Graves woke up the next day feeling terrible. He pulled on an old t-shirt and slacks and trudged through to the living room and flopped down on the sofa. He felt around aimlessly for the remote for the television set, and found it laying, instead, on the coffee table. Graves sat and stared at the table, finding no motivation to reach for it. Instead, he sat, sinking into the cushions.
The town outside started to wake up, people bustling about on their daily commute to work or the market. The sun crept up in the sky, throwing its warm light into Graves' house. He sighed, and reached for the remote. After flicking through the channels, and finding nothing, Graves stood up and made his way to the kitchen.
Still groggy from sleep, Graves trudged over to the counter and picked up the kettle. Filling it with water, he glanced over to the basket that lay in the sink beside him, amongst a pile of both whole and broken crockery.
Sighing, Graves set the kettle on the stove to boil, and turned back to the sink; picking out the bigger pieces first, he sifted through his broken dishes. Digging into the mess, he felt a sharp pain in his hand, and withdrew, sucking in a sharp breath – there was a large shard of glass wedged in his palm.
"Goddammit," whispered Graves. He winced, as he eased the glass out of his hand and set it aside. Grumbling, he looked around for a bandage, holding his hand high in the air to slow the flow of blood, and rummaged around in his drawers and cupboards. Finding nothing, Graves ran the tap and held his hand under the flow of water, watching it change from red, to pink and finally, when it ran clear, he took an old dish cloth and ripped it in half, using it to bind his hand, discarding the other half on the counter.
He started to make his way back to the sofa, where he planned to stay for the rest of the day, but was stopped in his tracks. A blinding blue light shone down from the ceiling above him and surrounded him. He felt his body go weightless for a moment as he was teleported to the League headquarters.
Graves opened his eyes slowly and found himself standing alone. He took a deep breath and started towards his skin selection. Summoners very rarely used his skins, and was glad to see that this one had followed the theme.
Graves was pleased to find his own shotgun had been sent to the Institute with him; he hated using the guns that paired with his skins, despite each being made in the same manner as his own. They were all good guns, in their own right, but all felt unfamiliar in his hand – none gave him the same feeling of security.
Graves pulled his clothes on and wandered towards the summoner platforms, his teammates already waiting for him. Graves was glad to see the Sheriff of Piltover on his team; they got on well with each other, despite being on opposite sides of the law, and fought well together. Standing next to her, her back turned and slim frame leaning against the wall, was Miss Fortune. The pair were deep in conversation.
As Graves entered the room, Caitlyn turned her eyes and acknowledged him with a slight nod and a small smile. Miss Fortune turned to see what her friend was looking at, and her eyes met Graves. She stared at him for a few seconds, before looking him up and down. Graves was sure he saw her lips curve into a slight smile before she turned back to Caitlyn.
Graves noticed that Twisted Fate was also on his team, and threw him a nod. Fate lifted a hand and nodded back. Even though they were somewhat friends again, Graves couldn't bring himself to talk to anyone, not even his old comrade.
Lowering himself to the floor, Graves placed his shotgun in front of him. With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes, and dropped his head in his hands. Fighting in the League was the last thing he wanted to do right now, and prayed that the battle would be short. Pushing the heels of his hands into his eyes, he tilted his head back.
Hearing the starting claxon, Graves stood up, and watched as a blue light surrounded each champion – Caitlyn stood, her rifle upright on the floor in front of her, her hands resting on top, her eyes closed, a small smile curved on her lips, Twisted Fate was playing with his cards, Teemo, who Graves hadn't even noticed, was sat fiddling around with is blowpipe, and Miss Fortune was stood, pistols in hand. She seemed to be eyeing Graves up subtly, but he had no time to wonder before the light blinded him and he felt the familiar weightless feeling of teleportation.
Graves could tell they were on the Rift before he even opened his eyes. The soft breeze pulled the smell of the pines to his nose, and he took a deep breath. Throwing some coins on the vendor's counter, Graves picked up a few health potions and a ward, and set off towards the bottom lane.
Before his minions had even spawned, Graves spotted Jinx and Draven running towards him. Despite Draven's strength, he was no match for Graves, as he fired his trusty shotgun at the offending champions. Jinx proved to be more of an annoyance than anything, switching between her minigun and her rockets.
Graves managed to eliminate Draven before turning his focus on Jinx. He fired a few more shots at her, bringing her health dangerously low, before she retreated back behind her turret.
Graves started towards the enemy turret, and managed to bring its health down quite a bit before Draven re-emerged, ready for a second round. Graves smirked as Draven came towards him; he didn't like Graves very much, and Graves' feelings were likewise. Throwing down his smoke grenade, Graves managed to get in a good few shots before Jinx turned up to help her partner.
Hitting Graves with her Zapper, Jinx managed to slow Graves enough for them to take his health down dangerously low. Finally, able to move, Graves threw down his smoke grenade, and headed towards the safety of his turret, before recalling back to the base.
It only took a few seconds, but it was a few seconds too long. Graves practically threw his money at the vendor before running back to the lane. Jinx and Draven had gotten cocky whilst he was gone, and hadn't bothered healing themselves. He threw his smoke grenade at them and began to hit them with everything he had.
He managed to get Jinx fairly quickly, and turned his focus to Draven, who tried to get away, even though his own health was too low for his liking. He pursued Draven for a while longer through the jungle before getting a critical hit, and taking the kill.
Graves turned and headed back in the direction of his base, but was caught off-guard by Jinx. Graves growled, as he ploughed back through the jungle in the hopes of losing Jinx before she killed him. He managed to heal himself a bit, whilst throwing smoke grenades at her, desperately trying to take her health down. He got it low enough to make him comfortable and ran straight for the turret, which was now in sight. Graves heard Jinx giggle as she readied her rocket.
Graves winced as he heard the boom of gunfire. He didn't fall, and was surprised he was alive at all. He turned to see Caitlyn standing behind Jinx, her gun still positioned to shoot. Jinx looked shocked as she raised her trembling hands to her chest, blood pouring from the wound. Her eyes fluttered shut as her body fell, limp, to the ground, her pigtails forming a heart above her head.
"Thanks Cait," Graves smiled.
"Don't worry about it," Caitlyn replied. She gave him a slight nod before the familiar blue flash of recall surrounded her body, and she disappeared.
Graves turned and started towards the direction of his base, but found himself trapped in a hollow column of arcane magic. Turning his head, he saw Lux running towards him, a wild look in her eyes. Graves' health was lower than he'd have liked, and doubted he would win against the Lady.
The moment her spell wore off, Graves was throwing everything he had at Lux, slowing her long enough for him to take a few health potions, but it wouldn't be enough. Lux pursued him through the jungle, slowing him and managing to pin him. Despite his best efforts to keep it up, Graves' health had dropped dramatically, and he fired everything he had at Lux before turning and focusing on getting out of the jungle alive.
Graves forced himself to look back and see if Lux was still following him; she was still there, but she stood under a shower of bullets raining down on her head, her arms raised over her head for some amount of protection. Lux looked up, her face twisted with rage, as Miss Fortune slipped out of the brush. She sent a clean shot through Lux's stomach, which sent her stumbling backwards, dropping her wand. Seeing her window, Miss Fortune fired three more shots into Lux.
Lux, lying on the jungle floor, blood pouring from various bullet wounds, scrambled for her wand. She grabbed it and cast her binding spell on Miss Fortune before healing a little and picking herself up. She turned to run, dragging herself through the jungle, and barely making it a few meters before her spell wore off.
Miss Fortune started towards her, sauntering behind Lux; she barely had to walk far before she was practically on top of her. Miss Fortune stopped, watched Lux struggle for a moment and positioned herself, pulling her guns out of their holsters and lined them up.
"Hey!" Miss Fortune shouted. Lux, now crawling, didn't turn to look at Miss Fortune but instead forced herself up and pushed to get away from her. Graves could have sworn he saw Miss Fortune side-eye him and smirk. She let loose a barrage of bullets straight at Lux, and Graves watched Lux's body shudder and shake with each shot that landed.
As quickly as it started, the wave stopped. Miss Fortune fired one last shot at Lux, hitting her right in the back of the head, spraying blood, among other things, all over the jungle path. Lux's body stood for a moment before crumpling to the ground, blood flowing from each bullet wound.
Graves turned, in shock, to look at Miss Fortune, who had pulled out a piece of bubblegum, and popped it in her mouth. She blew away the smoke that flowed from one of her guns, and turned to look at Graves, who was still staring, open-mouthed. She blew a bubble, looking at Graves in a "what-else-did-you-expect" kind of way, before placing her guns back in their holsters.
"Catfish got your tongue?" she asked. Graves, still speechless, just stared. "What? You haven't seen that before?" She was getting irritated now, but Graves couldn't help but stare in awe. Miss Fortune looked him up and down and scoffed before walking off, deeper into the jungle.
Graves shook his head and ran after her. Grabbing her arm, he spun her around to face him.
"What was that? That you just did back there."
"That's just what I do, Malcolm. I don't know what else you expected." Her eyebrows were knitted together, not in anger, but exasperation. She softened her gaze.
"Anyways, I was just trying to help you, you know." She had begun to pull her arm out of his grip and turned to walk away. "Most people would- "
"It was incredible."
"What?" She turned back to Graves, her eyes wide in astonishment. Graves nodded at her and smiled. "Thanks, Malcolm," she said, and Graves could swear he saw her cheeks burn before she turned and ran off back into the fight.
Graves watched her for a moment before recalling back to base. He bought a few potions, among other things and ran back out to help his team. By now, the middle lane was free of turrets and his team were at the inhibitor.
By the time Graves reached the enemy base, his team had wiped out the inhibitor and were attacking the Nexus turrets. He saw Twisted Fate throw his cards in all directions, hitting Lux, Jinx and Draven. Graves couldn't see Teemo, but knew the yordle would be hiding somewhere, his suspicions confirmed by Ashe standing on one of his mushrooms, covering herself in purple and green goo. Graves got a few shots on her before Teemo appeared and finished her off with his poison darts.
Turning back to the turrets, Graves fought hard with his team to take them down, along with any champion who tried to get in their way. It didn't take long to take the turrets down, and even less time to destroy the Nexus.
Hearing the familiar boom of the commentator, Graves looked around at his teammates and smiled, before the familiar rush of the teleportation spell surrounded him, and he was transported back to Bilgewater.
He turned to the harbour, and watched the sun set, splashing pink and orange over the sky. He smiled and took in the beauty of it. As horrid as Bilgewater was, there was always a hidden beauty that made you forget about the street fights and brawls.
Graves headed back towards his house, though as tired as he was, decided he would have a celebratory drink before going home, and changed course towards his favourite bar. He turned the corner and walked straight into Miss Fortune and Caitlyn.
"Jeez- !"
"Excuse you!"
Graves and Miss Fortune cried out simultaneously. They looked at each other for a moment, awkwardly, Graves shuffling his feet, while Miss Fortune stared past him, twirling a lock of her red hair.
"Fortune… I-" Graves started. His voice brought her back to reality, and she looked deep into his eyes.
"Sarah," she said, uncharacteristically soft, while placing her hand on his arm. Her touch was soft and light. "Call me Sarah."
"I, uh, I just," Graves couldn't find his words, and didn't understand why. He took a deep breath. "I just wanted to thank you. You know, for earlier." Graves looked at the ground, his cheeks burning. He was embarrassed by the encounter and wanted it to end.
"Oh, it's no trouble," she replied, smiling. "Besides, you would've done the same for me."
Graves looked to her, the gentle sea breeze blowing the hair from her face, and looked into her eyes. He had never noticed how green they were before; like emeralds, dazzling in the sunlight. He felt his cheeks flush again and shook his head slightly.
They stood in silence for seemed an age, when Miss Fortune opened her mouth to say something – Graves heard her intake of breath – but said nothing. She looked up at him, her hand still holding his arm, before breaking the silence.
"Well, I'll see you around, Malcolm," she smiled, taking her hand back from him. She motioned to Caitlyn to follow her. Caitlyn gave Graves a small smile and waved as the pair squeezed past him and continued down into an alley. Though the encounter had left him embarrassed, Graves shook the feeling from his head; there was nothing he could do about it now.
Graves headed in the opposite direction towards the bar. He pushed the heavy oak door, and shoved his way through the crowd of drunk pirates and sailors, all shouting abuse and obscenities at one another. He pushed his way to the bar and ordered an ale. The barman gave him his drink, while Graves stood, leaning on the bar just watching the drunken madness around him, sipping on his ale, which was sweet and foamy.
He downed what was left, and pushed his way out of the bar. He strolled through the streets back to his house; it wasn't far and he liked to take his time walking down the cobbled streets, listening to the shouts and laughter of the men and women drinking in the many other bars, most of whom would still be drinking until the small hours of the morning.
Graves found himself smiling as he walked home, thinking about the day's events. Though short, Graves enjoyed the first sober conversation he had had with Miss Fortune, and though it was awkward and embarrassing, he didn't seem to care.
Graves suspected his feelings for Miss Fortune had been long coming and had been well hidden from even himself, though the infatuation filled him with happiness.
Graves returned home long after the moon had rose and stars had filled the sky. He stripped down to his boxers and crawled into bed. The fatigue of the day washed over him all at once, and Graves fell asleep with a smile on his face.