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“Ahri,” Akali grunts apprehensively, staring at the sheet of white ahead of her in uncertainty, “I have some questions.”
“Hmm?”
“How am I supposed to do this?”
“Kai’sa will teach you.” Ahri says with a grin. Keeping one eye on the phone in her other hand as fan chat messages scrolled down the screen far too fast for her eyes to really process them.
“Kai’sa seems a little pre-occupied.” Akali murmurs, watching the dancer land an admittedly very under-rotated axel into a spin.
“I’ll keep you safe.” Evelynn’s velvet smooth voice purrs next to her ear with no warning and Akali jumps, nearly falling over on the blades of the hire skates she’s barely balancing in to start with. Evelynn catches her elbow and smoothly guides her hands to the rail to help Akali maintain her footing.
“Aren’t they just so adorable?” Ahri coos to her phone full of fans as she steps onto the ice and nearly slips before she remembers to let the skates do the work for her. A stream of messages showcasing general heart eyes pass before her eyes as the screen shows Evelynn stepping onto the ice confidently over her shoulder. The gumiho takes a moment to watch before she skates over to a grinning Kai’sa.
“Hello bokkie~” she sings. Kai’sa comes to a fancy little one-footed slide stop with a pleasing scrape of ice on blade.
“Hey.” Kai’sa coasts over gently and wraps her arms around Ahri’s waist.
“Show off.” Ahri teases, Kai’sa blows on a fox ear in response and giggles at the twitches and flicker it earns her.
“So what if I want to show off,” she says happily, “do you know how long it’s been since I got to share my ice-time?”
“A week at most.” Ahri dead-pans. “You come here with Evie whenever we have free days.” Kai’sa gives a pout from her position on Ahri’s shoulder for a microsecond before her expression goes blank and an eyebrow slowly raises.
“Speaking of the devil.” She murmurs.
Ahri removes her eyes from the flood of adorable attention flowing across her phone screen like a river of incredibly poorly spelled literature and watches Evelynn execute a supernaturally perfect triple lutz with seemingly effortless grace before the daemonette skates back to Akali with a seductive grin plastered all over her face.
Ahri smiles and returns her attention to her phone and the few thousand fans who all seem to be asking what just happened.
“Just Eve showing off.” Ahri says, loud enough to ensure Evelynn’s demonic hearing will detect her words loud and clear. She changes camera just in time to catch Evelynn’s unbearably smug grin while she makes sure Akali won’t fall attempting to skate straight. The chat lights up with laughter and Ahri swaps the camera back around to bask in the sight of Kai’sa leaning on her shoulder in a manner so openly affectionate. She wraps her tail around the dancer’s waist but wobbles a touch until Kai’sa steadies them both by widening her stance before she glances down in disgust.
“Those hire skates look more dull than a conference on seat upholstery. How can you even stand?”
“Oh they’re fine.” Ahri protests, attempting to push gently back into Kai’sa only to slip because the inside edge is chipped eight ways to sunday.
“Fine...” Kai’sa repeats with uncertainty lacing her voice over an undercurrent of sardonic warmth. “You’re right, they seem great.”
The chat on Ahri’s phone scrolls with laughter and a mix of languages all declaring Kai’sa some variation of ‘mistress of snark’, Akali’s usual title for Evelynn whenever they do these fan chats.
“They’ll serve their purpose.” Ahri says with a roll of her eyes.
“Hmmm.” Comes the response. That hum alone is a thousand words and Ahri knows what Kai’sa is trying to say but can’t mention in front of their fans just yet.
“They’ll be fine since we’re only here for some extra fun team bonding!” She chirps brightly, keeping one eye on the excitable flurry of chat messages and another on Akali’s wobbly footwork as Evelynn slowly coaches her through letting the skates do the work of moving for her. She swaps the camera around and allows their fanbase see the content that will inevitably be turned into gifsets and reposted fan edits full of heart-eyes and ‘#RelationshipGoals’ by the day’s end.
It’s as Ahri is busy admiring the adorable scene in front of her that Kai’sa deftly slips the phone from her fingers and skates away, leaving Ahri chasing after her as they criss-cross the rink laughing all the way.
“Kai’sa…” Ahri whines behind her and Kai’sa does a neat single inside rocker and turns to look Ahri in the eye.
“Yes darling?” She asks, full of teasing energy. Their fans eat it up as a hundred messages slide over the screen of Ahri’s phone like oil on water.
“Gimmie my phone back!” Ahri lunges on her toe picks but falls flat on her face with an ‘oof’ as the concrete-mangled hire skates leave her without the precise grip she’s expecting. Kai’sa turns her leading back foot into a quick T-stop and flips the camera over to show their entire live show Ahri glaring up at her from the ice.
“Isn’t she just so cute when she’s angry, everyone?” Kai’sa asks as she coasts over to Ahri and helps her girlfriend to her feet, handing over her phone as an afterthought.
“You’re mean today.” Ahri pouts, nevertheless snuggling herself into Kai’sa’s side and pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“I don’t mean it.” Kai’sa returns the kiss with a cute peck to the tip of Ahri’s nose. “Are you okay?” Ahri nods and rubs their noses together.
“I’m fine…” she trails off and her gaze slides to a point somewhere over Kai’sa’s shoulder; “unlike Akali.”
Kai’sa turns them both and the camera around to see Akali spread eagle on her back with her deep sighs manifesting as clouds of steam above her mouth. Evelynn stands above her amused and smiling wryly. Kai’sa pushes off towards them with the unique thump and scrape of blades on ice and Ahri follows at a sedate pace, chatting mindlessly to the group’s legions of fans as Akali is helped up by Evelynn and leans on the boards with a grin despite her fumble. Ahri comes to rest next to her and Akali leans into the camera frame with a big smile.
“Hey guys!” She greets, waving a gloved hand. Evelynn comes to rest on her other side and wraps her arms around Akali’s waist to whisper something in her ear. When Akali nods, Evelynn presses a kiss to her cheek, snatches the phone from Ahri’s hand, and shoots off to the other side of the rink with a victorious smile to monopolise the attention.
Ahri turns to her companions with a roll of her eyes.
“Akali. Your girlfriend is such an attention whore.”
“You’ve known her a hundred and fifty times longer than I’ve been alive.” Akali shoots back. “You should know about this already.”
“That.” Ahri says with a nod. “Is a very fair point.” She checks to see that Evelynn is still far away eating up the love from her fans that’s a pure hit of sugar for the succubus and then turns back to Akali. “Are you still finding this fun? Because we don’t need to go with Eve’s idea.”
“Are you kidding?” Akali grins at her. “I love this idea, I’d want to learn this with you guys even if we weren’t going to require it for the next big project.”
“Just double checking.” Ahri smiles. “What’s tripping you up?” She pauses for an answer and then quickly holds a finger up to Akali’s lips while Kai’sa giggles silently next to them. “Pun not intended.”
“Staying upright?” Akali says, more a question than a statement. Kai’sa wraps her in a hug.
“You’re so precious.”
“Please help me not fall over Kai’sa.” Akali begs. The dancer giggles and swings them round so she’s facing Akali with her back to the centre of the rink.
“Come with me. I promise I won’t let you fall.” Ever so gently, Kai’sa starts leading Akali away from the wall, holding her hands while Akali slips and slides in chipped and edgeless hire skates almost as blunt as Ahri was in their last meeting with their fashion designer.
Evelynn glides by backwards on whisper-smooth blades glittering like forged starlight between the ice and the cold light above them to collect Ahri for more fan interaction and Akali lets out a fond sigh as her eyes track her daemonette’s lithe form and effortless movements across the rink. Kai’sa takes advantage of Akali’s distraction to centre her dominant foot and push off gently with her drag pick, moving Akali slightly faster than a geriatric snail so the utterly worthless hire skates have more of a chance to glide properly despite their lack of edge. She feels Akali’s balance naturally start to centre correctly and lets go of one hand, pulling into a gentle turn with slow half crossovers, just using her outside leg to pull half-ice and get Akali a touch more comfortable moving slightly faster.
Evelynn and Ahri glide by chattering to Ahri’s phone full of fans and Kai’sa pulls Akali around in a circle and slows to a standstill with a nice stable t-stop to prevent her pupil from overbalancing.
“You have to go a bit faster to let the skates work correctly.” Kai’sa says gently, knocking the toe of her skates against Akali’s with distaste. “These are utter trash.” She lets go of Akali’s hands gently and glides slowly back with a single hoop until she’s at just over an arms length away. Then beckons Akali to come to her.
As Akali moves, so does Kai’sa, starting with slow alternating crossovers as she leads Akali along slowly and gently, picking up just a touch of speed as they go until Akali is gliding over the ice smoothly and confidently.
“Better than Ahri was when she was learning.” Kai’sa encourages as they slide away from her gumiho and she picks up more speed into a nice straight glide to indulge herself with a single lutz.
“Is your ankle okay?” Akali asks as she lands and Kai’sa giggles.
“Yes, it’s supposed to look like that.”
“What was it?” Akali sounds impressed and Kai’sa blushes just a bit under the implicit praise.
“Just a single lutz.”
Evelynn skates up beside Akali and eyes her footwork as she effortlessly does repeating outside rockers seemingly just to show off.
“You’re doing better.” The succubus praises, pressing a feather-light kiss to Akali’s cheek so as not to disrupt her balance. “I shall have to buy you your own pair though, those are…inadequate.” She glares at the hire-skates with such malice that Kai’sa is convinced they’ll combust on the spot.
Ahri slices across the rink to them a few moments later so they can all say a group goodbye to the fan chat with a wave as it shuts off and they’re finally properly alone on the rink.
“You’re learning fast.” The gumiho says, eyes on Akali’s feet as Evelynn’s skates nearby cut an endless parade of halfmoon scars into the ice. She goes to say more, but her phone cuts her off.
As Ahri skates away to take the call standing still, Evelynn stops with her repeated rocker turns and wraps an arm around Akali’s waist, pulling her into her side.
“I’m proud of you darling.” She whispers, resting her head on Akali’s shoulder and holding her nice and close.
Akali closes her eyes and melts into Evelynn’s embrace, trusting her to keep her safe and enjoying just her presence and the gentle snikt-snikt-swish of Eveylnn’s skates as she guides them across the ice until the click of Kai’sa’s phone camera sounds.
“You two are so cute~” She posts the photograph to her instagram with a smile.
“Can you send me that?” Evelynn asks, pressing kisses into Akali’s neck and jaw until the rap artist giggles at the ticklish sensation.
“Of course.” Kai’sa pastes the picture in the group chat with a smile and Evelynn immediately makes it her home and lock screen.
“We are cute.” She purrs, satisfied.
“Mhm.” Akali murmurs, not even paying attention anymore, far too focussed on the feeling of Evelynn’s body cradling hers until all three of them have their concentration shattered by a shrill whistle.
“Girls!” Ahri shouts from the edge of the rink, beckoning them over with a frantic wave of her hand. Akali finds herself shepherded over almost alarmingly fast as Ahri shows them her phone open to a news site bearing the headline ‘Rapper of hit group K/DA confirmed as non-human?’
Evelynn’s grip tightens around Akali’s waist marginally as her lashers form and caress the younger girl like possessive serpents.
“How?” The daemonette asks, her dangerous sounding voice muffled into Akali’s neck.
“Don’t know.” Ahri mutters, skim reading the article for any clues. When she comes up empty, she turns to Akali. “What do you want to do?”
“Me?” Akali asks, startled. Ahri nods.
“It is pretty big news about you, statement? No statement? Immediate confirmation?”
“Uhhhh…” Akali’s brain short circuits as she tries to think of a suitable course of action, so she turns to the woman holding her instead. “Eve? What do you want me to do?”
Evelynn’s natural gut response to that question is the words ‘kill, rend, tear, feed’, but she swallows down her demonic instincts and tries to approach the subject from a more human perspective.
“I think we ignore it until it’s something more than a gossip headline, then we can simply say it’s personal?” She looks to Ahri for confirmation from the public relations expert.
“That approach could work?” Ahri sounds unsure but quickly makes a few taps on her phone. “It does appear to be only the harder gossip places right now.” She taps out a quick text to their manager and offers a reassuring smile.
“We’ll be updated if anything changes about it, for now we can just try to put it out of our minds.” She glances at the death-grip Evelynn is holding Akali in and raises an eyebrow.
“We don’t get hugs too Evie?”
A pair of lashers shoot out and pull them all close and into a hug, resulting in Akali and Kai’sa being utterly consumed by lashers and gumiho tails.
“I love you too Eve.” Akali mumbles into Kai’sa’s cheek.
“Shhh.” Ahri places a finger over her lips. “Let us have this.” Akali snorts with laughter.
“I guess it’s kinda nice.” She cuddles closer into Evelynn’s embrace and feels a genuine smile curl behind her ear before Evelynn’s lips press into the skin above her mastoid bone and murmur the words.
“I love you too Akali.”