"You’re entirely too short to be stacking shelves, did you have to bribe someone to get this job?" The slow, polished, smooth drawl comes directly from behind her, and Vi stiffens for a moment, her jaw locked and clenching, suddenly annoyed by her posh accent, the way her nerves set alight, how one word from her has got her fucking losing touch with the world around her. She presses her free hand to her jaw and breathes in dust, breathes out nerves, chuckles somewhere in the back of her throat, and it's cool and unbothered, too aloof: she won't get stuck, candycoated in the sound of her voice, the shape of her mouth around her name, won't budge, not this time. She's left Caitlyn on read for four days, hasn't returned her calls because she's still not done giving her attitude over how she had pulled away from her like she had been struck by fucking lightning, had forcefully pried her hand out of hers when they had suddenly ran into her college friends while walking her back home from that party Vi had taken her somewhere in Zaun a little over a week ago.
"yeah, well. someone's gotta do it, princess. We don't all live in palaces." She doesn’t turn to look back at Caitlyn, only gives her a fleeting glance over her shoulder, the little spray of freckles over her cheeks smooth and warmed by the heat of the day, and then her eyes are back on the shelf, the cans in the box at her feet. Instead, she presses the heel of her palm to her temple and sighs, rolls her shoulder into a stiff shrug (it's still killing her from when she fucked it up during boxing training and Vi does not notice, but Caitlyn frowns at her back when she does that, concerned) continues to stack cans, standing precariously on tip toes. She can hear Caitlyn fidgeting, shifting, her heels clicking on the parquet floor, her breath becoming shallow, sharp. She doesn't care, won't cave in. Her jaw is set, aching under the strain of the pressure she's imposing on it.
"Vi... I..." Caitlyn suddenly sounds strange, her voice soft, like a kiss, like an apology, and Vi's hand jerks at the sound, the can she's holding wobbles and the entire row begins to shift gently.
"Oh- careful-" and then she’s there, pressed against Vi's back, and Vi can feel her exhaling around her, the faint aroma of her perfume, warmed by her blood. The air is warm and filled with so much something that for a blinking second she forgets her anger. Caitlyn's hands are gentle on the back of hers, pressing the stock back into place. Her palm is smooth, narrow. It could fit right into hers. Cait tightens her fingers around her hand and squeezes, and Vi squeezes her eyes shut. "See," Cait teases, and it's for her ears only, her voice pitched low and breathless, a smooth, awkward drawl, the apology leaking through the words. "you’re a danger to us all."
Vi snorts, but it's more air than sound, choking in the back of her throat, and the charge of her electricity is skittering up her arms, and it's stupid, it's stupid how badly she wants her, what it does to her, touching her, kissing her, being anywhere near her; how she unravels, like a torn thread, loses her head; she looks at her and the air sucks out of the room, the world narrows down to her hands in hers, her eyes, her mouth, how she reaches for her, pulls her back in; she's been up and down and out of her mind for years, but ever since she's met Cait, every place she runs to is a place she knows how to find and Vi does not know what to do with it.
She feels Caitlyn's breath on her neck now, and something inside her snaps- she doesn't wanna hold onto her anger, her heart already, forgetting to hold its place, frantically trying to drag itself out of her body and onto the floor to crawl into her arms, starved for scraps of her warmth, her attention.
Her fingers curl into a fist and she feels the muscles in her left shoulder spasm, rolls it sharply into a shrug. Caitlyn gasps, surprised, her hand slipping off of hers. "you gonna move, cupcake?" she demands, finally turning around.
Caitlyn's just standing there, fidgeting, her hands smoothing her skirt, brushing a nonexistent speck from her sleeve, and it's almost funny, how Vi's immediately folding, how their eyes meet and with her, so close, the world feels alive; less dull.
"I don't want to." Cait whispers, with her red lips tight, and her hands now clasped tightly together, toying with her fingers. The little silver ring on her index finger's glinting under the lights.
"what am I supposed to say to that?"
"Something... Anything!"
Vi sighs, feeling her shoulders slump. They are all alone, it's 7:24 in the evening, and the cafe is empty. She stares at her, and feels the sting of her nails biting into her palm, suddenly aware of how hard she's been squeezing her hand into a fist. Last night, she had lain awake in her bed, staring at her picture until her eyes had glazed (Caitlyn looked happy in it, carefree with the sun behind her. Vi had scrolled past the one where her hair was spread out behind her like a fan. She had thought about how it had looked over her pillow, how waking up to her in a too-small bed in her too small room had felt, how warm she had been...) It had been three in the morning when her phone had died. Afterwards, she had dreamed of the two of them sleeping next to each other, but not touching; had dreamed of that night the two of them had laid under the stars together, how Caitlyn had taken her hand in hers and traced constellations across the sky, told her their names. Caitlyn's hair spread open like wildflowers and her laugh still hanging in the air; she had gotten mud on her shorts and squealed a lot about it, and Vi had snorted, called her a princess, and that had earned her a prim scowl, a slap on her bicep. And laughter. Caitlyn had straddled her waist and pinned her down, breathless. She had dreamed about that, too. How her mouth had tasted like flames on her tongue, her hands searching wild under her shirt, whispering "I want you, I want you, I need you".
"Okay... Something." Vi says, and it's petty. She pushes past her, and Caitlyn sighs, rolls her eyes, exasperated. She grabs onto her wrist and pulls her back, and Vi goes with it, doesn't pull away, but her jaw is set, and her eyes are hard, flaming, lit with the sun.
"Stop it!" Cait pleads, and Vi shrugs, doesn't back off when Caitlyn steps closer, her hand on her wrist.
"you stop it. I am working."
A huff, and there it is, that obnoxiously posh, perfect drawl filling her ears.
"oh, please! you've been avoiding me for days!"
"wow. your perceptive powers know no bounds."
"stop! Vi—" Caitlyn hisses, furiously grabbing onto her wrist when Vi tries to walk off and back to her work.
Bursts of sudden, blood-red anger pound like a fire alarm through her chest, and she is turning around again, her cheeks red, hot to the touch, and, "what do you want from me?" Vi shoots back, suddenly crowding her against the shelf. The cans and plastic cups on it rattle violently. One of them crashes onto the floor.
Caitlyn doesn't say anything, but lifts her chin and her lips part in a breathy gasp. Vi's eyes drop to her mouth, watching her lips when she licks them, says her name, or thinks she says her name, she's so breathless, blind with anger, the world has been narrowed down to the space between the two of them, the way it's pulsing as though it's alive, begging to be filled; Cait's mouth opens then closes. She shifts and the shelf rattles again. Vi feels her fingers suddenly on her, poised at her hips, and her eyes slip off her mouth to her hand on her hip; Caitlyn immediately pulls it away, her hands listless, falling onto her sides; her mouth is slack. She feels her breath everywhere at once like a hundred sighs. Her eyes trace the shape of Cait's mouth, and she can feel that muscle that's aching in her shoulder spasm again; feels her jaw work, stiff and hard, like she's been punched. Her watch starts beeping loudly and they both look down at its warning, it saying abnormal heart rate detected.
When she looks up, Caitlyn's eyes are already on her, fire-bright and drowning. She's got a strange smile on her mouth, like she's won something. She surges forward and crashes her lips to hers.
Caitlyn's fingers find the side of her face, the smooth moon of her sharp jaw, squeezing hard. Vi's fingers are in her hair, pulling, and she is gasping, harder than Caitlyn now, she wants the heat of her with sharp teeth and wild desire, licking it off the roof of her mouth, sucking on her tongue, putting her mouth everywhere she lets her, on her neck, beneath her jawbone, licking frantically, kissing her cheek, her ear. She feels Cait's hands on her ass, her teeth sinking into her shoulder, and she loses her mind, melting under her mouth when Cait draws her back in, her lips finding the crook of her neck to drag across her throat, to her jaw, to her mouth, kissing her harder. She tastes sweet, and her heart hammers against her ribs. She cannot breathe and her cheeks are bright pink and that moment stretches out like a flood, drowning them both in its furious depth, they are both wild and all heat and quick bloodstreams and passion like exposed wires. With a hiss, she breaks apart from Cait, breathing hard.
When they break apart, her head's spinning round and round, but Caitlyn's there, already cupping her face, her thumbs splaying out over the swell of her cheeks, drawing her back in to the world around them. "I am sorry" she is saying, all blue wide eyes, mouth still redpink (Vi's is on fire and probably, she thinks suddenly, covered in the sheen of Cait's slightly glittery lipgloss). For a long time, Vi doesn't say anything.
Her lips are on her forehead and her jeans are ruining the lace of her skirt with their coarseness. She presses her nose to hers, breathing in hard. Caitlyn's rubbing her thumb across the arch of her cheekbone softly, and she can feel her shaking against her, a slight, soft tremor.
"your lipgloss tastes strange." she whispers, finally, and surprise explodes across Cait's face like a firework, her lips parting again, but then, she's smiling, and Vi's smiling too, or as good as, her eyes are glazed over and she's still reeling from her, her lungs burning.
"shut up..." Cait says primly.
She’s done for. A flush returns to her body, and her skin ignites with goosebumps.
"okay."
When she kisses her, the world stops spinning, it's just she and her, and her mouth on hers, and Caitlyn's thighs, and her hand between them, her nails on her back, how she says meet me tonight? and she doesn't even think about it, she's already saying yes, yes, it's agony, it's starvation, she wants her; she's missed her; afterwards, she feels that kiss on her mouth everywhere she goes, like a secret, like a warning, but she holds onto it like it's everything she's got that is hers only, and doesn't say anything when Jinx asks her why she's smiling at the walls. She shrugs, says, I'm going out tonight. Tell Ekko, I'm sorry. Next time I'll join. Jinx gives her weird looks, and she chugs her energy drink in one go.
When Caitlyn shows up, with her sharp, perfect smile and eyes that scream their hunger everywhere they touch her, it feels like she loves her and there aren’t words enough and there never will be. She's tall and beautiful, and when she slips on a rock, her thigh high boots too high heeled, Vi catches her and they're laughing when she calls he klutz and Caitlyn punches her in the shoulder, and for now, that's enough. The two of them, in the shadows; the two of them alone, under the sky; them and the stars and Caitlyn's hand in hers, tracing their shape.
Her and the stars, and Vi watching her mouth when she tells her their names.
