"Well, everything looks normal."
The pink haired medic finished examining Teemo and scribbled down some notes on the clipboard.
"Still, I'm going to put you off duty for another week."
The scout furrowed his brows with a sigh. "Come on Natalie... I've been 'off duty' for too long already."
Natalie adjusted her small glasses and sat down behind the desk, "Hey, who's the doctor here? I know you want to go on missions, but this is for your own good. You really want to get sick like that again?"
Teemo looked down on the floor knowing that there's no point in arguing. "No."
With a smirk, the medic wrote down something on a piece of paper and handed it to Teemo. "Buy these, take them every day: one in the morning, and one in the evening. Next week you will be in tip-top shape!"
Taking the piece of paper Teemo smiled, "Thank you, Natalie."
"Seriously, relax. I know you work hard, but you need to stop and have some time off from time to time. Now go and enjoy your little 'vacation', Captain." The medic gave Teemo a playful wink.
The scout only gave her a sheepish smile and after a quick "Goodbye" was out of the hospital.
It was a sunny Monday morning. After the weekends non-stop rain it was refreshing to see the sun again.
The city was as busy as ever. The yordes were going about their daily businesses; various shops opened just in time for yordles to bundle in and buy their needed things; many bakery shops put out freshly baked goods to cool off emitting a delicious aroma that made any passing yordles' mouth water, tempting them to buy some.
At his own pace, Teemo went to the nearest pharmacy to buy the needed medicine. After finishing his task, the scout stood outside the shop looking around, not knowing what to do next.
"Now what?" scratching the back of his head, Teemo tried to come up with some options for the day.
He could just go home and brew some poison for his darts.
He could go to the Scouts camp and just hang out there.
Heck, he could go home and then to the forest in hopes of meeting Nidalee.
Yeah, as funny as it sounds, Teemo hangs out with the Bestial Huntress from time to time. It all started when they met deep in the forest when Teemo was hunting for the needed ingredients for the poison. Teemo never had a chance to know her outside the Fields of Justice so meeting her on pure random was a good start. Nidalee turned out to be a very friendly woman and the two quickly became friends. Teemo guessed it was because they shared the same love for the wilderness that made them find the same language.
As time went on, the two decided to create a sort of an extreme version of the "Cat and Mouse" game: which involved traps, spears and other things. It was one heck of training game, Teemo's reflexes doubled or even tripled after so many rounds. To the scouts surprise even Rengar sometimes joined their little game making things even more challenging. To keep things fair, each game Teemo and Nidalee switched roles on who is the Cat and who is the Mouse. Still, after so many games the huntress nicknamed Teemo 'Mousy' and would often times playfully tease him with it.
The scout absent mindedly walked around the market for a good half an hour, trying to find something that would catch his interest. After buying some useless trinkets and a news paper Teemo was on his way out of the busy city.
The scout was deep in his thoughts as he was slowly walking through the streets.
"Hey, Captain!"
Teemo stopped in his tracks when he heard someone calling him. Turning around he found nobody in sight. Scratching his head he resumed walking.
"Up here, dumbass..."
Stopping again, Teemo looked up trying to find the source. Turning around one more time he saw non-other than Bixby who was standing on a second floor balcony, smoking a cigarette.
"Took you long enough! What's up?" the cocky sniper asked with a grin.
"Oh, hey Bixby. Just buying things and getting some fresh air."
Bixby puffed out a huge cloud of smoke when the scout mentioned 'fresh air'. "Aaaah. So how's your health, still sick?"
Teemo looked at him suspiciously, "How do you even know I was sick?"
Laughing, Bixby turned to his room and shouted, "Hey! I found your sick friend!" Flicking the cigarette butt away he walked in to the room leaving Teemo completely confused.
After some time the scout heard a faint voice and somebody walking up to the balcony.
"-what are you talking abou- Teemo?"
The scout was surprised when he saw Tristana walk up on the balcony. "Trist?"
"Hey!" she beamed, "How are you feeling?"
As soon as Teemo was about to answer her question, Bixby opened the front door, mentioning the scout to get inside. Teemo never was at Bixby's place, heck he didn't even know where he lived until now.
As Teemo got in he saw how striking the room looked. The first floor was like a single huge room, with a small kitchen on the side. The walls were covered in various stylish posters and pictures; the rug was made from some expensive cloth; the newest model of the TV was hanging on the wall; he even had those weird lava lamps! A large portion of the room was occupied by a king sized bed on which honestly could sleep ten or even more yordles.
Closing the door, Bixby proudly announced, "Welcome to my domain! Make yourself at home. There's the fridge, there's the bathroom and here-" the sniper jumped and gracefully landed on his huge bed, "-is where the Magic happens."
Sure enough if you have good eyes you can spot a couple of panties sticking out from under the bed and boxes of condoms lying around nearby.
Teemo knows about Bixby's 'Ladies Man' status so he's not all that surprised. Sometimes when they were paired for a mission, the sniper eagerly told all about his 'adventures', much of the time in unnecessarily great detail. Unlike Teemo, Bixby has no fur instead he has smooth blue skin like Tristana or Poppy. He is quite tall (again, by yordle standards), well built, has dark slicked back hair, and green colored eye. It's no wonder he managed to charm many attractive yordle women. Teemo had to admit that he felt a pang of jealousy whenever he saw Tristana with Bixby, but like always never showed it.
"Bixby! Are you trying to bed Teemo?" Both males turned their heads and saw Tristana descending from the second floor with a mocking smile.
Playing along Bixby crossed his arms, "Well what if I do? Look at that furry bastard - all silent and mysterious. You know what they say about the silent types~"
Teemo felt really out of place at the moment.
Laughing, Tristana grabbed the scout's hand and guided him to the room on the second floor. As soon as they entered he was met with loud rock music and smell of gunpowder and smoke.
The second floor room was literally an armory. All kinds of guns were hung up on the wall with ammunition lying on the tables. Bullets, wrenches, gun parts, bolts, shells, empty beer cans and tons of other things were scattered around the messy room. Teemo even managed to trip on a grenade that was carelessly thrown on the ground.
"Is this even legal?" the shocked scout looked around as Tristana went to the radio to lower the volume.
"So! How are you feeling?" the girl jumped to the scout to take a closer look at him, "You look much better now."
Teemo proudly puffed his chest, "Never better! All thanks to you Trist."
Tristana giggled in response, "It was nothing. Oh! Sorry that I left so abruptly yesterday."
The scout recalled how after waking up he found Tristana gone with only a note attached to the bunny pajamas that said: "Sorry, I have to run. Have some work that needs to be done. I'll visit you on Monday." followed by a smiley face.
Teemo smiled at his friend, "It's alright. So what are you doing here?"
As soon as Tristana opened her mouth to speak, Bixby appeared behind Teemo and answered his question, "Upgrading our guns!"
"Yep." smirking, the girl went to her dismantled cannon and picked up a part, "Our officials decided to do some 'renovations' to our base so we got five days off."
"Got some parts on our way back here and decided to upgrade our babies since we don't have anything else to do." smiling, Bixby observed his prized sniper rifle.
Finding a more or so clean spot on the old, oil stained couch, Teemo sat down letting out a long sigh. "Guess everybody got a 'vacation' this week. What a coincidence."
"Wait, you are off duty too?"
Teemo nodded in response to Tristana's question. "I was at the hospital today. The doctor, Natalie, said that I need more rest just to be sure I won't get sick like that again."
"That's great!"
The excited girl sat down next to Teemo. Bixby looked at the pair and smirked. "What, you two are going to a romantic getaway or something?"
Tristana pulled out a folded letter and handed it to Teemo.
"Even better!"
As Teemo was scanning the letters content the girl continued, "I finally looked into my mailbox today and amongst all the junk mail I found a letter from Ziggs!"
"Ziggs? It's that crazy guy with a face splitting grin and a disturbing love for bombs?"
Tristana laughed at Bixby's quite accurate description of the Dean of Demolition. "Yep. He writes that they are going to have some sort of 'Future Expo' back at Pitover where the scientists are going to show off all kinds of new guns, vehicles, bombs, and lots of other nifty stuff. Since we are old friends, he is going to give me and anybody else I take with me - a free pass."
Teemo finished reading the letter and glanced at Bixby who was stroking his chin with interest.
"So what do you say boys?"
Bixby grinned, "Count me in! I haven't been to Piltover in a while anyway, plus a free exhibition of guns? It certainly beats sitting for a week at home and doing nothing."
Tristana gave Bixby thumbs up and turned to Teemo with a huge smile, already knowing that her best friend will say 'Yes'.
The scout chuckled giving her the letter back, "Count me in too."
After receiving a quick hug from the girl, Teemo observed how she stood up, jumped towards Bixby and high-fived him after landing near his sitting position.
"Yeah! Piltover here we come!"
Teemo couldn't do anything else but laugh out loud when the two rambitious gunners started head-banging to a metal song that was currently playing on the radio.
Teemo wasn't really interested in all that new tech, but he did want to see Ziggs again. He hasn't properly talked nor seen the Dean since he left to Piltover about two years ago after he got accepted to the Yordle Academy of Science & Progress. Very rarely they clashed on the Fields of Justice and when they did, they were on the opposite teams and there was no time for chit-chat.
The three friends continued to crack jokes and tell silly stories for the rest of the day. Bixby even went and bought a pizza with drinks later on.
It was almost night time when Teemo and Tristana finally decided to head home. After declining Bixby's offer to stay over and sleep on his massive bed the pair was off.
The two yordles were slowly walking through the dark streets in silence.
"I really needed this." the scout finally said with a low laugh. "I can't remember the last time I did something like that - just hang out with friends and enjoy myself."
The girl beside him smirked, "Well, no wonder. I mean, it's alright to work and all, but sometimes I think you go overboard with it."
Teemo let out a laugh. "Yeah, I tend to do that sometimes. I guess I did overwork myself a little bit for the last couple of months. I bet that's the main reason I got sick."
"That's not funny at all, Teemo."
The scout was surprised at his friend's rather stern reply. From the corner of his eye he could see that Tristana wasn't looking at him, but it was clear that she was a little agitated.
"It's not funny when you work so much you forget about everything else, especially your friends. I'm used to your sudden acts of disappearances, but when you just vanish for months with no warning-"
Tristana cut herself off as the two approached her house. Teemo stopped near the door and didn't say a word as did Tristana.
After what seemed like an eternity, Teemo finally spoke up.
"You are right... I did venture out on some missions that weren't even needed. I don't know why, but I just did. I'm... sorry that I worried you so much."
Tristana glanced at the scout who was looking at the ground with a sour expression. Her earlier anger was slowly seething away.
"It was a relief seeing you, even though briefly, on the Fields of Justice that time. After you didn't show up on our planned meeting after that, and the old guy telling me that you weren't around for 'some time'... Well... There were some unpleasant scenarios in my head after that."
Teemo let out a laugh as he looked at the girl with a smile.
"What's so funny?"
"It's just... nice to know that there is somebody else, besides my mother, that cares about me so much." after saying that, the scout proceeded to giggle.
Tristana's cheeks started to heat up as she looked at Teemo. Slightly shaking her head, the girl lightly pushed the giggling scout. "Well of course I care, you dolt!" Looking at the scout, she too started to giggle. "Stop laughing!"
Soon after, two grown yordles were laughing in the middle on the night for no particular reason.
After the laugher died down, Teemo and Tristana proceeded to look at each other. There it was again - that awkward silence. It seemed to happen often now and none of the yordles knew what to say or do during that moment.
"..."
"Heh... Well, I... I guess I should be going now..." Teemo looked down breaking the silence.
Tristana also snapped out of her daze and proceeded to search for her keys, "Yeah... Tomorrow's a long day. Need to pack all the stuff for the trip and whatnot. "
"Yeah..." The scout looked at the girl giving her his trademark smile, "Well, goodnight Trist! I'll see you on Wednesday."
"Night." Tristana looked how her friend slowly started to walk away into the night, "Try not to get sick 'till Wednesday!"
"Very funny Trist."
Smirking, the girl proceeded to watch Teemo as he gained speed and soon after was running towards his house in the woods.
For some time, Tristana just stood outside the house, observing the sleeping city, thinking about the upcoming trip and a couple of other things. Her thoughts eventually drifted back to Teemo and her own strange behavior around him as of late. Why was she acting like that?
"Guess I missed him more than I'd like to admit."
Tristana found herself smiling at the thought.
Thank you all those who left a comment on this fic, I really appreciate it!
It's going to get more action oriented later on. The tone of the story is going to get a little darker as it progresses as well.
Like always, thank you for reading and drop a comment if you feel like doing it!