the heat of his body against her.
They stumbled into bed, clothes already gone after many long minutes of kissing. The passion between them lit again, like it had in the bar. She moaned as his hands wandered over her body. He pulled away, eyes clear and a smile on his lips. It was all the confirmation she needed to understand that she hadn’t been reading his signals wrong. He had wanted this as much as she had over the years. They just had never been in a good enough situation to act on it. Maybe they weren’t now either, but it didn’t matter. She stopped thinking about what ifs and maybes and let their actions speak instead of their words.
Vex’ahlia woke in a bed that wasn’t her own, her body tired and aching a little as she stretched. At the soft sounds of someone writing on a computer she sat up, smiling as she saw Percy at his desk, laptop open and the screen light turned down. He was wearing a pair of dark pants and a white button up in true Percy fashion.
“Good morning.” She said softly and he startled before he turned around.
“Good morning dear.” He said, and smiled at her.
“What are you doing? It’s early.” A yawn escaped her as she shifted a little, hugging the comforter close to her body.
“I need to write down an idea for a new project.”
“On a Sunday morning?” She knew he was a workaholic, but was not this a little bit too much? “Come back to bed.” She patted the bed next to her and he sighed.
“Just need to finish this thought first…” He turned back to the screen and wrote for a few more minutes. She wondered how long he’d been up as she looked him over. His hair was messy and he hadn’t even bothered to button his shirt correctly. Clearly, he had woken up and pretty much thrown himself to the computer. He turned after he closed the laptop, smiling at her, eyes tired behind his golden round glasses. She patted the bed beside her again and he walked over. A kiss pressed to her lips.
“I should actually go make—” he stared after pulling away from her lips, but Vex was having none of that. She pulled him into the bed herself, making him fall on top of her. “Vex.” He said, leaning over her on his forearms. She merely smirked at him.
“No, darling. It’s the weekend. You’re spending at least a few hours more here, in bed with me.”
“Life’s too short to sleep it away.” He tried.
“Oh, darling, no one said anything about sleeping.” Her eyes glimmer in amusement as he blushed.
They did end up falling asleep an hour or so later, and they were awakened by a loud banging on the bedroom door.
“Percy!” Came the loud voice of Vex’s twin. “Have you seen Vex?” They both groaned at this, but knew they couldn’t ignore him.
“What’s going on?” Percy said, starting to get out of bed.
“Vex’s not in her room.” Vax called through the door. “And her phone’s off and she didn’t send me a text last night about going somewhere else.” Worry was clear in his voice and Vex winced. She leaned over the side of the bed and found her phone. It was dead. Percy gestured to the door, mimicking opening it, but she shook her head.
“I’m fine Vax.” She called instead. Figuring it was the better than letting her brother see her naked in bed. “You can go away now, please.”
“Vex?” Confusion was clear in his voice. “Open the door.” He demanded. “I want to see you.”
“No. We will not open the door.” She rolled her eyes. “You really don’t want to see me.” He gaged loudly at this before stomping away. She sighed at laid back against the pillows.
“That could have gone smoother.” Percy commented.
“Oh, I think we got the message across clearly.”
“He’ll think we’re just fucking around.” Percy said, sitting on the bed, wearing jeans but no shirt. “I hope you know that that isn’t what I want. I care about you, Vex.”
“Yes, Percival.” She smiled, taking his hand. “I know. I want a relationship too.” They sat there in silence for a while, not wanting to break their contentment by leaving the room and facing their friends and the rest of the world. “This means we won’t be lying to your family next week.” Vex suddenly realised as they were in the bathroom, stepping out of the shower.
The de Rolo family was a nice family, if a little wrapped up in their privilege. Percival had warned her about them not being quite good at understanding everything their wealth and position in society gave them for free. Vex knew all about the type of people, although she had never met people who also were kind. She felt a little out of place in her fancy dark blue dress, standing in her room, watching her brother braid her dark brown hair the way he always had.
“Are you nervous?” He asked quietly. The twins hadn’t spoken over the week, Vax angry about her hook up with Percy and her not having her phone on her that night. He was still sure that it was a mistake and that she would get hurt. That day he had told her in so many words. Since then Vax had calmed down a little though.
“Yeah.” She whispered. He frowned, and she knew what he was thinking. “Not about Percival, or him taking me there. Don’t try to deny it, I know that’s what you’re thinking.” She met his eyes in the mirror and he closed his mouth, frowning. “I’m not a part of that world anymore, and we worked so hard to get away. I always hated it before, spent so long avoiding it… I’m scared that I’ll meet some people from the past. That it’ll make the de Rolos hate me.” Her voice shook a little at the confession. “Maybe a little silly.”
“You really do like him.” Vax said softly, securing the hair with a tie.
“Of course, I do.”
“You know what I mean.” He rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t be worrying about hurting his family if you weren’t in love with him.” She swallowed at his words.
“Aren’t you ever worried about these kinds of things? We’re messes, Vax, both of us. We’ve done bad things and now, here we are. Letting feelings pull us into the world we left, the world we fled and it might hurt the people we love.” She didn’t mention Keyleth, but she understood that he was thinking about her too. It was easy to forget that she was the daughter of her country’s spiritual leader.
“I have been.” Vax confessed as he tied the second braid firmly. “But we’ve talked about it, and her future position isn’t that sensitive. The people back at her home cherish love and happiness. Being a leader there is about proving your worth today and not about who you once were. Percy isn’t about to become a king or anything. He’s left that life too, he lives here with us and he’s in love with you too.” She nodded, trying to feel reassured.
She had done her makeup alone in her room and it was the few moments of peace and quiet she needed to get her head back on straight again. She let her nerves go and instead she let her feelings for Percy be the reason she did this. She was there to meet the family of the man she loved, not to meet the entire world. Should others judge her, then it was nothing new. She’d been judged her entire life. She took a deep breath and opened the door, blinking in surprise at Percy standing on the other side, hand raised to knock.
“Percy.” She said in surprise, noticing a small box in his hands.
“Vex.” He smiled at her, looking down at her. “You look beautiful.” He blushed a little, and tore his eyes back to her face. She smirked at his reaction.
“Same to you, handsome.” She teased, being rewarded with a deeper blush.
“I have a little gift for you.” He said, handing her the wrapped box. She opened it, revealing a necklace with a blue stone in the middle, surrounded by tangled silver.
“It’s gorgeous Percy.” She whispered, lifting it from the box. The blue stone matched the blue of her dress perfectly. “Can you put it on me?” He nodded and she handed him the jewellery and turned. His fingered fumbled as he tried to fasten it around her neck, she could feel the slight tremble in them. She couldn’t see any kind of nerves on his face as she turned back around to face him, only a softness she realised probably was the same warm feeling she held inside herself. “Thank you.”
“It’s really nothing. I’ve been working on it for a while.” He said, looking down at his feet, shying away from her again. “It’s nothing expensive.”
“It is to me, Percival.” They shared another smile. “Let’s go then.” He agreed.
They were meeting with the other de Rolos at a hotel close to the party (or whatever they called it, they all knew it was a party and nothing else) to travel the rest of the way together. Percy had warned her that some of his siblings were a little intense, and rowdy.
(“Darling, you know how our friends are.” She had reminded him gently.
“Ah, yes. You’re quite right at that. I’m sure you can handle your own. I only want you to feel as comfortable as possible.”) They walked into the large suite, door held open by one of the workers at the luxury hotel. Vex had walked in circles like this as a child, and a few times as an adult, but she never really could understand the need to spend all the money on the like. She looked at Percival and he looked nervous suddenly. He didn’t look like he wanted to be there, but as he nodded his thanks to the worker he looked like he belonged. She hated that.
“Percy.” She whispered as they stepped inside. “Are you sure…?” She held onto his arm and he looked at her. They stopped walking.
“Am I sure about what?”
“That you want me here.” She finished. “That you shouldn’t have brought someone else.”
“I’m sure.” He said without an ounce of hesitation. “I’ve never been more certain in my life. I wouldn’t want to walk anywhere with someone else on my arm.” He cupped her face. “If you don’t want to go to the party we can go straight home from here. Or not go inside at all.”
“I want to meet your family.” She confessed. “But what if someone’s at this party? Someone who—”
“I promise we can leave if you feel uncomfortable, if we go.”
“Okay.” She tried to shake the feelings of doubt. “Let’s go inside.”
The end