Chapter Text
Climbing the dilapidated fire escape of Piltover Academy’s dorm building is easy for Vi. Moving from ledge to ledge to reach the right window is a little harder, but at least they’re big enough to be decent footholds and grips. Vi navigates them with confidence until she reaches Caitlyn’s window.
She peeks inside, always careful to check for unexpected visitors, though Caitlyn rarely has anyone over. Inside, Caitlyn is sitting at her desk, hunched over a thick legal textbook.
Vi raps her knuckles against the glass.
Caitlyn’s head lifts, eyebrows drawn together, gaze scanning for the source of the noise. Vi waves and hopes Caitlyn can’t tell the fingers on her other hand are going numb from gripping the ledge.
Her girlfriend leaps up and runs to the window to push it open. She offers a hand to Vi, fingers wrapping around her wrist to help pull her up and in through the window.
“I’ve told you a million times to use the door before you fall to your death.”
Caitlyn’s palms trail down her arms until they reach Vi’s hands, lifting them to her face to examine Vi’s fingers.
The misplaced concern makes Vi smile. “And I’ve told you a million times, I’ve been doing this kind of stuff since I learned to walk.”
She slips her hands from Caitlyn’s to curl lightly around her face and neck so she can pull her in for a kiss.
When they part, Vi grins. ”You worry too much.”
Caitlyn glares, but her hands are on Vi’s sleeves, clutching the fabric tightly between her fingers. “I live on the seventh floor, Vi.”
“It wouldn’t matter if you lived on the top floor, cupcake, I’d still climb to your window.”
“You…” Caitlyn trails off with a little sigh, clearly deciding that rehashing the argument isn’t worth the effort. She pulls away to pick up her book and return to her desk. “At least tell me you’re here to study, I have an exam on Thursday and—”
“And an oral presentation on Friday and a group project due Monday,” Vi finishes, clearing the stacks of assignments from the corner of Caitlyn’s desk so she can lift herself onto it, sitting close enough that her leg brushes Caitlyn’s arm.
“Precisely, and you have a hundred engineering projects at any given time. Assignments you really ought to do earlier than the night before they're due.”
“I’d rather hang out with you.”
Caitlyn purses her lips, but Vi doesn’t miss the twitch at the corner of her mouth as she fights a smile. “That’s sweet but—”
“And I brought you something.”
Caitlyn’s gaze meets Vi’s, searching. When Vi flashes a proud grin, Caitlyn’s eyes narrow. “Did you steal it?”
“That was one time!”
“If anyone had noticed—”
“I didn’t steal this,” Vi promises, leaning forward. “So do you wanna see?”
There’s still skepticism in Caitlyn’s face, but that’s not unusual. She and Powder both have what Vi has dubbed resting curious face. It seems like Caitlyn always wants to know more about anything and everything she deems interesting enough to spend time on. And, somehow, Vi is lucky enough to be included in that.
“It’s not my birthday.”
“Nope.”
“And it’s not a holiday.”
“Might be a holiday somewhere out there, but not one we celebrate.”
Caitlyn continues to study her, idly tapping a pen with her right hand.
Vi rolls her eyes, nudging Caitlyn’s chair with her foot. “If you don’t want it, I guess I could give it to someone else.”
“I want it,” Caitlyn says immediately, holding out her left hand.
Much better. “Close your eyes.”
“Is that necessary?”
Despite Caitlyn’s insistence that she didn’t like surprises, Vi had never seen them fail to make her smile. At least, not when it came to the little things like notes left in her locker, forehead kisses, or mini cupcakes from her favorite bakery.
“Yup, close ’em.”
Caitlyn lets out an exasperated huff, but her eyes fall shut, dark eyelashes fanning out across the very top of her sharp cheekbones. “Satisfied?”
“Very.” Vi leans forward to press her lips to Caitlyn’s in a chaste kiss.
Caitlyn’s nose wrinkles as she opens her eyes enough to squint at Vi. “Was that my surprise?”
“Nah, just wanted to do that.”
Caitlyn’s hand on Vi’s neck tugs her down for another kiss, lingering a little longer this time.
When it ends, Caitlyn sits back with her eyes still closed, hand held expectantly in front of her. Vi is tempted to kiss her again, to keep kissing her until they both forget about surprises and school work and everything else. But the gift is threatening to burn a hole in her pocket so she slides it out and places it on Caitlyn’s palm.
Caitlyn opens her eyes, bringing her hand toward her face to peer at the bottle of deep purple nail polish bottle.
“It’s—”
“Violet,” Caitlyn breathes, her voice softening the syllables of Vi’s name like she loves the taste of it.
Vi ducks her head, embarrassed and pleased at the same time. “I just thought, since, ya know, you can’t wear my letterman jacket around the Academy, maybe you’d… want some other reminder?”
Caitlyn curls her long, slender fingers around the bottle as a shy smile blooms on her lips. “I love it, Vi. Thank you, this is an incredibly thoughtful gift.”
In an effort to fight the heat rising to her cheeks, Vi rubs at the back of her neck and offers, “I can put it on you if you want.”
Caitlyn nods, eyes still shining as she gets to her feet. She carefully sets the bottle of nail polish on the desk, checking that it’s balanced and won’t fall over before she holds up a finger. “One moment, please.”
Vi waits, swinging her feet over the side of Caitlyn’s desk, as Caitlyn slips into the hallway. This isn’t the first, or even the twentieth, time she’s been alone in Caitlyn’s dorm room. At this point, it feels as much like home as her own bedroom.
As always, Caitlyn’s bed is a mess of tangled sheets and haphazardly discarded clothing. One of Vi’s jackets hangs over the bed frame. Caitlyn can’t wear it around the Academy or her family without inviting unwanted attention, but she had long ago admitted that she enjoyed wearing them in her dorm room. With how adorable Caitlyn looks in her jackets and how good they smell when she returns them, Vi is always happy to lend them to her.
The door cracks open and Caitlyn slides back inside, shutting it carefully behind her. She has a couple of paper towels held in one of her hands which she promptly offers to Vi as she sits back at her desk. “So we don’t stain anything.”
Vi sets the paper towels on her lap before opening the nail polish and reaching for Caitlyn’s hand. The line of pink, freshly healed skin beside Caitlyn’s thumb nail makes her wince.
At least it’s not bloody this time.
She hates seeing Caitlyn hurt herself, knowing how much she struggles under the weight of school and family expectations. She hates when other students notice, too, hates the way they stare or laugh or trade whispers behind their hands. Vi wishes she could help more. She wants to defend Caitlyn in the hallway, punch anyone who dares to draw enjoyment from her pain.
She doesn’t know if the polish will help, but maybe it will give Caitlyn pause when the impulse hits.
“Do you paint Powder’s nails?”
Vi doesn’t look up, focusing on not letting the polish drip over Caitlyn’s desk or class work as she paints.
The memory of the days when Powder was too young to paint her nails without getting polish everywhere makes her smile. “Not anymore, but when she was younger… Mylo would give her shit for it so I painted mine and showed him I could still kick his ass.”
“Of course you did.” Caitlyn’s soft smile falters as her gaze drops to their hands and Vi’s bruised fingers. Vi braces herself. “Speaking of fighting, who was it this time?”
“No one whose name was worth learning.”
“Another student?”
Vi exhales sharply. In the undercity, fighting keeps you alive. In Piltover, everything is different. She’s still getting used to people being upset if she gets into a fight. “He was picking on freshmen.”
Caitlyn is quiet for a moment before she says, “Violence can’t be the only answer.”
“Should I have told a professor? Not like they care,” Vi scoffs.
“You could get in trouble—”
“It wasn’t on Academy property.”
Vi lightly blows on the nails of Caitlyn’s left hand, painted a rich violet. There’s polish smudged on the skin around the nails, but she’d managed to stay mostly within the lines.
She risks a glance at Caitlyn’s face as she reaches for her right hand. Caitlyn is frowning, but she looks more worried than angry.
“Cupcake—”
“You have such a good heart. I love how much you want to protect everyone,” Caitlyn says, curling in on herself to rest her forehead against Vi’s leg. “But you can’t get expelled. I couldn’t stand it here without you.”
“Even if they expelled me, I’d still be sneaking through your window every night. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”
Caitlyn lifts her head to glare. “I’d still prefer you use the door.”
“We’ll compromise, then. When you come and visit me in the undercity, you can use the front door.”
The only other way into the windowless basement under The Last Drop is through the roof. It’s useful for when Vi sneaks out after curfew, but she’s pretty sure Caitlyn would prefer the main entrance.
Caitlyn’s glare falls away, and when she speaks, her voice is soft. “When you tell your family about us.”
“Yeah,” Vi shifts to rest her leg more firmly against Caitlyn’s. The move dislodges a glob of polish from the brush and it falls to splat on the paper towel on Vi’s lap. “After graduation.”
“After graduation,” Caitlyn repeats with a shy smile.
They’ve exchanged the words so many times, they’re practically an oath by now. After graduation, Caitlyn will join the enforcers, Vi will find an engineering job, and they can finally stop hiding. They’ll be free of the petty bullies that would love to stare or mock them in the hallway, and Caitlyn’s parents won’t be able to forbid her from dating someone ‘below her station’.
“Powder will love you,” Vi says as she paints Caitlyn’s pinky nail. She hopes that by then, Powder will have adjusted to Vi attending the Academy, to soften the blow of bringing a topsider girlfriend home.
“Will she?”
“After she gets over the whole Piltie, Councilor’s daughter, enforcer thing.”
And that—that’s what Vi is most worried about. She and Caitlyn don’t make sense, and she’s worried everyone will see it when they go public. What if they notice how ill-suited Vi is for Caitlyn? They're complete opposites, topside and bottom, oil and water.
“Vi?” Caitlyn asks, tone gentle, nudging Vi back to the moment.
“All done,” Vi announces, shaking off the dismal thoughts and twisting the nail polish brush back onto the bottle.
She and Cait may be from entirely different worlds, but Caitlyn had been the only one to show Vi true kindness when she started at the Academy, and the closer they grew, the more Vi liked her. Now, she can’t imagine her life without Caitlyn.
She uses her thumb nail to scrape a bit of polish from the skin of Caitlyn’s forefinger. There are a few purple stains on her hands that she’ll have to scrub clean later, but it’s more than worth it to see Caitlyn’s nails painted in the polish she’d bought her.
Caitlyn lifts her hands to study her nails, her lips forming a smile so earnest it makes Vi want to melt. “I love them. Thank you, Violet.”
The sweetness is more than Vi can bear. She slides off the desk, planting herself in Caitlyn’s lap, amused when Caitlyn’s eyes widen.
“Any time, cupcake,” Vi murmurs before she leans down to kiss Caitlyn until her nails dry.