Hello again! Another short 'slice of life' kind of story, this time with Lux in the spotlight.

Disclaimer: All characters and places mentioned belong to Riot Games.

Watching

"What are you looking at?"

Lux jumped in place and let a short scream out, before clasping one hand over her mouth and the other over the heart beating rapidly in her chest. It was just like Ezreal to sneak up on her from behind, so stealthily she hadn't even heard a single rustle of his clothing. But how he managed to get this close to her right now was far beyond her comprehension; the boy just whispered in her ear.

And the boy was now clutching his nose tightly, hissing in pain.

"Gods, Ezreal, I'm so sorry!" she uttered hurriedly as she laid a hand on his shoulder. Her jumping up made her own shoulder go for a nice, clear collision with the blonde boy's face - and he was just as unprepared for her sudden attack as she was for his sudden assault.

"No, no, it's fine," he said, fakely cheerily, waving it off. "Still in one piece." She was relieved to see no blood gushing from his nostrils as he took the hand away. "You sure are jumpy today, Lux. Are you alright?"

The worried puppy-face that accompanied the end of the sentence made something inside her melt. Still, she wasn't quite sure whether a boy her age should make her feel just like a little kitten would, though.

"I'm— I'm okay, thank you," she hesitated just briefly, but Ezreal seemed to catch the gentle change in her tone.

Curious, he peeked above her shoulder to the window she'd been staring through, overlooking various places belonging to the Institute's grounds. There was nothing to be seen, though; just a few Yordle champions gathered around the fountain, talking and making the best of the sunny day. In the garden, he could just barely make out Zyra's silhouette as she attended the first flowers to bloom this spring; not too far away from her, Ezreal was sure he could see Maokai talking to the tree saplings in the orchard, a regular habit of his this time of the year. Some champions were running around and flexing on the ground in the outdoor gym, what he was actually about to go and do before he saw the blonde Demacian standing alone by the windowsill.

"Um, so..." he started after a while, seeing as there was nothing worth noticing outside. He tried to figure why the girl would just stand there and watch the day go by. "Maybe you'd like to go out?"

Suddenly, Lux's face turned a bright shade of red, and the sharp intake of breath got stuck in her throat. Ezreal looked at her in confusion for just a second, before the realization hit him like a stone to the head. For a moment, he just stood there opening and closing his mouth, but no sound came out.

"No, I— I didn't mean it like that, Lux," he stuttered at last. The girl was facing the floor now, so he crouched a bit to read her expression - and right now, it was a cross between embarrassed and sad; Ezreal was in way, way too deep. "I— I mean, I would! I totally would, if you would!"

The Demacian looked up at him again, and her expression turned into pure confusion. She wasn't blushing anymore, and it seemed that her initial embarrassment has gone out the slightly opened window.

"Are you asking me out on a date?" she questioned finally, eyes squinted slightly, all traces of nervousness gone from her voice at once, leaving Ezreal dumbstruck. Really, he had known this girl for almost two months now, but she was still a giant mystery to him.

He coughed.

"I was— actually, I was just asking whether you'd like to go out of the building and enjoy the nice weather with me."

"Like... on a date?"

"Like..." Ezreal hesitated for a second.

There was only one chance to not screw this up, so he had to play it right. He hadn't thought about it before - he would always be too occupied with finding new adventures to notice girls, and his uncle would always say he should take his time while he still had it - but the Demacian was nice. Really nice - and good looking, too.

He liked her. She quite possibly liked him.

He smiled charmingly. "Yeah, like on a date."

She stared at her feet for a good few moments and he was sure he didn't play it right.

"Alright," she said quietly, but not in a sad way. She seemed rather content with his offer for the afternoon. "Just let me go to my room and change into some more comfortable clothes, I don't want to go around in this."

She motioned to her traditional Demacian armor that she wore to the matches. Right, Ezreal thought. She must have just stopped here on the way from the summoning chamber. Mystery solved.

"Sure thing." He saluted, earning a very nice smile in return. "I'll wait for you downstairs, Lady Crownguard."

With that, he ran down the corridor and skipped the flight of stairs in one, quite impressive jump. Lux watched him go, but as soon as he was out of her sight, she turned back to the window.

Her brother was still there, sparing with Prince Jarvan in the outdoor gym, just as they were before Ezreal interrupted her. Everything seemed to be just like a few minutes ago - birds still chirping by the fountain, flowers blooming in the garden, people running, sun shining. Everything, except for one tiny detail, so irrelevant that it went unnoticed by most. A figure lurking in the shadow of a tree, watching her brother's efforts.

The blonde quickly scanned the whole scene, but Katarina Du Couteau had to vanish into thin air during her brief talk with Ezreal.

A/N: So I guess this is probably not much longer than two months since Lux joined the League at the point of this one-shot; that said, she has surely already met Katarina (or at least knows what she looks like and who she is) (oh come on, there's like barely over a hundred champions, of course she'd meet Katarina over the course of two months) and is getting suspicious over the Noxian's apparent fascination with her brother.

This is the second one-shot and it already has next to nothing in common with the first one, sigh. I suppose that's just how such thing are bound to go and I will eventually stray even further; my main focus will always remain on Katarina, Garen and Lux (occasional Ezreal as I kind of set the blondes together here), but I suppose throwing a random champion here and there won't hurt anyone.