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Everything hurts. Her body hurts. Her legs hurt, she's full of poorly closed wounds, and her feet are screaming. She needs to get her boots off right now. The battle has been rough for everyone, but she's been the one who has taken the most damage, falling from the broom a couple of times. After years of being thrown around and barely escaping death, you'd think she would have developed at least a slight resistance to pain, but long combats like the one against the dragon still left her exhausted. And aching.
And fuck, there are only two things that will help her right now: Percy or a warm bath. She'll take whatever she finds first, if possible, both, but she isn't picky. Though she would love one of Percy's massages (the man is great with his hands in all senses of the word, after all), she at least needs to find a way to wash away the blood. It's not the first time she's gone too long without washing her hair after blood gets on it, and it's a pain to wash off once it has solidified.
She still hasn't explored half of the Château's recons, but she does know about its magic, or so Scanlan has said. If it's really magic, it better help her find a place to bathe, and quick. She doesn't think her legs are going to be able to resist having to investigate the whole place. Maybe, if it did, she would even forgive the fucking gnome for stealing her key. This was going to be her mansion!
She sighs, randomly opening one of the rooms, ready to begin an endless cycle of opening random doors and probably finding things she shouldn't, like that room filled to the brim with sex toys and other artifacts she doesn't want to name.
She and Percy absolutely visited it after that.
Luckily, the mansion seems to have mercy on her, and as she opens another door, she immediately smirks. Bingo, she thinks. Looks like the mansion is far more intelligent than she thought, and she's grateful for it.
In front of her stands a bath. There's a pool on its floor, already filled to the brim with warm water. The room is filled with steam, blurring the mirror near the marble sink. There are multiple purple and pink towels, matching Scanlan's iconic colours, along with a variety of hair and body products, which she has only seen in the highest quality stores. There are scented candles dripping wax near the bathtub, and gods, she could cry, right now. It's been so long since she's had a warm bath. For almost the entirety of the past three years, she has been bathing and cleaning herself up in frozen rivers, unable to find anything better, to the point where nice, hot, warm water seems like something out of a dream.
She enters the room, undoing her braid with a sigh of relief, letting her hair fall. Not that she doesn't like it, but it's so undone and messy that she needs to redo it urgently. Normally, her hair falling down her shoulders would be majestic, or so have told her many lovers of hers, Percy included, but currently, it is filled with forest branches and snow, and blood has hardened some of it already. In between the dragons and the trying not to die constantly, she hasn't had much time to take care of herself.
Stepping inside the water, she almost moans as warmth envelops her. Though the pain doesn't disappear, it does lessen. Maybe the candles or something in the room have healing properties, or maybe she's just so happy at the switch of temperature that she forgets that everything hurts. It's been so, so, so fucking long!
She doesn't waste any time and immediately strips herself of her clothes, throwing them to the same corner of the room. She glances at her naked body in the mirror. For a brief second, she sees all her scars, slightly whiter than her tan skin. So many marks of so many battles, which, in some way, made her who she was. She chooses to ignore the huge one in her chest, the one from the trap, the only one she didn't remember getting. Something about a too-powerful resurrection method that left permanent marks, Vox Machina had told her.
Nope. Not the time to think about that. Fuck it, she's going in. She's going to have the best bath she's had in years.
A shiver runs up through her body as warmth kisses the tip of her toes. Fuck, she's almost forgotten how good it feels to bathe in hot water. Thank the gods no one has found this room before her, because she isn't planning on sharing. Well, she's willing to make an exception for one person.
One, and only one person who gives the best massages, something she absolutely needs right now, and who she has no idea where he is.
She pushes him away from her mind as she steps inside the bathtub, feeling warmth begin to envelop her when she steps down further and further, before sinking fully, sitting on its floor, and letting out a breathy moan. It's almost burning her skin, and she loves it. The pain barely burns now in comparison with the water.
She sighs, submerging up to her nose, closing her eyes. It's been so long since she's had a moment for herself, and she doubts she's ever had a bath as good as this one. Not even in Syngorn's castle, where the baths were simple rooms with bathtubs in the middle. This looked straight out of a spa where people who hadn't worked a day in their lives came to relax.
Coming back to the surface, she relishes the temperature. She has grown used to bathing in rivers, and this is a change she adores. Her ears flinch as she looks at the doorknob move, and the door opens. Percy enters the room, looking at the floor, still unaware. He's carrying his coat, stained in blood and dirt, muttering something to himself. He isn't much better. His hair, usually so pristine, has darkened from the sheer amount of filth it has accumulated. He looks up, finally noticing him, and blushes like hell.
"Oh-Oh, dear—" He looks harder at the floor, as if trying to pierce a hole through it. She chuckles. It's adorable how shy he gets when he accidentally sees her nude when he's seen her naked thousands of times, most of them when he was also naked. "I-I'm sorry, Vex'ahlia, I'll leave—"
"Don't you dare." She smirks, signaling him with her finger to come closer. "Come here, darling."
He looks around, as if trying to see if someone was following him, before sheepishly smiling and locking the door behind him. He puts down his clothes and begins to unbutton his shirt.
Vex looks at him with a hungry gaze, even beginning to get annoyed at the absurd amount of clothing layers he always wears, for some reason. But as soon as she catches a glimpse of his chest, that disappears. She knows those scars at heart, now, though she does understand his reluctance to show them around. But she loved how that reluctance disappeared when he was with her.
"It's been quite a while since we had a proper bath, hasn't it?" He says, beginning to sink into the water. He has a similar reaction to the warm water, almost moaning as he continues to step in. "Fuck, I've missed warm water. I was growing tired of rivers."
"Me too. Nothing like freezing to get yourself clean. Now, get over here." She says, extending her arms. He chuckles, reaching for her and wrapping his arms around her waist, pressing a kiss on her neck. She giggles.
"That tickles, dummy," she teases, but leans into the touch. She could perfectly fall asleep. It's so warm, so comfortable. And now, with Percy's hands running through her body, she's convinced she's dead and is in paradise. It's been so long since they have been able to rest. Joining Vox Machina had been…not really her decision, just a thing of convenience that had evolved to something closer to a family. But she never expected to become more than a rag-tag mercenary, travelling with a group of people she was sure she would never know in prodigality.
And there she is, fighting dragons and being recognized as a hero of Exandria, for their three dragon kills. They are putting up a fight against the Conclave, and they are keeping each other alive because the people need them. And she's a lady now, too. With titles and everything, thanks to the man currently mapping her body with his fingers as if she were the most beautiful artifact he has ever seen.
Who would have told her, three years ago, that she would be well-known by the people, thanks to her feats? That she would be loved by many more people than her brother?
And who would have told her that she would miss bathing in warm water?
Yet there she is, in a bathtub with the man she loves, though she hasn't told him yet, letting him hold her close as warmth envelops them. The pain she's feeling slowly begins to dissipate, thanks to the sensation of being so close to Percy and the great massage he's giving her.
She knows she shouldn't get used to this, not yet, at least. Currently, their relationship is still...complicated. But the steam and the feeling of being so adored are great, and Percy isn't helping either. His touches are becoming more worshipful, yet going lower and lower, eventually drawing a moan when he goes a bit too low. He adores her, and he makes sure she knows it. She turns to face him, smirking. "Daring today, aren't we?" She teases. Not that she minds, of course. She adores those clever fingers of his. She brushes his chest, batting her eyelashes with a playful grin.
He blushes, lowering his hands to grab her hips. "What can I say? You just look so…So…" He trails off. "It's been so long since I last had the luck to share a moment like this with someone…and gods, I want to make it last forever.
She feels her heart melting at those words. She's still dealing with her emotional walls and her reluctance to accept that someone might genuinely love her, but Percy somehow manages to push through that…and gods, she loves him. She'll tell him, soon, maybe when they take down the dragons, when these quiet moments become the norm instead of the exception. But currently, she has to bite her tongue and make do with his feather-light touches and the way he looks at her.
And maybe, if she closes her eyes and kisses him back when he joins their lips, somewhere else, far away, the moment will last forever.
(Or, it'll last until her brother walks in. Fuck him, seriously.)