Work Text:
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Viktor’s cane echoed rhythmically on the shiny tile of the law building, his eyes darting to the directory signage that pointed him towards the Criminal Justice department. He held his bottom lip tightly between his teeth as he paced through the hallway, a nervous tick that accompanied his fidgeting thumb on his cane.
It was a nice day until about 25 minutes ago. Emphasis on the was .
***
When he woke up that morning, Viktor’s leg was feeling as good as it could, which usually translated into his own good mood throughout the day, which then translated into Jayce’s great mood throughout the week .
And he had been feeling good, planning to surprise Jayce by coming to the lab early and suggesting they grab lunch outside in the gentle breeze. The class he assisted Heimerdinger in teaching was cancelled that morning and he recently discovered a hidden courtyard cafe upon one of his many physio-mandated walks. It was a pretty little garden with a small fountain in the center, and it was the first sunny day in what felt like forever, so he wanted to bring his boyfriend there for some sweetmilk and pastries.
It was nearing Valentines, sue him for wanting to be a little romantic.
But, as he approached their shared lab in the engineering building, he could hear a pair of voices coming from within right as he was about to swing the door open. He cracked it instead, peering through the small gap to see bright pink hair and the familiar shape of his partner. It was Vi and Jayce, both of them hunched over his boyfriend’s desk.
“So I’m thinking if it’s like this…” came Jayce’s voice, along with what Viktor could hear to be the rustling of papers.
“Oh she’ll love it.” Vi straightened her back, sending Jayce a grin.
It wasn’t an unusual sight, the two of them together. They spent most weekday mornings in the gym and hung out quite regularly over the last year as well. But to his knowledge, Violet had never been to their lab, much less been interested in any of their engineering projects.
“We only have about a week left. Let’s meet up again tonight to get started, but make sure she doesn’t get suspicious.” Jayce’s brow was set in determination, a look that Viktor had come to familiarize with as his planning face.
“Yeah, I’ll be smooth. What about Viktor? What are you gonna tell him?” Viktor’s eyes widened at Vi’s mention of his name.
“Um- uh…” Jayce fumbled around, a hand coming to his nape to scratch at it in contemplation. “I’ll figure it out, maybe I’ll tell him I have to meet with an undergrad…or something. It’ll be fine, I go out all the time.”
That wasn’t true, most nights the two of them worked side by side on the couch, quietly reading papers with a blanket spread between their legs.
What were they planning? And why couldn’t he or who he assumed to be Caitlyn know about it?
Jayce mentioned that they only had a week, and in seven days exactly it was…Valentine’s.
They were planning something for Valentine’s day.
Jayce. And Vi. Together…
Uh oh.
Ice quickly flooded Viktor’s veins as he shot back from where he was against the lab door. As quietly as he could, he retreated into the hallway before making a mad dash across campus to the law building to find Caitlyn.
***
Jayce, his darling partner, and Vi, now a treasured friend, were two of the most loving and spirited people he knew. Individually, they were both extremely smart: Jayce without question of his academic capabilities and Vi with her resourcefulness and limitless ability to connect with others. And yet, together they were nothing short of a natural disaster in anything they touched. It was almost a miracle that the school’s gym was still intact from their daily activities.
He had to warn Caitlyn. Their plan spelled nothing but looming havoc, and if the blueprints that Viktor briefly spotted on Jayce’s desk were anything to go by, could result in a real mechanical or physical emergency. It had happened before, taking both an afternoon of apologizing and a dent in his wallet to appease the parents of the poor kid they scared.
The thought of having to go through that again made his stomach drop. He picked up the pace.
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
Viktor stumbled around the building, unfamiliar with its layout having only been in there a handful of times, but kept his eyes sharp for any sign of Caitlyn.
He found her, eventually, catching a glimpse of her dark blue hair as he sped by a lounge near the criminal justice offices. He almost tripped from how abruptly he stopped his momentum, but didn’t deter as he made a bee-line dash to her.
Caitlyn looked up at the noise, pleasant surprise written on her face that quickly morphed into a questioning cautiousness, no doubt at the winded panic he probably wore in his own expression.
“Viktor? Are you quite alright?“
“It’s… hah … Jayce and… huff… Vi…” He tried to get the words out in between his breaths, it had been a long time since he exerted himself so far. At least his physio would be happy. “They’re planning something for Valentines.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet of them.” Caitlyn had an affectionate smile, not fully processing Viktor’s words. “What are they doing? I bet it’ll be… Ohh.”
Oh, indeed. Caitlyn’s face dropped immediately, her brow pinching and smile dropping into a horror stricken expression. She looked just about how he felt.
Viktor sunk into the plush seat next to her, a hand instinctively coming to massage his leg as he continued.
“I saw them in the lab together. They had blueprints and were making plans to meet tonight… Without either of our knowledge.”
Caitlyn was holding her head in her hands now, chest deceivingly still as though she were holding her breath through a nightmare. Viktor wished it was a dream too.
“Well, we have to stop them, don’t we? From… Destroying something, or setting something on fire! Or… Or flooding the city somehow!” she pulled out from her hands to look at Viktor, wild determination in her eyes.
“Indeed.” He nodded gravely, feeling the gravity of their conversation in his bones. If they failed… Well, Viktor didn’t even want to consider the consequences.
Caitlyn let out a sigh, but her posture was firm as she straightened up, eyebrows pinched in resolve.
“Alright then, I have an idea.”
Viktor didn’t feel very good about it at all.
The whirring sound of the coffee machine at Caitlyn’s favourite cafe was a comforting one, the morning sunlight coming through the windows in just the right way. She could already envision the shot. The perfect photo for her Instagram story. This place was a cute little store tucked away on the corner of a street near Piltover Uni, and since she’d started coming here in first year, every member of the staff knew her coffee order by heart.
Caitlyn was shaken by the barista calling her name, and she stepped forward to grab the takeaway cup, the enticing smell of caffeine already perking her up. Last night had passed uneventfully, with no news from Viktor about their partners’ late rendezvous. It relaxed her a bit, taming the paranoia around their looming Valentine’s plans.
She scanned the small space around her, searching for the best angle to display, when she caught a familiar flash of pink outside the window. Against her will, the pulse in her chest began to beat a little faster.
She and Vi had only been dating for a little while so far - arguably they were still in their honeymoon phase - so sue her if she got a little excited at the prospect of seeing her girlfriend in the wild.
Oh well. Her aesthetic photo would have to wait.
Practically skipping rather than walking out of the cafe, Caitlyn pushed open the door and stepped out onto the street. She was right - there was Vi, with her sexy back tattoo partially revealed by her tank top and low-waisted cargo pants. Thanks to that distraction, Caitlyn almost failed to realise there was someone walking next to Vi. Someone equally as familiar, sporting that red hoodie he never seemed to take off.
Jayce.
Viktor’s words from the other day echoed in her head. Seeing those two together outside of the gym so soon again was definitely not a good sign. They ambled down the street side by side, both unaware of Caitlyn’s presence.
She shouldn’t, right? It was a bad idea to follow them.
A part of her desperately wanted to just call out and ask what the two were planning, but like the detective she was, she couldn’t help but try to figure it out herself. If they were planning something for Valentine’s day, she was inevitably part of those plans too, right? So really, she had a right to know. Caitlyn took a sip of her coffee and followed.
She managed to discreetly tail the two halfway down the street before they turned into a store, excitedly chatting away about something Cait couldn’t quite make out. She jogged the rest of the way up to where they had entered, not quite knowing what to expect.
All she found was the dull display of a hardware shop staring back at her.
The sigh of relief she breathed out was involuntary. Caitlyn had no idea why she was so nervous about this whole Valentine’s Day thing. Vi and Jayce were probably just hanging out as they regularly did, and Jayce was buying things for those metalworking projects he liked to do in his spare time. There was no need to jump to conclusions. Viktor did say they were working on blueprints together though…
Still, Caitlyn didn’t follow them inside, because that would’ve been be stupid. Instead, she felt the sudden urge to be assured that she wasn’t going crazy, so she fumbled with her one free hand to open her phone and call Viktor. Certainly not a common occurrence, but after their frantic conversation the day before, it felt necessary.
As soon as he picked up, Caitlyn huffed, “Seeing those two are together puts me on edge now! What have you done to me?”
The good thing about Caitlyn and Viktor’s freshly formed alliance was that there was only one thing she would be calling him about, so he understood immediately. His response was a sharp inhale that crackled through her phone speaker. “What have they done? Is something on fire? Did one of them get arrested?”
“Well, uh, no, they just walked into a hardware store.”
She could hear Viktor relax through the speaker. “Oh, well… I can hardly blame you for being cautious.”
“This is beyond caution, I’m going mad! I just saw them walking down the street together, and I seriously started following them before I got ahold of myself,” she ranted, turning on her heel to briskly walk back in the direction she came from.
“Perhaps,” he mused, “Our partners are both fully functioning adults, and capable of planning, eh, something nice for us.”
They both paused for a minute, silent on the line while stewing in their denial.
Caitlyn hummed and took another sip of her drink, letting its heat calm down her nerves. Maybe they were both just overthinking this. “You’re right.”
And then she spotted Vi’s car parked on the street. In a tow away zone.
Maybe not then.
“Viktor?”
“Yes?”
“I’m going to call you back.”
She could imagine Vi’s exact train of thought going into it. Vi had probably assumed she and Jayce would only be going into the store for a few minutes, and all the other parking spaces on the street were filled. That was just the kind of gamble she was always willing to take.
And maybe it would have been alright. But of course, because the world hates Caitlyn Kiramman, that was the exact moment a pair of parking inspectors decided to turn onto the street. She stared at them for a long moment, before her attention was drawn by another car pulling out across the road, leaving one single empty spot.
Now, Vi’s irresponsible parking decisions were not Caitlyn’s responsibility.
However, she would feel horribly guilty if Vi copped a fine for something potentially fixable like this. Reaching into her purse, Caitlyn felt around until her fingers closed around something unused and forgotten at the bottom of the bag.
Like the trusting fool she was, a few weeks into their relationship Vi had given Caitlyn her spare set of car keys, jokingly saying it was because Cait was far more responsible than her. But she had never actually driven Vi’s car before - being the designated passenger princess and all that. Hell, she had to walk or take public transport everywhere herself, because one too many accidents had left her banned from driving her parents’ cars.
But the inspectors were steadily making their way down the street, and Vi’s gray Jeep wasn’t moving any time soon.
A few minutes and one tragic attempt at parallel parking later, Caitlyn left the car across the road in a much less illegal position. Despite feeling like she’d just committed grand theft auto, she couldn’t help but sigh in relief as she dialed Viktor’s number once more.
When Viktor woke up the sun hadn’t risen yet, and his boyfriend’s snores were thunderously loud from across the bed, probably exhausted from his and Vi’s shenanigans yesterday.
Quietly, he reached over Jayce’s body, arm outstretched to snatch his partner’s phone as stealthily as he could. He had to dodge Jayce’s grabby hands, still instinctively clingy even while asleep and searching around for Viktor’s waist to hold.
He rolled over, facing away from Jayce, and unlocked his partner’s phone, squinting even at the lowered brightness as he scrolled around to find Jayce’s messages with Vi. He felt like an insecure girlfriend, a little guilty at invading his boyfriend’s online privacy.
But, he reasoned (with a voice that sounded suspiciously like Caitlyn), this was for the greater good.
11:12pm
[Jayce:] Got back?
11:30pm
[Vi:] yeah and cait had no idea. she texted me that her mom needed her help for something
[Vi:] small emergency it sounded like, but no biggie
[Vi:] wbu?
11:32pm
[Jayce:] All good here, V was asleep when I came in so I think we’re in the clear
He had not, in fact, been asleep when Jayce returned - too jittery with anxiety at Caitlyn’s earlier calls. It was only after feeling his boyfriend’s familiar weight over his back when he came to bed that he actually drifted off.
11:40pm
[Vi:] cool, time to move on to phase 2
[Vi:] meet me where we agreed at 11 tmr morning
There were no more messages beyond Jayce replying with a thumbs up emoticon. Viktor scrolled further up their message history, but beyond last night’s conversation there was only a vague message about talking at the gym, which he concluded to be the start of their Valentines planning. He bit his lip, slightly worried about Vi’s talk of a phase two , especially since “phase one” almost got them a hefty parking fine.
However, it was his turn to serve as the duo’s damage control, so he swallowed down his nerves as he reached back over Jayce to place his phone back.
Viktor wasn’t fast enough this time though. A jolt of panic coursed through him as he felt large hands encircling his waist. He froze and peered down, holding his breath until he could confirm that Jayce was still asleep and that he hadn’t been caught with his phone.
Jayce let out another snore, nuzzling his face into Viktor’s skin above where he held his waist.
Viktor exhaled in relief, relaxing into his partner’s hold as he felt his eyelids grow heavy again. Vi did say that they would meet at eleven, so he might as well get a bit more sleep.
***
This was getting frustrating. Viktor followed the little marker on his location app, carefully following Jayce as he and Vi snaked around Zaun.
He had no idea why they were even there. It turned out that the meeting place had been a park that bordered both cities, and from there the duo had ventured deeper into Zaun, zig-zagging through the streets and creating a migraine for Viktor as he tried to maintain a distance while still stalking them.
The streets in his home city weren’t as well paved as Piltover, and it was rather taxing for his leg to keep up as he walked up and down the uneven pavement of the slopes. He had been worried that they would immediately spot him with his cane, but it seemed that muscle memory prevailed and he slipped back into old habits of blending in with his fellow Zaunites. If anything, Caitlyn would have stuck out more despite not having a recognizable cane.
It’s how he was able to spot them again every time he lost them, which embarrassingly, was quite a lot. They were nimble and didn’t stay in any place for too long, but in the end Jayce’s tall figure was obvious among the other pedestrians and Vi’s pink hair didn’t do them any favors either.
Except for right now, it seemed. He was much closer to Jayce’s marker on his phone than he was comfortable with, but he couldn’t spot them, despite how they were supposed to be no more than a few meters away.
He pulled his hood up further over his face and continued to scan the crowd for any sign of the duo.
Had Jayce dropped his phone somewhere? The reception in Zaun had vastly improved over the past few years so it wasn’t as though his phone couldn’t connect to Jayce’s. With this thought in mind, he took a visual sweep of the ground, though it was unlikely that nobody had spotted and stolen it before he could find it.
“ Woah! ” came the unmistakably loud voice of his partner except-
“Careful pretty boy, I told you it wasn’t as easy as I make it look.”
The sound came from above .
Viktor’s head shot up, still mindful of keeping his hood on, and his eyes grew wide at the sight of Jayce and Vi on the rooftops of the city. What the hell.
They exchanged a few more words that Viktor couldn’t make out from where he was standing below, but a second later the pair disappeared, Vi hopping between the narrow gaps of the buildings with Jayce following her.
Breaking out of his shock, he glanced back down at his phone to see Jayce’s marker rapidly moving away in the direction that they had jumped to from the roofs.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
With renewed vigor, he started after them, splitting his gaze between the rooftops where they jumped from building to building and keeping his eyes on the path in front of him to avoid running into anything.
What a nightmare this was. He mumbled an apology to the vendor he almost ran into turning a corner so quickly, but didn’t tear his attention away from the duo. He almost wished he could yell at them to slow down, never mind the fact that he was here in secret and that the fate of Zaun likely relied on him alone today.
He followed them like that for a while, increasingly getting fatigued but still fueled by pure adrenaline, waiting for disaster to strike.
The disaster manifested itself once they had reached a residential district in the city. He paused to catch his breath, looking up at the duo where they stood on a rooftop garden.
Vi was pointing at something in the distance, head angled towards Jayce as she addressed him. His boyfriend had a hand to his chin and the other at his hip, nodding along to Vi’s words in contemplation. Viktor still couldn’t hear what they were saying, but turned his head in the direction she pointed to try and follow along anyways.
Vi was pointing east, and if Viktor was correct about the alleyway they were currently at, she was pointing in the direction of the old watering hole at the edge of town. It was a place of his childhood, his favorite escape from the harsh conditions of Zaun where he could test the mechanical toys he built and enjoy the (slightly) cleaner air.
Ever since he and Jayce had started their masters degrees and research, investors had funded their projects enough that they could introduce prototypes to Zaun. They had done tremendous work, cleaning the water supply and filtering the air to make the conditions much healthier. He had even heard through the grapevine that certain parts of Zaun could now see the stars at night. Viktor had yet to see them himself, but his heart swelled with joy at the thought of one day experiencing it.
Viktor couldn’t see the watering hole from where he stood, the tall buildings blocking his view, but he enjoyed the sight he did see nonetheless. Children played in the alleyway footpath, sunlight peering in from the gaps between buildings and shining onto planters laid in lofted window sills. A tall ladder was propped against the building Jayce and Vi were on, the painter who had been working on the side of the building gone on a lunch break, unafraid that his equipment might be stolen. Lots of parts of his home had certainly come a long way from when he was growing up, and while he knew there was still much to be done, he took pride in the small victories.
Looking back up at the duo, his good mood was quickly washed away. Their stances had changed again, both of them slightly lunged and ready to start hopping across the rooftops again.
For the love of-
Clang!
Vi had successfully made the jump, backed by a lifetime of experience in doing so, but when Jayce attempted to follow, his foot caught onto the edge of the ladder, causing it to dangerously wobble back and forth. He glanced back from where he landed, wincing and moving to stabilize it but stopping at the last second when he spotted Vi, who was already hopping across to the other buildings and hollering at him to hurry up.
The ladder was rocking back and forth now, each tilt becoming larger than the last from the growing momentum. At this rate, Viktor knew it would fall over on its left side, right into the middle of where the children were playing in the street.
He sprung into action, making a mad dash to catch the base of the ladder before it was too late. He barely made it, shoving his body against the metal just as it was about to fall.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to stop the ladder from hitting a hanging planter by one of the windows, knocking the pot over and shattering as it collided with the pavement. He winced, surveying the damage as pedestrians stared at him, ladder still clenched between his hands as he leaned it back against the building.
Great, now it looked like it was his fault.
Viktor fished out a couple of bills from his wallet as discreetly as he could, leaving them buried in the planter and hidden to the public eye. Once again Jayce and Vi’s fooling around had led to him needing to financially compensate somebody, but at least this time there was nobody he actually needed to apologize to.
He checked his location app once more, sighing at the distance between Jayce’s marker and his own. They were too far for him to follow on foot now, but he felt that he had prevented enough damage for today, exhausted to the core from anxiety and dread.
He turned back up the street, pulling up Caitlyn’s contact to give her a call and update her about the situation.
***
“Children?! Thank the gods you were there to stop it.”
“Indeed, I’m afraid the danger extends to more than just themselves now. We may need to take extra precautions for the remainder of this week.”
He heard Caitlyn sigh across the line, envisioning her face pinched in exhaustion as well.
“Alright, I’ll update you if I learn anything more.”
“Thank you, stay safe Caitlyn.”
“You too, see you later.”
Click.
Caitlyn’s eyes swept across the screen, frantically mashing buttons so hard that they left little indents on her thumbs. She was laser-focused, barely even hearing the exclamations Vi was shouting beside her.
She had to win this Call of Duty game.
She continued to run around the map, trying her best to recall the tips Vi gave her about when to reload her weapon, and places she might get caught out by enemy players. The round had actually been going quite well, all things considered, and she was quickly getting the hang of the game.
Ironically, as soon as Caitlyn considered that, she rounded a corner to find three enemies staring back at her, and she hardly had a chance to shoot before her side of the TV’s split-screen was informing her of her own failure.
“Ugh! Why would you ever play this stupid game for fun ?” she groaned.
On the other side of the screen, Vi’s character was still up and running, taking out enemies left and right, but upon hearing Caitlyn’s outburst she allowed herself to be gunned down. The silence of the Game Over screen staring back at them felt very loud all of a sudden. Caitlyn had been getting way too into that.
Vi threw a consolatory arm over her, and they both flopped back onto the beanbags. “Hey, cupcake, you can’t expect to be perfect on your first try… Should we take a break and then go another round?”
She had invited Caitlyn over this afternoon to the student accommodation where she lived, promising a fun evening of teaching Caitlyn her favourite videogame. She always talked about playing it together with her sister and her sister’s boyfriend (the three of whom were roommates) and insisted that Cait would enjoy it too. Caitlyn used to take field shooting lessons as a kid, but that skillset was entirely different to playing a videogame.
Was she enjoying it? Yes, absolutely. Was it also making her want to smash her controller through the television screen? Also yes!
Attempting to diffuse Cait’s aggression, Vi closed the distance between them and Caitlyn allowed herself to be pushed down into the beanbags as her girlfriend kissed her silly. It almost worked, but the distraction didn’t last long. She was still thinking about how if she had hesitated less during the game, she could have survived for longer. Okay, she was definitely getting too worked up over this.
Cait reluctantly broke away from Vi’s teasing kisses and firmly stood up. “You’re right. I’m going to get a cold drink. Want one?”
“Yes please,” Vi replied, amused by Caitlyn’s stubborn insistence on playing the game until she won.
She trudged out of Vi’s room and into the shared kitchen area. She didn’t usually spend much time in here when she came over, preferring to hang out in Vi’s room away from the prying eyes of her roommates. So, she took the opportunity to sniff out the area a little. On the table lay what looked like a half-finished art project that must belong to Powder - or, as almost everyone called her, Jinx - next to a scattered pile of brightly coloured flyers. Vi had mentioned something about Ekko running an activism group at uni, so perhaps the flyers were related to that. Either way, the space undeniably belonged to the three of them.
Stuck on the fridge with handmade clay magnets were a collection of polaroids and other poorly printed photos, showing glimpses into Vi’s life. There were quite a few photos of her from when she was young - many of them featuring two young boys whom Caitlyn didn’t recognise. Half covering one of them, clearly a recent addition, was a poorly printed photo of Vi and Caitlyn herself. It was from the day when they made their relationship official, she recalled, and the memory brought an involuntary smile to her face.
Eventually Caitlyn stopped staring at the photos and actually opened the fridge like she came to do, rummaging around to find a drink. There was no shortage of energy drinks and electrolytes, but surely there must have been some kind of regular soft drink in here too..?
After crouching down and essentially sticking her head into the fridge to look properly, Caitlyn spotted a bunch of food items tucked away at the back, a sticky note hanging off one of the jars. It was labeled in thick black marker; ‘ pow ekko DO NOT EAT!! ’.
Then she noticed the hearts. Heart-shaped blocks of fancy hard cheese, huge ripe strawberries, among other foods that could easily belong on a picnic spread. Despite her and Viktor almost (purposefully) ruining the surprises for themselves throughout the week, Caitlyn still felt like she’d stumbled upon something she wasn’t supposed to. There was no doubt about it, these must have been for Valentine’s Day. This mysterious, top-secret Valentine’s date that Vi and Jayce had been planning together.
Her heart swelled a little. These two were so sweet and thoughtful, doing all of this. Not to mention, it served as a good reminder that she needed to finish preparing her own gift.
Caitlyn tried not to look any more deeply than she already had. But her eyes were keen, and she ended up seeing most of what was in the pile - including a massive tub of thick full cream shoved into the corner. She was 99% sure Viktor would explode if he ate that. Just when she thought it was safe, too…
Under the assumption that Vi was in charge of food for this Valentine’s Day extravaganza, somehow she might not have known about this certain dietary restriction. It was up to Caitlyn to rectify the situation, once again.
She returned to Vi with a can of coke for both of them like nothing had happened.
“Your fridge photos are really cute,” she remarked, plopping herself back down on the beanbag.
“Yeah? You saw the one of us?”
Caitlyn hummed in approval, “We should take more photos like that. Maybe a victory picture when I win this next round.”
Vi laughed as she cracked open her can, “I’ll put it front and centre on the fridge.
They continued to chat about everything and nothing as they finished their drinks, and Caitlyn took the opportunity to open her phone as nonchalantly as possible to discreetly shoot Viktor a message.
3:56pm
[Caitlyn]: hey you’re lactose intolerant right?
[Viktor]: Yes very, why?
She debated telling him about the cream in the fridge for a moment, but surmised he had enough to worry about already.
3:58pm
[Caitlyn]: dw i’ve got it under control
[Viktor]: Well that’s not concerning at all
[Viktor]: Is this what I think it’s about?
The next day, Caitlyn found herself in the art department of Piltover Uni, peeking into the various art studios until she found the one she was looking for. In one hand she carried a paper bag, still warm from the campus cafe, and in the other was a cooler bag from the supermarket. The sound of a loud punk song spilling out into the hallway and a flash of bright blue were a dead giveaway that she’d reached her destination.
Caitlyn gave a sharp knock on the door, “Hello? Can I come in?”
Jinx was standing by the window, a vibrantly coloured canvas in front of her and half a dozen cans of spray paint scattered on the floor beneath. She narrowed her eyes, tugging her respirator off her face and hanging it around her neck.
“Cupcake Kiramman,” she drawled in a mock English accent, “What are you doing here?”
Caitlyn stepped into the studio, choosing to ignore the nickname. She held out the paper bag to Jinx, “I come with a peace offering… And a request.”
Jinx’s face lit up as soon as she saw the bag, a complete change in demeanour as she skipped over to wash her hands in the small basin at the back of the room. “I’m listening.”
Once Jinx was happily munching away on the blueberry muffin Cait had bought, she revealed the main reason for her visit. Caitlyn unzipped her cooler bag and showed Jinx what was inside - a tub of dairy-free cream that was otherwise identical to the one in Vi’s fridge.
Over the speaker blasting music in the background, Jinx just cackled through bites of the muffin as Caitlyn explained the situation.
“Ya know, I really hate to say it, but that’s kinda cute.”
“I know,” Cait huffed a laugh, “they’re putting in a lot of effort for this.”
“Alright, I’ll replace it. She won’t notice a thing.” Jinx conceded with a dramatic roll of her eyes. If she had one weak spot, it was Vi, and Caitlyn intended to use that fact to her full advantage.
“Thank you,” she sighed, then added out of courtesy, “are you and Ekko doing anything for Valentine’s?”
Jinx thought about it for a moment, then shoved the last bite of the muffin into her mouth, effectively muffling her own speech, “Wouldn’ you like t’know.”
Perhaps one small win for the day was enough. Caitlyn could work on her relationship with her girlfriend’s menace of a little sister another time.
Yet another crisis averted, with only a few days until Valentine’s to go.
To be honest, Viktor sometimes missed nights like this. Hunched over his desk in the lab, a steaming mug of sweetmilk nearby and a stack of papers to grade for Heimerdinger.
Perhaps he was a masochist, but it felt soothing to stay there longer than he should have been. He liked how quiet the university got after midnight: devoid of students and staff with moonlight pouring in through the windows.
Since moving into Jayce’s apartment after his health scare a few years back, he no longer had common occurrences of being in the lab late at night. His partner was fiercely diligent about making sure Viktor maintained healthy eating and sleeping habits, doting on him every night and even strapping him down on the bed once to prevent him from getting up again. It was something he often complained about yet lovingly humored all the same, but it was nice to have the evening to himself every once in a while.
Viktor rubbed his eyes through the faint yellow glow of his desk lamp. Despite feeling mentally serene, his leg was beginning to cramp up from being in his chair for too long.
He sighed, glancing back to the pile of paperwork in front of him. This was as good a time as any to take a break, he supposed.
He grabbed his cane and keycard, locking the door behind him as he left the lab.
Viktor’s cane echoed through the hallways of the engineering building, accompanied only by the whirring white noise of the machines that populated the various labs he passed by. He hated crowds, so he never really got a good look at the inside of the other labs other than times like these, when they were silent and there were no projects to be found laying around.
He remembered being an undergrad at the academy, having to work in the public labs and bumping shoulders with the classmates next to him. Back then, he was unable to work without a supervisor and it drove him crazy. His present lab and partner were much more favorable, not to mention it was easier to get away with… Riskier projects.
Eventually, he sauntered towards the lobby of the building, meaning to take a right to roam the biomedical wing of the building when he noticed an uncharacteristic glow from the metalworking department on the left. Viktor was under the impression that he was alone in the engineering hall, so he instead followed the light to investigate.
Hmm.
The light above the main forge was lit up, casting a red glow in the hallway and indicating that the forge was in use. That didn’t seem right. Other than the faculty, only those with the proper certifications were allowed to freely open and work in the forges under university approval. The facilities inside were dangerous and the department was under strict security at all times. Did students sneak in during the late hour?
That wouldn’t do. Feeling responsible, Viktor peered through the small window of the door, ready to catch students in the act but was met with the sight of… Vi and Jayce.
Oh right, Jayce was certified.
Oh right, he and Vi were planning for Valentine’s.
Oh right , the last week was riddled with disastrously close-calls that caused he and Caitlyn to have heart palpitations.
He stood there, staring at the duo’s backs as they stood in front of the furnace, shoveling what appeared to be sand into a cast iron bucket in the fire.
Vi had a simple sports bra on, and her impressive back tattoo was on full display from where Viktor stood. He took a minute, studying its intricate pattern before his attention was caught by the sudden movement of his boyfriend turning towards her.
Jayce was shirtless, rippling muscles flexing as he took a hold of the shovel to put more sand in the bucket. Viktor’s mind went blank, eyes helplessly trailing a bead of sweat that rolled down from his partner’s face down to his pectorals. The light of the fire accentuated his tanned skin, making it almost glow as the light shone around him like a blazing halo.
Jayce was the very visage of Adonis himself. Damn , Viktor was lucky. Vi and Jayce’s time in the gym was certainly paying off, and he was there to reap its benefits every day.
Distracted by his boyfriend’s dangerously hot physique, he failed to notice that several stray embers from where the sand spilled over the sides of the bucket were flying across the room and to the stack of firewood in a grated crate. He didn’t notice, in fact, until the light of a small flame tore his attention away from big muscles and towards the catching pile of tinder in the corner.
His breath caught, eyes flickering back and forth from the duo to the accidental fire, hoping one of them would notice and put it out. The two of them were absorbed in their own world however, focused solely on the furnace in front of them.
Viktor steeled himself, weighing his options. On one hand, he and Caitlyn swore a pact to prevent any disasters their partners may cause over the week. On the other hand, he could wait and let them figure it out themselves.
…Unless they didn’t notice until it was too late and the fire destroyed equipment, to which the university would revoke Jayce’s privileges to be in the forge by himself.
The mental image of Jayce’s puppy-dog eyes was enough to make the decision for him. Curse his boyfriend’s adorable pouting. For the hundredth time that week, Viktor sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, before gently opening the door to the forge.
It was sweltering hot inside, explaining the duo’s lack of torso coverings, but Viktor continued inward, crouching behind the counters to avoid being spotted.
The furnace periodically roared with heat, and he took each burst of noise to move further in. Luckily, the fire hadn’t spread yet, remaining a baby flame nestled in the pile of wood.
He came to his first road block. About halfway through the room, the counter space ended and there were no more things for him to hide behind as he approached the fire. He pondered for a minute, biting his lip, until he spotted a wheeled cart not too far from the countertops.
Slowly, he positioned it to roll in the direction of the wood, and crouched behind it, grabbing two of the cart’s legs and leaving his cane laying behind the counters. He slowly shuffled across, going slow enough to avoid their attention and rolling the cart as quietly as he could.
Viktor must have looked ridiculous - like a pathetic parody of a spy movie where the hero hides behind a moving structure to avoid detection. He certainly didn’t feel like a hero, perhaps more like a mouse trying to sneak past two predators while aiming for a wheel of cheese. Except, there was no cheese at the end for Viktor, only an avoided disaster instead.
Eventually he made it to the fire extinguisher using his makeshift disguise, and took it off the wall. The wood was fortunately right next to the extinguisher, so he simply pulled the safety pin and sprayed the suppressant over the flame at the next loud burst of noise from the furnace.
He slumped back against the cart for a minute, tension seeping out from him while he simultaneously thanked and cursed his luck. He put the extinguisher on the ground below its stand, not feeling bothered to put it back in its proper place, before beginning to roll the cart back to sneak out.
At a quiet interval, he suddenly heard Vi’s voice.
“Did you see that?”
“What?” responded Jayce.
“I thought I saw something moving.”
“Hm…” From the small gaps in the cart he could see Jayce turn his head in the direction of Viktor. “I’m sure it’s nothing, there’s nobody else in the building right now besides us.”
Oh Jayce , Viktor thought. How wrong you are .
“It’s getting pretty late, maybe I’m just tired.”
Jayce hesitated before replying, “Should we pack it up for the night?”
“No, I’m good. I want to get this done tonight .” Vi said, tone laced with a determined finality.
The furnace roared again and the pair returned to their work. Viktor rolled the cart the rest of the way, picking up his cane and making a stealthy retreat back out the door. He had half a mind to keep watching them through the window in order to see what they ended up making using the sand, but he was too mentally exhausted and on edge to stay near the forge any longer, and irritatedly returned to the lab to finish his work in peace tonight.
He did however, pull out his phone to message Caitlyn again.
12:46am
[Viktor]: They’re in the university forge right now, doing something with sand.
12:47am
[Caitlyn Kiramman]: must be why they went into the hardware store the other day. maybe they’re crafting something with it?
[Caitlyn Kiramman]: did u see what they're making?
Viktor’s face soured at the message, but he responded all the same.
12:47am
[Viktor]: No, a pile of wood accidentally caught on fire and neither of them noticed. I had to sneak in and put it out but I left after that
[Viktor]: This is quite exhausting
12:48am
[Caitlyn Kiramman]: gods
[Caitlyn Kiramman]: lucky you caught it. who knows how far it could’ve escalated.
[Caitlyn Kiramman]: this feels hopeless hhh let’s meet again tomorrow
12:49am
[Viktor]: Ok , see you then.
He put his phone away, rubbing his eyes again and taking a long sip of his sweetmilk. Vitkor then uncapped his pen again, and took a paper off the pile to continue grading them. He might as well try to take his mind off of the whole situation for now, hard as it was, and get through the night without any more interruption.
He had his own gift to finish up too, after all.
“Well.” said Viktor, resting his chin on the handle of his cane as Caitlyn approached the bench he was sitting on. Somehow, it was February 13th already. The last opportunity they’d have to talk before the big day.
She sighed as she joined him, “ Well indeed.”
The seat they agreed to meet at was just outside the engineering department, the perfect spot to sit and watch other students pass by. Even though winter was nearly ending, the weather was still as cold as ever. Despite the overcast sky, the people milling about seemed to be in high spirits, chatting animatedly amongst the fallen leaves.
Viktor himself was rugged up in a huge beige coat, a fluffy-looking scarf peeking out from beneath the collar. “You know, I would say this has been a successful week,” he says offhandedly, “remind me again what we have done?”
Caitlyn ran through the events of the last few days in her head. Viktor probably took up half of the list of her most recent calls, if that was any indicator. “There was the parking incident… And you saved those kids from a falling ladder - which I would give my left arm to have seen, by the way - as well as a fire breaking out… Did I forget anything?”
“ And you saved me from being stuck in the bathroom for a day from eating cream.” Viktor added, grimacing at the thought.
Cait laughed, “Can’t forget about that.”
It was somewhat unexpected, how easy it was to laugh with Viktor. Their awkward friendship was a byproduct of their Valentine’s Day-related panic, but a welcome surprise to be sure. He had a dry sense of humour but still laughed at her jokes, and listened to everything she had to say despite being a fair few years older. It was clear why Jayce loved him so much - after three years of seeing them together she’d gotten to know his idiosyncrasies - but she wasn’t exactly close with him. Maybe that was something that needed to change.
“I’ve enjoyed spending time with you this week, by the way.” she admitted, before she could get embarrassed about it.
“Likewise,” Viktor replied easily, “perhaps we should do it again under, eh, less stressful circumstances.”
“That would be nice.” she smiled as earnestly as she could, clasping her freezing hands together.
“Oh, and-” Viktor leaned fractionally closer to Caitlyn, as if he didn’t want to be heard, “they don’t hear a word about our meddling, right?”
“No, absolutely not. I’m more than happy for this to just stay between us.” she agreed immediately. Although, the expressions on Jayce and Vi’s faces would be priceless if she ever shared the truth of the week. But she really, really did appreciate their efforts. So alas, this would be a secret that she and Viktor took to their graves.
“Glad to hear we’re on the same page. I don’t have class for half an hour, should we get food?”
A grin spread across Cait’s face, “Jericho’s?”
Viktor opened his mouth to reply, but then their phones both chimed with a notification. At the same time. Which was either a funny coincidence, or…
Caitlyn whipped out her phone at record speed, the beads on her phone charms clinking loudly against each other as she did so.
11:29am
[Vi <3]: hey babe, you good if i pick you up around 1 tomorrow for valentines? double date with jayce and viktor, we’ve got something special prepared for you two :heart: :heart:
If the amused expression on his face was anything to go by, Viktor had received a similar message. She turned her phone screen around to show him, “Did you-”
“Yes, it was Jayce.”
Caitlyn quickly punched out a reply.
11:31am
[Cait]: sounds good can’t wait <33 lmk what i should wear!
She closed her phone and took a deep breath, watching as Viktor came up with a response of his own. Forging things, jumping across rooftops; perhaps the scariest part to Caitlyn was that she truly had no idea what the final result of their respective partners’ antics was going to be. “It’s going to be fine, right?”
“Of course it is,” nodded Viktor, still somewhat convincing himself, “we’re going to have a great time.”
But honestly, as the two of them strolled side by side to the strip of restaurants by the engineering building, Caitlyn couldn’t even find it in herself to be nervous. It was the calm before the storm, so to speak. They’d already done everything they possibly could to prevent any disasters, and just because Jayce and Vi seemed to cause trouble wherever they meant, it didn’t mean they were completely hopeless. Whatever happened would happen.
At least, that was what Caitlyn told herself when it eventually came time for her and Viktor to part ways for the day, bidding goodbye as if they were soldiers going off to war.
Why did he agree to this.
Dear gods , why did he agree to this.
Jayce was leading him, carefully guiding the hand holding his cane and his other hand on the small of his back to keep him steady. The blindfold over his eyes blocked out any preview of where they were going, so he was completely dependent on Jayce to take them to the coveted date spot.
When they first got in the car that morning, Viktor was wracked with nerves. He initially refused Jayce’s request to blindfold him, worried about not being able to see something going wrong, but embarrassingly folded after his partner softened his eyes and pouted, explaining that he didn’t want to ruin the surprise early.
That’s how he ended up blindfolded for the entire drive and apparent walk to wherever they were going. He was surprised that they didn’t get pulled over for looking suspicious through the windows, but once they arrived, Jayce was quick to run around to the passenger side and help him out of the car. It would have been an adorably sweet gesture if Viktor’s eyes weren’t covered by a thick cloth.
Stepping out, he could immediately smell the salty breeze through his nose, feel the wind gently whipping through his hair, and hear the sound of waves crashing against his ears. They were by the ocean, he presumed. It explained the uneven ground too, making it necessary for them to walk slower and more carefully, with Jayce making sure each step with his cane was steady and safe.
His boyfriend was uncharacteristically quiet too, which did nothing to soothe Viktor’s own anxiety. Rationally, he thought, Jayce was probably just nervous about the date, having planned it for so long with Vi. Unfortunately, the past week of preventing the pair’s disasters from escalating left Viktor with an insurmountable dread of what was to come.
His mind was filled with the worst scenarios. They were getting further and further away from the road, which meant it would be harder for any emergency services to arrive should something happen, which meant that if anything happened it would be up to him and Caitlyn to fix by themselves.
Oh Gods, was he about to die ?!
“I can hear you thinking.” Jayce’s voice was far too light for how Viktor felt.
He swallowed in lieu of a proper response.
“Don’t worry V, I’ve been planning this all week with Vi. We made sure everything was perfect . You deserve nothing less.” Jayce finished his talk with a kiss to the top of Viktor’s hair.
Curse his stupid sweet amazing boyfriend. Any thoughts about trying to turn back were replaced by a peaceful acceptance. At least if this was it, he would be with the most thoughtful and loving man in the world in his last moments.
No more than a minute later, they paused in their steps. Viktor was about to ask what was wrong when another voice spoke up from nearby ahead of them.
“Yes! You guys are finally here!”
Light suddenly assaulted his vision as Jayce took off the blindfold. He took a minute to adjust to the change but once he had his bearings, was met with the sight of a Vi and Caitlyn waving at them. The two of them were casually kneeling on a spread out picnic blanket under the shade of a tree, with a bottle of wine and several glasses sitting around an impressive display of very delicious looking food.
Looking further up he could see over the coastal park they were at to view the ocean, waves lapping against the cliff below them and reflecting the light from the sun like diamonds.
His eyes met Caitlyn’s, the soft amusement on her face calming the rapid beating of his heart.
“Did you two do all this?” He gaped in awe.
“Vi made the spread, and helped us find this park actually.” Jayce rubbed a hand along Viktor’s back, smiling boyishly at him. He finally noticed the large bag that Jayce was carrying, but didn’t mention it as he allowed Jayce to lead him to the blanket to sit by the other two.
Viktor hesitantly glanced down at the ground, worried about putting pressure on his leg; but before he could express his concern Jayce was already pulling out a few pillows that he recognized from their living room, positioning them to make a comfortable seat for Viktor.
He loved his boyfriend so much, damn it. Such a gentleman all the time.
“Ehh, it was nothing - not compared to what Jayce helped me make.” Vi poured wine into the glasses as Viktor sat down with Jayce, nudging Caitlyn by the shoulder as she finished her sentence. As Vi did so, Viktor couldn’t help but notice that the sun glinted off a necklace he’d never seen before, a thick silver chain with a heart-shaped charm dangling from it. It had Caitlyn written all over it.
“Oh? And what is it that you two made?” Cait asked, brow going up as she nodded to Jayce’s bag, which made a clinking noise when he gently set it down.
“Later Sprout, for now let’s just enjoy this. Vi worked really hard to make everything.” An arm snaked around Viktor’s shoulders, and he melted into his boyfriend’s hold, letting go of the last of the tension he still held in his body.
The food really did look delicious. There was an array of both savory bites and sweets that had Vitkor salivating. Everything was heart shaped and presented beautifully on the blanket in front of their group.
“Alright then,” Vi piped up again, holding her glass of wine up. The three of them followed suit. “To us!” They all clinked their glasses together, then Vi turned to Caitlyn. “Happy Valentine’s, Cupcake.”
Caitlyn’s smile got impossibly warmer, and she leaned in to get closer to her girlfriend. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Vi.”
They kissed, and Viktor turned away to give them privacy. He looked to Jayce, whose face was written in complete adoration and with his golden eyes peering lovingly at Viktor.
“Happy Valentine’s Jayce.” He initiated, bringing his lips to Jayce’s before the other man could reciprocate.
“Happy- Valentine’s- V- Viktor!” Jayce got out between kisses, his hand playfully running through Viktor’s hair and tousling it.
“Ok that’s enough you two.” Vi rolled her eyes at them, but still wore a smile on her face. “I’m starving!”
***
The food was amazing. Viktor had no idea Vi was such a great cook. He had been initially concerned about the bowl of cream that was set out for the fruit in the spread, but Caitlyn leaned over and discreetly whispered to him that it was dairy free. Ah, that must have been the one that Vi’s younger sister swapped out then.
The four of them chatted about anything and everything. At several intervals, Jayce and Vi recounted their several get-togethers over the week to plan the day out. Viktor and Caitlyn shared several glances whenever they got to a story that the two of them were unfortunate to be intimately familiar with, but it wasn’t enough to sour the mood of the conversation. They had silently vowed to take it to their graves after all.
As the picnic dwindled down, their conversations became shorter as they were content to just be in everyone’s company. Viktor rested his head on Jayce’s shoulder, enjoying the slivers of the late afternoon sun that shone on his face through the leaves and the feeling of the light breeze on his neck. Jayce shuffled where he was sitting, jostling his bag and causing its contents to make a clinging sound again.
“Oh right! We spent some time in the forge too-“ Jayce gently prompted Viktor to lift his head while he began to unzip the bag. Vitkor shot Caitlyn a weighted glance. “-and we both made you guys a little something.”
Vi perked up, an excited grin on her face as she reached over to take out whatever she made with Jayce. Viktor cautiously peered over with Caitlyn, curious about the contents of the bag. Their partners pulled something out, and it reflected the beams of sunlight that poked through the trees. It was a-
Oh.
Oh wow.
It was a pair of beautiful glass sculptures, each sporting a long green stem with a pair of leaves and two flowers near the top. Jayce handed him the one he was holding while Vi gave hers to Caitlyn.
Upon closer inspection, he saw that one of the flowers was a red carnation, while the other was a yellow calla-lily. It was their favorite flowers, blooming from the same stem in a perfect union. The flowers were made with incredible craftsmanship too, each petal and stamen detailed beyond belief with grooves and divots. The creativity and care were so uniquely Jayce that Viktor had to actively control himself from tearing up at the gift.
“Jayce it’s… I love it.” Viktor felt a little breathless. He pressed the flowers to his nose, despite not having any fragrance, but enjoyed the texture of the glass on his nose regardless. He peered up to his boyfriend, affection lacing his voice. “Thank you.”
“Anything for you.” Jayce softly spoke. He clasped his hand on the stem over Viktor’s, bringing the sculpture closer to their bodies and he leaned in to kiss Viktor. “I love you so much V.”
Viktor smiled into the next kiss, and the two of them remained like that for a while. He spared a glance at the other couple, who were wrapped up in a similar affectionate intimacy. Their flower was equally as beautiful, sporting what appeared to be a violet and a white camellia. How fitting for the two of them.
When he finally pulled away, the low sun casted a golden glow on Jayce, bathing him in an ethereal warmth. Viktor would stay there forever, if he could. The breeze was turning a little frigid however, and he slightly shivered at the next gust that blew over them. Jayce, ever observant, slung his jacket over Viktor’s shoulders and began to pack up the remains of their picnic back into Vi’s basket. Viktor and the other two got up as well, stretching out their stiff limbs and gathering things together.
He looked towards Caitlyn, meeting her gaze and shrugging, unsure of what was next. He could tell that she was as blown away as he was over their partner’s gestures, immediately forgiving all of their accidental transgressions throughout the week over how perfect the picnic had been. Still, he wasn’t exactly sure of what they were doing now that the picnic was over.
His thoughts were interrupted as Vi squeezed Caitlyn’s arm, breaking their eye contact and drawing her attention towards Vi.
“Cupcake, there’s one more place I want to take you today. Is that alright?” Vi grinned at Caitlyn, whose eyes slightly widened.
“Oh! Of course, I cleared out my whole day to spend it with you.” She took Vi’s hand in hers, matching her smile.
“Me too, actually. If you’re feeling up to it, Viktor.” Jayce stood in front of him, holding his bag and playing with the buckle on the strap as he offered his hand to Viktor.
How could he not be? He felt like he had fallen in love with the man all over again, the cool glass of the sculpture in his hand holding the same weight as his own gift in his pocket. At least he hoped it could compare.
“Absolutely, I’d love to, Jayce.” He accepted his partner’s hand, and the four of them began to make their way back to the parking lot.
He took in the surroundings this time, admiring the features of the coastal park and the small trail down to the lot, where Jayce had parked next to Vi’s Jeep. They said their goodbyes to the other couple while packing things away in the trunks, and he and Jayce waited for Vi to pull out before following suit.
He felt excited, wondering where Jayce was planning to take him.
Cait playfully bumped her shoulder against Vi’s as they walked from the car to date location number two - thankfully without a blindfold, this time. They had driven for about thirty minutes from the picnic spot on Piltover’s coast, and only stopped once they were in the heart of Zaun.
They’d spent most of the drive in a comfortable silence, their shared playlist playing softly through the car’s speakers, recharging from the excitement of their picnic with Jayce and Viktor. She couldn’t help glancing over once or twice at Vi during the drive, though, admiring the necklace Caitlyn had gifted her earlier. It suited her very well, and Caitlyn commended herself for her excellent taste.
Spending most of her time in the neighbourhood around Piltover Uni, Caitlyn didn’t come to Zaun often at all. The architecture was noticeably different, tall buildings and brighter lighting - even the colours of the city seemed to stick out with their own glow. She almost felt glad that her visits here were such a rarity, so that the beauty of the city would never dull and lose its charm.
“So, were you surprised?” Vi asked as she led Caitlyn down the street, searching her face for approval. They hadn’t had a proper debrief of the picnic yet, and Cait had to choose her words carefully so as not to betray the vow of silence she’d made with Viktor the day before.
“Yes!” Caitlyn assured her, “yes, I had no idea you were planning any of this. It was really sweet, Vi. Thank you.”
Her glass flower was wrapped safely in a scarf and placed gently in the backseat of Vi’s car. It was honestly a completely unexpected gift, even though she had the knowledge that Vi and Jayce had been working together in the forge. For some reason, her idea of the metalworking department had always been more akin to large clanging hammers and hot steel, as opposed to intricate glass figures beautiful enough to bring tears to her eyes.
That something so perfect could have resulted from her week of stressing and worrying… Caitlyn felt rather silly. Of course it was perfect. Of course Vi made it perfect for her .
“So what’s this mystery place we’re going to now?” she wondered aloud, feeling a little lost in the completely unfamiliar neighbourhood.
Vi fished her wallet out of her pocket and pulled two plastic cards from it. She handed one to Cait, who turned it around in her hands. It was black and had a string of random numbers on the front, as well as a pixel logo she didn’t recognise.
Continuing to be frustratingly ambiguous, Vi simply told her, “Somewhere I’ve been wanting to take you for a while, actually. We’re here.”
Cait looked up from where she had been analysing the card, and was met with a building in front of them with that same pixel logo painted across the front window. In fact, the whole exterior of the building was covered in paint, small colourful shapes and designs sprawling up the sides and even covering some of the sidewalk in front. The clash of multiple different songs playing at once sounded muffled through the door, and the pieces suddenly fell into place.
It was an arcade.
“I used to come here all the time when I was little,” explained Vi, a little bashfully as she held the door open, “I came in to get the cards earlier, so they already have a bunch of credit on them.”
Was Caitlyn really that easy to please? A healthy dose of competition, and she was already sold on the idea. Not to mention, she’d been itching for something to win at even more than usual after the whole video game debacle earlier in the week.
She followed Vi through the busy arcade, admiring the retro decor and impressive array of games. Under the neon lighting of the place, Vi’s bright pink hair looked even more vibrant, her face youthful and unfairly pretty as she pointed out the various machines.
“No way, this thing is still here!” Vi exclaimed, bounding over to one of the games at the back of the arcade. The mechanism looked like some kind of punching bag with a scoreboard next to it, “This was my favourite when I was a kid. Mostly ‘cause none of my siblings could ever beat me.”
The high score on the screen displayed 948 , however that was supposed to be measured.
“Let’s see how you do, then.” Cait requested, tapping her card against the scanner by the side of it before Vi could walk away, and the punching bag began to lower.
Mock-showing off, Vi stretched her arms and rolled her shoulders as if she were warming up for a strenuous weightlifting session rather than an arcade game. Then, with a full view of Vi’s large biceps through the tight sweater she was wearing, Cait watched with vested interest as her girlfriend absolutely slammed her fist into the bag, eliciting a loud thwack .
The number on the scoreboard shot up and up, before slowing down for emphasis at the end and slowly crawling its way to the final score: 967 . A couple of onlookers clapped and whistled as Vi gave a dramatic bow for her performance.
“Now your turn!” Vi announced, grabbing Cait’s hand to lead her to one of the shooter games. This one was considerably more modern than the punching game Vi had just won, with a huge vertical screen flat against the wall and two swivel chairs in front. A gun-shaped controller was perched in front of each seat, and the two of them took their places. It was vaguely reminiscent of Space Invaders , with 8-bit graphics and high-pitched pew pew noises that assaulted Caitlyn’s ears every time she pulled the trigger on the gun.
Needless to say, she destroyed it.
Not sated yet, she and Vi worked their way through the various other shooting games in the arcade - from a dinosaur-themed game in a little booth where they had to put on 3D glasses, to one on an ancient-looking tabletop arcade machine that took a few tries before all the buttons actually responded to being pressed. And together, they crushed every single one.
Vi faithfully collected all the prize tickets they won from each game, remarking about how great of a team they were.
“See? I told you, my failure to win a Call of Duty game was a once-off.” Caitlyn boasted, picking up a stray ticket that had dropped to the floor.
Vi grinned, powder-blue eyes sparkling. “I never doubted you for a second, babe.”
In the end they only won enough tickets to exchange them for an array of sweets and snacks, which was frankly offensive given how well they’d played - but near the exit was a line of claw machines filled with plushies that they must have missed on the way in. They were all filled with different things, from chip packets to electronic devices to toys.
There could still be another victory yet.
Vi’s face lit up as she jogged over to one of them. “Oh, what the hell? Look how cute these are!”
“Vi, those things are such a scam!” Caitlyn warned, because although they looked enticing, these things were incredibly dangerous. She couldn’t help recalling the many times she’d been baited into gambling on crane games by cute prizes, only to lose shameful amounts of money.
“Nuh uh, not these ones,” Vi insisted, “I used to win plushies for Powder here all the time.”
Still skeptical, Cait shrugged, “Whatever you say…”
Despite her doubt that the machines were capable of doing anything but sucking up money, she watched as Vi exchanged her plastic card for a handful of coin tokens to use on them. And, true to her word, it only took Vi a few tries of cursing and carefully maneuvering the pathetic metal claw to win a stuffed animal from one of the crane machines. It was a purple bunny with big stitched eyes and a head disproportionately large for its soft body, which she promptly handed to Caitlyn.
Try as she might, Cait couldn’t even hide how impressed she was. The bunny was a pretty sizeable prize too, which she cradled gently in her arms all the way out of the arcade. As they approached the car, she made a show of playfully snuggling it while Vi got out her keys. They may have been leaving the date location, but that didn’t mean the night had to end yet.
“ I won that for you, by the way.” Vi muttered at the sight of Caitlyn’s doting, falling right into her trap.
“What,” she protested innocently, “I’m not allowed to appreciate my gift?”
Seeing through her act, Vi pretended to think very hard about her response. “Hm, maybe you should show your appreciation in some other way…”
Caitlyn stuck her chin out like a test, falling into a familiar pattern of banter, “Could I? Like what?”
Vi responded only with a smirk, taking Cait’s chin in one hand and grabbing the wrist of the arm holding the plushie with the other, easily pinning it against the side of her car. Caitlyn knew her game was up, leaning up and allowing her girlfriend to crowd her against the car door.
The kiss started off chaste, but quickly turned to more as it so often did. One became two, two became three, and three became Vi pulling away to get to Caitlyn’s neck.
“We’re going to get arrested for public indecency.” Caitlyn cautioned, but made no move to stop or move away.
“Don’t care. It’s Valentine’s, they can give us a pass.” Vi shot back, “Plus, you can bail us out, miss criminal justice .”
She couldn’t argue with that.
Wait.
Yes she could.
“I have a better idea,” she ran her fingers through Vi’s shaggy mullet, then brought them down to rest atop her shoulders, “My parents are out for dinner tonight, we could have the house to ourselves..?” Cait suggested, tugging flirtatiously at the chain around Vi’s neck.
“Uh, yes ! Get in the car, baby!”
She didn’t miss the way Vi enthusiastically pumped her fist in the air as she scrambled to the driver’s side of the car. This was turning out to be a very successful Valentine’s Day after all. As they sped through the streets of Zaun back to Piltover where Vi had picked her up earlier that day, Caitlyn hoped Viktor was having a similarly positive experience.
Viktor didn’t realize where Jayce had driven them until it was nightfall. They talked the whole way there, conversation flowing as easily as it always did between the two of them. Viktor felt like time had no meaning, holding the glass flower in his hands throughout the drive and laughing at Jayce’s jokes.
It wasn’t until he noticed that the streetlights got noticeably dimmer that he realized they ended up outside of Piltover. In the distance, he could just make out the dark outline of gothic buildings and smaller lights, they were at the outskirts of Zaun then.
“Jayce… Where are we going?”
“That’s part of the surprise.” Jayce smiled, still watching the road. “No blindfolds this time though, promise.”
Viktor huffed in mock exasperation.
“Was that your idea?” He inquired, more amused than annoyed but still trying to play the part.
“Vi’s, actually. I thought it was funny though.” Jayce teased. “Ow-!”
Viktor elbowed him from the passenger seat, but Jayce laughed despite his outburst.
Soon, Jayce stopped their car by the side of the road. When Viktor got out, he looked around in recognition. It was… The watering hole from his childhood.
“C’mon, this way.” Jayce waved him over, holding his bag again and leading him down the pathway to the shore of the fissure’s stream.
Viktor felt overcome with nostalgia. He hadn’t come back since he left for the academy, but could clearly remember making the same trek down, new invention in hand and ready to test it by the water. This was his sanctuary, away from the hectic streets of Zaun and the prying eyes of his neighbors.
And now he could share it with Jayce, how precious.
He was starkly aware of the gift he held in his pocket again, wondering when the right time would be to give it to his partner.
When they made it all the way down, Jayce took out the pillows again, but also the red and blue blanket from their apartment. He spread them out, taking a seat and patting the space next to him for Viktor.
He complied, sitting down, and watched the stream through the pale moonlight and starlight that shone above the fissure walls. Wait… Starlight?
He looked up to see a galaxy of stars dusting the clear night sky. Constellations were strewn across its canvas, adorned with twinkling jewels billions of kilometers away.
“I know you’ve always wanted to see them in Zaun, but never had the chance.” He looked back down to see Jayce’s soft smile. “Vi helped me scout out this place too. You mentioned coming to the fissures as a kid pretty often, so she helped me find exactly where it was.” Jayce laid back, stretching out on the blanket and peering up at the night sky. “It’s beautiful.”
“It is.” Viktor followed suit, laying down and taking Jayce’s hand in his. “When I was young, I never thought I’d see stars in Zaun. The first time I did was in Piltover, and I wanted everyone to experience it too.”
“Now they can, because of you.” Jayce squeezed his hand.
Viktor felt like he was floating, as though the universe consisted of nothing but him, Jayce, and the stars in the sky. If he closed his eyes, he swore he felt weightless, suspended in the galaxies hand in hand with Jayce.
“Because of us . You’re my partner.” he opened his eyes again, turning to smile at Jayce.
“You know…” his boyfriend started. “I’ve been enamored with you since the day we met. I thought you were the prettiest person I’d ever seen.”
Viktor heard him say this often, but still flushed at the memory of their first meeting.
Speaking of their firsts…
“Oh!” he let go of Jayce’s hand, digging through his pocket to take his gift out. “It’s not as eh, intricate as the flower you made me, but I also got you a little gift.”
Jayce’s face brightened at his words, and got impossibly brighter as Viktor placed the gift into his palm. Jayce brought it closer to his face, inspecting it under the moonlight.
“Viktor…Is this?…”
“Yes, I kept it this whole time… I engraved it the other day.”
It was a singular cog, engraved with both of their names and the date from when they met four years ago. When they had first begun their partnership, their first experiment was a risk like no other. They went behind the university’s back to test it out since Jayce had been banned from doing so, and the machine was unstable at first. The cog had burst out from the hardware and slightly chipped, unable to be put back in, so Viktor kept it as a keepsake from that night.
Over time, sitting in Viktor’s drawer for so long, it became slightly tarnished. When he started to engrave it however, he decided not to polish it, thinking that its multicolored webbing looked pretty.
“The start of our partnership… Viktor, this means the world to me.” Jayce’s voice was reverent, golden eyes sparkling as his thumb traced over the grooves of the cog.
Viktor relaxed, comfortable that he was able to reciprocate a gift that Jayce loved as well.
“I’m gonna marry you one day V. I’ll make you the happiest man in the world, I swear it.”
Viktor chuckled, leaning over to press his forehead against Jayce’s.
“You already do, my love.”
Jayce’s hand came up to hold him in place, the other brushing his hair behind his ear as they pressed closer, making it feel like the world around them disappeared and it was just them and the stars again.
Viktor could stay there for infinite lifetimes.