• five times thanked: ( five times the receiver thanked, or felt gratitude towards, the sender ) or • five times hugged: ( five times the receiver hugged the sender ) to percy! whichever you prefer uwu
i.
Finding his place in this motley crew had been easier than Percy had expected. He was used to being an outlier of sorts, it had always been the case. Even before all of life's unpleasantness, he had always felt like he was on the outside looking in. but the charm of vox machina was that they were all freaks, in their respective rights. it made Percy feel dangerously at home, but it kept them at their side & at their table. He had decided to linger on the edge of the evening, remaining at the table they had all started drinking at.
most of vox machina had dispersed & were pursuing their own goals for the evening... but not keyleth. no, she was nursing her drink carefully at percy's side. it had been awkward at first, but it was a shared nature. A few drinks were plenty to foster some warmth between them. new familiarity was planted in the metaphorical flowerbed of their friendship & each passing drink seemed to water it.
Percy drank a bit more than Keyleth, he noticed... but it was definitely for the best, he muses. by the end of the night, percy had laughed so hard that he was sure his ribs would hurt for days. it was a rarity for him, a true gift. he embraces the smile that had lingered upon his features for most of the evening, drawing keyleth into an awkward but sincere hug.
" you have no idea how badly I needed this. " he pats her shoulder three times before realizing that perhaps this hug had been too long. he wasn't sure, as his personal space usually remained generally unbreached... But he doesn't think she minds, " thank you. "
ii.
it was bizarre in the best of ways. it was like a dream to have a home again, temporary as it may be. Every member of vox machina was beginning to settle in & understand the merits of living in Greyskull Keep. percy had tended mostly to his workshop, thrilled to have his own space to work again. when he was younger, he may have been a bit testier about sharing his space. he had to be, else his horde of siblings would disturb his things. it was something he missed, though he would never be able to admit it. but with that nostalgia came familiarity... he liked when the others joined him here, in his element.
Percy had other places to go when he needed to be entirely alone. in fact, it was usually better not to be left to his own devices. he came up with some terrifying ideas without others to mitigate his moral compass. but anxiety aside, it was also good to have others around when he hit a creative wall. no one here really knew much about gears or physics, but they would usually let him talk at them long enough to work out any problems in his process... which was precisely what was going on right now. Percy knew that Keyleth was probably only catching every other sentence as he over-explains his ideas, but he is thankful to have her as an achor to funnel his thoughts into.
he was tinkering, playing with different ideas of how to make the most efficient lightning arrow. but he was threatened with a creative block on the horizon. it was admittedly helpful to have someone with an innate understanding of the elements ast his side while spewing ideas, tossing them back & forth. It almost felt like they were speaking different languages, though they were figuring it out as they went along. when keyleth mentions an alloy that attracts lightning, it causes a gun to go off in percy's mind.
if it can attract lightning, could it be used in tandem with any of keyleth's abilities? he can see it now, vex loosing an arrow in some poor fool's chest & keyleth reigning lightning down upon them. it's a passing idea, for now, but they could work on it with time... which for the first time in a long time, percy felt like he might have. he jumps at keyleth in an excited hug, temporarily forgetting the layer of sweat & soot he maintained when he worked.
" You're a genius, Keyleth. " It's hard to contain his excitement, not that he would while working, " thank you! "
iii.
" What you did back there was incredible. " Percy speaks only after a long silence. It hangs between them, like a thick smoke he wants nothing more than to swat away... but it isn't so simple. Each breath is a reminder of how easily it can be taken from them, how temporary their peace could be. It was difficult not to be scared... Percy still wondered if he could smell burning flesh on the air, unable to shake the ghostly feeling of acid eating away at his skin. His wounds were long healed, as were those of the refugees they had gotten to Whitestone, but it wasn't the sort of thing he could forget. Especially with the responsibility of dealing with this problem falling upon their shoulders.
It was terrifying to think that they were what stood between the world & a firey demise. percy knew Vox Machina would not have been his first choice for ' world saving heroes ' but with keyleth, he had faith. despite the carnage, she was relentless. she was good. they had done all they could in emon & though it could never be enough.... it was what they could accomplish. thanks to keyleth they had managed to save a few dozen people. it wasn't much, but it was something. those people may survive to see the end of this because of her & there was a surreal amazement in the feat.
percy finally breaks, drawing her into a tight embrace. A deep breath passes through his lungs as he feels the silence begin to fall over them again. He holds her a little tighter now, dragging his voice from the depths of his chest, " You saved people. we all get to live another day because of you. Thank you. "
iv.
staying in whitestone was amazing. it was something percy had once thought he had lost, permanently. he had reclaimed his old room but with it came old memories. terrible memories, that he often faced late into the night. he felt foolish, like a child, when he couldn't contain his feelings... he had snuck off to the kitchens, looking for comfort in the ways of fruit. He wasn't one for sugary sweets, most of the time & fruit was usually a sensory delight. It was plenty to ground him, comfort him.
Percy had done his best to sneak through the halls of whitestone without being noticed by any guards who may question his midnight motives. When he finally slips into the nearly-empty kitchen, he is surprised to see a candle already lit. Keyleth stands at one of the counters, peeling an orange very carefully. He watches her for a few moments, wondering if she will notice him. She seems consumed by her task, or very tired, he cannot tell which.... But Percy breaks the near-perfect silence with a quick, " boo!"
When keyleth realizes she's not alone, she nearly jumps out of her skin. The two of them had been at odds recently... but that did not change Keyleth's status in Percy's heart. percy can't stop the wave of reassurance he feels when they meet eyes, knowing that he was not alone when the world felt so strange. Percy cannot help but crack a smile at the dramatic reaction, reassuring her with a soft " It's only me. "
Percy raises his hands in a faux-surrender to emphasize the lack of threat. she instinctively splits her orange, offering the other half to percy. He hugs her instinctively, rather than trying to find the words to express the relief that washes over him.
" Thank you, Keyleth. " Maybe he sounds as tired as she looks, but for now the weight is secondary. Percy is sure to remove every lingering thread of pith on his orange. Together, they talk about their days. Their relationships. Their dreams. It turns out to be a much better night than Percy would have ever anticipated.
v.
the warmth in his chest simmers, bleeding into his stomach, arms, legs, leaving them all weightless & heavy all at once. they had both been drinking for most of the night, heavily. it was a rare indulgence, to know that they had nothing to do in the morning, nobody to be. perhaps that is why they are both so deep into their drinks, effectively trashed. they sit in a booth, their backs against the wall as they exchange teary sentiments & debate whether or not they are going to be sick.
keyleth is more prone to emotional displays, but even percy is moved this night. he doesn't fight the urge to throw his arm around her shoulder, drawing her into an affectionate half-hug as they raise their mugs in celebration of continued survival. percy doesn't fight the onslaught of laughter that bursts from his stomach when the act nearly throws off keyleth's balance entirely. He would prefer if she didn't fall onto the floor tonight, but if she did he would be there to pick her right up.
" oh keyleth, I don't know who I would be without you. " his words did not always come so easily, but enough wine was plenty to loosen his tongue. perhaps survival was making him sentimental, he muses.
Percy pulls the scarf from his lapel, offering it to keyleth, who proceeds to ( very loudly ) blow her nose in between relentless sobs. It's hard not to get swept up in the emotions of the evening, endeared in earnest. His own chest is tight & maybe there are a few tears in his eyes. Percy pats her shoulder three times before releasing her, treading in his own fondness now," thank you. for being there, for everything you do, for being my best friend. "
to that, he drinks.
11 notes
·
View notes
imagine you're a guy finally admitting he's queer in his thirties in a macho field of first responders, you got to watch your coworker be an out and proud lesbian at your shitty station but you still don't feel like you can be yourself until you leave behind everyone who knows you for harbour, few years down the line an old coworker calls you to ask you to fly them into a hurricane, you say sure what's the worst that can happen, and maybe you want to repay the woman who showed you what bravery was, and there you meet a golden retriever of a man who is too much to think about in that situation actually, so you don't, but then after it all he puts a hand on your shoulder and smiles at you and maybe..., he calls you a few days later to ask for a tour, asks you out for a beer too but you can't quite tell whether it's platonic or not, you panicked and called him kid it's probably platonic, he shows up to a basketball game and you're pretty sure he's in love with his best friend, you mess with him just a little just for fun, but then things get bad and you go to try to smooth things over, you end up on his doorstep somehow, he's golden in the dim light of his loft and you want to kiss him but you've spent the last two weeks learning how deeply integrated he is into his best friend's family, he's not yours to kiss, except he's making fun of your fake mouth static and he's so close and he's asking to spend time with you and telling you that he wants to get to know you and admitting he wanted your attention, and well you kiss him, and he looks a little like he's just found religion but you make sure it's okay just to be safe and it is, it's okay and god you like him, you really like him, so you ask him on a date and he's breathless in his rush to accept and you really fucking like him, you pick him up at 8 on saturday, you take him to an intimate little italian restaurant, he's tense and looking around like he's waiting for someone to jump out on them and throw a bucket of rainbow glitter over their heads, you tell him about your own journey of self discovery and he listens, takes it a little like an accusation, starts rambling about being an ally, and you really fucking like him it's embarrassing.
tommy kinard the man that you are...
908 notes
·
View notes