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A loud shriek pulled Kayn’s attention away from the guitar he was strumming. He put the guitar away, jumped to his feet, threw open his door, and raced down the hallway to Ezreal’s room, his heart beating rapidly the entire way. If anything had happened to Ezreal, he didn’t know what he’d do. He barged into Ezreal’s room, eyes zoning in on the little popster prince curling in on himself against the wall. Ezreal’s eyes flickered over to him, and confusion spread over his face.
“Kayn?”
Kayn rolled his eyes. “Yes, idiot. What the fuck were you screaming so loudly for?”
“Wait, if you’re Kayn, then…” Ezreal drifted off as his eyes trailed over to another man whose presence Kayn was only noticing for the first time.
His first instinct was to sock that bastard in the face, because what the hell was this rando doing in Ezreal’s room? But he did a double take, blinking rapidly as he tried to process what he was seeing. This man had features that were eerily similar to his. As Kayn stared at the intruder, it quickly dawned on him that it wasn’t just that their features were similar - they were entirely the same. If it weren’t for the blue and black hair and the odd, rocky… corruption? covering his left eye and most of his left arm, Kayn would have probably connected the dots much sooner.
“You’re both Kayn!” Ezreal screamed. He pointed an accusing finger at the other Kayn and demanded, “But who the fuck are you actually?”
Kayn resisted the urge to slam his palm over his face. He opened his mouth to tell Ezreal to shut it, but the other Kayn was sizing the tiny hamster up in a way that he didn’t really like. Kayn growled low in throat. He stormed over to Ezreal and grabbed his arm, earning a small “eep” from him, and planted himself firmly between Ezreal and the other Kayn.
“Start talking soon, asshole,” Kayn snapped. Maybe if he had noticed the giant scythe in the other’s hand first, he wouldn’t have been quite so snippy, but he wasn’t about to back down now. “You got three seconds to start talking before I throw you out of here.”
“ Kayn-”
“Shut the fuck up, Rhaast - not now.”
The mention of the demon, of all things, was what got the other Kayn to finally start talking.
“Rhaast?” He demanded. It was strange hearing the man’s voice; it was like listening to a recording of himself speaking and not being entirely convinced that it was his voice.
Kayn’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know Rhaast?”
“If you would listen to me, you pathetic little gremlin ,” Rhaast growled, and Kayn glowered.
“Fine! What?”
“I can feel him.”
“Who!”
“Rhaast.”
“Are you high- oh.”
The other Kayn eyed him sceptically, and Kayn glared back at him. It was common knowledge that Kayn didn’t get along with the majority of the earth’s population, but this must be the quickest he had ever disliked someone. Kayn had never before felt a stronger urge to sock someone in the face. Eh, was this how Yone usually felt around him? Guess he should be glad Yone wasn’t one to demonstrate his displeasure with violence.
Whatever.
Other Kayn looked like he had a lot to say, and, frankly, same. Kayn had a million questions running through his head, but they were all tripping over one another in a race to get to his mouth. What eventually came out was - “What’s up with your arm, dude?”
Ezreal gasped audibly from behind him. “Oh my god, Kayn. You can’t just ask people why their arm looks freaky.”
“I didn’t say freaky - you did.”
Kayn didn’t need to turn to know that Ezreal had his lips pursed. He anticipated the smack on his arm before it came, but he let Ezreal do it anyway. It wasn’t like it hurt. It was like being punched by a baby. Being punched by a baby would probably hurt more.
“It’s Rhaast,” Other Kayn answered, flexing his left arm, and it was a little disconcerting to see that the rocky surface remained still, almost like it wasn’t even a part of him. Other Kayn grinned like he was about to tell a particularly funny joke. “He wants my body.”
“Like… in a sexy way?” Ezreal asked.
“He wants to kill me and take over my body,” Other Kayn replied in a deadpanned voice that seemed too inadequate given the news he was sharing. “Because the stupid thing lost his.”
Kayn baulked. What the actual fuck-
“I would never,” Rhaast simpered inside his head.
“I know, I know,” Kayn muttered.
“Like an actual demon then?” Ezreal asked.
“I am an actual demon,” Rhaast snapped, and Kayn could feel him trying to claw his way out of his head and towards Ezreal. With great difficulty, he managed to restrain Rhaast, but the price was a throbbing pain in his left eye. Honestly, the things he did for that little idiot.
“Like a Darkin,” Other Kayn corrected.
“What’s a Darkin?” Ezreal asked, all curious. At some point during that conversation, he had wandered from behind the safety of Kayn to Other Kayn, and Kayn hastily tugged him back. Ezreal shot him a nasty look, and Kayn narrowed his eyes at him, folding his arms across his chest. Alright then, if Ezreal cared so little about the scythe that could slice him clean in half. To Kayn’s disdain and Other Kayn’s amusement, Ezreal gestured to his bed. “Sit. You must be tired from travelling.”
“From where?” Kayn asked, trying not to bellow, though he clearly didn’t succeed if Ezreal’s wince was anything to go by.
“Right,” Ezreal, the little idiot , said. He hopped onto his bed and patted the space next to him. Other Kayn shrugged and took a seat, but not before sparing Kayn a smirk. Kayn was ready to stab him, and Rhaast cheering him on was not helping at all. “Kayn,” Ezreal whined, pouting at him as he patted the space on his other side. “Come.”
“I’m not a dog,” Kayn snapped, though he obediently obeyed, contrary to his words. Rhaast snickered in his head.
“Simp.”
Kayn’s bad mood was only slightly rectified when Ezreal snuggled into his side. He wrapped an arm around Ezreal’s waist and didn’t think he could ever tire of the way Ezreal fit in his hands so perfectly, like he was made for him. He rolled his eyes when Ezreal shifted in his hold, angling himself to face Other Kayn.
Other Kayn explained how he came through a portal from a place - another world, really - called Runeterra. Kayn drilled him about his Rhaast and couldn’t exactly say he blamed him for doing what he did to gain the weapon. He’d probably do the same if he were him. Which he supposed he was. Him, that was. Kayn was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that there was another version of him right in front of him and didn’t understand how Ezreal and Other Kayn were completely unfazed.
Other Kayn off-handedly mentioned how upset Master Zed had been when he had gone against his orders and -
“Hold up! Master Zed?”
Other Kayn nodded. “He’s my master. He taught me everything I know. He saved me.” A pause. “And I disappointed him.”
Other Kayn said it like he was proud of it, but Kayn could hear his own bitter disappointment in his voice, and he hated how he could relate, remembering all the times he had caused his father trouble when he had been younger ( “you still do even now,” Rhaast interjected, and Kayn yelled at him to stop lying) and how even though his father never expressed any disappointment verbally or on his face, Kayn had still felt his stomach curdling.
Other Kayn peered at him, and Kayn tensed. “Do you-” he began. “Do you have a Master Zed too?”
“He’s my dad,” Kayn said flatly. “My adopted father.”
The barest flicker of surprise and jealousy crossed Other Kayn’s eyes. Kayn wouldn’t have clocked it if he didn’t recognise those same emotions he sometimes saw on himself. But all Other Kayn did was shrug and returned his attention to Ezreal who was asking a million and one questions about the stupid Darkin thing. Kayn zoned out, completely uninterested in whatever geeky nonsense Ezreal was into. And honestly his eye was hurting too much for him to pay attention even if he wanted to. His attention only returned when Other Kayn had the audacity to reach over and brush a strand of Ezreal’s hair away from his face.
Kayn had had it up to here with this guy.
He grabbed Ezreal’s wrist and announced, “We’re leaving.”
Ezreal spluttered as Kayn hauled him off his bed and dragged him to his room. He kicked the door shut after him and pushed Ezreal up against the wall, shutting the idiot up with a fierce kiss before he could even open his mouth to start complaining. Kayn smirked as he felt more than heard Ezreal moan, the green haired man wrapping his arms around Kayn’s neck, pulling him deeper into the kiss. Kayn moved from Ezreal’s lips to his neck, freshening the bruises that were starting to fade and the ones he had just made the previous night for good measure. Kayn pulled away, admiring his work, but his grin faded when Ezreal started giggling. He looked up into laughing eyes that were gleaming like the damned sun and severely disliked the way his heart twinged. He caught himself starting to smile and scowled even harder. It only made Ezreal collapse into a fit of laughter.
“What?” he barked.
“Oh, Kayn. Poor baby,” Ezreal said sympathetically, reaching out, and Kayn would have bitten his finger for the absolutely condescending way he said it if he hadn’t carded them through Kayn’s hair and rubbed his scalp gently, just the way Kayn liked it. “Are you jealous of yourself?”
“No,” Kayn hissed, though he wasn’t quite annoyed enough to bat Ezreal’s hand away. “He’s not me!” he added.
Ezreal just smiled placatingly and said, “Alright. Does your eye still hurt?”
No matter how many this happened, Kayn was still floored by how attentive Ezreal was. Ezreal never seemed like he was aware of anything around him - he once walked straight into a lamp post, and neither Kayn nor Aphelios were done laughing about it - but he always seemed to know what was going on with Kayn.
“It’s better now,” Kayn grumbled. And because he didn’t like the constriction in his chest, he added, “What the fuck is he doing here anyway?”
He tried to at least sound annoyed, but the truth was that most of his irritation had already melted away under Ezreal’s ministrations.
Ezreal stopped abruptly, and Kayn did not whimper. He frowned up at Kayn.
“What?” Kayn asked.
“Did you hear nothing he said?”
Kayn snorted. “Obviously not.”
Ezreal rolled his eyes before they softened. “He’s here to look for his Ezreal.”
Ezreal was having the time of his life dressing Other Kayn. Unlike Kayn, it seemed that Other Kayn was a lot more pliable and a lot less opinionated about the clothes that Ezreal wanted to put on him. Kayn put it down to Other Kayn not having any fashion sense. Because he wasn’t even wearing a shirt.
“You’re just jealous because his body looks nicer than yours,” Rhaast pointed out.
“No,” Kayn denied vehemently. “I’m not going to be jealous of someone who’s too stupid to even put on a shirt.”
“You walk around the house without a shirt on all the time,” Ezreal pipes up, somehow always managing to hear what Kayn is saying even when his attention is otherwise occupied.
“Yeah, indoors,” Kayn retorted. “Where it’s not indecent exposure. This guy is walking around like that all the time.”
“Jealous?” Other Kayn asked, and Kayn’s fingers twitched.
“You must not be used to clothes like this,” Ezreal suddenly said, drawing Other Kayn’s attention back to him. “Do you feel comfortable?”
Other Kayn shrugged. “It’s just clothes. They’re a lot more Piltovian than Ionian, but they’re not uncommon.”
Ezreal hummed, nodding as if he had known what those places were his entire life and not something he had just learnt in the last hour.
Ernest started barking downstairs, and Ezreal perked up. “I’ll introduce you to the others. Come on!” He grabbed Other Kayn’s hand and dragged him out of Kayn’s room and downstairs to the living room. Kayn followed them begrudgingly, glaring at their joined hands.
“Stop being jealous of yourself,” Rhaast said, roaring with laughter in his head.
“Shut the fuck up,” Kayn mumbled.
“Yone,” Ezreal called out sweetly. “Is that you?”
“Yes,” came Yone’s reply from the kitchen. There was a pause before he said, “You’re not Kayn.”
“Clearly not,” Kayn said, walking into the room.
Yone looked between Other Kayn and him once and then went back to making his cold brew. “I see,” was all he offered.
“No way this isn’t shocking to you, old man,” Kayn complained.
“I’m assuming he’s your counterpart from another world,” Yone said. “I admit I was confused initially, but it all made sense when you showed up.”
“How- there’s no way- what?”
“You’re so smart, Yone,” Ezreal praised, and Kayn rolled his eyes, cuffing the back of Ezreal’s head. “Hey!” Ezreal cried, turning to Kayn with wide teary eyes that had Kayn feeling more than a little bad.
“Stop bullying Ezreal, Kayn,” Yone said sternly without looking away from his coffee.
“I wasn’t-”
“Woah, Kayn!” Sett boomed as he strolled into the kitchen with Aphelios and K’Sante right behind him. “You didn’t tell me you had a twin!” He held out a hand for Other Kayn to shake, but Other Kayn just stared at him blankly. Sett laughed and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “Guess you two are pretty alike. What’s your name?”
“Kayn,” Other Kayn replied in a bored tone, having already moved on to study Aphelios and K’Sante. If there were another Kayn and Ezreal, Kayn supposed it stood to reason that there were another Yone, Sett, Aphelios, and K’Sante as well.
Sett’s eyes widened. “Dude, isn’t that like really confusing?”
“He’s not my twin, you doofus!” Kayn snapped.
“Oh,” Sett said. He frowned. “So your older… younger… brother?”
“No, we’re not related!”
“Huh? But he looks exactly like you!”
“He’s from another dimension,” Yone explained, stepping in before Kayn and Sett could start yelling at each other. “I supposed he must have entered a portal and ended up in our world.”
“Woah, wait, wait, wait! You mean to tell me he’s Kayn? Like actually Kayn?!” Sett asked. His mouth hung agape as he looked between the two Kayns frantically.
“This is… interesting,” K’Sante said.
“He’s not actually me, you idiot!” Kayn yelled.
“I know that!” Sett yelled back, taking a step forward. Aphelios placed a hand on his arm to pull him back, exchanging an exasperated look with Ezreal. “But he’s you!”
“Quiet,” Yone said before things could escalate again. He sighed and took a sip of his coffee. “Kayn,” he said, addressing Other Kayn. “How did you end up here?”
Ezreal raised his hand. “I know! I know!”
Ezreal was an amazing storyteller as long as he kept to the story he was telling, but he had a tendency to add a lot of extra information that wasn’t necessary, and Kayn could tell that Yone wasn’t in the mood for that today.
“I think it’s better if we let Kayn explain for himself,” Yone said.
Ezreal deflated. “Okay,” he said in a small voice.
“… or you can start us off,” Yone said.
Yone always did have a soft spot for Ezreal. And Aphelios.
It was so fucking unfair.
But Kayn supposed it was fine when Ezreal brightened up. It was making his stomach and heart do funny things.
“Soooo there’s this thing called the void, which is basically this, uh, evil place that’s trying to take over the whole of Runeterra, which is where Kayn is from. Apparently, things have gotten bad enough that everyone is working together to help, even people from Noxus, who are basically the bad guys - they want to conquer the world and all that nonsense. Oh! I’m actually a mage from this fancy place called Piltover, and Kayn and I were together fighting against some voidlings and this seriously fucked up dude called Malzahar who sounds like he needs therapy - Kayn, do you guys have therapy in Runeterra? Because I super recommend it. You probably need therapy. Ezreal, my sweet baby, definitely needs therapy, and-”
“Ezreal,” Yone interrupted gently. “What happened after the fight?”
“Oh right! So Kayn and I-”
“Not you!” Kayn interjected, and Yone shot him a dirty look.
“And I,” Ezreal repeated loudly, “were fighting the voidlings, and then Malzahaha opened up a portal and sent us, well, them here!”
“So we have an Ezreal on the loose,” Sett said thoughtfully, tapping his chin. He glanced over at Other Kayn. “Oh! Hey! Do you know me back there? In Runverra?”
“Runeterra,” Ezreal corrected.
“Right, Runeterra!”
“Yeah,” Other Kayn replied flippantly. He looked at Sett like the man was dirt beneath his feet. “I know you.”
Sett’s grin faltered. “Are we not friends?”
“No,” Other Kayn said pointedly.
Sett’s ears flattened against his head. “Oh.”
Other Kayn frowned at Sett. Interesting. So Sett wasn’t a giant flailing himbo in Runeterra.
“We’re acquaintances,” Other Kayn conceded. “We both hate Noxus, and I guess that’s enough.”
“Noxus sucks!” Ezreal agreed, way too enthusiastically in Kayn’s opinion for someone who wasn’t even from Runeterra.
“Hey, hey, do you know the others?” Sett asked excitedly.
Other Kayn nodded at Yone. “The three of us are from Ionia, so we know one another to some degree. You’re dead, though. You’re basically a reanimated corpse.”
“What? Why?” Ezreal shrieked.
“He died?” Other Kayn replied, and Kayn couldn’t hold back the snort of laughter.
“No, I know that!” Ezreal said. “But how did he die?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Yone said, and Kayn had a feeling Yone himself wasn’t too keen to find out.
“What about Phel? And Sante?” Sett asked.
“I’ve seen Aphelios around your place a few times,” Other Kayn said, and it was ridiculous the way Sett started grinning so broadly.
“Did you hear that, Mooncake?” He asked. “We’re together there too!”
Aphelios nodded, and Sett’s grin grew even wider. Kayn hoped they didn’t start making out in the kitchen.
Other Kayn looked at K’Santa and shook his head. “I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” K’Sante responded with a wide smile.
Other Kayn gave a curt nod, looking just the slightest bit uncomfortable. Kayn suspected he didn’t usually meet people who were as warm and welcoming as K’Sante.
“I suppose you want to get back to your own world,” Yone stated.
Other Kayn nodded. “But not without Ezreal,” he said quietly.
“Of course,” Yone said. He looked at the other members of Heartsteel. “Let’s split up.”
“What? Why?” Sett shrieked.
Yone sighed. “I meant to help Kayn.”
“ Other Kayn,” Kayn muttered heatedly under his breath.
“K’Sante and I will stay here with Kayn to find a way to send them back to Runeterra,” Yone said. “The four of you will pair off to look for Ezreal.”
“I’ll go with Phel,” Sett said quickly, like there was any doubt who he was going to be paired with.
“No,” Other Kayn snarled. “I should be out there looking for him.”
As much as Kayn detested Other Kayn, he could understand his frustration. If Ezreal was missing, then he wouldn’t want to be sitting around doing nothing either. Against his better judgement, he opened his mouth to defend Other Kayn, but Yone beat him to the punch.
“I understand, but we won’t be able to explain the presence of two Kayns or why Kayn can be in two different locations at the same time while wearing different outfits. I know you’re anxious and want to find Ezreal as soon as possible, but I won’t let you do anything that will bring trouble to my band.”
Other Kayn put up quite a fight, and Kayn was torn between rooting for himself and siding with Yone. Thankfully, or maybe unfortunately in Yone’s case, Yone had a lot of experience dealing with Kayn, and it worked with Other Kayn as well, although that didn’t stop him from grumbling until Yone threatened to tie him to a chair. Kayn didn’t think Yone would actually go through with it, and he didn’t think that Other Kayn had anything to fear given that he had a literal scythe (which, now that Kayn looked at it again, seemed like a really awesome weapon to have), but he supposed Other Yone must be somewhat terrifying as well, because it got Other Kayn to listen.
Once that was settled, Yone sent the four of them on their way.
Ezreal didn’t have a driver’s licence, so Kayn had to do the driving as usual. It wasn’t like he minded; he enjoyed driving, and he supposed that he didn’t mind driving Ezreal around if Ezreal needed it.
“Please. Like you aren’t always the first to volunteer to drive him.”
Kayn gritted his teeth but ignored Rhaast. The demon was really chatty that day.
“After you, Princess,” Kayn said, holding the door open for Ezreal.
Ezreal harrumphed and got into the car. Kayn expected him to start talking his ear off like he always did, but he remained uncharacteristically quiet. Kayn might always be complaining about Ezreal being too noisy, but not hearing the constant chatter made him miss the sound of Ezreal’s voice.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you, bunny?” Kayn asked as he steered them onto the highway.
Ezreal groaned. “Don’t call me that, Kayn!”
Kayn snickered. “Come on. What’s wrong?”
“Just…” Ezreal cut himself off and sighed.
Kayn was starting to get worried for real. Ezreal never had any problem articulating his feelings and thoughts. It sometimes made Kayn jealous how the popstar prince was always able to find the exact words to describe the exact things going through his mind and heart. Most times, Kayn just wanted to shout a lot and break a bunch of things. It had gotten much better, though. He hadn’t been wanting to do those things as much anymore, not ever since he joined Heartsteel.
Not ever since he met Ezreal.
“What is it, Ez?” Kayn asked softly.
Ezreal sighed again. Kayn could feel Ezreal’s eyes on him and was sorely tempted to look over, but he kept his eyes on the road like the responsible adult Yone had successfully scolded him into being.
“It’s just… it sounded like something happened right before Kayn and Ezreal got pulled into this world.”
“And what is that?”
“I don’t know; he didn’t say. He just sort of alluded to Malzabulb saying something to Ezreal and that he felt guilty about what happened? Either way, Ezreal’s out there in this strange new world, and he must feel so alone.”
Kayn could tell that there was something more to Ezreal’s words than just their superficial meaning, but he couldn’t tell what it was. He wasn’t good at subtlety or reading between the lines, and Ezreal was all about that as much as he was all about being forward and open, which was more than a little confusing and frankly straight up frustrating. And he didn’t have the patience for it; if someone couldn’t directly tell him what they wanted, then he didn’t have time for them.
But for Ezreal he’d try.
“Aw not gonna call me a narcissist for caring about myself so much?” Ezreal asked teasingly.
Kayn spared a quick glance at him and could immediately discern the uncertainty beneath the beam he had spread on his face.
“You’ve always cared this much about other people,” Kayn said. “I’m not surprised.”
Ezreal’s breath caught in his throat. It was barely audible, but Kayn heard it all the same.
“It’s just,” Ezreal said, his voice shaking a little as it always did just before he opened up. Kayn wished he wasn’t driving so he could hold Ezreal. He settled for removing a hand from the steering wheel and placing it over Ezreal’s hand. “Maybe it’s because we’re essentially the same person and I saw how alike you and Kayn are despite growing up so differently, but I have a feeling that he must be feeling so alone. And-” Ezreal’s voice broke, and he cleared his throat before continuing. “And I know what that feels like.”
Kayn tightened his grip on the steering wheel and turned his hand to slide it into Ezreal’s. Ezreal gripped his hand like it was a lifeline.
“I don’t feel that way anymore,” Ezreal said firmly. “I’ve never been happier than I’ve been this past year. Heartsteel, all of you, you , are everything I’ve ever dreamt of and more.”
Kayn’s heart stuttered in his chest. It had been doing that a lot around Ezreal lately. This thing that they had between them, they had never talked about it before, much less defined it. They were content ( “No you’re not,” Rhaast murmured at the back of his head, but Kayn ignored him.) to just linger in this in between of not just friends but most definitely not in a relationship. This was probably the closest either one of them had ever come to addressing it, and Kayn knew that he couldn’t fuck it up at the same time he knew that he was just going to anyway.
“I’ve definitely dreamt of better,” Kayn joked on instinct, the words falling from his mouth before he even had a chance to process them. “That’s why people say to never meet your heroes and all.”
His eye flickered over to Ezreal for the briefest of seconds, and he saw the hurt flash across Ezreal’s eyes, but Ezreal hid it quickly, just like he always did, beneath a smile.
Kayn didn’t deserve his kindness.
“Aww, Kayn,” he cooed in such a convincing way that Kayn allowed himself to believe that Ezreal was actually alright. “So you admit I’m your hero?”
“It’s just an expression, idiot,” Kayn said.
Ezreal laughed, his voice chiming crystal clear.
“It’s okay, honey; I know how you really feel,” he said airily. He pulled his hand away from Kayn’s to fix his hair in the mirror and folded his arms as he turned to stare out the window. Kayn left his hand resting on Ezreal’s thigh for a few more minutes before returning it to the steering wheel.
He pretended not to notice Ezreal moving ever so slightly closer to the door.
And he pretended that it didn’t bother him.
“Why would he be in a Chanel store?” Kayn demanded.
“Why can’t you trust that I know myself?” Ezreal retorted as he continued browsing the selection on display. Kayn knew that he was just getting some of his own shopping in.
“He’s not actually you,” Kayn pointed out.
“Oh there it is!” Ezreal exclaimed, picking up a bottle of… whatever it was that he was buying.
“Are you even allowed to be seen with a brand other than Louis Vuitton? Wasn’t that a rule of the brand deal?”
“Shut up,” Ezreal said, clicking his tongue.
“Make me,” Kayn replied with a lewd grin. This was a turn he could get behind.
“Not here,” Ezreal said, sticking his tongue out at Kayn. He pushed the bottle into Kayn’s chest. “Hey, since you’re making such a big fuss out of this, buy it for me. It’s my Christmas present to myself.”
“It’s January,” Kayn groused, but he was already heading towards the cashier.
“Twelve days of Christmas,” Ezreal said with a sniff. “You didn’t even get me a present,” he muttered under his breath, but Kayn heard it.
Kayn thought of the wrapped package he had stowed away under his bed and cast it from his mind almost immediately.
Ezreal had gotten him a signed pentakill shirt from Sona and a scarf that he had knitted himself. He had made something for everyone in Heartsteel, and the scarf he had gifted Kayn was currently wrapped snugly around Kayn’s neck. Kayn tugged at it, feeling bad that he hadn’t given Ezreal anything in return and supposed that buying this bottle of whatever was the least he could do.
At the cashier, he had to do a double take to ensure that there wasn’t indeed an extra zero at the end of the price. What a stupidly expensive item. What a stupid price for something so small. Still, Kayn pulled out his card, paid for it, and shoved the bag into Ezreal’s chest.
“Merry Christmas,” he said gruffly.
Ezreal lit up like Kayn had just given him the sun.
“Thank you,” he gushed.
“I didn’t even pick it,” Kayn groused, hating the way his heart constricted yet again. “I just paid for it.” Ezreal just smiled at him even more brightly, and Kayn felt the binds around his heart falling away as a gentle warmth filled his chest instead. “You’re welcome,” he said softly.
Later, when they made it back onto the streets, Ezreal pulled him into a deserted alleyway. He rested his hands on Kayn’s chest and tiptoed to kiss him soundly and sweetly on the lips. Kayn was more than a little dazed when Ezreal pulled away. He would have loved to stay in that alley forever with his arms wrapped around Ezreal, and Ezreal’s attention solely focused on him.
“I should get you presents more often,” Kayn said.
“You really should,” Ezreal agreed with a wink. He stepped away and darted out of the way when Kayn tried to grab him. Kayn sulked as Ezreal wrapped his arms around Kayn's arm and pulled Kayn back out into the streets. Ezreal let go of him the moment they were out in the open. “I wonder where he could be.”
“Who-” And then Kayn remembered why they were outside in the first place instead of in his bedroom doing other, more interesting things. Who even cares, Kayn wanted to say, but he noted the worried look on Ezreal’s face. “We’ll find him.”
“I hope so.”
To Ezreal’s chagrin, they did not manage to find Other Ezreal and neither did Sett and Aphelios. When they informed Other Kayn of the news, he slammed both hands onto the table, making Ezreal jump. Kayn glared at him.
“Useless,” Other Kayn seethed. “I knew that I should have just done it on my own.”
“You’d get lost in a minute,” Kayn retorted, rolling his eyes.
“It’s late,” Yone interrupted. “We still don’t know how to send you both back, so it doesn’t make a difference whether Ezreal is here or not. We’ll continue looking for both him and a way to send you back tomorrow.”
“Fine,” both Kayns grumbled.
Kayn folded his arms across his chest and scowled at Yone - he promptly stopped doing both of those things when he noticed Other Kayn doing them too.
“You’ll be sharing a room,” Yone announced.
“What? Why?” Kayn protested.
Yone punched the bridge of his nose. “I used to think those questions were rhetorical, but I now know better. We don’t have a guest room, and he’s you. Or he could always share a room with Ez-”
“Fine!” Kayn snapped, knowing that he just walked right into Yone’s trap but not giving a damn.
Yone had an extra futon set, which Other Kayn seemed to prefer over a bed. According to K’Sante, Kayn had to let Other Kayn take a shower first, because apparently he was a guest. Kayn thought Other Kayn would be more accurately described as an intruder or invader, but K’Sante did not share his opinion. After finishing his own shower, Kayn returned to his room, prepared to go right to sleep and not interact with Other Kayn at all.
He succeeded for all of one second.
He took one look at Other Kayn and felt the irritation that had ebbed away in the shower come careening back.
“Oh quit looking like someone pissed in your futon,” Kayn said, pushing past Other Kayn. “Like Yone said, we’ll look for Other Ezreal again tomorrow.”
“You don’t understand what happened,” Other Kayn said, and Kayn could hear the clench in his teeth.
“I don’t, and I don’t fucking care,” Kayn retorted.
To his surprise and greater irritation, Other Kayn laughed. “You’re such an idiot.”
Kayn turned around, a terse smile plastered on his face and his hands balled into fists by his sides. This fucker was really testing his patience. “What did you fucking say?”
“I said you’re an idiot,” Other Kayn replied, enunciating each word like Kayn was hard of hearing.
“Oh you know what? Fuck it,” Kayn said and did what he had been wanting to do all day - he punched Other Kayn in his stupid, smug face.
Other Kayn retaliated immediately, throwing a punch of his own that had Kayn’s head snapping backwards so hard he swore the bones in his neck cracked. But like hell that was going to make him stop. If anything, it just lit the fuse in him. Kayn was going to beat Other Kayn into a pulp, and that was him being kind. Unfortunately, Kayn quickly realised that there was a huge skill gap between them, and it was not in his favour. Yes, he had had his fair share of fights growing up, and he had a black belt in taekwondo thanks to his father putting him in classes ever since he could walk, but Other Kayn clearly had years and years of experience if the way he dodged Kayn’s hits and struck back with deadly precision were anything to go by. If it hadn’t been for Rhaast, Kayn was quite sure the fight wouldn’t have been as equal as it was. They were covered in bruises, both spotting identical black eyes.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Kayn spat, glaring at Other Kayn with a hatred he had never felt before in his life.
“You’re the one with the fucking problem,” Other Kayn retorted.
“I-”
But Other Kayn wasn’t done. “He’s right there in front of you, and you’re so obviously obsessed with him, but you aren’t doing anything about it.”
Kayn would have snapped back if he wasn’t so completely baffled by what Other Kayn was saying.
“What in the world are you talking about?”
“Ezreal,” Other Kayn hissed. “Your Ezreal, you fucking idiot.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kayn said immediately.
“This,” Other Kayn said. He waved his hand dismissively like Kayn was too inconsequential to be bothered with. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. Everything is set up so perfectly for you, but you’re too stupid to seize the opportunity. You’re going to lose him.”
The thought of losing Ezreal sent a cold dread seeping deep into Kayn’s bones.
And he suddenly realised what Other Kayn’s problem was.
“You lost him,” he said with a sneer. “I still have Ezreal, but you lost him, and so you’re taking it out on me. What a fucking loser.”
He expected Other Kayn to deny it or even come at him with a nasty retort, but all Other Kayn did was stare at him in silence.
Kayn ploughed on mercilessly. “You keep going on and on about me being an idiot, but you don’t even know anything about me. You don’t understand how hard it is-”
“Hard?” Other Kayn seethed. “Don’t talk to me about things being hard. You don’t know what hard is. I’ve seen and heard enough of your world to know that nothing is hard here. Whatever is holding you back, they’re only excuses.”
“Fuck you,” Kayn said. “You’ve been here less than a day - whatever you think you know, you don’t.”
“You’re just scared,” Other Kayn said. “You’re just a coward who can’t doesn’t dare to grab the opportunity even when it’s all wrapped up nicely in front of you.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Kayn growled. “Who are you calling a fucking coward?”
“Are you telling me you aren’t one? Then why the fuck aren’t you doing something about it?”
“Because I don’t want to hurt him,” Kayn bellowed. He regretted the words the moment they left his mouth, and he hoped that no one else in the house, especially Ezreal, heard him. In a lower voice, he said, “What about you, you fucking asshole? You actually lost him; so maybe you’re not a coward, but you’re no better than me.”
“Things are different for me,” Other Kayn snapped. “I’m an assassin of the Shadow Order - do you know what that means? It means I have a responsibility to my order and Ionia. Ezreal’s from Piltover, and- and he doesn’t understand. I can’t have distractions in my line of work.”
Kayn scoffed loudly. “Sounds like a fucking excuse to me.”
The two of them glared at each other, and Kayn was mildly surprised that Other Kayn was the first to look away. He was silent for a long time, but his fists were clenched tightly by his sides, and his jaw was locked. In a tight voice, he finally said, “You’re absolutely right.”
With that admission, the fight went out of Kayn. He opened the mini fridge and grabbed two bottles of beer, cranking one open and holding it out to Other Kayn. The man took it with a suspicious look on his face and only drank it when Kayn took a swig from his own bottle.
“So,” Kayn started. “How did you end up here? I wasn’t paying attention the first time.”
“Your Ezreal basically summed it up. We were fighting Malzahar, and that bastard said something to Ezreal. Next thing I know there was a portal. Ezreal went through, and I followed him.” Other Kayn took a large gulp of the beer. “I couldn’t lose him. Not again.”
“That fucking sucks,” Kayn said, hating that he was feeling sad for Other Kayn. Ugh.
“What’s that?” Other Kayn asked suddenly, and Kayn felt his blood run cold when he saw the red package peeking out from under his bed.
“It’s nothing,” he said quickly.
“Okay,” Other Kayn said, sounding like he didn’t believe him in the least bit.
Kayn groaned. Maybe it was because they were opening up to each other, or maybe it was because he actually really wanted to tell someone about it, but he ended up spilling the beans. “It’s my Christmas present to Ezreal,” he grumbled.
“Isn’t Christmas over?”
“I obviously didn’t end up giving it to him, genius.”
“What is it?” Other Kayn asked. Kayn refused to answer. He tensed when Other Kayn picked up the package, though he didn’t do anything to stop him. Other Kayn held it up to him. “Can I?”
“Just don’t fucking tear the paper,” Kayn grumbled. “I don’t have any other wrapping paper left.”
Because it had taken him ten thousand tries to wrap the item in a presentable manner so that it didn’t look like it had been dragged through a dumpster.
The sound of rustling paper filled the air, revealing a box. Other Kayn opened it and frowned. He held the thumb drive up and scrutinised it with a heavy frown.
“What is this?”
Kayn grabbed the thumb drive from him and stuck it into his laptop along with his headphones. He shoved the entire thing over to Other Kayn and gestured for him to put on the headphones. His finger hovered over the play button.
Fuck it.
Kayn pressed play.
The song wasn’t long; it wasn’t even three minutes, but Kayn felt like it took forever before Other Kayn was done. The other man pulled the headphones off and looked at Kayn with an almost understanding expression on his face, “You should give this to him.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
Stupid, stupid, stupid Other Kayn.
The two Rhaasts had fixed their messed up faces during the night, but Kayn had no problems undoing what Other Rhaast had done.
Because of that insufferable asshole sticking his nose in places where it didn’t belong, now all Kayn could think about was the stupid thumb drive lying on his table. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to give it to Ezreal. The little popstar was mad at him for not getting him a present after all, so this would probably cheer him up. And Kayn supposed that he liked seeing Ezreal happy. It was the stupidest thing, but there was something about the way Ezreal smiled - the wide stretch of those perfect plump lips, the sparkle in his golden eyes that reminded Kayn of a sunrise on a beach, the absolutely sweet way he looked at Kayn - that did funny things to Kayn, that made Kayn just want to lean down and capture those beautiful lips.
“- are you even listening to me?”
Kayn looked down to find Ezreal pouting up at him.
Gods, why is he so cute?
Kayn could just -
“Simp.”
“What did you say?” Kayn asked.
Ezreal sighed. “I said, maybe we should look for him separately. Kayn is clearly getting antsy, and I don’t like the thought of him being alone out here either.”
“Yeah, sure,” Kayn said even though the last thing he wanted was time away from Ezreal. But at the same time being with him only made Kayn think even more about the thumb drive, and he desperately didn’t want to.
Ezreal sighed again. “Let’s meet back here in two hours.”
He walked away before Kayn could respond. Kayn frowned after his back, wondering what the hell was wrong with him.
“Hey. Are you Ezreal?”
Ezreal stopped in his tracks and put on his brightest smile. He turned around, ready to greet the fan enthusiastically, but the words died on his tongue when he was met with startling blue eyes and an all too familiar face. It was like looking in a mirror.
“Oh,” he said instead, the showbiz glamour softening into a more intimate happiness. “Hi, Ez. I’ve been looking for you.”
They decided to relocate to a hotel room for privacy and so that no one saw two Ezreals running around. Yone was right - it was going to be a PR nightmare. As Ezreal was fretting over how he could make sure that no one saw him entering a hotel with another person because that would also be a huge scandal and Yone would kill him, Ez just shrugged.
“Just get a room by yourself. I’ll find you.”
“How?”
“You’ll see.”
True to his word, Ez appeared in the room seconds after Ezreal closed the hotel room door behind him. Ezreal blinked a few times before gasping.
“Wow, you’re good.”
Ez grinned. “I really am.”
Ezreal giggled. He flopped down onto the bed and felt it dip beside him. Maybe he didn’t need to splurge on such an expensive room for such a short time, but the bed assured him that he had made the right decision. Besides, Ez deserved the best. The two of them laid there for a while, and Ezreal was seriously contemplating taking a quick nap when Ez spoke up.
“Our face is everywhere. Are you some kind of celebrity?”
“Our face really is,” Ezreal agreed, and they both snickered. “I’m a singer. I’m in a band called Heartsteel.”
“A singer huh.”
“And what do you do?”
“I’m an explorer.”
Ezreal sat up, gazing down at Ez with amazement. “You’re kidding! I love history and archaeology. I wanted to become an archaeologist, but, well, I ended up singing. I love singing too, don’t get me wrong, but, wow, in another life, I’m sure I would have become an archaeologist.”
“This is basically your other life,” Ez said with a shrug. “Except in my case, I wouldn’t have thought about ever becoming a singer.”
“Shame,” Ezreal said, settling back down onto the bed. “We have a great voice.”
Ez laughed. “We really do.”
Ezreal twiddled with a loose thread in the comforter. “What happened?” he eventually asked. “Why are you here?”
“How did you even know I was here?” Ez countered. “You were looking for me.”
“Kayn told me,” Ezreal said. “He said you both fell through a portal during a fight with Malzapoop.”
“Kayn?” Ez repeated, sitting up. Ezreal sat up as well, noticing the tense look on Ez’s face and the distrust in his voice. But underneath all that, he saw the worry too. “Kayn is here too?”
“Yes,” Ezreal replied. “He sort of fell into my room and scared the crap out of me, and then he told me he was looking for you.” Disbelief was etched onto Ez’s face, and Ezreal tucked a strand of hair behind his ear. “I have no reason to lie to you, Ez, and I don’t think Kayn would lie to you either.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“Well, I know my Kayn, and since they’re practically the same person, I think I know him a little too.”
“You have a Kayn too?” Ez asked, shocked.
“Yes,” Ezreal said.
Something must have shown on his face, because Ez scoffed loudly. “We have bad taste.”
“He’s not that bad,” Ezreal protested.
“Sure.” Ez paused. “Do you know anyone called Ekko?”
“Yes!” Ezreal said happily. “He’s one of my best friends.”
“Exactly,” Ez said, and Ezreal shoved him in the shoulder.
“Kayn is not that bad!” he yelled.
Ez just shrugged.
“What did that asshole Malzy say to you? Why did you go through the portal? Kayn made it sound like you decided to go through the portal on your own, not that Malzadick pushed you through.”
Ez began picking at a loose strand of thread in his pants.
“Don’t even think about lying to me,” Ezreal warned. “I’ll know if you do.”
Ez sighed. “Does it matter what he said? The only thing that matters is that there’s nothing for me back there.”
“What are you saying? Kayn literally followed you-”
“A second of impulse,” Ez interrupted with a shrug. “He probably regretted it the moment he realised what he had done.”
“He doesn’t regret it one bit,” Ezreal replied. “All he cares about is getting you back.”
“Maybe he thinks that’s the only way he can get back to Runeterra,” Ez said.
“What do you mean that there’s nothing for you back there?” Ezreal asked, changing tactics.
Ez hugged his knees tightly to his chest and rested his chin atop them. “It means that there isn’t anyone back there who’s going to care that I’m gone, and so it doesn’t matter that I’m here instead of there.”
Ez’s words conjured up memories of countless lonely nights with tear soaked pillows, and Ezreal felt a pang of a past dread in his chest. It was scary how feelings he had thought were eradicated could show up so swiftly with the same intensity as if they were never gone. He took several deep breaths and reminded himself that those times were over. He could feel Ez’s concerned eyes on him and forced a smile on his face.
“Don’t,” Ez said, his voice tight. “Don’t do that with me.”
Ezreal let the smile fall from his face and felt a rush of gratitude and relief. It was refreshing, not having to pretend to be happy, to put someone else’s needs before his own, to be able to openly express what he truly felt. He mirrored Ez’s actions, pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them. Those feelings were fleeting; they were already gone, because Ezreal knew that his present was nothing like his past. But he hated that for Ez those feelings were very much in the present.
“I’m sure there are many people who care about you,” he found himself saying.
“No, no one cares,” Ez choked out, and it was the conviction in his voice that caused the tears to spill from Ezreal’s eyes.
A tear clung to Ez’s eyelash, but he blinked, and it slid down his cheek. He bit his lower lip, but the tears kept coming. Ezreal shifted closer to Ez, put his arms around him, and cried with him.
“It’s not true - you know that,” Ezreal said after a while, still clinging to his other self.
Ez shook his head, but there was a desperation in his eyes as he stared at Ezreal almost pleadingly. “How would you know that?”
“Because I’m you,” Ezreal answered cheekily, earning a small chuckle. “But I just know. There must be so many people who love you.”
“And how are you so sure of that?”
Ezreal inhaled deeply. “Well, because I was you. I used to think that no one cared about me. I used to feel so alone that I wanted to die. But it wasn’t true. There were people who cared about me; I just couldn’t see it. It wasn’t until Heartsteel that my eyes were finally opened.”
“I don’t have a Heartsteel,” Ez murmured.
“No,” Ezreal agreed, “But it isn’t even about Heartsteel. You have other people, just like I had other people before Heartsteel too. Sera had always-”
“Sera?” Ez interrupted. “Seraphine?”
“Yes, Seraphine. You know Seraphine too?”
Ez nodded. He opened his mouth and closed it. He bit his lower lip before asking, “Sorry, I interrupted you. What were you going to say?”
“I was going to say that Sera had always been there for me, but I didn’t see it. She was always reaching out, and she had always cared, but I was blind to it. I could have picked up my phone anytime, and she would have been on the other end ready to help in whatever way I needed, but I had convinced myself that she didn’t care.” He watched the realisation dawning in Ez’s eyes and decided to push the point. “Your Seraphine... wouldn’t she be upset if she found out you were gone?”
Ez cast his eyes downwards. “I suppose she would be,” he admitted quietly.
“And aren’t there others who would feel equally upset?”
Ez was quiet for a long time. A shuddering breath escaped him. “I suppose so.”
“Could you tell me who?”
Ez’s voice trembled as he spoke. “There’s Caitlyn. She… She’s like my older sister. She took care of me when I was growing up after my parents… Well, and there’s Vi. She’s dating Caitlyn and is sort of like my older sister as well. She’s not good with words, but she takes me out for ice cream and stuff when I’m upset. And there’s Jayce too. He’s a good friend of mine and always makes time for me when I need someone to talk to… I mentioned Ekko before… And maybe Lux as well…” Ez inhaled deeply. “I guess they would all be pretty upset.”
Besides Ekko, those weren’t names that Ezreal recognised, but he still felt grateful to those people.
“But I’m just a burden to them,” Ez continued. More tears fell from his eyes, dripping on Ezreal’s hand. “I don’t- I can’t- I-”
“You don’t want to bother them because you think you’re not worth it,” Ezreal summed up.
“Yeah.”
“But you are,” Ezreal said, wishing desperately that he could just force Ez to believe it, but he knew very well that it didn’t work like that. “I know it doesn’t feel like it, but don’t think about that. Focus on the fact that there are people who are going to be very upset when they find out you’re gone.”
“But-”
“Ez, stop,” Ezreal said quietly but firmly. He knew how this went, how the spiral spun deeper and deeper until it seemed like there was no getting out of it. Luckily for Ez, he knew exactly what the problem was and how to solve it. “Repeat after me: there are people who are going to be very upset when they find out I’m gone.”
Ez stayed silent, and Ezreal waited patiently. He gave Ez’s hand an encouraging squeeze, and Ez eventually repeated the words back to him in a timid whisper.
“Louder,” Ezreal said, wiping Ez’s tears away and ignoring his own.
“There are people who are going to be very upset when they find out I’m gone,” Ez said, his voice shaking so badly that Ezreal just wanted to gather up all the broken pieces of him and hold them close to his heart forever.
“Again, Ez,” he said.
“There are people who are going to be very upset when they find out I’m gone.”
And so Ezreal made Ez say it again and again and again until it sounded less like a lie he had conjured to make himself feel better and more like the absolute truth, until Ez’s voice stopped trembling and stayed firm with conviction.
“So it’s not true that there’s nothing for you back there,” Ezreal said.
Ez sniffed, giving Ezreal a watery smile. “I suppose not.”
“And there’s Kayn,” Ezreal reminded him helpfully. “He literally followed you here. I know what you said, but think about it - he didn’t know what Malzapoo said to you. All he saw was you falling through a portal, and he didn’t hesitate for even one second to follow you right through even though he had no idea what lay on the other end of it.”
A tear fell from Ez’s eyes, and he wiped it away furiously. “He told me he couldn’t be with me because we weren’t right for each other. What the fuck does that even mean? He called me a distraction!”
“I think that’s something you need to ask him,” Ezreal said gently.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Ez said stubbornly, and Ezreal knew this feeling very well too.
“Kayn… Kayn is an idiot,” he stated. There was no need to sugarcoat it; it was the objective truth. “We…” Ezreal pursed his lips, trying to figure out the best way to describe his relationship with Kayn.
“Oh, you don’t have to explain it,” Ez said with a snort. “I get it.”
Ezreal laughed. “Well, so I’ve been dropping hints to him to let him know that I want us to be something more, and I know that he’s bad at picking up on things like that, but I’ve been making them as obvious as possible. Yesterday I practically told him that he was a dream come true, which is the corniest shit that ever came out of my mouth, and some of my old songs are cheesy as fuck, and guess what? He brushed it off with a joke! A joke! The man is a certified idiot! I know that he feels the same, but he’s so pigheaded, and his attitude makes it very hard for me to just straight up confess my feelings too. Because yeah I know he feels the same, but I don’t know if he knows that. Anyway! My point is - he’s an idiot, but you should probably just talk to him. I should probably just talk to him.”
“Yeah, you should,” Ez said flippantly.
Ezreal glared at him.
Ez groaned. “Alright, fine. Take me to him.”
Ezreal brightened up immediately. “Right away!”
Ezreal pulled out his phone to check the time and cursed when he saw a dozen missed calls from Kayn and close to fifty text messages. He quickly dialled Kayn’s number, and the rapper picked up before the first ring was over.
“Where the fuck are you?” Kayn demanded in a breathless voice. “You were supposed to be here half an hour ago. Do you have any idea how worried I am? Are you alright? Did you run into the paparazzi? Did they bother you? I swear I’ll beat the crap out of them, I don’t care what Yone says. If they- The fuck are you laughing for?”
“No, no, I’m sorry, Kayn,” Ezreal wheezed. It was endearing that Kayn cared so much, but it was also hilarious.
“You don’t sound sorry,” Kayn said dryly.
“I have a good reason for losing track of time! I found him!”
“Hey,” Kayn greeted when the two Ezreals showed up at the location he had sent to Ezreal. He flicked Ezreal in the forehead, and Ezreal yelped, rubbing at the stinging spot.
“Hey! What was that for?”
“For making me worried, you idiot.”
Ezreal stuck out his tongue at him. “You’re the idiot!”
“You’re both idiots,” Other Ezreal said.
Kayn flinched at how Other Ezreal sounded exactly the same as Ezreal, but there was something else in his voice that wasn’t in Ezreal’s voice. A heaviness. Kayn hoped that Ezreal never sounded like that.
“Hey,” Kayn greeted.
Other Ezreal nodded. He proceeded to give Kayn a once over, a distrustful look in his eyes, but he still climbed into the car when Kayn opened the door to the back seat for him.
“He looks nothing like you,” Kayn said after closing the door.
“Are you blind?” Ezreal asked.
Kayn just sighed. “Idiot.”
It was almost comedic the way Other Kayn looked up and immediately froze when he saw Other Ezreal walk in. Kayn would have laughed, but he probably would have had a more dramatic reaction if he were him. On the other hand, Other Ezreal’s expression didn’t so much as shift as he casually took a seat opposite Other Kayn and said, “Hello to you too, Kayn.”
Other Kayn’s eyes softened. “You’re alright. That’s good.”
Kayn rolled his eyes. Really? All that bitching and shouting and threatening over looking for his Ezreal and he was trying to play it cool when he finally had his Ezreal in front of him? What a big idiot.
Other Kayn reached out, but Other Ezreal snatched his hand away before Other Kayn could touch him.
“What are you even doing here?” Other Ezreal snapped, and okay maybe he was more similar to Ezreal than Kayn had first thought.
“I came after you - what do you think?” Other Kayn retorted. The gentleness in his eyes were gone, replaced by a vigour that Kayn recognised all too well. It didn’t matter if he and Ezreal were fighting - being with Ezreal just made him feel so alive.
“Are you stupid?” Other Ezreal asked angrily. “You didn’t even know what was on the other side of the portal.”
“Neither did you, but you still stepped through! Who’s the idiot here? Besides, I didn’t care about that! All I care about is you.”
“You’re so-” A sob cut Other Ezreal off. He shut his mouth as stubbornly as the tears clung to his eyelashes.
Ezreal sniffed and moved closer to Kayn’s side, and Kayn wrapped an arm around him without thinking. He looked down to make sure Ezreal was alright, but Ezreal was watching their other selves with rapt attention.
Other Kayn took the seat next to Other Ezreal and wrapped him in a tight hug. Other Ezreal stiffened but didn’t push him away. “I’ll follow you wherever you go,” he said softly but determinedly. “Through the portal, across flames, into hell - I don’t fucking care. Wherever you go, I’ll always follow you, and I’ll always find you. Always.”
Other Ezreal shoved him in the chest away from him. “Lies,” he hissed. “You told me I was a distraction, that I shouldn’t go to Ionia anymore. If it wasn’t for the void spreading through Runeterra, would you ever have come to see me?”
“I was a fool,” Other Kayn said. “Master Zed-”
“Stop using Zed as an excuse,” Other Ezreal snapped. “When have you ever listened to him other than when it’s for your own convenience?”
Other Kayn’s eyes flashed, but he eventually gritted out, “You’re right. You’re right. I was a fool and a coward and so incredibly stupid.”
“Yeah you are,” Kayn mumbled under his breath, earning an elbow to the ribs from Ezreal.
“I was scared of how much you were beginning to mean to me, and so I chose to cut you out of my life and used Zed and my loyalty to Ionia as an excuse to do it. But when I saw you step through that portal, I knew that I was wrong and that I couldn’t lose you again. I fucked up, Ezreal - I know that now.”
The fight went out of Other Ezreal, and he slumped in Other Kayn’s hold. “You’re so selfish,” he whispered.
“I know,” Other Kayn said. He cupped Other Ezreal’s face and wiped his tears away. “Can you forgive me anyway?”
Other Ezreal bit his trembling lower lip. Letting out a sigh, he said, “Yes.”
Ezreal gave up his room for Other Ezreal and Other Kayn. He completely disregarded Kayn’s personal space as he climbed into Kayn’s bed and made himself comfortable on Kayn’s chest. And even though Kayn grumbled and complained, he still slipped an arm around Ezreal’s waist to tug him closer to him.
“Hey,” Ezreal whispered.
“I’m obviously not asleep,” Kayn said.
“If I stepped through a portal, would you follow me too?”
“Why the hell would you do that?”
Ezreal jabbed him in the ribs and attempted to roll away but was stopped by Kayn’s grip tightening around him.
“Let go of me, Kayn!” he yelled, flailing like a cat knowing it’s bath time.
“Of course I will,” Kayn said, and Ezreal stopped struggling in his hold. “You know that.”
“How would I know that?” he asked softly. “You never tell me anything.”
“I –” Kayn sighed and let go of Ezreal. He slid off the bed, and Ezreal grabbed his sleeve.
“Where are you going?” he asked, the pout evident in his voice.
“Getting your Christmas present,” Kayn said gruffly.
“What?” Ezreal asked delightedly. “You got me a Christmas present after all? Kayn!!”
Kayn rolled his eyes albeit affectionately and slipped out of his hold. Before he could regret anything, he snatched the headphones off Ezreal’s table, connected them to his phone, and held them out to Ezreal.
“This is weird to say as a rapper, but I’m not good with words. Not when it comes to talking anyway. Just… listen to it.”
Ezreal placed the headphones over his ears curiously, and Kayn hit the play button before he could back out of it. If waiting for Other Kayn to finish listening to the song felt like forever, waiting for Ezreal to finish doing so felt like forever while standing on burning coals. Kayn’s skin crawled with uneasiness, and the only reason he didn’t start clawing at himself was because he was a hundred percent certain that it would have freaked Ezreal out. So he stood up and started pacing furiously instead. Kayn could have sobbed with relief when Ezreal finally took the headphones off. He looked up at Kayn with teary eyes.
“Well?” Kayn asked, his voice coming out in a croak, which he would have been embarrassed by if he wasn’t so terrified of what Ezreal was thinking.
Ezreal tossed the headphones aside and threw himself at Kayn, who grunted as he stumbled. Ezreal fisted Kayn’s shirt and pulled him down for a long, hard kiss. When he pulled away, he said fervently, “I love you too.”
Exactly how, Kayn didn’t want to know, but Yone somehow found a way to open a portal that could send Other Kayn and Other Ezreal back to Runeterra. At first, Kayn thought they might need all sorts of herbs and weirdass items like a heart of a werewolf or something, and Ezreal agreed wholeheartedly. Yone looked at them like they were creatures from another planet and didn’t even bother saying anything to them before turning back to Other Kayn and Other Ezreal.
“Why the fuck would we need those things?” Other Kayn asked, again staring at Kayn like he’s an idiot, which made Kayn want to punch him in the face again. He didn’t need Yone to start referring to them as Smart Kayn and Dumb Kayn.
“We only need magic,” Other Ezreal said matter-of-factly, and Ezreal nodded like he wasn’t the one who volunteered to scour the history books to find out where werewolves tended to congregate in this day and age.
“And a tether in Runeterra that the portal can attach to,” Yone said.
“How are we going to create a portal?” Sett asked.
“Ezreal has teleportation magic, so all we need to do is enhance his magic until it’s strong enough to form a portal.”
“But how are we going to place a tether in Runeterra?” Kayn asks with a frown. “Wouldn’t we need to be in Runeterra to do that?”
Yone looked at Kayn in astonishment, and Kayn didn’t know whether to be pleased or annoyed.
“I made contact with my Runeterra self last night-”
“You what?” Kayn interrupts, earning a sour look from Yone. “How even?”
Yone placed a mask on the table. “It’s a different version of the mask he has there, and we were able to connect using them. He was looking for Kayn and Ezreal too, and we stumbled into each other.”
“Aw, Yone, you’re taking care of us even there!” Ezreal said.
“Yone does not take care of me,” Other Kayn said with a horrified look on his face.
“Me neither,” Other Ezreal confirmed with a frown. “We’re friends, but he’s not like our parent or something.”
“Oh,” Ezreal said sadly. “Poor you.”
It was Yone’s turn to look torn between being pleased and annoyed, and Kayn felt vindicated. He gave Yone a wide grin as he placed an arm around Ezreal who smiled happily at the attention. Yone eyed Kayn’s arm suspiciously before dismissing them with a shake of his head.
“Are you ready?” he asked Other Ezreal.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Other Ezreal replied, sounding somewhat resigned.
Ezreal left Kayn’s embrace and pulled Other Ezreal into a hug. He whispered something in his ear that neither Kayn caught, and they both tried their best to look uninterested even as they stared at the two Ezreals intently. Both Ezreals shared a small, secretive smile as they parted, and Ezreal returned to the comfort of Kayn’s side.
Yone picked up a glowing blue gem, and Kayn didn’t even want to know what it was or question how he managed to procure it in the first place. All he knew is that all those threats Yone had made about nobody ever finding his body were not empty at all, and he felt a renewed sense of fear towards their producer. Yone fit the gem into Other Ezreal’s gauntlet and took a step back, gesturing for the other Heartsteel members to do the same.
Other Ezreal inhaled deeply and let out a big breath. Other Kayn squeezed his hand and said, “You can do this,” before he moved away as well.
Other Ezreal raised his gauntlet, and Kayn was impressed that he didn’t seem to be scared in the slightest. He supposed if Other Ezreal was brave enough to battle the voidlings and whatever else the void spurted, opening a portal was nothing to him. It made him think about what Other Kayn said about how there was nothing actually hard in the world he lived in, and maybe Other Kayn had a point.
Not that Kayn would ever admit it.
Other Ezreal pointed the gauntlet at the empty wall like Yone had instructed and released a surge of energy. A blinding light consumed the room, and Kayn turned away, making sure to shield Ezreal’s head too as he did so. He heard a cackling like lightning and opened his eyes when the light dimmed to a bearable level.
A ring with blazing edges stood in front of them - the portal back to Runeterra. Other Kayn stepped up next to Other Ezreal and offered his hand to him. Other Ezreal grasped his hand tightly, and Other Kayn pulled him to him, touching his forehead to his.
“We’ll end up back in the same place.”
“In the fight with Malzahar. I know.”
“Don’t let go of my hand.”
“I won’t.”
They parted from each other with the sweetest smiles on their faces, and Kayn squeezed Ezreal’s shoulder tightly. They said their goodbyes to Heartsteel, thanking them for their help, and gave one final look to their counterparts before stepping through the portal.
Ezreal sniffed, and Kayn maybe teared a little as well.
He was not going to miss that sorry bastard.
Warmth enveloped Ezreal, and his eyes snapped open. Kayn. Where was Kayn? He did as the man said and didn’t let go of his hand, not even for a second, but the assassin was nowhere in sight. The voidlings, however, were running rampant everywhere. He heard the sound of gunshots and felt the energy of hextech in the air. Caitlyn and Jayce. In the distance, he hears an angry yell and the sound of the ground cracking apart. Vi. A warmth cascaded over him, a warmth he knew well. He turned -
“Ezreal!” Seraphine threw her arms around him. She was sobbing messily, and he hugged her back, still feeling dazed to suddenly be back in his world. “You’re back. You’re back!”
“I am,” he rushed to reassure her. “I am.”
Her magic created a safe circle around them that the voidlings couldn’t penetrate. But only he, Kayn, and Lux were supposed to be here facing off against Malzahar. Why were the other Piltovians here too? This wasn’t part of the plan.
“What are you guys doing here?” he demanded angrily. “It’s too dangerous. You’re a healer; you shouldn’t have left the base.”
“Lux came back and said that you and Kayn disappeared, but that she didn’t know how or to where. So of course we had to come. We believed you were still here, and we were right!” Seraphine said, smiling through the tears in her eyes. Her smile wavered. “And even if we weren’t, we couldn’t lose the area you and Kayn fought so hard to protect.”
“Ezreal!”
He gasped as he was enveloped in yet another tight hug. Caitlyn pulled back with an apology, and she brushed his hair away from his face to take a good look at him.
“Are you injured?”
He shook his head no.
“Good,” she said, straightening up and already back to her calm self. “You’re back, and you’re safe - that’s all that matters.”
“You asshole,” Ekko griped, appearing next to him and almost giving him a heart attack. He’s fifty percent sure that was Ekko’s intention. “You made me so fucking worried.”
“I second that,” Vi agreed. “Asshole.”
“Lay off him,” Jayce said. He ruffled Ezreal’s hair, and Ezreal squawked indignantly. He tried to fix it, but it was no use. The remnants of the hextech energy from Jayce’s hammer has transferred the static energy to his hair, and now it won’t stay down.
“Jayce!” Ezreal complained.
“Oops,” Jayce said in a completely unapologetic voice. “My bad.”
Ezreal glowered at him, but his attention was caught by the familiar sound of a scythe slicing through the air. Ezreal almost collapsed with relief when he spotted the small figure in the distance. Kayn decimated every single voidling that came at him, carving a path straight towards Ezreal. The moment he stepped into Seraphine’s bubble, Ezreal grabbed his face and pulled him down to pressed his lips against his. Kayn wrapped an arm around his waist and deepened the kiss, and, for a moment, Ezreal forgot all about where they were until he heard a pointed cough.
Fuck. He was practically making out with Kayn in front of Caitlyn.
He parted from Kayn with nervous laughter. Caitlyn was looking anywhere but them, while Ekko and Vi were smirking at them. Seraphine’s cheeks were pink, though she looked sincerely happy for them. Jayce just shook his head.
“Time and place, Ez, time and place.”
“Anytime, any place,” Kayn said, echoing his promise from before. “I’ll follow you.”
Ezreal groaned, because Kayn could be so corny sometimes. Mostly at the wrong time. “Shut up.”
Kayn’s fingers danced teasingly across his back. “Make me.”
“Don’t,” Caitlyn said tersely.
“Won’t,” Ezreal agreed, because kissing Kayn in front of Caitlyn once is more than enough for a lifetime of trauma for both of them , thank you very much.
A pang of guilt hit Ezreal, and he couldn’t believe that he ever let Malzahar’s words get to him. His other self had been right - though, of course, he was, since Ezreal was always right. There were so many people who loved him, and Kayn, Kayn loved him too. And even though they were in the middle of a war zone, in a place literally being overrun by voildings, Ezreal didn’t want to be anywhere else. They were going to defeat the void and restore peace to Runeterra; there was just no other option.
“The voidlings are spawning less frequently and becoming weaker,” Ekko said, bringing the topic back to the business at hand. “Malzahar can’t sustain this much longer.”
“Well, then,” Ezreal said, charging up his gauntlet. “What are we waiting for?”
“Do you think they made it back safely?” Ezreal asked later that night.
“Yone said they did,” Kayn reminded him, idly playing with strands of soft green hair. Ezreal looked up at him, and Kayn let his arm fall onto the bed as he looked back at Ezreal. “What is it, baby?”
“I’m just- I’m just glad we’re together now,” Ezreal said. His cheeks were dusted red, and it was insanely adorable.
“Me too,” Kayn said and leaned down to kiss those soft lips. “I love you.”
It was surprising how easy those words fell from his lips now. But they felt right, and Kayn would say them to Ezreal every day for the rest of his life, especially because Ezreal’s smile bloomed like flowers in the spring whenever he heard them, and it was a sight that made Kayn feel like everything was alright.
Ezreal sighed in content and snuggled into Kayn’s chest. “I love you too.”