Summary: You get sent to the Alternate Dimension along with Ekko and Heimerdinger. You get to see your childhood crush and some old friends, but turns out Claggor's not so keen on you anymore. You wonder why.
Warnings/Tags: maybe ooc, no beta, slow burn, prob a bit cringe, bad writing, nothing triggering or nsfw in this part
A/N: I wrote this for myself and figured I would post if anyone else wanted to read. So maybe the characters are a bit ooc. I'll also probably end up editing in the future for my own sanity. No beta oh well. Comment if you want another part! Chances are I'll write the rest for myself and then forget to post it lol
Your vision swims around the page of the book in your hands, the words blur together and you squeeze your eyes shut in an effort to ease the pounding in your head. You stand up from the chair and the book falls to the floor.
The painful pounding stops, but as you look around, you realize you're in an unfamiliar place. After some snooping you discover that this is your apartment. It's quaint and cozy, decorated with some things you recognize. Various trinkets, books, and furniture.
You don't really know what to do, so you just leave the apartment. You grab a jacket and your wallet from a little bowl near the front door and start to walk to the first place you can think of. The Last Drop. Everything looks different. Brighter. There are children running around, music and vendors, and you haven't seen one unfortunate soul living on the streets.
You approach The Last Drop. It seems busy, even from the outside you can tell. There's music leaking from under the door and you see shadows move behind the windows. You push through the front door and yep. Busy as usual, just not the crowd you were expecting. Usually it's a bit shady at The Last Drop. Deals going on underneath the tables, gambling in broad daylight, and drunken patrons being hauled outside for fighting. But, this was surprising pleasant. People were chatting at tables with fresh food being brought out by waiters. And Oh My Gosh! There's Ekko! Finally someone you recognize. You trot over, hoping for some answers. Maybe you hit your head a bit harder than you thought when breaking into the Council Building with Ekko and Heimerdinger.
"Ekko, what's going on?" He looks up from his frantic scribbling. He furrows his brows and stands up quickly, grabbing your shoulders. He narrows his eyes.
"What do you mean? Are you... You?" He tilts his head towards you and you raise a brow at his question.
"What do you mean?" You shoot back at him, joking around to lighten the mood. He violently shakes you by the shoulders. Rattling your already sensitive brain. You cringe and rub at your temples when he stops shaking you.
"This is not funny! This is not a joke! I don't know what the hell happened, but this is not our world!" Your eyebrows knit together, "I saw Jinx! A-And Benzo..." He looks away from you and sighs.
"I-I dont understand?..." You try to back away from him, but he holds on tight.
"Look around man... Hextech did... something. I don't know where we are." He looks defeated. You take a deep breath and take a few guiding steps so you can sit down at the table where you found him.
You guys spend the next few minutes catching up. He tells you about how he 'woke up' in his house and met Powder and Benzo. And you share how you made your way to The Last Drop. Ekko also mentions that he expected Powder would be back any second now.
As if summoned, an entire group of semi-familiar faces walk up to the table. The last time you'd seen any of them was before Vander had been taken. By the time you came to console Ekko of his father's passing. Mylo, Claggor, and Vander we're dead. Vi was in prison. And Powder had been taken.
Besides Vi, you'd been closest to Claggor. The three of you had been the older kids of the group and naturally you had gravitated towards his calm and gentle demeanor.
"Claggor?!" You rush over and hug him tightly. He's grown so much since you were kids. He's always been taller than you, but now you barely come up to his chest.
"You doin' alright?" He doesn't exactly push you away but it's clear he's uncomfortable. He has his arms hovering over you like he's reluctant to return the hug. You take a step back, smile still on your face. But Claggor's frowning, giving you a questioning look. Ugh, everyone's looking at you. You try to laugh it off, your smile slowly fading, and side eye Ekko, who shrugs.
Powder happily gives you a hug, you suspect it's just to relieve some of the weird tension that's come over the group. You hug her tightly, she's always been like a little sister to you and your ecstatic that this weird dream has let you see her again. See her as she should have been, without all the Zaun and Piltover nonsense, before she turned into Jinx. Mylo just winks at you as he twirls his stupid little mustache.
The group chats and you sit silently for the most part. Taking in the moment, hoping this dream doesn't have to end. Eventually Mylo and Powder leave to talk to a girl. And Ekko excuses himself outside, Heimerdinger following closely. That leaves just you and Claggor.
Back in the old days, you and Claggor would chat for hours. After Powder and Mylo had gone to bed and Vi had snuck out to collect scraps for Powder's inventions. You guys would sit on the couches and just talk about nothing. The haul they'd gotten that day, the hilarious 'moves' Little Man had shown him, what mechanical device you were tinkering on currently.
Now it felt like the air was stifling any words you could form in your head. It just felt heavy. He practically refused to make eye contact with you, choosing instead to sip from his cup and scan over the notes that Ekko had left at the table. You tapped your fingers on the table and pursed your lips. You could sense he didn't want to talk so you let your eyes wander instead. First it was innocent, you looked around The Last Drop finding Powder and a flustered Mylo talking to the waitress. Claggor put his drink back down with a soft clink, bringing your attention back to the table. Your eyes wandered over to him.
It seemed like he still refused to meet your eyes, which gave you ample time to gawk at him without being caught. His large hands, his uneven eyebrows, his dark curls. He had slimmed down a bit, but was still broad and tall. From what you could tell, he still seemed like his calm, gentle self. Just maybe a bit more confident. He looked up finally, you suppose he could feel your stare burning holes in him. He cleared his throat, nodded slightly and then just left with a quick goodbye. No hug, no 'see you later', nothing.
Later on that day, Ekko had left with Heimerdinger to try to figure this weird situation out. Turns out this wasn't a dream? More like a mind/dimension swap. Anyway, that left you at The Last Drop with Powder and Vandor. You sat at the bar munching on some fries that Vandor had insisted on. Powder absentmindedly cleaning nearby.
"I'm really happy you're being more friendly with Claggor." Powder comments as she wipes the bar down with a rag. "I know it was kind of...rough for both of you after... you know." She shrugs a shoulder and looks remorseful. You scoff.
"What do you mean?" It's obvious that something happened between you and this Claggor, back in the day he would have happily hugged you back. If he was especially happy he'd even pick you up during a hug and swish your legs around in the air to make you giggle. But today it seemed like he didn't even want you to touch him.
"Well," Powder sucks in a breath, you don't usually like to talk about your feelings. You were there for her when Vi died. Always willing to listen and offer help, but when it came to your private life you were very guarded. She supposed that was why you and Claggor fought in the first place. "I know from Mylo that you guys had a nasty fight." She pushed out the sentence in one breath, like if she didn't it wouldn't come out at all. She cringed and bared her teeth, waiting for your reaction. You furrowed your brows, but tried to play along, see if you could get any more information from her.
"Everyone knows we had a fight, Powder. What of it?" You said dejectedly and sipped on your drink. She looked up at you for a minute, but then continued to clean the counter. Maybe your acting skills were worse than you thought, she wasn't exactly taking the bait as you had hoped.
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