Chapter Text
“Keep your head tipped forward, Lane, the bleeding will stop soon.”
“Not my first nosebleed coach,” Vi mumbles as she pinches her nose, feels blood dripping past her lips, watches as it puddles in the grass. “Fuckin’ bitch,” she mutters quietly, eyes surveying the field again. Ramona blows Vi a kiss and she has to resist the urge to flick her off, annoyance festering deep in her chest. The taste of copper fills her mouth so with a groan she spits into the growing pile.
“She really has it out for you today, huh? What'd you do this time?” Sevika mutters, digging through the medic pack to pull out gauze and alcohol wipes. She passes them over to Vi who spits again, using the gauze to plug her nose while she wipes her chin with the wipes, making sure to keep her head tilted forward.
“I didn’t do shit, I just asked her to stop fuckin’ talking to me, and apparently that’s asking for too much.“ Vi spits, wincing as a pang flashes across her eyes, a headache threatening to form. “I’m telling you coach, you gotta ban shimmer, it does something to these girl–”
“What you kids do in your free time is none of my business, Lane. Can’t do anything about it, half of you are adults. Shimmer hasn’t been proven to cause any physical advantages, it’s not bannable from the league.”
“No, it just makes them into crazy fucking roaches who don’t know when to disappear,” Vi mutters, removing the gauze to gauge her noses bleed. It’s still steadily streaming so she places it back, beckoning towards Sevika for a second roll. “Can’t you bring it up to the board or something?”
“You think I haven’t tried? It’s mostly an Undercity problem, they don’t care enough to make any rules against it. Get some Topsiders hooked on the shit and then maybe you’ll find some results, but ‘til then kid, you gotta play nice.”
“Me?! She’s the one who just decked me!”
“She did not deck you.”
“Then what would you call it?”
“Playing soccer with your ex,” Sevika says evenly, leveling Vi with a knowing look. “I can make her run two laps around the field, but you know it’ll just piss her off even more.”
Vi scoffs with a roll of her eyes. “Please don’t. I don’t need anymore of her crazy, not after this,” Vi says, motioning towards her face. “Can I just go home,” Vi sighs, spitting again.
“You go home, you don’t get to play tomorrow’s game, you know the rules.” Vi groans, wiping her nose roughly as the bleeding stops. She looks up, watches the cloud float by, trying to make out images in the shadows like she used to do when she was a kid with Powder, when that was all they had for entertainment, but all she can see is Caitlyn’s eyes in the color of the sky.
“I think my girlfriend is avoiding me,” Vi eventually admits with a sigh, dropping her head to watch the blood glisten in the blades of grass between her cleats.
“What makes you say that?” Sevika asks as she pulls her carton of cigarettes from her pocket, shaking it so one pops out before she takes it between her lips and lights it.
Vi shrugs a shoulder as she pulls her phone out of her duffel. No new notifications. She sighs, dropping her phone before getting up to throw out the soiled gauze. “It’s in the way she’s not texting me, her half ass responses when she does. I haven’t seen her for twelve days, not that I’m counting. She always has some excuse, that something came up or that she has to go to some event with her family. I can't be sure but I'm like, ninety- nine percent sure that Mylo got to her. Man, I knew she wasn’t asleep that night he wouldn’t shut the fuck up.”
“Have you considered maybe she’s actually just busy?” Sevika asks around a smokey exhale, crossing her arms over her chest as they watch the team practice out on the field.
“No, she always makes time for me,” Vi says with a shake of her head, certainty in her tone. “Think I’m gonna head over tonight, see what’s what. Maybe I can get her out of her own head…. I don’t know, I just want my girlfriend back.”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, I hope you can figure it out. I can see it in your game play, your head is not fully in it and we need you on your A game for tomorrow’s match. We’ve only got four more games left of the season, and we don’t want you choking when you go against your girlfriend and her team again.” Sevika claps her shoulder, motioning towards the field. “Now, come on. Buck up and stop pissing off your ex.”
“Pfft. No promises,” Vi mutters, making her way onto the field.
Sweat beads down Caitlyn’s temples as she drops down into a squat, feels her thighs and calves burn as she shoots back up, arms reaching for the beating down sun. Practice ended well over an hour ago but Caitlyn can’t bring herself to go home yet, can’t bring herself to be alone with her thoughts. So instead, she’s in the sports dome that the city finished constructing the week previous, is busy working out her nerves and otherwise avoiding reality. She finishes her set of squat jumps and puts her arms up, hands cradling her head as she catches her breath, shaking out her legs to relieve the burning in her calves and thighs while a stitch pinches her ribs with every breath.
She’s reaching down to pick up her water bottle when her phone dings Vi’s personalized chime, making Caitlyn wince as she feels her heart skip a beat. Her anxiety spikes as all the things she’s been avoiding, trying so hard not to think about, come down on her. It’s been two weeks since she last saw Vi, has been effectively avoiding her sans their daily text conversations ever since their last night together that ended with Caitlyn leaving her bed before the sun rose.
Every time she pictures Vi she’s washed in a wave of anxiety, of misplaced guilt. She can’t bring herself to see her, the same way she can’t shake this feeling, this gnawing that tells her maybe Vi deserves better than what Caitlyn can give. She feels like a burden, a constant reminder that her city, her mother, are part of the reason Vi and the rest of her adoptive siblings are orphans.
Caitlyn’s nose burns as her sight goes blurry. Blinking rapidly she sniffs, forcing her emotions back in as she readies herself to run around the track that surrounds the field. She doesn’t know how long she runs for, just knows that by the time she’s finished she’s drenched in sweat, the sun on the cusp of setting, having disappeared from view from within the dome entirely. She gathers her things into her duffel, ready to make the drive home when her phone dings again.
She ignores it like everything else as she marches through the doors, her car the only one left in the lot. The first thing she does once inside is turn the music on so loud she can nearly feel her teeth chatter with the beat.
The drive is relatively uneventful, slow moving. She takes the longest way possible, dragging the drive home out an extra fifteen minutes with all the detours. As she pulls into her driveway a full body sigh escapes her as she lets her forehead sit against the steering wheel. She taps along to the music, waits for the song to end before she turns off the car, the silence following nearly deafening.
She somehow manages to avoid an encounter with anyone, not even the maids as she makes her way towards her room. Once inside she immediately locks the door and sinks against it, can feel her legs scream against the movement, but she relishes in the pain as it gives her something to focus on that isn’t her jumbled thoughts.
Eventually she finds the strength to stand and take a much needed shower. She puts music on again, lets it carry her through the bathroom as she opens the hot water valve so that it’s near scalding. She goes through the motions, gets herself clean, imagines herself washing away the grit of guilt off with each cleansing drip drip drip of the cascading water, but in the end she comes out just as she went in; guilt ridden and sorrowful.
She’s stepping out of the bathroom, is in nothing but a towel when she hears knocking coming from her window. She continues toweling her hair as she approaches, her heart in her throat. She knows it’s Vi before she opens the curtains, no one else would bother coming in this way. She unlocks it and tips it open, turning away before Vi climbs her way in.
She takes the towel she was using to dry her hair and throws it over her free standing full length mirror, wanting to hide from herself. Caitlyn hears the sound of something heavy dropping, assumes Vi’s brought her duffel and backpack. Vi’s arms come around her middle, lips brushing along the nape of her neck that sends a goosebumps inducing shiver through her.
“Vi, what are you doing here?” she mutters, turning her head slightly to peek at Vi through her peripherals, can’t deny how much she’s missed this, missed this feeling, missed her. But then guilt trickles in the cracks, suffocating, tainting her emotions.
“What am I– cupcake, do you have any idea how much I've missed you?” Vi mutters into her skin, lips brushing along her neck with every word. Caitlyn can't help the way she immediately settles back into her arms, back flush to the front of her body. “Gods, I’ve missed this,” she says, nosing along Caitlyn’s hairline with a hum, sending another series of tremors through her that immediately settles in between her legs. “Lavender and honey, fuck, it’s been too long.”
A beat.
“Why have you been avoiding me?” Vi barely says it above a whisper as she lays her forehead against the back of her neck.
Caitlyn tenses, tries to pull away but Vi holds fast, her arms going tight around her middle. “I haven't–”
“Don’t bother lying,” Vi interrupts. Caitlyn opens her mouth to deny it again, but the finality of Vi’s words makes her pause, words stuck in her throat. She tries to swallow them back down but her throat gets tight, the words melting together until it becomes a ball, stuck. Soon her lips are trembling and her nose burns, eyesight going blurry.
Stop it.
She clears her throat, tries to swallow down the still forming lump but it stays lodged. She opens her mouth to take a breath, hoping it’ll get it to drop, but instead of falling it jumps up as a sob escapes her. She covers her mouth, bites the meat of her palm as she fights it, fights the incoming wave of guilt that threatens to drown her, but Vi only sighs knowingly, placing a kiss against her neck before she lets go of Caitlyn to circle her around. She hugs her, pulling aside her still shower damp hair to press a single kiss to her shoulder, her neck, jaw, cheek, pulls Caitlyn’s hand away to meet trembling lips. She sighs again as she pulls away.
“You were awake, weren’t you. That night,” Vi murmurs, bringing a hand up to cup Caitlyn’s face, thumbs sweeping away tears. Caitlyn looks up towards her ceiling and blinks, feels hot heavy tears escape through her lashes and she hates herself for it, hates that way she’s crying, being consoled, as if that’s what she deserves. She bites her lip as she starts to shake her head, trying to find words. But all she can think to say is:
“I’m sorry,” barely a breath, but enough to make her body shake.
“What are you apologizing for?” Vi utters, genuine disbelief in her voice. “Caitlyn, nothing Mylo said is true, nothing, do you hear me?”
“Except my mother was part of the council during the insurgency. Do you know what that means? There’s blood on our hands, we’re the guilty party, that we’re to blame. He's right,” Caitlyn says around the lodged lump, nearly choking on it as another sob racks her body, her eyes downcast. Vi moves to lay her hands on her shoulders, head bobbing down until she can get Caitlyn to look at her, until she knows she’s being heard.
“Cait, she wasn’t responsible for that entire night. You want to talk about blame, guilt? No one blames themselves for that night more than Vander, no one. He’s the one who led the charge, he’s the one who gathered the Lanes, the whole of the Undercity to fight, and we lost, but it still isn’t his fault. Enforcers fought back, enforcers killed my parents. They were under Greyson’s command, even I know that.”
“But–”
“Stop, stop, stop ,” Vi throws her hands up, crossing them in front of her body before she takes a step back and starts pacing with her head in her hand while her other hand sits on her hip. “There are no but's, it’s the truth, it’s the reality. My parents died to enforcers during a failed raid.” She turns on Caitlyn, hands on her hips. “Want to hear the whole truth? Because I can give it to you.”
“Violet–” Caitlyn says around a sigh, shoulders dropping, but Vi barrels on, continues pacing.
“Mylo’s mom died from an untreated lung infection. They were too poor to afford care after they lost their jobs in the mines due to Hextech, and then his father died from heartache soon after. Claggor lost his in a coal mining accident from faulty Hextech equipment. Ekko’s mother abandoned him as a baby, left him in front of Benzo’s shop with a note that she couldn’t afford to take care of him anymore, was probably a victim of the shit air quality we deal with from the factory smog. How is any of that your fault, how is there ‘blood on your hands?’” Vi finishes, rounding on Caitlyn again.
“Are you hearing yourself?” Caitlyn nearly yells, a waver in every word she speaks. “Who’s to blame for all of that? Topside, Topside, Topside. Everything that has caused you and your siblings grief is because of us . How can you still look at me, this, this person of such immense privilege, of no hardships, a Topsider and still tolerate me? I can barely look at myself knowing what we’ve done to you all.”
“That because you’ve done nothing! And what do you mean, tolerate, I don’t tolerate you, I love you!”
“But–”
“No, no but’s, there are no but’s. I love you because you are more than some ‘privileged rich kid from Topside.’ You’re kind, compassionate, brilliant, generous, honest, passionate, dependable, confident, and so many other fucking things I can’t even begin to name them all because I could be here for hours, days just telling you how much you’re worth loving.”
“But–”
“Say but one more time,” Vi nearly cries, crossing the room to grab Caitlyn by her arms. “Caitlyn Kiramman, I love you. No and’s, or’s, if’s about it. You and your family are not to blame for every single misgivings my family has endured. You are not something that needs to be tolerated, I love you, let me love you,” Vi begs as she closes the distance between them, taking Caitlyn’s face in her hands, commanding the kiss, and Caitlyn kisses her back but her lips are tainted in doubt. Vi can taste it, hates the way it coats her lips. With her thumb on her chin she coaxes Caitlyn’s mouth open, lets her tongue sink inside, determined to remove all the doubt, the guilt, the blame that Caitlyn is trying to drown them in.
Vi can feel Caitlyn hesitate to touch her, her fingers a ghosting touch along her arms, afraid to touch. “Caitlyn, fucking touch me,” Vi breathes before descending again, her own hands touching, grabbing, pulling her in. Caitlyn hesitates again and Vi outright groans an annoyed sound, deep in her chest as she grabs Caitlyn’s towel and tugs it off.
Caitlyn gasps at the chill that runs through her body, her hair still dripping down her back. She pulls her hands away, tries to take a step back but Vi only steps with her. “Vi, I don’t think–”
“That’s your problem, you’re over thinking, stop thinking, just stop, stop,” Vi whispers as she tears her shirt over her head, chest bare underneath. She reaches to take Caitlyn’s face in her hand while she works through her belt with her free hand. Caitlyn's hands ghost over her skin, slowly making their way down Vi's abdomen, towards her navel.
“Vi–”
“Stop thinking.”
“No, Vi, let me,” Caitlyn mutters between them, her hands moving to work Vi out of her belt. Vi smiles into their kiss as Caitlyn pushes away at her pants, underwear being removed in one fell swoop. Vi kicks away at them, stepping along the hem of her jeans to pull them off. Caitlyn’s starts to tug at Vi, stepping back towards her bed until her knees hit the edge.
Vi immediately goes to spread Caitlyn’s leg to settle in between them as they fall, her hands skating up and down the expanse of her thighs as coarse hairs scratch along her abdomen. “Cupcake, sit on my face,” Vi coaxes, squeezing her waist as her other hand slides up Caitlyn’s thigh and towards her folds.
But Caitlyn shakes her head, pulling Vi up to kiss her lips, flipping them over. “Did you bring our stuff,” she asks, kissing down Vi’s neck, her chest, over her nipples where she gives a singular suck before she dips lower, hooking her arms under Vi’s thighs as her hands slide over her hips.
“It’s in my bag,” Vi hisses as Caitlyn kisses along her folds, her back arching as two fingers dip into her cunt. “Shhhit, what do you need, what can I do–” Vi chokes as Caitlyn licks a stripe from her slit to clit, toes curling as Caitlyn digs in as deep as she can, swallowing thickly. After a few minutes Vi starts to tremble with each licking pass, her fingers reaching for the blue crown that sits between her legs. “Oh fuck, oh fuck," she moans, her legs coming up, thighs trapping Caitlyn’s head as she starts to feel that telltale buzzing in her spine.
Caitlyn only hums into it, her jaw starting to ache as she licks another pass before she’s sinking three fingers into folds, earning her a moan and wanton roll of Vi’s hips. Caitlyn kisses her folds one last time as she crooks a finger, manages to find that spot that makes Vi cry out as she starts to kiss up along her body. She stops at Vi’s heaving chest and Vi starts to keen as Caitlyn collects her nipple between her teeth, giving a tentative bite that makes Vi shake.
“Shit, come here, kiss me,” Vi whispers, freeing the sheets from her grasps to pull at Caitlyn’s face. Caitlyn obliges, can feel the way Vi hums into it as her own hand slides down Caitlyn’s waist, past her hips and towards her folds. Caitlyn spreads her legs, welcoming the intrusion as Vi slips three fingers in easily, slick nearly dripping. “How are you so wet already,” Vi groans, pumping her fingers in tandem with Caitlyn rocking body.
“I love the way you taste, the way you moan, everything about you. Gods I could get off just from watching you squirm,” Caitlyn says between each desperate kiss, her own body starting to shake as Vi dips in a fourth finger. “Oh fuck, oh, deeper, faster,” she begs, further spreading her legs as she moves her own fingers, pumping in and out of Vi with each rock of her body.
“Come so we can get the box, I want you to fuck me, I need you to fuck me,” Vi moans, her voice coming in clipped as the pillars around them start to sway with their rocking. Caitlyn can feel her orgasm starting to build, starts to see static
“Violet, I’m sorry for avoiding you, I’m–” Vi takes Caitlyn’s face in her hand, pushing her away so they can look at each other's eyes.
“Apologize one more time,” Vi threatens, fingers slowly retreating from Caitlyn’s folds, earning her a whine. Caitlyn takes hold of Vi’s wrist, forcing her fingers back in. Vi smirks before pulling her face back in. “That’s what I thought,” Vi mutters, sinking her tongue past parted lips.
Soon they’re unable to kiss, on the cusp of their climax. They pant hot breaths into each other’s mouths as they work to finish each other off, their fingers moving desperately and fast. “Vi, Vi, Violet,” Caitlyn nearly cries, her face buried in Vi’s neck. Vi’s hand skates down her face towards her neck, fingers going taut around her jugulars.
Vi gives a tentative squeeze and Caitlyn nods, nods until those fingers are closing over her neck, and suddenly she can’t breath, she can’t moan, all can do is come, so, she comes, fast and hard. She sees white before it slowly starts to fade to black. Then she’s able to breathe again, is shaking again, coming again. “Oh fuck, fuck,” she groans, struggles to continue working Vi, but she does, doesn’t stop until she’s throwing her head back, a moan stuck in her throat.
“Shit, I need you in me, now,” Vi says barely above a breath, her chest still heaving from her orgasm, but she sits up, collecting Caitlyn in her lap as she kisses up her neck, jaw, cheek until she’s clashing tongues with tongues. “What do you say, cupcake,” she murmurs, her hands cupping her breasts. Caitlyn brushes Vi’s hair back, her fingers trailing down her face, her neck, over her collarbones until she’s wrapping her arms around her neck.
She nods, lips kissing away the sweat that sits at Vi’s temples. “Let’s get you fucked, love.”
