Wow. 1 year anniversary of Relationships. I can't even really believe that I hit it. I never thought this would last so long. But thank you everyone who's sticked with me for the full year, and those who have arrived sometime in between. You are all awesome. This is for all of you.

It was a quiet night in Piltover's outskirts- the twisting alleyways and streets home to some of the city's seedier elements. It was normally raucous at this time of night- this would be when the thieves and criminals came out to play, but he hadn't seen anyone in the past 20 minutes other than a wandering, muttering hobo.

Of course, that may have been due to the person coming into sight now. Neon pink hair bobbed up and down as she strutted along the street as though she owned it. She was happily whistling, slightly off-key, a tune that he couldn't really recognize. The gigantic metal fists encased over the flesh of her hands would occasionally hit one another, almost as if they were boxing. He hunched over slightly over his work. An encounter would be annoying and embarrassi-

"Hey Genius Boy! What're you doin' down here?"

Embarrassing.

Ezreal stood up after carefully placing his map on the ground and laying a stray stone on it so it wouldn't be blown around by the wind. "Just making a map. The commission realized that they didn't have proper maps of this entire section, and I have some free time, so…" He shrugged.

Vi began to laugh. "They just figured that out? Maybe that's why Cupcake back there" -she gestured back in the direction of the district station- "keeps getting lost in here!"

Ezreal let out a smile. "Well they didn't say that specifically…"

Vi let out another guffaw and pounded Ezreal on the back, not noticing that it left him stumbling and gasping for air. "Now, let's see that map." She held her chin with her gigantic gauntleted hands, peering down on the piece of paper. "You messed up Ludlow Way" she said after a moment of contemplation.

Ezreal's eyes narrowed. "I don't think so."

"Listen kid, I've been on these streets for fifteen years. I know this place. Ludlow Way actually-" she grabbed a pencil laying on the ground- "connects-" her brow scrunched up as she carefully maneuvered the tip to point to one particular spot in the map- "here."

Ezreal squinted at the map, then threw up his arms in resignation. "Fine, you win…" he grumbled, as Vi smirked- "this time…." He erased the previous street and scribbled in a few notes and edits.

"Say, Genius Boy-" Vi started. Ezreal noticeably twitched. Vi's smirk grew noticeably larger.

"Why do you even call me that?" Ezreal asked irritably.

"Oh, but it's because you're so smart. Teach me O Mast-"

She was cut off by Ezreal. "Alright, forget I said anything." He scribbled a few more lines into his map.

"You never answered my question, Genius Boy," Vi said. "Why are you out here all alone, during the night?"

"Well, no one's awake during the night. No one who's not a criminal." He looked up at her. "Wait- I mean-"

Vi laughed. "I can be a criminal when I want to."

Sighing, Ezreal continued. "Well, you know what I mean. And night because, well-" he shrugged. "I don't feel like being summoned at a bad time, and have the feedback destroy my map." He thought for a moment. "Also, accidentally destroying a block because of feedback from the summoning wouldn't be fun either."

"Well," Vi shoved Ezreal. "I'll join you. Streets are dangerous and all. Also can't have you dying on my watch. Looks bad." She gave half a shrug. "And it's boring down here. Company's nice."

"You mean annoying me for the rest of your patrol."

Vi looked at Ezreal with another smirk on her face. "What else?"

Ezreal just rolled his eyes and kept walking.

Oddly enough, it was Ezreal who began talking. "Why isn't anyone else down here too? No squadmates or anything?"

Vi rolled her eyes. "Cupcake and the rest of the high class are too busy-" she began to mimic Caitlyn's conspicuous accent very poorly- "we require a tea break at precisely 3, 5, and 8 every day. Oh no! A homeless person! They carry so many diseases, we can't go within 10 feet of them!" Returning to her normal voice after a snort, Vi continued, "Don't get me wrong. I love Cupcake and all. But, she has to get a little more flexible." She thought for a moment. "Well, it might also be because they get lost within 5 seconds down here anyways."

"So why doesn't she hire more people from down here?" Ezreal asked. "They would know the place inside out, and would have fewer… expectations."

Vi rolled her eyes. "I've been telling her that for years now! She doesn't listen. Goes on about things like-" she began the bad imitation of Caitlyn's accent again- "reliability, discipline, integrity, corruption" another snort. "Apparently, I'm the only one that caught her eye as a possibility, so here I am."

"So…" Ezreal paused for a second. "Does she have to worry about stuff like that with you? Corruption and all that?"

Vi turned her gaze on him, suddenly serious. "That's a very dangerous question to ask, kiddo."

Ezreal didn't back down, staring back.

Vi sighed. "Listen kid, you know I've got a past, and friends on the other side of the law. They show up in front of my face and I take them in. But I don't go looking for them, and they just stick to just enough crime to put food on the table, and that way, everyone's happy. Sound good?"

Ezreal frowned. "But that's still cri-"

"Do you know what it's like to be hungry? To be beat down, hit, starved?" Vi hissed. "I go after the guys that commit crimes for fun, or so they can just buy the next whore down the road. I stay away from the people who are just trying to survive. Alright? Now shut up."

Ezreal blinked in surprise. Vi was cocky, rude, brash, but he'd never seen her really angry. It was quite scary, and he resolved to avoid making her angry in the future at all costs.

A few more blocks.

"What do you think I would've been like if I'd grown up in the streets?" asked Ezreal. Vi turned to him with an upraised eyebrow.

"Well- just… curious…."

Vi studied him appraisingly. Ezreal felt similar to a gem being examined by a jeweler.

"You'd be fought over, actually." Ezreal started. Vi continued. "You'd have been snatched up by one of the illegal techmaturgy gangs." She thought a bit more. "Or maybe snatched up by the prostitutes."

Ezreal's face reddened. "P-p-p-p-prostitutes?"

Vi only laughed. "Well, you don't look too ba-"

A high pitched whine intruded into the conversation. Vi and Ezreal looked at each other for an instant, immediately comprehending what the whine meant. Vi had encountered it enough. Ezreal recognized it from fighting Caitlyn on the Fields of Justice. Ezreal threw himself behind a convenient bench. Vi simply powered up her blast shield. A crack. Vi didn't even budge, the only indication of the hit being a brief flickering of her blast shield.

There was a simple cry of "get them!", and then the mayhem began.

They found themselves surrounded by a group of maybe a dozen gangers, a few armed with rifles, but most with simple crowbars. They all ignored Ezreal, and almost exclusively ganged up on Vi. One of them jumped in and tried to smash Vi on the head with a sideways slash which she intercepted with a quick one-finger salute and an uppercut, breaking the attacker's jaw and leaving him sprawled out on the ground, moaning in pain. The rest were understandably cautious after that, attempting to spread out and surround the pink-haired menace.

Ezreal didn't give them a chance to do so. He ran out into the middle of the street. Vi noticed him.

"Get out of here, Genius Boy! I don't want you to get hurt!" she yelled. His only response was a grunt.

A grunt and a gigantic energy bow that suddenly was pulled into existence. It widened, became more clear and defined. One enemy noticed it and shouted. Suddenly realizing what it was, they all dove to the floor.

With a sudden "Ha!" Ezreal released his Trueshot Barrage. It passed right over the heads of everyone else, except for Vi, who was just on the edge of it. Looking down, realizing that all of the gangers were on the ground, unable to fight back, Vi realized what Ezreal had done. She charged among them, fists swinging. Over half of them wouldn't get up. The rest were now ranged around her, crowbars meeting fists in a deadly duel of blunt trauma.

Ezreal, on the other hand, was engaged in a duel of precision. With all 4 of the ganger's rifles trained on his piece of cover, given away by the targeting lasers on them, he couldn't step out without being instantly shot. But due to his magic and his glowing gauntlet, he didn't have to walk. Instead, he stepped into the arcane plane for an instant and then stepped back out into the physical plane several feet away from where he'd started. The feedback from the spell was concentrated into a bolt of pure arcane energy, which he directed towards the closest rifleman. It smashed into her chest and she went flying backwards. Ezreal then shot out a quick bolt of energy from his arcane bow, more by instinct than by conscious thought, before ducking behind another piece of cover. That was followed by a cry of pain from the target of his Mystic Shot, a crack from a rifle that went where his head had been an instant before, and a muttered curse from the man whose rifle had shot it. There was another high-pitched whine of a rifle charging. He suddenly realized the fourth rifleman's gun wasn't pointed at him. Turning around, he realized that the targeting dot was actually on Vi's back. He let out a wordless shout and began running towards the melee.

The ganger behind Vi was surprised when a man appeared from seemingly nowhere. He was even more surprised when the man shoved him to the side. He was even more surprised when he heard the crack of a rifle and felt the bullet enter his chest. He slumped to the ground.

Ezreal then whirled around and hurled bolts of energy from his gauntlet to catch 2 gangers in the face. Vi, suddenly not flanked, took the opportunity to swiftly toss a left hook into the woman in front of her, knocking her into the man beside her. Both fell down, stunned.

Another high-pitched whine began emanating from the sniper's nest. Ezreal twisted and fired off a Mystic shot. It went right past the face of the sniper…

And crashed into the power cell behind both of the remaining snipers. The resulting explosion threw the snipers out and onto the ground, smoldering, and caused both Ezreal and Vi to stumble. And, seemingly as suddenly as it began, it was all over. Both fell to the ground, trembling in both exertion and adrenaline.

"Lucky shot," Vi said, lying on the ground, panting.

"Heh. It's all skill," said Ezreal.

"You keep telling yourself that." A pause. "And Genius Boy… thanks. For the save."

"No problem."

"No, really. Lemme treat you to a fun night. Least I could do for saving me from a bullet in the back," Vi insisted.

'A fun night with Vi?' thought Ezreal. 'Sounds dangerous….' After a moment, Ezreal looked up with a smile. "I'm in."

Vi began to trot off. "Hey, let's go the bar next to my place. Bartender there knows me, won't ask questions."

Ezreal started after her, looking behind him at the bodies sprawled on the ground. "What about all… that?"

Vi waved her hand. "Eh, the cleanup crews'll pick 'em up. This shit happens every other week anyways."

Shrugging, Ezreal followed her to the bar.

It was relatively small, but it was almost full. Vi went straight to the bar, flicked the bell with her gigantic gauntlet, and the barman appeared at the ding. He greeted Vi with a grunt.

"Hey, a whiskey for me and a glass of milk for my li-" One look at Ezreal's face made her burst out in laughter. "Make that two whiskeys."

The drinks arrived, Vi flicked a few coins the Barkeep's way, drinks were knocked down with alarming speed. More whiskey, more drinking, and the cycle continued.

In fact, in almost no time, Ezreal found himself in a very comfortable position leaning against Vi. He was warm, and he couldn't really tell if that was because of the alcohol, or the fact that Vi's arm was around him. She was busy telling- no, shouting- their deeds across the bar to anyone willing to listen. She was currently laughing at some silly act one of the gangers had done. Ezreal realized his face muscles were slightly sore due to the constant smiling he was doing. Wait, when had he started smiling? Oh well, that didn't really matter. He took another sip of whiskey and swirled it around his tongue, savoring the burn, before swallowing it and feeling both the burn and the warmth as it went down to settle in his stomach.

A few drinks later, he found himself looking at Vi. She'd finished her story, ending with his gallant saving of her. He dimly registered someone from the small crowd around them, shouting something. It was something about her really thanking him. He realized his gaze had been moving steadily down, but hearing cheers, it snapped back up. He realized that Vi was stepping closer to him, and all of a sudden, her lips were on his, nibbling, and the adrenaline rush that the scent of her hair, taste of her lips, feeling from the kiss and her nearness, was heady and shocking. His lips closed around one of hers as well now, and he could feel her responding, pulling the two of them together tightly. And now he was almost desperate for air, not having breathed for what felt like hours in the kiss, yet he was desperate the ensure that it lasted for as long as possible, if only to prolong the intoxicating closeness that the kiss provided.

He didn't realize that his eyes had closed, but when air finally flooded his starved lungs, they snapped open to look at the world with a new clarity. Vi was in front of him, also gasping for breath, and the rest of the world slowly came back into focus, as did the at first subtle, but eventually overwhelming sound of the crowd in front of them cheering. He saw Vi looking at him with a new hunger, and he wasn't sure if he should be scared, or exhilarated.

She called out, "hey boys and girls, I think we're done here tonight." The cheers subsided for a moment. Then she came forward and took Ezreal's hand, beginning to drag the nonplussed Explorer towards the door. The cheering began again as people realized exactly where the pair were going, and a pathway opened up to the door.

From there, it was only a short walk to Vi's apartment. Up one flight of stairs, unlocking a door, the hiss of her gauntlets releasing, it was all a blur to him. All that he could hold onto was the warmth of her body and the sweetness of her lips as she pulled him into the bedroom and the door slammed shut.

Will there be a part two? Who knows?