Chapter Text
In all the years Jayce had known Viktor, he had never seen the man truly healthy.
So when he entered the laboratory, and saw Viktor leaning heavily on the desk with his hands gripping the edge for balance, he knew something was wrong.
“Good morning, Vik,” Jayce said. He eyed him closely.
“You know I hate when you call me that,” Viktor said, his voice thin but still holding the amicable tone it always did.
Jayce grinned, shaking his head. Viktor was so determined to make their technology work - to put Hextech on the map. Jayce was lucky to have him; he wouldn’t have been able to make this kind of progress without Viktor.
In the next moment, Viktor doubled over, a coughing fit wracking his lungs.
Jayce’s eyes widened with concern. “Are you alright? You don’t look so well.”
Viktor recovered from his cough attack, and Jayce could see his hands trembling as he wiped his mouth. Despite the way Viktor tried to busy himself with his duties, not wanting Jayce to see his current state of illness, Jayce could see plainly that Viktor was having a difficult time functioning.
“I’m alright, Jayce,” Viktor said. But his voice was not as smooth as usual; his accent was still evident, but the purring cotton sound behind it was broken and cracked.
Jayce realized then how much he missed that sound now that it wasn’t there, and hearing it broken, and coming from a place of pain instead, made Jayce’s heart pinch tight. He saw Viktor wipe a shaky hand across his face as he grabbed up his cane, clearing the tiny beads of perspiration that had collected on his pale brow. He went to another conductor to tinker.
Jayce set his files down on the desk, then walked around to where Viktor was hunched over another experiment. He stared at him a moment, then sat on the edge of the desk, gazing at Viktor and noting the purple discoloration beneath his eyes, the pallor of his face waxen and pale, his eyes glassy. “You don’t look alright, Viktor,” he tried again, softer this time. “You can be honest with me.”
Viktor’s eyes darted to Jayce, and he swallowed hard. “I am alright,” he managed, his throat working as he looked downward again and busied himself, the tiny pulse in his neck beating way too fast.
His eyes as pleading as Jayce had ever seen them.
Jayce squinted. “No, Viktor, I don’t think you are.”
“I have to work on this experiment,” Viktor replied. “It won’t be ready in time unless I-“
“Come here,” Jayce said softly. With a palm, he smoothed Viktor’s hair back, checking his temperature.
Viktor stood stiff as a board, his eyes glassy but wide. He had to admit it was difficult not to melt into that touch. He felt his eyes slipping shut, Jayce’s cool hand soothing his overheated skin.
It did nothing to soothe the ache in his heart upon the contact.
“Oh Viktor, you’re burning up,” Jayce murmured.
Viktor’s eyes glazed over as he stared at Jayce.
Jayce saw Viktor blinking slowly, as if the motion of closing and opening his eyes alone was a feat of strength he had to combat. His eyes were soft and tired. Vulnerable.
“What you need is to be in bed,” Jayce said, his tone firm but compassionate. He placed a hand on Viktor’s, halting his movements. “This can all wait until tomorrow, Viktor.”
Viktor couldn’t help but gaze at that hand for a moment as it gently cupped the top of his own.
He knew he should have called in sick. He knew it yesterday, when his lungs had been full of fluid upon his waking, when his body aches were worse than normal, when putting on his back brace was a slow and aching process, and felt like a cinder block hanging from his chest afterwards.
Yet still he had worked until the wee hours of the morning, the aches and pains slowly progressing into uncontrollable body shivers. He was sick, and now he had a fever to boot. And of course, this was all besides his other ailments he dealt with daily; the consumption, and the effects of his childhood polio.
He was still waiting for the call from the oncologist regarding the high white blood cell count they had detected at his last checkup, and the research helped distract him.
“Viktor, are you listening to me?”
“I am listening…”
“You’re hearing my words, but are you going to comply with them?”
“Eh…” Viktor couldn’t finish his rebuttal. He was too weak to formulate all the words necessary to reply, and then getting them out of his throat coherently felt next to impossible. “The research cannot wait,” he finally decided on. Every day he was absent was another day of progress lost. If they couldn’t show the council that this new Hextech technology was stable, that the gemstones would work without incident…
“I’m putting my foot down,” Jayce said, taking the tool out of Viktor’s hand.
“Hey…” Viktor said, his tone lamenting. He didn’t have the strength to take the tool back, though, and instead, he let his arms fall limp to his sides. He felt another fit of shivers coming on and tried to fight against them; knowing it would be one more thing Jayce would use to get him into bed.
But now, he felt close to collapse, and the thought of making it back home to rest was almost too exhausting to think about, let alone hope to accomplish.
“I’m not giving this back,” Jayce said, waving the tool in the air before setting it out of Viktor’s reach.
Viktor sighed. His head was pounding, his vision blurring. He looked down at his research notes to read a block of text and saw nothing but ink blurs. “Alright, you win,” Viktor said.
He stood from the stool and nearly fell to the floor, his legs giving out on him. He only missed a total collision with the ground as Jayce moved in to catch him, effectively rescuing him. “Woah,” Jayce said. “Easy there.”
Viktor swallowed, held up by Jayce’s arms and gazing into his eyes. Jayce smiled. Viktor didn’t know if he blushed, but it felt like he did. “The thing is, Jayce…” Viktor began. “I am not sure I can manage.” He looked down, embarrassed.
“That’s why I’m here,” Jayce said softly, his voice and expression as sincere as he felt in his heart. He tilted Viktor’s chin up to look at him again. “You don’t need to manage this on your own, Viktor.”
This was typical Viktor though; always the strong one, always working himself to the bone and not taking care of his health if it meant work would go unfinished or be a cause of delay.
But this time Jayce could see Viktor had taken things too far. And he knew Viktor knew it, too.
Viktor felt the words soothe his aching head. Relief flooded his being; Jayce was here and would take care of him.
That gave him hope he wouldn’t drop on the floor in a pile of his own sweat, awaiting the lab assistant to come rescue him from the pristine marble.
“I didn’t want to let anyone down,” Viktor said, knowing this would not be a sufficient excuse for Jayce, and the sideways eye squint he received in return told him that much as well. But it sent another wave of soothing comfort to Viktor’s soul.
Oh, Jayce.
Viktor wondered if he had said those words just because he knew it would garner him that look from the man. I didn’t want to let anyone down. It was true; he didn’t. But saying them to Jayce would give him that look; the one filled with love and a healthy dose of exasperation. “I didn’t want to be a bother,” Viktor added, perhaps rubbing it in just a little.
“I see you still have your frail excuses, which are about as frail as you look right now.” Jayce smoothed Viktor’s hair back on his forehead again, another wave of intense heat hitting his palm. “Gods, you’re hot. Okay, back to my place. I’m going to give you a bath and take care of you.”
Well, how could Viktor argue with that?
Gently, Jayce crouched down a little, grasping Viktor’s arms in a gentle hold and placing them up around his shoulder. “Here, let’s get you out of here, shall we? And I don’t want to hear any more excuses,” he added for good measure. “… Do you want me to carry you?” He gazed at Viktor, their lips close enough to touch.
Viktor’s lips curved into a minute smile. He nodded. Despite his pain and fatigue, he wanted Jayce to help him, and if he would carry him too... well, then all the better.
Jayce grasped Viktor’s wrists, his hands smoothing across Viktor’s before he grasped his waist. “And your hands are like ice,” Jayce murmured, hoisting Viktor up into his arms, lifting him off the chair completely.
Viktor practically collapsed against his chest, his body shaking with tiny tremors, the fever clear again as Jayce’s hand brushed up the back of his tunic, resting on his undershirt; hot sweat soaked through and now cold.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick, hmm? I could have helped you.”
Jayce knew that someone didn’t get this sick all at once; Viktor must have been suffering for at least a day, if not more, before he had found him here like this at the workstation.
“I should have called you yesterday on my day off,” Jayce said, irritated at himself again for spending time with the council and not being here with Viktor in the lab.
The thought had crossed his mind to check on Viktor, but he also didn’t want to seem like a nag; calling Viktor every day seemed to be excessive, if only in his own mind - Viktor had never once complained or made any indication he didn’t want to hear from Jayce, but Jayce’s own insecurities, and the thought that Viktor might one day tire of his comm calls had made him drop the receiver and just agree to himself to see Viktor in the lab the next day.
“Do not blame yourself, Jayce,” Viktor murmured into his neck, letting his body grow boneless against Jayce’s powerful body.
“Well, even so,” Jayce said, his voice firm and no nonsense again, “You’re coming to my apartment, and you’re going to rest until you’re fully healed. I’ll give Heimerdinger a call and let him know you will not be in the lab for a few days. You won’t need to worry about anything. I have just the cure for this.”
“Thank you, Jayce,” Viktor said, his entire heart and soul meaning it. He curled in closer around Jayce’s neck and let his eyes close, his head falling to rest on Jayce's shoulder as the man carried him home.