Chapter Text
Viktor has always loved tinkering, fixing up old stuff around the orphanage, whatever he could get his hands on. He collected scraps of leftover metal and used them to construct his own little projects. His most recent one was a tiny motorboat. Viktor worked hard on the boat for about a month, drawing up sketches and making them real. He finally had the chance to test it on a nice spring day. He went out to the nearby lake, just on the outskirts of the undercity.
Viktor sat down on the shore and propped his cane up against a nearby boulder. He retrieved the boat from his bag and tried to get the motor to run until he heard a tiny gasp from the small overhang above the lake. A boy from Piltover, Viktor assumed, looked down at him with bright hazel eyes.
"You made that?" The kid asked with curiosity painting his face. ''Yes." Viktor replied, with a hesitant sound to his voice. He hadn't met, let alone spoken to anyone from Piltover before. ''Can I see it?'' The boy questioned while he made his way down from the small cliff. Viktor nodded in response and waited for him to walk over. ''I'm Jayce!'' Viktor nodded again. Jayce, the name suited the kid. ''My name is Viktor.'' Jayce smiled and leaned down to take a closer look at the boat.
The two young guys quickly struck up a conversation and formed a bond soon after, often returning to the little lake to hang out.
As they grew older their friendship grew closer and closer. Every time they'd come out to the lake and talk about whatever was currently going on in their lives. Viktor struggled with opening up at first but came around quite quickly, mostly because Jayce was very comfortable opening up to him. They supported each other through their rough patches. Jayce was there for Viktor when he was placed into a foster family that didn't support his needs, and Viktor was there for Jayce when he lost all his progress on a project he had been working on for months.
Jayce and Viktor both aspired to get into the same college, Piltover Academy. It seemed almost impossible to Viktor, to go from his current situation to studying at such a prestigious school, but he wanted to try anyway. He had a few months to prepare for the entrance exam. He and Jayce studied together often, the taller man bringing the books from Piltover that Viktor couldn't acquire in the undercity. They would meet up twice a week to cram some pages, taking breaks to tinker away at an unimportant project together.
Time flew by and the big moment had arrived. Viktor traveled up to Piltover, meeting Jayce at the train station, he had agreed to let him stay with him and his mother during the exams. They walked around the city together, the smaller man excitedly pointing stuff out that caught his eye. A couple of streets and a coffee later, they arrived at Jayce's place. Viktor was excited to finally have a more comfortable place to sleep than the horrible mattress in his tiny apartment, even if it was just for a night.
Jayce quickly ran inside and grabbed his mother so he could introduce her to Viktor. ''Mother, this is Viktor, the guy I told you about!'' Viktor stepped forward and shook Xemina's hand. ''It's nice to meet you miss Talis.'' He said with a smile ''Thank you for allowing me to spend the night here during the exams.'' ''It's no big deal, now go get some rest you two. You've got a big day ahead of you tomorrow.'' Jayce nods and quickly helps Viktor drag his bag upstairs.
Viktor enters Jayce's room. He looked around the room, ''Huh, different than i expected'' ''What do you mean by that?'' Jayce chuckled. ''I didn't think you'd be into these kinds of things.'' He pointed at the posters on the walls. ''Oh, you even like them?'' Viktor signaled to a specific poster. ''I loved them growing up, it's not often you get bands like them from the undercity, they're unique'' Jayce nodded along, he adored listening to Viktor speak. Viktor leaned his cane up against a wall and slowly knelt down to unpack his bag. He pulled out his pillow, some books, and the notes he had been taking over the past few weeks, along with that he also pulled out a sketchbook, one that Jayce hadn't seen before. ''What's that?'' ''Oh, just a sketchbook, i thought id bring it along to the exam in case I finished early.'' ''You draw a lot? Could I see?'' Viktor chuckled a bit at Jayce always being curious, and he nodded. ''I've always loved drawing, I got into it when I started working on more complex projects and had to actually plan stuff before building. But I got hooked, I guess.'' Viktor opened his sketchbook, besides designs for new projects there were doodles and some art that reminded Jayce a lot of the kind of tattoos he'd always dreamed of having.
''Wow, those are gorgeous… Have you ever considered becoming a tattoo artist?'' ''It was always kind of in the back of my mind, but I think it'd be hard to make enough money to support myself.'' Jayce nods with a saddened look on his face. ''I think you'd be good at it.''
A smile forms on Viktor's face.