Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Vi started the day before the Time of Snowdown’s Eve like she did any other day: wake up before the sun, throw on a cut-off tee, and get her ass to the gym. Ice and snow covered the sidewalks, forcing her to tread gingerly instead of her usual jog down three blocks.

She held her gym bag in one hand, and scrolled through her phone with the other, reading through the set of notifications which had populated overnight. There were the usual chain restaurant loyalty emails begging her to ‘Start Your Snowdown Morning Right With Us!’ or asking ‘Need To Warm Up? We’re Open!’. She told herself everyday that she would unsubscribe from the emails, but resigned herself to making that a Time of Snowdown’s resolution instead.

Vi glanced up as she reached a crosswalk, looked both ways, and went to step off when a throat cleared beside her. First she looked up at a man who was giving her some serious side eye. Then she looked down at a child who was so bundled she resembled the Michelin Man instead of a six year old.

Vi sighed and placed her boot back on the concrete. She supposed the few seconds of waiting were worth it to set a good example. She absentmindedly pressed on the cross signal while checking her texts.

From her sister, Jinx, was a blurry picture of a raccoon with glowing eyes on her workshop table. The timestamp read [3:14 AM]. Vi grimaced and sent her a text asking if she was willing to go on a rabies prophylaxis series. It would probably be a handful of hours before she got a message back, her sister preferring to mirror the schedule of bats instead of other humans.

The red hand turned into a white walking signal, and Vi continued her journey. She looked back down once she was safely on the sidewalk.

[1:57 AM]
Cupcake, Esq.

I just got home.

Will try again tomorrow. The storm
grounded all of tonight’s remaining
flights.

[6:40 AM]
Vi

sorry cupcake :(

any luck today?

Cupcake, well, Caitlyn, had been trying to fly to Ionia for the better part of the past two days. Her parents had already flown from Piltover a week earlier and were enjoying the sun and heat in Ionia, while Caitlyn had been stuck in her office trying to get a client’s Ne Exeat bond to clear before court staffing dropped to a skeleton’s crew for the holiday.

Days earlier, Vi had nodded along during a video call with Caitlyn as the lawyer vented. Vi had been cooking dinner while Caitlyn paced around her living room, going out of frame every few seconds. It felt comfortable to Vi, intimate, made her feel as if Caitlyn were standing a few feet away instead of being in the next borough over.

Vi was silently self-impressed that her childhood obsession with all things gladiators had her recognizing enough Latin to piece everything together. That, and she truly did pay attention to the work stories Caitlyn had shared throughout their friendship.

If her eyes glazed over as Caitlyn huffed out a breath of air and tied her hair up in a ponytail before continuing her tirade, well, that was Vi’s own little secret. They had a good thing going, had for the past two years. And besides, some pining was good for character building or whatever else it was Vi told herself to fall asleep at night.

A perfect storm had struck to ruin Caitlyn’s Time of Snowdown plans:

The first hearing judge fell ill from food poisoning at the top of her docket. With more time in between the bond conditions being approved and another chance at a judge’s approval, the opposing party made edits to the bond, as was their right. (Vi had laughed as Caitlyn mimicked the expression on the opposing counsel’s face when his client requested edits on the steps of the courthouse.) Herself and the opposing counsel worked quickly, reaching conclusions for one another after ten minute calls and hot bursts of text messages, but the edits continued to come. Once things were legally squared away, the world decided to give them all an early gift in the form of a record breaking blizzard. So Caitlyn was stuck, waiting at the airport alongside her client whose Ne Exeat deliberations seemed to have been for naught since it didn’t appear the parent or child would be able to leave Piltover either.

Vi pushed open the doors to Smite City Gym, relishing in the warm air that met her fingers and nose. She gave a short wave to the usual morning crew at the front desk, then made her way towards the locker room. As she pulled off her winter coat and placed it into a locker, she was surprised to hear a text notification ping. It usually took an hour or two for responses to come in, with not many people being as early to rise as Vi even outside of the holiday season.

[6:51 AM]
Cupcake, Esq.

Perhaps. There’s currently a crew
clearing the runways.

[6:51 AM]
Vi

did u get some sleep at least?

Vi watched with growing doubt as a text bubble appeared then vanished. She set her phone down on the bench in front of the locker and pulled off her snowboarding pants, revealing the red gym shorts she wore underneath. She then tugged off her boots and replaced them with her gym shoes. When she looked back, a response had appeared on her screen.

[6:52 AM]
Cupcake, Esq.

ENjoy your workout.

*Enjoy

She considered her question answered.

[6:52 AM]
Vi

find a comfy airport bench pls

She got a thumbs up reaction to the text message and snorted. It was something.

Vi slid her phone into her shorts pocket and put in her earbuds. She hoped by the end of her workout that Caitlyn would be on her way to Ionia, getting closer to sunshine, warmth, and her family.

Vi pulled open the doors to The Last Drop with a grunt, the strong winter winds doing everything in its power to keep it vacuumed shut. She sighed with relief as she stepped into the warm bar, already feeling the snow on her lashes melting.

“Shut that door, will you?” a man called out from the bar counter. He stepped around and began to walk towards Vi. “You’re going to make a bunny slope in the foyer at this rate!”

Vi rolled her eyes as she shoved it shut with a shoulder. “I almost turn into a snowman coming over to help you and that’s the greeting I get?” She took her beanie off and began to try and fix her hair.

“Sure is,” the man said gruffly. He loomed over her with a frown, hands on his hips. A moment later, his face split into a grin and he took her into a bearhug. “Happy Time of Snowdown, Vi.”

Vi groaned as she was squeezed by Vander, her heels leaving the floor for a moment. “Easy, easy, old man. Don’t want to throw out your back again.” She breathed in the familiar, warm smell of cloves and smoke that hung on the man’s sweater. “Time of Snowdown’s still two days away.”

“That means I have three days to keep telling you.” He pulled away and placed a hand each on Vi’s shoulders, looking down at her with pride. He brought one of his large hands up and ruffled her the majority of her hair. “Come on, Lane, let’s get to work.”

“Seriously?” Vi groaned as she attempted at getting her hair to get back into the effortlessly disheveled look she was going for. Despite herself, she bit the inside of her cheek, trying not to let a bashful smile peek through.

They worked together around the bar like the sprocket and chain pairs in the engineering feats Vi designed at Hextech Bionics. They pushed together tables and chairs without needing words; one sprayed down surfaces while the other was close behind with a rag; a fresh bucket of mop water was brought out as the primogenitor began to cool and turn turbid. It was a successful start to their seasonal deep clean.

Sure, there were three other Lane kids Vander could get to help him, but he and Vi preferred being able to spend time this way— the two of them took the phrase ‘idle hands make fretful minds’ just a bit too much to heart. Thankfully, it left The Last Drop glimmering for the new year.

Ever since Vi had moved from Zaun to Piltover to be closer to work, she found herself speaking less and less with her technologically-challenged dad. Her siblings tried to convince him every year to upgrade from his brick of a phone (“You know your phone emits high levels of radiation, right?” Claggor had tried to urge him), even going so far as pitching in on buying him a new phone for the previous year’s Time of Snowdown. Still, the phone sat unopened for three months before Mylo, her youngest brother, returned it to the electronics store before the receipt expired.

Vander broke their silence, his voice carrying over the yacht rock station he had playing over the bar speakers. “Your sister told me you got some good news at work.” He held two wooden chairs on each arm, ready to place them underneath one of the high top tables.

“Yeah, we finally got the ATLAS model functional. Viktor was proofreading my code and saw I was missing a line I swore had been in there. I talked it through with Stink Maw and everything,” she said with a groan. Stink Maw, gifted to her by Jinx, was a purple rubber duck with a mohawk she read her code aloud to whenever she renewed her consideration of going missing in a national forest to live off the land.

if (coding == madness) {
          life.executeCareerIn STEMField();
          }

“I typed it in and,” she slowly moved her arm in and out the way the robotic arm had, “she turned right on.”

Vander turned around to grab more chairs, walking back and forth as he moved them all to their correct places. “I’m proud of you, Vi,” he told her with a grin.

It meant the world to her. The “Thanks, Dad” she let out was just quiet enough it granted Vi plausible deniability.

He didn’t understand all of the intricacies of her work in spite of the lessons in modern technology his kids had subjected him to over the past decade and a half. He would call himself an old dog with his own book of tricks— no more empty pages left to write on. Still, he knew his daughter was a hell of an engineer; knew every day she was working towards making a life-changing difference in a stranger’s life. That was the crux of where Vi needed his understanding to sit.

“How’s Viktor doing anyhow? You need to tell him to come back for a drink— I’ve got an Entrosolean liqueur with his name on it,” Vander said with a nod.

“I’ll let him know,” Vi said with a smirk.

The Last Drop had hosted a few mixers for Hextech Bionics over the years, giving Vander the chance to place faces to the names he would hear through his tinny phone speaker anytime their schedules matched up enough to talk. Vander had fallen into a deep set, blissful, bromantic adoration with Viktor when the engineer had shown up wearing a scarf from the local sports team Vander had rooted for since he was a child.

“And what did Dr. Talis think of your work?” Vander asked with a grin Vi could only describe as shit-eating.

Her distaste for her supervisor was a known secret in the Lane household, one she mimed wringing necks over when it got brought up around Caitlyn. It was one of her adult life’s greatest injustices, that Vi’s favorite person was for all intents and purposes the younger sister of Dr. Jayce Talis. And damn if Caitlyn didn't adore him, and him right back.

It wasn’t that he was aloof or verbally abusive to Vi the way some of the principal investigators in her graduate program had been. In fact, he was supportive of almost everything she did, even going so far as saying he thought she was a great addition to the team.

The issue was that his ego had gotten away from him more than once after he was named on the Ferros’ Piltover’s Most Influential Leader list two years in a row. It made working on projects with him feel like an uphill battle when every line of thought was met with a “Yes, and” or immediate correction. He was passionate, brilliant, and so was she, but Vi wasn’t the best at handling his level of concentration for eight hours on an average day.

Crunch times and their accompanying twelve plus hour days made Vi thankful she had noise cancelling headphones, fielding almost all comments through their company’s desktop text feature. Viktor’s dry wit was more her speed, reminiscent of tinkering with Claggor in the garage as kids.

And sure, maybe Vi acknowledged in her pinky nail that Jayce’s ego was somewhat minorly warranted, but she had seen him burn his eyebrows off twice, and thus made it an unofficial part of her job description to keep the guy on his toes.

Mylo had once astutely observed over dinner that she probably didn’t like Jayce because she couldn’t handle anyone having a bigger ego than her. The comment almost had Vi breaking her years-long hiatus of punching her brother in the face. She had been 26 at the time, but initiated a food fight so destructive it had Vander intervening.

Back in The Last Drop, Vi picked up one of the plastic menu holders off of a table and chucked it at Vander’s head. He caught it easily, tossed it back to her underhand. She ignored his question.

“Wow, sounds like he gave you an earful,” he said after a few moments of silence.

Vander was going to get a second menu holder thrown in his direction.

“Whatever, he may have been impressed.” She rolled her eyes. “The guy isn’t even a decade older than me and talks to me like he’s you.” Vi gave him a sharp glare when he chuckled quietly.

Vander held his hands up in truce. “It sounds like you were deserving of the praise,” he told her softly.

Yeah, Vi supposed she was. It was unbelievable to her how easily she felt herself become a kid just wanting to impress her dad when she was around Vander.

Vi rolled her shoulders, trying to look casual. The bar looked almost entirely set up save for the picture frames to straighten out and the windows to clean. While they finished their last tasks she asked Vander about how business was, how Uncle Benzo was after the small fire at his mechanic’s shop, about whether or not Uncle Silco would be making an appearance and when.

They really caught up on everything, Vi finally mentally relaxing for the first time since… probably since physical modelling had started on ATLAS nine months prior.

Vander poured them celebratory glasses of amber, one large ice cube in each of their drinks. They clinked their glasses together and then moved towards the row of dart boards in the far right corner of the bar.

Spending her formative years upstairs of a bar meant Vi had a mean record when it came to darts. She and Vander threw at their own boards, going from playing regulation style to classic bar games.

Vi was lining up her shot to hit ‘17’ in their match of Around the Clock when Vander broke the silence once more.

“How’s the Kiramman girl doing?”

Vi threw wide, the dart lodging itself in the plaster.

Vander chuckled as he landed his shot on ‘17’, winning the game.

“Why do you ask?” Vi told him with a huff as she went to retrieve her dart. As she pulled it out of the wall, some paint flecks chipped off. Serves him right.

“According to your sister-”

“Jinx is full of shit.”

Vander let out a bark of laughter. “I should tell you to not talk about your sister that way…”

Vi rolled her eyes. “I’m an adult.”

“Aye, but you’ll always be my little girl,” Vander cooed.

An actual chill of cringe went down Vi’s back.

Vander laughed once again at her expression. “Let an old man be loving to his daughter, yeah? To his pride and joy. To the one who lives so far away–”

“–my drive here was thirty minutes–”

“–during the holiday season.” He turned around and blinked his eyes at her twice.

“You’re senile.”

Vander hit ‘18’ on his board. “I’m curious how things are going between you, is all. Can you blame your old man?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

Vander had met Caitlyn a handful of times as her friendship with Vi developed. The Last Drop was an easy place to use as a jumping point for all things Zaun, with Vi relishing in being able to show a favorite someone all of her favorite places in her hometown. Drinks on the house and being able to watch Caitlyn become more comfortable with her family were well worth the constant ribbing she got from Mylo and Jinx.

The first time Vander had met Caitlyn, Vi hadn’t even known her as yet. It was at the first Hextech Bionics mixer at The Last Drop. A woman had strode in on Jayce’s arm, her dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and her long legs leaning this way and that as she greeted people. Mel, the company’s head of patent law, had grabbed her by the elbow quickly, and they divulged into swapping stories from when they had last seen each other.

Vi had, pathetically, looked like a deer in headlights when Jayce finally introduced them two drinks later. She schooled her face into looking nonchalant behind the rim of her pint.

Jayce had grinned, oblivious to Vi’s crucible, as he launched into an elevator pitch on all things Caitlyn Kiramman. Caitlyn looked a touch embarrassed, elbowing him in the ribs as she cut him off. “I can introduce myself, Jayce.” He flushed and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck, then threw finger guns at the two of them as he went to grab another drink. Vi hadn't missed him throwing his hands over his face in embarrassment when he reached the bar.

(Vi liked her immediately.)

She watched as Vander threw another dart and nailed ‘19’. Show off.

He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to speak.

“She’s actually not doing too good right now.” Vi took her phone out of her pocket, and saw that there wasn’t a new notification from Caitlyn. She opened up the text, reading the last message in their thread. It was from Vi asking around lunchtime if she had any luck. The text had been delivered, so she knew Caitlyn couldn’t be airborne. Then again, she wouldn’t be surprised if Caitlyn had bought in-air Wi-Fi or even had an annual subscription for that.

Vi looked back up and saw concern etched across Vander’s face, her face quickly cracking with an uncomfortable smile. She hadn’t meant to leave him hanging. “She’s okay! Just stuck at the airport.”

Vander breathed out a sigh of relief. “You had me worried, kid,” he said, taking a swig from his drink to really send his point home. “I’m sure she just wants to get where she’s going. And… now I’ve made sense of what your sister shared with me.”

Vi grimaced. “Do I want to know?”

“Probably not.” Vander held his tongue for all of five seconds before saying, “She says you’ve been waiting by your phone like a wartime wife.” He accentuated his point by glancing down at Vi’s phone still held in her hand.

Vi very seriously considered changing her name and leaving the country. With a scoff she slid her phone back into her pocket and took up a dart.

She landed on ‘17’, the game back on. When it was just the two of them, they didn’t really keep score. “She’s worried about not making it to Ionia by tomorrow.” Vi didn’t really think there was a chance, what with the inches of snow that had built up in the ditches and gutters since she had first arrived at The Last Drop.

“Well, if she can’t reach her family, you should invite her over here.”

Vi threw wide on ‘18’. She blanched. “I’m sure she has a back-up plan.”

“And if she doesn’t?”

Vi threw again, hit ‘18’. “She’s Caitlyn: she always has a back-up plan.”

Vander shrugged. “Just… keep it in the back of your mind, yeah?”

“Sure.” ‘19’.

He tossed his dart and landed on ‘20’. “Alright.” Mercifully, it seemed he allowed her to avoid answering the whole question. “Come on, the water heater has been making a weird noise. You mind checking it out?”

Vi smiled sideways as she followed him down the stairs. Time to put on her family contractor hat, now.

Vi rolled her truck to a slow stop as the snow around her continued to fall. The music playing from the radio quieted as a text notification interrupted the song that was playing.

[5:42 PM]
Cupcake, Esq.

All remaining flights have been
cancelled. Rather unfortunate.

Vi glanced back up from her phone and saw the light was still red.

[5:42 PM]
Vi

that sucks! u heading home now?

[5:42 PM]
Cupcake, Esq.

Trying to. Everyone and their mother
is attempting to hail a ride. All the
drivers around me are busy.

Vi saw the light turn green and made a split second decision.

”Hello?” Caitlyn’s voice came through the car speakers, slightly muffled through the wires.

“Hey, cupcake. Said you need a lift?” Vi asked. She glanced in her mirrors and got into the right lane, making her way towards the highway onramp.

The sound of airport announcements came through as a garbled mess in the background. “Yes, but I’m sure once the ride sharers drop their current passengers off they’ll circle back in an hour.”

Vi clicked her tongue as she got onto the highway. “Well, sucks for them ‘cause I’m ten minutes out. You gonna give me a tip and five stars?”

Caitlyn laughed and to Vi it sounded like bells. “You’re being too desperate. You’ve just lost a star for asking.” There was finally a small smile in her voice. “What are you doing out anyway? The ice on the roads is horrendous.”

“I was helping out Dad.” Vi cursed as a freight truck threw slush into her lane, some of it landing on her wipers which were already valiantly attempting to clear the falling snowflakes.

“Ah, yes. The holiday deep clean?”

Vi grinned since no one could see her. No one had to know she was sentimental over Caitlyn remembering that tidbit. “That’s the one. What terminal are you at?”

Caitlyn hummed, filling the dead air in the call. “Terminal 3, Door 2.”

“Sounds good, cupcake. I’ll see you soon.”

“Drive safe, Vi,” Caitlyn said softly.

Vi slowed down as she scanned the curbside for Caitlyn, seeing nothing but unfamiliar faces hidden beneath scarves and hoodies. Almost everyone looked miserable, people shouting into cell phones beneath one terminal sign, while under another a family huddled together with tired eyes. Almost everyone.

She found Caitlyn, who was wearing a ridiculously large black puffer jacket and matching beanie with a pom pom to top it off. She was the one grinning face in a sea of frowns. Vi matched her expression.

Vi pulled over into the loading lane and hopped out of her truck quickly, moving as if the action were one motion as she grabbed Caitlyn’s suitcase and placed it in the back row. When she closed the door, some snow flew off from the motion and landed softly on her and Caitlyn’s faces. Vi wiped across her nose, her hands stinging in the cold. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Caitlyn responded breathlessly.

Vi cracked a small smile and jutted her chin up at Caitlyn. “Nice hat. Your mom get you that?”

If looks could kill, Vi would be struck down where she stood only to be found come springtime once the snow melted. “You did not just make a ‘your mom’ joke at me,” Caitlyn said with a beautifully pissed off quirk of her brow.

“That wasn’t even really a–”

A car honked at them, causing them to jump apart with wide eyes.

“Get in! It’s cold as shit!” Vi called out. She listened to Caitlyn’s laughter as they shuffled in the sludge on either side of the truck and hopped in.

Vi glanced in her mirrors as she pulled back out and began driving towards the airport exit. “I’m sorry you’re stuck here for Time of Snowdown,” she said as she flicked on the seat warmers.

Caitlyn removed her gloves and placed her hands in front of the warm air coming from the car’s vents. “While it would be nice to be somewhere warmer, it’s not the worst thing to happen. Living with my parents and grandmother for ten days was going to be an experience.” She hummed wistfully. “Though I do wish I was having my father’s congee right about now.”

Vi let out a chuckle as they got back onto the highway. “Yeah, I’d love to spend Snowdown with your dad.”

Caitlyn groaned. “I swear if I gave you my father’s phone number, you two would become better friends than we are.” She reached down with a familiar hand and pulled a lever. Her seat leaned backwards and her eyes shut.

“Can you blame me? Your dad is a riot,” Vi countered.

Vi and Caitlyn had exchanged phone numbers at that first mixer at The Last Drop, Vi making the excuse that she wouldn’t get the chance to keep talking to her otherwise since Caitlyn was technically crashing the Hextech Bionics party.

(“Is it crashing if I was invited by your boss?”

“Semantics.”)

They had stayed in near constant contact since then— Caitlyn teaching Vi how to shoot trap and how to enjoy the opera when you can’t understand a word being sung; Vi teaching Caitlyn how to identify what hole in the wall restaurant was worth your time and how riding a motorcycle isn’t that different from riding a horse, honest, cupcake.

If almost every company party found them sitting hip to hip, Vi’s arm at home across the back of Caitlyn’s chair and Caitlyn’s slender fingers running a trail of heat across Vi’s knuckles, well, that was for them to figure out.

It was a few months after that first party when Vi met Caitlyn’s father, Tobias, at a fundraiser for his clinic for amputees, co-hosted by Hextech Bionics and Ferros Financial. By that point, Vi had considered themselves good enough friends so she hadn’t felt completely mortified when she realized the guy with jokes and a beard she was talking to was actually Caitlyn’s dad.

(“Oh, Caitlyn! I’ve been having a lovely chat with your friend, Vi.”

“Cupcake! Your dad was just telling me about last year’s fundraiser when he totally wiped out.”

“Spirits, that stray ice cube nearly caused me to rupture a tendon…”)

Vi glanced over at Caitlyn when she didn’t get a response. Her head was leaned against the frosty window, the beanie providing some protection between her skin and the cold. “Did you eat anything today?” Vi asked softly.

Caitlyn blinked blearily, as if she were learning the words Vi spoke to her in real time. “Oh. No, I don’t believe so.”

“You’re not sure?”

Caitlyn leaned over to jab a finger into Vi’s bicep. “Listen, I haven’t slept in two days. Send your letter of intent to sue to my office.” She crossed her arms and shut her eyes once again.

Vi ran her tongue over the slightly different texture of her false molar, thinking. She pulled the truck off the highway at the next off-ramp. “I won’t stand for that. You got any food at home?” She knew all of the takeout places Caitlyn liked were closing early that week and wasn’t keen on the idea of giving Caitlyn drive-thru fast food after she had been subsisting on shitty airport food the past few days.

Caitlyn shook her head, eyes still closed. “No. I emptied the refrigerator in case I made it to Ionia.”

Vi hummed as she thought some more. “If you want, you can take a nap at my place while I scrounge something together. You’ve got your suitcase if you want to take a shower or whatever,” she offered.

Sleeping at each other’s apartments wasn’t a completely foreign subject to either women. Movie or game nights with friends that ran too late for public transit to be running regularly, or that involved too much alcohol for either to feel safe driving home, had been the usual catalysts. Even when Vi’s excuses were lackluster and she really just wanted to stay in her gravity, Caitlyn brought out the usual duvet and blanket. At this point, Vi considered herself to be well-acquainted with Caitlyn’s sectional.

Still, Vi knew what she was offering was separate from their norm, but the bags under Caitlyn’s eyes made her desperate on the other woman’s behalf.

“Sounds good,” Caitlyn answered with a yawn and without protest. Shit, she really was tired. “You’re a great cook,” she muttered. She snuggled into herself deeper as she tightened the cross of her arms.

A few minutes later Vi pulled into her building’s parking garage. She turned off the engine and looked over at Caitlyn, really looked at her.

Even exhausted, with cheeks flushed red from the cold, bags puffy under her eyes, her mouth hanging slightly open as she slept, Vi thought she was beautiful. The hopeless romantic part of her wanted to do nothing more than to walk to the passenger door, take Caitlyn into her arms, and carry her upstairs so she didn’t have to disturb the serenity she saw. She could take two trips, one for Caitlyn, one for the bags, and be the white knight in her Snowdown story.

Vi reached out and gently shook her on the shoulder. “Hey, cupcake, we’re here,” she said softly.

Caitlyn jumped slightly, eyes blinking back into focus. She stretched her legs out in the footwell, her long reach causing her to kick the hard plastic. “Thank you for the ride,” she said softly, tired eyes boring into Vi’s soul.

Vi breathed in sharply and turned away. “Sure thing,” she called as she stepped out of the car. She removed the suitcase from the back row and passed it off to Caitlyn who insisted on pulling it up to Vi’s apartment.

”I’m tired, not dead, Vi. I can handle my suitcase and pack.”

Inside Vi’s apartment they kicked off their shoes and left them by the door, hung up their snowy jackets on the hooks on the back, and moved into the kitchen.

Vi wordlessly filled a glass with water and passed it to Caitlyn who gave her a tired smile as thanks. She leaned against the kitchen counter as she spoke. “If you want to take a shower, food’ll be ready in about forty minutes.”

Caitlyn brought a hand up to her face and let out a weak laugh. “I think I’d fall asleep standing up in the shower. I’ll just wait on the couch if that’s alright.”

“You sure? Because…” Vi waved her hand in front of her face as she held in a smirk. The absolute horror that went across Caitlyn’s face had her backtracking faster than you could say ‘Happy Time of Snowdown’. Her eyes even looked watery. “Shit, I’m kidding, cupcake. Cait.”

Caitlyn still looked aghast. “You— stop it. I am vulnerable right now.”

Vi had the decency to at least try and look guilty, though she bit hard on the inside of her cheek to maintain her composure. “Go relax,” she said in a tight voice. She was positive Caitlyn could see the restraint she was exercising.

Caitlyn gave her one more withering expression before gently squeezing Vi’s forearm, then turning towards the living room.

The living room and kitchen were really just one room with a wooden dining room table acting as a barrier between the two. Anytime Vi turned around from where she was preparing food, she got a great view of Caitlyn attempting not to fall asleep. Her head was bobbing as she watched what sounded like a Seraphine music video on her phone.

Vi prepared a baking tin of gnocchi, fresh chopped mushrooms, and dairy-free cream, then slid it into the oven. As she listened to the mushrooms pop and soften, she poured oil into a pan. She turned around to face the living room while the oil warmed. There, she saw Caitlyn’s head hanging off the back of the couch, out cold.

Vi left the kitchen to grab a blanket from her bedroom. She had bought the blanket, an obscenely fuzzy tangle of threads covered in hot pink cheetah print, the first time she ever got high as a teenager. It had seemed like a great investment at the time, and was a hilarious package to surprise herself with when it was delivered a week later.

Slowly, without waking her, Vi rotated Caitlyn so she was laying longways on the couch with her head against one of the well-loved, mismatched throw pillows. The taller woman hummed contendly as Vi placed the blanket over her. “Sweet dreams, cupcake,” she whispered.

Vi returned to the kitchen and made quick work of sauteing spinach and garlic, then grating vegan cheese on top when she removed it from the burner. Next, the gnocchi came out from the oven and she dumped the spinach on top, then stirred everything together.

Not half bad for scrounging around.

She glanced over at Caitlyn, whose fist was curled under her chin. Small whistles of air escaped her lips with each exhalation. Vi decided to take a shower, in the hopes that the other woman would be hungry enough that she woke up on her own by the time she got out.

Vi walked out of her bedroom with a towel around her neck, catching the water droplets that fell from her hair. She startled slightly when she turned and saw Caitlyn sitting up and staring at her owlishly. “You good, cupcake?” she asked. She held back a laugh at the sight of Caitlyn still cocooned within the ridiculous blanket.

“Something smells divine,” Caitlyn croaked.

Vi grinned and walked into the kitchen. “You look cozy. I’ll bring it over.” She spooned the gnocchi into two bowls, passing one over to Caitlyn as she sat down. Caitlyn shuffled to one side, leaving a gap for Vi, but despite that their knees somehow figured out how to knock into each other as they settled.

Caitlyn brought a forkfull into her mouth and sighed. “I may cry.”

Vi snorted as she knocked her shoulder into Caitlyn’s. “Now you’re just flattering me.”

“Will flattery get me anywhere?” Caitlyn countered with a quirk of her eyebrow.

Vi halted her fork in the air, her chest fluttering. She shook her head and stuffed it into her mouth. What the hell. “Depends on where you’re trying to go, cupcake,” she answered with a full mouth.

Caitlyn sighed as she leaned her head back and shut her eyes. “Your bed, preferably,” she groaned.

Vi choked on a mushroom.

Caitlyn opened her eyes and sat up quickly. “Oh my god.”

Vi coughed wildly.

“I didn’t mean–”

Vi wheezed as she felt the mushroom unlodge itself. “Wow.”

“I meant to sleep.” A pause that lasted a lifetime. “Obviously.” Caitlyn brought a hand up to cover her face as she leaned forward and rested an elbow on her knee.

“Obviously,” Vi parroted with an uneasy laugh.

They ate in silence for a few moments before Caitlyn let out a snort of laughter, which led to Vi snickering, which led to Caitlyn’s turn on choking on food. Vi howled with laughter.

Caitlyn wiped at the tears which had formed in the corner of her eyes, from the laughter or rogue piece of gnocchi, she couldn’t tell. “Thank you for this,” she said breathlessly.

Vi shrugged as she grabbed their bowls and brought them to the kitchen. “It’s no big deal. You know I like to cook, you’re doing me a favor.” She dropped off the bowls into the sink, resolving herself to wash them once she was sure Caitlyn was tucked into bed and passed out for the foreseeable future.

“No, I mean… I’m exhausted and cranky and about to be alone on Snowdown but somehow you’ve made me laugh so… thank you,” Caitlyn told her with a soft smile. She stood up with a slight sway, still wrapped tightly in a blanket. “Now did my flattery work?”

Vi blinked at Caitlyn a few times, replaying the words she had said. No back-up plan. Vi thought that was a conversation to have with a well-rested Caitlyn. “Yeah, you’re not beating the ‘trying to get into my bed’ allegations.” Vi relished in the huff Caitlyn puffed out. “Come on, let’s get you tucked in.”

Vi trailed behind Caitlyn so she could lean against the doorway to her bedroom as she watched the other woman drop herself unceremoniously onto her bed.

Caitlyn had insisted on sleeping on top of the sheets since she hadn’t showered yet, so she resolved to cocoon further into the hideous cheetah print blanket.

“If you need anything, I’ll be out here,” Vi said with a jerk of her thumb towards the living room.

Caitlyn nodded sleepily.

“Night, Cait,” Vi told her softly and shut the door.

Vi sat down on the couch and kicked her feet up onto the coffee table. She began to scroll through her phone, catching up on missed notifications since leaving The Last Drop. She snorted as she was sent a series of pictures from Jinx, with each one showcasing her wearing a different ugly Time of Snowdown sweater in a dressing room mirror.

[7:04 PM]
Vi

I can’t believe ur at the mall rn

on snowdown’s eve eve

if I worked retail I would kill u

[7:05 PM]
scuttle butt

okay but which one is funnier

this is urgent

[7:07 PM]
Vi

the one with the snowman

[7:10 PM]
scuttle butt

thx

Vi received a picture a few moments later with Jinx flipping her off in the dressing room mirror, the words ‘Snowballs Deep’ emblazoned across the front of her sweater. She let out a puff of air from her nose, then situated herself to lie down on the couch to continue her scrolling. The same throw pillow Caitlyn had used earlier was wedged in the same spot behind Vi. She turned her face to the side, breathing in deeply and smelling Caitlyn’s conditioner on the pillow.

Vi turned her head back up and blinked at the ceiling. “Shit.”

Chapter Text

Caitlyn woke up with the worst case of dry mouth she had experienced since her university hangovers. She groaned and pushed herself up onto her palms, eyes searching for relief.

Water.

She drank greedily from a glass on the bedside table, only pausing when it was time to return the glass back down. This wasn’t her room.

Caitlyn blinked quickly as she looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling, then down at herself with slight panic. The sight of the hot pink blanket wrapped around her body brought her heart rate back down. She had spent the night at Vi’s.

Hidden within the folds of fabric was Caitlyn’s phone, buzzing as she got a notification. She squinted in the dark room as she read the time, then flicked away from the pop-up Sugar Smash had sent her. Instead, she searched for her texts.

[6:45 AM]
Vi <3

gmorning sleeping beauty

im going to the grocery store. if u need
anything text me

make urself at home

Caitlyn smiled at the messages as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. The rest of the previous day, or days, really, from lack of sleep, came back to her. Some low, like the screaming customers at the airport and the realization she wouldn’t see her parents, and some high, like Vi cooking her dinner and worrying over her.

[7:02 AM]
Caitlyn

Thank you again for everything.

Did I really sleep for twelve hours?

[7:03 AM]
Vi <3

SHE LIVES!

I was gonna send ur parents a sorry for
ur loss card

[7:04 AM]
Caitlyn

Now my mother can call off the search
parties.

Speaking of mother. Caitlyn had sent her parents a text message about the snow grounding all flights out of Piltover, but the difference in time zones made a phone call a merciful impossibility to Caitlyn’s fried brain. Making that call was high on her list of priorities, but first she needed to address the layer of stress sweat she could feel on her neck and shoulders.

Caitlyn was grateful Vi’s shower had only one handle, still not trusting her foggy brain to work a more complicated set up. She relished in rubbing the grime from the days before from her skin and letting the warm water run over the knots in her lower back.

The sight of her soap and conditioner fitting perfectly next to Vi’s soaps in the shower caddie gave Caitlyn pause. It must have been the steam in the shower that made her chest tight, she told herself, as she neatly repackaged her own toiletries into her suitcase.

Vi, bless her, had a kettle which Caitlyn made quick use of, finding herself sitting on the couch a few minutes later with a slowly cooling cup of tea. She scrolled through her phone contacts, landing on ‘Tobias Kiramman’, and pressed the video call icon. Her grandmother’s house was roughly ten hours ahead of Piltover, so she figured they were having their pre-dinner tea on the veranda.

“Caitlyn!” Her father’s voice came through cheery, with a bright smile across his face. He was also sitting on a couch, even an ocean away. “We were just talking about you. How are you doing, petal?”

Caitlyn leaned back on the cushions and tucked her feet under herself. “Much better than yesterday— the airport was exhausting. How’s NaiNai?”

He chuckled. “Well you look well-rested! Mum is good. She’s been cooking up a storm the past few days to cope with your absence— we’ll be returning to Piltover with a freezer’s worth of food for you.”

Caitlyn smiled wistfully, remembering last year when she watched over her grandmother’s cooking. Caitlyn wasn’t blind to the fact she was hopeless in the kitchen, leaving almost every attempt at her stove with a burn instead of a full stomach. She found use instead in her long reach to grab things for her grandmother off of high shelves and to carry platters from the oven to the veranda.

Sure, her family had a penchant for butting heads and driving each other up the wall, but they were hers. She couldn’t help the ache over her heart as she heard her mother and grandmother speaking in the background.

“Now you wouldn’t believe it but your mother is,” Tobias glanced over his phone and lowered his voice into a stage whisper, “relaxing.” He continued speaking as his daughter laughed. “She’s making spiked eggnog as we speak. Don’t tell my Mum.”

Caitlyn leaned her elbow against the back of the couch and brought her fist up to rest her cheek on. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Caitlyn’s mother, Cassandra, came into view as she passed a cup to Tobias. “Ah, thank you, dearest,” he told her affectionately. He took a sip and his face twisted immediately as he sputtered.

“You said to make them strong,” Cassandra quipped as she took a sip of her own drink with a stony expression.

Caitlyn let out a breathy laugh in disbelief. She wasn’t quite sure what universe she had fallen into. It wasn’t everyday she heard her mother making jokes, or at least attempting to do something in the ballpark of comedy.

Cassandra folded her torso as she leaned in closer to the phone. “Caitlyn, darling, where are you?” she asked as she squinted at Caitlyn’s background.

Caitlyn let out an exasperated sigh. “Hello to you, too, Mum.”

Cassandra waved a hand in the air. “Yes, hello. I don’t remember your walls being cream unless you’ve been staging renovations during your free time.”

Her father was possibly the most relaxed surgeon to exist on Runeterra. Her mother, meanwhile, the most shrewd lawyer. Caitlyn begrudgingly supposed she took more after her mother.

“No, I stayed with Vi last night. She picked me up from the airport.” Caitlyn watched with a quickly warming face as Tobias’s face broke into a grin and Cassandra curiously raised her brow.

“Well that’s a… nice development. Isn’t it, dear?” Cassandra asked, turning to her husband. He was already nodding. Caitlyn thought her mother’s mouth had far too many teeth in the shocked smile she flashed the phone.

Caitlyn brought a hand up to her face and groaned. “It’s absolutely not what you think. I was exhausted yesterday after all the days at the airport and she offered to make me dinner. Strictly platonic.”

Cassandra hummed. “Yes, and Piltover is hotter than Shurima.”

“What?” Caitlyn asked with a moan. Either her mother was speaking gibberish, or twelve hours wasn’t enough sleep.

“Oh, I thought we were naming things that aren’t true.”

Tobias poorly concealed a laugh as a cough into his fist. The withered expression on his daughter’s face made him scramble to ease the tension, even if he had shared with Caitlyn that he thought she had a thick-head at moments. “Right-o, well, please call us again when you can! And tell Vi ‘hello’ from us.”

Caitlyn rubbed at her forehead. She needed another twelve hours of sleep once this call was over. “I will, I will–” She looked up as the apartment door opened.

“I’m back, cupcake!” Vi called as she shut the door. She smiled softly as her eyes landed on the couch. “There you are.” She dropped the grocery bags off in the kitchen and returned to the front door to take off her boots.

“Cupcake?” Cassandra asked incredulously. Her father seriously needed to stop smiling.

Caitlyn wished the couch would turn into a black hole.

Vi walked towards the living room, taking off her beanie and pulling down her hoodie. “I’m thinking breakfast sandwiches for– oh, you on the phone?”

“Yeah, just catching up with Mum and Dad,” she answered while vaguely shaking the phone in the air in front of her.

Vi’s face broke into a grin as walked around to the back of the couch. She proppd her elbows down on the back and leaned her head into frame. “Hey, Happy Time of Snowdown Eve, Mr. and Mrs. Kiramman!” she greeted. Caitlyn could feel the heat of her from less than an inch away. How was it Vi had gotten so close so quickly, so comfortably? “You guys having a good time?”

“Happy Time of Snowdown Eve to you as well,” Cassandra responded with a polite nod. Her usual sharp expression was back and Caitlyn wondered if she was doing that just to mess with Vi.

“We are!” Tobias answered. He got closer to the screen. “You’re looking well! Are you, what was it you told me… bulking?” He nodded to himself proudly. If Caitlyn wasn’t so mortified, she may have found the interaction endearing.

Vi puffed her chest out proudly. “Yes, sir! Thanks for noticing.” She brought a hand up to her mouth and whispered to Caitlyn. “Your mom can fight, right?”

Caitlyn let out a large snort. “I’ll talk to you both tomorrow. Tell NaiNai ‘hi’— maybe I’ll see her next time we talk.”

“We will, petal! You two have fun,” Tobias said with a wink. Bastard. Her parents waved before she hung up.

Caitlyn stood up, taking her cup of tea with her. “You said something about breakfast sandwiches. Anything I can help with?” she asked. She took a cursory sip and relaxed further.

Vi went through the bags of groceries, placing eggs, bacon, two packs of sliced cheese, and bagels on the counter. She turned around and placed the rest of what she bought into the fridge and cabinet as was appropriate. “I’m good– my kitchen looks better without scorch marks.”

“I’m not that bad,” Caitlyn tried weakly.

Vi leveraged a pack of cheese at her as she spoke. “Remember when you set spaghetti on fire?”

Caitlyn gasped and placed a hand on her chest. “Don’t you start! I bought the food that night, it was no harm to your wallet.”

“It was harmful to my sanity.” That earned Vi another classic Kiramman eye roll. She pressed the pack of cheese into Caitlyn’s hands. “I got this fancy looking vegan cheese for you, but I have no clue how it melts down. Have you used it?”

Caitlyn smiled as she took hold of it. “Yes, I use this brand when I make grilled cheese.”

“Oh, so you can cook?” she called over her shoulder as she folded up her reusable grocery bags and slid them into the pantry.

“One thing, because you claim microwaving oatmeal doesn’t count as cooking,” Caitlyn admitted as she held a finger up. Her voice softened as she spoke again. “You didn’t have to buy this for me.”

Vi shrugged, her body possibly trying to look indifferent, though her eyes shone bright. “You can’t have a breakfast sandwich without cheese. It’s illegal.”

“As a lawyer–”

Vi pressed a finger to Caitlyn’s mouth, causing her face to warm at the proximity. “I’m the judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to breakfast food: it’s illegal.” She removed her finger and got to work on taking two pans out and greasing them.

Caitlyn let out a huff of laughter. It was added to the short list of legal cases she had lost.

She leaned against the counter next to the stove, watching Vi prepare the food. “So what are your plans for today? I can order a ride home anytime.”

Vi motioned for Caitlyn to come over, talking over the sizzle of bacon in one of the pans. “You’re looking at it for the most part. The family is gonna do our Snowdown’s Eve movie night at six, though.”

Caitlyn had heard of this tradition from Vi over the years. Sometimes it was an old black and white film, other times a new animated movie that bordered the uncanny valley. The quality of the movie was never important, nor was the level at which everyone actively watched it. Really, the only thing that mattered was that the whole family would squeeze onto, and usually overflow off of, the two couches in Vander’s living room and spend time together for a few hours.

Caitlyn watched as Vi cracked three eggs and began to fry them. “Do you know what Jinx picked out for you to watch this year?”

Vi grimaced as she flipped the eggs. She cracked black pepper across the top of them. “Something is telling me it’s this, like, C-grade animated movie I heard her and Ekko make fun of. I think it’s called ‘The Furies of Freljord’?”

“Oh, ‘The Furious Flurries of Freljord’?” Caitlyn offered.

Caitlyn had met Jinx more than a handful of times over the two years of knowing Vi and The Last Drop, but it only took five minutes into their first meeting for Caitlyn to categorize Jinx as ‘unorthodox’ in her mind.

Jinx was brilliant, something that clearly ran in the Lane family if Vi was any point of reference, constantly busying herself by either tinkering with a box of wires in a corner booth or blasting music in the back alley as she welded sculptures. But Caitlyn thought she used those abilities to increase the ever growing chaos of the universe instead of helping to reign it in.

Jinx had a movie review blog that would make even the most seasoned of cinephiles blush from inferiority, yet for every crushing novella-esque analysis she posted, a 40-minute video on why she thought movie awards shows should have a category for baby sensory videos was never far behind.

Vi let out a groan. “Yup, that’s the movie.” She began to pick up the pieces of bacon and rest them on a plate with a stack of paper towels on it to soak up the oil. “Even the title sucks.”

“Mel sent me the trailer when it first came out. She said she’s never seen a more unnerving animation style in her life,” Caitlyn said with a slight curve of disgust in her upper lip. “I’m inclined to agree.”

“Right?” Vi posited incredulously. “Why are you even trying to make a movie about evil snowmen? I love those guys.”

Caitlyn hummed sympathetically. “So many injustices in this world.” The snowmen she and the Lanes made in local parks were trusted allies and advisors, adorned lovingly with scarves of moss and carrot noses— not spiritus creatures of Snowdown to be mocked as demons and devils.

Vi gave her a sideways grin, in on the secret. She placed the bagel halves face down on the bacon pan and lightly toasted them. “You should come,” she said after a beat.

Caitlyn paused her opening of the vegan cheese packet. It was tempting but… “Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to impose,” she said with a shake of her head.

“You wouldn’t be,” Vi said smoothly. She flipped the bagels up and began to stack the bacon and eggs on top. She dropped a dairy slice of cheese on one, then motioned for Caitlyn to do the same on another. “It was, uh, actually Dad’s idea. When I told him about your flight problems he said if you were stuck and had nowhere else to be, I should invite you.”

Caitlyn bit her lip as she held back a smile. “That’s very kind.”

Vi scratched the side of her cheek with the handle of her spatula. “It’s okay if you don’t want to,” she said quickly. She stared down at the cooking food. “I just remembered you saying something about being alone for Time of Snowdown.”

Something in Caitlyn ached a little, hoped a little.

“No, I…” Caitlyn let out a breathy laugh. “Thank you, Vi. Truly. I suppose I’m just nervous to intrude so suddenly.”

Caitlyn had met every member of the Lane family, even the extended ones like Vi’s uncles. They were welcoming, if a bit excitable. They all reminded her of Vi, each one of them being a separate thread in the tapestry that made her.

“You’re practically a part of the family,” Vi said with an easy shrug.

Caitlyn swore she saw a flush cross Vi’s face, told herself it was from the heat of the stove.

“Though, uh, just be prepared for all of the jokes about… us.”

No, it was definitely a flush.

“And Mylo’s flirting,” Vi added quickly.

Caitlyn scoffed. “I’ll make it abundantly clear that his advances are useless.” She had done so several times before. It was a running bit at that point, something to make Vi glare at Mylo while Caitlyn held in a smile.

“Oof, he’ll be starting Time of Snowdown with a heartbreak,” Vi told her as she knocked their shoulders together. She dropped the tops of the bagels onto the bottom stacks. Breakfast was ready.

Despite Vi having two more pieces of bacon and an extra egg on her sandwich, she finished first. Caitlyn watched as Vi tapped her fingers against the table antsily, her eyes darting from the food, to Caitlyn’s eyes, to the kitchen. She got up after a few seconds of bouncing her leg and went towards the sink.

“I hope you’re not doing the dishes,” Caitlyn called out.

When Vi turned around, she was met with a stern look. Cassandra Kiramman had taught Caitlyn well.

“You did everything last night. I’ll do it this morning,” Caitlyn said without room for disagreement. She placed the last of her sandwich in her mouth and stood up.

“I don’t mind doing it, cupcake,” Vi said as she stayed standing in front of the sink.

Caitlyn made a ‘shoo’ motion, getting Vi to step back. “It’s the least I can do.”

Vi grunted without really agreeing. Idle hands and whatnot. She hovered behind Caitlyn, finding ways to make herself busy.

Caitlyn bit the inside of her cheek as she watched Vi straighten the line of spice bottles on her countertop as if she were a general inspecting a battalion.

“Can I bring anything tonight to your family’s get together? I’d hate to show up empty handed,” Caitlyn said conversationally. She soaped and washed down the plates, set them to dry.

Vi crossed her arms as she thought. “Nah, we usually just do popcorn, cookies, and hot cocoa. It’s the least balanced dinner ever.” Caitlyn wasn’t opposed. “If you’re not completely over us by the end of tonight, we do a big lunch on the first day of the new year. Uncle Benzo and some of the bartenders come over with their families. It’s potluck style so we can make something tomorrow morning.”

“Ah, is that the rest of what you got at the store?” Caitlyn asked. She scrubbed at one of the pans, the dried pieces of egg giving her a hard time.

“Yeah, about that.”

Caitlyn thought Vi sounded nervous, and tried valiantly to shift her attention away from the soapy food on her fingertips. It was a textural nightmare. “Yes?”

“I looked up a recipe last night. I thought we could make congee?” Vi began to nervously ramble about how it was fine if Caitlyn wasn’t interested, but she wasn’t really digesting the words.

Caitlyn hadn’t meant to drop the pan, but it clattered from the short fall. She looked up with wide eyes. Her own, blue like the core of a glacier, met those gray like a faraway mountain top.

Vi stopped her stammering as she noticed the staring. “What?”

“I–” Caitlyn rinsed her hands in the still running water, then shut off the tap. She dried them on the tea towel hanging above the sink. “You–” She gestured vaguely in front of herself at Vi.

“You, me, what?” Vi asked with a nervous laugh. She scratched one of her forearms, forcing Caitlyn to look at the dark ink over tight muscle. This woman was unbelievable.

“You seriously bought ingredients to make congee?” Caitlyn asked incredulously. She could feel her eyes stinging, her chest tightening. Soapy food be damned.

“Yeah, I mean… I know it won’t be exactly like your dad’s, but we can try and make it close,” she offered with a shrug. She looked to the side and scuffed the tile floor with her socked feet.

Caitlyn wanted to see her eyes again, needed to see them again. She placed both of her hands on Vi’s face and tilted her upwards. “Thank you.”

Vi stammered, and Caitlyn’s eyes were on hers like a dog on a scent. Caitlyn thought her eyes were gray and heavy, an anchor for her ship to moor on. Vi had always been there for her, hadn’t she? Not just in that moment, in that week, but in the years in between where they stood and started.

It was Vi waiting a block away for quick lunches at work, wanting to talk out a problem she was having on a project because she swore Caitlyn was a good luck charm. It was Vi driving her to her favorite diner with the radio turned off after a particularly disturbing day in court. It was Vi face up in a snowbank, trying to make it look like their snow angels were holding hands.

It was Vi who thought they could make congee, together.

Something lurched in Caitlyn’s stomach when Vi’s eyes glanced towards her lips. She could feel heat in her chest, a heaviness in her eyelids, when a plinky synth song blasted from Vi’s right thigh.

They jumped apart as if they had been burnt.

Caitlyn turned quickly back towards the sink and flipped the tap on, allowing for the cool water to run over her clammy hands. Vi, meanwhile, fumbled with wrenching her phone out of her pocket.

The moment was entirely lost.

Vi paced back and forth in front of the couch as she spoke into her phone. She kept rolling her neck, bunching up and dropping her shoulders, all of the moves Caitlyn had gotten used to seeing on the sidelines of Vi’s amateur MMA tournaments.

She looked like she was prepping her guard.

Caitlyn was intensely aware of every word while simultaneously struggling to take in not just the sound, but their meanings too. Her hands were shaking like it was her first oral argument in moot court during her second year of law school.

She shut off the sink and left the pan to dry, but left her hands wet and cool to fold at the back of her neck.

Vi looked at her with an apologetic smile as she began to lap around the coffee table. The sincerity had Caitlyn mirroring a soft smile that she truly couldn’t help.

“Yeah, I’m bringing Cait tonight,” Vi said during one of her rotations. “What? Shit-“ She held the phone away from her ear and winced as a voice too peaked from the volume levels to understand buzzed out.

Caitlyn knew it was Jinx

“Are you finished?” A pause. “No, you,” Vi said, grinning at some joke Caitlyn was only half in on. “Yeah, yeah. Hang on. Cait?”

Caitlyn hummed in response as she began to search her latest social media poison for Seraphine fancams.

“You got any ugly Time of Snowdown sweaters?”

“You have to wear that one.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Cupcake, come on,” Vi groaned, dragging out the final word in a manner that really should have annoyed Caitlyn more.

The offending sweater jingled on its hanger with every movement of Caitlyn’s over extended arms. Poms poms adorned the front, and tinsel lined the undersides of the sleeves like a cowboy’s fringe.

“Why do you even own it?” Vi asked from where she was laying down on her stomach and kicking her socked feet in the air on Caitlyn’s bed.

Something like sentimentality would have been an appropriate answer. After all, an eclectic and mildly estranged aunt had sent it to her one summer, the painfully out of fashion garment painfully sent out of season. But all Caitlyn could muster was a winced, “I am not sure.”

Without ever touching the itchy sweater, she placed it back into the closet and pulled out more sweaters. Many of them screamed “Winter” but didn’t even sniffle “Snowdown”. Vi shot down most of them, but not before commenting on how impressed she was by Caitlyn’s commitment to being cozy.

“You look good in those. Why don’t you wear them much?” Vi commented as she rolled onto her back and hung her head off the bed. The way she looked up at Caitlyn upside down was far too adorable for someone with an impressive TKO record.

Caitlyn held one up before returning the hanger back to her closet. “They only feel appropriate when I’m wintering in the cabin, I suppose.” She chose to ignore Vi muttering “wintering” under her breath. They had talked several times about how only wealthy people seemed to be able to turn seasons into verbs.

The next one Caitlyn held against her chest was fairly simple. It was dark blue with zigzagging peaks of white and red, the pattern only broken up by a row of white snowflakes. It looked well loved, and it was— a sweater her legal mentor, Grayson, had gotten for her when she was accepted into a semester of study in Freljord.

“I like that one,” Vi said with a smile.

Caitlyn turned towards her mirror to get a better look. “Really? Over the abomination?”

“‘Course,” Vi shrugged, somehow the action clear while her head was still pointed down at the ground. “You wore it that first time I took you snowboarding. Why wouldn’t I want a reminder of the day you saved my life?”

Caitlyn groaned as another memory associated with the sweater replaced her thought of Grayson.

Fresh powder had fallen on the mountainside overnight, and a slightly overcast morning sky meant nothing was melting and the snow wasn’t blinding. The wind wasn’t so sheer that Caitlyn couldn’t mostly keep her balance, even if she did “eat shit”, as Vi liked to say, more than a handful of times.

It was almost a perfect day.

Vi had been a cautious and patient teacher, but an adrenaline junkie of a performer.

One of the facts of the case was that Vi was showing off.

For time immemorial, any jury would struggle to come to a consensus on who was at fault for Vi flying into a tree: Vi or the child who crossed her path.

The defending counsel (see: Powder “Jinx” Lane) stated for the record that if Vi had been snowboarding with what is considered usual and reasonable behavior, then she never would have crossed paths with the child to begin with.

The plaintiff’s counsel (see: Caitlyn “Cupcake” Kiramman, Esq.) read for the record the chain of events, which tracked to a bleak beginning: the child’s guardian(s) should not have allowed the child to ski at a pace which was neither usual nor reasonable across the path of an active snowboard jump.

The plaintiff (see: Violet “Vi” Lane) had stated a third reason, which the allied counsel was able to strike from the record: the tree was too well camouflaged by snow for it to be reasonably seen. The plaintiff’s counsel claimed the tree was in fact not an active party in the case and requested only the parties with sentience be considered.

No matter who was at fault, it resulted in Vi dislocating her shoulder.

It was odd to be sentimental over a day such as that. If either Caitlyn or Vi were a few degrees more normal, it likely would have been written off as one of those accidents everyone tries to forget about until it comes time to swap stories with friends over dinner.

Caitlyn still remembers the pain-staking seconds it took her to run to Vi, slipping and almost dislocating a joint herself on the journey. She still remembers dropping to her knees and peeling off Vi’s goggles so she could check her eyes. But what she remembers most, with a grimace, was Vi grabbing her with her good arm and saying she required mouth to mouth.

(“CPR is only performed on the dead, Vi.”

“My guardian angel can’t make an exception?”)

Caitlyn tossed the sweater to Vi and shucked off her turtleneck. She tossed it into the hamper beside her closet door as she walked into the closet and found an undershirt. Despite how much she loved the sweater, the wool was just itchy enough that it gave her hives if she felt it on her shoulders for a second too long.

Caitlyn walked back out of the closet as she pulled on the undershirt. Vi was pointedly looking everywhere but at Caitlyn, seeming to find some interest in the lightbulbs on the ceiling. Odd.

“Vi?” Caitlyn asked as she unbuttoned her pants and tucked the undershirt in. Few fashion faux pas vexed her more than a wrinkled undershirt breaking the line between a top and bottom.

Vi hummed, finally looking at her. Caitlyn didn’t miss her eyes glancing down for a second and then snapping immediately back to the lightbulbs. Extremely odd.

“The sweater?”

Vi seemed to realize she in fact was in possession of it and tossed it backwards. Her aim was rather impressive for someone still hanging upside down.

Caitlyn pulled it on and gave herself a once over in the mirror.

“You look good,” Vi rasped to the ceiling. Supremely odd.

The kitchen of The Last Drop was invitingly warm as the temperature outside continued to drop. The clouds had mercifully held onto their precipitation throughout the day, though there were talks of inches of snow predicted to fall overnight, promising a white Time of Snowdown.

Soft holiday music floated out a boombox Caitlyn was convinced was older than her, of which Vander was noticeably shaking his hips along to. Vi snorted quietly besides Caitlyn before announcing their presence with a grin.

Vander turned around quickly, brandishing the ladle out of the pot he was stirring like a weapon. “Girls!” he grinned and dropped it back in. He gave Caitlyn just enough time to place the gift box she was carrying onto a free space on the counter before he took her into a hug. “Welcome, welcome,” he told her as she lightly shook her side to side.

Caitlyn felt her heels lift slightly off of the tiles and tried her hardest to not let Vander know her balance had been properly thrown. “Thank you for the invitation,” she wheezed out.

“You’re gonna suffocate her, Dad,” Vi drawled from where she was emptying a bag into one of the refrigerators.

Vander dropped Caitlyn, giving her a sheepish look, before turning his attention to Vi. “Aye, don’t think you’re escaping,” he crooned. He took Vi into an impossibly bigger hug, this time fully taking her feet off of the ground. That earned Vander several comments about his age paired with soft pats to his back. “Rest of the family’s upstairs. I’m cooking down here to try and hear my own thoughts,” he told Caitlyn with a wink. It seemed the Lanes kids were being their usual boisterous selves already. “I’ll bring it up once it’s good and ready.”

Vi stepped forward to take a look at the pot. “Cider smells good,” she muttered. She turned to Caitlyn, smiling at her. “Ready to head up?”

Caitlyn glanced at the gift box on the countertop, back at Vi, then to Vander. “Actually, I’d like to stay and help you with the cider if that’s alright.”

Vi’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape, then flashed a thumbs up and made her way towards the stairs in the back.

Vander gave her a friendly yet questioning look. His healthy curiosity was something Caitlyn had always appreciated about the man, never being able to get a fast one by him. “Something on your mind?” he asked while handing her a bottle to open.

Caitlyn looked down at the plastic wrapping around the top and clicked her tongue. “These are the worst to open,” she commented.

“No serrated edge on that one?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Vander shook his head with a chuckle. “Those are certainly the worst.”

Caitlyn found a small edge on the plastic film and tore it, enjoying the small victory as it unraveled in her grasp. She handed the bottle to Vander, who tipped it upside down and poured its contents into the pot. It gave Caitlyn time to grab the gift box and hold it out to Vander with both hands once he was free.

“Oh, you didn’t need to get me something, Cait,” Vander said as he shook his head.

It made Caitlyn smile genuinely. It was customary when exchanging gifts with her family that those her elder would reject anything offered two or three times. Caitlyn held it out again. “Consider it a ‘thank you’.”

“It’s no problem, Caitlyn, truly,” Vander said. It was funny, but Caitlyn swore she had caught him off guard. He even placed his hand on the back of his neck the same way Vi did when she felt embarrassed.

“It’s not just for this evening, but for providing me a second home, as well.” She smiled slightly wider. “And my mother would have my skin for showing somewhere empty handed.”

That seemed to have won him over, as Vander’s face softened slightly. He took the box from her with both hands and his brow raised. “Hefty, is it?” he asked no one in particular.

Vander placed the present onto the counter and gently removed the top. Inside was another bottle of alcohol along with 12 small, golden cups, each engraved with a different deity from Ionia on them.

“It’s a family tradition,” Caitlyn said as she gestured between the items. “We each have a cup of baijiu before and after midnight— at the minimum.” She suddenly felt herself getting nervous and let out a small laugh. “More than two are usually indulged in throughout the evening, however.”

“You take me for a lush, Cait?” Vander asked with a twinkle in his eye as he picked up one of the cups to inspect them.

“You are the bar owner,” Caitlyn countered. That earned her a bark of laughter.

Vander took out a second cup and set them both down on the counter. He handed the bottle to Caitlyn. “Would you do the honors? You know the proper pour, I’m sure.”

Caitlyn nodded with a bit more enthusiasm than she wanted to show, but cropped up letting her guard down to being around a fatherly figure on Snowdown’s Eve. She poured each cup to the top and gently passed one to Vander. “In one go,” she instructed with a nod.

Vander gave a sniff to it and hummed. “Very herbal.”

They clinked their glasses together, the lip of Caitlyn’s cup slightly beneath his, and threw them back.

Vander blew out a steady stream of air while raising his eyebrows. He gently set the glass back in the box. “Unique flavor, that one, I’ll have to try more to figure it out. But, uh, what’s the ABV?”

Caitlyn reached for the bottle and read it with widening eyes. Maybe she should have checked, she simply grabbed her father’s favorite bottle from her small reserve for guests. “53%.”

Vander let out a full bellied laugh at that. “You’re going to have me in bed before midnight at this rate, kid,” he told her with a smack to the back. He left his hand there, causing Caitlyn to turn her face towards his. “Thank you for the gift, Caitlyn. Why don’t you place it out on the bar so I can find a spot to display the cups later, yeah? I’ll take the cider up.”

There was something in what he said that made Caitlyn’s eyes water slightly. The thought of coming into The Last Drop and seeing the cups on a high shelf, for one. But also, the thought of him shuffling other glasses and knicknacks around, wiping off dust and righting bottles to make space for something from her. It made her presence feel all the more welcome, made her grateful for the invitation and for accepting it. There was another reality where she was sitting home alone, most likely preparing for a case with the blinds shut. But thanks to the Lanes, she wouldn’t need to know it.

As Caitlyn ascended the stairs up into the home, she was immediately greeted by the scent of baked goods. Her sweet tooth yearned for some fiercely. It was likely her stomach would have announced her presence if it weren’t for the steady hum of chatter and clanging from the kitchen she heard.

Peacefully, Claggor peered over Ekko’s shoulder on the couch as he played a game on a mobile device. “You missed a coin back there,” Claggor said softly as he pointed somewhere at the screen.

Ekko used the joysticks to go back, muttering a quiet “thanks” and focused back in.

“Oh, what’re you playing?” Caitlyn asked as she leaned politely to the side of Ekko’s other shoulder.

The device went airborne for a moment as Ekko startled, then he and Claggor did a mad scramble above their heads to keep it steady. They each held a corner of the device as it rocked lightly back and forth. “Shit, didn’t hear you come in,” Ekko said with a huff of laughter.

“We’re playing ‘Rosario 64,” Claggor replied. He gave full control of the device back to Ekko and leaned back against the couch, further from the screen for Caitlyn to see better. He had always been the sweetest of the younger Lanes.

Caitlyn watched as the little figure ran around the screen, jumping off of walls and over openings. Ekko didn’t seem to be in a rush while playing, moreso focused on seeing every corner and cracking jokes with Claggor.

However, the game itself was one Caitlyn had played herself, and had perfected, in her slightly unhumble opinion. She had needed hobbies after work that actually let her physically relax because apparently going to a shooting range with high-powered rifles or running a 10K on the treadmill didn’t count as enough of a break.

So Jayce had gotten her a gaming device for her birthday the year before, something he didn’t think she would take such a liking to. But he really should have known better, because anything Caitlyn had the slightest interest in became her next passion project to learn absolutely everything about.

The figure turned down a familiar hallway and all of Caitlyn’s neurons lit up. She tried extremely hard to not sound over excited as she spoke. “You should go to the right, towards the row of torches,” she said not casually.

Ekko glanced out of the corner of his eye. Caitlyn sucked in a sharp breath, trying to play it cool. “Okay,” he said, dragging out the word with heavy doubt.

“You see that torch, third in line?” she asked as she hovered her finger over the screen. Caitlyn could feel a grin spread across her face— she was onto something, damn it.

“Yeah.”

“Run at it, jump, and once your feet are aligned with the topmost part of the flames, slam down.”

Ekko did as he was told, and nothing happened. “Now what?”

Caitlyn was positively crushed. “Try to hit that pixel again.”

Ekko scoffed and did it again. Nothing happened. “Are you pulling my leg?” he asked.

Claggor elbowed him slightly. “You want to try, Cait?”

Caitlyn felt a surge of excitement well up in her chest and could only imagine what her face must have looked like. “No, no, that’s quite alright! Just a speed running technique I thought may be fun to surprise you with.”

“Speed running?” Ekko asked with an incredulous expression. He had paused the game. “You do speed running?”

Caitlyn let out a huff, mildly flustered. “Well, no, not exactly. Not professionally. I’ve never been in formal competition with anyone, but I do enjoy seeing where you can push the limits of the game to, and trying to find my own vulnerabilities to share with the greater speed running community is an excellent boon, but really—“

“Caitlyn! Tell your girlfriend to stop being such a fucking dick!” Jinx yelled as she stormed out of the kitchen after Vi. The title had Caitlyn stopping for a moment, swooning for a moment, really. Yet she had little time to think of it, and little time to try and see if Vi had clocked it, as the cacophony continued.

Vi cackled as she held a bowl of popcorn over her head with one hand while she used the other to literally keep Jinx at an arm’s length. “You’re such a shitty host,” Vi told her sister. “I drive through the ice to come and celebrate with your ungrateful ass.”

Jinx began to kick at Vi’s shin with more force than what wouldn’t hurt, but Caitlyn had grown used to their dynamic enough that she wasn’t phased. “You’re a freak! Give me the popcorn!”

“Cait, help,” Vi said with as much pity as she could muster from her still grinning mouth.

Caitlyn glanced between them unsteadily, reached for the popcorn, and then held the bowl up over her own head. She nodded once, firmly. “Now neither of you can reach it.”

Vi had the audacity to look offended while Claggor laughed at her.

Meanwhile, Jinx wasted no time standing on her tippy toes so she could try her best to stare down Caitlyn. “You are a guest,” Jinx said, punctuating with a jab to her sternum, “in,” jab, “my,” jab, “house.”

Caitlyn was doing an impressive job at not laughing.

“Isn’t your father the one who pays the utilities?” Benzo said as he walked out of the kitchen with a tray of cookies. He set them down with a nod, then turned towards Caitlyn. “D’you mind, lass?” he asked, and took the bowl from her before sitting down on the couch. He chewed on the popcorn happily, ignoring the looks the two sisters gave him.

Jinx groaned extremely dramatically and threw herself across Ekko and Claggor’s lap, Ekko only narrowly saving the gaming device as she clutched it to his chest. She hung her head off one of the arms and mimed committing seppuku on herself. The twitches of life leaving her body were realistic enough it actually had Caitlyn frowning. Caitlyn wasn’t quite sure what to do with the performance.

Thankfully, or unfortunately, Mylo came out of the kitchen a moment later, flashing Caitlyn one of his self-certified, award-winning smiles. “Hello, Miss Kiramman, and Happy Time of Snowdown to you,” he crooned. Around her, the others muttered the same phrase, minding their manners and the occasion, momentarily.

Mylo carried two batches of cookies: one sugar with frosting and sprinkles, the other classic chocolate chip. It was a smooth move on his part, she had to admit, since Caitlyn would almost certainly be circling the treats for the remainder of the evening.

Caitlyn took a cookie from the platter, still warm out of the oven. “Yes, Happy Time of Snowdown to you, as well,” she told him with a soft smile and respectful nod. It was slightly vindicating watching Vi roll her eyes at the interaction.

Vander came out of the kitchen a moment after, carrying his own platter of mugs filled with cider. “Come on, someone get the movie on, we don’t have all evening to mill about,” he said as he stopped in front of every person to pass the beverages.

Caitlyn got one of the prime seats in the house according to Mylo, since she got to sit against one of the arms of the couch instead of smushed between “Dad and fuckin’ Claggor” as he complained. Vi’s thigh burned a line against Caitlyn’s own as the opening sequence started.

Vi had victoriously taken back control of the popcorn bucket, using her heel every few minutes to kick away Jinx, who was reclining on a blow up mattress at the foot of the couches. She leaned over to Caitlyn, her breath warm against the shell of Caitlyn’s ear as she whispered. “You tired of being around my family yet?”

Caitlyn blinked a few times. She could say, no, actually, she couldn’t imagine missing any of this. Or that she had already smiled more in the past two days than she probably had the rest of the month. But instead she said, “The night is still young,” and got Vi to nudge her with her elbow.

The CGI was positively horrific. Somehow, the official trailer had only shown the best of the best. Though it did cross Caitlyn’s mind that, possibly, the trailer has been edited, or even animated on its own, to look better than the finished product.

It took a few more minutes of the horror show for Vi to lean over again and say, “This is worse than I ever imagined.”

Caitlyn snorted, and said, “My firm wishes to pursue litigation,” which caused Jinx and Ekko to quickly hush her from their place on a blowup mattress in front of the couches. It didn’t really feel fair since Benzo had started snoring from his spot next to Vi, but she kept her mouth shut in order to avoid more shushes.

Valiantly, everyone stayed put for the first half hour of the film. Then Mylo pulled out a mancala board for him and Claggor to sit on the floor and play, and Vander announced he was taking a smoke break on the balcony. Meanwhile, Jinx quickly took notes on her phone while Ekko looked between her and the screen incredulously. Every now and then he would take the phone from her grasp and type out a thought or two that had Jinx sticking her tongue out at him.

A particularly loud swell of music signalled what Caitlyn supposed was the rising action of the film, which seemed to give Vi enough cover to safely whisper. “I can’t watch anymore of this movie,” she said, even closer than before.

Caitlyn felt a chill go down her spine from the sound, the heat, the risk of getting another stink eye. She reached out and held Vi’s cheek in place as she spoke back into her ear. “Where’s your Snowdown spirit?”

It would have been so simple for Vi to drop Caitlyn’s hand from her face, and Caitlyn certainly knew she could have let go herself. But she relished in Vi turning to face her as she leaned into the touch. “It’s down somewhere in the valley what's-his-name fell in during Act 1.”

“Sveric,” Caitlyn supplied quietly. “And that won’t do at all.”

“You got a better idea?”

Caitlyn bit her lip for a moment as she thought. “We can join Vander?”

Vi didn’t smoke, at least not regularly the way Vander did. There was a pack of cigarettes by Vi’s front door, sitting next to the bowl that held her truck and motorcycle keys. Caitlyn knew the exact count of cigarettes inside of it.

It was after one of their first times going out alone together. Back at Vi’s apartment, the window unit wasn’t strong enough to fight against the heatwave that was striking Piltover. They sat out on Vi’s stoop in the evening breeze, sitting too close considering the heat which radiated up from the concrete. A neighbor had walked down the stairs, sighing as he flicked a dead lighter, and Vi was happy to help as she removed one from her pocket and offered the flame to him. Caitlyn had asked her if she smoked, of which Vi said only on special occasions, like the time she almost got hit by an 18 wheeler while riding her bike, or the time she got into such a fiery argument with her sister that Jinx blocked her number for two days.

Caitlyn told her neither of those sounded like particularly positive special occasions, and all Vi could do was shrug and ask if Caitlyn had ever smoked. Caitlyn, in fact, had not, having grown up terrified of the pictures of oral lesions and tumors on the boxes she saw the adults around her pull out from coats and clutches at her parents’ parties. Vi told her Zaun didn’t have those same pictures, the boxes were far more lowkey, cooler, even, and she had proof inside.

Upon her return, Vi lit one up and took a slow pull, shutting her eyes for a second. It looked somewhat appealing, and enough alcohol was thrumming through Caitlyn’s veins that she asked for the cigarette and proceeded to smoke it painfully incorrectly.

First, she had sucked it more like a straw, all of the smoke collecting in the back of her throat, then blew out while still holding the cylinder between her lips, which sent ash fluttering into the air. Vi had chuckled politely, then gave her a clearer instruction. The next time, instead of taking one of the light, graceful pulls that Vi had, she filled her lung capacity to the brim. Immediately, Caitlyn’s everything burned, and her chest tightened, and she coughed so hard she had to hold onto Vi due to her vision going dark. Vi laughed so loudly and overwhelmingly that she also got light headed from lack of oxygen, causing them both to lean against each other sweating and barely conscious. They put out the cigarette half-finished, Caitlyn having (un)successfully completed her experiment. To Caitlyn Kiramman, the hype around drunk cigarettes was a myth perpetuated by the cigarette industry.

(“The box is cool, see?”

“It’s… just a red box, Vi.”

“Nah, you don’t get it.”)

They pulled their coats tightly around themselves and slipped through the sliding glass door connected to the kitchen. The smell of smoke outside had mostly dissipated in the wind and all of the old butts within the ashtray lay emberless.

Vander looked up from where he seemed to be watching a highlights reel on his phone. His face glowed red in the cold, though some of that could have been from the string of twinkling lights wound through the metal railing. He looked sheepish as he clicked his phone off and slid it into his coat. “You’re not strong enough either?”

Caitlyn huffed out laughter while Vi rolled her eyes and pulled down her beanie over her ears.

“Jinx seems to be having a great time,” Vi answered instead, though beneath her annoyance, Caitlyn could see something softer. It got the point across.

Vander stood up from the circular table which sat on the balcony, lightly rattling it with his hip as he tried to squeeze past them on the small overhang. “I’ve played hooky long enough. You two enjoy,” he said with a wink thrown towards Vi.

It would have been usual for Vi to roll her eyes or shove him, but, mystically, she glanced to the side and stayed tight lipped even as the door slid shut.

Caitlyn took the opportunity to move towards the railing. She leaned on her forearms, thankful for the thick coat preventing her from feeling the freezing metal, and looked out at the view.

Most of what she saw were other squat, brick and wood paneled buildings stretching down through the neighborhood. The other balconies in the small throughway were covered in lights, with yellow bulbs glowing warmly through the window as shadows passed behind curtains. It was a special kind of being alone, seeing all of this life and excitement just past the veneer.

Vi let out a sigh of relief as she leaned next to Caitlyn and also looked out. “It’s prettier in the snow,” she noted. Vi was always more succinct than Caitlyn was.

Caitlyn hummed in agreement as she leaned her head down and dropped it to lighty rest against the side of Vi’s shoulder. Already, she felt warmer, their sides flush against one another.

Immediately, Vi brought a hand up to lightly prod at the base of her skull. “You got a headache?” she asked, suddenly her voice quieter than earlier.

It was so painfully Vi, immediately reaching out to try and remedy something. Caitlyn shook her head against Vi’s shoulder. “No, actually,” no, she hadn’t felt the hints of a tension headache all evening, even as the animation style sent her hurtling towards the uncanny valley.

Nights out waiting for rides home had left them in a similar position, Caitlyn bemoaning the heels she refused to not wear. But on the balcony then? No, Caitlyn didn’t have a reason to lean on Vi other than she could.

“Thanks for being here, Cait.”

Caitlyn furrowed her brow, then realized there was no way Vi could see her expression. “I should be thanking you. I… can’t help but feel unimaginably lucky for the last 24 hours.”

The shrug Vi did slightly jostled her around and they shared a chuckle over it. “Guess the feeling is mutual.”

Now that was preposterous to Caitlyn. Vi had spent the past day and a half leading up to the holiday running Caitlyn around the city and feeding her. Meanwhile, Caitlyn hadn’t offered anything more than some clean dishes and an espresso from the machine at her apartment. It was possible Vi had meant she was enjoying the past day catching up with Vander, but once again, Caitlyn’s misfortune had caused Vi to split her attention two ways.

It was enough confusion that Caitlyn had to stand up straight and look at Vi with a pinched expression. A multitude of ways to say “what the proper fuck could you possibly mean by that” passed through Caitlyn’s mind when she settled on a politely tight, “How so?”

Vi brought her hand down so she could lean on the railing again and look out. Caitlyn quickly felt the cold air replace where Vi had once stood against her. She wondered if Vi had also felt a shiver go down her spine. “I like having you around.”

Caitlyn couldn’t control the fast breath she took in at the statement. In her list of potential motives, just her presence hadn’t been a consideration. She searched for Vi’s eyes, but she was still focusing out.

Vi looked down at her hands and shook her head with what looked like disbelief. “I was going to miss you while you were in Ionia.” She chuckled to herself. “Pretty crazy, huh?”

Maybe it was the cover of darkness or the baijiu from earlier or the spirit of Snowdown in Caitlyn’s glowing heart— maybe it was all of those combined that caused Caitlyn to reach out and thread her chilly fingers with Vi’s. Despite the frost in the air, Vi’s hand was still so warm. She squeezed firmly, experimentally, and felt a mixture of relief and growing anxiety as Vi mirrored her. “That feeling would have certainly been mutual.”

“Yeah?” Vi asked, and she finally looked at Caitlyn. The gray of her eyes were the perfect canvas for the string lights, shining back at her like technicolor.

Caitlyn took another risk, another calculation, as she reached her other hand up to lightly hold Vi’s cheek. “Ten days feels… impossible, when just one is hard.”

If Caitlyn were still looking into Vi’s eyes she would have caught them flickering up and down, to the side and back. Caitlyn hoped Vi was looking at her lips, had hoped Vi didn’t mind her eyes locked onto the scar on Vi’s upper lip. She wondered what it felt like.

“Cait,” Vi rasped.

Caitlyn darted her eyes up and her chest tightened at what she saw. Vi’s eyes impossibly open and bare, burrowing into her own. She leaned her head down a hair, watching, waiting for Vi to signal next.

Vi stood up straight and placed her other hand over Caitlyn’s, clasping it against her own cheek. Both of her hands trembled over Caitlyn’s, warm and present, and she tried again. “Caitlyn.”

“Yes?”

It felt like an intermission between two acts, wondering how the story could possibly unfold once the lights dimmed again and the curtains rose. It felt like an intermission with no guidelines, no flashing lights, no callback time. Blink and you’ll miss the opening.

“I really want to kiss you.” Vi’s voice sounded rough in the back of her throat, coming out choked and desperate.

Caitlyn knew her own voice was the same as she said, “Please.”

Kissing Vi was all-consuming. There weren’t midnight fireworks behind Caitlyn’s eyelids or the fires of summer heat. No, it was like the gentle warmth of the first rays of sunshine, melting the winter frost and streaming the freshest spring water.

The divot of Vi’s scarred lip was more enticing than all of Caitlyn’s daydreams, and had her chasing after it again and again as Vi made the smallest noises against her mouth. Her fingers carded through the coarse texture of Vi’s buzzed side as Vi pulled her in, impossibly, closer.

Vi gasped beautifully into her open mouth, making Caitlyn pull back with a look of pure bewilderment. “Your family,” she panted. “They might see.”

Vi shook her head and grinned. “I don’t fucking care.”

Caitlyn let herself get pulled back into Vi’s gravity. They crashed into the wall beside the sliding door, partially hidden save for a stray elbow or two.

It was all evening and in a blink of the eye. Caitlyn was struck by the realization that she could kiss Vi forever and it wouldn’t feel long enough. She placed a palm on Vi’s chest and lightly applied pleasure. “Vi,” she gasped as she leaned their foreheads together.

“Yeah?” Vi sounded just as haggard. It was a delicious sound to Caitlyn, to know she had caused that, to know Vi wanted to stay close as she placed a heavy hand on Caitlyn’s waist.

“I want to be,” a deep breath, “abundantly clear, when I tell you this isn’t a one-off for me.” Caitlyn spoke clearly, focused on the steel she knew could solidify in her spine when the occasion called for it— when it was important.

“Hey,” Vi whispered as she used her other hand to guide Caitlyn’s gaze towards her own. “I haven’t spent the past two years dreaming of this to only do it once.”

Caitlyn honestly giggled at that, an action which made the tips of her ears sting. “You have not.”

“I have— I swear to you, Caitlyn,” Vi told her, far more weight in the statement than what was obvious.

Soon, they would go inside before Vi’s siblings got too curious and before their fingers completely went numb. Soon, they would walk down the streets looking at the holiday lights, holding hands under the guise of keeping each other warm (even if they weren’t fooling anyone, not even themselves, anymore). Soon, they would ring in the new year and share a kiss alone in the kitchen, because it was just for them to know, to translate, before sharing with others.

But first, Caitlyn kissed her slower; deeper. They had all the time in the world, at least for a little while.