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The night cast blue over Piltover, but it felt cold. The air too wet and heavy, full to bursting with something unnatural. Ozonous and sharp. Rustling from vegetation dotting the curated streets even held its breath, anticipation sitting in every molecule.
Something was wrong
“We shouldn’t go in there,” Jayce’s voice was quiet; steady. The shine of his eyes reflected in the soft glow of the moon overhead. Obscured by fast-moving cloud cover.
One of Viktor’s eyebrows twitched down but his hand paused in reaching for the metal latch on the door. “The breaker is in there, Jayce.”
Jayce’s hand shot out and grabbed Viktor’s wrist. The damp chill of the air thread through the fabric condensing to stick freezing into Viktor’s skin. He felt the rattle that curled inside of Viktor’s chest when he sucked in a breath. Fear spiking electric through him.
“Jayce, we can not sit in the dark all night.” Viktor tilted his head toward Jayce, looking up at him. His eyes did not waver. The features on his face sat placid. Jayce swore he could see him breathing but his mouth was pressed closed.
“Then let’s go home.” The meat of Jayce’s hand twitched against Viktor’s wrist, hesitant in deciding to pull on him or not. “You can stay at my apartment, the extra bedsheets are clean.” Anxiety tightened his throat the longer he held onto Viktor. The cold was steeping into his own clothes, making them stick and cling to the hair against his skin. He wanted to rip off the chill, curl up into something warm and dry and far from the utility room.
Something was wrong.
“Are you trying to get me into your bedroom?” The joke was light but none of it showed in Viktor’s expression. His eyes did not crease. His mouth did not move.
A click-whirr tickled the hairs on the back of Jayce’s neck. The pneumatics of a pump faint in the back of his eyes. Viktor continued to stare at Jayce, unwavering. Not even the withering muscle of his thigh twitched underneath the wool of his trousers.
Something is wrong.
“It, uh,” Jayce tried to keep his voice the same steady calm as before, “it would be safer if you were in my bed.”
The hum from Viktor reverberated through Jayce’s own core. “You want to keep me until morning.” His body didn’t move as he spoke. “Until you wake up.”
Jayce’s breaths struggled out of him. “No, no I—”
“Jayce.”
“Viktor?” He pressed his fingers harder into Viktor’s wrist, trying to seek out the faintest thrum of a pulse that should be there. He couldn’t lose Viktor. He wouldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t.
“Wake up.”