Chapter Text
The door to Keyleth’s room closes as quickly as it opens, accompanied by a loud groan that muffles once Vax has effectively shut himself out rather than join what Vex has considered to already be a very fun pregaming event.
“You’re so dramatic, Vax’ildan,” she sighs, swinging herself out of Keyleth’s lap and opening the door again to glare at her brother. “What’s your problem?”
“You, as usual,” he snarks back. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your snogging.”
Gilmore snorts behind him, and Vex just rolls her eyes and turns back around. “If you’d looked a little closer Keyleth and I were not snogging. Get your mind out of the gutter.” She gestures back at Keyleth, sitting upright in her bed surrounded by brushes and palettes. “I’m doing her makeup, and the best position for me happens to be her lap.”
“I’m sure Keyleth isn’t complaining about that,” Gilmore chuckles as he walks inside and immediately gravitates toward the two cases of hard lemonade that Vax had procured and then promptly hidden in Keyleth’s room since she was the only one without a roommate.
“No comment,” Keyleth mumbles with a brilliant blush as Vex mounts her again.
Vex takes a quick sip of her lemonade before setting it back on her girlfriend’s nightstand and getting back to work on her girlfriend’s makeup.
It makes her giddy just to think it to herself, let alone say it. She’s come to love introducing Keyleth to people, because every time she does she gets to say that, yes, this absolutely stunning, tall, strong, beautifully awkward and sweet girl is off limits to anyone except Vex’ahlia and anyone who tests that will be forced to become very intimate with her knife.
Percival joins them eventually, cracking his own lemonade and chatting with the other boys who have already completed their getting ready. Him and Vax look handsome in their suits, pretty reminiscent of their formal outfits, and Gilmore, of course, is showstopping in a deep purple thobe with gold accents that cinches at his wrists and appears tailored at the waist.
Keyleth is quiet for most of the conversation, simply listening so she doesn’t disturb Vex’s process it seems. She hums along to the music, giggles and laughs at the bantering and jokes, but otherwise seems content just to let Vex do her makeup.
At least, of course, until Vex needs to do her lipstick, at which point she is reminded of some story of her earlier years at the Academy.
She’s in the middle of the story when Vex checks her phone for the time and clicks her tongue. “I hate to cut you off, love, but I do have to finish your makeup. We’re on a bit of a time crunch if we want to make it to our reservation.”
Keyleth perks up and then nods. “Right! Yeah, go ahead.” And then she flings her arm out, pointing in Percy’s general direction. “And you! Remember where I was in my story for me.”
“What? Are Vex’s tits in your face so mystifying you’ll forget while she does your lipstick?”
“I have been told they’re hypnotizing,” Vex comments idly as she uncaps the pink-nude lipstick. “Pucker for me, dear.”
Keyleth follows her direction perfectly, as usual.
“This whole scenario sickens me,” Vax says as she swipes the wand over Keyleth’s lips.
“They’re in love, leave them be,” Gilmore chastises. “I remember when we were young and in love.”
“You’ve only been dating a few months longer than them,” Percy points out.
“And we’re the same age,” Vex adds.
Vax makes an affronted noise. “I am seven minutes older than you and it’d do you well to remember that fact!”
“I see why Scanlan pegged you as perfect for theatre when we first met,” she taunts over her shoulder before focusing back in on Keyleth, instructing her to press her lips together before she does the finishing touch: gloss. “Now,” she breathes, leaning in close as she sweeps the doe foot over Keyleth’s lips. “We can’t kiss until after we do pictures, got it? Once we get out of dinner I will not be holding myself back from you.”
Keyleth just stares up at her, eyes dark.
Vax gags behind them.
“Understood?” Vex asks brightly as she removes herself from Keyleth’s lap again and checks on her own makeup.
“Understood,” Keyleth breathes to no one in particular.
Gilmore catches the dazed look on her face and can’t stop laughing for several minutes after.
***
This time, Vex and Keyleth end up in bed together after the dance. It’s sweet, taking their dresses off clumsily and shimmying out of their underwear, backs facing each other, before turning back around once their pajamas are on. It’s become something of a routine for them, much as it makes Vex burn to know Keyleth is nude right behind her each time they do it, all freckles and warm skin, but tonight, especially tonight, Vex knows not to act on it. They’re tipsy, they’re in love, but she’s had enough of cliches in the past year. Not to mention Keyleth hasn’t made any moves to further their relationship since their mutual confessions.
She can wait, and she will take everything she gets in the meantime.
It’s familiar here. The bed that’s too small with a mattress a bit too soft to support them comfortably, the curtains that are a bit too sheer to keep the sun out of their eyes when they wake up in the morning, the itchy carpet that Vex loathes to stand on in bare feet. Keyleth’s room is like home to her now, with all of its little oddities and eccentricities making it feel so perfectly imperfect, much like them, and their path.
The year is almost over. Prom was the last blowout event they had planned, and in one week's time, they will be handed their (fake) diploma and be off to the rest of their lives.
Vex laces her fingers with Keyleth’s over her stomach.
College acceptances came out.
Of course, Vex and Keyleth both got into the Alabaster University. Most of the others from the Academy did too, even if Scanlan is choosing to go across town to Emon U because that’s where Pike and Grog are going, and Percival is returning to Whitestone for his undergrad. Something about their engineering specialties. Vex wasn’t really listening after Keyleth said with a soft smile and a look at Vex that she’d already submitted her intent to enroll to AU.
Gilmore helped them find an apartment through some contacts he had with people in the school. Apparently he had a friend whose mother once managed a complex in the Erudite Quarter, and their rent is a steal given Father’s budget for her and Vax.
Oh, and her, Keyleth, Vax, and Gilmore will be sharing said apartment.
She imagines there will be a lot of growth happening due to this, but she doesn’t mind. It just means she’ll be keeping a sandal handy in case she has to throw something at the wall connecting their bedrooms the minute she hears any creaking or, gods forbid, moaning.
Her eyes shut as she imagines everything they could get up to during their four years at AU. Keyleth making them all breakfast on the weekend with produce from her garden; Gilmore within spitting distance to help her with her fashion or her makeup; Vax playing video games in the living room while the rest of them cheer him on or boo him for dying to a boss. It makes her chest warm, or maybe that’s from Keyleth shifting their clasped hands up over her heart.
“Still awake, dear?” Vex breathes.
Keyleth hums and kisses the back of her neck.
“Can I get a word?” She teases.
“No,” Keyleth mumbles back.
Vex giggles and detangles their hands, turning over in Keyleth’s embrace to look up at her, smiling brilliantly at the sight of sleep tugging her eyes shut. She’s valiantly trying to keep them open, especially once Vex is looking at her, but the fight might be unwinnable.
“Did you have fun tonight?” Vex whispers, switching her gaze to Keyleth’s sternum, eyes connecting freckles like constellations as she waits for a response.
“Mhmmmm,” she hums back. “Cool people,” she whispers. “Good food… drinks…” One finger twirls a loosened curl of Vex’s hair around it. “There was this… beautiful girl.”
Vex grins and tucks herself closer to bury her delight. “Do I know her?”
Keyleth snorts. “Pretty well.”
“What’s she like?”
She resists the urge to look up as Keyleth takes a deep breath.
“She’s strong,” Keyleth begins. “Stubborn. Won’t hesitate to fight for herself or her family and friends.” She pauses for a moment. “Well, as long as the family isn’t her father.”
Vex purses her lips on a giggle.
“And she’s kind,” Keyleth continues. “People say she’s a bitch a lot, and some people are serious and some are joking.”
“Do you agree with that?”
“Sometimes.”
Vex’ brow furrows and she’s about to retort something smart, but Keyleth keeps speaking.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing, though.” She shrugs. “People think being a bitch is a bad thing, but with her it’s… it’s how she learned to survive. And people think her being sharp and quick means she’s a bitch, but she’s just… it’s how she communicates, y’know. For some people it’s too harsh, but I like it. It makes me laugh most of the time, because now… now I know when she’s joking when I didn’t before. And I’ve seen her do it meanly to other people, but it’s… it’s almost always for a good reason.”
“So she’s a bitch for the right reasons,” Vex asks, a touch of vulnerability in her voice. “Is that what I’m getting?”
Keyleth hums an affirmative. “I dunno if any of that made sense. ‘m still a little drunk.”
Vex kisses her chest. “It made… perfect sense to me, love.”
“Mm’kay.” Keyleth yawns. “You’re not perfect, Vex,” she whispers, kissing her head. “But you’re mine, and I’ll have you any way you’ll let me.”
Tears spring to her eyes as Keyleth settles again.
“Same to you, darling,” Vex whispers.
“Goodnight, Vex.”
“Goodnight, Keyleth. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
***
Graduation is the first time she’s seen Father since winter break.
He doesn’t look any different. Honestly, he’s looked the same since he picked her and Vax up in Byroden in his expensive car with his stupidly expensive suit and even more stupidly expensive accessories. The only difference may be he has more pronounced frown lines, and she says frown lines because she doesn’t think she’s ever seen him smile.
At least, not a genuine smile.
“Congratulations, Vex’ahlia. Vax’ildan,” he says with a curt nod at both of them, his hands clasped behind his back.
“Thank you, Father,” they chorus. It’s unintentional, and Vax elbows her, muttering something about copying him.
She responds with a stuck out tongue.
Father doesn’t appear amused by their antics, both of their backs straightening when he clears his throat.
Vex hates that she has to look up at her father when she speaks, but she does so nonetheless when she asks, “Where are we going for dinner?”
His face sours a little. “I thought you’d already been informed.”
“Informed of what?” Vax questions, a sharpness to his tone.
A blustery sigh escapes Father, and Vex feels her shoulders sink a little despite the vitriol burning in her gut.
“I’ve been called for urgent business at the palace,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “I won’t be able to take the two of you out for your celebration dinner.”
Vax’s knuckles crack from how tightly he’s clenching his fists.
Father sniffs at the sound, eye twitching as he reaches into his pocket. “I would offer to take you both another night, but I do have to return to Syngorn tomorrow, so I decided this would just be a better choice.” And he retrieves a card from his wallet, holding it out to Vax, pausing for a moment, before switching it into Vex’s space. “I’ll come by your apartment tomorrow to drop off my housewarming gift and pick this up. Consider this my formal apology that we cannot celebrate as— family.” He almost coughs out the last word.
Vex looks at the card and gingerly takes it between two fingers. Syldor Vessar is embossed in silver across the lower left of the shiny black piece of plastic that is meant to stand in for their father’s pride.
Vax peers over it from beside her.
“You’re giving us your credit card,” Vex says in disbelief.
“Yes,” he grits out. “Treat yourself to dinner, on me.” His nostrils flare for a moment. “Eat reasonably, and like I said, I’ll be by to pick it up tomorrow morning before my flight.”
Vex’s fingers curl around the card, a sweet grin spreading on her lips as she looks up at him again. “Of course, Father. We appreciate the thought.”
Vax nods slowly beside her, probably holding his tongue so he doesn’t offend him.
Father nods and claps them both awkwardly on the shoulder. “You both did good. I hope you’ll visit your sister sometime during the summer. She misses you both,” he says, and Vex can’t help but feel disgusted that he isn’t even pretending he wants to see them, even if she does mentally etch a visit to Syngorn into her summer agenda. Only for Velora, though.
Certainly not for Father.
He takes his leave, then, leaving them in the crowd to find their friends and their families.
Vex clutches the card close to her chest, and when they finally find Korrin with Keyleth as well as Gilmore and his parents, she grins widely and announces that she’s inviting them and the rest of their friends to dinner on behalf of Syldor Vessar, waving around his credit card with a cackling laugh.
The bastard decides he’s going to miss their graduation dinner?
She’ll make him regret it.
Scanlan whoops loudly when he finds out, and then starts directing them to one of the best eateries in the Cloudtop.
“Just to make the check extra juicy,” he whispers to Vex as they all hop in Keyleth’s van.
She can only laugh.
***
Keyleth thinks that life has a really weird way of making things work out in the end.
It’s not shocking that she and Vex come up as a topic the day they move into their apartment. Pike and Grog are assisting — doing most of the heavy lifting because, as Keyleth would find out, the twins aren’t the strongest pair — and Scanlan’s likely filled them in on the major happenings, but as soon as her dad and Gilmore’s parents left Pike sat Vex and her down on the balcony and demanded all of the details.
They tell her everything, and reliving the drama is a lot for her. She lets Vex do most of the telling, taking the time to process the things they went through.
From winter formal it was like a snowball effect. She was watching Vex grow into a different person. Not a new person, but a different one, and she interjects that sentiment into the conversation as she reaches for Vex’s hand. Vex didn’t turn over a new leaf as much as she began to work on herself and her flaws in a way to… ultimately make herself better in general, but to make herself feel worthy of Keyleth’s love, of loving her.
Keyleth tells her that she had a teeny crush from the moment she saw her in the headmaster’s office, from the moment she told Vex her skirt was too short and Vex decided to do nothing about it, and it only grew as they got to know each other.
Many things came to light in this conversation, namely some of the blurrier parts of their relationship.
Vex had been flirting initially to try and sleep with Keyleth.
The nude Vex had sent to her during her movie night with Percy had been accidental. Vex shared that she meant to send it to her at-the-time fuckbuddy, but kept her lips sealed on who in particular that was.
“What happened at formal?” Keyleth asks softly, in the spirit of learning things. “I know something happened. You just wouldn’t tell me.”
Vex breathes out softly, chuckling. “I don’t exactly know, darling. From my perspective… you made something of a move on me.”
Keyleth blinks. “I did?”
“You pulled my hand to your face like I held you the night we were high in the van and you told me that you never thought I’d see you ‘like this,” she says, using air quotes for the last two words. “And when I asked what you meant by that, you barely answered. All you said was ‘exactly like this’ as you fell asleep with my hand on your face. It drove me mental for weeks trying to figure out what you could’ve meant.”
“Why didn’t you say anything!” Keyleth exclaims. “We could’ve avoided so much— so much!”
“You didn’t remember,” Vex scoffs. “And when we got back from break you were being normal again.”
Keyleth smacks her palm to her forehead. “How was I being normal? I was in so deep at that point.”
“So was I! But I just figured your version of normal, at least around me, was being perpetually flustered.”
She opens her mouth to refute that, one finger raised in the air, before Pike silently reaches out to push her hand down.
Vex takes one look at the interaction and bursts into a fit of giggles.
And so the rest of the night goes, reminiscing and doing a tell-all for Pike. They both share their perspectives of Lyra’s house party, and then Keyleth talks about the time in between, how she went back to the Academy and only spoke to Percy about what happened. He took her side immediately, and when Scanlan told them the news that Vex had apparently slept with Saundor and it was spreading around the entire senior class, Keyleth had sent her… inflammatory text.
Many people think that she is a peaceful person, that because she’s Ashari means she’s one with nature, and a weirdo who only does yoga and meditation. Most people assume she’s vegan right when they meet her, and while she does enjoy some vegan things, it’s almost always just because she prefers it to meat products, not because she has misgivings about killing animals.
Keyleth Ashari is an angry person. She embodies her stereotype: a ginger with a temper.
And the entirety of that temper was involved in sending that five word text that broke Vex’s world.
She’s still sorry about it, and she doesn’t think she ever won’t be for letting her emotions get the better of her in the first place at the party, yes, but especially when she sent that text.
“In my defense, Percy left me alone with that information,” Keyleth tries to joke, and it does pull a laugh out of both other girls.
By the end of the story, the end of the day, the moons are out and Pike is yawning and still has a commute back to her, Grog, and Scanlan’s own apartment in the Central District.
Everyone says their goodbyes, and eventually it’s just the four residents. Vax and Gilmore are trying to set up Vax’s video game systems, but Vex announces very firmly that her and Keyleth will be retiring to bed for the night and that they ask not to be bothered.
Vax quietly gags while Gilmore bids them goodnight, sending a wink Keyleth’s way that has her anticipating something more than just sleeping.
The lamp they have in the room is meant to sit on a nightstand, but as they don’t have one yet, there’s just one corner of light in the room that spreads only somewhat to illuminate the room, leaving the rest in shadow. That doesn’t seem to bother Vex, though, as she turns to meet Keyleth at the door she just closed, kissing her gently while her hands brush her hair over her shoulders.
Keyleth hums into the kiss, smiling as her hands fall to Vex’s hips to pull her in closer. “Hi, Vex,” she whispers into her lips.
“Hi, Kiki,” Vex replies. “Did you have fun tonight?”
“I did,” she says.
Vex bites her lip and looks up at her, and Keyleth feels her heart start to beat faster in her chest at the sly expression on her face. “Do you want to have some more fun, dear?” she asks softly, the hands on her neck smoothing down her torso to her waist.
That’s the statement that steals the breath from her lungs.
“What kind of fun?” Keyleth whispers.
Vex looks back at their mattress, the mattress they both carried into the apartment together, the mattress that is currently on the floor and illuminated only by the moons outside their window and their silly little floor lamp in the corner.
And she looks back at Keyleth.
“Oh,” she says, swallowing. “I don’t know—”
Vex’s face falls, but Keyleth isn’t finished.
“I don’t know how,” she admits.
Vex’s brow furrows and she smiles up at her. “Don’t worry about how, dear. I taught you how on your own, now let me teach you how with someone else.”
Keyleth nods.
“Start by kissing me again,” Vex instructs.
Their lips meet warmly, tasting of the wine the Geddmore’s had given them as a housewarming gift. Vex’s teeth drag over her bottom lip and it makes Keyleth shiver as they kiss.
“Touch me,” Vex breathes into the kiss, starting to untuck her shirt from her jeans.
“Where?”
Vex grins. “Wherever you like, Kiki.”
It’s slow, like a proper hike. Vex acts as her guide, prompting her with instructions every step of the way — take my top off, squeeze here, bite there, kiss me more — until they’re both bare and her final instruction comes:
Turn off the light.
And then it’s just the moons watching them.
Keyleth’s body thrums with need, heat swirling deep within her, so similar to when she’d do this on her own with Vex’s own voice in her mind guiding her through it. But it’s better, so much better, to not only have Vex’s voice in her ear during, but to have Vex’s body on her, hands pinching the peaks of her breasts and tongue laving over the dips and valleys of her stomach, trekking lower and lower until Keyleth has both hands in Vex’s thick hair and her own face turned into the pillow as she fights not to cry out from the delightful burning sensation of Vex’s mouth on her center.
They spend the night like that, learning each other's bodies, going again and again until Catha and Ruidus are past their zenith and Keyleth can’t feel her pelvis anymore.
And Vex is soft with her, doting. She puts on a robe and gets them both some water before they settle in for their first night in their new apartment, the beginning of a new era, a new life, a new adventure.
Keyleth laces her fingers with Vex’s, pressed over her girlfriend’s stomach, and kisses the back of her neck.
“I love you, Vex,” she breathes.
Vex breathes out heavily and snuggles back against Keyleth. “I love you too, darling.”
Keyleth finds herself thinking about how far they’ve come since meeting at the beginning of the year. It feels like so many years ago that she was showing the twins around the Academy, and now here she is laying in bed with Vex as her breathing slows and sleep takes her. The Ashari are an introspective people, and as Keyleth lets sleep tug at her she can’t help contemplation of their time spent together as friends, as crushes, as best friends, as lovers finally.
At times, their love was explosive. Begging and eventually threatening to come out at the hands of many others as they both struggled to keep their hearts in check in the presence of the other.
Other times, their love was tender and soft. Like this moment in bed together, like when Keyleth brought her ginger tea and Vex taught her the secret language only she and her brother knew.
And there wasn’t always love there. There was sometimes like — a pretty girl in a skirt too short unbuttoning her shirt just a little too much to comply with her uniform — sometimes hate — a bathroom is surely the best place to have an emotional conversation such as this — sometimes confusion and dismay — why did she say that, does she think that of me, does she think I’m disgusting?
But what matters is that, now, and in the coming future, there will always be love.
Keyleth will make sure of that.