Work Text:
Jayce is fast asleep.
Viktor tries not to laugh at the sight of it- somehow, Jayce has wedged his chair against the desk and wall, so that even now as he tips back he doesn’t fall. A pencil dangles from one hand, the tip scraping the floor, and its accompanying journal perches proudly on top of Jayce’s slack-jawed face.
Viktor shakes his head. Only you, Jayce.
He swipes the pencil first and sets it on the desk. For a second, he wonders if he could tilt the chair back so that Jayce wouldn’t fall to the floor, but then he decides against it- the Arcane might have cured his Grey Lung before spitting the two of them back out, but it hadn’t exactly given him superhuman strength.
More’s the pity really.
Instead, he gingerly picks up the journal still lying precariously on Jayce’s face, trying not to laugh when Jayce’s nose crinkles as a couple of pages flutter against it in the process. Janna preserve him, he’s so unfairly endearing.
He puts the journal down- hm, seems like Jayce was trying to work out the power system for the nearby village. The two of them had garnered enough goodwill over the past couple of years that the townspeople trusted them enough to do so, and now he and Jayce were mired once more in a project that left them burning daylight and candles alike.
It’s a bliss he’d never thought he’d get to have.
With a light hum, he flips through pages- Jayce’s work is as exquisite as always, elegant schematics punctuated by tiny outbursts of his own personal thoughts. Viktor can’t help but think of a journal from a decade back, those brilliant ideas, that beautiful mind…
These plans will not change the world, not like Hextech did, but it doesn’t matter. In this quiet evening, years away from that quiet evening long ago, Viktor reads through Jayce’s journal and falls in love with him again.
He turns the page and stops.
That… is not a plan for the power system.
No, Viktor thinks, grinning as he touches the sketches gently. No it is not a plan for the power system at all.
“Oh Jayce,” he whispers, looking down at a sketch of himself sleeping in the window nook they built together. He traces it softly, trying not to smudge the feather-light pencil lines. The curve of his smushed cheek, the fall of his hair, the wrinkles under his eyes… all of it’s been drawn with so much care, so much love.
It hits him suddenly- this is how Jayce sees him.
“Oh, Jayce,” he says again, feeling more than a little wobbly on the inside. The page blurs, and Viktor blinks rapidly before holding the journal far away from him, not wanting to destroy Jayce’s sweet drawing with his tears.
Even if it does make him want to sob like a baby.
“Mm, V’tor?”
Viktor gasps. “Jayce?” he asks, quickly wiping his eyes.
Not quickly enough, given the concerned furrow that pops up between Jayce’s sleepy eyebrows. “Y’ok?”
“I’m fine,” Viktor says, face burning as the embarrassment sets in. Gods, what kind of person cries over a sketch of themselves? Sure, it was lovingly made by Jayce, and sure, it was- is- beautiful, but it’s still a little absurd to actually shed tears over it, no? “Just- um. I was just… going through your notes. On the power system.”
Jayce laughs, incredulous. “Sheesh, V,” he says, leaning in. The hand that comes up to cup Viktor’s hip and draw soothing circles at his waist is not subtle, but Viktor doesn’t care. “I know they’re rough schematics, but I didn’t think they were that bad.”
Viktor chuckles, still a little waterlogged from leftover tears. He leans into Jayce’s touch and runs a hand through Jayce’s hair, biting back another laugh when Jayce hums and preens under the petting. “Do not worry, your schematics are as they always are- brilliant and elegant.”
“Yeah?” Jayce says, flushing with pleasure. It’s so cute, it’s so unfairly cute. “That’s uh. Good to know.” He coughs, clearing his throat. “Then, um… why are you…”
Viktor sighs and hands the journal to Jayce.
“Oh,” Jayce says, blushing for a different reason now. His smile freezes, slowly dying as his eyes go wide with surprise. “I, um. I didn’t mean for you to see that.”
Viktor hums and leans over him to trace a finger down the edge of a drawn line. “I gathered as much.”
Jayce swallows. “Does it bother you?”
“I-” Viktor blinks, entirely thrown. “No,” he says, turning to Jayce. Their noses brush, and though Viktor’s breath catches at the closeness, he manages to stay focused. “Of course not, Jayce? Why do you think it would bother me?”
“You don’t think it’s creepy?” Jayce asks, sliding his nose alongside Viktor’s. His breath puffs softly against Viktor’s lips, and his eyes look endearingly cross-eyed. “I mean, I basically just watched you while you slept.”
Viktor blinks. “And?”
Jayce makes a frustrated noise. “Viktor, take it seriously.”
“I am,” Viktor says, a little bemused. “I’m not sure where the ‘creepy’ part of this comes into play- you are well aware that I have watched you sleep as well, yes? Possibly many more times than you, given your penchant for eh- napping in the sun.”
Jayce’s cheeks darken. “I… did not know that.”
Oh.
Viktor tries to pull back, but there’s a hand at his nape that gently stops him. He swallows instead. “Eh, forget I said that, then,” he quips, trying to look anywhere but Jayce- which is a difficult thing to do when they’re nose-to-nose like this. He ends up staring at Jayce’s collarbones- they’re very nice collarbones.
“Aw, but what if I don’t want to?” Jayce coos, tipping Viktor’s chin back up so that they’re nose-to-nose once more. “I think it’s cute!”
“And therein lies your hypocrisy,” Viktor says, trying to hide how breathless he feels as Jayce slowly cups his cheek. His thumb rubs under Viktor’s eye- right over the mole there, Viktor realizes, before clearing his throat. Janna help him, his face burns. “Why is it ‘creepy’ for you to watch me sleep but- eh- not for me to do the same?”
Jayce shrugs- as much as he can shrug when they’re this close. “It’s cute when you do it. Plus, you’re not the one who sketched your partner while they were sleeping- unless you did, and if so, I want to see.”
Viktor laughs. “Of course you do,” he murmurs, playing with the collar of Jayce’s shirt. He loves the way Jayce’s eyes dart down to his hands, loves that his pupils are dark when they land back on his face.
They haven’t talked about this- the growing tension, the affection between them that keeps spilling over. For once, they have the time not to, to just enjoy the way the spaces that distance them crumble, brick by brick.
But Jayce has never been good at patience, and Viktor’s starting to reach the end of his rope as well.
He leans in, reveling in Jayce’s sharp inhale as he repeats Jayce’s motions from earlier, sliding the tip of his nose down the bridge of Jayce’s. “I cannot say that I thought to do the same- more’s the pity, as you look practically angelic when you sleep.”
Viktor feels his face burn even as the words fall out of his mouth, but it’s worth it to hear Jayce gasp, see his eyes dart around and the blush creep over his beard. “Liar,” Jayce croaks out, raspy and low. “I drool when I sleep.”
Viktor hums, not discounting that. “Angelically.”
“Viktor,” Jayce laughs, and oh how Viktor wants to taste that smile. “There’s no such thing as drooling angelically.”
“It is when you do it,” Viktor says, stomach flipping pleasantly when Jayce laughs again.
“Sap,” Jayce murmurs. He closes his eyes, smiling. “You’re too good to me, you know that?”
Viktor swallows, entranced by the curve of Jayce’s lips. “No such thing,” he manages to say.
Eyes, forest green and summer gold, open again, staring straight into his. “Then can I ask you something?”
“Anything,” Viktor whispers. “Anything, Jayce.”
Time slows down as Viktor watches Jayce’s mouth form words, feels him breathe against his. “Kiss me?” Jayce asks.
And Viktor does.
Years of longing, of wishing and dreaming, and it’s nothing like Viktor expects it to be. Jayce’s mouth is soft, softer than it has any right to be, and his beard prickles at the edge of Viktor’s own lips. When they meet, Jayce makes a sound like he’s had the wind knocked out of him, and it’s so sweet and pathetic that Viktor can’t help but pull him in closer. He drinks down those delightful little noises, aching impossibly harder when he feels Jayce’s hands in his hair and his eyelashes against his cheeks.
When they pull back, the space between them breathes, soft and sacred. Jayce’s lips are wet, red and beautiful in a way that makes Viktor dive back in for another kiss. This one, he keeps quick, before pulling back to see Jayce’s wide, dark gaze.
“God,” he says, breath fanning out over Viktor’s lips. “That was- that was better than I thought it would be.”
“You thought about this?” Viktor asks, smirking just a little bit, just to tease.
Jayce swallows. “Dreamed about it.”
Ah.
“Eh- hm.” Viktor looks away, licking his lips as he feels the blood rise to his face. “I- mm. I’m glad it lived up to your expectations.”
“Exceeded them.”
Janna help him, his face burns. “I- yes. That.”
There’s a laugh, and then Jayce’s hand is on his cheek again, turning his head until he can meet Jayce’s fond, gold-green eyes. “Hey,” Jayce says softly.
Viktor swallows. “Hello.”
“Hi.”
“Greetings.”
Jayce laughs again, and gods above, Viktor wants to drown in it. “What are we doing?”
Living, Viktor doesn’t say. We’re living.
“Does it matter?” Viktor asks, watching Jayce’s eyes fall back down to his lips.
“No,” Jayce says, leaning in for another kiss. “No, it doesn’t.”
The last thing Viktor sees before he closes his eyes is Jayce’s journal slipping to the floor, forgotten for the rest of the evening.