TFGraves

TFGraves is the slash ship between Twisted Fate and Malcolm Graves from the League of Legends fandom.

Canon
Twisted Fate and Graves were partners in crime for many years, recognizing a kindred soul in one another, hustling far and wide across Valoran together with their crew (members include Kolt, Wallach, and The Brick). They were forced apart when a heist went south, with Graves getting sent to The Locker despite Twisted Fate’s efforts to save him (the entire crew dying in the process). It’s after these events that Twisted Fate, seeking to begin again, returns his birth name, Tobias Felix, to the river's waters and takes up his current one.

In the years after, Twisted Fate continued conning people solo, one-time evading capture by Miss Fortune. She would later hire him by proxy to sneak into Gangplank’s warehouse to steal and return a Crimson-Coil dagger, where he would reunite with Graves, who broke out from The Locker (after killing Dr. Aregor Priggs) and was tipped off by the Bounty Hunter herself about Twisted Fate presence. Flamed with rage at his partner's apparent betrayal, Graves started shooting at Tobias in an effort to settle the score with him. With Gangplank's warehouse burning and with the pirate captain's thugs swarming, the resolution of Graves' and Twisted Fate's long-simmering feud threatens to engulf the entire city in flames. Informed by the destruction of his warehouse, Gangplank set off the catch both of the perpetrators of this act.

Both Graves and Twisted Fate tried to flee from the wrath of the Pirate King but with no success. Gangplank tortured them until he tried to publicly execute them in front of the whole city for their misbehavior. Hearing the news of this event, Sarah Fortune's plans set in motion and along with her crew, started to make preparations to blow up Gangplank’s flagship so all Bilgewater could witness the death of their Reaver King. Graves managed to hide one of Twisted Fate's cards, snatched during their previous fight around the city, from the pirate thugs, and so, Twisted Fate teleports behind Gangplank and punches him, but Graves gets dragged to the bottom of the ocean. Twisted Fate then jumps after him and saves Graves from drowning but almost dies in the process. Graves manages to save Twisted Fate and after they successfully survive the explosion, both men settled their dispute and resolve to pick up their joint hustling. As Graves had lost his shotgun Destiny, they head to Piltover so he can get a new one. Even though Graves and Twisted Fate are tempted to reconcile their relationship, both know it may take a while for Graves to completely trust Twisted Fate again, still, the latter is happy to have his old friend back.

In the short story "Destiny and Fate", after running jobs in Piltover and Zaun for a while, they go back to Bilgewater in search of the Abyssal Crown. Along with the story, Twisted Fate actively tries to regain Graves' trust, staying despite the danger and giving the Crown to Graves since the latter still keeps his distance from him (“You better not be tryin’ to pocket that crown on the sly,” I growl. He gives me a dirty look, but doesn’t bother replying"//T.F. tosses the crown to me, and I awkwardly catch it.“Why you givin’ it to me?” I have to yell to be heard over the sound of the roaring water.“Figured you wouldn’t want to let it out of your sight,” he shouts back. “That you wouldn’t trust me to shift out with it.”). They end up pissing off a sea witch in the process, which would later come back for them in the cinematic "Double-double cross". The cinematic takes place on the slaughter docks, where Miss Fortune springs a trap for Twisted Fate and Graves. Despite the latter's success in cornering her, she manages to trap them and hand them to the sea witch in exchange for her quartermaster. In the end, she helps Twisted Fate and Graves escape as well.

The Graves Sentinel skin released in update 11.15 and marks the Outlaw's presence as an ally of the Sentinels of Light. One of the champion's animations has a reference to his partner Twisted Fate. According to Sirhaian, a visual effects artist at Riot Games who worked on the animations for Graves, he and his team really wanted the character and Twisted Fate to be linked in some way in this skin. In this way, he and his team came to a decision: when Graves Sentinel dies, he raises TF's blue card, so the Card Master can teleport him before he dies, ensuring he goes to a safe place.

The Boys and Bombolini
The tale shows Graves and TF doing a common job in the life of a mercenary and a crook: destroying everything. Throughout the story, the character Bombolini suggests that the champions need to be together as a couple, something they use to their advantage to escape the mess they've gotten themselves into.

Now free of the confusion, Graves is thoughtful about the possibility of being with TF in a romantic way, especially after Bombolini says that he "always had a bad finger for men" and that he considered TF the "worst man" he had ever met. After looking at TF differently, Graves defends himself, stating that he doesn't have bad taste in men, but rather "good taste in terrible men". Graves is challenged by TF, who cites a list of guys he had a "case" with: from merchants, to a "whale face" and even a Noxian. Throughout the story, Graves and Twisted Fate find themselves in a mood where someone lightly hints at romance, but both still don't quite know what to do with the new feelings that are before them. This story also confirms that Graves is gay.

Quotes
"Simmer down, hotshot."

- Twisted Fate stunning Graves.

"No way out, sunshine."

- Graves chasing Twisted Fate in Burning Tides: Act I.

"Tobias, what the hell you doing over there?! Get back here!"

- Sentinel Graves

"Okay, Tobias. When they come back to check on ya, that's when we jump 'em."

- Graves to Tobias as he plays dead

"My partners around her somewhere I think. Tobias? Ah, who cares."

- Graves

Songs

 * Graves & Twisted Fate
 * Theme from League of Legends Season 5

Fanon
The shipping intensified after the Burning Tides events, in which people referred to them as "bitter ex-lovers", particularly after a rioter who worked in the lore retcon for them stated they wanted them to be married but the higher-ups refused. In the final product, the rioter managed to keep a "palpable sexual tension" between the two. The fandom usually interprets Twisted Fate and Graves as ex-lovers that reconcile after the Burning Tides events, and are often depicted with the dynamic of a "bickering married couple". Fanfiction usually revolves around the conflict between them after Burning Tides or a strong "partners in crime" thematic. In 2022, this ship has gained even more support after the Pride Month event.

On AO3, TFGraves is the most written ship for both Graves and Twisted Fate.

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Trivia

 * For the 2022 Pride Month Collection, RIOT decided to release two new emotes featuring Graves and TF, consequently making the pair canon, and thus becoming the first canon couple between two male champions.
 * One of the emotes is a reference to the classic scene in the romantic drama film "Brokeback Mountain".
 * One of the scrapped narrative concepts for Graves was for him to be married or an ex-lover of Twisted Fate. The concept of having "palpable sexual tension" between the characters was preserved in their final lore.
 * Twisted Fate calls Graves "hotshot".
 * In a Legends of Runeterra interaction, Vi refers to Graves as Twisted Fate's "better half".
 * Sentinel Graves death animation shows Graves taking out a blue card that gets him teleported to Twisted Fate's location before dying.
 * Graves is the only person who still calls Twisted Fate by his birthname, Tobias.
 * Graves named his shotgun after Twisted Fate's teleportation ability.
 * In the background of the splashart for Snow Day Graves, there's a photograph of him and Twisted Fate.
 * Twisted Fate's gold card, is also seen in the box next to the carrot.
 * The two share a login screen.