Chapter Text
"When will we see each other again?" is the question that Ezreal will never forget. He asked that question to his best friend, Kai'Sa, after they graduated from college. The day when she was also about to move away to start a new life six years ago. He remembers her being stunned, and could tell that she didn't know what to answer. All he did was wait for her to reply.
"I'm... not sure, Ez," Kai'Sa replies without looking at Ezreal's eyes, feeling guilty, knowing she may probably not see her best friend again. She knew working as a dancer in a group that has a possibility of becoming famous will be difficult, and it hurts that she will have no time for anything. Anything at all, "But I promise you, I will be back as soon as-"
"Hey. It's okay," Ezreal stops Kai'Sa. He knew she was lying. To be honest, she is bad at it. He could chuckle in despair, and say, 'You're really bad at lying. You could've told me the truth. I'm gonna be okay, ya know?' Instead, he hugs her tightly, not wanting to let go. He wants her to know that she made the right decision, "You don't have to promise me anything."
"But-" Kai'Sa was shocked. She wants to say something, but words can't come out of her mouth. She sighs heavily, and hugs Ezreal back as droplets of her tears come out of her eyes, "Ezreal..."
Ezreal could feel her tears on his neck, falling onto his back. He smiles faintly, and pats her back, comforting her, "Just be safe… and be happy, alright?"
"Same as you..."
Damn it, he thought. It was supposed to be today. He was supposed to confess how he feels that he likes her more than a friend.
But this is the perfect moment! She is about to go away, and you know you will not hear her voice, and see her anymore. You will only hear and see her in television, in concerts if you will ever go and have time… so why, why the hell are you not saying anything?! She needs to know! No… she has to know.
She has to know that he will always be there for her… no matter what.
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"Hey, Ezreal. Wake up."
"W-What?" Ezreal wakes up and opens his eyes, but couldn't see a damn thing. Everything around him is so blurry. He rubs them with his cold bare hand, and as soon as his sight is going back to normal, he sees his friend from college, looking down on him, folding his arms, and- uh oh, that's not good. He looks angry, very angry, "Kayn?"
"The food's ready," Kayn said with his menacing tone, "Get dressed, and hurry your ass up." Kayn walks out of Ezreal's room, and shuts the door.
Ezreal frowns, doesn't get why Kayn is always in a bad mood towards him. Oh, right. He has been waking up at noon these past few days. Guess he was annoyed by that because he is always the one waking him up everyday. Good point.
He was having a hard time sleeping at night. He had no choice but to make himself sleep by scrolling on social media non-stop until dawn. This has been happening to him since summer. Maybe something was haunting him from the past. What was it? Why is this happening to him?
He then gets up from bed, and wipes his forehead when he realizes that he was sweating so much. He raises his eyebrow in confusion, then everything comes back to his mind in an instant. Damn, was it because of that dream..?
Dream. It's more like a memory. Why did he dream about that? About her? Is it a sign? Is Kai'Sa coming back? Pffft, nah. Maybe he just misses her so much.
He opens his closet, and grabs one of his favorite shirts that he has from college. He was in the soccer team with one of his old friends, the famous rapper, Ekko from True Damage. They won in some local competition that they've been planning for months, and after the match, they were given some awesome shirts that can be used at home.
He undresses himself, and wears the shirt comfortably. He grabs his comb from the drawers, and brushes his blonde shiny hair smoothly. After a few seconds of brushing, he walks out of the room, and goes downstairs. He could smell the aroma of the delicious food that his other friend from college, Aphelios cooked. He then sees Kayn sitting with Aphelios at the dining table while Sett is still watching television in the living room.
"Morning." Ezreal waves at his friends with his huge smile, and sits down beside Kayn. His eyes shine when he sees all of the food. He was in heaven for a second.
"Good afternoon," Aphelios corrects his friend, but nonetheless, he doesn't care, "What time did you sleep last night?"
Ezreal looks at his friend, tries to think, but then shrugs. He just laughed, and smiled at him, "Eh, I'm not really a Math guy."
Kayn rolls his eyes, and grabs some chopsticks from his right side, and starts eating. Sett stands up from the couch and sits beside Ezreal.
"Oh, hell yeah!" Sett shouts excitedly, "This is some good Chinese food you cooked, Mooncake."
"No swearing on the table, please." Aphelios says as Kayn gives some chopsticks to him. He nods his head, and says 'thank you' in sign language.
"Sorry, Mooncake." Sett looks down with his puppy eyes, and as soon as he looks up, he sees Kayn making a vomit expression. He then gives him the middle finger. "Hey, Kayn. What about me?" Ezreal leans over and whispers, "Where are my chopsticks?"
"You get it yourself." Kayn mumbles as he chews up his food.
"Rude." Ezreal glares at him, and stands up from his seat. He grabs the chopsticks, and breaks it in half when he notices Sett standing up, and grabs the remote controller from the couch. Seriously? This guy has been watching 24/7.
He looks at Aphelios, and uses sign language to be quiet as a mouse, 'Hey, stop your boyfriend.'
Aphelios replies, 'Don't mind him'.
Sett tries to find the News channel. He is interested to know what was going on with the world. This only happens when he is bored. It's really surprising of him. When he found the channel, he pressed the button as it made a click sound. All they saw and heard was a music group, singing beautifully, dancing energetically on the stage, and a lot of their fans were cheering for them happily. Then a reporter shows up on the screen with the members.
"Hi, K/DA!" The reporter greets the members, who couldn't hold her excitement, "Oh my goodness! It's been a while. How are you, guys?!"
"Hi, Charlotte!" Ahri, the leader of K/DA, greets Charlotte back with a smile, "We're doing great, how about you?"
Aphelios, Kayn, and Sett turn their heads to look at Ezreal when they saw her. God, she's so beautiful. Her signature hairstyle, her angelic smile, her adorable laugh, her soothing voice, he was falling for her even more. It hurts. He could feel his heart aching.
Then he starts to ask himself in deep thought.
Do you miss me like how I miss you?
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Back to high school days, 11 years ago to be exact, Kai'Sa runs like lightning with her hair down, flying with the wind. She grabs her phone from her pocket, and checks the time to make sure if she will make it at school on time. No, she will not. She suddenly feels anxious, and nauseous.
She didn't get enough sleep because her partner wasn't helping her with their project, so she sacrificed her sleep schedule to do it until midnight.
She hopes that her teachers will understand her because she doesn't want to get lectured by them. She had no choice but to run faster.
A few minutes later, she made it to school, and saw a student getting lectured by a teacher. Kai'Sa gulps when she realizes the one who was getting lectured is no other than Ezreal.
She tried to go to her classroom quietly, but then she was caught red-handed pretty quickly.
"Ah, Kai'Sa. Good morning to you."
Shoot. Kai'Sa turns around, and laughs nervously, "G-Good morning, Miss Morgana."
"Are you going to leave your friend behind?" Morgana side-eye's Ezreal, and Ezreal waves at her with his cocky annoying grin. Kai'Sa couldn't help but sigh.
"Yeah, she is, Miss Morgana," He whines as he touches his chest, pretending to be heartbroken, "She's a traitor. She betrayed me for good. Agh, my heart."
"Haha, I didn't know you're also late, Ez…" Kai'Sa lies while she looks away.
"Mhm, sure. You're so bad at lying," Ezreal said in a flirty tone, "It's cute."
Kai'Sa blushes in embarrassment or is she getting red because she was called cute? Oh, she is not falling for that. She gave him a cold look, "You're not helping."
"And you're a mess."
"Ugh, shut up."
"Ahem, I'm still here," Morgana steps in the conversation, "Follow me. We have a few things to talk about your behavior."
After they're done with the meeting, Morgana opens the door, and Kai'Sa and Ezreal go out together.
"Please don't be late again, Kai'Sa and Ezreal," Morgana reminds them, "You both know your attendances is also a part of your grades."
"Yes, Miss Morgana," Kai'Sa nods her head, "It won't happen again."
"I know. You are a responsible student yourself, Kai'Sa. And you, Ezreal?" Morgana raises an eyebrow, "I'm expecting a reply from you."
"Yes, Miss Morgana," Ezreal scratches the back of his head, "I promise."
"Thank you, and good luck on your classes." Morgana bows her head, and goes back into her office. The moment when she closes the door shut, Ezreal looks at Kai'Sa, and smirks. Oh, not again. What is it this time?
"It's not like I can keep my promises."
"Seriously, Ez? You'll get yourself into more trouble. And Miss Morgana is bad news. She really has bad temper when it comes to thi-"
"I'm just kidding, relax!" Ezreal laughs, "Now enough with the jokes. Why are you late?"
Kai'Sa sighs heavily, and looks at Ezreal with her deadly stare, "I woke up late because I was working on a project in Chemistry last night. I kept calling Karen to help me, but she keeps ignoring me."
"Ah, it's always her, huh? I was partnered with her once, we didn't spark," Ezreal folds his arms with concern, "What are you gonna do with her?"
"Oh, I'm gonna show her the piece of me-"
"Okay, how about you just tell Professor Heimerdinger about your situation instead of fighting with someone?"
"Right. I'm sorry. I'm so stressed right no-"
"Hold on a sec."
"What?" Ezreal puts Kai'Sa's hair at the back of her ear that was covering her left portion of her face. She could feel her heart pounding so fast. She didn't see that coming.
"Your hair is getting in the way."
Kai'Sa grabs her hair tie from her backpack, and ties her hair into a ponytail, trying her best to calm down. She likes Ezreal romantically, but she hasn't confessed to him. No, she will never confess to him. Besides, if she ever tells him, what if he likes someone else, and gets rejected? It's the end of the world for her.
"What about you? Why are you late?"
Ezreal chuckles, and flips his hair proudly, "I slept late."
"Because?" Kai'Sa was expecting a stupid response.
"I watched a horror movie with my homies. Couldn't sleep after that!"
Kai'Sa stomps Ezreal's foot, making him hold his scream.
"What's our next class?"
"Ow! Kai'Sa, that hurt!" Ezreal cries in pain, "What was that for?!"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't see your foot." Kai'Sa gives Ezreal a blegh expression. He sighs, and strokes his hair, making himself look attractive which he already is, "Chemistry is our next class-"
Wait, Chemistry? Already?! Oh, right. It's Thursday. She has Chemistry classes every Thursday. What's worse, that class is her first subject of the day, "Oh, shoot! We're doomed!"
Kai'Sa runs fast to go to her classroom, and leaves Ezreal in the hallway all alone. "Hey, Kai! Wait for me!"
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"Hey." Kayn calls Ezreal multiple times. He then slaps him on the shoulder hard, "Ezreal!"
"Ow! What?!"
"Are you okay?" Aphelios touches Ezreal on the shoulder where Kayn slaps it to make it feel a little better, "You spaced out for a while."
"I'm- I'm fine!" Ezreal stutters, and eats a dumpling. "You're getting dirty minded, aren't you?" Sett jokes, "I bet you wanna have se-"
Ezreal got annoyed, "Do you want me to kill you with these chopsticks?"
"Go on, do it."
"Please don't," Aphelios grabs the chopsticks from Ezreal, "You can use this spoon and fork."
"Then I'm going to kill you with this fork." Ezreal grabs the fork quickly before Aphelios stops him.
"I'm waiting."
"Will you cut out, you two?" Aphelios sighs, getting exhausted from all of the nonsense.
After they're done eating, Ezreal goes back to his room and lies down on his bed, feeling devastated. He looks outside the window, and sees the bright blue sky with white calming clouds, moving slowly. He clenches his pillow, and closes his eyes to make himself fall asleep, but he can't. He opens his eyes, when he suddenly jumps in terror when Kayn appears in front of him.
"Oh, fuck! You scared me."
"Can I talk to you for a while?" Kayn tilts his head. Ezreal raises his eyebrow. Is he going to lecture him about his behavior lately? "A-About what?"
"About earlier."
Well, if he wishes to talk about his situation, he's not going to let him, "Dude, really, I'm fine-"
"No, you're fucking not," Kayn snaps, "Will you stop lying about your feelings for a damn second?!"
Ezreal was surprised. He's absolutely right. All he does is lie about his feelings. He doesn't want to worry anyone. Well, looks like this is the day when he needs to stop. Maybe for a little while. What's interesting is that he had never seen Kayn very angry before. He could see so much rage in his eyes, but at the same time, he could also see such loneliness. He is worried about him, but never really shows it in an affectionate way. He bites his lip, and stays silent.
"Look, you have to move forward-"
Ezreal scoffs, "That's the problem. I can't!"
Kayn scrunches his nose, "If you miss her so much, then why not call her?"
"It's not easy, Kayn. She's busy. She doesn't have time for any nonsense. Besides, I don't have her number anymore. I lost it. It doesn't dial anymore, either. But if I do have it, I don't wanna disturb he-"
"Pffft, really? Or are you just scared?"
Ezreal laughs sarcastically. Kayn is getting on his nerves pretty good. He feels like he's being tested, "Pffft? Me? Scared of what?"
"Scared that she doesn't want you in her life anymore?"
Wow. That hit Ezreal in the chest like he was shot by a bullet, "Ouch. That's a bit too much?"
"But I'm right, ain't I?"
And then, silence falls between them. Ezreal looks down, and feels sick. He could taste the Chinese food that he ate. He gulps, and looks at Kayn with pain in his eyes. That was his response.
"If you think that, you're wrong," Kayn says, but this time, his tone was calming. He's trying to comfort his friend as much as he can, "You're important to her."
"How do you know? What if you're wrong?"
"Will you stop with the negative thoughts?" Kayn sighs heavily, "You two were best of friends. You care for her, she cares for you. You love her, she loves you- huh?"
Kayn stops when he sees Ezreal covering his face. He walks up to him, and pinches his ear. "Ow!" Then his eyes widened when he saw his face, bright red as a fresh tomato.
"Wait… do you love her romantically?"
Ezreal panics, but his crystal, genuine blue eyes says it all. He could feel butterflies, flying around inside his stomach. It's been a while since he had experienced this. He forgot it feels ticklish.
"No fucking way. How can I be this clueless?"
"It's just a stupid crush that I had since high school!" Ezreal's voice cracks, "I don't love her 'romantically' anymore!"
Kayn scoffs, "Mhm. Sure. Keep lying. It suits you."
"Fuck you."
Kayn smiles when Ezreal is back to normal once in a while, but then Ezreal is terrified. He doesn't want to see his friend smile again. It looks weird on him. Then Kayn walks away as he touches the door lightly, and turns around, "She is busy, and doesn't have time to communicate with anyone, so why not take the first shot? Who knows? She might be waiting for you."
Waiting for me? Ezreal never really thought about that, "I'll think about it."
"Oh, and, if I ever see you again depressed because of one girl, I will kick you out of my apartment. Literally."
"Hey, that's not fair." Kayn chuckles deviously. As soon as he is about to leave, Ezreal opens his mouth, and calls him, "Hey, Kayn."
"What?"
"Thanks."
He doesn't know how to respond to that, but he feels nice. His chest feels lighter, seeing his friend smiling. But all Kayn could do was roll his eyes. He doesn't want to show any of his mutual feelings. He thinks it's silly.
He shuts the door, leaving Ezreal to think about what he had said. But again, it's not easy. They haven't seen each other for six years, and he doesn't want to make things awkward between them. He'll die of embarrassment.
He lies down on his bed, and looks at the ceiling. Then he gets up, and lies down again. He was getting bored. He wants to do at least one activity for today.
He gets up, and grabs his cap, and wears it. He also grabs his wallet from his bag as he leaves the room. He goes downstairs, and sees Kayn, talking with Aphelios in the kitchen while Sett is sleeping peacefully on the couch. He wears his boots, and Kayn notices him.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"I need some fresh air."
Kayn nods his head, and sees Aphelios rushing up to him, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, Phel," Ezreal pats Aphelios' shoulder, reassuring him not to worry about him, "I haven't walked outside since Saturday."
Aphelios tries to read Ezreal, and Ezreal is getting worried. He is telling the truth, well, for now, but he's not that depressed anymore. Then Aphelios smiles, "Okay, then. Have fun."
"See you guys, later."
Ezreal leaves as he hears his friends saying goodbye to him. As he turns around, he sees so many people walking around in beautiful New York City. He looks up at the sky as he can feel the wind touching his face, and smiles, feeling relaxed already.
A hot coffee would be nice.