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It was very late, late enough in fact that it had come back around to a respectable hour again. Viktor and Jayce had pulled another all-nighter, and they kept telling each other to go home, but it was now half past nine and thus far no one had.
They were sat next to each other at the desk, moving along with subpar efficiency to get their latest prototype ready for testing, though at that point they were spending as much time staring into space as they were working. A small army of used coffee cups surrounded them, but beside Viktor, Jayce was still struggling to keep his eyes open, and Viktor felt like there was soup where his brain was supposed to be.
Jayce rubbed his face with his hands, clearly trying to wake himself up, and only succeeding in dislodging what little hair had remained pushed back; it was an utterly pedestrian thought to have, but Viktor had to admit there was something a little appealing about Jayce Talis with his hair a mess.
"Hello? Is Viktor in the room with us tonight?" Jayce asked, his head lowered so it was a little closer to eye level. It occurred to Viktor that Jayce must have said something.
"This morning now, I believe. And no, honestly, he isn't." They'd both got a chuckle out of that, which had, perhaps, been warning enough. "Sorry, did you say something?"
"I said, can you pass me the bearball-" Jayce stopped.
"Can I pass you the... bearballings?" Viktor interpreted. Jayce laughed first, slightly manically, and Viktor joined in because, they were both a little loopy and bearballings was, in fairness, quite funny.
"Can... No... Stop laughing," Jayce choked out, trying to calm himself down. Viktor, ever the contrarian, cackled at that, and it was only made worse by Jayce's pleading expression. Jayce groaned, face split in an ear to ear grin, before planting his head on the desk, and Viktor thought he might have been able to stop then had Jayce not snorted.
There was very little return after that. Whenever they somewhat started to calm down, one of them would start again, and then the other would follow. Viktor cackled until he had a stitch, and when he looked over he could see tears running Jayce's cheeks. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed that hard.
Still, after a few minutes, they started to taper off. Jayce was wiping his eyes with the heels of his hands, and Viktor was leant back in his chair trying to catch his breath. They were both still giggling, but it seemed like they might have reached the end of it, when a something occurred to Viktor. He looked over at Jayce, and the split second of 'please no' on Jayce's face was enough to push him. "Trust you to be thinking of bare balls." Jayce's subsequent, anguished shout of 'Viktor!' Must have been heard across half of Piltover, but it only egged him on, and Jayce was dragged without resistance back into sleep-deprived hysterics.
They had given up on working by the time there was a knock at the door, they were both merely sat on the couch sniggering, Viktor lain back and Jayce with his head in his hands. At that point they only needed to look at each other to start up again. The knock allowed them both to quiet slightly. "Come in!" Viktor called, straining to keep his voice steady. Beside him he heard Jayce sniff and clear his throat, clearly trying to collect himself. They very deliberately didn't look at each other as Heimerdinger opened the door.
"Is everything alright, boys? I heard yelling." They both almost broke, but Viktor took several deep breaths as Jayce pushed forward.
"Yeah. Everything's fine professor," Jayce replied with a deliberate levelness.
"Jayce just asked for the, eh, bla-"
"The blall blearings?!" Jayce exclaimed, looking over at him with comical despair. There was no hope for them past that point. Viktor had to grip Jayce's shoulder to keep himself upright, though Jayce was only temporarily any help in that department, because not long after he collapsed sideways to lean on the arm of the couch, nearly taking Viktor down with him. This did not help. They were utterly inconsolable before their extremely confused and perhaps slightly concerned Professor.
Jayce eventually managed to choke out, "I'm sorry Professor, we..." before bursting out laughing again. Viktor, feeling empowered, explained for his almost prone lab partner.
"We haven't slept in many hours and now we're crazy!" Jayce, somehow, laughed harder.
"I think you boys need to go and get some rest," Heimerdinger suggested, arguably hours too late.
"Yes," Jayce barely replied.
"No! We're, eh... we're..."
"Viktor."
"Prime? No. Optimum! We're in..."
"Viktor..." Jayce groaned.
"This is the optimum. For us."
"We'll head home... in five minutes," Jayce, still struggling, assured their Professor.
"I think that's probably for the best," Heimerdinger agreed. "I'll let concerned parties know that no one has been hurt." Viktor just about heard the door shut over the sound of their snickering.
"'We haven't slept in many hours and now we're crazy'," Jayce wheezed. Viktor found he was trying to yawn and laugh at the same time.
"Am I wrong?"
"... No."
They both lay collapsed on the couch giggling for a few more minutes, until they could at last actually speak. "We can't walk back like this," Viktor stated, as they both sat and stared up at the ceiling.
"No."
"We'll be a danger to ourself and others."
"Nap first?" Jayce suggested.
"Mhmm." Jayce got up to go get the blankets, and Viktor looked over at their bomb site of a desk: Jayce's post-explosion flat had been more organised, but that was future Jayce and Viktor's problem. Whenever they next came in, they'd probably be doing more washing up than tinkering.
A blanket was dumped unceremoniously into Viktor's lap, before Jayce collapsed onto the couch, murmured 'blall blearings', and they both lapsed back into hysterics.
Their 'nap' lasted eight hours, and was only ended when Jayce's stomach rumbled loud enough to wake them both up. They had staggered, blinking, out into the late afternoon light in search of food because they'd both been under the mutual agreement that they could not be trusted with an oven. Starving animals had probably consumed food and drink with more care and grace than they did.
For weeks after that, whenever things grew quiet and still in the lab, one of them would mutter 'blall blearings' or 'bear ballings', and they would both promptly collapse into fits of giggles. It was highly detrimental to their productivity. It was the funniest thing Viktor had ever experienced.