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There was no grand proposal. Instead, there was Caitlyn and Vi in the study, paperwork spread on the table between them. It was an utterly unremarkable moment, just an afternoon spent doing the tedious paperwork that two adults occasionally had to do.
“When we get married, will you take my name?” Caitlyn asked as she wrote her own name next to Vi’s much shorter one. She was genuinely curious, and surprised that it hadn’t come up before in all their time together. When she was answered by silence, she looked up, saw the surprised expression on Vi’s face and immediately blushed. “I meant–”
“I don’t know,” Vi interrupted, leaning across the desk with an enormous grin on her face, “why don’t you marry me and find out?”
Caitlyn blushed again, for an entirely different reason, as her own smile began to spread.
“Alright.” She held Vi’s gaze, watched the amusement fade away into shock, her bright eyes searching all over Caitlyn’s face. “I will.”
Vi’s lips curved upward with the sweetest, brightest joy. “Yeah?”
They were both already leaning in for the kiss when Caitlyn exhaled her answer.
“Yes.”
Neither one of them had any desire to include their wedding on the long list of moments in their life that the public had access to. They kept the guest list small – miniscule, by Kiramman standards, but Caitlyn didn’t care. She had no desire to kowtow to her great aunts and second cousins on a day that was supposed to be about her and Vi.
There was enough to be getting on with without outside opinions, anyway. Zaunite and Piltovan weddings varied greatly both in tradition and scope, Ionian even more so. In Zaun, where resources were scarce and causes for celebration often rare, weddings were often community affairs, with little ceremony to them at all. That appealed to both Vi and Caitlyn, who both chafed at the idea of the pompous and flashy wedding that all of Piltover expected of the head of the Kiramman house.
The morning of, they woke up as they usually did, Caitlyn tucked securely under Vi’s arm as Vi sprawled across the mattress. Caitlyn often joked that Vi slept like she was making up for all of the small mattresses she had ever encountered, positively stretching across as much space as she could. She did so again in that moment, and Vi smiled into the pillow, the arm that had anchored Caitlyn’s waist to the bed shifting up to cradle her face instead.
“Better get used to it, Cupcake. For better or worse, remember?”
They were out of bed far sooner than either of them wanted to be, whisked away to different areas of the house to get ready. Caitlyn had no desire to be poked and prodded, so she twisted her hair into the low bun she favored herself, sliding her usual eye patch into place. She had resisted all attempts to convince her into a gown, arguing that it would look ridiculous at the casual affair they had planned. Still, the midnight blue-colored silk of the dress she had agreed to was beautiful and elegant in its own right.
She brushed a hand over the skirt as she stepped into it, the fabric soft and delicate beneath her fingertips. It was strange to imagine that she was going to become a wife in this dress.
Vi’s wife.
The very idea of it made her laugh out loud, a short burst of shocked joy that she couldn’t have held back even if she’d tried.
She found Tobias standing in front of the family portrait. Her gaze brushed past her own tiny, painted self and settled on Cassandra. She missed her fiercely, and Jayce as well, wished more than anything that they could have been there today. She knew that somewhere else in the house, Vi was feeling the same about her own family. It was bittersweet, to be missing so many loved ones on a day when they were cementing a new family together.
Tobias looked up from the portrait, and his gaze landed on his daughter. In contrast to her much simpler dress, he was wearing his finest suit, and his eyes shone with the same tears that Caitlyn had just pushed away. They came back with a vengeance as her father pressed a hand against his mouth.
“You look so beautiful, darling.”
He reached for her, but dropped his hand before they could make contact, as if he was afraid to damage the dress. Caitlyn wasn’t having that. She stepped forward and pressed herself against him, breathing in the familiar scent of the cologne he had worn her entire life as he wrapped her in a hug.
“Your mother would be so proud of you.”
There were tears in his voice as he said it, but they were happy ones. Caitlyn felt matching ones falling from her own eyes, heedless of the makeup that had been carefully applied only moments ago.
“I hope so.”
They pulled back, and Caitlyn caught Tobias’s hand for a final squeeze. She felt the cold of his signet ring against her skin, the familiar Kiramman crest carved into it. She knew that Cassandra had given it to him on their own wedding day, following Kiramman tradition. It should, technically, be going on Vi’s finger as of today, but neither she nor Caitlyn would hear anything about it.
“It’s yours,” Caitlyn had said firmly when Tobias had offered it to them, Vi shaking her head beside her. “We couldn’t possibly take it from you.”
“Besides, rings aren’t really my style.” Vi smirked, waving her battered fingers through the air. A small smile had finally come to Tobias’s mouth then, and he’d slid the ring back into place with shaking fingers.
“If you insist.”
Their relationship was a hard-won one, and something that brought Caitlyn considerable joy to watch. She was happy that the two people she loved most in the world, who had each lost so much, had found someone else to land on.
Now, Tobias offered his arm to Caitlyn, a smile now overtaking the tears for dominance over his face.
They could hear guests beginning to arrive as they made their way to the study, where Vi and Caitlyn would spend their last few moments before walking each other down the aisle. Caitlyn gripped her father’s sleeve as the door to the study came into view, suddenly, inexplicably nervous. She smoothed down the skirt of her dress, pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
She only stopped fidgeting when Tobias slotted his hand over hers, smiling encouragingly at her.
“Go on,” he said before gesturing her forward. “She’s waiting for you.”
—
Vi stood in front of one of the tall windows of the study, one foot propped up on the low windowsill. Her eyes drifted over the scenery outside and the guests assembling within, but she registered none of it. Her fingers toyed with the chain around her neck, feeling their way down to the small pendant hanging from it, and the Kiramman crest etched carefully across its surface.
It had been a gift from Tobias just that morning, presented to her as she’d gotten ready in one of the many guest rooms of the house. He had knocked on the door just as she was sliding her jacket on her shoulders, the soft grey fabric as decadent beneath her fingers as the matching waistcoat and trousers already in place.
“I realized I never thanked you properly,” he’d said, fiddling with the signet ring on his finger in a way that reminded Vi strongly of Caitlyn, “for allowing me to hold onto this a while longer.”
“You don’t have to thank me.”
But Tobias had held up a hand, waving off her protests. The charm was another Kiramman heirloom, and as Vi slipped it over her head, letting it settle against the skin exposed by the cut of her shirt, Tobias chuckled.
“I was going to offer you some advice about the Kiramman women, but I suppose you’re one of them now.”
Vi had smiled at the thought, and when Tobias reached his hand towards her again, she expected it to land on her arm in a fatherly pat, like he sometimes did. Her eyes widened in surprise when he used the grip to pull her into a hug instead. She had frozen, her arms sticking out awkwardly somewhere around Tobias’s elbows. Then, the momentary surprise melted away, and she melted with it, pressing her palms into the back of his shirt.
The quiet opening of a door brought her back to the present. Her fingers were still pressed over the cool metal of the charm, and she could feel the way her heart began to pound as she turned, slowly, to face the person stepping into the room.
Caitlyn stopped short the moment she set her eye on Vi, who had similarly frozen in her position by the window. They stared at each other, not breathing, until a disbelieving laugh pushed its way through Vi’s parted lips, and Caitlyn answered with her own blinding smile.
Suddenly, Vi’s limbs unlocked, and she crossed the room in a few quick strides, reaching out the moment Caitlyn was close enough to draw her the rest of the way into her arms. The nerves that had been fluttering, restless, beneath her skin disappeared with the press of Caitlyn’s body against her. She wrapped her arms around her middle, holding them together as close as they could get as Caitlyn wound hers around Vi’s shoulders.
She pressed her smile against Vi’s in a kiss that was more teeth than lips, neither of them able to stop grinning long enough to do anything about it.
“I can’t believe we’re really doing this,” Vi murmured into the next kiss, pulling back enough to brush the tip of her nose against Caitlyn’s.
Caitlyn’s hands had been exploring Vi’s back beneath her jacket, but they came to rest now along the curve of her spine, her fingers pressing in gently. “It’s not too late to run away together, you know.”
They’d discussed it before, several times, in fact. Many couples in Zaun didn’t even bother with the paperwork before considering themselves married, and Vi had felt no need for a lavish event to prove her commitment to Caitlyn. But despite her general disinterest in the majority of wedding-related pomp, Caitlyn had been oddly opposed to the idea.
When Vi had finally pressed her as to why, she’d frowned slightly, holding Vi’s face carefully between her palms.
“I don’t want to give anyone the idea that I think my marriage to you is something I need to hide.”
Still, Vi knew that Caitlyn would do it in a heartbeat if she thought it was what Vi truly wanted, guests already assembled outside be damned. She raised the corner of her lip into a soft half-smile, reaching one hand up to cradle it against Caitlyn’s cheek before she answered.
“No running away now. You’re stuck with me, Cupcake. And I want everyone to know it.”
Caitlyn’s eye was shining as she laced her fingers around Vi’s, bringing their combined hands down so she could kiss the smooth scars across Vi’s knuckles.
“I love you.”
Vi flexed her arm around Caitlyn’s waist, closing the scant distance they had managed to put between them. She had just enough time to see the flare of heat in Caitlyn’s eye before she closed hers, pausing with her lips a hair’s breadth away from Caitlyn’s to murmur, “You have no idea how much I love you, Cait.”
They were still there when Tobias came to get them, announcing his presence with a politely cleared throat and a toothy grin as he announced, “It’s time.”
—
The small crowd assembled in the garden at Kiramman house was their one acquiescence to the demands of Caitlyn’s station, the formality of a full-blown Kiramman affair trimmed down to this private ceremony. Many of the guests present were councilors or heads of other houses, who watched with curiosity as the leader of house Kiramman, sheriff of Piltover, prepared to marry her no-name fiancée from Zaun. But sprinkled among them were others with genuine happiness on their faces as Caitlyn and Vi walked through the garden together.
Caitlyn was aware of all of it, but not nearly as aware as she was of Vi’s hand inside hers.
They turned to face each other as the officiant began to speak. Caitlyn didn’t hear a word. In this position, with the crowd on her blind side, she could imagine that they were the only ones there as they took their turns reciting vows, their gazes locked on one another. Vi looked surprisingly nervous, but her voice was firm. Caitlyn’s thumbs swiped back and forth over the back of her hands, and she felt Vi’s fingers squeeze hers every time she uttered a new promise.
By their final, “I will,” Vi’s eyes were shining with tears, but the smile that spread across her face was so beautifully, perfectly happy that Caitlyn felt an answering joy bubble up in her throat. She laughed, not caring about the audience watching them, letting Vi take one of her hands back so she could lean into it when she pressed it against her cheek instead.
Caitlyn had hardly finished signing her name to their marriage certificate before Vi reached for her. She slid her hands into Vi’s hair as she was bent backwards with her kiss, Vi’s strong arms holding her securely around her waist. She was vaguely aware of the officiant declaring them officially married, and the polite applause from the crowd, but all that mattered was Vi, warm and happy in her arms.
She pulled away, brushing shaking fingers over Vi’s cheek, pressing her thumb into her tattoo.
“My Violet,” she exhaled, and then leaned back in for more.
—
The sun was still high in the sky as they made their escape from Kiramman house. Vi could still hear the faint sounds of the ongoing reception echoing from the garden, the real-life string quartet that had been serenading their guests as they mingled on the terrace, talking politely about the political situation in Demacia while sipping from champagne glasses.
It had taken no convincing at all when Caitlyn, looking equally as eager as Vi felt, turned to her and murmured, “Let’s go.”
No one noticed the guests of honor sneaking out of the house, laughing as they ran through the streets, their hands entwined together.
As they crossed the bridge into Zaun, the sunlight seemed to burst through the gap between the cities, casting everything in a warm, golden glow. Caitlyn turned to look at Vi over her shoulder, her smile showing off the gap between her teeth and the crinkle at the corner of her eye that she got when she was really, truly happy. She looked fucking radiant, and Vi was so full of love for this perfect, gorgeous woman that she could feel it down to her damn toes.
There wasn’t a force on the earth that could have stopped Vi from pulling her closer and pressing a kiss against that perfect mouth, right there and then in the busy street.
She felt Caitlyn startle for a moment, but she had already relaxed into the kiss by the time Vi’s hands slid around to the nape of her neck, sliding her fingers into the long strands of hair now flowing freely over Caitlyn’s back. Vi had discarded her suit jacket before they’d left the party, rolling the sleeves of her shirt up to expose the ends of her tattoos. She shivered as Caitlyn’s fingertips traced the ink up to Vi’s wrists and held on, stepping further into Vi’s embrace.
She kissed Caitlyn again in the lift down into the undercity, and again in the doorway of the bar while their friends cheered them on, hooking her arm around Caitlyn’s middle to carefully dip her backwards. That kiss ended with Caitlyn’s laugh, but it melted seamlessly into another as Vi set her back on her feet, keeping their hands entwined as they turned to navigate their way through the sea of well-wishers. A handful had come from their ceremony that morning – Steb, for one, looking slightly out of place in the undercity bar but equally unbothered about it. The rest greeted them with rowdy enthusiasm, which only grew rowdier when someone shouted, “Drinks are on the brides!”
It was the complete opposite atmosphere of the well-mannered gathering they’d left behind. Instead of polite handshakes, they were enthusiastically congratulated with arms slung over their shoulders and palms slapping against their backs. There was music, and some of the tables had been pushed aside to make a makeshift dance floor, which Vi and Caitlyn skirted the edges of until they were pushed into the middle.
They had danced together before, of course, but usually at one event or another, where Caitlyn was attending in her official capacity, on display to an eager audience.
There were plenty of eyes on her now, but when Caitlyn took Vi’s offered hand, it was her real smile that stretched across her face. The mask she so easily slipped into place to become the leader of house Kiramman was nowhere to be found as she stepped into the circle of Vi’s arms. No one cared whether she stood too close, or laughed too hard, so she did both as they led each other around the dance floor.
When the music slowed, Vi leaned in until their brows were touching, letting her body sway in time with the brush of Caitlyn’s fingers on her skin.
—
Caitlyn knew that Vi was a stunning woman. She had spent hours cataloguing the freckles on her face, tracing the scars that tugged at her lip and eyebrow. She had seen Vi dressed up for galas, and dressed down for nights with the Firelights, and dressed in nothing at all. She had never once been bored by the sight. She’d looked beautiful in her suit that morning, tailored perfectly to her muscular body, the careful brush of makeup on her eyes making them look almost luminous as they’d stood across from each other in the garden.
This version of Vi made her breath catch in her throat.
She was standing behind the bar, arms crossed across her chest as she laughed. Her eyeliner had smudged a little, and her hair was choppy and wild as it tumbled over her shoulder. Her shirt opened enough at the collar that Caitlyn could see the glint of gold around her neck, the Kiramman crest resting at the base of her throat. She looked relaxed, and happy, and Caitlyn wanted to spend the rest of her days putting that expression on her face.
Vi turned her head, her grin widening even further when she caught Caitlyn’s gaze resting on her. Caitlyn didn’t even attempt to hide it, letting her own smile flourish as Vi winked at her.
She only looked away when she became aware of someone sitting on her blind side, and was surprised to see that it was Ekko. He didn’t look at Caitlyn, his eyes fixed on Vi as a soft smirk pulled at the left side of his mouth.
“She reminds me of Vander so much sometimes.”
Caitlyn slowly brought her own eye back to her as well, watching as she poured a drink for one of the other party goers. He didn’t say anything else, and for a while, neither did Caitlyn, the two of them watching Vi in relatively easy silence.
He hadn’t gone to their ceremony that morning. Caitlyn hadn’t been surprised. She knew he rarely went topside if he could help it, and the relationship between him and Caitlyn had remained…strained, to say the least, after the war. He tolerated her for Vi’s sake, and she respected him, but she knew that they would never be friends. But he was the last piece of her family that Vi had left, and Caitlyn was glad to have him here supporting her now.
“Thank you for coming, Ekko,” Caitlyn said after a moment, her voice quiet and sincere.
Ekko dropped his eyes down to the bartop, and she could see his grip on his drink tighten for a moment before he released it again.
“I would do anything for Vi.”
“I know you would.”
She didn’t say that she would, too, though of course she would. Whatever Ekko had to say, whatever had brought him here to sit beside her, she knew it wasn’t really about her.
Ekko exhaled, turning to look at her out of the corner of his eye.
“She spends so much of her time taking care of others, it’s not easy to see when she needs someone to take care of her instead. She doesn’t make it easy.” He exhaled a short laugh, glancing over at Vi. “She deserves someone who will put in the work to do it, anyway.”
He was silent for long enough that Caitlyn realized he was waiting for a response.
“I will,” she promised, as seriously as she had uttered any of the other vows she’d made today, “every day, for the rest of my life.”
Ekko nodded. He swirled his glass, staring down at the drink inside until it settled again.
“I’m not going to give you the ‘if you hurt her, I’ll make you regret it’ speech. Pretty sure I’ve made that clear already.”
A surprised smile flicked across Caitlyn’s lips as she nodded. “You have.”
“Good.” Ekko raised his glass, and Caitlyn tentatively tipped hers towards it until the rims clinked. “Then…congratulations.”
As she drank, Caitlyn’s eye traveled back to Vi, only to find her already looking in their direction. By the time she lowered her glass back down, Vi had closed the distance between them, leaning on her forearms on top of the bar.
“What’s going on over here?”
“Just offering her my condolences for getting herself shackled to you for life,” Ekko answered smoothly, leaning back in his seat to dodge the playful swat Vi aimed his way. As she pulled back, Vi darted a questioning glance in Caitlyn’s direction. She answered it with a small smile, which spread wider at the happy surprise she saw in Vi’s eyes.
“We should do a toast,” Ekko said, pulling Vi’s gaze back to himself as he leaned across the bar, “for Vander.”
Vi groaned, but she was already reaching for a disused-looking bottle despite her apparent protest. Caitlyn watched her pour the murky liquid with mild alarm, but she was touched when Ekko passed her the first glass, raising it along with the other two as Vi said, “For Vander.”
They knocked the drinks back in unison. Vi and Ekko swallowed with nothing more than a grimace, but Caitlyn sputtered and choked the moment the vile alcohol hit her taste buds, slamming the glass onto the bartop with a gasp.
“Oh, fuck,” she rasped, touching her throat as if she could wipe away the taste, while the others roared laughing.
“Welcome to the Lanes,” Ekko said, reaching out to slap her jovially on the shoulder. As Caitlyn sputtered, he raised his glass again, and loudly called out, “To Caitlyn and Vi!”
The crowd around them cheered as Vi leaned across the bar, swallowing Caitlyn’s surprised laugh with a kiss.
—
By the end of the night, Vi found herself standing with her back against the bar, Caitlyn cradled between her knees and leaning against her chest while the party ebbed and flowed around them. She had her chin hooked over Caitlyn’s shoulder, and every so often, she would tilt her head to press a kiss along the line of her jaw, just to see the soft smile that would light up Caitlyn’s face.
She did it again, letting her lips linger against Caitlyn’s skin, feeling her swallow hard beneath her touch.
This time, their exit did not go unnoticed. They were showered with knowing whistles and jokes as they made their way through the crowd, which rocketed up in volume as they reached the door. To Vi’s surprise, it was Caitlyn who leaned in for the final kiss, sliding her hands into Vi’s hair while her smile spread beneath Vi’s lips.
The journey back to Kiramman house was filled by subtle touches and not-so-subtle kisses, pausing in the shadows just to get their hands on each other’s skin. The moment they entered the gates, Vi swept Caitlyn into her arms. Caitlyn, who was more than capable of escaping if she wanted to, simply laughed. She set about kissing whatever parts of Vi she could reach as she was pressed against their bedroom door, being as distracting as possible while Vi fumbled blindly for the handle. They tumbled inside, only making it as far as the edge of the bed before Vi sank down onto it, settling Caitlyn into her lap.
They stayed like that for a moment, just kissing. The heat between them still simmered, but they pushed it aside for the moment, enjoying being alone together for the first time since they’d left the same bed they sat on now.
Eventually, Vi brought her hands up to Caitlyn’s face, keeping her still with one while the other hooked into the straps still holding her eyepatch in place, tossing it carelessly to the ground. Her fingers brushed past the scar across her eye to settle against her cheek, and she stared up at Caitlyn’s bare face, illuminated in the moonlight.
She looked beautiful, though she always did, and that wasn’t the reason Vi’s heart was suddenly beating in double time.
“I love you.”
The first time she’d said those words, it had been in this same room, back when the scars on their bodies were fresh wounds and a future that included happiness like this felt impossible. It still did, in a way that made her want to hold on even tighter.
Vi trailed her thumb over the line of Caitlyn’s mouth, where her own lipstick had turned Caitlyn’s lips berry red. Caitlyn smiled, turning her head to press a kiss against the digit before leaning in to lean her forehead against Vi’s. They both seemed to hold their breath for a moment, and then Vi felt Caitlyn’s shaky exhale against her clavicle, followed by her hands stroking along the bone.
The cool metal of the Kiramman charm shifted against Vi’s skin as Caitlyn touched it, feather-light.
“I still can’t believe it,” Caitlyn whispered, drawing her fingertip back and forth over Vi’s collarbone.
“Can’t believe what?”
Her touch disappeared from Vi’s skin, only to reappear a moment later on her cheek, brushing across the tattoo beneath her eye.
“That I get to be your wife.”
Vi couldn’t hide her reaction to that word coming from Caitlyn’s lips, not when they were close enough to feel the rise and fall of each other’s breathing. Caitlyn’s fingers tipped Vi’s face up to meet hers, and when they kissed, Vi pushed all of the want and desire and fucking all-consuming love she felt onto Caitlyn’s lips, licking her way inside so she could pour it down her throat for good measure. Caitlyn wound her arms around Vi’s neck, her fingers digging into her shoulders like she was never letting go.
Heat pooled between Vi’s legs. Her hands returned to Caitlyn’s thighs, squeezing until she began to rock, pressing her pelvis into Vi’s with maddening, deliberate slowness. They broke apart to breathe, crashing back together with open mouths and eager hands.
They undressed each other as well as they could without actually pulling apart to do it. Caitlyn pushed at the sleeves of Vi’s shirt while Vi reached back to tug at the clasps of her dress, pulling at them blindly until they loosened enough for her to tear it down. Caitlyn shivered as her breasts were exposed to the night air, then sighed when Vi’s hand slid under the material pooled around her waist.
“Yes, Violet.”
She tilted her hips into the touch as Vi’s fingers dragged against the wet patch of her underwear. Vi circled her thumb over her clit, moving her mouth down to run her tongue over Caitlyn’s pulse in the same rhythm. Caitlyn’s hips continued their rocking, using Vi’s body to enhance the pleasure her fingers were drawing out of her.
“That’s it, baby,” Vi murmured against Caitlyn’s throat, “let me make you feel good.”
When Caitlyn’s breathing changed again, rushing past her lips in desperate drags, Vi finally gave in, yanking Caitlyn’s underwear out of the way. Caitlyn was fucking soaked, and Vi moaned at the slick, sharp sounds that her fingers made as they slid over her folds. Caitlyn’s hands curled into Vi’s hair when she slid two fingers inside at once, and Vi followed the pull, lifting her mouth from Caitlyn’s neck up to her lips instead.
“Fuck, I love you,” she groaned, sucking Caitlyn’s bottom lip between her teeth as Caitlyn moaned against her. “I love you so fucking much, Cait.”
“Violet,” Caitlyn gasped, her mouth open around words she had no breath left to say. Her eye screwed shut as Vi’s fingers fucked her deep and slow, thumb rubbing insistent circles around her clit. “I–”
Her legs clenched tightly around Vi’s, pushing herself up and into Vi’s embrace. Vi’s hand was trapped between Caitlyn’s thighs, forcing her to shorten her thrusts, pushing even deeper to make up for it. She could tell that Caitlyn was hanging on the edge, her entire body arched in trembling anticipation, and Vi sat back to watch, moving her fingers even faster, pressing harder.
Caitlyn whined, and Vi reached up to cup the back of her head, urging her to look at her.
“Let me see,” she rasped, “let me see my wife’s pretty face when she comes on my fingers.”
Caitlyn practically threw herself back down into Vi’s lap as she came. Vi slowed her fingers, kissing the tip of Caitlyn’s nose, murmuring praise against her lips until Caitlyn’s eye blinked open, still hazy with latent pleasure as she pulled Vi in for a kiss.
She curled her fingers into Vi’s hair, and Vi was so swept up in it, in the press of Caitlyn’s sated body against her hungry one, that it took a moment for her to realize that Caitlyn’s weight was shifting. By the time she did, she had already slipped out of Vi’s lap entirely, her dress falling the rest of the way off as she got to her feet. Vi hardly had a moment to admire the miles of skin suddenly on display before Caitlyn was on her knees, settling in between Vi’s legs.
Vi’s breath hitched at the hungry gleam in Caitlyn’s eye, anticipation coiling in her gut as Caitlyn’s hands reached for her belt buckle. Vil lifted her hips enough for Caitlyn to pull her trousers down, and they got as far as her knees before they both realized that they were still tucked into her damned boots.
“Shit,” Vi laughed, dropping her head into her hand as Caitlyn giggled against her knee.
She felt a small tug against her shin, and lifted her head to see Caitlyn plucking at the ties. Her nimble fingers made quick work of it, which was good, because Vi was so turned on she didn’t think she could deal with something as complicated as shoe laces. As Caitlyn eased the boots over her ankle, she leaned in to kiss the curve of her knee, smiling up at Vi before turning to do the same with the other leg.
Vi watched her take her time with this one, running her hands over Vi’s calves through the leather with one hand while the other tugged at the laces almost lazily. Her mouth was pressed to the inside of Vi’s knee, peppering it with kisses so soft that Vi could barely feel the brush of her lips. Her skin felt like it was on fire, anyway, a heat she felt echoed between her legs.
The second boot was pulled away, her suit trousers tossed aside, leaving Vi finally naked, wearing nothing but the Kiramman crest around her neck. Caitlyn’s hands settled against the inside of her thighs, gently pushing them further apart. She kept her eye fixed on Vi’s face, watching her lips part with her quickening breath as she leaned in, until the very last second.
“Cait,” Vi gasped as Caitlyn surged forward, dragging her tongue in a broad stripe across her cunt. “Yes.”
“Mm.”
Caitlyn slid her shoulder beneath Vi’s thigh for better purchase, lifting her foot off the ground with it. Vi cried out, letting herself fall back onto the mattress, using the change in position to push herself closer, deeper into Caitlyn’s mouth. It was almost overwhelming, after feeling the dull ache of want all day, but that didn’t stop Vi from reaching out for more.
Caitlyn glanced upward, flattening her tongue in the way she knew Vi loved. Vi’s eyes fell shut as she reached down, blindly searching for Caitlyn’s hand until she could thread their fingers together.
“Cait–baby, I’m so close,” she moaned, bringing their hands up to her stomach so Caitlyn could feel the way her muscles clenched with every swipe of her tongue.
Caitlyn hummed encouragingly, using the hand still on Vi’s thigh to open her wider and press her mouth against her. Vi’s entire body jolted. She gasped, turning her head against the mattress as she felt her orgasm begin to crest. Vi fought against Caitlyn’s grip on her thighs, but Caitlyn’s hold was firm, keeping her legs open and in place as she worked her tongue in a steady rhythm.
Vi cried out again, back arching as she came, squeezing Caitlyn’s hand hard enough to hurt. Caitlyn squeezed back, anyway.
She only pulled her mouth away as Vi’s body relaxed, trailing kisses up over her hip, her stomach, nipping playfully at her breasts before she settled onto the mattress beside her. Vi summoned enough brainpower to roll onto her side, reaching out to pull Caitlyn in. They kissed, and Vi’s breathing steadied, but her heart continued to pound its raucous rhythm as Caitlyn murmured against her mouth, “I love you, my Violet.”
—
They woke up as they usually did, Caitlyn tucked securely under Vi’s arm as Vi sprawled across the mattress. The early morning sunlight turned Vi’s freckles golden, and Caitlyn leaned in to taste them, smiling at Vi’s sleepy rumblings as she pulled Caitlyn back under the covers. Her eyes blinked open, and Caitlyn watched as sleep was chased away from her face by a slow, wide smile. She leaned in, and kissed her, and thought that waking up to this every morning was a blessing she could never deserve.
“Good morning.”
Vi’s voice was low and rumbly, but her touch was soft as it skated up Caitlyn’s body, tracing shapes against her skin.
Today, there was no reason for them to leave their sun-warm bed, so they didn’t, except when Caitlyn snuck down to the kitchens. She returned victorious, weighed down by a tray piled with whatever she could most easily grab — tea for her but coffee for Vi, bread and jam and the biscuits Caitlyn always kept on hand because she knew they were Vi’s favorites.
They ate on the bedroom floor. Vi kissed Caitlyn’s skin with lips that were coffee-warm and sticky with jam, and Caitlyn held her face between her palms, grateful beyond words that Vi was hers to care for.
—
Night fell. Caitlyn was dozing in Vi’s arms, her sleepy breathing ghosting over Vi’s skin, but Vi was wide awake, staring down at her peaceful face.
They had officially been married for an entire day.
Vi hadn’t really expected things to feel different after the wedding, and was relieved to find that they didn’t. The fluttering in her stomach had always been there whenever she looked at Caitlyn, the warmth and comfort she felt in Caitlyn’s arms a constant since the moment she had allowed herself to lie within them. She remembered something that Ekko had said the night before, leaning beside her against the bar while they watched a group of Firelight children attempt to teach Caitlyn a dance.
“I know I gave you a hard time about her,” he had begun, “but I really am happy for you, Vi.”
Vi hadn’t wanted to take her eyes off of her brand-new wife, but she did, fixing Ekko with an affectionate stare. “That means a lot, coming from you, little man.”
Ekko’s smile had been small, but real, and Vi had been about to return her gaze to Caitlyn when he spoke again.
“They’d be happy for you, too, you know.”
She hadn’t had to ask who he was talking about. Her family had been on her mind all day, bittersweet memories hovering on the edge of blissfully happy ones. The reminder brought her up short, anyway, her eyes seeking out Caitlyn almost instinctively as her heart squeezed painfully in her chest.
She was aware of Ekko’s eyes on her, felt his knowing smile as he continued, “They’d be glad to know you found someone who makes you feel like this.”
Now, Vi stroked a gentle finger down Caitlyn’s spine, and Caitlyn moved even closer to her in response, a soft, contented sigh escaping as she settled against Vi’s chest. Vi smiled against the crown of her head, and let the steady rhythm of her breathing lull her off to sleep.