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Jayce and Viktor compliment each other. If they climb too high, they have each other to ground them before they fall. If Viktor falls asleep at his desk, Jayce will nudge him awake, and they’ll head off to bed, resting together. If Jayce is seething at the council’s decisions, Viktor will listen, allowing his voice to be heard. If Viktor wants to steal a piece of restricted tech, Jayce will…protest for a minute, but probably join him.
They fit together like they were made to.
“It’s like…you’re a screwdriver, and I’m a shiny nail. That’s how we go together,” Jayce said once, running on about two hours of sleep. Viktor hit him with a pillow in response.
There is a place where they clash, however. That place occurs at midday, where they’re forced to discover that coffee does not a lasting meal make, and they have to put together lunch for themselves. The lunch in question is usually whatever is quickest to put together, microwaved in minutes and thrown away even faster. Then it’s back to research and innovation. Lunch happens every day. The future doesn’t wait.
Jayce doesn’t mind. Viktor certainly doesn’t. He rolls his eyes whenever lunch comes around. It always occurs right when he’s on the verge of a breakthrough.
Jayce doesn’t mind…he’s sure of it.
He can’t keep Viktor from his work. He can’t keep him from his late hours. Viktor is not his to control. But this diet combined with the irregular sleeping patterns, well, Jayce doesn’t have to be a doctor to know it’s not healthy. Seeing Viktor passed out on his desk with a half empty bowl of instant noodles beside him cuts Jayce deep.
There must be something he can do, but he has to be subtle about it. Going right up to Viktor and telling him he’s worried won’t work. He’ll brush it off and smile at Jayce like he always does, telling him he worries too much. Even just cooking for him and presenting the meals would set off an alarm in Viktor. It has to be something that involves the both of them, but what…?
He stares out the window, tapping his pencil on his notebook rhymically. It’s a slow day in the lab, for him at least. There’s no such thing when it concerns Viktor. He stares out at the balcony, watches as the sun sinks down into the city. He remembers something Viktor said once about the undercity getting to watch the sun set longer than anyone else. The balcony itself is so empty it’s depressing. No one thought to put a garden there? It really is the perfect spot-
Jayce shoots up out of his desk, causing Viktor to whirl around, haunches raised, eyebrows creased in confusion. “Jayce-?”
“We should start a garden.” The words escape Jayce in one quick breath. “On the balcony.”
“A garden? Really? I wasn’t aware you knew how to care for one, Jayce. I certainly don’t.”
“How hard can it be?” Jayce grins. “We can grow tomatoes, carrots, and maybe even some fruit! It would really brighten up the place, don’t you think?”
“I suppose it would,” Viktor muses. “It does get a bit bland seeing just the balcony every day.”
“My thoughts exactly. Do you think we need to get permission to start a garden?”
Viktor rolls his eyes, grinning. “Jayce, my love, we are not so square that we are going to ask for permission to start a garden.”
“You got me there.” Anyone who thought Viktor was the rule-abiding one out of the two of them had lost their minds. “We’ll start tomorrow.”
Anyone who is familiar with Jayce and Viktor knows that they are creatures of habit. They are early to rise, late to rest. They spend their days in the lab. This is why, to the average passerby, the sight that meets them this morning is quite the shocker.
Jayce and Viktor are on the balcony.
Jayce has managed to acquire some boxes to start their grand garden. He has soil, and best of all, he has seeds. Viktor has contributed as well, bringing along a hefty stack of gardening books.
“So,” Viktor says, “we just place the seeds in the dirt?”
“That’s the idea,” replies Jayce. “But we have to take care of it. Watering and…fertilizing.”
Viktor smirks. “You seem to be the expert.”
“Hey, you got the books.” Jayce nudges him lightly. “So I expect you to be the real expert by the end of this. But,” he pauses. “I don’t mind doing most of the work.”
“How very gentlemanly of you.” Viktor leans up and plants a kiss on Jayce’s cheek. “But I don’t mind watering every now and then. This is our garden, after all.”
“Hextech dream is out, garden dream is in,” Jayce chuckles.
“Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Jayce grabs the nearest packet of seeds-tomatoes-and doesn’t hesitate planting. He digs deep, as Viktor instructs while reading from his manual. Soon enough, they’ll be ready to be harvested, and then…well, Jayce can learn how to cook by then. His master plan of getting Viktor to eat properly is underway. He doesn’t suspect a thing.
Time passes, as it always does. The lab will always be Viktor and Jayce’s priority, but they find it easy enough to make time for the garden. They visit it in the morning with the sun. Viktor teases Jayce while he baby-talks the plants, congratulating them on how well they’re growing. Jayce fertilizes them when needed, and Viktor’s careful to water every plant equally-it would be wrong to show favoritism. They breathe in the morning air before they’re itching to head back inside and get their noses in some tech.
Next to his notes, Jayce keeps a cookbook. He doesn’t look at it too closely, as he really is quite busy. But every once in a while, when he has a moment to spare, he opens the pages and browses through the recipes. He thinks of which ones he could make with what they’ve grown, and the likelihood of him completely messing up said recipes.
It’s nearly noon again. Viktor is reaching into his bag, ready to heat up the lunch he brought along with him.
“Wait-”
He looks up at Jayce, brows furrowed in confusion.
“I was thinking…why don’t we eat out on the balcony? It’s nice out.”
Viktor smiles. “Very romantic of you. Is there an occasion?”
“I need an occasion to do something nice with my boyfriend? I’m just thinking, it’s a bit of a slow day, so we may as well…”
“I’d say yes even if it was a fast day,” Viktor assures him, standing up to put his food in the microwave. “I’ll meet you out there.”
He joins Jayce moments later, taking a seat beside him on one of the chairs Jayce added to the garden. After all, what was a garden if you couldn’t sit down to appreciate it? Viktor’s silent for a moment, allowing himself to soak up the sun. He is no stranger to light. He finds familiarity in the blue glow of his machines, or the candlelight he takes his notes by when he thinks Jayce is asleep. The sun, however, has been forgein to him for some time. He likes that he can become reacquainted with it by Jayce’s side.
They talk. About little things, about the past, the future. They trade jokes and gossip, and Jayce gestures with his hands when he tells a story in the way Viktor finds so endearing. Like his words just can’t be contained by the way he speaks them. Whether it be the lab, the balcony, or anywhere in the city, it’s always them.
Viktor glances at the garden. “The beets are growing well,” he comments.
“Aren’t they?” Jayce grins broadly. “The tomatoes, too. Soon enough, I bet I can cook something great with them.”
“Cook? I wasn’t aware you were a chef, Jayce.”
Shit.
“Well, you know.” No, Jayce. He does not know. “I figured, since we’re starting a vegetable garden, it would be kind of useless to just look at them.”
“Jayce…is this an elaborate scheme to get me to eat proper meals?”
He knows him too well. It’s both a blessing and a curse.
“...How would you feel if I said yes?”
Viktor considers his words. “I would…wonder why you went to such great lengths for me. I’d feel you may be wasting your time. My meals may not be ideal, but I do eat three of them a day. And…I’d worry that was all this garden meant to you.”
Jayce moves closer to him. He takes his hand.
“I would tell you that nothing is a waste of time when it’s for you. Loving you, taking care of you-it’s not a chore. Both of us could do with a better diet. We need to see the sun more, we need to sit out on the balcony and feel air that isn’t stuck in a lab. This garden is something I built with you. It’s something we created, just like our hextech. It’s just as precious to me. That’s what it means to me.”
Jayce stands up from his chair and leans down to kiss him, waiting for a signal from Viktor that it’s alright. He takes his tie in his hand and tugs him down so their lips meet, sweet and holding more meaning that words could express. When they break apart, Viktor’s smiling.
“You win. We can make better lunches for ourselves. And…thank you.”
Jayce kisses the top of his head. “Of course, love.”
“Are you sure we have enough garlic?”
“Viktor, if we add any more garlic, this is just going to become garlic soup.”
Jayce and Viktor may have earned the title of master gardeners. Master chefs, however, is a work in progress. They were granted access to the kitchen, and whatever happens next is entirely in their hands. To be fair, it hasn’t gone horribly so far. They haven’t burned anything. No injuries were sustained chopping vegetables. In fact, one could say it's a success. With one small issue…
“You’re adding the wrong amount. Let me do it.”
They’re fighting over spices.
“It’s going to block out the taste of the vegetables if we add too much salt and stuff,” Jayce argues.
“What is your definition of too much?” Viktor snaps. “Because the way you’re doing this, it’s going to be completely flavorless.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“You have no taste.”
“Okay, okay.” Jayce pinches the bridge of his nose. “Compromise. Whatever amount of spice you were planning to add, we add half of it. Deal?”
Viktor shakes one last bit of garlic into the pot. “Deal.”
“Did we seriously just have a couple’s fight over soup?” Jayce chuckles.
“We wouldn’t have to if you had decent taste,” Viktor replies, but he smiles.
The soup finishes without any further strife. Viktor offers to help set up the table, but Jayce insists on doing the work.
“Just this once,” he says. “Let me take care of you.”
Viktor obliges as Jayce sets a bowl of soup down in front of him. He watches as Viktor takes the first bite. Everything has led up to this, every morning in the garden, every bit of fertilizer.
“It’s…really good, actually.”
“‘Actually’?”
“I mean, of course it’s good,” counters Viktor. “Why wouldn’t it be good? I had no doubt in my mind.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Jayce says, then takes a bite himself. Viktor’s right. Despite his doubts, it’s actually really, really good. “Holy shit. I am never eating instant food again.”
“Agreed.”
“Wait, actually?”
“Yes, actually. We built a garden together. We can cook decent meals as well.”
“Viktor, you have made me the happiest man alive.”
Viktor laughs. “And all it took was vegetable soup.”
The sun sets over the balcony that night, over the garden. They sleep in each other's arms, with not a light in the room to keep them preoccupied. There will be sleepless nights again, and meals eaten in a hurry. It is a condition of their work. But now there will be nights where they sleep with full stomachs and peaceful minds. And for Jayce, that is more than enough.