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The bedroom was stuffy, Vex had noted when she had woken up at three in the morning with paws in her face and someone’s arm under her back. Rolling her head to the side, Vex looked out the window and noted that snow was falling just outside the window. It was late fall, and through the blackened sky, Vex was still see the way the snow piled onto one of the few trees that still had leaves on them. Despite the freezing temperature outside and the fact that Vex would rather die than turn the thermostat up, the bedroom was incredibly warm.
She was barely on the bed now with Trinket beside her and Keyleth sprawled out on her stomach on the other side. They’d been a couple for two months, and in those two months, Vex had probably slept alone in her own bed a grand total of five times. To Vex’s surprise, Trinket was taking most of the room, having stretched diagonally across the bed, his front paws were touching Vex’s face.
“I’m going to have to get you your own bed, Buddy.” Vex sighed, gently moving Trinket’s paws to get to his face and pressing a kiss to his forehead.
Trinket blinked himself awake and gave her a tired look before yawning and extending his legs again, effectively kicking Keyleth, who slept on the other side.
Vex smiled a little as she watched Keyleth turn her head to the side and start to wake up. It happened slowly, as usual, Keyleth almost always took a long time to wake herself. She slowly blinked before stiffening her whole body in some kind of lazy, unmoving stretch, before sitting up and looking around.
“Did I get kicked?” Keyleth asked, rubbing her eye and glancing at Vex’s alarm clock.
“Yeah, Trinket got you.” Vex nodded, watching as Keyleth took a moment to read the clock before letting out a sigh and falling face forward. “I’m gonna need to get him his own dog bed.”
“Or just get a bigger bed.” Keyleth sighed, she was half off the bed as always. “I mean, this is a full, an upgrade is kinda... no big deal...”
“It’s cheaper to get a new bed for the dog than it is to get a new bed for me, darling.” Vex replied. She moved out of the way of Trinket’s paw again and smiled.
“I’d go in on it.” Keyleth was nearly asleep already. “... Use it half as much as you’d.”
Vex was silent for a few moments until she heard Keyleth’s breathing evening out, she was asleep again. With a deep sigh, Vex considered the pros and cons of getting a new bed. It was certainly easy to think of pros when both she and Keyleth were half off the bed, but Vex really did not need to spend more money when she didn’t need to.
Between her student loans and Vax’s medical bills, she and Vax were deep in debt. Vex was not a fan of that feeling and was working her hardest to get out from under that weight. So what if she sacrificed a larger bed or cable? She was saving money and that’s what was important.
Three hours later, Vex and Keyleth woke up. They look Trinket for his morning walk, it was a tradition that Vex and Trinket thoroughly enjoyed, even when it was cold. The snow from the night before had stuck at least until then, causing it to soak through Vex’s shoes and for her and Keyleth to slip and slide on the sidewalk. At one point, Keyleth had slipped and nearly fell if it weren’t for Vex’s fast hands grabbing her.
“It’s barely even December.” Keyleth huffed, glaring up at the snowy sky.
Vex just laughed as they slipped and slid their way home through the slush.
The snow on the streets and sidewalk wasn’t the quintessential snow from television or paintings that people in their forties enjoyed. It was brown and half melted near the road and heavy and patchy on the grass. There weren’t many footprints yet, but the ones that were there looked like they’d had just a hard a time with walking as Vex and Keyleth had. Though somehow, Trinket was perfectly happy to walk through slush and crap.
Keyleth left to go open her shop when they got back to the apartment, kissing Vex on the cheek and promising to come over when she was through. Vax had disappeared sometime between Vex waking him up and returning from her walk with Trinket. And just like that, Vex was alone.
She went to work, finding enjoyment in tracking down invoices and finding money hidden in little nooks and crannies. Her coworkers were nice, but not memorable. Vex didn’t really talk to them about anything that wasn’t just surface. Sitting at her desk in the back of the office was fine for her, she got in at a reasonable time, got out at a reasonable time, and mildly enjoyed what she was doing.
At around noon, she received her daily text from Vax that he’d taken Trinket outside and fed him some lunch. Accompanied by a daily photo of the two together that made Vex smile and pushed her through the last four hours of work.
She got home late because the subway was running late, only to find Keyleth sitting on the sofa with Trinket. They both had a light layer of snow on their heads and Keyleth’s nose was bright pink. Vex smiled, hung up her jacket, and kicked off her shoes before walking over and sitting down beside Keyleth.
“Hi.” Keyleth said, smiling a little. “I got you something today.”
Vex looked at Keyleth for a moment. “You got me a gift?”
“Yeah...” Keyleth nodded, suddenly looking unsure of herself. “I’m allowed to do that right? I know we’ve gotten each other little things, but this is... Well... I guess you’d consider it a big gift, but I got a really good deal on it... Or at least I... well, I think I got a really good deal on it. I didn’t spend a lot of money.”
“Oh... Okay.” Vex watched Keyleth stand up and followed her to the bedroom, already having some idea as to what Keyleth had gotten her. She was prepared to be a little annoyed.
The bedroom door opened, and it looked like nothing had changed. Vex’s brow furrowed as she looked at her bedroom, other than a few things having been moved closer to the walls, it just seemed like Keyleth was showing Vex her own bedroom. As she turned to ask Keyleth what was happening, Keyleth had moved toward the bed with a big grin.
“I knew you wouldn’t be happy if I got you a bigger bed.” Keyleth said, kneeling down beside the bed and grabbing at something under it. “So... I did something a little different... I hope you like it, I spent lunch doing this.”
With very little ceremony, Keyleth pulled out from under Vex’s bed... an even smaller bed. Vex frowned a little. Keyleth had gotten her a trundle?
“I got you a trundle for Trinket!” Keyleth exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air excitedly. “That way he can sleep near you, in a bed, but he won’t shove you off. And when I’m not here, It just goes back underneath.” To emphasise her point, Keyleth slid the trundle back under. “See?”
Vex couldn’t hold back her laughter as she looked at Keyleth, grinning widely at her trundle gift. “I love it, thank you, Kiki.”
“No problem!” Keyleth chirped, hopping back up. “I even got the the trundle sheets to match your bed, but I put a pillow with bones on it there to make it look doggier.”
“I’m sure Trinket will love it.” Vex took two steps and kissed Keyleth happily, tangling her fingers in Keyleth’s hair and pulling her down a little deeper.
Keyleth pulled away first and grinned, not bothering to move Vex’s hands. “Great, I thought about it all morning at work.”
Grog and Pike’s apartment was warm and inviting, mostly due to Pike’s decorating rather than Grogs more... Minimalist style, if Keyleth were to call it that. The walls were painted pastel colors and while none of the furniture matched, it was arranged and decorated in a way that made it work. Though they had enough seating for everyone, Grog insisted on using a lawn chair that he and Keyleth had found on the side of the road and had deemed okay for use. The living room had exposed brick and a fireplace on one wall, though Pike had said before that she was pretty sure that the fireplace was fake, so they used the mantle to mount their TV.
They’d just upgraded and now had the biggest TV in the group. So there Keyleth sat, on Pike’s loveseat with Vex’s back against her front and Grog’s lawn chair pulled up beside them. Scanlan and Percy shared the sofa, while Pike had the overstuffed chair with a plaid pattern on it, and Vax had chosen the floor rather than between Scanlan and Percy. A documentary played on the TV, but they were hardly listening.
“You know what I’ve been thinking about?” Grog asked, setting his half drank bottle of ale on the monstrosity of a coffee table that he’d made Pike as an apology after he and Scanlan had broken it.
Keyleth was sure that no one in the room, not even Pike, could begin to guess what Grog was thinking. “What?” She asked, turning her head to look at him.
“Bobsledding.” Grog replied, scratching his beard and leaning back. “It’s in the Olympics, but sledding is easy, kids fucking do it.”
No one seemed to have a response to that.
“What’s got you thinking about bobsledding, Grog?” Scanlan asked, he was laughing a little.
“The guys at work and I were talking about the Olympics...” Grog replied with a shrug. “And I said that the Summer Olympics were better than the Winter ones, and one guy said that the Winter Olympics were better because of stuff like downhill skiing and bobsledding. And I don’t know how to ski but I know how to sled.”
“But bobsledders go really fast, Grog.” Vex said, she was absentmindedly playing with Keyleth’s hands. “Like really fast.”
“I’ve gone really fast too.” Grog said, he’d crossed his arms and was two beers in. There was no changing his mind.
“It’s true, he once hit a patch of ice then smashed into the side of the house when we were kids.” Pike said with a nod. “Broke his arm in three places and dented the house.”
“God.” Vax frowned deeply. “Was it because he was going fast or because he was a huge kid?”
“I think it could be a little of both, honestly.” Percy said, making Keyleth laugh a little.
“I was an enormous child.” Grog said proudly. “But enough bragging, I was going somewhere...” Grog paused to think. “Oh yeah, sledding. I think we should all go sledding.”
“We’re adults, Grog.” Scanlan said with a frown. “I don’t think we sled anymore...”
“Why not?” Grog asked.
The question hung heavy in the air. Keyleth had no answer to this. Why didn’t she sled anymore? Well, she hadn’t done that much as a child, sledding usually required friends, and Keyleth had often lacked those in her childhood. Shaking her head, Keyleth told herself not to open that can of worms.
“You know what, Grog?” Vax said, sitting up a little. “We should go sledding tomorrow. Right guys?”
Keyleth nodded and pointed at Vax. “Yeah, we should!” She looked down at Vex and smiled widely. “Right Vex? We can bring Trinket and he can play in the snow! It’ll be a lot of fun!”
Vex gave Keyleth an amused look and nodded. “Yeah, Key, it’ll be really fun.”
“I don’t have to go, do I?” Percy asked.
“Oh you’re going,” Scanlan said with a grin, his voice slightly threatening. “You’re going and you’re gonna like it!”
“You’re fucking sledding, Freddy!” Vax exclaimed.
“Yeah, Percy.” Keyleth joined in with a smile.
It only took about five minutes of berating to get Percy to reluctantly agree to go. After that, they’d officially forgotten about their TV show and began to make their plans to sled. Mostly it was deciding where to go without encountering too many kids to get in their way and also judge them for being adults in their mid-twenties to their thirties sledding down the hill that they’d probably claimed much earlier.
As she searched her closet the next day for anything to wear, Keyleth found herself wondering at what point had she’d deemed it unnecessary to buy actual winter wear. Sure, she had a cute coat and a pair of striped, wool mittens, but she didn’t have anything to play in. She couldn’t touch the snow without it soaking through the mittens and the coat would most certainly not survive any kind of activity more aggressive than a brisk walk. Keyleth had been an adult for years, but until then she’d never felt old.
She didn’t care for it at all.
“Key!” Vex called as she entered Keyleth’s apartment. “Are you ready? Vax and I are here to get you.”
“And the van!” Vax called, Keyleth could hear him flop onto her sofa.
“I was gonna come pick you guys up, you didn’t have to walk over here!” Keyleth replied loudly.
“We took the bus!” Keyleth heard Vex say as she walked toward the bedroom. “I’m coming in.”
The door opened and Keyleth looked over to see that she wasn’t the only person that didn’t seem to have the right clothes for sledding. Vex wore a pair of sweatpants underneath a pair of jeans, both looked like they were Vax’s, and a parka that looked like it was straight out of a nineties movie. Keyleth silently hoped that Vax had brought a second ugly parka for her to wear, but the double layer of sweatpants was a good idea.
“I thought you were bringing Trinket.” Keyleth said, desperately trying not to call attention to what would surely garner several responses from the others.
“Dogs can ride on the bus as long as they’re on a leash.” Vex shrugged, moving to start digging into Keyleth’s closet. “Go grab something to wear on your legs, I’ll see if I can find something for your top half. I brought some gloves and a pair of Vax’s old jeans for you.” She turned and kissed the bottom of Keyleth’s jaw, not bothering to get on her tiptoes to reach Keyleth’s lips. “You still only have those mittens, right?”
“Right.” Keyleth grinned, taking the jeans, they’d be short on her, but the boots would make up for it.
Vex had told Keyleth that her mittens were ridiculous and inconvenient on more than one occasion.
Keyleth moved to her dresser and pulled out two sets of leggings. She put them on when she was sure that Vex wasn’t looking and was a little uncomfortable at wearing three layers on her legs. It felt needlessly tight and heavy.
“Here.” Vex said, handing Keyleth the fleece zip up that she wore hiking and a large hoodie she’d gotten from Vex’s place. So it was probably Vax’s as well.
Keyleth put them on and grinned. “Do I look good?”
“Better than me.” Vex kissed Keyleth before she could say that it was impossible for anyone to look better than Vex.
“What time do we have to pick up the others?” Keyleth asked, moving in to kiss Vex again. It was odd to be this close to her with six layers between them.
“We kept it loose, but we should get going before they think we’ve forgotten about them.” Keyleth didn’t know when Vex had put her arms around her shoulders, but she wasn’t complaining.
“I guess.” Keyleth sighed as Vex bumped their noses together, making her smile a little.
Vex kissed Keyleth one last time before pulling away, and in that moment, Keyleth wished they hadn’t made plans to go sledding in the cold. She wished that they could stay in where it was warm, but it wasn’t going to happen. As Keyleth opened her eyes, she caught sight of Vex leaving the bedroom.
Keyleth hated driving in the winter, and in general, so it was Vex’s job to get them to Pike and Grog’s apartment where the others were waiting. Since their camping trip, Keyleth’s friends had put a lot of effort into making the van as comfortable as possible. Scanlan had acquired a shag rug and managed to affix it to the floor so it never moved, Vex had added a nice dog bed for Trinket, Vax and Grog had found an old sofa on someone’s lawn, which Pike had cleaned thoroughly before pushing it up against one of the walls of the van, and Percy had procured a cooler then had used a series of bungee cables and had strapped it to the sofa to keep it safe. It was funny to Keyleth that her friends had decided to turn her van into a tiny living room.
The hill they’d decided to sled on was surprisingly without children, probably because they’d chosen one maybe twenty minutes out of town. It had been snowing almost constantly for two weeks, giving them a good amount of snow to work with. They’d all piled out of the van, Grog and Pike being the only two who looked like they didn’t have to look up how to dress for sledding on the internet, with their sleds that Percy had procured with such short notice somehow.
Stepping out of the warm van and into the cold winter air, Keyleth immediately tripped and fell right into the snow, almost taking Scanlan out with her. She sat there for a moment blinking in surprise that the snow hadn’t already soaked through her makeshift outerwear before allowing Vex to help her up. Smiling her thanks, Keyleth took Vex’s gloved and in her own and helped drag one of the sleds to the base of the hill.
It took a moment before she realized that Percy had been lagging behind, she and the others turned to see what was keeping him, only for her to notice exactly what he had decided to wear. It was one of his older peacoats, purple and thick, with a matching scarf and a pair of what looked to be corduroy slacks. He didn’t wear a hat and the gloves he wore were the thin ones that someone could wear and still use their cellphone with. Percy walked slowly, not out of reluctance, but what looked like to be necessity. Though Keyleth couldn’t understand why until Scanlan spoke.
“Are you wearing loafers?” He demanded loudly, hardly containing his laughter.
Percy’s frown deepened and he lifted his bare foot out of the near knee deep snow to show the others. “I was wearing loafers a minute ago, I swear.” He said.
They all froze, staring at Percy, before falling into a kind of hideous laughter. Grog had fallen over and Vax needed to lean against Pike. Vex was doing her best to try and cover her mouth, but was failing miserably, while Scanlan was bent over, clutching his gut as he laughed. Pike’s laughter was reluctant, she probably felt bad for laughing, but really there was no other reaction to have. At least that’s what Keyleth told herself as tears from laughter started to stream down her face.
“Here, let me help look.” Keyleth sighed after a minute of laughter, tugging Vex with her as Trinket scampered after them.
Keyleth and Vex started to look for the missing loafer while Pike took off her too big hat and used Grog’s scarf to secure it around Percy’s foot, leading him to the van while Scanlan, Grog, and Vax continued to laugh at him. Surprisingly, they were unable to find the other shoe, and there was no way for Percy to actually sled with only one shoe and a hat on the other foot, so they cut their sledding short. They decided indulge in one descent each before packing up and heading back to Pike and Grog’s.
The car ride back was warm and filled with laughter as Vax and Scanlan teased Percy about what he’d worn. Keyleth smiled as she looked at them all through the rearview mirror before she felt Vex’s hand gently touch hers. She turned her attention to Vex, who looked like she was concentrating on the road, but the smile on her face betrayed that. Vex glanced over to Keyleth and her smile widened a little more.
“Loafers.” She whispered before Keyleth dissolved into more laughter.
Vax laid on his sofa, playing with Trinket’s ears while Keyleth and Vex shared the easy chair. They weren’t really doing anything, just hanging out. Vax was used to being a thirdwheel when it came to Vex and Trinket, so Vex and Keyleth were a walk in the park. And Vax got to hang out with the dog.
Idly listening to whatever it was Keyleth was talking about, some New Years party that her dad asked her to go to with him and how she had to go because she’d opted out of the Thanksgiving banquet in favor of eating mac and cheese on Scanlan’s sofa. Vax folded Trinket’s ears up onto his head and laughed to himself before allowing them to flop back in place. He took a sip of the soda that Vex begrudgingly bought him earlier that week before scratching the top of Trinket’s head.
“So you won’t be joining us at our New Years party at Gilmore’s then?” Vax asked, grinning when Trinket licked his nose.
“I won’t.” Keyleth smiled sadly.
“Well at least you’ll be at a fancy party with a bunch of lawmakers.” Vax laughed, earning an annoyed look from Vex and a small laugh from Keyleth.
“I’m used to it.” She shrugged. “Dad’s been in some kind of office since I was really young.”
Vax nodded, deciding not to mention that he’d been used to it too. “Yeah, I bet. I remember being a kid and hearing my dad yelling about how your dad was gonna ruin the country when he won his first election.”
Vex let out an unattractive snort of a laugh that shocked both Trinket and Keyleth, causing both of them to jump a little and stare at her for a moment. Vax began to laugh at her, falling backward and knocking the back of his head against the wooden arm of the sofa. He pretended it didn’t hurt as he continued to laugh, pointing at Vex and mimicking the snort as well. After a few second, Vex and Keyleth joined in.
“You’re an ass.” Vex said, wiping her eyes of tears that started to form from her bout of laughter.
Vax shrugged and glanced over to the TV. They’d turned on a movie for white noise and didn’t bother to follow the plot, often pausing their idle chatter to look up when a character was murdered or if the zombies were being particularly clever. It didn’t help that the film was in Finnish with no subtitles, despite this, it wasn’t hard to understand the emotions the characters were feeling after accidentally stealing the zombies’ cursed gold.
“Why did you turn this on?” Keyleth asked, watching in disgust at a particularly brutal scene.
Vax shrugged and looked at Vex. “You said to turn something on.”
Before Vex could reply, her phone started to ring. Hers and Vax’s eyes widened at the ringtone. Normally, Vex didn’t have personalized tones for people, it was just the kind of person Vex was. But she had one personalized tone, a siren not unlike the ones that would sound in those old movies about naval ships and submarines.
They sat frozen, a pit of dread formed in Vax’s stomach as he stared at Vex. Silently willing her not to pick up the phone.
“Hello?” Vex answered the phone and motioned for Keyleth to pause the TV. “Hi, Dad.”
Vax watched as she stood up and began to pace around the apartment, sharing a look with Keyleth, who’d heard enough about him to remain silent. He scowled and jerked his head toward the phone, shrugging when Keyleth silently mouthed ‘What’s this about?’.
Vex stood in the kitchen, her lips formed in a thin line as she half listened to whatever it was their father was saying.
“So, basically,” Vex said, sending Vax a pointed look. She was going to paraphrase their father’s request for Vax’s benefit. “You want me to attend a New Years party with you, your wife, and Velora? Why?”
Vax hadn’t noticed that Keyleth had moved onto the sofa and taken his hand in hers. He stared at the paused TV, willing himself not to feel anything before looking back at Vex, who was looking at him. They locked eyes for a moment before Vex offered him a flicker of a smirk and a tiny wink.
Some of the tension Vax felt was released in the form of a little laugh.
“Fine,” Vex said in the same tone of voice she used at the flea market when she wanted to get a good deal. Pleasant, but formidable. “I’ll go, but I have two conditions.” She was fully smirking now. “First, I want to have my sister come visit me for a weekend. And a real visit, like a sleep over. Friday to Sunday.”
Vax grinned at Vex, who was listening to their father and looking livid. Her eyes widened and her nostrils flared, she pulled the phone away from her face and took in a deep, shuddering breath.
“I only have the one sister.” She said in a scathing tone. Oh
Vax felt a mixture of pride and pain at that. Of course their father would say that, he couldn’t help himself. But that didn’t take away the sting. Keyleth squeezed Vax’s hand twice and smiled at him a little. It was a fake smile that didn’t reach her eyes, but the intent was there and Vax felt a little better.
“Thanks, Kiki.” He said, offering a little grin.
“My second condition,” Vex said, her voice level again and a vindictive look in her eye. “Is that my brother is to be invited to the party.”
Vax laughed out loud at this and shared a look with Vex, who wore a half smirk on her face.
“That’s great, do you need his number to call and invite him, or shall I put him on?” Vex asked, making Vax roll his eyes. Of course Vex was going to have their father say the actual words to him. She refused to be the middleman to his hatred.
“Well great, he’s right here.” Vex took her sweet time walking over, probably to annoy their father before sitting beside Vax and holding the phone to her shoulder for half a minute before handing it to Vax. “Here. It’s Dad.”
Vax rolled his eyes and answered. “Yes?”
“I’d like to invite you to a New Years party in Emon.” His father said, his voice tense and he definitely didn’t want to be doing so.
“Why?” Vax asked, smiling a little at Vex and squeezing Keyleth’s hand.
“Velora has requested that she be able to start the new year surrounded by family, and you are her....” The pause made Vax want to hang up and walk away, but another part of him wanted to hear his father say it aloud. “Brother and sister. So she specifically asked for you both.”
Vax sighed, of course he’d go just to see Velora. “I’ll be there.”
“Excellent, I’ll send the details to Vex’ahlia.” And with that, his father hung up.
“Well that was awful.” Vax sighed, handing Vex her phone and leaning back into the sofa.
“On the plus side,” Vex said, gently shoving Vax’s shoulder. “I’m pretty sure we’re going to the same party as Keyleth and her dad, so at least we’ll have someone to talk to.”
Keyleth smiled. “That’s great! If things turn out awful we can leave early with my dad!”
“... Is that a common thing?” Vax asked.
“Yeah, he doesn’t like to stay up past eleven.” Keyleth shrugged, smiling at the two of them.
“Key, we can be each others’ dates!” Vex grinned, leaning over Vax and kissing Keyleth’s cheek. “It’ll make my father so mad!”
Vax loved the idea of pissing off their father.
“Oh yeah...” Keyleth bit her lip and glanced over at the still paused TV. “I... uh... My dad doesn’t know that we’re dating, so I should... tell him first. Probably.”
“Probably, yeah.” Vax laughed.
“Why doesn’t he know we’re dating?” Vex asked, she looked a little hurt and Vax was suddenly a little angry.
“Well, it’s a good reason!” Keyleth said quickly, putting her hands up in surrender. “I... uh... it’s because he doesn’t know I’m gay...”
“Why doesn’t he know you’re gay?” Vax asked, less angry.
“Because I haven’t told him.” Keyleth paused. “Yet. I plan to. I just...” She shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I want to and I know I really should. And I just... I’m gonna, I just haven’t.”
Vex smiled at Keyleth and moved over, squeezing herself between Keyleth and Vax. “It’s okay, no one’s rushing you, you’re fine.”
Vax sat there, incredibly uncomfortable with how close he was to his sister and her girlfriend on the verge of being cute again. He moved to the easy chair and looked at Vex.
“What’re you gonna wear to this thing anyway?” Vax asked, effectively ruining the kiss they were about to share.
“I’m thinking something red and slutty.” Vex replied. “Anything to give our father heartburn.”
Keyleth looked at Vex for a moment after she spoke, her face turning bright red.
“So the one the shade of Keyleth’s cheeks, or the darker one?” Vax asked, pointing to Keyleth. “Because the darker one is classier and goes better with your lipstick.”
Vex sat in Keyleth’s apartment, waiting for her and Grog to hurry up and get back with the take out. It was a little unusual for the group to hang out at Keyleth’s, seeing as her apartment was the smallest of all of theirs, mostly due to her not having a roommate and not being Scanlan. It was Vax’s turn to have the apartment overnight with Gilmore, and Pike had a test she needed to study for, so Grog was sleeping on Keyleth’s sofa to give her a chance to concentrate.
Stretching out on Keyleth’s sofa, Vex scratched Trinket’s head that laid on her chest. She looked around Keyleth’s apartment, she’d been inside Keyleth’s place often and knew where everything was. But she’d never been been left alone in Keyleth’s for longer than ten or twenty minutes at a time, even if Keyleth was gone, someone was bound to be there with her.
Taking note of the pastel colored walls and the hardwood floors, Vex let her mind wander. It didn’t happen often, but sometimes she’d catch herself in little fantasies, usually involving her and Keyleth a few months, even years, later. She thought about them moving in together, obviously, Vax would still live with them, so they’d need to get a new place. She’d take inventories of Keyleth’s apartment, mentally making a list of the things she’d want to take with them to their new place and things that could either go into storage or be donated.
Vex stood and patted Trinket’s head before walking around the apartment. She’d already decided that if she and Keyleth lived together, they’d keep Keyleth’s bed, it was bigger than the one Vex had, and that she’d try to convince Keyleth to get rid of the ugly, floral print chair that sat in the corner of the living room. It was uncomfortable and it squeaked whenever someone sat on it. The little elephant lamp that Keyleth kept in the living room would definitely been kept, but the salt lamp that Grog couldn’t help but lick whenever he was over needed to go.
Having already taken inventory of the kitchen, Vex knew that they’d keep Keyleth’s dishes. When she and Vax had moved into their apartment together, they’d just gone to the dollar store and bought the cheapest dishes and silverware they could. Keyleth’s, on the other hand, were an actual set. They were cute too, with blue and green stripes on the bowls and plates and clear glasses. They’d mix their mugs, though, Vex decided.
“Do you like the couch, Trinket?” Vex asked, not looking back at Keyleth’s sofa, they wouldn’t be keeping that. It was too hard and Vex could hardly sit still on it.
In response, Trinket got down and laid on the fluffy, gray area rug that Keyleth had.
“Yeah, we’re keeping that.” Vex said, turning to look at the shelf that Keyleth kept her cacti. It was non-negotiable that they’d be keeping her plants. They all had names and some of them had personalities.
Vex looked at the one Keyleth had named “Torpin”, a cactus with a blue flower on it. Keyleth had said that “he” was a bit of an ass, and Vex promised herself that they’d be keeping him.
“We’re back!” Grog announced, throwing the door open. He held all the bags except for one, a small shopping bag that Keyleth carried in.
“I see that.” Vex replied, meeting Keyleth halfway and kissing her quickly. “You took your sweet time.”
“We picked up some candy and got a DVD.” Keyleth shook the bag she held before putting it on her counter.
Vex briefly wondered what kind of counters she’d want in her and Keyleth’s fantasy apartment. If money were no issue, she’d definitely choose granite or marble, maybe even wood if she could get Keyleth on board, and definitely have a kitchen island. Those were the height of class.
“What’d you do while we were gone?” Keyleth asked, moving to help Grog with the bags. They’d gotten fried chicken and all the foods that went with it, not Vex’s first choice, but Grog was pretty adamant.
“Oh you know.” Vex shrugged, she absolutely would not be telling the truth. “I was hanging out with Trinket and seeing if you’ve added to your plant collection.”
Keyleth laughed and Grog started to count the plants.
“Don’t you get enough at your store?” He asked, grabbing an entire chicken breast and taking a huge bite out of it.
“I do, but they’re not mine .” Keyleth replied, digging into her bag and pulling out the DVD. “We got Fight Club .”
“It’s amazing.” Grog said. “It’s all about feeling stuck in society and a man’s journey for fulfillment, but instead he makes soap and blows stuff up, I think. I fell asleep halfway through.”
“How is it amazing if you fell asleep halfway through?” Vex asked.
“It was four in the morning!” Grog defended, finishing his chicken breast and washing it down with some of the ale in Keyleth’s fridge.
“It was three bucks.” Keyleth shrugged. “And you said I need more DVDs.”
“I did, didn’t I?” Vex sighed, moving to grab a plate. “What kind of candy did you get?”
“Oh, yeah!” Keyleth dumped out the rest of her bag revealing several large packages the fruity candies that she enjoyed and one chocolate bar.
Never had Vex ever seen Keyleth consume, or even purchase chocolate. “What’s with the candybar?” She asked.
“Well, you see...” Keyleth paused and picked up the bar like it was a bomb about to go off. “When we were picking out stuff, Grog wanted to get chocolate, but I said that I’m allergic. And then he asked how I know, so I told him that my dad told me. Then he was like, how can you know if you never tried it? And I thought it made sense, so... I’m gonna take a bite. And see if I’m okay.”
It was the stupidest thing Vex ever heard. “That’s really stupid, Key.” She sighed, taking Keyleth’s face in her hands. “Really stupid.”
Keyleth smiled, kissed Vex quickly, then shook off her hands. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine, it’s just one bite and my dad always said it wasn’t too severe. Besides... I’m pretty sure you outgrow your allergies.”
“I don’t think that’s a universal experience.” Vex turned to glare at Grog. “Be ready to carry her if we need to drive to the hospital.”
Grog offered a thumbs up and wiped his hands on his pant. “On it.”
Vex and Grog watched as Keyleth slowly unwrapped the candybar before taking a large bite.“See? I’m not going into shock.” She said with a smile after eating the piece.
Vex sighed and took the rest of the candybar away from Keyleth and placing it on the counter. “Fine, you’re alive, but wait a little bit before you eat more.”
Keyleth shrugged and went to grab a plate while Grog went to set up the DVD player.
Vex watched Keyleth carefully, noting Keyleth’s furrowed brow, a telltale sign that she had a headache. Based on the way she flinched at the title screen sound. She wasn’t surprised at all when Keyleth jumped up ten minutes later and ran to the bathroom, the sound of retching echoing throughout the apartment.
Vex sent a glare to Grog until he looked appropriately shamed before getting up and walking to the bathroom. “Key.” She called, knocking on the door. “Are you okay?”
“I’m done puking, but my stomach is killing me.” Keyleth groaned, opening the door. Her mouth smelled like mouthwash and she had tears in her eyes.
“Come on, let’s lay down.” Vex sighed, leading Keyleth into the bedroom.
Grog had been apologetic and had done all that was asked of him as they laid in bed. One phone call to Keyleth’s father told Vex all she needed to know. Keyleth wasn’t allergic to chocolate, she had been intolerant of it since she was a child. After the first three times she’d had headaches and vomited, he’d made it a rule to keep it out of the house.
Laying on Keyleth’s bed with her head in her lap, Vex glanced around Keyleth’s bedroom. She absentmindedly ran her fingers through Keyleth’s hair, noting that she’d fallen asleep at some point, and considered Keyleth’s dresser before deciding that no, it would not be coming with them to their fantasy apartment.
Percy sighed as he sat down the gun he was currently tinkering with and looked over at Keyleth, who sat over one arm of his workshop sofa. She was acting dramatic, sighing loudly and draping herself over his furniture. Normally, he’d give in and ask her what was wrong, but he was a little interested in how long it’d take her to subtly hint at wanting to say something until she just outright said it.
“Percy.” Keyleth said several minutes later.
“What’s on your mind, Keyleth?” Percy asked, trying to sound less like he was waiting Keyleth out and more like he just hadn’t noticed her.
“You know that party I have to go to?” Keyleth said, her voice clear.
“I know of it.” Percy smirked and turned around, leaning against the workbench.
“Don’t be a jerk.” Keyleth replied with a playful glare.
“Do go on, then.”
Keyleth flopped over the front edge of the sofa and groaned. “I’m going to the party with Vex and my dad doesn’t know we’re dating because he doesn’t know I’m gay. And he doesn’t know I’m gay because I haven’t told him and now I need to tell him, but Vex won’t make me because it’s something I have to do myself, I guess. And I need to do it because I really like Vex, and I... I don’t know what to do.”
“I think you do know what to do.” Percy sighed. “It seems like you know exactly what you want to do, but you’re just looking for someone to tell you what to do.”
Keyleth looked unimpressed and sat up.
Percy smiled a little and let out a dry laugh. “I mean, we can call someone who might tell you what to do, but you know I won’t.” He crossed his arms. “You’re my best friend, I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
“You always do, though!”
“No, I always tell you not to do stuff that could get you killed. There’s a difference.”
Keyleth scowled. “Fine, I’m calling Scanlan, he’ll tell me what to do.”
Percy rolled his eyes and watched as Keyleth called Scanlan.
“How’s it going, Key? You finally taking me up on my offer?” Scanlan greeted.
Percy had no desire to know what Scanlan had offered Keyleth and hoped that no one would bring it up again.
“You’re on speaker.” Keyleth replied, wrinkling her nose a little.
“Hello, Scanlan.” Percy said loudly.
“There’s no need to shout, Percy.” Scanlan said with a laugh. “What do you need, Keyleth? Relationship advice, I am the love master afterall.”
“Who, other than yourself, calls you that?” Percy demanded, stomping over to Keyleth’s phone. “Because it’s certainly not any of us!”
“You’re just bitter because you’re alone and you don’t moisturize.” Scanlan said, not missing a beat.
“It’s true, Percy, you should moisturize.” Keyleth said quietly before turning to the phone. “Scanlan, I need your advice.”
“Of course you do, shoot.” Scanlan paused. “I can totally pretend to be your lawyer if you need me to.”
Percy watched as Keyleth stumbled her way through explaining that no, she did not need legal help. He turned around and got back to work on his gun. Currently, he was trying to make something incredibly ridiculous, it was basically a real life version of a Nerf Gun , and all he wanted was to make it happen. So far, it was not.
“Well, why are you so reluctant to tell him?” Scanlan asked, his tone so thoughtful that it almost worried Percy.
“I don’t know...” Keyleth shrugged. “He loves me, I know that. And I know he loves me no matter what, it’s just...”
“You’re nervous because homophobia is everywhere.” Scanlan sighed. “It probably took you a very long time to come to terms yourself, and you’re afraid that your dad will react poorly to it. And he doesn’t have a long time to process it, you’re terrified that, despite everything you were raised to believe, your dad won’t accept you and you don’t want to take that risk. And don’t even get me started on the internalized homophobia you’re definitely feeling...”
Percy and Keyleth were silent.
“You’re asking my opinion and here it is, I think you should tell him. If you’re nervous about his reaction, do it in public, but you need to do it.” Scanlan paused. “I’ve gotta get back to work, bye Key, see ya, Percy.”
With that, Scanlan hung up and Percy and Keyleth sat there silently staring at Keyleth’s phone.
“Shit.” Percy said after a few moments. “He’s right.”
Keyleth grabbed a beer out of the mini fridge and downed half of it before looking at Percy with a furrowed brow. “Did that just happen?”
“I think so.”
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as Keyleth sat in the passenger seat of her van, watching out the window as Vex drove them to her father’s house. The normally relatively short drive took nearly twice as long due to the ice and traffic, while her father’s yard that was normally lush and on the verge of overgrown was mostly dead. The trees that surrounded the house looked almost menacing without their leaves, at least the ivy still seemed to look okay.
“I still don’t see why you’re coming.” Vex said to Vax as they hopped out of the car.
“I told you,” Vax shrugged, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his black peacoat. “I want to see if I can find any good baby pictures of Keyleth to steal and to get a better look at where my tax dollars go.”
Keyleth’s brow furrowed. “I don’t think you pay taxes.” She said, her voice muffled by the scarf she’d wrapped around the bottom half of her face.
With her heart racing, Keyleth led the others to the front door. Her hand hovered over the knob for a moment as she debated knocking. She’d never done it before, always choosing to just walk in and announce herself once inside. But what she was doing now made her feel foreign, like she was asking his permission to be herself, so why would she be allowed to just walk inside the house. After what felt like a minute of just standing there, the front door swung open, revealing her father.
“Hey Kiddo!” He grinned, taking her hand and pulling her inside and ushering in the other two. “I’m so glad you came to visit, I was just about to make some hot chocolate, who’s up for a mug?”
Keyleth was about to decline as she took off her coat and scarf, but before she could open her mouth she could hear Vex and Vax agree in unison.
The house hadn’t changed since the last time she was over except for the numerous blankets he had gotten out and the winter themed drapes and throw pillows. Her father told them all to sit down in the living room while he prepared the hot chocolate, Vax and Vex chose either side of the largest sofa, clearing indicating that they wanted Keyleth to sit between them. Keyleth chose the tall backed, leather chair that sat closest to the front door. She played with her hands and took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down.
“Hey.” Vex said softly, leaning over the arm of the sofa and putting a hand on Keyleth’s knee. “You can do this, you know he loves you no matter what. You’re going to feel much better once all this is done.”
Keyleth scowled and bit her tongue when she thought of something mean to say in return. Vex’s words did little to curb her nerves and despite the low heat due to her father’s energy saving practices, Keyleth felt herself beginning to sweat a little. Her skin was suddenly itchy and she was sure her cheeks were bright red, she glanced down at her hands and bit her lip, trying to stop them from shaking so much.
“I don’t think I can do this.” Keyleth whispered, tears were forming in her eyes.
“Keyleth, look at me.” Vex said, her tone still soft but with a firm edge to it that made Keyleth’s head snap up. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to. You can do this at your own pace, no one is forcing anything on you.”
“You were mad at me when I said he didn’t know we were together...” Keyleth mumbled.
“I wasn’t mad, I was a little hurt. I admit that, but that was before you said that he didn’t know.” Vex sighed and moved to kneel in front of Keyleth’s chair, taking both of her shaking hands. “I would never push you or rush you in any way. And if I made you feel like you had to do this sooner than you wanted, I’m sorry.”
Tears were now flowing freely down Keyleth’s cheeks.
“We can just be here for a visit, Vax will definitely try to see your embarrassing childhood photos, then we can leave.” Vex continued, smiling a little. “There’s no rush at all. I cannot stress this enough. This is very important and it has to be about you and your dad, not me.”
Keyleth pulled a hand away from Vex and wiped her tears before letting out a sigh of relief. Vex’s words made some of the anxiety dissipate a little before taking another deep breath. She smiled at Vex, her hands were shaking less. Vex put a hand on Keyleth’s cheek and wiped a tear away as it formed.
“Thanks.” Keyleth mumbled.
“Do what you feel is best, okay? We’ll support you.” Vex stood up and kissed Keyleth’s forehead. “Right, Vax?”
“Sure thing, Kiki.” Vax replied, Keyleth leaned over and looked at him. He was looking at the coasters intently.
Vex rolled her eyes and moved to her seat a few seconds before Korrin entered, a tray of mugs in his hands.
With a smile, Korrin set the tray on the coffee table and sat down in the chair opposite of Keyleth. “So, how have you all been?” He asked, clapping his hands together and smiling.
“Well, I’m here to demand to see Keyleth’s baby pictures,” Vax said, accepting his mug of hot chocolate. “And I’m not leaving until I see them.”
Keyleth laughed and handed Vex her mug.
“I’m sure I can muster up some photos.” Korrin said, looking at Vax fondly.
“You think he’s kidding, but he’s not going to leave until he knows every detail of Keyleth’s childhood,” Vex sighed, blowing on her mug and taking a sip. “It’s happened before.”
Keyleth let out a little laugh at that. Pike’s grandfather had come for a visit and somehow Vax came to own several wallet sized photos of a baby Pike.
Korrin laughed and moved to the bookcase where he browsed for a moment before grabbing the large scrapbook that Keyleth hadn’t even thought about in years. “Here, I think this is toddler through five. So it should be especially adorable.”
Korrin placed the scrapbook on the coffee table and opened it up to what looked to be Keyleth’s first birthday.
“This was Keyleth’s first birthday.” Korrin said with a smile. “She cried while we sang Happy Birthday and wouldn’t stop digging her hands into the ice cream.”
“I want to frame this in my house.” Vax looked like Christmas had come early and was on the edge of his seat, listening to Korrin explain the background behind each photo.
Barely listening to what her father was saying, Keyleth began to think. Rather, overthink. She thought about every way this scenario could play out, visibly cringing when she briefly considered that a freak tornado coming through and killing them all would be a step up from what was happening in front of her. With her heart pounding in her ears, Keyleth felt tears begin to form again, Vex looked at her with concern and started to stand up, but Keyleth was faster.
“I need to go to the bathroom!” She practically yelled before turning her heel and nearly sprinting to the bathroom that was conveniently placed under the stairs.
She stood there in the bathroom, staring at the family photo on the counter near the sink. It was on one of her and her father’s camping trips that they took all the time when she was little, though Keyleth couldn’t remember the exact trip, she could remember how it felt to be out there in the woods. With her dad. He was very busy most of the time, but he always made time for Keyleth. Even when pressed, Keyleth couldn’t think of a time her father missed any dance recitals or important events.
A large part of her knew that none of this would matter to her father, that all of this was just like what Scanlan said. But a smaller part, told her that everything would go wrong. He’d scream and yell, and she’d never see her father again. Keyleth looked away from the photo and into the mirror, brow furrowing at her reddened cheeks and puffy eyes. She turned on the water and began to splash cold water onto her face and will herself to be rational.
As she calmed herself down, Keyleth took in a deep breath, steeling herself before opening the bathroom door. Her heart was pounding and if she were being honest, she knew she had to ride this adrenaline kick for as long as she could before she crashed back into absolute terror. She walked quickly to the living room just in time to hear her father explaining another photo to Vax.
“And this is Keyleth in one of those tiny battery powered Jeeps for toddlers.” He said as she rounded the corner. “And this is Keyleth’s second cousin running her over with the battery powered Jeep. I don’t know why I took the picture, but that’s just what happened and now we’re stuck with it.”
Keyleth walked past Vex, who stood up, looking concerned, and stood in front of the chair she’d vacated earlier. “Dad. I need to tell you something.” Her voice was shaking.
“What’s wrong?” Korrin looked up from the photo album, his brow furrowed and eyes confused.
“I...” Keyleth paused, tears forming again as she braced herself. “I am gay. I’m gay.” She froze, she really didn’t have much of a speech planned. “I have known for a while, and I’ve been waiting until the right time to tell you. But I am gay. And... uh... I didn’t have a speech prepared, but I want you to know that this doesn’t change anything about me. I’m still me... I just... am attracted to women. And I.... I need you to accept and understand that.”
Keyleth watched as Korrin slowly stood up and faced her fully before leaning forward and pulling her into a tight hug. “Is this why you’ve been acting so strangely?” He asked. “You were afraid I wouldn’t accept you?”
Keyleth nodded against his shoulder, her arms dangling at her sides.
“Well,” Korrin sighed and pulled back, putting his hands on Keyleth’s shoulders and looking her in the eye. “Then I’m sorry.”
Keyleth frowned. “What?”
“I’m sorry that this had been weighing on you so heavily.” Korrin said, his voice was soft and it made Keyleth want to cry. “And I’m sorry that I had done anything to make you think that I wouldn’t love you unconditionally.”
Tears were streaming down Keyleth’s face as her father pulled her in for another hug.
“I’m so proud of you.” He murmured. “I’m proud of you everyday, and nothing could possibly change that.”
“I love you.” Keyleth whispered into his shirt that was now damp with her tears.
“I love you too.” Korrin replied, pulling back and looking over to Vax and Vex. “Did you both come here to support Keyleth?”
Keyleth grinned as they nodded, noting that the both of them were tearing up.
“Vax came to look at my baby pictures and embarrass me.” Keyleth said smiling at little at Vax. “But... Uh... Vex came... not just because we’re friends and she wants me to be happy and safe, but also because well...” She sent Vex a pleading look.
“We’re dating.” Vex chipped in before adding. “Sir. We’re dating, sir.”
Keyleth offered Korrin a smile when he looked back to her for confirmation.
“Well, I’m thrilled for the both of you.” Korrin beamed, clapping his hands together. “Now, I must insist you all stay for dinner...” He paused, positively buzzing with excitement. “No, we’re going out. I must insist we all go out to dinner, my treat of course.” He looked at Keyleth. “You’re dating someone!”
Keyleth smiled and nodded, sitting down beside Vex and taking her hand.
Vex stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, trying to decide what earrings to wear with her red dress to the party that in all honesty, she was only attending because she knew it would give her father heartburn to see Vax there. It really was worth it. Smiling at herself and turning her head a little, Vex decided that the dangly earrings were a little too much and chose simply to go with studs before picking up her clutch and exiting her bedroom.
“Vax, hurry up!” She called, slipping on her heels. “I know you’re only taking forever because you need someone to tie your tie for you, so just hurry up.”
Just as she finished speaking, Vax exited his bedroom. He was wearing the simple, black suit that he and Vex had shopped for on Black Friday, which Vex had taken to a tailor as his Christmas present. Around his neck was a pitiful attempt at tying the red tie that Vex had picked out specifically to match her dress.
“You look lovely.” Vax said, approaching her with a pleading look. “Please fix this.”
Vex rolled her eyes and began to undo the damage her brother had done. “Other than this monstrosity, I’d say you look dashing.”
“You picked it out.” Vax said with a little huff, lifting his arms up to eye level. “Look, cufflinks.”
“Gilmore get you those?” Vex asked, noting the amethysts that adorned each cufflink,
“What clued you in?” Vax asked, handing Vex a matching tie pin. “Do you know how this works?”
“I do.” Vex rolled her eyes, getting that set up for him as well. “You look fabulous.”
“So do you.” Vax smiled, touching the blue feather that Vex had kept in her hair. “I don’t think this quite goes with your ensemble...”
“Blue and red go together.” Vex shrugged, as if she’d ever consider taking it out. “You really do look handsome.”
“So, I have a question,” Vax said, touching the exposed back that her dress allowed. “How do you... you know... hold the girls... in a dress like this?”
“The girls?” Vex asked with a laugh.
“You know what I mean.” Vax’s cheeks turned pink.
It was a fair question, Vex mused, running her hands down the sides of her dress to make sure there weren’t any wrinkles. “I do have something.” Vex said, turning a little to to admire herself in the reflection of the TV. “And that’s all you need to know.”
She smiled at the way the back dipped down all the way to her waist, exposing her entire back. Vax called called it the mullet of dresses, since it was rather conservative in the front, and while Vex would never outright say it, she did agree. It was much more fashionable than a mullet though. She put on her short jacket and made her way outside to wait for Keyleth and Korrin.
“I don’t get why you do that.” Vax sighed after Vex lit up a cigarette while they waited.
“Well, for one I have an addiction.” Vex replied, taking a drag of her cigarette. “And for two, I’m outside anyway. And third, remember when we’d watch those old movies and there was a gorgeous lady in a red dress and the sun was setting? She’d have a fur shawl and be glamorously smoking a cigarette.”
“I do.” Vax nodded, scowling at the smell.
“Well, I remember always wanting to be her and now look at me.” Vex held out her arms and posed. “I am her.”
“She’s probably in an iron lung now.” Vax replied, making Vex roll her eyes.
“I’m cutting back and I barely smoke now.” Vex said, taking another drag. “It’s much better than when we were sixteen.”
Vax eyed her warily. “Definitely.”
“What?” Vex narrowed her eyes.
“It’s just... smoking is an expensive habit and you’re...” He paused, his lips pressing into a thin line. “You’re frugal.”
“I buy the cheap ones.” Vex neglected to mention that even the cheap ones cost a lot.
“Somehow that makes you less glamorous.” Vax crossed his arms and played with his scarf.
“You didn’t have to come out with me.” Vex snapped, stubbing out her cigarette and placing the butt in the outdoor ashtray near their building’s entrance.
“You kiss Keyleth with that ash mouth?” Vax sighed as he looked around the near empty street.
In response, Vex pulled her tin of mints out of her clutch dramatically and popped two in her mouth before offering some to Vax. “I chew gum after these.”
Vax rolled his eyes as he chewed the mints. “More needless spending to support your habit.”
Before Vex could respond, a black car pulled up to them. After a moment of simply staring at the car, the passenger door opened and Keyleth stepped out. She was wearing a moderately high necked, maroon dress that had a small cleavage window and gold lining. Vex smiled widely and popped a piece of gum into her mouth, moving to give Keyleth a quick kiss.
“You look so beautiful!” She said, pulling back and taking in Keyleth’s outfit. She turned to Vax. “Take our picture!”
She moved to Keyleth’s side and put a hand on Keyleth’s shoulder closest to her and the other on Keyleth’s waist. Keyleth smiled a little and moved to put her hand on Vex’s waist, letting it hover over her skin. Vex rolled her eyes and laughed.
“Darling, this isn’t prom and we’re not seventeen.” She said. “You can put your hand on my waist.”
Keyleth blushed and did so.
“Hot.” Vax said, taking the photo. “Shall we get in the warm car?”
“I’d appreciate it.” Korrin said from beside the now open driver side. “You all look amazing. Vax, please remind me to get a photo of all three of you together, but I don’t want to be late.”
“You can ride up front.” Vex said to Vax before climbing in, pulling Keyleth with her.
“Please remember that there’s no partition in this car.” Vax said from the front seat.
“Shut up.” Vex snapped, her hand was on Keyleth’s thigh. She turned to Keyleth, leaning into her shoulder. “You really do look amazing.”
“You look gorgeous.” She heard Keyleth smile.
“I like this dress,” Vex continued, playing with the material. “We should go somewhere fancy again so I can see what else you have in your closet.”
She pulled away in time to see Keyleth blush.
The ride to the party was a relatively quick one, they arrived at a large, grand home. The exterior walls were white with large columns. Both were covered in a decorative ivy, giving the home a tastefully aged look. The lights were all on, illuminating the sky around them as the sun began to set, making the home glow a pinkish orange.
Even with the snow on the ground, it was evident that the lawn was perfectly manicured. Their hedges were groomed into geometric shapes, the cubes collected snow on their tops, and decorative boulders adorned the lawn. It was imposing and it reminded Vex of her father’s home, making her stiffen her shoulders a little as they got out of the car.
Korrin handed his keys over to the valet and smiled as he gave the young woman a sizable tip before they were ushered inside.
If the outside was grand, then the inside was breathtaking. Vex was in disbelief that anyone could live in such a household. It was pristine, more like a museum than a residence. Decorated in blues and silvers with staff wearing outfits to match the decor, it looked like something out of a children’s movie. Vex stood in awe at the base of the large staircase at the entranceway, feeling as if her feet were frozen to the spot.
She suddenly felt out of place as she noticed the other guests bustling around her. Their grace, the effortless way they showed off their wealth, it made Vex feel like an intruder. Like she was only pretending to belong there, dressed in the camouflage of wealth. After taking in a deep breath, she squared her shoulders before turning to where Vax and Keyleth stood, both taking in their environment as well.
“Let’s get something to drink, shall we?” She said with a smirk.
Vax grinned and Keyleth hugged her father before joining them both on the steps.
“Dad says he’ll find us when it’s time to leave.” Keyleth said as they walked up and into the party, checking their coats on the way.
Vex smiled as a posh couple passed them all, nodding as they continued walking. She was hoping that there was no sweating happening. This party was so incredibly stressful.
“Are you okay?” Keyleth asked, looking concerned.
Vex nodded and brushed it off. “I’m fine,” She said, squeezing Keyleth’s hand once and heading off toward the bar. “I’m going to get us some drinks.”
As she walked off, she heard Vax whispering to Keyleth.
“Will you stop looking at my sister like that?” Vex heard her brother hiss.
“Like what?” Keyleth asked at normal volume.
“Please, you’re so wet you could drown a toddler in your panties.” Vax scoffed and Vex hoped that no one else heard.
Vex grabbed three champagne glasses from one of the wandering waiters and smiled her thanks before moving back to the other two. Keyleth’s face was red and she averted her gaze when Vex approached, while Vax looked smug. She made a point to take a drink out of Vax’s glass before handing it to him.
“What should we even do?” Vax asked, sipping his drink
“Well, we have to make an appearance with Dad,” Vex sighed, scanning the crowd for any sign of their father. “Then I assume we get just drunk enough to be embarrassing, but not so much as to get thrown out.”
“I hope he hates your dress.” Vax said into his glass.
“That’s not possible.” Keyleth murmured, her cheeks were still red.
Vex smiled and leaned over to Keyleth, kissing her quickly on the cheek. “You’re adorable.” She murmured.
“Until we see him, I’m going to see how many glasses I can steal by the end of the night.” Vax said, downing the rest of his drink and tucking the glass into his jacket.
Vex watched as he walked off, flagging down a waiter and giving the man a sob story about how he had misplaced his glass before grabbing another. “I swear, he can’t control himself sometimes.”
They spent the next hour idly chatting, drinking champagne, and people watching. Vex’s cheeks were pinker than normal and she would admit that she was a little buzzed, trying her best to control her giggling whenever Vax walked by. He made a distinct clinking noise with every step that only Vex’s very trained ears could pick up.
It was only when she spotted that familiar head of black hair that Vex felt herself sober up. Her father stood across the room from them, talking with someone that Vex didn’t recognize. She recognized her step-mother standing beside him and grinned a little at the sight of her sister’s dirty blonde hair that came up to their father’s waist.
“I see dad.” Vex said softly, gently touching Vax’s arm, effectively stopping him from moving to get another glass.
“Shit.” Vax grumbled, subtly trying to hide the glasses he’d hidden in his jacket.
“Didn’t you say you’d see him here?” Keyleth asked. “Why don’t you just go up and say hi?”
“I don’t want to say hi.” Vex mumbled, watching as their father bent down to hear something Velora was saying. She used to resent Velora for the way her father treated her and Vax, but now all of her anger was properly placed on her father. Where it belonged. “I want Vax to steal his wallet and then hand it to me. Then we come up behind him and say ‘drop something?’ really cooly.”
“That is really cool.” Keyleth nodded, sipping her drink. “Are you gonna do that?”
“No, Vax is...” Vex looked at her brother, who clearly was not drunk despite acquiring many glasses. “He clinks.”
“Please,” Vax scoffed, crossing his arms. “You’re thrilled that I’ve taken them.” He smirked and leaned closer. “And I acquired a few trinkets as well.”
For a split moment, all Vex could picture was Vax’s jacket filled with puppies.
Vax sighed. “I should’ve said knicknacks. I knew you’d default to the dog.” He pinched his brow. “Let’s just rip off this bandaid and say hello to our sister.”
“I’ll give you some room.” Keyleth said, taking a couple steps back. “I’m sure now is not the night to introduce me.”
Vex nodded. Logically she knew it was for the best, she didn’t need a confrontation and she definitely didn’t need her father to come up with a reason not to let her and Vax take Velora for a weekend. She smiled at Keyleth before nudging Vax and heading for their father.
They stepped up in front of him and waited politely until he was able to excuse himself before nodding their greetings. They’d stopped even shaking his hand long ago.
“Vex’ahlia...” He said, looking her up and down, his eyes narrowing as he judged her attire. “You look... nice.”
Vex smiled, he clearly hated her dress. “Thank you.”
“And Vax’ildan...” He said the name like it was foreign on his tongue with a slight sneer. “Your tie matches your sister’s dress.”
“Red is certainly our color.” Vax responded. Vex made a mental note to high five Vax once they left the party.
Before anyone could speak again, there was a little squeal five feet away caused them all to turn. Velora was rushing toward them, doing a little jump into Vax’s arms.
“I missed you!” She said, her little voice higher than usual with excitement. “Did you miss me?”
Vax lifted Velora up and Vex moved in to kiss her forehead.
“Of course we missed you!” Vex replied, leaning in close enough to whisper. “Did Dad tell you the secret?”
“What secret?” Velora whispered back, eyes wide.
“Vax, should we tell her?” Vex asked, grinning.
“I think we should.” Vax nodded, lowering his voice. “Dad says that we can take you to our place for a weekend.”
“I know!” Velora exclaimed, throwing her hands up excitedly. “Dad told me! He said that you and him would work it out!” She paused for a moment and then gasped. “Do we get to have pizza and ice cream for dinner?”
“Definitely.” Vex nodded seriously. “And we’ll stay up late and build a fort.”
“Maybe we’ll go to the zoo and see the bears.” Vax suggested.
“We should!” Velora grinned and nodded.
“We’ll work out a date.” Their father cut in, his tone less severe now that Velora was in earshot. “Probably in the spring.”
Velora sighed and leaned close to Vex again, whispering. “Will you teach me new swears at your house?”
“Oh definitely.” Vax smirked.
“Anyway.” Their father cleared his throat. “All we need to do is pose for a photo and then tomorrow we can pick out a date.”
“You’re not posting it anywhere are you?” Vax asked, putting Velora down.
The last thing Vex wanted was for their father to use the two of them in any kind of popularity stunt.
“Absolutely not.” Their father shook his head, he looked like he was fighting the urge to roll his eyes. “It’s just nice to have family photos.” He subtly gestured to Velora. “To look back on good memories.”
“Fine.” Vex nodded, looking around. “Let’s find a place.”
They eventually settled on an outdoor photo near one of the tasteful lanterns with the snow as a backdrop. The first two photos was just Vex, Vax, and Velora, their smiles were genuine in the first, then the second they’d done silly faces upon Velora’s request. The next photo was of all of them, including their step-mother, whose smile almost seemed genuine.
After the photos, it was declared to be Velora’s bedtime. Following a bittersweet goodbye, Vex watched as their step-mother walked Velora to the car, smiling and waving as the car drove by them. Vax stood beside her, draping his scarf over her shoulders as she began to shiver.
“Always a pleasure.” Their father said flippantly before walking off.
“We should teach Velora how to say fuck.” Vax said as they watched their father’s retreating form. “Let’s find our ride home, maybe we can get him to take us to Gilmore’s. Catch the tail end of a real party.”
“That sounds like an idea.” Vex grinned. “I’m craving some jalapeno poppers.”
“Oh those sound good, we should also get some curly fries!”
“God yes!”
Vax was running as fast as he could into the familiar apartment building and up the stairs, offering a half-hearted greeting to any of the building’s occupants as he did so. He didn’t know how long he’d been running for, but he knew that every moment that he wasn’t meant his pursuer was only getting closer. Almost missing the door he’d been aiming for, Vax slid to a stop and fished out his keys, taking four tries to open the door. He threw the door open and then slammed it shut, locking it before running and diving onto the unoccupied sofa.
Or at least what he thought was an unoccupied sofa.
The moment Vax jumped over the back of the sofa, he came into contact with the back of another person.
“What the shit?” The person exclaimed, buckling under Vax’s sudden weight, earning a grunt from the person underneath her. Vax’s eyes widened in realization as he recognized the voice to be that of his sister’s. “Vax, what’re you doing?”
“I’m hiding!” Vax replied laying flatter as he listened for footsteps. “What’re you doing?”
“Well, I could give you a hint!” Vex snapped. “I’m in Keyleth’s apartment, on Keyleth’s sofa, on Keyleth-”
“Hi...” Keyleth supplied with a groan.
“I think you can guess what we were doing.” Vex hissed.
It was at that moment that Vax was made very aware that his sister was currently not wearing a shirt. “That’s a very nice bra you’re wearing.” Vax said with a smile, glancing over to Keyleth, whose face was almost maroon. “Drowning toddlers, Keyleth?”
“Stop!” Vex nearly growled. “Who the hell are you running from? And why are you still on top of us?!”
Before Vax could reply, the door was thrown open. “VAX!” Bellowed Grog. “I KNOW YOU’RE IN HERE!”
Vex sighed and Vax cleared his throat.
“Grog!” He snapped in his best Vex voice. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, I...” Grog paused, closing the door. “Have you seen Vax?”
“No, we haven’t.” Vax replied, trying to sound as angry as Vex was. “We’ve been... busy .”
“I didn’t... uh... interrupt anything, did I?” Grog asked, sounding embarrassed.
“Clearly you are.” Keyleth groaned with a scowl.
“Oh...” Grog sounded uncomfortable. “Are you decent?”
“We are not.” Vax said, his voice cracking. “Please leave and lock the door behind you, and we’ll all forget this happened.”
“Yeah, sounds good.” Grog said, doing as he was asked.
It was only when the lock clicked did Vax roll off his sister and onto the floor.
“What the hell was that voice?” Vex demanded, moving off Keyleth and grabbing her shirt off the floor. “You sounded like a cockney goblin! I don’t sound like that!” She turned to Keyleth, whose face was still red. “Do I?”
“No, you don’t.” Keyleth replied, sitting up a little. “What did you do to Grog?”
“Well, he was bragging about his beard so much...” Vax said, trying to hide his grin. “And remember when he tripped me and I pretty much ate dirt last week?” They nodded. “Well, I retaliated by sneaking into his apartment and shaving half his beard.”
“He worked so hard on that!” Vex exclaimed, frowning deeply.
“He was so proud of it too!” Keyleth added, glaring at Vax. “Why would you do that? Now he has to start all over!”
“He pushed me down!” Vax replied indignantly.
“Yeah, so you tie his shoelaces together, you don’t ruin his face!” Vex put her shirt on and glared at Vax. “Honestly, I can’t believe people think you’re the nicer one.”
“Are you sure Grog pushed you down?” Keyleth asked in the kind of tone she used when she didn’t want people to be angry. “He’s pretty big, he’s launched me into a wall before on accident.”
“Well he said to eat shit when my face landed in the dirt.” Vax said, earning an eye roll from both women. “Anyway, Grog is definitely gonna be waiting outside our place for a while, do you mind if I stay the night here?”
Keyleth sat there for a moment, asking was a formality, Vax knew that she’d allow him to stay. Vax watched as Keyleth and Vex shared a glance before Keyleth let out a sigh, nodding before she spoke. She wore a resigned look on her face before falling back on her sofa.
“I don’t have a guest room.” She said as Vex stood up and moved to the bedroom, cracking the door open a little before she walked back toward the sofa. “You’ll have to share the couch with Trinket.”
Vax shrugged. “Better than dealing with a hot headed Grog.” He said. “Gilmore’s working late tonight and I left his spare key at the apartment, but I’m gonna be hiding out there for a while.”
“Or you could just not push Grog’s buttons.” Vex replied as Trinket slowly left the bedroom, he had the dog equivalent of bed head and Vax had to work hard to not laugh at the way his fur was stuck up at such an odd angle.
“Why don’t you yell at him?” Vax threw his arms up. “He’s always messing with me!”
“And Pike and Scanlan talk to him.” Vex didn’t look up from Trinket’s face as she tried to smooth out the fur on Trinket’s face. “Keyleth and Percy babysit each other, and I, unfortunately, have to make sure you don’t get yourself murdered.”
Vax opened his mouth to argue, but no words came out. He closed it and chose instead to glare at Vex. “Well, shut up, Stumpy.” He said after a few moments of silence.
“If you don’t want my opinions, Scrawny, feel free to go back to our apartment.” Vex shrugged, giving up on Trinket’s bedhead and looking toward the kitchen where Keyleth had decided to go mess around in.
Percy stood in Vex and Vax’s apartment, trying to find a way to avoid getting dog hair on his freshly pressed slacks while still using their furniture. Scanlan had seemed to face the same problem and chose to perch himself on top of the counter, a cocktail in one hand and a nerf gun sitting beside him. Vex was on her sofa, not seeming to care about the hair, claiming that she had lint rollers for a reason. Percy chose to sit on one of the wooden dining chairs that sat in the corner of their kitchen, moving it to the living room.
It was Valentine’s Day and they were the only ones without plans. Vax was spending the weekend with Gilmore and they hadn’t seen him since Thursday. Pike and Grog had decided that it was the perfect time to visit Pike’s grandfather and had left early that morning. While normally Keyleth had other employees to work the shop when she wasn’t on the schedule, two of her employees had suffered food poisoning and the other had a broken arm, so she was gone too.
Vex had her phone out and was texting someone, not bothering to look up when Scanlan spoke.
“Great first Valentine’s Day together, huh?” He scoffed, sipping his cocktail.
Percy sighed and looked at him. Scanlan was only buying time with them until it was time for him to go into work at the radio station. His show didn’t start for a few hours, and based on the slow sips he was taking from his cocktail, he wasn’t planning on getting drunk.
“Well at least I’m with friends.” Vex sighed, still clicking at her phone as Trinket climbed up onto the sofa and rested his head on her stomach. “Keyleth is stuck helping out people who wait until the last minute.”
“She’s probably had to call the ambulance for a trampling victim.” Percy took a sip from his glass of wine. He’d brought it from home and so far, he was the only one partaking.
“Definitely.” Scanlan sipped his drink. “Percy, what’re you gonna do when I have to work and Keyleth gets out?”
“She’ll be too tired to do anything.” Vex supplied before Percy could open his mouth. “You can either take Vax’s room or the couch.”
Percy didn’t want to sleep on either.
“You’d probably have to borrow something of Vax’s too.” Vex shrugged, frowning a bit. “Actually, you’re probably too tall...” She paused, looking at Percy and measuring him with her eyes. “Vax buys big basketball shorts, you should be able to fit in those... And I have a shirt for you to wear.”
Scanlan grinned widely. “Well, I’d like to request that you take plenty of photos because I’ve never seen you in anything but slacks and a jacket. You dress like a stock broker for an eccentric billionaire.”
Percy didn’t think much about what people thought about his outfits, choosing to please himself rather than others, but he had to admit, it was a nice description.
On that note, Vex turned on a horror movie that was as far from romantic as a film could get. They watched as a serial killer stalked the youn adult victims, flinching when something as particularly gruesome and making bets on who would die first. Percy was right for the most part.
Eventually, Scanlan had to leave and several minutes after he was gone, Keyleth stumbled in, looking ragged. Percy watched as she flopped face first on the sofa after kicking off her shoes and offered a sympathetic word while Vex found a way to lay with her, putting an arm around her.
“Hi, Percy.” Keyleth said after spending several minutes just enjoying the silence. “How’s it going?”
“I’m great.” Percy replied, retrieving another wine glass from the kitchen, idly noting that none of them were from a set. He filled both his and the new glass and walked over to Keyleth. “Here, it’s older than you.”
Keyleth rolled her eyes and sat up, taking a sip.
He and Keyleth did not often agree when it came to alcohol, Keyleth prefered quantity over quality and Percy felt the exact opposite way. Keyleth was just as fine with drinking the watered down beers at sports arenas as she was drinking the fancy wine that Percy handed her. Sometimes watching her drink gave him heartburn
“Not bad.” Keyleth said, handing the glass to Vex so she could try some. “All wine tastes the same though.”
“I can’t believe you’ve said this to me.” Percy rolled his eyes. “This is the greatest indignity I’ve suffered in my life.”
Even though he was joking, he’d be eating his words later in the night when he was stuffed into a XXXXXL t shirt with a wolf printed on it and a too short pair of basketball shorts that disappeared beneath the hem of the wolf shirt.
Chopped Night was by far one of the most important nights of the month. Everyone gathered at Scanlan’s place and they’d watch Chopped , there would be a betting pool to see who’d win the competition, and before the show started, they’d all cook a meal together so they could eat while shouting at the screen. This month, they’d made shrimp chow mein.
Keyleth and Pike had done the prep work, Vex had made the sauce and cooked the shrimp, Percy had bankrolled, and Scanlan had cooked everything together in the wok. Vax, who’d drawn the short straw, would be doing clean up. Since Grog was preferred his food to be a little more... simple than others, he’d been given his allotted ingredients and had cooked beside them all. Pike wrinkled her nose in disgust as she watched Grog put shredded cheese on his chow mein, but chose not to say anything.
A few moments later, Scanlan had done that for her. “Grog. What the hell?” He asked, poking the congealed mass of noodles with a chopstick. “How did you make your noodles stick together?”
Grog shrugged, using a fork to take a bite of his food. “I like it.” His mouth was full as he spoke.
“As long as you like it, buddy.” Pike said, sitting down beside Percy.
“Kind of hard to let it go when your friend cheesed the mein, but okay.” Percy mumbled, earning an elbow to the ribs.
She looked around the living room as everyone got situated before Scanlan started the show. Grog, as usual, had taken a seat on the floor beside Trinket and was doing his best to sneakily feed the dog, not noticing the daggers that Vex was glaring in his direction. Vax, Vex, and Keyleth had taken up the larger of Scanlan’s two sofas, the two women leaning into each other while Vax stretched out, resting his head and shoulders in their laps. Scanlan had the large chair that was closest to the TV and to Grog with a front row seat for both Grog’s food and the show.
“Okay!” Scanlan announced once everyone was settled. “Did everyone remember to put their cash in the betting jar?” He gestured to the jar full of cash next to the tv. “After everyone’s announced, we’ll yell out our picks for winner.” He looked at Vex. “You ready to record, bookie?”
Vex smiled and nodded to the yellow legal pad on the side table. “I’m gonna smoke you all again tonight.”
Pike rolled her eyes. “No you aren’t! I’ve been studying.”
“If by studying, you mean watching Chopped at home, then you could say we all have been.” Percy smiled, taking a bite of his food. “This is good.”
“Thank you.” Scanlan smiled, pressing the button to play the show.
They all fell silent and watched the show intently. It was a run of the mill episode and the competitors were almost hilariously the stereotypical cooking competition chefs, but the basket ingredients were horrifying. Keyleth had laughed out loud when she saw a durian appear on the screen. Pike shared the laugh, remembering the time Scanlan had went and found one of the fruits to see if they really did smell as bad as chefs had described.
It was.
“Someone should just mash all the ingredients together and microwave it.” Grog said around a mouthful of cheesy chow mein on a commercial break.
“As long as it’s safe to eat, the judges would have to at least try it.” Vax smiled at the idea. “Can you imagine that episode?”
“I’d want to just raid the pantry.” Vex added. “Free groceries.”
“What do they do with the pantry food anyway?” Pike asked. She always hoped that the food was used, but part of her didn’t want to know.
“I read that they put perishable food in boxes and allow the crew members to take them home.” Keyleth said. “And like, the extra plate is just thrown out. Since it’s been sitting out for a while.”
Leave it to Keyleth to know.
“I always thought they just threw it out.” Percy said. “It’s all so Hollywood to just throw food out like that.”
“I always hoped they donated it, but giving it to the crew is still really great.” Keyleth shrugged.
Pike nodded and glanced up at the TV, noting that the commercial featured a man going to church. “That reminds me, Vax, are you coming to church with me tomorrow?”
“Yep, plan on it.” Vax offered a thumbs up.
Pike nodded and looked at Keyleth. “Would it be all right if I borrowed your van tomorrow, Kiki?”
“Yeah, no problem.” Keyleth shrugged. “Just take it tonight and drop me off at Vex’s place.”
“Thanks!” Pike smiled and looked back at Vax. “Please don’t wear another wolf shirt to church, I know you have enough sweaters, people are starting to talk about it...”
Vax frowned. “I didn’t realize I had so many.”
“You do.” Percy added.
“Just wondering, but why does the dog have to come over to my home?” Scanlan asked, pulling his feet up so Trinket wouldn’t touch them as he walked by.
“Because everyone loves him!” Vex replied in a scathing tone.
“It’s true.” Grog announced, wrapping an arm around Trinket. “I fucking love this guy! Once saw him eat an entire pinecone!”
“Yeah, Scanlan!” Vex replied. “Trinket eats pinecones, what’s not to love?”
“The shedding, for one.” Scanlan replied.
“It’s winter, he’s not shedding yet.” Vex said in a matter of fact tone.
“Tell that to your living room.”
At that, Pike had to laugh.
Scanlan Shorthalt was not a particularly superstitious man, not to say he didn’t believe in things that could be considered supernatural, he just didn’t let those kind of things dictate how he was going to live his life. He didn’t see omens and black cats didn’t bother him, but some things were too big for even him to ignore. And a rundown barn that stood at a sixty degree angle and had pieces of it missing in the middle of the woods seemed like the perfect place for Scanlan to put his foot down and claim that this was not a good idea.
But oddly enough, no one seemed to care.
Why any of his friends wanted to go to a haunted barn was beyond his grasp, but alas, there he sat in the back of the van. He watched as they all filed out, some apprehensive but trying to keep their cool. Percy and Keyleth looked at the barn like it was new and not probably full of demons and the ghosts of sad cows, while Vex and Vax seemed a little more cautious. Grog walked up to the barn confidently with Pike beside him, to the untrained eye, she looked calm and collected, but Scanlan saw the anxiety in her face. She was just as terrified as he was. Which he was not.
“You just know there’s at least four disgruntled ghost children in there.” Vax said as they gathered around the front door.
“Why children?” Vex asked.
“I don’t know, child ghosts are the creepiest.” Vax shrugged while Pike nodded.
As this was being said, Scanlan noticed Keyleth and Percy rolling their eyes and sharing unimpressed looks.
“Something to add?” Scanlan asked them, making Keyleth scoff.
“Well, it’s kind of hard to find any of this creepy when ghosts definitely don’t exist.” Keyleth said, Percy was nodding along beside her.
Pike frowned at that. “So what? Ghosts don’t exist because you don’t believe in them?”
“No.” Keyleth shook her head. “I don’t believe in ghosts because they don’t exist.”
“That was pretty sassy there, Key.” Vax said with a grin. “I like it, but ghosts are definitely real.” He pointed at the barn. “And there are definitely ghosts in there.”
“By that logic, any dilapidated building is teeming with ghosts.” Percy said, crossing his arms. “Just because it’s not maintained doesn’t mean it’s haunted. Who eve told you about this “haunted” barn?”
“Gilmore heard about it while he was tending bar.” Vax replied. “Apparently a couple of guys were talking about seeing an apparition last month.”
“It could’ve been the owner.” Keyleth shrugged.
“Why are we even arguing?” Grog demanded, taking a few more steps toward the door. “Let’s go in there and yell at some ghosts!”
“And lets take some old barn wood and make it into coffee tables and stuff!” Vex replied, taking Keyleth’s hand and pulling her along as she followed Grog. “Do you know anything about carpentry?”
“I mean, we can learn probably.” Keyleth said as Grog through open the barn door.
“I guess we’re doing this.” Percy sighed, looking at Scanlan. “I’ll bring up the rear in case anyone is afraid of being eaten or dragged into the darkness.”
Scanlan frowned at that and followed closely behind Keyleth, leaving two other people to be a buffer between himself and Percy. He was almost creepier than the ghosts.
“This is a mess.” Pike said as she and Vax came up behind him. “I swear, if I have to beat up a ghost to save your guys’ lives, I’m gonna be so annoyed.”
“I don’t think ghosts really get into fist fights.” Vex said with a small frown.
“Why don’t they?” Keyleth shrugged. “Anything is possible in imagination land.”
“Don’t be snarky, it’s unbecoming on you.” Vex kissed the corner of Keyleth’s mouth before turning to Grog. “Open the doors!”
Grog threw the doors open in a way so dramatic that it made the diva in Scanlan swoon. But it made the small part of him that was superstitious shudder. The inside of the barn was dark, matching the dark, moonless sky. Keyleth and Vex pulled out their phones and used them to illuminate the inside of the barn. Some of the boards were rotted and falling out of the ceiling. The floors were covered in straw that had gone moldy in some places, making the inside smell of rot and must. The place was like a maze somehow, seeming bigger on the inside as Grog led the group further, flanked by a skeptical and bored Keyleth and a slightly anxious Vex, who hadn’t let go of Keyleth’s hand since they’d entered.
“Be careful.” Keyleth said, her voice low and matching the tone of what the inside of the barn should sound like. “There’s chicken wire to the right.”
Scanlan watched her shake her right leg, loosening the chicken wire, before pushing forward.
They kept moving forward, Vex picking up big pieces of wood and tossing them into the large bag that Grog was wearing. Scanlan started to feel a little better the further in they got, sure, the barn creaked and sure, it was so tilted that Grog’s head brushed the top of the ceiling in some places, but it didn’t seem so bad. That is, until Vex suddenly jumped back and let out a little shriek, falling into Keyleth, who just barely caught her.
“What!?” Scanlan exclaimed, jumping back into Vax, who stumbled into Pike. “What was that? Why did you scream?!”
“Dead opossum.” Keyleth said, turning her flashlight onto the poor creature. “Poor little guy, it’s fresh.” She frowned a little. “That’s depressing... But not haunted, just watch your step.”
“How’d it die?” Percy asked.
Pike turned and scowled at Percy. “That does not fucking matter. Don’t be creepy.”
“God, Freddie, you’re weird.” Vax groaned, nudging Scanlan forward. “Let’s get this over with.”
They kept walking, Vex and Keyleth were pointing out all the spots that seemed unsafe to step while Grog looted whatever he found interesting. Scanlan watched in awe as Grog was able to shove an antique gas can into his bag before he turned the corner and kept walking. It was only when Scanlan started to feel a little comfortable instead of completely terrified did he feel something lightly brush his shoulder.
A shiver ran down his spine and for a moment, he was frozen. His mouth opened ever so slightly as he began to quake with fear, eyes wide, he turned in the direction of what had touched him and let out a shriek, stumbling back away from the white, headless figure that floated above him, its arms waving at him as he did so.
The noise attracted the attention of the others, and before Scanlan knew it, he, Pike, Vax, and Vex were rushing to the door. Once the four of them were safely outside, Scanlan noticed that Grog, Percy, and Keyleth were still inside and the barn was silent. Leaning against the side of the van, Scanlan caught his breath and looked at the other three, frowning deeply.
“Please tell me you all saw that too.” He said, his voice shaking with terror.
They nodded and Vex looked back at the barn. “Shit, I lost Keyleth! What should we do about the others?”
“They’re probably being decapitated and turned into barn ghosts too.” Vax said solemnly. “It’s ironic that it’s the non believers.”
“Oh shut up!” Pike snapped, turning her heel and stomping back to the barn. “We have to go get them.”
Just as she was about to reach the barn, the doors flew open and for a split second, all Scanlan saw was the white, headless figure. Before he was able to act, however, Percy and Keyleth emerged with Grog right behind them. Keyleth and Percy looked unimpressed and Grog was laughing as he waved what Scanlan now recognized to be a white nightgown around in the air.
“Who even hangs their laundry in barns anyway?” Vex demanded as she poked at the nightgown.
“Someone who likes their pajamas to smell like cow shit, apparently.” Vax replied, eyeing the nightgown suspiciously.
Scanlan let out a small puff of laughter before turning back to the van. “We’re not staying here though, right? Clearly this was a warning.”
“Don’t you think it’s a little silly to be running away from a nightgown?” Keyleth asked, following Scanlan to the van nonetheless.
“Don’t you think it’s a little silly to want to go back inside a clearly haunted structure?” Vax asked, clapping a hand on Scanlan’s shoulder before throwing the back doors open and claiming one of the seats.
“I don’t usually believe in omens and stuff, but that whole building was an omen.” Scanlan said confidently, climbing into the other seat.
“Does that mean I’m not allowed to keep this?” Percy asked after closing the backdoor, holding up the nightgown.
Scanlan scowled at Percy and pretended to ignore Grog’s laughter, moving to grab the AUX cord. “This is why Keyleth is the only one who actually likes you.”
“Hey, I like Percy!” Vex called from the driver’s seat.
“Yeah, well you’re a couple, your opinions only count for one.” Scanlan rolled his eyes.
When Vex was a child, she and Vax would watch sitcoms about people who lived in the big city, the two of them often would plan out their life in the city once they were older. It started small, just vague ideas and talking about the fancy restaurants they’d frequent, but as they grew older, their fantasies would become more and more elaborate. The tiniest details were planned out, right down to how they’d furnish their classy penthouse and what kinds of vacations they’d take.
Their father would take them with him on business trips to other countries, though in hindsight it was probably because he didn’t want to leave them in his house, even with a fully staffed house. They should have seen it sooner, like when he wouldn’t let them leave the hotel. But, despite never actually seeing the countries they were taken to, Vex and Vax decided that once they were older and had the perfect penthouse they’d always wanted, they would frequent bed and breakfasts.
A penthouse became a small apartment when they were hit with the harsh realities of hospital bills and student loan debt. Sure it was easy to just have Vax live in Vex’s dorm while she was in college, but after that, rent became important. It took a few years, and a lot of saving, but Vex finally was in the right place financially to be able to go away for the weekend.
“You know, I could’ve just paid.” Keyleth said, sitting on Vex’s bed while she packed and looking out the window as it stormed. “It wasn’t that expensive.”
“Yeah, well, this is important.” Vex replied, frowning a little. “It’s like... finally things are really coming together.”
Keyleth shrugged and nodded a little. “Do we have to wear sweaters there?”
Vex smiled. “Yes. That was part of the plan.” She furrowed her brow a little. “You packed sweaters, right?”
“You watched me pack, remember?” Keyleth laughed a little. “You even picked out that green sweater that you like so much on me.”
“Oh yeah.” Vex nodded and grabbing a pair of wool socks and stuffing it in her bag as another flash of lightning came down, followed quickly by a crack of thunder and a ping from Vex’s phone. “Can you check that for me, babe?”
Keyleth grabbed Vex’s phone and quickly scanned the message. “Vex...” She said in that tone she used when she desperately didn’t want to be giving bad news.
“Yeah?” Vex frowned.
“A tree fell near the bed and breakfast and they’re without power, they’re cancelling all reservations this weekend.” Keyleth replied. “No one was hurt, so that’s good, but the tree fell like an hour ago, and apparently they’re getting straight line winds up north, they’re urging anyone who’s not from the area not to drive up.”
Vex sat there for a few moments. Logically, she knew that there would be other weekends and that straight line winds were incredibly dangerous, but part of her felt her heart break a little. It was silly, but she’d been waiting for this for a long time. Waiting just seemed like a big step back.
“We can call again next week.” Keyleth offered, putting a hand on Vex’s shoulder. “Trinket is with Pike and Grog, so the bed won’t be crowded. And Vax is with Gilmore all weekend, so we can cook breakfast tomorrow and we don’t have to share with him. We can still have a great weekend.”
“I guess.” Vex shrugged, letting out a deep sigh. “I was just... really looking forward to it... You know...? And it’s too late to call anywhere else. It just... It’ll sound stupid if I say it outloud.”
“Well, I don’t think it’ll be stupid.” Keyleth replied kindly, climbing off the bed and leaning in to kiss Vex’s forehead. “And if you do want to tell me, I promise I won’t laugh or make fun of you.”
Vex smiled sadly and leaned back, looking up at Keyleth’s face. She was definitely telling the truth, Keyleth was the worst liar on earth. “Okay.” She nodded. “It’s just... When Vax and I were little, our mother couldn’t afford to take us on vacations and our father just... didn’t. And when we were younger, we planned out our lives together. And nothing we’ve planned has happened yet, but the most attainable thing in our plan just got hit by a tree.”
“See? That’s not stupid.” Keyleth said with a smile. “That’s really not stupid. It’s completely reasonable and I understand why you’re sad.” She moved over to her duffle bag and started rifling through. “So, this weekend, we can just wear sweaters around your apartment and watch scary movies and you can talk about your plans and stuff. Maybe if you want, you can balance my checkbook. You find that fun, don’t you?”
“I really just enjoy seeing how much money you have.” Vex replied with a laugh.
Keyleth pulled out the green sweater that Vex had picked out a few hours ago. “Well, you never let me buy you anything nice, so I’m guessing you just want me to withdraw it all in quarters so you can lay on it like a dragon.” Keyleth said, putting the sweater on.
Vex briefly considered that thought and was honestly, pretty thrilled.
After Keyleth managed to wrangle Vex into an oversized, black turtleneck that was most certainly Vax’s, she set up the living room and turned on some documentary about wolves. Vex leaned into Keyleth’s side and listened to the narrator talk in a very smooth voice.They ate microwave popcorn and watched two more documentaries together before Vex started to feel herself being lulled to sleep a little by the narrator’s voice.
“We should get ready to go to bed.” Keyleth murmured, sitting up and grabbing the popcorn bowl before moving to the kitchen and putting it in the sink.
Vex sighed and turned the TV off, standing up and meeting Keyleth in the kitchen. “Thank you.” She murmured, kissing Keyleth’s cheek.
Keyleth smiled. “You don’t have to thank me.” She said as they walked toward the bathroom to get ready for bed.
“I know, but I wanted to.” Vex said as the bathroom door closed behind them.
Keyleth laughed at that.
Just as Vex had finished brushing her teeth, she heard the front door open and heard the familiar voice of Vax in the living room. Followed by Gilmore’s. She and Keyleth shared a look before Keyleth opened the door a little and peeked through. Vex frowned a little when Keyleth pulled back with a small grimace.
“They’re making out on the couch.” Keyleth whispered. “You don’t wanna look.”
Vex certainly did not.
“Maybe they’ll go to Vax’s room and we can sneak back to yours without... interrupting them.” Keyleth suggested with a shrug. “Otherwise we’ll have to go out there and... uh... see them.”
Vex sighed and nodded. “Let’s just hide out in here, I guess.” She turned to the medicine cabinet. “I could always use more mouthwash, I guess.”
Keyleth sat on the rim of the bathtub and sighed. “How long till they go back to Vax’s room?”
Based on experience, Vex was sure that they’d be gone by the time she was done gargling. “Soon.”
“Great.” Keyleth smiled before scowling when there was a loud thump coming from the living room. “They must’ve fallen off the couch...”
Vex rolled her eyes as she swished the mouthwash.
“We should just flush the toilet and spook them.” Keyleth suggested after a moment. “Then they’ll pull apart and we can leave.”
Vex spit out the mouthwash and laughed. “I love that, but let’s not make them think we pee together...”
“But if they’re out there much longer, if we just decide we can’t wait, then we’re the creeps who sat in the bathroom while they made out.” Keyleth replied.
Vex scowled. “Okay. Let’s flush.” She flushed the toilet and Keyleth peeked out the door again.
“They didn’t notice.” Keyleth whispered. “Also Gilmore isn’t wearing a shirt anymore.” She leaned over to look at Vex. “He has a lot of chest hair.”
“Thank you for telling me that.” Vex frowned, wrinkling her nose. “I love that I know that now.”
“He wears deep v-necks, we could’ve figured that out with an educated guess.” Keyleth hissed.
Vex shrugged at that. “Fair enough.”
“Should we flush the toilet again?” Keyleth asked.
“Think of the water bill!”
“You don’t pay for utilities!”
Vex scowled. “Fine.”
“Unless you have condoms in your bathroom to throw at them to give them a hint.” Keyleth suggested. “Would that work? How’s your aim?”
“I am not searching the bathroom for a hidden stash of my brother’s condoms.” Vex hissed.
Keyleth nodded and flushed the toilet again. “Sorry about that.”
“It’s fine, you’re just trying to save our lives.” Vex replied. “What’s going on out there?”
Keyleth glanced out again. “You don’t want to know...”
“They’re working fast...” Vex muttered.
“We live here now, don’t we?”
“We do.”
Keyleth climbed into the bathtub and grabbed one of the hand towels, bunding it up as a pillow and laid down. “We can sleep here.”
“I haven’t slept in a bathtub since college.” Vex sighed, closing the door and turning out the light before joining Keyleth. “We could’ve picked a worse bathroom to live in.”
“If I had to choose, I’d pick Scanlan’s...” Keyleth said. “His bathtub is enormous.”
“It really is.”
Vax smiled at Velora as Vex drove the group to the zoo. After discovering that the zoo did not, in fact, close for winter and early spring, Vax was right on board with Velora’s suggestion to go to the zoo. Though both of his sisters, did laugh at him for that, but if that was the worst thing that could happen to him, Vax could die happy.
“So, Velora,” Scanlan asked from the bean bag. “What animal are you most excited to see?”
Velora paused for a moment and thought. “Either the owls or the bears. I wish I could just shove them together and make one big owl bear.”
Vax didn’t say that the thought was horrifying, but it was. “I’m sure that’d be so cute.”
“Yeah...” Velora let out a wistful sigh and looked out the window pensively.
It was the middle of spring, so there were a few people at the zoo, but it wasn’t packed like it would be if they’d gone in the summer. Vax hadn’t been to a zoo since he was in high school on a field trip, that was before they had a lion exhibit. And before Velora was even born. His grip tightened on Velora’s hand at the thought.
“Hey look, that Siberian tiger’s name is Minxie.” Grog said, pointing at the sign outside of the exhibit. “That’s adorable!”
“She’s cute!” Keyleth replied, not blinking at all as Minxie tore apart whatever kind of meat she’d been fed. “I hope she doesn’t stain.”
“A pink tiger would be so cool!” Velora exclaimed.
“Right?” Vax grinned. “I wish they were pink instead of orange.”
“I’d prefer purple.” Vex added. “But still, it’d be nice to have a break from orange.”
“I think the white is a break from orange.” Percy said offhandedly, earning a laugh from Vax and Keyleth.
“Hey, Velora, do you want come cotton candy?” Vex asked, gesturing to the the nearby stand and taking Velora’s other hand.
“Yeah!” Velora grinned, looking back at Vax. “I’ll bring enough to share!”
Vax smiled as Velora let go of his hand and scampered off with Vex.
“When was the last time you saw Vex willingly offer to spend money?” Scanlan laughed, leaning against the railing.
“I think she said her dad gave her like two hundred bucks when she picked Velora up.” Keyleth said, glancing over at Minxie and smiling.
“I’m surprised you even agreed to come with us, Kiki.” Pike said with a small frown. “A lot of people say that zoos are pretty ethically bad.”
“Actually,” Keyleth started, and Vax rolled his eyes. She went into a speech whenever she started a sentence like that. “Most zoos are valuable contributors to conservation practices. And any ‘tricks’ that caretakers could have them do usually serves a dual purpose, checking them healthwise and as a form of enrichment by encouraging them to do actions that are neutral to them. Sure there are bad zoos out there, but for the most part, they’re good. Zoos aren’t Seaworld.”
“I once saw a video of a zoo bear killing a trainer.” Grog said after a moment.
“Yikes.” Scanlan said.
“What happened to the bear?” Keyleth asked.
“I think he’s fine.” Pike replied. “Another trainer had to test him and keep training him and stuff. It was crazy.”
“I hate it when people decide to euthanize zoo animals for that kind of stuff.” Percy supplied. “We lock them in captivity then get mad when they act like an animal? It’s insanity.”
“No offense, Vax, but do you really think we’re good influences for your baby sister?” Pike asked after a moment.
“Yeah.” Scanlan supplied, trying desperately to sound serious. “Like we just talked about bear attacks, and I don’t want to point fingers, but Keyleth will drink anything you put in front of her as long as she thinks there’s booze in it. I once saw her chugging a bottle of mouthwash underneath an overpass.”
“Wait...” Keyleth paused, she was barely holding back laughter. “That wasn’t a bar?”
“I hope we’re talking about something appropriate.” Vex said as she and Velora approached. She handed a cone off to Grog and another off to Keyleth.
Scanlan leaned in close to Vax and whispered. “I’m gonna teach Velora to say fuck.”
Before Vax could respond to that piece of horrible information, Velora put a cone into Vax’s hand.
“Vex said you like blue best.” She smiled.
“We’re just talking about how I make blue, sparkly poos.” Scanlan grinned.
Velora giggled. “Blue, sparkly poo.” She whispered to herself, taking Vax’s hand. “That’s silly.”
“Well, you know us, we’re really silly.” Vax replied with a smile as Velora led them toward the bears, sending Scanlan a death glare.
“If you teach her anything else,” He hissed to Scanlan once he was far enough away from Velora. “I will end you.”
“That’s not a good example to set.” Scanlan replied.
They wandered around the zoo for hours before they’d seen all the exhibits, except the tarantulas because Velora was terrified of them. They were heading out when Vex did the unthinkable and walked right into the gift shop, making everyone pause when they saw it happen. Unearned money or not, it would take extremely special circumstances to get Vex to buy some overpriced souvenir. In fact, Vax couldn’t remember it all.
Sure she enjoyed those kinds of things, but Vax knew for a fact that he and Vex had stolen most of those souvenirs, so they really didn’t count.
“Look at this giant bear!” Vex exclaimed when she returned, handing it to Velora, who let out an excited shriek.
Vax stifled a laugh at the ridiculousness of the bear’s size. It was probably only an inch shorter than Scanlan, and twice as thick. “Big enough?”
“The clerk thought I was cute, so he grabbed me a bigger one out of the back.” Vex grinned. “He even charged me a little less.”
“Have you ever paid full price for anything?” Keyleth asked, taking Vex’s hand in her own.
“Please, you should ask her if she’s ever paid more than half price for anything.” Scanlan said, rolling his eyes.
“Does that mean you steal things?” Velora asked, her voice slightly muffled by the bear’s fur.
“No, I’ve never stolen anything in my life because it’s wrong.” Vex said. “Now let’s go, it’s getting a little late and we still wanted to get ice cream, didn’t we?”
“Yes!” Velora squealed, tugging Vax toward the van.
When Keyleth had asked Grog to come with her to her father’s house while he was out of town, Grog thought it was because she wanted him to help her move or steal something heavy. It made sense, Grog was the strongest person Keyleth probably knew. Even if he wasn’t, he definitely had the best beard of anyone Keyleth knew.
“So, your dad is having problems with a neighbor and he needs you to come up to make sure nothing’s going on?” Grog asked when Keyleth picked him up.
“Exactly.” Keyleth nodded with a tiny frown. “I don’t know what this guy is doing, but he’s really upset about it.”
“Why’d you ask me to come with you?” Grog asked, taking a drink of the slushie that Keyleth had in her cup holder. He loved that she always remembered what he liked.
“Well,” Keyleth paused. “It’s because you’re very big.”
“I am.” Grog nodded.
“And you’re very... intimidating to people who don’t know you.” Keyleth replied awkwardly.
“You want back up in case the neighbor is violent.” Grog nodded to himself with a smile. “I’m your bodyguard.”
“Exactly.” Keyleth said with a small laugh. “Or maybe if the neighbor is a huge jerk, we can steal his car.”
“I could totally move a car like it’s a wheelbarrow.”
“That’s like... Plan M, or something though.”
“Plan A is we kick his ass.”
“Plan A is the neighbor isn’t a problem.”
“Plan B is we kick his ass.”
“Or not.”
“We’ll play it by ear then.”
Keyleth sighed.
The drive to Keyleth’s dad’s house wasn’t that long, which surprised Grog a little. He’d always assumed Keyleth grew up in the forest with a bunch of magicians or something, seeing that she grew up in a house was weird. It was nice though, Grog took a moment to admire the stonework as they stepped out of the van.
“You know, I wasn’t sure you knew how to drive...” Grog said after a moment as Keyleth typed a code into the garage door console.
“Don’t tell anyone, but my license is expired.” Keyleth replied. “I just don’t bother to renew it because... well, Vex does all my driving and the guy at our liquor store knows me.”
Grog nodded, it made sense. “So, what’s the plan?”
“According to my dad, this guy drives through his lawn on the lawn mower when he thinks no one is home, so he wants me to just periodically come in and make sure no one’s doing anything... suspicious.” Keyleth replied as the garage door opened. “He said he left snacks in the fridge, so help yourself. Just don’t steal any of my baby pictures, Vax already has a bunch.”
“I don’t need pictures of kids.” Grog replied, walking through the garage and into the house, going right toward the fridge.
He dug through the fridge for a while, taking a few moments to note that Keyleth’s dad had meant chopped up vegetables and hummus when he said he’d left snacks. As Grog considered simply eating the mayonnaise in the door of the fridge, he heard the garage door closing and noticed Keyleth slipping into the house. Sending one last glance to the mayonnaise, Grog closed the fridge door and looked at Keyleth.
“What’s up?” He asked.
“I hid the van.” Keyleth said. “Now it’s time for recon,” She said, walking through the kitchen and toward another room. “I’ll show you how to work the TV, I’m gonna watch the yard.”
“You’re really intense about this, huh?” Grog asked, following Keyleth into the living room and sitting down on the reclining chair.
“Yeah, well, when Dad asks for a favor, you kinda...” She trailed off and shrugged. “Besides, my dad is one of the nicest men on earth and if someone is bothering him, I need to see their face. It’s like, what kind of person can be mean to someone as nice and patient as my dad?”
“Maybe your dad is a real fucker to everyone but you?” Grog suggested as Keyleth turned on the TV for him.
The look Keyleth sent Grog made his blood run cold for a moment. “I know my dad’s not perfect, but he’s great, one day, you’ll meet him and you’ll just be like ‘wow, Keyleth’s dad is really great and he makes really good lemonade.’”
“Okay...” Grog shrugged.
Keyleth nodded and looked out the window, pulling the blinds away a little in the sneakiest way she could manage.
“You’re a dork.” Grog said with a laugh.
“Hush, just watch TV and practice your scary faces.” Keyleth said with a frown.
And so they sat there, Grog watching some stupid show on TV where a man could not comprehend the evil of the people who committed crimes around him, and Keyleth stared out the window. So it was super fun. That is, until Grog was halfway through the fourth episode of the marathon when Keyleth jumped up and grabbed Grog’s arm, tugging him to the window.
“There he is!” She hissed, pointing toward a man driving across Keyleth’s dad’s lawn on a lawn mower. “The bastard.”
Keyleth rarely swore, but for some reason, whenever she did, it meant that she meant business.
“Let’s get him.” Grog said, standing up and turning off the TV.
He put on his most intimidating face and followed Keyleth into the front yard a few steps behind. Grog watched as Keyleth walked up to the mower, subtly flexing his muscles as the man turned off the engine and looked at them.
The man’s forward cap had hidden his face, but now that he was looking at them, Grog was sure that this guy was the oldest man on earth. His face was wrinkled and saggy, as was his neck. His skin was pale, like he’d never been outside before, and his eyes were bloodshot, not the kind that looked like he’d been smoking pot, but the kind that happened when someone got ridiculously old.
“Hi,” Keyleth said in her kindest voice. “My name’s Keyleth, I’m Korrin’s daughter.” She offered the man her hand to shake.
“Bob.” The man said, taking Keyleth’s hand and eyeing her suspiciously.
Grog held back a laugh when he thought of the possibility of Bob’s full name being “Bobaline.”
“Well, Bob.” Keyleth said, frowning a little. “My dad says that you’ve been driving your mower through his yard, but he hasn’t gotten the chance to talk to you about it. Is there a way you could... not?”
Bob looked at Keyleth for a long while. “Nope.”
Keyleth looked at Grog before looking back at Bob, a confused look on her face. “E-excuse me?”
“I said no.” Bob said. “Your pops is a namby-pamby and he’s ruining our country, so I’m gonna ruin his lawn.”
“Well, we could have you arrested for trespassing.” Keyleth said, her frown deepening. “Just because you didn’t vote for my dad, doesn’t mean you can just... do this.”
Grog took a step forward and crossed his arms. He wasn’t planning on hurting this old guy, but the possibility wan’t off the table.
“You gonna stop me?” Bob said, leaning in very close to Keyleth. “Little girl.”
Just as Grog was about to take one step forward and was mentally preparing to hurt this ancient man, he froze. Keyleth was shaking a little and her face had gone from a mix of anger and confusion to full on rage, Grog had never seen this face in his life. Keyleth leaned a little closer to the man and grabbed his shirt collar, pulling him in until their noses were almost touching, she wasn’t blinking.
“Old man.” She said, her voice icy cold despite how angry she clearly was. “Watch what you say about my father because I can and will drop you like a bag of dirt.”
Keyleth wasn’t the most physically imposing person in the world, but at that moment, Grog, and definitely Bob, believed that Keyleth was about to assault an old man.
“And just so you know.” Keyleth continued, now poking Bob in the chest. “Just because I’m young doesn’t mean you get to talk to me like that. And just because you disagree with my father doesn’t mean you can do whatever the fuck you want to his lawn. Now, get the FUCK off my father’s property before I call the police.” She release his shirt and took a step back.
Bob sat there frozen for a few moments.
“I said NOW. ” Keyleth roared, pointing toward Bob’s home.
Fumbling with his keys, Bob did as he was told and went back to where he lived.
“So, you really didn’t need me, did you?” Grog laughed a little once Bob was gone and Keyleth had stopped shaking. “You’re fucking scary.”
Keyleth smiled a little and looked up at Grog. “Really?”
“Well, not now.” Grog smiled as they walked back toward the house. “But earlier, I almost shit myself.”
“Cool!” Keyleth replied. “Can you tell Percy? He doesn’t believe that I can be scary.”
“If my phone weren’t in your dad’s house, I woulda videotaped it.” Grog said. “When we get back to town, I’m buying you the biggest beer in town!”
“Nice!”
“You deserve it.”
The first week of summer, there was forecasted to be a meteor shower. Having heard about this months prior, Vex and Pike had made arrangements with everyone to go camping then so they could watch the meteor shower at the river. Now with the weekend coming up, Vex found herself abuzz with excitement as she packed her duffle bag with Keyleth sitting on her bed.
“Don’t forget a hoodie in case you get cold.” Keyleth said, leaning against her own bag that she’d packed prior.
“I’ll just take one of yours.” Vex smiled, packing a sweatshirt anyway.
“Of course you will.” Keyleth laughed. “Why are you waiting until the last minute to pack your clothes, by the way? We have to leave to pick up everyone in like... ten minutes.”
“Well, to put it simply,” Vex said, tossing a pair of sweatpants in her bag. “I forgot.”
Keyleth laughed a little. “Fair enough.”
“And it’s not like I haven’t been getting ready.” Vex continued, zipping up her bag. “I did get all of the camping stuff in the van yesterday so we wouldn’t have to deal with it all today.”
“Grog and Pike helped.” Keyleth pointed out as she stood up, shouldering her bag and grabbing Vex’s.
“Yeah, but I made it happen.” Vex winked, kissing Keyleth quickly.
“How could I forget, you’re the boss of everyone.” Keyleth smiled, her nose crinkling in that adorable way that compelled Vex to lean in and kiss her again.
“Stop being so cute.” She murmured, before stepping out of the room and shouting toward Vax’s room. “Ships pulling out!” She shouted. “Move your ass!”
“You are the worst sister ever.” Vax said, stepping out of his room with his bird printed backpack slung over one shoulder. “I didn’t even want to see a meteor shower.”
“Don’t lie.” Vex sighed as she put Trinket on his leash and grabbed her keys. She smooshed Trinket’s face and gave him a forehead kiss. “Okay, now let’s get a move on, right buddy?”
They exited the apartment and made their way to the van. Picking everyone up was uneventful. Percy and Scanlan fought over the actual seats before Scanlan was banished to the beanbag by Pike, who’d had it with the arguing. After that, it was smooth sailing.
Vex drove the familiar route back to the campground that, almost a year ago, had been the place where she and Keyleth had begun their relationship. It felt like so long ago, like a different life. Vex took Keyleth’s hand in her own, offering a small smile. The last time they drove this route, they’d been awkwardly talking to each other, dancing around their feelings like idiots while their friends probably made bets about it.
There wasn’t much of a line at check in, and within twenty minutes of parking, they were back at their old campsite. It was like nothing and everything had changed at the same time. The trees were still there, the fire pit was still left in the center, the river still babbled, and the birds still sang, but the weather was warmer and there were no leaves on the ground. It was like she seeing things through a different lense.
Keyleth, Grog, and Pike put the tents together in record time, while Scanlan and Percy got the fire pit in order, and Vex, Vax, and Trinket got the firewood. Just like the year before, they roasted marshmallows and told stupid stories around the fire, joking with each other and taking jabs at each other. Vex leaned against Keyleth, who she shared a log with, and laughed a little as Grog told a story about how Keyleth had threatened to assault an octogenarian. It seemed pretty farfetched.
“The meteor shower should be in about an hour, guys.” Pike said, looking at her phone. “So no one pass out because it’s supposed to be great.” She looked at Grog. “I’m looking at you, Grog.”
Grog rolled his eyes and cracked open a beer. “Don’t worry about me.”
Vex rolled her eyes as Vax approached. “Hey, Kiki, wanna go see if you can still catch a fish with your bare, fucking hands?” He asked.
Keyleth glanced up toward the sky and thought for a moment. “Yeah, they should be out and about. But I’m not keeping any tonight, we’re purely catching and releasing.”
“Of course.” Vax nodded, watching as Keyleth got up and headed to the river before looking at Vex. “Scanlan bet me twenty bucks that the fish last year was a one time thing.”
Vex rolled her eyes and got up. “Why does he hate that my girlfriend is amazing?”
“I don’t know, but when she does that, there’s this primal part of me that wants to marry her.” Vax laughed. “Like, I know that she’ll provide for me.”
“She’ll hunt and garden.” Vex said as they walked toward the river. “Total package.”
“Total package with a fanny pack.” Vax added, laughing again.
“That’s part of the package.” Vex replied.
Just as they approached the riverbank, Vex noticed Keyleth hurrying toward them, her pant legs already rolled up and something silver in her hands. “Guys, look!” She said. “This has to be a record!”
“Fuck!” Scanlan shouted from behind them. “I’ll give you your cash when we get home.”
The smile on Keyleth’s face faltered for a moment before she put the fish back in the water. “What was that?”
“I bet Scanlan that you could totally do it again. He thought it was a fluke.” Vax said, clapping Keyleth on the shoulder. “You just got me twenty bucks, you’re the best person I know.”
Keyleth frowned a little. “If I knew beforehand, I think I would’ve waited until tomorrow to fling myself into the river.”
Vex rolled her eyes as Vax walked off and tucked some of Keyleth’s wet hair behind her ear. “It’s really impressive, though. Like, I know how to fish and hunt, but... I’m not quite at the your level.”
“I mean, we are in the woods...” Keyleth gestured to the woods. “I could teach you.”
Vex opened her mouth to reply, to say not today. But the god damn look on Keyleth’s face had her kicking off her shoes and rolling up her pant legs before she could even say anything. “Let’s go.”
“Nice!” Keyleth was bouncing with glee and grabbed Vex’s arm before tugging her toward the river.
“I’m pretty sure all this splashing will scare them off.” Vex said as they stopped near a shady bank.
“We’re not gonna be in the river.” Keyleth replied quickly. “I can just wander in there and grab a fish, but you’re a beginner. Besides, standing still in the cold river... Not a good idea.” She laid down on her stomach near the bank and dipped her arm down to the bicep. “Now do this.”
Vex did as she was told, wincing a little at the cold of the river. “Okay...” She turned her head to look at Keyleth.
“Now, we gotta be patient.” Keyleth said, lowering her voice. “Fish don’t particularly like warmer, foreign objects. So we’re waiting for our arms to cool down.”
“Okay.” Vex frowned, briefly terrified that she was going to catch pneumonia.”
“Don’t worry.” Keyleth leaned forward and kissed Vex quickly. “I’ve done this before.”
“Yeah?” Vex smiled. “So tell me, what do I do once I’ve acclimated?”
“Well, since we’re after trout,” Keyleth thought for a moment. “You kind of do a come-hither motion with your finger and it replicates the look of a bug struggling. Then you grab the fish under the gills and you got him.”
“That’s simple.”
“You have to be really patient.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I have something pretty to look at to keep me occupied.” Vex winked at Keyleth, whose cheeks turned a little red.
Keyleth let out a little laugh and looked up toward the sky. “Sun’s set. The meteor shower is gonna start soon.”
“Well, then I’ve got a front row seat.” Vex replied.
“How are you so smooth?”
“It’s natural.”
Keyleth scoffed. “That’s not possible.”
Vex smiled a little. “You’re cute.”
They sat like that for a while, idly chatting and talking about nothing. Vex took a few opportunities to tell Keyleth how adorable she was. It was all she could do to ignore how cold her arm felt, but every time she felt like it was going to be too much, Vex remembered the look on Keyleth’s face when Vex told her she’d learn to fish. It warmed her heart a little bit.
It felt like a blink of an eye before the meteor shower started, Vex looked up and felt her jaw go a little slack. It was incredible. The way the white streaked across the black sky, leaving slight trails behind them. Seeing this made Vex feel incredibly small, in a good way. Somehow.
“Look.” Keyleth whispered, nodding her head at a small movement in the water. “Someone’s coming.”
Vex followed Keyleth’s gaze, trying her best to ignore the way the meteors reflected off the water’s surface. After a few moments of searching, she saw it. A big brown trout coming their way. Vex wiggled her finger and gaped as it came toward her.
“Under the gills. Be quick.” Keyleth murmured. “You can do it.”
Vex almost jumped at the feeling of a fish brushing up against her hand before she brought her dry hand into the water and gripped the trout, lifting it out of the water. “Holy shit!”
“You did it!” Keyleth jumped to her feet, clapping excitedly. “You did it!”
“Fuck!” Vex exclaimed, dropping the fish back in the water and scrambling back from the riverbank. “I did it.” She mumbled.
It had to be the adrenaline, but Vex’s heart was pounding. She stared up at Keyleth, bouncing around happily. The meteor shower above them lit Keyleth up just enough to bring out the red in her hair, but somehow it was dim enough to make her look less like a person and more like some kind of bouncing redheaded blur. Vex took a couple of breaths and sat up, ignoring how cold her arm felt.
“You did it!” Keyleth said, dropping to her knees and placing a hand on each of Vex’s knees.
“I did.” Vex looked into Keyleth’s eyes, her heart still beating out of her chest. She could hear it pounding.
“Now if you ever get stuck in the woods, you can eat!” Keyleth smiled widely. “And you can show off to our friends!”
Vex laughed a little. “Hey, Key?” She found herself saying, cheeks turning red and eyes tearing up a little.
“Yeah?” Keyleth asked, her head tilting a little. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah...” Vex nodded. “It’s just... I think... I think I’m in love you with you.”
Vex watched as Keyleth’s eyes went wide. “Wait. Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously.”
“Holy crow...” She let out a little laugh. “Wow...” Keyleth blinked a couple times, not looking Vex in the eye.
“You don’t have to say it back, I’m just... putting that out there...”
Keyleth’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean I don’t have to say it back? Because if I don’t, then I’m not telling you the truth. I love you too.”
“Wait what?”
“I love you too.”
“Holy shit.”