Chapter Text
As Viktor opened his eyes, he was confused where he was. He was in a bed, his head aching hard as he forced himself to sit up and look around. He quickly realized he was in Singed’s lab still, on the doctor’s bed most likely. A yawn escaped him as he rubbed his eyes awake, trying to remember what happened.
He remembered working on some new project involving the plants they looked into so much. And then suddenly, blank. Did he faint? When was the last time he even slept? The door creaked open as the long-faced doctor stepped in, the light from behind casting a shadow on his lanky figure.
“Ah you’re up. You got me worried there, Vik. When was the last time you slept even?”, the doctor asked concerned, and Viktor couldn’t help but look away. He was too excited with his project, wanting to get to the bottom of it, that he didn’t care to sleep even. “And secondly, you almost broke your ribs and damaged your lungs. Lack of oxygen and sleep caused your body to faint.”, hearing about his ribs, Viktor quickly looked up at Singed before looking down at his chest where he was welcomed by the sight he hated seeing so much. A pair of breasts.
Yes, Viktor was born a girl, but he had never once felt like one. He tried hiding this fact and for the most part he had succeeded, except… Puberty wasn’t kind to him. “I-I can explain.”, he said, as he looked back over at Singed, scared. Was he going to get kicked out, was Singed kicking him out? The doctor moved towards the bed, crouching next to it.
“Vik… Don’t worry about that. I’ve told you before, the mutation must survive. Rio, is my mutation, and you are your own. You need to take better care of your body, and I will help you with it.”, Viktor felt tears pooling in his eyes as his mentor didn’t feel repulsed by him. Not only was he not repulsed, he planned on helping him as well. “We will start with the proper way to hide them without obstructing your ribs and lungs. And after you’ve turned 18 and stopped growing in that area, I will remove them for you, if you still wish them gone by then”
Viktor couldn’t hold back his tears and happiness as some tears rolled out of his eyes and he threw his arms around Singed. Years of being bullied and dislike of his own body have evolved into him soon looking the way he always felt he did. The doctor hugged him back, letting the young boy cry. They stayed like that for a few more minutes before singed called for Vik to get dressed. After all, there was lunch to have and experiments to finish.
As Viktor was about to bind his chest, singed put a hand over his. “No. Not like that”, he said, stopping Viktor’s hands. Viktor looked up and nodded slightly. Singed went over to a rundown wardrobe, bringing a piece of leather and some bandages. “Now, this is not a good solution either, I’d suggest you mostly keep your chest free, so you don’t cause yourself permanent damage, but this should work better than your previous invention.”, The doctor spoke as he put the leather part over and around Victor’s chest, and then using the bandage to first secure it under the breasts, then above it, followed by wrapping some more around the whole chest, making sure not to tighten it too much. He made sure to make straps over the shoulders to keep the complete thing secure as much as possible.
As the binder was placed, Viktor looked down at it, twisted his body to the left and right and then smiled at Singed, hugging him once again. This wasn’t as tight as he made his own before, so he could breathe with ease, while it also didn’t look like he had two protruding reminders of his sex. He finished dressing himself, a cobalt blue shirt, dirtied from all the experiments and collecting the shimmer plants. His pants were a neutral brown, while a vest he wore over his shirt was platinum gray with various metallic details on it. Around his neck, he put on a bow tie. Sure, the bow tie looked out of place from his whole outfit, but he liked it. It made him feel more Piltovian, the place he occasionally wished he was in, the city of progress.
He dreamt of the city. People he would meet there, like Professor Heimerdinger, other scholars, inventors… If he lived there, he’d probably own a cat. Would be nice to have someone special to enjoy Piltover with as well… But those were all just dreams and daydreams of a teenage genius inventor. There was no place for him, a Zaunite cripple, up in the shiny streets of Piltover. His place was here, underground.
The pained growl from Rio snapped him back to reality as he headed over to the mutation. He gently pet it as he smiled sadly at it. “We will survive, Rio.”, he said in a low voice, as if making a promise to the creature. During his days here, he’s gotten more and more attached to the dying creature, and it made him work harder on finding the cure for her.
After singed found out about his condition, and promised him the surgery, Viktor had become more jolly in his days. Together, they even worked out a proper binder, something to support the chest, but at the same time hold them firmly and flatten them out against the body. It was a tough thing to manage, but after many tries, they managed to make one that fit Viktor's body well, but in no way did it make Viktor uncomfortable.
With a proper binder, the two continued their works, Viktor counting days up till his 18th birthday. When the day actually came, he couldn’t even hide the excitement and happiness. He’d operate on himself if he could, but Singed had him agree he won’t. But that didn’t stop Viktor’s trip to Singed's lab on that day to seem longer than ever.
He took as many shortcuts as he could take, even parkouring down a bit safer buildings and ways, so he could get to Singed as fast as possible. He tried holding back his smile as he burst through the door to Singed’s laboratory, only to find a guest there. It was a well-dressed man with a patch over his left eye who was discussing something with the doctor.
Both men turned over to look at the newly arrived Viktor. "Ah, you seem to have another appointment, doctor. I thought to come and leave without any witnesses .", his words made a shiver run down Viktor's spine. He certainly didn't look loving and cuddly from the get go… then again who in Zaun did. It was either cripples, mutants or scary people.
"He's my assistant, Silco. Visit me about your eye in a week. I've done what I can now.", Singed spoke as Silco gave a nod and headed towards the door. Viktor moved out of his way, making Silco smirk a bit.
"He seems to have a good head on his shoulders, doctor. Maybe in the future, he could earn a living with it.", and with those foreboding words, Silco left the lab, leaving the two scientists to be.
Viktor was about to ask, but seeing Singed just raise his hand, he stopped. There are things in Zaun that you don't ask about if you want to keep all your limbs attached.
“So da-doctor, it’s my 18th birthday today, and you know what that means~” Viktor’s voice cracked a bit, but he didn’t care at this point. Soon he will have a chest as flat as he always wanted. Singed cracked a smile and nodded before motioning Viktor to follow him as he took him to a separate room where he had a surgical desk.
“For safety reasons, you will be unconscious during the procedure. I will wake you up afterwards, and you can see the new you.” Singed informed, and Viktor happily nodded before taking his top and laying down on the table as instructed. The doctor brought a mask with some gas and put it over Viktor’s face and soon after, Viktor had fallen unconscious.
As Viktor opened his eyes, he felt pain on his chest, but looking down, all he saw were bandages wrapped around his flat form. Excitement rose in him again as he sat up quickly and then groaned in pain.
“Child, please. You’ve just been operated on. Don’t move so fast, the wounds will open. You need to rest for a few days.”, the voice from the doctor came as he entered the room. A smile never left the young inventor’s face as he, this time slowly, got off the table completely and approached Singed, hugging him close.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you”, was all he could say as tears of happiness rolled down his cheeks. His mentor hugged him back.
“Happy birthday, Vik”, he said, bringing another wave of tears to the teen’s eyes.
“Vik, I think it’s time for you to move on with your projects”, the words pierced straight to Viktor’s heart as he looked at his mentor’s face confused, scared, sad… What did he mean move on? He’s been here for so many years. He felt like they’ve made progress with Rio, even though the lizard-like mutation was now floating in it’s tube aquarium.
“B-But… Rio… Progress” words were barely coming to him as he tried to hold back tears. He didn’t want to leave the place where he belonged.
“I’m not kicking you out, Vik. You’re smart, smarter than most of Zaun. You’re not made to be an assistant. You’re someone who will bring change to Zaun, but you can’t do that from the confides of my lab where our main focus is Rio.”
“But I want to stay and help Rio. The mutation must survive, dad”, Signed slammed his hand on the table, making Viktor jump a bit.
“Rio will be fine. You can still visit us, but it’s better for you to explore what is outside. You saw the suffering of people in Zaun. Wouldn’t you rather help all of them? Show them that you are a mutation who survived.” Singed moved towards Viktor and cupped his face gently before leaning in and pressing a kiss on the top of his head. “You need to get your head in the game and show Zaun, Piltover and the whole world that there is no scientist on par with you.”
Viktor nodded as he rubbed the tears out of his eyes. “I-I promise. I will make you proud. I will make Zaun better”, he said trying not to let the tears roll out of his eyes.