Work Text:
Outfit
Vi sat, soaking in the sight of Cait working a brush through her long, silky hair. Cait’s bathroom was bigger than the bedroom she and Powder shared as kids. Despite the initial sticker shock of being in the Kiramman mansion, Vi had started to settle in here more than she ever thought possible. Even now sitting in the warm humidity of this room, she was comfortable. Cait and her family had been kind to her. They’d tended to her wounds. Made sure she was fed. And beyond that—they seemed to worry for her wellbeing. Over the past five days, Vi was starting to suspect they might actually care that she was comfortable. It didn’t seem real.
The ache from being flung through a window by an explosion a few days prior lingered in her bones. Stitches placed by Tobias into her thigh remained. Them and dozens of scabs pulled if she moved herself too quickly in the wrong direction. Vi was accustomed to the regular ache in her hands from her brawling habit, and she didn’t realize how good hot water and steam felt until she’d started using Cait’s shower.
“You alright, lovely?” Cait asked her without turning from the mirror, smoothing over her hair once more.
“Yes…Just…Relaxing.” Vi leaned back on the bench that was set out beside the vanity. Cait liked when Vi kept her company when she was showering or getting ready at the vanity. This had been where Jinx took her. Cait was still mostly silent about what had happened, but Vi saw the way she would glance over her shoulder in the mirror and grappled with the guilt that Cait had been put through Jinx’s ‘tea party’. Jinx. Jinx had done that to Cait. Vi had seen the ligatures and the remains of neon markers and the bruises when she’d helped her limp back to Piltover. “How are you doing?” They hadn’t done much more than kiss in this budding relationship, but after going through what they had together a deep intimacy had formed between them. Vi sat in the bathroom and kept watch while Cait was in the shower. Cait stroked Vi’s hair when she had nightmares at night and mercifully didn’t make comments about the talking she knew she did in her sleep.
Intimacy. Progress. Trust. The things they had talked about. Vi was trying her best to adjust to her new life outside of Stillwater. Echo and Cait had done more for her than they could possibly know just by existing and letting her also exist in their company.
“Looks like you’re deep in thoughts.” Cait commented, moving on to her makeup.
Vi could also watch her doing that forever, the look of concentration she made while she opened the container of fine powder and selected a brush from the cup on the gilded surface. They’d settled into ease around each other as the days passed with Vi learning to let her guard down (even if that only happened she knew the bathroom door was locked and that Cait was in the same room and her back was on the wall). A beautiful woman from Piltover who wanted to be in her presence. Vi didn’t want to screw anything up.
“You’re pretty.”
“Am I?” Cait smirked into the mirror, “You’re awfully handsome yourself, Ms. Vi. “
Vi smiled, chewing her lower lip. Handsome. She’d been a prisoner for seven years, she should be immune to bashfulness, for Gods’ sake, but Cait could make her blush.
“Mm, handsome, huh?” She straightened her shoulders, “Letting me take you into town.”
“Letting you? I have to have arm candy, don’t I?” Cait paused to put on her eyeshadow, “I promise you, Vi. This place is insufferable.”
“The dress store?”
“Yes. Where they will dress my mother and I and coach us before we’re photographed by the media at the Piltover Yacht Club for a fundraiser breakfast as Zaun and Piltover are about to go to war because the Council thinks it’s wise to show that my mother is on her feet after the attack. Jayce will be there.”
Vi rolled her eyes as Cait said it—she appreciated the way Cait could cut through the political fuckery for what it was.
“I get to….drink mimosa and watch you try on dresses. Sounds like a good morning to me.” Vi had been informed by Cassandra about how the morning was expected to go.
“You’re welcome to join me at the yacht club.” Cait offered.
Vi snorted, “No-can-do on that. I don’t think bringing the undercity woman out to the Piltover Yacht Club during your mom’s first paparazzi exposure since…since the…incident….is a great plan.”
Cait shrugged, surely realizing Vi was right, but not wanting to agree, “Well, perhaps next time. They do have good quiche.”
“What is quiche?” Vi squinted at her while she finished her eye makeup.
“It’s eggs with spinach in them.” Cait stood up.
“Why don’t you call them eggs?” Vi was still leaning on the wall when Cait offered her hand, helping Vi to her feet. Her legs protested the movement, but she did her best to keep the wince from her face. Need some time to heal. It’ll get better.
“Because it’s sort of…a cake? With spinach in it. I don’t know, I’m not a cook.” Cait wrinkled her nose, leading them down the hallway and Vi was trying to shake away the memory of the taste of the prison nutriloaf and imagining some fancy savory cake made of eggs and spinach.
The cold stone of solitary cell when she was thrown in the hole against her cheek while she nursed broken ribs and hunger pains.
Spinach and eggs sounded good.
-
Vi found herself seated on a gawdy gold-patterned plush chair with a crystal flute filled with champagne and orange juice. Vi had never had champagne. Determined to make a good impression on Cait and her family, she did her best to sip rather than gulp as she would have with prison hooch.
Cassandra had a separate attendant and space than Cait, and Vi was glad to be alone together other than the fashion consultant she heard speaking with Cait from behind the fitting room doors.
I’m going to need another one of these to even exist in this space. She though, looking at the glass in her hand. Even with the clean clothes and the showers, Vi felt too greasy to be in this boutique. White and gold furniture and crystal chandeliers and dresses which cost more than most Zaun families made in six months.
It was easy, right? All she had to do was keep Cait and her mother company while they tried their dresses and give them nice words and opinions about how they looked? Vi wasn’t exactly girly or feminine, and this wasn’t a thing in the Lanes anyway. She hadn’t owned more than three sets of clothes, let alone anything fancy. But it still seemed easy enough
Jayce plunked onto the chair beside hers, holding his own mimosa, “Vi. Didn’t expect to see you here.”
“You looking for a dress too?” She definitely needed a refill if she was going to sit with Jayce in the fucking dress store.
“Checking on Cait and Councilor Kiramman.”
“Right.” The awkwardness settled heavily between them, “You getting dressed up for the bullshit song and dance too?”
“Nah, not a yacht club member. That’s the Kirammans and they know it’s a good place for the paparazzi to see them and for them to give that…” He paused, making a circle with his wrist as he looked for the worlds, “sense of normalcy.”
“Since when are yacht clubs normal?” Vi tried her best not to let the edge of frustration show in her voice, because she truly didn’t judge Cait for who she was or where she was born, but Jayce remained on her shit list after his bullshit in the Lanes where he’d promptly left her to her own devices to deal with Silco and Sevika and Jinx on her own. Despite her efforts, it still showed, and she sensed him flinch from the corner of her eye. She scooted the chair so her back was against the wall, and it quelled some of the anxiety and discomfort welling in her chest.
A day at the dress store. Recovery. Healing. Allowing herself to relax sometimes. All the words that she’d heard from Cait and the Kirammans and the woman who’d come and talked to her over lunch one day when Cait was doing Council stuff and probably actually was a therapist hired by Tobias.
“Normal for the Council.” Jayce answered curtly, “and Tobias is one of the board members. Giving the impression that the Kiramman family is intact and on their way to a normal brunch is the goal.”
“Count me out.” Vi folded her free arm over her middle.
“Cait likes you. A lot.” Jayce stated, “You’ll have to deal with this kind of thing. It comes with the territory.”
Vi paused, took a breath, quelled some of her anger. Jayce was basically Cait’s brother—he was trying to get a sense of the woman in Cait’s bed with her, “I suppose I’ll get used to it. I….like Cait a lot too.”
Jayce gave her a curt nod, and Vi saw something soften in his eyes, “Besides, they have good food.”
“Yeah, egg-spinach-cake things apparently are good.” Vi forgot what it was called. She tossed back the remains of her mimosa.
Jayce gave her a confused look, but stuck out his hand anyway, “Can I get you a refill?”
“Please.” Vi handed the heavy crystal glass over to him. Maybe he wasn’t so bad. Maybe he’d grow on her a little bit. Solid maybe.
The dressing room door swung open, Cait coming out with the attendant trailing behind her and arranging her skirt.
Gods—
Cait had to have been trying to tease her. The first dress was a plunge neckline, showing the defined curves of Cait’s breasts and the firm tone of her abs.
“I don’t like that it’s covered in butterflies.” Cait wrinkled her nose.
It was covered in lace butterflies. Vi hadn’t noticed. She’d been too busy ogling Cait who was giving her a shit-eating smirk. Vi straightened her spine and managed her best society lady sip on the new mimosa.
“It looks…really good.” Vi wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Not sure about that.” Cait squared her shoulders, “Back me up here, Vi?”
She honestly thought it looked good, but Cait had a press appearance, and Vi was her girlfriend. Damned if she wasn’t going to be a supportive girlfriend. Cait didn’t like this dress.
“No. Butterflies are a no. Can’t have….insects…at a yacht club.” Vi fumbled, enjoying the fleeting eye contact with Cait and the obvious stifling a of a laugh from her. They’d laugh about this properly later. When they were back home and in comfy clothes and had the press pictures from the event. Vi was already looking forward to it.
Jayce nodded along, making a wrap it up motion, “Next one!”
Cait tossed a proper grin over her shoulder at Vi, who was busy staring at the expanse of Cait’s strong, bare back as she walked away, and Vi felt the blush creep across her cheeks again. The foreign feeling of happiness snuck up on her.
She felt….happy. She was having fun. This whole thing was a flashback to when she’d started realizing she was attracted to women at fourteen and hid a discarded dress magazine under her mattress all bashfully as if it had been a porno.
Maybe it was the champagne.
It felt so wrong, but Vi couldn’t stop smiling.
“What is a spinach-egg-cake?” Jayce was asking her.
“’fuck knows.” Vi blew out her lips, “Something they eat at the Piltie Yacht Club. Cait told me about it.”
“Oh.”
The next dress was stunning. Cait could probably come out wearing a paper bag and Vi would still find her stunning.
“This one.” Cait stated. She wore a sundress, deep blue with another plunging neckline and a skirt which reached the floor. A long slit was cut over one leg and the ruffled sleeves fell over her shoulders.
Vi shook herself away from staring again, wondering how she had been so lucky. Something tugged in her lower abdomen, and Vi took another gulp of mimosa as if it could quench this thirst boiling inside her.
“It looks beautiful.” Vi stated, “You look beautiful.”
Cait smiled in the mirror, “I think this is the one.”
“Wonderful.” The sales attendant said, “There are some shoes from a local designer that would love to have them worn for a photoshoot. I’ll grab them for you.”
“Thank you.” Cait said to her.
Vi stood when the attendant left, reaching out the intertwine her stiff, scarred fingers with Cait’s lean, warm ones. Cait leaned down to press her lips onto hers, and Vi grinned against her. The light, bubbly feeling from the champagne spreading across her face.
“What?” Cait pulled back.
“Nothing. Just happy.” Vi answered, and Cait’s arms circled around her. She set her chin on Vi’s shoulder, snuggling into her.
“Thanks for coming. I appreciate you doing these silly things with me.” Cait murmured against her ear.
“Hey. Of course. We stick together, yeah?” Vi pulled back, setting her hands on Cait’s shoulders, “I don’t want to wrinkle your dress. Knock them dead, Cupcake. You’re going to be the hottest thing in there and take some real classy yacht photos.”
“Remember to keep your chin up and smile.” Jayce leaned back on his chair, “Looks good.” Cait gave Jayce a grimacing mock smile which made Vi feel warm and fuzzy in her chest again. He shook his head, “Good….but next time try less cringing and more smiling.”
Cait squeezed Vi’s hands, letting her balance against her while she stepped into the wedge heels the attendant brought out for her and adjusted the laces in the back of the dress.
Another woman, apparently a Council PR coach dressed in a gold-piped suit, begun buzzing between Caitlin and Cassandra with all sorts of advice like: “don’t look directly at the cameras” and “remember to smile. A rouge terrorist attack cannot rattle the Kirammans.” And Vi knew that was directed at both mother and daughter.
“You ready?” Cassandra asked.
“Yes.” Cait answered, turning over her shoulder, giving Vi a final squeeze on the hand, “Think you and Jayce can stay out of trouble while we do this?”
“I think we can manage.” Vi stated, shaking her head, “Have fun.”
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They don’t stay out of trouble. That's a multi chapter idea i'm considering writing. Thanks for reading! Leave me a comment!