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In all your years of fighting to survive. In all your years of fighting to live. To eat. To sleep with a roof over your head. To not get robbed blind. To not die - you don’t think you ever dreamed of having a moment like this.
“Vi! Come here!
You don’t think you have ever dreamed of having fun like this.
The smile on your face feels so effortless. Hard to keep down. Hard to change. You imagine in this moment, you look like a young child. Carefree and innocent. Looking to explore a world they’re not quite ready for. But a world they’re going to travel and explore and discover nonetheless. And you can’t imagine the last time you felt yourself take on such an expression. You can’t imagine the last time you saw someone else feel this way.
But in a moment like this, you don’t think you can spare another thought towards strangers. Because as much as you want to. Because as much as you care. You just don’t know if you’ll ever get a moment, a feeling, a smile like this ever again.
So for now…
“I’m coming, cupcake. No need to rush me.”
You’ll cherish it.
“You’re so slow,” You complained with a soft laugh as she ice skated towards you. Vi doesn’t say anything to you at first- she only raises an eyebrow as she skates towards you with her hands in her pockets. Your smile grows wider, and the impatient side of you decides to push off on your skates and meet her halfway. Even though she’s moving significantly faster and more confident than you are.“ How dare you! Making me wait like that!”
This time, it’s Vi’s turn to smile at your show of faux-annoyance. The second you’re within her reach, her hands are pulling themselves out of her pockets and landing on your hips. The sudden movement catches you off guard as she tugs you closer. But like always, she’s there to catch you and to keep you upright.
It was Vi’s idea to go ice skating. When she first proposed it to you, you thought she was out of her mind. You lived your entire life in the Undercity. No matter how cold winter may be in Piltover, your world was far too hot to ever see a lake freeze over. Or much less, a single drop of snow. But then she told you about a place that she found through Caitlyn. A place that was so pretty and so magical. A place that just didn’t exist in the Undercity. A place that couldn’t exist in the Undercity.
But magical doesn’t do all its justice when describing this place. You’ve never seen a frozen lake before, but you imagine this must have been the most beautiful one of all. A pale surface colored a light, light, light blue. At first glance, you would have thought it to be fragile. You would have thought it to be delicate. Yet when you stepped out on the ice with the skates that Vi gifted with you, there was nothing but the strength and the power of nature beneath you. Holding your weight and your happiness and your hope to enjoy moments like this in the future.
But the lake is far from the only thing that caught your eye. Surrounding the lake was a beautiful forest- hiding the two of you away from all signs of civilization. A giant thicket of trees and bushes, plants alike. They were all coated in a slight dusting of snow. A subtle reminder on top of the chill you feel in your bones about just how cold you were. Even so, the cold doesn’t stop you from admiring the gorgeous forest that shields you. Even so, the cold doesn’t stop you from enjoying the majestic ice beneath your skates that holds you.
Even so, the cold doesn’t stop you from enjoying yourself. From enjoying her. From enjoying this.
“Oh how horribly tragic,” She responds to your words with a sarcastic lilt of her own. She leans in close to your face, the corners of her lips quirked up in a knowing look that never fails to get you excited. She knows you too well. She knows that her hands on your body, even through your worn-out coat, is enough to get your heart racing. She knows that a single heated look into your eyes as she peers down at you is enough to get your mouth watering. And she knows that cute gestures like this - big or small- is enough to make you fall in love all over again. “Is there anything I could do to regain your favor? Anything at all, cupcake? Anything?”
She moves impossibly closer into your space, and you find your head tilting up out of pure instinct alone. She’s only a hair away from your lips, so close to closing the distance yet she refuses to move forward. And so you’re stuck with the feeling of her warm breath against your lips teasing you. Toying with you. Tempting you into wanting more, more, more. More of something only she can give you. More of something only she can provide you with. More of her in general. So you take it.
You take what’s yours. Your happiness. Your excitement. Your moment.
“I can…think of a few things I might want.” You drawl out, ready to keep playing the game.
“A few things?” She asks you, but you know the question isn’t real. You know she knows what you want. You know that because you know she wants it too. But where’s the joy in moving fast? Where’s the joy in getting right to the point? Where’s the joy in skating straight lines when you have a whole world, a whole lake that’s frozen over for you to enjoy? “And… what might those few things be?”
Where’s the joy in choosing not to seize the day? The one-time opportunity? The chance of a lifetime?
“Hmmm…wouldn’t you like to know, lover girl?”
Where’s the letting a moment like this pass you by?