Late that night, Torvan pushed open the door to his little home.
The place was his alone. A few years ago, with Vander's help, he had managed to get the rights to it for a fairly cheap price.
The place he had lived in before was just a single room with a tiny bed, a table, and a faucet.
There had barely been enough space to sleep, let alone tinker with anything. And with how fast Van had grown, even that tiny bed had forced him to curl up just to fit on it.
This place was different. The bed was bigger, for one thing, and there was also a second room.
That second room had naturally become Van's workshop, where he messed around with little alchemical inventions.
The place still was not very big, but for Torvan, who had been on his own for as long as he could remember, it was more than enough.
Still drunk, Van staggered over to the faucet and splashed some water on his face, trying to sober up a little.
It had been his first time drinking, and Vander had seemed to be in an especially good mood tonight, so they ended up talking for quite a while.
The truth was, Van had already been getting fuzzy by the second glass, but for the sake of pride, he had forced himself through five before pretending he was only a little tipsy and calling it a night.
Whether Vander had seen through that or not, he had no idea.
By the time he finally made it home, it was deep into the night, and he was thoroughly drunk.
Water still clinging to his face, Van casually yanked off his shirt and flopped spread-eagle onto the bed.
But the heat from the alcohol made it hard for him to fall asleep.
So he reached for his crystal necklace. For some reason, whether because of the drink or not, he could not find it at first.
Annoyed, he simply tore open his undershirt as well, finally exposing the necklace hidden underneath.
The blue diamond-shaped crystal gave off a faint glow in the dark. The moment Van held it, the restless heat inside him eased, and everything around him seemed to fall quiet.
Even the endless factory noise of the Undercity gradually faded from his ears. Clutching the crystal necklace in one hand, he slowly drifted off to sleep.
...
...
He did not know how long he had been asleep when he sensed something shift around him, as if the calm had been broken. That feeling slowly pulled his eyes open.
A pink-haired figure was standing by his bed, looking down at him.
"Vi?"
Van was not surprised at all. It was just a dream about Vi, and it was far from the first one he had had.
"Hey! What time is it? Are you seriously still asleep?"
"Huh?"
Van's eyes snapped fully open, and he bolted upright on instinct.
Wait... this wasn't a dream?
"Hold on. Isn't this my house?"
Once it sank in, he looked down at the way he was sprawled across the bed and awkwardly tried to cover himself.
"Oh? Embarrassed? What are you, some little girl? Though... not bad."
Vi grinned as she teased him. It looked like last night's argument was already out of her system.
"You were drinking last night? You reek of it."
"Mm-hm. Vander and I had a nice little talk. My alcohol tolerance seems to have really surprised him."
"Oh, please. Vander just played you."
"Sometimes the truth isn't all that important..."
At that moment, Powder came out of Van's workshop holding one of the robot models he had made.
"Did you make all of these? This one's so cute!"
Van looked at her in confusion. He had thrown that thing together out of scrap on a whim, and as far as he was concerned, it was ugly as sin.
He had not expected Powder to like such a weird little round-bellied thing.
"You like it? Then you can have it."
"Really?!"
"It's only a model. Oh, and its name is... hmm... Blitz."
"Yay! Blitz!"
Watching Powder run off happily with "Blitz" in her arms, Van rolled out of bed and went to change out of the clothes that still stank of alcohol.
After making absolutely sure Vi had no intention of turning away, Van stopped pretending to be shy and changed right in front of her.
"By the way, how did you two get in? My door lock still okay?"
"Some drunk idiot forgot to lock the door last night."
"Did I?"
After changing, Van crouched down and started searching through the box under his bed for something decent to wear.
"So, Boss Vi showing up first thing in the morning must mean this isn't just about admiring me while I sleep."
"First thing in the morning? It's nearly afternoon."
"Is it?. The Undercity always looks gray no matter what time it is."
After digging past all kinds of leather jackets and other clothes better suited for moving around or getting into fights, Van finally found what he was looking for.
"Fine. We came to talk to you about a plan..."
"I refuse."
"...You haven't even heard it yet!"
"I don't need to. I can figure it out with my ass. You're obviously still not over it, and you're trying to drag me onto your little boat again."
Van took the clothes over to the mirror he had pieced together from broken shards of glass and started getting dressed.
Unlike the rest of his wardrobe, this outfit was made from noticeably better material and had a more relaxed cut. It was the kind of clothing people in the Undercity usually did not wear.
It was not practical, it got dirty easily, and it looked like the kind of thing only people from Piltover would like.
"What do you mean, my little boat? I just think you're good enough to— ...You're going to Piltover again?"
Vi quickly noticed what was different. Whenever Van wore this outfit, it meant he was heading to Piltover.
"Mm-hm. There are some parts I need, and I can probably only get them up there."
Van stamped his foot and bent down to tug his pant leg lower.
He was growing too fast. The clothes were already starting to feel too short on him.
"So you tell us not to go to Piltover, but you go strolling around up there whenever you feel like it?"
"I follow the law. Unlike you, who's always dreaming about finding some unlucky topsider and introducing them to your famous Zaun punch."
"Big fat hands!"
Powder suddenly stuck her head in through the doorway and added her own correction.
"Powder!"
Seeing Vi start to get annoyed, Powder cheekily stuck out her tongue and went right back to playing with her new Blitz robot.
"Fine then. I won't ruin your mood, Torvan. You gentleman."
With that, Vi shot him a vicious look and turned to walk out.
"Powder, we're going!"
Powder stood up at once, but she still looked back at Van.
Watching Vi storm off, Van gave a helpless smile, walked over, and ruffled Powder's fluffy hair.
"Try to cheer your sister up a little. Don't let her hold this against me... When I get back, I'll bring you a present."
"Really?!"
"Powder! Let's go!"
Van smiled and held out his little finger. Powder immediately understood and hooked hers around it.
"Go on. If you don't, your sister's going to come back and make trouble for me."
[End of chapter]