Arcane: Ekko and Powder

The days after their quiet heart-to-heart in the warehouse passed like slow-moving clouds. Ekko and Powder settled into their new dynamic, one that felt more solid, more defined, though it was still uncharted territory. It wasn't that everything was perfect; far from it. They still bickered about the smallest things, still got caught in that familiar back-and-forth of playful teasing and occasional frustration. But there was a shift, something subtle but undeniable: an understanding that no matter how they argued or how far apart they seemed at times, there was always a thread connecting them—a bond that neither could shake off, no matter how complicated life got.

Ekko had always been more careful than Powder, less inclined to leap into situations without thinking them through. But now, even he found himself slowly letting go of the constant need for control. Powder had a way of pulling him out of his head, forcing him to face his feelings head-on rather than overthinking every little detail. And sometimes, when they were alone together, just the two of them in a quiet corner of Zaun, he found himself letting go in a way he never thought possible.

It was one such quiet evening when they were working on a project together that the tension, the unspoken feelings that had lingered between them, started to resurface in a new form.

They were in the workshop—Ekko hunched over a large blueprint of a new gadget, his fingers flying over the calculations, while Powder, seated beside him, was busy tinkering with a small mechanical piece, her fingers deftly adjusting it, though her eyes were elsewhere. Every now and then, her gaze would flicker toward him, and he'd catch her watching him, a subtle smile playing at the corners of her lips. He'd smile back, but the silence between them felt heavier now. Their eyes would meet, and for the briefest of moments, there would be that spark—a flash of something deeper, something they couldn't quite name.

"Ekko," Powder broke the silence, her voice soft but with an undercurrent of curiosity.

He glanced up at her, momentarily distracted from his work. "Yeah?"

"I was thinking…" She hesitated for a moment, her gaze drifting back to the piece in her hands, then meeting his again. "About what you said the other day. About me not needing to do everything alone."

Ekko raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What about it?"

Powder shifted slightly, unsure how to word what she was feeling. "I don't know... I've been thinking about it a lot, actually." She let out a small, nervous laugh, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face. "I guess I've always been used to being on my own. But lately... it's different. I'm not used to having someone there who really cares."

Ekko's heart skipped a beat, and he stopped what he was doing, turning fully toward her. "Powder…" His voice softened, and he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "You don't ever have to be alone again, okay? I'm not going anywhere."

The words hung in the air between them, heavier than they should have been. For a moment, neither of them spoke, just absorbed the weight of the promise he had made to her.

Powder didn't respond immediately, her gaze fixed on his hand resting on her shoulder. She seemed to be weighing his words, the truth of them sinking in. Then, slowly, she reached up and covered his hand with her own, squeezing it lightly.

"I guess… I guess I'm not sure how to do this," she admitted, her voice barely above a whisper.

Ekko smiled softly, his thumb brushing against her knuckles. "You don't have to know, Powder. I don't either. But we'll figure it out, together."

She met his eyes, her expression unreadable for a moment, before her lips curled into a faint, shy smile. "Yeah. Together."

There was something comforting in the simplicity of their words, in the quiet understanding that passed between them. For a while, they didn't need to say anything more. They just sat in silence, working on their project as if the world outside had stopped moving, as if everything had slowed down to give them this one moment.

But as the evening grew darker, and the shadows of Zaun crept into the workshop, the air seemed to change once again. The calmness between them felt charged, like an electric current running through the space.

"Hey, Ekko," Powder said, suddenly breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

She hesitated for a second before speaking again. "Do you ever think about... what happens next? After everything we've been through?"

Ekko furrowed his brow, glancing up at her with curiosity. "What do you mean?"

Powder bit her lip, clearly unsure of how to phrase her thoughts. "I mean, we've been through so much, and now... now things are different between us. But sometimes, I can't help but wonder if this is just another one of those phases, you know? Like... what happens when things get hard?"

Ekko paused, his mind racing for an answer. He hadn't fully processed that part of it—the uncertainty of what lay ahead. But the more he thought about it, the more certain he became. They had something here. It wasn't perfect, but it was real.

"We'll make it through, Powder," Ekko said, his voice steady. "No matter what happens, we've got each other. That's more than enough for me."

She looked at him for a long time, her eyes searching his, as if trying to read him, to figure out if he meant what he said. And when she saw the sincerity in his gaze, the certainty in his words, something in her seemed to soften.

"Yeah," she whispered, her voice barely audible. "I guess it is."

The tension, once again, seemed to dissipate, replaced by something deeper—a sense of quiet comfort. Ekko didn't know what the future held, didn't know what kind of challenges would come their way, but for the first time in a long while, he felt ready to face them. Together.

As the night wore on, and they continued to work side by side, a new sense of understanding settled between them. It was as if the walls they'd built—walls of fear, uncertainty, and self-doubt—had started to crumble, piece by piece. And in their place, a new foundation was being laid: one built on trust, on shared goals, and on a love that had grown more slowly, but more steadily, than either of them could have anticipated.

The quiet moments were sometimes the hardest to navigate. They were the moments when feelings rose to the surface, when emotions threatened to spill over without warning. But in those moments, Ekko found that it was easier than he'd ever imagined to stay grounded, to stay present. As long as they had each other, they could handle whatever came next.

"Powder," Ekko murmured, breaking the silence once again.

She looked up at him, a small smile playing at her lips. "Yeah?"

"I'm glad you're here. I think… I think I'm starting to really believe in us."

Powder's smile softened into something warmer, more genuine. "Me too, Ekko. Me too."

And as they continued to work, side by side, the world outside faded away, leaving only the two of them—trusting each other, building a future, one moment at a time.