Chapter Text
“Come on– Fuck.” Caitlyn groaned after smashing all the keys on her keyboard for the tenth time that night. Her screen remained frozen, the essay she had been working on that afternoon still untouched.
It was a Friday night, 10:46 pm. Her campus was empty, as it usually was on Friday nights. It was mid January and freezing outside. Normally, Caitlyn loved staying in during these nights. She didn’t have a roommate and her best friend Jayce had gone back home for the weekend. Her classes ended early in the afternoon on Fridays, which is why she had planned to finish the essay she had been procrastinating on tonight. The deadline was midnight and she had finished ⅔ of it before taking a short break to eat dinner.
However, two hours later, she hadn’t added a single word. Her laptop had somehow crashed. She tried everything, but nothing seemed to work. Her essay was supposed to be finished in an hour and she was absolutely freaking out.
Her phone rang. Viktor.
She had called him about half an hour ago, hoping he might be able to help her.
“Viktor? Hey, sorry to call you on a Friday night.”
“Caitlyn? It’s okay, don’t worry. Is something wrong?”
“Oh uh,” She nervously laughed, “Kinda? Uhm, my laptop suddenly crashed and I have deadline at midnight which is in an hour and I’m completely freaking out–”
“Caitlyn. I’m sorry but I really don’t know that much about computers, heh. Have you tried calling the campus tech center?”
“...... The what?”
“The campus tech center? I think they’re available every day from 9 AM to midnight. You just call them and they’ll help you through the phone. I know someone who works there, Vi. We–”
“Viktor? Thank you so much, but I’m sorry I really have to go now. I’ll call the, uh, tech center immediately.”
She waited for him to say goodbye before hanging up and quickly looked up the number. She hurriedly dialed it while nervously drumming her fingers on her laptop. Her eyes glanced over to the clock on her left.
11:02 PM.
Shit.
Contemplating on just giving up and hoping her teacher would understand, she closed her laptop. Her essay was probably entirely gone anyway, and her motivation to finish it has vanished. She’s never missed a deadline, and wasn’t failing any classes, so this shouldn’t–
“Hi, this is the campus tech center, how could I help you?”
Caitlyn jumped up, she had gotten distracted by her own thoughts and completely forgot about her phone. Quickly scrambling to pick it up, nearly knocking her cup of tea over, she replied,
“Oh! Uhm, hello. I uh– my laptop died.”
The woman on the other side of the phone snorted, “Well that is what people usually call for.”
Her face flushed red, embarrassed about how awkward she just sounded. She cleared her throat before continuing, “Sorry, uhm, I’m Caitlyn. Caitlyn Kiramman. I have been working on my laptop all day, which went fine, until I returned after dinner and suddenly nothing worked anymore. The screen is frozen and I feel like I’ve tried everything already, so uhm–”
“Alright, alright. Gotcha. I’m gonna assume you’ve already tried restarting it. Ctrl + Alt + Delete. Right?”
“Oh yes, yes I’ve already tried that.. and multiple other keys..”
Her blush darkened as she heard the mysterious woman laugh through the phone, “So just the usual I see, but perhaps you missed Ctrl + Shift + Esc?”
“Uhm, wait give me a second.” She put the phone down to press on the keys and squealed as she watched her laptop restart. “Oh my gosh! That worked! It’s restarting! Thank you!”
Vi just laughed and told her it was no problem, adding that she’ll stay on the phone until her laptop is successfully running again. “So, you’re still working hard on a Friday night? Shouldn’t you just be enjoying your weekend?”
“Well, if you must know, I have a deadline in about,” She looked back at the clock on the wall, “Oh my god! My deadline is in thirty minutes!”
“Oh shit. Is your laptop on yet?”
Caitlyn let out a sigh of relief as her essay came back on the screen. She reluctantly touched her keyboard and laughed when she saw it working again, “Yes– thank you. You saved my life.”
The woman on the other side of the phone smirked, “Well, that’s the job.”
Both went silent. Caitlyn knew she should finish her essay right now, but the mysterious woman on the other side of the phone intrigued her.
She heard a cough, “Well, don’t let me hold you up on that essay. Heh.”
“Right– yeah, yeah I’ll just– Thank you. Really. I’ll get going then.”
“Yeah, of course. No problem. If uh, if anything happens again just call me– us. Call us, if anything goes wrong again. Yeah, uh, good night, Caitlyn.”
The call ended before Caitlyn could respond. She glanced at the clock.
11:37 PM
She could do this.
It wasn’t even a week later as Caitlyn had started on yet another essay. It wasn’t like her to procrastinate on such things, but last week was hectic. So, when her new assignment was announced earlier that day, she decided to start immediately.
However, her laptop seemed to once again have other plans. Her deadline wasn’t in another month, so she was hardly as stressed as the week prior about it. She wasn’t even aware she was almost excited to call again until she had already dialed the number, and a smile formed on her lips.
“Campus tech center, how can I help?”
“Hi! It’s Caitlyn, again, heh.”
“Caitlyn, hey. Long time no talk, it’s been what? 5 days?” The woman on the other side of the phone asked teasingly.
Caitlyn responded with a groan, “I know, I know. This laptop is just very, very old.”
She replied with a laugh, “Don’t worry ‘bout it, you only make my job more tolerable. So, what happened?”
“Uh,” She glanced at her laptop, “It basically just won’t open any programs.”
“Shit, yeah that’s bad. Any deadlines I should be aware of?”
Caitlyn grinned, “Nope. No deadlines this time.”
“Great. Well the first thing we can try is…”
Caitlyn learned that her name is Vi. She’s 22 years old, only a year older than her, and her major is engineering. She explained how she picked up some stuff from her computer engineering classes and her sister, which is how she decided to start working at the campus tech center.
In return, Caitlyn told her about herself. They stayed on the phone for over an hour, while her laptop had been fixed in less than ten minutes. Initially, Caitlyn was worried she was holding Vi back from doing her job, but her nerves seemed to wash away as the conversation flowed.
Their conversation was cut off as a voice interrupted them, telling Vi her shift had ended thirty minutes ago. She tried to ignore the butterflies that were fluttering in her stomach as Vi nervously explained herself. Caitlyn only laughed in response and they said their goodbyes.
After that, Caitlyn decided to work on her essay for a few hours. She managed to get quite some work done, regardless of her mind constantly drifting to the mysterious woman on the phone. Vi.
Later that day, as she was heating up her dinner, the realization hit her. She glanced over to her laptop. She knew her name and major, so she could surely find her somewhere on social media. Before she could change her mind, she walked over to her laptop and looked her up.
Vi, 22 years old, engineer, University of Piltover and Zaun
She groaned as her laptop took ages to load, cursing the device and impatiently tapping her fingers on the table. However, before she could look through the results, she was interrupted by a strong smell. Her brows furrowed in confusion. She looked over her shoulder, only to see smoke coming out of the microwave.
“Shit, shit, shit.” She rushed into the kitchen and quickly grabbed a towel. She opened the microwave and took her dinner out, cursing more as it was clearly inedible. She was supposed to go grocery shopping tomorrow, so she quickly ran out of ideas for an alternative dinner.
She glanced outside, it had been raining all day. She sighed heavily as she dragged herself towards the front door, putting her shoes on and a coat.
Luckily she had an umbrella, and the walk to her favorite Chinese place was only five minutes. Caitlyn contemplated on listening to music, but found the sound of rain to be quite comforting at the moment.
She was just about to enter the restaurant as she heard someone call out her name. She turned around and saw Jayce and Mel walking up to her. They exchanged some small talk before Jayce interrupted,
“Hey, Cait. We were just about to get something to eat too. Do you want to join us?”
“Uh,” She awkwardly laughed as she gestured to her clothes, “I’m not really properly dressed for a restaurant right now,”
“Well, that’s no problem. We could just order some takeout?” Mel responded.
Caitlyn agreed and glanced over to Jayce, who replied with a simple nod.
They walked in and ordered dinner. After around twenty minutes Caitlyn was back in her dorm with Jayce and Mel.
“What is that smell?” Jayce said as Caitlyn opened the door.
She blushed out of embarrassment, awkwardly coughing, “I, uh, burned dinner.”
“Again?”
“It doesn’t even happen that often! I was just… preoccupied.”
He took his coat off, “Well you should definitely open a window.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes, “Obviously I was going to.” She walked towards the kitchen window and opened it, while Mel laughed at the sibling-like bickering from the two of them. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Jayce cleaning her table up and unpacking their dinner. She was washing her hands when she heard Mel mutter something to Jayce to which he responded with a bark of laughter.
She turned around to see what they were doing as she felt her face go red.
“Damn, Cait. Are you stalking her or what?”
“What– No!” She rushed towards the couple, snatching the laptop off the table and tossing it on the couch. “I wasn’t stalking her! I was just– We talked on the phone and I was just wondering–”
“Hmh, sure.” Jayce teased, “Found her social security number yet?”
“Oh shut up.” She huffed and grabbed her dinner.
“Ignore him, Cait. He’s just trying to get a rise out of you. Besides, it took him a month to ask me what my major was after seeing each other in the lab everyday.”
“Really, Mel? You’re on her side?”
Mel shrugged, “I’m just interested in knowing more about this Vi.” She glanced back over at Caitlyn, “So, you met her on the phone?”
Realizing she wasn’t getting out of this, Caitlyn told them everything. She felt a little embarrassed to feel like this about someone who she’s only talked to for a few hours, but there was just something about Vi that made it so easy for her to develop a crush.
“It’s ridiculous, I know. I don’t even know what she looks like or anything.” Her eyes darted down, “Nevermind. It’s stupid.” She got up and started cleaning up, quickly bringing their plates to the kitchen.
Jayce stood up to walk after her, “C’mon Cait, it’s not–” he halted as he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Let me.” Mel merely replied as she calmly followed Caitlyn into the kitchen.
Caitlyn was busy cleaning the plates when she heard Mel walk in. “Hey.”
She replied with a sigh, embarrassed about her small outburst.
“You know we don’t think you’re stupid, right? It’s not ridiculous to have a crush, Caitlyn.” Mel had always been good with words, and Caitlyn knew that is why she was here right now instead of Jayce. She always remains calm and collected, while carefully listening to whatever the other has to say.
During the beginning of her relationship with Jayce, Mel and Caitlyn hadn’t really connected much. It wasn’t like they didn’t like each other, but it just never seemed to happen. Eventually, they grew closer.
Caitlyn knows in the only short time Mel has spent walking towards her, she’d already carefully chosen her words. So, she decided to simply listen instead of arguing.
“I know you like to have control over situations. Controlling a crush is difficult. I also realized you hadn’t planned to tell us about her yet, which must also bother you. I’m sorry if we invited ourselves over today, did you have other plans for tonight?”
“It’s okay. I had nothing planned, you’re fine.”
Mel smiled before continuing, “I’m glad.” She walked up to Caitlyn and was now standing next to her. “I’m sorry that we overstepped and made you feel like you needed to tell us that.”
A soft smile appeared on Caitlyn’s face, grateful for Mel. She nodded, accepting her apology.
She leaned over, “He means well, but I understand that he can be a little too much sometimes. You know you can always call me, right?”
Caitlyn dried her hands before pulling her into a hug, “Thank you.”
“Anytime” Mel smiled back at her. She glanced at the clock behind Caitlyn, “Well, it’s getting late, so I think we’ll head home.”
“Yeah, of course. I’ll walk you out.”
Before leaving, Jayce turned around, “You okay?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
He nodded and jogged to catch up to Mel. She quietly closed the door, shuddering from the cold outside. A yawn escaped her as she walked back into the living room. She could feel the exhaustion kicking in, and decided to go to bed early.
She followed her night routine and managed to be in bed by 10:21 PM. She swallowed nervously as she thought of the, still opened, tab on her laptop. Deciding against it, she turned around and curdled up in her blankets. Sleep engulfed her in only a matter of minutes.
The following weeks seemed to go similarly like the previous one. Caitlyn called almost four times a week, which, in her defense, was completely justified as her laptop always had some inconveniences. She was worried she was overstepping, or rushing things between them, but Vi seemed just as eager to talk to her.
While Mel was right about how she hadn’t planned on telling them yet, Caitlyn felt relieved about being able to talk to someone.
It’s not like Caitlyn hasn’t had girlfriends before, but her going to college was an overwhelming experience. She’s spent a lot of time making her dorm feel as comfortable as possible and trying to create a routine in her new college student life. Now, in her second year of college, things seemed to be going better.
She’d been preoccupied with all of this and hasn’t invested a lot of time into meeting new people. Meeting Vi was unexpected, and so were the feelings she gained for her. Throughout the few weeks they’ve been speaking, Caitlyn became more confident. She’s been meaning to ask Vi out for a while now, but somehow there always seems to be someone or something interrupting them. It’s either Vi’s shift ending or Caitlyn’s parents calling, Vi leaving to help a customer or Caitlyn losing track of time and having to rush to class.
It felt too awkward to call solely to ask her out though, as Caitlyn claimed she wasn't a hundred percent sure Vi would even accept. (Which was nonsense, according to her friends.)
No, she needed a good plan. One where she calls for help with her laptop and is still able to ask her out afterwards. Which is how Jayce ended up at Caitlyn’s dorm on a Monday afternoon. She only had class in the morning, and when Jayce had called her afterwards to ask how she’s doing she ended up rambling.
“How is this possible?” She lifted her laptop up and turned it around, checking everywhere, “There is literally always something wrong with this thing except now?”
She put the laptop back down and huffed, “Stupid thing.”
Jayce snorted, “C’mon Cait, just call her. She’ll say yes. You don’t need to break your laptop.”
“I wasn’t going to.” She grumbled.
Caitlyn knew Jayce was right. They’ve been calling for weeks, and Caitlyn wasn’t blind to flirting. It’s not like they stayed on the phone for hours to develop a friendship. However, she also knew it’s normal to feel nervous, especially with someone like Vi. Vi was easy to talk to and Caitlyn seemed to find a lot of comfort in her. She didn’t want to lose that, even when that means remaining friends.
“Wait,” Jayce got up from the couch and walked over to her table. He grabbed a notebook and a pen before sitting back down next to her, “I have an idea.”
Caitlyn waited for him to show her what he was writing. He drew a long line horizontally at the top and one vertically in the middle. She tried to look over his shoulder, only for him to shoo her away.
“Look!” He held the notebook up for her to read.
Girl-friends or girlfriends?
She slowly looked up at him, “Seriously?”
“What? It’s a great name! I came up with this myself.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” She mumbled and saw him rolling his eyes in front of her. “Anyway,” She tapped on the notebook, “How does this work?”
Ignoring his proud smile, Caitlyn listened to him explaining his idea. “So, basically you’re just going to ask me some questions about Vi and me and I have to answer them?”
“Yeah. It’s super simple. Oh, another rule, don’t ask questions about my questions.”
Her brows furrowed in confusion, she was about to ask what he meant before he interrupted her, “Let’s start!”
“Okay, first question. Do you miss her right now?”
“Why so specif–”
“No questions about the questions!”
She rolled her eyes, “Fine.”
She misses talking to Vi quite often. Somehow, talking to Vi doesn’t seem to require a lot of energy from her. Caitlyn likes hanging out with friends, but when her social battery is drained she wants to be alone. This happened once, on a Saturday afternoon. She had gone out with Jayce and Mel the night before and spent the night at their place. A mild hangover combined with exhaustion resulted in Caitlyn shutting herself off. Luckily, Jayce and Mel are always understanding and took her home without bugging her.
Crashing on the couch, Caitlyn decided to rewatch her comfort movie. She groaned as her laptop refused to open Netflix. Contemplating on just giving up and sleeping for the rest of the day, she forced herself to get up and grab her phone.
She dialed the number, secretly hoping Vi wouldn’t pick up this time. She was tired, and knew she wouldn’t be very responsive. The world seemed to be against her, however, as she heard Vi’s voice through the phone.
She intended to only engage in some small talk and make up some lame excuse as to why she had to leave early. But as the conversation flowed she realized she actually felt at ease talking to Vi. She figured Vi had realized that she was tired, and seemed to lower her voice. She didn’t pry, instead keeping the conversation light.
“So, you’re gonna watch your comfort movie now? What is it? Maybe I’ll watch it tonight and tell you about it next time.”
Next time. Caitlyn smiled, “The conjuring.”
It remained silent for the next few minutes, “Uhm, hello? Vi? Are you still there?”
“Yeah! Yeah, I’m here. I just didn’t expect you to like horror, and especially not to find comfort in them.”
Caitlyn rolled her eyes amusingly, “What did you think my comfort movie would be? Barbie?”
“What? No, of course not.” She trailed off, “I was thinking something like My Little Pony, maybe?” She teased.
“Hilarious.” Caitlyn laughed affectionately, “Because I can’t handle a scare?”
Vi hummed, “Because you’re sweet. Like a cupcake.”
Her face flushed red, failing to properly respond this time.
“Well, don’t let me stop you from your relaxing murder movie, cupcake. Talk to you later.”
“Yeah,” Caitlyn breathed, “I miss her.”
Jayce nodded and wrote something down on the notebook before continuing, “Second question. Does she remember everything you told her? Especially small things?”
Caitlyn smiled as she recalled another memory of her laptop dying right before a deadline. It had happened twice in total, but this time her essay was finished already, she merely needed to submit it. She had dialed the campus tech center’s number almost immediately, not wasting any time. As soon as she heard Vi’s voice through the phone she felt herself relax a little. There was something about Vi’s presence that seemed to bring comfort.
After Caitlyn explained the issue with her laptop, Vi replied, “Oh shit, we need to hurry. It needs to be submitted in an hour, right?”
Her heart fluttered in her chest, she hadn’t reminded Vi of her deadline. She told her a week ago about how she would be working on an essay the next day, which was due today. She failed to bite back the smile that formed on her lips. “Yeah.” She managed to squeak in response.
She cleared her throat, “Yeah. Yeah, she does that.”
“Great. Third question. Has she ever done anything for you that made you swoon?”
She scoffed, “Swoon?”
Jayce narrowed his eyes, “Yes, swoon. Don’t even try to lie to me, Cait.”
Her mind wandered to a Thursday night where Vi had been trying to fix her laptop for two hours. Caitlyn admired Vi’s determination, but also recognized her stubbornness. It was cute, she decided.
It was 8 PM as they were still on the call, her laptop still not working. In between Vi giving her instructions on what to do, they exchanged a few words.
“So, what did you have for dinner tonight?” Vi asked.
“Oh, I, uh, haven’t had dinner yet actually.” Caitlyn sheepishly responded, a little embarrassed about it.
“Wait what? It’s already 8 PM, and you said you didn’t get to eat lunch either.”
“Yes, that’s true. I promise I’ll eat something after this, no worries. I just need to go grocery shopping.”
“Uh, yes worries. You need to eat, cupcake.” Vi scoffed, “Here, let me order some takeout for you. What’s your address?”
“What?” She squeaked. “No, Vi, that’s not necessary. I’ll just–”
“Nope! I’m sending you some good food here, Cait.”
She rolled her eyes, “Alright, fine. My address is….”
“She has.” Caitlyn grinned, “Yeah, definitely.”
“Alright, next question–”
Caitlyn interrupted, “How many more are there?”
“Uh, fifteen?”
“Fifteen?!” Caitlyn got up and reached her arm out, “Alright, show me the notebook. What scientific discovery came out of this?”
“It’s not finished yet! I don’t remember all the questions completely but, uh, they’re from that dating show Mel likes.”
“Are you serious?” Caitlyn scoffed, “So this was just a waste of time?” Taking advantage of Jayce trying to formulate a good answer, she snatched the notebook out of his hands.
Her eyes scanned the page, “So, three X’s under girlfriends. What does that even mean?”
“Well, it means that it’s romantic.”
“That’s–” Caitlyn sighed, tossing the notebook back in Jayce’s lap, “Useless.”
“Look, Cait, you’re right. The quiz is useless, because it’s so obvious that you guys are into each other! I mean, just think about your answers.”
She plopped back down on the couch, “My answers only show that I’m into her, not the other way around.”
Jayce clicked his tongue, “See, that’s where you’re wrong. I asked about things she has done for you. C’mon, Cait. It’s painfully obvious that she’s into you.”
She grabbed the notebook and got up. She walked towards the table to clean up, and groaned as he continued, “Just ask her. Pick up the phone and ask her.”
Caitlyn huffed, “I will… eventually.” She moved her hands through her hair, putting it up in a high ponytail. “You know I will. I just haven’t found the right moment yet.”
She was met with silence. Her mouth clamped shut as she realized Jayce wasn’t listening. She looked up, “What are you— Jayce I swear if you’re doing what I think you’re doing.” She marched to the other side of the room where he was standing and grabbed the phone out of his hand. Her breath hitched as she looked at the screen.
“You’re calling?”
“Hey, maybe I just have issues with my lapto— Ouch! Cait!” She slapped his arm. “You’re so--“
“This is the campus tech center, how can I help you?”
“Shit. Shit. Shit.” She muttered. She took a deep breath to try to compose herself, “Hello. This is, uh, Caitlyn.”
“Cupcake? Again?” She could almost hear Vi smirking. “Don’t get me wrong, I love talking to you, but I’m getting kinda worried about my work qualities.”
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Jayce mouth ‘cupcake’ with a questioning look on his face. Deciding to ignore him, and the redness on her face, she replied, “We both know this laptop is basically ancient. You’ve been a huge help. It just– it died again.”
“Ah, so you’re not just calling to hear my voice?”
“Haha. Very funny.”
Caitlyn could hear some rustling through the phone before Vi spoke up, “So what’s up?”
Fuck. She hadn’t thought this through. She couldn’t say any of the previous problems she’s had, because Vi had already helped her with those. Out of sheer panic she replied, “It’s not charging.”
“Oh shit, yeah that’s pretty bad. You’re smart, so it’s safe to assume you already checked the charger, right?
She hummed in response with a huge grin on her face from the small compliment.
“Well, considering your laptop isn’t in, uh, the best state, Heh, I’d recommend you come drop it off here tomorrow. Your battery probably died, so you’ll need a new one.”
She finally made eye contact with Jayce, who nodded encouragingly. She was free tomorrow, so she’d be able to make it. She wondered what Vi looked like and–
“Caitlyn?”
“Oh! Yeah, I was, uh, just checking my schedule. Tomorrow is fine. Uh,” She cleared her throat, “Will you be there?”
“Yeah! Yeah of course. I’ll be there.”
“Okay.” She giggled.
Vi laughed in response, “Okay.”
A silence fell between them. They stayed like that for a while, until Caitlyn spoke up, “So, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Yeah.”
Caitlyn laughed, “Alright, bye Vi.”
“See ya, cupcake.”
She slowly put the phone down with a smile plastered on her face. She was gonna see Vi tomorrow. Her eyes darted over to the laptop on her desk. Shit.
“And? How was– What are you doing?” Jayce came up behind her.
“I’m meeting her tomorrow. Can you help me?”
“Cait, that’s great! Of course, what’s going on?”
“We have a problem.” She shoved the laptop in Jayce’s arms, “How the hell are we going to destroy a laptop’s battery by tomorrow?”