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Chapter Text

Viktor leans against the counter for support, his mug of tea a swirling eddy of green still too hot to partake in. The early morning rays of the sun are split into fractions outside, casting marigold shadows on the academy’s edifice. It’s shaping up to be a beautiful day in Piltover. 

Viktor glances across the room at his distended satchel, bearing papers that need graded and syllabi that need updated. But he has the faculty common room all to himself and it’s first thing in the morning. Between grading papers and enjoying his tea, Viktor knows which he prefers. 

His solitude is short lived, however, as Priya trudges into the room slowly, her expression like a withered apple. 

“Morning, Vik,” she sighs, sinking pathetically onto the gray settee. Her shelf of straight black hair–not perfectly coiffed for once–slopes over the side. 

“Long night?” Viktor ventures a guess as he watches her groan and drag a hand down her face. 

“Night-turned-morning, I think.” Priya clarifies.  

“Ah,” Viktor says. 

“Drank waaaay too much,” she says, her voice thick with the kind of nausea only alcohol can provide. 

Viktor raises his mug to his lips, hiding a smirk. “Did you at least have fun? Same girl you’ve been seeing?” 

The pallid gray tone of Priya’s face dissolves momentarily, replaced with a dreamy smile. She sits up, albeit slowly. 

“Yeah,” she says, “she’s so damn cool. Too cool for me, really.” 

“And being a biochemist isn’t cool?” Viktor retorts, though of course his opinion has always been a bit skewed in this area. 

Priya opens her mouth to answer, but that seasick look returns. She cradles her head in her hands. 

“Ugh, I’d be set if my head would just stop hurting.” 

Viktor redistributes his weight to both legs, and for what it’s worth, they have more give than before. At least, from what he can recall. They’ll never be perfect, but admittedly, Viktor missed that aspect of his body, his existence. To wake up and have his legs again, to be nestled back within a familiar body…it felt a lot like coming home. 

He makes his way over to the seating arrangements, though not before offering Priya some reprieve. 

“Grab my bag; I always keep my migraine medication on hand.” An unpleasant side effect of jumping between alternate realities, Viktor theorizes, since Jayce even suffers from them on occasion. In Viktor’s purview, though, it’s a small price to pay for a second chance at living. 

Priya’s eyes shine at the prospect. She rushes over to Viktor’s satchel and rummages through it with newfound fervor. “Oh my god, Vik, what would I do without you?”

“There’d be widespread chaos, surely. Civil unrest of the utmost kind.” Viktor teases, easing himself down in a spot beside Priya’s previously-claimed settee. 

The room goes quiet for a brief second before Priya squeaks in a conspiratory manner. 

“Umm, what are these ?” She pivots and waves a box of pregnancy tests in the air like a flag. A clearly opened box of pregnancy tests. 

Viktor feels a surge of heat cross his features. “I forgot those were still in there.” 

Priya then makes a face so coy that Viktor wishes he could sink into the floor. 

“Do you have something you wanna tell me, Vik?” 

“Do you have a headache to remedy, Priya?” He shoots back, taking another sip of tea. 

She’s back next to him in an instant, floating on the energized waves of Viktor’s perhaps-secret. She grabs his arm tenderly. 

“That can wait. You need to spill, right now. Are you-”

“-No. Consider it more of, eh, a preemptive measure.” Viktor cuts her off. 

To her credit, Priya doesn’t seem to have an opinion on the news, or lack thereof. She says, “so you and Jayce…are you guys trying?” 

Viktor mulls it over briefly. “Well, we’re certainly not doing anything to prevent it.” 

Priya unleashes another infernal squeaking sound, shaking Viktor’s arm with a birthday cake kind of elation. 

“Ooooh, I call being auntie! Dibs!” 

Viktor can only roll his eyes and chuckle. Only Priya could have such unbridled enthusiasm over something purely hypothetical. He places his hand gently over Priya’s. 

“You have my word. If at any point I’m housing the newest Talis, you get to be their auntie.” He says. 

“Yay, thank you, thank you!” Priya says, just as her watch begins to chirp at her. Her eyes shuffle over the watchface in a panic. 

She then hops to her feet, though the alcohol injects a wobble into her step. “Shit, I’m gonna be late. Good to see you, Vik! Thanks for dealing with my sloppy ass this morning.” 

She darts out of the room so quickly that Viktor’s shouting at emptiness in her wake: 

“You didn’t even take anything!”

Priya doesn’t consider herself a gossip, per se. In her defense, she’s just very excited when she whispers to Colin in the geology department about the pregnancy tests in Viktor’s bag. From Colin, it goes to Felicity, Felicity to Luca, Luca to Allison, and by the time it reaches Jayce, the narrative has changed somewhat. 

Viktor is ticking off boxes in his head. 

He’s taking over cosmological physics, so that syllabus needs updated; everything is set up for the titration lab he’s observing this afternoon; is he forgetting something for his astrophysics students? 

Suddenly a pair of hands all but hoists Viktor off the ground and into a nearby room. Viktor offers little struggle, but he makes sure to give Jayce a rather glowering look for such abruptness. 

“Jayce, what-” 

“V, are you okay?” There’s legitimate concern in Jayce’s tone and his eyes are skipping all across Viktor’s body.

Viktor steadies his cane–which he almost dropped in the scuffle, thank you, Jayce–and straightens his shoulders. 

“Considering I’m not the one dragging people into empty conference rooms without warning, I’d say yes.” Viktor says. 

His sarcasm does nothing to quell whatever’s plaguing Jayce, and the lost look on his face makes Viktor’s stomach knot up. 

“Jayce, what is it?” 

“You tell me.” Jayce says, his voice trembling. “What’s this I’m hearing about you being pregnant?” 

Oh, great. 

Viktor pinches the bridge of his nose. “Wow, good news certainly travels fast around here.” 

“Viktor!” Jayce chides, clamping his hands down on Viktor’s shoulders. 

Viktor unfurls one of Jayce’s hands and threads their fingers together. “Breathe, Jayce. I’m not sure who told you that–although I do have an idea–but I’m not pregnant.” 

Something visibly deflates within Jayce. Maybe disappointment or relief or something that straddles the line between the two. But at the very least, he doesn’t look as riled up. 

“Apologies for the scare.” Viktor murmurs as Jayce traces his thumb down the slope of Viktor’s cheekbone. 

Jayce’s brows furrow in confusion. 

“‘Scare’? V, I wasn’t scared. I was worried about you. I thought you were hiding something serious from me and dealing with it all alone…” He trails off, and Viktor’s memories are a multi-paned mosaic, colored by countless instances of him indeed suffering alone. It was second nature, once. 

Viktor draws Jayce’s unoccupied hand to his lips, tucking a kiss between each knuckle. “I wouldn’t keep something like that from you.” He says earnestly. 

Jayce smiles in a way so shy and boyish that it appears mismatched to his time-weathered face. Behind his longer hair, his beard that Viktor all but insisted he keep, and his bulkier frame, Viktor sees a brief flicker of the starry-eyed boy he fell in love with all those years ago. He’s grateful that he’s still alive within Jayce, even if well hidden. 

Jayce purses his lips in thought. “Still, that’s a pretty nasty rumor to start about someone. You said you know who did it?” 

“Well,” Viktor starts, his gaze tipping away from Jayce, “part of it is somewhat my fault. Technically.” 

“I’m not following.” Jayce says, and Viktor slips away from him, electing to pace back and forth despite his hip screaming in defiance. 

“I didn’t mention it at the time, but a few months back, I was late…by a few days. So I bought some pregnancy tests. I guess I never took the remaining ones out of my satchel, Priya found them this morning, and, eh, you can fill in the blanks from there.” Viktor says, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth. He’s lost count of how many rotations around the room he’s taken by the time Jayce’s hands come to rest on his hips, anchoring Viktor to the spot. 

Viktor wants nothing more than to put an ocean between himself and Jayce, refusing to look him in the eye until Jayce’s thumb hooks beneath Viktor’s chin and guides it upwards, beseeching entrance. Jayce’s expression is softened at the edges, though his voice goes barely above a whisper as he says: 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” 

A downpour of frustration descends upon Viktor. He makes a broad gesture with his hands. “Because of exactly what just happened. Why would I put that burden on you until I knew for certain what was happening?” 

“So it’s better for you to shoulder it yourself?” Jayce’s voice parts the rain, and Viktor wants to hate him for how simple he makes everything, how clearly he can see through something once Jayce has laid it out before him. 

Viktor sighs. “I didn’t know what to do. But now it seems we ended up in the same place, despite my efforts.” 

“Viktor,” Jayce’s hands tighten around his hips, “my love for you isn’t some variable; it doesn’t change when things get hard or stressful. I don’t care if it’s something that’s destined to happen or just a ‘what if’. If something’s weighing on your mind, I want you to share it with me. And we’ll figure it out from there. Together.” 

Viktor pulls in a razor-sharp breath, and he knows there’s no getting his heart back from Jayce. Not that there was any question of that. 

“Okay,” he acquiesces with a nod, and Jayce deposits a light kiss to his forehead. Before he can think better of it, before he can lodge the words in his mouth, Viktor adds, “can I ask you something?” 

“Anything.” 

“I need you to be honest with me about this,” Viktor says firmly, recognizing the hypocrisy in his words, “what was your reaction? When you thought I was…”

Jayce blinks, carefully considering his words. “I was excited. But I was also scared to be excited, I guess.” 

“You were?” Viktor asks, feeling like the room has just turned on its axis. 

“Well, yeah. I mean, the thought made me happy, but it’s also not something we’ve really talked about. I didn’t want my feelings to sway your decision.” Jayce says, and Viktor marvels at him. How someone with such a bruised and beaten soul could still harbor such untarnished kindness within him…it is truly something to behold. 

“Do you want a child, Jayce?” Viktor says outright. 

Jayce’s complexion reddens. “I…do you?” 

Viktor smiles then, musing aloud: 

“Ever since you and I found ourselves here, started rebuilding our lives on the foundation of completely different versions of ourselves…I have grappled with whether I truly deserve this. A fresh start where we can be together, where we’re professors shaping the minds of young scientists-to-be who share our enthusiasm, where I haven’t ruined everything. ”

Viktor can see the indignant reply swell within Jayce, so he talks over it.

“I know I can’t spend the entirety of this life mourning my past transgressions, so I want to channel that grief into something greater. I want to give back to this universe we’ve found ourselves in. One way is through sharing my knowledge with others, yes, but when I thought I might be pregnant, I saw a new opportunity.” 

Viktor places a hand against his abdomen absentmindedly and Jayce watches him with complete reverence, drinking Viktor’s words like water. 

“You are the most wonderful person I’ve ever known, Jayce Talis. And I want to put more of you into the world.”

Jayce’s eyes are brimming with tears, his voice damp. “V…” 

He wraps Viktor into a gentle hug, Viktor relishing his warmth. And isn’t that really how it feels to be close to Jayce Talis–to touch him and come away dusted with sunlight? 

Jayce nuzzles against Viktor’s neck, Viktor sighing at the prickly sensation of Jayce’s beard against his skin as Jayce mutters, “you mean that?”

“Every word.” Viktor says, combing his fingers through Jayce’s dark hair. He supposes he ought to thank Priya in a way, since this whole debacle led them both here. But if she found out, Viktor would never hear the end of it. Best to let her think it all happened naturally.

Jayce pulls back, his misty expression now replaced with his usual puppylike demeanor. “Can we start now?” 

Viktor snorts, endeared by Jayce’s ever-candid nature. “In a conference room at the academy? No. But perhaps tonight.” 

Jayce’s hands, still planted on Viktor’s narrow hips, urge him slightly forward until their bodies just graze one another. 

“Tonight, then.” Jayce agrees. 

Within a matter of moments, however, Jayce’s adorable look of excitement melts into an almost sinister grin. 

“What is that face for?” Viktor laughs. 

“Maybe once I get you pregnant for real, that annoying guy from the anthropology department will finally get the message.” Jayce says, and Viktor is actually rather taken aback at the sudden jealous streak.

“Stephen? He’s a nice man.” Viktor says honestly, and Jayce’s expression turns lemon-sour. 

“Oh I’m sure he’s very nice to you considering how badly he wants you.” 

Viktor raises his brows in puzzlement; this is genuinely news to him, though it’s not as if he’d entertain any romantic advances from someone else. 

“I think you’re imagining things.” Viktor brushes it off, but Jayce holds steady. 

“He’s always sitting in on your lectures, floating around your office even though he’s in a completely different department , and the way he looks at you…” 

Something switches in Viktor, a part of him that can’t resist goading Jayce on. “How does he look at me?” 

“The way I do.” Jayce says plainly, losing himself in a pseudo-demonstration as he stares at the moles peppering Viktor’s face, the curve of his lips, his pointed cheekbones. “He looks at you like you’re the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. Like he forgets what he should be doing whenever you’re around.” 

“Oh,” Viktor says with newfound understanding, “so you think I have a shot, then?” 

Jayce’s features legitimately darken before he draws Viktor flush against himself. “Over my dead body.” He can’t keep the facade up, though, as there’s an ever slight, breathy laugh that punctuates the end of his sentence. 

Viktor laughs with him, resting his head against Jayce’s chest. For good measure, he rocks onto the tips of his toes and kisses Jayce with all that he has. When they part, Jayce snakes an arm around Viktor’s waist.

“I can’t wait to get you home tonight.” 

“Yes,” Viktor agrees, charting his lithe fingers over the rough terrain of Jayce’s beard, “and I can’t wait to get beard burn between my legs. But as it happens, you and I need to get out of here. We both have afternoon classes.”  

A tremor courses through Jayce, but he behaves himself, storing that electricity for when he can actually have Viktor all to himself. “Yeah, you’re right. We should go be responsible.” 

“I’ll be sure to tell Stephen you say hello.” Viktor says, unable to resist one final jab. 

“Please don’t.”

Chapter Text

“Where are you taking me?” Jayce’s breathy laughter echoes off the walls and nestles itself within Viktor’s ribcage. He adores that sound more than anything else, that impossible magic that Jayce still manages to find even in a universe where they’ve never wielded it. 

The precise layout hasn’t changed–at least, from what Viktor remembers–but this hall certainly does look different with its fragile ribbons of cobwebs and healthy patina of dust over everything. There’s a splinter of heartache that Viktor feels at seeing this wing unused, a dividing pull between homesickness and violent recollection. This is part of a very old story. This is part of a story that’s never been told. 

Viktor shakes his head, chiding himself. He can’t allow his grief to become a blindspot right now. He’s on a mission. 

“Almost there.” 

“You know, V, if you wanted some alone time, there’s definitely better spots.” Jayce says, skimming a finger along the armrest of a chair only for it to return clotted with gray. 

“What, you don’t wish to be covered in asbestos while I ravish you?” Viktor sneaks a coy glance over his shoulder and is rewarded with a Jayce smile that he swears draws sunlight in from the windows. 

“Not particularly.” Jayce replies. 

“Well damn,” Viktor feigns a sigh, “we’ve gone too far to turn back now. See? We’ve already made it.” 

Jayce’s brow raises in puzzlement as Viktor stops before an unmarked door, no different from any of the others they’ve passed in this dismal hallway. He nearly yelps when Viktor uses the ferrule of his cane to crudely push open the door, a shock of air perfumed by years-old dust settling around them. 

“V, what are you doing?” Jayce swats floating particles away from his mouth as best he can. He doesn’t receive an answer, but a command: 

“Come on.” 

Jayce does as he’s told, but he’s still a long distance from understanding. “Are we actually going to have sex in here?” The question is so perfectly honest, so delightfully Jayce-shaped that Viktor can’t stifle a chuckle. 

“You don’t know where we are, do you?” Viktor says, and he realizes too late how much affection he’s interjected into his words. How much he already may be giving away. 

Jayce’s eyes chart a course around the room, mapping it out to no avail. “Am I…supposed to?” 

Viktor doesn’t respond, drifting to Jayce and tucking an isolated strand of hair behind his ear. He presses a kiss to the brambled skin of Jayce’s cheek and weaves their fingers together. Jayce then allows himself to be led hand-in-hand by Viktor.

Viktor hums thoughtfully before pointing straight ahead. It’s empty space, but he can conjure the image of himself there, once upon a time, sitting and tinkering with whatever the latest Hextech development was due to release. 

“My workbench would have been here.”

He swivels his arm and once again points–not to the fact of something, but the suggestion of it. “This is where the Hexcore lived.” Even mentioning it awakens something within the recesses of Viktor’s mind, a community of feelings crouched on all fours. He wills it away before it strikes. 

Viktor takes a step backward and in doing so, releases Jayce’s hand. He gestures to the area between them, as if warming his hand over an unseen flame. “The Hexclaw stood here for a while. I hated how that thing would stare me down while we were waiting to crack it.” 

They did crack it, eventually. Except for here, where they did not. 

Realization dawns upon Jayce, and Viktor knows he can sense it–the way this room is built into them both. 

“Our lab. This was where our lab…” Jayce can’t bring himself to complete his thought, sauntering in circles around the empty room, no doubt cataloging his own memories. Delighting in the ghostly company of a past which only half-exists. 

Viktor smiles, though apprehension briefly eclipses his happiness. He can do this. He can propel that happiness forward; it’s the whole reason they’re here. 

“I figured this was as good a place as any to get sentimental.” Viktor says, his tone trembling, his eyes roving around the room and building structures out of flashbacks. Jayce refocuses his attention to Viktor, his molten gold eyes ripe with want. He’s so handsome it’s devastating, Viktor thinks, or maybe he just wants to remember this moment for the rest of his life.

“I’m pregnant, Jayce.” 

That’s all there is. It’s out there now, sitting on the wind amidst particles of dust. 

Jayce’s mouth falls open, and Viktor hears his breath stop, caught in the scaffolding of his chest. What escapes him is something between a wheeze and a sob, scratching against the strings in his throat. 

“You’re…really?” 

Viktor’s never known a tongue-tied Jayce Talis before, wouldn’t recognize the dialect. Jayce has always been the type of person who manages to say something, the type of person who can walk into any room and convince everyone he’s always belonged there. It’s why people can’t help falling the least bit in love with him. Viktor understands this principle well. 

All at once, Jayce is kissing him, frenzied and pleading, like he can’t gather Viktor close enough. Viktor blooms for him in turn, unfolding gently into the cradle of his arms and sighing when Jayce’s hurried lips mark a trail from Viktor’s mouth to his cheek to his temple. When Jayce pulls away, it’s almost fierce, like he’s dipped into the reserves of a harshly imposed self-control. Like he has to pry himself away from Viktor for fear of never stopping.

Tears collect at the edge of Jayce’s eyes, threatening to fall. He says, “I can’t believe this.” 

“Really? We’ve practically been marathon fucking for-”

“You know what I mean,” Jayce grumbles behind a smile. He tips Viktor’s chin up slightly and presses their foreheads together, the revelation taking root in Jayce that there are, in fact, three of them bound within this warm embrace. It fills him with love and longing so cavernous you could shout into it. 

Viktor leans into his touch, circling a hand around Jayce’s wrist, and something about it all feels familiar. A moment in time that’s haphazardly stitched together. A wound that’s healed without having to be reopened. 

“In light of the news, I have a request,” Viktor says, eyeing Jayce’s mouth hungrily. 

“Anything.” 

“Take me home. We ought to celebrate our good news the way it came to fruition.” 

Something flickers in Jayce’s eyes–a tinderbox waiting to be lit. Thick coils of desire settle heavy in the pit of his stomach as he murmurs, “couldn’t agree more.” 

Viktor heaves unsteadily, gulping pockets of air as Jayce pushes into him, the two of them quickly approaching their respective limits. Jayce’s thumbs dig into the angled slopes of Viktor’s hips, easing him forward as Viktor’s legs hook around him. He whispers Jayce’s name in the same, mnemonic intonation–a crosscurrent of ecstasy and adoration that drives Jayce to the absolute edge of insanity. He wants nothing more than to hear his name, and only his name, flow from Viktor’s lips while they’re in the throes of passion. 

Jayce’s length tenses as he nears his release, losing himself in the sensation and groaning as Viktor’s walls clench around him. He could stay like this forever, he thinks to himself–he and Viktor so deeply interlocked there’s no telling where one ends and the other begins. And in some cosmic way, they always are; always have been. You could dig into the very epicenter of Jayce and find Viktor there. 

Viktor ruts against him, gasping and pawing at Jayce’s shoulder until his nails carve half-moons into Jayce’s skin. Jayce peers down at Viktor with semi-lidded eyes, panting through bite-swollen lips. 

“V, I’m-” 

“I know,” Viktor acquiesces, nodding to confirm that he too is on the precipice, his eyes snapped shut as the next wave of pleasure floods him. 

Jayce rocks forward, sliding as deeply into Viktor as possible, the crescendo of Viktor’s pleasure-filled whine making Jayce’s vision turn to static. He releases inside Viktor just before unsheathing himself, dribbling pearls of white onto the sheets; something he’ll worry about once the fog dissipates. 

Viktor leans backward all the while, easing himself onto his pillow and cupping a hand at his entrance to hold Jayce’s seed inside him. The sight alone is enough to make Jayce want to draw him back in and claim him again and again, but Viktor looks spent as is. Besides, Jayce is more than happy to indulge in the glorious sight of his husband unraveled.

His pregnant husband, a voice echoes inside Jayce’s head. It’s no longer a hypothesis or an idea; Viktor’s pregnant with his child. The reminder sends adrenaline straight to his heart. 

Jayce leans his head against Viktor’s stomach and sighs contentedly. He feels Viktor’s nimble fingers rake through his hair as Viktor says, “they’re about the size of a grape right now. You’re not going to feel anything.” There’s a gentle playfulness in his tone, endearment born entirely of Jayce’s eagerness. 

“But they’re still in there,” Jayce mumbles, nuzzling his head against Viktor’s skin for emphasis, “that’s what matters.” 

“Yes, and now you get to wait on me hand and foot for the next seven months.” Viktor mutters with obvious sarcasm, though he can’t help rolling his eyes when Jayce responds without hesitation: 

“Whatever you need.” 

Viktor pushes on. “I’m going to be extremely grumpy, especially toward the end.” 

Jayce nods. “I’m sure you will.” 

“And I’ll likely complain that it’s all your fault.” 

“I expect nothing less.” 

Viktor scowls at his husband, though he can’t fortify it to save his life once he meets Jayce’s heartfelt gaze. His mouth spreads into a grin as he says, “you’re infuriatingly perfect sometimes, you know that?” 

Jayce blinks. “Thank you? I can’t tell if that’s meant to be a compliment.” 

“It’s a compliment,” Viktor confirms. “Savor them now while you can.” 

Jayce sits up, takes Viktor’s face in his large hands, and kisses him like a rush of blood, quick and disorienting. He has a strong feeling that this restless devotion won’t be letting up anytime soon. 

“I’ll try to remember that.”