Closer
After yet another painstaking goodbye, and a fistful of lined paper shoved into both their hands (“Write to me or I’ll cut your fingers off,” Powder had said with a smirk and a wink), Caitlyn and Vi were back on the road again.
Vi was tucked up back into the passenger seat again, replaying her conversations with Powder again and again in her head. Her sister had danced around the topic of Ekko for long enough until Vi had addressed it directly, which had of course resulted in uncontrollable sobbing outside the milkshake shop.
She’d wanted to join in too. Let her sister know how much she missed Ekko too, how much life on base and in the service wouldn’t be the same without him. But she’d let Powder have her moment. Vi was the rock of the siblings, unmovable and steady, and she intended to maintain that façade for as long as they all needed.
“So, did Vander give you the hurt-my-daughter-and-I’ll-gut-you speech?” Vi asked, desperate to get her mind away from her sister’s sad eyes and Ekko’s cold dead ones.
“Something along those lines.” Caitlyn flashed a smirk in Vi’s direction, placing a hand on the top of her thigh. “I promised him I’d get you home safe. Please don’t do anything stupid that will get in the way of that; he seems like the type of man you don’t cross.”
“Aye-aye, captain,” Vi replied with a cheeky grin. She took the opportunity to glance at the surroundings whizzing past, frowning as she realised where they were. “Hey, you just missed the exit for base.”
“I know,” Cait said matter-of-factly, her voice upbeat. “There’s one more stop on our agenda.”
“Is that so?” Vi cocked an eyebrow.
“Well, I’ve just met your Dad, so I think it’s only right I take you to meet my parents now.”
Vi’s heart dropped. A hum of anxiety began lowly emitting from her stomach. “Your parents? Like, the Councillor Kiramman?”
“Last time I checked, she was my mother, yes,” Cait droned. “Is that an issue?”
“Not at all.” Vi shook her head before lifting up the fabric of her shirt. “If I’d have known I would’ve worn a nicer outfit, though.”
“If I didn’t know you better, I’d say you were nervous, darling,” Cait toyed as they pulled off of the motorway at the next exit.
“Me? Nervous?” She puffed out a tuft of air from her lips. “Never.”
Caitlyn chuckled, and the built-up scenery slowly blurred into a lavish forest, the number of cars whizzing by slowly dwindling. After a few more minutes, they pulled onto a worn dirt road, trailing up to bronze-cast gates which swung open at their arrival.
Calling Caitlyn’s childhood home a house was the most criminal understatement of the century. It was a damn mansion.
A cobbled path snaked from the gates up to great wooden doors, slipping past a large fountain spraying water into the air that Vi ogled at as they drove past. There were two cars already parked on the drive: another Audi SUV, similar to Cait’s, and a sports coupe Vi didn’t even recognise the badge of.
“So this is how the other half live, huh,” Vi teased as they parked up and exited Caitlyn’s car.
Cait sighed defeatedly and shook her head, locking the car with a cheerful chirp before rapping her knuckles against the huge oak entranceway.
The doors slid open dramatically, and a dark-haired man with a salt-and-pepper beard appeared, his lips twisting into a smile as he noticed who it was. “Caitlyn!” he exclaimed, pulling the other girl into a hug.
“Hi, Dad,” Caitlyn replied with a giant smile. She held her father for a moment before pulling away. “This is Vi. She’s- she’s my girlfriend.”
“Ah.” The man smiled in Vi’s direction and waved before stepping aside. “Lovely to meet you dear, I’m Tobias. Please, come in. You’ve just missed dinner but your mother will be so happy you’re home.”
Girlfriend? Vi mouthed at her with a raised eyebrow as they entered the home. Cait shook her head and stepped in after her father.
The house was even grander on the inside. Gold-framed pictures of what Vi assumed was the Kiramman lineage lined the hallway against deep emerald green painted walls, interrupted briefly by dark spruce pillars running up and into the hand-carved ceiling. The sound of gentle music ebbed from deep within the house.
“Cassandra, Caitlyn’s home! And she’s brought someone with her!” Tobias called down the hall as he led the two girls into the living room. Vi took a seat nervously, perching on the edge of the sofa as if she might fall off at any point, while Caitlyn slid back and relaxed into her spot. Noticing Vi’s nerves, she brushed her fingertips gently across the other girl’s back before quickly pulling away when she heard footsteps approaching.
“Caitlyn!” Councillor Kiramman appeared moments later in the living room, her shrill voice bouncing off the walls as she walked up to her daughter and hugged her. She went to say something else, but cut herself off as her attention drew to Vi. “I see you’ve brought in a stray.”
“Mother, this is Vi, we’ve been seeing each other,” Cait explained in an exasperated tone.
“I see.” Councillor Kiramman offered Vi a politician’s smile: fake and untrustworthy. “Caitlyn, would you care to help me in the kitchen with some tea? I’m sure your father has lots of questions he’d like to ask your new friend.”
Cait glanced in the direction of Vi. She gave her a nod of reassurance. If she could survive being shot at thousands of feet in the air, she could most definitely survive being questioned by her future father-in-law.
Tobias watched as his girls departed into the kitchen, a warm smile on his face up to the point they left. He rounded on Vi, a sudden stern look sweeping over his complexion as he began. “So, what are your intentions with my daughter?”
***
Caitlyn hadn’t even put the kettle on before Cassandra began drilling into her with relentless remarks, her pompous voice cutting across the kitchen.
“She’s different to the others you’ve brought home,” her mother said coldly.
“Yes, she is,” Cait said simply. She flicked the switch on the kettle and watched as the water began bubbling ferociously, rolling her eyes at her mother’s comment.
Cassandra fetched milk and sugar from their various cupboards, setting them on the breakfast island as Caitlyn brought over the mugs. A thick awkward tension hung heavy in the air. “She’s not from Piltover, is she?”
“No, mother, she’s not.” She slammed the cup down in front of her suddenly, the force sending the other ceramic mugs rattling across the surface. “Is that an issue?”
“Not at all.” Cassandra’s piercing icy eyes met Caitlyn’s, a challenge. “I just want to ensure my daughter is in safe hands, that’s all.”
The ding of the kettle finishing boiling stopped Caitlyn from retorting with a snarky remark. Instead, she took a deep breath, plopping four teabags individually into each mug before pouring the boiling liquid over them. “She fights for Piltover, mother, even though she was not born here. Is that not good enough?”
“Plenty of Zaunites answered the call to fight under Piltover’s banner, Caitlyn,” Cassandra cooed matter-of-factly, splashing milk into the mugs before placing it back into the fridge. “It doesn’t mean they have respect for Piltover; it means they love Zaun.”
“What on earth has gotten into you?” Caitlyn snapped suddenly. She set the empty kettle down with a loud thud. “What about all of your work with Zaun? The peace treaties? Have you gone- have you gone batty in your old age?”
Caitlyn couldn’t believe the words tumbling out of her mouth even as she said them.
Neither could Cassandra, judging by the windswept, gobsmacked expression on her face. She stared at her daughter for a couple beats, jaw wide, before pressing her lips together into a thin line and exhaling slowly out of her nose. “Maybe if you were to see the casualty reports, you’d understand my shift of stance,” Cassandra explained, her expression emotionless.
“Yes, well, maybe you need to have a word with your senior leadership. It’s easy to pick a scapegoat when you’re mates with the actual issue.” Caitlyn’s words were sharp and precise.
“You really need to try yoga, dear.” Cassandra shifted the conversation, as diplomatic as ever. “Come on, these teas will get cold.”
Caitlyn bit her tongue as she picked up hers and Vi’s cups. Arguing with her mother was pointless; if she’d learnt anything from the 18 years they’d spent living together that was the overarching outcome. She followed Cassandra back into the living room, finding Tobias and Vi sitting shoulder to shoulder, hunched over something Cait couldn’t quite see.
“-and here’s Caity at her first shooting competition, she was obsessed with that bloody rifle, wanted to take it everywhere!” her father boasted loudly.
Vi laughed boisterously as Caitlyn rounded the sofa, nearly dropping the scalding hot teas in her hand as she realised what they were looking at.
It was a picture book.
Caitlyn’s childhood photos picture book.
Cait set the mugs down in a flurry, nearly tipping them over as she whizzed around the side of the coffee table and whipped the book out of her father’s hands. The book was flipped open to an image of a much younger Cait, flashing a gap-toothed grin as she stood with a bolt-action rifle in one hand and a target board in the other. “Absolutely not,” she flustered, placing the album between the sofa arm and cushion.
“Oh, Cait, don’t be a sourpuss! We haven’t even got to your prom photos yet!” This made Tobias chuckle harder, Vi smirking alongside him as she nodded a thanks at Cait for the tea. Tobias looked down at the cup placed before him by his wife. “No biscuits, dear?”
“If you want biscuits, you’re perfectly capable of getting up and getting them yourself, Tobias,” Cassandra muttered harshly. Her husband’s shoulders shrunk as he slinked back against the sofa, mumbling under his breath about custard creams. He knew his place.
Vi looked down at the liquid before her, cocking an eyebrow in confusion. “What’s this?” she asked, raising the mug.
“Don’t tell me you’ve never had breakfast tea before,” Cait said teasingly.
“I’ve never had any type of tea before.” She raised the cup to her lips nervously and took a sip, wincing at the heat. “I’ve seen it in our rat-packs, but I used to just swap it with-“
Vi didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t need to be reminded of him. Not now.
Caitlyn huffed a sigh of relief as her mother steered the conversation. “So, Vi, how do you know Caitlyn?” she asked in a near-accusatory tone.
“We were at school together, ma’am.” Unlike Tobias, Cassandra didn’t correct the formal address. “After the war broke out, we didn’t see each other for a while, but Caitlyn’s case she’s working was close to my unit, then after her promotion your daughter invited me to join her strike team.”
“After her promotion,” Cassandra repeated coolly. “I may be mistaken, but there is quite a long list of rules and regulations around fraternisation between ranks, no?”
Caitlyn choked on her tea and attempted to pass it off as a cough, failing miserably. Vi just swallowed hard. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, ma’am, with all due respect. We have bigger issues right now.”
“I see.” Cassandra smiled sickly-sweet. “And what is it you do for the army, dear?”
“I’m a helicopter pilot.” Vi puffed her chest out slightly and took a sip of tea before continuing. “Apaches and Chinooks, but I can fly just about anything with an engine and rotor.”
“Interesting. Do you intend to continue once the war is over?” The councillor’s cold eyes settled on Vi’s once again.
“I’d actually like to go back to school if possible, ma’am, to get my degree,” Vi replied as polite as ever, refusing to let Cassandra grind her down. “It’s a condition of my scholarship that I have to serve after graduating regardless, and I rather miss studying.”
“You were on a scholarship too?” This perked Cassandra up suddenly. She leant forward in interest.
“Yes, ma’am. Rugby.”
“Ah.” The councillor shook her head, her face distorting into an expression of disgust. “Such a barbaric sport, so bloody and violent.”
Ironic, considering your government were the ones sending us kids to war, Vi wanted to reply. Instead, she was cut off by Tobias commenting, “I rather enjoy watching rugby, I’d never play it myself though.”
Vi just nodded. “I used to do boxing before picking that up, so it was one poison or another, really.”
“She’s a brilliant player, though, mother. She scored the game-winning try at their last match.” This was from Caitlyn, who had been pre-occupying herself with staring out of the window. A thin drizzle of rain had started earlier, however it had now grown into a full-front storm, fat globs of water splatting against the window and trailing down to the sill.
“And what about siblings, family? Do you see them much, Vi?” Yet again, Cassandra took control of the conversation and steered it wherever she wanted to go.
“I’ve got two brothers, one’s in the army and the other’s at PMA still. Then there’s my sister, she’s in college too, just locally. And it’s just my Dad, Vander, he took us all in when we were pretty young.”
Cassandra’s face twisted at the mention of Vi’s adoptive father’s name. It looked as though she’d just gone through all five stages of grief. “My God, you’re Connol and Felicia’s child, aren’t you?”
The room fell into a delicate silence. Vi just stared, mouth agape, her eyes softening with each passing second. Caitlyn watched as a hard lump travelled down her partner’s throat.
After an unbearably long bout of awkward silence, Vi admitted, “Yes, ma’am.”
Cassandra hummed and took another sip of her tea, her eyes not leaving Vi’s. “Such a shame, what happened to them both.”
The other girl said nothing. She ran her shaking hands up her thighs, desperately trying to get rid of the sudden perspiration pooling in her palms.
Caitlyn snapped before Vi did. She set her mug down with a loud clatter, brushed herself down and looked down at her parents with a flame of disappointment behind her eyes. “Well, it’s been lovely seeing you both, but we must get going,” she said flatly. A blank expression sat on her face.
Cassandra shook her head instantly. “Nonsense, you’re not driving in this. You can both stay the night.” She gestured out of the window Caitlyn had been staring at previously. Huge streaks of rain hammered against the glass pane, growing louder and more aggressive by the second. Claps of thunder boomed in the distance. “I’ll get someone to make up one of the guest rooms for your friend.”
Before Caitlyn or Vi could protest, Tobias interjected, shaking his hand. “I’m sure Vi would be more comfortable sleeping in Caitlyn’s room, dear.”
The councillor was too stunned to speak. She glanced between her daughter and her partners, eyes narrowing to form small slits, before grabbing everyone’s mugs passive-aggressively and scuttling into the kitchen.
Tobias turned to the girls and smiled sadly. “Don’t pay any attention to her, she’s under a lot of pressure at the moment. I’ll talk to her. Sleep tight, girls.”
“Goodnight, Mr Kiramman.”
“Goodnight, Dad,” Caitlyn trailed off, taking Vi’s hands in hers and leading her to her room.
***
At no surprise to Vi, Caitlyn’s room was just as grand and elegant as every other room she’d seen so far in the Kiramman mansion.
Tall ivory white pillars lined the walkway up to her bed, where the deep purple sheets were pressed and tucked neatly into the lavish canopy frame. A single dark spruce desk was tucked into the corner, the contents atop it elegantly arranged. Above the desk on the wall was a perfectly straight corkboard with various pictures and scraps of paper nailed into it which Vi could not make out. Bedside tables sat either side of the bed, although these were devoid of any decoration, presumably when Caitlyn made the gruelling decision to move out for university.
“That was a dumpster fire,” Caitlyn sighed, circling her room once before plopping down on her giant mattress.
“Yeah,” Vi agreed dryly. She avoided Caitlyn’s gaze, running her fingers gently against the surface of a dresser.
“I didn’t know your parents were dead.” Caitlyn spoke softly, scared her words might shatter Vi into a million pieces and she’d have to put her together again.
“It’s not the type of thing you casually drop into conversation,” Vi said simply with a weak smile. The humour didn’t reach her eyes. She laid back on the bed, propping her hands behind her head, her T-shirt riding up to reveal a reddish happy trail. “It was an air strike. During the war. They were volunteering as medics.”
“That’s horrible Violet, I’m so sorry.” Unsure what else to say, Caitlyn reached down and forked her fingers through Vi’s hair, scratching softly against her scalp.
Vi exhaled, leaning back into Cait’s fingers, the gentle touch keeping her grounded to reality. While it wasn’t the way she wanted Caitlyn to find out, it felt as if a huge weight had been shifted off of her chest.
Violet’s memory of her parents had begun to fade in the past couple of years. She remembered her mother’s smell and her father’s cooking, how they danced in the kitchen together when preparing dinner, how her mother would tell her and Powder bedtime stories of travellers from lands afar. But it was all slipping from her mind. Even the image of them was fading, like a corrupted picture, dark voids growing over where their features were until eventually they’d be swallowed up. It pained her to admit that one day it would happen to her memories with Ekko, too.
For a long time, Vi resented Piltover for what it took from her. Took from them all. Everyone down their street knew at least one person who’d lost their life in the Great War. But after the rebuilding efforts, and Piltover’s gracious contribution to clearing the smog from the Zaunite streets, Vi’s hate softened into something a little less.
And now, coming full circle, she was fighting under the same flag she’d cursed all those years ago.
But deep down, she knew she was partly fighting for Zaun, too.
“You called me your girlfriend,” Vi said shortly, taking the conversation away from her heritage.
“I- um, yes,” Caitlyn flustered. She pulled her fingers away from Vi’s hair and sat up, clearing her throat and placing her hands on her knees. “We’ve never really had that conversation so I wasn’t sure what to call you, especially to my parents.”
“Long term booty call would’ve worked fine,” Vi teased. Caitlyn shot her a playful dirty look and shoved her shoulder before falling back on the bed next to her.
Another silence settled between them. Vi rolled onto her side to look at Cait better, and her partner copied her, ocean meeting storm again. Cait was terrified yet transfixed with Violet’s eyes; they were powerful and unfaltering, a sheer myriad of force like the raging thunder just outside her window, but when they locked gaze, Vi’s eyes softened like putty.
Cait wanted to get lost in that cyclone forever.
Before she could realise what she was saying, Caitlyn suddenly blurted, “Do you want to be-“
“-Yes, Caitlyn, I want to be your girlfriend.” Vi cut her off, giggling like a schoolgirl, a wide grin spreading across her lips.
Caitlyn smiled back, flashing her tiny tooth gap. A warm wave of relief washed over her as she ran her fingers through Vi’s hair one last time and pressed their lips together.
Vi felt as though she could never get enough of kissing Caitlyn for as long as they lived. She welcomed the kiss feverishly, a hand cradling the back of Cait’s neck as she tilted her head and ran her tongue over the bottom of Cait’s lips experimentally.
Caitlyn welcomed Vi’s tongue into her, moaning into their melded mouths, her fingertips running up and down Vi’s tense bicep as they continued to make out.
Vi thought they might call it a night there. But no. There was an ache pooling in the pit of her stomach, a churn she needed to satiate, one Cait picked up on quickly as Vi’s hands went to work at the waistband of her leggings.
“So desperate,” Caitlyn slurred slyly, lifting her ass up as Vi slid her bottoms and panties off. The fabric pooled at her ankles, a string of arousal following from Cait’s folds to her panties before breaking off.
“Says you,” Vi grunted, desperately scrabbling at the fly of her jeans. She hopped off the bed and pulled her trousers and boxers off all the way, dropping them next to Cait’s discarded clothes before reconnecting their lips again.
Caitlyn moaned at the new pressure against her heat. She then yelped in surprise as Vi grabbed the underside of her knees to pull her over the edge of the bed, positioning in between her legs and pressing their cores together.
Peppering hot wet kisses down Caitlyn’s neck, Vi began grinding slowly, smirking against skin as she heard stifled moans escaping Caitlyn’s lips.
“Violet?” Caitlyn asked between gasps of pleasure.
“Mm?” Vi broke the contact to look up briefly, her pupils blown black with lust.
“I want you to fuck me.”
A noise similar to a strangled animal’s escaped Vi’s lips. “Okay.”
“But I want you to be close to me.”
“Okay.”
Cait trailed her fingers along Vi’s upper back, smiling to herself before she asked her next question.
“Have you ever worn a strap?”
Vi’s jaw dropped. “”Uhm, n-no.”
Caitlyn smiled sweetly. “That’s okay, darling, we’ll figure it out together.”
The other girl swallowed a hard lump in her throat. “Do you have- where-“
“Left beside table. Top draw.”
Vi practically launched herself off the bed and rounded the corner, opening the top drawer slowly. She pulled out an all-black leather harness with a light blue dildo attached to it. She trotted back around to Cait timidly and slipped the black fabric up to her waist.
Caitlyn sat up on her elbows, eyeing Vi with a mild curiosity, before gasping in surprise as Vi curled a finger inside her. She pulled out with a pop and ran her finger along the strap, coating it with Cait’s slick, before grabbing the hilt and guiding herself between her folds.
Vi inserted herself slowly into her girlfriend, only going partway to allow Caitlyn to get used to the stretch. After a nod of approval, Vi slid in deeper and deeper, until the cock was entirely engulfed into Caitlyn’s pussy.
Cait moaned gutturally at the new sensation. Vi began to rock her hips gently, gradually building into a rhythm, as Caitlyn pulled her legs up and wrapped them across the back of Vi’s thighs.
Before long, Vi was slamming her hips into Caitlyn in a consistent drive, the sound and scent of sex seeping into the room around them. Burying her head into Cait’s neck, Vi whimpered as the base of the strap slammed into her clit with each thrust, feeling Cait’s nails scratch up her back in the perfect knife edge between pain and pleasure.
“Oh God, Violet,” Caitlyn exclaimed breathlessly. She tugged desperately at Vi’s hair to pull her into a kiss, the feeling of Vi’s cock inside her sending her spiralling closer and closer to the edge. “Don’t stop.”
“Cait, I think I’m going to-“ Vi grunted.
“Not yet,” Cait breathed, locking her eyes onto Vi’s. “Wait for me, Vi, please.”
Vi nodded desperately, swallowing hard as she rammed her hips faster, the pair’s moans coming closer and more high-pitched. She felt as though her brain might short-circuit in its effort to withhold from orgasming.
“God, Cait, I love you,” Vi panted, a quick smile flashing across her face as she looked down. Beads of sweat began to form above her eyebrow.
That was it for Caitlyn. She rushed out a quick “Iloveyoutoo” before finally unwinding under her girlfriend, letting out an excruciatingly long moan as she hit her climax, walls pulsating at the overstimulation of Vi carrying on pounding.
Vi came quickly after her too, emitting a raw husky grunt which quickly molded into a whimper. Her clit throbbed as she collapsed over Cait, chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath.
Sliding out of Caitlyn, Vi unbuttoned the harness and let it drop to the floor, flashing one last cheeky grin at her partner before slinking back into the bed with her. She draped a powerful arm across her waist, snuggled into her shoulder, and basked in the unrequited warmth ebbing between them.