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Viktor yawned, bored out of his mind from Heimerdinger’s lecture. As much as he respected his professor, he could only listen to the short man ramble on about mechatronics for so long. He had a lot of passion, don’t get him wrong, but his slideshow was unbelievably bleak and it was a mid-afternoon class.
Luckily it was a huge lecture hall, being an introductory course, so Heimerdinger was unable to see Viktor begin the slouch down in his seat.
From the looks of it, the other students around him weren’t faring much better. He could see a girl’s head from a few rows ahead of him continuously bob up and down, and the boy next to him kept bouncing his leg up and down restlessly.
Well, ‘boy’ may have been a disservice to call the man sitting next to him. He was huge, with tanned skin and large muscles peeking out under his short sleeves. His hair was short yet slicked around to look effortlessly stylish, and his golden eyes were slightly hooded in disinterest. The man alternated between tapping the edge of his pencil against his lip and twirling it around in the air, before he caught notice of Viktor’s staring and turned to him.
Shit , he hadn’t meant to seem like a creep, looking at the other man for so long. He quickly turned away, trying to regain his focus on whatever Heimerdinger was talking about now, but felt the man’s gaze lingering on him. Risking another glance, he turned and met the other student’s eyes.
“Hey.”
Oh wow, that voice. It was deeper than his, yet gentle and assertive in ways that both contradicted and complemented each other. Viktor could have it recorded on a vinyl and played on repeat.
What the fuck?
He blinked, realizing that he was taking an awkwardly long time to respond. His brain scrambled to meet his mouth to form a reply.
“Oh! Um- eh…Hi.”
Very smooth Viktor.
He mentally cursed himself, but the other man’s expression brightened at his terrible response.
“Man, this lecture is really uh…”
“Mind-numbingly boring.” Viktor finished, the edge of his lip quirking up when it earned a small laugh from his neighbor.
“Yeah…god, I mean- I know this stuff is important, but seriously how long can you spend talking about just screws?” Jayce shook his head in amusement. “It’s gonna knock a screw out of my head for sure.”
It was Viktor’s turn to chuckle at the other man’s words. This was…easier than it had been trying to make friends outside of class. Being a first year in the school, and in a different city than he grew up in, the first few weeks were lonely and stressful to get through. Talking with this classmate, he realized, was the least socially stressed he’s been since arriving.
“I’m Jayce, by the way.” The other man said, holding out his hand.
“Viktor.” He responded, taking Jayce’s hand to shake. “I’m in biomedical engineering, what about you?”
“Mechanical, but I guess we all share this course huh.”
Viktor looked around. There were definitely close to a thousand students in this lecture hall alone, which was fitting since it was a required class for every new engineering student, regardless of the type of engineering.
“So…what other classes do you have after this?” Jayce was bouncing his leg again.
“None, actually, this is my last class for the day.”
“Oh sweet! I mean, do you have any plans?”
Jayce was looking him up and down, lips pursed as though he was slightly nervous. Viktor’s heart picked up a little. Did he want to be friends?
“Nope.” He answered a little too quickly. “I uh- am still getting adjusted, you know?”
“Yeah, same. The campus is a lot bigger than I realized, and there’s a lot more people too.”
“Mmm.” Viktor hummed in agreement, and then shyly added, “Do you want to-”
“Wanna see some yo-yo tricks?”
…What?
Viktor blinked, unsure of how to respond. Jayce’s question took him aback so abruptly that he needed a moment to register the words.
“I’m really good at yo-yo tricks. I even won a competition when I was younger. Maybe after class, we could hop back to my dorm and I can show you some?”
Was this a euphemism? Viktor tried to study Jayce’s face for any hidden meanings, but the other man’s expression was genuine as he waited for Viktor’s response.
“Eh…yeah…ok. Yeah, that sounds fun?” The end of his statement sounded more like a question, but Jayce’s eyes lit up like an excited puppy all the same.
What the hell, sure.
It really was about yo-yo tricks. Viktor was sitting in the most gorgeous man he’d ever seen in his life’s room, and the man in question held a small blue yo-yo in his palm.
It was almost comical, how his hand dwarfed the toy. Viktor noticed it earlier too with the pencil, but Jayce had really large hands. His fingers were long and seemed to be calloused all over, as though he engaged in a lot of physical work. Based on Jayce’s physique, it wasn’t hard to believe.
Viktor mentally compared his own hand’s size to Jayce’s.
Wow .
“Here it is!” Jayce presented the yo-yo to Viktor. “I’ve had it since I was in middle school, actually. My mom bought it for me and I kept it ever since. Had to replace the string a few times but it’s my lucky Hex.” Jayce’s voice was sentimental, and his eyes were soft as he regarded his yo-yo. “So, what do you want to see first?”
“Um…I’m actually not very familiar with yo-yo tricks, truth be told.”
“Alright no biggie, I can just show you a little bit of everything then.” He beamed at Viktor, with a smile full of gums and perfect teeth.
Jayce fit the loop at the end of the string on his index finger, and flicked the yo-yo to get it moving, reeling it back in as though it was just a warm up.
“This one’s called ‘the elevator’, it’s pretty easy.”
He then cast it out again, with his palm up, and as it swung forward Jayce hooked his other hand’s index under the middle of the string and pulled up, flinging the yo-yo back until it rested on the string and began to rise along it while it spun, like the end of a pulley.
“Neat huh.”
“Yes. Although you’re right, that did look pretty easy.”
Jayce dislodged the finger around the middle and caught the yo-yo in one fell swoop. He then began manually wrapping the string back around, not taking his eyes off Viktor.
Viktor was staring at the string, however; and how practiced Jayce’s motions looked, never missing the base of the toy.
“Ok, here’s another easy one, it’s the ‘around the corner’.”
Jayce cast his yo-yo out again. This time though, he quickly slung his forearm around, moving the string behind and over his bicep. He then flicked his arm, causing it to jump over his shoulder and swing back down, where Jayce reeled it in again.
Huh, that was cool.
“Yeah, it is.” Jayce must have read his mind or he must have said it out loud without realizing it, but Jayce demonstrated the trick again, pausing before the last step. “The rotational kinetic energy feeds into its potential energy while it sits behind me, and then when I-” Jayce gave a small tug again, making the yo-yo jump back over his shoulder. “-it releases all of that. Pretty cool.”
For some reason, Viktor’s throat went dry watching Jayce tug on the string again, and how the small movement elicited such a big reaction from the yo-yo. He found himself staring at Jayce’s hands again as he reeled the base back in, thumb caressing the surface of the disk.
“You know a lot about this.”
“Haha yeah.” Jayce scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yo-yo tricks kinda got me into physics, which then sparked my interest in engineering and stuff.”
“That’s…really cool actually.”
Jayce’s expression brightened again at Viktor’s words.
“Really?! You think so? Most people think it’s nerdy.”
“Hm…maybe a little, but I think it’s cool. Show me more?”
“Ok ok, this one’s a little harder, it’s called ‘split the atom’.”
Casting it out again, Jayce held both his hands up in finger guns, looping the string around his fingers and slinging the base through the gaps he made. He then moved his hands in circles around each other, causing the base to fly around his fingers before he stopped the momentum, tugging one hand away to pull the string taut and using the other to guide the base to unravel around his finger. It was effortless.
“Woah…”
“Impressive?” Jayce was growing more confident at Viktor’s reactions, quirking his brow at Viktor where he sat on the other man’s bed. “It’s easier than it looks - I can promise you that - but the string movement is still pretty elaborate.”
Mmm definitely elaborate . Viktor was quite enjoying the show now, watching Jayce expertly tangle and manipulate the strings through his fingers. Despite how large his hands were, they were extremely dexterous and skilled.
He squirmed a little bit where he sat, beginning to think about how else they might be skilled.
Jayce began another trick, even more complex than the last, but by now Viktor was completely enamored. It was almost hypnotizing, watching Jayce work the string and the yo-yo to do what he willed. His movements were practiced and refined, never moving more than he knew he needed to in order to get the reactions he wanted.
…Viktor was still thinking about the yo-yo, of course.
Jayce’s growing confidence didn’t help either. He stood up straighter, to his full height that towered over Viktor even as he sat on the elevated bed. His face was pinched in strong concentration at every trick he did, and the muscles in his arms subtly flexed as he moved them.
Nevermind, Viktor was completely fucked.
He bit his lip when Jayce spread his fingers, creating a triangle-shaped gap using the string. While he wasn’t exactly listening to the other man’s explanations of the tricks anymore, he recognized this one as ‘rock the baby’, watching the yo-yo pendulum back and forth in the gap like a metronome.
He subconsciously squeezed his thighs together as Jayce unraveled the trick. He was thinking now about whether Jayce might have other…hobbies that trained his dexterity. It was incredible, how natural he seemed with the rope of the yo-yo, creating intertwining knots that he could undo with a simple flick of his wrist.
He was snapped out of his embarrassing reverie when he noticed Jayce was staring at him expectantly.
“Hm?” He asked, hoping he hadn’t been too obvious.
“I asked if you had any other plans tonight.”
“Oh! Eh- No, I’m free.”
“Do you want to um- maybe grab dinner with me? Doesn’t have to be in the dining hall, I was thinking we could go out to town, we can continue this there too.” He motioned to the toy.
Viktor felt his face heat up. Jayce looked equally as nervous, but his hands still held the yo-yo, absentmindedly fondling the surface as he looked at Viktor.
“Yes! I’d love to, actually.” He gave Jayce a genuine smile, hoping to convey his interest. The other man returned it, with the same toothy grin that he gave Viktor earlier.
The image was such a boyish and stark contrast to the sheer confidence that Jayce had displayed just moments ago while performing his tricks. It was both adorable and dangerously hot, giving Viktor whiplash and butterflies in his stomach simultaneously.
Jayce pocketed his yo-yo, offering out his hand to help Viktor down from the bed. Once down, Jayce handed him his cane as well, their hands brushing together as he received it.
Vitkor’s heart stuttered as they did so, abruptly turning towards the door in order to hide his furious blush. Not a second later though, he felt a large warmth on his lower back, glancing over to see that Jayce had placed his hand there.
Fuck , it looked like Jayce’s fingers would touch if he wrapped his hands around Viktor’s waist. He bowed his head forward slightly as they moved out into the hallway, ashamed at the fantasy and what it did to the tightness he felt in his gut. At this rate, Jayce was gonna set him on fire just through the thought of his hands.
They sat outside at the restaurant’s patio seating. After subsisting off of only dining hall food for the past few months, Viktor was grateful for the breather and chance to have normal food for once.
His company was certainly a plus. Jayce was intelligent and interesting in all the ways that Viktor could appreciate, and the conversation between them was easy. It was hard not to often feel isolated at school because of his disability and accent, but Jayce was treating him like a normal person, and not like he was either fragile or naive like everyone else did.
Viktor knew he was quickly falling for the other man that he had just met that day, but he also knew that he didn’t care. Jayce was kind, smart, and talented, and Viktor thought that they had incredible chemistry even in the few hours they’d known each other.
“Oh! Right.” Jayce interrupted his thoughts, pulling out his yo-yo. “I couldn’t do this back in the dorm because I might have hit something, but I wanted to show you this trick too.”
He stood up and swung his yo-yo again, flicking his hand out several times and getting it to shoot out in a circular motion. His other hand was copying the motion, albeit at different intervals than the one attached to the yo-yo.
“Now normally, I do this with two yo-yos.” Ah, that explained the muscle memory of his other hand. “It’s called ‘milking the cow’, but I guess since it’s just one this is called ‘punching bags’.”
Viktor found himself blushing again, gaze locking onto the repetitive motion of Jayce’s free hand.
Even in the dim light- No… especially in the dim light, it was hot to watch his movements, repetitively flicking his fingers against the air.
Jayce caught the yo-yo, but immediately cast it upwards, this time flicking his hands up to swing it in higher circles. His head was angled towards the sky, and Viktor could see the swell of Jayce’s Adam's apple, bobbing as he unconsciously swallowed.
When Jayce finished the trick, he turned back to Viktor, eyes gleaming and a soft smile on his face. Viktor clapped his hands, humming in approval, it made Jayce smile wider.
“So…yeah. I know a lot more tricks, but that’s a few of the ones I wanted to show you.”
“That was fascinating. I have to admit that I’ve never seen yo-yo tricks in person before, or as expertly as you did.”
Jayce tilted his head and looked away, as though flustered by Viktor’s praise. “It’s nothing! I don't get to show many people, so I’m really happy you liked them.”
“I did. You should show me more sometime.” He smiled, standing up to meet Jayce as the pair began walking out the patio.
“Well, the night is still young. If you’re not tired, maybe I can show you some more…tricks tonight? If you’re feeling up to it.”
“Yes, that sounds fun.” Viktor glanced up at Jayce, whose eyes were burning with a different intensity that he hadn’t seen before. “I would love to see what other tricks you can do.”
Maybe a different type of ‘trick’ too, Viktor hoped.