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Jayce struggled to keep the box in his arms closed as he hurried down the street. A little brown snout stuck out for a moment before Jayce bopped it with a finger and adjusted his hold so that he held the top closed as well.
"Sorry," he panted as he waited at a crosswalk. "Not much farther now. I promise."
While Jayce was glad he had thought to poke holes in the box before he left the lab, he was now getting nervous about them. He could hear gnawing happening from inside and saw that same brown snout peek out again.
Cursing and laughing to himself, he adjusted his grip again and crossed the street, thinking back to how he had gotten himself into all of this.
~ Six Months Ago ~
"Viktor? Can you pass me the—" Jayce cut himself off as he turned from his desk to face the empty lab. He stood abruptly, nearly knocking his chair over as he crossed the room to grab the wrench Viktor had been using earlier in the day.
As he walked—or rather stomped—across the room, he grumbled to himself angrily.
"‘Sorry, Jayce, I've got to go: Barry is waiting for me.’" Jayce scoffed. The night before that it had been Harry. And the one before that had been Joe.
Now. Jayce didn't mind that Viktor was seeing guys, per se. It was just an odd thing that started a month ago. Suddenly Viktor has gone from single status to what…three lovers?
Jayce groaned and ran a hand down his face. Lovers. There were three of them and none of them were him.
He had long known that Viktor was solely interested in men. So when Jayce had started dropping a few hints that there was a certain man he himself was interested in: one who was beyond intelligent and proud and brilliant and had the best golden eyes and sharp way with words. Well, he had thought said man would return his affections.
But no.
Instead, three days later he mentioned needing to leave early instead of staying with Jayce in the lab. Usually they stayed until at least eleven-thirty at night, when security would come by to kick them out, but he had started leaving at eight.
That wasn't a big deal at first. Until it kept happening. When Jayce finally asked a week into Viktor's early nights, he had mentioned Harry. The others were mentioned almost too casually after that.
Jayce wondered if the three men knew of each other. It led Jayce to picturing how their nights might go especially after Viktor would complain the next morning about how he had been on the floor all night, walking with a more exaggerated limp and putting more weight onto his cane. Or when he would walk past Jayce with little scratches on the sides of his neck.
That angered Jayce; how could these men treat Viktor so roughly? Not that Jayce could or did say much about it. He always got tongue tied whenever Viktor brought them up.
Jayce knew he would be much much more careful with Viktor than how they evidently were. He just needed Viktor to give him a chance. Then he could show him that he only needed Jayce, not these others. Jayce would not be willing to share Viktor's affections.
He moved the papers around on the desk and then found the wrench he was looking for sitting on top of Viktor's journal.
Wincing, he picked up the journal, holding it carefully in his hands. Viktor would be sorely missing this. And while Viktor could just find it on his desk the next morning…Maybe Jayce would be a good partner.
He would stop by Viktor's apartment, apologize for interrupting his evening, hand him the notebook and perhaps get a look at his competition.
Jayce was already out the door of the lab by the time he fully made his decision.
Now, standing in front of Viktor's apartment, he wondered briefly if he was insane.
He really should just leave. Go home, get some sleep and work to get to the lab earlier than Viktor the next day to return the notebook to Viktor's desk.
Then he heard a thud from the other side of the door. And then Viktor's voice calling, “Joey!”
Jayce had his hand knocking on the door before he could stop himself.
He heard a muffled curse from Viktor, but didn't hear anyone else. He did hear a creak of something metal that really needed to be oiled, and wondered what that could be.
The door swung open and there was Viktor staring at him with those big golden eyes. He didn't look hurt, but his hair was a bit messier than when they were in the lab, his tie was missing and his shirt had the first few buttons undone, as well as the cuffs to his sleeves so they hung open.
"Jayce? What…are you doing here?"
Viktor tilted his head to the side. He didn't sound annoyed, or like he had been interrupted from doing something that couples—or thruples? (Or quadples??) —would be doing at nine-thirty at night.
"I—ah, you forgot this." Jayce wanted to curse at himself as he stumbled over his words.
"Thank you, Jayce." With curious eyes, Viktor took the notebook from him. He smiled at him. "Would you like to come in?"
In? Where at the very least there was Joey. And he was fairly certain Barry had been mentioned earlier. So did that mean Harry was there too?
Jayce suddenly found that he didn't want to meet his competition.
"Ah, no. No thanks! I wouldn't want to interrupt!" Jayce started backing up.
"Interrupt what?" Viktor chuckled. "I am not doing anything."
Jayce frowned. "But you said you had dinner with Barry."
"I said I had to get dinner for Barry," Viktor corrected, a small smile on his face.
Jayce wondered at that and found a part of him getting angry at this man, and likely the other two as well. Were they just mooching off of Viktor?
Viktor laughed and Jayce realized with horror he had said that out loud.
"Yes, yes," Viktor nodded, smiling wider now. "I would say she is quite the—ah, moocher."
She?
Jayce blinked and was tugged forward as Viktor's hand gripped his wrist.
A few steps farther into Viktor's apartment, he saw a large black cage that certainly had not been there before. It contained several floors, and an upper and lower door to it. It was filled with a variety of plastic containers, cereal boxes, a small wooden hut and tissue boxes. There were cloth hammocks and ropes in different spots.
And on one of the shelves, peeking out from under a tissue box, was a little white snout and then with a flurry of movement, it revealed itself to be a white-furred, red-eyed rat. In its mouth, was Viktor's tie.
"Yes, Joey. You can keep it at this point." Viktor sighed and laughed as the rat turned and trotted off, dragging the tie through the cage.
"That's Joey?"
Viktor raised an amused eyebrow at Jayce.
"Yes. Or rather, her name is Josephine."
Jayce swallowed.
"And…Barry? And Harry?" His voice got higher pitched with each name.
Viktor tilted his head, watching Jayce's face turn red. He snorted and Jayce realized that Viktor, sweet, lovely, brilliant Viktor had caught on to what had been going on in Jayce's head lately. "Beatrice and Harriet."
Aaaah, it was 'Berry' with an 'e'. Jayce's unhelpful mind supplied.
As though responding to their names, a grey and white rat and a brown one appeared from one of the hammocks. They stared at Jayce and Viktor.
"Hello, ladies," Viktor wiggled his fingers at them and they sniffed eagerly. He tilted his head toward Jayce again, teasing. "Did you really think me that promiscuous?"
"Ah, no!" Jayce winced. "I just. I didn't think—"
"It does happen to everyone sometimes—the not thinking thing, rather." Viktor carefully bopped one of the rats' noses through the cage bars before taking a step back. "I wouldn't have ended up with these three if I had been thinking properly, after all."
Seeing Jayce raise his finger to touch the little grey rat nose sniffing at him, Viktor grabbed his wrist again and pulled him back. "They do tend to bite, Jayce. Be careful."
"But you just—"
"As I said, not thinking. I also know to be quick," Viktor said with a fond smile. "Some rats are used to getting fed through the bars, they think everything is food, or meant for them."
"These ones have bitten you?" Jayce leaned away from the cage, wary now.
"No, one I helped take care of when I was younger. Rio never meant to hurt me, but her owner did not train her properly. Bars not involved, she was very sweet."
Jayce nodded, watching as Josephine came back to the cage door. She stood on her hind legs and sniffed at Jayce through the bars.
Cute.
"Would you like to hold her?" Viktor was already opening the door.
"No, no, it's fine!" Jayce was nervous. Rats were…okay. Their tails were weird, though: so scaly looking. And so associated with trash and grime. He was surprised Viktor had them.
He also was scared to hurt her. She was just so small.
Viktor shrugged and offered his hand palm up to Josephine. The little rat sniffed and then easily climbed into the open hand and—right up Viktor's sleeve!
Viktor chuckled as the rat sized lump moved up his sleeve. The little white head poked out at Viktor's unbuttoned collar and Jayce had to bite his lip to stop from cooing.
"I'm surprised you have them."
"I take it you rather me have them than three different men?"
Jayce groaned and rolled his eyes as he leaned against the cage. He was hoping Viktor would forget about that. "Just—you know— they're usually pretty dirty, right?"
"No," Viktor shook his head, still smiling at Jayce. "They're actually rather clean. They prefer to clean themselves and so long as I keep their litters changed and fresh, their smell is relatively low."
Jayce hummed, he hadn't realized that. But he also didn't know much other than supposedly that rats liked cheese? Did they like cheese?
"I had been leaving the lab early about a month ago and saw one of the TAs in the biology department moving these girls." Josephine scuttled onto Viktor's shoulder as he talked, sniffing at his hair. "They were going to be used as live experiments. Cut open and such," Viktor frowned before plucking Josephine from his shoulder and holding her in his hands. "I couldn't let that happen. So I…might have—eh—" he looked hesitantly at Jayce.
Jayce blinked before laughing. "Did you steal them?"
"I left a note behind with a proper website and program the head of the department could procure. With so many things being digital, it's barbaric to conduct live experiments like that." As he spoke, Josephine bobbed her head from side to side, seemingly focused and jumped from Viktor's hands toward the cage.
Only to completely miss and land on the floor with a 'thud'.
Jayce gasped, humor gone. But Viktor only groaned and stooped down to where Josephine was sitting on the floor, stunned.
"Joey," he scooped her up and she sniffed at him. "You know better." He set her in the cage and left the door open, giving her back a stroke. "She's albino, her eyesight is worse than the other two."
"She's alright?" Jayce watched as she climbed over a box and found food, nibbling away at it without a care.
"Yes, she tumbles often. It's not preferred, but she'll be okay."
Jayce nodded, Viktor would know best he supposed and then flinched as he felt a tug. He turned his head and found that the brown rat had moved and had bitten the sleeve of his shirt, trying to tug it into the cage.
"Harriet," Viktor reached in and pried her mouth off of Jayce's shirt. To Jayce, he reminded, "Anything against the cage they think is theirs. May I see your hand?"
Jayce stopped leaning on the cage, offering Viktor his hand while looking at it. It was such a large cage for three rats.
He turned to ask Viktor about it when he felt a warm furry bundle on his hand. He looked down and found Harriet had moved from Viktor's hand to his own.
Jayce stood completely still as the brown rat sniffed at him, moved to his sleeve and tried to shove her head under the still-buttoned cuff.
"Vik?"
"You're alright, Jayce," somehow Viktor had Beatrice and Josephine on his shoulders now. "You can pet her."
He raised his other hand slowly, Harriet sniffed at it but returned her attention to the button on his cuff, chewing on it. Jayce carefully petted her back with a single finger and she didn't flinch. Her fur was smooth and glossy, not like the way he had pictured a rat to be in his head.
Jayce chanced a look at Viktor, again biting his lip to stop from cooing. Josephine had moved to the top of Viktor’s head, moving around his hair like she was sorting it. Viktor’s head was tilted down toward Beatrice, her front paws on his nose as she sniffed at him.
This was entirely too cute and he would be certain to remember this forever. He had known Viktor to be gentle and quiet, but to see him interacting with such small creatures so patiently did things to Jayce's heart.
"Was there another reason you stopped by?" Viktor asked as he glanced up at Jayce. His eyes sparkled and Jayce felt his brain completely go blank as he shook his head.
He'd get the courage to say something soon.
~ Present Day ~
Jayce went through the checklist in his head. He was pretty sure Viktor had everything they would need.
His finger was nipped at through the airhole and he hissed, moving it away and walking a bit quicker. Only one more block left. This wasn't exactly the three-month anniversary present he had originally planned, but Jayce figured it could potentially tie in well.
Jayce had gotten much more comfortable around the rats. In fact, he had taken to following Viktor home and playing with them on the floor with his partner. He had even started leaving additional sets of clothes with him after the first few times he was peed on.
"She peed on me!" He held the offender—Berry in one hand.
"It's only a few drips," Viktor had laughed at Jayce's disgust. "It means she likes you. She pees like that on the others too. You're part of the mischief now."
After that, Jayce felt like maybe he had the rats’ approval to be part of their owner's life.
Until Josephine had gone into his pocket one night, three months ago, looking for treats and coming out with a piece of carefully folded paper.
She had eagerly run back to the cage while Jayce was watching Harriet, unaware.
Viktor had scooped her up and took the paper, now missing a chunk due to determined rat teeth.
He had stood, using his cane for leverage as he opened the paper, wondering what notes Jayce had tucked away from their lab and what was now missing from them and hidden away in the depths of the rat cage.
Only to find Jayce's confession. And little rat doodles. The part of the paper that had been torn away had been Jayce's signature, leaving just the letter J.
The same paper was now framed by the rats' cage.
There was a squeak that startled Jayce and he stopped walking for a moment to peer into one of the airholes.
"You guys better not be fighting in there." A little brown nose poked about again. "You're adventurous, aren't you?"
Laughing to himself, he took the steps to Viktor's apartment two at a time. He couldn't reach the key Viktor had given him with the box in his hands so instead he lightly kicked at the door.
It was a few moments before he heard the footsteps followed by a rhythmic tap on the floor.
Jayce sucked in a breath and grinned big.
He needed to sell this!
"Be on your best behavior," Jayce hissed through his teeth as he heard the door unlatch. He could feel movement in the box.
"Jayce?" What're you—no." Viktor's eyes had gone from wide and adorably confused to narrowed and beautifully stubborn.
"C'mon, V!" Jayce switched tactics, loosening his hold on the lid of the box. "You haven't even seen them yet."
Viktor turned his head to the side, closing his eyes, a hand coming up between them. "And I'm not going to. Take them back."
The lid flipped over, barely missing Viktor's hand. A small brown hooded, white bodied rat crawled out on it. Jayce bit his lip as he watched the rat crawl over to Viktor's hand and give it a sniff.
Viktor's shoulders flinched as he felt the whiskers tickle his palm and he involuntarily opened his eyes.
Jayce knew the moment he won when Viktor's lips fell into a slight pout, fighting a smile.
"This one's rather brave," Viktor praised as he turned his hand over, eyes going wide as the rat crawled right on.
"Yeah, I thought so too, the other two are kinda less so." Jayce lowered the box a little more so Viktor could peer inside.
A little golden head poked out from underneath the paper Jayce had put in for them to rip at on the way home. Followed by a silver one.
Jayce grinned as Viktor's eyes went wider at the sight of them.
"They're all girls—I checked!" Jayce took a small step forward into Viktor's apartment as the man and the rat he carried stepped back. To be safe, Jayce put on his best puppy eyes and decided to layer it on a little more to be sure he had won Viktor over. "And really, Vik, you don't want them to go back to the bio lab, do you?"
Viktor shook his head, chuckling as he deposited the brown and white rat back into the box. Undeterred, the little rat jumped right back up onto the edge before sliding back down.
"You stole them?" Viktor sighed.
"No, I saw the TA over there moving them and strongly resuggested the program you mentioned before."
"Strongly?" Viktor tilted his head and grinned, stepping closer so that the box was pressed between their chests.
Jayce nodded seriously. "Very strongly."
He kept the serious face up until Viktor leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth.
"My hero," Viktor teased with praise. He made a shocked little noise in the back of his throat and stepped back from Jayce and the box.
Jayce blinked only to find that the brown and white rat had launched herself onto Jayce's own shoulder.
"Hello there," he cooed. She sniffed before sitting down and started to clean herself.
"Now, Jayce, you know we can't combine them with Berry, Harry and Joey yet."
Jayce nodded. "I know you still have the smaller cage you had before you got the enormous one. I was thinking they could stay in there until we can do proper introductions?"
Viktor hummed, thinking it over before nodding. "That should work. If you can get it from the front closet, I'll watch the little ones?"
Jayce nodded, excited and put the rat on his shoulder back in the box. Setting it on the coffee table, he quickly went to work on getting the older cage set up.
As he worked, he watched Viktor sit on the couch, a hand in the box as he played with the new rats.
"I take it you have names for them already?" Viktor teased, his voice and smile warm.
"Of course! The brown and white one? That's Penelope. The silver one I was thinking could be Artemis and the golden one could be Circe!"
"Greek, very nice," Viktor commented as he leaned forward. "Your Circe has got red eyes, we'll need to make sure she's careful with jumping."
Jayce hummed in agreement, Josephine had been caught mid-tumble more times than he could count. But he did find the way she bobbed her head from side to side to try to focus adorable.
"There!" Jayce stood and went to get a spare water bottle ready for the new cage. "Their new home is all set!"
Jayce looked up as he filled the bottle and saw Viktor was watching him with a smile.
Right. The original plan for the day.
"Hey, ahh, Vik," Jayce swallowed, feeling nervous. "Another thing."
"Another thing? You've brought three more hungry mouths to my home. What more could you want?" There was only warmth in the way Viktor jokingly complained.
Jayce attached the bottle to the cage and sat next to Viktor on the couch.
Now or never.
"I was wondering if it could be our home?" Jayce winced as his voice cracked at the end.
Viktor blinked slowly at him. His hand lifted from the box on the coffee table.
"Um. Well. My lease is ending soon. And I know yours ends a couple months after. I was thinking we could maybe find someplace together and I'd be able to help with the rats more until then and—I mean that's if you want to move in together. I completely understand if you don't. We've been dating for like only three months so—"
Viktor's lips effectively silenced Jayce and his rambling. He could feel Viktor's grin form as he pulled back.
"Yes, Jayce. I would love to have you move in until we can find a place together."
Jayce sucked in a breath and wrapped his arms around Viktor tightly. He exhaled hard over his shoulder, relieved. Until he felt something land on his knee.
Looking down at his lap, he found big brown rat eyes staring up at him. He glanced at Viktor and then back at the rat.
"How did Penelope..?"
"I'm not sure." Viktor shook his head laughing. "But we should probably get them settled in their new home."
Jayce felt warm and bubbly inside as Viktor nudged his shoulder as he stood.
Home sounded good.