Chapter Text
It was a rainy day at the academy.
Viktor walked through the corridors of the second floor building, looking through windows as droplets of rain made their way down the crevices of the glass window frame. With only him, the comfortable emptiness of the halls and the ambient sound of rain.
It was… strange.
Whatever that feeling was— that faint yet dreadful feeling— was seemingly unbearable.
He couldn’t stand it.
That sensation touches deeply in his soul. It left his heart aching and his skin crawling.
The sound of the rain that he could almost feel, the light tingling coolness on his skin that cannot be described in perfect words— as if the feeling wasn’t there at all— yet it still lingers.
He wanted to run away from it, from the extraordinary sensation of life that was going to be taken away from him sooner or later, from that seemingly ordinary thing that everyone seemed to have taken for granted as they lived their day acquainted with their gift of living.
The closer he was to the verge of dying, the more sensible he was to the life around him. He did not want to think about excessive things. And he did not want to think about the rain, about that incurable disease, nor about that cruel disability that had been a chain holding him back ever since little.
Rain had always been something that he would put aside. The rain was of no importance to him. And it wasn’t like the rain disturbed him in any way. So, why should he care about that… sound. That… unreasonable emptiness inside himself and around him in that exact moment.
He stood there, staring at the window looking outside to the gray skies swallowing the high structures of The City of Progress, dumbfounded.
This was the first time that he had ever felt so utterly lonely.
He enjoyed being alone.
It had never bothered him to be by himself.
He shook away the thought as he slowly resumed his task, making his way back to his and Jayce's research lab across the hallway, the sheer force of his own hand clutching the documents, making them wrinkle up went unnoticed by his clogged mind.
Viktor closed the door behind him and walked to his desk, dropping the crumpled documents onto the table and pulled out his familiar wooden chair. He sat down as he took in a breath of cold air from the room, fresh and cool, unlike the air in the Fissures where he used to live.
The rain sounded even louder than before. Suffocating the lab room. As if his throat was being crushed by an invisible force, his eyes started to water like the fierce droplets of rain outside the window.
Hot tears streamed down his cheeks as he frowned, hating the clogging in his throat and hating the pain it caused to his already damaged lungs. Viktor was never the type to cry over simple things. He almost never cries. Yet over something so insignificant, he wept. The more tears fell down his face, the more confused he became. Why was he crying? He wasn’t sure.
The man was startled by the sound of the door opening from behind him.
"What are you working on?" The familiar voice of his coworker echoed through the lab room. He can already tell by Jayce’s voice that the man was wearing a wide smile on his face, despite Viktor not facing Jayce.
Thank God it was just Jayce. Wait— No— Oh God it's Jayce. Viktor didn’t know whether to feel embarrassed that his coworker came in while he was crying or relieved that the most understanding Piltovan saw his act of vulnerability.
He tensed up, looking down at his paperwork as a droplet of tear fell down from his face and he accidentally sniffled in a desperate effort to pull back that already fallen tear. Suddenly, he felt so small and apprehended.
"Viktor… Are you ok…?"
He cleared his throat and grunted a forced ‘yes’. trying to keep a stern voice. His back facing the other man.
He looked at the pen in his hand, shaking lightly as he squeezed, hoping that Jayce would just leave, but deep down also hoped that he would stay.
A small shuffling noise can be heard behind Viktor, it seemed like it was coming from Jayce's table, he dared not look.
As Viktor heard the chair beside him being pulled out, in the corner of his eyes he saw Jayce setting his stuff down on the table and started scribbling beside Viktor. The thinner man glanced over to the table side on his right where Jayce sat, casually doing his work.
"Seems like you need some company." Jayce whispered loud enough to listen over the sound of the falling rain, his voice soft and genuine, which clogged up Viktor’s severed lungs even more than it already had.
"Talk to me if you want to." Jayce said, continuing his task beside him, and so does Viktor.
"Thank you, Jayce." Viktor murmured, still looking at his documents, his expression softened as stress slowly ease away. Viktor wiped his tears away, pretending that Jayce didn't notice the act. They sat there, working together in silence, a solemn environment that eased both of their minds and put Viktor in a state of deep concentration once more. The weight of Viktor’s thoughts had somewhat died down.
The rain continued to pour.