ViLeonce

Vi looked up to see Leona sitting on the curb next to her, frowning down at her. She rolled over on her back with her head slightly tilted over the curb and groaned. She rubbed the bruise on her cheek and let her other hand rest on her sore ribs. She yawned and looked back at Leona, who had a concerned look on her face.

"You got into a fight this time?" she asked, "I thought it was bad when you got lost in the woods."

"You should see the other guy," Vi said chuckling, then regretted the action by clutching her ribs again.

"Did you break anything?" Leona asked looking over her.

"Don't think so, what are you doing here?" she said back, trying to get her eyes to focus.

"Sheriff Caitlyn said I could find you here," she said, shaking her head, "And here you are."

"Great, she tell you what a mess I was?" Vi said, sitting up and sitting back around so she was on the curb facing the same way Leona was.

"She didn't need to tell me," she laughed.

Vi couldn't really think of an answer so she just stayed quiet. She was definitely not at her best, but Leona didn't seem to mind. She didn't really know what to think of that. It was all hard to process, and her head hurt too damn much.

"I got to get home," Vi said finally.

"Can I walk you there?" Leona asked, standing up and giving her a hand.

"I ain't gonna stop you," she replied, taking Leona's hand and heaving herself into a semi decent standing position.

The two of them walked with Vi leading the several blocks to Vi's home. When they got there, Leona bade Vi goodnight and left her walking back towards uptown. Vi stumbled upstairs and fell into bed. About an hour or so later, she woke up from a hard sleep and looked around her room. It was quiet, save for the slight hum of the air system, and the buzzing of the machines in the neighborhood. Somewhere down the street she could hear the hiss as a steam valve released it's pressure.

Vi could feel her heart beating. Leona's smiling face seemed to be etched into the backs of her eyelids. She tossed and turned for a few minutes before fatigue finally won the fight and she went back to sleep. She dreamed about Leona all night.

An hour or so after dawn, Vi was awoken by her doorbell ringing. At first she thought she hadn't heard it, but it rang again after a few minutes. Finally Vi rolled out of bed and, holding her temple, went downstairs to see who it was. She opened the door to a smiling Leona.

"Get dressed, we're going to get some breakfast," she said as soon as the door opened.

"Wha-" Vi said groggily, "Ugh, go eat by yourself, I've still got a few hours of sleep left."

She attempted to close the door but Leona stopped it with a gentle hand.

"Oh no you don't, come on and get dressed," Leona said, her smile deepening, "I insist."

Finally Vi just grunted and let Leona in.

"Just wait here I'll be down in a second," she said before trudging back up the stairs.

Leona stood by the door patiently as Vi went upstairs out of sight.

She practically flew through her bedroom to her closet to find some clean clothes to put on. She felt like the Void, but her heart was pounding and her eyes were wide open and sober.

'What is going on with me?' she thought to herself.

She had never much cared for clean clothes or outfits of any kind really. She just wore what was comfortable. But now she desperately looked through her limited selection for something clean and vaguely matching. Finally she said, "Okay, this is dumb, just pick something."

She picked some vaguely clean clothes and got dressed in a hurry. She ran a few brush strokes through her dirty pink hair and went back downstairs to find Leona right where she left her.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Yeah, just let me lock the door," she said as they stepped out.

Vi locked the door and they began walking down the street. A few steps into it, Vi yawned and that made Leona chuckle a bit. She gave her a cheeky grin and said,

"What's so funny?"

"You tired?" she asked mockingly.

She laughed before answering, "Yeah this is pretty early for me."

"Pretty early eh? I've been up for a few hours," Leona replied in a braggart's tone.

"Oh yeah? Oh, I forgot, you get up and 'train' at dawn. Whatever that means. What, you do a few puzzles over coffee?" Vi asked grinning.

"Hardly," Leona scoffed, but kept her smile, "I dress in full armor and do drills in it. To keep fit. Won't do if I get weighed down in a match."

"Wow, that takes some dedication," she whistled in admiration.

"Well I take my duty seriously," Leona said, her smile fading a little.

"I see, well, I don't take anything seriously," she grinned again.

Leona laughed, "I've noticed!"

They talked like that for the few blocks it took to get to the cafe that Leona was leading her to. They stepped in and took seats in a booth by a window. The sun was getting higher in the sky as it hit late morning, and the bulk of morning patrons began to come in. It was a nice buzz of activity; not too busy and not a ghost town.

After ordering Vi and Leona just seemed to dissolve into small talk. Leona did most of the talking, which was weird for Vi as she was usually the motormouth. She just liked... looking at Leona. She really didn't understand the feeling, but she knew she liked it.

She then caught herself and began to internally panic. 'What was going on? This didn't make any sense? Should I say something? What should I say?'

"Everything okay?" Leona asked with a concerned cock of her eyebrow.

In a moment everything seemed to dull into a pleasant sweet feeling, and Vi just relaxed.

"Yeah, everything is fine. Thanks for breakfast, I really needed it now that I got here," she said quickly.

Leona just smiled and went back to small talk. This proceeded until they got their food. As they ate, the talking slowed and began more of a game of 'staring without getting caught staring.' Vi was catching glimpses of Leona in between bites and she could feel Leona glancing at her as well every so often. It was weird, and kind of awkward. Finally, Leona broke up the silence.

"So when do you get back to work?" she asked.

'Finally,' Vi thought, 'Anything to get my mind off of this... whatever this is.'

"Next week, at the top of the weekly rotation, I'll be added back on the roster for patrol," she replied before taking a sip of juice.

"Sounds like you know the whole suspension thing pretty well," Leona smiled, then took a sip of coffee.

"Yeah, well," Vi grinned a little embarrassed, "I'm what you could call a bit of a 'problem child.'"

"Maybe. Are you a problem adult?" she asked, taking another sip of coffee.

"I guess so, couldn't you tell?" Vi asked, with a grin.

Leona turned her gaze to ice and crushed the grin right off of Vi's face.

"Perhaps you are, but I feel like everyone has a bit of nonsense in them. It's what makes people fun to be around," Leona said, returning her smile at the end of the sentence.

Vi finally exhaled and took another drink of juice.

"What are you going to do today?" Leona asked.

"I have no idea, maybe go home and get in the ring. Been a while since I gave the dummy a good beating," she said.

"Mind if I spar with you? My normal sparring partner left Piltover this morning and I need to train up before leaving myself," she asked.

"Sure, that sounds fine," Vi asked, strangely sad about the thought of Leona leaving, "I hit pretty hard, just warning you."

"I can take pretty hard hits," she said smiling, "I'll meet you back at your house. I have to go and get my armor from the dorm locker."

"The where?" she asked.

"The Piltover Academy dormitory is where I was invited to stay, hence my visit here. I have my possessions there," she replied, getting up.

"Oh I see," Vi said, taking another deep drink.

"See you soon," Leona said smiling, getting up.

Vi took one last bite of her food and got up as well, as Leona was walking out.

"Hey, how much do I owe you?" Vi called to the man behind the counter.

"Don't worry about it," he called after her, "Heroes eat free here."

Vi just stopped for a second, smiled, and walked out the door. Suddenly, the suspension didn't feel so bad.