Piltover's Shorts

A/N: Decided to compile all of my little short drabbles into one fic. Short [or long depends on my mood] little ficlets of Piltover's Finest.

I really, really love them. Unhealthy obsession.

Ulterior Motive

Caitlyn X Vi [Pre-slash. Just partners and not partners]. Caitlyn POV.

Summary: Caitlyn's a little out of tune during one of her stake-outs with Vi and starts noticing a few things about her partner that she's never noticed before.

It was a lovely night in September. Of course, the winds weren't always as forgiving as the breeze that blew through the night skies of a Piltover summer. But I still brought a jacket to keep myself warm through the weather to spare myself from getting another case of pneumonia. I do not want to go through another episode of Vi taking care of me. The last time that happened, I needed ten times the amount of pain killers I was prescribed because she was being... Vi.

"I've got us some donuts, yey!" My partner, overjoyed as she reached for the box of donuts which she brought herself from before we left the office. She placed the box on her lap as I kept my focus on the street in front of me, tapping furiously on the steering wheel.

"I'm starving, we've been here for at least 3 hours and it's like we've been waiting for forever!" She takes a bite of, what I think is, the strawberry donut, glazed in pink syrup, possibly topped with a cherry. "Sweet, tangy and a light on the pocket," as she describes. "Are you kidding me? I bake you doughnuts for free and they taste better than that."

"Well, yeah. But you didn't bring any tonight so I figured I'd bring my own." She takes another bite from that concoction of sugar, flour and a whole bunch of air. I would never myself fancying that joke of a pastry.

She waves her piece at me. "I know you want a bite, I could hear your hunger from here."

I didn't look at her but I waved my hand at her rejecting her offer, I wasn't in any mood for donuts or food for that matter. "You gotta eat somehow, Caitlyn," she flipped her feet up and put it on the front of the car.

"Vi, take your feet off that this instant!" Really, could she be anything more than immature? We've been in the car for a while and she's been doing nothing be getting crumbs on the seat and dirt on the dashboard.

"I'm tired chief, and you are too," she says, waving the donuts towards my direction. "Them little friends of yours are telling me that you haven't been getting any zzz's."

I swatted her hand away as she tried to touch the bags under my eyes. "Stop it Vi." Her incessant pleading will not get me to pull back from this mission. I've been working on this lead for months.

She made a snorting sound. "C'mon sheriff, this is way boring than what I've got supposedly planned tonight!"

As if I don't know what she's got planned. "All you're going to do today is sit down and watch the season finale of that blasted Noxian soap you've been ogling at for the past month!" I pinched her cheek and dragged her towards me. "Oww, owww, oww!"

"The sooner you stop whining, the sooner were done with this, okay!?" Tired, stressed, lacking every bit of sleep I need, I couldn't find the strength to overlook her bothersome attitude right now. Her hand found its way to my forearm and she tried to pry away my grip from her face. "I will if you let go, OW!" I pinched her cheeks harder. "Swear on me you'll be quiet for the next hour."

She tried to pull away, waving her hands back and forth trying to get me to let go. She's bargaining with me but with my hand on her face and the remnants of the donut still in her mouth, I couldn't understand a word she was trying to say. "One- more- hour- please-" She's tearing up. It's not the first time I've done this to her and I'm particularly sure that this won't be the last. I let go and the mark of my fingers are burned onto her skin. "Ow ow ow ow," she whispers while stroking her cheek. "Good thing I've got my show recorded, owwwww-"

"Swear to me you'll keep quiet and focus," she nodded and something in me settled down for once. I finally got her to quiet down. She shot me a glare and if I heard correctly, she muttered something about her soap being moving and a-must-see.

This mission did require us to go undercover and we had to use a car that wasn't going to give off our agenda. I wanted to take my ride along but Vi insisted we use the one she's been tinkering out back outside our office hours. It used to belong to the force but since it's been replaced with newer models, it's been out for a while.

She also dressed up in one of her more casual clothes, sporting a brown hoodie to be able to conceal her face from the crownd easily. Since she grew up in the slums, it's highly likely someone would recognize her.

Which brings us to what she advised me to wear.

"I look like a hooligan," tugging the sleeves of what I thought was a worn out navy blue shirt with a huge number "6" sewn on the back. "It's too loose. It's tacky."

"It looks fine on you Sher'f," and sent me off with a giggle. It was her bright idea to try to repaint my sense of style. I could see the joy in her eyes as she rummaged through the clothes in her old closet. She placed me in loose jeans, gave me a grey paper boy hat to go along with it and even instructed me to place on binders to conceal my chest.

"They're too big they'll notice!" She reasons with me.

"They're mammary glands what size do you expect them to be?"

"Kid-to-teen sized cupcake. Everyone in this part of town knows that big puppies only happen after puberty. We're trying to get you to look like you're a teenage drop out from the streets so you wouldn't be sketchy."

"Does it require NOT BREATHING cause with my breast plastered onto my chest, I don't think I'll be doing any of the sort."

"I'd prefer you look like a ruffian scoundrel than the fancy classy sheriff I report too. If anyone sees even just the hem of your purple dress, everyone there would be tearing apart the sidewalks to get their grimy hands on you."

And she was right, as much as I hated to admit it. Everyone knew who I was, they cowered in fear at the mere sound of my footsteps. I've never thought I'd have to get my hands dirty in any of my cases. But there's always a first for everything. So here we are, waiting for the drug trade off in the back alley of the worst part of the city, sitting in the most archaic car I've ever been in, smelling like a cheap air freshener and stale donuts in some steam punk clothes only Piltovian teens wear.

What I would give to get out of the situation I'm in.

I heard the passenger door unlock. "Vi, what are you doing."

"Making sure we aren't waiting on nothing, cake." She closed the car door and her eyes skimmed through the surroundings. "They must've changed locations or they saw us coming from afar." She tugged the hood of her sweater off her face and took very careful steps towards the alley.

Great, I knew I should've positioned myself on the top of the building than go through this silly stake out mission on the ground. Everything seemed so out of place. I'm so much out of line right now; I'd kill for some sleep to get my thoughts to quiet down.

She took a peek at the corner, the alleyway where my intel directed me where the trade-off would happen. I rushed over to her, making sure to close the car door and pulling my hat over my head. I tried to snag a look behind her but she kept boxing me out from the side. "Vi-"

And she mutters something I couldn't even comprehend. "I told you to stay in the car."

"It's stuffy in there and I don't like the smell of cheap pastry." She snarked at my comment and checked around some more. Taking another step towards her, I shifted my hands from the pockets of my jacket to her shoulders.

I've never noticed her use the gym in the station nor do I recall her having any of those in her house. Her muscles were firm, I wonder how it would feel if she carried me on her shoulders? It must be from wearing those gauntlets all the time. Punching around through the world definitely got her some nice muscles. Or must it be her street background? Surely she's been in brawls most of the time to fend for her life. I couldn't imagine the trouble she's gone through just to live out here.

"Cupcake?"

I shook my head at the sound of my pet name and looked her in the eye. Hell, the fatigue is getting to me and I'm losing my grip on reality. How appropriate.

"You're out of focus, Caitlyn," she chuckled, running her hand through her gorgeous pink unkempt locks. At first I thought they were a ruffian's way of keeping their hair, much like their own personal attitudes seeping its way into their own fashion sense. But Vi could really make it a fashion statement. She wore ruffian hair spectacularly good. I wonder if her locks felt like silk, how it would play at the edge of my fingertips.

Stop right there, Caitlyn, I reprimanded myself. I found Vi's hair attractive. Oh dear, I'm hallucinating. How much sleep was I lacking?

"Did you just-" I took back my hand from her shoulders. She was just as shocked as I was.

Shit, I've just been caught playing with her hair. I honestly thought I was under the influence of drugs, or alcohol or something else, I don't know but whatever it is, it's clouding my consciousness and it's driving me bonkers. My actions would definitely get me in trouble right now; I hope she wouldn't file any case against me for sexual harassment. I hate myself.

I needed to throw her off, "I think your hair looks great Vi." I do hope she's clueless enough to buy this. I tried so hard to say it as monotonous as possible. But if I were in her place, I most definitely will not tolerate what I did right now. No one's that dumb to buy what I threw at her.

She looked at me for the longest time. I couldn't decipher her expression as the lights in the alley were just poorly lit, kudos to the amazing governance in Piltover promising everyone a good city. "Well," she states, scratching the side of her face and started playing with the stray strands of her hair. She threw me a shy grin. "I never knew you liked it this way," she giggles again. "You always tell me to change it since it wasn't presentable enough. So, I thought you hated it."

I do, you fool.

But pairing that hair with those pair of blue, vibrant eyes is just killing me on the inside. Pink and blue complement each other to such a perfect level and her eyes brought balance to her locks: innocent, blue orbs to match her rough, pink hairdo. She was just-

"Cupca-"

"What?!" I screamed at her. I hadn't notice that it came out unpleasantly loud. Her shoulders, her hair and her eyes? I needed to get my act together. I'm drooling over my partner and that's not professional in any sort. Even if she is attractive. Very, very attractive.

"You're freaking me out." I'm freaking myself out; I've been staring at her and -ogling- at her from where I'm standing instead of focusing on the mission at hand. She took a step towards the car. "We aren't getting anywhere here and it's likely that those thugs won't push through with this whatever trade at this hour." I heard the car unlock. Damn it, Vi's thieving skills were nifty to her as ever, I could've sworn I put the keys in my pocket.

"Give those back, I'm drivi-"

"Lookie here boss, lemme just take you home tonight, got that?" She opened the car door and motioned me to get in the car. "C'mon I know you want some sleep!"

I crossed my arms and stood my ground. No way was I going home, I put too much effort into this. Really? Crime doesn't sleep and I doubt I should be getting either. Just another minute and maybe these thugs would show up and we could bust them easily. "No Vi, we are going to wait-"

"Nu-uh, none of that justice crap right now." She rummaged something from the glove compartment and walked back towards me.

Wait, what was she thinking? That smirk she was throwing me was stressing me. I've been with her enough to know that that is the smirk she throws when she's up to no good.

"Do not come any closer, Vi," I took a few cautious steps back. "What are you-"

"Gotcha!" She lunged at me and tugged my arms. I tried to pry away from her grip but once she let go, I couldn't move my hands apart. Curse this hooligan, I thought to myself. "Give me the keys." She cuffed me. We were on a case and she put my arms in shackles. "And let me go." She shook her head and swept me over her shoulders. "Damn it, put me down this instant!" I yelled in surprise.

"I'm just looking out for you Sheriff." She said striding towards the passenger side of the car. She placed me down in it and got into the other side.

Looking out for me? I didn't need to be "looked after" by anyone else. I'm very much independent and I'm sure that I can defend myself against any sort of criminal action. I know every form of close combat and everyone in the vicinity dare not mess with me because they are sure that I can snipe them from 3,000 feet away! I do not need my own personal bodyguard. I didn't need anyone else but me. "Get these silly things off me!"

"No way!" She yelled back, the playful tone in her voice still there. What is her deal anyway? I couldn't understand her. This is irritating and it's going to jeopardize the mission at hand!

"I don't need anyone to protect me from anything, Vi. Stop being insufferable."

"Cupcake," she sounded stern, like a mother giving a lecture to a child. "You need rest. Take it from me; we're not going to get anywhere when your brain is not getting any Vitamin Sleepies."

And she flashes me another grin and threw a thumb up at me.

Fine. This day, I let her win.

Vitamin Sleepies. I am not a child that needed to be told what to do or to be explained with such idiotic, immature made up kid language.

She started the car and she drove us off from the scene.

Her driving was smooth and the fatigue was just creeping through me. My eye lids were heavy and my body just couldn't hold up. My memory couldn't serve me right, but I swore I could hear her whisper something before I finally drifted off to sleep.

"Crime can just have its way tonight. It's a small price to pay than to risk losing you for a lifetime."

A/N: La la la~