Work Text:
The crackle in the air was rapid and building. The faint blue spark ominous.
‘Ah, Jayce?’ Viktor said, not taking his eyes off the rune cage.
‘Yeah?’
‘I think I may have taken it a bit far in, uh, cranking it.’
‘What?’
Viktor watched as another larger blue spark flicked past his face. The new runes would hold. Or… they might. But the crackle in the air said otherwise. More blue sparks accompanied a bit of a whine.
‘Viktor, what do you mean?’
Another spark. And another and… this cage would not hold.
‘Get down!’ Viktor shouted and dived off his chair.
The discharge in the air dissipated with a wave of force that picked him up bodily mid dive and tossed him through the air. Mid-air, somewhat detached, Viktor had a brief moment to think that he preferred the floating results of Hextech.
The full body impact prevented much other thought.
‘Viktor!’
Hands on his body. His very sore body.
‘Viktor!’
Viktor opened his eyes to find Jayce leaning over him, grasping him frantically by the shoulders. It was possible he’d blacked out. Lost a few seconds at least.
‘Do not shake me,’ he croaked.
Jayce’s relieved and exasperated sigh was as good a life-line as any. Viktor decided sitting up could still wait, however. New hurts were still making themselves known. Lightning flashes of pain that weren’t yet specific enough to pin down.
‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m sure I am,’ Viktor said, doubtfully. ‘There is a certain, ah, potential behind Hextech that is new to me.’
‘Huh?’
‘I haven’t blasted myself across the room before.’
‘Oh right.’
‘Lost eyebrows, before, yes I have done this. Being picked up by a shockwave, that one is new.’
‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ Jayce asked, noticeably hovering. ‘You’re being a little… uh… contemplative?’
Viktor frowned, blinked away spots in his vision, and tried for flippant. ‘You don’t think I usually consider my actions?’
Talking hurt, actually. Longer sentences were worst.
‘Well…’ Jayce, even kneeling, shifted his weight noticeably when stressed. ‘Look, can you sit up? I’d feel a lot better if you’d sit up.’
Viktor gave that one some thought. His back was really starting to throb where he’d landed and his leg was giving off the kind of signals that generally meant he’d be spending the day in bed.
‘Hm,’ said Viktor.
‘What?’ Jayce’s voice –and his expression – took on the same tinge of terror Viktor had heard on waking.
‘I suspect I wouldn’t feel better if I sat up.’
Jayce half turned away and Viktor had the distinct sense he was about to throw something. ‘Should I call someone? I’m going to call someone.’
Oh no he wasn’t.
Viktor sat up. Immediately he was aware of two things; one, he’d definitely been experiencing some post-landing shock which adrenaline had now banished. Two; he hurt. The gasp ripped its way out of him. He swore something moved wrong in his chest.
‘Viktor?’ Jayce’s hand materialised on his back.
‘Maybe you should, ah, call someone.’
That had faster results than Viktor had anticipated. Jayce launched himself from the floor, fled, and returned at record speed, talking to whoever he had with him at a million words a minute.
The doctor, or nurse, or whoever she was, peered at Viktor. ‘You were caught in an explosion?’
‘A small one,’ Viktor said, but couldn’t keep the hitch of pain out of his voice. He’d pointedly not moved during Jayce’s rapid errand. Sitting hurt enough, thank you. ‘Jayce was nearby and he’s fine.’ Viktor spared an accessing glance for Jayce. ‘You are fine?’
Jayce paused his pacing up and down the room, repeatedly running a hand through his hair. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. I’m good. I’m good.’
Not convincing, but when Viktor turned his doubtful expression on the doctor she merely shrugged.
‘Where does it hurt?’
Everywhere was not an appropriate response.
‘I think I landed on my back,’ Viktor said, carefully, because now he was sitting talking hurt a lot more. ‘So that is painful. There’s, ah, something wrong with my ribs. And, of course, I have a bad leg. That is feeling worse than usual.’
There were other hurts, but not ones worth the doctor’s time.
‘No head injuries? You didn’t hit your head when you landed?’
Viktor had no idea whether he’d hit his head when he landed. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘He blacked out for a bit,’ Jayce put in, unnecessarily. ‘Maybe the concussive force of the explosion – ‘
‘Yes, probably the concussive force – uh.’ Viktor half doubled over. Concussive, as a word, hurt to say. Interesting.
The doctor pressed his shoulder until he was upright again and lightly poked at his ribs.
‘Ah!’
‘Broken,’ she announced, as if that wasn’t painfully obvious. The prodding at his back started after that; followed in short order by prodding at his leg. Then she motioned behind her, somewhere out of Viktor’s line of sight and an entire medical team descended. With a stretcher.
Absolutely not.
‘I can walk,’ Viktor said, immediately trying to get up.
The room spun. The room spun a lot and there were now hands holding him upright. A bright light shone in his eyes.
‘Possible concussion after all,’ announced the doctor. ‘Potentially also a mixture of pain and shock. Let’s get him on the stretcher.’
‘I can still hear you,’ Viktor said, through gritted teeth.
And he could also see Jayce’s distinctly scared expression through the sudden crowd of medical personnel. I’m fine. Or he would be, eventually.
Since standing was apparently not an option and he was also, apparently, going to hospital whether he liked it or not, Viktor suffered being lifted onto a stretcher and carried through the halls. Undignified. Jayce followed along. Hovering beside the stretcher, shooting those worried looks down at Viktor the whole time.
At the hospital the absolute worst thing that Viktor had to content with was the look on Jayce’s face when he had him removed from the hospital room. Or, more accurately, allowed the doctors to do so when they started going on about confidentiality.
The injuries weren’t so bad. Minor concussion, yes, but again Viktor had that figured out by the time they’d reached the hospital. Broken ribs, now heavily strapped by the doctors. His leg had been jarred badly and was certainly going to give him extra trouble for weeks. The back was the hard part. He had to simply nod along and agree with the doctors as they lectured him.
Didn’t he know he already had a bad back? Had he forgotten that he’d need surgery on it eventually? They’d told him he needed to be careful. Didn’t he realise every twisted muscle and poorly done exercise would bring that date closer?
Yes, he did.
When he’d first been told, Viktor had asked; ‘Can I do anything to prevent this?’ and what he’d been given were methods to delay it. So. No, he hadn’t tried to be thrown across the room by Hextech. Yes, he had been falling asleep at his desk with his back all curled over. Did it matter?
No it did not.
When he finally made his slow limping way into the hospital foyer - with two crutches and his cane tucked under his arm – Jayce was waiting.
‘Viktor! Are you all right? Should you be walking?’
‘I think I used the incorrect sequence of runes in the top quadrant of the stabilisation cage,’ said Viktor. ‘But I need to check the math to be certain.’
‘Great, but are you okay?’
‘I’m bruised. A little battered. And I now know what it feels like to fly, albeit a short distance.’ Viktor gave him a little smile. ‘And I’d like another set of eyes on my equations before I try that again.’
Jayce’s little eye roll was far more endearing than the concern. ‘Not to mention setting up better shielding. You should have had something between you and the experiment. We talked about this.’
‘And I’m still not taking safety lectures from someone who stored Hextech in his apartment. For years.’
‘Yeah, don’t change the subject.’
Viktor nudged him out the way with one crutch and ambled out the hospital doors and on to the street. Or he tried to amble. Hospital painkillers aside, his ribs weren’t enjoying the jolting movement. Amble was far too mild a word for his jolting movements
‘Have you cleaned up the lab? Did you look at my rune sequences?’ Viktor asked over his shoulder.
Jayce, having caught up with him easily, of course, said; ‘I’ve been here.’
Viktor glanced at him. ‘Why? It’s only bruises.’
‘So you would have got back to the lab then? If it had been me?’
‘No, I would have grabbed the notes as I left so as soon as you were released I could tell you exactly what you’d done wrong.’
Jayce laughed. ‘You probably would.’
The cane tucked under Viktor’s arm was trying to escape, but any attempt to shift its position aggravated his ribs. And Jayce was walking too fast. Normally, this pace was fine. But even had his leg been able to take it the long strides were impossible for his back. Back pain was unfortunate; it tended to produce rippling pain no matter what he did.
Rest for the remainder of today and do nothing strenuous tomorrow, the doctor had said.
Jayce was rambling about runes, which was what Viktor had intended, only he’d missed most of it. This… Jayce was never going to forget this and it would absolutely change the way he saw Viktor. He’d tried so damn hard to keep his pain levels out of their partnership. But it had to be done.
‘Jayce.’
‘Huh?’
‘I might… head home instead.’
Jayce’s face fell.
‘I’ll be back in the lab tomorrow,’ Viktor said, finding it much easier to look at the street.
‘Of course. I mean, that’s what you should be doing, I just didn’t think you would.’
The thing was, the real thing here was, Viktor knew damn well anyone would need a break after being thrown across the room. But once Jayce started seeing his weaknesses, he might never stop. Most people didn’t. That was all they saw. Weaknesses. Differences. Yet Jayce hadn’t even mentioned Viktor’s cane. Ever. Not once. Granted the night Viktor had met him properly Jayce hadn’t been in the right sort of headspace to be considering things like that. But it hadn’t come up afterwards either.
In fact, when Viktor had, unwisely, chosen to use his cane to bar the lab door, Jayce hadn’t even paused. No are you sure or oh Viktor don’t you need that; Viktor had put the cane there himself and Jayce had accepted that. Neither had he done anything with the information that Viktor was from the Undercity. He’d just… accepted the facts and moved on. If he thought about it at all he said nothing. Their partnership was as equals. Trusted judgement and mutual intellectual respect.
Potentially all undone because Viktor hadn’t bothered to check his own equations properly.
‘Did you need any help?’ Jayce asked.
‘No, no. I’ll – ’ The cane slid out from under his arm and clattered onto the ground with spectacular timing. Viktor eyed it balefully.
‘Oh! Here, I’ll get that for you.’ Jayce bent down and scooped it up with a thoughtless ease of motion.
Then he tried to hand it back to Viktor.
The cane was there, offered. Viktor had both hands busy on his crutches and in any case tucking it under his arm hadn’t worked well. He saw Jayce look at the crutches, then back at his face. Viktor freed his right hand from his crutch and reached out at the exact same moment that Jayce withdrew the cane.
They both stared at his outstretched hand.
Personally, Viktor felt like this was going particularly well. He blamed the painkillers.
‘Uh… I’ll carry it for you,’ Jayce said. ‘I can walk you home.’
Viktor opened his mouth to protest. To find words that wouldn’t sound aggressive or, worse, petulant.
‘No, really,’ Jayce said, with big wounded puppy-dog eyes. ‘It’s not a problem, I mean it’s basically in the same direction anyway and you did get thrown across the room.’
‘If you insist,’ Viktor said.
They set off again and he did not keep his eyes glued to his cane. Other people didn’t carry that. In fact, no one else touched his cane.
The walk was silent. Awkwardly, painfully, silent. With some emphasis on the painful part.
Viktor would have liked to break the ice a little. Prevent this. Except walking was taking quite some focus and it wasn’t like social graces had ever been his strong point.
The doctors had suggested Viktor got a carriage home, as if he could casually afford that. But while the point there had hardly been to avoid intense awkwardness, it would have done the job nicely. Or at least made it brief.
His front door was a welcome sight.
‘Have you got the keys?’ Jayce asked. ‘Do you need help with the keys, would you like me to – ‘
‘Jayce.’
Jayce froze.
Viktor leaned on one crutch, tried to ignore the sweat dripping down his face, and fished his keys from his pocket. And unlocked the door himself.
‘Sorry,’ Jayce said. ‘It’s just… you really don’t look well.’
‘I’ll survive.’
Jayce studied him with that ever present worry. ‘Do you need help? It’s just it looks like you can barely walk and you never did say if you had a concussion.’
‘Not much of one,’ Viktor said, with cool politeness. A distance he didn’t enjoy using with Jayce, come to think of it. Not anymore.
‘Right.’ Jayce took a deep breath. ‘That was just… not great. Watching you get thrown across the room.’
No, this just wouldn’t do.
‘Don’t tell Heimerdinger,’ Viktor warned and it did the trick.
‘Oh shit.’ The blood drained out of Jayce’s face. ‘Oh shit, he’ll already know, won’t he? I sort of… ran through the halls. There was some shouting involved.’
‘You do lack some subtlety,’ Viktor informed him and made a point of fixing his gaze on his cane. ‘You can make up for it by talking to him while I’m not there.’
‘Oh no.’ Jayce shook his head emphatically. ‘Oh no, it wasn’t me who blew up the lab. Come on, at least we can talk to him as partners? Right?’
Viktor smiled, a touch evilly. ‘But I will be here. And you’ll be right there.’
Jayce dragged his hand over his face. ‘I’ll make sure there’s a formal meeting tomorrow.’
‘I’m sure that’ll happen regardless, but he does tend to get his lectures in early. As in, today.’ Viktor stepped through his doorway. ‘Good luck.’
He tried hovering expectantly in the doorway, but all that did was make Jayce hover expectantly outside the doorway.
‘My cane, Jayce.’
Jayce stared at him blankly for half a second and then stared at the cane in his hand like he’d never seen it before. ‘Oh. Sorry, shit, sorry. Did you need me to carry it in for you?’
Viktor let go of one crutch, wrapped his fingers around the cane and tugged it from Jayce’s unresisting grasp. That was better.
‘…Right,’ said Jayce.
For a moment there, just a moment, Jayce had seemed to go back to normal. But now he was gaining the puppy dog eyes again.
Viktor was too tired to deal with this and, frankly, Jayce’s concern wasn’t terrible it was just… what if it didn’t end? Yes, they could keep working together even if Jayce kept this up. But this… this easiness that he didn’t want to dare name friendship… that could disappear.
‘I will be back in the lab tomorrow,’ Viktor said, firmly.
‘Okay, but just so you know I will go over your math,’ Jayce told him. ‘And correct it. Before you have a chance to do it wrong again. I mean, I wouldn’t like to have an ego or anything, but I’m very good and obviously you missed something so – ‘
This was clearly revenge for the Heimerdinger situation. And it was… normal.
Viktor blinked, hid his inner delight, and repaid Jayce in the only sensible way; he shut the door in his face.
Maybe tomorrow would be just fine after all.