#disclaimer this was written and lost and rewritten on mobile and it's 3am and i'm not proofreading

[deathdxnces]

👫 any verse. All verses. I don't care 💕💕💕💕

» — SEND 👫AND I'LL WRITE FOUR HEADCANONS ABOUT OUR MUSE'S RELATIONSHIP

— @deathfxnds

teehee of course i'll do all of them get ready for 10 pages of text i'm sorry ily mwah 💖

— base verse.

i mentioned before she doesn't usually dance outside the battlefield unless she's alone, but there could be exceptions and, well, if anyone would fit the exception category it'd be kayn; if he happened to arrive unnanounced while she was dancing, or in idk, some situation she'd try to drag him to dance with her and even if he didn't want to join she'd still dance, i can see it happening and irelia not having an issue with it. which ultimately is about trust and openness more than anything. it's not a part of herself she frequently shares, despite how important dancing is to her and how much joy it brings her. over time i just think she'd allow herself to show all those little things that have been kept to herself for so long, not always consciously but always because of how deeply she trusts him. is letting an assassin close dangerous and possibly deadly? yes. but it's far more difficult for her to open up like that than risking physical harm, and far more meaningful that she's willing to share things like that with him.

can't stop thinking about irelia being utterly vicious towards noxians, even civilians, and the fact even though she doesn't enjoy hurting children she wouldn't be beyond doing it when it comes to those serving the empire, or about kayn asking her to chill. she's not prone to listening, honestly, not when she feels justified in what she's doing (and she seldom feels more justified than when she's fighting noxians), and i suppose some people might take that intervention as lingering loyalty to noxus on his part, but neither would happen whenever something like this happens. distrustful as she'd be of the noxians, irelia would as easily stay her blades for him as she'd use them. on the other side of that is her unwillingness to harm other ionians, even when they try to harm her; but she is always very intense and deeply loyal, and even though she often hesitates to fight people to protect herself, she'd slice them in a heartbeat if it was to keep kayn safe :/ i also think she'd usually not be as filled with remorse in a situation like this. protecting someone she loves is reason enough to feel acting is justified. she lost everyone she loved before. i think the idea of losing him would terrify her and that would weigh far more than the usual guilt.

she loves playing with his hair actually. if his head is on her lap, she will invariably be playing with his hair. and i know you said he's very touchy about the hair especially because of the braid and zed's influence on that, but if/when she got to have the honor of brushing his rapunzel hair and braiding it, she would do it with all the care and affection in the world, and she'd very much enjoy it. plus if she knows how significant the braid is to him and why and if she knows how touchy about it he is, she would very much take being allowed to do so as a privilege and be extra careful and tender.

a bit of cliche mayhaps but i'm very fond of the idea they would sleep much more peacefully when together. that it simply feels safe and comforting, and that the habitual restlessness (and nightmares) would trouble them less, even if they wouldn't go away entirely. plus irelia is very attentive and caring and if/when he had trouble sleeping or was restless for whatever reason, she'll always try to leave him more at ease and be comforting and help in any way he needs. on the other hand, if she had nightmares or trouble sleeping or something bothering her, she's not very likely to volunteer the information and would avoid disturb him at all (or try to). as caring as she is and as much as that never feels like a burden to her, the moment the roles are reversed she's very i don't want to trouble him it's fine i'll be fine. please forgive her she's too used to carrying things on her own.

last but not least love will undoom his narrative she will have so much faith in him and so much love for him it will change the course of the story bye rhaast

— star guardian.

i like the idea they were already friends when they became guardians. irelia is a lot more responsible for sure, and she does care about school and stuff even after they become guardians, but i also think she'd be very prone to get to shenanigans with him. not that unwillingly, either.

as per usual, she puts a lot on herself and isn't prone to just. share the burdens because she doesn't want to trouble anyone else. you mentioned before kayn noticing anyway and not wanting to add to it being part of his reason for leaving, but she'd very much blame herself for not being good enough. and, with the fact they were friends before, i just think it'd hit her extra hard. but because they care for each other and wouldn't really have parted on bad terms, i also like to think even when they're following different paths they keep going to each other from time to time.

despite dutifulness compelling her to keep to the oath to the first star, irelia definitely comes to question a lot when she does learn what being a guardian entails. even though she leans toward self-sacrifice to protect others way too often, she does come to resent the first star for what it demands from a pledge taken without revealing to the guardians all it entails. for a time, irelia would remain convinced that is the better path; but when we wrote a little sg stuff i remember kayn thinking he'd find a different path and convince her to leave that behind, and while she'd be much too worried about him and the possibility of corruption to accept it right away, i do think kayn could (would?) eventually persuade her to forsake that oath and go toward the middle-ground of using both the first star's power and the dark star as well. it definitely helps his case that she simply cares for him a lot.

that's a constant for any verse where they get to fight together, but i feel compelled to point out how well they'd work together on the battlefield. very complementary and always having each other's backs. probably having too much fun cutting down monsters before things go terribly awry. i do think irelia is a lot more starry-eyed and hopeful and carefree before that, to the shift, when it happens, would be very obvious for someone who knows her. and i also think following their team's first loss, for whatever little time kayn stayed before he chose to leave, her fear of losing anyone else (and him, specifically) would also be clear in how she fights — and how likely she'd be to put herself in danger first and care for consequences later when faced with even the possibility someone else might be harmed. by which i mean i also think that inherent trust of having each other's backs, while it still exists, comes second place to that impulse of protecting someone she cares so much for, even if that's at the cost of herself.

— modern.

she absolutely knows he's involved with shady business well before he says or she gets to learn anything. kayn isn't as good at hiding it as he thinks he is, and when it gets to the point he gets to her house all bloody, irelia is simply letting him keep lying until he feels comfortable with talking about what he really does. yes it's obviously illegal and she's 99% it involves murder but. have you considered she's still poorly adjusted after seeing her family brutally murdered and having to kill two men as a child to get out alive? and also she loves him

irelia tends to be very private about her personal life. public accounts in social media are run by people hired for that, she never takes questions about her personal life, she isn't usually seen in public with anyone. which is to say, i think not unlike in base verse, at least initially their relationship would be very. just between them. over time people close to them would learn about it, and eventually they'd be openly together, though, which likely would be a very rare (possibly only?) occurrence for irelia. but also we talked about them meeting by going to the same places/events because kayn does enjoy being influent and being around important people, and i just think at any point when they might still be trying to be lowkey about things she'd. not be happy i they had to be in the same events and such without actually being together. i also think in any scenario like that she'd be much more prone to jealousy, even if irelia would do her best to keep it to herself; i say in a scenario like this because i think it's more about... not being openly together than actual possessiveness.

despite kayn's initial hesitance to pick horror movies thinking What If It Is Too Much? What Will She Think? whenever he realized she's not only okay with it but also enjoys horror movies too, they'd definitely have horror movie date nights. might disappoint him a little she would not get afraid and hide in his arms, but i hope the fact they get to do something chill together that they both enjoy makes up for it jfkanfkn and hey, they 100% would not need excuses to get that close.

pretty sure when it comes to texting or you know general long distance communication or even the frequency with which they meed and when, kayn wouldn't really keep a regular pattern. sometimes he replies right away sometimes it takes hours. irelia usually doesn't mind. she's very much not like that though and would mostly always reply to him pretty fast, unless that isn't possible for some reason. she's probably better at consistent communication while traveling the world on tour than kayn is t any point kjsnfkdn but that habit of hers would also make it obvious when something is wrong. if she was mad at him for whatever reason she'd reply less, her messages would be shorter, etc (but i don't really think she usually gets mad at him askfnasjkn). and of course, if she suddenly disapears completely for hours it's 100% because something bad happened and he should very much be worried.

— 1shot. (yes i am including it, your hcs when)

i like to think they didn't really know each other before the group was formed. it depends on how it came to be, of course, but i just like the idea even though they were probably at least vaguely aware of each other's existence, they didn't really know each other before.

kayn strikes me as someone who'd enjoy it far too much whenever irelia and vayne ended up disagreeing and fighting aisdhfaisdufh generally speaking, he's probably too encouraging when it comes to irelia not being nice, as usual. honestly, probably very much an enabler on many aspects; with irelia being an idol since she was pretty young and trained for it even before, and all the perfectionist pressure and lack of freedom, she's definitely prone to holding back, and i feel kayn would be there to support her letting go and doing the things she wants and not being as concerned about the pressure other people put on her. and she'd definitely like that

i have no concrete idea of how/when but considering the previous point and them possibly getting closer in the middle of that, the eventual friendship would then lead to the romantic feelings, and i wanna say irelia acted on it first. sometimes a girl is simply trying to live her life and enjoy things and take some risks and not care for what other people will think, and sometimes she ends up kissing her bandmate as a result. it happens.

if they're a kpop type of group irelia would definitely be the lead dancer. hope kayn knows being a good dancer and learning the choreos is mandatory. she'd not go easy on him regardless of their relationship. but hey, i'm sure he could get private lessons that would end up entirely derailed c: sometimes practice just turns into a make out session you know how it is --

— odyssey.

i pretty much just use infiltrator as the premise for this, meaning irelia is the criminal here for once. how the turn tables. anyway, she's infamous for her heists and espionage missions, and i hc she's been doing this since she was pretty young, so i'm sure even before he was an ordinal he'd have heard of her because there'd likely be some sort of bounty for catching her. and the other way around! he was one of demaxia's best and bffs with the king/emperor whatever j4 is, and as an ordinal everyone would know who he is. so they definitely knew each other's reputations before they met, and regardless of how they met, they'd definitely not be on the same side. she is a nuisance to the empire most of the time, and he is acting on the empire's behalf.

that said, irelia is exceptionally skilled as a spy as much as she is as a thief, and she holds no loyalty to any faction. she'll work for the templars if they pay well, she'll steal for the syndicate if there's something to be gained, but she'd also be willing to work for the empire. she's not picky. so long as she gets something from it. which is all to say i like the idea how they actually get to know each other and interact and develop the beginning of something is by working together in a truce sort of thing. maybe it was j4 who sought to hire her, considering kayn, especially odyssey kayn, doesn't strike me as the type to seek help even when he needs it. and at the same time irelia is not trustworthy so even if her skillset was necessary j4 would likely want to ensure she wouldn't just double cross them auhdusyd (she would try tbh) but also as usual, i think they'd make a very effective (and deadly and dangerous) team. eventually they get along better than planned. it doesn't hurt she appreciates his looks. but i think she'd like the audacity + ambition combo as well, even if he's a little unhinged. don't question her tastes ok

they do have very different goals and lifestyles though. kayn very much serves demaxia's interests and is out there trying to get as much ora as he can and become emperor and immortal and the most powerful being in the universe. irelia is just vibing iahdishf as long as she can live comfortably she's fine. she doesn't have huge galaxy domination plans, nor is she interested in pledging herself to the empire or any other faction. so i feel they might meet more sporadically than in other verses, between heists and attempts to take over the whole galaxy. she probably goes visit sometimes c: should she be worried about being this close to an ordinal when she's a wanted criminal? maybe. that won't stop her though

still, i feel in this verse it'd be much harder for him to have her undying loyalty or any sort of real commitment, because irelia is out for herself first and foremost, and she doesn't really trust anyone else. it'd take a lot of effort on his part if he wanted her complete trust and if he wanted her to stay more permanently, but he doesn't strike me as someone very willing to try hard (and rather he seems like he'd think it's the other person who should be chasing him sjhrishr) but yeah i think even when it became more Serious she'd be a bit skittish and wouldn't easily commit. maybe he'd be interested in the challenge? maybe not. either way if (when?) he actually gets her undying loyalty they can commit war crimes together or whatever it is he does in his galaxy domination plans. but even then she'd still be loyal to him and not the empire tbh. there's no convincing her to care for any of the factions in the galaxy, but personal loyalty is a different thing, and as is always the case once you have her trust and love she'llbe loyal to the end.