A/N

Hey there! This story might look familiar to some of you. That's because I started this story quite a while ago but got distracted and gave up on it. Now I'm here to reboot it and give it another shot. Everything in this first chapter is just a touched-up version of what I had before. Everything after is all fresh. I hope you enjoy, and make sure to let me know what you think :)


Ezreal didn't think it was possible, but he'd grown tired of constantly exploring. After doing the same thing for so long it was only natural he'd feel burned out eventually. After all, aside from participating in the fields of justice every now and then, all he'd done since he was a teenager was go through ruins and temples. It was always the same: avoiding the complicated traps, grabbing the fancy artifact that he came for, and almost always escaping without a scratch. It was hardly even a challenge for him anymore. So, naturally, it was time for a change of pace. He would be spending much more time participating in The League.

In recent years, during yet another change to The Institute of War, an estate of sorts was opened up by the institute. This estate was the second of its kind, with the first being opened for the summoners around the time of The Insitute's creation. This second estate, however, was built to house Champions who wished to provide their services to The League more regularly. In return for giving more of their time to The Institute, the Champions would be paid handsomely and given access to their library and other resources that were otherwise unavailable. Ezreal was already pretty wealthy, but he could use the library to plan out future adventures once the itch to explore inevitably came back to him. On top of that, being able to train with other Champions would surely be a great way to keep in shape.

Around a month had passed since he decided he'd be taking a break, and after all the setting up he'd done, it was finally the day he'd be arriving at his new temporary home. Usually, when he was needed on The Rift he could simply be teleported from wherever he was by the summoners and get to work. Moving, however, turned out to be much more of a process. He had to discuss a lot more with The Institute about his living situation than he'd thought, and it took 3 weeks to finally get everything set up. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to teleport him and the artifacts he planned on bringing with him, so after everything was finalized they sent a transport to pick him up in Piltover. When it arrived he simply packed everything he intended to bring and went off on his journey to The Institute.

Now, though, he was finally going to stretch his legs at his new home. He just silently hoped this wouldn't be a decision he'd regret.


Ezreal had been dozing off in the back of the transport all day, having been already through 5 hours of traveling that day. He was used to long journeys, but they usually involved being active. The lack of activity left his legs stiff and his eyes had a hard time staying open. Simply put, he was bored out of his mind. He remained in high spirits regardless, knowing he could be done mere minutes from now.

He wasn't too far off, because not five minutes later he could see The Estate drawing closer. It was in the middle of a huge clearing, otherwise surrounded by a dense forest. The building itself was massive, covering lots of ground and reaching higher than some of the tallest buildings in Piltover. The building was a cool grey and covered in tinted windows, tinted enough that you could hardly see inside aside from a bit of the first floor. In contrast to the somewhat bland exterior of the building, it was surrounded by green and colorful plant life on every side with a few smaller buildings scattered around the premises. The smaller buildings matched The Estate in appearance, but Ezreal wasn't sure what they were for.

Eventually, the transport came to a stop in front of the entrance. Hopping out, Ezreal brushed off his brown jacket and gave himself a look over. Wearing the same clothes as usual, goggles and all, he felt a little confident. After taking a moment to stretch his aching joints he hurriedly offered his thanks to the driver and cleared his things from the transport, putting them into a pile beside him. He hadn't brought a ton of stuff, mostly artifacts he was proud to have and books he'd planned on reading a while ago. Aside from those and the extra clothes, he was told he wouldn't be needing much. The room he'd be staying in was apparently decked out.

As Ezreal gazed around the area he heard someone shout his name from the entrance.

"Ezreal? Is that you, sir?" The voice called out from a distance. He turned and met the man's gaze. He had a bland face and was wrapped in purple robes. Despite obviously being a summoner, he stood stiff and awkward.

"Sure is, what's going on?" Ezreal offered a wave to the man as he approached.

"Ah, yes well you see, I was sent to greet you and show you to your room, sir." The summoner gave a small bow. "If you don't mind."

Ezreal let out a small laugh and put his hands up in front of him. "You can chill out with the formalities, summoner. Just call me Ezreal." Ezreal offered the summoner his hand, attempting to ease his stiffness a bit. "You got a name?"

After hesitating for a moment, the summoner shook Ezreal's hand. "Uh, yes. My name's Drak. Sorry if I come across a bit nervous, I'm actually quite new to the institute. This is my first time meeting a champion in person." He follows up his statement with a nervous laugh.

"Well hey Drak, don't sweat it. You're the one who calls the shots on the rift, right? No need to act like I'm above you." Ezreal grabbed one of his bags off of the ground and before Ezreal could say anything Drak quickly grabbed the other two.

"I appreciate that," Drak chimed, a grateful smile appearing on his face. "Follow me this way and I'll show you to your room."

Ezreal nodded in return and followed Drak into his massive new living space. As massive as it seemed from the outside, it seemed to expand even further on the inside. The lobby was decorated with decorative weapons and banners along the wall. The banners displayed The Institute's many sigils as well as the sigils of Valoran's many factions. As they made their way through the building Drak explained to Ezreal how The Estate was laid out.

"It's pretty organized. Basically, all of the Champions are split up by their primary role on the rift. Top-laners, ADCs, Supports, and the rest." Drak kept going as they stepped onto a lift, pushing a button with the number 4 on it.

"How does it usually go for Champs who can play multiple positions?" Ezreal asked, looking around the lift as it ascended, feeling his body shift a little.

"Usually they go wherever they're played more often, sometimes they get to choose. In your case, you'll be staying on the fourth floor with the ADCs." The lift doors opened and Drak stepped out with Ezreal close behind him.

"Yeah, I figured I would be." Ezreal tried to hide his disappointment. He'd secretly hoped to be put with the mid-laners since he knew Lux was staying with them. They weren't dating like the rumors suggested but there was no denying they were close. He was looking forward to maybe being her neighbor.

"There is a cafeteria available, the library of course, and a variety of training facilities ready for use. Aside from when you're needed on the rift, you'll be free to go wherever you'd like and spend your time with whoever you'd like. The Institute is really quite lax in that regard." Drak continued as they kept walking through the never-ending hallways.

Eventually though, Drak and Ezreal came to a stop in front of a door. Aside from having The League's marksman symbol carved into it, it looked like any other wooden door Ezreal had seen. Drak turned to face him.

"Well, Ezreal, I thank you for helping me ease my nerves a bit." He set down Ezreal's bags and offered his hand out this time. "I hope you enjoy your time here." Drak offered a smile. Ezreal returned the smile and shook his hand.

"Thanks a lot, Drak. See you around." Ezreal nodded to him once again and picked up his bags. Drak left him to settle in.

Ezreal turned back to face the door, took a deep breath, and pushed it open. As the door swung open, Ezreal was immediately hit with the sound of several voices, recognizing a few. He stepped inside and glanced around the room. He wasn't sure what exactly he expected, but it wasn't this.

Scattered around the main area of the ADC quarters were several champions Ezreal had faced on the rift before. The mood varied heavily between different areas of the room. In one corner there was Aphelios and Vayne, sitting wordlessly across from each other at a table, tending to their weapons with serious expressions on their faces. In another corner, Xayah laid across a couch with her head resting on Rakan's lap. They kept cracking jokes Ezreal couldn't quite hear and laughing loudly to themselves. Then there was a table near the front of the room where Sarah Fortune sat across from Sivir and Draven with cards and chips spread across the table.

Ezreal never imagined he'd see so many legendary people living with each other so casually, it caught him completely off guard. They could tell too because, after a solid minute of the explorer looking around the room slack-jawed, someone finally acknowledged his presence.

"So you're the new roomie, Ez? I thought you'd be off stealing from my ancestors or something."

Ezreal turned to see the voice came from Sivir. She shot him an icy glance as she picked through the cards in her hand.

Ezreal let out a nervous laugh, putting his head down a bit. "Hey, Sivir. Once again, really sorry about the whole accidental grave-robbing thing."

Sivir simply gave an "mm-hmm" in response without looking back at him. He let out a sigh, well aware that she never cared much for him.

"Oh hey Ez." Xayah greeted with a wave. "Long time no see."

Ezreal returned the wave and smiled, happy to see someone that didn't hate him. "Hey Xayah," He nodded at her boyfriend as well, "Rakan."

"Yo!" Rakan responded, giving his own small wave.

"Fresh meat? Nice." Draven glared at him from behind his cards. Without even seeing his face Ezreal could imagine his ridiculous grin behind his hand.

"Oh, lay off Draven. The kid's cute." Sarah commented, giving him a wink. Ezreal just wordlessly blushed, turning back to the couple on the couch.

"Do you guys know which room is mine?" Ezreal asked, eager not to dodge the attention.

Xayah and Rakan pointed simultaneously at a door nearby them. Xayah spoke up, "All our rooms are in there, yours is the last one on the left."

Ezreal gave a thumbs up and picked his luggage back up, tensely making his way through the room and into the hallway. Everyone else just casually returned to what they were doing before, paying him no mind.

As he approached the door he saw someone he hadn't noticed before. Kai'sa was sitting by herself in a chair near the hallway door, her face buried in a book Ezreal wasn't familiar with. He and Kai'sa has spoken once or twice before, but he knew next to nothing about her. He figured he should still offer some sort of greeting.

"Oh, hey Kai'sa." He greeted, making his way past her and into the hallway. She looked up from her book, looking surprised.

"Oh, Ezreal. Um, hi." She replied hesitantly.

Unsure of what to say, Ezreal just gave her an awkward smile and pushed his way into the hallway. After walking all the way down to his room, he took the key Drak had given him out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

Inside his room were the basics. A desk, double bed, bookshelf with some common reads, and a decent-sized closet. There was quite a bit of walking space and even his own couch to lounge on.

"Home, sweet home." He let out quietly, swinging his bags onto the couch and taking a seat at the desk. He gave his surroundings a good look and gave a nod of approval to himself. It was perfectly fine. He stood back up and made his way to his large window, pushing aside the curtains. His room came with one hell of a view. He could see the flowers in the field dancing with the wind, and trees go on for miles around the clearing. He smiled to himself, content with where he was.

He found himself distracted from his beautiful surroundings though after catching an updraft of his own stink. Double-checking, he took an investigative sniff from inside of his shirt that confirmed his suspicions.

"Guess three days in a stuffy box will do that to you." He muttered to himself as he removed his shirt and made his way into his bathroom to take a shower.


Although he was exhausted after arriving at The Estate, his likely too-hot shower had given him a second wind. After giving his thick blonde hair 20 minutes to finish drying he got dressed once again and thought about his next move. After mulling it over it seemed like the best move to go and say hi to Lux wherever they put the mid-laners.

He hadn't seen Lux in quite some time and she was pretty much the only one he could think of who would be happy to see him. It wasn't that he was hated by everyone or anything like that, he simply never spent a lot of time around people. His friend group was limited, with a few acquaintances like Xayah spread in. Kai'sa might be included on that list as well, after all she had saved him a while ago when he was attacked by void creatures. It didn't seem like she cared too much though, given the not-so-sure greeting she'd given him.

Fixing his goggles to his head, Ezreal stepped out of his room and back into the ADC living room.

"Yo, does anyone know where the mid quarters are at?" He inquired, looking around hopefully.

The room was more empty than before, only Vayne and Aphelios remained and they stayed silent without even looking up.

"Awesome. Thanks guys." Ezreal gave a thumbs-up in their direction and a fake smile. Just before he could give a sarcastic sigh, someone spoke up behind him.

"3rd floor, Ezreal."

He turned around to see Kai'sa offering him an awkward smile. "Oh, thanks Kai'sa!" He returned her smile. "I appreciate it!" He ran off towards the door.

Well, maybe she doesn't hate me. He thought to himself as he made his way to the lift. The doors opened for him and closed back up after he selected his floor. After arriving on the third floor he quickly found his way to the mid-lane living quarters.

Since I don't live here do I knock? Is that too polite? I'm probably just overthinking.

He stared at the door quizzically, thinking of just barging in. He eventually just raised his fist up to the door, but it swung open before he could even knock.

"Oh my god! Ezreal? No Way!" He was now face to face with Zoe, perhaps the last person he wanted to greet him. It was no secret she had a crush on Ezreal, and it's not that he hated her or anything, just that he wasn't interested in anyone that's over 1000 years old. It didn't help that, regardless of being an ancient being, Zoe also looked like a child. Wasn't exactly his type.

"Shit. Hey Zoe." He tried not to make it obvious he wasn't happy, but probably wasn't doing the best job. "How ya doin'?

"I'm doing great now that you're here!" She flashed Ezreal a bright smile. "Are you here to see me?" She looked up at him hopefully.

"Well, actually I was hoping to find Lux." He explained, nervously scratching the back of his head. Zoe may look like a child but Ezreal knew she was fully capable of hurting him if she got mad enough.

Her face turned to a frown, puffing out her cheeks after hearing Lux's name. "Oh, her. Yeah she's here somewhere." She looked down, clearly a little mad.

Ezreal just shook his head. "Thanks for letting me know, it was good to see you, Zoe. Maybe we can talk later, okay?" He offered, hoping to appease the girl a bit.

Her frown subsided a little bit after hearing that, returning her face to normal. "Okay! I'm gonna hold you to that." She flashed him a bright smile with a touch of malice behind it. It was enough to make Ezreal want to shiver.

"Sounds like a plan then, haha, I'll see you around." He let out nervously, making his way past her.

"Byee~" She let out cheerfully, skipping her way out of the mid-lane quarters.

He let out a sigh of relief after seeing her leave. Turning his attention away from the door he found himself facing a similar situation to the one he'd encountered in the ADC quarters. Seeing Twisted Fate pass out cards to Ekko and Graves who must've been visiting was especially familiar. Aside from that, there were small groups of champions talking amongst themselves. The most peculiar one was definitely Katarina talking to Akali and Ahri, a trio Ezreal would've never expected. On the far side of the room he could see Taliyah and Yasuo talking amongst themselves as well. No Lux in sight.

TF noticed Ezreal before too long and waved him over. "Hey there partner, fancy seein' you here." TF gave the explorer a handshake. "It's been a while, you just move in?"

Ezreal nodded, giving a wave to Graves and Ekko. Ekko rolled his eyes and focused on his cards while Graves simply nodded with a grin, ashing his cigar. "I sure did. I wanna catch up sometime soon, but have you seen Lux around?"

TF gave Ez a suggestive grin. "I get you, kid," he let out a chuckle and took a sip of his drink. "Room 305, and make sure you knock. Don't wanna come across like some creep, ya ball of nerves."

Ezreal laughed with him, easing his mind a bit. "That obvious, huh?" The explorer grinned. "Thanks, TF, I'll catch you later." He turned towards the rooms. TF simply tipped his hat and continued with his card game.

Ezreal waved to the other people in the room who didn't hate him as he made his way to Lux's room. Once in the hallway he found room 305, took a deep breath and gave the door two quick knocks.

"Uh, Hello?" He heard Lux call from behind the door. He smiled at hearing her voice again, it really had been a while.

"Hey, Lux. It's me, Ezreal." He called out, tapping his foot nervously. "Surprise! I moved in! I wanted to come and say hi."

"Ezreal? Seriously? Hold on!" She called out. He could hear her rushing around inside her room for a few moments before the door swung open in front of his face.

There she was, looking just as stunning as he remembered. He hardly even noticed the messy room behind her. "Hey." He said, flashing a grin.

She flashed a grin in return before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in for a hug. "Hey, yourself."


"Honestly Lux when I heard you were staying here, I was a little surprised. Don't the Crownguards need to be in Demacia- I dunno, guarding the crown?" Ezreal shot Lux a glance as he asked. They were walking down one of the many long white corridors inside of The Estate, matching each other's pace step by step. Their destination was a mystery to Ezreal, as Lux wanted it to be a surprise for him.

"I'm pretty damn sure my brother is capable of protecting the King without me." Lux laughed. "Besides," she lowered her head a bit as she continued, "You know just as well as I do that I make people in Demacia a bit uneasy." She raised her head back up, flashing Ezreal a forced smile. "I'm better off representing Demacia here, where being a magic-user isn't seen as a bad thing."

Ezreal frowned a bit, Demacia's distaste for magic had always rubbed him the wrong way. He had read the history and he understood it in some aspects, but he felt it was extreme. He knew it was because of their misguided paranoia that Lux had always had trouble feeling comfortable in her own skin. He resented Demacia for that reason.

He figured it was best to avoid that topic for now. "Garen's on his own? What about Jarvan?"

"He's here as well, actually. He stays in the Jungle-quarters, says he's here for his father, but if you ask me," Lux giggled to herself, covering her mouth a little. "I think it's partially because of Shyvanna."

Ezreal's eyes widened a bit. "Wait, really? I totally thought they were just a rumor."

Lux flashed a grin. "I don't know..." she shrugged dramatically. "Maybe they are, maybe they aren't." She giggled again, picking up the pace into a jog towards their mystery destination. "We're almost there!" She called back to him, gaining a bit of a lead. She took a sharp turn around a corner and Ezreal soon followed. He was surprised to find out they were actually going out of the building.

"This mansion is one of the biggest buildings I've ever seen, and the surprise destination is outside?" He asked her, puzzled.

"Sure is!" She gestured for him to follow her outside. He sighed and did just that.

Though The Estate was plenty well lit, the bright mid-day sun caught him off guard nonetheless. He stopped for a second blinked repeatedly, attempting to force his eyes to cope, but had to settle for squinting. Lux continued on, seemingly unaffected. That's a light-mage for you. Ezreal thought, smiling to himself.

"You coming, goggles?" She teased, urging him to hurry forward.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." He sighed. He continued to follow her past the tree line that surrounded the clearing. The trees weren't very far apart from one another and all had sizeable trunks, making their path a bit obstructed. This wasn't a problem for either of them though, as they both weaved their way through the awkward obstacles. Eventually, Lux stopped in place and turned to face Ezreal, still smiling brightly at him.

"So obviously The Estate is really nice and all, but being on the rift so often can get really stressful." She brought her hands together behind her back as she spoke. "It's really helpful to have a place to kinda zone out a relax, you know?" She spun around, now moving forward again, now much slower than before. Ezreal lagged behind, listening to her. "That said, there are a lot of people living here so it's not always easy to find a nice quiet spot. So, as a bit of a welcome present, I thought I'd show you my own little quiet spot." She turned back to him and smiled.

Within a few more steps they came upon another clearing. Though significantly smaller than the clearing around The Estate, it was just as beautiful. It was well hidden within the almost never-ending sea of trees and was just far away enough from the buildings to feel secluded. It seemed to radiate peaceful energy.

"Wow." Was all Ezreal could say as he took a look around. Colorful flowers were sprinkled along the green surface in a way that seemed to naturally put his mind at ease. There was even a small stream going along one side, providing the soothing sound of flowing water in the background. He hardly even noticed Lux appear beside him. They turned to look at each other again. Lux flashed Ezreal a warm smile that actually made him blush. He turned his face away from her, using the impressive scenery as an excuse not to show her his red face.

"I know, right? You may have discovered a bunch of temples and boring stuff like that, but I'd say my little discovery here isn't so bad either." She grinned to herself.

"Not bad at all." He said under his breath. He noticed that there were a few larger rocks next to the stream and made his way towards them, gesturing to Lux now behind him. "Care to join me?"

She followed him and they sat across from each other each on their own rock. The rock was covered in moss which made it slightly softer than he'd expected. The seat offered quite a view of the little clearing, it really was quite the place.

After the two of them silently glancing around for a bit longer, Ezreal spoke up again. "So, really, how's it been here? What's it like?"

The light-mage looked down for a moment, narrowing her eyes in thought. "I guess you could say... The past few months have been both wonderful and terrible." She let out a giggle before continuing. "I mean, don't get me wrong. This place is definitely cool, and so are a lot of the other Champions. It's just that, some of these people are bat-shit crazy!" They both laughed loudly, Ezreal already understood after only spending less than two hours in the mansion. "I've made some great friends already but living with Katarina is such a pain."

"Really? Aren't she and your brother-"

"Don't know, don't want to know. What I do know is that she annoys me. She makes fun of me every chance she gets, it's infuriating!" Lux threw her arms out dramatically for emphasis. "Plus everyone knows that living in the same house as Draven is the worst."

Ezreal laughed. "I have to live in the same quarters as him! Not looking forward to that." He put his head down and let out an exaggerated sigh. They laughed again for a few moments. Ezreal watched her carefully as they laughed together. She really was beautiful. As he insisted, they weren't a couple, despite what many people seemed to think. Still, he couldn't help but admire her beauty. Her blonde hair that usually hung down to her shoulders was up in a loose ponytail, loose strains swinging in front of her face as she laughed with him. Unlike Ezreal, she wasn't wearing her usual league outfit. She wore tight light brown pants that hugged her waist with black boots and a loose-fitting white sweater. Even in casual clothing, Ezreal couldn't help but stare a bit.

As their laughter died down a bit, Ezreal was curious about something. "So, you said you've made some friends, eh? Who's cool enough to be hanging out the great Luxanna Crownguard?" He delivered the question with a teasing smirk on his face.

She giggled. "Only a few, not just everyone is worth my time, you know?" She stated sarcastically, pretending to flip her hair to the side despite it being up. "I'd say I get along fine with most people, especially people from Demacia. It's hard to hate magic here when you're surrounded by it all the time, after all." She tilted her head upwards, admiring the blue sky as she spoke. "I'd say I've only made a couple of real friends here though. Akali and Riven."

Ezreal chuckled a little. "Both of those girls are quite the rebels, to my understanding. Seem like interesting friends."

She looked back at him with a smirk. "That's one way to put it." She placed a hand over her mouth as she laughed again.


The two of them talked a bit longer until eventually Lux had to take care of her matches for the day. The time you spent on The Rift was always scheduled ahead of time to make sure Champions could maintain some sort of a personal life. The Institute knew better than to overwork them. As proof of this, Ezreal had actually been given the day off. Everyone was given a day to themselves after arriving at The Estate so they could relax before getting started.

After leaving Lux's "little quiet place" Ezreal had made his way straight back to his room. He now laid flat on his new bed, staring at the plain white ceiling above him; deep in thought.

Above all, he was thinking of how strange his position truly was, something that hadn't come to mind in quite some time. After all, despite many of the Champions being considered some of the strongest people alive, they were really nothing more than pawns, tools for the Summoners to use when needed. The biggest reason that Summoners summoned them onto The Rift for battle was to settle political issues. There were many who thought that to be the only reason. In reality, issues worthy of The Institute's attention were rarely present, and the battles between Champions usually served the purpose of training Summoners rather than avoiding wars.

Another thought that stuck out in his mind was the misconception that all the Champions knew each other, or even that many of them were friends. While it was true that Ezreal had become familiar with quite a few of them, it was more due to his time spent traveling than his time spent on The Rift. Before The Estate came to be Champions didn't exactly have much time to get to know each other. Most of them had personal lives to take care of and the time spent on The Rift didn't allow much for conversation.

Even though Ezreal was familiar with many of his fellow Champions there weren't many he would consider close to him. There was Lux, obviously. They'd met a few years ago during a trip to Demacia and they became good friends within a couple hours of knowing each other. Since then, they'd always been close.

There was TF, who he always made time to see when stopping in Bilgewater. They both had plenty of stories to tell each other over a game of cards every now and then.

Xayah and Rakan were both friendly with him, though he hadn't really spent much time with the couple.

Zoe had a strange crush on him, Sivir wasn't a fan of his hobby, the serious types such as Vayne weren't fond of his admittedly cocky attitude, and flirts such as Ahri and Miss Fortune enjoyed embarrassing him when they had the chance.

Then there was Kai'sa. Ezreal knew many people were suspicious of Kai'sa due to her obvious link to the void. Ezreal wasn't much one to judge though unless someone was known to be cruel or, god forbid, a Noxian. They never spoke much until Ezreal had been caught in a bad spot searching through the desert of Shurima. Void creatures like Rek'Sai were known to prowl the area and he just wasn't careful enough. He probably would've wound up dead if Kai'sa hadn't shown up to save his ass.

He glanced at the window, it was pitch black outside. He shook his head as he shifted his position on his bed. With his head buried in his pillow, he closed his eyes and tried to shut his brain off. Before long his thoughts cleared and he managed to drift off to sleep.