Marcus frowned as he watched the harbour. Grayson's ghost would always haunt this place for him. The memory of that night that both went so horrifically wrong and at the same time launched him on his path to glory.
That's the way it always seemed to be. No reward without sacrifice. That slimy bastard Silco might be on to something.
The findings of his investigation brought a similarly bitter taste of regret to his mouth. It had been his intention to collect a discreet witness report from the shipyard master, to confirm that he had seen the Vanderport girl board and sail away.
But no sooner had Marcus started asking questions, that the old man began spilling words like an overfilled sack of grain. He hadn't seen the girl, in fact had specifically been instructed to overlook her absence. Instructed by a tall woman with a mechanical arm.
Marcus' blood chilled at the revelation.
It could be nothing. A mere coincidence. One old man's faulty memory. The Undercity was crawling with augmented or replaced limbs. There were plenty of women who could fall under that description.
But, something whispered, what were the odds?
Taking one last long breath and chasing Grayson from his mind, Marcus turned on his heel. That Rivington boy might be shaking a hornet's nest unlike anything he could fathom.
Jinx was proving to be a…challenge. That was the most optimistitc way Magnolia could think of it.
There were areas in which she excelled, way above and beyond what a child her age should know. But other areas? In things like literature and history, she was almost completely ignorant.
Magnolia felt completely out of her depth. All she had to draw from was her own experience with tutors. She'd gotten a well-rounded education, befitting a woman of her station, followed by an Art History degree at the Academy. Nowhere within that had she learned how to handle feisty pre-teens with rage issues.
That morning had ended with a colossal blow out, Jinx lashing out when the neat lines of math problems that Magnolia had presented her with just wouldn't make sense. She'd taken off, running out of the room with tears in her eyes and smacking herself on the forehead as she went. That seemed to be a habit of hers, to cause herself pain she couldn't figure something out.
Magnolia tried to catch up, calling for her. The sight broke her heart. There was more there than just the frustration with math homework, but Magnolia felt helpless to aid her.
Jinx vanished into Silco's office, the door slamming behind her before Magnolia could stop her. She lingered in the hall for a while, expecting a livid Silco to come storming out to yell at her, but the door didn't re-open. Feeling like a miserable failure, she left it at that. Who better to comfort Jinx than her devoted father?
Refusing to let the morning be a complete bust, she ventured downstairs to help with the clean up. It was rather amusing to find two of Silco's giant guards – Harold and Dominic? – occupied with wiping tables and washing dishes. They looked hilariously hopeful when they spotted her and Magnolia waved them off with a smile. She'd seen these men tear into bar brawls like it was nothing, but a little housework and their pride was suddenly in jeopardy. What a couple of babies.
She was in the middle of wiping down glasses behind the bar when Sevika strolled in. Taking a seat on one of the stools, she gave Magnolia an assessing once over.
"You look rough," she remarked. Magnolia threw her a half-hearted glower. Setting down the glass she'd been working on, she sighed.
"Things aren't going well with Jinx," she replied honestly. Sevika scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"I could've told you that before you'd even tried." That only made Magnolia frown deeper.
"Why do you make such a point of disliking her?" she asked. Sevika could hardly be described as warm or friendly, but she wasn't mindlessly hateful either. The other woman considered the question for a moment, pulling out a cigarette from under her cape.
"We have a history, her and I. Not a good one."
Magnolia balked. "She's eleven. What history can you have with an eleven-year-old?"
Sevika fixed her with a hard look. "Easy Piltie, there's a lot you don't know. You've never wondered how Silco came to have a fucking daughter? He's not exactly the nurturing type."
"I figured she'd been the kid of someone he was close to. That they passed and he took in their child," Magnolia mused out loud. It had tickled her brain imagining what circumstances might have lead the reclusive and grumpy man to take in a loud and boisterous child like Jinx.
Sevika snorted, lighting her cigarette. "You could say that." Magnolia cocked an eyebrow in question.
"What does that mean?"
Sevika scowled, looking around like she was checking for eavesdroppers. "Shouldn't be talking about this, Silco wouldn't like it." She met Magnolia's gaze with a hard look. "You want to know about Jinx, you ask him directly."
Magnolia frowned but let it go. Sevika was a locked safe, certainly not one prone to gossip.
"What is your historywith Silco?" That made the older woman lose her gloomy countenance.
"My history? What are you implying, sweet cheeks?" she asked with humour. Magnolia rolled her eyes and swatted her with the tea towel.
"Not like that. I know he's not your type." She mimed quotation marks around the last word. "You just seem like you've known each other a while." Magnolia paused and studied the other woman's face, the wide planes of her cheekbones and the flinty grey of her eyes. A tough face, as if Sevika's character were hewn into her very bone structure. "He trusts you."
Sevika hummed noncommittally. It wasn't a light thing, Silco's trust. That much Magnolia had certainly picked up on. But whatever bound Sevika and him together meant that she had it in spades.
"We go way back, we do," the second-in-command mused. "Back when he was just a scrawny, angry kid dreaming up a rebellion with Vander."
Magnolia listened carefully, clinging to this rare window into Silco's past. "Vander?"
"A story for another time," Sevika dismissed. She leaned forward on her good arm, her gaze thoughtful and faraway as she regarded the gleaming metal of her prosthetic. "Following Silco has both costs and benefits. He won't compromise in his relentless pursuit forward, but he takes care of his people. That is what makes him the only man right for the job."
"And what job is that?" Magnolia wasn't an idiot. Silco was a criminal kingpin, sure, but there was something else lurking beneath the surface. Something more insidious beneath the endless meetings and plots. Somehow it seemed to revolve around the copious amounts of Shimmer that flooded both the bar and the Undercity as a whole. She just couldn't quite put her finger on it, no more than she could shake the strange little feeling that festered beneath her ribs. The same one that whispered run, run, run.
Her question seemed to knock Sevika out of her trance. The tall woman rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, giving Magnolia a mocking smile.
"Don't you worry about that," Sevika said with a huff. She rapped a knuckle on the counter as she stood to go. Pausing, she considered Magnolia, her gaze unreadable. "Silco values loyalty. Treasures it above all else." Her expression serious, she dropped her voice. "And he repays it in kind. Don't you forget that."
With that, she was gone, leaving Magnolia more confused than ever before.
Magnolia was in the middle of getting ready for that evening's bar shift when a knock came at the door. Dominic, looking uncomfortable, was on the other side.
"Boss wants to see you," he told her. When she asked why, the mountain of a man only looked at her with a stony expression, not budging.
Resigning herself to the fact that she was about to get chewed out for the disastrous lesson with Jinx, Magnolia followed him downstairs. He stayed outside while she entered the office.
Her eyes immediately went to Silco's desk. His chair was turned away from her, facing the window, but she could see the tell-tale curl of smoke floating above it.
On the couch she found Jinx, looking sheepish, with a raggedy, black throw pillow in her lap. Seeing her, the little girl shot up and trotted over to Magnolia, bringing the cushion with her.
"I'm sorry I ran off this morning," she said, her giant, doe eyes peering right into Magnolia's soul. "Please don't be mad at me."
"Of course I'm not mad at you," she reassured. She extended a hand to affectionately pet the little girl's hair. "I just wish-" She cut off as the pillow in Jinx's hands moved.
And then a pair of orange eyes peered up at her.
Magnolia barely, barely suppressed a scream.
Hovering her hands worriedly around Jinx, she tried to comprehend what manner of creature she was holding. "Jinx what is that?"
Jinx furrowed her brow. "This? Oh, this is for you!" The little girl stuck her arms out toward Magnolia, the bundle unfurling into a long…thing that swayed slightly. Barely resisting the urge to jump back, she forced herself to take it. Better she deal with it than have it attack Jinx.
Reluctantly bringing it up to her face for a closer inspection, she finally came to a realization just as Jinx called out excitedly, "A cat!"
It was, indeed, a cat. Clearly it had certainly been a stray before Jinx picked it up. Its fur was matted and greasy, little things that were undoubtedly fleas leaping here and there. It was missing most of both ears, partly to fights or maybe to frostbite. One yellowed canine stuck out at a weird angle, giving it a strange slack jawed look. Its scrunched-up face looked grumpy, but it hung quite patiently where she held it away from her body.
"Just like the one you used to have!" While this was a far cry from the shiny coated fluff ball that Magnolia remembered from her childhood, she supposed it did meet the basic criteria. His four little feet were probably white under the grime, the rest of his coat black as coal.
Setting the cat on the floor, Magnolia turned to Jinx. "It took a long time to catch him. He's fast!" the girl trilled. Looking at the cat that was now flopped on his side, shedding all over Silco's nice carpet, that was hard to imagine.
"You didn't have to get me a cat, Jinx. I'm not angry with you," Magnolia implored, brushing some of the little girl's hair behind her ear. "I just wish you hadn't run away so we could talk about it."
Jinx hung her head, toying with the end of her braid. Pursing her lips to one side, she snuck a glance up at Magnolia. "Do you like him though?"
Magnolia gave her a warm smile, squeezing her little shoulder. "Yes. This was an incredibly thoughtful gift. I am very grateful."
Jinx perked up at that, grinning broadly. "Dad already said we can keep him," she boasted. "And I've named him Monkey." Magnolia couldn't contain the surprise she felt at hearing that. Looking over at his desk, she found Silco watching them with a bemused expression. At her questioning glance, he only rolled his eyes and gave a half-hearted shrug.
He was such a softie for Jinx. It was adorable.
"Well, I think Monkey needs a bath," Magnolia remarked, wrinkling her nose. "Although I doubt he'll be pleased about that."
Her and Jinx shared a humorous look, before the little girl's face hardened. She grabbed one of Magnolia's hands and looked up at her with an intensity in her eyes. "You said that you can't abandon a cat. And that they live a long time."
Magnolia hesitated to nod and only raised a cautious eyebrow at Jinx. Unperturbed, the girl carried on. "Well Monkey is yours, but he lives here. So that means that you have to live here for as long as Monkey lives here."
Completely taken aback, Magnolia fumbled for an answer. Jinx was many things, socially ignorant being one of them. It seemed not entirely out of character for her to do something as over the top as hunt down a stray animal and drag it home as an apology. But this? This strange, painful desperation was unexpected. Magnolia had no idea how to handle it. She didn't want to pacify the child with false, flimsy promises she had no intention of keeping. But she couldn't quite bring herself to crush Jinx's hope with the harshness of reality either.
It was Silco that saved her from the conundrum.
"Jinx, it's time to get ready for bed," he said quietly. Jinx grimaced and opened her mouth to argue, but a hard look from Silco had her shoulders slumping.
A stubborn look on her face, she rocked forward to catch Magnolia around the waist in a bruising hug. Feeling her heart break for this sad, desperate little girl, she hugged her back, squeezing her tight.
"I'll still be here in the morning," Magnolia promised, pressing a kiss to the top of her blue haired head. Jinx looked up at her with a gap-toothed smile, relieved.
Popping over to give Silco a kiss on the cheek, she left looking tired but not as emotionally troubled as she had been earlier. The change in her moods could make your head spin.
Once she was gone, Magnolia drew her attention to the cat rolling belly up on the floor. Monkey squinted at her, looking like he had no plans to leave anytime soon. Indicating the cat with a tilt of her chin, she gave Silco an amused look.
"Dad said we can keep him?" she quoted. Silco glowered at her down his thin nose.
"Don't look so smug," Silco huffed. "He's your problem."
Magnolia smiled down at the cat, squatting beside him to pet through the filthy fur of his belly. Monkey stretched, purring up a storm. Like anyone in the Undercity, he seemed to know not to question a good thing when it came to him.
"Now go clean him up before we're all crawling with fleas," Silco instructed. Magnolia chuckled and scooped up the feline.
Jinx was making things unbelievably complicated. Magnolia wondered if someone had ever fought as hard as the little girl to keep her in their lives. The thought made her feel miserable and pathetic. She wondered if anyone ever would.
She looked back at Silco, who was still watching her.
"I'm sorry about this morning. We were-" Silco held up a hand to stop her.
"I only ask for your patience with Jinx," he assured. "I do not expect perfection overnight."
Smiling gratefully, Magnolia nodded. Hitching the cat higher in her arms, she looked down at him apologetically.
"You're not gonna like me after this."
Bathing Monkey had been just as much of an ordeal as she had expected. The previously lazy, docile cat suddenly seemed to grow three extra limbs and a great big voice that he used generously to yowl his disagreement.
By the time she'd made it down to work the bar, Magnolia had half a dozen new scratches and a lousy attitude. Monkey had vanished down the hall as soon as she'd opened the bathroom door and she doubted she'd see him again until at least morning. Ridiculous creature.
Magnolia was exhausted, physically and emotionally, by the time the night was over. It had been an incredibly trying day and she wanted nothing more than to escape into blissful sleep.
She was almost there when another knock came at her door. Annoyed, she ripped her door open, expecting to come face to chest with Dominic.
"What?" she barked, belatedly realizing it was Silco who had come to see her. He was dressed in what she assumed were his pyjamas, consisting of a buttoned shirt and loose pants. Silco looked irked, an equally dissatisfied Monkey tucked under his arm.
"This cat has no respect for boundaries," Silco grumbled. "At night, you will keep him contained in here."
Dropping the cat to the floor, he shooed him in with a gentle hand on the cat's bum. Monkey did not seem entirely against the idea, immediately vanishing beneath the bed with a swish of his fluffy tail.
Magnolia giggled, imagining Silco wrestling an overly affectionate Monkey out of his bed, only to have the cat return moments later.
"Not a big cuddler?" she asked teasingly, giving him a coy look. Silco raised an eyebrow with a wry twist of his lips.
"I am selective of the company I allow in my bed." Magnolia bit her lip, suddenly hyper aware of the fact that she was only dressed in a thin chemise.
Silco set a hand on the door frame, eyes searching Magnolia's. The glimmer of heat seemed to dissipate for a moment, his expression softening, as if he was allowing some of his inner self show through the shutters he always kept sealed.
"I am grateful." He spoke quietly, looking at her from under the lashes of his good eye. "It is difficult for Jinx to trust people, to make new connections. I fear at times I am not enough for her."
Magnolia's heart squeezed painfully at his quiet admission. She reached a cautious hand to correct the folded up lapel of his sleep shirt, fingers lingering on his chest as she spoke.
"What happened to Jinx?"
Silco sighed deeply, gaze dropped to her hand that rubbed idle circles just below his clavicle. "Many things. More things than one child should ever see. None of them her fault, but she will blame herself all the same."
He was as evasive as ever, but it didn't feel right to pry. He wasn't a man to share vulnerability lightly so even this felt like a gift.
"Maybe it's a good thing then, to nudge her on a new path," Magnolia suggested. "To encourage her towards change." Silco's head shot up at that, his expression furious.
"I'm not asking you to change her," he growled, offended. "There is nothing to change. Jinx is perfect."
Magnolia withdrew her hand and crossed her arms, her lips pursuing. "Perfect. That's a lot of pressure to put on a kid." Silco scowled in response, and she could feel the shutters coming down again. Putting her hands up in a placating gesture, she took a step back. "I know you're trying you best. Doing your best. I'm not under the illusion that it's my place to tell you how to parent."
That seemed to pacify him slightly, his tense shoulders relaxing a touch, but his eyes were still stormy. Magnolia looked at him, trying to communicate her earnestness. "I am speaking as a kid who was always expected to be a certain way, to live up to pre-set standards. It makes it terrifying to face failure, to move past things and let them go." Unable to hold his gaze any longer, her eyes explored the curling pattern in the wood floors. She felt strangely naked. "We can't move forward without making peace with the past."
Silco remained quiet and Magnolia couldn't find the courage to face him. It was a bad idea, being vulnerable with him, with anyone. You were supposed to tuck those uncomfortable feelings away in the far-reaching corners of your mind and march ahead. Lingering on the past didn't feed progress, and progress was all that mattered in Piltover.
Just when she thought she would burst in the silence, a warm, calloused hand reached forward to gently take her chin. With soft pressure, he lifted her face to look at him. He didn't look so foreboding anymore, the hardness around his mouth having faded. He looked soft. And sad.
"We can let the past destroy us," he murmured, brushing his thumb across her lips, "or we can use it to forge us into something greater." That same hand skirted across her jaw, knuckles dragging in a ticklish caress. "That is what I wish to impress upon Jinx."
There was a different, heavier kind of tension between them tonight, something deeper than mere physical desire. It terrified her. But also made her feel alive.
She wasn't sure who kissed who, but suddenly they were pressed against each other, hungry and sloppy. Silco had both his hands buried in her hair, backing her into her room and using a foot to kick the door shut behind him.
Magnolia clung to his shoulders, scoring her nails against the back of his neck. She wanted this, had imagined it over and over again. Silco, here, in her bedroom, kissing her like he was never going to let her go.
Unwilling to wait any longer, she reached shaky hands reached for the tie of his pants, but he brushed them away. Magnolia nearly screamed. Surely he wouldn't leave her wanting again?
"There will be a time for that," he rasped against her mouth. "Tonight, let me make you feel good."
Magnolia moaned into his mouth, his delicious promise making her tremble. Silco kept guiding her backward until the back of her knees met the mattress. His hands roamed down her body, palming her ass, caressing her hips, before he bent down and grabbed her behind the knees. Magnolia fell back to the mattress with a laugh. Silco grinned down at her, his hair a mess from her hands running through it.
He lowered down on top of her, his weight a delicious pressure against her body. Magnolia scratched her nails down his back as he kissed and sucked his way down her neck. He groaned in response, a hand squeezing her thigh as he delivered a particularly sharp bite to her collar bone. That hot, wet mouth followed her sternum, uneven teeth grazing soft skin.
Magnolia arched off the bed with a muffled scream when he finally closed his mouth over a peaked nipple, the sensation somehow amplified by the silk that still remained between them. His other hand came up to palm her other breast, clever, skilled fingers working her up into a mess.
He pulled back only long enough to tug the top of her nightie down to expose her breasts. He cursed lowly at the sight, his voice rough with desire.
"Stunning," he breathed, before lowering his head to catch her other nipple in his mouth. Magnolia was beyond words, pawing at his hair and trying to press him impossibly closer, soft, hungry noises spilling from her mouth.
Pulling her to sit up, Silco pulled her chemise over her head, leaving her only in her panties. Those calloused hands made her shiver as he dragged them down her sides, down to her legs, parting them so he could bring his face down to her center. If she'd had a single thought left in her head, Magnolia might have been embarrassed by the dampness he would undoubtedly find there. But then he pressed an open-mouthed kiss right over her most intimate part and her mind went silent. She let loose a groan from deep in her chest, Silco's self-satisfied laugh sending delicious vibrations through her. He continued to mouth at her, the sensation maddening with pleasure that was just not enough.
Magnolia watched as he moved up, closing his teeth over the delicate bow on the front of her panties and never breaking eye contact. Slowly, torturously slowly, he dragged her panties down her legs.
Magnolia nearly came apart at the sight. The heat in his eyes was dizzying, the sight of him between her legs with her panties between his lips unbelievably erotic.
Tossing the garment to the side, Silco tracked his way back up with hot kisses along the inside of her legs, moving at an almost glacial pace when he reached her thighs. Magnolia whined, far past the point of caring about any measure of dignity. She was nothing but a tight knot of desire, unable to think of anything but Silco's incredible mouth on her core.
Finally, finally, he pressed a kiss just above her center, looking up at her with a wicked smile.
"Tell me what you want," he whispered, adjusting so his breath ghosted over her heat. Magnolia whimpered, pleading with him with her eyes and trying to lift her dripping opening to his mouth. He only laid a heavy arm across her hips, forcing her down, nipping her thigh in reprimand. "Be a good girl and use your words."
"Please," she gasped. "I want you. I need you." Silco hummed appreciatively, tauntingly sneaking out his tongue to wet his lips.
"Need me to what?" he purred. Magnolia felt like she would simply combust into flames if he made her wait another second,
"I need you to fuck me with your mouth," she keened, breathless. Silco didn't need anymore encouragement.
Magnolia nearly leapt off the mattress at the unobstructed feeling of his tongue licking all the way through her folds. Silco didn't waste anymore time, pressing his hot tongue into her entrance, his long nose bumping the sensitive bud above. Magnolia grasped blindly at the sheets above her head, desperately grinding down for more friction. That talented tongue withdrew to lap at her clit, the tiny movements making her moan and the heat in her belly to ratchet up another notch. It was the most delicious torment, just enough to have her dancing closer and closer to the edge of orgasm.
The breath left her lungs when he removed his mouth, her flesh missing his ministrations immediately. He watched, almost transfixed, as he pressed a long, slender finger into her opening. Magnolia groaned, her flesh parting easily around the intrusion. He eased it slowly back and forth, pressing upward against that spot that made her see stars. When he added a second finger, Magnolia couldn't hold back from moaning his name to the heavens.
Something snapped in Silco at the sound, his mouth diving back to feast on her clit. In tandem, he curled the two fingers inside her, caressing the coil in her tighter, tighter, tighter.
Magnolia came with a cry, hands clawing at any part of Silco she could reach, her entire body shaking with the force of her orgasm. It seemed to go on and on forever, his hands and tongue never ceasing until she'd ridden out every wave.
When she'd had enough, whimpering from the oversensitivity, he withdrew his fingers and nuzzled her thigh. Magnolia melted into the mattress, boneless and completely drained. When Silco crawled up her body to press a lingering kiss to her mouth, she shuddered at the taste of her on his tongue.
Vaguely, she tried to reach for his groin, but he captured her wrists and pressed them into the bed on either side of her head.
"What about you?" she murmured, her tongue feeling heavy in her mouth and her eyelids barely open.
Silco chuckled into her hair, pressing soft, intimate kisses against her hairline.
"Another time, darling," he promised.
He helped her under the covers and pressed a final, chaste kiss to her lips.
Magnolia was asleep before he even made it out the door.
Under the hot spray of the shower, Silco bucked helplessly into the tight squeeze of his fist. He had firsthand knowledge now that it was a poor substitute, but the images of Magnolia flashing on repeat through his mind were enough to wind him closer and closer to his climax.
She had been glorious tonight, wanton and completely unleashed, using him with no restraint to chase her pleasure. Remembering the way she had moaned his name, like a prayer, had his balls tightening, the hot coil of pleasure feeling impossibly tighter. He could almost still taste her on his tongue, hear the delicious sounds she'd made. All of it for him, only him.
Pleasure blinded him when he came, him body hunching forward as it rocked through him. He panted as the final tremors worked through his body, a hand finding the wall in front of him when his knees threatened to give out.
Watching his release spiral down the drain, he wondered distantly if he was making a mistake. If in trying to bind her to him, to his plans, he was growing attached himself. It had been so long since he'd done that for a woman, longer still since he'd felt any desire to. And yet with her, after hearing her speak with such passion and adoration about his daughter, he wanted to worship between her legs until the end of time.
Silco, cautious, distrustful Silco, decided she was worth the risk.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author's note: Phew, this chapter was a monster! I usually aim for 3k words, but this puppy is nearly 5k.
One of my absolute favourite Silco fics is "Hobbyists & Finer Things" by pilotisms on AO3, which just got updated yesterday? Today? Anyway, it was a glorious conclusion to an incredibly well written story and breathed fresh inspiration into me.
Thank you everyone for your kind words and support! I hope you enjoyed this very spicy meatball :D