Chapter Text
Vi stepped into the sheriff’s office. It was a Friday night and her shift was nearly over. The fighter would normally be in high spirits, but something was bothering her, niggling at her mind all day.
It had been a few months since everything had gone down, since Ambessa and Jayce’s weird (not) boyfriend had torn Piltover a new one, a few months since Caitlyn had lost an eye and Vi had lost the last of her original family. Even after all that though, things were settling down. The council was rebuilding the cities new and better than before.
Caitlyn became sheriff and Vi joined the enforcers as her lieutenant. The excitement was over and the pair fell into comfortable habits and routine. But something wasn’t right with their routine. It had occurred to her as she watched the rest of the station stampede out the door once the clock ticked 5, envelopes in their hands.
“Hey Cupcake, are we getting paid for all this shit?”
The sheriff was startled from the file she’d been focused on. Her eye met Vi’s own as she crumpled the paper up and tossed it behind her. It landed perfectly in the trash can.
The fighter hesitated, “You busy right now?”
“No, just another missing person’s report obviously describing Heimerdinger.” Her expression turned thoughtful. “At this point, I’m more concerned with who keeps sending them than actual finding the poor yordle.” Caitlyn gestured towards the seat in front of her.
The smaller chair creaked as Vi sat down. Cait had moved so she was sitting on the front of her desk.
“Of course we’re getting paid, darling.” she said “Why do you ask?”
“Well all the other officers walk out of here every other Friday with their fancy envelopes and no one’s given me shit.”
“Oh,” the other woman started, “well I just transfer the money from your pay cheque into my bank account since you don’t have one.”
Caitlyn’s explanation flew right over Vi’s ambiguously red-pink head, and it must’ve showed on her face too. The sheriff closed the distance between the two and cupped her partner’s face in her hands.
“Don't worry about it darling, we’re basically sharing accounts anyway. I didn’t want to bother you with all the money nonsense.” Caitlyn said softly.
Vi’s face scrunched up. “Well maybe I do wanna be bothered by it. Those are my hard earned cogs after all.” Her expression softened. “And I don’t like being so dependent on you, even to buy stuff just for me, like boxing gloves, or bandages to wrap my hands, or bandages to wrap my tits, y’know?”
She did. Caitlyn stood up and said, “I understand, let’s go together right now and I’ll open you an account.”
“Nuh uh,” Vi said standing to her own full height, “This is about me not being dependent on you. I’m gonna open it by myself.”
Looking almost directly up at Cait, she continued, “Now what exactly am I opening?”
The sheriff sat back down on the desk, rolling her eyes. She could be patient, she knew things worked differently down in Zaun. “A bank account. It’s where you give money to the bank and they hold it for you in your account.”
Vi’s cold, hard hands rubbed at her chin, “People willingly put their money in banks? I thought they got all that money by stealing.”
The blue-haired woman pinched the bridge of her nose. It had been quite a long week. She tried to hide her exasperation and asked, “Wherever did you get that idea from darling?”
“Well, I’d met a few bank robbers in Stillwater. Guess I just assumed they were robbers that worked for the bank. Why would people give away their money otherwise?” Vi said.
“You’re not giving it away Vi, they’re holding onto it for you. It’s meant to be more secure and convenient.”
“Doesn’t seem very secure or convenient to have your money in the same place as everyone else’s. You could totally just rob…” Realization slowly dawned on the fighter’s face. “ So the bank robbers were robbing the banks ,” she murmured under her breath.
Cait stared incredulously for a moment. She composed herself and explained, “Vi, there are plenty of good reasons for why banks should exist, but I don’t think you need an economics lesson right now. Just know that it lets you make bigger transactions without having to carry a bunch of heavy kogs, and your money will generate interest while it’s there. Make sense?”
Vi’s eyes widened at her last statement and she stepped back, almost angry now. “Why the fuck are they getting people interested in my money?”
“No! It’s not… ah nevermind darling.” Caitlyn took a second to admire the woman in front of her. Her reddish pink/pinkish red hair, her well-defined muscles, and her beautiful face contorted into an expression of confusion, repulsion, and even fear. The woman who’d sworn herself to her, the dirt she’d never clean out of her nails. The woman who didn’t even seem to notice she’d never taken her gauntlets off. Now smiling, Piltover’s morophilic sheriff stood up and planted a kiss on her partner’s lips. “Have fun at the bank, Vi. I’ll see you at home.”