Vaxleth. Wistful, pining fluff. lol what's canon? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
(I originally meant to post this for Fluffuary, but uh, that failed. Prompt was "wearing/stealing each other's clothes.")
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They hadn’t had the keep all that long, but it was interesting seeing how everyone fell into certain… habits, now that they had a place to call their own. Vax was reluctant to call it a “home”, he and Vex didn’t have a good track record with those, but something that wasn’t a random tavern or the most comfortable piece of ground they could find.
So they settled in, fell into routines and carved out their own spaces. Pike had her chapel, a place for quiet reflection. And even Vax had found something serene about it, the few times he had ventured inside when it was otherwise unoccupied. Or maybe soothing might be the word for it. He supposed that was fitting for the Everlight, and for Pickle.
Percy had a space to himself in the basement, to tinker and build and do whatever it was in the nine hells he did with all those hours sequestered away in his makeshift smithy. Likely things Vax didn’t want to know about.
HIs sister and Trinket had taken to the woods nearby, not at all surprising. Four walls didn’t always suit her, or him for that matter, so she escaped to nature with her steadfast companion. Grog found his space in the training yard and the kitchen, again not surprising. A goliath could work up a mighty appetite hitting practice dummies so hard they practically disintegrated. Scanlan had taken over the laboratory for a myriad of things, and Vax didn’t want to begin to question what any one of those things might be.
Vax himself hadn’t claimed any space as his own, but he hadn’t really needed to. He spent time with his sister, and it was like they were kids again. Or he would train with Grog when the mood hit, and he was feeling particularly stupid. Sometimes he browsed through Scanlan’s spell scrolls, and Percy’s blueprints -- although most of the time he didn’t understand it. And he had plenty of time alone in the chapel, when it was needed.
Of course with their settling in, came the patterns. Vex had always been a morning person, damn her. Rising with the dawn and getting her day underway. Percival tended to burn the midnight oil, especially when a new idea hit. Scanlan started his day -- or night -- whenever he felt like it. Grog was out during the day, not too early, and not too late. Pike liked the early morning, when it was still quiet and the sun hit the windows in the chapel.
In all this, Keyleth had taken over the atrium above the chapel. Plants, plants, and more plants. Every time he passed by, there was some other exotic bloom and a soft fragrance in the air. She at times was a morning person that surpassed even his sister, flitting about her plants in the darkest hours of the night, right before dawn when the sun was barely lighting the far horizon.
Vax knew this… because he just did. He never sought her out. He simply paid attention to his surroundings and those around him. So he learned things. Perfectly normal.
That morning (or was it still the night?) he just so happened to be awake, unable to sleep and too restless to stay in bed, so he had shoved back his blankets and left his room. Eventually he found himself at the atrium. It was always calming to watch Keyleth, flitting from plant to plant as she spoke to them; encouraging them and telling them how beautiful they were, how special each bloom was. It always struck Vax how her praise for the flowers flowed so easily, and yet she held only doubt herself. Especially when her praise could so easily be applied to her own self.
Keyleth was usually very predictable, and very easy to spot. A shock of red hair and bright green that didn’t match the natural flora. A radiant presence that he was forever drawn to, just like her precious plants and flowers were drawn to the sun.
Despite her predictability, Vax couldn’t seem to spot her tonight. He squinted into the darkness, trying to discern a flash of red or preternatural green. Not finding it, he took a step further into the atrium, eyes scanning the darkness. It was his second pass over the room when he saw it; a bit of unnatural darkness that seemed to eat up the light. He took a step forward then another and another, until he got close enough to what he realized was one of the benches, the light stone just barely visible in the darkness.
“Oh! Hi, Vax!” Keyleth’s voice came from the darkness, and she unfolded from the shadows. First it was her green skirts, then her pale hands, and finally her shock of red hair and glowing green eyes.
A cloak, Vax realized belatedly. A cloak darker than the night, a black deeper than any shadow. There were only so many cloaks like that in Emon, and he owned at least three of them. It was a slow realization that left him trying to catch his breath. That was his cloak. He must have been staring dumbly, because she started to fidget. Anxious as always.
“I hope you don’t mind?” she blurted. Her thin, pale fingers bunched in the fabric as she stared at the cloak spread across her knee rather than him. “It was just a little chilly, and I think you left this earlier--?”
“It’s fine, Kiki,” he said when he found his voice -- and his breath-- again. Vax took a quick step forward, finally putting himself directly in front of her, and pulled the cloak a little tighter around her shoulders. “You can steal anything of mine.”
Besides, she had already stolen something far more important than a cloak months ago. He couldn’t pinpoint the exact time, nor did he care to. Only that it had crept up on him, and he had no choice but to admit it. If only to himself.
He sat down next to her, not close enough to touch, but close enough that his fingers brushed against the hem of the cloak. A simple enough gesture; a grounding gesture.
“You can too,” she said, breaking the quiet that had settled between them. “I mean you can borrow anything of mine. Assuming you’d want to. Not sure how you’d look in green though.” Keyleth eyed him closely for a moment, appraising, before she realized exactly what she’d said and giggled nervously.
Vax laughed, bumped her shoulder with his. “I think I’ll leave it to you. Green suits you better anyway.” Vivid and full of life, it definitely suited her.
“Oh, um. Thank you.” She tucked a bit of errant red hair behind her ear and focused on her feet.
The windows beyond were just starting to come to life, the dim rays of the sun beginning to brighten the sky from deep navy to bruised purple. Vax would have happily sat with her until the sun rose and cast everything in a gentle orange-pink glow. Actually, he would have sat with her from sun up to sun down if that was what she wanted. Today, however, it seemed nerves had gotten the best of her and the silence stretched into something awkward.
Keyleth shot to her feet after a short while, and spoke to the plants in front of her rather than him. “I should get to bed. What’s Scanlan say? Gotta get my beauty sleep?” She laughed, a little awkwardly and completely endearing.
She turned, barely sparing him a glance, and made her way to the door. But she stopped abruptly several feet away, and backpedaled quickly. With a flourish she took off his cloak and laid it beside him gently. If he hadn’t known better he might have said reverently.
“Night Vax!” Then she was hurrying out of the room.
Vax picked up the cloak and folded it carefully. It smelled like her: like crisp air and fresh flowers and a subtle, sharp tang like right before a lightning strike. He took a deep breath despite himself. Gods, if any of the others could see him now.
He looked after her, even though she was long gone. “Goodnight, Kiki,” he whispered and wondered if he had told her she was already beautiful if she would have stayed.
