Chapter Text
Ezreal can feel his lungs begging for air as he sprints back towards his team's tower. Lux had gotten taken out already, and it would be a good 30 seconds at least until she was back.
Lucian and Senna are definitely taking advantage of that too, the way they're hot on his heels. Unwilling to just accept his fate, he keeps running, hoping somehow he can stay up long enough for-
His thoughts come to a halt as he sees someone burst from the jungle. At first, terrified that it's another enemy coming to take him out, but the sight of a familiar mohawk sends relief flooding his veins.
“Needing your ass saved again, Ez?” Ekko teases as he charges Lucian.
Ezreal lets out a playful groan as he turns to help, targeting Senna. They manage to regain the ground lost, chasing the pair back up lane. Ekko fights like nothing Ezreal has ever seen, as beautiful in battle as he is out of it. As his boyfriend takes out the first of the pair, Ezreal feels himself falling even further for the Zaunite.
Senna puts up a brave fight, nearly getting away, but it’s not good enough to escape. As the announcer heralds Ekko's double kill, Ezreal leans and pecks him on the cheek. “Thanks, babe.”
“I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to flirt in the rift,” Lux calls, running up to them.
Ezreal faces his friend with a pout. “You didn’t see him! I can’t help it when he’s so hot!” He whines his reply as he leans further into Ekko’s space.
Ekko shakes his head and affectionately shoves Ezreal away with a hand on his face. “She's right. Hands to yourself, pretty boy.”
“But you do think I'm pretty. So, that's still a win for me!” He says, jogging backwards to a safe location to recall to base. “Let's win this so I can kiss you properly!”
He misses Ekko's response as the world fades around him, but he knows he'll find out later.
~
When Ezreal wakes up, he's warm. There's familiar arms holding him close, and a well calloused hand tracing the scars that litter his chest. Despite how badly he wants to roll over and properly appreciate his company, he doesn't move.
He knows that Ekko has realizedhe's awake, and he knows Ekko is aware that Ezreal will pretend to sleep for a while longer. They play this game every time they sleep together. They'll crash into one another's lives, make a mess of whatever situation they're in, blow up at each other, fall into bed together, and slip out the next morning. If he bothered trying to keep one, he could set a watch by this routine.
Honestly? He's tired of it. He wants something more…. Something he isn't ready to admit.
Ekko must share at least part of the sentiment, because for the first time since they've begun, his companion addresses him. “I know you're awake, Ezreal,” he says, hands falling away from his body as he pulls away from Ezreal entirely.
Surprised and still groggy, the blonde looks over his shoulder to scowl at the other. He ignores the way his heart flutters at the beautiful sight he's greeted with, instead favoring to question why the change to their well worn dance. “Okay? You never cared before.”
Ekko sits up with a sigh, hands carding through his hair that's still down and disheveled from the night before. “Yes, I did. I've always cared and that's the problem.” This isn't how this goes. They're supposed to pretend, to give Ezreal the illusion that they want the same thing. “I should go.”
Ezreal wants to argue. To scream and shout until Ekko is pushing him back into the bed. Except this is different than normal. Ezreal is supposed to playfully usher him out after breakfast. They're supposed to make out one more time before they part ways. Ekko isn't supposed to look how Ezreal feels, like his world is ending.
“Ekko don't g-”
“Don't. I'm done. Just,” a sigh and one last glance over his shoulder is what shatters Ezreal's heart, “stay alive out there.” He doesn't say without him, he doesn't have to. Ekko turns back to the door, obviously set in his ways.
And then he's gone. He’s gone and there was a finality like never before, something telling Ezreal he wouldn’t be back.
In this moment, the emptiness of his home feels more suffocating than ever before.
~
A few hours later finds Ezreal still curled up in bed, missing the man that had kept him warm as he awoke. There's an ache in his chest as he ponders the events of the morning and his dream the night before. Their fight last night had been tamer than usual, they've been less and less heated the past few times. It's like they both knew it was only an act and were growing tired of it. At least, that's why Ezreal was putting less effort into the fights.
Last night had been their best time together yet. Ezreal has to think hard to remember what the fight had even been about, it was so brief. He'd gotten himself into senseless danger again, and Ekko had pulled him back home with a frown firmly in place. Their voices were barely raised as they argued before Ekko was in his space, in his arms, on his lips. The way the other had undressed him had been almost gentle, taking time to kiss nearly every inch of Ezreal's skin. The way he'd taken his time opening Ezreal on his fingers, holding him like something precious the entire time.
Ekko wasn't the only one acting differently though. Looking back, how many times had Ezreal bit his tongue to keep from spilling sweet nothings as he fell apart beneath his lover? Last night was far from the first time they'd had sex facing one another, but this time it felt magnetic. Ezreal feels like he might cry as he remembers the way his name fell from Ekko's lips as he came. Last night could hardly be called ‘fucking,’ but they didn't make love. Did they?
Maybe this uncertainty in his chest is what caused his dreams to stray. He's had dreams of something more with the white haired man countless times, but never like last night. One where he could feel the kiss on his cheek, the vivid details of how he felt in the moment. The undeniable fluttering in his chest as he was saved by the man he- by the man he relies on for so much.
He doesn't even know who Senna or Lux are, but the swell of affection for the woman he somehow knew to be a mage threw him for a loop as well. He didn't even understand most of the knowledge he held from the dream, yet it all felt so real. How he and Ekko had gotten together, how they were a real couple, how he was quickly falling for the other like no one before. It would be all too easy to imagine a life like that with the man he knows and respects.
He’ll blame the tenderness in his heart for the strange hyper-realism of his dreams. The gentleness for why Ekko is gone. The other has always been way too damn smart, he probably finally figured out the bark behind the bite. The reason Ezreal won’t even admit to himself.
With a groan, Ezreal pulls himself from the bed to force himself into the shower. Even if he can’t wash the thoughts from his mind, he can at least clean the traces of them from his skin.