Chapter Text
Dinner with the Kirammans is pleasant, all things considered. Vi isn’t sure she’ll ever get used to the fine dining that Caitlyn had assured her is on the more toned-down end of the spectrum of her parents’ tastes. Vi recalls her first few weeks in Piltover, the food had been so much more rich and heavy than she was used to that she’d ended up making herself sick on several occasions. As she is now, she’s still working on not scarfing down anything placed in front of her as quickly as she can. It’s a learned habit from the streets of Zaun, where food was scarce for an orphan, and if you had some, you could bet there was someone willing to take it from you.
She hardly needs to worry about that here though. The portions are tiny, but there’s at least five separate dishes, and Vi still doesn’t really see the point of it all, but whatever, she follows Caitlyn’s lead.
Just before dessert (Vi thinks), Caitlyn gives her thigh a quick squeeze under the table to get her attention.
“I need to use the ladies’ room,” it’s phrased partially as a question, partially as a declaration of intent. In Zaun, the implications of accompanying someone to the bathroom was to either make sure they didn’t get stabbed, or for more carnal reasons. In Piltover, weirdly, it’s a whole social thing. The really fancy places have a whole chaise lounge in them, and ladies standing around with perfume to spritz on you on request. It’s not uncommon for a whole gaggle of people to hang around a toilet of all places. Vi thinks it’s weird, like a lot of Piltie social things, but she does sometimes follow Caitlyn in so they have a moment to touch base about the night so far. This time however, Vi has plans that don’t involve little tea-mints and perfume, and she shakes her head slightly. Caitlyn just smiles, squeezes her thigh again. Mrs. Kiramman also turns down the invitation, as per the request Vi had texted her earlier in the day.
This is it then, she thinks, as she watches Caitlyn’s back vanish from view. She clears her throat, and tugs the collar of her shirt lightly. Has it suddenly gotten a lot warmer here?
“Mr Kiramman, Mrs. Kiramman-”
“For goodness’ sake Violet, how many times must we say it? Irou and Cassandra, please.”
“Ah, Irou, Cassandra. I don't really know how else to put this. There's probably a whole tradition to it up here but uh," she gulps, looking between them. They both stare back with their undivided attention, Irou's gaze is gentle and encouraging as ever, Cassandra's somewhat intimidating, unreadable. "I'm going to ask Caitlyn to marry me, and I'm asking for your blessing."
They don't seem at all surprised, and really why would they? No one else she'd talked to about it had been. If they were surprised, it was only because she'd taken this long to ask. As it is, the small upturn of Irou's mouth becomes a real smile, reaching his eyes and crinkling the corners is a way so much like Caitlyn's. Cassandra takes a long sip of her wine. If Vi didn't know any better, she say she was stalling for time to formulate a response.
"Well, I'm certainly glad it wasn't anything to worry over. When you sent the message to me, I was wondering if there were something wrong with my daughter," the way she says "my daughter" has Vi picturing a great big dragon curled around its hoard of gold, huffing and puffing smoke any time she gets too close. Vi's starting to lose confidence here, Cassandra Kiramman's a born and raised politician, she’s been schooling her emotions from before she could walk. But then Irou places a hand over his wife's, gives it a gentle, prodding squeeze, and she sighs.
"You make our daughter happy, Violet. You make her feel safe. And she's never been the type to be provided for. What more could a parent possibly want for their child?" She says it like she's just conceded a particularly thrilling game of chess, the kind where the old grandmaster gracefully concedes to the new blood. At least that's what happened in one of those pulpy romance books Caitlyn pretends to hate-read. Then the master and young protagonist got freaky on the chessboard. Vi really hopes that isn't the direction this is going.
"That is to say," Irou's soft, measured tone snaps her back to the moment, "of course you have our blessing. And anything else you ever need. You are to be family soon, after all."
And yeah, wow, she'd never actually thought about that. Caitlyn was all she really had for so long. The time before her seemed like a lifetime ago. A whole other Vi, angry at the world, not appreciating what she had while it was there. This time would be different. She's going to appreciate the shit out of Caitlyn. And her parents too now, she supposes.
"Everything all right? It's awfully quiet here," Caitlyn's back, effectively shelving any further proposal talk. Vi gives a close-mouthed "mmhmm", afraid if she tries to speak real words, Caitlyn will hear the little lump in her throat.
Caitlyn's parents arrange for their car to pick them up from outside Vi and Caitlyn's apartment building so they all have some more time to chat. Cassandra is casting a critical eye around the place. It was a decent enough area for her the first time she saw it, what's the issue now?
"Are there many families around the area? Young children?"
Oh sweet Saint Janna.
"I-pardon?" Caitlyn is flabbergasted at the sudden change to this particular subject, and Vi kind of wants to slap a hand to Cassandra's mouth, but also kind of wants to keep both her hands attached to the rest of her.
"We were considering a joint funding project with House Vellimere to build a kind of orphanage and school for underprivileged children," Irou comes in with the smoothest save. "It would be open to anyone with the potential, from anywhere. We've been considering location."
"Mmm, yes. We didn't want to mention it earlier. It's still in the very tentative planning stages," Cassandra plays along, not missing a beat. For a second it occurs to Vi that perhaps she and Caitlyn are a lot more like her parents than she ever even thought.
"Oh! Well, I think Vi would know a bit more about that, right darling? I spend a lot more time looking at the streets as a series of problems to be fixed. Vi's the one actually interacting with people."
"Uh, right," Vi supplies helpfully, still a little dazed from everything going on in her head. Cassandra smells blood on the water and pounces.
"Well! We shall have to be sure to speak more then, Violet. I have your number, I shall be in contact soon," she says. Without the context, Caitln just sees her mother really making and effort and start warming up to the woman she loves. Vi sees the threat. The "I know where you live and how to contact you, watch out."
This next week, and then wedding planning, it was all going to be a slow torture.
~
Vi's been in prison. Several times. In and whole for a host of misdemeanours and actual legitimate crime. She knows how to handle being interrogated. Cassandra Kiramman is a whole other kind of beast. She leaves her be on Sunday, not that Vi would have answered, she and Cait had gone out to the forests around the city for a hike, and she had no signal.
But Monday, she's relentless. Vi makes the mistake of texting back that she "has no classes or sessions scheduled from two to six", and so instead of letting her have the few hours to herself, Cassandra decides to pen herself into Vi's agenda.
Right now, Vi is trying to cook dinner on time for her and Cait to eat together when the sheriff gets home, but she keeps getting distracted by the voice constantly popping up from the tinny speakers.
"Yeah, Cassandra. I'm sure the restaurant is booked. I made the reservation like two months ago and checked there on Friday."
"And the ring?"
"Still right where it was the last time you asked."
"I'm thinking of a spring wedding, just as the snow begins to melt. You can have it at our estate out in the countryside. And for colours, well, my Caitlyn had always looked good in lilacs. You'll have to stop dying your hair though, it'll clash terribly with the pastels-"
"That's just how my hair is Cassandra, it's a fissure thing."
"Well then you'll have to start dying it," she says without missing a beat.
It goes on like this, and the raptor and vegetable fried rice she's cooking is looking distinctly more brown than she'd like because she keeps getting too distracted to stir and-
She hears a key in the door. Caitlyn is here to save her.
"Hey Cassandra gotta go, Cait's home bye!" she yells and immediately hangs up. She takes the heat from the wok, and shuffles sleepily over to Caitlyn coming in. Before Caitlyn can even greet her, Vi just shoves herself into Caitlyn’s arms, slumping against her chest with her head tucked in at her shoulder. She feels more than hears Caitlyn chuckle lightly before wrapping her arms around her.
"What's the matter, Love?"
"Mmmbrrpf," Vi grumbles complete nonsense into her girlfriend's neck, just trying to convey her general mood.
"Ah, I see. Yes I can understand why that would be upsetting," Caitlyn teases her, and then softens it by rubbing a hand up and down her back.
"Your mom is...a lot, Cupcake."
"Ah, I'm sorry darling. If this is about the school thing, I can tell her to just leave it be."
"No, no it's," a sigh, "it's fine. She means well. She...obviously cares a lot," she says carefully. In truth she loathes keeping anything from Caitlyn, but this is one little thing she wants to be a surprise. "I hope you like your raptor well-done."
~
It's Saturday again. D-day, do or die, now or never-
"I'm so so sorry love, I won't be able to make it to dinner tonight. There's been an attack, not Jinx, but I- I have to go, I'll see you later, alright? I love you."
"Love you too, Cupcake. I'll see you later."
~
She tries again, it's not any particularly special date, and she's downgraded from her original restaurant to something more low-key. But it'll do. Vi’s wearing her nicest shirt for this, and she even bought slacks. Caitlyn’s looking gorgeous as always, opposite her. Vi tries not to focus too much on the playful wandering foot that occasionally rubs against her leg under the table.
There is a reason she chose this particular restaurant. Like the one she’d booked before, they had one specific unusual offering on the menu for dessert. Cupcakes. It would be sweet, she’d blab out some really smooth and cool line about cupcakes and Caitlyn, and then bam. Down on the knee.
So just after they’ve ordered dessert, Vi’s about ready to drive the steaknife that got left behind on her table through her eye. Some chick walking by had squealed Caitlyn’s name and rushed in to hug her. Vi catches something about “Finishing school,” and “we should catch up,” and then “oh, you didn’t hear what happened to Elise?”, and naturally in the middle of this the waiter decides to bring them dessert, and like, it’d be weird if she didn’t eat it, especially since Caitlyn’s already started on her sorbet before it melts.
By the time Becky or whatever finally leaves, Vi’s stupid cupcake is almost gone despite her best efforts to drag it out. For Caitlyn it doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Are you alright, Love?”
“Ah, yeah. ‘S a little dry, that’s all,” she mumbles to explain it away, but even if Vi didn’t wear her heart on her sleeve, Caitlyn would always be able to tell when something is bothering her.
“Are you sure? It’s not about Lenora is it? To be honest I would’ve been content to go the rest of my life never seeing her again-”
“Nah, that’s…” she goes to run a hand to her hair before remembering she’d tied it back to something resembling neatness, “it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”
Caitlyn’s frowning and god, Vi just wants to kiss it away. This isn’t supposed to be a stressful thing, it’s meant to be good, and perfect and romantic. It’s really starting to get to Vi.
~
Vi’s in a pretty sour mood the following week. Fate seems to have it out for her cupcake proposal, so she’s back to the drawing board. She’s enlisted Jayce’s help on a video call one afternoon while Caitlyn’s out for a late lunch with some acquaintances. Jayce, for whatever reason, keeps telling her she’s putting way too much thought into this. That it doesn’t need to be a grand to-do, they both know Caitlyn prefers smaller, sincere gestures anyway. They can save the big romantic stuff for the actual wedding.
But Vi can’t do that, she won’t. She needs to convey everything in this one gesture, how much Caitlyn means to her, how she changed her life for the better, makes her happy, safe. She’s the first real home she’s known since she was a kid. She tells him all this, and he’s silent for just a little too long, so she follows it up.
“It needs to be perfect,” she insists. Jayce still hasn’t responded, in fact, he seems to be rather distracted, looking at something on his screen and not the camera.
“Is that what you think?” Caitlyn’s voice comes from behind her and Vi’s soul nearly leaves her body.
“C-cupcake? When did you-, how much of that did you hear?” she says, yanking the headphones off and whipping around to face Caitlyn, who’s arrived home a lot earlier than Vi thought, obviously. In the back of her mind she vaguely registers Jayce’s muffled “bye” from the headphones, and the hang-up sound.
“Enough, I think.” She’s stood frozen a few feet behind Vi, in the doorway to the room. Vi can’t really tell what’s going on in her head, but she sure feels like crap.
“Cait, I’m sorry. I didn’t want, I mean I wanted it to be perfect, and then stuff kept coming up and now I’ve ruined the surprise-”
“I think technically, I ruined it by coming home earlier than I’d thought. You’ve just been so…off these last few weeks,” Caitlyn looks away as she says this, shakes her head slightly. When she turns back to look at Vi, she’s got a look of pure adoration on her face, brows raised and eyes open, a small smile tugging at her lips. “I wanted to be here for you, whatever you were dealing with, but…” she trails off here, looks away again. Vi’s still glued to the couch, still not sure where this is going, or how badly she’s messed up. When Caitlyn looks back to her she seems apologetic, and she makes her way to the couch, sitting facing Vi so their knees brush.
“I’m sorry things didn’t work out how you wanted. But to be perfectly honest, here, right here,” she pats the couch for emphasis, “in the home I’ve made with the woman I love? I couldn’t be happier,” she cups a hand to Vi’s cheek, who jolts out of her half-stupor at the contact, and leans in to give her a quick, sweet kiss.
“I-is that a yes?” Vi asks, still not entirely sure how they’d ended up here.
“To what? You’ve not asked me anything yet,” Caitlyn says, raising one brow and smirking. Here’s Vi’s out, she can take it if she wants. But Caitlyn’s right.
“Yeah, yeah okay, just let me-” she starts frantically patting down her pockets, then the couch cushions for the ring box. Caitlyn clears her throat to catch her attention, and gives a little nod toward the coffee table, where the ring box sits half-hidden from view by the laptop monitor.
“Thanks babe, okay. Okay,” Vi slides off the couch onto one knee facing Caitlyn, “Caitlyn. I had this whole speech ready to go, about how happy you make me, how you’ve changed my life and everything. But it doesn’t really feel like I need to go through it any more. I love you, I wanna be by you forever, if you’ll have me. That’s all you need to know.” Now she lifts the box, pops it open where the delicate, not ostentatious, gold band sits, “Caitlyn Kiramman, will you marry me?”
“Absolutely.”
Anything after that is sort of a blur. Vi knows she slipped the engagement ring onto Caitlyn’s finger, got herself scooped up and spun around by Caitlyn in the most bone-crushing hug she’s ever received in her life. They’d finally broken open that bottle of champagne that just sort of sat in the wine cooler for emergency celebratory purposes. And then later, drunk on both alcohol and love, had stumbled their way to the bedroom, a trail of clothes behind them.
It’s some weekday night or other, Vi’s cuddling with her fianceé, content to see where life brings them as long as they’re together.