Lights from dozens of homes twinkled across the city of Piltover like fairy dust, their brilliance outshining the distant stars winking in the night sky amidst a full, pale moon. At the very heart of the city, the flashing lights and colours courtesy of the annual Snowdown celebrations seemed blinding, a dazzling beacon drawing even the most critical eye. Riven sat with her legs dangling over the edge of a cliff overlooking the city, casting her sanguine eyes over it in vague wonder.

Today marked her first Snowdown as a Noxian exile. She'd known that the festivities were very different in non-Noxian lands, but to see them herself first-hand was striking. Just hours earlier, she had been there, among the bustling revelry and merrymaking of the Piltoverians as they lost themselves in the spirit of the season. Children chased each other in the cobblestone streets, wrapped up in scarves and coats like obese yordles and screaming with glee, clutching candy canes or prettily-wrapped presents. Gleaming ornaments and strings of tinsel hung from glittering pine trees while ropes of garland and shining, decked out automatons decorated town squares and store-fronts. The aroma of roasts and baked sweets clung to the air, permeating through the whole of Piltover. Groups of people dressed in red or green travelled through the city, their voices rising and falling in harmonious unison as they sang song after song. Even out here, on her perch upon the snow-blanketed bluff, the distant sound of music and choir-singing reached her ears and provided serene background music that enhanced the almost magical atmosphere of the wintry wonderland.

Swinging her booted legs idly, Riven drew her threadbare cloak tighter around herself. Beautiful as it was, the sparkling snow lent a frosty bite that chilled her down to her bones, as did the frigid, crisp air that turned her breath to whispery puffs of mist caressing her numb cheeks. With a faint twinge of regret, Riven wished she had bought a cup of hot chocolate from one of the street vendors to have some iota of warmth in her veins.

But the sheer numbers of the crowd and the plethora of sights and sounds assailing her neglected senses overwhelmed her, so she left the city gates and come up here to have a brief respite from it all. It was nice, but Riven just wasn't accustomed to so much … joyfulness around her. It was a strange feeling, seeing families laughing together on their way to house visits and children playing with the snow and couples holding hands and smiling contentedly at one another as–

Riven shivered as an icy breeze picked up, raking its frozen fingers through her hair and slicing through her clothes as if they were made of gossamer. Drawing her cloak even tighter and hugging herself, she conceded that she'd have to go back soon. The night was growing old and ever colder, she risked frostbite if she stayed in her under-dressed state. Reluctant as she was to leave her peaceful refuge, some thawing out would do her good.

Before she could move to pick herself up, snow-crunching footsteps heralded a voice calling out to her.

"So this is where you've been hiding."

The corners of her mouth turning up ever so slightly, Riven turned her gaze to the full-faced moon and answered without looking back. "I told you where I was coming here, it's not really hiding."

A scoff. "Maybe. But you've been gone for a while, I'm just here to check that the wolves haven't eaten you."

"Me? Eaten by wolves?" Riven replied with mock incredulity, "That's really insulting. Did you honestly think I would let wild animals eat me?"

A bark of laughter reached her ears, then a hand bearing a steaming styrofoam cup of what smelled like hot chocolate extended towards her. "Here, take this, loco. You must be freezing."

Finally looking up, Riven accepted it with both hands and a grateful smile. "Thanks, Yasuo."

Returning her grin, the samurai kicked some snow off a spot near the ledge to settle next to her, plopping himself down on the frosted ground. The heat from the cup seeped into her hands, breaking through the numbness and tingling her fingers. She raised it to her lips and took a sip, feeling the hot liquid slide down her throat and sighed as warmth expanded in her body, heating her from the inside out and combatting the cold. Beside her, Yasuo's body emanated inviting warmth from the exertion of climbing the sloped incline. He looked out over the city as she had been doing moments prior, his bushy ponytail tied messily with loose strands hanging down his back as he drank in the scenery, oblivious to her observing him. So she did the most logical thing and took full advantage, scooting over and pressing herself up against him.

He started at the abrupt contact, but did not pull away.

"Wha– "

"Shut up and stay still," she demanded, shuffling her legs into a comfortable position as she huddled there, stealing his body heat"Damn, you're like a furnace."

"And you're like a popsicle in a freezer," he shot back, "Bloody hell, that's cold!"

"Well, you're right, I'm freezing. Deal with it," she said, a smug smirk on her face as she faced him, daring him to move. He sighed in exasperation, but stayed where he was.

"You know, if you keep up that attitude of yours, I just might reconsider giving you this too." Yasuo reached into the folds of his weathered haori, withdrawing a bundle of plain beige fabric that resembled–

"A scarf?" Riven questioned, pointing at it with a pinky while still keeping her hands wrapped around the cup of chocolate.

In answer, Yasuo brought an arm around her to yank her closer so she was pressed flush against his side, eliciting an uncharacteristic squeak from her that made him grin in triumph. Winding the soft woolly material around her exposed neck, and then his own Yasuo looped the scarf around again. Before she knew it, she was practically sitting in his lap, their bodies so close there was not an inch of space separating them, and sharing a single scarf.

Glaring, cheeks flushing a brilliant red that had nothing to do with the chocolate, she narrowed her eyes at his smirking visage though her expression lacked real venom. "What was that for?"

The tone he replied her in was one of a person who was very satisfied with themselves. "You said you were cold."

"Yeah, but– "

"I'm just helping you with that problem."

"I never asked– "

"But I wanted to," he interrupts again, tucking her head under his chin as he nuzzled her wind-swept hair. "Besides, we rarely get to be this close together without anyone watching us."

It was true. The long, hard weeks on the road offered little time for such reprieves and when it did, they were often in the presence of a nosy pair of eyes or five. Such moments alone were rare to come by, and usually stolen in the quiet of the night as they lay awake in one another's embrace. A small part of Riven regretted that, wishing for a day when they wouldn't need to hide as much as they did. She turned to bury her face into his chest, inhaling the sharp scent of pine needles clinging to his clothes.

"It's still corny," she protested weakly, voice muffled by his haori.

"But you like it that way," she could hear the self-assured grin in his voice and it made her want to smack it him upside the head, but it made her blasted heart skip a beat too and got her bumping her forehead against the crook of his neck. This kind of open fondness for another person was completely foreign to her, unknown. The depth of her affection towards Yasuo surprised even herself, and it only seemed to grow deeper each day, with every smile on his lips and every laugh and every moment of eye contact. He occupied her thoughts for most of her waking hours, and having him near was enough to send jitters down her spine and for a strange, un-poppable bubble of excitement to well up in her chest. It was new, strange, and a bit scary, but Riven didn't want to see it end.

Look who's the corny one now, she chastised herself. But that thought flew out the window as Yasuo brought around his other arm to hug her to him, enveloping her his warmth. She smiled. She definitely was a lot less cold now.

Ah, whatever, to hell with it.

"Since you've been so nice to me," she began, an almost devilish smirk stretching across her face, "Allow me to give you my thanks."

Yasuo raised a thin, dark eyebrow in amusement. "Oh? Really? This coming from the great– "

"Just shut up and close your eyes for a second."

He rolled his eyes, stormy grey looking up to the heavens for a moment before obliging, shutting them. Making sure he wasn't peeking, Riven hurriedly untangled herself from her cloak before pulling something out of the folds of her clothes. Grasping it in her hand and holding it above their heads, she turned back to him.

"Ok, you can look now."

Yasuo's eyes flashed open, only to be greeted by the tickling white of Riven's hair and the soft press of her chapped lips against his. He froze, shocked by her forwardness, then her hand on his chest broke his trance and he returned the kiss, locking their lips and putting a hand on her waist to draw her closer. A muffled thump reached his ears, a bundle of round, green leaves and clustered white berries falling from her free hand onto the snow as she threw her arm around his neck while he entangled his remaining hand in her hair.

She tasted of hot chocolate.

A/N: My first LoL fanfic and of course, it absolutely has to be of my League OTP. Seriously, I ship these two so hard it's not even funny.

I've been working on a series-long thingy that may or may not lead to another series-long thingy but I wanted to get something out for Christmas because 'hey, why not' and also because I haven't published anything in a while. To those of you who read my other stuff, I do apologise. Real life and law school is drowning me and I speed up the process by drowning in my new-found love - League of Legends. I'll still get around to writing my other stuff, it's just a matter of when.

Writing this was surprisingly easy, but it's probably riddled with mistakes since I wrote it in the span of 3-4 hours (which is a record for me) and only proof-read once with no beta. I think it's terribly OOC but I seriously needed to get it out of my system.

Hope you like, and please do leave a review! Concrits are very much loved, too.

Signing off and collapsing to bed,

- Kasumi