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Chapter Text

In retrospect, Viktor never should have left the lab that evening.

Winter had settled over Piltover, blanketing the streets in a thick layer of snow and Viktor had long since learned to stick to indoor spaces when the temperatures began to drop. The formal coat he wore to the Academy was growing woefully thin and the cold made his leg ache something fierce. He was perfectly willing to wait out the season in the comfort of the lab, but as soon as the string lights had gone up around the city, something like an obsession had come over Jayce.

In the many months since they’d first started their partnership at the Academy, Viktor had grown accustomed to the man’s sudden whims. With the same enthusiasm he usually reserved for science, Jayce would be taken with some new fancy or other, sharing his excitement for it with Viktor until both of them were veritable experts in the field of whatever it was by way of conversation. While Viktor had never considered himself to be a social person, he was fairly certain he could speak with confidence on the subjects of Noxian Summer Wine, the Anti-Magic politics of Demacia, swordsmithing, Lapidary Art, Experimental Lutherie, and Miss Caitlyn Kiramman’s favorite cupcake flavors from Sinfully Sweet on Slatefell Row, if he were ever pressed to do so.

Jayce’s tendency to fixate on obscure subjects while they worked should have annoyed him, but there was something in the way the man’s eyes lit up as he threw himself at each passion-of-the-week that managed to draw in Viktor’s focus. It was a distraction, really, one that Viktor had grown hopelessly weak toward and begrudgingly could even admit to himself he looked forward to. In those precious moments, he held Jayce’s full attention--something he’d embarrassingly come to crave. It was entrancing.

It was dangerous.

Viktor was all too well aware of his partner’s charms. He was objectively handsome, as anyone with eyes surely knew, and his enthusiasm infectious. He had an easy smile and an easy way with words. He was strong and caring and trusting and approachable. And brilliant.

Painfully brilliant. To the point Viktor often found him illuminating the room with his very presence.

It was sickening really, but no matter how Viktor tried to school his wayward thoughts, he couldn’t escape the aching flutter beneath his ribs that Jayce always seemed to inspire. In the rare moments of honesty he bore when he was alone in the seclusion and safety of his room, Viktor could admit it’d begun that night in Professor Heimerdinger’s lab. The joy of stabilizing the crystal and floating fifteen feet above the floor had gone to his head, and when Jayce had sent that delicate little cog his way through the reaction, the first sharp knot of longing had struck; hard and sweet and right beneath his sternum. He’d tried to rationalize the whole thing afterward. He’d filed it away in his head as an anomaly or a momentary lack of breath due to the weightlessness of the moment. The small golden cog always found its way back into his vest pocket, however; a comforting weight he often held in his hand and justified keeping as a symbol of their success on the few occasions he’d been caught out with it.

It was a superficial lie and one he’d long since stopped telling himself each time that ache took hold in his chest.

He wasn’t ignorant to the cause of his malady, but to identify it...to give it a name...well, that would only be giving it power. There were certain realities one couldn’t change. While a foreigner by birth, Jayce had grown up in Piltover in a small House, but a House nonetheless. He had status and a good, if not fairweather patronage, and no shortage of willing companions of equal wealth and standing if only he’d ever take notice. He was a beautiful creature; one that other beautiful creatures had begun to take note of. One that they’d begun to covet.

Viktor was more than clever enough to understand the distance that would always exist between them, no matter how many times their names were signed together on their research papers. Light and shadow may work well together in practice, but only because they each occupied their own space. Eventually, Jayce would find another firelight to fly with, and until then, Viktor would continue to lean into his every word and pocket those too until they someday ran out.

No matter how many rules or boundaries Viktor set for himself, however, Jayce had a penchant for getting him to break them. “Going out” had once been a solitary activity Viktor reserved for his rare trips to the Undercity for hard-to-find supplies, or on the rarer occasion to the bookstore on Bellvale Street when a new academic journal had finally arrived.

“Going out” now usually meant extracurricular time with Jayce, wherein the pair would no doubt end up in some eclectic part of Piltover chasing down some new and exotic sweet Jayce absolutely needed to partake in. Occasionally, “Going out” meant accompanying Jayce to the street vendors near the museum for dinner in the park or visiting that insipidly sweet healer with the moon pendant Jayce had gone to “great lengths” to track down when Viktor had come down with a fever. That last one particularly irked him as Viktor despised anyone trying to examine his health too closely, but to Jayce’s credit, the woman seemed to have some ability. Her teacher had apparently once worked in the Undercity and had only recently been sending students to take up the cause and care she’d pursued therein. Viktor continued with the appointments the woman forced upon him, if only because his lungs seemed clearer after that first treatment. Though he’d never admit it, the pain in his leg was much more tolerable and his complexion not nearly as sallow these days.

Still, as the weather turned colder, Viktor retreated into old habits, holing up in the lab and thoroughly ignoring the fat snowflakes as they fell outside the windows until Jayce had stayed later one evening as they debated a particularly interesting idea for the large scale transport efficiency. After running into yet another tricky bit of crystal frequency they’d need to solve for, Jayce had stood abruptly and tossed Viktor his coat and scarf--a thick and wholly ugly blue woolen thing that Miss Caitlyn Kiramman had given him--cajoling him into the frosty night air with the promise of fresh coffee and a warm hearth to clear their heads by.

That first night turned into two when they ran into an issue with the brass regulators at the end of the week. The very next day they’d made a third trip to discuss couplings and manufacturers. By midwinter, the nightly walk to the coffee shop had just become part of their routine.

Which was precisely how Viktor ended up becoming an unwitting regular at The Last Drop--a late-night coffee house down near the Highbridge that one might have mistaken for a bar at first glance.

It was a loud and raucous affair befitting the family from Undercity that ran it, and though Jayce seemed uncertain when they’d first stepped in, Viktor found it more comforting than any Piltover establishment he’d ever visited. Vander, the owner, ran a tight ship and made a mean cup of coffee, complete with the particular brand of sweetmilk Viktor preferred. His youngest daughter, Powder, was a bit of a tinkerer herself and often made herself at home at the table nearby until Jayce invited her over to showcase her latest invention. Vi, the older daughter was a bit of a brute, hefting her little sister over her shoulder and carrying her to the backroom when the hour grew truly late and Vander called for them to head to bed. Vander’s eldest was the reason Jayce had come to find the place. Miss Caitlyn Kiramman was a daytime regular--for reasons other than the coffee if the way her cheeks flushed at the mere mention of the shop’s name was any indication.

Though he’d taken quite a liking to the shop himself, it took longer for Viktor to come to terms with the notoriety that eventually accompanied it. Even with his impeccable memory, Viktor struggled to pinpoint when they’d moved from unknown variables to “those two eggheads from the Academy” to being welcomed on sight by name and their usual order already prepared and waiting for them. The easy familiarity Vander’s family graced them with had unsettled Viktor. Few people ever called his name outside of Jayce and Professor Heimerdinger and the handful that did recognize him as the Dean’s former assistant or the dour shadow that haunted Jayce’s side rarely acknowledged him beyond a quick nod of the head. He’d been a ghost to the majority of Pilties since Heimerdinger had taken him in; a thing that was ignored outside of the few occasions it materialized with any sort of importance. He’d learned to live in that liminal space he’d been cast in, becoming an echo of both cities but never truly thriving in either one.

In The Last Drop, however, he was known. He was welcomed. He was treated like family.

Vander would ruffle his hair with that big meaty paw of his while pointing to the pair of red velvet wingbacks he kept on permanent reserve for the pair--not that he needed to anymore as the rest of the shop’s regulars all seemed in agreement for who owned that space by the hearth by the way they’d chase newcomers away from the chairs. Vi called him “Vik” and had socked him full in the arm once with a laugh before adding extra sweetmilk to his tray, even as he’d tried to decline it...the bruise afterward taking three weeks to fully heal. Powder had even gone so far as to climb into his lap once in the middle of showing him her latest gadget, perched on his good leg and leaning in to make certain he was paying close attention to the details of her wiring job. Jayce had a good laugh that night when she’d fallen asleep midway through a yawning sentence and drooled on Viktor’s collar until Vi saw fit to carry her sister to their room. No doubt Viktor had looked out of sorts, stiff as he could remember holding himself under that tiny weight. He’d never been particularly good with children, especially when he’d been a child himself, but night after night the girls sought out his company as if they actually cared for it. They wheedled their way past his guard one moment at a time until, without realizing it, he found himself leaning into Power’s excited hugs and tossing friendly jibes across the room at Vi despite the crowded shop and reaching out when Vander inevitably moved to shake his hand. Aspects help him, Viktor actually cared what the name of Power’s latest minion would be. He cared about Vander’s thoughts on the success and failings of the council’s current plans to reduce labor inequality across the bridge. He’d even found himself keeping up with the latest news on Violet’s interactions with one Miss Caitlyn Kiramman, providing what he hoped were appropriate hums and nods of agreement as she laid out her next plan to gain the girl’s attention and perhaps even sliding her a business card from the Sinfully Sweet shop he’d gone out of his way to retrieve for her.

And through it all Jayce sat quietly at his side, watching Viktor when the man thought he was otherwise distracted with clear amusement and something harder to define in his eyes. Alone in his rooms, Viktor wasn’t sure what to make of it all, no matter how many times he’d tried to analyze it. The part of him that had grown up in the Undercity, the part that learned to live in the forgotten spaces of Piltover and to hole up in his lab when the weather turned colder recognized the dangerous game he was playing. It screamed at him to pull back before the other shoe dropped. Each morning he swore he’d stay in, but each night as Jayce helped him into his coat, Viktor found himself looking forward to the warmth of The Last Drop and the fluttering ache that now lived beneath his coat lapels as his partner tied his blue monstrosity of a scarf just so.

It wasn’t until they were well and truly tucked into their armchairs by the fireplace that evening-- after Powder has regaled them with her latest but greatest attempt at a cat that spewed fireworks, and Vi had poured another dose of sweetmilk into his already full cup, and Vander laughed hard enough to turn Jayce’s ears a bright red over a strange conversation about making Viktor into an honest man while Viktor tried in vain to argue back that Professor Heimerdinger had long since forgiven them and that any deceptions on his part were in the service of science--that Viktor realized he never wanted that winter to end.

The thought rattled him as he waited for Jayce to return with a fresh set of coffees before they went over the early proposal for next year’s construction details for the first Hexgate. Viktor had never been one to live in the past nor the present. He’d worked hard to leave what had been behind, and his day-to-day was only valuable to him as a byway to the future. Moments were fleeting, ephemeral things; harder to hold onto than sand and constantly in flux. To wish for a single one of them to last forever was foolish at best and really, he should know by now. He’d spent the better part of that year trying to convince himself that even the cog he tumbled nervously between his fingers would lose its charm eventually.

The whole of it perplexed him to such an extent that he’d nearly jumped out of his seat when the warmth of Jayce’s hand settled against his shoulder and Viktor’s name eased out with something like concern from his lips.

“You feeling alright there, V?”

“I apologize, my mind was elsewhere,” Viktor waved him off with a grimace.

“The proposal that bad?” Jayce asked and nodded to the folder of papers that had migrated from Viktor’s lap to the floor when he’d startled.

“No, not at all, I was just...here, let me--” Viktor shook his head and moved to retrieve the papers from the ground.

“No, no--I’ve got it.” Jayce proved to be the more nimble between them, stepping to the front of Viktor’s chair and falling to one knee with ease as he gathered the wayward parchments. “Vi’s got another round of coffee on the way. You look like you could use it.”

Viktor snorted and ignored the fresh wave of pain as it settled against his ribs. “I am more accustomed to late nights than you are. I will be fine.”

“Great minds need to rest every now and then, V,” said Jayce, the corner of his mouth twitching into a horribly bright smile. “Even yours.”

To his annoyance, Viktor found himself mirroring it. “So you keep telling me.”

If there was one thing that really irked Jayce about Viktor, that thing would no doubt be his abhorrent aversion to resting. Try as he might, it was the one thing he hadn’t been able to charm Viktor into as of yet. Jayce had been a notoriously early riser before he’d met Viktor, and while he often bemoaned the damage he was causing to his own internal clock, he’d slowly begun adjusting his hours until he could match Viktor’s own long after midnight.

“You should really try it sometime,” Jayce said with a click of his tongue as he slid the last page into place and set the folder aside. “Sleep in once in a while, maybe not work until you’re passing out at the desk. Your partner would appreciate it if you’d at least consider--”

His words faltered as he plucked something small from the carpet. Holding it up to the light between thumb and forefinger until it shone gold in the firelight, Viktor realized Jayce was holding a cog.

His cog.

“O-oh, that’s..,” he started and reached for it

Viktor’s fingertips barely brushed the metal, when the crash of ceramic shattering beside them filled the air. Both Jayce and Viktor looked up to find Powder staring at them and practically vibrating in excitement as the remnants of their coffee order lay at her feet. Despite her constant exuberance, the girl had an uncanny sense of balance and in all the time they’d been coming to The Last Drop, neither Jayce nor Viktor had ever seen her drop a spoon let alone a whole tray. The shop fell silent and before either of the men could react, Powder threw her hands above her head with a cheer before rushing to encircle both of them in a bone-crushing hug.

“P-powder, what--?” Viktor had barely managed before he felt the quick press of her lips to his cheek.

“CONGRATULATIONS!” she crowed, repeating the action as she turned to peck Jayce’s forehead.

Bounding away from them as quick as she came, Powder leaped onto one of the nearby tables and reached deep into the little pouch she kept on her belt. With a wide flourish, she tossed a handful of paper confetti into the air with a loud whoop, addressing the room with a childish authority.

“Listen up, everyone! My friends here just got engaged! Let’s give it up for the happy couple!”

Jayce was the first to move, turning on his knee and reaching out to her in vain with a call of “Powder, wait--!” before his words were washed away under the sea of resounding cheers and applause. With a quick glance back at Viktor, Jayce was up and on his feet and already making his way towards Powder as she threw another handful of confetti over his head. Despite the ever-present warmth of the room, Viktor felt like he’d just been dropped into a cold bath and he shrunk back into the worn velvet of his chair. The abject horror he’d seen on his partner’s face had been clear.

Chapter Text

“Good job, you!” Powder rallied on as both Vander and Vi moved to join her along with several nearby patrons.

“About time,” Vi said with a huffed laugh and a playful fist to his arm.

Vander pulled the girls away from Jayce before they could crowd him any further. “Let the man breathe, would you?”

Despite his best efforts, Powder slipped under his arm with the grace of a little fish, wiggling and flopping until she was free. With a leap and the tip of her boot in his belt, she scaled Jayce until she was perched and hanging off his back like a new satchel. “Maaan, I thought it was never gonna happen! You sure took your time, Jayce! Viktor could have died an old man waiting for you to make your move.”

“W-well, I--”

“Please,” Vi waved him off from under her father’s arm. “If Viktor made eyes at you any harder they’d have rolled out of his head. Cupcake’s gonna lose her shit when she stops by tomorrow--she said you were thick as a brick, but I knew it was gonna happen. No one could be that dense.”

“W-what?” Jayce robotically shook the hand of another coffeeshop regular as Powder laughed over his shoulder.

“Hey, you’re gonna invite me to the wedding, right?”

“Girls!” Vander nearly bellowed, plucking his youngest from where she’d attached herself to Jayce’s back. “I know you’re excited right now, but the man needs space.”

Never in his life had Jayce been more grateful to the man as he carried off the girls with a nod and a promise that the next round was on him. Several more well-wishers stepped up to shake his hand and Jayce found himself answering on instinct to the rapid questions some put in his way.

How did they meet?

Why did it take so long?

When did he know?

He politely excused himself after that last one with a forced grin and a quick step back, because the thing was: He didn’t know. One minute he’d been picking their Hextech proposal up off the floor and the next the room had exploded in cheers and Powder’s neverending supply of confetti. He’d been horrified in that short moment before all hell broke loose; when Powder’s words hit him and he’d realized what was happening and his heart had climbed into his throat. His first thought had been to stop her--he had been desperate to stop her--because the look on Viktor’s face had said it all.

Jayce liked to think that he recognized most of Viktor’s expressions by now. He knew the difference between a disapproving frown and a thoughtful one. He cataloged the breadth of the man’s smiles from “mildly amused by his own depreciating joke” to “unguarded joy”. He knew the precise degree to which his brows used to furrow when his leg pained him and the slight widening of his eyes that happened whenever they stumbled upon something truly brilliant on the blackboard. Viktor schooled his features often, but Jayce reveled in knowing the meaning behind every slip and microexpression. It was a privilege few were given and Jayce kept each new thing he learned about Viktor close to his heart; a precious collection he worked at growing daily and took out to admire when he was alone. He’d wanted so badly to know all of Viktor’s expressions someday; to be able to say he knew more about Viktor than anyone else.

He regretted that wish tonight. The look of utter heartbreak on his face was something Jayce never wanted to see again.

And in that moment, Jayce was certain Viktor knew.

He hadn’t meant to fall in love with his partner, really he hadn’t, but the man was a genius; quick-witted and fantastically clever with a tongue as sharp as it could be gentle. Jayce had tried to convince himself that constant wash of breathlessness that seemed to follow Viktor’s wake was just gratitude; admiration. Viktor had recognized the value in Jayce’s work when no one else could. He’d thrown him a literal lifeline in a handful of words and offered him both a future and a friendship. Viktor was a bright star who brought a comforting light to even the darkest of moments. He’d looked so beautiful in that soft blue glow that first night they’d stabilized the crystal: Fifteen feet above the floor and looking at Jayce like he’d hung the moon.

Viktor made it difficult not to fall in love with him.

Jayce knew he was lost to the tide despite his best efforts not to drown. He felt the pull in his throat the first time he’d really heard the man laugh and knew he was trapped in Viktor’s gravity. He’d lost count of the number of times he’d nearly spilled his heart on the floor at Viktor’s feet, but the fear of scaring off the best friend he’d ever known--his partner and confidant--had kept him silent. He’d filled each wave of longing with other conversation. He’d laid awake at night reading through the papers and his mother’s latest artisan magazines looking for distractions; anything to keep the words he truly wanted to say from tumbling out when silence fell over the lab and their equations ran dry for the day. Anything to hold Viktor’s attention for just a moment more.

Viktor was not a man Jayce could charm through words alone.

He’d lost count of the hours he’d devoted to researching topics Viktor might show an interest in. Knowledge was the one thing Jayce knew for certain the man admired and he threw himself at the eclectic subjects he began to gather with the same fervor he’d once reserved for science. Obscure shops, political dealings, craftsmanship--hell when Viktor had come down with a fever, Jayce had paid a handsome fee to track down the absolute best healer in the city. He was certain he’d gone too far that time--Viktor never spoke seriously about his health, assuming the cane he always carried was enough of an explanation. That was the day Jayce had learned what a flash of anger looked like on Viktor.

Jayce could hardly remember the words that tripped out of him then, but whatever he’d said at the time, Viktor had finally conceded with a roll of his eyes and gruff nod. Whether or not the woman was really the student of a Celestial Aspect, Jayce waited outside her colorful tent, pacing across the bricked street until Viktor emerged, straight-backed and with more color in his cheeks than Jayce had ever seen. It took a week of tense silence in the lab before Viktor casually remarked that he had another session with the healer already scheduled and thus would need to push back their dinner plans by an hour.

That small olive branch rekindled Jayce’s efforts at plying for Viktor’s time and attention. By the time winter had arrived in Piltover, Jayce had even managed to shift his work schedule to better align to Viktor’s own, and though he’d felt hungover and drowsy the first few mornings he’d dragged himself out of bed long after the sun was up, the hours he’d gained of the other man’s company at night were worth it. While he’d been triumphant in coaxing Viktor out of the lab for the occasional oddities and street vendors that seemed plausibly interesting enough to warrant attention, as the weather turned colder, Jayce was beginning to run out of new ideas. Rest and relaxation were not activities Viktor placed much value in to begin with, and when winter settled in, the man had all but moved into the lab on an even more permanent basis than before.

Jayce had all but given up hope of ever seeing Viktor outside of work ever again when his old friend Caitlyn had thrown him a bone.

Sweetmilk was a particular vice for Viktor and Jayce wasn’t beyond exploiting that weakness with a promise of coffee on the side. In the end, he’d only had to toss Viktor his coat before they were both out the door and slowly making their way through the bauble lit streets. More than once he’d had to stifle the urge to take the man’s arm. Each time Viktor’s cane caught on a patch of ice or a pocket of snow, Jayce had held his breath, prepared to catch him should his stride ever falter. Viktor was a proud man, but even he could hardly fault Jayce in such a scenario. That moment thankfully never came, no matter how many nights after Jayce lost himself in the fantasy of it; hot and bothered and guilty afterward.

The Last Drop hadn’t quite been what Caitlyn had described. It was loud and raucous and Jayce was practically sweating through his shirtsleeves that first night. He was certain Viktor would hate it, but the coffee was good and as the hours dragged on alongside their conversation, Jayce found himself in awe of how relaxed Viktor seemed to be.

It took more courage than he liked to admit--even to himself--to suggest returning for another round, but two visits quickly became three, and three became ten. Jayce stopped counting by the time the barman and his family knew them by name. If Jayce had never known real magic, he’d have sworn The Last Drop was enchanted. Little by little Viktor’s demeanor began to shift and like a gemstone being carefully crafted, new facets to his partner began to show. Jayce still held on to each and every word that passed between them by that hearth, but he found contentment in the moments where Viktor’s attentions were drawn elsewhere as well.

He’d stayed close to Jayce’s side in the beginning when the girls took interest in him and had even grabbed at the sleeve of Jayce’s coat to steady himself the first time Powder had wrapped her arms around him in greeting. Though he doubted Viktor would ever admit it, that kid had quickly become his favorite. Jayce carefully bottled up each memory of their interactions, watching the lithe lines of Viktor’s hands as he seriously considered the girl’s inventions. The first time Powder had crawled up into his lap as if she’d always belonged there, Jayce couldn’t suppress his laugh. Viktor had looked utterly bewildered, turning to Jayce for help even as a bright flush filled his cheeks.

The man was a natural with kids.

The only problem with becoming so friendly-- so known-- by the people at The Last Drop, was the knowledge that his secret wasn’t so much a secret anymore. Both Vi and Vander watched their surroundings like a pair of circling hawks and it wasn’t long before they felt at ease enough to bring it up with him.

The first time Vi had handed him a refill and asked if his boyfriend needed one as well, Jayce had nearly dropped his cup. By the look on her face, he’d known it was too late to fall back on charm and denial, so he’d shushed her and threatened to tell Caitlyn of her own big fat crush if she ever let his slip to Viktor. Vi maintained the terms of their treatise thereafter, though it didn’t stop her teasing.

Vander was not so easy to deal with nor under any obligation of subtlety. He took great joy in making Jayce sweat every time he and Viktor walked through the door and when he’d asked when Jayce would make an honest man out of his partner Jayce could feel his heart sink into his stomach. He’d never been so thankful that Viktor still struggled with common idioms: He could feel his cheeks burning all the while his partner took to seriously defending his actions at the Academy the night they’d broken into Professor Heimerdinger’s office.

Standing there watching him thoroughly dress down the mountain of a man on the other side of the counter, shaking cane and all, Jayce couldn’t help but love him. It wasn’t until they were seated in front of the fire passing their initial proposal for the Hexgate construction back and forth while listening to Powder’s ever-growing tail about the successes and spectacular failings of her firework shooting metal cat that Jayce realized what that truly meant.

He no longer wanted all of Viktor’s time and attention for himself. He was radiant like this: relaxed and engaged and so full of light it hurt to look at him. Happiness was a good look on Viktor. It was Jayce’s favorite look and he’d do anything to see more of it, even if that look wasn’t centered on him.

He couldn’t keep playing this game.

He’d decided then and there to tell him later that night. He’d be honest with the man who had given him so much and let him decide where things stood from there. If he never wanted to see Jayce again afterward; if he wasn’t interested; if he decided to walk away, Jayce would abide by his decision. Until then, he’d live for this moment and walk the man home to his door one last time.

That had been his plan at least. Before he’d found Viktor a million miles away in thought when he’d returned from ordering their next round; before he’d bent down to retrieve their papers; before he’d found that damn cog and Powder had reached an inaccurate conclusion.

Before Vi had put ideas in his head that he hadn’t been the only one consigned to looking from a distance.

He needed to talk to Viktor.

Stepping away from the crowd, Jayce turned back to the pair of winged back chairs by the hearth. Both of their coats were still neatly folded by their papers where he’d left them, but Viktor was gone. A quick look around the shop confirmed his absence and a sudden panic clawed at his throat. Viktor wouldn’t have left without him, not at this late an hour and not without his coat. Not when the temperature dropped so drastically they often walked pressed into one another’s sides for warmth. He was too smart for that.

But he was also a prideful man. One who’d only recently begun to accept Jayce’s help more often as of late rather than struggling with his coat and cane.

Snatching up their winter gear, Jayce tucked Viktor’s coat over his arm and was halfway out the door by the time he made it into his own. The wind was sharp and biting as it caught against his cheeks, pulling a thick cloud of fresh snowflakes along its path. If he was wrong, then he’d double back and apologize, but the idea of Viktor being out and alone just then drove his feet down the bridge walk and towards their usual path home.

Jayce couldn’t be sure when Viktor had slipped away, nor how long he’d been held up in the crowd. Surely ten minutes at most--though it felt like a lifetime longer just then. Viktor always went at his own pace and since going to the healer his stride was infinitely more confident and sure, but he still needed his cane when distance was a factor. There was no guarantee he’d even take their usual route home. Viktor knew the city better than most and if he’d wanted to go unnoticed, Jayce would be hard-pressed to find him. Still, Jayce prayed that he’d stick to the easiest path--the one best lit and kept in the winter. He could be anywhere, but Jayce would run to the Academy and back through every street and alley until he’d found him.

As it turned out, he only needed to go halfway up the road from the bridge walk.

The snow crunched beneath his boots and threatened to give way when he hit a patch of ice, but Jayce forced himself forward up the steep incline of the street. Viktor was there, in the shadow between two streetlights. He leaned heavily against the stone facade of the nearest building, one arm--his cane arm--bracing his weight as he curled forward. His shoulders shook as his body bobbed forward in an odd and uncontrollable rhythm. For one sickening moment, Jayce thought his partner was dying; choking as he coughed with shirtsleeves still haphazardly rolled over knobbly elbows and the thick scarf that Caitlyn had made for him around his neck.

Memories of his childhood flooded a chill fear through his veins. Piltover winters were a tropical island in comparison to the freezing temperatures of Freljord where both blizzards and ice trolls were a constant threat. Exposure took longer to take hold--logically, he knew this, but behind his eyes thoughts of his mother’s fingers turning to a sickly grey-black and the needle sharp pain of biting wind gnawing at his cheeks gripped at his heart. That expression of anguish was not one he ever wanted to see written on his partner’s face. The very thought of it fueled him forward, fear granting speed to his steps.

“Viktor!”

Jayce reached out, forgetting himself as he caught hold of the frail man’s shoulder a moment too late and nearly sending both of them tumbling to the ground as his foot slipped on the snow-slicked pavement. It was only by the grace of his boot catching against Viktor’s cane, discarded and lodged in the snow, that he stayed upright. With the panic and near fall still fueling his adrenalin, Jayce rounded on Viktor, his words falling with a harsher tone than intended.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing out here? You--”

Jayce stopped mid-rant, finding himself staring down at the top of Viktor’s head. The man’s chin was tucked low and his face hidden behind a curtain of loose brown curls, but his posture spoke volumes of total defeat. Jayce recognized it immediately, because, between the two of them, it was a look he’d seen more times than he’d like to admit in the mirror on the back of his door. Viktor had always been the stronger of the pair; the one who endured. The one who kept trying. Seeing that kind of despair in the curve of his back now was unnerving, enough so that when Viktor rolled his shoulder with sudden and surprising strength, he dislodged Jayce’s hand with ease.

“I’m going back to the lab,” he explained in a tone so flat and cold it sounded foriegn. “There’s work to do.”

Contrary to his words, Viktor didn’t move. The only sound between them was the harsh exhale of air as both men struggled to catch their breaths.

“Please,” his shoulders sagged under the weight of keeping his voice steady. “Just let me go.”

Something took hold of Jayce then. A random thought that knifed him in the gut, sharp and precise and so like the precipice he’d once stood on in the ruins of his first apartment at the Academy it shook him. If he let Viktor go now, if he stepped back and let him walk off this ledge, something would change between them, and not for the better. Without thinking, Jayce’s hand rose to cup Viktor’s cheek, coaxing his chin up in an action that surprised them both. Their eyes met in the middle and widened; Viktor’s bright with shame and Jayce’s furrowed in realization.

“Don’t--” Viktor breathed out, barely stifling a sob.

Several things hit Jayce at once as he stood with his broad back shielding his partner from the wind and snow as it breezed by. His skin felt soft but cold. Viktor hadn’t been doubled over because of a cough. A thin ring of gold bled into the amber just around his pupils. He’d never been this close to Viktor before. He’d never felt so far away. And despite the many months and weeks and days Jayce had spent studying the man, he was struck with the thought that he’d failed to see something important.

Jayce drew back. Viktor once again dropped his head low and looked away. The sound of material rustling made him flinch before the warm weight of his coat settled around his shoulders and a pair of large warm hands settled on his upper arms.

“You’re freezing,” Jayce said, rubbing at Viktor’s arms. “I can’t…” He huffed with the whisper of a laugh in his breath. “I can’t believe you of all people came all the way out here without a coat.”

“It was stifling in there,” he returned with an edge of his old dry wit. Jayce could imagine the way his lip threatened to curl into that self-deprecating little smirk he often wore. “Moreso with all those people.”

Jayce grimaced, his hands stopping just shy of Viktor’s elbows. “You know they mean well. Vi was just teasing--”

“Teasing?” Viktor scoffed.

“You know, like a joke..,” Jayce added weakly.

“Of course it’s a joke,” Viktor murmured, unable to keep the hurt from his tone. “One for which I am the punching line.”

Jayce caught ahold of Viktor’s chin once more, forcing him to meet his eyes. “Hey, no. Viktor, that’s not what she meant--”

“It is very funny, is it not?” Viktor continued even as his eyes ran bright. “You should have a good laugh.”

“No,” Jayce repeated more firmly. “Viktor, you weren’t the joke back there. It was...it was me. Vi was laughing at me.”

“I don’t understand.”

Jayce couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course you don’t. You know, for such a smart guy, V, you can be really stupid sometimes.”

Viktor bristled at that, opening his mouth for what would no doubt have been a truly beautiful tongue-lashing when Jayce shifted his arms around his back, pulling him close. The tiny sound that escaped Viktor’s lips as he was pressed tightly against the warmth of his partner’s chest would no doubt haunt Jayce’s memories for the rest of his life.

“Jayce, what--” his words came out muffled against the wool of his partner’s coat.

Jayce squeezed him tighter, his head low, and pressed to Viktor’s shoulder. The rational part of his mind argued that he should gentle his hold on the man, but the emotional part, the part he’d kept in check for too long only held on harder. Viktor was like finely spun glass, impossibly delicate and so narrow in his grasp that Jayce suddenly felt like a great clumsy oaf trying to hold a soap bubble. Objectively, he’d always known Viktor was a slight man, but he’d hid much beneath the armor of his shirtsleeves. Lithe muscles flexed in response to the pressure of his fingers until they hit something more solid and metal and round. Some sort of body modification supported his spine and once again Jayce found himself in awe of his partner. The man was a paradox made from glass and steel; sharp and soft and utterly too brilliant for the shadows he preferred to keep as company.

They stood like that for awhile as Jayce gathered up both courage and explanations when tentatively--oh so carefully, as if asking for permission--Viktor’s hands slid under the wool of Jayce’s coat until they came to rest at the small of his back.

“This is...very different,” he murmured, his accent thick and rolling around the words as if testing them on his tongue. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Would it really be so bad,” Jayce began, speaking against the edge of Viktor’s lapel. “To share a name along with our dreams? Because I’d gladly take yours if you’d give it to me.”

Viktor’s gasp was whisper-soft, but Jayce heard it all the same. There would be no walking back from this point on; he’d hand Viktor his heart and offer him the truths he’d kept hidden for too long. One that didn’t come with parapets and prepared speeches. A proposal that Viktor alone had the power to approve or deny.

Jayce held his breath and waited, memorizing the crisp scent of eucalyptus oil and mint and the whisper of chalk that seemed to cling to Viktor long after he’d left the lab.

“I don’t..,” Viktor finally started with a stiff shake of his head. “I don’t have one to give you.” Jayce held him tightly as he felt the soft sigh that escaped the man’s lips as he pressed his forehead against Jayce’s chest. “I have only ever been Viktor.”

There were a hundred arguments Jayce suddenly wanted to make as his fingers traced thoughtfully down each metal plug along Viktor’s spine. There were volumes of accusations--of admissions--in the way he said “only”, as if his name alone marked him as lacking. Things worked differently in the Undercity, Jayce knew, even as painfully ignorant as he was of the place. There were no great houses nor birth given statuses, nor promise of greatness outside of what one could make with their own strength and tenacity. The people of Piltover took such things for granted--he had taken such things for granted--and they looked down on those who didn’t possess the wealth of advantages living on one side of the bridge brought with it.

And while minds were slowly changing, Jayce had once been an outsider, too. It was only through his mother’s marriage that he’d gained a name and a house and a patronage and enough status to overshadow the fact that he wasn’t born in the City of Progress. Jayce had thrived in that acceptance, but Viktor--Viktor had never known any of the advantages given to Jayce. Viktor carved out a place for himself through hard work and his own brilliance in a city that would rather ignore him. Viktor didn’t need a house or a second name to be great.

Viktor was the name that had once saved Jayce’s life. The name that had reinforced his dream with steel and support. The man was so much more than “only”. He was everything.

“That’s more than enough for me, V,” Jayce said. “It’s always been enough.”

With a sharp inhale, Viktor’s fingers curled until they were gripping the back of Jayce’s shirt.

“You are ridiculous,” he murmured, clinging to Jayce as if he was the only thing holding him upright. “Think of how confusing that would be when we sign our papers.”

There was an edge of their usual banter to his words. An olive branch; one that Jayce was desperate to hand on to.

“Then take mine,” he said, pressing his words boldly against the curve of Viktor’s ear. “To avoid confusion, of course.”

Viktor shuttered and swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing against Jayce’s cheek.

“Your language is sometimes still difficult for me,” he whispered.

“Then let me say it in a way you’ll understand,” Jayce offered, pulling back enough to look Viktor in the eye.

Viktor’s words came out slowly as his gaze dropped down to Jayce’s lips and back again. “That would be for the best.”

The first brush of their lips was feather-light and fleeting. The second, a warm press of skin against skin. The third came with the release of a long-held breath--whose it was difficult to say. Jayce stopped counting as one kiss bled into another until something like a whine caught in Viktor’s throat. They melted into one another, the slide of Viktor’s tongue like hot, wet velvet against his own as their mouths slotted together and long slender fingers scrambled for purchase against his lapels, his neck, his hair.

Jayce felt like he was drowning, diving deep again and again for another taste until reluctantly, their lips eased against each other one final time as they came back up for air. Viktor trembled in his arms, the pink glow in his cheeks reaching the very tips of his ears, and Jayce held him firmly until he got his knees back under him. The bewildered look he wore was already addicting and Jayce knew he’d never get enough of it now.

“So,” he started, nuzzling a kiss against Viktor’s hair. “Can I assume we’re in agreement on this?”

Viktor glanced away from him, a sheepish look in his eye as he spoke. “Sorry, but it appears I am a very slow learner on this subject matter. Perhaps...we could move this discussion to someplace warmer and you could repeat it until I better grasp the concept.”

Jayce laughed, feeling lighter and more excited than when they’d been fifteen feet above the floor in Heimerdinger’s office.

“That’s not a ‘no’,” he said, waggling his eyebrows as he retrieved Viktor’s cane from where it lay in the snow and offered his arm. “More of a tentative ‘yes’.”

Viktor clicked his tongue, shooting Jayce a skeptical glance, even as he slid his hand into the crook of the man’s elbow. “Ehh..I am still not quite certain of your ideas concerning this naming business.”

“Comon’, V,” he said, knocking their shoulders together as they headed for the Academy. “Viktor Talis has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”

A fresh flush came across Viktor’s cheeks and he sniffed sharply, clearing his throat. “It would be much more preferable if you’d call me Vitya.”

“Vitya?” Jayce rolled the word on his tongue, enjoying the way Viktor’s eyes widened just so in response. “I suppose that’s a sacrifice I could make, especially for my brilliant partner. Any other requests while negotiations are open, Vitya?”

Viktor all but glared at him, pursing his lips in indignation. “Yes, walk faster. I’d like to test out the limits of that clever mouth of yours before morning.”

Jayce nearly choked.

“I may need more in-depth instructions to fulfill that one.”

Viktor’s lip quirked up. “You’re a brilliant man, Jayce. I’m sure you can figure it out if you apply yourself.”

Jayce stopped short then, looking at Viktor as if he’d grown another head. Viktor’s playful expression dropped immediately away, an apology already forming on his lips for taking their banter too far when Jayce scooped him into his arms and cut the time it usually took them to cross the promenade by half.

“Sorry,” he chuckled as Viktor squawked at him to set him down. “Just eager to start my assignment.”

“I will have to take off marks for that,” Viktor nipped at his throat as they scaled the Academy steps two at a time and made their way through the halls. “But perhaps we can come up with some form of extra credit.”

“Don’t go too easy on me, Vitya,” Jayce murmured, setting him down just outside the door to Viktor’s flat. “I can handle a little advanced coursework.”

He hovered in Viktor’s gravity, dipping his head to brush his lips up the side of his partner’s neck while Viktor fumbled in his pocket for his keys. He cursed breathlessly as Jayce latched onto the skin near his collarbone, worrying a mark there before starting in on another. Reaching up to take hold of Jayce’s lapels, the sound of his keys hitting the floor was forgotten in favor of the soft thump Viktor’s back made as Jayce pressed him against the door.

“A little egotistical, don’t you think?” he finally managed to get out under the delicious pressure of his partner’s wandering hands as they ventured below the line of his belt.

Jayce beamed at him as he leaned slowly in. “You love that about me.”

“Sadly, yes,” Viktor gasped and met him halfway, brushing their lips together as Jayce’s palm ran up the inside of his leg. “I really do.”

Chapter Text

“Your theory is sound, but the execution is a little, eh...Avant-Garde.”

Powder glanced up from where she sat on her friend’s lap, leaning her head dramatically back onto his shoulder. “Viiiktooor, you have to use smaller words with me.”

“My apologies,” he nodded seriously. “It is perhaps, a little eccentric.”

“Is that good or bad?” Powder asked, her tiny brows furrowing as she looked up at him. He cringed dramatically and gave her a small shrug, eliciting an even shriller shriek out of the girl. “Viktor!

“I’m sorry, but I’m a world-famous scientist now, you know,” he waved one hand while the other carefully held her packet of drawings in front of them both. “My standards for acceptance are ridiculously high these days.”

She flopped, back to his chest and pouting. “But, you promised.”

Schooling the tug of his lips back down into a passable frown, he sighed heavily.

“If I make an exception for you, everyone will be sending me their papers in pink crayon,” his accent spun through his words, still overemphasizing the Y in crayon despite Powder’s best efforts to teach him otherwise. “Next thing you know we’ll have a revolution on our hands and I don’t want that on my conscience do you?”

She glared up at him, squinting as she studied the earnest look on his face and looking for any telltale signs that he was playing her.

“Don’t be mean to me today, Viktor,” she finally mewled like the unhappy little kitten she was just then. “Or I’ll...I’ll tell your husband on you.”

Viktor gasped, just as a fresh cup of coffee appeared on the small table beside his chair.

“Tell me what?”Jayce asked, leaning down and pulling one of her pigtails before pressing a kiss to Viktor’s head.

“This little one is trying to blackmail me,” Viktor noted, scooting over a bit so that Jayce could sit on the chair’s armrest.

“Ah, they start so young nowadays,” Jayce lamented. “First it’s blackmail, and then it’s grand larceny. Don’t let Caitlyn know or you’ll be her first arrest when she joins the enforcers.”

“Nuh-uh! Cait won’t have time to arrest me,” Powder protested, poking Jayce in the cheek with her finger to punctuate her point. “She spends all her time making kissy-face with Vi. It’s really gross.”

“Ugh, super gross.” Jayce agreed, nudging Viktor before the man swatted him with the violently purple folder raining glitter in his hand. “What’s all this then?”

Viktor patiently brushed at the glitter on his trouser leg to no avail. “Powder has finished her first draft proposal.”

“For the assistant position in your lab!” the girl added, helpfully patting more of the glitter from Viktor’s hair.

“Whew,” Jayce said with admiration in his voice as he flipped through her notes. “There’s some solid work here, Pow. Grade A stuff. The pink crayon, though…” he dramatically cringed, sucking air through his teeth. “...the board of directors has strict regulations against this kind of thing.”

“You’re the board of directors though!” she whined, twisting until she was half laying over both of them.

His eyes firmly fixed on Powder, Jayce leaned down and murmured in Viktor’s ear. “A high-speed shark train does sound pretty cool...”

“See, even Jayce agrees!” Powder said, taking hold of Viktor’s hands and giving him her best set of puppy eyes. “Pleeeeease, Vitya?”

A light dusting of color began to well across the fine bridge of Viktor’s nose, as Jayce sat up gripping his chest as if he’d just been shot.

“Ugh, that! That right there. That’s the real blackmail.”

Powder wrinkled her nose at him, setting her little fists at her hips. “You call him that all the time.”

“Not all the time,” Jayce pressed a finger to her nose with a sly grin. ”Why just last night I called him--”

One slender hand clapped over Jayce’s mouth in panic and Jayce was pleased to see he’d managed to make the color shift to the tips of Viktor’s ears, even as his husband glared at him.

“Alright, enough of that,” Viktor muttered and gave Jayce a look that confirmed he absolutely remembered what Jayce had called him the night before and he wouldn’t be averse to it happening again. “We still have many hours left in this party of yours.”

“This party of ours,” Jayce corrected him.

“Yes, yes...this very public celebration for which you risked our sponsorships to hold,” Viktor said with an amused snort.

“Hey now, it’s good for business. Both for us and Vander. Way better than some high society party, right?” Jayce smiled broadly as he spoke, gesturing around the busy shop full of regulars and Piltover’s finest alike.

“I’m surprised the council agreed to this,” Viktor shook his head.

“Yeah well, the Hexgates are profitable for everyone. If they want our technology, they’re not really in a position to negotiate,” Jayce said playfully. “Besides, it’s our celebration. Why not invite people we actually like?”

The beginning of a smirk tugged at the corner of Viktor’s lips as he threaded his fingers with Jayce’s, the warm weight of his gold ring a comfort against his skin. The council had long since given up on trying to put a leash on the leaders of Hextech. There’d been a time when they were younger and first starting out that they might have been more malleable to the politics of the city, but a shared dream was difficult to redirect when you couldn’t rely on the divide and conquer strategies they were used to employing. One Talis was difficult enough to deal with and two were unshakeable; a unified symbol of the two cities working in tandem for the greater good.

Vander had done much to keep them on the right path. He was a trustworthy confidant and a clever advisor whenever anything or anyone threatened to lead them astray. Like Jayce and Viktor, Vander took a personal interest in helping others--one that admittedly fell outside the rules of law on occasion. He’d helped keep Jayce anchored to the ground and with him and the girls rooting for him, Viktor had found it much easier to step out of the shadows and to stand at his partner’s side.

All the same, Viktor had been dreading the Progress Day festival and the celebration that was scheduled to be thrown for their accomplishments with Hextech. It came as a welcome surprise when Jayce had announced the Academy would be sponsoring the celebration in a much more welcome setting instead, under the guise that The Last Drop had been so integral to their achievements, the inventors of Hextech refused to hold it anywhere else.

Viktor didn’t doubt that Jayce could have carved out a space for himself in Piltover’s high society if he’d wanted it, but instead he chose to remain with Viktor, living in the neutral grounds between the two cities and focused entirely on developing tech to improve the lives of others.

The very thought brought a genuine smile to his lips. That and the obvious discomfort of those that had never been anywhere this close to the Undercity before.

“I do much prefer this way of thinking,” Viktor mused.

“Anything for the comfort of my husband,” Jayce said, his thumb tracing affectionately over Viktor’s own.

“I will hold you to that later, “Viktor returned, clearing his throat and turning away before his affections got the better of him.

Jayce winked at him. “Looking forward to it.”

“Ugh. Impossible man,” Viktor scoffed with a shake of his head, before reaching for his cane. “Come, let us make the necessary rounds. We still have the frequency calculations to look at tonight,” Turning back to Powder as she slid off his lap with a pout, he took the glittery folder from Jayce and handed it to her with a stern tone. “And you, I expect to see you in the lab bright and early next week. I won’t tolerate my assistant being tardy on her first day.”

It’d been a blessing that Viktor was still seated in the wingbacked chair just then, as Powder’s eyes went wide and she threw her arms around his neck in a fresh rain of glitter.

“Oh my gosh yay! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Vitya!” she crowed loud enough to draw the attention of several patrons around them. “I’ll work really hard, I promise.”

Viktor patted her on the head, covering his embarrassment at her sudden outburst with a cough. “Yes, well...good. It’s settled then”

“Did you hear that, Jayce? I’m gonna be your assistant!” Powder turned towards his partner, bubbly and bright with excitement.

“What can I say, kid, you finally wore him down,” said Jayce, ruffling her hair once more. “He’s weak to your charms.”

It took another twenty minutes before Powder had finally run off to share her good news with her family, leaving a trail of glitter in her wake. Viktor absently brushed what metallic flecks he could from his vest, resigned to the knowledge he’d be finding it on his person for weeks.

“She’s a little whirlwind, isn’t she?” Jayce noted, his tone betraying his fondness. “You sure about this?”

“She will require a fair bit of supervision, but...she’s ready,” Viktor said. “Powder has the mind for it and with the right mentor, she could surpass us someday.”

Jayce whistled and offered Viktor his hand. “High praise coming from you, Mr. Talis.”

“I recognize talent when I see it,” Viktor murmured when they’d managed to get him on his feet.

A flustered expression crossed Jayce’s features and before Viktor could tease him further, his husband silenced him with a kiss. Not the sort of playful peck Jayce often favored around others, nor the soft and sweet variety he pressed to the back of Viktor’s hand in the lab. It was a desperate and impassioned thing, the kind that ignited that old ache beneath Viktor’s ribs and invited him to chase after Jayce for more.

Both the world and the party fell away, and Viktor was content to lose himself in the strong and steady arms that held him so close.

“Jayce, what--” he finally stammered out when they’d broken apart for air. “What in the world was that for?”

“Nothing,” Jayce’s voice rumbled in his ear, the man’s eyes bright and watching him as his fingers traced over the small gold cog pinned to Viktor’s tie. “It’s just...happiness suits you, Vitya.”

Viktor smiled and leaned back into his husband’s embrace. “You know...I think so, too.”