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"How's it going?"
Viktor walked into the room, his fancy cane clicking onto the floor.
"No."
And Jayce was back turned to him, still working on something.
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"I think there's a problem with an equation."
"Didn't you say I could leave this to you, that you had everything under control?"
Viktor raised an eyebrow, a half smile crossing his face.
"That was before I saw the anomaly."
"Well, you should've seen it before. I remind you that the competition is tomorrow, but no pressure."
"I know it already. But we'll solve this together, right?"
For the first time since Viktor arrived at the lab, Jayce turned to look at Viktor, a small smile playing on his lips, as if he was waiting for Viktor to scold him.
"We will. We have to."
But he didn't. Just walked over and sat down beside him.
Oh, the Distinguished Inventor's Competition of Piltover, the most important event for both Jayce and Viktor. This year they were going to participate, they were going to make history, or at least that was the intention. After years of investigation, failed experiments, days and nights when they just worked until their bodies couldn't bear more tiredness, they'd finally finished what they called the 'Hexgates', the most efficient way to travel or transport things from a place to another, and if the correct combination of runes was used, it could even transmute people from a city to its antipode. Just right there was the problem. They didn't have that combination yet, and the competition was the next day, from noon to evening. It didn't matter though, they'd solve it as partners, as it's always been. It'd be just another sleepless night among many others.
Well, it was next day morning already, and guess who did not have the equation yet. They had two empty mugs of coffee. They had dark circles under their eyes. They had wrinkled clothes. But no equation.
"How are you feeling, my boys?"
Heimerdinger walked into the lab, an enthusiastic smile crossing his face because he knew how hard they were working on hextech. He knew that, even if they didn't win, they'd be the future of Piltover. Well, he hoped that they definitely wouldn't show up like that at the competition, because they'd make a terrible first impression of progress looking like chronic insomnia personified.
"Oh... What happened? You look... Devastated."
Jayce was struggling with the engines of the device that was going to power the Hexgates, spinning the hexstone and creating the combination of runes. Meanwhile, Viktor looked as if his life had been completely sucked out of him, working on the equation mechanically, not really putting an effort. They were so caught up on what they were doing that they didn't even notice Heimerdinger's presence at the lab.
"I'm so done with this. Jayce, we should withdraw our application for the competition and submit a new one when we have the equation."
"No, I'm sure you can do it, V, you just need to focus on it. Do you want another coffee? While you finish that I can get this ready, I don't want it to jump out at anyone..."
"You're not hearing me. There's no amount of focus in the whole world that could make me solve this-... This."
Finally they noticed Heimerdinger standing there, watching them in concern, and both Viktor and Jayce sighed out, giving up on what they were doing. They didn't have the equation, but there was only one missing, they could still transport objects from a place to another, so maybe it wasn't that bad. And with that thought in mind, trying to convince themselves, they prepared for the competition.
Pedestals with revolutionary objects, people chatting around the room, snacks spread all over large tables. Just the usual arrangements for a fancy piltovian gathering. Boring, if you asked Viktor, but he was not there to have fun but for the Hexgates, besides it's been ages since he'd assisted to a true party.
"Hey, how are you doing?"
Jayce sat down beside Viktor, who was in a corner of the room, eating a tartlet.
"I can't wait for the winner to be announced."
"Have you seen many potential winners?"
"Ehh, not sure. There are interesting things, but I won't say that they're potential winners."
"There was nothing that caught your attention?"
"Not really. And you? Have you seen anything that caught your attention?"
Jayce shook his head, smiling softly. An slightly awkward silence settled between them.
"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be having fun?"
Viktor finally spoke up, looking around at the people laughing politely while drinking good champagne.
"I have fun here. And what about you? Aren't you tired of being in a corner eating tartlets?"
"They're great. I must admit that the food is very good here. However, this "party" is more boring than watching paint dry."
"Do you think this is boring? What kind of parties do you used to go to in the undercity?"
Viktor wrecked his expression, finally looking at Jayce.
"Funny ones. Good music, cheered up atmosphere, you know, people actually dancing instead of just gossiping."
"Ouch, sharp as always."
Jayce chuckled, taking a tartlet himself.
"Did you go to many parties?"
Jayce looked at Viktor, who just raised his eyebrows in amused disbelief.
"What do you think?"
He said, subtly pointing at his bad leg. Jayce only let out a small, almost sheepish 'oh'. Another silence grew between them.
"Despite that, I did go to a few parties. I was younger and they were... somewhat thrilling, so."
Viktor shrugged as Jayce nodded his head in understanding.
"Well, you certainly don't look like the kind of fun seeker. I would've bet that you rather stayed at home working on gadgets or something like that."
"Not a fun seeker, just curious."
They both looked around the room. Their conversation was rather awkward, not because of them but because of the place they were in. They could talk for hours at the lab, about everything, not only work. But being at a foreign building, with so many people around them, outside of the familiar hum of machinery and the four walls of their workplace, made them reluctant to share their thoughts with each other.
"You know how to dance?"
Jayce asked suddenly, tilting his head to look at Viktor beside him.
"Ehh, sort of..."
Viktor had one of those funny expressions in his face when he answered, and Jayce couldn't help but stare. Eyebrows quirked up, eyes rolling to the side in doubt, lips twitching slightly, head tilting to the side.
"Why the question?"
"Just to make conversation..."
Even when he said that, a thought crossed his mind.
"What do you dance?"
"Probably nothing you can dance."
"A dance from the undercity?"
"Yeah, I'm sure folk dances aren't your thing."
"They are. You have to teach me one day."
"Only if you're willing to learn."
"Of course I am."
Both Jayce and Viktor laughed. They weren't sure why were they laughing, but they laughed.
"And who taught you?"
Jayce added, genuine interest creeping into his voice.
"My father."
Viktor's response made Jayce open his eyes in slight shock, but it wasn't the answer itself what took him by surprise, it was the fact that this was the first time Jayce had heard Viktor mentioning his family in all the time they've known each other.
"Your... You'd never talked about you family."
Jayce was still surprised as a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, and Viktor could just chuckle at the excited expression on the other man's face.
"I'd never got the chance either."
"I talked about my mother with you!"
"Yeah, but you can make conversation over rocks if necessary. I just don't talk about my family with my colleagues."
Jayce winced internally at Viktor reducing their relationship to mere camaraderie, but he didn't let it show, instead getting up from the chair and smoothing his clothes, turning to look a Viktor with a smile
"Then let's find another place, because your colleague wants to hear about your family."
Viktor raised his eyebrow, but shrugged anyway, already used to Jayce's antics, leaning on his cane and getting up as well, both men heading towards the exit. They wandered through the corridors, looking for a good place to talk which wasn't very far from the hall at the same time, so they could hear when the winner was going to be announced. They finally reached the stairs of the main entrance. They looked at each other and shrugged in a silent gesture of accordance before sitting down on the steps.
"So... Tell me about your parents."
Jayce started, turning to look at Viktor with a small smile, watching how the other man traced the shape of his cane with his fingers, as if thinking of what he should tell.
"Uhm... They worked at the mine, like everyone in that time, and-"
Jayce cut off Viktor's words with a chuckle, placing a hand on his shoulder. Still with a lingering smile on his face, Jayce corrected his own words.
"No, I meant, like something you used to do with them."
"Ah. Well, I... Fixed things with my mother, and helped my father with the food, and... And why do you have that smile on your face?"
He nudged Jayce's shoulder playfully at the sight of his amused smile.
"Hey! I just... I really can't imagine you as a kid... Like, you sure were smaller and all that but... Did you have messy hair? Was your face sharp? Was your voice high? I can't imagine it."
Viktor smiled at Jayce's sudden curiosity about his past, shaking his head and turning it to look at the city before them. Bright, great and golden, even more in sunsets like in which they were.
"Messy hair, rounder face and high voice... More or less."
A silence settled between them again, a comfortable one, as they stared at the falling sun as it hid behind the high buildings. Jayce wanted to ask things. Lots of things. Like why did Viktor never visit the undercity, or why he'd never heard him talk about his family before, or why did he talked about them in the past. But he feared that he might make Viktor remember something he didn't want to, he feared that he brought to the surface something painful, and so he kept his mouth shut, just observing how the golden rays of sun turned into silver light and small stars in a deep dark background.
"What should we talk about now?"
Jayce was trying hard to make conversation, but it wasn't his day apparently.
"Don't know... Maybe your mother?"
Viktor answered, his eyes still fixed in the horizon, where the sun had already hidden just minutes before. Jayce, instead, just turned to look at Viktor with barely contained laugh, finally bursting out in laughter, and making the other man laugh too.
"Why are you laughing?"
"You- you can't just say that and expect me to be completely normal about it! Besides you're laughing too."
"That's because your laughter is contagious."
Jayce finally steadied himself, looking at Viktor, and amused giggle escaping his lips.
"We're not talking about my mother... We can talk about weird things."
The suggestion made Viktor frown and somehow raise an eyebrow with confusion.
"Weird things like..?"
"Like... I read that sometimes, you feel drawn to another person because your atoms were near before the begining of the universe."
"That's nonsense."
"But it's wonderful. Or like... Imagine that you and me are both part of the stars we're looking at right now, isn't it beautiful?"
"These stars are dead by now, but I get your point."
Jayce pushed Viktor weakly in a playful gesture, shaking his head.
"You're so annoying when you state facts."
Viktor smiled back at the playful tease, looking at Jayce's own smile.
"I'd say you could've just chosen another partner, but I'm afraid I was the only person fool enough to believe in that Hextech thing of yours."
"And now look at where we are."
Their gazes locked for a moment before Jayce looked away, staring into the stars above their heads, enjoying the soft breeze rustling their hair.
"Okay, no weird things... And what about we talk about something we regret doing? In turns, like you start with something and then I-"
"Why do I start?"
Viktor cut off the other man's words, crossing his arms in mock-annoyance.
"Oh, come on, it's just a silly thing, it doesn't matter who starts."
"Well, you proposed the thing, you start."
"But-! You know what? Forget it, no regrets."
Jayce crossed his arms too, closing his eyes and trying to look indignant even when a smile kept creeping up on his expression.
"We can always tell each other small secrets."
Jayce turned to look at Viktor with renewed interest in his partner's suggestion.
"By small you mean things that are unimportant?"
Viktor nodded his head, and Jayce placed a hand on his chin, as if he was weighing the idea, as if he hadn't had it clear since those words escaped Viktor's lips.
"Okay... You proposed it, you start."
"Ah, fair enough... Okay, when I was a child, I accidentally dropped my cane into a river."
"What-? That sounds more like something you regret doing!"
"Do not complain. Your turn."
Jayce thought of it for a second.
"Uhh... I still have a mage costume I wore when I was a child."
"... Is it because of the mage that saved you and your mother in that mountain?"
"... Maybe."
"You really were obsessed with them"
"Shh! Your turn."
"Uhh... I buy aromatic candles."
"Is that a secret?"
"Yeah."
"That's not a secret."
"Did you know it?"
"No..?"
"Then it is."
Jayce snapped his tongue, placing a hand on his chin before his frowned expression lit up with an idea.
"Ah! I have a tattoo."
"What-?"
"You see? That's a good 'small secret'!"
"No, wait, let's move back to the tattoo, you have one? Where?"
"Ah-ah, your turn."
Viktor narrowed his eyes. He had a funny face again and Jayce couldn't help but chuckle.
"Uhm, when I'm bored I count my moles."
"Wha- why would you even do that-?"
"Shut it. Where?"
"The small of my back"
"What is it?"
"Your turn. How many moles?"
"Oh come on... Forty one."
"Forty-! No way! You have to tell me where's the weirdest place you have one!"
Jayce laughed, unconsciously counting those two moles on Viktor's face and the ones that were barely visible under the collar of his shirt.
"Why would you even want to know that-? What is it?"
"The rune."
Jayce rolled his sleeve up his arm slightly, showing his bracelet and the rune carved.
"When did you do tattooed it?"
"Your turn. Weirdest place where you have a mole?"
"Uhh... The sole of the foot."
"That's- that's not a weird place!"
"Yes it is. For me it is."
"But-"
"When?"
"... When I was eighteen."
"Uhm, very young... And why?"
"My mother. I wanted to have something that always reminded me of that day on the mountain... Magic saved her life, our lives! I wanted to carry that with me always, to show how grateful I still am with the unknown mage, how much I still admire them..."
Viktor listened intently to Jayce's explanation, a small smile crossing his face unconsciously, as he watched the other man's profile, the curves on his nose, his lips moving as he talked, the thin air that escaped his mouth in visible puffs due to the cold.
"Hey! You skipped your turn."
Jayce complaint, turning his head quickly to look at Viktor with a frown.
"Ah, not my fault, you're the one who answered."
"Oh come on! You're a cheater!"
Jayce nudged Viktor's shoulder with his own, leaning on his arms as he gave him a sidelong glance, unable to content the smile raising on his features. They stayed like that, watching the starry sky, sometimes stealing discreet glances to each other. Not talking, but not wanting to either.
"We should probably get back before they announce the winners."
Viktor broke the silence after several minutes of staring into the sky.
"Yeah."
And even when they said that, neither of them made a single move to leave the place. After all, they knew that, even if they won, the only thing that they'd remember about the Distinguished Inventor's Competition would be each other. What would they do without their partner? Why would they want to win if they didn't have each other? From the very beginning of Hextech, Hextech was never actually the goal. But hey! They won a prize, money for their next projects, new interested investors and a great picture together. Ask Jayce, he still keeps that thing on his bedside table!
~END