K/DA: FIRESTARTER — A Worlds Afterparty

11:48 PM KST · Saturday Night, Gocheok Sky Dome · Seoul, South Korea.

The last note of K/DA's performance still seemed to vibrate through the stadium.

Outside, tens of thousands of fans poured into Seoul's cold night, their voices echoing beneath giant LED billboards and neon advertisements.

Everyone inside and outside the stadium was buzzing.

After six years away, Ahri, Akali, Evelynn, and Kai'Sa had returned with FIRESTARTER, an aggressive, unapologetically glamorous comeback that had immediately taken over social media. Fancams were climbing into the millions, the chorus was already everywhere, and conversations about True Damage and HEARTSTEEL had temporarily taken a backseat. The performance was aggressive, unapologetically glamorous, and so deliberately self-assured that even the people who disliked it seemed unable to stop talking about it. The song's numbers were climbing, the comeback merchandise was moving frighteningly quickly, and Riot's marketing team had apparently spent the last several hours discovering new and exciting reasons to check their phones.

After the performance, Worlds had officially started and the girls found themselves in a nice VIP lounge with a direct view of the stage. The VIP lounge was alive with music and champagne. Professional players mingled with celebrities. Streamers laughed with executives who had spent the entire afternoon pretending they weren't constantly checking their follower counts. Stylists, producers, and people whose faces were somehow familiar despite never having introduced themselves to anyone stood around discussing the comeback as if they'd personally helped create it. Nearly every phone displayed the same thing: K/DA. Ahri lounged against the back of a curved sofa, one leg crossed over the other, a glass resting loosely between her fingers. Her stage outfit caught the ambient lighting whenever she moved, its expensive fabrics and dramatic cutouts complemented by jewelry that probably cost more than most people's cars. Her long hair fell over one shoulder, and her fox ears twitched at the noise of the crowd as the first match started.

"You're telling me management's worried FIRESTARTER is going to hurt TRUE DAMAGE and HEARTSTEEL's sales?" Akali blurted, nearly choking on her drink. She lowered the glass to the table, coughing once into her fist before looking at Evelynn with wide, incredulous eyes. "Are you serious?"

Evelynn swirled the remaining champagne in her glass, a slow, delighted smile spreading across her face. "Apparently. Some executive was complaining about it backstage." She leaned back into the sofa, crossing one leg over the other. "Something about protecting their other artists' market share. You should've seen his face when our merchandise numbers came up."

Ahri threw her head back, laughing. One of her tails flicked against the sofa as she shook her head in disbelief. "Oh, that's fucking incredible. They leave us in a drawer for six years, and now they're worried we're taking money from their other projects?" She wiped beneath one eye, still grinning. "God, I wish I'd been there."

Kai'Sa adjusted the cuff of her outfit, giving Ahri a pointed look over the rim of her glass. "Try not to say that at the celebratory dinner next week."

Ahri immediately straightened, pressing a hand against her chest in mock sincerity. "I would never."

Akali snorted into her drink.

"No promises," Ahri added, breaking into another grin.

Evelynn lifted her glass high enough for the light to catch its rim. "To being difficult to work with."

Akali clinked her glass against Evelynn's, leaning forward with a mischievous smirk. "To being difficult to afford."

Kai'Sa joined them, her smile small but genuine as she raised her drink. "To finally getting paid what we're worth."

Ahri swept her glass into the middle, tapping it against theirs with a satisfied little nod. "And to being priceless."

The four laughed, their glasses chiming together above the low thrum of the lounge music. Around her friends, Ahri could be as vain, obnoxious, and sharp-tongued as she liked. Akali would challenge her just for the entertainment, Evelynn would make absolutely everything worse, and Kai'Sa would patiently remind them that they were supposed to be adults.

Usually while laughing at them.

As the conversation shifted toward the opening match, Akali turned toward one of the enormous screens, immediately launching into an opinion about a questionable team composition. Evelynn listened with half an ear, scrolling through the flood of reactions on her phone, while Kai'Sa watched the game with considerably more focus.

Ahri, however, had stopped paying attention.

She'd noticed someone during the performance.

You.

Between choreography transitions, her gaze had swept across the crowd before settling on your face. She'd looked away, continued performing, then caught herself looking in your direction again a few beats later.

Annoying. She was supposed to be working.

Now, nearly an hour later, she found you across the lounge.

Unlike the guests practically queuing to speak to her, you weren't chasing celebrities, begging for pictures, or desperately trying to get noticed. You were perfectly content in your own corner, watching the game playing nearby.

For reasons Ahri found deeply unreasonable, that made you interesting.

Her fingers stopped tapping against her glass.

"Well, well."

The words slipped out beneath her breath. She tilted her head, the platinum tips of her black bob brushing her jaw as a knowing smile crept across her face.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

Akali paused mid-rant, turning away from the screen with a crease between her eyebrows. "What?"

Ahri immediately picked up her phone, pretending to inspect a notification. "Nothing."

Akali studied her for a moment before following her line of sight. The confusion on her face gave way to dawning recognition, and then a grin that Ahri immediately regretted inspiring.

"That doesn't look like nothing."

Ahri didn't bother looking up from her phone. "Congratulations on your observational skills."

Akali set her drink aside and leaned around the sofa's arm, trying to get a better look. Her eyebrows climbed as she glanced between you and Ahri. "Ohhh?"

Ahri lowered her phone and caught Akali by the shoulder, gently but firmly steering her back toward the sofa.

"Don't."

Akali stumbled a step, then spun around with an exaggerated look of innocence. "I didn't say anything!"

Ahri folded her arms, one eyebrow raised. "You were about to."

"I literally wasn't." Akali held both hands up, her grin growing more unbearable by the second. "I'm just appreciating the view."

Ahri gave her a flat stare before glancing back toward you. "Your face did."

Across the sofa, Evelynn finally lowered her phone. She'd been watching their exchange in the reflection of the darkened screen, and the moment she understood what was happening, she practically lit up.

"Oh, that's cute."

Ahri's head snapped toward her. One of her earrings swung with the movement as she pointed an accusing finger in Evelynn's direction.

"Finish that sentence and I'll have your wardrobe donated to charity."

Evelynn placed a hand over her heart, feigning devastation. Then she rose from the sofa with deliberate elegance, smoothing down her outfit as she approached the other two.

"You're interested," she declared, drawing out the words as though announcing a scandal to an audience.

Ahri rolled her eyes and turned away, reaching for her clutch. "I'm bored."

Evelynn hummed thoughtfully, circling around the sofa until she stood beside Akali. "Of course."

Akali pressed her lips together, desperately attempting to contain her laughter. She failed almost immediately, ducking her head behind her glass.

Ahri snapped her clutch shut and looked between them. "You're both very annoying."

Akali lowered her drink, wearing the sort of grin that belonged on someone who'd just discovered a friend's most embarrassing secret. "And you're staring."

Ahri scoffed, snatching her glass from the table and draining the last of her drink. She set it onto a passing waiter's tray before smoothing the front of her outfit, her expression settling into practiced composure.

"God forbid a woman look at something she finds pretty."

Evelynn's mouth fell open in theatrical astonishment. She turned toward Akali, gripping her forearm as though she'd just witnessed history being made.

"Did you hear that?"

"I heard it," Akali replied, nodding solemnly. "Should we call someone? Is she feeling okay?"

Kai'Sa finally looked away from the match, watching the three of them with a faint, amused smile. "Just let her go talk to him."

Ahri paused halfway through adjusting her hair and glanced at Kai'Sa. "Thank you. Finally, someone with a functioning brain."

Kai'Sa lifted her glass in a small toast. "I'm only saying it because watching you pretend not to care is getting embarrassing."

Akali burst out laughing. Evelynn bent forward, bracing one hand against the sofa as her shoulders shook.

Ahri stared at all three of them in disbelief before slowly shaking her head.

"I hate this group."

"No, you don't," Kai'Sa replied calmly, turning back toward the match.

Ahri opened her mouth, reconsidered, and pointed at her instead. "You're on thin ice."

She stood, adjusted the chrome collar at her throat, and tucked a platinum-tipped strand behind one ear. Her black bob framed her jaw, while the mirrored accents of her crimson-and-black stage outfit caught the shifting violet and red lights.

Evelynn leaned against the sofa, watching her with the delighted anticipation of someone about to witness a spectacular disaster.

"Oh, this is going to be fun."

Ahri gave her a sweet smile that promised absolutely nothing good.

"Have a lovely evening, ladies."

She turned on her heel before anyone could respond, slipping effortlessly between clusters of guests. Her posture was relaxed, her steps unhurried, and the playful flick of her tails gave away none of the curiosity pulling her toward you.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" Akali called after her, cupping a hand around her mouth.

Ahri glanced over her shoulder, walking backward for two steps as she flashed Akali a wicked grin.

"That doesn't narrow it down."

She turned forward again and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Akali and Evelynn exchanging delighted looks while Kai'Sa quietly returned her attention to the match.

Then she disappeared into the crowd, leaving Akali and Evelynn to exchange delighted looks behind her.

The lounge had grown warmer as the night progressed. Glass walls caught the shifting colors of the party, scattering streaks of violet, crimson, and electric blue across the polished floor. A waiter slipped between clusters of guests with a tray of fresh drinks, while laughter erupted near the windows. Above it all, the DJ transitioned into a bass-heavy remix of the opening celebration songs. Match one had ended, but the atmosphere was still buzzing.

Ahri moved through it all like she owned the place.

She didn't need to announce herself. People made room without realizing they were doing it. A professional player called out to her from near the bar; she answered with a fleeting smile and a two-fingered wave without breaking stride. An influencer tried to intercept her for a photograph, prompting Ahri to angle her face toward the camera for half a second, giving them a practiced, devastatingly photogenic smirk before continuing on.

For a brief moment, she appeared in the background of Caedrel's co-stream, crossing behind a cluster of VIP guests. The camera caught the unmistakable silhouette of her sharp bob, the chrome gleaming along her cheekbones, and the silver collar reflecting the overhead lights. Chat immediately began flying by, but Ahri was blissfully unaware—or simply didn't care.

She had somewhere else to be.

You.

As she approached your seating area, her pace slowed just enough to seem casual. She stopped beside a table of refreshments, pretending to inspect the bottles lined up in an ice bucket. Her reflection stared back at her from the polished chrome collar encircling her throat. She tilted her chin, checked the sharp sweep of her eyeliner in the reflection, and used one finger to smooth the corner of her glossy berry-red lipstick.

Not that she needed to check.

Ahri knew exactly what she looked like.

Her short, midnight-black bob curved neatly along her jaw, the platinum-blonde tips flicking outward whenever she moved her head. The style gave her face a sharper silhouette than her older, long-haired looks ever had. Above it, her black-furred fox ears stood alert, their crimson inner ridges catching the colored lights whenever they turned toward a sound. One ear angled briefly toward a burst of laughter behind her; the other remained trained in your direction.

Her gaze settled on you.

Up close, the performance look was less idol and more predator dressed for a very expensive night out. Three razor-thin chrome slashes traced each cheekbone, catching the lounge lights like liquid metal. Her hot-pink and magenta eyeshadow glittered around the sharp black wings of her eyeliner, drawing attention to her amber-red irises. Even from a short distance, there was something almost unnerving about how directly she looked at people—as if eye contact were a game, and she already knew how to win.

Then her eyes met yours as she tilted her glasses down discreetly to get a better look.

Ahri's mouth parted slightly. A flash of one pointed canine appeared beneath her glossy lipstick.

She smiled to herself.

"Interesting."

The word slipped out almost inaudibly, meant for nobody but her.

She had seen you earlier beneath the stadium lights. Thousands of faces had blurred together during the performance, all those raised phones and waving light sticks, but she'd remembered yours. She remembered looking in your direction during a transition, then catching herself looking again several beats later.

That second glance had irritated her.

Not because she'd noticed you.

Because she'd been supposed to be working.

Now, with no choreography to remember and no cameras demanding her attention, she could indulge her curiosity. And she intended to find out why you had caught her eye.

Ahri picked up a glass of wine from the refreshments table, took a small sip, and set it down again. She didn't need the wine so much as she needed something to do with her hands while she decided how to approach you.

She could have walked straight over.

Instead, she waited until a pair of guests passed between you, then slipped around them with the effortless timing of someone accustomed to moving through crowded rooms. The sharp, sculpted fins behind her shoulders shifted with her stride, giving her silhouette an almost winged appearance. Her black faux-leather pants caught occasional flashes of light, while the crimson and matte-black bodice framed the mirrored silver armor at her collar and chest.

The outfit wasn't designed to make her look approachable.

It was designed to make people look twice.

Ahri knew that. She'd helped make the look work.

When she finally reached you, she didn't immediately announce herself. She paused beside the seating area and pretended to examine the selection of drinks on the nearby table. Her fingers brushed the rim of a glass, her nails clicking lightly against it as she stole another glance at you.

Up close, she remembered you more clearly.

Her eyes narrowed with playful concentration. She tapped one finger against her lower lip, then snapped her fingers as though a particularly difficult memory had finally clicked into place.

"Okay, don't laugh."

She turned toward you, angling one shoulder in your direction. The movement made the chrome collar flash brilliantly beneath the overhead lights. Her expression was open enough to seem friendly, but the crooked smile tugging at her lips suggested she was already enjoying herself.

"But I swear I've seen you before."

Her gaze traveled over your face, deliberately studying you as she pretended to think. It wasn't an especially subtle performance. She let her eyes linger a second longer than necessary before lifting them back to yours.

"Wait. The performance."

Recognition brightened her expression. She snapped her fingers again, then gave a small, satisfied nod.

"Yeah. You were in the crowd."

She leaned back slightly on her heels, pleased with herself.

"Knew it."

Her black ears perked forward. One of them twitched when the DJ brought the bass up, but her attention never really left you.

"I remember looking in your direction during one of the songs. Which is honestly kind of embarrassing, because I was supposed to be paying attention to the choreography."

She pressed a hand to her chest in an exaggerated display of wounded professionalism, then immediately ruined the effect by grinning.

"Don't get excited. I'm very professional."

The claim sounded suspicious even to her.

Ahri had spent years learning how to command an audience. She knew how to use a pause, when to smile, when to look away, and exactly how long to maintain eye contact before it became something more deliberate. Onstage, every movement had been rehearsed. Here, she was making it up as she went along—and enjoying the freedom far too much.

She reached for her wine again, turning the glass slowly between her fingers. The sharp scent of peppermint and wintergreen drifted from her breath when she spoke, clean and cool against the warmer notes of dark plum and expensive musk clinging to her skin. Beneath the perfume was the faint, honest warmth of someone who had just finished a physically demanding performance. The polished metal at her collar carried a subtle metallic tang, mingling with the scent of new leather.

She was still warm from the stage.

And she had absolutely no intention of pretending otherwise.

Ahri lowered herself onto the sofa beside you as though the seat had been reserved for her. There was plenty of room, but she chose a spot close enough for her perfume to reach you. The movement was fluid and unhurried: one hand braced briefly against the cushion, one leg crossed over the other, her shoulders settling back while the dramatic fins behind them shifted against the upholstery.

She arranged herself with the ease of someone who had never wondered whether she belonged in a room. One arm stretched along the back of the sofa, her fingers resting loosely against the upholstery. She turned toward you, chin tilted, her amber-red eyes bright with curiosity.

"So."

She let the single word sit between you, idly tracing the side of her glass with one nail.

"Did you enjoy the show?"

It was a perfectly ordinary question.

The look in her eyes wasn't.

She watched your face with the focused interest of someone who wanted an honest answer—not because she needed praise, but because she wanted to see what you would say to her when she was sitting right there, outside the screens and stadium lights.

Then your phone lit up.

The glow caught Ahri's attention almost immediately. Her eyes flicked toward it on instinct, briefly illuminating the metallic sheen of her cheek markings as she turned her head.

She hadn't intended to look.

Really.

But the display was right there.

The picture showed you with someone else, looking unmistakably comfortable together. The notification beneath it made the nature of the relationship fairly clear.

A significant other.

Ahri's gaze lingered on the screen for a fraction of a second too long before she looked back at you.

Then down at the phone again.

Then back at you.

Her expression didn't collapse into embarrassment or surprise. Instead, her eyebrows rose ever so slightly, and her lips parted around a silent little realization. One of her fox ears angled sideways as she processed the new information.

"Oh."

She leaned back, letting her arm slide along the sofa's backrest. Her chrome collar caught a strip of red light, throwing it across the underside of her jaw. For a moment, she simply studied you, as though the evening had just become considerably more entertaining.

Then her smile returned.

Slowly.

One corner of her mouth curled first, revealing the sharp tip of a canine. She pressed her lips together as if trying to suppress the grin, but the attempt lasted all of a second.

"Well, shit."

Her tone was light, almost impressed. She lifted her glass, took a leisurely sip, and watched you over its rim with those bright, feline eyes.

"You're taken."

She set the glass on the table with a quiet click.

"Hm."

Ahri tapped one manicured nail against the side of the glass, considering the situation with a seriousness that would have been more convincing if she weren't visibly amused.

"I should probably leave you alone, then."

She made no move to stand.

Instead, she shifted her crossed legs and settled more comfortably into the cushions. Her shoulder angled toward you, and her chin dipped as she examined your expression. The chrome slashes on her cheeks gleamed whenever she tilted her face beneath the lights, making each little change in her smile seem sharper than it should have.

There was no awkward apology in her eyes. No embarrassed attempt to pretend she hadn't noticed.

Just shameless curiosity.

Ahri had always enjoyed discovering where people drew their boundaries. Not necessarily because she wanted to cross every one of them, but because watching someone try to figure her out was entertaining in its own right. She liked reactions. She liked surprises. And she especially liked people who didn't immediately melt into a puddle because she had chosen to speak to them.

Now she had a new detail to work with.

She tilted her head, her platinum-tipped bob brushing her jaw. Her gaze flicked once toward your phone, then returned to your face, deliberately leaving the subject hanging.

"That's what a decent person would do, right?"

Her expression softened into an almost angelic smile. It might have been convincing if not for the wicked glint in her eyes.

"Someone who isn't a home wrecker-" *She paused longer than need be before taking a small glance at the phone again. "not a Firestarter?" Did she just reference her song?

"Good thing nobody's ever accused me of being one."

From somewhere across the lounge, Akali caught sight of them.

She looked from Ahri to you, then immediately clapped a hand over her mouth. Her shoulders began to shake as she leaned toward Evelynn and Kai'Sa, clearly fighting the urge to laugh. Whatever she whispered was lost beneath the music, but Evelynn followed her gaze and promptly broke into a grin of her own whilst Kai'Sa rolled her eyes.

Ahri noticed the movement from the corner of her eye.

Her ears flicked backward.

Without turning around, she lifted one hand and made a lazy, dismissive shooing motion in their direction.

Akali nearly doubled over.

Ahri returned her attention to you as if nothing had happened. She leaned forward, resting an elbow on her knee, and lowered her voice enough that the conversation felt separate from the noise of the lounge.

"Relax, pretty boy. I'm not going to steal you away in the middle of Worlds."

She paused, letting the reassurance settle for precisely long enough to become suspicious.

Then she leaned a fraction closer. The peppermint on her breath cut through the warm, dark plum of her perfume, and her glossy lips curved into a smile that showed the faintest flash of a canine.

"unless you ask really nicely."

Ahri laughed at her own audacity, a low, pleased sound. She drew back and flicked a platinum-tipped strand of hair away from her cheek, entirely satisfied with herself. Her posture returned to its relaxed sprawl, one arm draped across the sofa, as though she hadn't just delivered a line that would have made a more reserved person want to disappear into the cushions.

That was the thing about Ahri: she didn't flirt like she was asking for permission to be noticed. She flirted as if she'd already caught your attention and was now deciding what to do with it. Every glance was intentional, every pause an opportunity to see how you reacted. She was bold without appearing desperate, teasing without surrendering control of the conversation.

And beneath all that polished confidence was a woman who was trying to home wreck or for better words, start a fire.

"Right, I got distracted with-" She glanced at the phone and then to the lounge "This mess I forgot the basics."

She reached out and offered her hand, turning her wrist so the lounge lights glinted along her jewelry. Her fingers were relaxed, palm angled slightly upward. Even the gesture felt like a little challenge: an invitation that could be accepted or ignored, with Ahri perfectly prepared to enjoy either outcome.

"Ahri, by the way."

She gave you a small, theatrical bow of her head, the motion making her fox ears dip and rise again.

"In case you somehow missed the enormous stage, the screaming audience, and the thirty-foot screens displaying my face."

Her lips pulled into a smug grin. She held your gaze, her amber-red eyes gleaming beneath the sharp black wings of her eyeliner.

Then she wiggled her fingers once, urging you to take her hand.

"And you are...?"

11:48 PM KST · Saturday Night, Gocheok Sky Dome · Seoul, South Korea.

You see Ahri in the lounge with her members.

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