Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What are you working on, darling?”

Percy paused after moving the more sensitive materials to where they were unlikely to cause an explosion and twisted on his seat to look at the doorway. Vex’ahlia was framed by the door, light flooding from the hallway outside to cast her in gold silhouette where she leaned against it. She had changed out of her armor, leaving a soft shape created by her casual attire and the long lines of the half-elven ranger’s body.

Rather than answer, Percy blinked owlishly in the light until he eyes adjusted enough to make out more than the shape of her head and pick out features. Vex was confusing enough when he could see her face and impossible for him when he couldn’t.

“Well no wonder you wear glasses, Percy,” Vex moved into his space without hesitating, crossing the distance on silent feet.

How long had she been standing there watching him?

Instead of merely stepping into his workshop and looking around, as any other member of Vox Machina would have, Vex’ahlia stepped behind Percy and reached over his shoulder to turn up the light from the lamp he was working under. “You’re going to go blind one day if you keep this up.”

She was so close that Percy couldn’t help but reach up to put one hand on her hip.

How long had it been that his relationship with Vex was different than anyone else in Vox Machina? It had seemed so slow at first, Vex showing him the usual signs of affection she showered on all of them; playful kisses, siccing Trinket on him and playful bets on feats of skill. Sometimes Percy was convinced it was entirely in his head, most of the best things in his life were. That her touches lingered ever so slightly and came up with excuses to come and check on him; he had justified those as reasonable since the feast with the Briarwoods.

He’d dreamt of Vex while Orthax had been bleeding across his mind. Cruel dreams that he chose not to linger on the bloody, awful ends of.

She was so close that Percy couldn’t help but reach up to put one hand on her hip.

Since they had first adopted him, Percy had come to accept Vox Machina as chosen family. But there was a distance he had chosen to maintain, emotionally and physically. When one has been betrayed by teachers and lost one’s entire family it was difficult to let people close. Being the little shits that they are, everyone had pushed his limits until he finally began to let them in. Vex’ahlia had pushed the hardest, intruding on his solitude and his personal space. But what was the exact moment he had no longer minded. What was the exact moment he had began to anticipate her presence in the workroom? At campfires? Anticipate and hope and feel guilty for wanting something that brought him pleasure.

She was so close that Percy couldn’t help but reach up to put one hand on her hip.

Even when he was aware of the change of the way he responded to Vex, it was all internal. The cool exterior and guarded expression of the third son of the de Rollo family kept his feeling contained. Internalized. Fed to the inner demons that had nothing to do with Orthax.

She was so close that Percy couldn’t help but reach up to put one hand on her hip.

If he caused someone emotional pain it was himself by denying the magnetism between himself and the ranger. Scars for his heart that would match the lightning scars on his arm and chest; it would remind him to keep that wall up, to keep from letting anyone get close to him.

She was so close that Percy couldn’t help but reach up to put one hand on her hip.

Vex’ahlia grew perfectly still, dangerously still, and Percy brought his eyes up from the point of contact where his hand was on her hip. He couldn’t read her face and his heart skipped a beat in his chest before hammering fit to burst green. Percy jerked his hand free like he had been burned before she could say any of the words he imagined on her lips.

“Put it back,” Vex said, voice deceptively soft.

Percy swallowed and continued to look up at her, his blue eyes looking through the lenses of his glasses. Slowly and deliberately this time, Percy put his hand back on her hip.

“Only with my permission, darling,” she said, hardly louder than a whisper. She placed her hand over his, keeping it there.

Vex had started to wonder how long it would be until she got through Percival’s defenses. Try though she might, Percy had kept her at arm’s length. He had finally begun to accept casual affection, cool affection, the affection of friends and siblings. Sometimes she imagined that he responded to her flirtations but it may have been a fancy of her imagination rather than something that meant anything.

She leaned down, lips so close Percy could feel her breath and she could feel his, her grey eyes gazing into his. “You are mine, not the other way around.”

For the second time Percy jerked his hand away, pulling out from under her hand. His back straightened up from the unconscious lean toward Vex’ahlia until his spine struck the table behind him.

You are mine.

His blue eyes darkened and the smell of smoke began to build in the workroom. It seemed Percy had never belonged to himself.

“Percy,” Vex’s hands were warm on his face and the darkness cleared so that he was able to look at her again. “Darling you’re safe here.”

“Vex,” he spoke, the acrid smell of smoke on his breath.

“Shh,” she put a finger on his lips, silencing him with sound that wasn’t even a word.

He grew outwardly still while internally his heart was racing.

“What is it?” Vex asked.

Percy didn’t answer, as she hadn’t moved her finger from his lips and he didn’t particularly want her to. She smiled and traced his lower lip with the tip of her finger before removing it so that he could speak.

He cleared his throat and couldn’t remember what it was he had meant to say, lost in looking at her face instead.

“Who do you belong to, Percival?” Vex asked, holding his open collar and looking down at him imperiously.

Her. That was the right answer. That he belonged to Vex. But the echo of Orthax’s voice wouldn’t let him give the correct answer and his voice broke when he spoke. “Me. I belong to myself?” Percy meant to say it like a statement but it came out as a question.

“If you like,” Vex slowly pulled her fingers through his collar before letting him go and stepping back.

Percy swallowed and kept his expression as haughty as he could manage in the situation.

Letting her leave was the hardest thing he’d ever done.

***

If Percy thought he was safe from Vex’ahlia’s advances and interest, he was wrong. He knew he could have told her to stop at any time and she would; but he enjoyed the attention, enjoyed that she felt he had some amount of value.

They were rarely left exclusively in one another’s company, it was one of the benefits of travelling with Vox Machina and the occasional bonus person. Lady Kima had joined them for the first leg of what would likely be a difficult journey collecting the Vestiges of Divergence.

“Perce, the fuck you done to your hand?” she asked in the evening when he’d pulled Diplomacy off to clean some of her inner workings.

“What?” He blinked owlishly in the soft light the lanterns cast. He had gotten so used to the branching scars on his hand an arm; so like the lightning that had created them.

Lady Kima gruffly grabbed his arm and unbuttoned the sleeve of his shirt to take a look without waiting for him to really respond to her question.

“Here, Percy, darling take your jacket off,” Vex stepped behind him and pulled his coat from his shoulders.

Anyone else and he would have rejected them out of annoyance. Vex’ahlia took him by surprise though and lightly ran her fingernails down his neck in the process of helping him out of the coat. His eyes half-closed at her touch while he could feel a blush turning the tips of his ears red that she was doing this in front of people.

Percy shrugged his shoulders and let the jacket slide down onto the bench he was sitting on. Caught between Vex and Lady Kima and he would have had a better chance keeping Trinket from forcing him out of his jacket.

“It’s a Lichtenberg scar,” he said, eyes following Vex’s as she rolled his sleeve up to his elbow.

“A what?” the halfling paladin didn’t sound impressed by the fancy name, nor by the thick scar which wound up his arm like a pink snake with little lightning shaped branches until nerly his whole arm was pink with scar tissue.

“A Lichtenberg-”

Vex slid a hand up along his spine and Percy sat upright and stopped speaking while his thoughts scattered.

“Ahem. It’s a scar from using and charging Diplomacy. They form when you’re too close or are struck by lightning,” Percy finally explained after marshalling his thoughts.

Lady Kima gave him a look like he was crazy and released his arm. She mumbled something about insane tinkerers and left the room. Percy was left gazing at the scar on his arm and slowly flexing his fingers to test that he still had a full range of motion in his hand.

Somehow he missed that he and Vex were alone. Vex’ahlia leaned against his arm, chest soft and close and pressed against his arm with neither armor nor coat between them. His snapped straight as one of her arrows when Vex blew a breath of soft air against his ear.

“Vu- Vex,” he stammered, eyes wide and heart beating. The door was open and anyone could walk in at anytime.

“Yes darling?” she asked. He could feel her breath on his ear and tried not to imagine how close her lips were to the sensitive skin.

He’d had something to say and lost track of the words. When Vex moved away from leaning against his arm, Percy wasn’t sure if he should be relieved or disappointed. She didn’t leave him be though, it wasn’t often they had time alone and she wasn’t going to pass up that opportunity. Her hands slid down his arm, using the pads of her fingers to trace the scar tissue to the tips of his fingers.

The scar tissue wasn’t nearly as sensitive as the rest of his skin on that arm, so when Vex then traced back up his arm, starting at the tip of his index finger, this time running her fingers along the unscarred skin, Percy gasped audibly.

She was so close.

Percy reached toward Vex and and caught her hand in his and began to lean closer. Vex’s eyes narrowed and he knew he had overstepped again.

“Who do you belong to, Percival?” Vex asked again, not the first time since she had originally asked it.

He knew how to respond. He knew, looking at her perfect lips, that he belonged to her. He, Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III, belonged to Vex’ahlia. But this time, like every other time, he couldn’t bring himself to admit or accept it.

“I belong to myself,” he said, successfully making a statement rather than a question. It wasn’t a strong statement, but it was a statement.

“Are you so certain?” Vex asked, drawing her fingertips along the scars on Percy’s neck that were a continuation of those on his arm.

He couldn’t answer, not while she was touching him like that. It was cheating. She reached his ear with her fingers; the last branch of lightning scar ended just behind it. With the slightest flex of her fingers, Vex instead dug her fingernails into the delicate skin there. Percy couldn’t stop the small, mewling whimper that brought a smile to Vex’s lips.

“Percival, darling, you know perfectly well you can ask me to stop anytime,” Vex said in a low voice as she retracted her hand.

He swallowed and shifted just enough so his trousers were no longer putting pressure on something else that had responded to Vex’s teasing. She stood and threw his jacket over her shoulders before she too left him alone with his thoughts and a barely disguised erection.

Chapter Text

He had to squint in the dim light to make out the faint, faded ink of his old notes. If Percy was going to recreate some form of Pepperbox he would need to transcribe them to make them usable again. His white hair gleamed ever so slightly, catching the light and reflecting it where Vex’ahlia was watching him quietly. Once again, he had completely missed that they had been left alone together; Vax and Keyleth had gone off to have a quiet conversation together and Grog had dragged Scanlan, Kima, Zahra and Kashaw to find dinner before they attempted to delve the Champion’s Tomb.

She was starting to think it was intentional. She also suspected it was entirely absent minded on his part, which was an endearing trait to Vex. Still watching Percy with half-lidded eyes, Vex stretched luxuriously and got to her feet.

“Percival, we’re supposed to be on watch you know,” Vex said as she dropped back into a seated position beside him this time.

“Oh. Vex,” he lowered his notes and looked at her. “Are- oh. It’s just us, again?”

Percy closed his book of notes with a snap and busied himself with it to keep from meeting Vex’ahlia’s eyes. Her damnable eyes and the way she looked at him. They way he just wanted to fall into them and become nothing and be completely hers.

“Mmmhmm,” she said, voice low and soft and intoxicating.

“Vex, what-” he stopped himself, about to ask what it was they were doing. She was in the process taking the book from his hands, fingers ghosting along the skin of both hands. Percy swallowed what he had been about to say, unwilling to break the spell.

The half-elf traced the pink scar on one hand, up to the cuff of his coat. For all that he was a nobleman, Percy had rough and calloused fingers. She relished thinking about them against her skin when he finally gave in to her.

“Take off your jacket,” Vex ordered, taking her hands from his when he’d just started to lean towards her.

Percy responded without thinking about it, sliding his coat from his shoulders. Vex smiled and took up his hands again. “Good boy.”

He blinked, startled by something to simple as a compliment. His heart beat against his chest as though it could break free and submit to Vex’ahlia for him since he was still struggling not to. Vex smiled, watching his expression alter ever so slightly as she told him he was good, the softening around his eyes and the parting of his lips. Percy had good lips, full, kissable. Vex pulled him by his arms toward herself until he was in kissing range.

They kissed, all softness and the taste of Vex on Percy’s lips.

“Percival,” Vex said, breath touching his lips as she moved a hair’s breadth away from him.

He knew the question she was going to ask and dreaded it, hoped she wouldn’t ask it. Percy knew the answer but the third son of Whitestone couldn’t belong to anyone but his family, himself or a vengeance demon. Certainly not the bastard daughter of Syngorn. He didn’t deserve her.

“Who do you belong to?” she finished the question.

Her eyes were dilated so dark he thought he could fall into them. “I… ah…”

Vex leaned forward again and caught his lower lip between her teeth, pulling just hard enough to make him whimper and leave him panting when his lip slipped free with a sharp pinch. She stood up and Percy panicked, he hadn’t actually answered and she was leaving. The look must have shown on his face because Vex bent down and cupped his cheeks before kissing him again.

“Darling it’s okay, I won't leave unless you tell me to,” she reassured him.

The reassurance was short lived, when Vex took both of his hands and placed them on her hips. He had permission to touch her and he couldn’t get his breathing to slow down; especially as she settled to straddle his lap. He knew he already halfway to an erection before she stood up. The shift of her weight, soft and warm and firm all at once on her powerful body, and it was apparent to both of them that part of him wanted to be hers.

Percy’s fingers tightened on Vex’s hips; part of him was afraid that if he moved them she would simply fly away like a figment of his imagination. Like smoke. To his surprise, Vex made a pleasurable little noise as he gripped her hips.

“Vex,” he half-whispered her name, leaning closer in the hopes that she would kiss him. Tell him again that he had been good. Ask him who he belonged to so that he could give the correct answer.

She gave him a wicked smile and gently prized his left hand from her hip. His lips parted, almost ready to ask her to stay, not to leave please don’t abandon him, but she turned his hand to kiss where the lightning scars crossed his wrist. His lips were already parted and he groaned, a guttural sound that had nothing to do with words and simply with want.

“Percival,” she kissed and nipped her way from his wrist to his palm.

He tried to make words several times but could only manage soft gasps and moans until she licked where the scar crossed over the knuckle at the base of his middle finger. Percy whimpered again, eyes following the torturous path of her lips.

“Darling,” Vex continued.

She was going to ask and he didn’t know the answer he would give. He was hers, utterly and completely but something nagged at the back of his mind. He’d trusted others, belonged to a family that was all but gone, belonged to a city that had no need of him, belonged to a demon who had used him and attempted to make him kill what was left of his family.

Vex licked the tip of his finger and he whined when her lips closed around the digit.

“You are mine,” she said it like a statement of fact, leaving his spit-shining finger where he could feel her breath on it as she asked the question.

You are mine.

“No,” he said, still panting and still full of wanting for her. Smoke, like bile, he could taste it in his throat but he kept it contained, he kept the memory of Orthax below the surface.

Vex looked started and sat up slightly, not sure she had heard him correctly. Guilt washed over Percival in waves and he took both his hands from her. “Stop. I don’t- I don’t want this. I am mine, do you understand? Just. Stop.” She would have abandoned him or betrayed him eventually, it was better to put a stop to it now. His voice broke on the last word, raw emotion burning and painful in his chest. There was a reason he didn’t show his emotions, had kept them all at a distance from himself.

What hurt most was the change in Vex’s expression. Surprise turned instantly to contrition and she shot off his lap like he was on fire. “Percy, darling. I- I’m sorry I thought-”

No, Vex wasn’t like his tutors or his demons. She stepped away from him, giving him the very space he had asked for. It was too late now and he couldn’t belong to her. Would belong to no one because he was worthless.

“Was somebody shouting?” Zahra stepped into the light, tail lashing in agitation. Percy’s voice had carried into the woods around the Loch and she had come to make sure the campsite wasn’t under attack.

“Oh,” Vex managed a semblance of her normal smile. She moved around Percy and placed his jacket across his lap before the tiefling could notice his discomfort. All without touching him. “Everything’s fine. I ah… I’m going to go find Vax.”

And then she was gone, slipping off into the night and leaving Percy to face his demons and his guilt.

***

When Vex died it was entirely his fault. He kept reliving her body striking the ground, those blank and lifeless eyes looking at nothing. Percy had been the one who he reached for that damned armor without checking. Vex died and it was his fault.

She had died thinking he didn’t want her.

She had died thinking she had been forcing something on him he didn’t want.

She had died. Vex had died and it was Percy’s fault.

He should have been the one to die, and if Percy could have traded places with her he would have. He could still feel the awful tension in his chest while Kashaw had been casting the spell to bring her back, the tight feeling in his chest hadn’t dissipated even though Vex was alive again. They hadn’t really spoken since he had told her to stop; nothing that mattered and nothing that could make up for him saying he didn’t want her.

And then they had returned to Whitestone. The place and the family he did belong to. Percy buried himself in the bowels of the castle on arrival. Anything that would assuage his guilt for letting her die and letting her die disappointed.

Vex found herself looking for answers and for the third son of the de Rolos. She knew he was avoiding her and she knew he was likely doing something stupid out of guilt. Probably building another cursed weapon that was going to get himself killed proper. Idiot boy. But even if she had been wrong and he didn’t want her like that, she still cared about Percy and had to make sure he wasn’t slowly self-destructing where no one was there to keep an eye on him. Of course he was.

“No, I shan't open anything worse than a pickle jar without you, I’m just going to find Percival,” she assured Vax.

Vax swore under his breath and mentioned some choice things she could do to Percy when she found him. Some of them were things she had considered but probably not in the way Vax meant.

“You can tell him that yourself,” she promised and reached out to hug her twin bother close to herself. “I’m not going anywhere and I love you.”

“Just be careful, Stubby, okay? I can’t lose you again.” Vax kissed her on the forehead and walked away rather than let her past his defenses beyond that point.

She watched his retreating back and leaned against Trinket. What did he think would happen in Whitestone, it was one of the few safe places they had right now. She would endeavor not to stub her toe.

The bear made a whining noise and snuffled against her ear. He hadn’t wanted to leave her alone for an instant since the Champion’s Tomb. Vex buried her face against his thick neck ruff and whispered soft reassurances to him. Keyleth said he’d felt her death almost like his own; their connection had severed and he had been alone. It was sweet and she treasured how precious her big baby bear was but it had made taking a bath in the small private bath in her quarters difficult to say the least. Plus wet bear was one of the worst smells.

“Trinket, can you find Percival?” she asked his neck.

Trinket snuffled against her, then started to move down the hallway. Vex’ahlia stumbled as the solid shape she had been leaning against moved, stubbing her toe as she regained her balance.

“Son of a-” Vex winced and limped a few steps after Trinket until her toes recovered and she was able to walk normally.

She was starting to think there had been a miscommunication and they were just aimlessly walking the castle when Trinket stopped outside a door. Vex patted his neck and shuffled around him to listen at the door. She had promised not to open anything without Vax but surely a door in Whitestone was okay. Vex recalled the death orb deep beneath them and elected to make sure there were no obvious traps on the door.

It was possible to hear someone on the other side of the door-- someone crying. Vex knocked on the door and the sounds on the other side grew muffled.

“Percy? Darling, it’s me, I just… I just want to talk,” Vex called through the thick, wooden door loud enough to be heard on the other side.

There was no answer but the lack of response spoke volumes.

“Darling, please let me in? I’ll pick the lock if I have to,” she drummed her fingers on the door, leaning closer as if that would influence him to open the door.

More silence on the other side of the door. Vex tested the handle and found that it turned in her hand without resistance. She whispered a small apology to Vax and opened the door.

“Trinket, wait here and make sure no one comes in, okay?” Vex closed the door behind her, trying not to feel too guilty about the anxious bear face watching her from the other side as long as possible.

The smell of burned flesh greeted Vex when she entered the room and she winced at the strength of it. Percy was huddled in the corner of the room, his jacket flung in a heap on the far side of the room. His sleeve was a tatter of burned fabric up to his elbow and the scars on his arm were livid and raw.

“Percy what are you doing?” Vex crossed to him and dropped to her knees to be on the same level as him.

He attempted to scramble back, clutching the burned arm to his chest. Diplomacy was on the floor within easy reach and Vex wasn’t sure if he’d hurt himself intentionally or if something had gone wrong with the weapon.

“Shh, shh Percy,” Vex put her hands on his thighs so that the added contact might calm him down; it had always helped when Trinket had been a cub and she’d been training him. She pulled her hands back almost as soon as she had touched him though, suddenly remembering the last time they had been alone. “Darling, please let me heal your arm.”

His face, uncharacteristically streaked with sweat, soot, tears and what might be blood, searched her eyes for any sign of recrimination. Blame. Anger. All the things he deserved and had directed at himself already. Percy hadn’t meant to discharge Diplomacy on himself but it seemed the most just apt punishment for him; one of his own invention. Of all the people to find him it was Vex. His tears weren’t for the pain in his arm, they were for the level to which his spirits and worth had sunk.

“Vex, I-” he struggled for words and despite the layer of filth on his face, Percy’s face began to settle into the familiar, neutral and safe facade it was used to maintaining. Reveal nothing and he would not give anyone something they could use against him. “I’m so sorry.”

She reached between them and cupped his cheek with one hand and used her thumb to smear tears through the soot. “Darling I would have done the same thing.” Well, she would have checked for traps first, she had been checking for traps. “Please let me heal your arm.”

They held that gaze for a long time before Percy nodded without looking away. She didn’t even move her hand, letting the natural magic flow up into the hand already on his cheek. Tendrils of soft green moved from her hand to his skin and the smell of burnt skin was replaced by the memory of sun in a meadow and the soft rustle of spring leaves. Percy shivered under her hand, spring seemed strange and out of place during the winter in Whitestone, deep in the castle where the stone was cold and hard. Nothing like Vex, her hand felt hot against his cheek and he placed his own over hers just as she was about to pull it away.

His skin was whole again, the soft green of her magic coursing down the Lichtenberg scar and turning both their eyes green when it reached their joined hands.

“Vex, I was wrong,” Percy spoke first, though the light from her spell had faded long ago. “I- I’m yo-”

“Shh,” she silenced him again, using her other hand to put a finger on his lips again. “Percival you-” Vex didn’t want him to give in to her simply because he was afraid of losing her again. “You don’t have to decide right now. You’ve had a terrible shock.”

The moment was broken when they both laughed, Percy casting a rueful glance where Diplomacy still lay. Percy leaned against the wall behind him while Vex leaned back against her hands, it really wasn’t that funny but when the tension broke it has a cascading effect and left them both giddy. Somehow in teasing Percy to the breaking point, Vex had forgotten they were friends. After the sacking of Emon they had all forgotten how to laugh to some extent.

It was a long time before the last little giggles died off and they were left looking at one another.

“I haven’t just decided anything,” Percy said, becoming quite serious again. He had known for weeks now that he was Vex’s, ever since she had first told him.

Vex didn’t interrupt this time, watching him with new building anticipation.

“I knew… I have known for a long time Vex’ahlia. That I belong entirely to you,” he said, voice growing husky with emotion he wasn’t used to expressing.

She smiled at him and Percy felt his heart jump into his throat. “Say it again.”

Percy blushed and sat upright when Vex moved closer to him. She placed her hands on his thighs once more but with a completely different expression and emotion than before. It was like being touched by fire. Percival was exquisitely aware of her touch and couldn’t actually find words anymore.

She was so close.

Vex licked his lower lip and Percy’s breath shuddered against her. He started to reach up toward Vex but she knocked his hands back down before he could.

“Mmmn Vex,” he arched up toward her but found Vex infuriatingly out of his reach.

“Say it,” she instructed, voice getting hard and sending goosebumps racing across his skin.

“I am yours,” he repeated, looking up at her with dilated eyes.

Vex leaned down to kiss him and though it ached he kept his palms flat on the floor beneath him. She didn’t taste any different for having died and come back but the knowledge of what he had nearly lost and the sweet serenity of submitting lent a certain need to the kiss. She broke off kissing him to unbutton his vest and get it off his shoulders to throw over toward his coat.

“Does this door lock, darling?” Vex asked. As much as she trusted Trinket to do his best, he would let nearly anyone in Vox Machina into the room for a good scritching or a treat. And while she wasn’t thrilled about the idea of their party finding out about this new relationship, it was the idea of someone interrupting the tenuous beginnings of it that she didn’t want.

“Ah, wh-?” Percy slowly parsed her question, distracted by the act of her lips making words.

Vex stood up and Percy made a small noise of objection but didn’t try to keep her. “Percy, wash your face.” She threw a skin of water at him and walked to the door. There was a lock and she slammed it into the frame. It wouldn’t do much to keep Vax’ildan out but it made her feel more secure.

When she turned around again Percy had taken his ruined shirt off and was using it with the water to wash the worst of the grime from his face and hands. She followed the line of his scar up his arm to his shoulder with her eyes. Percy rolled his shoulders, keeping his face from showing the tension there- ever present since the moment he had fled Whitestone. There was a clatter of something hitting the ground and Percy looked up. Vex was kicking off the last bit of her clothing and he had the rather enjoyable view of lean muscles, soft curves and dark hair. He dropped the waterskin and cool water splashed up to soak his pant leg.

“See anything you like?” Vex asked with a smile.

Percy mutely nodded; he didn’t trust himself to actually create words that made sense. His mind was fairly blank, focussed on the work of art that was the half-elf ranger before him.

Vex indicated with one finger that he ought to stand and then motioned for him to stop when he started to move toward her. She placed her hand with the fingers splayed on his stomach, watching the muscles tense beneath her hand.

“You are mine,” she said in a soft voice, the other hand reaching up to pull Percy down toward herself.

He knew that Vex would simply push his hands off, so for a lack of anywhere else to put them, he put them behind his back. She rather liked how he looked that way but kissed him before making any comment. Vex leaned onto her toes, pressing her bare skin against his as their lips parted and a very careful exploration began.

Percy let himself be Vex’s, gave up fighting her and was happy to let her decide what he was. He was happy she was alive and all these feelings were strange in his chest. There was no echo of the demon following her words, just a thrill to hear that she wanted him.

When she bit his lip, it was hard enough to draw blood and Percy made a keening, wanting noise with his hands still behind his back. Vex unbuttoned his trousers and he grew very still to watch what she was doing. A small part of him still expected to be kicked aside and every step forward was met with baffled acceptance by Percival.

“You’re being so good,” Vex said.

He brought his eyes back up to her face, breathing heavily. Her words brought a thrill of pleasure to him, somewhere in the pit of his stomach. It was mirrored by the feeling of her hand easing into the front of his pants, but that act brought a low groan from him.

“Please, Vex,” Percy pleaded while his eyes fluttered closed. He, the third son of Whitestone begged Vex just to let him touch her.

“Please, Vex, what?” she asked, pushing him back toward the low, wooden bench in the room.

“Please I,” he moaned as her fingers wrapped around his dick, carefully working it out of his pants.

“Who are you to make requests of me?” Vex asked.

The back of his knees struck the bench and Percy fell backwards onto it. He had just enough warning to avoid striking his head. He found himself looking up at Vex, wide-eyed and open to her.

“I’m nothing,” he said, answering her question. “I’m worthless.”

Vex’s expression darkened when Percy talked about himself and put her hand on his chest, pushing him back on the bench. “Then you don’t get to make any requests of me.”

It wasn’t the right answer. He began to think of a better one but forgot as Vex drew a fingernail down his belly. She tugged at the waist and he obeyed the unspoken instruction, picking up his hips so she could tug them down.

“I ah- ahn I’m,” Percy struggled to make words, he was used to being eloquent but Vex had rendered him speechless by running her finger up the shaft of his cock from base to tip.

“What’s that Percival?” Vex asked, straddling his waist and leaning over him.

He made a noise that was hardly suited to a nobleman, a pleading noise soft in his throat. Vex took pity on him and leaned down for a fierce kiss. She found the taste of Percy delightful, raking her fingernails along his shoulders and down to his hands. He moaned something that sounded like Vex’s name as she brought his hands to her body.

Percy slid his fingers along the soft skin of her leg up to her waist and then hesitated, looking to her for permission.

She pushed his hands back down, “Maybe when you’re not calling my things worthless.”

His hands slid back down along her stomach, thumbs trailing into the dark hair. Vex closed her eyes head rolling back as he found a warm, wetness between her legs. She made a sound of approval and leaned to give him better access. When Percy attempted to sit up though she sat up to push him back down.

“Who do you belong to?” Vex asked, reaching behind her as she shifted her weight.

Her eyes were dark and he could have fallen in, and couldn’t figure out how long ago he had. Was it in his workroom? Was it when they battled the Briarwoods? Was it when they had first accepted him into their dysfunctional family?

“Vex’ahlia,” he said, watching her position herself above him, body tense with anticipation.

“Very ahn, very good,” Vex congratulated him, her back arching as she felt Percy slide into her.

Percy’s hands found her hips again and his hips pushed up to meet hers. She used her hands to make sure Percival stayed in his place, clearly in control of the grind of their hips together. For all that Percy was carefully in control of his emotions during most of his life, he was very expressive and vocal in the act of sex. Vex leaned down to kiss him, if only to make sure they didn’t alert the entire castle what they were doing.

The pace picked up and their hands linked together, fingers intertwined. “Vex, I’m-”

“That- good,” she managed, feeling the tension building in her stomach as she too was close to climaxing.

Percy clutched at her and thrust a few more times, and she could feel the heat of him orgasming. Her back arched again, and Percy put his hands behind her to ensure she didn’t fall. He could feel her powerful muscles tense and relax before she collapsed against him.

Vex pushed him back down one more time but this time lay atop him, sweaty and content. He waited a few breaths before wrapping his arms around Vex, pleased to find that she didn’t push them off and instead fitted against him warm and content.

***

“Hey, Percy, what happened to your lip?” Grog leaned closer to look at Percy’s puffy, swollen lip. “Did Vax punch you?”

With a shirt on, no one would have seen the fingernail marks on his shoulders and arms. Percy smiled politely and touched the sore spot where Vex had bitten him. “Well, actually-”

“I did,” Vex said cheerfully. She dropped into a chair nearby and grabbed the nearest food.

“Does everybody get to punch Percy?” Grog’s enthusiasm for this project was obvious.

“I don’t think so,” Vex answered again, sipping at her morning coffee. “I think that right is reserved for me, right Percival?”

“Uh, Yes,” Percy said, only the tips of his ears blushing. “Property of Vex’ahlia, right here.” He pointed at his lip, presumably where Vex had punched him.

Grog made a disappointed sound and settled back into his seat as the rest of Vox Machina began to drift into the kitchen.