Date Night

“Jerri’s exactly right, folks, it’s just about at the end of half time at the Piltover Enforcers game. They’re down six going into the second half against the Zaun Firelights - really, the Enforcers’ golden era was years ago. What I wouldn’t give to see Grayson play again, Jerri.” 

“Oh, no doubt, Bob. It really is a shame. They make up for it here with showmanship though, that’s for sure. They’ve got one of the best halftime shows this side of Runeterra - let’s have a round of applause for the girls. Didn’t they do great?”

“They sure did, Jerri. Now the athletes are coming back onto the court for the second half—I really hope the Enforcers can pull it together in the second half. It’s always good for city morale to have a win at home.” 

“Absolutely, Bob. Here we go with the faceoff, the second half is getting started here at Progress Stadium, and I, for one, am excited to see if the home team can pull through.” 

“You said it, Jerri.” 

______

Caitlyn sighed internally, slouching farther into the uncomfortable stadium seat and doing her best not to jostle her neighbor, whose broad shoulders took up more than their fair share of her seat, though she had smiled an apologetic smile when Caitlyn had made eye contact with a pair of utterly gorgeous grey-blue eyes. 

She’d since caught Caitlyn’s eye for a second time when she’d thrown a muscled, tattooed arm out a little too aggressively, nearly knocking over her popcorn bucket into Caitlyn’s lap. 

Caitlyn had been more amused than anything. 

Her neighbor’s antics were more entertaining than the game, at any rate, and it wasn’t like her boyfriend was particularly good company tonight. 

Or ever, really. 

Caitlyn took a deep breath through her nose and pretended not to notice her neighbor look over at her. 

It was uncanny to be…perceived like this. 

Caitlyn was not particularly accustomed to being seen.

Her blue eyes roved the court from their seats - they were fine, but they weren’t floor seats. 

Knowing what she did about her boyfriend and his family - as well as their focus on status - she was well-aware that they should have been sitting courtside. 

Caitlyn preferred seats a little farther back - hated the scrutiny that came with anything that equated to position and wealth - but she sincerely doubted her feelings on the matter had been the consideration. 

They’d had courtside seats when they’d first started dating. 

He’d been perpetually on his phone then, too - despite his professed interest in basketball - but he’d made a bit more of an effort. 

Despite not wanting anything to do with the fancier seats, Caitlyn did miss effort being put into their time together.

It was nice to know he had tried, even if it wasn’t as though his idea of effort was particularly impressive to her, even initially. She knew he was pulling out the stops he’d been taught to pull out for a lady of “good breeding,” but it was hard to impress someone who didn’t care at all about any of the things that were supposed to impress her, and also…her family was wealthy enough that flaunting money really had no particular appeal. 

Frankly, she’d grown up in a cage gilded enough that anything else looked cheap by comparison. 

Especially when the goal was to buy her. 

She certainly wasn’t being bought right now. Not in seats that were almost aisle seats, if it weren’t for her neighbor. 

Caitlyn huffed a breath, sitting up a little straighter in her chair and glancing at her neighbor as she did so. 

Pale blue eyes were peeking at her underneath the brim of a snapback in Zaun Firelights colors, advertising #60. 

Caitlyn snapped her gaze to the court. 

She watched the teams progress up the court toward the Firelights’ basket, and inclined her head in recognition when, shortly after they’d made it to the zone, the ball swished through the hoop after a series of not-heinous passes, the points celebrated by the goal horn, flashing lights, sirens, and practically everyone around her odd little trio cheering and leaping to their feet. 

She hummed, turning to her boyfriend. 

“They just scored.” 

“Hmm.” 

“The Enforcers just scored a point. They’re now up by two.” 

“Mm.” 

“Practically the entire stadium is standing.” 

Her boyfriend just grunted. 

Caitlyn rolled her eyes in a distinctly unladylike manner, since she was now receiving gorilla noises in response to actual, human words, and sat back in her seat, crossing her arms. 

The motion lightly bumped her fingers against her neighbor, and Caitlyn’s head snapped up as she turned to apologize.

She found her neighbor smiling at her before her eyes flickered past Caitlyn to look pointedly at Caitlyn’s boyfriend and making eye contact again, raising a scarred eyebrow. 

What’s his deal?

Caitlyn felt a smile pulling at her lips as she shrugged and turned back to the game. 

No idea.

______

“Wow, Jerri! The Enforcers look like they’re finally turning it around. It’ll be a shame if they lose the lead after getting such a good start.” 

“I’ll be devastated Bob.” 

Bob laughs, and Jerri grins at the camera before they both turn toward the wall behind them, which has been filled with images of fans in the stands. 

“Anyway, we’ve got a few minutes before the clock starts up again, and it looks like the cameramen are going to get to have a little fun,” Jerri says as an image with hot pink hearts and the words “KISS CAM” appear in bubbly, cursive letters, kissing noises echoing throughout the stadium. 

The first pair of people who appear on screen are two men having a casual, familiar conversation, sitting together but not close. 

Bob booms a laugh. “I love the team at this stadium. Usually the cameramen don’t mess around this much with audiences. We’re about to find out if they’re dating or just–yep!” 

Jerri laughs as the two men glance up as the people around them point up at the screen, eyes widening in realization at the little animated cupids. 

One of the guys poses playfully seductively and waggles his eyebrows, making exaggerated kissy faces at his friend. 

For his part, the friend doesn’t look mad - he just laughs and shoves his friend away, one hand planted on his cheek to push a scrunched-up face back. 

The voice of the announcer in the stadium comes through the broadcast. “Aww, not the bromance of the century over here, huh?” 

The guy making kissy faces reaches forward with both hands, grabbing dramatically for his friend’s shoulders.

A second later, still laughing, the guy being gently and playfully accosted dodges another over-dramatized smooch and climbs over the back of his chair, backing away toward the exit.

Kissy face guy makes a very dramatic pouty face at the camera before hopping over his own seat and shimmying toward his friend, arms held out and hands gesturing in a “come hither” fashion. 

They’re both laughing as his friend runs out the door to their section, pursued closely by a man with outstretched arms, lips still puckered.

“Man, it’s rough when you can’t even get a smooch from the bros,” the announcer says, laughter and wolf whistles rolling through the stadium.

“He’s got that right,” Bob says, and Jerri’s eyes widen at him, her shoulders shaking with laughter as she clearly holds back a retort. 

“Alright, alright, all jokes here. I’m gonna need the gentlemen who just got up and left to swing by the ice cream stand for free cones while we find some people who don’t mind giving their special someone a little love on everybody’s favorite - the Kiss Cam!” 

The crowd cheers, some people waving, and Bob and Jerri chuckle at the excitement. 

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Bob. This team is one of the best in the biz for crowd pleasers.”

Bob nods in agreement and then they both laugh and exclaim “aww!” as a cute little kid gives his mom a kiss on the cheek. 

The camera pans to a couple in matching Firelights jerseys, and they both raise their arms, sloshing beer on their neighbors before bringing the now-less-full cups to their lips and chugging, uncaring of the disapproving looks from the people who are now wearing cheap beer as perfume. 

The stadium cheers before the couple turns to one another, tongues extended, and the cameraman is…a little too slow panning away from them. 

Jerri can be seen grimacing as the camera finally switches from the couple trying to read braille on the backs of each other’s throats. 

For his part, Bob looks slightly too interested. 

“Alright, we’ll just…leave you to it. Let’s see if there are any other happy couples at the game tonight!” the announcer says, recovering impressively quickly after that display. 

The crowd cheers and claps for an elderly couple who gives each other a peck, and then claps and whistles for two gay couples on a double date who give each other short, but passionate kisses before unzipping their coats and shaking rainbow Enforcers jerseys at the camera.

“So nice to see that this team really makes space for all its fans - the sport in general has come such a long way, Jerri,” Bob says, sounding genuinely happy for the group on the screen, out and proud at their favorite team’s game. 

“The Piltover Enforcers really said gay rights,” Jerri intones approvingly, nodding as her eyes stay on the screen, watching as the camera passes over the crowd, finding the last couple or two before the game resumes. 

The crowd cheers for a man who takes off his ball cap before planting a chaste kiss on the lips of the very pregnant woman sitting next to him. Both of them smile and wave at the screen, their toddler jumping excitedly between them and waving with both arms. 

“We love seeing families at these games, we really do. It’s always the sign of a good stadium when you see a lot of happy kids - little guy looks like he might be a basketball star someday! Maybe he’ll follow in my footsteps,” Bob says fondly, clearly remembering going to games with his own parents - themselves basketball fanatics, and frequent guests on the show. 

“Could be, Bob!” 

They share a quick smile - friends on the show and off, their easy chemistry a big draw for viewers. 

The announcer’s booming voice comes through the broadcast again, and the hosts watch the screen with interest. “Let’s finish off strong, folks! Where are my happy couples…anybody on date night tonight?” 

Jerri and Bob laugh as couples wave their arms and dance in the stands, the camera passing over them before finally landing on a slender, dark haired woman in dark jeans and a v-neck sweater, whose shockingly blue eyes widen slightly as she realizes she’s on screen, her arms uncrossing to tap the knee of the guy sitting next to her in gray slacks and a collared shirt with a vest over it. 

Bob turns to Jerri, his eyes widening slightly as the guy doesn’t look up from his phone. 

Jerri makes a face at him that could best be translated as yikes before her eyes also turn back to the screen. 

The woman taps his knee again, the gesture insistent, and her mouth clearly moving. 

The guy keeps staring at his phone, and shifts his knee away from her fingers. 

The woman’s face changes, visibly scowling at him before she rolls her eyes, sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms. 

“Oh, ouc–” Bob starts.

She glances at the pink-haired woman in the seat next to her, raising a questioning eyebrow. 

And Jerri jumps up out of her chair with a shout as the pink haired woman smirks and shrugs, snagging the brim of her snapback to rotate it out of the way before leaning forward and cupping the back of the dark-haired woman’s neck, their lips meeting in a kiss that has the roar from the stadium echoing through the broadcast room. 

“Well!” the announcer laughs, “That’s definitely a plot twist. What a way to meet somebody! Forget dating apps, am I right?” 

The feed on the screen changes, showing people out of their seats - whooping, cheering, whistling, hollering, and, in one case, saluting solemnly - before it changes back, showing the two women still locked together, the dark haired woman’s hand now holding the pink haired woman’s wrist, her thumb stroking back and forth in a fashion that can only be described as intimate.

Bob clears his throat, flushing as pink as his shirt as Jerri turns and stares into the camera, chuckling before sitting back down and turning to the screen. 

The two women break apart, blinking slowly and smiling softly before they both seem to remember they’re on camera, the dark haired woman blushing furiously looking away from the screen, and the pink haired woman shooting a cheeky wink and a two-fingered salute at the camera before she turns back to the woman she’d just been kissing for much longer than was typical for the Kiss Cam. 

She says something, and the dark-haired woman glances behind her at her boyfriend - still occupied with his phone - before she says something to him that makes pink eyebrows raise, and then turns back with a reply that makes scarred lips pull up into a grin. 

“Well, Bob,” Jerri says over raucous cheering as the pink-haired woman stands and steps out of their row, gesturing for the dark-haired woman, who turns out to be tall in her high-heeled boots, to walk in front of her.

“That’s one thing you have to say for the Piltover games. You just never know what to expect.”

The two women make their way up the steps - a retreating figure wearing a backwards snapback accepting several fistbumps. 

“You can certainly say that again, Jerri,” Bob says, returning to a more normal color as he chuckles and watches the crowd cheer louder. 

They disappear out of the tunnel that leads to their section and the camera pans back to the boyfriend. 

Who is still on his phone. 

“Wow, I wish I had this guy’s focus,” the announcer says, laughing, and the crowd laughs with him - the guy on the screen not looking up from his phone. 

Bob scoffs and shakes his head. “I’ll wager he doesn’t notice his girlfriend’s bailed on him until three minutes before the end of the game.” 

Jerri laughs. 

“I give him until the final buzzer.” 

Bob raises his eyebrows at the challenge before pulling out his cell phone. 

“Hang on, I just have to make a quick call.”