#verika

Vi stared at the brunette carefully, as the blonde explorer fixed her crossbow gauntlet. Erika sat on the kitchen table and swung her legs off the edge, as she was too short for her toes to touch the ground. Ezreal sat beside her, hunched over the device he created so that Erika could control her Ki - whatever that was - with ease. He was wearing his goggles and held tools in both hands, poking and prodding at the device, which caused some sparks to fly. Erika simply sat there, near expressionless and oddly patient.

The brawler leaned against the wall, examining Erika’s face. Her hazel eyes were far away, and she didn't seem to take notice of anything around her, not even the constant whirrs and clicks of Ezreal’s work on her gauntlet. Her unruly bangs curtained her face, and her brown hair draped down to her waist; Vi always wondered why she didn't cut it short or style it into a ponytail. It'd make her more attractive! was Vi’s reasoning. (...Not that Vi didn't already find her super attractive or anything, but that was beside the point.)

Speaking of attractiveness…

Vi chuckled quietly as Erika’s lips turned up at the corners, the marksman flashing a slight grin. It was lopsided,  - Erika tended to favor the right side side of her mouth when she smiled - and she looked like she was trying to wink. Erika rarely showed her teeth when smiling, unless it was during one of her various gigglefits. There was something more, something egotistic about the way she tilted her chin up slightly, or how her back was perfectly straight, or her slick composure while a mechanic messed with a device connected to her very life force, or some other Ionian bullshit. Vi snorted. Erika’s head turned slightly, and those piercing hazel eyes stare right through her. The brawler could feel her heart pound against her chest as the marksman’s smile widened.

“Whatcha lookin’ at?” the younger woman asked, raising her eyebrow.

The enforcer rolled her eyes, huffing and crossing her arms. “I see a little shit, but you already knew that,” she quipped, sticking her tongue out.

Erika laughed, the smile softening from its previous arrogance, leaving behind a smaller, but still cheeky, knowing smirk.

“Gods, I can almost feel the gay radiating from both of you,” Ezreal chuckled, shaking his head and glancing up.

“You're one to talk!” Erika rebutted, bopping him on the head. She gazed at the enforcer again, winking when she caught the pink-haired woman's attention.

1. the wolf (mumford and sons)

‘Cause you were all I ever longed for...

EriTal in a nutshell. 

2. the judge (twenty one pilots)

I found my way, right time wrong place as I pled my case.

Probably a blade forging lyric, with Talon killing people and stuff. But I guess it can also apply to the first (and only) time that Erika has ever killed someone.

3. typhoon (young the giant)

You hide in the fallen waves on the rise, and the sights of the typhoon washing by.

Erika’s personality, I guess?

4. control (halsey)

I can’t help this awful energy. Goddamn right, you should be scared of me. Who is in control?

This seems more like a sisterbuilder than anything else, since Erika doesn’t really have any vibes from this song. I suppose this could be Erika’s deathly fear of Riven for a while when they were growing up.

5. pumped up kicks (foster the people)

You’d better run, better run faster than my bullet.

ruN FASTER THAN HER CROSSBOW BOLTS.

6. pork and beans (weezer)

I’mma do the things that I wanna do. I ain’t got a thing to prove to you.

REBELLIOUS ERIKA! The skin, I mean. Erika wasn’t really a rebellious child. 

7. through the glass (atlas genius)

I tried to care for a while, but I don’t feel the connection. I’d settle for a broken heart; just a scar caused by infection.

fuCKFUCKFUCK this is Verika shit right here. Or maybe EriTal. Hell no, this is some Verika shit right here.

8. the (shipped) gold standard (fall out boy)

I wanna scream “I love you” from the top of my lungs, but I’m afraid that someone else will hear me.

every Erika ship. Verika, EriTal, EzRika. This one’s mainly EriTal because it’d be pretty hard for her to say I love you.

9. avalanche (walk the moon)

You got a look in your eyes - I knew you in a past life. One glance and the avalanche drops. One look and my heartbeat stops.

EriTal. It’s pretty interesting because Erika moving to Ionia is pretty much Erika leaving behind everything she knows from her life in Noxus and starting anew. So, yes, Erika knew Talon in a “past” life. And she loves his eyes. Hot damn.

10. icarus (bastille)

You put up your defenses when you leave. You leave because you’re certain of who you want to be. 

“It’s summer in Piltover. 

“I remember that was the first phrase that came to mind the moment I stepped off the boat. It was hot and musty, but it wasn’t as bad as the Noxian summer days. After that random thought, I couldn’t think of anything but contacting Shen. I had to talk to him as soon as possible, but I didn’t exactly own a falcon, or messenger bird or anything. So… being the apparently logical person I was, I found the nearest police station. And there was apparently only one in Piltover, unlike the crazy hordes of corrupted police departments and militia all over Noxus. 

“When I entered, there was actually a huge fight between some British lady and a tough looking woman with pink hair. They were arguing about the destruction of the city, or something. Apparently, the pink-haired woman had destroyed half the city chasing down some well-known criminal. 

“Neither of them noticed me enter - other than those two, I was the only one there - so I had to ring the counter bell a few times and clear my throat. It still took them a while to respond, but it seemed like an important fight for them to get through. My heart was racing the whole time, though. What had happened to Shen? Agh, it was horrible. But, then the British lady turned toward me…”

“Who in the hell are you?” she asks, eyes narrowing at the sight of me. “Can’t you see that we’re busy?” The woman with the tall hat, donned in purple and looking nothing like a cop, examines me up and down. “What’s wrong this time, ma’am?” she mutters with a sigh, most likely realizing that I’m a citizen.

The pink-haired woman rolls her eyes and grins at me. “Be nice, Cupcake. She’s cute,” she remarks, laughing. “That’s Caity over there, and you can call me Vi!” She reaches her hand out, but I flinch away at the sight of her giant hextech gauntlets. “Oh, sorry ‘bout that.” With a shrug, she slides them off effortlessly and drops them onto the floor. I glance at her gauntlets, but she doesn’t seem too worried about them, so I simply shake her head.

“It’s Caitlyn, not Caity, you dimwit,” the older woman sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “What, exactly, do you need?”

“I -” Pausing, I deliberate my story. Should I tell them the truth? Lips trembling, I glance at Vi, unsure of what to say.

“What’s wrong, kiddo?” she wonders, tilting her head to the side. “Talk to me!”

“If you’re simply going to be a waste of time-”

Vi raises a finger and wags it at Caitlyn. “Ah-ah-ah! Don’t be so stingy, Cupcake. The girl looks like she’s gonna cry,” she notes, putting her hand on my shoulder. “What’s your name?”

“Erika…”

“Alright, Erika, so what happened? You don’t look like you’re from here,” she says, gesturing to my outfit. “Where you from?”

My mind automatically answers the question with Noxus. “Ionia,” I reply quietly, looking down at my feet. “I just arrived. There’s… there’s a lot of crazy stuff going on right now…”

She hums and nods. “Yeah, we heard about the outbreak'a violence. You involved somehow?”

“Y-yeah. My… my village was destroyed. Totally burned to the ground…”

Caitlyn lets out a quiet, “Oh,” and Vi looks angry.

“Noxians, huh.”

I stare right at her, trying to keep my face expressionless. “Yeah.”

“Damn dogs,” she sighs. I glance up at her and try to smile. “How old are ya?”

“I-I’m sixteen.”

“Huh. You looked older.” She grins and glances at Caitlyn, who shrugs. “Right? No?”

“I get that a lot,” I say quietly. “But… can I please get… I need to contact someone…”

Vi nods. “Ya have family back home?”

I bite my lip and touch the scarf around my arm, shaking my head. “No.”

She looks confused, but then flinches. “Ah…”

I start trembling and feel tears well up in my eyes as the memory of Theshan and Anthea, of Father, of Varus, of Talon - Talon sparing my life. “I-I’m the only one left from my family,”  I choke out, fingers tightening over the scarf. “S-sorry, I don’t -”

The pink-haired takes a step forward and wraps her arms around me, patting my back. “Hey, hey,” she murmurs. “S’all right, Erika. It’ll all be alright. Caity and I are gonna help you, okay?”

“You’re helping her. I’ve got to settle the problems you’ve caused with insurance companies,” Caitlyn grumbles, leaving the room and walking upstairs.

“…Well, I’m gonna be awesome,” Vi exclaims, pulling away and grinning down at me. “Got it? So, tell me about your friend.” She sits down on a comfortable-looking chair and gestures to the one beside her.

I wipe my eyes and nod, relaxing next to her. “His name’s Shen, and he took care of me after the Noxians attacked…”

“We became really good friends after that. She let me live at her apartment for the full duration of my stay in Piltover, actually. It wasn’t a huge apartment or anything, but Vi didn’t want to see me out on the street. Something about ending up the same way she did. Cait never really liked me, but she accepted the situation as long as Vi took responsibility of me. I think what Cait feared most was that I’d end up like Vi, but nah, I still am as conservative as I was back then. Being around her taught me a lot about myself, the world out there and a bunch of other stuff I was naive to, honestly.

“Vi was like the best friend I never really had growing up. Riv was always too busy to pay attention to me, Kat was someone I could never really consider a close friend, and I had - have? - way too much of an obsession with Talon to consider him as anything less than a potential romantic partner. There weren’t kids who I could interact with very much when I was younger, so having someone who was so… free and happy all the time was amazing.

“She made me these, actually,” I murmur, pulling out my wrist crossbow and pistol crossbows and showing them to Ahri. “I had actually snagged a pistol crossbow and a bunch of bolts from a Noxian vendor before I snuck onto a ship to Ionia. With only a weird ranged weapon, which I had no idea how to use, and one of Talon’s daggers, I didn’t know how to survive. I was forced to learn.

“But when I did learn, I realized that I loved crossbows much more than I did swords and daggers. They were… less personal. It wouldn’t hurt… hurt as much to kill something - or someone - from far away. Dumb reason but…” I scratch the back of my head. “So, my training with Varus was pretty fun. But these weapons? The ones that Vi and Ezreal made? They’re pretty sick. I mean, uh…”

I laugh quietly. “She probably doesn’t want me telling people this, but Ezreal actually designed all of the weapons and put them together. Vi, quote-and-quote, accidentally broke one of the pistol crossbows Ezreal made me, so, umm… now I have a mismatched pair of guns.

“But, that’s beside the point. Vi… was wonderful, to say the least. On the first night I moved in with her, she treated me kindly, which was crazy, considering she had told me hours before then how she was a gang member-turned-officer. But as we talked and did stuff together, I found out that she had a sweet side, and I guess that’s why…” I feel my cheeks heating up as I stare at the fox-woman. “I mean, I guess that’s why I was so interested in her. We’d spend nearly all our free time together, whenever she finished up at her job and when I was done with my part-time shifts.”

I sigh. “I was disgusted, honestly, by how… horrible and destructive Noxians were. I always saw them as… as destructive people, but there was something about experiencing it for myself… seeing the fire and smoke from the victim’s perspective and realizing that Noxus is… almost like a plague. And for a while, I… forgot about Talon, just a little.”

Laughing, I start playing with one of my handmade bolts. “I mean… she was distracting. Really distracting,” I admit, rubbing my chin and then cheek. “Seriously hot and a great person too. But I didn’t have feelings for her, mind you. Not in that way. I explained my whole situation with Talon, and she comforted me about it. Called him a little shit, even. I never named him or anything, but whenever I started talking about him, she knew exactly what I meant. And she’d be talking to me about how much she loved Cait, but how ignored she felt. We had this silly connection because of how much we loved someone, but got… well, either rejected or ignored. But at least she still had a chance with Cait, and I…  I just loved her like a best friend, nothing more.

“And… we were best friends who just so happened to fuck each other a lot.”

Hearing my own words, I begin laughing hysterically, shaking my head. “Ah, I’m horrible. So, anyway, Vi thought it would be a great idea to celebrate my seventeenth birthday…”

“February 14?” she repeats, throwing a cat into the air and catching him. The white-furred cat makes a quiet meow every time he’s thrown and caught. Vi’s lying down on the couch, staring at nothing but the ceiling, and I’m looking down at the recipe book, trying to figure out how to make a damn apple pie. “That’s your birthday?”

“Yuuup,” I say, mindlessly buttering the crust and adding the apple filling. “Turnin’ 17.”

I watch from the little kitchen cutout through the wall as Vi hums and then places the cat onto her stomach. “Well, you wanna do somethin’ cool for it?” she asks, idly stroking the cat from head to tail.

My nose scrunches up. I’m pretty sure I’m going to start sneezing into this pie if she comes anywhere near me with that cat. “I dunno, what’d you have in mind?”

“Y’know how you told me ‘bout that guy you liked?” she says, her voice a bit calmer than usual. More often than not, she takes on an aggressive and excited tone, but today, she’s been oddly thoughtful. It’s weirding me out.

“…Yeah, I do.”

“And how you wanna fuck him?” The cat meows loudly, and Vi shushes him. “Right?”

“…Where is this going?” I ask. I like talking to her about a lot of important thoughts which I could never discuss with any female figure. Riven never had the time, Katarina was too distant, Akali wasn’t always around, and my mother was dead by the time I started having these feelings. Sometimes, Vi is a little too blunt, though. “Are we going back to the -”

“-whole I think you’re pansexual conversation?” she finishes for me. I nod, even though I know she can’t see it. “Yeah, totes right.”

I gulp and quickly cover the pie by crisscrossing a bunch of doughy pieces. “Uh, does this have something to do with my birthday, or are we getting into the awkward side of things?”

“Awkward? Why’s talkin’ about sexuality and stuff awkward?” she wonders, laughing. She sits up slowly and pokes the cat. “Ralph, move!” The cat mewls and licks Vi’s hand before hopping onto the table. She wipes off the cat fur and hops to her feet, striding toward me.

To busy myself, I quickly turn toward the oven and mess around with the heat, even though it’s already perfectly preset. “Umm…”

“Oh, come on, Rika.”

…Please don’t call me that.

“We’re pretty close, right?” she asks, sounding about three feet behind me.

I sigh and put the pie into the oven, knowing I can’t ignore the conversation any longer. “Yeah, Vi,” I reply reluctantly, turning around and looking at her. I lean against the kitchen counter and try to smile.

“And you said -”

I put one of my hands up. “I know what I said,” I murmur, trying to hide my reddening cheeks.

She laughs loudly and tugs me by the shoulders against her, wrapping me in a tight hug. I ease slightly at her touch, but suddenly sneeze. “Right, right,” she chuckles, pulling away. “Gross.”

“At least I - achoo! - didn’t get anything in the pie, right?” I joke, wiping my nose. “…Vi?”

She pats herself off more and shakes her body, in, presumably, an attempt to get rid of cat fur. “Whassup?”

“You’re talking about last week, aren’t you?” I ask softly, glancing at the oven. I turn my back on her, trying to hide my face. “When I asked you…”

“Yeah, and I’ve decided on that.” Grunting, I feel her arms wrap around my waist, and she presses her cheek against my head.

“…I see.”

“Are you regrettin’ asking my opinion?”

“No, the pansexual thing makes sense.”

Laughing, she pulls away. “The other thing.”

“Vi, I’m sixteen,” I reply automatically.

“So? I’m twenty. You made out with a dude my age when you were thirteen. How’s that any different?”

I groan and let my head hang as I press my palm against my face. Why in the hell did I tell her about that? “It’s not just kissing, it’s -”

“-it’s fucking, Rika. We’re not in love with each other, and, as much as I love you in that other way, this ain’t something so wild.” She snorts, and I glance up to catch her reaching her arms up over her head to stretch. She’s wearing a loose yellow tank top which compliments her athletic form, and black short-shorts. Vi has always been attractive, but…

“You checkin’ me out?” she teases, poking my nose. “Hey, stop lookin’ like that. I’m not gonna push you into doing anything you don’t wanna. But you were the one who suggested it, and I’m just tellin’ you that, after a week of deliberation, I am fine with it.”

“B-but Vi…” I protest weakly, face still tomato red. “Oh, I give up. I want to.”

“Agh, why are you so cute?” she squeals, running a hand through my hair. “I don’t even know!”

I mumble to myself and then shrug. “I… I don’t think I’m going to change my mind, Vi. I am curious, and I do trust you.”

She grins when I look into her eyes. Flipping her pink hair to the side, she sticks her tongue out with a thumbs-up. “Cool. Now that we’ve got that arranged, you should probably check up on the pie. Let’s talk about this more in a bit, aight?” she suggests, walking to the living room and sitting down on the couch again. She grabs Ralph and plays with him like before, as if nothing had even happened.

The only two changes are the blush on my face, and the cocky grin on Vi’s.

“She was a lot more open and forward after that. She always made sex jokes any time she could drop one, she loved to flirt with me until I was super red, and, a few days after I made her apple pie, she made me sleep in the same bed as her. I had previously been sleeping on the couch because, of course, I wanted to be a good houseguest, but her uh… excuse was that we’d probably be fucking soon, so I had to get used to…”

I groan and rub at the corner of my eyes, trying not to look at Ahri. “…I don’t even… she wanted me to get used to… physical touch, I guess. It was something that I strayed away from after losing so many people who I became close to. But she was touchy-feely in the weirdest of ways. She was always so strong and tough, but like I said, she had a sweet side. It was thoughtful and it was… intimate. I thought that asking for, essentially, a fuck buddy would mean that there’d be no feelings, right? But we were too far gone as friends, so I think she just wanted it to be… to be something casual, where nothing awkward would happen.

“And, no, there wasn’t some crazy, but I love you thing going on. When I physically was in bed with her - before fucking, mind you - we were just cuddling, really. 

“Sometimes, she’d have nightmares, but it didn’t seem like she realized that I was there with her. When we were awake in the morning… she seemingly had no memory of the night before and was just as jolly and tough as usual. And… she never talked about the times where I sat up screaming after havin’ one, nor how she’d hug me until I calmed down and went back to sleep. It was one of those… unspoken rules, but I liked it better. She didn’t have to know my past, and I didn’t have to delve much deeper into hers.

“This went on for a good two weeks, and then… She asked me to go to Snowdown with her.”

“Eh, usually I drag Cupcake along,” she replies nonchalantly, shrugging as she shuffled around in bed. She yawns and lays her head against my stomach, and I automatically stroke her hair gently. “But it’d be a good experience for us, right?”

I chuckle, nodding. “Yeah, of course.”

“Early birthday gift?”

“Vi-i-i-i!” I exclaim. “Bad girl.”

“Definitely!” she snorts. “Come on, you know you wanna screw me.”

“Um, no, you’d screw me for sure,” I correct without thinking.

“Yeah, pretty true.”

Smacking her gently on the forehead, I sigh. “Geez.”

“Is that a problem, Rika?”

“Ugh, no,” I grumble. “Now move, I’m losing all feeling in my legs.”

“I mean… I could make your legs feel like jelly if you let me use my tong-”

“Do you have like, a lady boner right now?”

“No-o-o,” she drawls out, snorting.

“Uh-huh. Get up. My legs are seriously dead right now.”

She rolls her eyes. “Fine. I’m gonna shower, if you wanna join -”

“Nope,” I interrupt, flicking her forehead. “Get off or I’m not coming -”

Her eyebrow rises suggestively.

“- to the festival with you.”

“Aww,” she says with a pout, sitting up quickly. She plants a kiss on my cheek and then flicks my forehead, snorting. “You’re a total ass.”

“Love you too,” I mutter, kicking her as she wiggled out of bed.

“Awww, you’re adora-”

“VI!”

“I’m going, I’m going!”

“Ya look cute,” she remarks, ruffling my hair as I walk up to her. She grins, standing under a dim lamp post, but I can’t help but notice how well she’s cleaned up for the occasion as the moonlight highlights her. “How was work?”

“Total absolute shit,” I reply, shaking my head so that my hair falls in the right place. I glance over her - she’s wearing a light sweater, a white scarf, and loose grey jeans. “And yours?”

She shrugs. “Same old, same old,” she sighs, throwing her arm around my shoulders. “Caity was a huge ass today. Gettin’ all on my case about wreckin’ stuff again. Ain’t my fault that she doesn’t wanna do things the hard way!”

I laugh at her wording, but she glares at me. “Did she get butthurt about something?”

“Duh. Don’t’cha hear her fuckin’ accent?” Vi snorts, pulling me along. “She got butthurt written all over her.”

“'Specially when you’re through with her,” I tell her with a grin.

“Oooh,  good one Erika, but I make those jokes, not you.” She tugs me toward the crowded town center, pointing at the giant tree adorned with all sorts of decorations, like bright lights and fragile ornaments. I smile as she tightens her grip on my shoulders, pulling me closer as we wade through the sea of people all shoving their way around to see the vendors gathered around. “Ain’t it nice?”

“What?”

“To be here with someone ya love.” She grins down at me and then nods toward the tree.

“Pfft. Dork,” is all I can respond with as my face heats up.

“Well, duh, clearly this’d be better if I was with Caity, or if you were with your…” Her voice trails off. “Your lil piece'a shit boyfriend.”

“He’s not my-”

“Makeout partner, then.”

“He’s just a-”

“Whatever!”

“Agh.”

“Psh, this is fun, yeah?” she says with a laugh.

I lean against her a little more. “Not really, but for now, this is enough.”

“So…” she muses, drawing out the o for a few seconds. “…you gonna take your sweater off for me later?”

“Pretty sure I’m gonna be stripping out of much more than that.”

“Ha! Reverse psychocrazywords really does work.”

“You are an idiot.”

“Yep, but so are you.”

“Rude.”

“Why you gotta be -”

“Do not start singing. You suck at singing,” I grumble.

“Well, you’re gonna be singing to the heavens when I’m through with -”

“VI!”

“Alright, alright, I’ll leave it for the bedroom.”

“Vi.”

“Yes?”

“Fuck. You.”

“Sure, you could try -”

“Okay, you get the point,” I mutter, looking away from Ahri’s questioning look. “We flirted on and off like that for most of the night… and I say most, because we sort of ended up fucking by nightfall, and it was really awesome and fun. She literally picked me up, threw me over her shoulder and then plopped me onto the bed, grinning like an idiot. And I can’t even imagine how stupid I must’ve looked. It was the perfect setup with a wonderfully thoughtful, yet dominant partner, and she was the sweetest person I’d… I’d ever met, period. And… I just… we… It was nice.

“…That was probably the most anticlimactic way to ever explain this,” I sigh, chuckling quietly. “Just… the problem was… It… it wasn’t spectacularly special, or anything. I don’t know why I was so nervous, and I don’t even know why I felt like it was gonna… gonna mean anything.

“I was filled with these stupid, idealistic thoughts that doing something as intimate, or so I thought, as you know… sex, would have meant something. It had nothing to do with it being… well, maybe it had everything to do with it being Vi. She’s such a misfit, and she’s so casual about everything that I thought I could handle doing something like this without getting myself hurt, but… I get so stupidly attached to my emotions, and I imagine feelings that aren’t there, and it’s just…

“I thought I could use this situation to let go of everything. Just let all those troubles, and fears, and disappointments - anything, anything that reminded me of Noxus, of Ionia… I thought that being with her would… would stop the pain… stop the nightmares.

“But… no. It… The nightmares just came back, even more vividly than before.

“She knew I was traumatized, but neither of us realized how far gone I was. After that night, she stopped talking about Talon. She mentioned nothing about Noxians or Ionians, and I wanted to say I felt relieved for those few months. Vi did her damndest to make me happy, and I think I was. A lot of my time in Piltover was a huge blur, but everything she did was genuine. It was out of… not out of pity, but not out of love, either. Perhaps it was a sense of responsibility, as if she was supposed to carry a share of my burden.” I shake my head.

“And yet, here I am, sitting in the middle of a grass clearing at the Institute of War, for one reason and one reason only.

“…I wanted to find Talon.

“Ionian elders say to forgive and forget… but that’s such bullshit. How could I forgive him for… for who he is? How can I forget what… what we had, what I thought we had? How could I forget how cold he looked? How… angry he was when he saw me… nearly crushed by the rubble…?

“How could I ever forgive him for making me fall in love with him?”

I frown. “Does… I hope that answers your question,” I mumble, looking up at the sky. “I don’t really… I don’t know what else to say. Thanks for listening, Ahri. I’m… sorry if it’s not really the story you were looking for.”

“What’s wrong?”

I curl up with my back against her front, sighing. “Nothing.”

“Definitely sounds like something’s wrong, Rika,” she says, wrapping an arm around my waist and stroking my shoulder. She deftly plants a softly kiss onto the scar on my collarbone, and I shiver uncontrollably.

“D-Don’t touch that, please,” I mumble, feeling my face heat up as memories come rushing back to me.

“Oh come on, talk to me,” she presses, leaning her chin against my head. “I’m gonna feel like a total piece’a shit if you regret this. I didn’t mean to -”

“S’not you, Vi,” I interrupt, placing my hand on her warm one, stroking my stomach. “It’s just weird… I had all these thoughts and ideas about what should’ve been, of what this was… was supposed to be like, you know?”

She lets out a quiet sigh, and I can hear her breathing get slightly off-tempo. “Erika…”

“Don’t say it. I made this choice, and I trust and love you,” I reassure her, squeezing her hand. “I’m just thinking.”

“Yeah, I get that,” she laughs shakily in my ear, as if it’s so freakin’ obvious. “But tell me what’s wrong.”

“Remembering some dumb stuff.”

“Your guy?”

“…Yeah.”

“So?”

I flinch and crane my head to look back at her. Her grey eyes fill up my sight, and she sticks her tongue out. I stare at her pierced tongue, cheeks heating up from memories of how she used it. “He isn’t here, is he?” she asks, apparently ignoring my reaction.

“Well, no…”

“So why’re you thinkin’ of him?” She tugs on my arm and forces me to roll around onto my other side, so that we’re facing each other. “I’m here, right?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Why don’t we make the most of this?”

“What?”

She nods. “Come on, I saw the way you were eyein’ my tongue. Let’s just get all this romance-y shit off our minds.” She sticks her tongue out again, and I hastily clear my throat. “Seeee? You’re gettin’ all flustered! Isn’t this better than broodin’ over some shitty dude who doesn’t realize how awesome you are?”

I run my hand through her bright pink hair, shrugging. “I don’t know, we’ve only fucked once, right?” I say quietly, trying to smile.

“Aaaand?”

“I can’t really make a judgment with only one example…”

“Now you’re speakin’ my language,” Vi says with a cheeky grin, lifting her body to roll on top of me. “Don’t think, alright? Just succumb to the awesomeness -”

“Not this again.”

“-yes, this again - the awesomeness which is encompassed in my very being!” she concluded, taking my arms and pinning down my wrists with one hand. “Just smile, Rika. Sheesh.”

“I am smiling.”

“You look like you got somethin’ up your ass.”

“I mean…”

“That was thirty minutes ago.”

“What time is it?” I ask, smiling slightly.

“Uh…” She glances to the wall, but shrugs. “I dunno.”

“Two-thirsty.”

She groans, rolling her eyes. “…You’re a real kinky little shit, aren’t you?”

“Maaaaybe.”

“Ahhh, this going to be a long night,” Vi says with a loud laugh, shaking her head. She leans down and presses her forehead against mine, smirking. “You are definitely gettin’ a nice punishment.”

I grin up at her, shrugging. “What can I say? Baited and outsmarted.”

“You cheeky little -”

I lean up and kiss her on the nose.

“I regret absolutely nothing.”

She chuckles again and kisses me roughly on the lips.

“You’re a horrible liar.”

“Hey Vi?” I turn away slowly after she finally pulls away from me.

“Mm?” She seems a bit distracted by, ah, other parts of my body.

“…You’re awesome,” I sigh quietly. “Thank you.”

“I know. I don’t break promises, you know!”

The last thought that comes to mind before she numbs my brain is this:

You’re the only person who’s ever kept one for me.

“Viiiii,” Erika groaned as the pink-haired woman slid into bed and curled up behind her. “Leggoooooooo.” She wiggled her small body against the officer’s slightly larger frame, but Vi didn’t budge, and instead tightened her arms around the Noxian-Ionian’s waist.

The Piltover Enforcer snorted and kissed behind Erika’s ear. “Sheesh, I literally was gone fer like two minutes,” she sighed. “Now you don’t want me?”

“I was in the perfect sleepin’ position, and then you’re like, I’m gonna mess up your sleepin’ position!” she grumbled back, pulling her shoulders inward to inch away from Vi’s touch.

She laughed and “Well, I could… fuck you up, if you know what I mean,” Vi breathed slowly, patting Erika’s bare stomach. “Right? I could totally get under these sheets and -”

There was a soft crash and a tapping noise against the window.

“Did you hear that?” Erika interrupted, slapping her hand over the older woman’s calloused fingers. “Shh, your advances are cute, but seriously, I heard a -”

“You literally made me not horny.”

There was the tapping again. It was getting louder.

“Stop sayin’ literally, it’s annoying,” she said, sitting up slowly. Vi sat up along with her, arms still wrapped around the smaller girl’s waist. “You makin’ so much noise is hard for me to hear what in the fuck that noise is.”

Vi laughed loudly and blew a raspberry at her. “Don’t mind it. It’s probably just Ralph screwin’ around outside. And speaking of screwin’,” she noted, pressing her lips against the back of Erika’s head, “we should be getting on with that.”

“Come on, this is serious.”

“You literally -”

“Vi.”

“You told me that it wasn’t a problem when you were cuddlin’ your pretty boy! You seriously think supernatural shit exists?” she asked quietly, rocking Erika from side to side in her embrace.

She paused, pondering the question. “I… well, yeah, kind of. Ionian beliefs, and all that.”

“Well, I don’t. And now you’re messin’ with my brain. Alright, alright, I’ll be quiet. What’s outside, cutie?” she muttered, cuddling against Erika and resting her chin against her shoulder. 

Erika leaned against Vi’s head and sighed, focusing her heightened senses to the sound against the window. “…Damn it, it’s someone with boots, and not a ghost.” She closed her eyes and placed her hands on Vi’s forearms. “Heavy, heeled boots. And she’s havin’ trouble hanging onto the window sill. She keeps tryin’ to climb up the wall, but her damn boots keep slippin’. I mean, we both know who wears heavy heeled boots and can’t carry her own weight.”

Judging by how light their movements are, but how much difficulty they’re having pulling themselves up, I’d say that Kat is trying to spy on us.

Erika flinched when her partner’s voice spoke clearly into her ear. “Caity, of course,” Vi replied. “Who cares if she wants to sneak a peek on us? I just wanna fuck.”

“That’s literally the worst possible situation Caitlyn could catch you in.”

“…Whatever! Go to sleep, Rika.”

“What, so you could screw me while I’m sleepin’? That’d be a ghostly fuck.”

She laughed hysterically and tugged Erika down against the mattress, grinning as she curled up behind her. “Naw. I’m too sleepy now. You’re right about that whole literally thing. It’s sickenin’ to hear a bunch of times.”