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Today looked like a great day, the streets of Piltover looked more colorful, people looked happier. Vi walked towards the police station, not caring how late she was to work, after all, preparations took time and this day would be perfect.
The zaunite opened the doors of the police station with more force than necessary and continued waving and smiling at all who passed by her and looked clearly confused. Vi was somewhat eccentric by Piltover standards, but this level of animation was somewhat unusual.
Vi arrived at her desk and sat in the chair, swinging her legs over the desk, totally unconcerned. One of the younger guards approached fearfully and forced a cough to get his attention.
"Uh…Vi? The sheriff was looking for you earlier…"
"Of course she was, what would become of cupcake without me?" Vi said as she stood up and stretched her arms. "She's in her office, right?"
The man just nodded frantically, visibly uncomfortable with the fighter's proximity, making Vi burst out laughing. "Thanks. Now you can go back to your work, go.”
Vi patted the man on the shoulder as she walked by. Her smile got bigger and bigger with every step toward the sheriff's office. So far everything was going as planned: Caitlyn would be waiting for her, so she would arrive ready to help with whatever was needed and, in return, she would ask for a moment just for the two of them, a date, maybe a private dinner to celebrate a date that had already lost its importance for Vi. The zaunite nodded and opened the door.
And so her smile immediately vanished.
Caitlyn wasn't alone as Vi expected, she was behind her desk going through some papers with a more serious expression than usual and beside her was Jayce, pointing to the documents Caitlyn was holding and making some remarks. He noticed the visitor's presence first.
"Good morning, Vi." He greeted with an insufferable perfectly cynical smile with his insufferable perfectly white teeth.
Hearing her partner's name, Caitlyn looked up at the door as well. "Where were you?"
"Here? I'm just a little late, no biggie." Vi replied putting her hands on her hips, trying to maintain some of her good humor.
"A little bit?!" Caitlyn asked. The sheriff threw the papers on the table and walked towards Vi. "You're only three hours late!"
"Hey, did I miss something important?"
"What do you think?" Caitlyn asked irritably.
Jayce cleared his throat behind the pair. "The Council is having a gala dinner in two days and, as an acknowledgment for the services, the sheriff and her partner would be invited to be honored. The organizers came to deliver the invitations this morning."
"Ah! That's great! They're finally recognizing your hardwork, cupcake!" Vi smiled again as he took his companion by the shoulders. "So? Where's my invitation?”
"The dinner invitations are controlled and hand delivered, Vi. You weren't here to receive yours..."
"Hey, pretty boy, you're from the Council. Give me one invitation." Vi ordered.
"I'm sorry, Vi. I'm a counselor, but I can't just bend the rules like that." Jayce replied looking genuinely upset.
Caitlyn's expression looked more sad than angry now, it was everything Vi didn't want. How was she supposed to know this damn Council was preparing this little dinner party?
"I'm so sorry, Cait, really. What are you going to do now?"
"Now she's going alone." Jayce answered for Caitlyn.
Okay, why was this guy still here?
"In addition, she was also invited to lunch with the other counselors to rehearse her speech." He continued, looking away from Vi's furious gaze. "And we need to leave…Now. Are you ready, Cait?"
"Just a minute, I just…" Caitlyn looked at her partner. "Vi, I..."
"Relax, cupcake!" Vi said with the best smile she could muster in that situation. "Come on, I know how long these frills take. I'm gonna head to the gym! Shake things up, you know? I still have to go out and do some rounds later, busy day!"
With that, Vi took a few steps back and turned at a jog, ignoring the sheriff's calls down the hall. Right now, all she wanted to do was smack the first bag of sand available.
Maybe today wasn't such a good day afterall, just another nightmare.
--
Vi walked into her apartment and slammed the door, making the glass in the large living room window shudder with the impact. She had saved her salary for months to finally have a night alone with her partner. Seeing all this planning fall apart hurt more than Vi wanted to show.
The sun was already setting and Caitlyn still hadn't returned from that lunch with the Council. She was probably going to end up having dinner with them too, after all, her mother was a counselor.
Sighing, she walked to the kitchen table and unwrapped new super dinner to celebrate her special day: some dumplings and a cheap yakisoba she bought on her way home.
It felt like a curse. This was not how she wanted to spend her birthday. Damn Council. Damn Jayce.
Remembering the piltie snobby face made Vi's stomach lurch, she couldn't have dinner like that. Changing her plans, the zaunite decided to throw herself on the couch to take a well-deserved nap after such a horrible day.
Hours later, the bell began to ring incessantly, waking the zaunite from her unrefreshing slumber. Looking at her clock, she saw the numbers 23:36 glowing in the darkness of the apartment. She had definitely slept more than she should have, and whoever was at the door didn't have a watch. That was the excuse Vi needed to punch someone in the face.
She went to the door with her boots stomping on the floor and opened the door with a quick movement, already raising her voice, ready to attack the mysterious visitor.
"Come on, you clown! Do you have any idea…! Vi's voice trailed off when she saw who was in the hallway. "Cait!?"
She'd expected anyone outside her door, really, except her partner, panting, with her hair messed up and strands plastered to her sweaty face. Caitlyn was looking at the zaunite with wide eyes.
"I know it's late, I'm sorry." She said, looking down like she was very interested in her own boots. "It's just that when I went back to the station they told me that you had already left and I wanted to come after you sooner, but I had to take care of some urgent matters and..."
"Cait, what are you doing here so late?" Vi interrupted.
Still not looking at her partner, Caitlyn held up a bag for Vi, inside it was a colorful box with a bow and a white and gold envelope.
"I came to bring you this."
Not containing her curiosity, Vi took the bag and pulled out the box, opening it carefully. A huge cupcake decorated with colorful candies on its white frosting looked like a glittering treasure.
"I wanted to buy a cake, actually, but when I finally managed to cancel our dinner reservation it was late, there weren't any good bakeries open."
"Reservation for our dinner? What dinner?" Vi was still too stunned by the situation to understand what Caitlyn was saying.
"For your birthday?" Caitlyn replied uncertainly. "It's today, isn't it?"
Vi's body went numb immediately, feeling hot and cold at the same time. Caitlyn had remembered her birthday. "You... remembered?"
"Of course I remembered. Last year you told me you didn't have much to celebrate, so I promised I'd take you back to that Ionian restaurant."
"That super expensive one you love?" The fighter asked with a mocking smile.
"Yes, that one you loved but said it was too expensive and only worth it if it was a special occasion. Today is a special occasion." Caitlyn replied with a laugh.
Vi didn't think twice as she pulled Caitlyn into a tight hug, nearly knocking over the box with the cupcake in the process. Luckily, the cupcake was saved by the sheriff's quick reflexes. She raised her hand to hold the box to her neck. With the box safe, Caitlyn was finally able to relax and return the hug with her free arm. The pair remained like that in the hallway until Vi took a step back, sniffling softly and looking away.
"That's embarrasing, right? Holding you like that in the middle of the hallway." Vi's sudden carefree attitude wasn't enough to disguise her choked voice, but Caitlyn didn't have the heart to tell her that. "So…Do you want to come in? Or are you in a hurry?"
"I came to see you, Vi. I'm in no hurry." Caitlyn nodded smiling.
You could hear the gears in Vi's head stop working for a moment as Caitlyn walked past her to enter the small apartment. Vi stayed by the door watching her partner, it was so strange to see the sheriff so at ease in her home. How was it possible that something so simple made her heart so warm?
"...et? Vi?" Caitlyn tried to get her friend's attention. "Vi? Hello?"
"...What?" Vi answered completely lost.
"I asked if you had dinner yet." The piltovan repeated pointing to the packages on the table.
Vi snapped back to reality as she remembered her special dinner. "Oh man... I overslept, I think my food went cold..."
"You don't change, Vi." The sheriff chuckled.
"Oh, shut up!" Vi replied "And you? Have you eaten anything?"
"No, not yet. It was so busy after that lunch that I couldn't stop to eat." The sheriff confessed.
Vi smiled broadly "I think we'll have our little dinner then."
Caitlyn replied with a shake of her head, but Vi could see her friend's smirk. "Sit down, I'll heat this up."
"You are the guest, Cait. I'll do it."
Caitlyn shot Vi a serious look. "You're the birthday girl, try to enjoy your day, please."
Vi shivered under the sheriff's gaze. "Okay, I will. Just set aside a little bit for you to have dinner here with me."
The zaunite sat down to watch the sheriff working in her kitchen. Then something caught her eye: and a white and gold envelope was on the table beside her birthday cupcake box. "What's this, Cait?"
"It's Jayce's gift to you. You can open it."
Vi grimaced at the counselor's name, but shrugged and opened the envelope. Inside there was only one invitation, written in extremely fancy text in gold. Vi quickly read the content and was very confused. "An escort?"
"Uhm. Over lunch, Jayce told me that Piltover's finest shouldn't be separated at such an important event, so we tried to convince the Council that I, as an honored guest, should be allowed to take an escort." Caitlyn explained. "He also asked me to wish you happy birthday."
"What a douche, this guy!" Vi laughed. "And he thinks I have a fancy outfit to go to a frilly dinner like this?"
"We can go shopping tomorrow after your round. If you want, of course."
The zaunite crossed her arms, pretending to internally debate the sheriff's offer. "Hmm... Do I really want to spend hours in a store choosing a nice outfit?"
"We can have dinner together later." Caitlyn said.
"So we're going shopping and then we're going to eat at Jericho’s!" Vi decided.
Caitlyn approached the table with the hot meal on two plates. "Of all the possible places for you to choose, Jericho’s is the first you can think of?"
"What can I do? I love his food!" Vi defended herself by raising her arms.
"Okay, but then you have to promise me that you'll behave at the dinner." Said the sniper.
The answer she got was just a forced grunt of defiance. Vi had nothing to complain about, actually, because there in that small kitchen she had almost everything important in her life and that was enough for now.
Next year she could try to invite Jinx to a truce if only for one special day.