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The cave they decided to hide in wasn't big, but there was enough space for two people to live comfortably together. Walls were tinted in a pale orange, due to the dying flame of the fireplace they lit just a few hours ago as the cold was unbearable.
Yasuo was sitting near the fire and drinking from a glass bottle with something alcoholic in it, he himself didn't even know what it was. He got it during the last visit to the tavern, which was rather stormy: many soldiers tried to arrest him for a crime he didn't commit, but the crime he actually was to blame for stung and hurt like crazy.
Another sip, though it wasn't doing much. What would she think of him drinking like that?
Taliyah would have probably scolded him with something like "That is not how you deal with your problems!" with that cute face of hers, but how could he tell her that his hands were stained with blood. And not anyone's blood, but his brother's!
Luckily, she was still sleeping peacefully by his side. They were both really close to the fireplace, but the girl seemed to suffer the cold the most: she was all curled up and that wasn't nearly enough. She greedily held on to her blanket to not let even a bit of warmth out of there. That must have been strange weather for a girl who used to live in the desert.
They actually had a couple of sleeping bags, but Taliyah had lost them a few days before, while washing them in the river. It was actually comical how she tried to chase the sleeping bags that were being brought away by the flow of the water, but he couldn’t say the same about how they were left with only one blanket. At first he was furious, and told her that she would have had to sleep without anything until they got new ones, but when the first night came and Yasuo saw her shivering he just gave up the blanket. She probably would've been fine anyways: Taliyah was resilient and trained hard even when it snowed, he was just getting soft.
Now that he thought about it: It was probably a matter of time before she completed her training and went back to Shurima. Yasuo already missed her deeply, he wasn't even trying to lie to himself as her presence alone brightened his days. Yes, she was stubborn and didn’t always listen to him, but he admired her determination and optimism.
His thoughts were interrupted by Taliyah’s heavy breathing, her small hands squeezing the blanket. She was gasping for air and moving frantically like she was fighting for her life.
Yasuo quickly tried to wake her up by gently shaking her body and calling her name until the girl’s hazel eyes opened. The calming crackle of the fire was all they could hear as she grabbed Yasuo’s hand and held it tight, trying to regulate her breath. Her eyes wandered around the room for a while.
“Are you okay?” Yasuo asked, while his hand was still held hostage. She was trembling.
“…yes, I just had a nightmare” She answered with a soft voice, toying with his fingers. Her skin felt silky against Yasuo’s rough callus. He waited for her to talk about her bad dream, but he was met with silence.
“What was it about?” He finally asked.
She shook her head “I don’t remember.”. After that, she was quick to get up and walk as nothing had happened, but he could tell she was still nervous by the way she avoided eye contact and picked at her nails, while walking back and forth.
If she didn’t want to talk, he could still distract her and make her smile.
“In the end… I can finally get my blanket back!” Yasuo exclaimed, simulating an evil laugh and grabbing the now abandoned piece of tissue. Taliyah froze and looked at him with a confused face.
“But… didn’t you give it to me?” She whined, making puppy eyes
“I can’t recall it… no, nope” He said, putting the blanket on covering his whole body but his face. It was still warm and smelled like her.
“You’re acting like an idiot” He looked so silly that she couldn't stop laughing. Yasuo was a sarcastic person and loved making jokes, but this was on a whole other level from his usual self. It was at that moment that she noticed the glass bottle right behind him “Wait… are you drunk?”.
He didn’t really want to respond, he wasn’t that drunk, just a bit tipsy. But Yasuo knew how she wasn't fond of the ungodly amount of alcohol he consumed. She was concerned, he knew that, but now it was about her and her nightmare “It doesn’t matter.”
She knelt right in front of him, and leaned towards him with closed eyes sniffing the air between them. She got so close that their lips were just a few inches apart, though she didn’t seem to realize that.
“You smell like alcohol”. Taliyah opened her eyes, ready to scold him, but as soon as she realized how close they were she jumped back to her initial position and covered her face in embarrassment.
“Were you about to say something?” Yasuo giggled trying to play it cool, but his heart was pounding like he just ran a marathon. “I’m not drunk little Sparrow, I promise, I just drank a tiny bit.... Don’t shift the focus to me”.
"I don't understand…" She mumbled.
“Don't try to dodge it, what did you dream about?”
Taliyah sighed, keeping her hands on her face “Will you tell me why you drink so much if I tell you my nightmare?”.
Yasuo didn’t respond. He didn’t know if he could do that, but it was only fair to her.
He didn’t consider, though, how terrorized he was to even mention it. What would she think of him? Would she see him the same? Would she abandon him in fear he might hurt her? That was an unbearable thought, but not as unbearable as revisiting that memory: the blood, the fight and his brother's lifeless body on the ground.
His breath was getting more and more irregular as his thoughts were spiraling out of his control. He started gasping for air, fighting to breathe as much oxygen as he could but there wasn’t enough, he was suffocating. He was sure he was about to die, he felt the raw fear of Death, the presence of the Wolf ready to claim his life…
and then a small warm thing squeezed him tight.
“Hey” Her voice was so kind and sweet, yet it had a concerned note “What’s wrong?”. Taliyah was there.
He could feel her tiny body and her hair tickling his face, the ground under him and the howls of the wind outside the cavern. He needed to slow down his breathing, inhale, feel the air reach his lungs and then exhale through his nose, just like he was taught during his training.
When he finally felt calmer he hugged her back. One of her hands was caressing his cheek, bringing away small little droplets, he didn’t realize he was crying. He let his tears slide down his face, silently, keeping her close like she could take away all his regrets and sorrows.
"I never told you how I got here" she whispered, but she was so close to him that he could feel the air of her breath on his neck and her lips moving on his bare skin.
She waited a bit and then went on "I was on a Noxian ship, ready to travel to Ionia so I could be taught how to use my powers, 'without fear of hurting anyone' they said. When we got close to the land the captain told me I had two options: bury the people that lived there or drown in the sea." she sighed.
"It all happened really quickly: I refused over and over to kill innocent people, until he grabbed me. I barely had time to react before I was thrown off the ship and I don’t know how to swim so I immediately sank, the water kept pushing me down. I was sure it was the end for me, then I lost consciousness and woke up on the shore. A miracle.
But every bit of when I was drowning is branded on my mind, the dreams are so vivid they terrify me, just like the one I had before." She said as she snuggled closer to him, hiding her face on his collarbone, literally melting Yasuo’s heart. "When I met you I was afraid you would’ve lied and manipulated me like those soldiers did. I’m glad I decided to trust you, I'm so happy you're here with me. I don't know how things would've turned out for me if I was alone… I really care about you"
She felt safe between his arms. Even though he was an alcoholic sarcastic moron, she was glad he was there with her. He never thought in a million years someone could see him like that. His hand was gently holding hers now, Yasuo wanted so badly to comfort his small little Sparrow like she did with him.
At the same time he still felt guilty. Maybe he was in time to free himself from the chains of his secret, he could keep the promise they never agreed to. The words slipped out of his mouth, lifting a giant weight with them "I killed my brother". Her body, wrapped by his, turned stiff like a statue.
"My brother was sure I was a criminal and challenged me to a deadly duel. Only one of us would have left alive and I did what I had to do to defend myself… I wish everyday that he hadn’t followed me, that he had trusted me…" She suddenly backed away from the hug. He could see her face now and it looked scared and confused.
Didn't she believe him? He had made the worst possible mistake and now he was losing the only person that still cared about him. He couldn't bear her being afraid of him, not after everything that happened that night, not after all those months together. The whole world was crumbling before his eyes and he wanted to escape far, far away. He got up and made a few steps towards the exit when he felt her hand squeezing his arm "Wait!". He looked back, not putting up any resistance. She was standing as well, firmly holding him, but he couldn't meet her gaze.
"What?" His voice was low and emotionless, but he didn't wait for her to answer "Don't worry, I'm going to lea-". He was quickly silenced by her lips. Despite the rough start they were gentle and soft, and everything about them was perfect. She pulled him against her by his shawl, and then her arms around his neck to keep him even closer. It was an innocent kiss, one of those that don't last long and when she pulled away from him her peach tinted cheeks were wet by her tears.
"I'm so sorry Yasuo". She wasn't scared of him, she was worried about him! He felt like the dumbest human on Runeterra, but at least he was loved.
"Please don't feel sad little Sparrow, you can keep the blanket for tonight." He said with the most serious tone he could use.
Her look turned from sad to in complete disbelief, the adorable laugh that followed was like music to his ears. “I actually think we can share for tonight”, she said, leaning in for another kiss and then another...