"Blue team's inhibitor has been destroyed!" the announcer called. The smaller energy crystal that was housed behind it's defending turret shattered into large chunks as the final blow was made. Poppy was panting as she felt the lack of energy from the last fight and the strain of taking down the inhibitor turret and the inhibitor take its toll. She quickly picked up her hammer and buckler, tossing their oversized weapon on her shoulder before backpedaling to the outside of the enemy base as they respawned. Seeing safety in her position just outside the bottom side jungle, she moved over to the nearby tree and leaned against it, pulling out her recall rune and squeezing it tightly to activate. Soon her legs were encircled in blue marks and circles, slowly enclosing around her body before the wave of energy pulled her to her fountain. Just before she was whisked away to complete safety, she tossed down her last ward into the center of the lane.

"Good work out there, Pops!" Tristana complimented as the tank yordle returned to the fountain. Poppy looked over to the gunner with a weak smile, her strength slowly returning to her as the mystical energy of the fountain encircled her rapidly. "Trying to impress the summoner, I see!"

Poppy walked over to the shopkeeper and threw her sizable bag of gold to his counter before looking back to the gunner. "Trist, I'm not trying to impress anyone. I just wanna win this one and head to my bed." Poppy returned. She looked back to the counter to see a purple helmet with a glowing eye within the center drop onto the surface. She had placed her hand on the helmet and watched it dissipate into purple and red energy before it seeped into her body. Tristana threw a smirk to the yordle as she dropped her bag of gold on the counter and grabbed one of the massively sized swords in the barrel nearby, watching the sword disintegrate into dust-like energy and seep into her cannon.

"Sure…Hey, summoner? What's the next move?" Tristana called. The gunner and the tank looked up to the fountain screen to see it switch from the scoreboard and map to video of the summoner in question.

"While that was a great fight for us, we still have to worry about the enemy team's high scaling potential. Vayne was able to consistently damage Kennen as he ult'ed and the Urgot and Rakan made it harder for Amumu to properly engage and keep her locked in. if it wasn't for her positioning so close to the wall for Trist to shoot over it and Poppy to slam her into it, we'd likely lose three and be forced to defend from minions while they took Baron," The male summoner announced. "I am just thankful that they decided to focus Amumu and Lulu more than Trist and Poppy. Once Vayne was out the fight, their damage to the tanks was minimized. Kennen having dispatched of Leblanc-"

"Zachary, I asked what was next, not a recap," Tristana interjected with a grin. At this point, Kennen and Amumu had respawned into fountain and was watching the screen as well. Lulu still had a few seconds before her respawn. Poppy eyed the screen beside the yordle gunner and smiled as she witnessed one of his dorkier traits. The summoner chuckled before shaking his head.

"You're right, sorry. Looking at the fight objectively to justify what we should focus on next time. It looks like they're going to be busy shoving in the mid wave to keep super minions from causing havoc at their nexus towers, so the best bet would be to send Poppy bot side and shove in as hard as possible while you and Lulu go mid to keep the supers strong. Amumu and Kennen need to be top side to drop wards and clear vision because they're likely going to engage on you two and then go for a baron play." Zach explained. "If they hard engage, leave immediately. Poppy can teleport behind them on the ward she placed since they only swept the bushes of the jungle and their base entrance. You still have the Tiamat, Pops?"

The yordle widened her eyes before nodding heavily. She picked up her hammer and raised it to the screen before the essence of the red double sided ax manifested into an image. "I still don't see the true purpose of this, since I have pretty good wave clear with just my abilities." Poppy commented.

"I know you do. I wanted you to pick it up for this instance specifically. Your wave clear is great on its own, but the Tiamat puts you into hard split push territory. They're going to need to contest your advance with someone, but you're at the point where you can hard dive anything without armor and kill them," he explained. "You got this, Poppy. I'm counting on ya, sweets."

Poppy widened her eyes before a faint blush tainted her cheeks. The screen went blank before the scoreboard and map pulled back up. Kennen and Amumu nodded to each other before dropping a few coins on the counter and grabbing the maximum amount of wards possible before heading out of the base. Lulu had respawned into the fountain as they left, having procured her items during her death state and skipped with her companion into mid lane, already heard the conversation and knowing the plan.

Poppy had looked down to the stone pavement of the fountain, her shy smile hidden by the cowl of her armor. He called me sweets…and he's really confident in me to plan around me. She thought dreamily, the image of the summoner's smiling visage with his hood off coming to view. He was probably smiling when he said that too…he has such a nice, warm smile.

"Oooooh, looks like you did impress him with that last fight, sweets." Tristana teased, elbowing the yordle and pulling her out of her trance. "Maybe he wants some of the lollipop candy or some Lollipoppy?"

Poppy blushed harder at the suggestive chide, steam billowing out her ears before she quickly spun on her heel and sprinted to bot lane. Tristana laughed at the cute reaction from her friend, before picking up her cannon and moving to the lane. Just before she left the fountain, she heard the screen change and the summoner's voice return.

"Trist, wait!" Zach called. The gunner turned on her heel to the screen.

"Yo." She answered simply.

"I want you to sell your Berserker's Greaves and B.F. sword for Ninja Tabi, Cutlass and a Dagger." He requested. Trist looked at the summoner with wary eyes.

"Why the sudden switch? I was going for the Bloodthirster next then getting a Guardian Angel." She asked.

"Knowing Kha'zix, he's likely to keep any vision of him blank until he finds you available to strike. Lulu is going to need her ult for Poppy." He answered.

"Wait, why Pops? If I am the target, why not look to protect me?"

"You are strong and can hard carry, no doubt about that. But Poppy is a threat to all of them as she provides a level of peel that can single out Vayne. When they go on her, you go on Vayne, Lulu pops ult to keep Poppy alive, Kha'zix reveals himself for you and Kennen to kill before turning on the rest of their team. But you need to survive his initial burst to keep this plan valid." He explained.

"How are you so certain they won't turn to me?"

"Because of the Tiamat." Trist cocked an eyebrow at the answer. "I got the Tiamat to not only help Poppy's late game split push but to give her some more damage to actually be a threat to most of their team. Vayne is no doubt going to target her as she is the only one who can successfully shred through her health, and her shield will no doubt block everyone else from dashing in to get to you or Kennen."

Trist looked at the screen incredulously but shrugged before materializing the metal greaves and the sword she just got before exchanging the two for the items suggested. "I hope you know what you're doing, relying on your crush like that," Tristana stated.

"Trust me, Poppy is going to be detrimental to-wait did you just call her-"

"Zachary, don't play games with me. You're as gushy for Poppy as Rumble is with me. Literally everyone in the group knows it besides her." Trist said pointedly as she leaned against her cannon. "I mean really, you summon everyone into the match, but primarily focus on Poppy's perspective. Your plan legit revolves around her."

"Just because I plan around her d-doesn't mean I l-like her like that." He said nervously. Tristana's lips curled into a smirk.

"She is the only one with a different outfit this game. More importantly, the only one that you have admitted to her is your favorite." She deadpanned. "You couldn't be more open about liking her if you plastered it on every summoning board from here to the walls of the institute in neon bright bejeweled letters."

Zach perked up, looking away from the screen. Tristana giggled at the nervousness from him. "…O-okay, let's say I think of Poppy…as a really good friend," he stuttered. Tristana rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure yordles have some taboo law against becoming intimate with other species. Correct me if I am wrong, but you all are technically superior beings. To mingle and…infatuate…with some human sounds like a god shaking hands with an ant."

"Oooh, Such a silver tongue, bud. Sounds like a compliment to me to get after my own heart," she teased, wiggling her eyebrows at the screen. When the summoner averted his gaze, she chuckled again before picking her cannon up and walking down the steps, stopping at the base behind the nexus crystal before turning back around. "But to correct ya, there is no written or obliged law for us. True, some look at it funny, but even yordles get adventurous. You just have to see if she is adventurous." She concluded before turning back around and heading to lane in a sprint.

The summoner watched her head to mid lane, his thoughts rolling about her words. He pulled his hood off his head, revealing a somber expression. He was in his early twenties, but his childlike face betrayed his age, as his smooth cream-colored skin and baby blue irises deceiving those who meet him and assume. His short blonde hair spiked forward, and his face was clear of any deformities save the single birthmark on the right side of his right eye that looked more like a small scar than a birthmark.

"But Trist…how am I gonna find out if she does like me?" he asked in a sad tone. It had been a few years since the summoner entered the institute to represent the Bilgewater faction. He had started primarily learning how to ADC and mid lane with champions he recognized from his home but found their styles and attitudes more than he could handle at the time. It wasn't until he summoned Tristana in a match where his primary marksman, Sarah Fortune, was banned from summoning that he learned of the more simplistic yet effective abilities they had. When he was complimented by the gunner after the game for a great performance and obtaining his first ever Pentakill, he got to meet her two closest friends, Lulu the Fae sorceress and Poppy, the Keeper of the Hammer. While all three of them were enigma's in their mere existence, he was fascinated by the tank yordle and her dedication to finding the proper owner to the hammer she wields. At the time, he had no clue why he volunteered to see if he was that hero she referred to, but when the hammer met his grip and fell like a two-ton lead weight to the floor, both of them realized he wasn't the hero she was looking for. Naturally, he kept attempting it over time to justify the truth, so within the first year, he decided to summon Poppy more and learn about her kit and skills. The two became almost inseparable, and eventually Zach was fully associated with all the yordle champions save Kled, who still hates everyone except his partner Skaarl. It wasn't until he started to hang out with the tank yordle that he developed an infatuation with her personality. One of the main issues he saw with his feelings was the risk of destroying the friendship they had for so long. As badly as he wanted to tell the yordle how much she truly meant to him, he couldn't bear the potential rejection and chance of losing everything.

Zach sighed deeply, changing the image of his orb from the fountain to the overhead map of the Rift, and then to the surveillance of the tank. He watched on dreamily as she finished her third wave of minions and was pushing further into the blue side of the map. "…how do I tell you my feelings without scaring you away?" he mumbled. It wasn't until he saw the screen flicker red that he refocused his orb to the overhead map and saw the enemy team attempting to collapse on Tristana and Lulu in the middle of the rift. Alerted by the situation, he swiped across his screen to Kennen and Amumu, tapping on the map beside them to alert them of the change. The two immediately ran towards the midlane to counter the engage. He shifted back to the Keeper before opening his screen to speak to her.

"Poppy! They're going in on Trist and Lulu in a collapse! I need you to teleport now!" he warned. Poppy widened her eyes at the mention before pointing her hammer to the sky. Her body was immediately encircled by a purple glow before she felt her hammer pulling her to the air through her teleport.

"I hope you're right about this Zach!" she shouted before being pulled into the aether for a split second and returning behind the enemy team. Vayne turned around to see the Yordle tank glaring at her, hammer poised at her side. The Demacian marksman widened her eyes in alert at the sudden appearance, shouting to her team to back her up.

"Let's do this, Poppy!" Zach replied. Poppy felt his words flow into her, renewing some inner confidence and determination she hadn't known of, and with a battle cry, she charged forward and headbutted into the Night Hunter's stomach.


As the Keeper felt her body settle from being teleported off the rift, she could feel her cheeks tightening from the toothy smile she was wearing. She and the rest of the yordles of the match looked at the bottom of the summoning platform they stood on to the summoner, who was laughing heartily while clapping.

"That was excellent guys! I knew we could win that one!" Zach cheered before he saw the tank yordle sprint from her spot on the platform and jump up. With practiced ease, he raised his arms up and caught the Keeper before spinning her around in the air.

"I GOT A PENTAKILL! I DID IT, ZACH!" Poopy squealed happily. Zach continued to laugh at the tank's glee. Putting her down to the ground as she hopped up and down like a child proud of their artwork.

"That was awesome, Pops! You were a monster out there!" he returned, before kneeling down and ruffling the top of her head. "I was surprised when you knocked the Kha'zix up the moment he jumped in to get to Kennen! And that shield that canceled everyone's escape at the exact same time was amazing!"

Poppy blushed as the summoner continued to compliment her. While she normally scolds him when he ruffles her hair like a child, the feeling of his congratulation through the act was so warming and pure to her that she was even more elated to it.

"That was some surprising damage, Pops! I knew you would hurt but you literally destroyed that Vayne when you slammed her into the tree." Tristana commented, coming down the steps from the platform.

"Yeah and using your shockwave to keep Leblanc and Rakan from advancing faster made it easier for me and Amumu to get there in time," Kennen mentioned. Amumu smiled and clapped happily. "i must say that was well played."

"To be honest, I was surprised that you managed to grab your buckler at the end and throw it at Urgot for the kill. All that armor he had didn't stop your awesome attack with Pix's power!" Lulu added. Poppy blushed as the group continued to compliment her for the victory before she felt something grab her legs from behind and slid under her. She had yelped as she noticed Zach pick her up onto her shoulders.

"Good work out there, Pops. Thanks to that, I went up the division to Diamond two." He mentions solemnly. "If there is anything you need me to do, I'll do it."

"Oh? Suggesting some free favors as a reward? How naughty of you, Zachary." Tristana chided. The tank and the summoner's faces filled with color, and they immediately raised their hands and gestured for the gunner to not say anything. Tristana and Lulu giggled at the cute reaction from both, and Kennen merely huffed in amusement.

"T-thanks, Zach. I think I'll be alright though." Poppy replied. "Right now, I wanna head home and relax. That match took it out of me."

At this, Zach looked up to the yordle sitting on his shoulders with a sad expression. "I thought we were gonna check out the library today to read more into Orlon's hammer?" Poppy met his look with a warm smile.

"Sorry, Zach. You can head in without me this time. If there is anything you need to know, just call me. Or better yet, come to my apartment and ask. I am right around the corner from the Bandle library anyway." Poppy replied. While she hadn't initially thought about what she said, she perked her ears when the words reregistered in her mind, her blush returning full force. To her fortune, Zach didn't catch her blush as he hummed in disappointment. To her misfortune, she could see the prying grins of her two best friends as they looked to her suggestively, eyebrows raised.

"Hey, Pops. Can you stay behind for a sec? I have something I wanna ask you about the forge. Maybe you can help fix the jamming in my cannon?" Tristana asked suddenly. Poppy looked to the gunner in confusion, before tapping Zach's head to signal she wanted to be put down. Zach picked her up by her sides and dropped her to the floor on her feet.

"Is boomer having another hissy fit? Coulda swore I nicked out that bump lodging your pellets the last time you brought it in." Poppy said, taking the cannon outstretched by the gunner in hand. She attempted to pull it to her but was surprised when Tristana didn't let go. Looking up at her, she saw a serious expression on her face, her eyes darting from Poppy's to Zach. Poppy tilted her head in confusion.

"I'm gonna head out you guys. I'll see you all tomorrow before matches start back up. Let's hope we can get another win streak going on the rift." Zach called before turning for the chamber's exit. Kennen and Amumu followed behind him, leaving Poppy, Trist, and Lulu standing there.

"See ya, Zachary!" Lulu called cheerily, waving to the summoner as he walked away. Poppy and Trist were still in a lockdown of gazes, with Trist's growing more and more impatient by the second. It wasn't until the summoner had left and the doors had closed that Lulu looked to Poppy with the same deadpanned gaze Trist had.

"What?" Poppy asked dryly.

"Pops, ask him out already." Lulu returned with the same dryness.

"I told you two before, I am not into Zach! Stop trying to-"

"Poppy don't try to play games," Trist interjected, pulling her cannon back to her and dropping it to lean against. "You talk about him even out of context, you get excited when he summons you, you were hard cheesing your smile when he complimented your Penta earlier."

"One, I am a good friend that likes to think about my other friends. Two, I am rarely summoned, so being summoned to the rift is refreshing. Three, I was smiling when everyone was complimenting me." Poppy retorted turning on her heel to the exit. Tristana and Lulu followed behind the tank with annoyed looks. "None of that validates me liking him."

"Okay, let me ask you this Poppy. Why ask him particularly to go to the library with you to research your hammer?" Lulu asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"He's the only one right now that is remotely interested in figuring out who the hero is that I have to give this to! And I didn't ask him to come, he volunteered." She replied turning to face them once more. "The library isn't the most interesting place."

"You couldn't ask Heim to help?" Trist asked. Poppy's ears twitched before she turned back around and continued her walk. "Thought so."

"Thought nothing! Just because he's nice enough to help me with finding the hero, or that he has a really good personality, or that he smiles really warmly when we talk about food and tv, or that he treats me so nicely and ruffles my hair, or that one time he walked me back to my place when I fell asleep at that get together you guys had-" she trailed. It wasn't until she noticed her rambling that she realized her words were literally spilling out about Zach that she stopped. "I-it doesn't mean anything."

"Really really?" Tristana jeered.

"Really really." Poppy repeated, turning back on her heel. The two yordles looked at her as she walked away and then to each other, knowing gazes meeting. After a second of justifying each other's thoughts, they shrugged before continuing their own stride home.

"What're we gonna do about them? This can't go for much longer before someone else finds Zachary and Poppy loses her chance." Lulu whispered to the gunner.

"I've been trying to run matchmaker for the last year on these two. At this point, it's their own fault." Trist conceded. "Something tells me though that they will wise up soon."

Meanwhile, Poppy was staring at the ground while she was walking, her mind reeling about what was the fifth time in the week her friends interrogated her on her infatuation with Zach. She was surprised at the conviction the two had with trying to put them together, even though Poppy knew people would look at her weird for dating a human. And while she would like nothing more than to admit how much she loved the summoner, she was petrified that if he didn't feel the same way, he would be gone forever. Losing his affection was one thing, losing him was death in itself to her.

She hadn't noticed she felt so deeply for the summoner until the last year that he exclusively chose to summon her in matches. He always had a great way to make her smile, and never seemed uninterested in whatever she had to say. They realized that their synergy as a champion to summoner was almost perfect, his thoughts being heard and understood long before either of them made the notion of it. Unlike many other people, he also tended to her flaws with care. It was no secret that the yordle was somewhat clumsy (which is an understatement in its entirety), and while most people reprimanded or insulted her about it, Zach merely joked about it. It was likely because he was almost as klutzy as she was, but when she made a mistake, he either reassured her that it was nothing serious or that he did it before anyway.

Above all else was his intense dedication mirroring her own to locate the owner of her hammer with her. The summoner's interest has gotten to the point where he actively helps her research the weapon and caters to its condition with her. He even started learning blacksmithing to understand how it was created and maintained, often helping her in her forge to build and fix weapons. And while she had prayed that Zach was the hero she had been searching for to finally present the weapon to, the reminder of him being unable to lift and hold the weapon for longer than a few seconds was evidence enough to her. And although recently he has found it easier to lift it, the hammer seemingly refused to let him hold it for longer than a few seconds, dropping like a ton of lead to the floor.

How can I tell him that I like him…without scaring him away? She thought sadly, her fears forming tears in her large eyes as she continued to walk. It wasn't until she felt a solid object hit her head that she was forced to stop, having fallen onto her rear and rubbing her head to numb the pain. "Ow…what was-"

She stopped when she had realized she had subconsciously walked herself to her apartment, having bumped into the wall besides the main door once again being absent minded. Pushing the glass doors through and heading to the elevator, she waved to the stewards behind the counter blankly not bothering to meet their gaze or check for a response to her greeting. She went up the elevator, removing her buckler from her back to prepare for relaxation. As the elevator pinged her floor, she walked out the metal box and down the hall to her door before pulling out her rune stone and waving it over the lock besides the door frame. The audible click of the lock told her it was open, and pushing the door open, she tossed her buckler to the stand besides her entrance and placed her hammer on the wall nearby it. Hands freed from her gear, she clapped twice to turn on the lights and sighed as the moderately sized living space illuminated.

The apartment itself was nothing short of regular, having a small kitchen more or less built into the bottom left corner of where she entered from and having her living space take up the majority of the room. There was a single couch and a table across from it with her television that stood in the center. On the wall behind the couch was a small weapon rack she normally keeps her hammer and buckler, along with a mannequin stand at her height that stood besides it for her armor. On the weapon rack had all her variations of her hammer, from her blacksmith forger to the oversized lollipop, and even her Star Guardian counterpart and its respective buckler. On the opposite end of the room was a single open door leading to her bedroom, which also housed the only bathroom to the living space. There was a second door besides it for visitors to use if they wanted to use the bathroom themselves, and next to that door was her washer and dryer.

Poppy, quickly discarding her heavier armor parts starting from her shoulder pads and breastplate, hopped on her couch and immediately turned on the television, not caring for the current show that just popped into her screen. She continued to remove her armor as she sat there, taking off her chainmail and boots before taking off her leg plates entirely. With practiced ease, she was sitting on her sofa in her underwear, a habit she indulged into nearly every day when she got home or was by herself. She had started flicking through the channels absentmindedly, her thoughts swirling back and forth between her dream with the summoner and the nightmare without him.

Her ears perked at the sound of a soap opera that she had passed by, and switching back to the channel, found it to be one of the more soft-hearted moments of romance. She saw the male and female on-screen kissing within a living room with the male slowly pushing the female to her back on the sofa. The tank couldn't help but analyze the engagement, subconsciously imagining herself underneath the male. His face in her mind blurred and refocused until she imagined Zach above her, looking down lovingly into her eyes just as the male was doing to the female.

"I have always and will always love you…" the television sounded.

I have always and will always love you…Poppy…she repeated with the soft and caressing voice of the summoner in her mind. She had felt her eyes close, her mind drifting into a trance as she felt goosebumps of the summoner's hands roll on her skin. The gentle feeling ignited her flame of passion, and her teeth caught the bottom of her lip as his hands in her thoughts explored her skin. Her ears twitched as the summoner in her mind nibbled at the long flesh, it's sensitivity spiking and her voice letting out a light moan in response. Her body was lit aflame with desire, and with each second of the summoner's caress, she felt her heart and mind fade further and further from control.

Zach…I-I love y-

The gentle rapping on her door perked her ears up once more. Her eyes flying open as she woke from her sleep. She sat up on her sofa and saw that the show she was focused on had gone off and switched to some comedy. Her body was covered in sweat and her heart was thumping harshly in her chest, her breathing was disoriented and her thoughts still hazy from the emotional rollercoaster that was her dream.

It…it was a dream…she thought somberly. She looked to her body at notice her crotch was stained with arousal, and her chest rising and falling from the rush. She frowned as she noticed that the reality was a lot colder now that her vivid dream was over. Just a dream…

The door knocked again, this time a little louder as whoever was on the other side seemingly grew impatient to the lack of an answer. Poppy looked at the frame with contempt, as she realized it was whoever was on the other side that disturbed her from finishing what was the best dream she had in a long time. She groaned before hopping off her couch and walking to her room.

"Hold on! I'll be right there!" she called, not trying to have whoever was on the other side bang her door in. she went into her room and cut on the light, immediately heading to the dresser besides her bed and pulling out a pair of workout shorts and a simple tank top. Putting the clothes on to cover her sweat-drenched bra and arousal stained panties, she walked back out to her living room and to the front door. Because of her size, she had a peephole installed so she could see the entirety of the person without having to get on a step ladder to see. The male on the other side was completely drenched and shivering, looking at the peephole directly to give her a view of his face. Her eyes went wide, before she unlocked her door quickly and pulled it open.

"Zach?" she asked in surprise. The summoner stood there with a smile before waving at the yordle.

"Hey, Pops. Sorry for intruding you at this time of night" the male replied.