Work Text:
I've never been so wrapped up, honey;
I like the way you're everything I ever wanted.
-Taylor Swift, Jump Then Fall
Not much of morning can be seen. Well, not much of anything could be seen in this rickety apartment that the pink-haired woman had managed to scrounge up enough funds to pay rent for.
It was minimalistic, but not by choice.
No bedframe in the bedroom, but a fairly comfortable mattress acquired from a yard sale, alongside a cardboard box to serve as a bedside table. In the living room sat a couch, taken from The Last Drop, since Vander had no use for it now that the kids are building their own lives. The TV was purchased from a yard sale as well, surprisingly functional. There was a stove that stopped working almost half the time, making the tenant reliant on scalding water to make instant noodles.
It wasn't much, but it was a place she could call her own. Vi couldn't remember the last time she could call something her own without having to fight and bleed for it.
This was a place where she could sleep and maybe occasionally avoid her sister whenever everything felt a little too much, paid for with hard-earned money by being a bouncer at the brothel and some cage fighting.
So yes, the windows didn't give much hint of the morning, but Vi's body clock was functional enough for her to understand that it was indeed daytime. Plus, there was also the watch sitting on the cardboard-bedside-table thing.
And the first thing she thought was: I have to get her back.
By way of nature and class differences or something or other, Vi should never have crossed paths with Caitlyn Kiramman. Two people of two utterly different worlds shouldn't have met at all in their entire lives.
But Caitlyn Kiramman had always defied nature. It seemed to be her modus operandi: to rail against all expectations set for her just because she could. Just because she wanted to. Just because she had the kindest heart of anyone Vi had ever met.
When Vi met Caitlyn, the latter had been investigating a drug case – typically something left to the whims of the drugs task force. And the navy-haired woman somehow had a lead that led her down to the undercity, mainly the brothel.
"Why are you wasting your time anyway?" Vi said after introductions had been made, dripping with her ingrained distaste for enforcers from Piltover. "We both know that after tonight, you're just gonna sweep this under the carpet and none of you will care that Shimmer's ravaging this city like no tomorrow."
The enforcer's lips pinched and eyes narrowed, as if she was genuinely offended by the description. "Well, that may be how my colleagues work, but that's not how I work. Shimmer is running rampant and killing people. Innocent children and women and men who don't know any better. I would like to speak to Babette," she insisted.
Usually, Vi wouldn't give these enforcers and their uniforms a second glance, chasing them away and daring them to arrest her in the midst of all the bad rep they had accumulated for themselves throughout their patrols in Zaun. And yes, she still found the uniforms disgusting, but something about Caitlyn kept her focus.
Perhaps it was the determination in her startlingly electrifying blue eyes. Or the way she kind of towered over Vi in those platform shoes.
Or maybe because she was just hot. Because Caitlyn Kiramman was hot, even Zaunites agree, judging by the way pedestrians kept throwing her looks – interested looks wondering if this tall drink of water worked with Babette and would be up for a round with them. Something about that made Vi want to return to her violent punching ways.
"You're not going in there dressed like this," Vi commented.
And she found something for Caitlyn a bit more suitable for Zaun, not that she told the enforcer that she basically beat someone up for that getup. And she took Caitlyn in to meet Babette for presumably useless intel because the madam was one of the few people in the undercity that Vi knew had no dealings with Shimmer or whoever was peddling that shit.
That should be the end of it. Caitlyn should be disappointed and she should head back to posh Piltover without another glance over her shoulder, and Vi would keep on making barely enough money to support herself and her sister.
But no, the navy-haired girl came out of Babette's office seemingly pleased with the information she got. And she took one look at Vi, and Vi took one look at her, and somehow they ended up in one of the spare rooms, tearing each other's clothes off and devouring each other like strangers in heat.
And the rest, as they say, was history.
Vi wouldn't call it a relationship – they were just having sex, after all.
Sometimes, she would sneak up to Piltover and climb over Caitlyn's window. Sometimes, Caitlyn would visit the undercity in the guise of investigation – well, not really guise, since she really was investigating – but she would pay one last stop to wherever Vi was to get her fill.
Despite how much she didn't want to, Vi found herself joining Caitlyn more often than not to look into Shimmer production. And she learned that Caitlyn was hell of a good shot when she couldn't punch her way out of a Shimmer manufacturing facility that they had thought was abandoned.
She learned a lot of things about Caitlyn, which made her only more sure that there was no way whatever this was between them wouldn't go anywhere beyond sex. Really, really hot sex that Vi had never experienced before, so much so that she stopped sleeping with anyone else.
Of course, it all came to a head five months into their…agreement. They had found Silco and Caitlyn had submitted all information to Sheriff Grayson, probably the only sheriff that Vi found herself begrudgingly admiring for her steadfastness and keenness to root out corruption and the like.
And Caitlyn and Vi had celebrated with more really, really hot sex. A few rounds of it, in fact. Vi found herself sore in places she didn't think she could be sore.
"It's late," Caitlyn whispered from the bed, buried under the covers with red marks littered across her skin – Vi did that.
"Yeah, it's fine," Vi murmured, having put on her pants and was currently rooting around for her shirt.
Caitlyn was quiet for a moment, and Vi made a noise of triumph when she located her shirt behind a lamp in the corner of the room. "It's not safe," the Piltovan said.
Vi scoffed and turned her gaze towards the other woman once she put her shirt on. In the moonlight spilling into the room through the curtains, Caitlyn looked…effervescent, not a word Vi used often in her life. But Caitlyn was effervescent and more. And Vi could hardly believe that someone like her would ever go to bed with someone like Vi.
"I've done this for the past five months. I think I'll be fine," she dismissed easily and pulled on her red jacket. "Until next time, Cupcake."
"Why do you never stay?"
Vi froze by the window, back facing the woman she refused to fall deeper for. She lowered her head and sighed.
It had been five months of thinking about this enforcer who ensnared her thoughts and lingered in the back of her belly. Vi wasn't so oblivious to not realize that she had ended up catching feelings for an individual she never thought she could ever catch feelings for, but there was no way in hell she would ever be able to keep her.
"Why would I stay?" she asked the ledge, brushing aimlessly at the patterns of the wood.
Bedsheets rustled behind her. "I just thought –"
"You don't stay either," Vi cut her off, turning around slowly to find Caitlyn sat up, covers pooling around her hips, all too gloriously naked that made Vi want to stay badly. "I was just following your cue."
"I was following your cue," Caitlyn argued.
Vi yearned. She ached to move to the bed and stay for the rest of her life, because despite the uniform, Caitlyn was turning out to be the best person Vi could ever have in her life. All too kind and compassion that she couldn't see the world was out to eat her alive, if not for Vi's trusty fists at her back.
She looked away, because if she kept looking into those eyes, she might succumb. Her feet would carry her back to the big bed that was larger than her bathroom, and her mouth would run itself off, telling Caitlyn all the things that had built residence in her heart within the months they'd spent together.
"If I stay, then what?" she voiced. "I meet your parents? Become part of Piltover? Or you come to the undercity and pretend you're one of us? You meet my dad and laugh with him? And we just pretend like the people sneering at us don't mean anything?"
"Should they?"
Vi's breath caught. "We're from two different worlds, Cupcake. There's no way – this won't work out."
"It won't if you refuse to make it work," Caitlyn retorted. "Do you really not believe in me that much?"
The look on Caitlyn's face was humbling and crumbling. Vi tightened her fists in her jacket pockets and looked further away, catching her eyes on the picture frames displayed on a shelf.
She idled towards and it and picked one up, staring at the stern faces of the Kirammans, as if they were incapable of smiling for a picture. This was in complete contrast to the ones Vi had at home, consisting of people she loved, all too chaotic and happy.
At the end of the day, Caitlyn deserved better than a lowly bouncer who could hardly pay for rent every month. Vi could discern that the people who wanted Caitlyn formed a long line, and Vi was only one of them and the least deserving of her attention.
"Oil and water, Cupcake," she stated.
She made her way to the bed and placed one knee on the bed, reaching out to cup the navy-haired woman's cheek with one hand, thumb stroking over her ever-so-soft skin. One last look before she threw it all way.
Leaning their foreheads together, Vi sighed and inhaled the shampoo that Caitlyn habitually used. She sighed again when Caitlyn caught her wrist in her fingers, gentle and pleading.
"It's been real, Cupcake."
"Don't do this."
"You deserve better."
"I want you."
God, that voice and those eyes – Vi should have known she never stood a goddamn chance against them. Against Caitlyn Kiramman. But she had to do this.
Hence, she placed a gentle peck on Caitlyn's forehead before leaping out the window, leaving this part of her life behind that window.
That was one year ago.
12 months passed by uneventfully, but also painfully slowly. Powder was thriving at the Academy, under the tutelage of a couple of guys called Jayce and Viktor. Babette gave her a raise for treating the girls right and doing well at throwing out the troublemakers. Vander stayed with the bar, being the leader that he was. Silco was escorted out of his tower handcuffed; his factories subsequent shut down.
And Vi – well, she kind of languished. Sure, she did her job. Occasionally, she helped out at the bar when Vander seemed like he was having one of those days where he couldn't stop remembering the harshness of the war and the toll it took on him.
But if she thought life had no meaning before, life had lesser meaning now. Powder would probably tell her that the math didn't work that way, but Vi wasn't the engineering genius between the two of them. She would math it in whatever way she wanted to, thank you very much.
She didn't expect to move on immediately. Those feelings didn't go away just like that.
But she sure as hell thought one year later, she'd be able to stop thinking about Caitlyn Kiramman the moment she woke up. That the ache in her chest would subside. That she would be able to look at another woman and not be reminded of how well-suited Caitlyn and she had been, despite the differences of their backgrounds.
One year later, she realized how long she'd been that night she'd broken two hearts. She didn't do the right thing at all. She had just been a coward.
I have to get her back.
Valentine's Day seemed like the perfect day to do this half-cocked idea of hers to try to get who appeared to be the love of her life back. She didn't tell anyone about it, because Mylo would definitely tease her and Vander would definitely ask whether it was finally time for grandbabies.
In spite of the raise, she certainly still wasn't paid enough for a fine dining restaurant in the upper crust streets of Piltover. And asking Caitlyn to come over to her place didn't seem like the grandest idea for the outcome she hoped for.
Hell, she didn't even know if Caitlyn would respond to her invitation, given their lack of contact for one full year. Yes, yes, Vi knew that she'd been behaving like a five-star idiot. Someone give her a medal, but also, someone give her chance to right her wrongs.
She was tired of being a bouncer with no one to go home to. With no Caitlyn waiting for her.
Vi [10:02 a.m.]: i know you probably don't ever want to talk to me again
Vi [10:02 a.m.]: maybe you even blocked my number
Vi [10:02 a.m.]: but in case you haven't, can you come to this location tonight? please
Maybe texting wasn't the best way to reach out as well, but there was no way in hell she'd write a letter to the Kiramman residence because a) her handwriting was shit and she couldn't have Caitlyn losing her precious eyesight trying to decipher her writing, and b) what if her parents read it?
For the whole day, there was no reply to her text. Not even a read indicator.
Vi didn't know which would be worse – Caitlyn blocking her or Caitlyn not even reading her text.
But she waited anyway. She stood by the tree. Sat on the bench. Played soccer alone by kicking the ball at the wall of mural that Ekko had drawn up. Chased firelights like a five-year-old kid. She waited. For hours. Like a loser. But she realized that she was willing to stoop lower for a chance.
The clock ticked and ticked and ticked. And tock.
Eight o'clock sharp. The candles were lit. The food she bought from various food stalls were laid out on the table. And the chairs – rickety as they were – were properly fixed up so no one would fall on their ass.
Vi sat on the bench, hunched over with her elbows propped on her knees. She kept her eyes intently on the tunnel entrance, hoping to a god she didn't believe in that someone would come. Hopefully, the one person she'd been pathetically for throughout one pathetic year.
Eventually, footsteps echoed through the tunnel, steady but still wary. Vi sat straighter, recognizing the rhythm of those long legs that she'd spent endless nights worshipping before she threw it all away.
And then, like she came out of a movie or something, Caitlyn's silhouette emerged into a corporeal form, dressed much like how Vi had taught her last year and her rifle pack at her back. Scowl firmly on her face, but Caitlyn had always been a curious individual. She hated mysteries.
"Hi," Vi greeted breathlessly, caught off guard, because how was it possible for a person to grow more beautiful over just a year?
Caitlyn nodded in acknowledge, still scowling. "What do you want?"
"How'd you get here?" Caitlyn narrowed her eyes. "No, I was just…wondering about your transport and stuff," Vi stammered, rubbing at the back of her neck nervously.
"You were never concerned before."
"I –" Vi winced and heaved a deep exhale, realizing the kind of image she'd built in Caitlyn's mind with her pretend aloofness. This was going to be harder than she expected it to be. "I miss you," she confessed weakly, but it carried through the vast emptiness that surrounded them.
"Right," Caitlyn scoffed.
"Cupcake, please."
Caitlyn's posture straightened at the nickname, clearly displeased at the casual use of it after one year apart. Vi lowered her head shamefully.
"What do you want?" Caitlyn repeated through gritted teeth.
"You."
Because it all boiled down to that one thing. Vi just wanted Caitlyn Kiramman, in whatever capacity the woman would allow her to have.
12 months had passed by uneventfully, but Vi had learned that it didn't matter. She could have become the most well-to-do bouncer in the city. There was a chance she would take over the bar if Vander ever decided to retire. Maybe she would become renowned as the best brawler Zaun had ever produced.
But none of those mattered. No achievements or success could compare to having Caitlyn in her arms, and Vi had been such a downright fool to ever let the woman go in the first place.
"You do not have the right –"
"I don't have any rights, I know," Vi lamented with a sad smile and a shrug. She stood up and took a few steps towards the enforcer, only to stop when Caitlyn stepped back. "I don't deserve you, Caitlyn." The woman clenched her jaw. "But somehow, weirdly enough, you want me. Or you used to. I don't know," she muttered with a frustrated huff. "I'm an idiot."
"Yes."
Vi chuckled darkly and ran her fingers through her shaven hair. "But you – Caitlyn, you have taken up an enormous space in my heart and now that space is empty. And I don't like the emptiness. It's like you've become my arm…and I really want my arm back."
Caitlyn didn't say a word, which only made Vi more nervous than she could remember ever being, but there was something in her eyes that managed to give Vi some sort of reassurance. She would like to think that she had looked at that face enough times to be able to gauge what Caitlyn was feeling without her saying anything.
Still, she watched closely as Caitlyn made careful steps towards the dinner layout that Vi had spent hours sweating over to make sure everything was perfect.
The navy-haired woman circled the table, expression unreadable as she observed the food that Vi had picked up from a few restaurants both in Piltover and the undercity. She made a few hums here and there, as if she spotted something liked…or disliked.
And all the while, Vi was just thinking that Caitlyn was so beautiful and she loved her. So much. How did she survive the past year without this woman?
"So what are you trying to do here?" Caitlyn finally asked, stopping behind a chair.
Vi made her way to the other chair. "Trying to get my arm back."
A twitch to her mouth, and Vi could recognize it was the woman's attempt to resist a smile. "And you think you can woo me with just one dinner?"
Rolling her shoulder that always had that phantom ache from fighting too much, Vi smiled hesitantly. "It's a start."
The enforcer hummed. After a moment, she disengaged her rifle pack, placed it on the ground, and pulled the chair back to sit down. Then she gestured at the chair that Vi was standing behind.
With a grin, Vi sat as well. She relit the candles.
"Say it."
"Huh?"
"Say the words, Vi."
Vi narrowed her eyes, completely confused at what Caitlyn was asking for.
They stood smack dab in the middle of the bridge, like a sick metaphor of their differences between all the similarities they found with each other. And yet, Caitlyn still felt like an arm.
Throughout the dinner, the two of them talked about anything and everything, other than the gasping chasm that had separated them for the better of a year – largely due to Vi's self-imposed idiocy. Caitlyn had eaten everything Vi had gotten with gusto, only making a slight face at the fish from Jericho's.
When they were done, Vi offered to walk Caitlyn home, and the other woman accepted. So now here they were, standing on the empty bridge as the time ticked towards midnight. And suddenly, Vi realized what Caitlyn was asking for, out of nowhere.
She braced herself and stood straighter, fighting against the slump that had formed in her shoulders. She licked her lips and took one step closer, but not close enough. They could be pressed together in all ways and it would never be close enough. Vi was just a greedy bitch like that.
"I love you," she confessed in a whisper.
Despite having asked for it, Caitlyn's eyes still widened in surprise. Vi regretted everything she had said and done – or not done – to have led the woman to be surprised by the admission.
Then the navy-haired woman reached out, hand hanging in the air for a minute before those fingers cupped Vi's cheek. And god, Vi leaned into the touch, finally feeling the arm back for a second – and okay, maybe she was taking the arm metaphor a little too far, but it was true nonetheless.
"You have a lot of making up to do," Caitlyn commented.
"I'll make it up to you for the rest of my life if you'll let me."
"Who would have thought you can be such a romantic?"
"I didn't know either."
Caitlyn approached her, snaking one arm over Vi's shoulders and tugging her close so that they were actually pressed together, their foreheads resting against one another. Vi took the liberty to affirm their embrace by enclosing her arms around the taller woman's waist. See, still wasn't close enough.
"If you break my heart again –"
"I'm sorry, Cupcake," Vi said within the space they'd built for themselves. "I'm so sorry."
"Okay. Okay," Caitlyn accepted with a marginal nod.
They remained in their embrace for a prolonged moment, both unwilling to let go. Vi would build a damn house, a fucking mansion, on this bridge, just for this.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Cupcake," she offered.
"I'd be happier with a kiss," Caitlyn requested.
Vi barked out a laugh, echoed by the other woman.
Then without waiting any longer, she pressed forward to lay her lips on Caitlyn's, capturing her bottom lip perfectly. Kissing Caitlyn was like riding a bike, except it felt so much freer and liberating.