Chapter 19 – A Real Date?
The sun hung low over Piltover, casting long golden streaks across the marble walkways and shimmering glass domes of the city. The Academy grounds had quieted for the weekend, most students having retreated to their dorms or the library. But not Steven.
He stood outside the workshop, staring up at the sky as if looking for something he couldn't name. Behind him, Sera walked up with two cups of steaming tea in hand.
"I figured you'd still be here," she said, handing one over. "You always look like you're solving the entire world."
Steven smiled, a tired but sincere curve of the lips. "Feels like it sometimes."
They sat by the edge of a high terrace, overlooking the city. Piltover stretched out in all directions — clean lines, glowing hextech lamps, bridges arcing over canals. It was a marvel. But Steven couldn't stop thinking about what lay beneath it. Zaun. And the quiet, bitter storm brewing below.
Sera nudged him. "You've been quiet since yesterday. The news?"
He nodded. "I can feel something coming. And I hate that I don't know what to do about it yet."
She looked at him for a long time, then placed her hand over his. "You're not alone in this. You know that, right?"
Steven turned to her. Her eyes calm, steady - met his, and he felt the storm inside him pause. For a moment, all the fear, the uncertainty, the desperate hunger to prepare melted away.
"You ever wonder," he began softly, "what it means to be here? In this world?"
Sera tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
"I mean… every time I look around, I remember things I shouldn't. I know people I've never met. I see stories unfolding, people playing roles, but then you talk to them, and they're real. Complex. Messy. Not just characters."
Sera smiled faintly. "Is this one of those 'you think too much' moments?"
"Probably." He let out a breath. "I think I used to believe everything here was just fiction. But then I met you."
She blinked, surprised, the usual teasing quirk of her lips giving way to something more vulnerable. "Steven…"
"I don't know what's coming," he said, "but I know this… us… it's real. And it matters."
Silence settled over them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was filled with the unsaid, the shared glances, the laughter that had turned into whispers, the training sessions that turned into lazy walks, the sketches on his workbench where he'd accidentally scribbled her name instead of a design label.
Sera leaned forward and kissed him again, softer this time. Not a spark of something new, but the deep warmth of something blooming.
They sat together, fingers intertwined.
"Let's go somewhere," she said suddenly. "Away from the Academy. Just for the day. No labs. No inventions. Just us."
Steven raised an eyebrow. "A real date?"
"Finally," she grinned.
They wandered the upper lanes of Piltover. She took him to her favorite pastry shop tucked between two gear shops. He showed her a bookshop that sold ancient diagrams of early hextech inventions. They tried on ridiculous goggles in a street market and shared a late lunch overlooking the sea.
As the sun dipped beneath the horizon, they stood on a quiet bridge, the water below catching the last glimmers of light.
Steven pulled her close. "Whatever happens tomorrow," he said, "today was perfect."
Sera leaned her head on his shoulder. "We'll face tomorrow together."
But deep down, something in Steven's chest twisted.
Because he wasn't sure that was a promise the world would let them keep.