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Vex’s hands on the sides of her face ground her.
Keyleth’s been all over the place lately, a mess of emotions and hurt and confusion — ideas and thoughts racing through her mind so fast she barely has time to process them before they’re gone.
Vex had died.
“I’m all right. I’m still here,” Vex tells her. Keyleth hates how quick she is to brush this off.
That feeling fades when she looks into Vex’s eyes, but something doesn’t sit well with Keyleth, still.
“Vax is off, something’s wrong,” Vex adds.
Vax.
Keyleth feels light headed. Vex ushers her to sit down.
Take me instead, you Raven bitch. The words bounce around Keyleth’s head and it’s all too soon, too fast, too much. “I thought I was gonna lose you both,” she blurts out. Her voice trembles; she hates that it does. “He offered his life for yours. And my biggest fear was that neither of you was going to come back.”
“Keyleth? Thank you, dear.” Vex places her hand on her cheek once again, and there’s a warm tingle where their skin meets. It only lasts for a second before Vex is gone.
Keyleth feels cold.
She bursts out crying. It’s not like she can help it, she really doesn’t want to feel this weak, this powerless —especially not right after watching one of her dearest friends die— but she figures it’s better to let it all out here in this empty tavern room than right in front of them all. So she weeps, alone.
That’s what she thinks, at least.
Not but a moment later, Vex walks in again. Her eyes look watery and her lower lip trembles slightly. Keyleth stands up, a little faster than she’d intended to, and she nearly stumbles, but it doesn’t matter because Vex is right there. She wraps her arms around Keyleth and holds her, and Keyleth holds her right back.
She feels more than hears the sobs Vex is trying desperately to hold back.
Keyleth cries into Vex’s shoulders and they pull apart. “Vex, I-” She’s so close to Vex’s face. Vex looks into her eyes and there’s a shift , an intensity that wasn’t there before— it takes Keyleth’s breath away.
A moment hangs between them. There’s a second where everything is quiet and calm and Vex is the only thing Keyleth can see. She isn’t quite sure what to do, what to say, but there’s something unspoken between them as Vex’s gaze shifts from her puffy eyes to her lips and back to her eyes again.
Vex crashes her lips against Keyleth’s and oh .
She lets out a shaky breath against Vex’s lips and Vex moves to pull away, worried, but Keyleth presses her hands on both sides of her face —just like Vex had done to her earlier— and keeps her there.
She doesn’t even take a moment to look at Vex before she kisses her back; she doesn’t have a moment, she needs this more than she can put into words. She needs to feel the firm press of Vex’s lips against hers, needs to hear the choked gasp that escapes her mouth, needs to see the red rising to her cheeks. She needs this because it means Vex is here— it means Vex is alive .
They’re moving, backward, until the back of Keyleth’s knees hit the bed. Keyleth stumbles and falls, naturally, and she makes Vex lose her balance as well. They end up in a very awkward position, Keyleth’s hand trapped between their bodies, against Vex’s ribcage, and Vex’s shoulder bent at an odd angle, her hand landing on Keyleth’s breast.
They burst out laughing and it’s kind of weird, what with their puffy eyes and their tear-stained cheeks, but Keyleth feels an immediate sense of relief. She can feel the rise and fall of Vex’s chest under her palm.
Keyleth can’t stop giggling, but Vex grows serious. That intensity is back on her gaze as she looks at her hand, still where it landed, for a moment too long. Keyleth likes the feel of it, a comforting weight against her chest.
Vex trails her eyes up Keyleth’s body, from her breast to her eyes, slowly, deliberately — as if drinking her in. Vex’s eyes are dark. It sends a shiver down Keyleth’s spine.
Vex stills for an uncharacteristically hesitant moment. There's a question in her eyes.
And, hey, it's not like Keyleth really knows what she's doing, but what she does know is that what they were doing before felt good. Really good.
So she arcs up, pushing more into Vex's hand, and trails her fingers up to cup Vex's cheek and bring her closer.
There's no hesitation now, only the weight of Vex's body against hers and the tingling trail of heat her fingers leave on Keyleth's skin.
Keyleth's leg finds a spot in between Vex's and it’s good, apparently, because Vex lets out a moan. Keyleth is utterly breathless at the sight. Her hands find Vex's ass and she pulls Vex closer, and they both find a rhythm.
And it's not perfect, it's very far from it. It's messy and needy and desperate and Keyleth can't get enough of it.
Vex chokes out a sound, and it sounds too much like the sound she made when she fell, lifeless, in the Raven Queen's tomb. Keyleth can't shake the image of her limp, pale body — and it's the last thing she needs to be thinking about, so she kisses Vex harder.
Vex finds a way to sneak her hand through Keyleth’s robes until she can touch her skin. Keyleth is high on feeling , on the way Vex rakes her nails softly across her stomach and the firm press of Vex’s fingers against her and the gentleness behind Vex’s smirk.
Keyleth sort of understands this, sure, she’s read her fair share of books, she’s no stranger to the concept of sex — but this is unlike everything she could have ever imagined.
Vex speeds up the pace, and a sort of pressure builds up in Keyleth’s stomach, higher and higher until she’s falling down. It’s the highest rush she’s felt in a long time, better even than the adrenaline that pumps through her veins in the middle of a good battle. She’s never felt more alive .
She wants Vex to feel the same way.
She takes a moment to catch her breath, but then she’s kissing Vex again. Vex cups her face and her fingers are sticky and Keyleth wants more. She’s not quite sure what to do, though, so she fumbles and blushes and Vex laughs, quiet but heartfelt — and Keyleth melts.
Vex takes her hand, kisses it — which only draws more heat to Keyleth’s cheeks — and guides it down her pants, slowly. She closes her eyes when Keyleth finds the right spot, breathes in sharply, softly. Keyleth’s mouth goes just a little dry.
It takes a bit before she finds her rhythm, but then Vex is gasping and making these sounds; Keyleth is high on it all. Vex grips the bedsheets and her knuckles go white, her breathing grows louder and faster with each passing second and Keyleth is in absolute awe .
Vex lets out a long, drawn-out moan, and collapses on top of Keyleth.
And Keyleth still has her worries, she’s still scared of what the future might hold for them — but right now, stroking her hand through Vex’s hair and listening to her breathing slow down, she thinks they might be okay.