Author's Note: It's always uncomfortable for me to write about them taking new step into their relationship, but by the end of the chapter I always end up getting over it. In that sense, I think it's really helping me get over my prejudices. Aside from that, thanks for reading; I hope you've been enjoying the story thus far. As always, I'd appreciate it if you would review the story.
As I was walking back to the Order to find Shen and Akali, the gravity of the situation I was in started to hit me. If I preformed terribly on the training field again like I did a few days ago, and then if afterwards Shen found out it was because I got together with Teemo, things would not be looking good for me – for us. There wouldn't have been any way to hide the reason for my poor performance from Shen either, and besides, that wouldn't have been right. Shen Akali and I had to be able to trust each other. That really only left me with one option – I had to tell Shen about me and Teemo. It wasn't a conversation I was excited to have, but it seemed like our only chance of being able to stay together.
When I made it back to the Kinkou Order, I let myself inside. Looking around, I saw Akali in the kitchen making breakfast for everyone; she greeted me as I came in, and I greeted her back. I didn't see Shen around; he must have been in his room, still getting ready for the day. Hoping that was the case, I went to his door, and knocked. Shortly afterward, he answered.
"Hey Shen," I began a little sheepishly, "Do you have a moment to talk?"
"Is this about why didn't you come back last night?" Shen questioned me; he didn't seem too angry, at least not yet. I bet he was glad he didn't have to find me and force the issue.
"Yah, it is." I replied.
"Alright, why don't you come inside?" he continued, leading me into his room. He pulled a chair up for for me, and I climbed up onto it. He then sat across from me on his bed. Shen began the conversation, asking me,
"So, what do you have to tell me?"
"A lot," I began, taking a deep breath, "I'll start with last night; I ended up staying up all night with Teemo yesterday. I'm his boyfriend now, and he needed me."
"Teemo is your boyfriend now?" he questioned me, immediately zeroing in on the most important words of my admission.
"Yah, he is." I answered steadily, but not defiantly. I didn't want to give the impression that I was challenging him, and I wasn't either. All I wanted was for us to get along.
"Kennen, you keep putting me into positions like this." Shen began, "You've known your whole life about why we discourage fraternization with outsiders. What exactly do you want to me do with this information? Why do I always have to be the bad guy?" Shen asked me. He didn't sound angry, only disappointed in me. Somehow, that seemed a lot worse. I've never looked at the situation from his point of view before. It was true; it has been my fault we've been pitted against each other like we have. He was one of the closest things I had to family, and in a little over a month I managed to mess up our relationship. Why did everything have to be a give and take between us?
"Look Shen, you're right," I told Shen sincerely, "and I'm sorry for putting you in this position so often. I really don't know what you should do next, but you should know Teemo has made me happier than I've ever been. I care for him a lot, and I don't want to lose him."
"I know Kennen, and that's the problem." Shen responded, sounding frustrated and dejected at the same time.
"So what now then?" I asked.
After a little whiles thought Shen answered me, "Kennen, the League season will be ending in a three weeks, and after that, as you know, we'll be returning to Ionia. We still have a few matches between then and now, and I don't think it would be a good idea to ruin your emotional state by splitting you and Teemo up right now. That would really throw off your performance. By coming to me it's clear you that you want to do the right thing, so for now, we'll leave things as they are. When the season ends, we can talk about the future, alright?"
"Alright, that sounds like a plan. I feel a lot better that everything is in the open now. I'll see you at practice, Shen." I replied, getting down from his chair to leave. Shen stopped me halfway to the door, saying,
"Wait, you said you didn't sleep last night, right?"
"Yah," I responded, turning around.
"You're not useful to us tired then. You can take a nap, and then meet us on the training grounds in the afternoon." Shen told me understandingly.
"Thanks Shen." I replied.
"I'm just trying to do what's best for the group." Shen said to me as I left his room and closed the door behind me.
Getting outside of Shen's quarters, I walked down the hall and immediately went into my room to get some sleep. The time it took to get dressed into my sleeping clothes, climb into bed, then fall asleep gave me a chance to reflect on my talk with Shen. I realized I felt bad for him, and that was a new emotion for me. Everyone is fallible, I figured, but it never seemed like he was. He definitely seemed more human than normal, and maybe that meant Teemo and I could somehow come to an arrangement with him in the future. No matter what all of this meant though, Teemo and I were at least safe until the League season ended. Even if that turned out to be the last few weeks we would spend together, I knew we would live those moments to the fullest.
Akali woke me up in the afternoon when she and Shen arrived back at the Order's dormitory to get lunch. Having missed breakfast, I ate with them, then followed them to the training grounds to finish the work day. With the latest crisis with Shen adverted, all that was on my mind throughout practice was Teemo and how hurt and scared he was the last night. It killed me that after all of that he would have to wake up alone; that I wouldn't be there to comfort him if he still needed it. That's why I really wanted to check up on him and see how he was doing, so immediately after practice was over I told Shen and Akali where I was going, then ran off to find Teemo.
I actually ended up running into Teemo on my way Bandle City's section of the Insitute, in the grand entry hall. It looked like he was walking towards the main gates; I called to him.
"Hey Teemo, wait up for me!"
"Alright!" Teemo yelled back enthusiastically, turning around and stopping for me. I caught up to him pretty quickly, and, when I did, he brought me into an embrace.
"It's so good to see you." he said warmly into my ear.
"Definitely," I agreed. Then, ending our little moment of closeness, I continued, "It looks like I barely caught you. Where were you going?"
"Just to, you know, my spot." Teemo responded candidly. That had me a little worried for him; I knew he only went there when something was troubling him.
"Do you mind if I come with you?" I asked him. "If you want to go alone though, that's fine; I know it's a private place for you."
"You could never intrude Kennen. I'd love it if you came with me." he replied, smiling at me. He then took me by the hand and started bringing me outside and then down the Institute's steps with him. When we got to the forests' edge we paused for a moment, putting our arms around each others waists to begin our short journey together.
"So, Teemo, did you want come out here because of last night?" I asked him as we walked together, concerned.
"Yah, I suppose I did, in a way." He responded.
"Are you okay then?" I questioned him, "I was worried about you all day Teemo."
"That was sweet of you Kennen, but you didn't have to worry. I'm fine." He responded, then, giving me a little squeeze and smiling at me, he continued, "Actually, I'm better then fine." I was really glad to hear that from him; I hated to see such a normally cheery yordle like himself get down like that, especially because he was my boyfriend.
After that we spent the rest of our walk together in relative silence, throwing sweet little glances and smiles at each other every so often, with the occasional giggle in between. Pretty soon though the familiar path we were following began to end, and the treeline broke in front of us, laying bare the night sky for both of us to see. We made it to his spot. To our spot.
Teemo sat down back towards the same tree we first met each other at, and I sat down next to him. He snuggled up close to me, putting his arms around me, and I put mine around his. There was just so much involved in that moment that made it perfect: us holding each other so closely like that, with the warmth of his body giving a nice contrast to the cool night air, the sound of his steady breathing with that of the crickets chirping behind us, and, of course, of us just being together with so much beauty above and before us. I don't know how long we sat there together under the stars like that. It was just such a wonderful thing to experience with him; I don't think either of us wanted that moment to end. Eventually though, Teemo was the first to move, looking over at me. I looked back at him, and when our eyes met he brought his hand up to my cheek and then uttered to me,
"I love you, Kennen,"
That took me by surprise. Is this what love is like? I wanted to tell him that I loved him too, but I didn't want to be dishonest with him. So, even though I was afraid that I was going to offend him, I asked,
"How do you know, Teemo?"
"It's simple Kennen," he began explaining to me, "When you're around, it always makes me feel really good inside; I'm happiest when I'm with you. When you're not with me, all I can think about is how much I miss you, and how much I can't wait until the next time we see each other. You're just always in my thoughts. I can name a lot of reasons why you make me feel that way, reasons why I love you, but that's how you make me feel. So, I love you Kennen."
"If that's what love is, then, I love you too Teemo."
No sooner than when I finished uttering that phrase, he started bringing his face towards mine, and I his. Ours lips met in the middle, and we kissed. My heart fluttered, and my breathing hitched; the feeling of his lips against mine were incredible. It felt like the entirety of my soul was tied up in those few moments our lips met. We drew out the kiss, but eventually, like everything, it had to come to an end. After that we didn't say anything to each other for awhile; I think we both just wanted to bask in the afterglow of that moment, of our expression of love.
"That was incredible Teemo." I told him, the first one of us to break the silence.
"Yah Kennen, it was," he responded, his voice taking on a somewhat mystical tone like mine must have had.
"So," I asked him, "You never did tell me why you wanted to come here." Me saying that made Teemo grin at me little; I'm sure if he didn't have fur he would have been blushing.
"Well, I wanted to come here to help sort out my feelings. To decide if how I felt about you was love." he explained to me.
"It looks like we both answered that question for ourselves then." I responded.
"Yah, it does, doesn't it?" he agreed, pulling himself a little closer to me. "So what do we do now?"
"As much as I hate to say it, I think we have to get back. I really need to get some sleep for tomorrow." I responded, a little disappointment creeping its way into my voice.
"Okay, Love. Let's get heading back then." he said to me. I really liked how he called me that.
Reluctantly, both of us then got up and started heading back towards the Institute. Like before, we both had our arms around each others waist, keeping the other close. Soon again we were both at the Institute. We went inside, and Teemo then walked me back to the Kinkou Order's dormitory.
"Goodnight Kennen, I love you." Teemo told me outside of the front door as our final moments we would spend together that night were coming to an end.
"Goodnight Teemo, I love you too." I responded, hugging him and giving him a kiss before I walked inside and went to sleep.