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He walked across the empty streets of the city, looking around. He held his bag tight, making sure no one was following him. Supposedly, people there didn't have the need to steal anymore, as food and resources were much easier to access, but old habits die hard, and he had valuable stuff with him, artifacts he didn't want to lose. One in particular, wrapped in paper he had managed to find rummaging through the shambles of a gift shop, and pulled to the bottom of the bag.
There were people of all kinds on the streets, most of them with notable scars, missing limbs, or just generally looking rough, and some were even unarmed. Hundreds of survivors from all kinds of places had rushed to get inside the city's walls once the announcement was broadcast via radio, courtesy of Scanlan. It had been a year since he and Vox Machina had settled down in the city, each doing their thing. It was odd for all of them to finally be at peace, so used to always running around. It had been a year since peace had been reestablished.
It had been seven years already since the main outbreak, the day when everything had gone to shit, when he lost his family and had to run away with his sister. Six years since the day when he met Keyleth, the poor girl whose quinceañera had been interrupted by zombies eating the guests, and who had bumped into him while running from a horde. They took it down together, and killing together was a very strong bonding activity.
Four years since they both joined Vox Machina, with self-made weapons and carrying Cassandra on his back. Three scared, terrified people who ended up finding a family by pure accident.
For the first time in a long while, he felt safe in a street full of people. Families walked hand in hand, keeping each other near. He still remembered how full the streets had been the day of the outbreak, with everyone running around, trying to save themselves. At the end, those who had tried to escape had ended up dead and turned, whereas the ones who had stayed in place until things calmed down remained. He, Cassandra, and Keyleth had stayed locked in a random apartment they managed to get into during the first whole month, surviving on scraps of food. The first months had been the hardest. Most of the nearby supermarkets and other places to find resources had already been raided profusely, and the area was fully infested with undead, so getting to further areas wasn't an option.
But that day, three months into the apocalypse, they finally dared to go further, and by pure accident, they bumped into a group of people while raiding a supermarket. The rest was history.
Three years since he almost got her killed, accidentally letting in a horde that could have easily ended her life. If Vax hadn't been there, it would have been over. But though he would never forgive himself for putting Vex in danger, at least she was alive.
Three years since, after traveling to the twins' homeplace, Vex asked him if she looked like she came from money. Three years since he told her how the people from money he had meant weren't worth her, and three years since he realized what he felt for Vex wasn't just friendship.
One year since he himself got bitten, and they had to amputate his hand. That dumb trick on zombie movies actually worked, cutting the infection before it spread further, and after a very tense day where he was still breathing but not awakening, he survived. And now, he wore a prosthetic hand, a gift from the city of Whitestone after Vox Machina did a good job at cleaning the infected areas.
The entire restoration process began last year with Emon and expanded quickly. In just a few months, cities were cleaned up and open to anyone who needed a place to stay. Many cities followed, and the process began in Whitestone, intended to become the definitive safe zone, a fully functional city where people would be able to get back their lives, settle down, and have a family. Finally, after months of building and making sure no infected remained inside, the city opened its doors to the foreigners as a refuge for anyone who needed it. Inside, markets opened regularly, there were some hospitals being opened, people were volunteering to teach the kids who had been born during the crisis…It was a small return to their previous lives.
With that sense of normality coming back, people began to remember festivities. Halloween had been celebrated a few months ago, and now, for the first time in a while, people actually remembered the date it was. If he looked up, he could see Christmas lights hung from the balcony, the windows decorated with stickers, and even a couple of trees full of colorful ornaments. Some children even wore Christmas sweaters.
He continued walking. He knew the path by heart; now, it was where they always saw each other. Along with the main gift, he also had flowers, dark blue bellflowers. He knew those were her favorites and that she would appreciate having them. He had seen them in a random flower shop and had immediately bought them, as she popped into his mind.
When he finally got there, the sun was setting, and people had begun going home to celebrate with their families. He still had a few hours until Vox Machina arrived at their brand-new keep to celebrate the festivities, so there he was. The Sun Tree stood proud in the empty square, with benches around it and a woman sitting on its roots.
Specifically, the woman he was looking for.
She was sitting against the tree, cleaning her bow with a bit of fabric ripped from some corpse’s shirt: Vex'ahlia. It was an agile movement, a practiced one. He supposed it was something usual for her. The light of the moon around her gave her an almost ethereal look, at least from his perspective, with moonlight reflecting on her arrows.
To say the apocalypse had had its positive sides would be deeply disrespectful to those who had died or had had their lives ruined by the infection, but if he had to think about one good thing about a virus suddenly turning people into reanimated, hungry, rotting corpses, it would probably be having met his new friends. His new family. Keyleth, who had become his sister, practically. Scanlan, the voice of the radio that kept them sane, as much as they said they hated his songs; Pike, the medic who had saved their lives multiple times; Grog, who had also saved their lives multiple times with his strength; and finally, the twins.
Vax and he never quite hit off. At the beginning, they had struggled to trust each other, and that little connection immediately broke after that incident where he had almost gotten Vex infected. Any chance to bond dissipated after that.
…and then, there was Vex herself. She still hadn't noticed him. Good.
He took a deep breath. Okay, he had this. He had been practicing for a while what he was going to say, and this was his moment. He took a final deep breath. He didn't want to make her wait.
He walked towards her. “Hey, Vex.” He murmured, waving and grabbing his bag tightly. When he noticed it, he relaxed his grasp. He ought to fix that distrust. It was Vex, after all. He confided in her and loved her. The apocalypse was over. It was weird even thinking about it, but it was a reality. You could trust people now. Especially the girl you would give your life for.
She looked up at the sound of his voice. “Oh, hey, Percy. Didn’t notice you. Which is weird, I’m the one who usually surprises you.” She laughed softly, leaning back as he smiled and sat next to her.
"I've been learning. I doubt I'll ever be as stealthy as you or Vax, but at least I won't be heard easily." He chuckled, relaxing.
"How's Keyleth doing? Vax is worried about her. They still haven't spoken about…anything. It's like they refuse to speak to each other!" She complained, groaning. Clearly, she had had to deal with Vax for a very long time.
This time, it was Percy who laughed. “She’s doing fine. But yes, they ought to talk everything out.” He murmured, fixing his glasses. It was a bit hypocritical to judge Keyleth and Vax for not communicating when they did the same thing, but if everything went as planned, maybe they wouldn't end the night as just friends. “Oh, by the way, I have something for you.” He opened his bag and rummaged through it, looking for something.
She peeked, looking over his shoulder with curiosity. He handed her the little wrapped package. "Merry Christmas, Vex," he muttered.
“Oh, Percy, you didn’t have to—" She began to unwrap the package, revealing a little MP3 with custom pieces and a set of tangled, wired earphones.
“Last time, you commented how much you missed music and how you liked that one radio station, you know, the one Scanlan runs, so- so I remembered I had that one MP3 somewhere around my apartment and-” He started to trip over his words, before stopping for a minute and then sighing. He smiled softly at her. “It’s already linked to the station, just press the button, and it should start running.”
She stared at the device for a second before turning to him. "Oh, now I feel bad! My gift is nothing compared to this…" she lamented, beginning to untangle the wires with some difficulty. "I'll give it to you when we're with the others."
"I'm sure it's a great gift, I can't wait to see it," he reassured. He looked at her nervously, going to help her with the cables, but before he could intervene, she managed to untangle them.
"Do you want to listen to something?" She smiled, offering one of the earphones. He was speechless for a second, blushing like crazy, but he reacted soon enough and grabbed one of the earphones, putting it on his ear. They got closer almost unconsciously, and the music started playing.
"Everybody loves somebody sometime,"
"Everybody falls in love somehow,"
"Something in your kiss just told me,"
"My sometime is now,"
He was going to kill Scanlan. He should never have told him about the entire plan. Biggest mistake of his life. Forget everything else; this was what had doomed him. Of course, the man had decided to put only cheesy, romantic songs for the entire evening.
Percy laughed nervously, but Vex didn’t seem to react. She had her eyes closed and—oh god—she lay her head on his shoulder, breathing softly. "I really like this song," she muttered.
"I like it, too." He muttered, leaning against her. If they both didn't have to meet Vox Machina in a few hours, they could have perfectly fallen asleep there, in their shared warmth. "Do you want to dance?" He suddenly asks, glancing at her.
"What?" She raised an eyebrow, looking around, trying to see if someone was looking at them.
"There's no one here. The square's empty! I think it'll be fun. Who's going to judge us, anyway? We're heroes." It sounded as if he was trying to convince himself rather than her, but it seemed to work for both of them. She stood up.
"Alright, let's see if you can dance." She teased. They kept their earphone on, her hand placed on his shoulder, and his hand lay on her hip, as they began to move gracefully. Both of them had taken dancing lessons when they were younger, so they knew how to move, but they were still giggling as they accidentally stepped on each other.
Once the song ended, they were face to face, inches away, like something straight out of a bad romance movie. They breathed heavily.
"We want the same thing, don't we?" She chuckled, leaning even closer.
"I guess we do."
They, of course, proceeded to kiss under the snow, holding each other tight. For the first time in seven years, love, intimacy, didn't feel like something they both desperately craved, but as something they were actually getting, and it felt…really good.
Maybe, after seven years of fighting and barely surviving, it was finally time for love.