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Chapter Text

Victor Frankenstein had never cared much for romance. It was clearly something ladies indulged in but it was definitely not something a rational, freethinking scientist would find rewarding in any way.

Women weren’t something he generally missed anyway. None of them seemed interested in what he found exciting, hardly any of them would even make the effort to contemplate or understand those things either. He always had to explain to them his thoughts, convince them that he was not a madman for his ideas. All those superstitious, simple-minded women who—well, no, actually. He had to admit it was not just the women; it was society as a whole. So few of them – people – could understand him. If he were a man of reflection, a man who looked into his own soul to examine it, he might have admitted how lonely he felt, how abandoned and misunderstood. How hard it was to go on with life without a single person by your side, to understand, to challenge, to talk to you. Without a companion. Maybe that was why he fell for Finnegan's charm. The young man was clever, charismatic, charming. He offered Victor the companionship he secretly craved. He had awoken Victor's heart for this strange new feeling only to crash it a few months later. For Victor, as ridiculous as it may sound, it was true love; for Finnegan - a passing affection, fleeting like the first rays of sunlight in the morning. 

But Victor was not in favor of inspecting and analyzing his own feelings. He survived Finnegan, he was back on track! And from then on he claimed he never needed anybody anyway. 

That was, until he met Igor. 

His eyes drifted up to look for the man. Where was he? It was no good that they arrived here together only to be separated. Victor felt uneasy without his new companion. His eyes searched the ballroom frantically and finally he found him on the terrace on the upper floor, talking to a lady in a green dress. He frowned. That was really tiresome. Why was Igor talking to her? He was here with Victor, after all. Why would they bother talking to anyone but each other?

He rushed up the stairs as quickly as he could, getting there in time to hear the end of their conversation.

“… very clever, and he’s kind. He just finds ordinary people very—“ Igor was saying, no doubt meaning Victor.

“Ordinary!” the scientist butted in quickly.

The girl looked at him kind of strange, his interference in their conversation obviously not to her liking. Victor couldn't care less! Igor was his friend, after all. His not hers.

“Victor how did you--?” Igor started but Victor had no time for that either.

“Who are you?” he asked, almost glaring at the girl, his voice maybe sounding a bit harsher than was socially acceptable. He didn't care about that either. Who was she anyway? His alcohol-hazed mind started searching for the familiar face in his memory. He was positive he had seen her before but for some reason he had not paid much attention to her features, he hadn’t bothered remembering her.

And then once again logic came to his rescue! The girl was talking to Igor like an old acquaintance – he would say a friend, even. Igor seemed delighted to see her which proved the friend part correct. So she was a friend to Igor and they were discussing Victor. There were really not that many girls that Igor could possibly know around here, right? Which means... Why, that woman must be…!

“You’re… you’re the fallen angel," he grinned, amused at the thought of seeing her here. She was the reason he met Igor in the first place. Her accident was what brought them together, what showed Victor how intelligent and skillful Igor was. Perhaps he should've been grateful to her. But in his current state all he could do was snort. "Plummeted from any great heights lately?” he laughed drunkenly. Then glanced at Igor in hope to amuse him as well. “Maybe she should try this one.” Jumping to sit on the ledge of the balcony and looking down, he felt Igor’s worried hand on his waist, trying to steady him. Warm on the small of his back. Hmm. He looked down at the hall bellow. “It’s only, ooh, what, 30 feet? You’ve had worse.”

He found himself particularly witty but the few glances he cast in Igor's direction showed that the young man felt otherwise. He seemed to be paying more attention to this Lorelei person than Victor's clever remarks.

Victor huffed in annoyance.

“I’m afraid the only thing plummeting here is my opinion of you, Mr. Frankensteen,” came Lorelei's reply.

Victor's face fell. She got his bloody name wrong! The impertinence!

“FrankenstEIN!” he corrected offended when Igor practically shushed him, reminding him not to make a scene.

“Igor,” she giggled at the name and Victor felt annoyance rising in his chest again. She was irritating. He had no idea why, he couldn't quite pinpoint the reason, but she was very irritating. Even her voice was irritating. How did Igor stand this? “Igor," she went on, "speaks very highly of you.”  

Well, I should hope so! I’ve been nothing but impressive and brilliant in front of him!

And yet Igor seemed more taken by Lorelei now... No matter! All Igor needed was a bit of time to see how uninteresting and simpleminded she was. 

“Would you like to join us?” he offered to the girl. 

If her company was what Igor wanted, that was what Igor would get! And then he’d see how foolish preferring the company of that simple girl was in comparison to the things they did together! Science! Nothing compared to science! 

During the conversation he had a bit more to drink and reminded Igor of his own intellectual capabilities and their amazing work together. Naturally Lorelei looked at him with dull eyes, unable to follow. She couldn’t get it, just like everyone else, she simply couldn’t understand. And once Igor saw her for what she was, once he witnessed what a simple mind the girl possessed, he would run from her like the plague!

He wasn’t running yet though…

Victor continued explaining his ideals and experiments, hoping to get Igor’s full attention back to himself and only to himself. He wasn’t quite sure why exactly, but sharing Igor’s attention and admiration with someone else was frustrating to him. He was greedy. He wanted to be the center of this boy’s world. Probably because he had finally found his intellectual equal, his science soulmate so to speak, the man who understood him the way his brother once did. It was no surprise then that he already found himself craving the young man's undivided attention, his acceptance and admiration. Not only that but he needed him. A person to understand him; a sensible, intelligent person with whom he could actually talk and be understood. Not like Finnegan though, with his false promises and feelings that faltered so quickly. Victor needed someone who’d get to know who he truly was and still stay with him. Someone who'd be fascinated by him and stay loyal to him. Igor was all those things. Besides, it was pleasant having those kind, innocent eyes look back at him like he were his savior, like he was his God! 

Not tonight though. Tonight said eyes seemed preoccupied with Lorelei for some reason. Igor was looking at her as if she were his sun. Victor needed to protect and regain what was his, and soon!

He spoke even more passionately and eventually proved his point to an extent. True, he had to use a conjuring trick to do so but that was the only way to get through to those silly people.

“Perhaps I spoke too soon,” Lorelei allowed and smiled at Igor some more. 

Victor observed them both, smiling at one another, exchanging intimate looks, and he felt that same unpleasant feeling in his stomach again. This girl was a simpleton! She was distracting Igor from his vital work, from his talent! Their experiment could suffer because of her! How is it that Igor could not see this himself!?

“I don’t think you should see that girl again,” Victor said dead serious on their way home.

“What? Why?” the disappointment in Igor’s eyes when he asked that question was almost heartbreaking.

“Well, I mean she’s very nice, uneducated, superstitious,” Victor added quickly what was on the top of his head and tapped Igor by the shoulder to reassure him that this was the right decision. “Distraction from our work.” He bit his lips.

“She’s kind to me!” Igor persisted. He’d never insisted on anything before, never dismissed Victor’s opinions so quickly or dismiss him like that. Now suddenly, after one evening with that circus girl, Igor was ready to argue with him!

“Tonight was not about meaningless frivolity." Victor said persistently. "It was a celebration of our work together.” He didn’t take Igor out to fall under the influence of some skirt! He looked into Igor’s face and read his disappointment again. Damn! This was unnerving. He had to do better than that to remind Igor of the importance of their work. So he added with a grin. “I think it is high time you met our monster!”

Chapter Text

Victor had craved to create life out of death ever since that horrible moment he realized his beloved brother was dead. At first, his childish imagination desperately craved for a magical solution to his problem, a special wand that could bring back the dead or something of sorts. As he grew older he realized the only way to recreate life out of death was through science. So it became his final goal, his way of bringing his dear brother back! That and only that was the reason he followed his father's footsteps and studied medicine. 

Victor Frankenstein wanted to create life out of death ever since that horrible moment his brother died. He actually started attempting to create life out of death shortly after he enrolled into medical school. 

"I don't understand why you're making such fuss about it? I only said the truth!" Victor pouted 

"You insulted people who are actually important in society!" Finnegan exclaimed 

The two were in Finnegan's carriage on their way back from a party that Victor had utterly ruined by pointing out stupidity whenever he saw it. And let's face it, he saw it pretty often.

"You can't go around talking to people like that. They're my  friends."  

"Pfft!" Victor rolled his eyes "They're not your friends, they're you family's friends. Besides 'friends' is too strong a word for what they are! More like you only hang out with them because they're rich and influential. You're using them just as much as they use you. That's no friendship!" 

Finnegan hugged, exasperated with Victor's stupidity. 

"And why does this bother you at all?" he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes as if he was tired of looking at Victor. "Why must you always try to look so smart? Really, Victor, what are you trying to prove? Is this because of how socially inept you are?" 

"I'm not going to hide my brains so that stupid people feel smart" Victor blurted out. He didn't want to admit it but Finnegan's words had cut him deeply. He cared about that guy and all he ever did recently was being mean to him in various ways. 

"I'm not so sure about your intelligence either." Finnegan said coldly. 

"You've no idea what you're talking about. I can actually achieve things!" Victor snapped 

"Yeah." Finnegan sneered, his eyes roaming down Victor's body. "We both know what you're good at." 

There was this mocking smile on Finnegan's face that Victor had seen hundreds of times but never directed at him! It stung, it really did. For a moment Victor was unable to say anything. He had shared his dreams with Finnegan, had shared his scientific ideas, his hopes, his experiments, his goals. He was even going to ask him to work together on Gordon... And now... now he failed betrayed, so utterly betrayed, and yet all he could do was blink at his friend and lover, unable to say a word. 

"What?" Finnegan looked at him with something very close to disgust. 

"Stop the carriage!" Victor suddenly yelled, surprised at his own determination. 

Finnegan rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, Victor." 

"Stop the carriage!" he repeated once again. 

"You're gonna sulk now? Because I mention your intellectual shortcomings you're gonna sulk? We both know that's not gonna last."  Finnegan retorted 

"Stop the carriage, I said!"  

Something changed in Finnegan's eyes. As if he just realized that Victor was being serious, that he went too far this time. He  moved in the carriage, sitting closer to Victor who was radiating rage, and put his soft, almost feminine hand on Victor's thigh, gently rubbing it a bit.

Leaning in to Victor's ear, Finnegan whispered "You know I didn't mean it like that, Victor. You know you're special to me. With all your flaws which sometimes can seem spectacular. But I don't mind." Victor was still frowning, which unfortunately looked more like pouting. "Let's go settle this at home, alright?" his voice became huskier than usual, lower, hand still persistently resting on Victor's thigh. "I know one place we can both enjoy where we won't have time to talk or argue..." 

"Well, that's just it, isn't it?" Victor blurted out "We hardly ever talk these days! All you do is drag me to these stupid events to meet with these stupid people, mock my scientific knowledge! And then you think you can fix it all in bed!?" 

Finnegan pursed his lips. "Lower your voice!" he instructed "You want everybody to know?" 

"No one outside can hear over the noise of the carriages." Victor corrected 

Finnegan ignored it and returned to his gentler approach. "Look, I know I can make it better in bed." he started kissing down Victor's neck in between his words."I know what you like... you know what I like..." he continued with the kisses and Victor was beginning to notice their effect on him. "Why would we ever waste time on talking? All you ever blab about is your silly experiment anyway!" he chuckled as he claimed Victor's lips. 

Victor felt something break inside him. Finnegan was kissing him, but he did not understand him, he did not care. And Victor was too much in love to be mad at him. One thing was certain at that moment though - he was not going to show what he called Gordon to Finnegan. 

Finnegan never any particular interest in Victor's work. He never understood the true significance of what young Frankenstein was about to do. By the time they were together Victor had already began his work on Gordon - small steps, few things, but the lump of tissue and muscles and various body parts already had a name, despite the fact that Victor wasn't quite sure what kind of creature he was creating yet. In his mind, Victor imagined Finnegan's reaction to Gordon, he wanted to share this moment with Finnegan. But that never happened - Finnegan left him before Victor could finish his work on Gordon. And maybe that was for the best.

Instead Victor was going to show the fruit of the efforts of all these years with Igor. And if he had to be honest about it, he rather preferred it that way. Igor would appreciate his labours much better than Finnegan ever could. 

And tonight was the night! Tonight he was going to finally show Gordon to another person - to Igor. Of course, he there were still a few finishing touches to complete so that Gordon would look a bit more presentable. But in the end this wasn't that important - the science in itself was astounding and frankly Victor really wanted to show off. Besides, it was something that they made together – Victor and Igor created life together, life out of nothing! Surely that would mean more than a few bright smiles and twinkly eyes from a girl whose only asset was that she was kind to Igor.

“You made this?” Igor asked, the shock still visible on his face as he stared at Gordon’s unveiled body.

“No, no, no, no, no.” Victor corrected, grabbing Igor’s cravat and smiling at him “We made this!”

Excitement was streaming through his entire body as he pushed more leavers and buttons to prepare everything for the process. Victor could feel his heart pounding in his chest, nervous and terribly proud to show their first creation to Igor. Impatient to hear Igor's own excitement over this. 

He was explaining the mechanics of everything while Igor was still looking astonished at the creature. The boy unveiled all of Gordon to take a look at him.

“Lungs, heart, brain, spine… all your work!” Victor continued with trembling voice “All impossible without you, in fact…” he smiled and then gave Igor some time to process everything. 

“Victor… you… you promised me this was all about life…” the boy stuttered.

“It’s about so much more than that.” Victor said as he began his demonstration.

Eventually he did receive that look of admiration from Igor that he so craved. The moment Gordon took his first breath, Igor was impressed! The moment Igor realized that Victor had created life, he was just as excited as the young medical student was. Igor understood the true scientific importance of Victor's creation. Igor did not think him insane like Finnegan did, or stupid like his father did. Igor was the right man to be the first person to see Gordon and Victor wouldn't have it any other way!