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“Powder, I would like you to meet my business partner’s nephew.”
That’s where she had met him. A boy with blonde hair in a white fancy suit, hiding behind his auntie’s leg, clutching on her dress pants, as if he was shy to meet her. What a funny looking fella, a refreshing feeling because the boys her age were a bunch of gross snobs who look down on people. The scary blonde tall lady gently encourages him to step out to reveal himself properly, Powder’s eyes sparkled that night as the he waved at her with a shy smile.
“This is Lukene, the youngest of the Crownguard family. He will be learning piano alongside you. I hope you two will get along. Who knows, maybe you’ll be more than just partners in the future.” Silco pats her head with a lighthearted chuckle, obviously joking about it.
“I hope whatever nonsense you have said was a joke, Silco.” Tianna remained expressionless, the businessman finding it amusing.
The two glared at each other, not knowing the fact that kids were looking at each other, like no one else was around. The he held out his hand and asked if Powder wanted to play outside and obviously took his hand, giggled as she dragged him out of the ballroom, completely forgetting why she was here.
The two played tag, hide and seek, 20 questions, and it seemed like they weren’t running out of games to play. It’s like they have been best friends forever! It was so much fun, Powder thought as she was running away from him with a huge grin on her face. His heart racing whenever he hears the girl’s laugh. They both decided to rest near the fountain, just looking at the stars.
“You ain’t half bad for a guy, the stinkers that I met were way too full of themselves.” Powder snorted and him looked to see him staring into the distance of the night sky. She nudged him a bit and the boy shook a little bit.
“Sorry, I was just… never mind.” Powder doesn’t want to press his hidden secret, they just met and she didn’t want to push it.
“I just can’t wait to learn piano with you, Powder. It’s a nice change to have someone fun to be with.” He smiled.
“Chaos and Melody!” Powder chanted, and it was the start of a blooming friendship.
Every piano practice turned into playtime for the best friends. The only time they started taking the practice seriously is when Tianna or Silco were present. Every rehearsal was perfect, every performance was spectacular, they were known to be the Dazzling Stars, and they were going to be a hit around the world! Or… so they thought, the world could be quite cruel.
Lukene disappeared without a word with his auntie. He didn’t even talk to Powder one last time or even send her letters to why he left. That shattered the last memory she had with the name she rather not associate with, believing she had jinxed her own friendship with an unknown reason. After the death of her father Silco, Vi was the one who took care of Powder.
People change over the years, the former gifted musician Powder was gone. All that took over was a girl named Jinx, with no association. No one knows what had happened to the Dazzling Stars. She had moved to a city called Valeria, hoping to start a new life away from the world of music.
Until one day…
“UGHH! WHY SHE STILL STARING AT ME?!” Jinx shouted, scaring the nearby customers, visibly annoyed that the totally not cute blonde rich orchestra girl was staring at her as she played outside with her orchestra members near Cafe Cuties. Soraka told her that the creepy blonde girl’s name was Luxanna Crownguard, the apprentice of Mel Medarda, who’s a big deal in the music world. The last name Crownguard ringed her mind though, the memories of her past. The memories of an old friend- no, she doesn’t want to go down that road again.
She really did try to ignore her, but her stupid pretty pearl eyes kept staring at her as if she was the most expensive chocolate to ever exist… It was kinda cute but TOOOTAALLLYY annoying.
“Ah it must already be near lunchtime,” Soraka chimed in, serving her customer as she had this sly look on her face, knowing that Lux was into her coworker.
“How the hell did you know, Raks?”
“Every day, they perform an hour after we open the shop, then around early noon, Lux will be the first to enter the shop, then intentionally sits on the table where your station is placed, then pretends not to look at you as you work.” That was… very observant of her, scary and impressive.
Jinx saw Lulu and Poppy looking at each other, eyes glinting with mischief, Soraka’s observation being accurate as Lux entered Cafe Cuties first, her bandmates in tow, looking around for a table, and was relieved that the table near Jinx’s booth was empty. Before Jinx could even pretend that her shift was over, Poppy pulled out her mochi mallet and gently pushed Jinx inside her booth. Sivir went to the orchestra’s table to give them the menus while Lulu was encouraging Jinx to talk to Lux with Pix by her side.
Poppy and Lulu laughed as Jinx gave them the funny finger before pulling out her service notepad to take their orders. Lux was pretending to read the menu, she always orders the usual but she saw the cute Cafe Cuties girl going towards their direction with a service smile. Caitlyn raised her eyebrows, followed the direction of her bandmate, and immediately hid her face, pretending to read the menu.
“Welcome to Cafe Cuties, how may I serve you?” Jinx greeted with fake enthusiasm, yet Lux still ignored it and was looking at her with those sick heart eyes.
“We wo-” Jinx cut off the red-headed musician out of spite… totally not because he was into Lux.
“The usual? Great!” Jinx writes everyone’s orders and looks at the other member, who was trying to hide her face.
“I know that’s you, Top Hat.” Busted again. Caitlyn puts down the menu and tries to maintain her professionalism.
“It’s nice to see you again, Jinx.”
“Kinda hard to forget ya stupid face since you stole my sister’s heart and then broke it the next morning now, ey?” Everyone in the band slowly looks at her direction and Caitlyn clears her throat.
“I-I know what I did before was not the greatest thing I did in my life and I do want to apologize again-”
“Don’t worry, kinda over it anyways.”
“O-Oh?”
“Yeeepp. My sister got married to the RICHEST and PRETTIEST singer in the whole world, and they are expecting their own little monster soon. So yeah! I’m over the fact that you broke my sister’s heart.” That was… wow.
“Can you also add your special mocha explosion?” Gwen asked, breaking the upcoming awkward silence.
“Right at ya, Gwenie. Poppy’s taking care of the dessert section, you can make gross goggly eyes at her soo BRB!” With that, Jinx ran to the kitchen to prepare the orders while Gwen was indeed making goggly eyes at her girlfriend Poppy.
“She seems… nice?” Ezreal wasn’t sure what to make of Jinx’s character, and Caitlyn sighed.
“You know the caffeine girl, Gwen?” Riven asked.
“Correct! My girlfriend introduced me to all of the Cafe Cuties staff, and well, I consider them my friends.” She explained with a smile.
“When can we meet this girlfriend?” Ezreal crossed his arms, attempting to look cool and look at Lux, disappointed that she was still looking at anywhere but him.
“Poppy darling!” The mochi hammer wielder looked in the direction of her girlfriend's voice and immediately left her station.
“Dolly, hey! Jinx took your order already?” They did not expect a yordle, but they could see the appeal.
“I think she's almost done with the coffee. I'm looking forward to that movie tonight.” Poppy perked up and gave her a thumbs up
“My boss is locking up the place so I can make it back home on time”. With that, the yordle left, and Gwen had the time of her life watching her adorable girlfriend go to Jinx's Station.
Jinx almost broke another coffee cup, totally not because Lux was staring at her with those stupid pretty blue eyes. She felt a tug on her stocking, and she looked down to see the owner's daughter staring at her. The bear behind Annie lifted the kid to meet her eye level.
“Is that pretty lady bothering you again, Ms. Jinx?”
“Nah, kiddo. Good ol’ Jinx just been thinking.”
“Owie! Thinking!” The caffeine maid laughs and ruffles the little girl's head.
Lux smiled at the display, even through all those snarky, rude comments, there's still that soft side of the woman. She hasn't changed a bit since they were kids. She finally found a way to tell her all that happened in the past, she just needed to lure her in… but the problem is that Jinx hates her guts. Yeah, staring for too long didn't really help, Lux just doesn't know how to approach her.
“Orders up!” Jinx came back with a tray. The only plates she didn’t put down aggressively that could almost break were Gwen's and, surprisingly, Lux’s order.
“Enjoy and ring the bell if you need anything. If you spam ring the bell, you can meet my rocket launcher. I’M LOOKING AT YOU TOMATO HEAD!” Jinx glared, pointing her finger at Ezreal before leaving the table.
“WHAT DID I DO?!”
Jinx grumbled as she locked the shop for the night. Soraka waited by her side, her boyfriend Sett had his arm around her waist, patiently waiting. “You sure you don’t wanna come with us, Jinx? Don’t worry, I’ll hold off on the PDA with muffin cakes.” Sett grins, and Soraka pats his cheek, finding her boyfriend amusing and sweet about the offer.
“It’s okay, big guy. You and Raks have fun, I have my trusty zapper to defend myself and if I get creeped out, I can just call Ahri. Besides, you two would just flirt with each other on the way, and it's gross.” Sett shrugged, no hints of shame since his friend was right about that.
“Fair enough. Hey, I think that girl over there’s waiting on ya.” OH STARS ABOVE ANYTHING BUT HER!!
Jinx groaned and turned around to see Lux sitting on the fountain, nervously fiddling her thumbs and stealing a glance at her direction. A violin case beside her foot, none of her band members were present, and Jinx sighed, this is going to be a pain. She was about to take up on her offer, but Soraka dragged Sett away, waving at Jinx as she bid farewell to her best friend.
BETRAYAL RAKS! I WILL REMEMBER THIS!
Jinx stomped on her feet, walking in Lux’s direction, determined to find answers to why this girl’s always bothering her during work. Lux, unaware of what’s happening, opened the case to pull out the violin. Jinx stopped in front of her in time, her breath hitched at a familiar violin. A white colored with black strings that had paint smeared around it, and the stick was purple colored, something awakened inside her.
“Where did you get that?” She hissed, and Lux gulped a bit.
“An old friend gave it to me when we were kids.”
“Lukene?! He gave it to you, that little!-”
“Jinx-”
“WHERE IS HE?!”
“He’s going on a tour with the orchestra band he found. Jinx, please listen to me-”
“SO I’M JUST SOMEONE HE TOSSED AROUND AND GAVE SOME RANDOM MUSICIAN MY VIOLIN-”
“YOU’RE WRONG!” Jinx stepped back a bit from the sudden outburst.
“I- He never stopped thinking about you every day after he left.” Lux gripped the neck of the violin, stood up to face Jinx, cups her cheek with her free hand. Surprisingly, Jinx didn’t move away. The cafe cutie scoffed and put her duffle bag down
“A-Am I not enough for him? Di-Did he tell you why he left me? I don’t… I don’t know what I did to make him leave me for years!” Tears ran down her face, nuzzled her cheek on Lux’s warm palm.
“How come he doesn’t want me to find him?” That broke the musician's heart.
It was now or never. Lux pulled away from her and began to play a song with the instrument, her face showing determination as she stood up to perform for her. The song only the Dazzling Duo performed back in the day. Jinx wanted to stop her, she was tired of thinking about her past. Did he also teach Lux that song? Of course he would, she was replaced, and she couldn’t blame Lukene for it. Old habits died hard, she began to sing the lyrics of the song. Lux joined her, and Jinx might’ve messed up her vocals. Surely her old friend didn’t teach her that?
After the performance, Lux put the violin down, and Jinx had her arms crossed, “He taught you that too-”
“We met during a Lunar Gala with Aunt Tianna and Mr Silco. You weren’t called Jinx then, it was your government name. We played tag by the gardens, and you kept calling the boys egotistic, and you wanted to name our band Chaos and Melody.”
“S-Stop!”
Lux pushed back her own bangs to reveal a scar that Lukene had when he accidentally knocked his head on the cello while Powder tended his wounds. Jinx began to shake, tears running again, that was the only proof she needed.
“I’m so… so sorry I left without a word. You didn’t deserve that pain, and I wish I could’ve had the courage to fight off my parents to stay with you forever.” Lux held both of Jinx’s hands and raised them to kiss her trembling hands.
“Why did you leave me, Lux?” Jinx asked, tired and relieved that she didn't hate her.
“My parents didn’t trust Mr. Silco’s business and said you were a bad influence on me. Tianna tried to reason out but it was final. They ripped off the letter that I was supposed to deliver by Galio, we left early, and I just… couldn’t stop thinking about you ever since, Jinx.”
Their foreheads touched, and eyes closed, the sound of the ocean was their only music. Jinx sniffled and sighed with a shaky tone in her voice, “So this was the secret you had back then?” Lux nodded, and Jinx pulled back to finally notice her face. A lot has changed and honestly, she looked really cute.
“You look beautiful, Lux. I mean it, you could’ve told me from the start.” Lux chuckled and wiped away her tears.
“I couldn’t find the right words.” Lux lifted her hand again to kiss it.
"Sorry I misgendered you, Luxie."
"It's okay. You didn't know." Lux opened the palm of Jinx's hand and nuzzles it, looking at her friend.
"Your name makes me all fuzzy and warm." The cafe cutie giggled and that made Lux fall in love all over again.
"That's what I was going for, Jinxie." Not really, but she could never tell her that. They stared into each other's eyes and felt like time had stopped around them. If only birds could sing them a song right now but the ocean was the one making music for them, and it was enough.
“I’m still mad at you.” The musician nodded and was taken aback when Jinx hugged her, nuzzling her shoulder.
“But… Can we start over?” Lux smiled and hugged her back. Back in her arms again, how it should be like before.
“I’d like that, Jinx.” The pair stayed there for a long time, neither of them wanting to let go. Eventually, the pair walked to the Crownguard mansion, hand in hand. Jinx hummed a tune and Lux joined in, swinging both their arms a bit, blushing like teenagers.
“Do you… want to perform as we did before?” She asked.
“I-I can’t, Luxie. This is too much for me, and I’m not ready to pick up the piano again.” Lux kissed her head and smiled as Jinx nuzzled on her arm from the affection.
“I understand. I’m happy you’re here again. Do you think we could… go on a date?” She asked, shooting her shot.
“Easy there, tiger~” Jinx purred and poked her cheek, making Lux blush.
“I don’t mind the gross affection, but I want to get to know you better.” Lux laughed and kissed her head again. It was good to be back.
From a distance, Ahri had watched the whole thing without alerting her sister-in-law. Vi was behind her, sniffing because her baby sister was grown up and had found her lost love. Ahri kissed her cheek and both stared at the display of the former Dazzling Duo. Her wife looks cute and was a sucker for romance.