Chapter Text
It was kind of sad. Yet Viktor couldn’t do anything but watch. So he did just that. He saw as all his hopes and dreams were swept away. Just as his legs had given up on him, he gave up too. In a way it was to be expected… or so he thought to himself. In the end, he was a nobody from the Undercity. He had no name. No patron. Nothing. Nothing, but faith. He believed in himself and it was the only thing that kept him going. Until he met Jayce. From that moment he not only believed in himself, but he started believing in “their hextech dream”. He started believing in Jayce. He mostly believed in Jayce. Jayce… He was so full of passion. He wanted to help people, people from the Undercity, with hextech. Just like Viktor. But as every dream has to finally end, Viktor and Jayce’s dream of hextech ended too.
The day when Jayce became the councilman. It started the avalanche that forever buried their dream. Dream of helping those in need. Viktor should have seen it coming from miles away. But he didn’t. He still believed in Jayce and his promises of ending the corruption in the council. Jayce’s council success was highly unlikely, but so was the success of hextech. Since he had already proven to Viktor that he would do everything to succeed, Viktor believed him. But this time he turned out to be wrong. So horribly wrong…
In the end, he saw Jayce choose politics instead of science. Corruption instead of progress! Mel instead of… Viktor… What hurt him the most? He didn’t know… Lies! Screamed his thoughts. LIES! He knew it well but didn’t want to admit it. He felt foolish for believing. Believing that he could measure up to someone like councilor Medarda. Believing in hextech changing lives of people of the Undercity. Believing in Jayce… Science and politics never go hand in hand. He knew that. Still, he put his trust, his faith, his everything in Jayce’s dream. For a second he imagined a better world with councilor Jayce and his partner Viktor as beacons of progress. The things they could have achieved. People they could have helped. But this was no dream. Only the cruel reality remained. Where Jayce was a councilor and Viktor was just... Viktor. Alone…
He still remembered the day when Jayce stood before the council. Claiming to have the power to change the world. Viktor remembered that day well. It was the first time his heart had ever skipped a beat. He truly believed in what Jayce was saying. It was like a breeze of fresh air in Viktor’s still world. Something new. Something beautiful. He felt… Hopeful…
Nothing of flesh is meant to last forever. Viktor somehow knew that subconsciously. Bodies aren't forever. But neither are feelings. He thought to himself. He would like to say that he didn't know that. That he didn't expect that. Lying had never been his forte.
His thoughts drifted to the night he was breaking into Hermendinger's lab. He cringed at the memory of the 'bedroom incident' but let himself be swallowed nonetheless. He embraced those few moments where he had everything he ever wanted. Pure bliss he felt as he was hovering over the floor without pain in his body. With Jayce in front of him…
Another memory surfaced. He wanted to fight this one. He really did. But the memory currents were too strong. He trashed like a drowning man. He couldn't even fight with his own brain. He was tired of delaying the inevitable. So he let himself be consumed by the abyss of the past that would never be the present again.
***
He was walking home. It was rather late in the evening so actually pretty early for Viktor. He always stays late. Finishing new projects, improving old ones, making progress. Those were very time-consuming activities. It was a rather strange phenomenon seeing Viktor at that hour not hunched over his desk.
There weren’t many people around. Everyone in a hurry to get to their houses, families, lovers… And then there was Viktor. Slow and alone. He didn’t really have anything to hurry for. Even if he had, he wouldn’t be able to do anything really. He was always trying to go as fast as he could. But there are always things people cannot overcome on their own. He couldn’t go any faster even if he had wanted to. But maybe the problem didn’t lay in him. Maybe the world around him was going too fast. Or maybe it was going too slow instead…
“Going home early today? Is the world ending?” As much as he didn’t want to admit it he jumped a little at the sudden intrusion on his seclusion. Jayce’s voice filled Viktor’s ears like milk with honey sooths a sore throat. His playful tone catching him off guard made him lose his train of thought.
“Ah! Jayce… It… It’s not funny.” Viktor tried to sound convincing. Thinking Jayce wouldn't care enough to push the subject further.
“Is everything ok? You don’t look good…” Jayce asked, honesty in his eyes; “I mean… Not like in LOOK good more like… you don’t seem to be good… Because you do look good like in, you know, the… um… the… physical kind of way?” Well it wasn’t the first time Viktor was wrong. His tired eyes and damp tone gave him away on a platter for Jayce’s concern to consume. But still he was sure that there was a question mark at the end of Jayce's awkward questioning statement. It made Viktor question too.
“You look tired is what I wanted to say.” Jayce finished his apparent fight for life with his own vocal cords. His eyes not quite meeting Viktor’s.
There was a weak smile that wanted to appear on Viktor's lips. He tried to fight it but not successfully. A dim shadow of it invaded his face along with a light shade of pink on his cheeks. Betrayed by his own body once again Viktor had to withdraw. He dropped his gaze, slowly, enjoying the view. He deserved some compensation for his defeat after all, or so he thought. He deserved even just a little bit of it.
"Hmm?" Well that was a very intelligent response coming from Viktor. He cleared his throat rather awkwardly. "Is that so?"
The awkward silence that followed was deafening. It hanged heavy between them but neither had any idea on how to break it. So they were walking awkwardly without saying anything until they arrived at Viktor's home.
Viktor stepped closer to the door to open them while Jayce stayed slightly behind. After the lock clicked, announcing that it was indeed open, Viktor's hand was left hovering over the doorknob.
Closing his eyes, taking an unsteady breath, he pushed and before he could second guess himself he opened his mouth.
"Would you like to see my bedroom?" Viktor definitely should have second guessed himself. But after such a display of being in possession of social skills of a pebble he might as well pack his things and go off to live in a cave where he wouldn't have to interact with anybody. Ever.
Jayce looked as if someone just told him that the sky was yellow which, to be fair, probably would have been less out of the blue than what left Viktor's mouth.
"Huh?" the very intelligent sound was the only indicator that Jayce didn't instantaneously die of second hand embarrassment. Maybe he was secretly a pebble too, wouldn't that be convenient for poor Viktor?
"I mean I… I said I was taking you to my bedroom. You know. Back there and I mean… What I wanted to ask is… Do you… want to come in…?" Viktor let out a nervous chuckle and backed inside the house a little "I mean… you don't have to. If you don't want to, that is. I just…"
Viktor was stammering. Sheepishly stumbling not only on his legs but over his words too. He must have looked like he would cave in on himself at any moment.
Luckily for him Jayce seemed unbothered by his embarrassing display. He only smiled and put his hand on Viktor's shoulder.
Everything stopped for Viktor at that moment. People around them, all the noise in the background, the whole world stopped for that single moment. Was it even scientifically possible? It felt surreal. That whole situation felt surreal to Viktor. It was like taking a deep steadying breath before doing something reckless. Like moments before the first lightning bolt hits the ground during the storm. Full of tension. Dragging on for eternity while in reality lasting only a couple of seconds.
Everything came crashing down when Jayce, with such a tender smile that Viktor so not deserved, said four simple words "I would love to."
The door closed behind them.