Work Text:
Keyleth watched Vax as he tried not to let his gaze linger on Gilmore. And failed. Badly. Again.
She might have been amused by it if the circumstances had been different. As it was, it was hard to find anything funny in a situation that was clearly making both men so unhappy.
It wasn't the first time she'd seen that look on Vax's face since their impromptu kiss in Whitestone and his... well, whatever it was with Gilmore back in Emon. It couldn't be called a break-up, not really, since the two of them hadn't properly been together in the first place. A choice, maybe? Vax choosing her over Gilmore? Not that she'd asked him to do it. He'd made assumptions and then he'd acted on them before he had a chance to change his mind, without actually asking anyone else involved what they thought about things.
It seemed to be a habit of his.
Whatever the case, Keyleth had noticed that every time they made their way back to Whitestone between wild trips here and there, Vax's eyes strayed in Gilmore's direction. And when his gaze focused on Gilmore, it stayed there at least for a while. It was as if he was soaking up the vision of him to take with them when they left the city and went back to hunting vestiges or dragons or whatever else they needed to do to try and save Emon.
Vax really did wear his heart on his sleeve, didn't he?
Despite what a lot of people seemed to think, Keyleth was neither blind nor oblivious. And it was blatantly obvious that Vax cared for her, and that Vax cared for Gilmore, and that Gilmore cared for Vax. And, well, she cared for Gilmore. And she was fairly certain Gilmore cared for her, even if it wasn't particularly more or less than he cared for anyone else in Vox Machina.
Of course, Keyleth was well aware that some of that caring wasn't quite meant in the same way as other parts of it. Friendship and romance and love and lust and a million other emotions all mixing together into a complicated mesh of feelings among the three of them. But the point still stood. She cared for Vax, and she cared for Gilmore, and it was clearly making both of them miserable that Vax had chosen her and only her.
Which was ridiculous, since she'd never asked him to do any such thing to begin with.
If Vax was going to keep trying to pretend to be some kind of martyr when he didn't have to be, then she supposed she was going to have to do something about it.
After all, Keyleth had always been good at sharing.
*
Shaun hid a smile as he watched Vax'ildan feed Keyleth a slice of bright purple melon-like fruit that he'd never seen before in his life but that the two of them seemed very familiar with. They were clearly lost in each other's presence, Keyleth giggling and blushing almost as red as her hair as juice from the fruit trickled down her chin the moment she took a bite out of it.
There was still a part of him that wondered if this tentative agreement of theirs would last, but he was going to do his best to enjoy it as long as it did. Keyleth had been quite insistent, after all, telling both he and Vax with absolutely no uncertainty that she thought they were being complete fools when they didn't need to be. Just with slightly stronger language, which had been surprising in itself considering she wasn't usually the type to swear as far as he knew. Then again, he'd been learning quite a few new things about Keyleth recently that made him wonder just how well he actually knew her.
And at the heart of things, he was a selfish man. If Keyleth's heart was big enough to share Vax with him, and Vax's heart was big enough to care for both him and her, then who was he to argue with them?
Besides, even he had to admit that the two of them were adorable together. That had been the one saving grace that had made it easier to swallow his disappointment when Vax'ildan chose Keyleth over him. Well, that, and the fact that it was Keyleth. It was damned impossible to be upset or jealous of her for very long, as he'd discovered quite quickly.
"A copper for your thoughts?"
Shaun pulled his mind back to the present at the sound of Vax's voice. At some point since he'd become lost in thought, Vax and Keyleth had apparently switched places, and she was the one feeding him fruit. Vax's lips were bright purple, sticky juice all over his chin, but his gaze was focused on Shaun. There was a tiny hint of concern in his eyes, as if Vax had noticed his mind wandering and come to an entirely wrong conclusion as to why.
Which made sense, considering Shaun was starting to pick up on the fact that it was a habit of Vax's to do just that.
"I'll have you know that my thoughts are worth at least a gold," Shaun said, putting on an affronted air. "A copper? I feel as if I should be insulted."
Vax blinked, as if that hadn't been the answer he was expected. "Well, we can't have the great Shaun Gilmore feeling insulted," he said. "I feel as if I need to grovel for forgiveness now."
Shaun's mouth twisted into a smirk. "Maybe we should save that for later," he said. "We are in public after all."
Something flashed across Vax's face, there and gone so quickly that Shaun might have missed it if he hadn't been watching. Arousal. Curiosity. Amusement. And something else, another emotion that he couldn't quite place.
Beside him, Keyleth's face flushed red at the innuendo. For just a moment Shaun was worried that he had pushed things too far, that he'd crossed a boundary that he hadn't realized was there and made her uncomfortable.
Then her mouth twisted into an almost impish grin that wouldn't have been out of place on Vax's face. "Would you like some fruit?" she asked just a bit too innocently, holding out her hand with the remains of the melon slice on it. "I'm sure Vax would be glad to help you eat it out."
*
Vax's eyebrows went up as Keyleth broke their kiss and promptly turned to walk across the room, her hand reaching out to squeeze Shaun's for just a moment as she went past him. She sat down on the foot of the bed, pulling her legs up under her so that she was sitting cross-legged. Then she just stayed there, watching the two of them with an almost expectant air about her.
Shaun and Vax both stared at her for a long moment.
"Don't mind me," Keyleth said teasingly. "I'm just here for the show."
Shaun's brow furrowed for a moment before smoothing out, and he let out a laugh. "You couldn't leave the bed for us?" he asked. "I'm not nearly as limber as Vax'ildan here."
Her eyes twinkled. "I'm sure the two of you can make do without it," Keyleth shot back, her gaze darting towards Vax for a second before she added: "I know from experience how creative both of you can be, even if things don't always work out as expected."
Vax let out a bark of laughter, not entirely certain which plan-gone-wrong she was referencing but well aware that the fact that there had been enough of them that he didn't know which one she was talking about off the top of his head probably said it all.
Shaun shook his head as he walked over to Vax, gently putting his fingers under his chin and tilting his head up slightly so that he could press a kiss against his lips. Vax wasn't entirely certain how long it lasted. It might have been seconds. It might have been a lifetime. Either way, he wasn't ready for it to end.
"We should take this to the bed," Shaun said softly, his voice for Vax's ears only.
Vax chuckled. "The bed's taken, remember?" he pointed out. "How about you take me over your desk instead?"
Shaun's eyes darkened, and for a moment Vax thought he was going to spin him towards the desk and do just that. Then amusement flickered over his face, as if he had just thought of something. He glanced over his shoulder and flicked his hand, whispering something under his breath that Vax couldn't quite make out.
Keyleth let out a surprised shriek as she suddenly rose into the air, floating above the bed with her head just shy of touching the ceiling of the room. The sound quickly turned into laughter. "That's cheating!" she called out, not sounding particularly upset.
"I do believe that the bed's empty now," Shaun said, glancing back towards Vax with playful grin as he held out his hand towards him.
Vax let out a laugh of his own as he took the offered hand. "Lead the way."
As they made their way towards the bed, Keyleth shook her head from mid-air above them. "Put me down before you get started," she said. "Otherwise, the moment Vax distracts you, I'm going to fall right on top of both of you."
Shaun opened his mouth as if he was going to protest his insinuation that he might lose concentration on his spell.
Vax smirked at him, waggling his eyebrows for a moment.
Shaun closed his mouth. "I do believe your girlfriend has a point," he said with a sigh, making a gesture with his hand and sending Keyleth floating towards an empty chair.
"She usually does," Vax agreed. Then, in one fluid movement, he pushed Shaun forward so that they both ended up sprawled on the bed. The moment they were both horizontal, he rolled his hips suggestively. "Then again, I have a point of my own, as you can probably tell."
Shaun's breath hitched.
On the other side of the room, Keyleth let out a yelp as she fell the last two feet to the ground.
Vax laughed as he glanced at her, amusement and fondness flickering in her eyes even as she muttered half-hearted threats in his direction. His gaze flickered towards Shaun underneath him, his mouth twisted into a soft smile as he stared back up at Vax.
It was funny, how sometimes you didn't realize just what you wanted until you already had it. Now all Vax hoped was that it would last.
After everything it had thrown at them, the universe owed them a happy ending.