Chapter Text
Caitlyn Kiramman was not lost. She was simply—temporarily displaced.
That was how she rationalized it to herself as her hands tightened on the wheel, glancing at the empty, dark streets of Piltover as her car hummed along. The whole night had been a blur—another event, another show, and of course, another set of awkward social interactions. She needed a break, a breath, a little space to think.
So when she made that wrong turn onto a street she didn’t recognize, the idea wasn’t to lose herself in the labyrinth of Zaun’s streets. But here she was, the city’s low-lit industrial skyline stretching out before her, the towering factories and flickering lights of the undercity making her feel a little too far from the polished streets of Piltover. It was, she thought, the perfect place to escape. No cameras, no fans—just her and the open road.
The car sputtered. Then it stopped.
Caitlyn stared at the dashboard, her jaw tightening as the car engine refused to start back up. No. No way. Of course, this would happen now.
She tried the ignition again. Nothing.
Great. She was stuck in Zaun, late at night, in a car that decided to betray her in the worst place possible. She was supposed to be heading to her apartment, but now—well, now she had to figure out how to fix this.
A small panic fluttered in her chest, but she pushed it away. The last thing she needed was to freak out in the middle of Zaun.
It wasn’t even the first time she’d been here, but the last time? It had been with her father, not exactly under the best circumstances. She’d always been too aware of the stigma between Piltover and Zaun. Maybe that’s why she didn’t realize how badly she needed a breather—somewhere, anywhere, away from the manufactured perfection of her world.
She quickly got out of the car, her heels clicking sharply on the pavement as she glanced around. The cold night air hit her instantly, but she ignored it and kept walking.
But then came the whispers. Or rather, the whispers turned into something louder. She knew the feeling when someone recognized her, even before they said anything.
“Wait. Is that—? Oh my god. It is her.” A voice said. She froze.
Her first instinct was to keep moving, but she caught the flash of a phone screen before she could make a decision. The last thing she needed was a full-on social media storm about her wandering around Zaun at midnight. She wasn’t some damsel in distress, but she wasn’t trying to get caught in some paparazzi trap, either.
Jericho’s.
The neon lights from a small diner caught her attention just as she was about to turn back toward the car. It was the first open place she’d seen in hours, and the need to escape from whatever just happened—to disappear for a while—was stronger than her hesitation.
Without another thought, she darted through the door, her heart pounding in her chest.
The diner’s inside wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was warm. The smell of fried food mixed with the hum of chatter, and Caitlyn was pretty sure this place had seen better days. But in that moment? It was her safe haven.
“Welcome to Jericho’s,” the attendant behind the counter greeted her with an easy smile. “You lost or just lookin’ for some late-night comfort food?”
Caitlyn opened her mouth to answer, but the words didn’t come. She was out of breath. Not from running, but from the sheer absurdity of the situation. She’d just run from a group of fans in one of the most dangerous parts of the city—and now, she was hiding out in a random diner.
She forced a smile. “Bit of both, actually.”
“Well, take a seat and let me know if you need anything!” the attendant said with a smile as he looked down at his phone. Caitlyn looked around the almost empty diner, except for the pink-haired woman with a plate of pancakes in front of her.
Shooting a quick text to Mel come get her, Caitlyn started to plan her next action to get out of this situation.
Caitlyn thought of sitting alone, but maybe if she looked like she was with someone, her chances of getting recognized would lessen. Caitlyn moved toward the pink-haired woman and put on her sunglasses before she could change her mind and sit alone in a foreign place at night, potentially attracting unwanted attention. She slid into the booth.
Just because she needed the help of a stranger to lay low did not mean that she wanted the said stranger to know who she was. Even at the risk of looking like a weirdo with sunglasses on at night inside a diner.
Caitlyn sat down and looked at the woman. She felt her breath stutter as she took the stranger in. Caitlyn figured it would be another standard Zaunite with weird hair, yet the woman was the most beautiful person Caitlyn had ever laid eyes on. The woman had the most captivating greyish eyes, her features were sharp with a solid amount of freckles adorning her face. Caitlyn looked at the scars on the woman’s face, and her curiosity was piqued instantly at the history behind each of them. Caitlyn’s eyes flickered to the small tattoo under the woman’s eyes. Before she could ogle the stranger anymore, the woman blinked at her.
“Uh–”
“Sorry,” Caitlyn said, a little breathless from the adrenaline of the whole situation and maybe a little because of her slight panic after meeting a literal goddess. “I’ll buy your food if you act normal.”
The woman looked at Caitlyn for a moment before glancing around. Raising an eyebrow, she said, “Lady, you just sat in my booth. Pretty sure that’s the opposite of normal.”
The woman went back to eating. Caitlyn stared at the woman for a moment longer. She could apologize and leave. Sure, she would silently scream after just leaving this seat without even learning the name of the woman. But she didn’t want to bother her too much. Caitlyn didn’t know the pink-haired woman, but it was obvious she was tired, judging by the bags under her eyes.
Caitlyn almost got up, but a quick glance outside showed way too many people for it to be considered normal at this hour. Just her luck.
So Caitlyn did the next best thing she could think of. “Please?”
She may have sounded a little desperate, but anything to get out of this situation.
The woman looked up at Caitlyn again, her gaze lingering. It was like she was trying to figure out whatever was going on in Caitlyn’s head. Caitlyn almost thought that the woman recognized her, feeling her heart speed up. She didn’t know if it was because of the possibility of being recognized or the intense gaze in the woman’s eyes.
But before Caitlyn could panic any more, the woman sighed. “Whatever. Just let me eat my pancakes in peace, and we’re good.”
The tension left Caitlyn’s body immediately. She was so grateful that she almost yelled her thanks at the woman. They sat in silence for a while as the woman continued eating. Caitlyn kept looking outside, trying to catch the perfect moment to run out, but Mel still wasn’t here, so it was no use.
Even though Caitlyn was more focused on the outside, she noticed the woman sneaking a few glances at her. Caitlyn hoped that it was interest in her rather than the woman trying to figure out who she was. Caitlyn didn’t know if it was even possible for her to see this woman again after today, but still, she wanted her to be a little interested in her—even if it wasn’t as much as Caitlyn was interested in her.
Moments passed in surprisingly comfortable silence. Caitlyn almost thought she would never hear the woman’s voice again, but then, “You’re not, like, a fugitive, right? Because I’m too tired to deal with that tonight.”
Caitlyn’s head snapped up. She took in the question before letting out a snort.
“No.”
“You famous or something, Cupcake?”
Caitlyn tensed at the question. It was unavoidable at this point. So she bit the bullet.
“…Kind of.”
Vi nodded. Caitlyn watched the woman’s hands as she picked up her mug. “Huh.” She took a sip of her coffee. “Like, YouTuber famous? Or actual famous?”
Caitlyn blinked. “There’s a difference?” She lifted her cup to her lips, took a sip, and grimaced immediately before trying to take another sip. She never really liked her coffee black. The taste lingered in her mouth unpleasantly as she awaited Vi’s answer.
Vi shrugged. “One gets mobbed at malls. The other sells bathwater.”
Caitlyn choked on her drink. “Oh my God—”
Vi just grinned. Caitlyn looked at her smile. She even had perfect teeth. Caitlyn had to find something irritable about her soon or she would be utterly and absolutely wrecked after never seeing this woman again.
“So, which one are you?”
Caitlyn exhaled. She needed a little more confidence if she wanted to keep things interesting, then smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Vi laughed, then yawned.
There it was.
Caitlyn Kiramman found the irritable thing about the woman. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. She was irritating in a way that she was absolutely perfect. Perfect face. Perfect hair. Perfect lips. Perfect teeth – you get the picture.
But the final blow was the woman’s arms.
Caitlyn knew the moment the woman took off her jacket that she was jacked. But she wasn’t prepared to see the solid muscle of her arms move and strain under the simplest movement. She hated the speed with which her eyes flicked to the woman’s arms. She only looked at them for a second, which felt like an eternity, not that she would complain.
Caitlyn was absolutely sure that the woman flexed a little to get maybe a reaction out of her, but she wasn’t the least bit concerned about that right now. She couldn’t get the images of the woman’s arms around her out of her head.
Clearing her throat, Caitlyn hoped to distract her thoughts, which were now reduced to nothing but Vi’s arms.
She took a sip of her coffee once again to distract herself, but the coffee tasted even more bitter. She couldn’t help but grimace. Even the shitty coffee couldn’t take her mind off of it.
Caitlyn quickly realized that she didn’t just enjoy the woman’s looks, but she enjoyed their small talk more. She was funny . Really funny.
But now, Vi was very close to her. As close as the table between them allowed. Caitlyn suddenly realized that, at some point during their chat, she had leaned in too. Vi was smiling, and Caitlyn couldn’t help but notice how beautiful it was. Her lips were a soft, beautiful shade of pink—gentle, unlike her bright hair, but equally captivating.
Though, the color of the woman’s lips wasn’t what consumed Caitlyn’s thoughts. The only thing she could focus on was how they would feel. Would they be as soft as they looked? How would the scar feel under her tongue—
Caitlyn’s phone buzzed. She almost picked it up and stomped on it until the phone turned to dust. The moment was gone. Caitlyn couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated. She saw the woman lick her lips, and Caitlyn almost leaned in to close the distance between them. She would surely kill the person who destroyed the moment they had. At least Caitlyn thought they had a moment.
Caitlyn looked at Vi. She had closed her eyes. Caitlyn hadn’t felt this much disappointment in a long time. She checked her phone to see it was Mel, letting her know she was outside.
Caitlyn stood up with a sigh. “Gotta go?” Vi asked.
Caitlyn nodded and pulled her wallet out to take out some cash. She had made a promise. “Told you I’d cover your food.”
Vi watched her with an amused look, like she found Caitlyn’s use of cash interesting. “Generous of you, Cupcake.”
Caitlyn paused. There it was again. Cupcake.
Vi had said it a few times during the night, and Caitlyn’s heart fluttered every time she did. She couldn’t help the slight blush that came with the nickname. She didn’t even know why Vi called her that, but she certainly wasn’t complaining about the hot woman giving her a nickname.
“You keep calling me that.”
They said their goodbyes as Caitlyn quickly slid into the front seat of the luxurious car.
“You couldn’t have gotten a more inconspicuous car?” Caitlyn said as she buckled her seatbelt.
“If you prefer your broken car, we’ll leave you to it, sprout.”
Caitlyn’s head snapped toward the backseat.
She raised a single eyebrow. “Should I ask why you two are together at this hour, or would you like to talk some more, Jayce?”
That shut him up.
Caitlyn turned to look out the window as they passed the bridge into Piltover.
“Should we ask what you were doing in Zaun at night?” Mel asked, glancing at Caitlyn for a moment.
“My car broke down.”
Mel sighed. “And why did your car break down in Zaun and not Piltover?”
Caitlyn sighed, leaning back in her seat. She didn’t really feel like explaining how her reckless drive had led her to the wrong part of the city, but it was probably better than telling them the truth.
“I wasn’t exactly paying attention,” Caitlyn said, trying to sound casual, though it was a lie. "Got distracted."
Mel didn’t seem convinced, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Distracted? By what? It’s not like you just wander into Zaun on a whim.”
Caitlyn’s mind immediately flicked back to Vi. She almost flinched at the thought but quickly pushed it away. No need to get into that.
“Just needed some space. A change of scenery,” Caitlyn replied, voice steady as she stared out the window again.
“Uh-huh,” Mel murmured, her tone dripping with skepticism. “And you happened to end up at Jericho’s?”
Caitlyn could feel the heat in her cheeks rise, but she kept her eyes forward, pretending to be completely unaffected. “Yeah, I did. What’s it to you?”
Jayce, still in the backseat, let out a snort. “Well, I think I know why you were distracted. Sounds like you were looking for trouble.”
Caitlyn shot him a glare in the rearview mirror, though he couldn’t see it. “I wasn’t looking for trouble,” she muttered, though part of her knew Jayce was right. She had walked straight into it.
“Whatever you say,” Jayce said, clearly amused by the entire situation.
Mel gave Caitlyn a sideways glance, then turned her attention back to the road. “Just make sure you don’t get too distracted next time. Zaun's not exactly the safest place to get lost in.”
“Yeah, thanks for the heads up, Mel,” Caitlyn said, though her mind was far from the conversation. She couldn’t stop thinking about the woman from the diner—the way her lips had looked, the way her voice had made her heart race, and how she’d felt when their gazes met. That part of the night, at least, wasn’t a distraction.
It felt like everything had happened in such a short span of time. One moment, Caitlyn was alone in a diner, sitting with a stranger who looked like she could tear the whole world apart with her hands, and the next moment, Caitlyn had found herself wondering about the woman, about what might have been if things had been different.
But now, here she was, in a car on her way home, pretending like she hadn’t just experienced something that made her feel alive in a way she hadn’t in ages. She wasn’t sure if she'd ever see that woman again, and honestly, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to.
But as her car sped toward Piltover, Caitlyn couldn’t keep it to herself anymore.
“I met someone!” she said so quickly that both Mel and Jayce just stared at her.
Mel looked at Caitlyn for a few seconds before looking ahead at the road, “Come again?”
Caitlyn’s face flushed, and she could feel her heartbeat quicken. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but now that the words were out, she couldn’t take them back. She glanced at Mel, then quickly back to the road, her hands gripping the seatbelt a little too tightly.
“I, uh, met someone... in Zaun,” Caitlyn said, trying to keep her voice casual, though it was a struggle. "At a diner."
Mel’s eyebrow arched, and she shot Caitlyn a side-eye. “You didn’t go there to ‘look for trouble,’ did you?”
Caitlyn shook her head quickly, her pulse rising in a mix of excitement and nerves. "No! It wasn’t like that. I just—" She stopped herself. How could she explain? How could she explain what had happened in that diner with someone she’d only just met, but who already made her feel like she’d known them for years?
Jayce, who had been listening quietly in the backseat, now leaned forward, his voice low but filled with amusement. “So, what, this person caught your eye, huh?”
Caitlyn’s face turned redder, but she tried to mask it with a nonchalant shrug. “Yeah... something like that.”
“Something like that?” Mel repeated, clearly unconvinced. “You’re talking like you just met this person, but it sounds like you’ve known them for ages.”
Caitlyn shifted in her seat, trying to avoid the increasingly intense scrutiny from Mel. "It’s... complicated," she said, feeling awkward.
Jayce chuckled, clearly enjoying the situation. "Oh, I see. The famous Caitlyn Kiramman, getting all mysterious over some stranger in Zaun. This is rich."
Caitlyn rolled her eyes, grateful to change the subject. “It’s not like that, Jayce,” she muttered, though she wasn’t quite sure what it was like. All she knew was that meeting Vi had left an impact on her, one that she couldn’t quite explain.
Mel, still focused on the road, let out a slow breath, her gaze flicking to Caitlyn again. “Do you know if you’ll see them again?”
Caitlyn froze, the question hitting her unexpectedly. She hadn’t thought about that. She didn’t know if she would ever see Vi again, or if it was just one fleeting, chaotic night that would be lost in time.
“I... I don’t know,” Caitlyn admitted softly. "But I really hope I do."
“So…” Jayce drawled. “What’s she like?”
Caitlyn snapped her eyes at him. “You don’t even know if it’s a she.”
Jayce snorted. “Right. And I’m skinny.”
Mel sighed as she rubbed her forehead with the hand that wasn’t gripping the steering wheel. “You’re just looking for excuses to remind people you have muscles.”
“Not the point.” Jayce cleared his throat and nodded at Caitlyn to make her talk.
Caitlyn huffed out a breath. “Fine. She’s…”
Jayce leaned toward the front seats of the car.
“What?”
Caitlyn squirmed in her seat, feeling both her friends’ gazes on her.
“She’s hot!” Caitlyn blurted out. “And—and she has these tattoos and muscles, and her arms—oh my god.” Caitlyn put her face in her hands as she recalled their entire encounter to her friends.
After moments of Caitlyn embarrassing herself by recounting the events of the night they approached her house.
“You guys might as well stay here tonight.” Caitlyn said as they entered her penthouse.
Caitlyn threw her keys to the kitchen table as she grabbed beers for the three of them and flopped on the couch with her friends, taking a sip of the cold beer.
Jayce immediately grinned, and Caitlyn could practically hear his smug smirk. "Well, well, well, Cupcake has a type," he teased.
Caitlyn groaned, slumping back into her couch, wishing she could somehow erase the entire conversation from existence. "Don’t call me that. Also I didn't say that," she muttered, embarrassed.
Mel, however, just laughed softly. "Come on, Cait, it's okay. You don't have to be embarrassed." She glanced over at Caitlyn. "But seriously, what else about her? I mean, it sounds like you made some kind of connection."
Caitlyn hesitated, then sighed. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. She’s... different. There's something about her, I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. Like, I just... felt at ease around her, even though I barely know her.”
Jayce, who was clearly enjoying every second of Caitlyn's discomfort, leaned forward again. “At ease, huh? What, did she have some magical powers or something? Or was it just the muscles talking?”
Caitlyn narrowed her eyes at him, trying to suppress the laugh bubbling up in her chest. "You really can't let it go, can you?"
“Nope," Jayce grinned. "I'm just waiting for you to admit you’ve got a full-on crush. Look at you, turning into a blushing mess over a diner encounter."
Mel rolled her eyes, clearly done with the teasing. "Alright, enough with the jokes. Caitlyn, just... be careful. You don’t know anything about this person. Zaun might not be the safest place, but there’s still a chance she’s someone you can trust."
Caitlyn nodded, her thoughts lingering on Vi’s mysterious nature, her smile, the way everything about their meeting felt... unplanned but right. “I know, Mel. I just... I don’t know, I guess I have a good feeling about her.”
Jayce chuckled again. “Good feeling? Yeah, we’ll see about that. But hey, I guess it’s nice to know you’ve got something else to focus on now besides your duties back in Piltover.”
Caitlyn shot him a look. "Shut up, Jayce."
Mel smirked and glanced at Caitlyn. “But, hey, a little distraction never hurt anyone. Just be careful, okay?”
“Yeah, I know,” Caitlyn said softly, her thoughts again drifting back to that diner and to Vi. She wasn’t sure what was going to happen, but for once, she felt like she might be on the edge of something good.
Caitlyn took another sip of her beer as she saw Jayce deep in thought. She glanced at Mel, who was also staring at Jayce with her eyes squinted. Their eyes met, and Mel shrugged.
“What are you thinking about.”
Jayce looked up. “Huh?”
Mel flicked his forehead, and Jayce yelped. “She asked what you were thinking about.”
Jayce’s posture relaxed as he grabbed his beer from the table near the couch. “Oh. Nothing.”
Caitlyn and Mel stared at him. Jayce looked at them.
“I just— the name Vi sounds really familiar.”
Caitlyn groaned. “Ugh, Jayce. It’s probably someone else. Let it go.”
Jayce nodded slowly, but he obviously remained deep in thought, his face showing the look of someone trying to figure something out. “Right. Of course.”
Mel sighed as she looked at her phone. Caitlyn almost asked her what was going on when she acted before her. “Look at this article,” Mel held up her phone.
Caitlyn squinted to adjust her eyes to the sudden bright light before reading the headline and sighing to herself. “Of course, someone spotted me and took a picture.”
“Well, it could be worse.” Jayce said.
Caitlyn leaned back in the couch, crossing her arms as she stared at the screen. The article was a picture of her standing outside Jericho's, a place she really didn’t want any attention brought to, looking just the right amount of out of place for someone who didn’t belong in Zaun at that hour.
"Great," she muttered. "Just what I needed."
Mel raised an eyebrow, still scrolling. "I don't know, it's not that bad. You look... pretty good in it."
Caitlyn shot her a look. "Are you seriously telling me that a picture of me in Zaun at night, wearing that ridiculous hoodie, is 'pretty good'?"
Mel shrugged. "Could've been worse."