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When Ezreal had told Ekko that the new mountainous region he found was worth exploring together, the time-traveller immediately grew suspicious. He remembered the instance when the blonde had dragged him into a life-threatening fight exploding on the cliffs of hot Shuriman land and instantly shot down Ezreal’s new proposal. Time-travelling wasn’t an activity that fugitives like him could leniently indulge themselves in; especially when someone as ruthless as Caitlyn was ready to trigger her guns at anyone she deemed to be a “time criminal”. And that included him. And Ezreal.
But unlike himself, Ezreal enjoyed the chase and challenge the chrono-enforcers provided for him. No matter how many times Ekko tried to convince him to tone it down, he’d only receive a horribly executed wink and smirk and a battered down Ezreal from another timeline who never learned his lesson. There wasn’t anything Ekko could do about it; he couldn’t pin the adventurer down and protect him all the time. He wasn’t his guardian.
Besides, he did admire the other’s desire to cause stress and panic amongst the enforcers, even if it meant playing doctor for him when they beat his ass. Someone had to go out there and signal to the cops that they’ll never play by their rules. Ezreal signalled that message the loudest. Ekko - he preferred staying in the shadows, safe in his workshop, planning his defence and their demise.
So when Ezreal snatched the wrench in his hand for the 3rd time in a row, Ekko sucked at his teeth in frustration and pulled at the blonde’s collar harshly. To Ekko’s pleasure, the other lost his balance in classic Ezreal fashion before being forced to meet face-to-face with him.
Ekko slowly grabbed his wrench back from Ezreal’s loosening hand as he spoke, “I. Am not. Going. End of story.”
“But- you- you said you wanted to go out more often—”
“Yeah, but not as per your suggestions, man. You nearly got us both killed in whatever era of Shurima we were in last time.” Ezreal winced at that in guilty admission, an expression that Ekko would never catch if it weren’t for their faces being only an inch away from each other now.
He felt a little bad about his own bluntness.
“Anyways.”
“Anyways…?”
“I have work to do,” Ekko drawled out as he gently pushed Ezreal away, “so see yourself out, Ez, or don’t. Just don’t disturb me.”
“Why don't you hear me ou—?”
“No.”
“Okay,” Ezreal muttered meekly before going silent. Ekko resisted the urge to chuckle amusedly - he’s never lost an argument with him.
The inventor was left in peace for the next few moments. He could tell Ezreal was still scurrying around the workshop, and maybe it would be wise to go check up on whatever he was messing around with, but the silence was savoury and Ekko wasn’t going to lose it so quickly. He twisted in a bolt and connected the last two pieces of his chrono-shield before picking it up and beaming at its structure in admiration.
All he had to do was sheen it in order for it to match with his suit, and then…
Then…
It had barely been 10 minutes.
He paused his work at the feeling of Ezreal’s hands. "Hey.”
“Ezreal…” Ekko tried, tensing up as the other’s nimble fingers slowly grasped at his shoulders from behind. So he was going to be annoying and persistent physically. Intimately. Ekko couldn’t lie and say it didn’t feel good to get a bit of a massage, though.
"You’re done for now, right? So you can listen to me for like, one minute at least. Right?”
“…Sure.”
“Cool. Cool shield, too. So, I’m not taking you to a—”
“You’re not taking me anywhere—”
“Okay, fine! But, let’s say, in a hypothetical situation in which you’d let me take you somewhere, it's a 'somewhere' that's safe from enforcers.”
Ekko rolled his head and eyes up to Ezreal, exhausted. “An enforcer-safe environment in a police state. I believe you,” he deadpanned.
“No, no, listen… What if we went somewhere outside of Piltover’s reaches? Somewhere with less people, a place those assholes usually don’t patrol.”
“Mm…” Ekko mulled over the idea for a bit. He didn’t expect Ezreal to be that considerate about going out, and yet. “If you can map out the region for me then I’ll be able to see for myself if I can trust your words.”
Ezreal’s thumbs stopped tracing absentmindedly over Ekko’s skin. “Well, that’s the thing, right?”
“Hm?”
“It’s a surprise. A good one. So I can’t give you an idea of how it looks - but you’ll like it there.”
“…Couldn’t you have planned this date idea with that one girl you were telling me about?”
“Wh-” Ezreal spluttered, face most definitely reddening (to Ekko’s delight), “first of all, dude, she’s outdoors all the time. You’re never out. You look,” he turned Ekko’s chair rapidly and tapped at his safety glasses, “you look dead from staying in here 24/7.”
“Thanks.”
Ezreal (tried) glaring at him, his shoulders sagged in disbelief. “Second of all, I’m - I’m not asking you out. I’m looking out for you. Every time I come here you look tired out of your mind and you’re always alone and I don’t like it.”
Ekko felt something sink in his stomach at his words, eyebrows twisting in confusion. “Wait, what?”
“I’m - worried about you?” Ezreal responded, intonation high as if he were asking a question instead of answering one. Ekko didn’t have to search deep enough to see concern shining bright in Ezreal’s blue eyes; he was always so easy to read.
This depth of sincerity was one he’d never received from Ezreal, though. It was…
…Something, though. Something that Ekko shouldn’t think too much about.
Ekko wanted to grab at Ezreal’s fidgeting hands, but decided that was too much. He settled for words instead. “Fine. I’ll go with you. But not without my chrono-blade, alright?”
-
The first thing Ekko noticed when he stepped deeper into the field was light. A lot of it. And it wasn’t the warm kind that the Sun bathed Runeterra in, nor the electrical, soulless kind he was made all too familiar with from his days of work. The light that shone here was the kind to illuminate through nocturnal bugs and other subtler mediums of the night. It’s almost as if the moon shone brighter on this landscape, with its rays snaking through shadowing flora with ease - and it was almost unnerving how strongly it illuminated his surroundings. And yet, its reflections in the deep brown of his eyes did no damage to them, no matter how glassy and vulnerable it made them look.
Every few moments, a frigid wind took the air, and Ekko could only thank the wall of his armour for protecting him against it. However, he was sure that even being in the thinness of his home clothes wouldn’t stop him from appreciating the absolute breath of fresh air he was able to revel in in the present moment.
He gazed at multiple creatures akin to fireflies fluttering their narrow, thin wings around him, all as fluorescent as his Core - all a hundred times more enchanting than it. They all bore stripes of cloud pinks and blues and purples in a variety of patterns, syncing palette-wise with the flowers they delicately perched on when they weren’t flying.
Out of instinct, the inventor extended a hand for an approaching crescent-shaped ‘firefly’, letting it land on his knuckles with ease. It reflected a brilliant cerulean shade in his eyes and on his hand with its bright and angular wings, and Ekko couldn’t remember the last time he had seen something as close to magic as this.
He felt his heart both melt and flutter simultaneously as the night creature vibrated in absolute delight and acceptance of him. A few of its sweet chirps (which echoed miles into the distance) seemed to encourage its fellow siblings to make home on Ekko’s shoulders and head, and he was definitive that he looked like a source of natural radiance himself there and then.
As much as it was overwhelming to actually step into new places for once, Ekko couldn’t lie to himself. He loved it here. He knew nothing of the little lunar-lite souls surrounding him, but he knew they would’ve hurt him already if they felt any hostility towards him. But they didn’t. They were lovely and produced an even lovelier melody to complement the ambience of the region.
His worries were slowly digging themselves away, deeper and deeper into the ground; Ekko could exhale and feel no tension burdening his movements, and it was cathartic.
Consequently, when he turned around to acknowledge Ezreal’s 7ish metres away, weirdly silent presence, he expected a rush of worry and exasperation to overwhelm his body. Because whenever he locked eyes with Ezreal and saw the spirit of someone who barely thought before letting the entire world run him down, it served as a reminder for what their reality consisted of.
He felt nothing of that sort, though.
He looked at Ezreal’s tousled hair moving with the wind, strands highlighted in azure by the surroundings, and the small but fond smile stretching across his face, and realised that what he was feeling was more terrifying than anything else he’d experienced before. Ezreal looked like a painting in that scene, with wide eyes and amused eyebrows and in turn Ekko’s heart was catapulting and skipping beats and he was sure that he looked stupidly in love-
“Ekko?” And the blonde’s voice was a little too clear, a little too close, and it took till his next words for Ekko to realise he was now just a foot away from him.
“Look behind you,” Ezreal whispered hoarsely, excitement brightening his features. But all that Ekko could register was that Ezreal had gained more than 3 inches of height over him and it made him sickeningly nervous-
“Oh, oh, oh, what the HELL?!” The feeling of something slithering against his legs caused Ekko to jump and stumble forward in panic, and all previous thoughts flew right out of the window. Before he fell to the ground, Ezreal reflexively grabbed onto his arms and pulled him up and close against him, restoring his balance efficiently.
“Careful! You’re gonna scare him,” Ezreal warned, motioning to a…
…Cub? A feline cub glowing a pale white with multiple blue stripes was rubbing its face affectionately against Ekko’s calf, with its long whiskers bending at contact. It was an intrinsically unique creature amongst all the other lunate beings flying around them.
It quickly walked towards Ezreal to rub against him instead, showing much more interest in getting his attention than Ekko’s. And it seemed like Ezreal was all too ready to, what with him crouching down to stroke and cup the cub’s face. He started cooing at it and caressing it with a thumb and Ekko couldn’t mentally comprehend seeing the adventurer be so loving and careful with something (or someone); the scene was awful for his heart; and yet it was on its way to brand onto Ekko’s memories like hot iron.
“Didn’t know you had a soft spot for baby tigers, Ez.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Ezreal exclaimed as he played around with the feline, “he just had a thing for me the last time I visited this area, and I guess he hasn’t forgotten me. He’s so cute. Aren’t you, little guy?” Said ‘little guy’ growled happily in response, and Ekko couldn’t help but think that the energy the cub and Ezreal exuded was similar. That was cute.
“Say, Ekko.”
“Mhm?”
“Help me up?”
“..Why?”
“Because I need you to - please?”
Ekko pushed down the sarcastic response habitually forming at the tip of his tongue and sighed at Ezreal’s expression, which had morphed into one of obvious mischief. He let Ezreal grip both his hands and pulled him up with all his strength, thankful for the other’s armour being much lighter than his. As soon as he was up, Ekko was ready to let go of his hands.
But Ezreal wasn’t, and before Ekko could question him, he was being dragged by his left hand across the field and into the closeby forest at an uncomfortably fast speed, with a following tiger cub that apparently had no qualms with it.
“E-Ezreal?! What the hell are you doing, let go of my hand!”
Ezreal shouted back, unaffected, “if I do that then you’d never come along with me here!”
And he definitely wasn’t wrong, because now that they were rushing full speed into the heart of the dark forest, Ekko’s heart started thrumming with newfound anxiety. Neither of their faces were made to deal with icy breezes and he was not enjoying constantly tripping over twigs and stones only to be forcibly saved by the one person he was saving all the time. They were running so fast that he couldn’t even spend time appreciating the curious squirrels and the diversity of trees they were speeding across, but Ezreal’s grip on his hand was deathly firm and there was no way Ekko was going to try to pull out from it now.
“At least tell me where we’re going! Fuck if I’m going to let you pull me into a fight-”
“After I promised you I’d keep you safe? No worries, my prince, I’ll protect you with my life if we meet unexpected danger.”
Oh. Awful. That was an awful line. Why did Ekko like him again?
Ekko kept his mouth shut and let himself be dragged for a minute more before feeling the pace slow down - Ezreal’s hand also loosened its grip on his hand, and it wasn’t soon before they both were just walking normally. Hand in hand. One panting the life out of himself and the other barely out of breath.
“Are you… are we done?"
“Nearly. Look ahead.” And Ekko did, relief washing over him as he saw a gorgeous and large opening constructed of overgrown vines and leaves, a sign that they didn’t need to be in the forest any longer. When Ezreal walked them out of it, his eyes alternating between checking Ekko’s face and the path ahead of him, something in Ekko’s chest lit up.
In front of the two men was a large lake, crystal clear and glowing with creatures akin to fish swimming and jumping out of it. Encircling it was more forestry and even more ‘lunarlings’ (as per Ezreal’s descriptions of them) that imitated deer, birds, and felines - but they were all completely unique, for some could float, some could jump high into the air, and some had wings where their animal counterparts didn’t. The entire spectacle read like a dream, and it took Ezreal tugging at his hand softly to snap him out of it.
“Sit with me,” he offered, pale features highlighted under the moonlight.
“What? I don’t think we should, Ez? Are we even allowed in here?”
To Ekko’s panic, Ezreal decided to respond with delighted laughter, his face morphing into comical disbelief. “When have we ever only done things we were allowed to? Besides, kitty-boy here loves me. We’ll be fine.” Ekko had nearly forgotten about the tiger cub, which was now pouncing at plants hanging over the lake at a near distance. Every other lunarling seemed indifferent to their presence, too.
As the blonde guided the both of them to the edge of the lake, vacant enough for both of them to take a seat, Ekko let himself absorb the aesthetics of his surroundings one last time before grounding himself. Yes, this place was gorgeous and effervescent in every manner possible - but he couldn’t ignore the fact that he could barely find any time to catch a breath and clear his mind.
Ezreal seemed to notice, as he bumped shoulders with him, silently asking for his attention.
“Liking it here?” The adventurer sounded calmer, as if he was trying to soften the mood after all the running.
“Might have liked it more if you didn’t, you know, exhaust the hell out of me.”
Ezreal simply laughed quietly in response, not letting his eyes leave Ekko’s. “You don’t mean that.”
“I do.”
“You don’t.”
“I-'' Ekko cut himself off with a sharp sigh. He didn’t, and the other man knew that all too well. The power to speak left him all at once when he noticed Ezreal’s crinkled eyes examining his face, no judgement or shame in his action.
And so they simply sat in silence for a few minutes, revelling in the sounds of far away cries and chirps. It was just nature and them in their own world, and not having to hear the sounds of construction and battle groans pacified Ekko. He felt his breathing even out, and when Ezreal scooted until he was touching him, he didn’t freak out, and instead focused on finally being able to share a bit of body warmth with another human.
“I saw the way those… fireflies swarmed you, you know.” Ekko remembered that moment all too well.
"You looked like a bright bulb for a moment - and I can’t say I wasn’t a little jealous. Those night bugs hated it when I went into their area before.”
“Is it really that shocking they did, though? You’re loud and feisty. You have to be slow when you go in there.”
Ezreal dramatically gasped in faux offence. “What? I’m not that bad, Ekko. You just hate my guts.”
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. But I’m just laying down the truth of the matter for you - creatures like tigers might like you, because you match their energy, but that’s where your charm stops working.”
“Wait.”
“Oh no.”
“Is that really where my charm stops working, though?” He sounded ridiculously happy about Ekko falling right into that.
“What do you want me to say, Ez? That you can pull anyone you want and make people swoon with your stupid smile?”
“You’re the one who’s bringing up my smile,” Ezreal teased, face way too close for Ekko’s liking - he was glad his blush couldn’t be seen easily, because heat loved to rise up to his face at any moment he was embarrassed..
“Maybe I should punch you into the future. Or the past. In front of one of Caitlyn’s guns, preferably?”
Ezreal’s face dropped just the slightest bit in fear of that possibility. He knew Ekko could make that happen. “You wouldn’t,” he pleaded, eyes large and molten sapphire in Ekko’s view. Why was he so close?
“I wouldn’t, but I really want to whenever you push right up against me,” Ekko shoved Ezreal’s head as lightly as he could, and he could feel the man smile widely into his palm. It was hell.
Just then, an abnormally large lunarling fish, skin translucent, jumped out of the lake, splashing water onto the pair and breaking their banter. Ekko was lucky enough to not get it anywhere in his hair or face, but that didn’t seem to be the case for Ezreal; a few of his hair got slightly wet, and a bit of it got onto his face, too.
Both of them laughed it off, Ekko only being left a little paranoid over how strange the lunarling looked.
However, when he turned to catch a glimpse of Ezreal again, he wasn’t prepared to be taken aback a second time.
The symbols etched across Ezreal’s cheeks were glowing a bright blue, a quality that Ekko had never seen before. Ekko asked himself if he was hallucinating from the amount of times he’d been taken aback tonight, but the on-and-off glowing of the symbols wasn’t going away. They made the blonde’s cheekbones seem sharper and imitated the exact shades of blue Ekko had seen a hundred times tonight.
His thoughts revamped to a pace of 100 again, and he touched the water with his fingertips to detect something. Anything that might give him an explanation.
And then, without thinking, he brought his right hand up to brush away Ezreal’s hair and cup the side of his face, frowning deeply as his thumb hesitantly prodded at the symbol. His skin was soft to touch, save for a few deep scars, but it was alright. The symbols gave no reaction, and that only further prompted Ekko to analyse it as best as he could with only his eyes. Glowing. It was glowing just like the night bugs were, just like the doe were - just like the cub was. On and off, like magic.
It was beautiful, so why had he never seen this happen on Ezreal’s face before?
Ezreal.
Ezreal.
Hearing his name dawned realisation upon Ekko. He was touching Ezreal’s face. He was all up in Ezreal’s space.
“Oh God- Ez, I’m.. I didn’t mean to—” he was stumbling over his words like a moron and when he felt brave enough to look into Ezreal’s eyes, he immediately regretted it. The blonde looked rightfully confused, eyebrows hiking up and irises wavering, and he was unfairly handsome no matter what angle Ekko looked at him from and this was all just so wrong and Ekko should absolutely withdraw his hand and—
“Woah, woah, woah it’s okay, man. Calm down.”
He couldn’t calm down. He ducked his head so he didn’t have to look at the other’s face and tried to quell his breathing. Why was he so scared?
“Ekko. Ekko.”
Hearing Ezreal call his name made him feel even more jittery, because there was no reason for him to sound so sympathetic, but when he tried to pull back physically Ezreal reached for his wrist and locked his fingers around it, keeping him in place.
So he had to speak. No other choice. “Ezreal, I’m sorry. It’s just, those symbols on your… they were. Glowing. And I thought, like, sure, it’s magic. But why? As in, why have I never known about this? I don’t. I don’t even know what I’m saying,” he stopped himself before his ramblings started making even less sense.
The other clearly wasn’t having it, but he was trying to be patient, and it made Ekko feel even worse. He didn’t know why simply taking the initiative and touching Ezreal himself made him feel so anxious, but it was so much. Ezreal’s mouth curved in concern was also so, so much.
“Are you scared of just… touching me, Ekko?”
He barely needed to consider the question. “I don’t know.” Yes he does. “I might be… but I,” but yes he was, “it’s not me. I don’t know whether you’re okay with it or not.”
Two hands came to hold his face up, making it impossible for Ekko to break eye contact with Ezreal; and the expression on the other man’s face was intense with emotion and so earnest that Ekko could feel his stomach sink six feet deep.
“Do you realise what I’m doing right now?”
“What…?”
“I’m touching your face. Holding it. Just like you were a minute ago.”
“Yeah.”
“And you’re not protesting.”
“I don’t really have a reason to-?”
“You didn’t protest when I held your hand earlier.”
“That was—”
“And you’ve let me touch your shoulders before, hug you before, literally just- hold you before.”
“But that has nothing to do with me touching you."
“Yes it does. Ekko, I liked it when you held my face earlier.”
Wait. “…No, you didn’t.”
“…Yes, I did, idiot. I’ve always wanted you to hug me back or touch my hair or do something. But getting you to just voluntarily caress me? Yeah, it confused me for a second, but God, Ekko, that was probably a lot better than anything I could ask for from you. Aside from. You know. Yourself.”
That was an overwhelming amount to take in, but as Ezreal spoke in his confident voice, his consoling words acted as a temporary bandage to the negative thoughts that were churning inside Ekko’s mind. They would probably come back later to haunt him again, but at least he was able to calm down now.
He leaned into Ezreal’s hands and loosened his body, exhaling. “I didn’t mean to make a big deal out of this, you know.”
Ezreal replied softly, “I know. You never do, anyways. You’re always so calculated in whatever you do, but is that really helping you?”
“I… I think it does?” In any other scenario Ekko would be sure his carefulness was his boon, but sitting by a lake with another boy’s hands on his face made him question a lot of things he admired about himself. “In any case, it keeps me from doing things that would embarrass the hell out of me. But I wasn’t thinking this time and you probably think I had some weird ulterior motive when I just. You know.”
Ezreal muttered, almost inaudible amongst the other sounds around them. “Well, yeah. I thought you were going to kiss me—”
“…Huh?”
“—Or something. I don’t know. Did you - would you - kiss me?”
Ekko didn’t know if it was Ezreal’s features, simultaneously both hopeful and hesitant, or his words that got to him; but his heart was racing 10 times faster, its beating thunderously loud in his ears.
He wanted to kiss Ezreal. He could comfortably move an inch forward, touch their noses together, and peck him. He could. He could.
“We shouldn’t,” is what he breathed out instead, nervousness causing his voice to shake pathetically. The blue eyes in front of him dimmed within a blink of an eye and it hurt more than it should’ve to see that.
“You’re still scared?”
“I’m not scared, Ez. We barely even see each other nowadays. I can’t- I can’t do that to you.”
“Then I’d come to see you everyday.”
“From where?! The future? I deal with your past self more than I ever have with the ‘you’ who comes from the same timeline. It wouldn’t work.”
“I’d change that, then. It would work.”
“How?” Ekko cried, exasperated.
“Like this,” Ezreal whispered, and those were the last few words Ekko heard before feeling Ezreal’s lips against his own.
Just like that, everything Ekko wanted to say melted away into the distance. He kissed back as best as his inexperienced self could, all unknowing and breathless but also desperate and so horribly touch-deprived.
His hands settled at the blonde’s waist as nimble fingers snaked behind his ears to pull him as close as physically possible, and Ezreal kissed so delicately, stopping every few seconds to place his forehead against Ekko’s so that they could gulp in some fresh air. Ekko couldn’t tell how quickly time was passing, but with soft lips pressing against his and warm hands clutching him protectively, all he could do was kiss back with intense passion.
Nothing felt real as they made out. Not even the lake, nor the lunarlings, nor the moon - save for Ezreal. The fluffy hair Ekko’s hands were carding through was real; Ezreal’s eyelashes, dark and brown, were real; and Ezreal’s entire body, hot and solid, was real. Ekko could only worship whatever wordless entity that was looming over them to not let the moment end.
However, when it did, Ezreal didn’t let go of Ekko. He held Ekko’s dark hands with his own, nuzzled against his face affectionately, and showed no hints of regret nor uncertainty when he beamed in contentment.
“This felt long overdue for me.”
“Yeah, definitely,” Ekko responded, breathless.
“I want you to remember this as my promise to come back to you, always. Okay?”
And Ekko nodded, knowing that things were always going to be more complicated than heat-of-the-moment promises, but that didn’t matter as they sat there. He allowed himself to smile back, his burnt sienna eyes twinkling with a love he wasn’t afraid to accept anymore.
“Okay.”