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It started in small instances.
Vi coming home from her shift and involuntarily sucking her thumb.
Jinx made a bit of fun of it, at first.
“Didn’t it take you and Vander forever to make me stop doing that?”
Vi had blushed and stopped, sitting on her hands for the rest of the night as Jinx worked on one of her contraptions. She had picked up on blinding grenades, not unlike fireworks but with far more “Pizzazz” as she said.
The entire time she could feel Vi fidgeting and the nervous energy spreading from her was crawling up Jinx’s back and driving her insane the entire time.
When she finally gave up on trying to block out her sister, she put her tools away and walked over to the old couch to sit down close and lean up to her.
“How was your day?” she asked, being certain that she would hear the typical bullshit:
assholes that Vi beat up, cheapskates trying to skip out on the bill, Cait visiting.
What Vi never talked about was how beating up those assholes was something she craved to get out her frustrations, how people not being able to pay made her feel terrible because she was poor once, she had to steal to survive, once. But she also knew what it meant to be taken advantage of. It was a conflict she never voiced, but Jinx knew it was there.
Vi was hard for the world. But inside? She was too soft. She was holding herself together by bloody nails and breaking teeth, trying so hard not to rip at the seams.
She didn’t say that Cait visiting made her feel bad for not telling her about Jinx; who was still at large, who still caused chaos but much less, now that Vi was spending time with her.
Nothing made the voices cower in fear like Vi’s confident smile and her strong arms around her little sister.
And of course that’s what Jinx got: faceless people not truly touching Vi’s insides, how cool and tough she was and how cute Cait was.
Jinx had come to accept this. She could not pry more out of Vi, because Vi’s preferred form of breaking down was Alcohol, Screaming and Violence and then running away. There was coping and then there was Vi trying to destroy the parts that hurt inside her.
She even had accepted Cait as part of Vi’s life because Vi needed to live her life for herself for once and finding a girlfriend, as much as it hurt, was part of that.
So Jinx behaved. She didn’t fuck it up for them, she didn’t get Caitlyn in danger when she turned the cities upside down and she never gave her or the enforcers a reason to really pull all the stops.
Vi finished her monologue of empty air and finally put an arm around Jinx, pulling her close and burying her face in the younger woman's hair.
“You smell like mom,” she mumbled and Jinx rolled her eyes.
What they had was… by all means not really sisterly. Their sense of family was pretty fucked, so Jinx didn’t take it in a bad way.
“What a nice way to tell me to wash,” she instead replied and Vi suddenly pulled her even closer, grabbing her so strongly it almost hurt while Vi shook her head.
“Don’t leave. It calms me down.”
Jinx decided to let her be and when they turned in for the night, Vi wanted to be the little spoon, Jinx laying her arms around her and burying her own face in Vi’s neck.
“Can you sing?” she whispered so quietly that for a moment, Jinx thought she had imagined it.
But she sang “Dear Friend Across The River” anyway, because Violet was her sister and the one human she wanted to live for and if it brought her happiness, she would sing all night every night.
The next time Jinx realized something was different was when Vi had a day off and stayed home while she went out to burn off some energy and maybe pretty up Piltover for a bit.
Normally Jinx had to fight for those free days to be hers and not Cait’s, but Vi just stayed in bed one morning and said “No work today” before falling asleep again and Jinx was so surprised by it that she just went on with her day.
When she got back home a few hours later, paint all over clothes, face, and hair, and a backpack full of groceries, she found Vi napping on the couch of the workshop, an old stuffed rabbit hugged tight to her chest.
It was cute, by all means, but it was also so unlike Vi that Jinx immediately knelt down in front of her and felt her face for a fever. But Vi’s face felt normal and her breathing was calm, and when she opened her eyes due to Jinx softly feeling her up for any injuries, they shine bright and happy.
“Welcome Powpow.”
Her speech was slurred. Unclear. As if she wasn’t used to talking.
Worry started to brew in Jinx's stomach, heavy and tumultuous and her mind was racing with possible things that could be wrong with Vi, while leaning in close, trying her best not to scare her sister.
“Violet, how are you feeling?”
“Good,” she gave back with confusion and laid her arms around Jinx, still kneeling, hugging her close to herself.
Not caring how strange that position was for her younger sister. Not realizing that Jinx was currently going through all possible symptoms for drug abuse, poison and Jericho’s meals.
Not a worry, just keeping Jinx close; Powpow close, and sighing in content.
“Missed you,” Vi mumbled and buried her face against her sternum, breathing deep and even.
Like a child.
It hit Jinx so immediately, because she remembered doing the same when she had missed Vi, thousand years ago, when they lived with Vander and Powder was too young for the really big jobs.
She would cling to Vi like a new grown limb and bury her face in whatever space her sister had been willing to offer up and just exist completely engulfed by her.
It had been innocent back then, had not carried a sexual note; not like it was for Jinx today, when every affection, no matter how innocent, carried something so profound and intimate that she felt ashamed by the way Vi was acting right now.
No kisses. No trying to touch the places that Vi knew made Jinx feel good.
This was scary. This was worrisome. But it was Vi. And Jinx did the only thing she could think of: imagine what she would have wanted when she was a child.
“Come on, let me get on the couch so I can hold you right.”
Vi immediately looked up, her eyes wide and full of wonder and happiness. And Jinx’s heart ached, but Vi let her go and Jinx climbed over her with ease, slowly turning Vi around so she could bury her face back in Jinx’s sternum, while she laid her arms around her, held her close and gently moved her hands up and down Vi’s back. Barely touching but there, making Vi hum in happiness and cling to her.
A million thoughts a minute ran through Jinx’s mind. What was Violet doing? Had something happened to her? Had she hit her head?
Careful not to disturb her sister, Jinx felt for any bumps or lacerations on Vi’s head while the red-head hummed in content, the careful fingers making it feel like a massage on her scalp.
No injuries. No bumps. No lacerations; just Vi’s normal head, but currently apparently controlled by a version of herself that Jinx was completely unfamiliar with. What if it was the same thing that had happened to her? When the voices had started to speak to her, to taunt her and to occupy her mind?
She looked down at her older sister and tightened her grip on instinct; she wouldn’t allow that to happen. She couldn’t. Whatever Violet was doing, whatever it was, that made her so… much like little Powder, she would not let Violet be alone with it.
Whatever was happening, she would make sure Violet was safe.
The instances became more frequent.
Vi, who Jinx had started to call the Pup for these instances, because she couldn’t think of a better thing at all, would ask for cuddles and singing on an almost nightly basis. She was still going to work, but almost never to Cait.
And normally that would have been incredibly satisfying to Jinx, but Vi didn’t do that to have hot sex with her sister or take her out on adventures. Most of the time Vi was just Vi, the way she knew her, rambunctious and loud and so full of herself that Jinx worried she wouldn’t leave any once of self worth for the rest of the world.
But then, some days, she would come home and be the Pup. She would suck her thumb sometimes, she would ask to hug Jinx when she was working, she would giggle and play childish pranks.
To calm her down and stop her from actually turning the workshop into an unsaveable mess, Jinx had started to supply the little Wolf with color pens. When Vi was her regular self she had no inkling of creative energy to spend on drawing.
But when she was the Pup she would start drawing on the walls, being excited and proudly showing it to Jinx when she was done. And by all means, she wasn’t bad. Jinx was able to make out Vander and Claggor and what she assumed must have been a very bad-tempered Mylo.
She found herself in the pictures, and even someone that she assumed was Cait, and a whole lot of cages. Dogs in cages, children in prison, hideous figures with sticks beating smaller humans on the ground.
Little Violet cowering from bigger people who did things to her she didn’t like. Little Violet being beaten up and crying. Powder. Violet in a chair with Jinx.
Jinx wasn’t in any way or form an expert in whatever those nutters up in Piltover called Psychology but even she was able to understand that whatever Vi had gone through, the cub was working through it. Something had happened, something had finally given in, and whatever it was, it held Vi on a damn leash to get through it.
Of course, Jinx would always commend her and even watch her draw, with time even starting to play the little games that Vi had played with her, when she was still Powder. She would tell her fantastical stories, sing her to sleep when she had to and accepted that apparently this would be part of her life now.
And by all means, she stood by her decision; she was downright proud of herself for not fumbling it so hard that Vi would get another trauma (at least that’s what she hoped).
But she couldn’t help but worry. Cait would become suspicious, sooner or later. What if Vi suddenly turned into the Pup in a dangerous situation, like the bar? What if she wandered around in public while Jinx was out and about?
It was strange, to suddenly understand the worries Vi had to go through when Powder was a child that wanted to be included, that wanted to show her big sis how grown up she is and all the things she could accomplish. And the Pup showed similar tendencies, picking up Jinx tools at random and tinkering on stuff with no rhyme or reason and more than once did she have to stop her from blowing up the building.
How often and how long could this go right before it inevitably went terribly, terribly wrong?
It was three months into the situation that the Pup cried for the first time, hard and loud in frustration because she didn't manage to follow Jinx’s instructions on building a firecracker safely. It was one of the easier things Jinx was able to teach her, but she quickly realized that no matter how small the Pup felt in these moments, she was still working with Violet's very adult body and very fat hands.
And Jinx was so proud for not saying anything, for keeping her cool and instead sitting down behind the pup, putting her head on her shoulder and gently pushing her against her own chest.
“It’s okay my little Wolf,” she soothed, “You are doing good, so good. Let Mama help you”
The word slipped out before Jinx could think about it, but the Pup just hiccups and nods and melts into Jinx embrace with a little “Okay.”
She took Vi’s hands and gently guided them back to the gadget, helping her close the casing in a way that it would be able to explode but not lose gunpowder before it was lit. She held it up so the Pup could draw little fangs on it and crazy eyes.
With learned finesse she taught her how to measure the right amount, letting the Pup fill it up herself while petting her hair and kissing her scalp, whispering, “Good girl, see how well you are doing?” again and again.
Together they applied the fuse and when Jinx was certain it was done right, she hugged her little Cub close to her chest, kissing her forehead and praising her for a job well done.
Vi’s face was still wet with tears, but she smiled and pushed her face in the crook of Jinx's neck and later they set the little wolf cracker off together, right into a group of enforcers, save out of sight. They giggled together and hugged and Jinx wished she could have carried her Pup home in her arms.
But of course, it had to go wrong.
That was Jinx’s life. When it seemed like it was going to smooth, someone or something would throw a wrench at it.
The thrown wrench in that case was, of course, the Piltie.
Caitlyn fucking Kiramman standing in the hideout one day, as if she had been invited, as if this was her damn home.
“Where is she?” she whispered, rifle in hand and trained on Jinx, who just came out of the bedroom, the Pup still sleeping and dreaming of a life where rifles only existed in stories.
“I know you have her, you…” What exactly Jinx was, she never found out as she held up her hands, surprised and honestly overwhelmed.
“Where is who?” she gave back, “I haven’t taken anyone. Hell, I haven’t even blown up anything major in months, what do you want?”
“Violet!” she yelled, not aimed at Jinx but to let it echo through the whole place, “Violet, where are you?”
“Shut up!”
Jinx had forgotten that there was a rifle trained on her. She had forgotten that the sheriff and her had beef that was solely unescalated because her big sister was so damn weak for the Piltie.
All that was completely unimportant in comparison to the very real danger of Vi waking up and not being herself. The Pup running out here and seeing a stand off between Jinx and Cait.
One moment she had been standing there with her hands up, the next she was pressed up against the woman, holding her hand over Cait’s mouth, while pushing the rifle down.
“You will wake her up,” she snarled. “Do not wake her up!”
Cait’s eyes had grown big for a moment, then there was that annoying thing her eyes did when she finally got something, when she thought she had the right idea and she started to struggle against Jinx, her free hand gripping Jinx hair and pulling her back.
But Jinx was unwilling to give up that easily, kicking against the older woman's shins to make her buckle and then overwhelm her.
They rolled around on the floor, the rifle forgotten as they fought for dominance, for the upper hand and the entire time, Jinx gave her best to keep the noise to a minimum.
Maybe she was a damn mom, but she would have been damned if she was gonna let this be taken from her. She knew they would take Vi away, would send her somewhere because she was different and Jinx wouldn’t let that happen.
The pictures of little pups beaten and kicked glowing in the halflight of the hideout, Violet crying alone staring at them from the walls.
With an herculean effort Jinx finally managed to put her knees on Cait’s elbows and her hands on Cait’s mouth as she fought to catch her breath, the other woman under her struggling, muffled screams and claws that scratched wherever they could.
“Shut up!” Jinx whispered again, “Shut up, shut up, shut up!”
And Cait finally, finally stopped her resistance and instead looked up at Jinx, first confusion, then glowing hatred in her eyes.
She had almost killed her mother when she shot that stupid council building. Maybe it was understandable that she wanted her so much behind bars.
But that was neither here nor there, Jinx decided, and put on hand on her stitching sides; playing around with the Pup was easier, even if it still was Vi.
“I get it, you are looking for my sister,” she finally admitted, “And she is here. And she is unharmed. And if you promise not to shoot me immediately, we can go and wake her up. But you have to behave.”
Cait mumbled something with clear indignation and Jinx finally lifted her other hand too, but kept safely settled on top of her, just to make sure.
“Behave?” snarled Cait, “You are asking me to behave?”
“For the Pu- I mean, for Vi.”
She raised an eyebrow in suspicion, but it was clear that Cait knew that if Vi really was here, the best way, for now, was Jinx way.
So she stopped, calming her breathing and finally nodded.
“Fine. Where is she?”
Now it was Jinx's turn to eye her with suspicion, but she also knew that she couldn’t keep this a secret forever. She wanted her sister to have a good life. In her mind it hadn’t had to be the Piltie, but Vi loved her so she couldn’t bring herself to deny her sister a chance.
She finally got up from Cait, waiting for her to gather her bearings and stand up herself and then led her to the bedroom. She held one finger to her mouth, shushing her clearly and then opened the door to let herself and Cait inside.
Vi was still sleeping. She was curled around Jinx’s blanket and pillow and snoring silently, very much the grown woman that she was, but Jinx knew by now that she couldn’t be sure who would be waking up when they got closer.
“What is going on?” Cait whispered, slightly disturbed at the normalcy and Jinx rolled her eyes.
“Watch,” she mumbled, walking around the bed, sitting down at the edge of it and softly shaking Vi awake.
“Hey, my little Cub. It’s time to wake up.”
Cub was the neutral ground. If Vi opened her eyes and was just her regular old stomp-out-the-feeling-Vi then this nickname was allowed, even if it seemed to make her feel ashamed.
If Vi opened her eyes and was in Kid-Mode, then it was the safe way to let her know that Jinx was there and ready for it.
The second possibility was the one that occurred and Jinx smiled, almost a painful grimace as big powder blue eyes looked up at her with adoration and wonder and a bit of defiance.
“Don’ wanna,” she mumbled and cuddled up to Jinx, her face content in her lap.
Jinx felt her face burning.
She didn’t dare to look up at Caitlyn.
“We have a visitor, baby. It’s a friend. Don’t you want to show her all the pretty pictures you made?”
The pup opened her eyes slowly and blearily, which in Jinx's mind meant that these words did have a meaning, she just didn’t know how deep they penetrated; if the Vi inside was able to grasp the concept that her Girlfriend (the official one) was here.
“Vi?” Cait whispered, still close to the door, and Jinx still didn’t manage to look at her.
Instead she occupied herself with the red hair of her sister, gently petting her and finally managing to change her face to a genuine smile.
“Come say hi,” she mumbled into the room, unsure if she wanted the pup to do it or Cait, but it was the latter who did the first step.
She crossed the room, slowly, uncertainly, until she stopped right beside Jinx and looked down at her girlfriend, so happy in the embrace of the terrorist she had been seeking for so long. So free of worries. Cait had seen Vi in different states, but it became clear to her that this was the first time that Vi was truly free.
“What happened to her,” she breathed with worry, “Is she…?”
“She is fine,” Jinx bit back, a warning note in her soft tone. “She wasn’t harmed.”
Vi looked up between them, confused and dazed, understanding that there was tension but unsure what caused it.
“She just… sometimes she just gets like this,” Jinx kept going, still smiling but her voice growing shaky, “I don’t know why. I just… she just seems so happy, I can’t…”
But Cait didn’t press her.
Instead she knelt down and held a shaking hand out, close to Vi, “Hey. Do you… I mean… How are you?”
“I’m good,” Vi stated, like this was a bit of a stupid question, turning to Jinx.
“Why is everyone acting strange?”
Jinx winched slightly, that must have been a blow for Cait, who, in her mind, was just presented with a fait accompli, a fact without rhyme or reason.
“Get dressed, my little Wolf, and then we get some breakfast okay? I gotta talk with Cait.”
She ushered out Cait, hastily, still not fully sure how to look at her, closing the door to give Vi some space to change her clothes.
“What did you do?” Cait snapped the second the door closed and Jinx threw her hands in the air.
“Absolutely nothing. One day she comes home from the bar, sucking her thumbs, next time she asks for children's songs. Before I knew what was happening she was already balls deep in this. What was I supposed to do?”
“Get help?”
A silence, thick and pregnant with tension, followed.
What a stupid fucking thing to say to Jinx, what a unfathomable moronic train of thought to tell a Zaunite to just get help, when the person in need had cracked.
Even Cait realized that, just as the words left her mouth and she turned away, arms crossed in front of her chest, as if to shield herself.
“Sorry,” was all she could manage.
“Yeah, fuck you,” Jinx gave back but there is no venom in it.
“She isn’t… she doesn’t hurt herself. She goes back to being herself, she goes to work, she drinks, she gushes how fucking awesome you are. And then snap, something sets her off, something just… clicks and bam, she wants the neon paints and snacks in animal form. I know you are all educated and smart, but I can’t just ship her off and let some asshole try to pry open her brains. I am not gonna let anyone hurt her like this.”
And there it was.
A little later, after Jinx managed to scrap together anything a kid would actually eat and somehow managed to get it down Vi’s mouth, because Vi was excited now and just like Powder had been, unmanageable in her excitement.
No way to fully control her emotions yet, Cait realized, trying to gauge how old Vi thought she was in that state. She tried not to flinch every time Jinx called her pup, or baby girl, especially not the last one, well known to Cait because it was her nickname for Vi in bed.
That was forever sullied, she knew immediately.
But Vi was excitable and happy and showed her all the drawings on the wall, childish depictions of happy memories and traumatized venting.
Of course, she had known that Vi held in a lot of pain, more pain than anyone should be able to carry, because that was just how she was, right? Always taking it, always getting up when she had been beaten down. Never willing to give up.
Jinx was hovering around her the entire time, dotting on her and throwing Cait cautious glances to not destroy this weird alternate version of the sisters and Cait didn’t have it in her to even try.
She understood Jinx, seeing Vi being so carefree and completely relaxed was endearing in the strangest way.
Somehow, they ended up spending the day like that, staying hidden on the roof tops and taking less walked routes through Zaun, Jinx always making sure Vi wasn’t getting into Contact with other people. Worried, protective.
When they got back with the setting sun, Jinx put Vi to bed for a nap and Cait was drained of every possible energy.
It was bizarre. There were so many things that did not make sense in her head; why was Vi here, with Jinx; why did she never tell her that she knew where the figurehead of Zaun’s unrest was; why did they share a bed?
The more questions arose, the more Cait yearned for a nap herself.
Who could she even talk to about this? Her parents? Preposterous, she couldn’t even begin to find the words.
Jayce? Too deep into whatever he was doing with Viktor, possibly Viktor himself.
She finally looked over to Jinx, who was sitting on her workbench, doing something and finally cleared her throat.
“How long do these… uhm… episodes last?”
Jinx barely looked up at her, basically staring through her googles, under her arm at her as if she had forgotten she was even here.
“Thanks for not shooting me, I guess,” she said, realizing that Cait had not chosen her state of distraction to be… well, a Piltie. “Most of the time it’s just a few hours. When she is free, it can take most of the day. Sometimes she doesn’t have any for days at all. But I am pretty certain when she wakes up, the other shoe will drop. She hasn’t been in this state for so long before, honestly.”
She looked up, at a little clock that looked suspiciously like another bomb, before she turned back to Cait, goggles raised, face firm.
“Don’t hurt her,” she pleaded with a whisper. “She isn’t doing this on purpose. She loves you. There is just something… something finally broke. She isn’t dangerous. Not like me.”
Cait scrutinized her for a bit, the crazy woman who abducted her from the shower, killed the chembaron who took her in and almost killed her mother while arguing with people who weren’t even there.
The woman who had held Vi so gently, had spoken to her with so much love and care, and had done everything to let her sister have a good day; even if this was crazy, even if this was Zaun, even if the whole world seemed to be upside down these days.
“You two are cute together,” Cait finally managed to say, “I do not know what to do, but I am not…. I know you don’t like me but I love her. And if this is somehow part of her, I will learn to deal with it.”
Jinx chuckled, turning back to her work and grumbled, “Sure, Piltie. Let’s wait for the sleeping beauty to actually wake up, then we will see how this plays out.”
When Vi opened her eyes, the memories flooded her like the enforcers' batons in Stillwater.
Shame grew, hot and heavy in her stomach, as she stared at the wall above her and wished that death would strike her down.
Vi remembered her episodes. Always did. Jinx never brought them up, but Vi knew what happened.
Every time it did, she hated herself a bit more and the more she hated herself, the worse they got. Jinx and her were bathing together again and not in the sexy way.
Gods.
How was she gonna go and explain to Cait that she was fucking her sister. How was she gonna explain any of this?
She felt herself losing it, again, her mind reeling, she couldn’t punch her way out of this and the alcohol was too close to Jinx workbench to just black out on that.
The bedroom had no window she could climb out of, and even if she did, where would she go?
What if she fucking lost it in the streets?
Up until now she had somehow managed to keep it to Jinx’s place, that was the harbor, the safe space. When it happened here, Jinx was there to take care of her.
Vi shot up; Jinx. Cait. Alone.
Oh gods.
She jumped out of bed, putting on a shirt and stumbling out of the bedroom. The last time they had been in the same room, the council building had been burning; how could she think of leaving when there was the danger of one of them killing the other.
“Cait?” she yelled, running down the hall, “Powder?”
She arrived in the big, round space that was the main part of Jinx hideout and immediately froze when she saw the two of them, surprised and startled, but unharmed.
Jinx sitting on her workbench, tinkering away and Cait on the couch, looking through an old manual for a microwave.
“I-” Vi gasped, her eyes moving fast from one to the other, locating any possible weapons in the room.
Cait’s rifle by the door, close enough to the couch for a reflex reaction but not in immediate use.
Jinx’s tools thrown about around her, deadly enough but currently used for their intended purposes.
“Are you okay?” she finally asked the room, trying to even out her breathing and pushing down the urge, the wish, to flee, to not be herself again, to not be this fucked up human being she could barely stand.
“Yeah dude” Jinx gave back flippantly, “You don’t look so good, though. Where are your pants?”
“Fuck my pants!” Vi barked, not having the power or care to be ashamed to be just in her boxers and an old shirt in front of two women who literally had had their fingers inside of her on more than one occasion.
She turned to Cait, the full situation finally setting in, horror dawning on her; Cait knew.
But Cait just sat there, the manual still on her lap, but her eyes trained on Violet, with a curious but guarded expression.
“So you are … an adult right now?” She asked and Jinx threw her a glare.
“Of course she is. Does she look like she is currently having a good time?”
Cait gave her glance, then shook her head, “Not really, no.”
She patted the space beside her, herself by the very edge of the couch to leave enough room.
“I think… I think I want to try and understand this.”
Vi’s heart was full of love.
It always had been, she knew. Her mother had told her, Vander had often warned her about it. It was so full of love and care and hope that it could often not withstand the reality of the world.
It made her act out, the emotions spilling out, transformed into her fists hitting targets blindly.
She spent her youth training to aim better.
When she finally got out of Stillwater, her heart was hidden behind walls of hatred. Nights of abuse, days of starving and muting the parts of herself that screamed, to survive.
She rarely got a glimpse of her heart these days; it only beat loud enough when she was with Powder or with Cait.
She knew it wasn’t that easy. Powder was just a small part of Jinx and Cait was a woman so beyond her reach, so out of her league, she felt like standing in the sun whenever she chose to spend time with Vi.
When she was with one of them, nothing could touch her. When she was with one of them, the only hard battle was trying not to tear apart at the seams because she couldn’t have them both.
So when they talked and Cait and Jinx managed to not immediately kill each other, she was certain this was the universe for once being on her side.
When Cait asked for time to process what was going on between her and her sister even before Vi blew off the lid, she was very very afraid. She had betrayed the woman, going behind her back to her sister, having a relationship with someone else.
Jinx had stayed, seeming to be deep in thoughts herself and Vi had caught herself craving for Jinx to be the way she acted when Vi was not… when Vi didn’t have to think too much.
The thought made her skin crawl and she finally got up, grabbing a drink and sitting down at Jinx’s workbench, staring at blueprints for gadgets that were easy to understand. Gadgets she planned to use when she called Vi “her little Wolf” and for a moment, Vi wondered if what she was doing was worse than everything she had done before.
She took a swig from the bottle of cheap, warm booze, before turning around, “Pow- I mean Jinx I am…”
“Don’t,” Jinx interrupted her, holding up a hand, before slowly smiling and looking at Vi with a weary fondness, “I love you, sis. And if this would have gone on until the end of our lives without you ever explaining it, I would have just kept going with you. And I will keep going with you as long as you want or need this.”
The stunned silence that stretched between them was only interrupted when Cait returned, slightly disheveled but nothing uncommon for a late night in the Lanes.
She stopped in the entrance, looking at the sisters, Vi halfway up the chair, uncertain what to do next and Jinx, looking tired but satisfied.
“I am back,” she announced, needlessly and Jinx turned to her with a weary smile. “Yeah, I got the floral scent.”
Vi on the other hand said nothing, looking at her with fear and even though she flinched at her sister's words, she seemed unable to speak.
Cait couldn’t blame her. What a mess they had found themselves in.
They ended up in a hotel in Piltover, the weapons left behind as a way of making an unstable truce, and as a way to have a neutral playing field. Jinx was also certain that the Piltie couldn’t bear a single night in a dirty hideout in the lanes, but she kept it to herself; too stunned at the fact that Cait had asked them to spend the night together.
Of course, in Jinx's mind, this meant that Cait wanted to keep an eye on them, but Vi had immediately agreed, with an almost pleading look at Jinx and as much as she hated it, she couldn’t deny Vi’s request.
By all means, if it helped to keep whatever Vi and Cait had on life support for longer, she could bite that bullet.
When they finally locked the door to the exorbitant room, all three seemed unsure of what to do, with both Vi and Jinx looking at Cait with uncertainty.
She didn’t seem to hold any more answers than they did, finally waving slightly unmotivated to the couch, far bigger and far more comfortable than what Jinx had. “I can take the couch” She offered and Jinx scoffed.
“You don’t have to, unless you feel uncomfortable with me being there,” she shot back, putting a hand on Vi’s shoulder, squeezing slightly, “Unless there is another reason?”
“No!” Cait sounded stern, “No, by all means. We can take the bed. Just don’t strangle me, can you do that?”
Jinx shrugged, but when she looked at Vi and saw the pleading and the fear in her eyes, she sighed, nodding in disinterest.
“No killing you in the bed, I got it. Don’t be a fucking cop in there, though.”
“I am the Sheriff.”
“Not right now, you aren’t. So are we doing this, or what?”
She undressed, entirely uninterested if it seemed shameless, getting rid of her top and stumbling out of her shoes and pants, moving toward the bed and motioning for Vi.
“Come on, Fat Hands,” Jinx mumbled, “We all know this doesn’t happen until you are in the middle, so get a move on.”
Vi was less certain, still looking at Cait, who nodded at her with a slight smile, encouraging her. So she got out of her clothes, not thinking much about where they landed, crawling on the bed, still clearly uncomfortable with the attention she received.
Finally Cait followed, far more deliberate as she got out of her Jacket, hung it over the back of the couch, took off her shoes, and opened her belt, chucking down her pants and folding them once to lay them over her jacket. She kept her shirt on, and laid down on the other side of Vi at least.
“Let’s sleep for now,” she said, holding Vi’s face with one hand and softly smiling, “Today was a lot for all of us.”
Vi nodded and Jinx behind them pulled the covers up, to get situated.
“Can I kiss you?” Cait whispered and Vi swallowed, wanting nothing more but worrying how Jinx would react.
“Go for it,” she heard her little sister, “Just give me one, too, sis.”
Vi nodded, immediately surging forward, pressing her lips against Cait, who reciprocated immediately, putting her arms around the smaller woman, pressing them together, opening her mouth slightly.
“I am so sorry,” Vi whispered and felt another pair of hands on her back; her own body starting to shake as she tried to speak through the kiss, “I am so fucking sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Jinx's voice was gentle and she felt kisses being peppered slowly, deliberately up and down her back, between her shoulder blades, as Cait let her tongue explore Vi’s mouth.
Cait made space for Jinx kisses, making sure that she could reach wherever she wanted t, while she massaged Vi’s sides, grabbing her securely. She pushed against her and Vi let her; laid back down into the soft pillows, into their embrace.
Dissolving the kiss, Cait leaned back up, smiling down at her while letting her hands roam. Jinx appeared in her vision, above her, a crooked smile on her face, but not any less soft in her touches as Cait was.
“We are pretty fucked up, huh?” her voice was quiet and full of love as she leaned down and caught Vi’s lips with her own.
“Wanted to do that,” she confessed, “Everytime my little Wolf was cuddled up to me; wanted to make you feel so good.”
Heat, shame and arousal in equal measures, was traveling up Vi’s spine, but she didn’t struggle and let Jinx kiss her. “Wanted you to forget everything.”
“Would you like that?” Cait whispered somewhere, close by, “Do you want to forget?”
And Vi whined, nodding, she wanted to forget. She wanted to lay here for the rest of her life, just be with them and not remember who she was.
Forgot that life ever happened to her.
“It’s okay,” Jinx whispered, her thumbs brushing over Vi’s cheeks, brushing away tears she didn’t realize she was shedding.
“You’re safe here,” her sister promised and Vi’s heart was full of love, and it was bordering on spilling over.
Beside her she heard the shuffling of textile and when she finally got to turn back to Cait, she saw her fully naked, leaning back down to touch her.
Roaming hands massaged her, gently handling her breasts as Jinx kept kissing her, praising her, reassuring her.
“Our good little girl.”
Vi whined, trying not to dissolve on the spot, but it was so hard when they held her so tight, seemed to knead her into the shape they wanted her body to be. Hands roaming down, playing with the curls of her pubic hair, teasing her and Vi felt herself going nonverbal.
This wasn’t like anything she ever had before.
Jinx leaned on her elbow beside her head, scratching Vi’s scalp, humming quietly as she looked at her with so much care, so protective and loving that Vi finally felt herself crying in earnest.
She was still herself, she knew, but it was just like when she first fell into that strange place of freedom and she didn’t know what to do.
“It’s okay baby girl,” Cait whispered below her, settling in between Vi’s legs, “It’s gonna feel so good, I promise.”
Vi knew this was an unsteady truce. Jinx and Cait did this because they loved her. But she couldn’t even begin to worry, too grateful that they would do this for her, that they were here.
That they hadn’t left.
Kisses to her thighs, her clit, engulfing it with her lips and sucking softly, Cait went to work her up, as Jinx kissed and softly bit Vi’s nipples, her hands kneading her breast as she kept humming; Dear Friend Across The River.
They held her down, Jinx helping Cait with one hand to keep her legs open as she felt a finger enter her, slowly at first, “Gonna make you feel so good, our little Violet. Our little girl.”
Vi cried, moaning into her own hand, until Jinx grabbed it and moved over Vi’s head, moving up to look down at her.
“No baby, we want to hear you.”
She peppered her face with kisses, telling her to relax as Cait eased in another finger, still so slow and tender in her movements, her mouth still hot on Vi's clit, sucking, nibbling.
“Please,” Vi whimpered and she didn’t know what she was asking for, it’s all she could do to plead and cry and let them have her.
“Daddy and Mommy are gonna make you come, okay?” Jinx whispered and Cait moaned in agreement against her heat and Vi felt like she was melting.
Cait’s fingers were reaching deep inside her, as they massaged her walls, pushed against the spot that made her keen and cower, but they didn’t let her, Jinx kissing and biting her neck.
The assault on her clit finally ceasing, Cait moved up a bit to sit on her knees, thrusting into Vi with more urgency as she looked down at them.
She caught her gaze and a smile crept over Cait's lips, something like understanding in there, as if she saw who Violet and Powder once were.
“We love you,” Cait promised, her thumb rubbing Vi’s clit and Vi gets hit by her orgasm like a freight train. She locked up, her walls clenching around Cait's fingers as Jinx softly bit into her neck, kissing it better right after.
“We love you so much, Violet” She whispered and stars blind Vi’s vision for a moment, or maybe an eternity, as she floated, the world ceased to exist and it was just the three of them. And Vi forgot about the pain in her muscles and her neck that plagued her every day since she was 12, forgot how strange this situation was, forgot who she was supposed to be.
Just Jinx’s breath hot on her neck, Cait’s fingers deep inside her, letting her ride it out as she massaged her clit with her thumb. Hands roaming over her hips and her breast and her stomach, two voices filled with adoration and wonder calling her a good girl, their baby girl, their good little wolf, their strong little pup.
By the time Vi felt back in control of her limbs, both Jinx and Cait had settled around her, holding her close, kissing her and whispering sweet nothings to her.
She was still crying, even though she wasn’t quite sure why.
“Made such a mess,” Cait teased and Jinx shoved her for it, but there is no strength behind it.
Shame was already burning up its way to Vi’s cheeks, but Cait kept going. “Such a mess, just for us.”
Finally, exhaustion hit and she felt herself drift off, trying to cling to consciousness, but warmth was surrounding her and words floated into her ear without making sense.
“Can you sing, mommy?” She heard herself whisper, unable to stop, clinging to the two of them.
“Of course,” Jinx promised and then Vi fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.
The instances became more controllable after it.
Cait and Jinx kept an eye on her, making sure they stayed close to her as much as they could.
The truce was still on shaky legs, but the shared responsibility stopped them whenever the grudges seemed to turn dangerous.
Vi wasn’t quite sure how or when it happened, but she eventually found herself in an apartment just on the border of Piltover, with Jinx and Cait by her side, sometimes just like she was and on other days she built little mechanism for fire crackers, or clocks or speakers, pressed with her back to Jinx as her fingers got guided into fitting the pieces together.
Cait read to her and to them, as often as she found the time, stories of knights, of dragons and of happy endings.
And for the first time in almost 16 years, Vi got to be a child again.