Lunar Revelations

by Adeline_Fae

Summary:

Sett has been hired as a lion dancer for the Valoran City parade, but his dance partner abandons him. Desperate, he scours the city in hopes of finding new one and instead encounters someone special.

Aphelios is a member of the legendary Ox Squad, a team in charge of protecting Valoran City from the titular Lunar Beast. As he goes about his usual routine as Valoran City's protector, he has a chance encounter with an interesting civilian.

(Lunar Beast Aphelios x Firecracker Sett)

Chapter 1

Notes:

Hello! This is a story that I've been working on for a while now but haven't been able to finish yet. I wanted to have it all done before I posted the chapters, but I decided to release at least one chapter due to it being the start of 2024. I have an outline of where I want the story to go and a few chapters done, but still nowhere near close to being finished so I apologize if this story takes a long time to be completed. I may upload a few chapters here and there so as to make the wait not as excruciating.

I have gone through extensive research regarding the topic of the Lunar New year, lion dances, and the lore involving the League of Legends skins themselves. However, I do not celebrate the Lunar New Year. If there is any information I get wrong regarding any traditions that are mentioned in this story, please feel free to correct me in the comments and I will try to adjust anything as necessary. Thank you very much for reading!

(Also, in the lore for the Lunar Beasts, it is stated that the Lunar Beast Squad changes members every year. However, I will be foregoing that one lore tidbit for the sake of this story. Thank you for understanding.)

The Navori Train Station was bustling as commuters came and went. The late morning train headed for Valoran City departs for its daily trek, a hum as the wheels begin trudging along the tracks. The sunlight from outside provides a pleasant glow to the wooden tables and jade, leather seats inside the train cars, landscapes of mountainsides and greenery passing by the windows.

Sett decides to get comfortable and puts his feet up on the table of the booth he’s sitting in, arms behind his head as he closes his eyes. His peace is immediately halted by a light slap to his head.

“Settrigh! Where are your manners?” his mother asks him, clearly not impressed by Sett’s nonchalance.

“Ow. Ma,” Sett brings a hand to his head, rubbing the place his mother slapped him. “It’s fine. We’re gonna be sittin’ here for at least three hours, so we might as well get comfortable, right?”

“Getting comfortable does not mean you put your shoes on the table,” Momma says in turn. Sett, not wanting to upset his mother any further, decides to sit upright on his seat, looking out the window and watching the scenery pass by.

Sett was recently hired by the legendary Ox Squad to perform for this year’s Lunar New Year parade in Valoran City. He was starting to get recognition for his lion dances, having performed at various competitions throughout the country. This was one of the biggest breaks of his career, and Sett was confident he would give them a great performance.

Well, it also didn’t hurt that he had a connection to make it happen. Sett was good friends with Xin Zhao, a man that he had met during an unexpected falling gondola accident, alongside Teemo, Tristana, and Diana. Xin Zhao had recommended to his nephew, Jarvan, that Sett become the leading lion dancer for the parade. Sett was extremely grateful for the opportunity, so he was excited to perform his heart out and impress the Ox Squad.

“Ah, the mountains are so beautiful,” Sett’s mother remarks as she has also taken to watching the view outside. “Although, I don’t think we’ll be able to see them in Valoran City. I’ve heard the city is full of tall buildings that reach the sky…”

Surprisingly, Sett had never visited the city before in his travels to various lion dance competitions. He had heard that it was big and overwhelming, but he had visited his fair share of big cities, so he felt confident in finding his way around. However, his mother was used to their small town back in Navori, having not travelled much in her lifetime. In fact, when Sett was just starting out and had to travel abroad for his performances, she could only support him from afar, sitting in her living room with her old television set.

Now he gets a nice sum of money pouring thanks to his stellar performances in the lion dance competitions, as well as any Lunar Revel party planners that know about his skills to hire him for their celebrations.

That, and his fair share of underground brawls provide a nice profit, but his mother doesn’t need to know that.

Sett, seeing his mother a little distressed at leaving their small hometown, tries to comfort her. “Don’t worry, Ma. The big city will probably look intimidatin’ at first, but you get used to it after a while. ‘Sides, I’ll be with you. I’m already familiar in navigating these types of places.”

Momma smiles at her son’s words. “Ah, you’re right Settrigh. Sorry, I’m just a little uneasy.” she says as she turns to look at Sett. “Maybe changing the subject will help. How is your dance partner? Has he already arrived?”

Sett lets out a frustrated sigh at her questions. “No, Prahn hasn’t responded to any of my messages. I tried calling him earlier before the train left, and still nothin’. Don’t know if the reception is just bad, or he’s purposely ignorin’ me.”

Sett doesn’t like being ignored and Prahn knows this. The half-vastayan is known for being the star of the show, the Boss. He’s in charge of their story, planning out the routine carefully to get the best performance he can possibly give. His dance partners usually don’t like to relinquish total control to him, but they can either stop whining and help him win or quit and accomplish nothing with their lives.

“Try calling him again, dear. Some time has passed since we were seated, so perhaps he is able to speak to you now,” Momma states as she encourages him with a gesture of her hand to get his phone out and get in touch with Prahn.

“Alright Ma, I’ll try again,” Sett says and pulls out his phone to do just that. He finds Prahn’s contact number, presses the call button, and waits.

After about a few rings, he finally hears someone pick up from the other side. “Sett? What’s up?” Prahn says, as if nothing has happened and Sett hasn’t been trying to get in touch with him all day.

“Yeah, Prahn, where’ve you been? I’ve tried calling you like fifty times already. Have you already arrived at the hotel?” Sett asks with annoyance in his voice, barely managing to keep himself from swearing in front of his mother.

“Yeah… about that,” Prahn starts and immediately Sett prepares for the worst, “I wrote you an email, telling you that I won’t be able to make it to Valoran City for this year’s celebration. But ‘ey, you’ll be fine right, boss?”

“Are you serious?!” Sett shouts angrily, and after seeing his mother a little startled, decides to stand up and go to go inside the small bathroom compartment located at the end of the passenger train car, locking the door behind him. “This is a new low from you man. Why didn’t you tell me this sooner!? New Year’s is in about a month from now!”

“Wow, what a bummer…” Prahn says in fake sympathy. It was clear that this was done deliberately, setting Sett up for disaster and making himself look unprofessional in front of the Lunar Beast Squad.

“So that’s it then?” Sett says after hearing of his dance partner’s betrayal. “Instead of havin’ the opportunity to perform in one of the biggest events in the world, in one of the biggest cities in the world, you would rather screw me over?”

“Yep.” Prahn states with finality. “Maybe if you had let me run the show for once, instead of tryin’ to be ‘the Boss’ all the time, then this wouldn’t’ve happened.”

Sett can’t believe the audacity of what he’s hearing. “You know, this’ll look bad on you too. You backin’ off from an event this big, this close to the performance date?”

“I’d rather risk my career than work with someone with as big of an ego as yourself.” Prahn states coldly. “Besides, you’re already known for changin’ dance partners constantly, so I’m thinking I can hold that against you.”

It wasn’t Sett’s fault that he hadn’t found the right person yet. Most of the people he works with just don’t see his vision for things and would constantly criticize his decisions. When he wants the dance to play out a certain way, it was hard to sway him otherwise. He’s the one putting in the effort to create competition winning performances, so his partner’s might as well just let him take the lead and shut their traps.

“If that’s all, then I’ll be hanging up now. Good luck finding a dance partner willin’ to work with you within a month. Goodbye and good riddance, Sett.”

Prahn hangs up the phone, effectively ending any chance of professional reconciliation. Sett is so offended, angry at Prahn and all his previous partners that have abandoned him throughout the years, that he feels his vastayan magic flaring up. His arms light up with a yellow glow, magical claws forming into fists as the urge to punch something increases.

But then he remembers his mother sitting in her seat, waiting patiently for her son to finish his phone call and to tell her what happened. He breathes slowly, in and out, trying to calm down so that he doesn’t cause any property damage (he has enough money to pay for the damages, but right now he doesn’t want any more problems, and he doesn’t want to disappoint his mother).

After he’s managed to successfully calm down enough to talk to his mother, he steps outside the bathroom stall, and walks towards the booth where his mother is sitting, scooching into his seat.

His face must have shown loud and clear what he was feeling, as his mother immediately frowns in sympathy. “I assume there’s been a problem?”

“Yeah…” Sett sighs, squaring his shoulders and putting on a brave face for his next words. “My partner’s flight was… cancelled ‘cause of a storm. He wasn’t responding earlier ‘cause he was tryin’ to find solutions, like looking at other flight schedules n’ stuff. He’s gonna be a few days late, which s’ gonna delay our practice sessions.”

“Oh dear…” Sett’s mother responds, “Well, at least he was able to find another flight, yes?” Sett gives her a nod at that. “Then do not worry too much. Once he gets here it will all be alright.”

Momma gets up and sits next to her son, placing a hand on his back and rubbing it back and forth to help sooth her son’s temper. It seems that Sett’s mom has gone into full overprotective mom mode, forgetting her previous travel anxieties for the sake of her son. As soon as she senses Sett is troubled by something, she does everything in her power to help him, or to make him feel better.

Sett, however, is furious with rage over this whole situation. He’s going to have to scour the entirety of Valoran City for a replacement, and with his limited timeframe that sounds impossible. However, he’s not going to let his mother stress over this, preferring to keep his problem a secret so that at least she can enjoy the city life as well as the festivities of the New Year’s in peace.

He hopes that he finds a replacement soon, wanting to have a good lasting impression towards the Ox Squad. It might be his only chance to save his reputation.

 

---

 

The Ox Squad was a renowned group of elite fighters, protectors of Valoran City against any threats that might befall it. They are in charge of organizing the Lunar Parade every Lunar Revel, which includes not only the festivities, performances, and food stalls, but also protection from the Lunar Beast that comes to the mortal realm every year during this time. They are the protectors of all the citizens that live in the biggest city in the world, and although generations of different squads have come and gone, their purpose never changes.

With a description as empowering as that, you would think that Valoran City’s protectors would be serious, but selfless people, role models for people of any age to aspire to.

However, with how chaotic his morning has been, Aphelios wasn’t so sure about that.

To be fair, it started off normally. Everyone woke up at their own pace from their rooms in the Lunar Beast Squad headquarters. Their home base was an upturned pagoda styled building located in the heart of the city. An outside courtyard area is built on the higher floors, not only housing the Bull God’s shrine where their golden gemstone is placed to start the New Year, but also where they usually have their celebration dinner once they finish their guardian duties. In addition, it’s also a nice starting platform for the Ox Squad members to launch from when they start their patrol routes through the city.

When it came to the morning routine, everyone had their own pace for getting dressed for the day and eating their own breakfasts. Aphelios was seated at the breakfast table near their open kitchen, waiting for Alune to get ready so that they can head out to their university classes. As he was browsing his phone, however, he started to hear more noise coming from his fellow squad members as they went about their routines.

It seems that his squad members woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. Jarvan was causing noise pollution through his various cellphone calls at various intervals, walking back and forth from the hallway leading to the bedrooms to their large living room. It was all in service for preparing the Lunar New Year’s Parade happening this month. Looking stressed beyond all belief with baggy eyes and a nervous smile as he talks on the phone, he continues talking to various philanthropist groups who want to donate to the event, event planners, and occasionally his own father who calls from time to time to remind his son of his existence.

Alistar and Darius are seated opposite each other in their circular couch, the giant television playing the news long forgotten since they got into an argument about how they should organize their patrol times. This wasn’t the first time Aphelios has seen those two butt heads. It seems Alistar was more traditional and wanted to keep things as they’ve always been, which was assigning each squad member a sector of the city to watch over. Darius, meanwhile, wants to try a different patrol method, which involves pairing people up so that everyone has someone to back them up. Their argument in their expansive living room could be heard all the way in the kitchen where Aphelios was currently finishing his breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, Fiora was in a rush trying to eat her own as quickly as possible, running late for a community service event she had to attend, which involved cleaning up the streets for the upcoming parade. She has always been a perfectionist when it comes to the Lunar Revel celebrations, and this year’s was no exception. Despite the celebrations being a month away, she wanted to get a head start.

“Those idiots better not make you and your sister late for your classes, Aphelios,” Fiora says to him with her accented voice. “Their arguing can be heard from the streets below. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if the entire city could hear them.”

Aphelios wants to tell her that his college professors have been pretty understanding of his situation, given that they know who he is thanks to his celebrity status as an Ox Squad member. However, seeing as he doesn’t want to prolong her any further given that she’s in a rush, he just nods his head, and begins to sign:

“Don't worry, I can always take the bus on the way to campus and make it to my usual patrol spot. I know that this is the busiest time of the year.”

Fiora gives him a smile at that. “Thank goodness we have someone competent on this team,” she says, which makes him wonder how the squad acted before he and his twin sister joined.

A quick look at the clock and she’s rushing once more, eating all the congee left in her bowl. “Alas, I must be off. And since I do not trust those imbeciles, I want you to walk Annie to her school today. I trust you can do that?” Before he can respond, she gives him a quick goodbye hug and rushes out the door.

Aphelios wasn’t thrilled about the extra responsibility at the last minute. It’s not that he doesn’t enjoy spending time with Annie. In fact, he and the young fire mage get along quite well given they were the youngest alongside Alune in their squad, However, sometimes Annie tends to get cranky in the morning, and with all the shouting coming from both the hallway and the living room, Aphelios was already starting to get a headache.

It seemed that not even Annie was immune to the chaos of today’s morning as she strolls into the kitchen, a frown on her face with Tibbers fully transformed behind her.

“Annie? What’s going on?” Aphelios signs towards the girl. Annie was just starting out learning sign language, and luckily has picked up enough to be able to understand simple sentences. Aphelios has always been impressed by how clever she is for her age, given that she is the team’s tech operative. However, it’s times like these where he’s also reminded of how young she is as well.

“No school!” She shouts at him. She makes a show of crossing her arms, which Tibbers then copies. “I don’t wanna go! It’s boring and everyone annoys me!”

Aphelios sighs as he realizes he is now the recipient of Annie’s occasional morning school strikes. Usually, Fiora and Jarvan would take the brunt of this, as they usually soothe her within seconds. Sometimes if she was feeling daring, she would do this routine with Darius, who would give her a deadpan stare until she got scared and gave up, or Alistar, who would give her such a severe “I’m not mad, just disappointed” look, that Annie would feel incredibly guilty and quit immediately.

“Annie, if I have to go to school, so do you,” he signed to her. Granted, his schoolwork was based on a field he actually enjoyed studying, but that’s beside the point.

Annie’s face turns angry and, in all her maturity, orders Tibbers to capture Aphelios, crushing him in his arms. Aphelios is a little taken aback from the surprise attack and wasn’t mentally prepared to be in range of a literal bear hug first thing in the morning, so his reflexes were a little sloppy and he wasn’t able to dodge in time.

“Ha! Now both of us won’t go to school!” Annie states and smiles to herself at her ingenious plan.

“Ugh, what’s with all the damn noise?” At that moment, Aphelios hears Sarah come in through the hallway leading towards the members’ bedrooms. She takes a second to look at the commotion happening throughout the headquarters.

Jarvan seems to have finally hung up on his father, only to immediately start off another conversation with what Aphelios hears is someone wanting to donate to the parade, with promises of company sponsorships. Darius and Alistar have started arguing about something completely different now, which was changing their squad team’s colors on their outfits (at this point Aphelios assumes they just want something to argue about with how ridiculous that subject change is). Then there’s Aphelios, trapped in the arms of a giant bear controlled by a hyperactive little girl.

“Yeah, no. I’m not dealing with this. I’m gonna go patrol and see if there’s any trouble I can find. Good luck with all that, kid,” Sarah states before roller skating to the front entrance, effectively leaving Aphelios to his doom.

He doesn’t really hold it against her. Sarah has been pretty upfront that she only joined the squad for fame and fortune. Sometimes though, Aphelios and her share some moments where Sarah teases the seriousness of his teammates, whispering a few jokes to him here and there. He has some hope that she has at least warmed up to him, despite how standoffish she can seem at times.

“No school!” Annie shouts once again, an evil smile on her face as she realizes nobody can stop her this time. Aphelios should probably start his escape plan before the girl gets any other bright ideas.

Finally, the person he has been waiting for enters the kitchen, bearing witness to the events of the morning.

“Annie,” Alune starts. “Please order Tibbers to release my brother, you’re starting to suffocate him.”

Annie hesitates for a bit, until Alune gives her another stern look, and she finally does a hand movement towards Tibbers. The bear releases Aphelios, and he lets out a relieved sigh.

“Sorry, Lunie…” said Annie, a downtrodden look on her face as she starts to regret her actions.

“It is alright, Annie.” replied Alune, a gentle smile on her face as she crouches towards the little girl. “But you still have to go to school. I know it is hard, but luckily today is Friday and tomorrow you will not have to go. Can you hold out for just a little longer?”

Annie thinks it over but eventually nods, a small frown still present on her face. The young fire mage usually listened to Alune, since she was usually very sweet and softspoken towards her. She recalls Tibbers and he magically transforms back into his teddy bear form.

“Fiora said that we have to walk her to school before we go to our bus stop.” Aphelios signs towards his sister after she stands up and looks toward him.

“Ah, looks like you will be walking with us today!” Alune exclaims as she takes one of Annie’s hands. “Come, you can talk to me about the latest updates you have done to your software. You always cheer up at that.”

“I guess…”

Aphelios shoots Alune a sympathetic but grateful look, which she immediately reciprocates with a weary smile. As they are about to leave, they hear Jarvan’s voice ring out from the kitchen.

“Ah, goodbye kids! Have fun at school! Ah yes, I’m still here, Mr. Buvelle…” The man says, apparently having an open window from his phone call to notice his surroundings only to immediately reassure the caller on the other line.

That causes Alistar and Darius to pause their own argument to finally acknowledge the young members about to depart for their destinations.

“Goodbye young Aphelios, Annie, and Alune. Don’t cause any trouble out there.” said Alistar with his usual gruffness.

“Yeah, hopefully you won’t have to deal with anyone irritating.” Darius said, clearly directing that last word at the minotaur next to him, which then causes another argument between them.

Aphelios lets out a sigh at that. After they all wave goodbye, they leave from the headquarters towards the sidewalk heading towards Annie’s elementary school.

Aphelios hopes that the rest of the day isn’t as crazy as this morning was, for his own sanity.

Notes:

This is just the introduction for now, but thank you for reading this far! I hope to get more done but we'll see how it goes.

I will be putting links to all the information on League Lunar Revel related lore in case anyone wants to see them (also if there is an easier way to edit links in notes let me know, thank you):

Edit: Hey I managed to fix the links! And I added some photos from the cinematics to go along with this first chapter.

• Lunar Beast Wiki

• Save the Celebration | Lunar Beast 2021 Cinematic

• Lunar Revel Firecracker Wiki

• Almost Home | Lunar Revel 2022 Cinematic

• Voice - Lunar Beast Miss Fortune

• Prahn is a character from Sett's short story that Sett ultimately defeats.

Chapter 2

Summary:

In which Sett decides to get some fresh air, only to be stopped in his tracks.

Notes:

Ok so this is my first multi-chapter fic so I'm not sure what to write here, other than I hope you like it. Will probably do some editing afterwards. Also I will put links to more Lunar Revel lore at the end notes.

Edit: I decided to change the rating to T for swearing and violence just in case.

The train arrived at the Valoran City train station late in the afternoon, the rays of sunlight now dulled into a soft sunset glow. The skyscrapers tower over the entire city, with modern looking buildings mixed in with traditionally styled architecture. The train station itself was modern compared to Navori’s; although on the outside it appeared old, the inside had sleek-looking walls and lit up signs for travelers to find their way in, as well as advertisements placed almost everywhere.

Sett could see his mother gawking out of the corner of his eye, looking outside the windows and seeing the vast difference in scenery. She stays in that state of awe as they make their way through the train station to the city streets, walking towards their hotel which is luckily close by. It was endearing to see his mother be starstruck at the sights she was seeing, pointing at various buildings or interesting signs along the way.

They made it to their hotel, the trip and room paid for by the Ox Squad. The Cloudfield Hotel was one of the more luxurious hotels in the city, with a grand entrance that leads to the check-in tables, intricate flower designs painted over the columns, carpets, and ceilings, and the staff elegantly dressed to serve its customers. The hotel also contained a 3-star restaurant, a lavish spa, and a public pool with a hot tub.

His mother was certainly impressed, if her wide mouth stare was anything to go by. Once they checked-in and received their key cards, Sett led her to the elevator, also intricately designed as the foyer. As they made their way to the higher floors, they entered their room, a wide space with two queen sized beds, an extravagant bathroom, and a balcony looking over the city skyline, the start of twilight giving the cityscape a faint pink glow.

“Oh Settrigh, this is beautiful.” She gives her son a soft smile as she makes her way towards the balcony. Sett follows behind her after he places all their suitcases on the floor. “This is so different from our home in Navori.”

Sett had started to accumulate a lot of wealth throughout the years due to both lion dances and underground fights, so he has started to get used to ostentatious places like this. “Yeah, I’m still surprised they let us stay in these nice rooms,” he replies, hair and ears flowing from the soft breeze outside. “Not t’ mention my buddies who’re also gonna work on the parade.”

Xin Zhao, alongside suggesting Sett to be the main lion dancer for the parade, also kindly pushed for the rest of his friends to participate as well. Tristana was an expert when it comes to fireworks, so she enthusiastically wanted to be part of the team in charge of setting up a nice show for New Year’s Day. Teemo’s dumplings are some of the tastiest meals he’s ever had, so it was a no brainer that he would be manning one of the various food stands sponsored by the Lunar Beasts.

Diana, however, was hesitant to join, wanting to keep her status as the Lady of the Moon a secret. She revealed herself as someone who is blessed with the power of the moon, only as a last resort as the group was hurdling toward their demise. As close as the group of friends have gotten ever since that day, Diana was always more mysterious. Sett chalk’s that up to her being more introverted, perhaps.

In any case, Diana would be coming of her own accord when New Year’s Eve approaches. What she has revealed to the group is that she travels during this time of the year with her girlfriend to various locations. She has planned for Valoran City to be their final stop, so that they can all reconvene together once more.

“I would love to see them again as soon as they get there.” Sett’s mother sits down on one of the balcony chairs, a face of pure relaxation as she closes her eyes as the wind whips through her long dark hair. “Ah this is nice. I must admit, I would love to explore what the hotel has to offer, but I am a little exhausted from the walk and the train ride. I think I will rest here for a little while. Would that be alright with you, Settrigh?”

Actually, that sounds perfectly fine for him. “Yeah, don’t worry ‘bout me Ma. I can go look around the hotel or take a walk outside while you relax here. Also, you don’t have to worry about food, the Ox Squad paid for our room service too.”

As much as he hates to admit it, he needs to be away from his mother for a little while, not only to try and find another dance partner in secret, but also because his anger from the day’s earlier events is still there. He doesn’t think he can fully enjoy anything right now with his temper like this, so he prefers that his mom at least can have a nice time by herself.

“Wonderful! I will stay here then, alright? Don’t stay out too late.” She gives her son a smile and a wave as she goes back to relaxing outside by the balcony. Sett reciprocates the wave and, after getting his own keycard and placing it in his pocket, leaves the hotel room to head to the city streets below.

 

---

 

It was now starting to be late in the evening. The bright lights shine from various signs etched onto the buildings, advertising restaurants, department stores, or even karaoke bars. Red lanterns have been hung in preparation for the celebrations, and the night life is alive and well as many city goers are either partying, shopping, or drinking.

Sett wasn’t interested in any of that at the moment, given that his temperament had not improved since he stepped out from his hotel room. All because one asshole decided to ruin his entire plans, now his professional career would be compromised. He thought his mood would improve after taking a nightly stroll, but the more he walks around the decorated streets the more he’s reminded of his predicament. He feels his anger building up, his vastayan magic dancing on his fingertips, and feels the urge to punch something to let it all out.

I’ve gotta get a hold on myself, Sett thinks to himself as he enters a secluded alleyway away from the crowds. He tries taking a few deep breaths, closing his eyes to focus on calming himself. Even if walking through the city streets doesn’t help his mood, he at least wants to be calm enough to face his mother once more.

As he is doing this, however, he is unaware of a shadowy presence entering from the darkness of the alleyway. As Sett finally gets himself together, he manages to dodge an incoming clawed hand reaching for his heart.

“What the hell was that?!” Sett can’t help but exclaim as he tries to see who attacked him from the shadows of the barely lit alleyway.

The figure approaches him again, stepping more into the light. Purple skin, swirling tattoos, pointed ears, and ancient robes on a lanky male frame.

A lunar wraith, Sett thinks as he dodges another attack from a clawed hand. He’s heard about these creatures before. They start to appear during Lunar Revel celebrations, feeding off the emotions of mortals. It depends on every wraith, but if Sett had to guess, this one in particular was attracted to his presence because of his—

“Mortal…” the wraith says, interrupting his thoughts. “Let me feast on your anger… Your hunger for violence… It will be a filling meal.”

Yeah, that confirms it.

Most people would be afraid to be cornered by one of these hell demons, especially in a dark alleyway with no witnesses around. However, Sett thinks this is the perfect channel to let out some steam. With a determined grin on his face, he squares up his arms, arms flowing with vastayan magic bursting to be let out.

“Well then, if you think you can beat the Boss, go right ahead. Take your best shot.” Sett taunts, hoping the wraith takes the bait.

 

---

 

Aphelios has had busier day than normal. After the chaos of this morning, he and his twin dropped off Annie at her school, much to the younger girl’s dismay. After a prolonged goodbye, the twins set off for their own classes at Valoran City University. Both of them attend the Buvelle College of Music, with Aphelios specializing in songwriting, and Alune in singing. Although they shared their music theory class in the morning, their afternoon schedule’s differed, so they usually part ways after their afternoon lunch.

Alune usually heads back to headquarters earlier, not only because her class starts sooner, but because she needs to be in her room, prepared to project a hologram of herself to give Aphelios his weapons. The twins were assigned to patrol the city after their classes ended for today, so Alune needs to be ready for whenever Aphelios starts his route.

And that’s where Aphelios finds himself now, on the rooftop of a tall department store building in the western part of the city, ready to strike whenever possible. If he’s being honest though, he’s mostly bored out of his mind. Alune has sent his homework through their connection (even though it’s only supposed to be used to send his weapons, sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good of his GPA) and he has finished most of his assigned schoolwork. Alune was then kind enough to send him his keyboard for them to go over a song he had written for her to sing.

But after a while he had practiced enough and was rather bored. As their leader, Alistar was in charge of assigning patrols for each member of the squad. Throughout the year, they are given more flexible schedules since there isn’t much trouble that arises. But as the Lunar New Year celebrations approach, their patrol times increase. New Year’s Eve, as well as the following fifteen days of holiday celebrations that come afterwards, are the busiest times.

He is aware that it becomes more dangerous as they slowly approach the day. Lunar wraiths emerge from the hellish realm to feast on unsuspecting mortals, the streets become busier with everyone celebrating in the parade, and the titular Lunar Beast may awaken early to spread chaos. He knows how important his patrol assignment is, but that doesn’t make it any less boring to sit on a rooftop looking at the same streets below for hours on end.

“Do not worry, brother,” Alune states through their comms. “You are allowed to come back home in about thirty minutes. Just hold out for a little longer.”

At least I don’t have to suffer alone, Aphelios thinks. Alune might be safe in their base and is able to distract herself with her homework or her phone, but she still had to be as vigilant as Aphelios just in case he needs his weapons at a moment’s notice. Alune projects a holographic version of herself to scout the area with Aphelios, so although she sees what Aphelios sees, what she observes must also bore her too. Sometimes when their patrol is extra boring, and they have finished their homework for the day, they try playing card or board games together through the holographic veil to pass the time.

Aphelios is about to send her a text message to do just that when he feels the presence of a demon somewhere nearby. A lunar wraith. He stands up, looking through his place on the rooftop to see if he can spot any activity coming from the streets below.

“Aphelios, I suggest heading northwest. That is where I felt it’s presence the most.” Her holographic hand points toward the direction she wants Aphelios to go. “We must hurry and dispose of it. Hopefully nobody has been injured.”

Aphelios nods in agreement and starts to leap off the rooftops, his sights on the streets below checking for suspicious activity. He sees people point and wave as he passes by, his glowing horns a dead giveaway of who he was, but he ignores them, still trying to notice anything suspicious. He decides to try for a less populated area, away from the busier parts of this district. After a bit of searching, he finally notices sparks of yellow and purple magic coming from an alleyway.

“There!” Alune exclaims as she too notices the fight. “Get ready, brother.”

Aphelios lets out a grunt in agreement, and leaps off one last rooftop, landing in the middle of the alleyway to the surprise of two individuals.

 

---

 

Sett was having the time of his life, or at least, he was.

Letting out some steam on the lunar wraith was great at first. He could release all his anger from today’s events on this random demon, and this stress relief method was working at first. Even though he wasn’t fighting in front of a crowd, he felt more like himself in the fight, able to let out as many Haymakers and Facebreakers he could without repercussion.

However, this fight was going on for a little too long. Sett loved a good fight as much as the next guy, but he already let out all his stress out, and he was just starting to become annoyed.

The wraith itself showed no signs of stopping though. Even though the creature had various severe bruises from Sett littered throughout his body, it was still determined to feed off of him. Sett himself was growing a bit weary, and was starting to think that if he doesn’t defeat this guy soon, he might actually become his dinner for the night.

“Your anger may have dissipated… but I still feel it under the surface… Why don’t you show it to me...?” the creature speaks in an attempt to rile him up again.

Alright, I think it’s time to end this, Sett thinks as he was prepared to give this creature all he’s got with one last Show Stopper. As they stand on opposite ends of the alleyway, Sett decides to approach the creature and close the distance but is immediately stopped in his tracks by a third person entering their fight. With graceful movements, a stranger appears from above, perfectly landing between the demon and half-vastayan man.

“What the—” Sett starts but stops once he gets a better look at the person who interrupted the fight.

The stranger had short blue hair, with a tattoo that ran across his eyes and forehead. He wears stylish street clothes that consist of fingerless gloves, cargo pants, and a nice jacket on top of his red shirt. If his scarf wasn’t the most eye-catching thing about him, then the glowing horns coming from the sides of his head were, a clear sign of his role as a member of the famous Lunar Beast Ox Squad. As he locks eyes with the man’s purple eyes, he gives him a short bow, and turns to look at their opponent behind him.

And all Sett’s brain can think of in that moment is: Wow… are all the Lunar Beast members this beautiful?

“Another meal...?” the wraith exclaims after seeing the horned man’s unexpected entrance. “You may lack anger… but I sense your anxieties underneath…”

Sett must be a bit too distracted by the handsome man, since he failed to notice a floating holographic projection of a woman following right behind him. The woman’s features were harder to make out due to the hologram encompassing her in an orange light, but Sett notices that she sports a similar pair of horns on her head, and tattoos on her face.

He observes how the woman whispers something to the man, and in that instant the wraith launches himself from the wall to attack. With a wave of her hand, she summons a weapon that appears to be a small red scythe, landing it in the palm of the man’s hand. He uses that same weapon to attack his opponent in a swift strike, cutting his arm off.

The wraith screams in agony as he takes hold of what’s left of his arm. In that moment. The holographic woman summons another weapon, this time a chakram. As the Lunar Beast Squad member lets out a fury of swipes from his scythe, the demon trying its best to deflect the attacks, smaller chakrams start to form a circle around him. He then switches to his chakram, and starts getting closer and closer, the speed of the boomerang weapon and mini chakrams increasing as he closes the distance, until the wraith can no longer deflect such fast-moving objects. With one clean swipe from his boomerang, the warrior cuts the wraith’s head clean off, and its body slowly dissolves into ash on the floor.

Sett can only stare in awe at what he just witnessed in front of him. Despite being hired by the Lunar Beasts, he wasn’t expecting to witness them in action. Now he is made aware of why these guys are no joke, and why they are assigned to defend the city from any potential dangers.

Not to mention how wonderful this member in particular was. Beauty and brawn all in one.

“Wow, you were amazing out there,” Sett finally speaks after staring for a bit too long. The man turns around at that and gives him a curious stare. The lady’s projection observes him as well, noticing his slightly roughed-up appearance as the two begin to approach him.

“Are you alright?” The lady’s voice, scratchy from the projection, breaks through the silence. “My brother and I came as soon as we felt the presence of a lunar wraith nearby, but it seems you were injured fighting that monster.”

“Oh this? This is nothin’.” And he means it. He’s had worse fights growing up, looking for trouble back in his hometown.

“Still, I recommend you get seen by a hospital, or a healer,” says the woman, and begins to talk about various locations he could go to get fixed right up. He can’t help but tune her out as he stares at the man in front of him. He’s even more gorgeous up close, his eyes looking at him from beneath his blue bangs. Sett appreciates anyone who can hold their own in a fight and someone as pretty as this had such a graceful fighting style. He hasn’t spoken at all since he arrived though. Maybe he can’t talk?

“With all that being said, seeing as you are feeling alright enough on your own, we will be heading off. Farewell.” Sett tunes back in right on time to hear that as they both turn around to leave, and he absolutely can’t have that.

“Wait!” He shouts a little too loudly, but it gets the job done as the man and woman both turn around to look at him. Quick! Think of something! “Erm… well I would like to thank you for savin’ me. I’d like to buy you dinner as compensation if you’ll let me. Er, I assume I can only do it for uh… your brother was it? Since you’re just a projection and all.”

Not the most eloquent way of asking someone to dinner, but it gets the job done as he sees the man thinking the offer over with his sister. They take a step back and whisper among themselves, and Sett allows them their privacy as he watches from a distance. He notices as she stops whispering opting to communicate with sign language, which the man immediately responds back with. Ah, so he can’t talk after all.

After a while of back-and-forth communication between the two, they finally face him again.

“My brother has agreed to your offer,” the woman starts. “I will not be joining you, though. If anything happens to him, just know I will send the entire Ox Squad to your location to enact vengeance upon you. Have fun!” And with that, the woman leaves them alone in the alleyway, the man letting out a scoff at her words.

Sett assumes the woman was trying for a joking tone, but after seeing what just one member of the squad can do (technically two), he doesn’t want to be on the receiving end of their wrath.

Luckily though, he finally has some alone time with the man in front of him, who’s currently staring at him with a questioning gaze.

“Well, uh, I hope your sister doesn’t bank on that promise, ha!” he tries for a light joking tone, hoping to set the man at ease. It seems to work a little as the silent warrior lets out a small smile, which immediately relaxes Sett a little as well.

“Oh wait! I haven’t introduced myself yet huh?” Sett says after realizing his mistake. “The name’s Settrigh, but you can call me Sett. What’s your name? Uh, I should probably mention that I don’t know sign language all that much.”

The pretty man nods at that and goes to grab his phone from his jacket pocket. He pulls out the notes app and starts typing into it. After he’s done, he shows his screen to Sett, who reads over his words.

Nice to meet you, Sett. My name is Aphelios of the Lunar Beast Ox Squad. My sister’s name is Alune. Thank you for offering to buy me dinner.

“Nice to meet you, Aphelios! Of course, such a pretty name would belong to such a pretty guy.” Sett meant to keep that last part to himself but couldn’t help but try and flirt a little bit to see the man now known as Aphelios’ reactions. If the slightly surprised look and small pink blush on his cheeks was anything to go by, he thinks it might be well received.

“Well then, shall we go eat then? If you know any good restaurants around here don’t hesitate to show me,” Sett states as the two men set off looking for a place to eat. Aphelios lets out a soft smile and starts to lead the way.

Things are finally starting to look up, Sett can’t help but think as he follows Aphelios into the night.

Notes:

They finally meet! How will their dinner (date) go I wonder? Thanks again for reading this far! I will try to update as I can.

Here are some more lore notes:

• Lunar Wraith Lore (From Lunar Revel Wiki)

• Diana and Leona are implied to be together in Firecracker Xin Zhao's Splash art

Chapter 3

Summary:

In which Aphelios and Sett go on their unofficial first date.

Notes:

Haha I'm still working on this story but I'm running out of chapters to upload oof

Aphelios wasn’t known as being someone who went out to parties or social gatherings. In fact, he was mostly an introvert, preferring the company of his sister over anyone else (over the years, he has slowly warmed up to his team members though).

Which is why he was hesitant when Sett offered to buy him dinner as thanks for saving him. It wasn’t like Aphelios was worried that he couldn’t defeat him one on one if he happened to have bad intentions and attack him, but he was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. If Sett could hold his own against a lunar wraith, then his combat abilities were no joke.

It was more that he had never done an outing like this before. The Ox Squad was always in the spotlight when it came to New Year’s or other happenings throughout the city. They were the center of attention for crowds of bystanders as they passed by rooftops, or when they hosted other community events. Aphelios liked to mind his own business and do his duty, then go back to his room for privacy. This doesn’t make him the most popular member, but he has had his fair share of fans approach him for autographs, nonetheless.

He's heard of countless suitors vying for Fiora’s attention, only for them to run with their tails between their legs when she challenges them to duels. Darius has many fans, but he mostly ignores them and declines their date offers. Jarvan also has his fair share of admirers, but many of those people are looking to date him not just for his Lunar Beast status, but also as the son of DEMA’s CEO, which frustrates him as he can’t seem to find a genuine connection with someone.

Alistar seems to be in the same boat as him, mostly trying to avoid the crowds of fans when trying to do his job and keeping to himself. Since Annie is still a young child, the squad protects her from any overwhelming fans that try to get her attention (or any creeps for that matter). Lastly, Sarah might be the one that lives off audience attention the most, and constantly brags how her squad is the best in the world (thanks to her own contributions to it).

Most people don’t seem to know that Alune exists, even though she is a very important member of their group, in Aphelios’ honest opinion. He wonders if Alune would like to have fans of her own if she were to make herself more known.

In any case, Aphelios decided to go forward in accepting the man's offer. He doesn’t get out much and thought that this might be a nice change of pace from his usual routine. He is also secretly flattered that the man was amazed by his fighting prowess.

Alune, however, was hesitant to leave him alone after a lunar wraith made itself known.

“What if there are more?”  Alune had started signing to him when they took a distance away from Sett to talk amongst themselves. “What will you do if I cannot help you in time? What if this man was using the wraith to try and kidnap you to bribe the Squad for money?”

Aphelios thinks Alune might be worrying a bit too much. “If anything happens, I will let you know. We share a connection for a reason. Besides, he seems like a friendly guy.”

And maybe he thought that Sett was eye catching. The fact that his muscular build wasn’t just for show might’ve caught his interest, managing to handle a lunar wraith by himself before they got to him. He didn’t want to tell Alune about his thoughts, because he wasn’t entirely sure what they meant, so he decided to keep that to himself.

In any case, Aphelios found himself walking the streets of Valoran’s City’s busy nightlife, looking for a place to eat with his new companion. Once Aphelios found the restaurant that he liked, he decided to point it out to Sett, who immediately agreed to try it out. He instantly regretted it once he saw the prices listed on the menu and was about to write to Sett that they should try someplace else (being an Ox Squad member came with the benefit of the older adults paying for his meals when they went out on group gatherings).

However, Sett surprises him. “Ah, you worried about me spending too much? That’s sweet, but don’t worry ‘bout it. I’m the one that offered to pay for dinner n’ all.”

Aphelios hesitantly nods and decides to take Sett’s word for it. They make their way inside and are seated in a booth next to the window that shows the outside city lights shining. The restaurant itself was fancy, with ink paintings on the walls and carved wooden screens separating a few of the tables into rooms. A waitress comes in greeting them warmly, handing the pair their menus. She let her gaze linger a little on Aphelios’ horns but left soon after to let them have their privacy.

“You know it’s funny,” Sett starts as he looks up from looking over the menu, “I was hired by your squad to do the lion dance for the parade. I talked with Jarvan over the phone, but the first member I actually got to meet in person was you. Funny how that works.”

Aphelios is surprised to hear all this information at once, but he begins with the one that piques his curiosity the most. He gets out his phone and types into the notes app once more to communicate to Sett: You’ve spoken to Jarvan?

“Just briefly, and it was all mostly business, and kinda like an impromptu interview. He just asked about my experience, and my talent and if I could prepare a routine for the parade on time. All that good stuff.”

After the waitress returns, both men order their food (with Aphelios sneaking in a chocolate filled mooncake for himself as a treat). After she leaves, Sett continues. “We had some back-and-forth calls, emails confirming my job and boom! I’m makin’ my way to Valoran City.”

It must’ve been one of those various phone calls that Jarvan had, the ones Aphelios regularly tunes out when he’s relaxing at headquarters. In any case, he decides to write down his next question: You are a lion dancer? That sounds amazing.

Sett gives him a bright smile at that. “Ha! One of the best in the world. It’s why I came all the way from my humble hometown to perform here.”

After Sett said this though, Aphelios couldn’t help but notice how his face turned worried for a second there, as if something was bothering him. Before he could pry further, the waitress comes in with their food. He decides to leave it alone for now and keep the mood lighthearted while they eat.

The food was delicious, and Aphelios tried to contribute to the conversation by asking Sett questions from his notes app. He learns that Sett is two years older than him, and he gets his black hair and green streak from his mother. He was born and raised in Navori by said mother, who accompanied him to Valoran City to watch him perform.

“Ma’s always been there for me,” Sett says, going through one of his pants pockets to look for something. “She’s the one who encouraged me to try lion dancin’ in the first place. If it wasn’t for her, I dunno what I’d be doing with my life nowadays. Probably look for people to fight back in Navori.”

Sett then pulls out a picture of himself and his mother when they were younger, which Aphelios couldn’t help but find adorable. His mother held the head of the lion costume, smiling at her son who seemed to upset to be there. Despite the faded photo depicting the man in the middle of a childish tantrum, the memory of it must be worth it to carry it around with him. Aphelios smiles softly as he stares at the photo.

“That’s enough from me though. I wanna learn more about you, Beast Boy,” he says, putting the photograph away.  Aphelios can’t help but blush, not used to such a nickname. “Where’re you from? Have you been a Lunar Beast member all your life?”

Aphelios frowns at that, and types in his notes app. My sister and I grew up in an orphanage for most of our lives. On our tenth birthday, our horns appeared on our heads, which we later found out was a blessing from the Bull God. We were then discovered by Alistar, the leader of the Lunar Beast Squad, and have been training as warrior and seer ever since. I do not know who my parents were.

Sett immediately feels guilty for asking what was apparently a very personal question. “Ah, sorry. Didn’t know. You don’t have to tell me anything more if you’re uncomfortable.”

Aphelios decides to take his offer, and nods. He’s already shared a little too much.

As they finish their meals, Sett asks him more questions about himself. He tells him that alongside his Lunar Beast position, he’s studying to become a songwriter in Valoran University, alongside Alune who wants to sing. Sett immediately asks him to play some of his music for him sometime, which gets Aphelios’ cheeks to blush pink.

However, the silent man processes what Sett says, and decides to write him a question in response: Will there be a next time?

“Ah, well…” It looks like it was Sett’s turn to become flustered. “That’s up to you, Aphelios. Personally, I had a great time with you today, and well… I was hoping I could see you again sometime. We could trade numbers and set up a proper time and place later, if you want? I know you’re probably busy with school and beast stuff.”

That doesn’t sound that bad at all. Aphelios was comfortable around Sett, and felt like he had made a new friend, something that he had trouble with in college. He nods his head, goes through his phone to find the contacts list, and sets up a new contact for Sett to put his information in.

Sett’s face immediately lit up at his response, and gives Aphelios his own phone to type is information in. After they exchange phone numbers and Sett pays for their meal, they head outside. It was getting late, and various stores and restaurants were beginning to close, the busyness of the evening diminishing. They decide to walk together until they reach Sett’s hotel and enjoy the cool night air and comfortable silence between them.

“Well, this is it,” Sett says after they reach the entrance of the extravagant looking Cloudfield Hotel. “Don’t be afraid to text me a’ight? I hope to hear from you soon.”

With a wave and a wink directed towards the silent man, Sett leaves towards the hotel’s entrance. Aphelios waves back, and leaves, jumping over increasingly higher rooftops as he makes his way back to headquarters.

He hopes to see Sett soon.

 

---

 

“Settrigh! You’re back! How did your walk… go?” Momma starts only to trail off at the end when she notices her son’s goofy expression.

She can’t help but let out a small chuckle at seeing her son like this. After Sett had left, she had busied herself by unpacking their belongings and ordering dinner for herself. After a little while, she saw that it was getting late, and started to worry where her son could possibly be.

It seems that her fears were unfounded, for he looked like a lovestruck fool, with his eyes closed and a silly smile plastered across his face. She is about to ask him what exactly occurred during his late-night outing, until she notices how exhausted he appeared as he directed his gaze towards her.

“Oh, hey Ma,” he says after noticing her presence. “Uh, sorry I’m a little tired after today. I can explain everything in the morning if that’s okay?”

“Of course, honey,” Sett’s mother replies. She was a little concerned about her son’s roughed up appearance but decides to let the situation go for now so that he can have his rest. She gives him a goodnight kiss on his cheek, and watches as he walks towards his bed, still with a goofy smile on his face.

She can’t wait to hear what her son has to say tomorrow.

Notes:

Thank you for reading!

Some info:

I took the DEMA company from the Soul Fighter event. Since the Lunar Revel universe is more chill they are not a corrupt company in this lmao. Cloudfield is the city name for Demacia's territory in Runeterra lore which I decided to name the hotel after (and where Cithria is from but I'm not sure she'll be mentioned in this fic). They don't specify what Jarvan's company does in Lunar Beast lore does other than philanthropy so in this fic they will own a hotel chain to host their festival guests in.

Also I realized it might seem a bit odd to put Aphelios and Alune in university, but I was just thinking what these characters do other than being Lunar Beasts. There are some that are stated in their bios, like Jarvan with his company, Fiora doing community service, and Alistar's full time job being a leader. For the rest its not stated, so I decided to give them my own headcannons on what they could do. Aphelios and Alune are still young adults so they would be in university. Fun fact: I wrote them being interested in music before HEARTSTEEL came out because of their theme song where Alune sings. I think those two being into music still fits them in this universe imo.

Chapter 4

Notes:

Hey guys, so I've got a lot to say about this chapter. This one was really hard to write, and there was a lot of editing and back on forth moments where I was like "oh, maybe this should go in a later chapter? maybe this should go differently" so this might be a rough read through. Also, the back and forth editing made working on future chapters a nightmare on whether or not I would introduce a topic or idea earlier, so I decided to say screw it and edited this chapter and uploaded it. It's like when artists have to realize when their artwork is done and make any more edits on it, or else you're stuck working on the same thing for more time than you should.

Anyways, thanks again for sticking around and I hope this chapter isn't too bad of a read. This is also my first attempt at writing characters texting, and I'll explain more my thoughts on that at the end notes.

Sett woke up feeling better than he had felt in days.

He can’t help it though. What should’ve been a worst-case scenario of him letting out his anger out on the streets turned into a nice night out with a pretty guy. He feels like he’s on cloud nine, wanting to see Aphelios again immediately.

“Good morning, Settrigh.” Sett was startled from his lovestruck state from his mother’s sudden voice. “Did you sleep well? The beds here are very comfortable.” She sat on her own bed, looking at him suspiciously.

“Yeah, I’m feelin’ great,” Sett says, stretching his arms as he sits up from his own bed.

“That’s good to hear...” He didn’t like the mischievous smile his mother was directing towards him at the moment. “Now, I would love to know what happened to you last night to put you in such a great mood.”

Oh boy.

“Well, uh…” Sett starts, looking off to the side nervously. “I walked around the streets for a bit, y’know taking in the sights and all. After a bit of time, I might’ve… bumped into someone.” He says that last part while looking towards the window with a slight blush on his face, unwilling to look his mother in the eye.

“I knew it!” Her sudden shout startled him once more. “Tell me everything! Who are they? What are they like?”

“Geez Ma, I only just met the guy.” He puts a hand behind his neck, a full-on blush forming on his face. “Listen I might’ve encountered a lunar wraith—don’t worry Ma, I’m fine,” his mother’s frightened look relaxes a little, “and, wouldn’t ya know it, an Ox Squad member was in the area and saved me. We talked for a little while and I invited him to dinner.”

He doesn’t think lying about his encounter will be beneficial. Sett has a sinking feeling that his mom will be wanting to meet his date as soon as possible, just as she did with his friend group when he told her about the falling gondola fiasco. She is always excited to meet Sett’s friends, given that he had a rough childhood and didn’t grow up with many to begin with. It always warmed her heart to see Sett’s ragtag group of friends spending their time with her son.

In retrospect, he’s glad that he didn’t introduce her to any of his dance partners, despite her curiosity. Most of them he tried to have a professional relationship with, but they ultimately left him due to not wanting to work with him anymore. Whatever, it’s their loss.

“An Ox Squad member?” Her eyes lit up, and she immediately gets up to get her cellphone. “Oh, I’m glad to hear he came in just in time! They are like a superhero team in those comic books you used to read, wouldn’t you say?”

His mother wasn’t aware of who the Ox Squad were until Sett was hired to work for them, which makes sense, given that their jurisdiction is limited to Valoran City. He remembered how her eyes lit up when he told her about them and how they protect the city from harm. Sett hadn’t thought about them being like superheroes, but he supposes it’s true, given how efficiently Aphelios and his sister saved him and checked on his health. As he ponders this, his mother searches for something on her phone. Once she finds what she’s looking for, she joins Sett on his bed and shows him her phone screen.

“Now then, who’s the lucky one who caught my son’s eye?” she teases, showing a group picture of the Lunar Beast Ox Squad in action.

Sett becomes a little flustered at her comments, but nonetheless looks towards her phone. Now that he sees them all in action, he feels a little bad not knowing each member’s name. He at least recognizes Jarvan, having seen him when Xin Zhao showed him pictures of his family. He didn’t expect him to be wielding a giant spear onto battle however, looking a little intimidating in contrast to how friendly he was in his phone conversation.

The other members are an interesting bunch as well. He sees a man carrying a giant axe around charging into battle, a woman with a sword posed elegantly, and another woman with two guns and looked as if she was roller skating through the air. They are being led by a minotaur, guiding the group to take down Valoran City’s Lunar Beast that the photographer somehow got a picture of. The team is even joined by a young girl, eating a snack happily while holding a mysteriously glowing teddy bear.

Despite this odd ensemble of people, he hones in on the person he was interested in the most. Aphelios, elegantly flying through the air with knife weapons in hand as his sister’s hologram follows behind him. Even in this photograph, with the chaos of the Lunar Beast causing damage to the buildings behind them and the one the squad members are standing on, he looks just as beautiful as he did yesterday.

“This one.” Sett points towards Aphelios’ form, a little far away from the rest of the group due to him being in the air. “His name’s Aphelios. He’s the one I met yesterday.”

“Ah, I see. He’s quite handsome.” She raises her eyebrows suggestively; a gesture Sett doesn’t appreciate. “Can you tell me more about him?”

And in that moment, Sett’s heart goes mushy once more as he remembers his encounter from last night. “He’s… amazing.”

He tells her the way Aphelios easily handled the lunar wraith, his thoughtfulness for his spending money, and his friendliness throughout their entire dinner. Sett was no stranger to the dating scene, but this was one of the few times he felt completely at ease with someone. He had better communication with someone who couldn’t use his voice than those he’d gone out with in the past.

“I have never seen you quite like this!” Momma replies, chuckling at Sett’s lovestruck expression. “Well then, what are you going to do now? I full heartedly think you should contact him as soon as you can, especially since you still have some free time from practicing your lion dance.”

And with that statement alone, even though his mother had good intentions, had brought Sett’s mood down drastically. Great, he had completely forgotten about his lion dance partner situation. He hasn’t even started his search for a new partner yet, and he hasn’t been able to practice his routine for the parade.

“Ah yeah, Ma. You just reminded me. I need to make some… important phone calls. Why don’t you head towards the breakfast buffet early while I take care of things on my end?” Sett suggests.

“Usually, I would be willing to wait for you, but you just want privacy to talk to Aphelios, don’t you?” Well, she’s half right. “Very well then, I will leave you to it. Finding love is truly the most magical feeling in the world, and I will not get in your way. However, I expect to have some time for ourselves to relax at the hotel and enjoy the city, alright?”

Sometimes he wonders how he has one of the best moms in the world. “’Course Ma, I still wanna spend time with you but uh… I don’t wanna squander this opportunity, y’know?”

He really means that, both in knowing Aphelios better, and having the Ox Squad on his good side for the lion dance. His mother gives him a goodbye kiss on his cheek and picks up her purse, including her own copy of the hotel room key card, and leaves to head for the elevator.

As much as he would love to message Aphelios immediately, he should probably start fixing his lion dance partner situation as soon as possible. He gets to work, getting out his phone he decides to start messaging some previous colleagues on his phone to see if there’s anyone who would be willing to work with him in such a short time frame.

As expected, he had no such luck. Most of them have left him on read, others have replied not so kindly that they will not be reuniting with Sett anytime soon. One of them even posted a long paragraph of how Sett’s ego has finally brought consequences upon himself. The nerve of some people.

Sett’s definitely not contacting Prahn again, being the one who put him in this situation in the first place. He’s willing to bet Prahn with get a kick out of him begging for him to perform by his side, but he hasn’t gone to that level of desperation yet.

Sett decides the next best thing is to see the local lion dancing groups in Valoran City and pray that they haven’t all been scheduled for other New Year’s events. As he’s about to do some searching, he notices that he had new messages coming in from his friends back home. Ah right, after all that’s happened, he forgot that they were also going to participate with him in the festival.

He feels a little bad for not checking their messages sooner but hey, better late than never. He checks his group chat and scrolls all the way to the top where new messages started from yesterday.

 

 

FIRECRACKERS 🎆

 

Teemo: We finally made it to the hotel guys! 😊  The rest of my family will be joining us on New Year’s Eve.

Tristana: We’re all good here setting up things in our room. How’s everyone else?

Xin Zhao: I am glad that everyone has gotten to their hotels safely. I was starting to worry we would have a repeat of last year.

 

 

Sett let out a soft chuckle at that.

 

 

Tristana: I’m grateful that they paid for our travel and for a place to stay for the month, but I’m not gonna lie guys, I might be slightly worried. I met one of my fireworks coordinator colleagues in the hotel lobby and i think she might be a little… insane?

Teemo: Huh? What do you mean? 🤨

Tristana: Imagine if I talked to my cannon as if it was a living breathing thing that responded back and had a ten-minute conversation with it. That’s what this Jinx girl is like. She even wants to ride one of her cannons throughout the parade as if it were a rocket!

Xin Zhao: Perhaps you two are not so different. I seem to remember you doing that exact same thing. In fact, that ability helped us during our little gondola disaster.

Tristana: That’s different! This girl even has a name and personality for it and everything!

Teemo: I think I’m with Xin Zhao on this one. I remember you talking about how much Boomer means to you on our dates. 😏

Tristana: Teemo! You’re supposed to be on my side!

 

 

Sett can’t help but laugh at Tristana’s expense. After scrolling through their playful lover’s spat, he finally gets to this morning’s messages where his friends have sent their good mornings and wondering what they plan to do today. Sett decides to finally type into the chat.

 

 

Sett: i made it to the hotel with my ma, no falling gondolas here

Teemo: Hey Sett! Good to see you! 😄👋

Tristana: Heyo Sett!

Xin Zhao: Good morning, Sett.

 

 

Sett smiles a little at their responses, glad to have a positive reception after so much rejection earlier.

 

 

Sett: hey guys, glad to see you all too

Tristana: Now we can finally schedule a time to meet up!

Sett: actually i think i wont be able to meet up with you guys any time soon

Teemo: Huh? Why? 🙁

Xin Zhao: Did something occur?

 

 

Sett hesitates. It’s not that he doesn’t trust his friends with his issue, but he does feel unbelievably unprofessional towards Xin Zhao specifically. All of his other friends have settled in well and are excited to work on the parade. Meanwhile, he doesn’t have a lion dance partner to work with, and he will look like an idiot in front of Xin Zhao’s nephew if he doesn’t find a replacement soon. He doesn’t want to disappoint his friend who so kindly recommended him to the Ox Squad, nor does he want to embarrass Xin Zhao. Just like with his mother, he decides to keep that information to himself.

But he can’t respond with nothing either, with his friends increasingly getting worried over his silence. And so, in a bit of panic, he types to the group chat once more.

 

 

Sett: nothing bad happened, i’m just gonna try and spend some time with someone else that’s all

Teemo: Someone else? Who? 😮

Tristana: Wait, did you mean spend time with your mom or with someone new?

 

 

Crap. He could’ve just said he wanted to spend more time with his mother. Meeting Aphelios has really gotten to his concentration lately.

 

 

Sett: uh it’s just someone i met when i arrived and we hit it off. that’s all.

Xin Zhao: Sett, are you suggesting that you met someone as soon as you arrived in the city, and went on a date with them?

 

 

For someone who’s used to lying to his mother he’s doing a horrible job at the moment.

 

 

Tristana: YOU WENT ON A DATE?

Teemo: 😲

Sett: it wasn’t like that! the guy i met just saved me from a lunar wraith encounter and so i decided to pay him back with dinner

Xin Zhao: A lunar wraith?! That is a serious matter. And you said this person saved you from it?

Tristana: WOAH wait a minute that sounds pretty cool. I want the full story from the beginning!

Xin Zhao: An encounter with a lunar wraith is no laughing matter, Tristana. Sett could have gotten seriously harmed or even killed by it if he was not careful.

Teemo: This story sounds wild already 😵

Sett: aight geez. basically i decided to leave the hotel room to walk around while my ma relaxed after the 3 hour train ride. as i was walking around i was cornered by the lunar wraith in a dark alley, and i fought it off for a while until a lunar beast squad member came to finally finish it off.

Teemo: Woah 😧 That sounds intense.

Tristana: Ha! Of course you’re strong enough to handle something like that!

Tristana: Also A LUNAR BEAST MEMBER came to save you?! Man I would’ve loved to see them in action

Xin Zhao: As I suspected. One of my nephew’s squad members came to help you then. May I ask who was the person that arrived?

Tristana: This just gets me more excited to impress them for the parade!

Teemo: They sound super strong! 💪

Sett: yeah he was amazing. his name is Aphelios, and not only is he an incredible fighter, but he’s also such a sweetheart. i got to know him during dinner and i had a great time with him, and he seems to have enjoyed talking to me too since he contacted me after.

Teemo: Aww 🥰

Tristana: From an action-packed conflict to a first date, this is starting to sound like us Teemo 😅

Teemo: I didn’t think about it that way but now that you mention it, yeah! 😆

Xin Zhao: Ah, Aphelios. I’ve met him a few times when I visited my nephew. He was always a polite young man.

Diana: Aphelios?

 

 

Sett raises his eyebrows in surprise as he sees Diana type for the first time. She wasn’t a very talkative person, not even for their close-knit group chat, so he’s left wondering why she decided to chime in when she did.

 

 

Sett: yeah, do you know him?

Diana: No. I thought it was someone else.

 

 

Diana couldn’t be acting more suspicious if she tried. Perhaps Sett will interrogate her later if he’s feeling up for it, but for now he decides he will let it slide.

 

 

Xin Zhao: Good morning, Diana. I would be very surprised if you did know Aphelios since I would have heard of you from my nephew years ago.

Teemo: Hi Diana! 😊🌙

Tristana: Heyo! How’s travelling with Leona going?

Diana: It has gone well, we have travelled to many places throughout Runeterra, and have encountered… interesting people.

Xin Zhao: Interesting?

Diana: Well, we encountered the Protectors, porcelain warriors blessed by each Zodiac God. They are not too different from the Lunar Beast Ox Squad you all have come to know.

Diana: I do not understand why the gods relegate themselves to mettle with the affairs of mortals by creating magically altered humans, but to each their own I suppose.

Tristana: Huh, didn’t think there were more superheroes running around.

Teemo: I would love to hear about your travel’s Diana, but I also want to encourage Sett to contact Aphelios as soon as possible! 😊

Sett: ah geez

Tristana: Yeah you’re right Teemo!

Tristana: Sett I will forgive your absence to our hangouts if you message Aphelios immediately! 😉

Xin Zhao: Young love is a special thing, after all. From what you have explained, it seems to me that getting to know each other better is the next best step.

Sett: alright alright i’ll message him. talk to you guys later.

Teemo: Go for it! 👍👍👍

Tristana: Good luck Sett!

Diana: Take care, Sett.

 

 

Sett exists the group chat, a little exasperated from the nosiness of his friends. As much as he would love to brag to his friends and family about his love life, the fact of the matter is that they’ve only just had one dinner together, one that Sett thinks Aphelios doesn’t even consider a date, and just a friendly gesture. Perhaps if he asks Aphelios to hangout once again, he can work up the courage to officially ask him out on a romantic date at a later time.

Also, he would rather be talking to a cute guy instead of tediously searching for a dance partner at the moment.

And so, he opens Aphelios’ contact number, and starts to type…

 

---

 

Aphelios was a little distracted the next day during their usual squad meeting.

He couldn’t help himself. Last night he arrived at their headquarters later than his scheduled patrol time, arriving on the outdoor patio area near their shrine of their headquarters’ rooftop. He encountered Alistar waiting for him, who explained that Alune had told him they encountered a lunar wraith that had appeared in their patrol route, and that they immediately disposed of it. She then told him that Aphelios decided to stay a little longer, just in case anymore showed up. Alistar praised the twins on their diligence in their patrol duties and went back to the patio’s dining area to sit, waiting for other patrol members who had later schedules to show up.

He was extremely grateful that she didn’t mention Sett to Alistar. He wasn’t sure how he was going to explain to him that instead of returning straight home, he went on a late-night outing with a complete stranger instead.

Although he’s not a stranger anymore, Aphelios thinks to himself as he makes his way towards his room, looking at Sett’s contact information on his phone screen.

He debates with himself, whether or not he should immediately message Sett, but he decides to do it tomorrow. Sett has probably gone to sleep at this point, and he should probably do the same as well. He changes to his pajamas and falls asleep thinking of fuzzy ears and a bright smile.

Unfortunately for Aphelios, the next morning proved to be busier than usual. Alistar decided to host an early morning meeting, so he insisted that the team members eat breakfast, get dressed, and head to the living room to go over their patrols. Aphelios does just that, if only to get the meeting done as soon as possible so that he can go to his room and write to Sett.

Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t super focused on this meeting, since Annie has fallen asleep halfway through everyone’s reports. Aphelios assumes it’s a combination of the early morning wakeup call and the boredom that got to her.

“Aphelios and I encountered one lunar wraith in the western precinct,” Alune starts, “We sensed it’s presence and found it fighting a civilian in an abandoned alleyway. We disposed of it swiftly so that it would do no further harm. Afterwards, Aphelios decided to stay for a little bit longer to make sure the civilian was okay, as well as to see if there were any more lunar wraiths in the area.”

Again, Aphelios is very grateful for Alune's discreetness.

“Very well then,” replied Alistar, who had no issues regarding Alune’s response. He redirects his gaze to the other squad members. “Has anyone else encountered any trouble, or seen the Lunar Beast yet?”

“Not yet,” said Fiora, who was in charge of the eastern precinct patrol route. “Other than foolish drunkards attempting to get my attention, I have not seen any disturbances.”

“Ah, I'm sorry you have to go through that, Fiora,” Jarvan pipes up from his seat. “I know how people can get when were on patrol. I've had my share of fans asking for autographs when I am trying to keep them safe.”

“I think the real crime is people asking for your autographs.” said Darius, a smug look on his face as Jarvan protests from his seat.

“I understand that sometimes civilians can be excited to see us, but we must remain professional towards them,” Alistar says in an attempt to stop the two men from their squabbling.

“You know, there are a few ways that we can get some of those fans off our backs,” pipes up Sarah, taking one of her guns out of its holster and showing it off.

“We're not shooting the civilians, Fortune,” Darius says, shooting an unimpressed stare directed at the pink haired woman. “We’re supposed to protect them, not blow a hole through their skulls, despite how much they get on our nerves.”

“I didn’t say we shoot them, just scare ‘em a little that’s all. Just enough that they don’t try anything. That’s how I did it when I was Miss Fortune: Street Tough.” Sarah strikes a pose as she says her apparent title card.

“For once, I have to agree with Darius,” Alistar replies. “We want public perception of us to be positive. We don’t need any more scandals like what happened twelve years ago.”

Aphelios raises his eyebrow as he notices a shift in mood in the room. He’s still not sure what incident they’re referring to. Despite his attempts to find any information online, the only thing he saw was that a previous Lunar Beast Squad had decided to disband over disagreements. He’s tried asking the older members what happened directly, but they dismissed him or told him to wait until he’s older to find out.

He doesn’t understand the reluctance, but he hopes it doesn’t have anything to do with his and Alune’s inclusion of the Ox Squad. His horns appeared twelve years ago, after all.

“—haven’t seen anything, but I do have to meet with people from DEMA who want to join in the parade, including my father and uncle,” he hears Jarvan say, tuning back into the conversation. “It’s tedious, but they want me to have some sort of show or display advertising the company. I’ll take care of whatever they want me to do,” he finishes with an eyeroll.

“Very good,” Alistar says. “Financial support is always welcome so that we can best prepare for the celebrations. Just make sure to make it to your patrol on time. We need as many eyes on the city as we can to make sure we have a safe Lunar Revel this year. With a lunar wraith sighting this early in the year, I don’t want to take any chances. With that, this meeting is adjourned.”

Finally, Aphelios thinks as he gets up to stretch. Luckily, he has no patrol on Saturday, and he finished all of his schoolwork yesterday on that rooftop, so he has plenty of time to himself.

As the squad members filter out of the living room, and Alune gently waking Annie up from her nap, Aphelios decides that’s the perfect time to head towards his own room. Unfortunately for him, he is immediately stopped by misfortune herself.

“Where are you going in such a hurry?” asks Sarah after roller-skating in front of him, blocking the path to his room. “I wanna hear more about this Lunar Wraith you saw. What is tough? What did it look like? What guns did you use?”

If this were any other day, he would be fine in retelling his encounter with the wraith, but right now he was in a bit of a hurry, so he decided to get straight to the point.

“Alune and I felt a demonic presence. After scouting the area we managed to find the wraith fighting with a civilian. I stepped in, Alune gave me Severum and Crescendum, and I managed to dispose of it swiftly.”

Sarah lets out a low whistle at that. “Dang, wish I encountered any sort of trouble during my own patrols. Would’ve loved to see you in action using those guns too.”

Aphelios should probably reprimand her for her hoping that the city is put in active danger just so that she can have some cheap thrills, but he just he gives her a nod instead. “Perhaps if our patrol routes line up, we could team up. I heard Darius suggesting it the other day so you could talk to him about it.”

He adds that last bit towards the end, hoping that Sarah will leave him while she goes to talk to Darius. He tries to sidestep her to get to his room once more, but she prevents him from doing so, apparently not done with the conversation.

“Wait, the civilian fought back against that thing? How did they survive a wraith for that long? Usually, those demons overwhelm people easily.”

Aphelios starts to get a little nervous at her line of questioning and is about to provide the most neutral response he can, but at that moment his phone receives a very loud ping noise. And then another. And then another on after that, each one louder than the other now that that most of the members trickle out of the room.

“Uh… didn’t know you were popular now.” He isn’t. Unfortunate as it is to say, not many people stick around after they realize Aphelios can’t talk. At this point in his university classes, he just gets the occasional side eye or stares towards his horns, and the few people that approach him after finding out about his muteness, just want him to refer to his other team members instead. Alune gets pretty offended on his behalf, but he’s used to this sort of treatment already.

Sarah, being the squad member that cares about popularity the most, is aware of this. Aphelios has told her about his experiences, and Sarah had suggested beating people up for being rude to him. He appreciates her backing him up in her own, distorted way, but currently that information was biting him in the back as his phone keeps getting text messages, clearly coming from someone else who isn’t a part of the Ox Squad.

He tries not to let worry show in his face as he tries to sidestep once more, but he must be doing a horrible job as Sarah starts to look at him suspiciously. “Now that I think about it, who exactly did you save again? Must’ve been quite the person if they fended off a lunar wraith for so long.”

“Ah Phel, there you are.” Alune suddenly appears from behind, slightly startling the young man. “We should go practice our music in your room to be more prepared for Monday, don’t you think?”

Aphelios couldn’t be more thankful for an opening in his life and nodded to his sister. Alune then looks at Sarah standing in the hallway that leads to their rooms. “Did I interrupt something?”

Sarah still had one eyebrow raised at Aphelios, but decided to have mercy for today, and shrugs her shoulders. “Nah it’s fine. I was just talking to Aphelios about the wraith encounter, but that can wait for some other time.” She gives him a look at that and decides to leave through the front entrance once more, perhaps looking to find a wraith for herself to fight. Aphelios is probably going to have to avoid Sarah from now on if he wants to keep Sett a secret for a little while longer.

The twins then make their way to Aphelios’ room. When they were first brought into the Lunar Beast Squad, they insisted on sleeping together in the same room, the same way they’ve always done in the orphanage’s bunk beds. They also didn’t exactly trust their new caretakers fully yet, so having a space for themselves was comforting in the early days of their introduction to the Ox Squad.

As they grew older, however, they slowly started to feel less anxious about being separated and decided to have different rooms of their own. As much as Aphelios loves his sister, he appreciates that he now has a place all to himself, having privacy for the first time in his life.

The twins make their way to the hallway leading towards Aphelios’ room, passing Alune’s and Annie’s along the way. Each member had a room of their own, fitted with their own private bathroom inside. Aphelios’ room was tidy: his bed was made, and his backpack sat on his long desk, next to his desktop computer. His keyboard piano was standing in the corner of his room alongside his music production equipment, with some sheet music placed on its stand.

Aphelios also had a small section of his room dedicated to prayer. He has a small table, fitted with various trinkets related to the Bull God who blessed them with their powers. He doesn’t know where he’d be today if it wasn’t for the god’s divine intervention into their lives. To this day, he’s not sure why they chose him and Alune to represent his squad, but it’s a duty he takes seriously, and he tries not to let the Bull God down, constantly training to become one of the deadliest squad members on the team.

He also has some items that relate to the moon itself. The moon was always a comforting presence on the lonely nights where the twins stayed up late in the orphanage. He even expressed his feelings on the moon to Alune, and she agreed that the Moon’s presence was a comfort to her too, as if it was protecting them from harm somehow. It was… strange.

He decided to dedicate a section to its presence either way, just in case there was a moon god out there that decided to take pity on two lonely orphans. He hopes the Bull God doesn’t take offense to his faith to two different deities.

“Thank you for the save back there,” Aphelios signs after they both sit down on his bed, giving her a relieved smile.

“Ah brother, how naïve you must be to think that you are safe from my own curiosity,” Alune responds with a sly smile on her face. “I let it slide yesterday since it was late at night, but now I want to know everything that happened in your little outing.”

Aphelios sighs, but nonetheless decides to recount his dinner yesterday.

“Well, it was as he promised. The man’s name is SETT—” Aphelios spells out each letter individually. “—and he paid for our dinner at one of those restaurants we go to in our group outings, the one near the Cloudfield Hotel? And we just talked throughout our dinner. Coincidentally he is a lion dancer hired by Jarvan for the parade.”

Aphelios lets out a soft smile. “He was very kind. He always let me time to respond to him, and he respected my boundaries when I felt uncomfortable. I am glad I accepted his offer, since I believe I finally met someone outside the Lunar Beasts that I could call a… friend.”

He looks towards his sister to see what she thinks of his response, only to see her with a stunned, openmouthed stare.

“A ‘friend’ you say...?” Alune’s initial shock turns into a sly smile as she realizes what exactly is going on here. “Phel, you are usually not willing to interact with anyone, not even our classmates. I was quite confused when you were insistent on accepting this Sett’s invitation for dinner, but now I know why. You like him, don’t you?”

What.

“What,” He signs, shaken at his sister’s suggestion.

“I said, you like him,” Alune repeats. “It is clear that there is something going on, with the way you looked as you described your dinner. This man has captivated you!”

And with Alune’s analysis, he starts to rethink his entire experience with Sett. Wasn’t it just a night out with a friend? Did he feel differently towards him than the rest of his squad?

“I think you are being ridiculous. I just went to a nice restaurant with a new friend. That is all,” He signs, although he’s not sure he believes his own words.

“Uh huh…” Alune doesn’t sound convinced. “Well then, perhaps you should contact your ‘friend’ and see for yourself how you actually feel about him.”

Aphelios thinks that’s a great idea to prove her wrong, and after some bickering, he finally manages to get his sister to leave his room in order for him to contact Sett with some privacy. Once he’s alone, he goes back to his bed and gets his cellphone. Finally, he can look through his messages, who he assumes must be from his vastayan friend. Sure enough, he sees a ton of messages from his notifications and decides to go through them carefully.

 

 

Sett: heyo beast boy

Sett: how’s it going

Sett: hope im not interrupting something important or anything

Sett: just wondering how you’ve been

Sett: uh feel free to ignore these if your busy

 

 

Aphelios lets a soft smile appear on his face as he begins to type a response.

 

 

Aphelios: Good morning, Sett. I could not type immediately since I was caught in an early morning meeting. How are you?

Sett: ah no worries! im doin great!

Sett: so how’d your super important beast meeting go?

Aphelios: To be honest, it was quite boring. These meetings are supposed to be a secret, so I’ll just reveal to you that all we talked about was what happened last night.

Sett: oh, are you in trouble?

Aphelios: On the contrary. Alune and I were praised by our leader for our diligence. We just had to sit through everyone else’s reports.

Sett: course you’d be praised with how awesome you were yesterday 💪

 

 

Aphelios blushes once more, Alune’s accusations earlier coming back to the forefront of his mind. He shakes his head and attempts to ignore how his heart jumped a little Sett’s compliment.

 

 

Aphelios: Thank you, Sett.

Sett: course!

Sett: so… i was wondering

Sett: do you have any free time today? we could go hangout wherever you want since you know this city more than i do.

Sett: all i’ve got to offer is the hotel pool and spa, and maybe the gym haha

Aphelios: As a matter of fact, I am free for the rest of the day.

Aphelios: Would you like to go to a park near your hotel? They have a bakery we can visit nearby.

Sett: course we can! ill be waiting for you at the hotel entrance aight?

Aphelios: I’ll be sure to take the faster route, so you don’t have to wait so long. I’ll be there in about 5 minutes.

Sett: for you, i can wait all day

 

 

That settles it then. Aphelios gets his phone and wallet, sending a quick text message to Alune that he’ll be leaving, and he makes his way towards the headquarters patio. The quickest way to travel around the city was to jump along its rooftops, after all.

And so, Aphelios makes his way towards the Cloudfield Hotel.

Notes:

Ok! Thanks for reading. I wanted to finally introduce Sett's Firecracker friends. I've alluded to them in previous chapters but I wanted to finally show their personalities, or what I think they would be like in this universe at least.

So I hope the texting formatting is okay. I was debating whether or not I added timestamps to make it more realistic but I don't think that's really necessary. For everyone's typing styles, I imagine Xin Zhao would write formally, Tristana a mix of formal and informal in the way she talks, and Sett would just write the most informal way of all as he does in HEARTSTEEL'S Twitter posts. Teemo is literally an anagram for "emote" so I think he would put an emoji after every sentence lol. Aphelios is more similar to his Runeterra personality in this than his HEARTSTEEL one so I think he would type formally here too.

Also wanted to show more banter with the Lunar Beasts, and what I think their personalities are like. I think Jarvan and Darius may be the hardest because I'm going off of their one interaction in their cinematic, which depicts Jarvan as friendly and Darius as serious but that doesn't really reflect in their splash arts... I hope that doesn't put off you guys from their personalities here (also I haven't played Mageseeker so I don't know how Jarvan is in that game, I'm just familiar with his League Bio and stories).

Anyways sorry for such a long post! Thank you very much again for reading and as always, I'll leave some lore here:

• Teemo and Tristana are implied to be together in Firecracker Tristana's splash art

Ok so the image in this fic is photoshopped by me because there is no official promo image of all the Lunar Beasts together. I will put both official images here.

• League Wild Rift

• League PC

Chapter 5

Summary:

In which Sett and Aphelios go on their second "date."

Notes:

So I was reluctant to work on any League related stuff for a while because of the recent layoffs at Riot Games, but I decided to keep going just out of love for these characters. Also I wanted to have a chapter out for real life Lunar New Years (which if you celebrate, I hope you have a great time!). I had severe writer's block for this chapter as well which didn't help. Anyways, I hope ya'll enjoy this chapter!

Aphelios arrives at the Cloudfield Hotel in five minutes as promised and meets up with Sett, who gave him a bright smile upon seeing him. The young Lunar Beast member led the way towards one of the parks near the hotel, luckily a walking distance away. The area was modestly busy, with some children having fun on the playground, or others doing outdoor exercises. It was a nice place to relax a while Sett, who was willing to wait for him to write out his thoughts.

I sometimes come here to relax, Aphelios writes in his notes app once they’ve found a bench to sit on. I become overwhelmed with responsibilities, so I sneak out and sit by a bench, enjoying the breeze.

“I get that,” Sett replies. “Although I can’t imagine sitting still for too long.”

Aphelios nods his head in understanding. I see. I sometimes use the Ox Squad trainings grounds for some alone time as well, but also to hone my skills. I strive to be one of the best warriors in our squad, so that the Bull God looks at me favorably.

Sett’s eyebrows rise as he reads his message. “Damn, I sometimes forget you guys are blessed by a god.”

The blue-haired man hums, unsure. I do not understand their intentions, but I am glad that my sister and I were chosen. I am not sure where we would be today if not for their intervention.

Sett eyebrows furrow at that. “Personally, I don’t really follow any gods up there. I mean, what have they done for me and my Ma? Nothing.”

Hearing these sentiments towards the gods is uncommon for Aphelios nowadays. After he was taken in by his squad, they are dedicated to serving the Bull God and to be in their service. He can understand Sett’s views though, since in the orphanage he couldn’t help but long for a better life for himself and his sister.

“I don’t mean to insult you or anythin’!” Sett hastily adds, realizing that his words may have come off as unintentionally rude. “It’s just that… My Pa left me and my Ma back when I was just a kid, and it really hit us hard, you know? My Ma sometimes prayed that he’d come back but I stopped giving a damn a long time ago.”

Aphelios frowns in sympathy. I’m sorry, I didn't know.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. It’s been a long time now and I’ve put all that behind me.” A smile returns to the man’s face. “That’s why I had to take matters into my own hands for a while. Before I got into lion dancin’, I had to earn money through underground fighting gigs. Sometimes I still do it every now and then. Anything to help my Ma.”

That explains Sett’s impressive defense against the lunar wraith before he arrived to help him. Does your mother know about this?

Sett shakes his head. “It’s better if she never finds out about it. I’d rather go fight more of those lunar wraiths than ever let her worry about anything ever again.”

Aphelios can’t help but feel a kinship towards Sett after hearing that. I feel the same way for my sister. She is the one who’s been alongside me since the beginning. I do not know where I’d be without her.

Sett gazes at him softly at that. “Family above all else, huh? Man, I knew there was a reason I liked you, Beast Boy.”

Aphelios decides to assume he means it platonically, lest his heart give out.

 

---

 

They make their way towards the bakery nearby. Pantheon’s Bakery was also a favorite spot of his when he decided to visit the park. They enter through the glass doorway, greeting the cashier and approaching the glass display of baked goods. Aphelios watches as Sett pensively looks through the variety of food.

“Hmm… what’re you planning on gettin’?” Sett asks as he observes the baked sweets.

Aphelios points towards the display of mooncakes, deciding to go with a different filling from yesterday at the restaurant.

“You sure love your mooncakes, Beast Boy.” Sett teases, but nonetheless goes to the counter to order their food. Aphelios realizes that Sett plans to pay for their meals once again. He decides to take out his wallet to try to pay for his own half until Sett stops him.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, Mooncake. I don’t mind paying if it’s you.” Sett gives him a wink and talks to the cashier and places their order.

Another nickname that causes Aphelios to blush. He decides to find some seats in the meantime, mostly to hide his flushed appearance and try to calm himself. Perhaps he can try to pay for their meals the next time they decide to go out together.

Will they go out together again? Aphelios can’t help but think about his last conversation with Alune. Does he really feel more about the vastayan man than he originally thought? He’s never felt like that about anyone before so he’s not sure what signs he’s supposed to look out for.

He decides to put those thoughts away as Sett comes by holding two red bean mooncakes, giving one to Aphelios, and sitting down on the chair in front of him. Aphelios watches as his companion decides to take a bite out of the pastry, tasting the sweet filling. A grin appears as he continues to munch on his food.

“Man, I can see why you like these so much. Tastes delicious.” Sett says as he takes another bite.

Aphelios decides to start eating his as well while also getting his phone to type once more. I may have developed a sweet tooth thanks to this bakery.

“Oh? I’ll keep that in mind then,” Sett says with a smirk, already finishing his pastry while Aphelios has barely begun his. “Now then. I know you Lunar Beasts are all secretive, but I’d like to know more about your team. Do you like working with ‘em?”

It should be a simple question, but he can’t help but think it over. After some time, he finally types into his phone.

They have looked after me and my sister ever since our horns appeared, and I am grateful for them. They took us into their team and trained us to be guardians of the city. It used to be me and Alune for the longest time, but I think that feeling can be said for the rest of the squad.

Sett can’t help but smile brightly at what he’s read. His next words leave Aphelios reeling.

“So, they’re like a family to you huh?”

Shock floods Aphelios’ face at that. He hasn’t considered that as a possibility, despite how much time they’ve spent together. Alune was the only family he had for most of his life, but even she was more outgoing than he was, managing to at least befriend a few people growing up. It didn’t help that an accident when he was younger caused him to lose his voice. Not many of his classmates or the other kids in the orphanage wanted to hang around with the “weird” kid who couldn’t speak a word.

Then they were taken in by the Lunar Beast Ox Squad, a team blessed by the Bull God to defend the city. There was a lot of apprehension and fear in him when he was brought in but being with Alune calmed his nerves. Slowly he started to open himself up to the squad members, and they in turn trusted him and his sister to be a part of the team.

If he’s being honest, however, there is still some lingering doubt in his mind. He knows it’s stupid to even admit out loud, but there is some uncertainty in his heart that the team doesn’t actually care about him, that he is just a detriment to their cause for being unable to communicate effectively, needing Alune’s assistance in the beginning. Once they get tired of him, they’ll abandon him and bring him back to the orphanage, ultimately failing as a warrior for the Bull God.

This feeling hasn’t gotten away since his horns appeared, but so much time has passed already. He goes to college with Alune. Fiora, Jarvan, Darius, and Alistar see him as a capable warrior. Even the newer members, Annie and Sarah, have warmed up to him. His doubts are so miniscule, but unfortunately, they still linger, still clouding his ability to be truly open with his teammates.

“Hey, you okay?” Sett asks worriedly as he sees Aphelios’ expression sour.

Aphelios waves him off. My apologies, I was caught in a moment. To be honest, I am not sure of the answer myself. I know that we guard the city together, but I am not sure if they consider me to be their family.

Sett seems to ponder over his statement for a while.

“Did you know ‘m actually half-vastaya?”

Aphelios eyes widen in shock once more.

“Yeah, ‘s not a big deal nowadays, but growing up I was always the odd one out.” He sighs. “I didn’t quite fit in with either the humans or the vastaya that lived nearby. Hell, the vastaya on my Ma’s side didn’t even want anything to do with me.”

He looks towards Aphelios once more, his eyes now gleaming and determined. “I know what it’s like to feel like an outcast. I also know what it’s like to finally find people who care ‘bout you. I think from what you’ve told me, they seem to care about you a lot.” The words I care about you on the tip of his tongue, but Sett reels it in before they can escape.

His companion might be just trying to cheer him up, but Aphelios believes there might be some truth to his words. His tone of voice, the way he’s looking at him, the Ox Squad member can’t help but think he’s being genuinely sincere. It makes Aphelios smile, wider than he usually would given his serious disposition, and he types out his reply.

Thank you, Sett.

Immediately, the man looks to the side with a lopsided grin, ears lowering on his head. “Uh, ‘course!”

The windows begin to glow a soft orange, signaling how late it’s gotten. Once they finish their meals, they decide to head back towards the hotel. Aphelios walks alongside Sett once more, contemplating everything they had talked about on the way there. When they finally arrive, Sett looks back towards the Lunar Beast member.

“Are you free tomorrow?” Sett asks boldly, scratching the back of his head. “Uh, I mean. I had a nice time today and I think maybe we could keep seeing each other? The hotel has a nice restaurant we can go to and—oh! There’s the pool inside—”

Aphelios’ soft chuckles stop Sett from rambling, the half-vastayan man’s heart beating faster at the cuteness on display in front of him.

I have patrol duties tomorrow. I will see if I am available.

Sett nods his head enthusiastically. “’Course! You tell me whenever you can meet with me! No pressure at all.”

Aphelios nods at him, smiling so widely that his cheeks start to hurt. He waves goodbye and starts his journey back to headquarters as he jumps towards increasingly higher rooftops.

 

---

 

Aphelios wakes up the next day getting ready to face the day as quickly as possible, wanting to go through their squad meeting to see if he has any other obligations. After getting dressed and refreshing himself, he goes towards the kitchen expecting his squad members to be up and about. However, what he did not expect was to face the entire squad sitting in the living room, as if waiting for him.

“Young Aphelios, glad you could join us,” Alistar starts. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

He makes his way towards one of the empty couch chairs, not sure what’s going on. Fiora and Jarvan seem to be looking at something on her phone, faces shocked. Darius seems to be acting aloof in order to not seem interested, although his eyes boring at him say otherwise. Alune was whispering something to Annie, who in turn kept asking her questions in a hushed voice. Lastly, Sarah was staring directly at him with the smuggest smile he’d ever seen on her face.  

Aphelios can’t help but let his mind run loose given how his team members were acting. Was there another threat in the city? Did the Lunar Beast wake up from its slumber?

“We have all gathered here to discuss about some recent news.” Alistar continues. He lifts the television controller, a news article popping up. Aphelios’ face pales as he sees a photograph of himself and Sett, just yesterday at the bakery declaring in big bold letters:

LUNAR BEAST OX SQUAD’S APHELIOS NO LONGER SINGLE?

“Now then, I believe an explanation is in order.”

Notes:

Aphelios: smiles
Sett: 😍😘💞💕❤️❣️💗

Thank you for reading! The wait between chapters is going to be much longer from now on. Thank you for your patience!

Chapter 6

Summary:

Everyone's reactions to the news.

Notes:

Alright uploads will be vastly longer from now on but I hope to get chapters done in a timely manner oof

“How could you go on a date and not tell us?!”

“Who thinks they’re good enough to date Aphelios anyway?”

“Phel has a boyfriend?”

“I knew you were hiding something!”

Aphelios can’t help but tune out his teammates as he stares at the news article blaring from their living room television. How could he have been so careless? He wasn’t usually this unobservant with his surroundings, but he thought that his outings were nothing to take notice of. He’s usually not in the spotlight when it comes to Ox Squad news, so perhaps he never thought someone would take the time to spy on him.

As he thinks over his mistakes, he can’t help but flush under the intense scrutiny of his teammates. He was currently forced to sit in the center of the living room couch, his teammates surrounding him and yelling over each other. He didn’t really have a chance to correct their assumptions, so he’s currently just sitting there taking the brunt of their questions.

“Everyone, please!” Alune tries to intervene. “We will not get anywhere shouting like this!”

“Alune, did you know about this?” Fiora asks accusingly.

“Well…” Alune looks off to the side while she bumps her index fingers against each other. “I may or may not have… been aware of this?”

“Of course, she knows. Those two don’t do anything without the other,” Darius states, arms crossed on the couch as he stares at the twins judgmentally. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had a partner of your own too.”

“Excuse me?!” Alune protests, causing an argument between her and the stoic man. Meanwhile, Sarah decides to abruptly take the spot next to Aphelios with the biggest shit-eating grin on her face.

“So, was this the civilian you rescued the other day?” She flutters her eyes innocently. “I gotta say, I didn’t expect you to like ‘em big and strong.”

Alistar looks over at him at that statement, confused. “This information was clearly omitted from your report.”

Aphelios feels like he’s being set on fire. “It was not a date! It was a friendly outing between friends!” He signs, although his traitorous heart beats otherwise.

Sarah doesn’t look convinced, nor do the rest of his teammates who caught his signing. “Uh huh… then you wouldn’t mind if we invited him over then? After all, we just wanna get to know this friend of yours.”

“I agree with Sarah,” Alistar says. “I would like to know if this person is even worthy to date you.”

“It wasn’t a date!” Aphelios repeats with a red face.

“You know what you must do now, right Aphelios?” Fiora says, looking determinedly at him. “Once he comes over, you must challenge him to a duel. If he survives, he is worthy enough to be your suitor.”

Aphelios feels like he’s going to explode.

“Wait a minute…” Jarvan speaks up, taking a closer look at the news article photo. “Isn’t he one of the many people hired for the Lunar Revel parade?”

All eyes go to the white-haired man at that. “Wait, you know him Jarvan?” asks Fiora.

He nods. “Yeah! I was told from my uncle he is one of the best lion dancers around.”

Aphelios raises an eyebrow at that. Sett didn’t mention he knew Xin Zhao. Jarvan’s uncle sometimes decided to visit the Lunar Beasts home, checking in on his nephew and getting along with the rest of his team. He liked it when he showed up, especially during the holidays when he brought plenty of presents and red envelopes for the younger members.

Darius frowns at that. “So, you’re saying this guy tried to buddy up with your uncle to gain our trust to try and date Aphelios then?”

“Woah wait a minute I don’t think it’s like that—”

“Ah that must be it then! Typical!” Fiora then directs her gaze towards Aphelios. “We need to fact check this man immediately! Bring him over this evening for dinner!”

“Hold on a minute. I’ve spoken with him over the phone, and he doesn’t seem—”

“Fiora has the right idea for once,” Darius says, cracking his knuckles threateningly. “Aphelios, get him over here. I just wanna talk…”

“Darius we’re not beating the man up.”

“You’re all jumping to conclusions!”

“Everyone, calm down. Let us reconsider the facts—”

“Aphelios, are you listening?”

And in that moment, it becomes too much. Everyone’s attention and all the questions shouted at him cause him to hit his breaking point. Aphelios abruptly stands up from his seat, and runs towards his room, ignoring the calls for him to return. He shuts the door behind him and locks it, then proceeds to crash onto his bed, too mentally exhausted to even take off his shoes for it.

He feels tears start to spring up in his eyes. He’s never stormed out from his team like that before and he’s not sure how they’re going to react to it. He wonders if the Bull God would be disappointed in him for causing the squad so much trouble.

He shakes his head, trying to dispel the invasive negative thoughts. Right now, the only thing he cares about is getting his heart in order. He’s still not sure how he feels about Sett. He knows he’s happy when he’s around, but is that happiness platonic or romantic? He doesn’t want to accidentally lead Sett on if he doesn’t actually end up having romantic feelings for him. How is he supposed to know the difference? What signs should he be looking for?

Aphelios lets out a groan, lifting an arm to wipe away a few tears from his eyes. He still feels overwhelmed, but he should probably get himself together in order to apologize to his teammates. Before he decides to sit up, he hears a soft knock coming from his door.

He knows that knock. He’s heard it when the person in question gets nightmares and needs someone to accompany them. He decides to get up and unlock the door to his room, opening the door slightly to see Annie, a small frown on her face as she stares up shyly at him.

“Hey, Phel…” she says, holding Tibbers in her arms. “Can I come in?”

He nods his head, opening the door enough to let her in. They both head towards his bed and seat themselves on it.

“Here,” Annie extends her arm to hand her teddy bear towards him. “When I’m feeling sad, hugging Tibbers makes me feel better.”

Aphelios starts to sweat nervously upon her suggestion. He isn’t sure that same rule will apply to him, given that Tibbers is an overprotective and dangerous spirit in a child’s toy. That same spirit had held him hostage only a few days prior, crushing him in his bearlike arms.

However, he can’t really resist Annie’s sad puppy eyes, looking as if she’s break into tears if he denies her request. Carefully, as if handling a radioactive barrel, he reaches with a trembling arm slowly towards the golden teddy bear and holds onto it softly. Seeing Annie’s expectant stare, he cautiously hugs the golden teddy bear to his chest, praying that Tibbers doesn’t decide to transform and maul him. Thankfully, the bear appears to be showing him mercy today. Aphelios relaxes as he decides to be a little bold and slowly starts to pet the teddy bear’s head.

“They’re all fighting back there. Lunie was really angry at everyone...” Annie frowns, looking towards her hands on her lap. “I don’t like the shouting, so I thought I would check on you here.”

Aphelios, too exhausted physically and mentally to respond, decides to reach out and ruffle her orange hair, pulling a few giggles from her.

“So… are you gonna invite your boyfriend here?” Annie asks.

Aphelios sighs, deciding not to correct her since it seems to get him nowhere. “I don't think I have a choice. They are already jumping to conclusions, so I want them to have a good impression of him.”

Annie says nothing after reading his signs. She seems to be thinking over what to say, going back and forth between looking at him and looking at her hands in her lap. Finally, she decides to look directly towards Aphelios, frowning.

“Do you think… he’d like me?” she says hesitantly. “Daisy’s mom… didn’t like me very much.”

Aphelios’ heart breaks as he realizes what conclusion Annie came to. Before she joined the Ox Squad, Annie used to have a family of her own. She used to specialize in fireworks, and Tibbers’ spirit used to be in the shape of a panda. However, an accident involving said fireworks ended in tragedy for all except Annie, who managed to survive.

Aphelios was there when they arrived at the burning home, reaching out to a call made by the Bull God that another had been chosen to join their squad. He never met Annie’s first family, but he decided to reach out to the crying girl surrounded in flames that didn’t reach her, holding a red envelope and a teddy bear in her arms.

It was only after some time that Annie finally opened up to them. They learned about her mother and father, and later on her stepmother and stepsister, Daisy. Her stepmother never loved her, and only saw her as a threat to their family. Aphelios suspects she somehow thinks that any outsider would find her monstrous upon meeting her.

“Annie, he would adore you. Just like I do,” he signs, handing back the teddy bear in his lap back towards her. He gives Tibbers one last pat before he signs his next words: “If he does not, he is not worthy to be my boyfriend anyway.”

That seems to cheer the fire mage up, for she immediately springs up and tackles Aphelios into a hug, startling him. After the initial shock, he hugs her back, closing his eyes. As he slowly rubs her back, he can’t help but recall his last conversation with Sett involving their families. He still doesn’t quite feel like he completely fits in, but moments like this prove otherwise.

Aphelios hears his door creak and notices it slightly open. He looks over to see Alune watching them through the small gap. Upon being spotted, she opens the door completely and enters the room.

“I apologize for interrupting, but I must inform you of what we have discussed,” Alune starts. Annie looks over at hearing her voice, separating their hug. “First, I have kindly suggested that they all apologize for their incessant questioning, and for causing you distress.”

Aphelios is about to protest that he was the one who stormed off so suddenly, but Alune immediately shakes her head. “Nope. Phel, they were in the wrong for being so pushy. Secondly, they would all love to meet Sett and honestly, so would I. He seems to make you smile more often than not, and I would like to meet the man who managed to steal my brother’s heart.”

Aphelios blushes but decides to think it over. He looks over at Annie, who gives him a thumbs up from where she’s sitting on his lap. He looks over at Tibbers, who he swears manages to give him a wink from its golden toy eyelid. Brushing that off, he looks over at Alune, smiling softly at him.

He comes to a decision. “Okay. I will invite him over for dinner.”

 

---

 

The air was cool on Sett’s cheeks as he leans towards the balcony railing, the morning light of dawn clear over the horizon. He gazes towards the city skyline, half appreciating the view, half looking out for anyone dressed in red jumping over the building rooftops.

“Settrigh, would you like to join me for breakfast?”

Sett’s hairs stand on end as he jumps in place, startled by his mother’s voice. “Geez Ma, don’t sneak up on me like that.”

“My apologies,” she says, although her amused tone says otherwise. “But you have been outside for a while now. Looking for your dashing prince I assume?”

He looks away from her at that, a blush forming on his face as he scratches the back of his head. She chuckles at his reaction.

“Come, I would finally like to have some time with my son on this trip.” She softly takes a hold of one of his hands and leads Sett inside.

“Ma, we ate dinner together yesterday,” He chuckles at her.

“Still!”

He shakes his head humorously. While the both of them start to get ready to head out to the hotel’s breakfast buffet, Sett hears various pings blaring from his phone. Thinking that it might be Aphelios texting him, he eagerly rushes towards his nightstand where his phone’s charging. His smile is immediately wiped from his face as he sees that it’s just his friend group rapidly sending messages to each other. He decides to pop in to see what could possibly have them so animated at this hour.

 

 

FIRECRACKERS 🎆

 

Tristana: @Sett HEY! WAKE UP!

Teemo: Oh boy 😟

Xin Zhao: What is the matter? Did something happen to Sett?

Tristana: Yeah something happened alright

Tritana: https://www.journalofjustice.com/lunar-beast-ox squad-aphelios-no-longer-single.html

Teemo: 😞

Xin Zhao: Ah, I see. This is unfortunately a consequence of being a celebrity. My nephew complains about it constantly. It seems that it has affected Aphelios as well.

 

 

Confused, Sett taps on the link, only to be shown a news article. A gossip rag, clearly showing him and Aphelios in the bakery, with the headliner questioning whether or not they are in a relationship.

Sett can’t help but wince, wondering if this will affect Aphelios negatively in any way. He skims over the article, its contents mostly speculating if this half-vastayan stranger has captured the Ox Squad member’s heart, and if he’s worthy of such an honor. If these were better journalists, they probably could’ve made the connection on who he is by just searching him up online. It seems more like a clickbait article than anything.

 

 

Xin Zhao: They are criticizing Sett’s half-vastaya lineage. Have they no shame?

Teemo: I wouldn’t take it at face value Xin. These types of websites are usually trashy and just try to find anyone to talk down on, especially celebrities. 🙄

Tristana: SETT WE NEED TO KNOW YOU’RE OKAY!

Tristana: @Sett @Sett @Sett @Sett

Teemo: I think he’s still asleep. 💀

Tristana: Fine, we’ll just have to go to his room then!

Tristana: …

Tristana: does anyone know where he’s staying at.

Xin Zhao: I believe we all posted our room numbers earlier as we were settling in. I will be getting ready shortly, since I too would like to see how he is handling this situation.

Teemo: Welp, I guess we’re all going then 😅

 

 

“Settrigh, what’s wrong dear?”

Sett looks up from his phone, awkwardly smiling at his mom. “We uh, might have some company over.”

No sooner did those words leave his mouth that they heard a series of knocks on the door outside their hotel room. Sett decides to get up before they get any noise complaints and walks over to unlock their door.

“Aha! So, you were awake!” Tristana says, barging into the hotel room.

“Uh, come in?” Sett says awkwardly.

“Hi Sett,” Teemo waves as he passes by.

“Good morning, Sett,” Xin Zhao says with a smile. “And good morning, madam. I hope we aren’t intruding.”

“Oh, not at all! It’s nice to see you all again,” Sett’s mother says cheerfully, greeting everyone and waving at the two yordles.

“Sorry for bursting in so early,” Tristana reaches for her phone, handing it to his mother, “but unfortunately, we’ve got a problem on our hands.”

His mother crouches down slightly to reach for the yordle’s phone. Her smile sours over reading the headliner, slowly skimming a few lines over the article before handing the phone back to Tristana and looking towards him.

“Oh, I’m so sorry dear.”  She sighs, walking over to give him a pat on his shoulder. “People can’t keep to themselves. They have broadcast your relationship for the world to see.”

Sett grumbles, resigned. He sits down on the front of one of their beds, looking at the article once again from his own phone.

“Well, we came by to see how Sett’s doing,” Teemo says. “We were worried about you. How are you feeling?”

He looks up at everyone’s expectant faces. If he’s being honest, he’d really like to find that reporter and punch their lights in but knows that won’t get him anywhere. He shakes his head, deciding to put up a brave face and try to dismiss his frustration.

“You know, maybe eating breakfast will make me feel better.” He stands up, a weary smile on his face as he looks towards his friends. “Why don’t we all go down and eat together, yeah?”

 

---

 

Sett does actually feel better after filling his stomach. They decide to put the topic of the article aside as he laughs alongside his friends and mother as they all sit around a nice table booth in the hotel restaurant. Similar to the foyer, the restaurant is designed with fancy swirling cloud patterns that go through the walls and the dividers separating some tables into booths.

“This is great, but nothing beats your cooking Teemo.” Tristana says, munching on her food while Teemo looks off to the side, face flushed.

“I beg to differ,” Sett says. “Ma’s cooking has you beat. Hell, she’s got the whole world’s cooking beat.”

“Language,” she reprimands. “But thank you, dear.”

As Sett smiles at her, he feels his phone vibrating in his pocket. He checks to see his notifications, only to almost spit out his food as he sees none other than Aphelios texting him.

 

 

Aphelios: Hello Sett. I am not sure if you have heard already, but a news outlet has reported on our outings.

Aphelios: https://www.journalofjustice.com/lunar-beast-ox squad-aphelios-no-longer-single.html

Aphelios: I apologize for getting you in the public eye. I should have been aware of my surroundings. I am usually not in the spotlight so I did not think there would be any reporters watching us.

 

 

“Is that Aphelios messaging you, dear?” His mother asks.

“Oh, let me see!” Tristana gets up from her seat and tries to peak at his phone, only for Sett to hold it close to his chest.

“No way!” Sett brings his phone to his chest, a little embarrassed.

“What did he say?” Teemo also stands up from his own seat, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Perhaps it is best to let Settrigh handle it,” His mother, an angel sent from above, replies.

“But what if we can help?” Teemo says. “We can be your love coaches!”

“What.” Sett looks down at the two yordles with an unimpressed stare.

“We may be overstepping our boundaries a little my friends,” Xin Zhao says, trying to calm everyone down. “If Sett wants our help, he will ask for it.”

“Thank you, Xin.” Sett replies. After Teemo and Tristana go back to their own seats, he looks over at his phone again. He types a reply, aware of the curious stares thrown at him from his friends as they continue their breakfasts.

 

 

Sett: hey don’t worry about it. its not your fault. people just cant help but pry into other peoples lives yknow?

Aphelios: Have you been harassed by anyone at all?

Sett: nah, ive only had my own buddies checking up on me

Sett: the real question is how are you doing?

Aphelios: Well, I may have been reprimanded for not revealing you to the team sooner. They would all like to meet you, to make sure you do not have any ill intentions.

Aphelios: This may be a very sudden request, but I would like to invite you to dinner today. Are you free this evening?

 

 

Sett’s eyes widen at the bold request, something that catches the eyes of everyone at the table, but out of politeness don’t comment on it. He’s not one to ask other people for help. He’s been able to get stuff done on his own his entire life. However, he trusts his friends and his mom, so he decides to put his pride aside and trust in them.

“So… he’s inviting me over to dinner today,” Sett starts, all eyes on him now as he shifts in his seat uncomfortably. “His teammates want to get to know me. What… do you guys think?”

“Oh, that is wonderful dear!” His mom smiles warmly at him. “This is the perfect chance to show how charming you are. We should have something fancy upstairs for this.”

“I agree,” Xin Zhao says with a nod. “They may seem serious at first glance, but once they get to know you, they will warm up to you easily.”

“That may have been easier for you since you’re already family Xin,” Teemo replies.

“That may be so, but if they did not like my presence, they would not let me anywhere near the headquarters building.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better about this,” Sett says, now more anxious about this that before.

“You’re missing the point!” Tristana says, standing up from her seat and puffing out her chest. “You should go to dinner and show them who you really are! You are Sett! The man that’s there for his friends when they needed him most! A caring, dependable guy that anybody would be lucky to be friends with!”

Everyone around the table nods, agreements shared between all the members of the table. His mother’s eyes were watery, glad to see her son have such caring friends around him. Sett himself isn’t faring much better, subtly drying off some tears from his own face.

“Thanks guys, I’ll accept the invitation.”

They cheer for him, his mother giving him a small kiss on his cheek. Blushing from the attention, he looks away from them and towards his text messages once more, typing out a final response.

 

 

Sett: ill be there, mooncake

Notes:

Alright! Next time we'll see the Lunar Beasts meeting Sett in person!

I wanted to show more of Sett's friends, as well as more of the Lunar Beasts interacting with each other. Honestly, that scene with Annie was unexpected since I initially wanted Fiora to talk to Aphelios and soothe him in a motherly way if that makes sense. I don't think Runeterra Fiora would be a mother at all, given her lore, but I thought in this universe it would be a good avenue to explore (also there is that cinematic where she interacts with kids alongside Garen so I think her beef is more that there isn't a good enough suitor for her lol).

This is also another side of Annie that was interesting to explore, given that Runeterra Annie in both League of Legends and Legends of Runeterra have her as a pyromaniac, despite the Annie short showing a more sensitive side of her. Anyways, loved writing big brother Aphelios here! Ideally we would have a chapter exploring Aphelios relationships with each member but I don't know if that will be possible. This is primarily a Settphel story so I don't want to get too sidetracked.

Thank you all again for reading! Here's a lore link:

• Annie gets a red envelope from Xin Zhao

Chapter 7

Summary:

Sett arrives for the Ox Squad's dinner, hijinks ensue.

Notes:

HI yes it's been a hot minute! This was supposed to come out last month but a lot of things have happened since then. Would like to also say that WOW this chapter was hard to write, but I managed to pull through!

First of all, I joined the Riot Forge Zine as an artist. I'm still a little shy or hesitant to share my art account, but yeah I worked on an art piece for them. Alongside that I joined the LoL Pride Chibis event on Twitter, and I was ALSO busy trying to catch up to their deadlines. In addition to ALL THAT, I began a new job which I had to settle into, so yeah really busy couple of weeks.

I still wanna get this story done, and I'm not abandoning it. I am just very slow at writing and start a lot of writing and art wips. Anyways, enough excuses. Thank you very much for sticking around and reading my story!

(Also, what do you guys think of me starting a Twitter account for my Ao3? Eventually I would like to make my own art for my fics and that would link to my art account, but maybe I can have two separate accounts? I'm really bad at using social media, especially Twitter, but I would like to hear anyone's thoughts or opinions on this!)

Sett’s jaw drops as the Lunar Beast Ox Squad’s home base comes into view. A beautifully intricate tower stands in the center of the city, its pagoda rooftop and golden accents highlighting its impressive regalness and scale to the spectators below. He sees a few tourists taking pictures and posing in front of the entrance, and he suddenly realizes he’s one of the many lucky few who will have a chance to actually look inside.

Sett arrives on time, thankful that the headquarters is not too far from his hotel. After going through his entire closet with his mother, they decided on a simple button-down white shirt and scarlet slacks, with a black belt to match his shoes. As much as he hates sleeves, he’s decided to go with a scarlet blazer to finish off the look. He thought that maybe he’d try and do some last-minute shopping and look for a place willing to tailor him a fancier tuxedo, but Momma insisted that this classic combo is enough to, hopefully, look good enough for the Ox Squad.

As Sett approaches the entrance, he spots a blue-haired figure in the distance. He smiles, about to call out for his friend only to stop and stare in awe.

Aphelios was dressed in a dark blue hanbok, with the outer sleeves and silk belt colored white. The belt and the edges of the sleeves had gold embroidery, depictions of the lunar cycles etched into the design. The man smiles at him as he comes closer, and Sett notices subtle eyeliner and gold eyeshadow. applied to his face.

“Aphelios…” He says in awe. “You look incredible.”

Aphelios softly smiles, cheeks tinting pink as he types into his phone. Thank you. Alune helped me pick out this outfit.

“Well, she has good taste,” Sett compliments, then signals with his head towards the headquarters building. “Shall we?”

Aphelios holds a hand up, then types to his phone once more. Hold on. I would like to scout the area to make sure you weren’t followed. I do not want another reporter spreading misinformation around.

Once he finishes his reading, Aphelios takes a few steps back from him. With impressive strength, he jumps from the ground, landing on increasingly taller rooftops, scanning the area for anyone suspicious in sight. Sett can’t help but stare in awe every time he sees the man in action: even with fancy clothes on, he still manages to be agile and poised.

After waiting for a few minutes, Aphelios descends through the various rooftops and ledges until he reaches the ground. He gives him a thumbs up, then signals to follow him as they head towards the building entrance. Being with a familiar face doesn’t make the building any less intimidating with its golden, imposing doors towering over them both. There must be some ancient magic at work, since as soon as Aphelios approaches, the doors open to allow them to enter.

“Woah…” Sett utters as they step inside. Similar to the outside, the walls were red with golden depictions of what he assumes must be the history of the Lunar Beast. Different groups of people with horns are depicted fighting the beast, and his eyes trail through the various paintings until it ends with the titular beast sound asleep.

Although the temple had an entire past written on its ancient walls, it was clear that some modern altercations were added. As he follows after Aphelios, they approach a modern-looking elevator, styled to compliment the rest of the building. Both men enter, and Aphelios presses on one of the buttons in the middle, beginning their assent. The time in the elevator doesn’t help quell his nervous energy, so Sett decides to try and do what he does best: create conversation.

“This place is amazing. I mean, I’ve been to some fancy schmancy places before but nothin’ like this.”

Aphelios nods at him but quickly directs his gaze toward the elevator doors. It seems the man feels as tense as he does. He decides to leave it at that, squaring up his posture as he psyches himself up for his meeting with the Ox Squad.

Come on, you’ve got this, Sett thinks. You just gotta do a good first impression.

The elevator dings as it slowly comes to a halt. The two men exit to enter the main entrance that leads towards the expansive living room. He isn’t even two steps away from the elevator when Sett is immediately confronted by someone.

“Is that him?” His ears swivel to his left as he sees a pink haired woman with a suspicious smirk on her face approach the duo. “Name’s Sarah. How lovely to meet Aphelios’ new friend!”

He notices Aphelios staring daggers at Sarah from the corner of his eye, but nonetheless he waves an arm at her. “Yeah, it’s me. Name’s Sett. Nice to meet you. Uh, hopefully that article didn’t affect you all too badly.”

“We’ve had worse things written about us.” A familiar voice catches his attention, looking to his right to see a familiar white-haired man. “Jarvan the Fourth. We’ve talked on the phone.”

“Yeah, of course!” Sett shakes his hand enthusiastically. “I’m still grateful for the opportunity. I just had a conversation with your uncle and we’re all excited for the parade.”

“Glad to hear it,” Jarvan says with a smile. “Remember, rehearsals start next week so make sure you and your partner are prepared.”

Sett fights hard not to wince at that statement. However, he is saved from having to answer back when he sees the end of a glowing red sword aimed right at his face, making him jump slightly.

“I see the guest has arrived,” the woman holding the end of the sword states, looking at him with distrust under her red glasses.

Sett isn’t sure how to react to this situation as he stares down at the end of a lethal weapon. Aphelios, his savior, simply rolls his eyes as he raises his hand and carefully shoves the sword away from his face. He then does various hand gestures towards the woman with an exasperated look.

“Sett…” the woman narrows her eyes at him. “Is that really your name?”

“Uh, yeah,” he says nervously, outstretching his hand. “It’s uh, nice to meet you?”

She stares at him for a few seconds before deciding to lower her sword and put her hand in his, returning the handshake. “Fiora Laurent. You will remember that name, as I am the most powerful member of the Ox Squad.”

“Says who?” Sett sees another man, roughly around his size with a scar on his eye, approach the group. “I’m pretty sure we all know who’s really the strongest here. Do we need to have another rematch?”

Fiora simply rolls her eyes, flashing a challenging smirk. “You got lucky last time. However, I seem to remember having won thirty-seven duels to your twenty-six. But hey, who’s counting?”

Darius rolls his own eyes back at her, then directs his attention to Sett, outstretching his hand. “Darius.”

“Sett,” He replies, reaching for the man’s hand. This proves to be a mistake when his hand is suddenly crushed in a tight grip, causing him to wince slightly in surprise, ears lowering on his head.

“I’ve got my eye on you,” Darius says threateningly in a low voice. “We’ll see how long you last here. After tonight, we’ll know if you are really worth Aphelios’ attention.”

Darius’ teammates speak out in disapproval, with Jarvan and Fiora telling him to knock it off and Sarah sighing in displeasure. Aphelios watches nervously, looking to step in to break them apart if necessary.

However, Sett decides to rise up to the challenge. He furrows his brow and puts force into his grip, watching as his own arm flexes with strength. Darius’ eyes widen in surprise, then contorts into anger as he feels pain rise up in his arm. Eventually, he gives out and let’s go of Sett, taking a hold of his hand.

“I think I’ll be just fine,” Sett replies, his stare unwavering. Darius can only hum lowly in response, frown still present.

“If you’re done being childish,” Another member approaches him, this time a minotaur that towers over the entire group. “I’m Alistar. Thank you for accepting our invitation on such short notice.”

“Pleasure’s all mine,” He greets, mood improving at a friendlier greeting.

He then notices another person approaching him, who looks slightly familiar. Long white hair with a circular tattoo on her face, and a feminine hanbok dress. Suddenly, the pieces fall into place.

“Alune?” Sett asks, eyes wide. “Uh, it is Alune right? Aphelios talked about you a bunch. Wow, you look different from the hologram. Uh, it’s a good different! That is to say, that doesn’t mean you don’t look fine from the hologram but—”

Alune’s giggles stop him from digging his own grave. “It’s nice to see you again, and under better circumstances. By the way, how are your injuries?”

“Oh, don’t worry ‘bout it. I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve had worse fights. A little vastayan magic and they patch up in no time.”

Alune smiles in relief.  “That’s good to hear. And it looks like your outings with Phel turned out good as well.”

Phel, He thinks as his mind turns mushy. Another cute nickname to add to his list.

Sett nods at her, then notices some movement coming from behind the woman, her dress slightly shuffling. Alune, upon noticing said movement, looks somewhere behind her.

“There is someone here who would also like to say hello.” Alune says softly.

The woman reaches a hand towards her back, and a smaller hand reaches back. She leads the small figure’s arm towards her front, revealing an orange-haired little girl holding a teddy bear in her arms.

“…hello.” The girl says shyly, not quite meeting eyes.

Sett crouches down and tries to put a friendly smile on. “Hey there. The name’s Sett. What’s yours?”

“Annie…”

“Nice to meet you, Annie.” He points towards the toy in her arms. “Who’s that you got there?”

“Oh, this is Tibbers.” She looks at the toy with a smile. “He’s my best friend.”

“Nice to meet you Tibbers,” Sett then points towards one of the toy bear’s arms. “Can I shake his hand?”

Although Annie looked ecstatic at the proposition, using her hand to have Tibbers’ arm reach for him, he notices the energy in the room shifts. Everyone seemed to be intently observing his interaction with this teddy bear with varying degrees of uneasiness. Aphelios in particular seemed to be worried the most, a deadly stare directed at the teddy bear looking as if he’d fight him on the spot. Darius seemed to be trying to hide a smirk with his fist, as if waiting for something bad to happen to him.

He decides to ignore their stares and grabs onto the end of the bear’s arm with his thumb and pointer finger, his hand a bit too large to hold the entire thing. Apparently, their fears were correct as he soon learns Tibbers isn’t just a children’s toy. He feels a sizzle of fire simmering underneath the surface of the toy arm, the pads of his fingers heating up. Despite this, he does not let anything show on his face as he delicately shakes the toy bear’s arm, friendly smile still in place.

“Hehe, he likes you!” Annie smiles joyfully.

Sett isn’t sure how to feel about that as he lets go of the toy arm. He checks his fingers and sees slight burn marks over the pads. “He’s got quite the grip, huh?”

“Tibbers is super strong!” Annie exclaims as she swings Tibbers around enthusiastically. “One time, the Lunar Beast ate him, and he managed to beat him from the inside! He was like, woosh, woosh! And he burnded them!”

“It’s quite the story. Why don’t you tell him more outside?” Alistar says. “We should all start heading out towards our patio table while the food is getting ready.”

He hears mumbles of approval, and the squad members start to make their way through the living room towards the doors leading to the patio. Annie gives him one last wave and a smile, then reaches for Alune’s hand and starts to walk alongside her.

Meeting the Lunar Beasts up close was a weird experience from having just seen them on his mother’s phone. Even more strange was seeing them in fancy dresses and suits for the evening instead of their usual street gear. With a relieved sigh, he stands back up and is about to make his way outside with them until his right arm is suddenly held back.

Aphelios looks at him worriedly, then takes a hold of his right hand, the same one that got burnt. He inspects the pads of his fingers with a distressed frown.

“Hey, it’s fine.” Sett reassures. He uses his vastayan magic to relieve some of the pain, his fingers lighting up in a faint, yellow glow. The marks are still there, but the burn isn’t as bad as the pain starts to fade away.

“See?” Sett smiles at him. “Nothin’ to worry ‘bout, Phel.”

Aphelios’ head suddenly turns rapidly at him, eyes wide. However, he doesn’t say anything else as he pats his hand softly and follows after his team members.

Sett can only linger on the feeling of the man’s smaller hand in his.

 

---

 

Sett's eyes widen in awe at what awaited him outside.

A wide outdoor shrine looking over the entire cityscape, the sky bathed in a faint blue glow. Stairs decorated in that familiar pagoda style lead to the lower levels. The shrine itself was in the form of a flower bud, shining so brightly it illuminated the entire area. Weapons lined the front of the shrine, and Sett isn’t stupid enough to even attempt to try them out of curiosity. He watches as Fiora places her sword in the air on one of the circular pedestals, thankfully no longer useful at the moment.

He does, however, notice that the weapons he’s familiar with aren’t there. After their first encounter, he knows Aphelios has two red colored close ranged weapons, but he doesn’t see them among the ones in the lineup.

“Hey Phel,” Sett says after catching up to him. “How come your own weapons aren’t out here?”

Aphelios gives him another wide-eyed look, cheeks turning pink. He sees many of the squad members give him and Aphelios different degrees of judgmental stares. Sett is starting to think that particular nickname is more personal than he initially thought. Regardless, Aphelios taps on his sister’s shoulder to get her attention and does some hand gestures towards her.

“Oh, I can answer that,” Alune chimes in. “Everyone only has to carry one weapon on their person. However, our case is different from the others: Aphelios has five different weapons available in his arsenal, and it is my job to deliver them to him. The weapons are safely stored in my room, where I channel my powers to send them safely to his location.”

Sett’s eyes widen at that. “Wait, so you’re telling me you have three other weapons I haven’t even seen yet?” He smiles excitedly. “You gotta show me them sometime. Man, the more I learn about you the cooler you get.”

Aphelios looks off to the side while scratching the back of his head, but Sett manages to catch a faint blush on the man’s cheeks. Sett is about to chuckle lightly at him until he notices the other group members looking at him in varying degrees of approval and displeasure. He sighs, but nonetheless they continue down the various stars until they get to an outdoor eating area with a grand circular table with various stools around it.

They all seat themselves around the table. Jarvan and Fiora sit next to each other, with Sarah and Annie following after them. Annie brings Alune to sit next to her, which in turn causes Alune to bring Aphelios. Sett decides to take the safe route and take the opportunity to sit next to Aphelios. However, to his displeasure, he sees Darius take the seat to his right with an unimpressed look.

“Problem?” Darius challenges.

“Nope.” Sett flashes a wobbly smile back at him.

Alistar sighs and shakes his head. “I’ll go get dinner ready. Please don’t cause a scene while I’m gone.”

That causes banter between the Lunar Beast members, where most of them dismissively wave their hands at him or jokingly laugh that they won’t do anything. As the minotaur leaves, casual conversation is once again resumed.

“So, tell us more about yourself,” Sarah starts, putting her hands under her chin. “Where are you from?”

Sett is thankful for an easy opener. “Oh, I’m from Navori. It’s a few hours away from here and it’s not as big as this city, but I’d say it’s got its charm. I would recommend it if you wanna see beautiful sights of the mountains and the countryside.”

“So, you grew up in the country then? What was it like?” Alune asks.

Sett hums. “It was mostly fine, just me and my Ma doing our best.”

“Did you not have other family members around?” Jarvan asks.

To his left, he sees Aphelios get upset at his teammate, signing something at him in displeasure.

“Oh, my apologies,” Jarvan says, bowing his head. “I didn’t realize that question may have come as insensitive.”

“It’s fine,” Sett replies, instinctively scratching his cheek. “I trust Phel enough to talk about it. Vastayan families tend to be a little more… traditional. Let’s just say they didn’t take too kindly to my Ma marrying a human.”

Sett scratches the back of his head. “And uh, the humans in our hometown weren’t too nice either. They didn’t take kind to strangers when we moved there, let alone vastaya. Especially for me since I’m half-vastayan, they saw me more of a freak than anything. But me and my Ma make do. We minded our business and they… for the most part, minded theirs.”

That seems to sour the mood slightly, as most people give him looks of pity.

“Why?” Annie suddenly asks, confused. “I know one of the older kids at school who’s vastayan. He’s nice and we all play together. His aminal is a lizard! Or a chaneleon? Well, he’s not fuzzy like you are.”

“Annie, you cannot just refer to someone as fuzzy.” Alune scolds.

“But fuzzy is good! Tibbers is fuzzy too.”

“It may be seen as rude,” Fiora says. “Would you like it if someone made fun of your horns, or called you something like ‘weird bull girl’?”

Annie shakes her head, and the table dissolves into chatter, most of them feeling sorry for him and others trying to teach Annie. Sett isn’t offended. If anything, he finds the child’s honesty endearing. He’s mostly thankful nobody seems to mind his half-vastayan heritage, but that’s a given seeing how Aphelios reacted when he told him, and also the fact that the group houses a minotaur as their leader who’s treated with respect. His “fuzzy” ears, however, do slightly lower in self-consciousness.

He then feels a hand on left arm as he tunes out the conversation. Aphelios subtly tries to reassure him while listening into the conversation, and Sett couldn’t help his own heart from feeling fuzzy.

“So, Sett, how did you get so strong?” Sarah asks in a sickeningly sweet voice. “I mean, I’ve heard of gym junkies, but you seemed to handle a lunar wraith pretty easily. Aphelios was very impressed with your strength.”

If Aphelios had laser eyes, Sarah would have evaporated on the spot.

“Well, uh…” Sett isn’t sure he wants to go too deep into this topic. “I just happen to work out a lot, y’know?

“You mentioned earlier with Alune that you have been in worse fights before. Where exactly have you had these?” Fiora asks in suspicion.

Sett can’t help but sweat under her intense stare. Thankfully, he’s saved by answering the question as Alistar brings in a big tray, filled to the brim with food. Everyone’s attention goes to the various smells that waft through the air as the tray comes to a stop at their table.  

“Here we are,” He comes to a stop near the table. “Fiora, can you help me bring out the dishes?”

She nods her head and stands up to help her leader. As they get to work, the table is soon filled with delicious dishes: pork dumpling, egg rolls, kung pao chicken, sweet and sour pork, and spring rolls are placed at the center of the table. Gathering all the different foods and putting them on his plate, Sett digs in, although remembering his manners that his mother drilled into his head. He’s grateful for the opportunity for some reprieve at the dinner table.

“Man, this is good,” Sett compliments as he munches on a dumpling.

“Alistar is a very talented cook. His dumplings are simply divine.” Alune compliments.

The minotaur subtly smiles under the praise. As they eat, Sett can’t help but glance at his companion to his left. Compared to him, Aphelios serves himself a smaller amount of servings. He takes his chopsticks and tackles little bite sized amounts to his mouth. This, alongside the way he watched Aphelios jump around various buildings, Sett can’t help but picture him more like a cute bunny than a tough bull.

“So… Jarvan has mentioned that you will work for him in the parade as a lion dancer?” Alistar questions.

Sett nods fervently. Finally, a topic he’s passionate about. “Yeah! My Ma got me into it when I was little, and I’ve been going at it ever since. I mean, I don’t mean to brag or anythin’, but I’ve won my fair share of competitions over the years.”

Jarvan nods his head. “It’s true. His experience in the field has people praising his routines, and he’s been able to work with many different people.” Jarvan’s face changes as another thought comes to him. “Although, I’ve heard that your dance partner hasn’t arrived yet.” Jarvan says.

“Oh… yeah my… dance partner.” Sett chuckles awkwardly. “Uh… well I’ve worked with many people throughout the years and you gotta get used to big personalities y’know? Right now, I’m working with someone new, but they should be good enough for the parade.”

He says this, as someone with a big personality himself. Jarvan nods at him and they continue to eat, a comfortable lull entering the conversations. As other squad members drift off into their own conversations, Sett finishes his meal and pats his belly in appreciation. His ears swivel to his left as he hears a soft chuckle and looks at Aphelios as he covers his mouth.

“Oh?” Sett smirks. “What’s so funny, Mooncake?”

Aphelios shakes his head and looks off to the side. Sett is about to start and poke him to try and get some answers, until he sees many of the squad members give him funny looks, some with open mouthed stares as the food falls from their chopsticks. He’s confused at their reactions until he realizes he just called Aphelios a romantic sounding pet name in front of his surrogate family. He really needs to start thinking about what comes out of his mouth.

Shaking off their stupor, everyone else continues to finish their meals. Fiora and Alistar both come around to collect the plates and place them on the tray, clearing the table. As soon as they’re done, a sudden slam is heard to Sett’s right.

“I’ve had enough,” Darius suddenly says, who’d been quiet up until this point. “I don’t know if half of the stuff you’ve been saying is true, but we’re going to settle this once and for all.”

He aggressively slams his arm onto the table, startling the members who had been caught in their own conversations. All eyes turn towards them as Darius’ lifts his forearm upwards, hand open.

“Arm wrestle. Now.”

“Oh boy, here we go.” Sarah rolls her eyes, amusement in her tone gone.

“Darius, cease this foolishness,” Alistar commands.

“Usually I would just fight you, but out of respect, I’ll settle for just this.” Darius challenges.

Sett’s face sours and tries to placate the man who seems to have it out for him. “Look, I’m not going to entertain this. You might as well just—”

“What’s the matter? Not man enough to do it?” Darius interrupts. “You can stand up to a lunar wraith but not me? And here I thought you were more than just talk.” He smirks wickedly as he goes for the killing blow. “What does Aphelios see in you?”

That causes Sett’s eye to twitch, and he immediately slams his own arm on the table, hand open.

“Sett, you don’t have to do this,” Alune says.

He doesn’t respond, only harshly clasping his hand in the other man’s, accepting the challenge. Darius starts a countdown, and once it gets to the end, the competition starts. Both men’s arms flex, veins protruding as they try to bring the other’s arm down.

A tense stalemate occurs, the table shaking at any of their movements. Sett tunes out any conversation or cheers coming from the other squad members. He starts to feel his arm faltering as Darius gets the upper hand. The scarred man’s grin starts to grow as his strength begins to overwhelm his arm, the bottom of his hand getting dangerously close to touching the table.

Sett grits his teeth and looks off to his side in order not to stare at the man’s challenging smirk. His green eyes meet purple as his gaze locks on to Aphelios. As the younger man notices his stare, he gives him an encouraging small smile as he brings his hands slightly upwards in a shy cheer.

And Sett, just seeing Aphelios believe in him, is enough for his strength to return. He manages to slowly raise back his arm until he starts to get the advantage. Darius’ smirk falters as Sett glares back at him.

In a finishing move, Sett focuses his strength and brings down his arm, slamming their hands forward onto the table.

Sett lets out a relieved sigh as he tunes back into the wild cheers and teasing remarks coming from the Ox Squad members. Once again, he looks for his favorite member and sees Aphelios giving him a big smile. Heart beating with adrenaline, Sett smirks and looks back at Darius while letting go of his hand.

“Strongest member of the Ox Squad, huh?”

His lighthearted tone didn’t quite manage to land, since that causes Darius to shove aside the table harshly, tipping it over and causing a few plates and drinks to spill and crash on the floor. While everyone is startled, Darius grabs by his collar, and shoves him against the ledge of the patio.

“What are you really after?” Darius threatens.

Sett grits his teeth, peeking over the ledge and gaping at the intimidating distance to the streets below. He nervously hangs by the edge until suddenly, the weight on his neck is gone as Darius is harshly shoved to the side by Aphelios.

As Sett gets back his balance and takes a deep breath, he gauges his friend’s reaction. He looked furious, his eyes glaring daggers at the scarred man, who’s currently staggering backwards from the surprisingly strong impact of the push. He then glares at everyone else at the table, signs something lengthy towards them, then walks up to Sett and takes a hold of his hand.

Aphelios leads him away from the group, up towards the staircase to the doors to the living room. Although Sett wants to enjoy the feeling of the younger man’s hand in his once again, he can’t help but feel disappointment as he thinks about the implications of Aphelios’ actions.

He must have failed to impress the Lunar Beasts. Dinner ended with a pissed off Darius, alongside a ruined table and a messy floor. He didn’t get a chance to see everyone else’s reactions, but he’s going to assume they aren’t too happy with him either. His thoughts start to take a darker turn as doubts begin to cloud his mind. What was he thinking? Trying to get involved with a warrior superhero and perhaps start a relationship down the line. Maybe Darius had a point, and that he wasn’t good enough for Aphelios to begin with.

Sett’s frown deepens as they approach the elevator, stepping in once the doors open for them. If this is the last time they see each other, he might as well come clean and admit to his dance partner dilemma. He’d rather Aphelios hear it from himself that he will have to go back home to Navori as a failure, rather than from Jarvan. If he’s going down with the ship, he might as well be a man about it.

 

---

 

Aphelios was furious.

Dinner was going so well. The entire time, he was hoping, praying internally to the Bull God himself that the squad would act normal in front of his friend. It worked for the most part, although Sarah’s teasing and Fiora’s scrutiny were unnecessary elements. However, all it took was Darius to see something off about Sett and try to interrogate him in the worst way possible.

What could he have possibly seen? He knows that, surprisingly, Darius can be a good judge of character and can suspect when someone is hiding something. But wasn’t it just obvious that Sett was nervous the entire time? Aphelios could observe how his friend tried to hide it, but his expressions, and especially his ears, revealed too much. Aphelios knew whatever Sett was hiding must have been too personal for him to share, but Darius must have taken that as Sett scheming as he decided to completely ruin everything.

Aphelios sighs, holding in a frustrated groan as they stand in the elevator in silence, neither one having the courage to start a conversation after what happened. As the elevator arrives at ground level, he hears a familiar ding as the doors open. He leads them through the grand foyer and is about to open the golden doors to head outside until he hears Sett’s voice.

“Hey listen…” Sett starts, looking nervous. “I gotta be honest with you.”

Aphelios stops walking to look towards him, a frown on Sett’s face. He starts to assume the worst, given how awful today’s dinner ended with the squad, he wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to part ways and never see him again. Aphelios decides to try and mitigate the damage and type into his phone.

I am sorry about my team members. They can be too much at times and come off as rude or overbearing. I hope this does not discourage you from being my friend.

After Sett reads over his words, his eyes go wide in surprise and starts to panickily wave his hands placatingly. “No, no! That’s not it at all. In fact, I’m glad I met them. It just goes to show how much they care about you.”

Aphelios’ eyes widen a little at that. He’s glad that Sett isn’t mad at his team, but he’s still not sure how he feels about them as his family.

“I would love to still see you, Mooncake.” Sett says, his frown returning once more. “But, after what I gotta say I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t wanna see me.”

Aphelios doesn’t think that could happen at this point if he’s being honest with himself. He nods towards the half-vastayan man, urging him to continue.

“It’s just that…” Sett starts, looking off to the side and scratching the back of his head. He sighs, steeling his resolve as he looks back at Aphelios directly. “I lied. I don’t have a dance partner for the lion dance.”

Aphelios eyes widen. Out of all the things Sett could’ve told him he definitely wasn’t expecting that.

“I mean, I had a partner, don’t get me wrong!” Sett continues. “I even have the routine planned and everything. It’s just that he bailed on me last minute.”

Sett’s expression turns sour, eyebrows furrowed angrily. “That bastard did it on purpose. We weren’t really friends or anything before but at least I thought we were professional with each other. Turns out he wanted to get back at me for not letting him be the star of the show. Can you believe that?”

Aphelios can’t help but frown in frustration for his companion. He couldn’t imagine abandoning one of his own teammates, let alone his sister, in the same way. It makes him sick to his stomach just thinking about it.

“So yeah, that’s the gist of it.” Sett looks at him sadly. “I get how unprofessional this looks. I’ve been tryin’ to find a replacement for the parade these past few days, but I haven’t had any luck. Sooner or later I gotta talk to Jarvan about this. I understand if knowing this, and with everything that’s happened today, puts you off from seein’ me.”

And in that moment, an idea pops up in Aphelios’ head. It’s impulsive, and probably not the wisest decision given his duties to his squad, but he thinks he could make it work somehow. He decides to throw caution to the wind as he excitedly types his idea to a nervous looking Sett.

What if I become your new dance partner?

Sett was completely dumbfounded as he stares open mouthed at the blue haired man after reading his message. He wasn’t expecting anything other than a negative response, but this was beyond what he could’ve imagined.

“Well, uh…” Sett starts, face flushed. “Not that I am opposed to the idea! At all! It’s just that it takes a lot of time to learn the techniques, and we’d only have a few weeks to practice the routine I came up with. I’m not sure we’ll have enough time to go from the basics to the advanced stuff.”

Aphelios nods his head. I have gone through rigorous warrior training my whole life. I will put that same dedication to learning the dance.

Sett lets out a small smile at that, but it immediately sours. “I don’t doubt you’d be great at it, but there’s another problem.” He flexes one of his arms demonstratively. “I’m a pretty big guy, Phel. Since I’m gonna be the lion’s head, you’d have to be really strong to carry me over your head.”

Aphelios raises an eyebrow at that. He approaches the bigger man (pointedly ignoring the distracting muscles) and stares directly Sett’s eyes, who looks at him curiously. He then proceeds to purposely trip over the man with one kick to his legs. As Sett freefalls for a second, Aphelios’ arms catch him in time, carrying the larger man bridal style effortlessly in an act that, quite literally, sweeps him off his feet. He smirks at the surprised look at his friend in his arms and raises an eyebrow expectedly.

 

Beautiful fan art by @Yoleisha_Nibiru

 

“Wow, okay. Uh…” Sett’s face begins to burn red. “Well, uh… that settles that!”

Aphelios gives him a nod. He doesn’t carry around a gravity cannon and a giant flamethrower around for no reason.

He lowers Sett back on his feet and waits expectantly for answer. The man still looks flushed but now seems to seriously think on Aphelios’ proposition.

“You know what, it’s not a bad idea.” His demeanor seems to have gone from apprehension to excitement. “Yeah… we could schedule times to meet up. I’d have to send you the rehearsal times, but we can also schedule times to practice for ourselves. We’d have to figure out how our schedules would conflict and see what times we could meet.”

Sett nods to himself, smiling widely. “Yeah! I think this could work. If you’re willin' to dedicate your time to this, I think we’ll be able to do the routine on time for New Year’s.”

Aphelios nods his head vigorously. He really doesn’t want Sett to get fired and have to go back to his hometown if he’s able to help him.

Suddenly, Sett approaches him and wraps his arms him, bringing him towards his chest in a tight hug.

“Thank you, Phel,” Sett says, lowering his voice for only the two of them to hear. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

After getting past the initial shock, Aphelios shyly brings his own arms around the larger man. He knows that he’ll have to talk to his squad members eventually, but for once, he’s going to indulge in this moment. He quickly finds out that he feels comfortable in Sett’s embrace, closing his eyes as he shares this short time with him.

Notes:

This chapter now features artwork by @Yoleisha_Nibiru who gave me permission to feature their art in this fic. 

 

So funny story, this chapter was actually going to be longer but I decided to leave the second part as a separate chapter. That second part already has 2000 words so apparently I can't stop yapping LOL.

So some lore tidbits. I know that Sett lives in a city called Qayanvi in his Runeterra lore and that Navori is the entire province, but I decided to name it like that because the Firecracker promotional video has Teemo, Tristana, Xin Zhao, and Diana all heading towards that same location. I think having it has Navori keeps it vague enough that any of those champions can live there. Annie's classmate is Daani from Legends of Runeterra, an Oovi-Kat vastaya that is the same as Neeko's species. I mentioned Alistar cooking dumplings because his Wild Rift animation has him manning a food stand, so I thought he'd be passionate about cooking for his team.

Some other things. I kinda left everyone's outfits vague, but for Aphelios I chose to dress him in a hanbok. In the HEARTSTEEL universe, Aphelios and Alune are from Korea, so I thought it would be a cool nod to that. After some research, I know that hanboks are worn for more formal events, and I think a formal dinner counts (you could say he was trying to dress to impress). In addition, HEARTSTEEL Aphelios wears makeup! So I think this Aphelios would be comfortable wearing it as well. I pictured Aphelios' hanbok design to look like this, with the embellishments I wrote in the story. For Sett's outfit I decided to keep him in red so I imagined him like this.

And of course, the most important lore tidbit: Aphelios appears as Sett's lion dance partner in Firecracker Sett's splash art!

I think that's everything. Here are the links:

• Annie's classmate Daani (Manasoul Student)

• Lunar Beast | Official Event Trailer - League of Legends: Wild Rift

• Firecracker Sett Splash Art

• Link to artist's first version, where Aphelios actually has his horns

Works Cited:

• What is Hanbok: The Ultimate Guide to the Korean Traditional Dress

• Chinese Appetizer Recipes

• Chinese Main Dish Recipes

Chapter 8

Summary:

Despite dinner going horribly wrong, Aphelios still has to go to through with his scheduled patrol. He takes this as an opportunity to discuss with Alune some new matters regarding Sett.

Notes:

Hi! This is more of a part two to the previous dinner chapter so it will continue off from there. After that we should finally start heading into lion dancing territory (hopefully).

Thank you all for reading, I have also created a Twitter account which I will link at the end notes!

“… Aphelios. That seems like a terrible idea.”

Aphelios sighs, not surprised at the answer coming from his sister’s scratchy voice. After their dinner with Sett, he still had to go on his scheduled patrol for the night. Earlier in the day he thought it to be another inconvenience after anxiously thinking about their dinner throughout the day. However, after the turn of the evening’s events, he’s extremely grateful for the privacy.

He really didn’t want to be around the other members. When he returned to the living room floor after saying his goodbyes to Sett, there was a pretty loud conversation going on between his team members: their yelling could be heard the more the elevator approached the designated floor. As soon as the elevator doors opened, a hush fell over the room, all eyes directed toward him.

Aphelios then decided to default to his warrior personality: emotionless and indifferent. He simply alerted Alune that he would begin his patrol, changed into his Ox Squad gear, and left the rest of the team behind, ignoring their callouts towards him. In addition to not dealing with his squad members, it allows him to speak with Alune on a high secluded rooftop, with her having the privacy of her own soundproof bedroom. He dismissed her worries towards him, deciding to immediately talk about his plan with Sett; he doesn’t think he can hide anything from her at this point.

“Nobody has to know,” Aphelios signs. “I will still go to class and do my duties. I will just pretend my outings with Sett are just that.”

“Yes, because that worked out so well last time.” Alune rolls her eyes. “Aphelios, I do like Sett, but you cannot get distracted by him to the point that it will conflict with your duties to the squad.”

“But it won’t! I will make sure to go to every patrol, on time. I will still be faithful.”

“Aphelios, did you even consider your long-term plan?” Alune raises her voice, her frustration causing her orange hologram to flare up a little. “All of us, the entire Ox Squad, need to be present on New Year’s Eve monitoring the parade and keeping people safe. When that day comes, will you be there with us taming the Lunar Beast, or dancing on the sidelines with Sett?”

Aphelios’ eyes widen, suddenly feeling like the biggest idiot in Valoran City. He had completely forgotten about the Ox Squad’s duty on New Year’s Eve and didn’t take into account how their schedules might conflict. Their most important job, putting the Lunar Beast to sleep, usually fell on that that day. He had gotten used to his patrol schedule and working around it, overlooking how this month in particular is busier than ever.

“I might have forgotten about that.” He looks to the side, embarrassed.

Alune sighs. “I figured. Listen, it is not too late to cancel your plans. Sett will still have time to look for another partner, and we can focus on our own duties without any conflicting schedules.”

Aphelios shakes his head immediately. She wasn’t there when he talked with Sett. The man looked awful, extremely disappointed in himself for having to bring up his problems to him. In addition, Aphelios isn’t sure Sett will be able to find a partner on time, given that he’s tried already and failed. If he goes down the route that Alune suggests, and Sett doesn’t find another dancer on time, he will be fired and have to leave Valoran City, which is the last thing that Aphelios wants.

“I am going to do this,” he states with finality. “I don’t care if I get punished for it later. I will find a way to fulfill both duties, and I will not let our squad nor Sett down.”

Alune crosses her arms, eyebrows furrowed with a frown present on her face as the twins stare at each other. Despite her not being physically present, her fierce presence through the hologram alone would intimidate anyone. After a long moment, with neither party backing down from their makeshift staring contest, Alune’s expression softens.

“Well, if you are going to do this… I suppose you will need all the help you can get.” She sighs in resignation, letting her arms fall. “We will figure out a way to do both.”

Aphelios smiles brightly at her, jumping in place slightly as he signs “thank you” repeatedly. He would have given her a big hug if she were here with him.

“And for heaven’s sake, please just refer to him as your boyfriend already.”

And Aphelios immediately takes back all his gratitude from earlier, signing denials of “he is not my boyfriend!” back at her while she laughs at him. He knows she’s just teasing, but his cheeks can’t help but turn redder at the implications. He hasn’t quite figured out that part of their relationship quite yet, but he figures he still has time to work out his feelings.

As Aphelios glares at Alune’s laughing face, he suddenly notices something. Behind Alune’s hologram, through the slight transparency of her face, he sees something move in the distance on a building. He squints through the orange veil, observing a golden light coming from the rooftop of an old apartment building, a shadowy form silhouetted on the door to the rooftop stairway entrance.

“Phel? What’s wrong?” Alune questions as he sidesteps her hologram to see better. The shadow form moves, and Aphelios can observe it’s form more clearly: the rough shape of a man with what appears like horns on his head.

Aphelios eyes widen. He decides to spring into action as he jumps over his rooftop, parkouring over the various building railings and ledges. He knows his sister will follow after him, so his eyes do not move from the shadow, its form changing slightly as the light shifts. As he gets closer, he can make the shape a little better, and the form of the man’s form and horns starts to become clearer.

Could it be Jarvan? Aphelios thinks as he continues running and jumping. Did he need help? Is he even supposed to be on patrol? As he comes closer, he takes notices of one of the horns, looking slightly off…

Aphelios finally lands on the desired rooftop of the apartment building. However, as he looks to the source of the yellow light, he is disappointed to see it was just an old paper lantern. Although it looked roughed up, the candle inside was still lit. An old tree branch goes through the lantern, it’s shadow casting what appeared on the door.

“Phel,” He hears Alune catch up to him, her orange light reflecting the area. “What did you see?”

He sighs, turning around to sign towards her. “I thought I saw one of our team members up here, but it was just the shadow of this branch. The light reminded me of the same one our horns emit.” He points towards the light behind him. “I apologize, Alune. I did not mean to run off like that.”

Alune frowns, redirecting her gaze to her surroundings. Her hologram floats around, deciding to scout the rooftop, as well as the buildings nearby that may hold any clues. Although her spirit is good for that purpose, it can’t really stray too far from Aphelios, and eventually she returns to him.

“Well… I do not sense any lunar wraiths nearby. I only sense the presence of the Bull God, which usually means you.” Alune says, her spiritual connection stronger than anyone else in the squad. “But now I am not so sure. There was an instance where the presence was stronger, and that usually means another member is nearby. It was very faint, so I just assumed it might have been someone else who is on patrol come slightly closer than usual.”

Aphelios looks at her worriedly. “What does that mean then? Was there someone here after all?”

“Like I said, it could have been another member on patrol nearby. I believe Sarah is closest to us at the current moment,” Alune says, while once again nervously looking around her. “We can scout around this area just in case, but I did not see anyone, and it appears that the shadow form you saw was this branch as you said. I do not want to jump to any conclusions.”

Aphelios nods his head, agreeing that this is probably their safest course of action. He jumps over the rooftop and looks over every spot he can for the rest of his patrol.

 

---

 

Aphelios arrives at home base with no other distractions, landing on the patio area safely. He and Alune had no luck finding anything suspicious and decided to head back home with nothing to show for it (after putting out the lantern’s light in order to not cause a fire). His sister bids him farewell as she shuts off her connection to him, promising to meet him outside as is their usual routine. Alistar is waiting for him as he sits in one of the stools they sat in hours prior.

“Young Aphelios,” He starts. “About what happened earlier at dinner…”

Aphelios shakes his head, not wanting to talk about that at the moment.

“Never mind then,” The minotaur sighs. “Your report. And the full thing this time, please.”

Aphelios can’t help but feel sheepish at that last part, but nonetheless complies. “It was calm for the most part. However, during the end, I thought I saw someone on the rooftops. It was a distant silhouette of a man, and I thought it to be another Ox Squad member.”

Alistar’s aloof posture straightens up at that. He raises an eyebrow and urges him to continue.

“Alune and I decided to investigate, but when we arrived at the building, nobody was there. I could have sworn on the Bull God himself that I saw someone.” He shakes his head. “But the light that I thought was from our horns was just a lantern. It must have flown up to the building by accident. We scouted the area, and we did not manage to find anyone. Alune also said she sensed a faint presence of someone nearby, but she concluded it must have been Sarah on her own patrol.”

When Aphelios looks back to his leader, he expects to be given a gruff response followed by a dismissive wave that signals that he’s free from his duties. However, he sees Alistar’s face turn into one of anger and slight fear. As their eyes meet, the minotaur tries to reel in his expression, but the worry is still present in his eyes.

“Can you describe more the person you saw?” Alistar asks, trying and failing to mask his urgency. “Any distinguishing features from his shadow?”

Aphelios is surprised at his leader’s reaction, but nonetheless thinks for a moment, trying to recall anything he might’ve seen. Unfortunately, it was hard to tell from his memory. He thought the shadow of the man might have been Jarvan at first. There weren’t that many distinguishing features from the silhouette alone to distinguish who it could’ve been.  

That is, until he remembers the horns. When he thought the shadow’s silhouette was strongest, there was one detail he managed to catch.

“The man’s horns. I think one of them was broken,” he signs. “It looked as if it was sliced in half from what I saw in the shadow.”

Alistar doesn’t even try to hide his rage as nostrils flaring and arms flexing as if he might smash the floor in front of them. Aphelios hears a door open and sees Alune running toward him in a hurry. As she arrives, she opens her mouth to talk to their leader, only to notice the minotaur’s current state.

“Phel?” Alune asks worriedly. “Did you explain to him what happened?”

Aphelios nods, just as confused as she is. Eventually, their leader takes a few deep breaths and starts to relax. He opens his eyes and looks towards the twins, eyes unwavering.

“Young Aphelios, young Alune. You are both dismissed,” Alistar says.

“But wait, what happened? Do you know what we saw—”

“You are dismissed,” He repeats more forcefully. “And do not speak of this again.”

The twins look at each other nervously, but nonetheless they decide to bow respectfully and take their leave. They head up the various steps of the patio towards the living room.

“Do you think… there was actually someone there?” Alune signs so as to not be heard. “Someone we do not know?”

He frowns, then gives her a shrug, not sure how to answer.

 

---

 

As they enter the living room, the twins are greeted with the comical sight of someone sticking their head in their open kitchen fridge. As the door closes behind them, the figure bumps their head on the ceiling of the fridge, letting out a frustrated grunt, then sticking their head out to look at them.

“Aphelios is that you?” Darius’ gruff voice calls out, the man then continuing to look for something in the fridge. “Stick around. I need to talk to you.”

After all of what’s happened today, Darius is the last person he wants to talk with. However, he doesn’t think he has a choice in the matter: the man usually gets angry at people who don’t listen to him.

“Good luck. We can text more later,” Alune signs, giving him an encouraging smile as she escapes to her own room. Aphelios shakes his head, but nonetheless heads towards one of the empty seats in the couch as he waits for Darius.

The man eventually finds what he’s looking for, a can of soda, and closes the fridge. He sighs, then walks towards the couch and takes a seat next to Aphelios. Darius is about to nonchalantly open his can of soda until he sees Aphelios’ intense glare. He decides to put the soda on the table for now, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. Silence fills the dimly lit room, the only source of light coming from the kitchen. Aphelios can only continue to stare unimpressed as he waits for Darius to say something.

“Look,” Darius eventually speaks. “I’ve been excruciatingly informed that I may have… gone too far at dinner.”

Aphelios just gives him a deadpanned stare.

“Don’t give me that look!” He shouts, putting his hands on his lap as he leans slightly forward. “You know how I do things. If I see a threat, I confront it. You’re lucky I didn’t bring out the axe.”

Aphelios’ expression doesn’t change.

“Ugh, you know how bad I am at these things,” Darius sighs. “The guy probably wasn’t hiding anything serious, but he was still hiding something.”

“He already told me what he was hiding, and I can assure you it has nothing with learning our secrets or whatever evil thing you think he was doing.”

“What was it then?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Oh, come on, Phel.”

Aphelios gives him a hard look, which surprises the scarred man.

“What, so the guy you’ve met for a few days can call you Phel, but not me?”

Aphelios’ stare doesn’t waver. He crosses his arms to further point out his displeasure. Darius sighs, squaring up his should as he, for the first time today, looks at him with genuine regret.

“I’m sorry, Aphelios,” he says, bowing slightly towards him. “I was wrong, alright? I shouldn’t have done what I did, and I should have left the man alone.”

Aphelios looks at him for a long moment. Darius looks uncharacteristically nervous as he waits for the blue-haired man’s reaction. Eventually, Aphelios’ frown turns into a soft smile as he pats the man’s shoulder in approval.

“Oh, thank the Bull God,” Darius says as he lifts his head. “Don’t ever make me apologize for anything ever again.”

Aphelios snickers at him, sounding rougher due to his poor voice.

“With all that being said,” Darius cracks his knuckles. “If that bastard ever breaks your heart, I will get out the axe.”

Aphelios flushes, a familiar occurrence whenever anyone brings up his relationship status. “We really aren’t dating.”

“With the way he was looking at you throughout dinner, I don’t think that’s going to be the case for very long.”

Aphelios scratches the back of his head, embarrassed. In all honesty, with all this talk about his feelings, he hadn’t even considered Sett’s. He just assumed the man was friendly and outgoing, but maybe his intentions for him were specifically romantic. It’s times like these were he wishes he was more sociable in his life, so that he could have a better grasp at knowing how other people think.

“What do you think about Sett as my boyfriend? Be honest.” Aphelios signs, in a rare moment of vulnerability.

His question might’ve been impulsive, but Darius, despite his faults, is a good judge of character. There have been many instances of people trying to ingratiate themselves with the Ox Squad to learn their secrets, trying to steal their golden gemstone for money, or even attempting to become a squad member themselves. Darius is able to smell bullshit from miles away, and most of these scam artists run away with their tails between their legs once he interrogates them.

Although talking to Darius about his love life isn’t ideal, he at least wants to know how he really feels about Sett. His genuine question must’ve caught Darius off guard since he gives Aphelios a wide-eyed look. He then directs his stare towards the front, pondering on how to answer back.

“You know… I used to have someone in my life.” Darius eventually says, his comment seemingly spoken more to himself than to Aphelios. “So, believe it or not, I know a thing or two about relationships.”

Aphelios’ eyes widen in shock at that. Before he could interrogate him further, Darius his gaze back towards him. “At the end of the day, the guy isn’t so bad. He reminds me of Draven in a way.”

Aphelios has never been more personally offended in his life.

“Don’t give me that look!” Darius says, giving him déjà vu. “What I mean by that is that, sure, sometimes I want to punch that stupid grin off his face, but at the end of the day he’s my brother and I’m stuck with him.”

Darius sure has a way with words.

“My point is,” Darius brings his to hands together exasperatedly, “if you two ever go steady, then I will hold back on my aggression. You have good judgement on the battlefield, so I will trust you when you say this man doesn’t have any ulterior motives. If you’ve let him call you Phel, then he at least has to be somewhat of a good person.”

That’s as good of an answer as he’ll get, he supposes. He nods his head towards his teammate, then signs a quick “thank you.”

“That being said,” Darius says lowly, anger returning to his face. “I will punch him for that mooncake nickname next time I see him. Who does he think he is?”

Aphelios sighs, trying to calm down his teammate once again. Eventually their conversation continues until they decide to go to head back towards their rooms to go to sleep. Although Darius still tries to pry the reason why Aphelios lets Sett get away with calling him such things, he just tells him that Sett is just naturally a friendly guy.

And also, he doesn’t want to tell him he finds Sett’s nicknames endearing.

Notes:

Thank you all for reading!

So we got a conversation with Darius, and I imagined him to be like Aphelios' uncle in their team dynamic (whether you think he's the cool uncle or the lame uncle is up to you lmao). Darius' Runeterra lore is surprisingly pretty interesting, considering how he's all about being loyal to Noxus, and being their mighty general leading the Noxus army and being loyal to Swain, but there are instances where, when it comes to his family (ex. Draven), he starts to have some doubts, or at least it looks that way. I thought I would try to incorporate that side of him here, given that in his Lunar Beast skin description he is a core member of the team. Speaking of Draven, no hate to any Draven lovers here! I think his personality might've been too much for the Ox Squad to handle lol.

And yeah! I have set up a Twitter account. I will use it to give chapter updates and engage positively with people. I don't know how active I will be but I welcome anyone who wants to chat! I have made an introduction thread as well if you wanna read and get to know me better.

Thanks again! Here is some lore on Darius' past:

• Darius Blood of Noxus Comic

Chapter 9

Summary:

In which Aphelios begins his first lion dance lesson.

Notes:

HEY THERE HAHA guys DON'T look at how long it took me to update this fic :))))))

Okay in all seriousness, sorry for not uploading in a while. Believe or not this was meant to come out one month after chapter 8 was posted, but a lot of stuff got in the way. Whether it was me joining community events on Twitter, or just my brain not wanting to focus on this specific project, or other real life stuff in general, this took way longer than it should have.

Aurora's release also made me want to write another story, and luckily I managed to finish that. With that being said... the community event that I joined involved Star Guardians, so I literally binge read all their lore and the novels and am now caught up and now want to write for that universe oh boy...

BUT like I said, no matter how long this story takes I will not abandon it. I don't want to make promises on when it will be updated because my brain doesn't focus as it should, but I am going to try to lock in and work on this. Thank you all once again for your patience with me.

Aphelios felt better the next day. After his talk with Darius, the two are off on better terms, with Aphelios even giving him a friendly greeting in the morning. That seemed to trigger an effect on the squad as the tension in the living room lessens. Most of the squad members seemed apologetic about the whole ordeal the day prior, but Aphelios assured them he’s alright. Then the subject switched towards how they felt about his “friend”, which in turn caused Aphelios’ cheeks to flush in embarrassment.

“Tibbers thinks he’s funny,” Annie says while munching on her breakfast. “And if Tibbers likes him, then I like him!”

“Do not speak with your mouth full, Annie,” Fiora scolds. “But I will relent that, as suitors go, he is not as terrible as I expected.”

“That’s a high compliment coming from you,” Jarvan says with a chuckle. “He seems like a good guy. Glad I have someone like him on the parade.”

“I thought he was quite the looker,” Sarah teases, signature smirk on her face. “When can he come around again?”

As soon as Alune appears in the living room, he immediately grabs ahold of her hand, and waves off his teammates. He hears snickering as they make their way towards the elevator, and Aphelios pointedly ignores Alune’s own smirk directed his way.

Unfortunately for him, the two of them are now alone in the elevator, with no way of avoiding conversation.

“I think they really like him, Phel,” Alune says in a soft voice. “I don’t think you have to worry about them disapproving of Sett anymore.”

Aphelios doesn’t respond as he looks towards his shoes in contemplation.

 

---

 

As much as Aphelios would love to head towards Cloudfield Hotel, he is still beholden to the various duties throughout the day, which includes attending his university classes alongside Alune. Their schedules don’t quite line up today, so once they arrive on campus, they wave each other goodbye and head off to separate buildings.

This is where he currently finds himself in last class for the day, his digital musicianship class, trying to ignore the stares of the other students towards him. While Aphelios was used to this kind of treatment when he first arrived, the hype towards him died down after a while. It turns out the gossip article caused quite a stir, since he knows for a fact most of his classmates are dying to know more about his relationship status. Aphelios can’t help but stare at the clock on the wall, debating whether or not he should call it in for the day and leave his class early.

“Alright, class!” his professor shouts. “Before we all head out, just know that I’ve assigned the groups for the songwriting project. No, you won’t get to pick your teams. The groups have already been chosen randomly and the list has been put online.”

Aphelios can’t help but wince at that. A group project, of all the things that could’ve been assigned to him. He already had to juggle between the Ox Squad and Sett’s dancing practices, and now he has to schedule around another person entirely? Maybe this is one of those instances where he can skip the assignment, and it won’t affect his grade level too badly.

“And remember, this is worth 30% of your grade.”

And there it is.

“You will have plenty of time to work on it though! It should be done just before the Lunar New Year, before you all head off on your break!”

Wow, he just can’t catch a break today, huh.

“It doesn’t have to be a complete song, just a rough draft with what we have learned so far. The rest will be completed until the end of the semester.” He glances at his watch. “Well, that will be all for today. I would recommend using the time left today to find your group partner and get to know each other.”

The class disperses after that, with many looking to their phones or laptops to look for their names. He sees many crowding a black-haired girl who Aphelios recognizes as one of the actors for The Great Beast Galio play he and his teammates went to see a while back. Apparently, most of them are trying to become her partner due to her amazing singing voice and songwriting skills.

“C’mon, the professor didn’t say we couldn’t switch partners after. How about we work together, Songbird?” one of his classmates says, a punk looking girl with intense green eyes.

“No way! Work with me, Seraphine! My grade’s at almost 90%,” another girl says, her voice bubbly and bright.

“Guys, I’m flattered, but it says I’m already partners with Ben,” the actress, Seraphine, says.

Although he feels bad for her getting crowded, he is thankful that most of their attention has been redirected towards her instead of him. He checks his phone and heads towards his student portal to see who he could have gotten paired with. He can only hope that whoever it is, they won’t become obnoxious and start asking questions about Sett.

He finds the list and scrolls until he sees his name next to one Sona Buvelle.

Aphelios blinks, wondering if that last name means what he thinks it means. Before he could ruminate on it longer, he sees someone walk up towards the table he’s sitting at. He looks up to see a girl with long brown hair held up by two pigtails looking at him somewhat excitedly. He’s about to switch to his notes app to communicate with her until she raises both of her arms, her hand moving in familiar gestures.

“APHELIOS, right?” she signs, spelling each individual letter out.

Aphelios can only blink at her, dumbfounded. “Yes, that’s me. You know sign language?”

She nods her head, smiling. “Of course. I’ve had to learn it ever since I was born.”

He can’t help but smile back. “It’s nice to meet you. Are you SONA?”

“Yes. I wanted to exchange phone numbers so that we can start working on our schedules. Especially since you’re on lunar beast duty after all.”

He nods at her, getting his phone and opening it up to an empty contact page. They swap phones, and Aphelios types his contact information in.

“Scheduling might be a nightmare. My patrols are very busy this time of year. We would have to get this project done as soon as possible,” he signs, then hands her phone back at her.

“I understand. Since I will be playing music for the parade, I will also have to schedule accordingly.”

Aphelios blinks at that. “You are playing music for the parade?”

“Yes. I was given the opportunity to play for Valoran City on my etwahl.” Her smile turns sheepish at her next words. “Well, having your parents fundraise in the event does not hurt your chances to play on the big stage either.”

Aphelios couldn’t help but snort at that, which unintentionally caused most of the room’s attention to redirect towards him. Having seemingly remembered that they have one of the Lunar Beast members in their classroom, the students begin to whisper among themselves. Aphelios might be mute, but his hearing works just fine as he hears mumbles of people questioning his relationship status.

Sona notices his face starting to sour and looks over at the students gossiping between themselves.

“Maybe we can discuss this somewhere else?” she suggests.

Aphelios nods rapidly, wanting to get out of the classroom as soon as possible.

Afterwards, they both manage to set up a somewhat awkward schedule, but a schedule, nonetheless. He doesn’t mention the fact that he will be participating in the parade, given that it’s supposed to be a secret.

They part ways, and Aphelios heads towards the Cloudfield Hotel feeling a little more hopeful.

 

---

 

Sett paces around the hotel’s gym, trying to release the excess energy. He had set aside a space for them to practice, with heavy plyometric foam boxes places on the gym mat floor and a long pole off on the side of the wall. He had even brought in the lion’s head for his costume, just in case they reach that far.

He’s not sure why he’s getting antsy, but he can’t help but become nervous waiting on Aphelios’ arrival. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to mess this up. He worries that, despite Aphelios’ physical capabilities and his strength, it may not translate well into learning the dance.

He knows from personal experience. He’s been doing this since he was a kid, and it took him years of experience to get the jumps right, to do the bows of the lion head properly, to make sure he doesn’t fall from 20 feet in the air.

He keeps checking his phone, both on the time and if he receives any text message, of any change of plans. Suddenly, the doors to the gym room open as the person he’s waiting for shows up. A smile starts to grow on Sett’s face as he lifts his arm to wave at the man, only to stop once he sees his appearance.

It should not be cute. He is just wearing sweatpants and a short-sleeved shirt. He himself is wearing a tank top with gym shorts. And yet, even with casual gym clothes, he can’t but be charmed, a slight flush coloring his cheeks.

“Hey, Phel,” he greets with a smile. “Glad you could make it.”

Aphelios smiles and waves at him. Sett leads them towards the room he’d set up their training.

“Alright, before we begin, I wanna say a couple of things first,” he starts. “Lion dancing has been a tradition for centuries. It symbolizes power, wisdom, and superiority, and people have performed the dance in order to bring good fortune and to chase away evil spirits. It’s important to me, to my Ma, and the organizers of the festival, so it’s important that we get it right, you understand?”

Aphelios nods his head, then points towards his horns.

“Right, you’d know all ‘bout the importance, so I won’t drone on ‘bout that. Just wanted to make that clear is all. You wouldn’t believe the partners I’ve had that don’t pay attention to this stuff.”

He nods his head, determination in his violet eyes.

“Okay! So, I think we just gotta start from the basics and go from there.” Sett reaches for one of the plyo boxes, and places it on the long mat covering most of the area of the gym. “I’m gonna give you a series of challenges to see what level we’re at and what we need to improve on.”

Aphelios nods his head and smiles at him and jumps a little in place excitedly.

Sett really has to focus, or his partner’s cuteness is going to be a problem.

He begins to instruct on the first challenge, which is quickly jumping up and down the plyo box thirty times. Aphelios is a little jarred by the sudden action at first, but quickly gets the hang of it as he rapidly jumps up and down with ease. The next challenge is holding the plyo box above his head for about two minutes. Aphelios, already having proved his strength by carrying Sett, has no problem with carrying the box steady with no sign of weariness.

“Alright. Now you’re gonna get in a horse stance.” Sett demonstrates by crouching and separating his legs in a wide stance. “You’re gonna get in this position and balance a pole on your legs.”

Aphelios nods and does as he’s told, adjusting his stance. Sett observes for a moment, until an idea pops into his head. He smirks as he approaches the blue-haired man, placing his hands on his hips.

“More like this, Mooncake,” he says, crouching slightly to adjust his posture and maneuvering his hands to move Aphelios’ legs. He keeps at it until his stance is just right. “There we go. How’re we feelin’?”

Aphelios doesn’t look him in the eye but nods his head. If the slight pink on his cheeks is anything to go by, he would say his goal in flustering the man was accomplished.

Sett then shakes his head at being distracted once again by the cute man. He needs to get them back on track, given that they barely have any time to practice as it is. He heads towards his equipment grabs ahold of one of the poles he had brought and goes back to where Aphelios is holding his position steadily.

“Alright, you’re gonna try and hold this pole on your legs for as long as you can,” he says, placing the pole on top of his thighs. “Starting now.”

Sett has to admit despite witnessing the incredible feats Aphelios had shown up until this point, he didn’t expect him to get the hang of things so easily. Aphelios once again proves to him how strong he is, holding the pole on his legs for a set amount of time. A few minutes pass before he notices the first signs of wobbly legs on the man.

“Alright, that’s enough for now,” Sett says, taking the pole off of him. Aphelios falls flat on his back and lets out a satisfied sigh.

Sett chuckles at him. “How’re you feeling? D’you need to take a break?”

Aphelios shakes his head, his determination unyielding. He immediately gets back up and looks expectantly towards Sett.

“Alright, alright. I get it.” Sett scratches the back of his head. “Well, the next challenge is a big one. We’re going to transition into the partner stance.”

This was it, the dealbreaker. If they couldn’t get this technique down, then Sett is going to have to start his search all over again.

“Now this is important, Phel. While you’re in horse stance, I have to stand on top of your legs. You’ll have to hold me steady for as long as you can. This is necessary for a lion jump.” He rubs Aphelios’ shoulder, wanting to reassure the man. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m a big guy. If it’s too much, just tell me and we’ll stop.”

Contrary to what Sett wanted, Aphelios seemed to take this as a challenge. Sett can’t help but frown, not sure if Aphelios will be able to hold his weight. The last thing he wants to do is to harm him.

Sett ties a sash around his waist and brings the large plyo box in front of where Aphelios is standing. As Aphelios adjusts himself and gets into horse stance, Sett steps on top of the box and turns around.

“You’re gonna grab onto the sash and hold me steady, alright?” Sett says nervously. “I’m gonna step on top of your legs and you’re gonna hold on to me for as long as you can.”

He hears a grunt behind him which he assumes must be one of approval. Shaking of his nerves, he looks behind him as he carefully steps on Aphelios’ thighs. He immediately feels Aphelios’ legs dip from the sudden weight but corrects himself as he tries keeps his horse stance steady, his arms holding onto the sash around Sett’s waist strongly. Aphelios’ movements slightly shove the plyo box away from them, giving them slightly more breathing room.

Aphelios holds him close, his legs shaking while trying to keep them steady. Sett feels himself relaxing slightly as he thankfully didn’t immediately crash on top of the other man. Still, his nerves don’t settle completely as he feels Aphelios’ legs start to become wobbly.

Sett decides in that moment to finally dismiss his fears.

“You can do it, Phel,” Sett says, deciding to encourage him. “I believe in you.”

That seemed to do the trick, as he feels himself standing on firmer ground. Although he can hear the tired breaths of his companion, he decides to let him push his limits as he fixes his posture and holds onto Sett steadily. They stay like that for a long time, and Sett regrets not starting a timer to count how many minutes have passed. However, he’s still impressed at how long he’s been able to keep this up despite being a newcomer to the field.

Eventually, after what felt like hours, he starts to feel Aphelios’ legs wobble. This time, he decides to make the decision for them.

“I think that’s enough, Phel.” Sett says, making a movement to step off from his partner.

Unfortunately, he did not account for how adamant Aphelios was to keep his hold on him to prove his strength. He feels the hands around the sash of his waist tighten, which unbalances his stance making both dance partners wobble until eventually crashing on top of each other.

Sett grunts in pain, feeling his body being cushion by another. He immediately panics and scrambles around to get his weight off of his companion. He maneuvers himself to be hovering over Aphelios, who currently has his eyes closed and is holding his abdomen in pain.

“Are you okay, Phel?” Sett asks, bringing a hand towards his face to check for injuries.

Aphelios opens his eyes at the touch, and he immediately gives him a wobbly smile and brings his hand over for a thumbs up.

“Okay, good,” Sett says, relief flooding his features. “Look, you’ve proven yourself strong enough to do this, but I think we should take a break for now.”

Aphelios doesn’t seem to want to agree, but nods his head, nonetheless. As the moment goes on, they both stare at each other, and Sett realizes how their positions look, how close they are to one another. He immediately notices Aphelios cheeks start to pinken the longer they look at each other and is it his imagination or are their faces getting closer—

“Heyo Sett! We decided to stop by and—oh.”

Sett immediately pulls himself away from Aphelios in a panic, falling backwards on his behind. Flustered, he looks over to the gym entrance to see none other than his nosy friends at the entrance. Tristana and Teemo have smug looks on his face while Xin Zhao raises an eyebrow at him.

“Are we interrupting anything?” Tristana says with a smirk.

“Yeah, Sett. Was this what you meant when you were going to exercise?” Teemo says, which leads to both yordles covering their mouths trying to stifle their giggles.

“Alright. Get your minds out of the gutter.” Sett rolls his eyes. He picks himself up, and immediately walks over to Aphelios and reaches a hand to help him up. Aphelios takes him up on his offer, but his flushed face can’t seem to look at Sett in the eye.

“Aphelios, it is good to see you again,” Xin Zhao says, walking up to the young man. “My travels have not given me an opportunity to check up on you. How have you been?”

Aphelios looks over at his voice, and immediately a smile graces his features (which Sett can’t help but appreciate). They both greet each other with a handshake, and the younger man begins signing which Sett must assume must be an answer to the man’s question.

“How has Jarvan been?” Xin Zhao asks, fondness leaking in his voice. “In charge of the parade once again I presume?”

Aphelios signs once again, although this time he sassily rolls his eyes.

“Of course, he has,” Xin Zhao chuckles to himself.

“So, Aphelios,” Sett begins. “You’ve already met Xin Zhao, but these are… my very close friends.” It felt weird to say it out loud after all this time. After having such a rough childhood, he wasn’t used to having this many people that care about him in his life.

“I’m Tristana, fireworks expert at your service!” Tristana says, walking up and enthusiastically shaking Aphelios’ hand. “It’s nice to meet you!”

Aphelios crouches down slightly to return the favor, smiling at her.

“Captain Teemo on duty!” The other yordle walks up towards them, sticking his hand out to the blue-haired man. "Er, sorry. That’s what my nephews and nieces call me. Just Teemo is fine.”

Aphelios reaches is out towards his paw and shakes his hand. He then looks over to Xin Zhao and signs towards him.

“Oh, he asked me to tell you that it is nice to meet you both.” Xin Zhao translates.

“So, what are you guys doing here, anyway?” Sett asks.

“Well, we were all going to eat dinner together again, as per your mother’s request.” Teemo explains. “But, after trying to get in contact with you for a while, she asked us to go and check on you. She mentioned you were doing exercises here.”

Sett winces. He had put his phone on silent and hadn’t paid any mind to it since his focus was on training. “Oh yeah, sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry about it. I think we all understand why you were distracted,” Tristana says slyly while unsubtly looking at Aphelios. Sett then gives her a stink eye in return.

“Well, I believe that this can be a wonderful opportunity,” Xin Zhao says. “Why don’t you join us, Aphelios?”

Aphelios stares at them for a moment, but eventually nods his head. The two yordles immediately cheer, each one grabbing ahold of one of Aphelios’ hands and dragging him along.

“Come on then! I’m starving and I wanna order as soon as possible!” Tristana says.

Aphelios looks over at Sett for help, but is then pulled away towards the gym entrance, the three of them leaving. Xin Zhao just stares at him.

“What?” Sett asks.

“Sett…” Xin Zhao’s face sours as he stares at him. “What exactly were you doing to Aphelios before we came in?”

 This was going to be a long night.

Notes:

This story is based a little of my own university experience. I've taken some music production classes, and one class that involved visuals with music which had me work in a group project with someone else. I like to imagine the layout of my university when I write Phel and Alune walking around to their classes...

Also, the two finally started to practice the lion dance, and I have an extensive works cited prepared for the research I've done. Their training is mostly based off of one YouTuber who thankfully recorded how he started to learn the dance, so a lot was based off of that video.

Also me loving to add any Lunar Revel skin lines in this story, I decided to mention Seraphine, who of course would take the same music class as Phel. As for Sona, all will be shown in due time.

Thank you all for reading! Here are my notes:

The Great Beast Galio is based off the Storycraft (Mythmaker) Skinline.

Seraphine's classmates.

• The Zaun Diva was the punk girl.
• Fanclub President was the bubbly girl.
• Ben is from Seraphine's K/DA Comic.

Works Cited for Lion Dancing

• Malaysia Has Turned Lion Dancing Into a Gravity-Defying Extreme Sport
• Lion dance (Wikipedia)
• Chinese Lion Dances: What Is It and What Does It Symbolize?
• About Lion Dancing.
• World Dragon and Lion Dance Day Parade 2023 ~ San Francisco Chinatown
• Chinese New Year 2019 Lion Dance, Hong Kong
• Youtuber series
  • Surviving 30 Days of IMPOSSIBLE Lion Dance Training 2024
  • I Trained Lion Dance for 30 Days Straight