It's a Lovely Day in Piltover (Lux/Jinx)

Chapter 7: Twists, Turns, Traitors

They'd crossed the river via a back way, not by the main bridge - Powder had been worried about taking Lux through the tunnels because she remembered some of them being pretty cramped and dark and only fun to get through because she hadn't cared as Jinx - but as they slipped out into a rooftop on the upper Entresol and the cavernous vertical undercity spread before them, boiling and pulsating, it was all worth it for the expression on Lux's face.

"It's beautiful, Powder."

I can think of a few things far prettier, and oh look at that, you're right here. "From a distance." But she had missed Zaun. Piltover still wasn't - Vi was home. Caitlyn was sorta-home. The neon of the undercity, the thick soup of the Grey, the distant pulse of music and pop of gunfire. This was home.

Lux settled the pack on her shoulders. "It's real in a way Piltover and Demacia aren't, I think."

"I know what you mean. The fancier the place, the more strict the rules - the more they're hiding from the reality of things." Powder sighed. "Down here, if you can't see reality for what it is... the Grey gets you."

At first, she'd been worried about putting all that extra weight on Lux's shoulders as they climbed down to the pipes, but she was handling it expertly. Upscaling the device for 'commercial' use (as though she'd sell the 'rights to the design' off to one of those assholes causing the problem in the first place) had been much easier with Heimerdinger's expertise in engineering and Lux's expertise in how much power would be required.

But, ultimately, that didn't make carrying the damn thing any easier. Powder was pretty sure that if it weren't for the Shimmer thing, her shoulders would be aching pretty bad by now. Which meant - "You want me to take it now that we're done with climbing through the tunnels? Still got some buildings to hop, but..." - she could offer to take the weight from her! That was the... chilvalrous? Was that the right word? It didn't sound right.

Lux shifted the straps on her shoulders again and grinned. "It's alright - I feel like I'm not carrying it carefully enough, but the weight isn't too bad. Haven't puked and passed out yet!"

Powder had to pause to stop and take a very concerned look at her. "Yet? Lux, I - I don't really know what to say, but this isn't some sort of military training thing. And I don't want you to feel like you have to carry it until you puke and pass out so - hand it over." Two backpacks weren't too hard to carry, just had to make sure not to lean back since her centre of gravity would be higher. Or something.

"No, I meant - um, okay so - I mean I'm not close to that. I guess I'm just used to military training things, given my family? It's fine. Really!"

Powder pouted and gave her a quick, tight hug, but relented. Reluctantly. "Fine. But if you start feeling it, I'm taking it. I'm allowed to abuse my drug-riddled body to save my girlfriend some effort." She decided, starting the trek to the tree.

"Drug-riddled?" Then, quieter, more hopeful, "Girlfriend?"

"Yeah, it's all the Shimmer S-Silco's doc pumped into me after I... did something really stupid." She tried to suppress the shudder. "But - girlfriends? I hope so? After the whole 'grab my boob' thing and the dates we've been on? Should I uh - not have mentioned you being that -"

"No! I want to be girlfriends! I just - didn't know you wanted that." Lux had so many different smiles, but the ones she saved for Powder were so vividly different she had no idea how anyone else thought she was actually smiling. "I've - not really dated before so. I don't know how to do it?"

"Me neither! I'm sure Vi would make a crass joke if she ever heard me say this, but I think we can fumble our way through it together. After all, this is our relationship, not society's." She pouted - or tried to, her grin broke through far too easily. "But uh. Ahem. Yeah, I kinda told Ekko that I'd be bringing a plus-one who helped me refine the thing, and he made a snarky comment about, 'Oh, so you've stopped talking to the guns long enough to get someone, huh?' and he didn't believe me when I said I had the cutest girlfriend."