#fic: misfits and mishaps

[star55]

Fic: Misfits and Mishaps - Prologue

Title: Misfits and Mishaps Author: Star Chapter: Prologue/Twelve Word Count: 1,081/47,000+ Pairing: Cait/Vi Fandom: Arcane (League of Legends) Rating: Teen and up Warnings: some bigotry, discussions of sexual assault. Notes: This fanfic is inspired by several pieces of artwork from twitter.

This one by FISHFish, and the two images shown on the fic cover Mistletoe by Naerys and New Year's Kiss by Naerys

Summary:

“So… what are you in for?”

Caitlyn looks up, spotting that familiar pink head of hair as Vi slides into the seat next to her. She immediately makes herself comfortable, putting a foot up on the chair on her other side.

“Creative oppression,” Caitlyn replies without missing a beat.

“Huh?” Vi asks, shooting her a confused look.

“Uniform violation, I guess,” Caitlyn replies with a sigh.

~*~

An alternate universe in which high school Caitlyn and Vi become friends (and then slowly more) after Caitlyn lands herself detention.

Read on AO3

~*~

Prologue

If there was one thing that Cassandra Kiramman abhorred it was impertinence.

She was a busy woman. She also understood and respected that everyone else was a busy person, too. However, she was particularly annoyed at her daughter’s school calling her seventeen times in the space of an hour when she was on a flight back from Ionia to Runeterra.

When Cassandra had landed, she received a very brusque “we’ve been trying to get a hold of you all morning! Your daughter has struck another student.”

Now, Cassandra had taught Caitlyn from a young age to defend herself. But she knows her daughter – she would never strike another student unless she was attacked first. A point that is proven correct when she receives a text from Caitlyn detailing everything that had happened.

Her shoes make a loud clacking sound on the tiled floor of the school as she enters, quickly locating the front office. She peers down at the receptionist who has the audacity to hold a finger up to her to get her to wait while she finishes her phone call.

When the receptionist – Karen, she notes the nametag says – finally turns her attention to Cassandra, she does her best to remain calm.

“Good afternoon, I am here about my daughter, Caitlyn Kiramman.”

Karen’s eyebrow raises and she gives a very false smile. “Take a seat, Mrs Kiramman. I’ll let Principal Marcus know you’re here.”

Cassandra gives her one curt nod and has only just reached the waiting room chairs when a door to her right swings open.

“Mrs Kiramman,” Principal Marcus says. “So lovely of you to join us.” He gestures for her to step into his office and she does.

Upon entering the rather spacious office, she sees Caitlyn sitting in one of the seats across from Principal Marcus’ own, and another boy who has the start of what looks like a pair of black eyes.

“Take a seat, Mrs Kiramman,” Marcus says.

“I’ll stand, thank you,” Cassandra replies. She doesn’t particularly like Mr Marcus. He’s never done anything wrong that she can tell, but there is something about his manner that just rubs her up the wrong way.

Instead, Cassandra stays beside Caitlyn, and gently places a hand on her daughter’s shoulder. She can feel Caitlyn sit even straighter under her touch, a movement only she’d be able to notice.

“Since it took so long for you to get here,” Marcus begins, “Mr and Mrs Deckard have already decided they’re going to press charges.”

Cassandra’s gaze cuts over to the man and woman standing beside the boy with the black bruises already forming around his eyes.

“Press charges?” Cassandra repeats.

“Yes, that’s –”

“Actually, that is a great idea,” Cassandra interjects. “We will definitely be pressing charges. This sort of assault can’t go unpunished.”

Marcus’ mouth shuts with an audible click. “Mrs Kiramman,” he starts slowly like he’s talking to one of his students. “It was Caitlyn who hit another student.”

Cassandra raises an eyebrow. “Only after she was assaulted first. During our phone call, I was informed that Mr Deckard here, sorry, I don’t know your name.” She glances over to the blonde-haired boy.

“Wil-”

“Yes, William here sexually assaulted my daughter first, and she was just defending herself,” Cassandra continues. “I think charges are the best way to go. Chief Grayson is already waiting for me at the station. Come, Caitlyn, we shall go there right now.”

“Hang on a minute! Your daughter broke my son’s nose!” Mr Deckard exclaims loudly.

Cassandra’s gaze flicks over to the unfortunate break she can definitely see now that William’s head has raised.

“And your son sexually assaulted my daughter, in front of witnesses,” Cassandra replies smoothly. “Caitlyn, please tell the Deckards here exactly what happened so they can understand their son’s actions.”

Caitlyn looks up at her and Cassandra gives her the briefest of nods.

“William was snapping my bra,” Caitlyn starts. She’s a little shaky, but the more she speaks, the more confident she gets. “I told the teacher – Mr Edwards – about it and he told me to ignore it. But William did it again so hard my bra came undone. And that’s when I punched him in the face.”

She’ll never show it in front of these people, but Cassandra is immensely pleased with her daughter’s reaction.

Cassandra gives a firm nod. “Why didn’t this Mr Edwards do anything about this? Where is he? Why isn’t he here in this meeting with us?”

“Mr Edwards has classes to teach, and you were almost two hours late.”

“I’m so sorry that my being on a flight back to Runeterra made me late for this meeting which shouldn’t have to had to happen in the first place.”

Mr Marcus’s moustache bristles.

“Yes, I think pressing charges is the only way forwards.”

Cassandra pats Caitlyn once on the shoulder and she stands up, sliding her book bag over her shoulder.

Mr and Mrs Deckard both begin to exclaim loudly, but Cassandra tunes them out.

“Mr Marcus,” she starts, “you’ll be hearing from my lawyer as well.” Watching his face turn a violent shade of red gives Cassandra’s step a little pep as she walks out of his office, leaving the door wide open.

She can hear the Deckards yelling and pays them no mind. Her arm comes around Caitlyn’s shoulder as she leads her towards the entrance of the school.

“Cait!” a voice yells just as they reach the doors.

Caitlyn’s best friend, Vi, almost barrels into them as she skids to a stop.

“What happened?”

“We’re going to go press charges against that Deckard boy,” Cassandra replies before Caitlyn can speak.

Vi’s eyebrows shoot up. “That’s not what I was expecting you to say.”

“Yes, well, someone needs to teach that little… man a lesson.”

Cassandra watches her daughter and Vi exchange a look and she witnesses the tips of Caitlyn’s ears turn pink.

“Am I safe to assume you’re the one who taught my daughter how to throw a punch?” Cassandra asks casually.

“Uhh,” Vi mumbles, her cheeks turning as pink as her hair. “Uh, yeah, that was me.”

“I’m glad you taught her properly, then. I’d hate to have to explain to Tobias why she has broken her thumb hitting someone.”

With that, Cassandra puts her hand on Caitlyn’s shoulder once more and gently guides her towards the entrance.

“We’ll see you for dinner on Saturday, Vi, no excuses,” Cassandra says as they finally exit the school.

[vixstarria]

Bloodbang Chronicles - Chapter 10 - Halsin

Chapter summary: A reunion with an old friend, and some sweet, tender memories of getting railed by him

Chapter word count: 4k

Chapter CW: F/M/M threesome, anal (and just so we’re clear, Astarion is the one who gets dicked down)

Previous chapter | Series masterlist | AO3 | Overall masterlist

Series summary:

Five years have passed since the confrontation with the Netherbrain. Astarion and his warlock lover, Asmodea, are living it up in Baldur’s Gate, running a cabaret. Their life of decadence and debauchery seems idyllic, until Asmodea’s patron disrupts it with a proposal. One that seems too good to be true. One they cannot refuse.

Pairing: Astarion x Original Female Character

Genre: Humor / adventure / smut

Rating: Explicit

...I feel I should do an additional disclaimer before we start.

As you may or may not remember from a brief mention all the way back in Chapter 1, Asmodea, Astarion and Halsin were once a throuple. Their relationship begins in A Night at the Inn. I have also just posted Sweat, a companion fic for this chapter, which talks about the progression of their relationship. Both fics are, of course, heavy smut. Check them out!

Anyway. Enjoy!

“Where is home?” 

“Elversult,” said Asmodea. “Or, as everyone I’ve ever mentioned the town name to likes to joke, Elvenslut.” 

As the sky began to colour an alarming (for Astarion, that is) shade of pink with the approaching dawn, Astarion and Asmodea stood before what appeared to be a massive patch of stinging nettle, admiring Asmodea's handiwork. No one in their right mind would set foot anywhere near the towering, sprawling growth.  

“This is hag magic,” said Astarion. “Is there something I need to know about you?” 

Asmodea snorted. 

“Hag magic is fey,” she responded. “A clever trick, thank you,” she added, the latter words clearly not meant for Astarion.  

Astarion took another look at the brightening sky, sighed and walked into the nettle. The illusion around their tent dissolved for him, and he entered what would be his shelter until dusk. Asmodea followed him, to ensure everything worked as intended, before retreating again to finish off some errands in the daylight.  

They would proceed this way for the majority of their journey, whenever they couldn't take shelter for the day elsewhere.  

Astarion and Asmodea reached Reithwin the following night, without any mishaps.  

Halsin had been informed about their arrival ahead of time, and would be waiting. He had stayed in the area, helping to rebuild the city, and creating a community for orphans and misfits who did not otherwise have a home to return to. He found himself, once again, in a leadership position, though this time it seemed to provide a sense of fulfilment. 

They had fallen out of contact with him, somewhat. It wasn't for their own lack of trying - the druid was simply abysmal with keeping up with written correspondence, and loathed visiting Baldur's Gate despite the proximity. Still, any time they did see him, it felt as though no time at all had passed since their last encounter.  

They found him on the road at the outskirts of the reclaimed city. An elven woman stood with him - also a wood elf, from what Asmodea could make out of her hair and skin colouring in the fey lights surrounding the pair.  

“Must be his new ladylove,” she commented.  

Astarion made a non-committal sound in response, hastening his step as they approached the other pair - Halsin all open-hearted smile, his companion likewise holding a genuine-looking amiable expression despite, Asmodea hoped, knowing who they were. Asmodea was about to say something, but was cut short, as the next thing she knew, Astarion had flung himself at Halsin and was being held against the druid's massive chest. 

Asmodea smiled at the woman, with a little apologetic shrug. The woman smiled back. Her hands, Asmodea now noticed, were held atop a bump on her abdomen.  

Asmodea frowned, quickly flicking her eyes between the woman’s face, her stomach and Halsin, in rapid succession, before meeting the woman's gaze again, and lifting her eyebrows in silent question.  

The elven woman's smile widened, as she nodded, also still not having said a word. 

Halsin had finally released Astarion, who had been blubbering some nonsense that he probably intended to come off as nonchalant, and approached Asmodea, arms held out in an offered hug. 

She shoved him back, hard but with an uncertain level of success, pushing against his chest with her hands. 

“Halsin, you ridiculous bloody oaf, I can't believe you didn't tell us you were having a baby!!!”

Five years ago, after the defeat of the Netherbrain 

There was a romantic spark between Astarion and Halsin - there was no disputing that. It wasn’t merely that Asmodea was involved with both of them at the same time. However, whereas Astarion’s relationship with Asmodea had begun with commitment-free sex, and gradually unfolded into a genuine intimate connection, it followed a completely different route with Halsin. Asmodea wondered if there may have been some elven courtship at play, the rules of which she was simply unaware of.  

Astarion was often going on about the promiscuity of wood elves, as though his own morals were any different, but thus far he and Halsin had only shared kisses and embraces, seeming to draw the line at that and the occasional lingering caress. They had both been present whilst the other was intimate with Asmodea, but they rarely touched each other remotely sexually, not counting the inevitable semi-involuntary grinding and groping when Astarion drank from Halsin.  

Until that night, that is. 

They had taken to sleeping in a cuddle pile, at least when their sleeping schedules coincided - Halsin was needed during the day, whilst Asmodea had started keeping more to Astarion’s hours, and stayed awake all night with him.  

It was mostly for Astarion’s benefit - Halsin was like a walking furnace, and although Astarion was almost impervious to cold, he did not enjoy it in the least. He was very much like a cat that was always trying to cozy up in a warm spot.  

It was early morning hours, the light barely dawning. Astarion lay on his side between Asmodea and Halsin, his back against the druid’s chest, and his own arms wrapped around Asmodea. That was what she had fallen asleep to, at any case.  

She awoke some time later to some slight movements and the feeling of an erection poking into her stomach.  

She opened her eyes to see Halsin’s fingers tracing the muscles of Astarion’s arm. She heard Astarion sighing softly, and tilted her head slightly to see Astarion lying with his eyes closed and his head thrown back, as Halsin slowly licked and nibbled on Astarion’s ear. The look on Astarion’s face was that of pure unabashed bliss.  

She almost felt like she was intruding on a moment being shared between the two elves. 

Astarion opened his eyes, noticing she was awake. 

“Having fun without me..?” she asked, innocuously. 

Halsin met her eyes with a small smile but didn’t otherwise stop what he was doing, and Astarion gathered her more tightly in his arms, drawing her up into a kiss, his breath quivering.  

Halsin continued to caress Astarion, moving his hand from his arm to run along the side of his torso, as he placed soft kisses down his neck and shoulder.  

Astarion’s hands began to roam Asmodea’s body, as he closed his eyes again, leaning back against Halsin. 

“Touch me,” he whispered, shakily. 

Asmodea felt Halsin’s hand brushing against her skin as it gradually slipped lower and lower down Astarion’s stomach. One of her own arms wrapped around Astarion’s waist, while the other trailed feather-light down his neck, dipping down past his collarbone and into the ridge between his chest muscles. It followed the outline before trailing up until she brushed a hardened nipple, making Astarion release another sigh of pleasure.  

“Do you desire only her touch..?” the druid breathed against Astarion’s ear. “A single word from you and I will stop, if that is your wish.” 

“Both,” Astarion managed, swallowing hard. “I want both of you.” 

Asmodea kissed down his neck, pausing at Astarion’s bite scars.  

They were as sensitive as his ears - it was almost unfair to use this knowledge, though he usually wanted her to. 

“Here..?” she whispered, smiling, stopping just short of the marks, leaving slow, soft kisses around the perimeter of the sensitive area on his neck. 

“Don’t you dare stop, you tease,” he murmured, angling his neck so she had easier access. 

She chuckled and ran her tongue in a light stroke over the scars. Astarion gasped and shuddered, entwining his fingers within her hair. At the same time, Halsin, who had resumed nibbling softly on Astarion’s ear, lowered his hand further, slowly, until he reached Astarion’s cock and began stroking.  

“Gods…” was all Astarion managed, eyes shut, melting in pleasure between his lovers’ caresses.  

Asmodea slid the hand that had been playing with one of Astarion’s nipples lower, trailing her fingers over his abs. 

“Keep going,” he whispered, whimpering. 

His own hands had been wandering aimlessly over her body, wherever they could reach. He now turned halfway around, and reached back to tug on Halsin’s hair behind him, urging the druid toward him, until he pulled him into a greedy kiss, moaning into his mouth. 

Asmodea’s hand continued towards his hips. It was only when she reached them that she realised that Astarion’s underwear was still on. The two elves seemed entirely too preoccupied with each other to take a moment to deal with that, so she slid it down Astarion’s hips herself, until it was low enough for him to be able to impatiently kick it the rest of the way off himself. The druid did the same with his own. 

Asmodea observed them for a few moments, watching Astarion grinding his hips back against the the druid’s; Halsin’s impressive, hardened length pressed against the cleft of Astarion’s ass.  

“Come back here,” Astarion murmured, noticing that she was lingering just watching them. 

She smiled and fell back onto the bed, letting herself be pulled into Astarion’s arms, flush against his body, again.  

“Just keep touching me,” he whispered, hoarsely. 

Her hand joined Halsin’s on Astarion’s cock, running her thumb along the slit of its head, spreading his precum, as Halsin continued to massage his shaft. Astarion released a wanton, throaty moan. 

“Like that?” she purred, teasing, as she rubbed a sensitive spot on the underside of the head. 

“Yes,” he groaned. “Everywhere.” 

Asmodea hummed and let her hand slip lower, gently cupping and tugging on his balls. Halsin had taken over massaging Astarion’s now seeping cock, sucking on his earlobe. 

Astarion thrust into his hand, his moans mounting. 

“Everywhere..?” Asmodea whispered, watching him. 

Astarion made no verbal response, instead just bending his knee at an angle, giving her better access.  

She continued on with her hand, slipping further until she was fingering his hole, applying pressure and rubbing circles around it. 

“Yes…” Astarion mustered, whimpering, his breath shaking, rutting harder, faster, into Halsin’s hand, until abruptly his eyes flew open. “Wait… Wait. Stop.” 

Halsin and Asmodea immediately ceased what they were doing. Halsin tried to lean away and sit up, but Astarion caught his arm before he could do that, and urged the druid back, holding the arm wrapped around himself. 

“Too much?” Asmodea asked with concern.  

Astarion only pulled her into another kiss, his breath still ragged. 

“Just not like this,” he said. 

He rolled his hips back against Halsin’s, grinding against Halsin’s erection.  

“I want to be fucked,” Astarion said in no uncertain terms, albeit with a slight tremble in his voice.  

Halsin hesitated before answering. 

“I might hurt you,” he said, to which Astarion only exhaled a sharp laugh. 

“Have you considered that perhaps I want to be hurt..?” 

“It is not in my nature to do that deliberately, my moonlight,” said Halsin. “But perhaps our bodies will find a compromise regardless of our wills.” 

Asmodea had lost no time in retrieving a vial filled with an oily liquid. They had used it often enough for her own needs.  

The elves stayed on their sides, as Halsin applied the liquid onto his fingers. Asmodea lost sight of the druid’s actions and could only guess what was happening, as Astarion pulled her into a kiss, again, holding her tightly against himself.  

Astarion’s breathing quivered as he rolled his hips, gently, keeping his leaking cock pressed between himself and Asmodea’s abdomen.  

“I’ll stop if you w-” the druid began to murmur, until Astarion interrupted him. 

“Don’t stop, godsdamnit.” 

Halsin only chuckled, resigned, and shortly thereafter Asmodea felt a deeper roll of Astarion’s hips, as he moaned against her lips, his cock twitching between them. 

“More,” he groaned, before long. 

“As you wish,” the druid breathed, returning to nibbling on Astarion’s earlobe.  

A sharp intake of breath, followed by a long, drawn out sigh and a whimper. The way Astarion clutched on to her had Asmodea doubting Astarion’s apparent bravado, if not his resolve. She shifted to lift herself higher on the bed, so his face was at her neck. He promptly buried his nose in it, breathing in her scent, and kissed it.  

“More,” he repeated stubbornly. 

“You are rushing, there is no need.” 

“You know I’m not new to this,” he retorted. “Please… I want to feel you. All of you. I need to.” 

“Very well, my eager cub,” Halsin said in a low rumble, reaching for the vial once again, this time to coat his cock, before returning to lay against Astarion.  

“Why is your heart racing so hard, darling?” Astarion murmured to Asmodea, just before stilling and driving his fingers hard into the flesh of her hips and her back, burying his face in her neck again. A breathless groan escaped from the back of his throat as he gradually loosened his grip on her.  

The druid lay flush against Astarion, breathing hard as he gently, slowly, rolled his hips in subtle movements. Before long, he stilled, simply lying pressed against Astarion, kissing up his neck as both the elves’ breathing calmed. After some moments, he reached to bring Astarion’s leg up by the knee, whispering something into the vampire’s ear in elven, before beginning to thrust his hips at a slow but steady pace.  

Astarion’s moans sounded like a plea, as his hips rolled back to meet the druid’s, greedy and impatient. Meanwhile, he reached for Asmodea, bringing her back down until he he could place more breathless kisses on her lips.  

As the druid thrust into him, Astarion reached to grasp Asmodea’s hand, in a movement that was almost frenzied in its need, and brought it down to his cock, guiding it at the pace he wanted for a few strokes, before relinquishing its control to her.  

His moans and kisses grew increasingly frantic as Halsin picked up his pace, and eventually Astarion move her hand away, grabbing her hips instead, and drawing them towards his own.  

“I’m so close,” he whispered shakily. “I want to be inside you when I come. Please…” 

Asmodea would not, could not, deny him. It wasn’t the easiest angle, that with the druid’s own ministrations, but she managed to hook her knee high enough to allow Astarion access. He gripped her ass tight as he plunged into the tight warmth of her channel. He couldn’t thrust much, beyond the rocking caused by Halsin’s movements, but she felt his cock twitch inside her, with need and promise of release. 

Astarion arched, subdued gasps and whimpers giving way to desperate moans.  

“That’s it, my heart, let it out,” groaned Halsin. 

As Astarion’s hands searched for anything to hold on to, Asmodea returned her attention to his neck, licking and sucking on his scars.  

“Gods,” he moaned, shuddering, fingers of one hand tightening in her hair, the other gripping her ass ever tighter, pulling her as close as he could. “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop…” 

His entire body began to tremble, his hips jerking but with no place to go, secured as they were between his lovers’. A few more harder thrusts from Halsin, and Astarion let out something between a scream and a sob, his cock pulsing inside Asmodea. One more languid stroke of her tongue across his bite scars, and she kissed her way back up his neck, as the druid also kissed and nibbled his way along Astarion’s shoulder, letting him ride out his orgasm. 

Gasps and grunts gave way to shuddered breathing, to deep satisfied sighs, as Astarion melted into a lax, satiated smile, all but purring in his contentment. Asmodea had to bite her tongue to hold back from any teasing whispers, just letting him bask in this afterglow. Halsin likewise stilled, releasing Astarion’s knee, and simply holding the lither elf in his embrace.  

After some moments, Astarion slipped out of Asmodea, giving her a tender kiss, and looked back at Halsin, eyes trailing down from the druid’s face down to his still achingly hard erection.  

He twisted, taking the druid’s length into his hand and stroking it, as Asmodea leaned away to find something to clean the mess between her legs.  

“Ever so generous, so considerate, so self-denying,” Astarion purred. “Yet you still haven’t given me what I asked for.” 

“Whatever could you mean,” Halsin emitted in a low growl, looking into Astarion’s eyes and thrusting into his hand. He groaned with disappointment when Astarion let go of his cock. 

“You’ve been making love to me this whole time,” Astarion said with a sly smile, turning to get on all fours. “Now will you fuck me?” 

“This is a lovely tea, Elowyn,” Asmodea said, sipping from her steaming mug.  

The four sat in Halsin and Elowyn’s simple but cozy kitchen. A fire from the hearth cast a glow on the room, illuminating a homey disarray of pots, pans and utensils scattered across the surfaces. Fragrant bundles of dried herbs hanging from the ceiling beams filled the air with a comforting aroma. 

Scratch couldn’t decide whose attention he wanted the most, and simply lay between everyone’s fees beneath the table, thumping his tail against Astarion’s leg. 

Astarion too had managed to keep himself from fiddling with any sharp objects, and indeed seemed to be on his best behaviour throughout the dinner he couldn’t quite take part in. 

“Thank you,” smiled the wood elf. “All the herbs are from our garden. The twins seem to enjoy it as well.” 

“I had meant to send word to you earlier, truly,” said Halsin. “But at first we thought it prudent to wait and ensure all was well with the twins, and then… And then time simply got away from us,” he said, apologetically. “It seems it was only yesterday that we first knew.” 

“When are you due?” asked Asmodea.  

“Perhaps in another four lunar cycles or so,” answered Elowyn. “The twins are growing fast, and I suspect they will take after their father, but they have only recently begun revealing themselves to me in my reverie.” 

Asmodea hummed, not quite understanding what the other woman meant. 

“Elowyn would have liked to return to her family to welcome the babes, but like me, she cannot return to her homeland,” said Halsin. “The community we’ve built here is our new home. A new beginning, for both of us. And though we are surrounded by friendly, well-meaning faces here, true bonds are scarce.” 

Halsin paused, looking at Elowyn. She met his gaze, placed her hand over his on the table, and smiled encouragingly. Halsin continued.   

“It would mean the world for us - for me especially - if you could be with us when Elowyn’s time comes.” 

“An honour,” Astarion said, visibly taken aback. “If you are certain. …Are you? Certain? A vampire and a half elf are hardly suitable attendees for the celebration.” 

“I am sure,” Elowyn said with conviction. “You will forever remain entwined in Halsin’s heart, and that which is dear to him - is dear to me.” 

Astarion only released an awkward chuckle, while Asmodea likewise found herself at a loss for words. 

“I know your misfortunes took much from you, but do you still remember your birth, Astarion?” asked Halsin. 

Asmodea was about to laugh at the absurd question that had seemingly come out of nowhere, but held back as no one else had batted an eye at the notion. 

“I think a glimpse still remains,” said Astarion, with a faraway look in his eyes, as though searching his memory. “A feeling of… being celebrated. Of knowing that my very existence brought joy to many others in that moment. And fragments of a song, though the words and the full melody escape me when I try to recollect them. I would recognise it if I heard it again, I'm sure.” 

“…What?” was all Asmodea managed, looking at Astarion incredulously.  

“Ah, you may not be privy to this,” said Halsin. “Elves remember their birth.” 

“What?” she repeated, looking at Halsin.  

He chuckled and took a puff of his pipe, looking every bit a patriarch of a family. 

“We do not remember much of the first half century or so of our lives, but memories of our first moments linger. Elven birth is unlike that of other races. It is near painless. It is not something to be hidden. Instead, it is a beautiful, joyous occasion - the community gathers round the new mother to witness and honour the holy miracle of being. Ancient birthing chants and hymns are sung. It is a moment of celebration for all who are gathered.” 

“What?!” Asmodea all but shouted. 

“Darling, you know this,” Astarion murmured, throwing an apologetic look at their hosts. “It's even mentioned in some of the ballads you've performed - do you remember the one about the elven dragonrider princess? When Wyll roped you into playing at the orphanage? ‘She came at dawn, and hundreds circled round in dance and song of joy’?” 

“I thought it was a metaphor,” hissed Asmodea. “I didn't realise the whole town had literally gathered to sing into her mother's dilated cooch!” 

Astarion covered his face and groaned, as Halsin and Elowyn laughed, goodheartedly.  

“You are everything Halsin told me about, and more,” Elowyn said, her eyes twinkling with warm amusement. 

Astarion remained up with Halsin after Asmodea and Elowyn retired.  

“What of yourselves?” Halsin asked, puffing on his pipe. “Have you considered it? Now that you know for certain it is possible, with talk of dhampir appearing in the Underdark.” 

“There is nothing to consider,” Astarion scoffed. “The thing would kill her on the way out, then return to stake me twenty years later.” 

“Not if she is in the hands of competent healers, and not if you raise the child with love,” Halsin objected, studying the vampire.  

“We’re not interested.” 

“Have you spoken about it? Do you know what is in her heart, truly?” Halsin asked, cocking an eyebrow, as he continued to smoke his pipe. 

“Well… I… I mean…” Astarion stuttered and huffed, before sighing and growing quiet. “…Godsdamn you, Halsin,” he said, finally.  

They left Reithwin the following night, continuing southeast, towards the Wood of Sharp Teeth. Astarion seemed lost in thought as they made their way.  

“You’re awfully quiet,” said Asmodea. “What’s on your mind?” 

“It’s nothing,” said Astarion. Catching an annoyed glance from Asmodea, he sighed and continued. “It’s not nothing, per se, but rather I know it’s not important because I already know what you’re going to say.” 

“What’s not important?” 

“Well, it’s not that it’s not important, it is important, but I feel like we’ve already resolved it, because I already know the outcome.” 

“What is this important matter that we’ve resolved without ever talking about?” Asmodea frowned.  

“It’s nothing.” 

“Astarion,” she said, an edge creeping into her voice. 

They both stopped in their tracks, Asmodea crossing her arms and glaring at Astarion. He sighed before cocking his head and giving her a sheepish look. 

“Do you want kids?” 

“What?” she blinked, taken aback. “Oh. Nooooo. Nonononono. No. …No. …Do you?” 

“No! Not at all. I mean, unless you-” 

“No! No, I don’t. I… I guess if it was important to y-” 

“It’s not! I mean, it would be, if you… But you don’t?” 

“I don’t. Unless you-” 

“I don’t.” 

“No?” 

“Yes. As in, no. …And you’re sure? You’re not just-” 

“Yep! As in, I’m not. I mean, I don’t.” 

“I understand.” 

“Okay. Okay, good.” 

“Yes. Marvellous.” 

“Right. Yes.” 

Astarion released a high-pitched chortle.  

“Now aren’t you glad we had this talk, darling?” he said, as he continued walking. Asmodea stood still for another stunned second, before shaking her head and continuing after him. 

“Why what a ridiculous, bizarre notion,” he went on. “Can you even imagine me as a-” He cut himself off, once he glanced back and saw the grin on her face. “Hey! Stop it. No. Stop. Stop imagining it!” 

Their giddy laughter rang long and loud, disturbing the peace of the otherwise quiet night. 

Thank you for reading!

If you are wondering about the elf pregnancy lore, it came from here, courtesy of my friend and elf connoisseur @spacebarbarianweird - you should go check her work out as well.

And don't forget to read A Night at the Inn and Sweat for more Halsin!

Part 11

Find the fic on AO3 as well.

Tags:

@littleenglishfangirl @something-pithy @darlingxdragon @tragedybunny @spunky-89

@lariatbunny@whiskeyskin @asterordinary @wingsy-keeper-of-songs @spacebarbarianweird

@brabblesblog @littlejuicebox @icybluepenguin @snowfolly @ayselluna

@mj-bites @bardic-inspo

[drabbles-mc]

Passing Through

Bishop Losa x F!Reader

Request by @masterlistforimagines​: Okay so reader is passing through Santo Padre for some reason. Her car breaks down, and Bish is her mechanic. I’m thinking like super cute and flirty Bish

Warnings: language, alcohol, Bish being a flirt with a capital F

Word Count: 2.8k

A/N: I feel like I always let myself get carried away with requests from you. Like they almost always take on a life of their own once I start writing them. Thank you for loving me and continuing to send them to me regardless lmao. We get a few of our other MC boys in this fic too. Hope y’all enjoy! xo

Join my group-chat here: (X)

Bishop Losa Taglist: @sincerelyasomebody​ @sadeyesgf​ @thesandbeneathmytoes​ @tomhardydallasstarsgirl​ @multiyfandomgirl40​ @sillygoose6969​ @queenbeered​ @louisianalady​ @gemini0410​ @paintballkid711​ @sesamepancakes​ @chibsytelford​ @yourwonkywriter​ @arveeee​ @mayans-sauce​ @behindmyeyes-insidemyhead​ @plentyoffandoms​ @georgiaaintnopeach​ @twistnet​ @themoonandthewicked​​ @garbinge​​ @bucky-iss-bae​​ @encounterthepast​​ @everyhowlmarksthedead​​ @rosieposie0624​​ @mylittlelonelyappreciationtoo​​ @mijop​​ @xladymacbethx​​ @blessedboo​​ @holl2712​​ @lakamaa12​​ @kkim120​​ @toni9​​ @shadow-of-wonder​​ (If you want to be tagged in fics for Bish or any of my other writing let me know and I’ll add you to the taglist!)

You’d been driving for practically 2 days straight. It was your own doing—you wanted to go all up and down the coast while you had the opportunity. You didn’t know the next time you would get a few weeks off. However, the first leg of your journey you took your sweet time and didn’t really plan things out, which left you in the tiniest bit of a time-crunch as things were coming to a close. It was impressive that your car had made it this far to begin with. It wasn’t exactly new, but it had always gotten the job done. You knew that this was a big ask, though, and the universe was finally coming to collect.

You sat on the hood, soaking up the sun while you waited for the tow truck to get there. Music was playing from the speaker of your phone as you recounted all of the adventures that you had had so far. If it hadn’t been such a good trip already, this mishap would’ve been far more upsetting. You were in too good of a headspace to be upset, though. Whatever the deal was with your car, you’d figure it out one way or another.

When you saw the tow truck approaching, you shut the music off and hopped down off the hood of your car. You stretched out, trying to gear yourself up for whatever the next leg of your journey was going to be. The truck parked in front of your car and one man hopped out of each side of the vehicle. You bit back a laugh at how different the two of them seemed.

“Are you Y/N?” one man approached you with a clipboard.

You took note of his hands but expressly tried not to stare. Besides, the smile he greeted you with was contagious it was difficult to focus on much else as you nodded, “Sure hope so. Otherwise someone else out there is having just as bad of luck as me.”

He nodded as he handed you the clipboard, “Just need you to fill out this form here for me, Miss.”

You smiled as you took the clipboard and pen from him, “I think I can handle that,” you continued to speak to him as you filled out the paperwork, “What’s your name?”

“Chucky.”

Your eyes flicked up from the paper as you smiled at him, “Nice to meet you, Chucky,” you nodded towards the man who was in the middle of hooking your car up to the tow truck, “Who’s your friend over there?”

“The one and only Johnny ‘Coco’ Cruz.”

You laughed, “One and only, huh?” you handed the clipboard back to him, “Seems like you might know a lot of people who are one-of-a-kind.”

The drive back to the mechanic shop was much more comfortable than you thought it was going to be. Chucky never seemed to run out of things to talk about, which was refreshing. Coco was quiet for most of the ride, chiming in here and there but staying silent for the most part as Chucky drove. The two of them made you wonder what the rest of the people were like at the shop they were taking you to.

When you rolled into the lot, Chucky hopped out and motioned for you to do the same while Coco set about getting your car off the tow truck and into the shop. Part of you wanted to watch it all happen, but Chucky needed you to fill out the rest of the paperwork and answer a few more questions. When he asked you about a rental, you asked if you could see what the damage was on your car before answering that.

You walked over to where your car was being worked on. From the angle you were standing at, you couldn’t see exactly who it was that was working on your car. It was just a pair of legs sticking out from underneath your vehicle. You found a stool to sit on while you waited for whoever it was to resurface so you could ask what exactly was going on and if you were going to need to find a new car to get back home in.

After a few minutes, they rolled back out. He sat up, eyes immediately locking onto yours. You smiled, eyebrows raising slightly as you took in the sight of him. He wiped his hands off on the rag tucked in the pocket of his jeans.

“She yours?” he nodded towards the car.

You sighed, “Depends on what you’re about to tell me.”

He chuckled as he shook his head, “Nothing that we can’t fix.”

“Is it gonna cost me an arm and a leg?”

“It shouldn’t, no,” he stood up, leaning back against your car, “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

The simple pet name shouldn’t have made your face feel hot, but it did, “It’s Y/N. But you can keep calling me sweetheart if you like,” you paused, “You?”

He laughed at your response before holding out his hand, “Bishop.”

“Nice to meet you, Bishop,” it was hard to take your eyes off of his lips and beard. You shook your head to dispel the thoughts, “So, what exactly is wrong with my car? And can you fix it in the cheapest way possible? I just gotta make it back home.”

He smiled at you, “Back home?”

You nodded, “Yea. Had a couple weeks off between jobs and decided to take advantage of it. Probably should’ve used that time to go car shopping though, huh?”

He chuckled, “Maybe.”

You listened as he outlined what was wrong with your car and how he planned to fix it. You were focusing on what he was saying for the most part, but it was easy to get distracted as you watched the way the muscles in his shoulders and arms flexed as he moved and shifted. You were practically salivating by the time that he finished talking.

“You got all that, sweetheart?” he asked with a laugh, knowing that you had definitely tuned out at a few different points as he spoke.

“I got the important parts,” you said, not trying to deny that you let your mind wander.

“How long are you in town for?” he asked, a curious glint in his eyes.

“At least until you fix my car,” you laughed.

“Maybe I should take my time then.”

You smiled, crossing your arms over your chest, “I don’t know how professional that would be of you, Bishop.”

“First you want me to call you sweetheart, and now you want me to be professional?” he laughed, eyes crinkling at the edges, “You’ve gotta pick one or the other.”

You smiled, nodding, “Fair enough,” you paused, “How about this?” you saw the curiosity written all over his face as you continued, “I’ll budget an extra night or two in Santo Padre into my plans, that way you don’t gotta drag out fixing my car. Besides,” you smiled, “I can’t afford to pay for three days’ worth of labor.”

He smiled and nodded, “Alright. That sounds fair. In that case I could have you up and running by tonight.”

“Just in time for you to take me out for a drink?”

He smiled, “Yea. But I wouldn’t make you take your car for that.”

“Oh? You wouldn’t?”

He shook his head as he gestured towards the row of motorcycles, “I’ll take you out on the town in style.”

You laughed, “Can’t wait,” you stood up off the stool, “I guess I’ll let you get to work then. I know I can be a bit distracting.”

“You’re a welcome distraction,” he nodded towards the building behind you, “If you wanna get outta the heat you can go wait in the clubhouse. My guys will take care of you.”

“Wow,” you tucked your hands into your pockets, “feel like I’m getting the royal treatment.”

He smiled, “Because you are,” he walked over to his toolbox and started taking a few things out, “I’ll come and get you when I’m done.”

You made your way over to the clubhouse. You glanced back over your shoulder and saw Bishop standing there, watching you walk away. You couldn’t help but to flash him a smile as you continued to make your way away from him.

When you pushed open the door to the clubhouse, suddenly everything began to make a lot more sense. You saw multiple men walking around with kuttes on, which explained why you got the feeling the place was a bit like the island of misfit toys. It took all kinds. However, despite the fact that it was home base for the local MC, it didn’t feel like an intimidating place to be. You felt perfectly comfortable as you approached the bar and took a seat.

“What can I get you?” the young man behind the bar offered you a sweet smile as he asked the question.

You clocked the prospect patch on his kutte as you looked him over, “Just water, please. Just trying to get outta the heat.”

“What brings you here? Don’t think I’ve seen you before,” he noted as he handed you a bottle of water.

You sighed slightly, “Car broke down,” you took a sip of your water, “One of your guys is working on it now, though. Bishop?”

The man behind the bar looked surprised, and the man who was sitting a couple stools down from you couldn’t refrain from making a comment. He turned towards you, “Damn, Bish is working on your car?” he chuckled, shaking his head, “Been a minute since I seen Pres get his hands dirty out there. You know him?”

You shook your head, “Don’t know any of you guys, actually.”

He moved to the stool next to yours, holding out his hand, “I’m Angel,” he nodded towards the man behind the bar, “That knucklehead is EZ.”

You laughed as you shook his hand, giving a courteous nod to EZ, “Nice to meet you both. I’m Y/N.”

The three of you sat and chatted while you waited for Bishop to finish up your car. You laughed as you listened to the two of them banter back and forth. For as much as you wished that your car hadn’t broken down, there were a lot worse people to be spending your afternoon with, so you really couldn’t complain.

“So I met Chucky and Coco,” you said as you sipped on your water.

“The dynamic duo,” EZ said with a laugh as he cleaned the glasses behind the bar.

“Is that right?” you asked with a smile.

“Nah, we all love Chucky,” Angel said, “But him and Coco are on the same wavelength sometimes. Shit’s weird.”

You were listening to the two of them dive into another story when a different voice cut through the conversation, “These guys bothering you?”

You laughed as you turned around to face Bishop, “Not at all. They’ve been perfect gentlemen.”

He raised one eyebrow as he looked back and forth between EZ and Angel, “I find that hard to believe.”

You chuckled, shaking your head, “What’s the verdict on my car, presidente?”

Angel and EZ biting back their laughter was audible. Bishop shot them a look but the serious expression only lasted for a moment as a smile broke out across his face, “So I see the three of you have been talking.”

“We have,” you leaned back against the smile, “I’ve also been informed that I have to be pretty high up on the totem pole in order for you to be the one to work on my car.”

He shook his head with a quiet laugh, “Something like that.”

“You decide to work on my car just because you thought I was cute, Bishop?”

“If I say yes are you gonna be mad?”

You laughed, shaking your head, “Not at all.”

“Then…yes.”

You couldn’t contain your laughter at his response. And you also couldn’t help but to notice the surprised looks on the faces of EZ and Angel as they watched you and Bishop go back and forth. Something told you that the Bishop that you were talking to, wasn’t the Bishop that they were used to seeing. That in and of itself was very interesting to you.

“But in answer to your original question,” Bishop got the conversation back on track, “Your car should be good to go.”

“Perfect, thank you so much,” you hopped off the stool, “I’ll go square everything up with Chucky, then.”

Bishop shook his head, his hand catching you by the waist when you went to walk by him, “You’re all set.”

“Bishop,” you folded your arms across your chest, “I can’t just let you not charge me.”

He nodded slowly, “Alright. First round is on you tonight then. Deal?”

You nodded, knowing that that was as much as you were going to be able to get him to budge, “Deal.”

“Let me go clean up and change. I’m sure these two can keep you amused in the meantime.”

You laughed, nodding, “I think so.”

He let his fingers trail lightly across the small of your back as he walked away. This time it was your turn to watch him, biting down lightly on your bottom lip as you did. You stepped back and found your seat once more at the bar, not able to return your attention to the men in front of you until Bishop was completely out of sight.

“Seriously,” Angel said with a laugh, “who are you?” he shook his head, “Never seen Bish flex so hard around someone.”

You laughed, “It’s because he knows he’s on a time crunch. Can’t play the long-game.”

“Time crunch?” EZ spoke up.

You nodded, “Yea, I’m just passing through. Honestly, Santo Padre wasn’t even really a stop I was planning to make before my car shit the bed,” you chuckled with a shrug, “But now that I’m here I might as well make the most of it. Told Bishop I’d budget in some extra time here if he could make it worth my while.”

“Damn,” Angel shook his head with a smile, “you really put him on the spot like that, huh?”

“He certainly didn’t seem to mind,” you laughed.

“Yea, I’ll bet he didn’t,” there was a knowing smirk on Angel’s face as he lifted his beer bottle to his lips.

Before you could try to pry further into what he meant by that, Bishop reappeared in a fresh set of clothes and his kutte. You couldn’t hide the fact that you were gawking at him as he approached you. He smiled as he approached you, holding out a hand to help you hop down off the stool.

“Ready if you are.”

You nodded, “I was born ready,” you laughed as he draped an arm around your waist and guided you back towards the door to the clubhouse.

“Anywhere in particular you’re looking to go?”

You shook your head, “You’re calling the shots tonight, Pres.” You heard Angel let out a whistle from the bar at your statement and you couldn’t help but to laugh. You turned to look at Bishop as the two of you exited the clubhouse, “Your guys seem pretty happy for you.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “Yea, something like that.”

You let him guide you over to the bikes. You weren’t sure if you should mention to him that you had never ridden one before. But he must’ve seen the look of slight apprehension on your face because he gave you a reassuring smile as he handed you a spare helmet.

“It’s not that bad. Just hang onto me and you’ll be fine.”

You smiled at him as you clipped the helmet on, “That sounds like an easy direction to follow.”

He got onto his bike and helped you to do the same, giving you a moment to get situated. You draped your arms lightly around his waist, but the second the bike roared to life your hold on him instantly tightened, causing him to laugh. He checked one last time that you were good to go and once you said yes, he shot out of the compound. You were holding onto him so tight that you were afraid you were going to crack one of his ribs, but he didn’t say anything.

A few miles into the ride, you finally loosened your hold on Bishop a little, allowing him to breathe with ease. You could feel his body vibrating with laughter as you slowly found your comfort.

“You good, sweetheart?”

You laughed as you leaned against him, “All good.”

Of all the towns that you could’ve gotten stranded in for an afternoon, you were glad that it was Santo Padre. And if there was anyone worth switching up your travel plans for, you had a feeling that it was Bishop.

[katierosefun]

Good morning! Could I ask 🍰 or 👻 for the fanfic ask? Thank you!

thank you for the ask!! // from these asks

🍰 Name one of your fave comfort fics (doesn’t have to be your all time fave).

oh geez, one of my fave comfort fics? but i have so many...but okay, i'll go with some of my comfort fics that i've been able to read lately, all of them a little underrated which makes me kinda mad, considering how gorgeously written they all are:

if i'm lost, then how can i find myself? by @renegadeontherunn: which is just. so good. so many killer lines that made me screech. but it's about obi-wan and his time on tatooine. it's a very introspective piece, and when you read introspective pieces, they can be a little slow, but this fic was so vivid and rich in detail and imagery, so i personally loved it.

misfits and mishaps by @curse-of-men: a very light, fluffy fic that made me laugh a lot harder than i have in a good long while. lots of wonderful banter as anakin, obi-wan, and rex try to prepare a cake for ahsoka's birthday. honestly, there needs to be a lot more baking shenanigans with our tcw fam, and this fic delivered. it had me giggling one second and then "aww"ing to another, which...good.

the thing about falling by @kckenobi: there's a good handful of fics written about obi-wan and satine's year on the run, but not enough. so we're lucky that kasey got to write one, because this was beautifully written and. angsty but not overwhelmingly so, again with really wonderful imagery and vivid scenes.

relic by @giggles-and-freckles: honestly? i can't remember the last time i read a fic about sith obi-wan that actually made me genuinely so pleased, but. this was one of those fics. there was something just lovely about seeing obi-wan be obi-wan but just a little...slanted. but gloriously so, especially seeing his banter with anakin. def. a fave.

there are,,,,many, many more comfort fics i have, some of them which i didn't mention because i either think they're pretty well-read amongst fandom and also, if i named all my fave comfort fics, we'd be here forever, so i'll just also dump in my bookmarks tag, because i def. have my comfort fics saved there too!

👻 What is one WIP you think you may never pick back up?

lmaoooo, probably this one that i haven't updated since 2018? i think it was something about.......anakin and ahsoka being stupid in a variety of different situations. i think it was supposed to be a 5+1 fic, but i lost steam, and i was also a freshman in college, so i was still adjusting to college life and severely underestimated how much i actually cared about the fic. that, and i don't think too many people were reading it anyways, so...it happens. but i'm pretty convinced i'll finish all my other wips lol

[janeaudron]

Update: Electric Boogaloo 2 - Health and Other Updates

Sorry silly title, but need to cheer myself up. Putting a “read more” since this may be long.

For those concerned only about dice, just highlight “ Dice Time ” (minus quotes) and you should be in that section.

Also for the  tl;dr folks - Health really sucks right now and is disabling me from living/doing just about everything.

So it’s been a rough for months to year(s) for me. I’m doing better from getting really sick a few months ago and then the sudden kidney infections a few weeks after getting better. But my main health issue right now is everything related to my back and the muscles associated with and around it. Kinda feel like it’s getting worse but that may be me letting it get to me...

I usually try not to bring up my health issues too much but this one is affecting just about everything I’m doing to a great degree and it’s been driving me nuts. Why I just have long breaks of inactivity now. Also family issues(MORE HEALTH) but I want to keep that private.

Don’t know what is wrong but something constantly has my left side tight and also sometimes my hips and rib cage get tight. Right around my left shoulder blade down to my mid back/lower ribcabe is constantly hurting, but mostly feels sore. So with this constant pain it makes it just about impossible for me to do things for short or long periods of time. Also it makes sleeping a pain. It’s just a pain that eats at you mentally and physically.

Oh added bonus, whatever is wrecking my back also wrecks my digestive track! I am just a ball of health issues right now.

I’m glad my job has been understanding and has allowed me to reduce my hours, but I feel like I’m still struggling to meet the reduced hours with how bad some days can get where I just can’t operate.

This pain is also holding me back from doing any art as I just can’t sit or stand comfortably to work for a few hours. It’s been disheartening to say the least. Depressing really as I’ve got a folder of wips I want to finish and my board game idea is just staring at me. Done more writing/mechanics progress to a point with that but no true art due to pain killing all motivation.

Which is extra annoying since I thought I was going to finally have time to get my Ko-Fi/Patreon going for the board game development and other stuff. But if I can’t produce art and other content at a decent pace, I don’t feel comfortable having those up. Just finished finalizing all the details and tiers too. >:(

Currently working with my doctors to try and figure out what is going on, but no luck so far. Back adjustments help but are so temporary it’s frustrating. I’m doing all sorts of stretches and especially try not to undo the adjustments but they barely last a week before the pain is back and occasionally it’s worse. Also trying to adjust how I currently work and that’s had little to mild results. May try to get a split keyboard sometime in the future.

-------------

Fan Blog

Yeah chapter updates and other content will be on hold for awhile. Have mild bouts were I can do some writing but still not a lot of writing.

I may have a few solo fics I may be posting soon-ish.

-------------

Dice Time - Rather short update here.

So dice production stopped when I got really sick a few months ago, but it’s back up and running. Though running slow when you take in account of all the info above about my health. For the tl;dr folks - Health really sucks and is disabling me from living/doing stuff.

Have some unfinished sets(matte and shiny) that I need to sand to a finished state but that’s going to take awhile.

If y’all don’t mind me posting raws for sale for some time just let me know. 

Also have a bunch of unfinished misfits(fine just no full sets) and then mishaps/flawed dice that I need to figure out how I want to sell. Thinking of doing it mystery box or bag style for those.

And have to remake a few molds when I can get some more silicone(it will be awhile with everything going on.) Had some numbers tear and then some surfaces got a bit weird. Don’t know what happened to cause some weird surface textures. Funs of moldmaking.

[fuck-you-i-am-spiderman]

(you are) always the one that makes my heart race faster than the speed of light [Read it here!]

↳ Feel The Beat au written by @moorsgrimhilde 

After a Broadway mishap Evie returns to her hometown feeling downhearted. Can teaching a group of misfit young dancers show her what she’s been missing? Or maybe seeing her ex-girlfriend Mal will help Evie remember her passion....and why they fell in love in the first place.

If you haven’t started reading this fic I would highly recommend it, it’s the Malvie content we all deserve. It’s sooooo good guys, seriously please go read this and give this fic all of the kudos and comments. It’s got so much depth, the little details and soft tender moments. It’s angsty, it’s fluffy and everything in-between. I just had to make a moodboard to go with it, because it’s what this fic deserves!

[blah-blah-stranger-things]

The Monk (Chapter 1/2)

The Party plays D&D at the cabin, and the damn place is too small for Hopper not to overhear.

My first Stranger Things fic. Hope you enjoy! ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14260926/chapters/32891049

Chapter 2

"Ok, nerds, prepare to be awestruck. This is what, 7d6 fire damage, one per level, plus - "

"First of all it's per caster level, you're multiclass. Second of all the spell is capped at 5d6, so even if - "

"That's such bullshit! So your girlfriend gets to incinerate everything in the room and I'm stuck taking potshots?"

"It's not bullshit, Mayfield, it's the rules. You're the one who insisted I help you pick out an ability set for a Zoomer, and that meant multiclassing. Lucas, a little help here?"

"Hell no. I'm recusing myself."

"Smart move, Stalker."

"Pah. Your glorious red mane is clouding his judgment. It's always better to min-max."

"...what the hell does it mean to min?"

"No - min-max. Not you, the word max. As in 'maximum.'"

"A min-max lecture coming from the bard..."

"Oooh, burn from Will the Wise!"

"7d6 fire damage?"

Hopper rubs his temples. The boys all laugh in response to El's quip, a helpful reminder as to why he's allowing all this in the first place. Socialization. It's good for her. If it's not safe for her to wander around town yet, at least she can enjoy herself with friends now and then. It's nice, he reminds himself. Worth a few hours of wanting to stab his eardrums through with a pen.

With anything, really, but the pen's handiest, and likely more effective than rolling up one of the case files in front of him and making a play for deafness-by-papercut. Callahan's handwriting is hard enough to parse without a litany of nerdspeak assaulting him from behind. Somehow this Dungeons & Dragons shit is even worse than the stereotypes had led him to believe. Jesus - when he was Wheeler's age he was fixated on a very different pair of Ds, that's for sure. Granted the thought of him thinking of El that way...

Hopper rubs his temples again.

Ok - the file. Thief only took items from the Valentine's display, so definitely a crime of opportunity. But in Callahan's interview notes from the -

"Woo, sneak attack! Multiclass that, asshole!"

"The guard goes down with a sickening groan. But when you move away you open yourself to an attack of opportunity from - "

Focus, Jim.

...right. Shopkeep said it happened after the doors were locked, and there was no sign that any of the locks had been tampered with, which suggests an inside -

"INSOLENT FOOLS! FACE THE WRATH OF ARIYBAR THE PROFANE! SOON, YOUR FLESH WILL ADORN MY HALLS AND YOUR ENTRAILS El stop looking at me like that, this is supposed to be, like, intimidating."

"Sorry. You're adorable."

Four dramatic groans.

- an inside job. Or else, uhh... what was he thinking about again? Right - or else the shopkeep is a dope or a liar. He skims the list of employees. Let's see - Carmichael, Hayes, Daniels... wasn't it somebody by the name of Daniels he locked up overnight just last week for -

"Pew pew! Pew pew!"

"Dustin that's not what Magic Missile sounds like."

"It could be."

"That's lasers. It's anachronistic."

"Oh so you're saying they didn't have sound effects in medieval times?"

"Anyway, while the bard and ranger are distracted by this fascinating conversation, Will you manage to get past the gnome to the door. Inside is a short hallway with a door at the end and a passageway off to - "

Hopper grinds his teeth. Ok. Maybe better to save the critical thinking for later. There's got to be some good old-fashioned paperwork around here somewhere. God knows Flo spends enough of her time berating him about it. He lights a cigarette, shuffles papers until lines requiring his signature manifest. Time off request for Powell - fine. Signed. Office supplies requests... let's see. Coffee's an office supply, right? Eh better safe than sorry. Oh, and he brought home all that extra tape for El around Christmas, after the, uh, mishap with the first round of present-wrapping. Is he out of staples? Not that he ever staples things, but they're fun to flick into the garbage can on slow days. Could probably use -

"Oh shit guys that's gotta be where the princess is. I have dibs when she decides to throw herself into the comforting arms of her rescuer."

"Dustin you're a halfling. If she throws herself into your arms you'll both fall over.

"Screw you."

"You open the door and there she is, golden hair shimmering in the sunlight pouring through the fortress window. Her room is tiny, with only a bed and a small wash basin, but even if it were enormous your eyes would be drawn straight to her. She's as beautiful as the rumors said, and though she looks nervous at first she soon greets you with a grateful smile."

Hopper closes his eyes and his forehead twitches. Office supplies. Think about office supplies.

"Fear not, m'lady! Your heroes have arrived to see you safely back to - "

"So, like, is this it? Campaign done? I know we get a reward back in town, but I kind of figured this Profane guy would have a treasure trove or something. He had that whole side business with the cursed amulets, he must have earned - "

"Hey, Zoomer, shut it. You're killing the mood."

"'Actually,' the princess interrupts, 'he did mention something to one of his lieutenants about a store room behind the bookcase in his study...'"

"Now we're talking. Lead the way, blondie."

Envelopes. Probably need some of those. Hopper snuffs out his cigarette in an ashtray.

"Cure light wounds, anybody?"

"Me please."

"Coming right up... 13 HP for the mage."

"Thanks Will."

"And I'll dispel the bookcase too, in case it's booby-trapped. Lucas, can you check for - "

"Already on it. Ohhhh, natural 20 ladies and gentlemen. Hold your applause, please."

"You make a mockery of the variety of traps both magical and mundane that guard what you soon confirm is a chamber filled with gold coins - more than you can possibly carry. They sparkle in the light from Dustin's glowing lute."

"I wink at the princess."

"Jeez Dustin."

"What? I didn't do the growl, that's called character development."

"Fine. She smiles shyly back at you, smoothing the folds of her elegant silver-patterned dress. Meanwhile - "

Hopper's hands slam down on the tabletop before he can stop them. "Ok," he says, with a tone so measured he considers it downright admirable, "that's it." He pushes himself up out of his chair and turns to see six startled faces looking up at him from the living room floor.

"...uh... what's it, exactly? Sir?" Dustin asks after a moment. "I wasn't going to... I mean - uh - I know there was some real sexual chemistry building there between me and the princess but we don't typically roleplay the... I'm going to maybe stop talking now anyway how's the paperwork going? Going good I bet, I bet you aced every page, sir, bet you really showed it who runs that office oh god I didn't stop did I."

Hopper blinks. "What - no. No, that's not what I - Jesus." He rubs his forehead. "I just have to say - this story makes no sense."

Four pairs of eyes glance nervously at Mike. El looks at Hopper, taken aback. "Dad!"

Wheeler himself narrows his eyes, and Hopper sees hints of the anger that exploded that night last October. "Excuse me?"

Hopper raises his hands defensively and addresses his daughter. "I'm just being honest. Friends don't lie, right? Look think of this as a learning opportunity," he says, turning his head back to Wheeler, "a chance to get better, right?"

Mike crosses his arms. "What, exactly, doesn't make sense about it?" he challenges in the way only angsty teenage boys can.

Hopper sighs. He really should just leave it.

He doesn't. "First of all, this whole fortress arrangement. The brilliant villain puts a half-dozen guards in his great hall but has nobody actually watching the princess's room? Not to mention his piles of gold? I mean speaking of gold - what is this guy's motive, anyway? Clearly he's a hoarder or something since this room is filled with cash but Jesus, if he's interested in padding his retirement fund why the hell didn't he try to ransom the girl back to her rich prick of a father? And the amulet side gig, for god's sake, if you're trying to make a mint selling trinkets why make them suck people's life force? That's not exactly a great long-term business strategy, when every product you sell screams 'I'm an evil asshole.'"

Lucas and Dustin share a mildly disturbed look. "...how much attention has he paying this whole time?" Lucas mutters.

Hopper ignores them. "And the princess - you said at the start the only reason she was out in the field instead of in her guarded ivory tower or whatever was because she was badly claustrophobic. You expect me to believe she's been kept in that, quote, 'tiny' room for a week and yet a few seconds after you open the door she's smiling and offering to show you around and playing footsie with the hobbit over there?"

"Actually, sir, technically I'm a halfling; Hobbits are specific to Tolkien's universe whereas halfling is a more generic - "

"I don't care," Hopper replies emphatically. "And I was going to just let it go, whatever, it's just a game and you're just a kid and bound to make a few mistakes now and then, except then you talked about her dress, and that was a step too far. The elegant silver embroidery shining in the light from mini-Dylan's glow-in-the-dark axe."

"Yeah, it's not technically glow-in-the-dark, it's imbued with a Light spell, which takes is luminescence from - " Will elbows Dustin and the boy stops talking.

Will's a good kid.

"One of the key pieces of evidence," Hopper resumes, circling around the back of Wheeler's little board set-up like he does with perps in the interrogation room, "that pointed your little band of misfits to Eeriebear's fortress - "

"Ariybar," Dustin mumbles.

" - to the ogre's fortress, was - "

"Actually he's a gnome."

Hopper's hand slowly fists and he offers a smile as he feels a vein throb in his neck. "Thank you, Dustin." He returns his gaze to the back of Wheeler's head, who's still sitting with crossed arms and hunched shoulders. "Now if I recall, that bit of evidence was a sizeable piece of torn cloth, covered in mud, found caught on a broken fence post in back of one of these amulet shops. Isn't that right," he asks the witnesses. Uh - other players.

El is glaring daggers at him, but Max nods cautiously. "Yeah, that's right."

"And why was that a clue?" he asks, crossing his arms, too. "Anybody?"

"...because it was from the princess's dress," Will answers shyly after a moment.

"It was. Now, it's just barely possible that your Dungeon Leader failed to mention - yes, fine, Dungeon Master, and if you interrupt me one more time Henderson you're never going to find out what it's like to get through puberty - that Wheeler just failed to mention that there was a giant tear in the princess's dress, though you'd think it'd be a detail the halfling horndog here would've been interested in. Or maybe there's just so much material on medieval dresses that nobody'd notice if a little went missing, what do I know. But! What'd you have to do to figure out it was part of her dress?"

"It has a unique pattern," Lucas replies.

"Right. But you couldn't see that, at first."

"No - we... had to wash it."

"And what exactly did the Dungeon Master say when you washed it?"

El's eyes flash for a moment, and she glances guiltily at Mike before answering slowly, "That... the embroidery wouldn't return to its original shiny color no matter how much we scrubbed it."

"No matter," Hopper says, pacing back around to Mike's front, "how much," he punctuates, "you scrubbed it. So what happened? Did the villain go to all the trouble of creating a new dress exactly matching the pattern of the old one? Did the dress somehow only get dirty exactly where it tore? You were only a few hours behind the villain at that point, and it hadn't rained since the day the princess was kidnapped, so there's no way the scrap got muddy after it was torn.

"It makes no sense," he concludes.

He takes a deep breath, smirking triumphantly.

...God, he's an asshole.

The realization comes as soon as he stops talking. Jesus. The kids are just trying to have a fun time, and here he is critiquing Wheeler like he's a suspect. The two are hardly best buds, but they've settled into a comfortable detente after their confrontation the night El closed the gate, and at the end of the day Hopper's fond of him, is consistently impressed by Mike's patience and generosity when it comes to El and her idiosyncrasies. God knows El's crazy about him; Hopper's certainly not winning any points with her, spouting off like this.

He scratches the side of his nose - as close to embarrassed as he ever lets himself look these days - and after a moment works up the willpower to turn to apologize.

But instead of the angry or hurt or humiliated look he expects to see on Mike's face, there's a half-smile there instead. An appraising smile. A devious smile.

"Suddenly, the light reflected from the coins grows more intense, and for a moment you're all blinded, a sound like the chime of a high-pitched bell ringing in your ears. Roll Will saves."

It's a moment before anyone speaks. "...what?" Lucas says, finally.

"Roll Will saves."

Hopper, left hanging, feels a little lost, and looks at Will. But after a moment everyone, not just Will, is rolling one of those damn multi-sided dice, and reporting some numbers that hold no meaning for him.

"When the light fades, you find yourselves frozen in place. The coins have vanished; sinister circular runes line the chamber in their place. And where the princess stood moments before now stands Ariybar, cackling loudly.

"'You fools! You really thought a great Illusionist like myself would choose to confront you in a contest of brute force?'"

"Fuck me," Dustin says, dragging his hands down his cheeks.

"Hey," Hopper warns, glancing at El. He knows it's almost certainly futile to try and safeguard her vocabulary at this point, but he's at least going to pretend to qualify as good adult supervision. Granted, the way El is staring at Mike with a proud smile on her face, Hopper isn't sure she even heard.

"What the hell is going on?" Max demands.

Wheeler shifts his attention to her. "'Ahh, yes. Where are my manners. Welcome to my ritual chamber. I've spent years perfectly attuning it to the outer planes in anticipation of this day.'"

Lucas tightens his hands into fists. "What happens today?"  

"'Today, I finally bring my master home from exile. Today, he will take his place as the rightful king of this wayward nation.'"

"You don't mean - " Will begins.

"'Oh, I do. Today, the Tyrant returns.'"

Everybody gasps as though this means something. Hopper just looks bemused.

"'Through the amulets, I've gathered enough vessels to activate the ritual. Once I begin, everyone who has come into direct contact with one of the cursed tokens will become subservient to the Chosen One - the Tyrant's secret offspring. Then it's simply a matter of channeling their life force here in this chamber, and my master will walk the earth once more.'"

"Wait - wait wait. The Tyrant was a human, you're a gnome. You can't be his offspring... right?" Lucas makes a face.

"'Oh, no. Not I. I spent many years trying to discover his offspring's identity. Imagine my surprise when I learned she herself was unaware of her parentage,'" Mike says, turning his attention to Max.

Max looks at him blankly, before her eyes widen. "Wait - me? But I'm... my character's an orphan. My father died in a - "

"'In a fire, yes. Not entirely untrue; when the Tyrant was banished, a great fire swept across the capital.' Max, you feel a strange tingling in your spine, like some kind of dark energy is running up and down your body."

"I draw my bow," Lucas says with a scowl.

"Can't move."

"She won't help you," El says, her voice certain but her eyes shooting Max a questioning glance. "Um, duh," Max confirms. "My dad sounds like a real asshole. I'm not channeling anything."

"'As I expected. Reports of the Zoomer's exploits suggested someone with views that diverged significantly from her father's. No matter. I'll simply Dominate you after the ritual begins.'"

"Excuse me?" Hopper interjects.

"What? - oh, god, no," Mike says, blushing, "it's a - it's a spell."

"Though hypothetically with the control it gives you it'd be possible to use it for stuff like - " Will elbows Dustin again. (Good kid. Jesus.)

"Where is the princess?" Will demands, surprisingly forcefully.

"Uh - right. 'Her? She's insignificant. I needed a way to get the Zoomer here, to the chamber. When I heard she had fallen in with the king's favorite errand boys, it was simply a matter of contriving a circumstance that would cause the king to send them my way. The princess is currently resting comfortably at a farm not far from here. After the Tyrant returns I see no reason not to release her.'"

"We won't let you get away with this," El says, her eyes narrowed. For a moment Hopper's afraid he'll need to make a run for the tissues, but nothing falls over of its own accord or flies across the room.

"Ariybar cackles as the glyphs along the wall turn a sickly green. 'There's nothing you can do to stop me. You're trapped, and I have everything I need to complete the ritual. You should feel privileged, to witness the dawn of a new era!'"

Will grips his knees tightly. "What can we do? Can we move?"

"Nothing but your mouths."

"Does anyone have any spells prepared that don't have somatic components?"

El shakes her head.

"Stupid goddamn multiclassing," Max mutters.

"Uh... Feather Fall?" Dustin offers, presumably unhelpfully given the unenthused responses from the others.

"Well. This is it. We're finally, truly doomed," Lucas says, leaning back with resignation.

Max grunts. "This sucks. It's unfair! It's an impossible situation."

Wheeler gives a half-smirk. "Well... maybe there's one way you might be able to pull through."

Will leans forward. "What is it?"

"Well... there was someone who figured out Ariybar's ploy. So it's probably safe to say he didn't get caught."

Dustin frowns. "Who? We're all..."

Hopper scratches his chin. All the kids are accounted for. Was there some other ally they mentioned he's forgetting about? That weird carriage driver with the beard? No, he was killed by that jello cube thing. (Jesus, this game is weird.) Seems kind of lazy to let one of Wheeler's characters solve the problem at the eleventh hour, anyway. Who could...

It's at this point he realizes they're all staring at him.

"Uh - what's up?" he asks, afraid he already knows the answer.

"He doesn't even have a character sheet," Lucas points out.

"We can use some default stats," Wheeler says, pulling open one of those massive rule books.

"Uh - kids, I have a lot of work to do - uh - for instance there's case files, and... ordering, uh, staples..."

"Please Dad?" El asks, eyes wide. "You're our only hope."

She doesn't always call him Dad - it's something they're both still getting used to - and he's very aware it's no accident she's using it now, which only makes it more irritating that he already knows it's going to work.  

"Fuck me," he says under his breath.

"That's the spirit, sir," Dustin says as Hopper drags one of the kitchen chairs out into the living room.

[phanfictioncatalogue]

Do you think you could recommend some chaptered fics that you've read I'd prefer if they had some smut in them, thanks! (Sorry if this request sounds bitchey you people are awesome though.) 😊

A Royal Pain - jilliancares

Summary: Dan Howell is a prince. Unlike most, known for their benevolent behaviors and elegant manners, he’s known for his sullen mood and vituperative remarks. After all, being a prince is not much fun; not with the lack of friends and the abundance of dumb tasks, such as trying to find the perfect bride and hosting dinners with nobles. Dan only has one friend, a prince from the neighboring kingdom Leona, and his days improve greatly when Phil finally comes to visit. However, with Phil comes a variety of strange accidents, all of which putting his friend’s life in danger. Is someone trying to assassinate Phil? And what can Dan do to stop it, to save his friend?

Misfit (wattpad) - MelancholyMango

Summary: Dan is different. He's learned to accept that. Well, as best he can anyway, considering he's never really had much of a choice. It's been this way for as long as he can remember, the constant runaround process of trying to feel normal. His life is built around it, trying to trick both himself and everyone he interacts with into seeing him as your average person. The isolation as he desperately tries to keep others from finding out, the bitterness that wells up inside of him each and every time he's reminded that he'll never be like everyone else, the fear that nothing will ever change. He's fated to be this way forever; a misfit from society.

Isolation can only go so far though, so when he's struggling to make ends meet and he's faced with the option of looking into a serious job or taking on a roommate, he opts for what seems like the easier option at the time. It doesn't seem so easy ten failed roommates into the process, or when he sits down at a table to meet with prospect number eleven and ends up with a coffee spilled all over his lap. Potential roommate number eleven, Phil, turns out to be an insufferable optimistic ball of sunshine that Dan wants nothing to do with. His options are running out though, as are the savings he's been using to pay his rent, so he finds himself begrudgingly agreeing to let the other man move in.

Neither of them have any way of knowing just what they've gotten themselves into as they shake on the matter, but time will tell.

Ships that pass in the night (ao3) - jestbee

Summary: Dan and Phil are YouTubers. The catch? They’ve never met, and Phil doesn’t want them to.

So Many Stars - transdimensional-void

Summary: After graduating with his law degree, Dan decides to move to Japan to teach English for a year. 

Steal My Heart (steal my whole life too) - ineverhadmyinternetphase

Summary: Captain of the Royal Guard and Prince of Morellia, Philip Lester has never been given the chance to find love. Instead, he’s run from a system that works to end class differences and improve equality for its citizens. Happy as he is to make the world a better place, Phil can’t help feeling bitter towards his ancestors for making it impossible for him to find someone who will actually love him for more than just his title, and strives instead for a life of justice and doing good - only to meet his match in the King of Thieves, a man who will change everything he once thought he knew in life. Together, they must depart on a quest to save the kingdom, and, in the process, destroy their differences and find their own form of love.

Pretty Odd (Things Have Changed For Me and That’s Okay) (ao3) - Cadensaurus (orphan_account)

Summary: Baby!fic in which one day, Phil wakes up with a baby in his bedroom and finds out that apparently he and Dan are the only ones who don’t know where this baby came from, as everybody else claims that it’s Phil’s. What happens next is they then end up raising a baby together, with no less than a few existential crises from both of them along the way, as well as plenty of blunders and mishaps. Oh, and through it all, Phil starts falling for Dan but doesn’t dare tell him because he can’t risk losing his best friend.

not all of these have smut but i just couldn’t leave them out because they were SO GOOD

-Rachel

[botanistlester]

Hey so do you any good slow burn phanfics to recommend? (I've already read all of your fics and I'm out of good fanfics to read help)

Ships that pass in the night (ao3) - Dan and Phil are YouTubers. The catch? They’ve never met, and Phil doesn’t want them to.

Steal My Heart (steal my whole life too) - Captain of the Royal Guard and Prince of Morellia, Philip Lester has never been given the chance to find love. Instead, he’s run from a system that works to end class differences and improve equality for its citizens. Happy as he is to make the world a better place, Phil can’t help feeling bitter towards his ancestors for making it impossible for him to find someone who will actually love him for more than just his title, and strives instead for a life of justice and doing good - only to meet his match in the King of Thieves, a man who will change everything he once thought he knew in life. Together, they must depart on a quest to save the kingdom, and, in the process, destroy their differences and find their own form of love.

Misfit (wattpad) - Dan is different. He’s learned to accept that. He’s fated to be this way forever; a misfit from society. When he’s struggling to make ends meet and he’s faced with the option of looking into a serious job or taking on a roommate, he opts for what seems like the easier option at the time. Potential roommate number eleven, Phil, turns out to be an insufferable optimistic ball of sunshine that Dan wants nothing to do with. His options are running out though, as are the savings he’s been using to pay his rent, so he finds himself begrudgingly agreeing to let the other man move in.

Pretty Odd (Things Have Changed For Me and That’s Okay) -  Baby!fic in which one day, Phil wakes up with a baby in his bedroom and finds out that apparently he and Dan are the only ones who don’t know where this baby came from, as everybody else claims that it’s Phil’s. What happens next is they then end up raising a baby together, with no less than a few existential crises from both of them along the way, as well as plenty of blunders and mishaps. Oh, and through it all, Phil starts falling for Dan but doesn’t dare tell him because he can’t risk losing his best friend.

i don’t blame you much (for wanting to be free) - Art Thief Dans and the Phils who love them.

[ellstra]

Ellstra’s Kylux fic rec Vol. 2

I decided to make another fic rec in the moments when I’m too drained of energy to do anything that requires brain activity. I couldn’t tag some people (again, tumblr is fucked) which breaks my heart. The fics are in no particular order, only organised in groups from filth to innocent T rated fics (which I honestly didn’t expect to see. Bless you guys.) Enjoy!

Rated E

Grease Lightning by @slutstiels 4k, Modern Au “I’ll fix it for free–” Hux gasps, hardly able to believe his ears. The man holds up a finger to Hux’s lips and Hux frowns, flinching back instinctively. The offending finger is pulled away and Hux reflexively licks his lips, tasting salt and copper; the man’s eyes flow the movement of his tongue before those eyes focus on his own again. “–if you let me fuck you.” “Excuse me?” Kylo is a car mechanic and Hux is a very rich man with a very expensive car that needs to be fixed immediately. Yes, this sounds like a porn intro, and it is. And a great one.

Into the Garbage Chute by @longstoryshortikilledhim 15.5k, Techienician, Modern AU Techie and Matt are Star Wars fans who meet at a convention. This is such a sweet fic, you’ll love yourself for reading it. Techie and Matt are huge adorable dorky nerds and I love them.

it’s not fashionable to love me by @thesunandoceanblue 10.5k, Modern AU Stop staring at his jeans. He knows they’re too tight on him. That’s the whole point; so people will stare at his—don’t stare at his junk. Hux is persistently bothered by an odd but attractive man during his shifts. Hux is a horrible person who cheats on his boyfriend, Phasma is the best, Kylo is hot and straight-forward. It’s set in a tea shop which is something I never considered as a setting for a fic but it works really well.

In the Flesh by @srawratskcuf 3k, High school AU Kylo is that one kid in school who gives piercings in the bathroom. Prep!Hux comes in for one on a dare and keeps coming back for more (a good mix of ‘dam these are hot’ and 'damn hes hot’) Seriously, it’s disgusting and Hux is so pretentious you’ll want to spill blueberry juice on his expensive shirt and it’s the most hilarious thing ever.

Bohemian Rhapsody by @longstoryshortikilledhim 18k, Modern AU Kylo is a street musician in Prague. Hux is touring with the prestigious First Order Orchestra. They collide. Hard. In the unlikely case you haven’t read this fic yet, drop everything you’re doing and do yourself the favour. It’s everything you might want from this AU and more, the style is gorgeous and it’s set in my country so bonus points for the advertisement.  

More below the cut! 

Black Powder, Black Hearts by @sundogsailor 6k, Pirate AU “I can’t,” he insisted, playing the one remaining card his panicked brain had managed to find. “It’s against regulations.” “You’re not in his Majesty’s Navy anymore,” Ren growled. “I thought that was abundantly clear.” Hux opened his eyes to find the man much nearer than he’d thought, leaned in close enough for him to pick out each of his dark lashes in the lamplight. And at that moment he knew he’d lost, both the fight against himself and the one against Kylo Ren: mutineer, pirate, and apparently, sodomite. Hux is a good navy officer who does his job, until he doesn’t and decides to save his life instead of trying to get himself killed. Turns out the pirate who captured him is truly, truly, truly perverted and wants Hux, the good man, to do the unspeakable and Hux doesn’t want to until he does and it’s all very embarrassing. Wrapped up in navy terms you’ll probably have to look up. A pleasure. 

Hotline Bling by @minzimpression 37k, Modern AU Hux wants a dick pic from his recent hook-up. Unfortunately, he texts the wrong number. There’s phone sex, there are chance encounters, there’s a long distance relationship and actual feelings involved. A wholesome read. There’s also a rather good podfic of this by @asailordreamingbeyondthehorizon

Wild Honey by @longstoryshortikilledhim 9.5k, modern AU Armitage Hux was raised by his mother. He’s still an asshole. An innovative take on a coffee shop AU (the barista is Hux’s mum), Hux’s father makes an asshole-y cameo, there’s sex followed by a date, all in a very lovely package. 

On The Cusp by @solohux 5k, canon-verse Hux has a fantasy about groping and public touching. Kylo finds out. It’s filthy, mentally-scarring for some of the officers of the Finalizer and very enjoyable. 

Misfits by @hollyhark 20k, canon-verse, Techienician (+Kylux) Matt (short temper, disturbing fixation on Kylo Ren, snores) and Techie (night terrors, excessive jumpiness, “creepy” eyes) have both become notorious for driving their bunkmates to request a room change. General Hux is tired of processing the admin work they create. He assigns them to bunk together. They’ll either deal with it or lose their jobs. What a lovely and wholesome fic. I can’t describe it properly, but I can promise it’s worth the read. It has everything.

Coupe by @eralkfang 3k, canon-verse “I don’t have breasts,” Ren says, quickly—but too quickly, his eyes darting away as he bites his lip. No wonder Ren wears the mask, Hux thinks. His face betrays him at every turn.“Of course not,” Hux soothes, with more than a little sarcasm in his voice. “You couldn’t feed anyone with these. What you’ve got, Ren, is a nice pair of tits.” Shameless porn. Disgusting. Have I convinced you yet? Thought so.

Rated M 

A Rose and its Thorn by @solohux 2.5k, canon-verse ’Hanahaki disease is an illness born from one-sided love, where the patient coughs up flowers or flower petals. The only cure is to have that love reciprocated. The infection can be removed through surgery, but the feelings disappear along with the petals.' 

Hunger by @eralkfang, @reserve, @badspacebabies 9k, canon-verse Kylo Ren keeps returning from missions with gifts for Hux. Neither one of them is really sure what it means. Foodporn, really confusing relationship, slow steps towards whatever the outcome of the story is. 

alors on danse by @huxes 32.5k Ballet AU Between seemingly random bestowals of their art upon the world (guerrilla dance, suggested a Toronto Sun reporter), the Knights rehearse, or don’t; or go on crime sprees, or don’t; or are a motorcycle gang, or a drug-smuggling ring, or a hacktivist group — or they aren’t.The point is, this company is less a dance troupe and more a legend, and their founder is the greatest myth of all. Hux, like many, wasn’t sure the Knights — or Kylo Ren, for that matter — even existed anymore. It had been six months or so since their last “guerrilla” performance, and the art world was beginning to lose interest in them, when Hux received the email.The subject line read, Ballet choreographer wanted — Knights of Ren. The “from” line was blank. It’s a ballet AU, so there’s awkward tension, Kylo’s childhood is fucked up, there’s a lot of pent-up feelings, Hux meets the family, the give Snoke the metaphorical finger. Bonus for the most beautiful sex scene I’ve read in a long time.

Lacuna by @solohux 14.5k, canon-verse, WIP After a bad head injury, Kylo wakes up with no memory of the last few years of his life. Including his marriage to Hux. A lovely and angsty take on memory loss. It has Emperor Hux and the sweetest idea for wedding rings. It will fuck you up and make you feel grateful.

Rated T

Cut Your Losses by @sinningsquire 5.5k, modern AU Ben has to spend the summer holiday at Luke’s farm. He hates it. After he meets a pretty ginger in a local town, he hates it even more. Or… maybe a little less? This beauty is set in my home country and it’s awesome. Hux is a little shit and Ben talks too much. Need I say more? 

oh, is it love? by @42dicks 14.5k, modern AU, WIP Armitage Hux (16, scary) is a “Counselor in Training” at Camp Endor where he has spent far too many summers. His father, up until this year, was a Counselor himself and Armitage suffers under his shadow. Ben Solo (15, doesn’t want to be here) is forced to attend Camp Endor after prior efforts to get him out of his room and enjoy his summer vacation fail. Queue two socially alienated teens accepting each other’s company after a series of shared mishaps, and more making out than is probably healthy. An interesting dynamics that promises a lot more, they’re both a mess™ and the prose is lovely. Bonus points for bringing back happy memories of summer camps. 

The Loveliest Letters by @space-girlfriends 2.5k, canon-verse Hux finds a letter on his desk. His secret admirer, whoever calls themselves S, is quite a…poetic fellow. A very lovely crack fic. Features everything a good crack fic should have and an extra serving of hilarity because it was posted on Valentine’s day.

[cappuccino-howell]

✨Cass’s Phanfic Recs✨

Because we’re all trash and need our fix. ;)

Some trigger warnings for abuse, non-con, general angst, and smut.

When it Rains it Pours by wordsongs (AO3). Major TW: Phil's only gone for one weekend. Apparently that's all the time it takes for everything to fall apart.

First Impressions (Perhaps I was Wrong) (AO3) by Ablissa: Phil Lester goes back to university for his third year, expecting to live in the dorms with his childhood best friend PJ. That's how it's been for the past years, after all. However, due to a mistake of some sort, he finds himself with a new roommate to spend the semester with.

Misfit by MelancholyMango (Wattpad): Dan is different. He's learned to accept that. Well, as best he can anyway, considering he's never really had much of a choice.  (BY FAR MY FAVE OMG)

Come What May by PhantasticFiction (Ao3) TW: Phil Lester usually wasn't one to go to strip clubs. But after being coaxed into it by a couple of his friends he meets the ever hypnotizing Greyson Bear(Dan Howell). Easily falling in love with him Phil works to save Dan from the underworld of prostitution.

Someday by @philsdrill. TW; eating disorder: “Everyone had a link with their soulmates, some could hear some of their partners thoughts, some had a tattoo that would appear with their partners name; for me, I knew when they got sick.” For a while Phil has thought that his soulmate might have an eating disorder and doesn’t expect to meet him in the restaurant where he works. (ongoing fic but i love it so much)

Unraveling by @phandommother.  Dan knew he was different from other children very early on. He never lost his ‘imaginary friends’, they only became a more integral part of his life. Living with his illness is never easy and with a secret as large as his, cracks are bound to appear. While he isn’t ashamed of his DID, he knows the consequences of telling the wrong people. 

Charlotte by dannihowell (Ao3): When Dan's little sister needs a home, he and Phil offer a place to stay.(one of the first really long fics i read it is soooo good and pure)

Four Years Ago by actuallyroz. TW. dan and phil’s relationship from 2009 - now

Absolutely Lovely by autumnkismet. TW. His friends and family think he’s acting strange, they’re worried that he’s depressed again, but Dan doesn’t see it. The only thing he sees is the new guy at school, the quirky one with the black hair and stunning blue eyes, and that’s bad. So bad… 

Just Like Mud by @blueberryphancakes. “So you’re upset because you saw me…polishing the banister.” “Jesus fucking Christ.”“Is that another euphemism or are you just mad at me?”

Identity by @phansdick. Dan is definitely beyond nervous to start at the prestigious boarding school, Harrison Academy. He wants to get away from the past and start a new life, where he meets his dorm mate, Phil Lester. Phil is always happy, it seems, and wants the best for everyone, but as he continues to get to know Dan, he realizes that there’s something wrong with this particular boy that maybe even Dan isn’t aware of.

Disasterology by @howellslester. Phil moves to a new town where Dan Howell’s name is a warning and Dan likes the stars.

The Blind Boy by @jilliancares. Dan Howell liked to think of his entire life as a series of tragic accidents. Because really, how many people can say that they managed to become blind and obtain a supposedly Cute Boy’s hate all in the span of one year? And Phil Lester has not had the best school life, so in order to avoid bullying or a bad reputation, he refuses to take shit from anyone at this new school. Even if that someone just so happens to be blind.

Pretty Odd (Things Have Changed For Me and That's Okay) by Cadensaurus (Ao3). Baby!fic in which one day, Phil wakes up with a baby in his bedroom and finds out that apparently he and Dan are the only ones who don't know where this baby came from, as everybody else claims that it's Phil's. What happens next is they then end up raising a baby together, with no less than a few existential crises from both of them along the way, as well as plenty of blunders and mishaps. Oh, and through it all, Phil starts falling for Dan but doesn't dare tell him because he can't risk losing his best friend.

Missing Pieces by existentialcatwhiskers (Ao3). When an accident occurs in the middle of filming a new video for the gaming channel, Dan finds himself becoming more reliant on Phil than he was comfortable with. Unfortunately, Dan needs the help and can't push Phil away, but he can feel the situation beginning to dredge up feelings that Dan had pushed away years ago and buried deep within himself.

No Strings by @phangirlingforphan. Phil really misses sex and it turns out that Dan really misses sex, too. So…they just decide to have sex together. No strings. FWB minus the usual dramatic storyline that follows. Hilarity and #bants ensues.

Galaxies and Greenhouses by @fourthingsandawizard whom you should definitely check out ;). When Dan meets a boy with piercings and a dragon tattoo while shopping in Diagon Alley, he’s pretty quick to jump to conclusions, much to his own embarrassment. But as they become fast friends, they both come to see that sometimes the most important lessons learned at Hogwarts are the ones that happen without a wand.

Ethreal by @sin-n-city. AU- Super powers. Dan’s not normal. In fact, he’s never met a single person exactly like him. No one else can move objects with their mind, just by a simple thought. He lives life carefully, limited interactions and semi-non-existent social life. That is, until a pair of sapphire blue eyes change everything. Dan Howell/Phil Lester, PJ Liguori/ Chris Kendall.

Okay guys these are probably just some of the ones i’ve read (i read a lot of oneshots) but please let me know what you think if you check them out! :) LOL it seems i really like the angsty fics sorry about that. 

Also feel free to rec me some fics too! ♥

[star55]

Fic: Misfits and Mishaps Chapter Six

Title: Misfits and Mishaps Author: Star Chapter: Six/Twelve Word Count: 3,641/47,000+ Pairing: Cait/Vi Fandom: Arcane (League of Legends) Rating: Teen and up Chapter Warnings: references to past parental death. please proceed with care ♥

Read on AO3

Chapter Six

“I’m afraid I’m never going to be able to leave.” Vi’s voice is sincere, but it’s muffled where her face is pressed into Bullet’s flank. Caitlyn smiles.

She had no idea Vi was such a dog person, but the proof is right in front of her, with Bullet all but hugging her, and Trigger sitting at her feet. Caitlyn finds that she wouldn’t mind if Vi never left, either.

It’s always odd, having someone new in her space, but Caitlyn likes Vi here very much. She likes that Vi fits into her life.

Her face had been the picture of awe when Caitlyn had led her inside the Kiramman mansion. She always feels awkward at first, letting people see where she lives. But this home has been in the family since Piltover was founded. The Kirammans were one of the founding families. And their house is as ostentatious as their history.

But Vi hadn’t made a big deal about it, just stating a simple ‘whoa’ when entering. Thankfully Bullet and Trigger were more interesting to Vi than Caitlyn’s house was.

They’ve spent most of their time in Caitlyn’s room so far, aside from taking the dogs for a walk a short while ago. Their energy needed to get out, and walking into the forest at the back of the mansion always helped them expel any excess energy. For Caitlyn as well.

While they were outside, Caitlyn had shown Vi her shooting range, and a promise to show off her skills at some point.

“I know we haven’t talked about it much,” Vi says, moving her face from Bullet’s flank, but keeping him close. “But I have a boxing match at the start of the new year. Would you like to come?”

Caitlyn nods. “I’d love to!” she replies eagerly. Vi smiles at her.

“Alright, show me this phone then,” Vi says. “But you’ll have to come over here. The dogs and I are one now.”

Caitlyn laughs and nods. She’d set up her new phone already and had reformatted the old one so that Vi could start fresh with it. She thought she’d wait until Vi had the phone before sending her the photos of them that she’s accumulated over their friendship so far.

Thankfully Vi knows how to use a smart phone, and makes quick work of signing into accounts with her own details.

“The boys are going to be relieved to not share a phone with Powder anymore,” Vi comments as she downloads all of the gaming apps that Powder likes.

Caitlyn smiles at that. “I bet she’ll never let you use this one, either, wanting to set all new high scores for herself.”

Vi nods. Her free hand drops to Caitlyn’s hip, squeezing softly. They’re all smooshed together on Caitlyn’s bed, with the dogs having moved a little when Caitlyn joined them. Bullet’s head is resting on Vi’s thigh and Trigger is half lying on top of him. Making them one big puppy pile, Caitlyn thinks.

“She’ll be happy to know that I haven’t come close to beating her scores on my phone,” Caitlyn replies. She subtly shifts closer, wanting more contact with Vi. She can’t help it. Vi is so warm and inviting and she just wants.

Vi’s smile is beautiful, even from her profile view. Caitlyn knows she’s staring, but she just doesn’t care. This is the happiest she’s ever been in her entire life and they’re just lying here, doing nothing.

“Alright, send me those photos then,” Vi says, setting the phone down on her chest. Caitlyn opens her own phone. “It’ll be easier to air drop them to you since we’re so close to each other.”

Vi picks her phone back up again. Cait notices she’s struggling one handed, and she doesn’t want Vi to remove her hand from Caitlyn’s hip, so she just plucks the device from Vi’s hand and makes quick work of getting the photos to all air drop over to her.

“What time do you have work today?” she asks, voice a little softer to not disturb their peace.

“I start at three,” Vi replies.

Caitlyn hums, setting Vi’s phone back on her chest. She turns her head to face Vi a little better, and the action causes Vi’s lips to brush against her forehead. Caitlyn’s breath catches in her throat and she shifts a little closer. She doesn’t think she’s reading this wrong. Social cues still aren’t her strongest trait, but she’s seen enough movies and TV shows to recognise this for what it is. And if the look on Vi’s face is any indicator, she’s definitely not reading this wrong.

Before anything can happen, both Bullet and Trigger sit up, and then they’re scrambling off the bed, startling Caitlyn. She watches as they both bound out her door and she hears a muffled “oh, hello” a few moments later.

“My Father’s home,” Caitlyn says. She glances at Vi for a few beats longer before slipping off her bed. She nods her head towards her door, indicating that Vi should follow her.

“Caitlyn!” Tobias exclaims happily. “Oh, and you must be Vi! Wonderful to meet you, dear.” He reaches a hand out to Vi, who shakes it politely.

“I was just making some lunch,” he continues. “Come and join me? Your mother is just finishing up her phone call and she’ll be joining us, too.”

They all make their way down to the kitchen where Tobias had been preparing lunch. Caitlyn didn’t even realise he was home. She was certain he was out until later that afternoon.

Vi had already met her mother, and it went well. She was won over when Bullet and Trigger pretty much tackled Vi with loving kisses the moment she stepped into the house. Caitlyn knows her mother trusts her dogs’ opinions more than she trusts most people’s opinions.

Cassandra breezes into the kitchen a moment later. “Can someone remind me why I’m on the Council?” she asks.

“Because you’re the one who cares about keeping Zaun and Piltover in connection rather than having them separated like it was in the past,” Tobias replies without missing a beat. “That and you look good in a suit.”

Caitlyn smiles at her parents’ flirting. It isn’t often she gets to see this, but she does like their little displays of affection. Even more so when Cassandra leans over and gives Tobias a quick kiss on the lips.

“What’s for lunch then, dear?” she asks. “Vi, do you have any allergies?”

“Uh, no, none,” she replies. She’d been silent during their exchange and there’s a puzzled look on her face. “Mrs Kiramman? You’re the one responsible for bringing Zaun and Piltover together?”

“Not alone, no, but I was the driving force behind it, yes,” she replies as she sits down across from Caitlyn at the table.

Tobias starts serving up their lunch. He’s made sandwiches and salads, and a beautiful smelling pumpkin soup that Caitlyn can’t wait to try.

“I didn’t know that,” Vi says, her voice a little quiet. “My parents… My birth parents. They died during the riots eight years ago. So, uh. It’s nice to know not all of the Council members wanted to keep Zaun and Piltover separated.”

The room falls silent. “My condolences for your loss,” Cassandra says sincerely. “That day is a dark day in Piltover history, and one I never want to repeat again.”

Caitlyn reaches over, putting her hand on Vi’s which is bunched up into a fist under the table. Vi’s hand unfurls and their fingers immediately lace together. Caitlyn squeezes her hand gently, giving her the smallest of smiles.

“Thank you,” Vi says, glancing up at Cassandra. “Sorry to bring the mood down.”

“Nonsense,” Cassandra replies, unfolding her napkin and spreading it over her lap in one fluid movement. “Death is never something to bring the mood down. A lot of good people died that day, and every single death was unnecessary. I made sure that the Council knew it then, and I remind them every single anniversary, too.”

Vi nods. “Can I be… I just need the bathroom.”

Her hand falls from Caitlyn’s grasp and she watches helplessly as Vi disappears.

Cassandra gives Caitlyn a small nod and Caitlyn gets up, following Vi as quickly as she can.

She gently knocks on the closed bathroom door. “Vi, it’s me,” she says. “I… I’m here.”

A few beats of silence pass before a soft “You can come in,” comes from Vi. Caitlyn opens the door and Vi’s arms immediately engulf her in a massive hug. She holds on tightly, not wanting to let go, and wanting Vi to have as much comfort from her as she wants.

“Sorry,” Vi mumbles as she pulls back.

“No,” Caitlyn says. “You have nothing to be sorry for, okay?” She gently cups Vi’s face and Vi turns into her hand, lips grazing Caitlyn’s palm.

“Sorry that I haven’t told you that before now.”

“That also doesn’t need an apology,” Caitlyn says. “So no apologising, okay?”

“Okay,” Vi agrees with a nod.

They stay there for a few moments longer before Vi pulls back, swiping at her eyes with the backs of her hands.

“I just need a minute,” she says. “I’ll be right out.”

Caitlyn nods. She closes the door behind her, waiting a beat before making her way back to the kitchen. She takes her seat again and just gives her parents a sad smile.

“I’m glad she has you, Caitlyn,” Cassandra says. “You’re an excellent friend.”

Caitlyn’s face warms at the compliment.

~*~

After a delicious lunch, Caitlyn takes Vi back to her house to get changed for work, and Caitlyn happily gets roped into playing a game with Powder on the console in the basement since Mylo and Claggor aren’t home, either.

Caitlyn likes spending time with Powder. She reminds Caitlyn a little of herself when she was that age – inquisitive, easy to please, and just generally curious about everything. It reinforces Caitlyn’s idea that Powder would likely benefit greatly from meeting Jayce and Viktor – two people whose intelligence rivals Powder’s own.

“What do you normally do when everyone else is at work?” Caitlyn asks as she and Powder finish their game.

“Sometimes I’m okay to stay by myself,” Powder says as she opens the box to choose another game. “Sometimes I go to the bar with Dad – he lets me sit in a booth and I do my homework. And sometimes I go to the arcade with Vi, but only on a weeknight. Weekends get too busy for me to be there, too.”

Caitlyn hums, thinking. “How about I come over a little more often?” she offers. “If it’s okay with your dad? We can do things together. Or if you have any after school activities you’re interested in, I can come with you?”

“What about you?” Powder asks. “Don’t you have things you do after school?”

“I do some afternoons,” Caitlyn replies. “But it’s not all of them. Plus, I’ve been here a bunch during the week and it hasn’t interfered.”

Powder smiles. “I’d like that,” she says. “If you and Vi break up, you’re not allowed to break up with me too, okay?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” Caitlyn replies. She doesn’t bother to correct Powder – she and Vi aren’t together like that. Not for lack of wanting, though.

“Pinkie promise it,” Powder says seriously. She holds out her pinkie finger and Caitlyn makes the promise. “Now we have to kiss our thumbs to seal it.” Caitlyn copies Powder’s actions.

“Do you have dinner organised?” Caitlyn asks before Powder can put their next game in the console.

“There’s leftovers from the lasagna Dad made yesterday,” Powder replies.

“How about we go out and have dinner?” she offers, glancing to gauge Powder’s reaction. “Nothing fancy or fast food, but we could go and do something together?”

Powder ponders this. “I have to ask Dad first.”

“Okay,” Caitlyn replies. “I’m getting hungry, so I thought you might be, too.”

Powder nods. “I am pretty hungry.”

“Here, use my phone to call Vander and ask if we can go out to Jericho’s for dinner. It’s my treat.”

Powder makes quick work of taking Caitlyn’s phone to do just that and Caitlyn smiles to herself, unable to help it. She feels so comfortable around the Wolfes that it’s hard for her to not just want to spend all of her free time with them.

“Dad says it’s okay as long as you take me to the bar when we’re done,” Powder says.

“Of course,” Caitlyn replies. “Let’s go then.”

They’re heading out the door a short while later, Powder taking Caitlyn’s hand as they walk. She chats about the volcanoes they made in class earlier that week, and how she and Ekko were entering the science fair when the term starts again next year. It reminds Caitlyn how she loved the science fair as a kid. Her inventions never won, but she always came second or third. And when she listens to Powder describe what she and Ekko were going to make, she has a feeling that they’ll be winning first prize without a doubt.

Since it’s so cold, they both order a lovely stew that Powder recommends. While they eat, Caitlyn asks what kinds of books Powder likes to read, having seen some in the basement.

“I like mystery books,” Powder says.

“Me too,” Caitlyn replies.

“Vi likes romances,” Powder adds. “She loves when the heroine gets her girl.”

“I like that too,” Caitlyn admits. “I prefer mysteries, but I do love a good love story, too.”

Powder grins at her and takes a massive bite of her bread roll, chewing happily.

An idea starts forming in Caitlyn’s head about what she can get for Vi’s birthday – finally. And with the Solstice two days later, she figures she can use one of her gift ideas for her birthday, and the other for the Solstice.

After dinner, Caitlyn walks with Powder to The Last Drop. It’s relatively quiet, and Vander greets them with a warm, kind smile on his face. Powder gives him a massive hug and excitedly tells him about their dinner.

There’s a look on Vander’s face when Powder has finished talking, and Caitlyn can’t figure out exactly what it means. But he gives her a cup of the juice Powder likes as they sit at the side of the bar that’s empty.

“What time does Vi finish work?” Caitlyn finds herself asking. She quickly glances at the time on her phone, noticing that it wasn’t too late yet.

“Nine,” Vander replies. “A bit too late for an after-work hangout.”

Caitlyn nods. “You’re right,” she agrees. She doesn’t tell him that she might just go and see her at work before she goes home for the night.

She bids them a good night, and hugs Powder back just as tightly before leaving them and turning in the opposite direction to home, heading for the arcade instead.

Vi’s easy to spot – her bright pink hair something Caitlyn would be able to spot even in a darkened room. Her heart thuds a little in her chest at seeing her. She watches Vi for a moment – she’s starting to put up Solstice decorations around the arcade machines, even though it’s just the start of December.

Instead of going and interrupting her, Caitlyn figures she’d try her luck at one of the games that are open. It works out in her favour that it’s a shooting game. She’s quick to put in the right money and lines up the plastic rifle to start the game.

She gets a little engrossed, and doesn’t realise that she’s drawn a crowd until she’s on the last level. She’s worked her way through multiple levels, and has almost died twice, but has got the better of the game each time.

Pride surges in her chest when she defeats the game, setting a new high score, but also earning cheers from the crowd around her. The machine spits out so many tickets that she’s a little startled. But then a familiar head of pink hair appears in her line of vision, complete with a large plastic bag to capture all of the tickets for her.

“Nice gameplay, Cupcake,” Vi says, giving her a lopsided grin.

Caitlyn smiles at her. “I just thought I’d see what this place was like. It’s quite fun.”

Vi’s laugh settles in Caitlyn’s chest. “I think the machine has run out of tickets, one sec.” She disappears, leaving the overflowing bag at Caitlyn’s feet.

She’s congratulated again by some of the crowd that had hung around. She takes their praise with kind words, and nods at them, eagerly waiting for Vi to come back.

A short while later, Vi fits the machine with more tickets and it finishes giving Caitlyn hers. She takes the bag to the nearest ticket return machine, and watches Vi’s expert hands feed the tickets into the machine.

“Have you got this?” Vi asks after a moment. “I need to go help another customer.”

Caitlyn nods, taking over. It takes a few minutes to get all of the tickets through and it prints out a little slip of paper for her to take to the prize counter. When she approaches, a girl around her age is leaning over the counter, smiling a brilliant smile at Vi. She has ice blonde hair and is wearing a crop top, despite it being very cold outside. Caitlyn tries not to judge people based on their appearances, but she decides that she doesn’t like this girl one bit.

She especially doesn’t like it when she sees this girl reaching out and touching Vi’s hand. Her fingers are stroking over the back of Vi’s hand, tracing over her knuckles and generally making Caitlyn wish she’d go far, far away.

“Hi!” she says abruptly. Vi’s attention snaps towards her and she smiles. Caitlyn’s stomach flutters at that.

“The machine finished counting my tickets,” Caitlyn says, handing the piece of paper over with the number printed on it. She may make sure that the number is within easy sight of the blonde girl. And judging by the way the girl’s eyebrows shoot up, Caitlyn knows she’s seen it. She’s a little smug at that.

“You’ve pretty much got your choice of prizes, Cupcake,” Vi says, gesturing to everything around her. “No one has ever won this many before on one game, so take your time choosing something.”

Caitlyn doesn’t like that Vi leaves her alone to make her choices. But she’s thankful that Vi doesn’t go back to talking to the other girl. The other girl who gives Caitlyn a pointed glare before pushing away from the counter and disappearing from view.

It takes Caitlyn a long while to choose something. She doesn’t really have anything she wants, so she gets a small toy for Powder for Solstice, and decides to keep the rest of the payout to go towards one of the bigger prizes the next time she comes into the arcade. She has a feeling she’ll be coming here more often.

Vi passes her the small monkey toy, and a new receipt for the remaining prize points she has. Caitlyn slips it into her bag, along with the toy, and decides that since Vi’s shift is almost over, she may as well stay.

She decides to keep playing games until Vi’s ready to leave. It isn’t too much longer before Vi’s hand is on her shoulder and Caitlyn looks up. She chose a non-ticketed machine this time, and she gets up, following Vi into the back room.

“I still can’t get over how well you did,” Vi comments as she pulls on her hoodie jacket. “I know you said you’re a shooter, but that was next level.”

Caitlyn leans against the doorjamb and smiles. “I did say I was the youngest marksman in all of Runeterra.”

Vi just smiles, shaking her head. “And now I have the best proof.”

Vi steps closer and that’s when Caitlyn notices something out of the corner of her eye.

“Oh,” she says, looking up. “Mistletoe.”

Caitlyn feels Vi’s warmth in front of her. They’re impossibly close right now.

“We… we don’t have to,” she says, licking her suddenly dry lips.

“You afraid to kiss me, Cupcake?” Vi asks, sounding far too cocky for Caitlyn’s liking.

Caitlyn takes a look at her face, the face she’s come to love over these last few months and decides to be bold. She gently places her hands on Vi’s cheeks and kisses her soundly on the lips.

Vi lets out a soft little gasp that has Caitlyn pulling back before Vi’s hands are on her hips, bringing her impossibly close. The kiss is everything Caitlyn dreamed it would be. Their lips fit perfectly together, all soft and warm. Vi’s hands are hot on Caitlyn’s hips where they rest and she knows she doesn’t want this to end.

They both pull back after a few moments, breathing in each other’s air. Vi’s eyes are impossibly blue this close and Caitlyn can’t help but press another kiss to her lips.

“I’ve wanted to do that for the longest time,” she admits.

“Shit, Cupcake,” Vi breathes. “We could’ve been doing this all along?”

Caitlyn smiles softly at her. “I wasn’t sure if you liked me or not?”

“I thought I was making myself pretty clear?” Vi comments.

“I’m autistic,” Caitlyn says. “Sometimes you need to be clearer.”

“Noted,” Vi replies. “I’d very much like to be your girlfriend. If that helps clear things up?”

Caitlyn nods. “I’d love that.” She smiles and kisses Vi again. She knows she’s making Vi late to get home, but the part of her that is absolutely elated at this development between them can’t bring herself to care.

[star55]

Fic: Misfits and Mishaps - Chapter Eight

Title: Misfits and Mishaps Author: Star Chapter: Eight/Twelve Word Count: 6,447/49,000+ Pairing: Cait/Vi Fandom: Arcane (League of Legends) Rating: Teen and up Chapter Warnings: bigotry.

Read on AO3

Chapter Eight

A week after Vi’s birthday is their first official date. Caitlyn had received a phone call from Vi a few days after the Solstice to see if she was free. It hadn’t even occurred to Caitlyn that they would go on an official date – she knew they were girlfriends already, so it didn’t cross her mind.

But it’s a surprise, and while Caitlyn doesn’t like surprises a lot of the time, this one she is looking forward to. She has no idea where Vi is going to take her, but she thinks that is what makes it exciting.

Vi: Be there in five

Caitlyn grins down at her phone and texts back a quick I’m ready. She glances at her reflection in her mirror, giving herself a once over. Her navy blue dress was a new gift for Solstice from her mother, and the jacket, while it clashes horribly, is the lesbian jacket that Jayce got her like he promised when she came out to him.

With one last glance to make sure that her bowtie is central at the back of her head, Caitlyn nods, satisfied. She grabs her handbag and slides her phone into it, making sure that she has enough money for the evening as well.

The doorbell rings just as Caitlyn reaches the entrance hall. She can hear Bullet and Trigger barking in the distance, and is relieved she had the forethought to keep them in the closed off drawing room. She doesn’t want either herself or Vi to get dog hair on them before their big date.

Caitlyn opens the door and her mouth immediately drops open.

“Wow,” she breathes. Vi is standing there, holding out a small bunch of mixed pink colour peonies with a beautiful smile on her face. That isn’t what catches Caitlyn’s breath – it’s how utterly handsome Vi looks in her burgundy trousers and matching vest over a crisp white shirt. Her hair is in its usual slicked back style but tonight, somehow it looks so much more vibrant.

“Wow yourself, Cupcake,” Vi says, sounding impressed. She holds the flowers out. “These are for you.”

Caitlyn promptly flushes. “Thank you,” she says. “Come in, I’ll go put these in some water.”

Vi nods and steps into the entrance hall. She gives Vi a soft kiss on the cheek and enjoys watching the flush creep up her cheeks, too.

“I’ll be right back,” Caitlyn says. She makes quick work of finding a vase and putting some water in it, and then the flowers. She stops and takes a deep inhale, unable to stop the smile on her face. Vi got her flowers. She vows to take a few photos of them when she gets home, but right now, she wants to go and give her girlfriend the kind of greeting she deserves.

When she returns to the entrance hall, Vi is staring up at the portraits of the Kiramman matriarchs.

“Wow,” Vi comments. “The Kiramman genes run strong in your family, hey?”

Caitlyn nods. “Something to look forward to if we ever have kids.”

The comment is worth it just to see Vi flush beautifully. Caitlyn closes the distance between them and kisses Vi softly on the lips.

“I love this jacket, by the way,” Vi says when they part. “Give me a spin?”

Caitlyn grins and rotates slowly in a circle. “Jayce got it for me for Christmas,” she explains. “He’s got one the same but in the bisexual flag. I promised him I’d wear it on our first date.”

“It’s very you,” Vi says.

Caitlyn stops and kisses Vi’s cheek again. “Come on, we should go,” she says. Vi just nods dumbly at her.

Once they’re in the car, Caitlyn turns to Vi. “Do I get a hint where we’re going now?”

Vi shakes her head. “Nope,” she replies. “A surprise is a surprise.”

Caitlyn pouts ever so slightly and it makes Vi laugh. She reaches over and pats Caitlyn’s knee before starting the car.

As they drive, Caitlyn looks out the window at the Piltover night life. She can’t really put into words how excited she is for tonight. Dating had always seemed like a foreign concept to her, mostly because she never had the desire to date the Council members, or House members sons.

A short while later, they’re pulling up outside of a small sized restaurant that Caitlyn doesn’t recognise.

“Before we go in,” Vi starts as she shuts off the car. “I wanted to say that I called ahead and double checked that it was a sensory friendly place. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable being here and –”

“Vi,” Caitlyn interrupts softly, taking off her seatbelt. She reaches over and cups Vi’s face in her hands. “You are so thoughtful.” She kisses Vi softly on the lips, enjoying Vi’s slightly startled expression.

“I just wanted to make sure you had a good night,” Vi says when Caitlyn’s hands drop back down to her lap.

“And I will because I’m with you,” Caitlyn replies. “But it’s also a relief knowing that this place is sensory friendly.”

The smile Vi gives her makes Caitlyn’s stomach flip-flop happily.

“Alright, let’s go,” Vi says. They exit the car, and Caitlyn smiles when Vi’s large hand automatically slides into her own. She leads them into the restaurant and confidently tells the host that she has a table for two booked.

Caitlyn’s gaze automatically sweeps across the restaurant floor as they’re led to their table all the way at the back. There’s dim lighting in the entire restaurant but back here feels secluded – like they’re in their own private section. Caitlyn loves it.

As they’re seated, the host puts their menus on the table in front of them and tells them that their server will be along shortly.

“So, what do you think?” Vi asks when they’re alone.

Caitlyn smiles at her. “I love it,” she says.

They’re interrupted a moment later when their server appears.

“Hi, I’m Riley, I’ll be your server this evening,” a cute butch girl a little older than them says. “May I take your order?”

Caitlyn’s gaze flicks from their server down to her menu.

“Can we have another few minutes?” Vi asks, and Caitlyn breathes a sigh of relief. She takes a moment to look over the menu, taking in all of the delicious sounding options.

Once Riley has been back and taken their order, Caitlyn shifts ever so slightly in her seat. She presses her foot to Vi’s and is delighted when Vi smiles at her.

“Are you looking forward to the Council New Year’s party?” Vi asks, her own foot pressing against Caitlyn’s own.

Caitlyn bites back a groan. “Not really,” she says. “There’s usually some drama with Councillor sons or someone who gets too drunk and ends up throwing up in the fountain.”

“Which one?” Vi asks.

“Both,” she replies, crinkling her nose. “It’s always horrible, and Mother has to make sure the staff are sufficiently compensated for dealing with it.”

“Yikes,” Vi replies. “Remind me never to come to a Council party.”

“Well, never say never,” Caitlyn says. “There are some members of the Council who you like – Mel and my mother being two of them.”

Vi nods. “You’re right,” she says. They lapse into conversation about past Council parties that Caitlyn as been forced to attend. She likes that she has someone new to share this part of her life with. No one else has ever wanted to know what goes on – they’ve only ever wanted to get gossip they could potentially use as blackmail.

Their dinner comes a short while later, and Caitlyn has to close her eyes to just breathe in how delicious it smells.

“This is so good,” Caitlyn comments after her first bite.

Vi beams at her. “Isn’t it?” she agrees. “This is actually Sevika’s restaurant.”

Caitlyn’s eyebrows shoot up. “Really? I had no idea she was a chef.”

Vi nods. “Yeah, she opened it about five years ago. It’s mostly patroned by us Zaunites, but every now and then we come here as a family. Mostly on bigger special occasions.”

“Is she working tonight?” Caitlyn asks between bites.

Vi shakes her head. “I don’t think so,” she replies. “I know she and Mel were having some time off together between the Solstice and New Year.”

“I’m still so happy for them,” Caitlyn says. “What a wonderful Solstice gift.”

The smile on Vi’s face is soft as she agrees. “Yeah,” she says. “Who knew Sevika was such a softie at heart?”

Caitlyn grins at her. “I hear most butches are,” she says, giving Vi a wink.

They finish off their dinner, and decide to share a slice of chocolate cake for dessert. It’s gooey and warm and Caitlyn wants to never forget how it tastes. She loves when Vi lets her have the last bite.

Before Caitlyn can even offer to pay the bill, Vi is shaking her head.

“No,” she says, pressing her foot against Caitlyn’s under the table. “I asked you out, I’m paying.”

“I’ll get the next one then,” Caitlyn replies and Vi just nods.

She takes her jacket off the back of the chair where she’d put it on earlier and slides it on over her shoulders. Vi’s hands are there, gently pulling her hair out so it’s loose across her back. Their gazes catch and Caitlyn wants nothing more than to get back to Vi’s car.

They return to Vi’s car in the car park and Caitlyn reaches a hand out for the back door.

“Not here,” Vi says, giving her a loaded look. Caitlyn nods and she slides back into the passenger seat.

Even though under normal circumstances, Caitlyn would hate that both of Vi’s hands aren’t on the steering wheel, at the moment she doesn’t care. Vi’s hand is on her thigh, her thumb stroking over the top of her dress.

They pull into a darkened car park that overlooks the river a short while later and at Vi’s glance, Caitlyn is quickly getting out of the car and getting into the back seat.

This is the first time since Vi’s birthday that they’ve truly been alone and Caitlyn is going to make the most of it.

Vi’s lips are on hers the second the door clicks shut behind her. Caitlyn moans softly, sliding one hand into Vi’s hair, the other clinging onto her shoulder.

It’s awkward in a dress to straddle Vi, but she hikes it up as best as she can and straddles Vi’s lap. Vi’s hands are hot on the backs of her thighs, creeping up ever so slightly. Caitlyn grabs one of Vi’s hands and puts it on her ass. She feels Vi’s hand twitch ever so slightly before she grips Caitlyn harder.

“Vi,” she whispers, breaking the kiss. “I… shit.”

“What is it, Cupcake?” Vi asks breathily.

“I really regret wearing a bra right now,” Caitlyn says, sitting back on Vi’s lap.

Vi’s laughter is soft, rich, and warm. It makes Caitlyn’s skin tingle pleasantly. Vi’s hands slide up Caitlyn’s sides, coming to rest on her hips.

“I’m surprised you’re wearing one,” she says, her chest heaving a little. Caitlyn’s gaze drops down, seeing the curve of Vi’s breasts under the shirt of her now open vest.

“Yes, well,” Caitlyn sniffs a little. “All I could do was hear Mother’s voice inside my head admonishing me for going on a date and not wearing one.”

Vi’s chuckle rumbles against Caitlyn’s neck where Vi has started kissing her. “I’m not that disappointed.”

“I am,” Caitlyn says. “But I guess we really shouldn’t do anything in your car. I want our first time to be on a bed at the very least.”

Vi visibly swallows, her wide eyes staring up at Caitlyn as she nods. “Y-yeah, I’m okay with that.”

“Not yet,” Caitlyn adds. “But soon?”

Vi nods again. “I’m okay with soon.”

~*~

The Council New Year’s party is so boring. Caitlyn looks at the time on her delicate watch, hoping that now will have been long enough to have made an appearance so that she can go spend the rest of the night with Vi and her family at The Last Drop.

But she promised her mother she’d be here, especially since she missed the Council Solstice party. And especially since the New Year party is held at the Kiramman mansion every year. Not that she would’ve missed Vi’s birthday for the world, of course. Not when she’s thought about those heated kisses every night since, and the ones they’ve exchanged since that first time in Vi’s car, too.

Caitlyn’s body has never felt so responsive before. She isn’t new to touching herself. She’d discovered that when she was fourteen, but it’s the first time she’s actively been picturing someone she likes. Previously it had just been the idea of being touched that had been thrilling. Now it’s getting to touch Vi, too, that gives her a thrill.

They haven’t had many chances to be alone – getting half an hour here and there. Mostly at night when they can go for a short drive and just be together. But Caitlyn is obsessed. She wants Vi. She wants Vi in every single way that she can have her, but this burning need inside of her has made it hard to focus at times.

Like right now, when she’s meant to be paying attention to her surroundings instead of thinking of the way Vi had gasped her name when Caitlyn had bit the side of her neck two nights prior.

“Well, Sprout, you look like you’d rather be somewhere else,” Jayce says, coming up beside her. He gently elbows her and Caitlyn nudges him back.

“That’s because I would rather be somewhere else,” she counters. She turns to face him, glancing at his beautiful white, black, and gold suit. “You look dashing.”

He smiles. “Thank you. You look lovely, too.”

Caitlyn glances down at the blue dress she’s wearing. Mother had chosen it for her. It isn’t something she would’ve chosen herself, but it isn’t the worst things she’s had to wear to one of these functions.

“How’s Viktor?” she asks, taking a sip of her drink. She’s been nursing the same glass of champagne all evening, not wanting to drink anything lest she fall asleep before she gets to see Vi.

“He’s good,” Jayce replies. “…That’s a lie. He’s suffering. The cold weather really plays havoc with his leg injuries.”

Caitlyn winces. “You should invent him a wrap around heating pad for his leg.”

“…That’s not a bad idea, Cait,” Jayce replies like he’s actually thinking about it.

Caitlyn smiles softly. “The things we do for love.” She pointedly nods to where Mel and Sevika are standing. Sevika has quite a put out look on her face, but whenever Mel turns to face her, her face relaxes.

They got engaged on the Solstice, and Mel is sporting a very large diamond on her finger. She’s been showing it off to anyone who glances at it, and even those who don’t.

When Mel and Sevika arrived together tonight, Caitlyn was surprised. She hadn’t ever thought that Mel would publicly announce that she was with someone, let alone someone from Zaun, but with Sevika’s glares and Mel’s determination to not hear a bad word said about Zaunites in her presence, people have been too scared to do anything other than congratulate them.

“Mel’s getting married,” Jayce says with a smile. “I’d better be her best man.”

Caitlyn snorts. “I don’t doubt it. Of course you’ll be in the wedding party, and I bet Vi will be, too.” She drifts off, thinking about Vi in a tuxedo. She bites her lip at the image it produces and the feelings she gets from it.

“What did you get Vi for the Solstice?” Jayce asks, turning his attention back to her.

“Boxing gloves,” Caitlyn replies. “Her old ones were getting quite worn, and she has a match next week, the day after my birthday, so I thought it was apt.”

“I bet she loves them.”

“Oh, she does. She immediately socked Mylo in the arm with them on and he’s still got a bruise.” She smiles at the memory, glad she could be there to experience Vi’s joy with her. “And thank you for my lesbian jacket, too. I feel very honoured.”

Jayce beams at her. “It did look great in the photos you sent,” he says, putting his arm around her shoulder and hugging her to his chest. “But it’s always nice to hear it in person.”

Caitlyn hugs him back. She loves that Jayce actually went to the effort of getting her a jacket in the lesbian flag colours. She knows before winter is over that she’ll have to make the time to wear it around him so they can take a bunch of photos together. She can picture it all in her head, and it makes her smile.

“And what did Vi get you?” he asks after a moment.

“A really lovely scarf,” Caitlyn replies. “And a matching beanie. It’s so soft and doesn’t set of any of my sensory icks, either.”

“That’s great! You deserve a thoughtful girlfriend,” Jayce comments.

“Thank you,” she replies, feeling loved from that statement.

“I got Viktor a gay romance novel,” Jayce admits and Caitlyn quirks an eyebrow at him. He sighs, and continues, “he’s been reading romances to relax his brain after work. He says they’re soothing, and it helps him focus for the next day.”

“And you thought you’d show him the wonders of achillean love?” She can’t suppress the smirk that is flitting across her lips.

“No, I… Yes?” Jayce reaches a hand up to scratch the back of his neck. “He’s never expressed desire in women, and we’ve been partners for five years now. So I just thought I’d show him that romance doesn’t have to have a man and a woman. He’s reading it, though, so that’s something.”

Caitlyn suppresses a laugh. “Jayce,” she starts, “I love you. You’re the best pseudo big brother a girl could have. But you should just admit to him that you like him like that.”

“And risk ruining our friendship? Or worse, our work partnership? Not a chance.”

Caitlyn sighs and shakes her head. “Men.”

Jayce makes a face at her and Caitlyn can’t help but laugh at that. It catches the attention of Mel and Sevika so she figures now is a good time to go and publicly congratulate them. She had already done so on the Solstice when she had gone to Vi’s to give her and her family the presents she’d bought them, but she knows the importance of appearances, especially being a Kiramman.

“Congratulations Mel, Sevika,” Caitlyn says as she and Jayce approach. She gives Mel a hug and doesn’t even offer to shake Sevika’s hand, knowing the other woman wouldn’t appreciate it.

Jayce repeats the sentiments and Mel launches into the tale of how Sevika proposed. It’s news to Jayce, who is rapt. He really does love love. But Caitlyn heard the story at Vi’s house the day after the Solstice, so she just listens while Jayce gasps in all of the right places.

He’s holding her hand, looking at her ring when Caitlyn distinctly hears “Zaunite scum” from somewhere behind her. She locks eyes with the man who said it and tosses her drink in his face.

Gasps ring out around her.

“Excuse you,” she says, straightening her spine. “We do not allow such language in our house.”

Jayce – being a big, intimidating presence next to her - glares at the other man and he visibly gulps.

“You will apologise to Councillor Medarda and her fiancée, and then you will see yourself from this property.”

The man, Caitlyn finally recognises as Briar Sylver pales. Caitlyn sees her mother approaching from the corner of her eye. He stammers out an apology just as Cassandra reaches Caitlyn’s side. Behind her are two security guards who usher him out of the Kiramman mansion.

Caitlyn can feel the gazes of all nearby party goers on her, so she figures she may as well make use of the attention.

“If you are of the same opinion as Mr Sylver, you are free to leave,” she starts, addressing the entire room. “In this House, we respect everyone, no matter where they come from. I, nor any member of House Kiramman will stand for slander and bigotry against anyone from Zaun, or anywhere else. If you take issue with this, you are free to leave and never come back. Miss Medarda’s engagement is a joyous occasion and should be treated as such.”

She glances around, making sure that everyone heard her. She doesn’t care if she gets mocked or ridiculed for being an outspoken Kiramman. She may not want to be on the Council one day, but she is still a Kiramman and she knows her voice holds sway. Even if she’s still a few days shy of being sixteen.

“Thank you, Caitlyn,” Mel says after a few moments. Her hand reaches out and touches Caitlyn’s arm softly. “We both appreciate it.”

Sevika’s expression is one Caitlyn can’t quite decipher, but when she nods at Caitlyn and her frown loosens on her face, Caitlyn feels like she’s done the right thing.

“I can see why Vi likes you,” she says after a beat.

Caitlyn promptly flushes. “Yes, well, I can’t stand bigots.”

Jayce slings his arm around Caitlyn’s shoulder and gives her a hug. “You look just like your mother when you address people like that.”

Caitlyn rolls her eyes and shoves his arm off her shoulder. “I think I’ll take my leave now. I want to see my girlfriend before the clock strikes twelve.”

She quickly locates her mother and says she’ll be home later. She is used to Caitlyn leaving these parties earlier than anyone else, so it isn’t much of an issue, which is nice.

It doesn’t take long for Caitlyn to gather her things and leave before anyone else can flag her down. She arrives at The Last Drop with a few minutes to spare.

She quickly locates Vi towards the back with her siblings, who are all laughing together. Powder looks like she’s trying to hold her eyes open, her body slumping against Vi’s shoulder.

“Hi,” Caitlyn says as she approaches.

“Cait!” Vi says happily. She shuffles over so Caitlyn can join her. Powder grumbles, but her eyes stay shut. “You’re just in time.”

Caitlyn smiles at her. She gently rests her hand on Vi’s leg under the table, her thumb stroking over the fabric of her trousers. Vi shifts a little and her hand comes to rest on top of Caitlyn’s own.

“We were taking bets on when Powder was going to fall asleep,” Claggor says. “Dad won.”

Caitlyn glances over at Vander who is pouring a drink for another patron. “He’s your dad, he shouldn’t count.”

“That’s what I said!” Mylo exclaims loud enough that Powder’s eyes snap open.

“I’m awake,” she says with a massive yawn. “Hi, Cait. It’s almost New Year’s.”

“It is,” Caitlyn says. “You look tired.”

“I’m fine,” Powder replies, but she yawns again.

“So how was your party?” Vi asks, turning her attention to Caitlyn.

“It was pretty boring,” Caitlyn replies. “Until I threw my drink on someone, that was pretty exciting.” She shrugs casually and smiles at the looks Vi, Mylo and Claggor all give her.

“What happened?” Vi asks.

“Some idiot was making snide remarks about how Sevika is from Zaun, so I threw my drink on him,” Caitlyn explains. She doesn’t mention how she addressed the entire crowd of partygoers either.

“Damn, Piltie, that’s badass,” Mylo says. “Alright, it’s almost midnight, I’m going to see if Dad will give us alcoholic drinks.”

“Don’t bet on it,” Claggor says but Mylo shrugs and climbs over him to get out of the booth anyway.

“How has your night been?” Caitlyn asks. She idly traces patterns on the inside seam of Vi’s trousers, feeling the hard muscle under her fingers flex as she does.

“Pretty good,” Claggor replies. “I beat both Mylo and Vi at pool, which was exciting.”

Caitlyn smiles at him. “I should play you sometime,” she says. “It’s a fun game.”

They chat until Mylo returns with cups of juice for everyone.

“He wouldn’t even spike it,” Mylo grumbles. He sets each of their drinks down in front of them, including one for Powder, who, by the sounds of the soft snores, is asleep against Vi’s other arm.

Caitlyn picks up her drink with her free hand and raises it. “A toast,” she starts, “to new friends, and a wonderful family.”

“Here, here,” Claggor and Vi say in unison.

“And to the Piltie who stands up to bigots,” Mylo adds. Caitlyn feels touched by the sentiment. They all have a sip of their drinks just as the countdown starts.

“I’m awake!” Powder exclaims. She blinks rapidly and looks around at them all. “I’m awake.”

“Knew you wouldn’t miss it, Pow,” Vi says fondly.

The countdown gets closer to ten and Caitlyn squeezes Vi’s thigh gently. Vi’s breath hitches ever so slightly and she turns to face Caitlyn.

“Happy New Year,” Caitlyn whispers before kissing Vi soundly on the lips.

Cheers and yells of ‘Happy New Year’ goes around the bar. Caitlyn pulls back from Vi to see her eyes a little wider, her pupils a little darker. She wants more but they can’t right now.

“I need to go to bed,” Powder says.

“I’ll walk you home,” Claggor says. “I have work in the morning.”

Caitlyn and Vi bid them both goodnight, Caitlyn getting a warm hug from Powder, which is nice. And one from Claggor, which was unexpected, but just as nice.

Mylo exclaims that he’s going to go dance, after spotting a cute girl across the dancefloor, and leaves Vi and Caitlyn alone.

“C’mon,” Caitlyn says. “Let’s dance.”

She holds her hand out to Vi and leads her onto the dancefloor. She wraps her arms around Vi’s shoulders and just sways with her, despite the fact that it’s upbeat music playing.

They dance together for a while, alternating between slow dancing, and sharing soft kisses, to dancing as silly as they want to. It’s the most fun Caitlyn has had at a New Year’s Party in many years.

Caitlyn is happily twirled around during a song and she comes back into Vi’s embrace only for Vi to gently cup her cheek with one hand, and kiss her other cheek.

“Happy New Year, Cait,” she says. Caitlyn smiles and kisses Vi soundly on the lips.

“Happy New Year, Vi.”

When most of the patrons have left, Vi and Cait sit on barstools, each holding a lit sparkler. Vander only passes them over when Vi asks, pointing out that almost everyone has gone.

Caitlyn smiles at the lit stick, watching the showers of sparks float away into nothing as she twirls it around in the air.

Their sparklers die out and Caitlyn twiddles the stick in her fingers.

“Are you able to drive me home?” she asks.

“Dad, can I drive Cait home?” Vi asks, turning to look at Vander. He nods.

“Just be careful,” he warns. “It’s late and I think it’s been snowing.”

Vi nods and they exit the bar hand in hand. The walk to Vi’s house is, thankfully short, and when they arrive, Caitlyn immediately climbs into the car, relishing its warmth.

The gates to the Kiramman mansion are shut tightly when Vi’s car pulls up outside. Caitlyn glances up at the house. She can see a few lights on still, but by this time there shouldn’t be any more guests in the house.

“Thank you for being the best part of my night,” Caitlyn says as she unbuckles her seatbelt, letting it slide back into place.

“You’re always the best part of my day, Cupcake,” Vi says softly. “I’m glad I was for you, too.”

Caitlyn gives her a tender smile and leans over, cupping Vi’s face with one hand. She presses their lips together in a light kiss. “I’ve been thinking,” she whispers.

“Yeah?” Vi asks, her voice just as quiet as Caitlyn’s.

“Would you like to have sex soon?” She watches Vi’s face, gauging her reaction. Vi licks her lips and nods.

“I’d love to,” she replies. “But you’ve seen my house. It isn’t exactly privacy friendly.”

Caitlyn nods. “I know, but my house is. And my parents will be going to Ionia the weekend after my birthday. So it’ll just be me at home.” She watches as Vi’s eyes widen ever so slightly. “All by myself. All weekend.”

Vi’s throat bobs as she swallows. “I don’t know if my dad will let me stay the night,” she whispers. “But I can definitely try.”

Caitlyn’s heart thuds in her chest as she nods. “If it helps, we can have sex during the day?” She casts her mind back to Vi’s work roster, trying to remember when she’s free. “You could come over Saturday morning for breakfast and…”

“And sex?” Vi finishes with a cheeky grin.

“It’ll be a belated birthday present to me,” Caitlyn says with a casual shrug.

Vi laughs and the sound of it warms Caitlyn’s insides from head to toe. “I like the sound of that, Cupcake.” She leans a little closer, pressing their lips together once more.

���Me too,” Caitlyn replies. “It’s a date.”

~*~

Caitlyn wakes up on her birthday with a smile on her face. She isn’t having a massive party – she told her parents that she didn’t want that. She just wants to go and spend some time with her girlfriend and her friends, and definitely spend some time at the arcade.

Her parents have set up their traditional birthday breakfast for her. It’s something Caitlyn looks forward to every year. She knows they’re both busy people, so she’s thankful for this tradition from them.

Turning sixteen doesn’t feel any different, she decides as she gets dressed. She had spent the night chatting to Vi on the phone and as the clock ticked over to midnight, the first words she heard on her birthday was Vi wishing her a happy birthday. It was the best feeling in the world.

“Sweetheart,” Cassandra says as Caitlyn comes into the kitchen for breakfast. “Happy birthday.” She gives Caitlyn a warm hug and a kiss on the top of her head. Her father sweeps in a moment later and joins the embrace.

“I can’t believe my baby girl is sixteen,” he says. He squeezes Caitlyn a little tighter to his chest and Caitlyn laughs.

“It’s just a number,” she mutters, pulling back enough to breathe properly.

“Well, if that’s the case, I’m sure you won’t want your gift, then,” he says, reaching into his pocket.

Caitlyn glances to where his hand is and nods. “No, I do,” she replies.

“Now, I know you haven’t taken the test yet,” he says as he passes over a small box. “But your mother and I thought this would be a good motivator.”

She opens the box and sees the car key sitting inside it. She smiles and glances up at her parents. They both nod and she walks as quickly through the house to get to their garage that houses their cars.

Cassandra has a love for old classics, so there are a fair few of them in the garage, but the one that is Caitlyn’s is obvious.

There is a bright red bow on the bonnet of an electric blue car. It’s a small hatchback like Vi’s is, but obviously brand new. She loves it on sight.

“I thought after breakfast, we might go for a drive,” Cassandra says. “Your father and I took the morning off so we can do things together as a family.”

Caitlyn can’t help but smile and nod. “I love that,” she replies. She turns to face her parents again and gives them a massive joint hug.

Breakfast is simple and delicious – Tobias makes the fluffiest pancakes Caitlyn has ever had the pleasure of eating.

She gets behind the wheel of her new car after taking a bunch of pictures and sending them to Vi with “now I can drive us places, too” to which Vi replied “I hope it has a big back seat ;)” and Caitlyn had to quickly lock her phone in case her parents saw that text.

Caitlyn doesn’t have a destination in mind, she just drives, turning when her mother says to, and just enjoying the feel of driving. She hasn’t done it that much – having a driving service that takes them most places has stopped this from happening. And there’s been little time where her parents could go driving with her outside of that. So it’s nice to be able to spend the morning with them.

She had already said a few weeks ago that she wanted to spend time with Vi and her family later in the afternoon, and had been pleasantly surprised when her parents had agreed.

“Let’s stop for brunch,” Cassandra says. They’re out of Piltover proper by now. Caitlyn glances around, seeing a small café up ahead. She pulls into the parking lot and shuts off the car.

“How does it feel driving your own car?” Tobias asks as they make their way into the café.

“I love it,” Caitlyn replies.

“I remember my first car,” he says, as they’re seated, and relays the memory of his first car, and how he had driven from one side of Ionia to the other all by himself the first chance he could.

Caitlyn looks over the menu as her father reminisces. She isn’t that hungry, but she’ll make room for a cup of tea and a slice of delicious sounding Black Forest cake that has her mouth watering at the description of it.

“Caitlyn,” Cassandra says after a server has taken their order. “Now that you’re sixteen, it’s time we discuss where your future plans lie.”

Caitlyn glances between her parents. “I still don’t want to be on the Council,” she says.

“But it’s your birthright, dear,” Cassandra replies. “Look at how much good you could achieve!”

She bites back a sigh and shakes her head.

“What about being a doctor like your dear old father?” Tobias suggests, a hopeful lilt to his tone.

“I don’t want to be a doctor,” she replies. “I was thinking a defence lawyer, or an investigative journalist, or even a detective.”

“Caitlyn,” Cassandra starts, but Caitlyn knows where this conversation is going. They’ve had it multiple times over the last twelve months starting from her fifteenth birthday. She just thought she’d get her sixteenth birthday off.

“Mother, I’m not interested in something more befitting to my station,” she says before Cassandra can get started.

“I just want what’s best for you, dear,” Cassandra says. “Any mother does.”

They fall silent. Caitlyn wants nothing more than to pick up her phone, just to do something with her hands, to distract herself. She knows the pressures that come with being a Kiramman, but she just wants to be able to do something different with her life than follow in her mother’s footsteps and eventually take over her spot on the Council.

Their food comes a few moments later, and they all eat in silence. Caitlyn can barely taste the cake, even though it looks delicious. She wishes that whatever career path she chooses would make her mother happy, but she knows nothing will.

The drive back home is pretty silent as well. Her father tries to make conversation but Caitlyn’s answers are short and the mood noticeably less happy than before. Because she doesn’t have her full licence yet, Caitlyn has to get her driver to take her to Vi’s house. It’s not something she wanted to do – she wanted to take Vi for a drive this time.

Once she’s dropped off at Vi’s house, she stands on the footpath, hesitating. She isn’t in the mood to deal with anyone else, no matter how well meaning they are. She texts Vi, who comes out a few minutes later.

“Hey,” Vi says with a smile on her beautiful face, her arms immediately wrap around Caitlyn’s shoulders and she pulls her in for a tight hug. “Happy birthday.”

Caitlyn’s hands grip Vi’s hoodie tight. “Thanks,” she says, burying her face in Vi’s neck. She inhales deeply, her eyes shutting reflexively. Vi smells wonderful. She always does, and Caitlyn can’t even bring herself to be embarrassed over the fact that Vi’s scent brings her comfort.

“Bad morning?” Vi asks, loosening her grip ever so slightly.

Caitlyn shakes her head. “No,” she replies, “just a bad moment. Mother brought up my future. Again. I don’t know why she wanted to do that today of all days.” She steps out of Vi’s embrace and they lean against the front fence together.

Vi’s hand slips into her own, their fingers automatically lacing together. “Let’s go for a walk.”

Caitlyn hesitates a moment before nodding and following Vi. She just talks, and Vi listens. It’s nice that Vi just listens to her. She knows her position is a very privileged one, and she acknowledges that not everyone is as lucky as she is, but she also wants to do what she wants with her life. She still isn’t completely sure what she wants to do, but she has ideas, and she just wants her mother to listen and understand.

By the time they’ve made it back to Vi’s house, Caitlyn feels better for having talked it out.

“Thank you for listening,” Caitlyn says as they come to a stop outside of Vi’s house in the exact same positions they were in before.

Vi gives her a small smile. She brings Caitlyn’s hand to her lips and kisses the back of it. “Sometimes we just need someone to listen.”

“I appreciate it,” she replies.

“I know sometimes I’m someone who thinks with my fists more than my brain,” Vi begins, “but you’re not. You’ve got a massive brain and an even bigger heart. You can do anything.”

Caitlyn closes the distance between them and kisses Vi soundly on the lips. “Thank you,” she whispers.

Vi’s nose nudges against her own before pulling back. “C’mon, Powder’s been dying to give you the present she chose.”

Caitlyn smiles, feeling lighter, and she follows Vi inside the house.

Later, when Vi is driving Caitlyn home, she can’t help but think this is the best birthday she’s ever had, and she hopes all of the ones going forward are exactly this good.

[star55]

Fic: Misfits and Mishaps - Chapter One

Title: Misfits and Mishaps Author: Star Chapter: One/Twelve Word Count: 3,778/47,000+ Pairing: Cait/Vi Fandom: Arcane (League of Legends) Rating: Teen and up Warnings: some bigotry, discussions of sexual assault.

Read on A03

Chapter One

Several Months Earlier

Just a few more hours to go, Caitlyn thinks to herself as she pushes the door to the bathrooms open. A quick glance around doesn’t indicate anyone else in there except her, and she bites back a sigh of relief.

Most of the time, Caitlyn can handle the pressures of being a Kiramman. She loves her family, and she understands that both of her parents work very hard, and are very important people.

But what happened at lunch just now makes her wish that people would just treat her normally. She isn’t royalty – she’s just a Kiramman. But even Caitlyn understands the weight of that name.

She pulls out her phone and checks the time as she leans against the sink counter. She doesn’t need to use the bathroom – she just wants a moment to herself to collect her composure. And wait for her cheeks to stop being so red. If her mother was here, she’d undoubtedly reprimand Caitlyn for getting embarrassed the way she did.

She thought she was done with her face betraying her embarrassment, but it’s something she’s going to have to work harder on.

From a young age, Caitlyn’s mother instilled a very important lesson of having a poker face – but today? Today Caitlyn was caught off guard. Something that doesn’t happen that often because she tends to spend her time away from the other students of Piltover High School.

Today was cursed from the moment she woke up, though. She woke up late, having slept through her first and second alarms. She didn’t get to do her morning routine properly, and had all but rushed to school. As much as one can rush when they have their own personal driver, that is, but she’s felt off all day.

And it also meant she forgot her lunch. Caitlyn is usually okay with not eating at school, but she’d also missed breakfast since she slept in, and she has a test in her last class of the day. She needed to eat, and the only place that had food was the cafeteria.

And that’s where it happened. The Incident. She’s already putting capital letters on it in her mind.

Caitlyn isn’t popular. She’s well known – everyone knows who the Kirammans are, after all. But she isn’t that well liked. Even the students that are in the same clubs as she is don’t seem to like her that much. There’s a select few that do, but not enough to invite her to hang out with them after school, and definitely not enough to stand up for her in front of anyone else.

She had just been standing in line, waiting to get some food when Asher – a girl that Caitlyn had been friends with once upon a time, made a big show of handing out invitations to her birthday party to several people in the line ahead of Caitlyn.

When she reached Caitlyn, it looked like she was starting to pass an invitation to Caitlyn, and Caitlyn, stupidly, stupidly held her hand out for it. Only for Asher to burst out laughing in her face and exclaim loudly “you can come if you buy me something expensive.”

Because that’s all anyone saw her as – money. Not as a person with her own thoughts and feelings. She was a Kiramman – an extension of her parents and their wealth only.

Biting back a sigh, Caitlyn turns to the mirrors. She checks her reflection – thankfully her face is losing the pink hue of embarrassment.

She reaches into her bag, hoping that she’ll find something to eat in there, but comes up empty.

Suddenly, there’s a noise behind her, followed by a soft, emphatic “fuck.”

“Hello?” Caitlyn calls out. She spots the one and only closed stall door right at the end of the row. She’s clearly more upset than she realised if she missed that there was someone else in here with her.

Another muffled noise comes from the stall.

“Are you alright?” she calls out.

“Uhh,” the voice replies. It isn’t one that Caitlyn can recognise, so it might not be someone from her year level.

Caitlyn closes her bag, thoughts of food forgotten as she crosses the floor to the closed toilet door. “Do you need a pad or a tampon?” she offers, figuring that’s a likely reason that someone would be upset in the toilets. Or they could be like her – hiding from their peers.

“Uh, yeah. Um, please.”

This, Caitlyn knows she has plenty of in stock. “What would you prefer?” she ask as she opens her bag again, hands immediately going for the back zipper where she keeps her sanitary products.

“I… Shit,” the voice says again. “Fuck.”

“Are you okay? I have tampons with applicators if you need? And I have hand sanitiser.”

There’s a muffled groan and a thump. Caitlyn startles and blinks, looking at the door with curiosity.

“This… I don’t know what to do.”

Unperturbed, Caitlyn passes a sealed pad under the door. “Is this your first period?” she asks kindly.

“Uh, yeah.” A hand quickly snatches the pad from her. “Um, what do I do?”

“Oh!” Caitlyn exclaims. “You put the pad in your underwear, sticky side down. Once you’ve done that, curl the wings around to the other side so it doesn’t move.”

There’s some rustling and more soft noises before the toilet flushes and the door starts to open. There’s someone in her line of vision before she even has a thought to move.

A girl with pink hair looks at her and raises an eyebrow. “Can you move aside?”

Caitlyn nods vigorously and hastily steps aside. She focuses on shutting her bag and joins the girl at the sinks. She doesn’t think she knows the girl – they look the same age, but Caitlyn is positive they’ve never interacted with her before. She thinks the girl might have started at Piltover High just this year – she knows she’d remember that pink head of hair from her previous years if they’d gone to school together before now.

“Are you just going to keep staring at me?” the girl asks. Caitlyn’s face blushes again. She’s being betrayed by her body too many times today.

“Thanks,” the girl says. “I’m Vi.”

“I’m Caitlyn,” she starts.

The other girl scoffs and shakes her head. “I know who you are,” she mutters, grabbing a paper towel to dry her hands. “Everyone knows who you are.”

Caitlyn feels her face flushing once more. She opens her mouth to reply, but the bathroom door opens, and she hears giggling. The giggling stops as the girls who enter spot Caitlyn and Vi, and then it turns into vicious sounding laughter. It takes all of her strength not to flinch at the sound.

Caitlyn straightens her bag on her shoulder, ready to exit the bathroom and away from the three girls who just publicly humiliated her in the cafeteria.

“Oh, hey,” Asher, their ringleader says. “You can definitely come to my party on Saturday. You don’t even have to buy me a gift. You can if you want, of course. I am turning sixteen, after all.” The way she says it, it’s like she’s doing Caitlyn a favour by inviting her. Caitlyn can see the cruel smile on her face. The fact she’s bringing up the party again – in front of someone who wasn’t even in the cafeteria to witness the ordeal – just shows Caitlyn that Asher was never her friend.

“Caitlyn wouldn’t be caught dead at one of your parties, Asher,” Vi says, surprising Caitlyn. She had no idea that Vi even knew who Asher was. “Everyone knows your parties end up with idiots puking in the pool, and the cops getting called. And there’s never any good alcohol or music.”

“No one asked for your opinion, Vi,” Asher says haughtily.

Vi smirks. “You sure about that, Ash?” Asher’s name sounds so familiar on Vi’s lips. The look that passes between Asher and Vi is one that Caitlyn never would’ve believed in a million years if she hadn’t just witnessed it for herself.

Vi and Asher had hooked up! Caitlyn bites back a gasp.

“Whatever,” Asher replies. She opens the bathroom door and storms out with her friends tagging behind her.

There’s a few beats of silence before Vi starts to walk off.

“Thank you,” Caitlyn says, hurrying after her. “For standing up for me.”

Vi shrugs. “Call it payment for the pad you gave me.”

“Any time,” Caitlyn replies. She follows Vi from the bathroom and makes sure to go the other way to the pink haired girl.

~*~

Caitlyn isn’t oblivious to the world as people assume she is. She notices that she gets a free pass for a lot of things because of her name – no one wants to anger her mother, after all. Not just for the Kiramman name, but for all of the connections that Cassandra Kiramman has. She has friends in very high places, and while it affords her a certain level of untouchability, it also makes Caitlyn’s life very… lonely.

Plus, a lot of the students in her year are just jerks, she has decided.

At times she wants to speak up, say something, be noticed for herself, but then her teachers don’t really care for her, either.

So Caitlyn is alone.

She notices things. She notices a lot. She has no one to talk to – her only friend is Jayce – a man ten years her senior and he’s her parents’ patron, and he’s more like an older brother that she sees from time to time. He’s a scientist at Piltover Academy and Caitlyn really likes his company. He’s great to nerd out with, and even better to veg out with when he has the time. Caitlyn likes his partner, Viktor, too. He’s a really lovely man. And even smarter than Jayce, which is saying something.

But lately whenever she visits the lab, she feels like she’s intruding. And not just because they’re elbow deep in whatever science invention they’ve got going on.

No, because she’s pretty sure that Jayce is in love with his lab partner, and Viktor doesn’t seem to have a clue.

It’s entertaining at times, watching them interact with each other. Jayce’s brown skin doesn’t really leave room for a blush to form, but Caitlyn swears she sees the tips of his ears turning pink whenever Viktor gives him a particularly lovely compliment.

When she isn’t at the lab, she’s shooting.

Her parents have an entire training field dedicated to Caitlyn’s shooting. The forest runs off their property and she’s often out there. Her trainer is often with her when she’s running about, getting target practice in, but even then, she’s alone.

Caitlyn would like a friend. A real, true friend. She’d like someone to talk to who was interested in talking to her for her, not for her name, or what she can buy them.

She was hoping that the new school year, with the new influx of students might mean someone would want to be her friend, but so far, she’s had no luck.

She’s seen Vi in the halls a few times. She notices that Vi is always getting told off by the teachers for some reason or another. It never makes sense why she’s being targeted. Not until Caitlyn realises that Vi is from Zaun, not Piltover proper, and that’s why she’s being targeted. At the start of the school year, the districts were rezoned and a lot of the students who live in, near, and around The Lanes were rezoned into Caitlyn’s area of Piltover. Which brought an influx of new students to the school from Zaun – something that hadn’t previously happened before.

Caitlyn hates the injustice of it. So she tries to pay close attention to each time it happens. She isn’t sure what she’ll do yet, but it’ll be something. She doesn’t like bullies, and she especially doesn’t like teachers bullying students. They’re meant to set an example. Leave their prejudices at home and teach the students of Piltover High.

It comes as shock to Caitlyn that Vi is getting a detention for a uniform violation, of all things one Wednesday afternoon. Caitlyn casts a glance over Vi’s uniform and sees nothing wrong.

It isn’t until Vi snatches the detention slip out of the teacher’s hand that she sees it – the black nail polish that definitely isn’t regulation.

Caitlyn glances across the room at Stacey Flynn, spotting her bright green nail polish glinting when she waves her hand around as she talks.

“Mr Edwards,” Caitlyn finds herself saying before she can really think about it.

He looks up at her, a frown creasing his brow. “Yes, Miss Kiramman?”

“If you’re giving Vi a detention for her nail polish, you should be giving one to Stacey as well.”

She watches as his gaze finds Stacey, who is still happily talking with her hands, completely oblivious to the shit that Caitlyn has just thrown her into.

Mr Edwards’ frown deepens and he heaves a sigh. “Miss Flynn, can you please come here.”

Stacey saunters over. “Yes, Mr Edwards?” she asks politely.

“Your nail polish is against school regulation. You’ll have a lunchtime detention today for it.”

Stacey gapes at him. Her gaze flicks from Mr Edwards to Vi, to Caitlyn. Her mouth pinches into what Caitlyn can only describe as a cat’s butthole. It takes all her strength not to laugh at that. Mr Edwards slowly writes out her detention slip and passes it over.

As Stacey snatches it from him, she purposefully steps on Caitlyn’s foot as she turns back around to her friends.

Mr Edwards stares at Caitlyn for a few long moments before shaking his head. “Get out of my sight, all of you. Get to your first class of the day.”

Vi, who doesn’t even have Mr Edwards as a homeroom teacher, and who had just been delivering something to him, shoots Caitlyn a look she can’t decipher before quickly leaving the room. On her way past, Stacey gives Caitlyn a death glare, and Caitlyn is quick to keep her feet away from Stacey’s own.

She bites back a sigh. Today, by the looks of it, is going to be another long day.

~*~

Over the next week, Caitlyn notices that all of Stacey’s friends start doing something that goes against the school uniform code. And not once do they get picked up on it. She knows Mr Edwards doesn’t care about uniform infractions from any of the students who were born in Piltover, but if any of the Zaun students do? He’s immediately giving them detention.

A boy named Mylo got detention for his socks being the wrong colour. His socks! Caitlyn was astonished. But next to him, a boy named Jaysen from Piltover was wearing yellow socks and he didn’t get a write up.

It’s these little injustices that make Caitlyn mad.

She knows it isn’t going to get the school to start treating its students fairly, but Caitlyn decides she is going to rebel against the system, too.

So on the last day of the week, Caitlyn pulls on her bright pink alien print socks, and makes sure they’re all the way up as high as they’ll go, and she makes her way to school. She had painted her nails the night before – the same bright pink colour as her socks. She figures she may as well try her luck with that.

The upside of her parents being as busy as they are means they’re not there to question her sock choice, or her nails, on that particular morning. Even her driver doesn’t question it, he just opens Caitlyn’s door for her and then drives her the short distance to school. She could walk. She wants to walk, but her parents – her mother especially – are insistent that she is driven.

When the car pulls up, Caitlyn gets out of the car and bids her driver a good day. She makes her way into the school, passing students who either stop to gossip about her, or who pay her no mind. She prefers when they don’t pay attention to her. She’d rather be invisible to them all.

Throughout the morning, she doesn’t even get a single teacher looking at her, let alone looking at her clear disregard of the uniform policy.

Until Mr Edwards’ History class. He hadn’t noticed during homeroom – too busy with other things, but because Caitlyn sits in the front row in this class, and she made a point of sticking her legs out under her desk as far as they’ll go, he notices.

What he doesn’t realise, of course, is that Caitlyn has been keeping track of every single uniform violation she’s seen that day.

In her year level alone, she’s seen seven boys with the wrong socks, six girls with the wrong nail polish, and four students who have exceeded the ‘simple makeup’ rule that’s in place. With her, that is eighteen different students with uniform violations.

And yet…

“Miss Kiramman,” Mr Edwards says, looming over her. “Those socks are against the uniform code.”

“Yes, they are,” Caitlyn replies cooly.

Mr Edwards’ eyebrows shoot up. “You can have lunchtime detention for this, then.”

“Are you also going to write up the eight other students in this class who are currently violating the uniform too, Mr Edwards?”

He stops with his hand at his desk drawer. “Excuse me?”

Caitlyn doesn’t waver. “There are eight other students in this classroom right now who are also violating the school uniform. Are you going to write them up?”

“I see no one else, Miss Kiramman.”

“Anastasia, Clinton, Derrick –”

“That’s enough out of you, Miss Kiramman,” Mr Edwards abruptly cuts her off.

“So it’s only me and the students from Zaun who you’re happy giving detention to?”

She can hear an audible ‘oooh’ from the back row.

“Miss Kiramman,” Mr Edwards starts slowly. “I’m the teacher, and you will treat me with respect or you’ll have lunchtime detention for the entirety of next week, too.”

Caitlyn doesn’t let that deter her. “It’s just a bit unfair, don’t you think? That you’re targeting specific students because of where they live? Thomas has bright orange socks on right now, sir, if you just look.”

“Miss Kiramman!” he exclaims. “That is two weeks’ worth of lunchtime detentions for you, starting today!” He grabs something from his desk and scribbles on it. “Go to the principal’s office for your rude behaviour.”

Caitlyn takes the piece of paper he shoves in her face and gets up. She ignores the pointed giggles and ‘oooh’s that follow her from the room.

Karen, one of the school receptionists, is surprised to see her. Most of the time she tolerates Caitlyn because whenever Caitlyn has had to visit the front office, she’s brought along a muffin or some other goodie for her. Usually, Caitlyn’s visits to the office are positive – she’s won an award for academic excellence, or she’s won a sporting event. But this is the first time she’s ever been for something negative.

Caitlyn can’t bring herself to care. If these are the kinds of petty injustices at school of all places that the Zaun students are facing, she’ll happily call it out. The teachers shouldn’t be biased, and if they are, they definitely shouldn’t be showing it, or showing Piltover students favour over a student from Zaun. It’s ridiculous. She has half a mind to talk to her mother about it, but she knows from past experience nothing good comes from that.

“Kiramman,” a brusque voice calls out. “Come in.”

Caitlyn quickly stands and walks into Principal Marcus’ office. She’s only been in here a few times, and there’s nothing really distinctive about it. There are the standard certificates on the walls, along with some faculty photos of the past. In one particular photo, Caitlyn can see her mother and the rest of the Council standing with Mr Marcus as he receives some award.

He sits behind a large wooden desk that is littered with paperwork and a top-of-the-line computer. He sits in a comfortable looking chair and glances at the paper Caitlyn handed to Karen.

“Why were you terrorising Mr Edwards’ History class over… socks of all things?” he asks, leaning back in his chair and pinning her with a look she’s sure would make other students squirm.

“I wasn’t terrorising,” she corrects him, “I was merely pointing out that he was being a bigot.”

Mr Marcus’ eyebrows shoot up. “That is a heavy accusation.”

“It’s the truth,” Caitlyn replies. “He has been writing students up for uniform violations but only ones that are from Zaun. I pointed this out to him when he was writing me up for my uniform violation.”

“Yes, but you’re from Piltover,” Mr Marcus says, “so he wasn’t just targeting Zaun students.” He says this like he’s won a battle. It makes Caitlyn bristle.

“He only wrote me up because I pointed out his bigotry last week.”

“Miss Kiramman,” Mr Marcus starts, “may I remind you that Piltover High School has a zero-tolerance policy for bullying. And that goes for the students against teachers, too.”

Caitlyn can’t help it – she gapes at him. She recovers quickly, but she knows he saw it. She stays silent and Mr Marcus watches her for a few beats.

“If these next two weeks’ worth of lunchtime detention don’t change your attitude, you might have to start looking at another school to go to,” he says casually, like he isn’t threatening Caitlyn with expulsion for having the audacity to point out when a teacher is being a bigoted loser.

He scribbles away on a notepad for a few long moments. “Your parents will be informed of your behaviour,” he says, “and I expect to never see those hideous socks again. The uniform code is there for a reason, Miss Kiramman. You’re dismissed.”

She nods once and takes her detention slip. She doesn’t say goodbye as she leaves his office, barely containing her anger.

In her mind, she starts making a list of all of the staff members that are bigoted. She wonders how long the list will be by the time she’s finished it, and she hopes that not every single teacher at this school is a bigoted jerk or she just might have to look at changing schools.

While her mother would love Caitlyn to go to a private school, Caitlyn knows she would hate it. She may not have any friends at Piltover High, but she sure as hell will fight for those that are getting treated like shit just because of where they’re from.

[star55]

Fic: Misfits and Mishaps Chapter Twelve

Title: Misfits and Mishaps Author: Star Chapter: Twelve/Twelve Word Count: 1,899/49,377 Pairing: Cait/Vi Fandom: Arcane (League of Legends) Rating: Teen and up Chapter Warnings: none

Read on AO3

Chapter Twelve

Caitlyn takes the rest of the week off school. She has an amazing therapist who squeezes her in whenever she’s able to start talking again, which isn’t until the Wednesday afternoon. She wasn’t even trying to talk, she was just trying to get Bullet to come back to her on one of their walks in the forest. She had rushed inside where her mother was working from home, and they had made the appointment straight away.

She’s grateful for her parents and their understanding – she knows not all parents are as understanding of the needs of their children, so she’s extremely grateful for them both.

Vi pops in every day after school, even if it’s only for a few minutes before she has to get to work or training, and Caitlyn finds herself wondering how she got so lucky with such a great girlfriend.

The next few weeks are a little chaotic at school – several students still approach Caitlyn to thank her, but she always has Vi, Claggor, or Mylo with her at all times. Caitlyn is grateful for all of them as well.

Eventually the students stop gossiping about everything, especially once Mrs Carpenter takes over as principal, like was speculated. Things finally die down when winter officially ends and spring starts.

“Mel and Sevika’s wedding is soon,” Caitlyn says to Vi, stroking her hand over Vi’s naked stomach. They’ve managed to get a rare afternoon to themselves, and immediately found ways to entertain themselves. “Does your suit need adjusting at all?”

Vi shakes her head. She rolls onto her side, facing Caitlyn. She brings Caitlyn’s hand up to her lips and kisses her knuckles. “This is the second time you’ve brought this up,” she starts, “and each time you’ve pretty much jumped my bones. Do you have a suit fetish, Cupcake?”

Caitlyn scoffs and playfully pokes Vi in the stomach. “I have a you fetish,” she admits. Vi smiles and leans in, kissing her soundly on the lips.

Just as Caitlyn thinks she might convince Vi to go another round, the sound of Bullet and Trigger’s happy barks separate them.

They quickly get dressed and thankfully just in time as her bedroom door swings open, revealing Powder, flanked by Caitlyn’s dogs.

“…What were you doing?” she asks, glancing between them.

“Just kissing,” Vi says.

Powder scoffs and rolls her eyes. “I’m eleven, I’m not stupid,” she says. “I know you were having sex.”

“If you knew, why’d you ask?” Vi quips.

Powder pokes her tongue out at Vi. “Cassandra and I came back early,” she says, changing the subject. “We got my invention to work and are going to celebrate with ice cream – will you stop being gross long enough to come too?”

“Of course,” Caitlyn replies. “Let us just… clean up a little.”

Powder nods and leaves, Bullet and Trigger hastily following her. Her giggles can be heard as she all but thunders down the stairs.

“You’ve got,” Caitlyn says, gesturing to Vi’s neck, where an impressive love bite is forming.

“Shit,” Vi says. They both go into Caitlyn’s bathroom to see the damage. “Sevika is going to give me so much shit for this tonight.”

Caitlyn can’t help the smug smile that crosses her face. Vi sees it and grabs her by the hips, pulling Caitlyn flush against her. She emits a soft squeak at the manoeuvring but that quickly turns into a soft moan when Vi kisses her hotly.

“I’ll get you back for this,” Vi whispers as they part. Her hands reaches down and she squeezes Caitlyn’s butt cheeks.

“We’d better stop,” Caitlyn breathes, arching into Vi’s touch. “Lest Mother find us like this.”

They part and Caitlyn blinks a few times to get her brain to come out of its lust-filled haze. She physically steps back and quickly locates a concealer in Vi’s shade, one she bought for times like this.

Once they’re finished, they make their way down the stairs to where Cassandra and Powder are playing with Bullet and Trigger.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Caitlyn says.

Cassandra glances up, her gaze sweeping over both of them. “Caitlyn, I taught you how to blend better than that,” she says pointedly.

Vi’s hand comes up to her neck, and Powder laughs uproariously at them.

“Come, we have much to celebrate with Miss Wolfe’s first successful working invention,” Cassandra says, her tone proud.

Jayce and Viktor are waiting for them at the ice cream parlour, looking very cosy together. Caitlyn can’t help but smile at the sight. She’s glad Jayce is happy with Viktor.

Once everyone has their ice creams, they all turn their attention to Powder, who goes into great detail what her experiment is. Jayce chimes in every now and then how he hopes to improve and expand it in future, and even says how Powder has helped him on a few of his projects already, too.

Caitlyn can practically feel the pride radiating off both Powder and Vi at this. She pats Vi on the knee and leaves her hand there, soaking up Vi’s warmth at her side.

Caitlyn drives Vi and Powder home after their ice creams are all eaten, and she lingers at the front door, trading a few kisses with Vi just because she can. She doesn’t think she’ll ever get sick of this.

~*~

Mel’s wedding is a beautiful event. Caitlyn can’t help but glance around at all of the gorgeous gold accented things. She sees Sevika’s taste in there, too, which warms her heart.

Caitlyn had been surprised at how quickly Mel wanted to get married after their engagement, but when Mel told her that the engagement had just been a formality – that she had been planning this wedding only six months after starting to date Sevika, she realised it wasn’t quick by Mel’s standards at all.

Caitlyn spots Jayce as she wanders into the Medarda quarters of the venue she’d hired for her wedding. His back is to her, so he doesn’t see her, but she can see by the angle of his shoulders, he’s texting someone. He’s in a very gorgeous white and gold suit, that she knows matches everyone else’s outfits on Mel’s side. Sevika’s chosen colours are darker – deep reds and browns that shouldn’t go together but really, really do. She’s thankful that she and Vi had been alone when she had seen Vi in her suit, because it had done things to her. She knows it will be a chore to keep her hands to herself in public when she sees Vi later.

“How is she?” Caitlyn asks, startling Jayce a little. He almost drops his phone but quickly catches it and slides it into his pocket.

“Absolutely radiant,” Jayce replies. “She’s in with her mother right now. That woman is intimidating.”

Caitlyn nods. She’s only met Ambessa once, but she agrees with that statement wholeheartedly.

“I’ve come to let you know that the ceremony is due to start in fifteen minutes,” she says. “So do your best man duties and get Mel down the aisle, okay?”

He nods and knocks on Mel’s door, pushing it open when a muffled ‘come in’ comes from the other side.

Caitlyn makes her way back through to the room where the wedding ceremony is taking place, quickly spotting her family. She stops by the Wolfe side to see Vander and Powder just taking their seats next to Mylo and Claggor.

“Cait, you look so pretty!” Powder pipes up.

“Thank you, Powder,” she replies. Her dress is a light turquoise colour with golden accents, something that Mel had specially made for her. She isn’t in the wedding party, but she definitely looks like a part of the Medarda side in this outfit.

“I’m sorry I can’t sit with you all,” Caitlyn adds.

“It’s alright,” Vander says with a soft smile and a pat to her hand. “We’ll see you after the ceremony.”

“Try not to drool over Vi’s outfit, too,” Powder adds with a cheeky grin before Caitlyn walks away.

She huffs a laugh and takes her seat next to her parents, folding her hands on her lap.

The ceremony itself is beautiful. She manages to contain her open-faced lust for Vi in her gorgeous suit, looking far more beautiful and handsome than anyone has the right to.

Mel and Sevika exchange vows and rings and it’s then that Caitlyn can’t help but tear up. She surreptitiously dabs at her eyes with a white handkerchief from her bag.

Applause fills the room when Mel and Sevika kiss, sealing their union. Caitlyn claps hard along with everyone else. She is so happy for Mel. For not only finding love, but for holding onto it with both hands and not letting go.

After photos have been done, Caitlyn makes a beeline for Vi, trying to contain her enthusiasm as she gives her girlfriend a warm hug.

“You look… wow,” she says a little breathily. “I know I saw you in this last week, but this is so much better.”

Vi’s warm laugh fills her ears. “You look pretty fantastic yourself, Cupcake.” She kisses Caitlyn softly on the lips and Caitlyn tries not to chase her when she pulls back. “Later,” Vi promises with a pointed look. Caitlyn nods.

They make their way into the reception hall that is rapidly filling with the many, many guests. Caitlyn is thankful that Mel put her and Vi’s families together. She takes her seat next to Vi, waiting for the rest of their table to seat themselves.

“I’m starving,” Mylo says. “When’s dinner getting served?”

“About thirty minutes after the brides return from having their photos taken,” Cassandra replies, and Mylo groans.

Surprisingly, Vi is one of the first people on the dancefloor after dinner and the first dance between Mel and Sevika. She, Powder, and Caitlyn all crowd around the newlyweds as upbeat music plays. More and more people join them on the dance floor, grooving along to the music.

Mel wraps Caitlyn in a hug so tight that Caitlyn is positive that some of her body glitter is going to rub off onto Caitlyn’s own skin.

“I’m so happy for you, Mel,” Caitlyn says, pulling back enough to look Mel in the eye as she speaks.

“You are a darling,” Mel replies. She gives Caitlyn another gentle squeeze before taking Caitlyn’s hand and twirling her on the spot.

Laughter bubbles out of her, and she happily twirls right into Vi’s waiting embrace. She almost loses her footing but Vi’s strong arms wrap around her waist. She smiles and rests her head on Vi’s shoulder for a moment to just breathe.

“You okay, Cupcake?” Vi asks.

Caitlyn nods. She pulls back and kisses Vi soundly on the lips. “Just thinking.”

“About what?” Vi asks. Her hands slide down to wrap around Caitlyn’s waist, effectively pulling her closer.

“That maybe one day this will be us,” she says casually. She’s nervous as she meets Vi’s eyes, but she only sees Vi’s smiling face.

“I’d really love that,” Vi replies. Their lips meet in another soft kiss and Caitlyn melts into Vi’s embrace.

“Enough of that!” Powder exclaims, bumping into them. “It’s time for dancing!”

Caitlyn smiles as she takes Powder’s hand in one of hers, and Vi’s in the other. She thinks that yes, a life like this? With the people she loves? It couldn’t get more perfect.

[star55]

Fic: Misfits and Mishaps Chapter 2

Title: Misfits and Mishaps Author: Star Chapter: Two/Twelve Word Count: 3,778/47,000+ Pairing: Cait/Vi Fandom: Arcane (League of Legends) Rating: Teen and up Warnings: some bigotry, discussions of sexual assault.

Read on A03

Chapter Two

“So… what are you in for?”

Caitlyn looks up, spotting that familiar pink head of hair as Vi slides into the seat next to her. She immediately makes herself comfortable, putting a foot up on the chair on her other side.

“Creative oppression,” Caitlyn replies without missing a beat.

“Huh?” Vi asks, shooting her a confused look.

“Uniform violation, I guess,” Caitlyn replies with a sigh. She’s still smarting over the conversation with Principal Marcus.

“Whoa,” Vi replies. “A Piltie getting a uniform violation?”

Caitlyn nods. “Mr Edwards is a bigoted jerk and I was proving a point.”

“What point?” Vi asks. Her body has shifted so she’s facing Caitlyn and Caitlyn can feel her face growing warm from the attention.

“That he’s been explicitly targeting the students who live in Zaun for uniform violations,” Caitlyn explains. She reaches into her bag for the notebook she started to make the list in. “See, here is the date and time of each incident I’ve noticed. Of course I can’t be there for all of them, but these are the ones I’ve seen.”

“Wow, you’re a nerd.” Caitlyn flinches at the remark. She snaps the book shut and slides it into her bag.

“I… I didn’t mean it like that,” Vi states. “I’ve just never seen anyone care about us that much to put actual effort into it.”

“Well, that’s because people are jerks,” Caitlyn replies. She closes her bag over and tucks her feet under her chair.

“Are those socks your uniform violation?” Vi asks a moment later. Caitlyn glances over to see Vi staring at her socks.

“Yes,” she replies. She doesn’t tell Vi that she loves these socks. They were a gift from Jayce after they had watched an alien movie last year. She told him that she unequivocally believes in life on other planets. He had called her a nerd, but with affection, and the next time they saw each other, he handed her a pair of bright pink socks with little alien heads and UFOs on them.

“Miss Kiramman, Miss Wolfe, might I remind you both that this is detention?” Mrs Walker, the supervising teacher states, staring at them with a pointed look each. “Be quiet or you’ll both be in for more detention next week.”

Caitlyn snorts softly, but only so Vi can hear. “I’ve already got two weeks’ worth of detention. What’s another day at this point?”

Beside her, she can see Vi’s eyebrows shoot up before she shakes her head.

Caitlyn reaches into her bag and pulls out some homework. She’s already caught up on most things, but she can always get ahead on other subjects.

A short while later, a folded-up piece of paper slides into her line of sight. Caitlyn glances up to make sure Mrs Walker can’t see and she carefully opens it.

How come you have two weeks’ worth of detention? The note asks. Caitlyn presses her red pen to the paper in response.

Because Mr Marcus is also a bigoted jerk. She replies, sliding it back towards Vi.

Is that your word of the week?

??

Jerk. You’ve used it a lot today.

Caitlyn smiles slightly to herself. If we weren’t at school, I’d call them something else.

She can hear the slight huff of surprise come from Vi in response before she slides the paper into the pocket of her trousers.

Caitlyn doesn’t know why her stomach flutters at the thought of Vi keeping something she’s written, but it does.

~*~

It shouldn’t surprise Caitlyn that she sees Vi in detention almost every single day the following week but it does.

Vi always sits next to her, even when there are other desks free. Caitlyn doesn’t mind. She shares her lunch with Vi and they trade notes back and forth. They don’t tend to talk about why Vi is in detention, or how Caitlyn’s parents handled the news (terribly – her mother was about to call the school and give Mr Marcus an earful when Caitlyn begged her not to. But she was proud of Caitlyn for standing up for herself, and for the Zaun students), but they share silly jokes, and it makes Caitlyn’s heart feel a little lighter in her chest.

Caitlyn continues to break the uniform code, too, whenever she can. She sees other students not getting pulled up about it, so she continues to do the same.

She hasn’t received any more warnings or detentions, which is good. She expects she’ll spend the rest of the school year in detention if every teacher confronted her about it. Now that she knows there’s at least half a dozen teachers in her year level that are bigoted towards the Zaun students, she’s made sure to keep violating the uniform code. It’s the very least she can do.

She wants to do more though, but being fifteen and a Kiramman is hindering her more than she’d like it to. Both of her parents are on the school board, and they’re both on Caitlyn’s side, so that’s a step in the right direction. She knows her mother won’t let her efforts go unnoticed. She’ll speak up about the treatment of Zaun students whenever she can.

Sometimes Caitlyn doesn’t get along with her mother – she wonders if this is something all teenage girls go through – but they understand each other. Which is all she can hope for when Caitlyn has all but decided to be a thorn in the side of Piltover High in the subtlest way possible.

It’s Friday again, one week after Caitlyn first got detention, when Vi slides into the seat next to her. Except this time, Vi’s knuckles are a little bloody. Caitlyn can’t help the gasp that escapes her when she sees it. Vi immediately tucks her hands under the desk and pointedly looks away from Caitlyn.

Caitlyn opens her school bag and quickly locates her small first aid kit. “Here,” she says softly as to not gain the attention of today’s detention teacher. “Let me.” She sets the kit on the table between them and gives Vi a pointed look.

With a huff, Vi places her left hand on the table. She barely hisses through her teeth when Caitlyn cleans the knuckles. She doesn’t talk. She doesn’t ask – even though she is desperate to know what happened. She just diligently cleans the wounds and places a cupcake patterned Band-Aid on the worst of Vi’s knuckles.

“Huh,” Vi mutters. “This matches your socks.”

Caitlyn beams at her. “They do!” she says happily, still whispering. She carefully packs away the contents of her kit and slides it back into its spot in her bag.

“You really have everything in there, don’t you?” Vi comments, nodding towards Caitlyn’s bag which she’s just set back on the ground.

“It doesn’t hurt to be prepared,” Caitlyn replies.

Vi gives her a crooked smile and opens her notebook – the one that is filled with notes between them both. They trade the book back and forth, and even though Caitlyn is still curious as to what happened to Vi, she doesn’t ask.

The rest of detention passes and before Caitlyn knows it, Vi is sliding the book back into her own bag and getting up just as the bell rings.

Caitlyn hastily follows, slinging her bag over her shoulder and exiting the room as fast as she can.

“You can ask, you know,” Vi says, startling Caitlyn. She thought that Vi had gone on to her next class already. But there she is, leaning casually against the wall just outside of the detention room door.

“Ask what?”

“About these,” Vi says, holding up her fist.

“Okay,” Caitlyn says with a decisive nod. “What happened?”

Vi smirks. “A good ol’ knuckle sandwich.”

Caitlyn shakes her head, unable to stop herself from smiling at Vi’s phrasing and the way she says it. “Who deserved it then?” she asks.

Vi gives her a puzzled look. “You’re not going to ask what I did to piss someone off?”

Caitlyn shakes her head again. “No,” she starts, “I know you don’t start fights.”

“I do finish them though,” Vi adds with a pointed look. Caitlyn just shrugs at her, not disagreeing with that point. She knows Vi gets into fights – she’s heard the gossip from other students. But she also knows how wrong gossip can be, too.

“It was Stan Humphrey from the year above us. He was picking on a Zaun girl from the year below us. Calling her all kinds of slurs, you know the usual ones.”

Caitlyn did know, and it made her bristle to think of it. Stan was two years older, at the very least, than the Zaun girl he was undoubtedly terrorising. She doesn’t blame Vi for getting involved.

“He definitely deserved it, then,” Caitlyn agrees. She’s glad Vi is opening up to her. She wasn’t sure if she ever would. But it’s nice to talk to her, Caitlyn muses.

“What class do you have next?” Caitlyn asks as they slowly make their way down the hall. There’s no one else around this area at the moment, so she’s savouring walking slower than usual.

“P.E. but I was going to skip it,” Vi says. “Want to join me?”

Caitlyn’s eyes widen at that. She’s never skipped a class before. But she finds herself nodding and following Vi out to the grassy area where she knows the smokers like to hang out. Thankfully Vi doesn’t seem to be one of those, she notices as they sit down and Vi doesn’t pull any cigarettes out.

Caitlyn crosses her legs, tucking her feet underneath her knees. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a chocolate bar. “Want some?” she asks.

Vi glances over and nods. “Yeah, I didn’t get to eat any lunch.”

Wordlessly, Caitlyn passes her the whole thing. When Vi gives her a questioning look, she shrugs. “I had lunch today.”

Vi practically inhales the chocolate bar and it makes Caitlyn wish she had something else to give her, too. She’ll fix that for next week. She’ll pack more food so she can share with Vi in case she misses lunch again.

“Do you have any plans this weekend?” Caitlyn asks, leaning her hands back on the grass and tilting her face towards the sun.

“Yeah,” Vi replies, “it’s my sister’s eleventh birthday.”

“I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“I have three siblings, actually,” Vi replies.

Caitlyn glances over at her. “You do?”

Vi nods. “Two adoptive brothers – Mylo and Claggor, they both go here, and Powder. She’s biologically my sister. We were all adopted at the same time.” She falls silent and Caitlyn watches her, wondering if she’ll continue to open up.

“I’m an only child,” Caitlyn says a lot quieter than she means to.

“That must be lonely.”

“You have no idea.” She falls silent as well, wondering if she’s said too much already.

“Did you want to come to Powder’s party?” Vi asks.

Caitlyn perks up. She nods and then bites her lip. “Are you sure she won’t mind?”

Vi smirks. “She’ll be fine. She’s got a bunch of friends from her school coming. She won’t notice one more guest.”

“Then I’d love to,” Caitlyn replies. “What can I get her? What does she like?”

“You don’t have to get her anything,” Vi says.

“Of course I do,” Caitlyn insists. “I’m intruding on her party, I can’t show up empty handed.”

Vi heaves a sigh, like it’s the most put upon thing to answer a question. If Caitlyn didn’t know that Vi was like this, she might have taken offence, but it’s a cute quirk of hers. “She loves art supplies. But don’t get anything too outlandish, she’ll go through it quickly. She’s really into bright colours right now.”

Caitlyn smiles, already thinking of exactly what to get Powder. “Do you have a photo of her?” she asks.

Vi nods and pulls out her wallet, not a phone like Caitlyn was expecting. She slides out a family photo, Caitlyn assumes when she sees Vi, a little girl, two boys about their age and an older man who looks huge but has a kind looking face. Vi looks significantly younger than she does now, so Caitlyn guesses this photo is a few years older. She takes in all of their smiling faces, noticing the way each of their smiles practically leap from the photo.

“You all look really happy,” Caitlyn comments, staring at their happy faces, feeling the warmth and the love of this family from one photo alone.

“That’s the day our adoptions went through,” Vi says. She scoots a little closer to Caitlyn, their bent knees pressing together. She starts pointing to people as she says who they are. Caitlyn recognises Mylo – one of the boys from a few weeks ago getting a detention for a uniform violation. She thinks she recognises Claggor as well, but can’t place him right at the moment.

“And that’s Vander, our dad,” Vi says softly. From that tone alone, Caitlyn can tell this man means a lot to her. She doesn’t want to pry and ask what happened to her birth parents, but she’s glad that Vi, and all her siblings, have this man who adopted all of them.

“I can’t wait to meet them,” Caitlyn says as Vi slips the photo back into her wallet before shoving it into her backpack. “Do you want to see a photo of my dogs?”

Vi nods. “What kind of dogs do you have?”

Caitlyn slides her phone out of her pocket and pulls up their photo album. “Dobermans,” she replies, passing the phone over. “This one is Bullet,” she says before swiping the screen. “And this one is Trigger.”

Vi raises an eyebrow at her. “Odd names for dogs.”

Caitlyn shrugs. “My mother is a shooter, too. She let me name them when I was seven.”

“Wait, too? Do you shoot?” Vi asks, giving Caitlyn a curious look.

Caitlyn nods and takes the phone back, pulling up another photo album. “Youngest marksman in all of Runeterra,” she says, showing the photo with her latest trophy from her summer competition.

“Shit,” Vi says. She sounds impressed, but Caitlyn isn’t too sure. Her thumbs swipe across the screen, taking in the contents of the album.

“Oh, wait, I know her,” Vi says, stopping at a photo of Mel Medarda and Caitlyn from her last tournament.

“She’s on the Council with my mother,” Caitlyn says.

Vi shakes her head, a lock of pink hair falling forwards. She quickly swipes it out of her eyes with a practiced hand. “Nah, she’s dating my aunt.”

Caitlyn’s eyes go wide. “She is?” She didn’t know this. She doesn’t really know much about the Council members outside of who they are and what they each bring to the Council. But she had no idea that Mel was dating someone. Especially someone from Zaun. This piece of information makes Caitlyn’s heart thrum a little harder in her chest.

“What’s your aunt’s name?” Caitlyn asks.

“Sevika,” Vi replies, passing Caitlyn her phone back. “She’s not biologically my aunt, but she’s family. She and my Vander – my dad – go way back. They grew up together. They were both in the military together, and she lives two houses down from us.”

Caitlyn’s brain files all of this away for future reference. “Will she be at the party?”

Vi nods. “Yeah, of course. Powder loves her.”

“Then I look forward to meeting her.”

“You’re going to get teased by my family for the way you talk, by the way,” Vi says.

“What’s wrong with the way I talk?” Caitlyn asks, curious.

Vi gives her a lopsided smile. “You have such a proper Piltie accent.”

Caitlyn sniffs slightly. “I can’t help that,” she says.

“It’s okay,” Vi assures her. “But my brothers will definitely tease you for it. If they give you shit, just punch them.”

“…I wouldn’t know how,” Caitlyn admits. “I’m from a family of shooters, not brawlers.”

“Here, I’ll show you,” Vi says, abruptly standing up.

“What? Right now?” Caitlyn asks. Vi nods and holds out a hand to Caitlyn to take to help her up. She slides her hand into Vi’s, noticing how warm her palm is against her own.

“First, make a fist,” Vi instructs. “Never put your thumb on the inside, it’s the quickest way to break it.”

Caitlyn lets Vi move her fingers so she’s making a proper fist. Vi carefully explains the technique of how to make a fist, and how to throw a punch perfectly. Caitlyn fumbles a few times, but she quickly gets the hang of it.

When Vi tells Caitlyn to punch her in the arm, she doesn’t expect the force she puts behind it, and Vi stumbles a little. Caitlyn opens her mouth to apologise but the massive grin on Vi’s face stops her in her tracks.

“Now that is a punch, Cupcake.”

“Cupcake?” Caitlyn repeats, her cheeks growing warm at the unexpected nickname.

Vi holds up her fist that has the cupcake print Band-Aid on it still. Then she gestures to Caitlyn’s socks that are visible under her trouser hem. “And because you’re sweet, like a cupcake.”

Caitlyn’s entire face flushes at that.