Work Text:
It didn't matter how many times the sun rose over Whitestone. It was a simple fact that, every morning, Percy will come to consciousness in an abrupt and violent moment. It was a fact Vex knew well.
It was a constant since they'd first found him in that dingy cell whilst on the hunt for a cult leader. Every morning, Percival would startle awake, moving before even thinking. Sometimes accompanied by a sharp cry of fear. Each party member had eventually chalked it up to persistent nightmares that the gunslinger wouldn't speak of. Even when pressed.
Vex learned, later, that it wasn't always nightmares. Sometimes, yes, but it was more than that. He'd confessed to her one night, after one too many wine glasses, that it was like a fight or flight response built into his sleep-wake cycle. That even on dreamless nights he would jolt awake, reaching for a makeshift weapon or searching for an assailant that was never there.
Then they met the Briarwoods, Percy reluctantly gave them a rundown version of every awful thing they'd done, and everything became viciously clear. She'd made it her business after that, but long before they addressed anything between them, to wake before Percy did. Before, it had been simply to offer company as he came down from the high of adrenaline each morning. She'd longed to offer more, but Percy was always avoidant of the subject in general. She didn't dare press it.
Now, beside the still sleeping human, she was happy to wait; just as she did every morning since his return. Happy to offer comfort that she had longed to give.
She's still lying beside Percy beneath their covers, tracing mindless patterns into his shoulder. His breathing is strong but steady. She pauses her movements, pressing the palm of her hand flat on his chest. Percy's heartbeat pulses rhythmically and she relishes in the knowledge.
Only then does she look at his face. Lax and without his glasses - deposited somewhere on the nightstand - he looks every bit of the young man he is. Equally so, he looks as peaceful as the day they'd buried him.
Vex's heart aches at the reminder, raising her hand to rest against his jaw. Seeing her Percival so relaxed in sleep brings a concoction of emotions to rise in her; torn between grief at what she'd almost lost and affection towards the trust the gunslinger has so willingly given her to be at his side.
Her hand trails back down to rest against his chest as she leans up, pressing a gentle kiss to his nose, then between his eyes. She'd done it numerous times, much to the irritation of Percival. The first time had been on instinct, calming him down after one thing or another going wrong in his workshop. He'd stormed upstairs, angrily searching for Vex for comfort he wouldn't admit to. She'd kissed his nose, then the furrow in his brows, and he'd turned a blazing red. Insisted she never do that again.
Vex, being Vex, didn't listen. She was stubborn where it counted, and had continued doing it since that day.
She knows Percy, now, almost as well as she knows Vax. The man could never hide the flush that rises to his cheeks, nor does he ever get away with later rubbing gently at the spot between his eyes, staring awestruck at Vex'ahlia when he believes her attention to be elsewhere.
She's never determined if he truly thinks himself unworthy of a simple act of affection, or if he just feels embarrassment for enjoying receiving such affectionate kisses.
Even now, in sleep, he huffs softly at her kisses. Vex would almost swear she even sees his lips shift upwards just slightly.
Inevitably, she settles back down next to him, arm splayed across his abdomen. Golden light filters through their windows, and she knows he'll wake soon. There is nothing to do but wait, and she is more than happy to do so.
Resting with her eyes closed, face tucked near Percy's collarbone, it's only about half an hour before she feels it. His right arm, having sleepily wormed its way under her during that time to hold her closer to him by her waist, tenses. She feels his nails dig into her back suddenly, and that's her cue.
Vex watches, almost sad, as his eyes slam open in alarm. With practiced motion in the same moment, having laid her arm across him with purpose, she grabs his shoulder on the side opposite her and holds him. Not painfully, but strongly. Expected, Percy jerks. Like he's about to sit up and take off, running on pure adrenaline and his fight or flight response. Her grip holds, and panicked eyes shoot to the side and find her own.
It's only three seconds more before Percy relaxes against her with a sharp exhale. Recognition having flashed in his eyes, and that being all he needs to settle into waking properly.
Vex offers him a soft smile as he rolls onto his side towards her. He blinks, blearily, before pulling her close. She laughs into the front of his sleep shirt where she's being forcibly cuddled, "And good morning to you too."
He hums, and Vex relishes in how she can hear it rumble through his chest. Like a cat purring contentedly in the sun. She glances up at him, finding bright green eyes watching her closely, almost glimmering in the sunlight cutting through their bedroom.
Definitely the visual of a content cat.
He makes a face then, however. Somewhere between sad and guilty. Vex wiggles up towards the headboard, made difficult by Percy's grip, but determinedly gets to be eye to eye with him. "Darling, what's wro-?"
"Do you ever tire of this?" Percy asks, suddenly.
His voice is quiet, deep from sleep, but the words still slap Vex. It must show on her face because his eyes go wide again, "Oh Gods, not what I meant! I- I mean... I mean me. And my... inability to wake up like a normal individual should."
His words come out panicked at first but, by the end, it's trailing off.
Vex is immediately calmed by his reassurance, and lets her brief panic go in favor of the actual issue at hand. She frees a hand from between them, raising it back to rest against the side of his jaw like she had earlier. She runs her fingers back and forth across his cheek, smiling soft when he leans into it. "Percy, love, there isn't such a thing as a normal person. Life doesn't come with a manual or a rulebook."
"Yes, but I..." He trails off, averting his gaze from hers, "It can't be enjoyable to have to worry about me endangering you from the simple act of waking up. I-"
"I've never done this out of fear of you hurting me," Vex cuts him off, something she so rarely does, because she can't leave that uncorrected, "I trust you. With all of my being. I have never worried, for even a moment, that you would bring me harm."
Percy is silent, so she presses forward, "If anything, I mourn for you," Vex notes how his eyes snap back to hers then, bewildered, "This instinct of yours; it's a testament to your survival. And the knowledge that it is so deeply ingrained in you from necessity that your body itself is still afraid of sleep pains me. You wake prepared to fight ghosts that aren't there and I despair that... that we may never fully chase them away for you."
They are both silent for a long while. She simply basks in his steady breaths as she can see her words processing through his mind. She would wait forever if she had to, so long as she can hear his breaths and feel his heart.
It's like this that Vex almost drifts back asleep in the quiet. Almost.
"My first thought upon waking is... no longer fear of the Briarwoods. Or of... her. Of Ripley." Percy inhales, a small but harsh thing, and Vex presses her hand against his cheek just a little harder. Grounding.
One of his hands moves to grip her wrist suddenly. Loose, but Vex doesn't even test it to see. Just waits for him to continue.
"It... hasn't been my first thought in the mornings since... well. Since death." He grinds the word out and exhales slowly. His eyes flutter closed and Vex is silent for a few minutes.
When he says nothing more, she resumes stroking just beneath his eye with her thumb. His grip is still solid but light around her wrist.
"Then what do you think of, darling? What is it that startles you so deeply?"
A pause. A breath.
"You."
Percy's eyes open again, clear with a steeled determination, and he barrels on before he can retract his own statement, "Every morning since, I am... startled awake, thinking of you. It's a single piercing thought that if I am asleep then... something could have happened. I fear that even if you weren't here, with me, I would still wake fearing for your safety."
He squeezes her arm then, suddenly looking urgent, "I have no doubt you can hold your own! But I still... wake with the need to... protect."
Percy deflates by the end, glancing away once more. But Vex'ahlia is having none of it.
She leans forward and mimics her earlier motions. She presses a gentle kiss to the tip of his nose, followed by another between his eyes. When she pulls back, Vex is delighted at the red beginning to creep across his face. Even if he's attempting to look offended. So, she does as any reasonable woman would do, and continues placing featherlight kisses across his face until Percy is half-heartedly batting her away.
He's bright-eyed and red-faced and Vex is more than pleased. Percy opens his mouth to speak again, but Vex beats him to it, "I know just as well that I can hold my own in a fight. I am well aware that you don't perceive me as some damsel in distress to save. But to have such undeniable proof of your want to protect me? I don't know if I've ever been given something quite so romantic. Well, aside from our day in Syngorn that is."
Percy hums, high in his throat, seemingly still flustered, "Yes, well, I don't do anything in halves do I?"
"No, you don't," Vex laughs, pecking him on the lips as she pushes at his shoulder. He rolls onto his back easily, watching happily as she moves to straddle his waist. "and to answer your earlier question, no. I will never tire of being here when you wake. My watch over you in our mornings is my own offered protection."
As soon as she's finished, Percy is tugging her down into a proper kiss. Languid but loving, and neither refuse to part until air is an absolute necessity.
Neither of them are in a rush to go anywhere, or to do anything. Perhaps they should be - duties to tend to and all - but that's hardly Vex's concern when Percy is all soft and pliant beneath her. He always is when the adrenaline crashes in the morning, and while she wishes he didn't have such violent starts every day, she loves how he relaxes after.
Percy hums contentedly as she moves from his lips to nip her way down his neck. For every bite she trails, a gentle press of lips follows their wake. It's only for a couple of lazy moments until Percy is pushing at her shoulder gently, urging her back up. She relents, hovering over him with palms planted against both his shoulders.
The soft smile he gives her is nothing short of pure affection as his voice reaches her, barely a whisper that might as well have been a prayer, "I love you, my dearest Vex'ahlia."
Blindly, she finds his hand with one of her own, squeezing tight. Her eyes never drift from his own.
She's full of warmth when he returns the gesture; full of love she never thought she'd have.
"And I, you, my beloved protector."