Chapter Text
"Well, if it's so simple and so easy, why don't you tell Vex you love her, hm?"
In his defense, the timing keeps being wrong.
The timing was wrong: a few months after they first met, when he realized he had a crush on her. In fact, Keyleth realized it before he dared to admit it, pushing him to tell her or to make some kind of move. He didn't, of course. He was too deep in that depressive spiral that made him see himself as a despicable monster for even considering she would love someone like him. Thank god he got himself out of there, partly thanks to his friends, partly thanks to Keyleth, and partly thanks to…well, her.
The timing was wrong on Christmas day, when the mistletoe forced them to share a kiss. Too stunned to say anything else, he had just let her walk away, not bothering to question why she had given him that kiss without any hesitation. It wasn't like he had an actual chance with her. She was Vex! And also, Vax was too close, and it was too risky. They still didn't get along after the…incident. He decided to let her go, and maybe talk to her another day. And he kept postponing that talk day after day after day, and he eventually forgot.
The timing was wrong on New Year's Day, when the last bell rang, and he had the perfect opportunity to kiss her, tell her what he felt. Nerves had won over him, and he only raised his cup to toast for what was to come, forcing himself to look away from her, from her lips, and from what could've been.
But he and Vex aren't the main characters of this slow-burn romance story, where neither of them seems to be able to communicate properly. Those are Keyleth and Vax. And god, it's getting annoying.
Percy loves Keyleth. She's his best friend, how could he not? They've stuck together since the very moment they met. They're two lonely kids paired together in a group project when no one chose them for their groups and have grown to be inseparable. And now they live together and have been friends for ten years. So yes, in order to survive the hours and hours that he sees her daily, he has to love her. And he does, really!
…However, he might love her a little less now. He's no stranger to situationships; he's in one right now, but if he has to comfort Keyleth after she can't speak to Vax again, or after another day of him not giving clear signals over how he really feels about her, he's going to kill Vax, then himself.
(He has to stop making suicide jokes. Keyleth has been very firm about how she doesn't like them. Fair, given where he got them from.)
For the past year, Keyleth has been in love with Vax, and Vax has been in love with Keyleth. It's common knowledge at this point. Everyone, and everyone means everyone, knows about it. Vex is constantly teasing her brother about it, telling him to "go get the girl" every time they go out together. He knows this because when they go out, he's usually at home with Vex. That doesn't mean anything, though. They're just friends; whatever Keyleth and Vax have going on is very different from what they have.
Scanlan tries to give Vax dating tips, even in front of Keyleth, saying, "It will help them both." Pike tries to help her talk to him, helping him understand her, and secretly does the same thing with Keyleth. Grog knows there's something between them, making comments that aren't nearly as subtle as he thinks they are, and when Keyleth came over to visit the twins in their family house, Velora assumed they were dating. When they, very flustered, told her she was wrong, she put the pieces together very quickly. Even Cassandra, who doesn't know them at all, asked how long they had been dating when they accompanied him to visit her!
It's so obvious it hurts, really. Worst thing, he has to play on both sides. Due to his…relationship, just to name it, with Vex, he spends quite a lot of time at her apartment, and of course, she lives with Vax. The man has grown to tolerate him, even if he just sticks around to learn more about Keyleth, and he has seen Vax's viewpoint, too. How he wishes he were brave enough to make the first move, how madly in love with her he is, how she finds every single thing about her adorable and perfect…
He would normally tell Keyleth everything, showing her the chat messages between him and Vax where he desperately tries to give Vax advice, but he fears the man a bit too much to risk it. He has a couple of things he wants to do before getting gutted like a fish by his best friend's crush after betraying his confidence.
Despite that, he tries to be helpful. Whenever he's with Vex and Vax walks in after meeting with Keyleth or muttering something about her, he tries to do as much as he can to get them to talk. He proposes date ideas he's sure she would love, tells him in detail about her interests, what she loves, what she looks for in a relationship, based on what she has told him…and Vax calls him a hypocrite, glaring at him and Vex. But hey, his advice seems to work, so he endures. A small smile appears on his face whenever Keyleth tells him how happy she is that he guessed which movie she wanted to watch.
…but Vax is just…stupid. Painfully stupid. He can't help the man with that, really; he's tried before. He was his tutor for some time. But sometimes he's just baffled at the sheer stupidity. It gets to a point where he straight up doesn't believe Percy when he tells him she could like him back.
"It's different. We are just friends," he insists, turning in his chair. "You two are far more obvious. We are more…complicated." Yes. Complicated is a good word. "Haven't you gone on several dates already?"
"First, you also have," she reprimands. "Second, I don't know if they're dates or not!"
"What do you mean you don't know if they're dates or not? Isn't that clear?"
"It's supposed to be clear, but I don't get it! Like, the other day. He said he wanted to meet with me in the gardens, saying it was "kind of a date." Great, I go there, and half-teasing, I say, "Oh, this is a nice date," then he said it was a hangout! I can't with these mixed signals, I don't get what's going on!"
Percy laughs with sympathy, shifting his attention from the project he's been working on, another arrow for Vex, back to his best friend. "You two just need to communicate. It's rather simple, just ask him directly. Is this a date, or not? Ask him! He won't avoid the question if you don't allow him to."
"But what if he does?"
"What if he doesn't?"
"Oh, come on, don't pull that on me!" She groans, throwing herself onto the bed. "I could tell you the same about Vex. Communication, or something like that. What are you two?"
"We are…Friends."
"Bullshit."
He tenses momentarily, ready to argue, but just sighs. "Yes, you could tell me that. No, I don't know what we are. More than friends, less than lovers," he swallows the 'unfortunately' and keeps talking. "But that doesn't stop it from being true, Kiki." He tries to stay calm. "It's Valentine's Day. Tell him."
"And spend the day with a heartbreak? No way!"
"But you could also spend the day with your new boyfriend." She's right, he does sound like a hypocrite. His situation is not too different from hers, as she put it, but if he could bring himself to tell her, maybe that would encourage her to do the same thing—
Oh, wait. That's a great idea, actually!
He turns his chair fully, with his legs crossed, and a smirk appears on his face. "Keyleth, I have an idea. Let's make a deal."
She has been staring at the ceiling this whole time, but she does look down to meet his gaze. "Yeah?"
"You say our situations are not entirely different, which, yes, you're right, they aren't. So I'm offering a solution for our problems."
Her face lights up momentarily, but it quickly disappears as a wave of doubt paints her expression. "I don't think my problem can be solved, Perce…"
"It can!" He repeats, with a smile on his face. “Write Vax a letter, or go meet him directly, and tell him everything you feel.”
Keyleth, who has just chosen that moment to drink a sip of water, chokes on it. He's usually the one choking when Vex is mentioned in that context. "W-what? Are you—WHAT? It's not that simple, man, you know it!" She faces the wall, and she reminds him of his sister. "You're not telling me anything new. I know I should tell him, but…God. I don't know if I can—"
"That's where I come in. If what you're lacking is courage, then I'll tell Vex." The things he's willing to do for her, truly. "Then, you'll have no excuse."
She takes her time, hesitating. She brings her legs to her chest, burying her head in her hands. "Fine. Fine, you win. But you go first. I'm not—You go first."
He takes a deep breath, sighing. "Alright. Deal?"
"Deal."
The next day, Valentine's Day, he's in the elevator of apartment Vex's building. Someone has opened the entrance, and there he is, gripping a bouquet like it's the only thing keeping him grounded to Earth. He's trembling, checking his phone over and over, texting Keyleth about how nervous he is, and she's answering him to please do it, to give her the courage to do it herself.
The elevator doors open as he steps in, too focused on his phone to notice someone walking in front of him until they bump against each other, making the other stumble. "Oh, God, I'm so sorry—" He mumbles, immediately going to help the woman he has accidentally knocked to the floor. You can imagine his face as he realizes that that woman is, in fact, the woman he was intending to give flowers to.
"No problem, Percy," Vex groans, cleaning dust off her pants. "Where are you going with those flowers? Who's the lucky girl?" She teases, yet he catches something in her voice that tells her she doesn't find this as funny as she shows.
This is not how he intended to do this, but life never seems to allow him to do things his way. So he poorly hides the flowers behind his back. "What flowers? I was looking for you, actually."
She raises an eyebrow, incorporating. Of course he's going to confess in the middle of a hallway where everyone could watch. Of course she's seen the flowers. Of course nothing goes as planned. "Looking for me? On Valentine's Day? With a bouquet of flowers?" She crosses her arms, leaning back. He can't tell if he's hallucinating the blush rising in her cheeks, but he hopes he isn't.
"…Yes. Just before you know, even if you don't feel the same, please, please, tell Keyleth you do. It's for the greater good, trust me," he mumbles. He must look crazy to her.
"A greater good? What are you going to say?" She chuckles, smiling at him with a surprising fondness in her eyes.
"I'm—I may—Imayhavefalleninlovewithyouiloveyoualotwouldyoubemygirlfriendandthisisbecauseofkeylethandvax— He blurts, trying not to choke with his own words, closing his eyes tight. His chest feels like it's about to burst.
Vex’s eyes widen, breath hitching. This time, she's definitely blushing. She tilts her head. “Repeat that, please?” Her voice is small, hopeful, not daring to fully believe it.
He remembers he's carrying the bouquet for her, and holds her in front of him. “This is for you. I…Will you be my Valentine's?” he smiles nervously, awaiting her reaction.
She blinks once, twice, thrice, processing everything. A small smile appears in her face, cheeky and beaming. “Yes,” she simply says, voice still as tiny as she grabs the bouquet. “I would like that.”
Definitely not the reaction he expected, but good enough. Enough to make Keyleth confess, anyway. “Oh! Well, that's great. I—Mph!”
Before he can finish the sentence, Vex’s lips are on his, kissing him senseless. The flowers are somewhere on the floor, but he couldn't care less, hands flying to grab her hips. “You stupid, perfect man…” she says, barely allowing him to breathe between kisses. Not that he's complaining, he could die at this instant and his only regret would be not kissing her harder. “Of course I would love to be your Valentine! I was actually heading to your house to ask you myself, I even had a letter, but I guess we both had the same idea," she laughs, taking the envelope from her purse.
“I wouldn't mind reading it anyways,” he says with a sheepish smile.
“Oh, no, I'm sorry, you've missed the opportunity—” She teases playfully, taking a step back. When she's distracted, he kisses her again, pressing her against the wall. As soon as she relaxes, he takes the letter from her hand, trying to open it before she gets again. She kisses him once more, doing the same thing and stealing the envelope.
“If you want it, you're going to have to catch me!” she shouts, rushing inside her apartment. He had forgotten they were on a hallway, where any neighbor could have seen them, but he doesn't mind. What's done it's done, so he rushes behind her, shutting the door as he enters. This is the most fun he's had in months.
An hour later, Keyleth receives a voice message. She's very surprised, to say the least, to hear Vex’s voice instead of Percy’s. “So, Keyleth, dearest,” she says in the audio, “he’s very, very in love with you, trust me, he talks about you a lot. He just sucks at expressing it. So go for it, Kiki!”
“I told you so…” Percy coos, sounding as if he's just waken up from a nap. Given how they're probably in a bed, he's close enough to the phone for his voice to sound perfect, and the fact they both sound so happy together makes her glance at the letter in her nightstand. She can figure out what they just did and the reason they're both in bed together and sounding sleepy. Guess she'll have to accomplish her part of the deal…