ax_main | Percy & Vax, backdated to 6/2/18

In which there's dancing, mushiness, and getting into arguments over stupid things at the end of the year party.

Vax lounged with his back against the tree trunk, on a small hill overlooking the party. Dressed all in black, with pants laced up his legs, so tight that it left very little to the imagination, and an oriental collared shirt that was barely tied closed, showing off glimpses of pale skin beneath. He'd left his hair hanging long and shaggy around his shoulders, a hint of eyeliner emphasizing his dark eyes. With a beer in hand, he watched the student body with some curiosity from his perch, a shadow within a shadow. Of course, there was one person he was much more interested in any other.

Percy laughed as the song he and Keyleth had been dancing too ended and they were immediately accosted by Vex and Pike who wanted to be jointly next on Keyleth’s dance card. He left them to it, going in search of a drink, his boyfriend, or, more preferably, both. The first would be easy, the second far more of a challenge. Vax was never easy to spot in a crowd, even for Percy whose eye tended to naturally gravitate toward him.

After grabbing a drink, Percy made his way to the fringes of the party. He lingered there, the lights of the party playing shadows against him, as his eyes wandered over the crowd, searching for the familiar form of Vax’ildan.

Within moments, Vax had disappeared from beneath his tree, and was wrapping his arms around Percy from behind, sliding one hand up under his shirt, while the other held onto his beer despite the close contact. (It was good beer.) Lips ghosted over Percival's earlobe, and Vax's lips pulled in a smile. "Looking for something?”

Percy startled at first, but then leaned back into Vax with a chuckle and kissed his cheek. “We really need to get you a bell.” He turned his head to look at Vax and admired how well the angle complimented his sharp cheekbones and long eyelashes. “Are you enjoying the party, dear?”

"Well, I'm enjoying the view, so that counts, right?" Vax answered thoughtfully, hands ghosting over Percy's hipbones through his clothes.

Heat flushed up under Percy’s collar and not because he was embarrassed about so much intimacy in such a public place. “Funny, I was just thinking the same myself.” He slipped out of Vax’s embrace, catching his hand as he did to draw him a step forward. “Speaking of—Dance with me? I’d like to show you off.”

Vax faltered a step. "Oh. I'm not. Ah, I'm not amazing at dancing.”

Percy gave Vax a smile and stepped back in, his thumb caressing across Vax’s knuckles. “With how gracefully you move, I find that hard to believe. But, if you feel uncomfortable, we don’t have to. We can slip away and steal some privacy instead.”

"No," Vax countered, leaning in to brush his nose against Percy's cheek. "You wanna dance, we'll dance.”

Percy kissed Vax. “One song.” He lead him onto the dance floor, staying along the edges of the crowd and near the shadow to help Vax feel a little more comfortable, then drew him in close and started to dance.

The music was not the kind Percy had been given dancing lessons for. There was a heat to it, and he could feel it thumping in his chest. It took him a moment, but dancing lessons had taught him a thing or two about rhythm, and eventually he figured out how to move to it. Arms linked around Vax’s neck, he swayed his hips to the beat.

Vax may have been graceful, yes, but any attempt on Syldor's part to try to get him to learn how to dance properly had fallen on deaf ears. Painfully, he had to admit he wished now that he'd actually paid attention. Still, he tried to follow Percy's lead, arms sliding around his perfect, noble boyfriend and praying he didn't make a fool out of himself.

“Don’t worry about the people around us. It’s just you and I,” Percy murmured.

"I wish that were true," Vax breathed, but tried to force his shoulders to relax, leaning in to brush his lips against Percy's ear.

“It is. Close your eyes.” Percy guided Vax with gentle presses and pulls of his hands. “It’s just you, the shadow, and myself. We’re alone.”

Percy thought they moved well together. It was a little awkward at times, Vax was by no means the most skilled dancer that Percy had ever danced with, but it was perfect. He couldn’t ask for a dance partner he wanted more.

Vax let his eyes slip closed and did as Percy asked, feeling the movement between them more than try and concentrate on where and how to put his feet. "Are you regretting choosing me now?”

“Never. Not for a second.” Percy voice spoke low, his voice soft, but sure, like the words were all for the boy in his arms. “Vax’ildan, my heart, my dearest one, I have known so many great men. I’ve known kings and princes and lords. I’ve met diplomats and great thinkers and renowned artists. Not one of them holds a candle to you. You take my breath away.”

Vax lost any control of his limbs, freezing up on the dance floor, unsure how to answer that. Unsure how to breathe in the face of that reply. No, he couldn't breathe at all. He gripped the material of Percy's shirt with his hands, pulled his boyfriend flush against his chest, then stepped them both into the nearest shadow, pulling them behind the veiled curtain of shifting darkness into a space beyond - his own personal sanctuary. To any who had been watching, the two boys just disappeared.

There, in the pitch darkness, Vax could wrap himself around Percy and attempt to catch his breath. Part of him wanted to simply cry. He valiantly fought off the inclination, but only by virtue of needing to stave off the anxiety attack. In the meantime, he kept Percy pressed close, unwilling to let him go.

Percy’s smile dropped when he felt Vax go stock-still against him, giving way to confusion and concern that only grew as they were suddenly surrounded by darkness. Something was very wrong. “Vax?” He put his arms around his boyfriend who was holding onto him so tightly he could feel his arms shaking with the force of it. “Vax’ildan? What is it? What’s wrong?”

"I've-" Vax sucked a breath, then another, then pressed his forehead to Percy's shoulder as he forced himself to try and relax. "-never been worth half a shit to anyone but Vex."

It wasn't easy to hear, especially knowing that Percy meant every word. It was...so much love he wasn't even sure how to handle it.

Percy’s heart broke. The world hadn’t fucking deserved Vax’ildan Vessar. He soothed a hand down the back of Vax’s head, and said, “Those people weren’t worth half a shit.”

Vax held him almost bruisingly close. "Shit, fuck, Percival. You can't say those things," still stuck on Percy's heartfelt words.

Percy kissed Vax’s temple, his fingers combing soothingly through his long hair. “Do you want me not to?”

"I want you to come to your senses," Vax mumbled. Except for the part where he didn't. He took a deep breath. "Thanks, though, right? It's...nice to hear, even if it's-" utter bullshit, but no, Percy meant it, so it wasn't bullshit. It was just... "-hard to wrap my head around.”

“I’ll keep saying it until it isn’t,” Percy replied, his fingers still making comforting passes through Vax’s hair.

Vax took a deep breath, then raised his head. "Sorry to kidnap you.”

“As always, Mr Vessar, it is a delight to be kidnapped by you.” Percy tucked Vax’s long, black hair behind an ear. “Let’s not go back to the party. How about the roof?”

"As long as you never call me that again," Vax breathed out a soft, quiet laugh.

“An easy promise to make,” Percy agreed with his own quiet laugh. “What would you prefer?”

"Anything other than something that makes me sound like my fucking father," Vax pointed out, but did so with a slight, soft smile. Of course Percival hadn't thought of it that way, and why would he? But Vax hated the name Vessar, ever since he'd found out what a douche his father really was.

Percy mentally chastised himself. He should have known that, and he smiled apologetically. “Of course. I think that can be managed.”

With a nod, Vax's arms tightened around him again, then they were moving, slip-sliding along impossible shapes and surfaces, riding the shadows through trees and along the side of a wall, then up the eaves of the mansion until they finally stepped free of the darkness, out into moonlight cast along the roof of the school.

The view from here was beautiful. Above them, an endless stretch of starry sky, and below them, moonlit grounds and the warm glow of the party beside the lake. It was like something out of the fairy stories his mother had read him as a boy, the faint music on the breeze, and the shadows dancing under the moon.

Percy admired it, the wind gently ruffling his hair and tugging at his clothes as if trying to draw him closer to the edge. He could see why Vax loved it up here.

Vax sucked a deep breath of the cool air and straightened into the breeze, enjoying the touch of it through the laces of his clothing. "I should bring you up here more often.”

Percy smiled over his shoulder at Vax. “I’d like that.” He looked back over the grounds, watching the party in a distance for a moment, before sitting down on the roof and lying back, an arm under his head.

The night sky seemed infinite like this, filling Percy’s vision. This view was even more beautiful. His head tilted back so he could look at Vax. “There was a tower in old Whitestone castle that this reminds me of.”

Vax picked his way across the roof to Percy, then dropped down to sit next to him, elbows propped behind him so he could look up at the stars. "You ever think about going back there?”

Percy stared at the stars. He’d gone through an astronomy phase as a child and even now he could still name a few of them. “Yes, and no. I had no aspirations to inherit Whitestone when my parents passed. Julius and Vesper were always the politicians. I had no interest in it. I would have settled someplace else eventually. Been the useless de Rolo who spent his days tinkering.” A small furrow creased his brow. “But, I think I miss home.”

"Then we should go," Vax decided quietly, watching Percy watch the stars.

“I would love for you to see it someday.” Percy shook his head. “But, it’s not safe right now. Going back means letting people know I’m alive, and it’s better if the Briarwoods think I’m dead.”

"For how long, Percival?" Vax frowned softly. Granted, he didn't want to lose Percy to a world of nobility and posh assholes, but his family's murderers? They couldn't just let that go. "You've got to face them sometime. We've got to face them. Your family deserves that much.”

Vax was right. Percy told himself the same thing all the time—He couldn’t hide forever. He had to make the Briarwoods and everyone who had helped them answer for what they’d done. “I don’t know where they are. I’ve looked and found nothing. It’s like they don’t exist.”

Percy paused a moment, then added, “I have been working on something. I was going to show you when it was finished.”

Looking over at him, Vax rolled onto his side and propped his head with one hand, the fingers of his other sliding flat-palmed across Percy's stomach. "What kind of something?”

“A gun.” Percy looked at Vax. “Designed to hurt mutants specifically.”

Vax was quiet for a moment, mulling that one over. He was pretty sure they'd talked about something like that...at one point or another. But actually putting the idea to work, that was serious. Not that he disapproved, really. If this was something that was going to help Percy take down the assholes who killed his family. Sure. Why not? "So when's it going to be ready?”

Percy had watched Vax throughout his silence, trying to read whatever it was he may be thinking in his expression. Something unknotted in his chest at the question, and he wondered why he’d been so worried in the first place. Vax had always had his back. He’d always been there for him. Why would this have been any different?

“I’m not sure,” Percy replied. “I have some peculiarities to work out, and I need to test it.”

"You should test it on me," Vax told him thoughtfully.

Percy bolted into a sitting position and stared at Vax in horror. “No! Absolutely not! I am not going to shoot you!”

"How else are you going to test it?" Vax asked, sitting up with him. "I mean, we'd have to have Pike there and what-not, and maybe try for a limb or something, but I'm willing to take the hit for science…"

“I can’t shoot you, Vax.” What if it went wrong? God, what if it went right? “If something happened to you because of me, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself.”

"You know I'd be fine," Vax protested softly. "Pike could heal me. How else are you going to test it?”

Percy’s silence was answer enough. He intended on testing it on himself.

"Right," Vax answered, his voice hardening. "Are you a complete idiot? If you think for a second that testing it on yourself is a good idea, maybe you should go back to school for a few years. Did you even think about including Pike in this test? Or how you're going to weigh its effectiveness when you've just been shot? Were you even going to ask me to be there?”

“I know it’s a risk, and I planned on taking precautions.” Which was just another way of saying Percy was completely aware of how stupid it was and had chosen to disregard it. “I was going to shapeshift. My shadow form could take the hit better and, if I managed to hold it, would be able to heal faster. I’d be fine.”

"Not happening," Vax told him darkly.

“Why the bloody hell not?” Percy asked, frustrated.

"At least my idea included someone who can heal without managing to hold shit!" Vax told him, anger building in his chest. "And you weren't going to tell me about this at all, were you?”

“Pike could barely partially heal my arm without getting exhausted. What is she going to do about a gunshot wound?” Percy replied, a defensive anger leaking into his own voice. “And you know I planned on telling you after. I told you that. Why are you so fixated on being there? Are you that keen on seeing me get shot?”

"Fuck no," Vax hissed softly, leaning toward him. "I don't want you to be shot at all.”

Percy let out a growl of aggravation. Bloody wise-ass. “I didn’t mean that literally. I know you don’t actually want me to get shot. God, Vax, why can you put yourself in front of a bullet, but my doing it is out of the question?"

Vax thought it was obvious, but he reached out and took Percy's face in his hands, staring into his eyes. "Because, you asshole," he said softly, "You're important. And while I'd take plenty of precautions... I'm most definitely not.”

The anger left Percy in a rush. He stared at Vax, and shook his head, his voice soft and sad as he said, "How can you say that?" He took Vax’s hands away from his face, and held onto them. "Vax, how can you say that? You're important.”

"Not like you are," Vax told him practically. "You're a fucking prodigy. Your inventions are going to shape this world. I'm just the uneducated brat of an asshole. I'm not going to allow you to fuck yourself over just because you aren't comfy shooting me. If we have to, we find another way to test it, but I'm telling you that I'm your best bet.”

Percy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Being clever doesn’t make me more important. Intelligence is no more a measure of worth than wealth is. Nor is it any promise of the good a person can do. Smart people can do terrible things. Oppenheimer invented the atomic bomb. Watson was a bloody racist. The world is a better place for having you in it, Vax. That is what’s important.”

“And while we’re on the topic—” Percy continued, picking up steam. “You’re not stupid. You’re clever, and fuck every teacher you ever had, and especially fuck your father, for making you, for even a second, feel like you weren’t. There is more to being clever than maths and inventing and books.” He started to count off traits on his fingers. “You’re situational awareness is far better than my own. You catch on to things quickly, and have a good mind for strategy. You can smell bullshit on someone a mile away. You know how to read people. You know how to read a room. I’ve not see a single lock that could stump you.”

Vax blew out a soft sigh between his lips, his gaze still on Percy's. Percival was biased, and he knew it, and many of the things he mentioned weren't nearly as impressive as what Percival could (and would) accomplish in his life. Most of it was just the life of a common street thug. But then, Percy didn't know everything about his past, and couldn't possibly be an accurate judge. So he gave in, and gave a soft shake of his head. "Just promise me that you aren't going to shoot yourself."

Percy set his jaw in disapproval. “You can shoot me, then.” There were so many other things he could have, and wanted, to say, but self-preservation held his tongue. Vax had a high opinion of him that he didn’t deserve, and he was in no rush to change that. Let Vax think he was a decent person. Let him think he was going to shape the bloody world. It would give him another minute, another hour, another day, with Vax. Once Vax found out that Percy was the kind of person who’d abandon his sister to her death, or would build something knowing the damage it could cause if it fell into the wrong hands, this couldn’t possibly last.

Vax immediately opened his mouth to protest, then immediately shut it. Right. If that was the way Percy wanted it...he could prove just how clever (and how much of a dick) he was. "Fine. But Pike has to be there.”

Percy hadn’t expected for Vax to agree so quickly. “Fine. When it’s ready for testing, I’ll let both of you know.”

"Fine," Vax echoed softly, then leaned in to steal a brief kiss. “Thanks."

Percy pulled Vax in by the back of his neck for a longer kiss. The boy was bloody maddening, but, God, he loved him. “For our first fight as a couple, that wasn’t so bad.”

"Not too bad at all," Vax agreed with a crooked smile. Unfortunately, he knew it would not be the last. Not by a long shot.