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Their foreheads meet, cool and buzzing with the magic Jayce promised him all those years ago. For a moment, it is just this, just them;
And the universe splits. All they can do is wince as the images break through their minds and overwhelm –
universe x&$%/
– they are sitting in the lazy sunlight, and Viktor is biting back a smile.
“No, Jayce, for the last time, I am not posing. No, stop!”
He swipes at the camera Jayce holds as the man doubles over, laughter folding his body in two. When he is unsuccessful, he points an accusatory finger at him.
“Delete that.”
“No,” Jayce chokes out through his laughs, “I am never deleting that. You should look at your face!”
“You are making fun of a disabled man,” Viktor accuses, even as his shoulders shake with restrained laughter. “Besides, my food getting stolen by a squirrel is hardly that funny.”
“Please, Viktor. You would do the same. And don’t you know I know you too well for you to lie to me?” Jayce wipes at his eyes as he stands up, and waves the picture in his face. “Oh, you are never going to live this down.”
Viktor huffs, then turns, his cane clicking on the ground as he begins to walk away. “I guess you’ll never kiss me again, then.”
Jayce sobers. “Wait, what?”
“You heard me,” Viktor pauses, and looks over his shoulder. “Picked a photograph over me. How can I still date you?” Then he continues to walk, biting back a smile as Jayce scrambles.
“No, wait, Viktor, you know I was only joking. Viktor!”
There’s a crash, and Viktor turns to see Jayce standing sheepishly over the camera’s smashed corpse. “It’s gone.”
Viktor smiles then, and ducks his head as Jayce runs up to him, his expression so stupidly hopeful.
“Does this mean you’ve forgiven me, then?”
“You’re an idiot,” Viktor says, and Jayce’s eyes brighten. Viktor huffs out one more laugh before pulling him in by his shirt, their lips meeting in a fervent kiss. Jayce pulls him close by his neck, deepening the kiss, and Viktor doesn’t think he could ever tire of this.
Jayce is here, warm and utterly, inescapably his, and Viktor thinks that perhaps heaven exists after all –
universe #%*&(
– “you’ll die, Viktor, don’t tell me there isn’t-”
“No, Jayce,” and Viktor’s hands are so cold against his. “It was always meant to be like this. I was never meant to have more time.”
“No,” and Jayce tears his hands away to cover a sob. “Why won’t you let me save you? You can’t- you can’t-”
“I have to, Jayce.” Viktor’s smile is so gentle and so, so sad. “I can’t lose myself to save my life. You heard the doctors. I don’t have much time.”
Jayce crumples, his body shaking as his tears hit the ground. “I don’t understand why you won’t let me save you,” he says, his voice gravelly. “Hextech can-”
“No, Jayce.” Viktor sighs, one hand in his hair. “We have had this conversation before. What we’ve created… even if I could, I don’t want to be saved by that.”
Jayce shakes his head. “Not even for me?”
Viktor only stares. They both know it isn’t fair, and deep down Jayce knows that Viktor’s correct. That doesn’t mean he has to just be okay with watching his partner wither away in front of him. Fuck that. Why can everyone else have their soulmate, and his is–
“I… I’m sorry. I only mean,” Jayce’s voice cracks, “what will I do without you? These past few years have been some of the best of my life, because of you, and now…”
Viktor’s hand finds his chin and tilts his head from where it dropped.
“Jayce,” Viktor smiles, “I’ll never really leave you, you know.”
He kisses Jayce then, so softly on his temple, and all Jayce can do is shake against him –
universe @!^&’
– “order for Jayce!”
“That’s me,” the man, Jayce, smiles, hand extended to grab his coffee, held in Viktor’s hand. Straight black, scalding hot coffee. Viktor had wondered what kind of monster the customer had to have been to have ordered this, and had mentally filed it away to some wrinkled old man in a black trenchcoat, grumbling about how back in his day…
Jayce is nothing like that. When Viktor hands the drink over, their hands meet, and Viktor feels his face grow warm, pulling his hand back like he had been burned. Luckily, the other man doesn't seem to notice his panic. Jayce’s brown skin shines in the midday light, eyebrows crinkled as he rummages through his wallet.
“Uhh… Just give me a second, I swear my money was in here.”
Viktor finds himself shaking his head. “No, no. It’s okay.”
Jayce looks up, his expression so open, and Viktor blushes again. Goddamnit.
“It- It’s on me.”
“On you?” Jayce repeats, uncomprehending. This idiot.
“Yes, on me,” Viktor slowly says. “Just don’t tell anyone I let you have it for free.”
“Oh.” When Viktor is sure that Jayce is simply going to stand there, he starts to turn.
“Wait!”
Viktor looks back at the man. “Yes?”
“How can I repay you,” his eyes linger on his nametag, “Viktor?”
Viktor shakes his head. Sometimes, he doesn’t understand his taste in men. “Buy coffee from here more often.”
He was joking when he said that. He was sure it had come off as a joke too – a classic line that he had to say, come back for more if you want. So he doesn't expect to see Jayce there the next day, waving hesitantly as if saying, I came back.
Viktor shakes his head, biting back a smile, and waves back.
Jayce keeps coming back, too. Every day, at 1 PM, the bells attached to the door would jingle and Viktor doesn't need to look up to know who it is. Every day, the same order. It gets to the point where Jayce doesn't even need to announce what he wants or who he is, and Viktor doesn't even need to look up – they have reached an understanding, a fragile partnership that made Viktor want to die a little inside. It is impossible to look at Jayce’s open, perfect smile as he holds his coffee and not flush. He began to get used to this strange routine – 1 PM was panic time, he notes.
So on the 14th day, he hardly expects anything to be different.
“Order for Jayce!”
And as always, Jayce stands to grab his coffee. As Viktor is about to turn away, like he always does, he feels a warm hand tap his shoulder. He turns, eyebrows raised, to see a nervous Jayce holding out… was that a piece of paper?
“I was thinking,” Jayce begins to speak, while Viktor stands, incredulous, “if you would ever like to… this is my number! If you want to, well, go out? God, I’m messing this up, aren’t I.”
“Very much so,” Viktor says, silently thanking all the deities out there for his ability to maintain a seemingly calm voice as his pulse races. “Luckily for you, I don’t mind.” He takes the paper with shockingly steady hands and waves at where Jayce is smiling. “I’ll see you around, Jayce.”
“I- I’ll see you too! Bye!” Jayce walks backward, almost tripping over a trash can, and Viktor laughs quietly –
universe $%!@:
– “I’m going to find you!”
Viktor covers his eyes, his back pressed against a boulder. His makeshift cane rests by his side, quickly clinking as it hits the rock. Jayce can’t find him here if he’s invisible, can he?
Unfortunately for him, Jayce seems to be able to see through everything. “Found you!” the other boy crows, poking his shoulder gently. Viktor drops his hand and sighs like he holds the weight of the world on his shoulders as the shorter boy grins, even if he’s just 11.
“Okay, okay. What should we do next? Uhh… do you want to see what I made?” Jayce suggests. Viktor shrugs at his friend’s face, open with unhidden delight.
“Sure.”
Jayce grins. He disappears for a moment as he ducks behind another boulder, and Viktor cranes his head to get a better look. Soon he emerges, holding up something shiny.
“What’s that?” Viktor asks, as Jayce proudly brandishes it with a flourish. It’s rectangular and has a hole in it, almost like…
“I made it for you! A lab in Piltover has a lot of spare metal lying around and they never use it, so I thought, oh, Viktor needs a good head for his cane. So I just got an anvil, like I see them use, and…” his voice trails off as he examines Viktor’s face. “Do you like it?”
Viktor, meanwhile, is valiantly trying to fight off tears. He grips his cane tighter (and Jayce is right, he desperately needs a better one) and nods as his throat burns. “I really do.”
“Good,” Jayce smiles. “I’ll make you a whole cane, just wait. A really cool one. They really do have a lot of metal – Viktor, are you alright?”
Viktor laughs wetly as his tears spill. “Yes, I’m just… thank you.” He reaches out and takes his friend’s hand without thinking, a movement that makes both of them turn red. He still holds on, though. “Thank you,” he repeats.
Jayce shakes his head. “You don’t need to thank me. I’d do it for you. I’d do anything.” He sounds so earnest too, and Viktor believes him. He is safe with this boy, he decides. Jayce’s smile makes him feel like he can eat the world raw, and Viktor wants to hold onto it forever –
universe ^#<{$
- “I can’t send you back.”
“What?”
“I can’t send you back,” and this older version of Viktor seems so weary when he says it. “I’m sorry.”
Jayce scrambles to his feet in this wasteland; this future. “Viktor, whatever you are, I did not just spend days in a cave climbing and clinging to life, building all of this,” he gestures to his robotic casts, “just to give up now. They’ll all die without me. This will happen! Is this what you want?"
This older Viktor just stares at him as Jayce feels his eyes prickle. No, he will not cry. Not in front of the monster of his – their – creation.
“Is there anything I can do?”
It comes out as a whisper. He sits, falling back heavily as he closes his eyes. “It can’t just end like this.”
“It won’t.”
Jayce looks up, past his corpse, to where Viktor stands. He continues, accent drawling over his words like smoke, “I could send a copy of you back, with what remains of my powers. But for you… I fear you’re stuck here. The universe doesn’t let go of… travelers like yourself so easily.”
“Oh.” Jayce sits with that, letting the reality of his situation fully wash over him. He is stuck here, but he is also long gone. He will not leave this wasteland ever again. He will never see his home again, even as some alternate version of himself goes out to save it.
This – he – is all that is left.
“You know,” Viktor says, “I’m glad you’re here.”
Jayce finally looks at the man. His whole body contains the universe, vast and unyielding beneath his cloak. But his expression is so open, even worn by age and much more knowledge than any person should have to bear. He seems sincere.
Jayce lets the silence stretch out between them. Then, slowly, he pats the ground next to him. He half-expects this Viktor to ignore him completely, but to his surprise, he feels the other man settle next to him, gently placing his cane down.
“I’m glad it’s you,” he rasps. “If I had to be stuck in a wasteland for the rest of my life… I’m glad it’s with you.”
They sit comfortably in the silence, two men who have faced the monsters of their ambition and just barely crawled away. There is dirt in Jayce’s mouth and grime in his heart, but he stretches his hand out anyway.
Viktor takes it, and the world is silent –
– they gasp. There is eternity around them and they both know, then, that there is no going back. Jayce’s fingers close over Viktor’s, tighter than ever.
“I love you,” he whispers.
“I love you too.”
And there is white, blinding and beautiful –