Work Text:
Jayce’s thoughts were spinning.
Not like, say, twirling around your kitchen. Closer to a tornado. Turns out being thrown around in an anomaly you don’t fully understand and transported temporarily to a different universe does that.
Jayce kept replaying his time in that ravine over and over in his head. He wasn’t sure how long it had lasted. Days, weeks, months? He knew it was long enough for him to start seeing things. Visions. He remembered drawing frantically on the rock walls. Seeing faces sitting across from him—familiar ones. Mel. Then… Viktor.
And of course he saw Viktor. Viktor was all he thought about now that he’d left Jayce alone in that lab. Every time the thought resurfaced it shook him to the core and sent waves of panic down his spine. He never realized how fond he’d grown of Viktor until he couldn’t talk with him anymore. And Jayce blamed himself. His stupid, stupid self.
He only knew one thing: He didn’t know Viktor was the love of his life until it was too late. And now Jayce had to destroy him for the good of Piltover.
But right now his thoughts were still spinning. The whole situation made him feel physically sick, like he might throw up. He stumbled closer to the anomaly in the harshly lit room. He was spacing out. He felt it beckoning him closer… Like it could give him comfort this time. Take all his current problems away. And oh, was he tired of thinking about them. So, so tired.
And with a startle, he tripped and felt his reality bending once more.
Images flashed through his mind. The future he’d already seen the first trip. Viktor. The future that could’ve been. Viktor. What he wanted more than anything in the world—Viktor.
”I won’t fail.”
”Our Hextech dream.”
”Because I promised you.”
”It was… affection that held us together.”
Jayce heard a thump and a clank at the same time as he hit the floor. He sat up to observe his surroundings.
It was the old lab.
Definitely before Viktor started messing with the Hexcore. It was missing from the place it’d been in before.
Jayce got emotional immediately. He was about to start crying on the floor like a toddler when the door opened and Viktor walked in.
Not the Viktor he knew now, but the Viktor he’d always worked with. With scruffy brown hair and… no purple on him, thank God. Viktor seemed to notice Jayce on the floor and yelped in surprise before pausing with recognition.
“I… Jayce?” His eyebrows scrunched together with curiosity. Just how Jayce remembered them.
Without thinking, Jayce scrambled to get up and run to Viktor, resuming the tears. “V- Viktor! Oh my god, V!” he enveloped him in a hug so tight it probably hurt. He was usually very delicate with this Viktor, but now he was sobbing into his shoulder and running his fingers through his hair.
“Jayce, what? What… happened?” Viktor sounded confused out of his mind and unusually flustered, but he hesitantly hugged Jayce back. Oh, he had no idea.
Jayce felt like he was drowning in his feelings. He pulled away and started peppering kisses along Viktor’s cheeks and neck like he always wanted to. He didn’t have the brain capacity to think against it. He was also still ugly crying and sniffling between kisses.
Viktor froze, eyes wide. “Jayce- Jayce, what are you-? Jayce, what are you doing?”
“Viktor… oh my god, I missed you… Viiiiktoooooor…”
“Jayce…”
“You smell so good…” He sniffled again. Kissed Viktor’s jawline.
“Jayce!” Viktor’s voice shook, but it was still a yell. Which Jayce almost never heard.
He finally realized what he was doing. “Oh. Shit, oh my god.”
He pulled away with his hands up and an expression like a kicked puppy.
“Jayce, what happened?” Viktor asked, looking over Jayce’s appearance, “Why do you have a beard now? And… everything else.” Viktor was definitely worried. But a smile was slipping.
“Viktor, I- Oh my god, I can’t even-” he instinctively reached out again to cup his hands on either side of Viktor’s face, his pupils taking up as much space as possible in his eyes.
Viktor still looked very startled with the situation, but being Viktor, he remained calm as best he could. And didn’t dare pull away. “Jayce, is this a prank or something? Please answer me. You’re not… usually this unresponsive.”
Jayce evaluated the situation the best his love-drowned mind could manage. Which wasn’t very well. “I don’t… think I could tell you. Can- Can I just-” he leaned back in to kiss Viktor’s forehead. “Fuck, I missed you.”
“Jayce, we spoke yesterday, what are you talking about?”
“Mm, nothing…” Jayce continued sprinkling kisses on Viktor.
“... Okay.” Viktor sounded resigned to letting… whatever this was happen. He never pulled away. He started leaning into it after some time.
Jayce hated when he had to leave. He could feel himself getting pulled back to his universe.
He realized how much Viktor had reciprocated far too late.