Chapter Text
A sigh escapes your lips as you automatically wash one of the many glasses on the counter. You'd rather serve than clean, but there aren't many people here tonight. Your shirt reeks of poor-quality cognac and the despicable cigar that an old man is smoking in a seat not far from you.
Your gaze quickly settles on the mass of muscles slumped over the table and the pink hair covered in black on your right. Vi. An umpteenth sigh escapes you. She's only had her first drink. She's still lucid.
Your friendship goes back as far as it can go. Your brother was a friend of her mom before they both perished. And while Vander adopted Vi, Powder, Claggor and Mylo, and Benzo adopted Ekko, you remained Y/N, the orphan of the streets. You've always hated trouble. Difficult when you live in a place like Zaun. As a result, you rarely took part in adventures with Vi and her clique. But you were always there when it was time to heal and bandage her wounds.
And when all hell broke loose and she disappeared, you regretted not having been close enough.
But your life went on.
You stayed out of trouble. You'd just look down when Sevika dropped by for a drink where you work. Sometimes you'd run into Powder-no, Jinx. And you could see in her eyes that it was too late, so you'd just smile and nod. Ekko asked you several times to join him with the Firelights. But you always refused.
And then Vi reappeared. Seven years in prison, apparently. Oh, with a certain Caitlyn behind her.
It was brief. A simple embrace, a smile, a few words and Vi disappeared as quickly as she appeared. Probably too busy with Jinx, Caitlyn and all that. But you saw them clearly, the longing looks she gave Caitlyn.
And it made your heart ache.
You find some excuse for it. It's a bit treacherous to hate enforcers all your life and then end up falling in love with one. Yes, you were sure that was what was bothering you.
Then Vi reappeared, again, with a terribly bad dye job, emo style, bulging biceps, way too skinny jeans and a penchant for hard liquor. Strangely, this brings you closer together. She confided in you.
Spitting out her hatred, pain and love for Caitlyn. You poured her a drink. Bandage her battle-scarred hands in the pit, and listen until she couldn't be coherent. Then you'd take her home and she'd always collapse on the sofa. But by morning, she'd gone again.
It had become a routine.
- One drink? You've been here for three hours. I'm surprised you've only had one drink.
Vi sighed loudly and straightened. Her make-up has run all over her face. You wince.
- I just want to put you in a bathtub and scrub your body with a horse brush because girl, your hygiene is all wrong.
Vi chuckles.
- You're always so frank. I've always loved that about you, Pumpkin.
- You and your stupid nicknames. No joking. My shift's almost over. We'll go back to my place and you can wash up. And when I say wash, I don't mean stand under the hose and mope.
You see her sigh and look down at her freshly bandaged hands.
- You've always taken care of me. I've never thanked you.
You say nothing, because it's true. She never thanked you.
- I'll admit I was mad at you at first, Pumpkin.
- Why was that?
- I thought you'd make an effort to take care of Pow-Jinx. Keep her away from Silco.
Hearing those words makes you immediately angry. Is she blaming you for Jinx's psychotic behavior on you?
- Are you kidding me?! I was barely fourteen. What could I have done against Silco and his gang?!
The guilt in Vi's eyes lets you know she regrets what she's just said. And you sigh loudly.
- Damn, Vi, that's too easy to say. I never asked for this either. And I may be a coward in your eyes, but the one thing I've always wanted is to stay out of trouble.
- You think I don't want to stay out of trouble too? Asks Vi in a cold voice.
- Well, you're not doing anything to stay away from it. Seriously, Vi, have you looked at yourself? Putting yourself through all this for a privileged Piltie bitch who gassed the whole town. I still can't believe it.
She taps her fist against the table. You raise an eyebrow. Vi's tantrums never scared you. She'd never dare raise a hand to you. She was even the one who protected you from the losers who tried to tease you when you were teenagers.
- I can't control who I fall in love with, Y/N.
- Well, that's too bad. Because now you look like an idiot, a hypocrite to yourself. I'm beginning to think that love really does make you blind. You used to hate enforcers so much. You see a pretty face and you go back on your principles. I thought you were tougher.
Your words are spat out bitterly. And you don't really know why. Is it really the fact that Vi loves an enforcer that bothers you? Deep down, you don't know. You don't like enforcers, they killed your only family, your big brother, the one who looked after you since you were a baby. And because of them, you had to educate yourself on the streets. So, yes, seeing Vi love an enforcer really pisses you off. Shit, she could have picked anyone. Even one of Babette's women seems a better choice.
- Just say you're jealous. At least I'm not a bitch with a heart of stone who never acts on it. Yeah, you're a fucking coward.
This insult doesn't offend you. You've always said you'd rather be a coward than suffer.
- Oh, you think I'm jealous of some fascist whore who's gassing the whole town just because her mother died?!
- Even if her actions are questionable, I tried to stop her...
- Questionable you say?! I bet her mother was buried in a luxury coffin that costs more than our lives. Did Vander get that? No, he was left on the pavement. Silco was swallowed up by the polluted abyss. And my brother was kicked into the mud without anyone noticing, and I was only seven years old when I tried to drag his body out of the shit. Did I gas Piltover for it? No.
You don't blink when you heard about the attacks at tributes to deceased councilors. Because deep down, you don't care. They've always attacked Zaun. But when it's the other way around, it's questionable?
- Fuck Y/N, you've got a personality now? I thought you were just a glass planet cunt who couldn't do anything.
Your jaw tightens, you throw your tea towel over the bar and lean towards Vi. Her arrogant delay hurts. Why is she like this? You sincerely believe, without boasting, that she owes you an apology. And thanks. It hurts. This situation is problematic. But right now, you feel it's impossible to stay out of trouble.
The illusion that you loved to be fooled as a teenager rises to the surface. Just you and Vi, living a peaceful, domestic life. Where you work in Vander's bar, watching in the distance as Ekko and Powder make their inventions. Where you hear Mylo talking about his umpteenth crush to Claggor. And where Vi waits for you every night into your bed, so you can sleep in her strong arms.
What a shitty illusion.
- You're ungrateful, Vi.
- You've never done anything that meant anything to me.
Your heart takes an umpteenth blow. It hurts like hell. You don't recognize her. You're not an idiot. You know that after her years in prison, with Powder becoming Jinx, she's not going to remain the bold sixteen-year-old she used to be. But you'd expect more kindness from her.
- Good. Next time, get drunk, get beaten up, and stay down like a piece of shit. I'm tired of bandaging your wounds.