Archive of Our Own

"I'm fucked," Jayce said the instant that Mel answered her phone.

"Hello, Jayce, it's so nice to hear from you," Mel said pointedly. "Are you enjoying your sabbatical?"

Jayce sighed and flopped back onto his bed. He switched to speaker and dropped the phone next to his head. "Hi, Mel," he said obediently. "How are things at the Academy?"

"Moving smoothly, as ever," she said. "Though I did hear that there were a few students who were devastated to learn that their favorite professor is on sabbatical this year. Who will they whisper and giggle about now?"

"You're right there," Jayce pointed out.

Mel laughed, a familiar music. "I know it's hard to believe, but not everyone in the world is bi- or pansexual."

Jayce hummed. "I am. You are. That seems like a statistically significant data sample. Speaking of which: I'm fucked."

"You've only been in Zaun for a week, Jayce."

"Yeah, but my car's Check Engine light came on last night when I was on the way home from the grocery store."

"It's not usually that serious," Mel pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I don't like not knowing and 'usually not serious' implies there are cases where it is actually serious. You know how I get. Anyway, there's a shop just down the road, so I took it in this morning to be safe."

Mel hummed sympathetically. "Is it going to be expensive?"

"No, it was the stupid O2 sensor. They didn't even charge me, just reset the onboard computer."

"So…?"

Jayce made some sort of noise in the back of his throat. "The mechanic helping me had his sleeves rolled up almost to his elbows."

"Ohhhhh," Mel said in sudden understanding. "Go on, I need to picture this properly. Good arms?"

Jayce groaned. "So good. Kind of wiry but in a good way? His hands were… His fingers were really long, and he was so strong—" The sight of those hands was burned into Jayce's brain, probably forever. "And he has an accent, Mel. An accent!"

"What type of accent?" Mel demanded. "Some are sexier than others."

"I don't know," Jayce admitted. "But it sure sounded sexy to me. And he was soft-spoken, so even though the shop was crazy loud, I had to lean in close to hear him, and he smelled so nice. And his eyes were actually gold, like a cat or a wolf? It was kind of startling but so beautiful. And—" Jayce cut himself off forcefully before he could start to wax lyrical about the little moles, because he'd already given Mel far too much ammunition.

"Sounds like just your type, darling," Mel said, amused. "So what's the problem? Is he straight? Married?"

"I have no idea," Jayce said. "I could barely get two sentences out, much less make conversation."

Mel's rich laughter filled the space next to his ear. "Well, try again," she advised.

"It's not as if I'm going to sabotage my own car just to take it in," Jayce mumbled.

"Idiot," Mel said fondly. "Just go in for an oil change or something."

"I know how to change my own oil, Mel."

Her silence was pointed.

"…Or I could take it in as an excuse to talk to the hot guy," he realized. "I could do without the abuse, though. You should be nice to me. I'm suffering!"

Mel scoffed. "You wouldn't know what to do with yourself if I was nice. If you want nice, call your mother."

"I can't talk to my mom about having a crush on a hot guy!" Jayce loved his mother, he truly did. But there were some things he had long since learned not to discuss with her, and his dating life (or lack thereof, recently) was one of them.

"Well, then, I suppose you're just fucked," she laughed.

Jayce didn't see Viktor as he walked through the garage to the customer service desk, which was disappointing, but he'd look like an idiot if he turned around and left now.

The mechanic who came over to the desk, wiping his greasy hands on an already-filthy rag, was younger, dark-skinned with long, bleached-white dreads tied up and tucked under a cap. His nametag read Ekko. "Oh hey, I think I remember you!" Ekko said as he pulled a service slip out from under the desk. "O2 sensor, right? Did the light come on again?"

"No, but I'm finally settled here in town and I realized that I got distracted by the move and missed my oil change, so…"

"Gotcha." Ekko scrawled on the paper. "Okay, hang on for just a minute."

Before Jayce could say anything or even hand over the car keys, Ekko disappeared, pushing through a curtained doorway behind the counter. A minute or two later, the curtain stirred and—

Viktor.

He was even more gorgeous than Jayce remembered, some color in his cheeks to set off those remarkable eyes. The sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and every time he leaned on his cane, the muscle in his forearm tightened in a way that made Jayce's mouth water. Jayce looked up just in time to see him smile, just a little, when he saw Jayce. "Welcome back," he said in that soft, musically-accented voice.

Jayce's heart began to beat double-time. "Viktor, hi! I didn't realize you were. Uh. Working. Today?" Why did he always turn into a stuttering idiot when someone pretty smiled at him? "I mean, it's good! I mean, I'm glad to see you. He—Ekko?—he didn't interrupt your lunch or something, did he? It's just an oil change, I'm not…" He managed, by main force of will, to shut up.

Viktor's smile slid sideways, just a little, turning a bit sly. "We do generally prefer to have each customer's service handled by the same person, whenever possible," he explained. "It helps to establish a relationship." His eyes widened, and he added, "Ah, professionally, of course."

"Right," Jayce said, nodding foolishly. "Of course. That makes sense, I guess."

"Ekko mentioned that you have just moved here?" Viktor prodded gently as he started typing something into the computer system.

"Yeah, for a year. Or maybe two. I'm on sabbatical while I write up a scientific study for publication." He paused. "Shit, that sounded like some kind of weird flex, I swear I'm not bragging."

"Ah, so you will be leaving us again when it is done?" Was it Jayce's imagination, or did Viktor look the tiniest bit disappointed by that?

"Probably," Jayce said, "but it's not really that far from here to Piltover, so who knows, maybe I'll come back to visit if I…" He managed to cut himself off before he could say something insane like fall in love and barely managed to recover with, "…um, make friends. Or something."

Viktor glanced at him quickly before looking at the screen again. "I am certain you will," he said warmly. "I cannot imagine there is anyone who would not want to know you."

"Oh, that's, um, that's very kind of you," Jayce stammered, running one hand over his hair and down the back of his neck, hoping Viktor wouldn't guess the reason behind his sudden flush.

"Well, you—" Viktor's head jerked up suddenly, eyes narrowing, and then he turned to look at the other mechanics in the shop.

Ekko, who had apparently emerged while Jayce wasn't looking, smirked as Viktor looked his way. He shoved his phone into a pocket and bent over the engine of the truck he was servicing with what seemed like a deliberate and pointed air.

The young pink-haired woman working on a motorcycle in the bay next to Ekko's cracked up laughing, and the somewhat older woman with the dark hair and a prosthetic arm was smirking as she operated the car lift in her own space.

"I will kill them all in their sleep," Viktor muttered.

"I missed it," Jayce confessed. "What happened?"

"Ah, nothing," Viktor said quickly, though his cheeks were suddenly dusted with pink. "This song. It has been something of a running gag for… some time."

Jayce hadn't been paying any attention at all to the music in the shop, but when he tipped his ear toward it, between the loud staccato of the pneumatic wrench, it was Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl."

"What's wrong with the song?" Jayce asked. "It's old, but I like Billy Joel."

Viktor smiled thinly. "I do, also. Usually. It is a stupid inside joke, pay it no mind."

"Anyway, what about you?" Jayce asked. Viktor wasn't wearing a ring. Maybe there was a chance. "Have you lived here long?"

"Born and bred," Viktor said easily. He finished typing and turned to collect the printout. "Please sign here and here, Mr. Talis, and I'll get right on your oil change. Will you wait for it, or return?"

"Just Jayce, please. And uh, if it won't be very long, I'll wait," Jayce said.

"Wonderful," Viktor said, and then just looked at Jayce, for so long that Jayce began to wonder if he had something on his face.

"Um. Yes?"

"I will need your keys," Viktor said with a faint smile.

"Right!" Jayce said, far too loud. He dropped them on the counter. "Right, I'll just…" He jerked his thumb toward the little waiting room.

Viktor nodded and picked up the keys. "Help yourself to coffee, Jayce. It won't be too long."

Of course the way Viktor said his name made his toes curl. Because why wouldn't it? Jayce sighed and made his way into the waiting room.

He poured himself a coffee and added too much fake creamer and sugar to it to cover the burnt taste of coffee that had been sitting in the pot for hours. He sipped and mentally lamented the fancy single-serve machine his mechanic back in Piltover kept in the waiting room, but there was a certain charm to it.

At least the TV had cable, though they had it tuned to the Hallmark channel for some odd reason. And the volume was turned almost all the way down. Jayce looked around for a moment, but couldn't find a remote to change the channel or adjust the sound. With a shrug, he sank into one of the old chairs to watch (but not listen to) a predictable, bland movie that was so saccharine he might as well not have put the sugar in the coffee.

He was distracted when his car pulled into the bay right next to the waiting room window. The hood popped, and then Viktor got out of the car. Jayce adjusted his position in the chair slightly so he could surreptitiously watch.

Maybe, he thought… Maybe he hadn't been entirely imagining that Viktor was flirting with him, just a little. Testing the waters, maybe.

Maybe, maybe after the work was done, he'd ask if Viktor would be interested in meeting up sometime. Coffee? The gods knew the man deserved to drink something better than this swill.

"Sevika, darling?" Viktor called, easily audible through the propped-open door.

"Yeah, baby?" That was the woman with the dark hair.

"Lube me up, would you?"

"Aw, honey, don't you think you should wait until we're in private?" Despite her words, Sevika tromped over to a shelf that was loaded with motor oil and pulled down several containers, tucking them into the crook of her prosthetic arm. She took them over to what Jayce assumed was Viktor's bay and lined them up for him in front of the bumper. "Need me to hold your nuts?"

Viktor gasped playfully from where he was standing by the wall, adjusting the height of the hydraulic lift under the car. "You haven't even bought me dinner yet," he said, mock-scandalized. "What kind of girl do you take me for?"

Viktor lowered himself onto a creeper—his leg constrained by the brace on it, he used a bar mounted in the wall for balance as he laid down. It made the muscles in his arm bunch and ripple, and Jayce… lost track of the conversation for a moment. It wasn't until Viktor had used his good leg to shove himself up under Jayce's car that Jayce snapped out of the trance.

When he looked up, Sevika was watching him with narrowed eyes. Hurriedly, Jayce returned his attention to the TV, where the perky brunette leading lady was sitting at a kitchen table across from an old woman with white hair and a sympathetic expression. They were both clutching plain white coffee cups.

Who the fuck kept plain white coffee cups in their house?

It didn't take very long for Viktor to change the oil, but the entire time he was working, he and Sevika kept trading flirtatious quips. She walked past him while he was leaning over the open hood and smacked his ass hard enough that Jayce heard it from the waiting room. Viktor tossed back, "Did that make your dick hard, darling?"

Sevika snorted and turned toward Ekko and the pink-haired woman. "Y'all heard him harassing me, right?"

The pink-haired woman grunted as she tightened a bolt. "So what else is new?"

Ekko, sorting through his toolbox for something, laughed outright. "I mean, you can report him to HR, but since HR routinely locks himself in the office with our other boss and closes the blinds—thank Janna—I dunno if he's gonna be that sympathetic."

No one else flirted with either of them, Jayce noticed.

Fuck. It was looking like Viktor and Sevika were together.

Jayce sighed and slumped down in the chair. Just his luck.

A pair of steel-toed boots paused by Viktor's head. "Why are you lying on the floor?" Jinx asked.

"Go bother Ekko," Viktor suggested. Why was Jinx even here? She worked at the detailing shop down the road. He needed to be left alone so he could die in peace.

"No, for real, what's up?"

Viktor didn't bother responding. Someone else would answer for him. They had been deeply invested in Viktor's utter lack of a lovelife for several months, now. Ever since Jayce Talis had walked into the garage and ruined Viktor's life.

"Loverboy came in again," Sevika supplied.

"So?" Jinx crouched down to look at Viktor. "What's the damage, Cookie?"

Viktor threw his arm over his face with a groan. "He was wearing glasses."

"Oh, shit," Jinx said, and patted his shoulder gently. "That's rough, buddy."

"I did not think he could get more attractive," Viktor complained. "What have I done in my life that has led to this sort of punishment?"

"Howcome you haven't asked him out if he's so cute?"

"He stopped flirting," Viktor sighed. Jayce had been adorably flustered at their first couple of meetings, and Viktor had been trying to work up the nerve to ask him out—with increasingly insistent urging from the rest of the shop, who were likely sick of his daydreams and pining.

But the last time Jayce had come in, he hadn't met Viktor's gaze at all. Hadn't stammered or blushed. He'd barely even spoken, just asked for a new set of wiper blades, paid, and then left.

"Perhaps he met someone else," Viktor theorized. "Or decided that it would be beneath him to fuck a Zaunite."

"If he was like that, you'd have figured it out before this," Jinx said. "So, what's the plan?"

"There is no plan," Viktor said.

"His plan," Sevika put in rudely, "is to wait until Silco leaves for the day, then sneak into the office and get some stills out of the security camera to jerk off to later, and then continue to mope."

"We need a better plan than that," Jinx said. She stood up and started to pace, up and down the length of Viktor's bay.

Viktor uncovered his face and rolled his head just enough to glare at Sevika. "Now look what you have done," he complained. "You got Jinx invested."

"Babygirl, she was already invested," Sevika said, pitiless. "You think Vi and Silco and Vander go home at night and don't gossip about the rest of us around the dinner table?"

"You would be very wrong," Vi put in from Sevika's other side.

Viktor's last remaining comfort—that his bosses, at least, were unaware of the hopeless crush he had on a Piltie professor—shriveled up and died. He put both arms over his face and whimpered.

Why did Jayce have to wear glasses to buy wiper blades? It was completely unfair of him to tick all the boxes of tall and stacked and sexy and smart and also adorable and nerdy! That was too many boxes for one man! How was Viktor meant to cope with that?

"I know!" Jinx said brightly. "I'll steal his catalytic converter!"

"How the fuck is that supposed to help?" Sevika wondered.

"Well, he'd have to come back into the shop! And then Vikki could re-install it—I'd slip it into the parts shop, of course—and only charge him for labor because there was just an old one laying around—" She made finger quotes around that, and Viktor seriously considered kicking her. "—and he'd be so grateful he would have to ask you out!"

Viktor looked at Sevika again. She was already pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off a headache. "You brought this on yourself," he told her heartlessly.

"Please don't steal anything again," Vi said.

"Please especially do not steal anything from our customers," Ekko added. Viktor hadn't even been aware that he'd been listening.

Jinx pouted. "You guys are no fun."

"He might decide to take his car back to Piltover for service just to avoid you all," Viktor grumbled.

"He's coming back," Vi said confidently.

"What makes you so sure?" Jinx asked.

"You didn't see the way he was checking out Vik's ass," Vi said. "Trust me, he's still interested."

"Then why was he so cold today?" Viktor said in what was definitely not a whine.

Vi shrugged. "In a hurry? Bad mood? Didn't realize you had a glasses kink?"

"It is not a—"

"Doesn't matter," she overrode him. "I'll lay twenty on it, he'll be back. Inside of a month."

"No bet," said Sevika and Ekko simultaneously.

"You all suck," Viktor announced, and put his arms back over his face.

Jayce sighed in relief as he pulled up in front of the garage. But just to be safe, he left the car running when he went inside.

It was Sevika who looked up when the bell on the door jangled. She smirked around her cigarette. "He ain't here," she said.

"What?"

"Viktor," she elaborated. "He ain't here this week."

"Oh." That was disappointing, but— "My battery died," he told her. "I just replaced it like a year ago, I don't know what happened. I managed to get a jump from a neighbor, but… Can someone look at it for me?"

"You betcha." She punched the button that opened the door to her bay. "Bring 'er on in here."

"Thanks." Jayce went back out to the car and carefully drove it into the shop. He half-opened the door and said, "Do you want me to leave it running?"

"Nah, I'll jump it if I need to. Leave the keys in it."

"Sure thing." Jayce turned the car off, then climbed out. "Is he okay?"

"Who?" Sevika reached out with her prosthetic arm to drag her big rolling toolcase closer.

"Viktor," Jayce said, and tried to look just a normal amount of concerned. "You said he was out for a week. Is he okay?"

She eyed him again with those dark eyes of her that seemed to see everything. "Yeah, he'll be fine," she said after a long, measuring moment. "Get out of my hair, wouldja?"

"Right," Jayce said quickly, and hurried toward the little waiting room.

Today, the TV was turned to some sort of home renovation show. Jayce kind of missed the Hallmark glurge.

He sat with his back to the TV and pulled out his phone. He texted Mel, My car's battery died 😩😠

A moment later, she responded: Did it die or did you sabotage it so you'd have an excuse to visit the cute mechanic?

No, it actually died, Jayce defended. Viktor's not even working today

My sympathies. Let me know if you'll need a ride home.

Zaun's a long way out of your way, Jayce hedged. They do have Uber here

But if you do that, I will not have an excuse to come visit. The students are not the only ones missing you, you know. I can take tomorrow off and drive home after dinner.

Jayce smiled fondly. That sounds great, actually. I'll let you know

Fifteen minutes or so later, Sevika came into the waiting area, wiping grease off her prosthetic.

That was quick, Jayce thought, sitting up expectantly. Maybe was just a loose connection.

She took the cigarette out of her mouth and flicked the ash into a waiting ashtray. "You want the bad news first, or the worse news?"

Jayce slumped back into his seat. "It wasn't a fifteen-minute fix," he surmised.

"It's your alternator," Sevika told him. "The air is denser in Zaun, and not as clean as you Pilties are used to. The cooling fan that keeps your alternator from overheating isn't rated for our air, so it wasn't turning fast enough, and then the pollution got into it and gummed it up completely. So now your alternator's basically melted. We'll have to replace both the fan and the alternator."

Jayce grimaced. "And what's the worse news?"

"I've got a properly-rated fan with a filter on it, but we don't have any alternators in stock that'll fit your car better'n a jury-rig. I'm gonna have to order it new."

Fuck. "How long is that going to take?"

"At least a week," Sevika told him. "More like ten days."

"This all sounds very expensive," Jayce observed glumly.

"I've seen worse," she said, though that wasn't a denial. "Leave it here, I'll give the rest of your filters a close look and swap 'em out for something that can handle the smog better, and I won't even charge you for labor on that. But you should still bring it in every three months for a check."

Jayce sighed. "Got it. Thanks for the look-over. I'll… text someone to come pick me up."

"You do that. I'll go place that order." She ducked behind the curtain.

Jayce looked down at his phone. Are you psychic? My car's going to be out of commission for at least a week.

Send me the address, I'll be there in 2 hours.

He'd played through four levels of his current stupid phone game addiction when Sevika re-appeared. She leaned against the counter and crossed her arms, which made her flesh arm bulge impressively and her prosthetic look even more dangerous than before.

Jayce blinked up at her. "…Yes?"

"Why haven't you asked Viktor out yet?"

Jayce stared in surprise. "Be…cause I thought you guys were together?"

"You thought who— Oh shit." She broke out into laughter, full-bellied and without artifice. She leaned even harder on the counter, gasping for breath. "Me? An' Viktor?" she wheezed, and then started laughing again.

Vi walked by and stuck her head through the door to watch Sevika. "What's up with her?"

"Uh," Jayce said. "Apparently it's funny that I… thought she and Viktor were together?" Jayce said. There was a flush of embarrassment building under his skin.

Vi also let out a single crow of laughter. "Shit, Prettyboy, that's a good one."

"Well, they're always flirting and… touching each other and stuff!" Jayce defended. "How was I supposed to know?"

Vi eyed him, then looked at Sevika again, who was heaving deep breaths, trying to recover. "Vander made a joke once," Vi explained, taking pity on him, "about Viktor being 'Vika's work wife. So they just ran with it. That's all. It's just joking around."

"Man, your gaydar is for shit," Sevika rasped. "I'm not interested in what Viktor has to offer, trust me." Then she leaned very close, putting her face right in front of Jayce's, close enough that he was in danger of being burned by the end of her cigarette. "You, however? Are. Aren't you?"

"Uh." Jayce's gaze flicked over toward Vi, but she just smirked and waved as she went back to work, abandoning him to Sevika's interrogation. "Yes?" It came out as a squeak.

She straightened again. "Yeah, thought so. Ask him out, dumbass. I can't take much more of the tension." She stubbed out her cigarette. "Also, there's a betting pool. So don't drag your feet too much longer." She smirked at him again and strolled back out into the shop.

He should probably be offended on Viktor's behalf that they were betting on their coworker's dating life, but it was hard to feel anything else in the wake of the euphoria of knowing he was free to ask Viktor out. And, from the sound of it, had a fairly decent shot at being accepted.

Also, he had a much better idea now of why "Uptown Girl" was a shop in-joke.

Well. It was a good thing Mel was on her way to pick him up. She could help him figure out what to do for a date.

Jayce was thoroughly bored with his phone game and contemplating downloading another when Vi came into the waiting room to refill her coffee. She was pouring an upsetting amount of powdered creamer into the cup when she glanced toward the window, then abruptly put the mug down and dashed to the shop door to yell, "Hey, 'Vika! Hottie alert!"

Jayce looked up, then turned to look through the slightly grimy window. Sure enough, Mel was strolling across the parking lot.

He grinned and went to stand by the door, half-hiding behind Vi, so he could watch.

Sevika rolled her eyes at Vi, then tapped a cigarette out of her pack and stuck it between her lips. "I told you," she said as she lifted the lighter, "I'm too tired for—"

The door chimes rang out as Mel came into the garage. She looked, as always, entirely put together; her expression was alert and polite, her makeup crisp, and her clothes were in perfect order, with no sign of a long day of work followed by a two-hour drive (slightly more than that, by Jayce's watch; she'd had to deal with rush hour traffic).

The cigarette tumbled out of Sevika's mouth.

Mel, who knew full well what kind of an effect she had on people, stopped to give Sevika a lingering once-over. She walked over and bent down to pick the cigarette up off the floor.

"Ah…"

Jayce wasn't sure if Sevika was trying to talk or if that was the only noise she was capable of making at the moment. He had to hide a shit-eating grin behind his hand.

Mel straightened again, the cigarette held between her fingertips, smoldering fitfully. She turned her head just a fraction of an inch to consider the "No Smoking" sign that had been pointedly mounted above Sevika's workbench. "I'll keep this," she said. "It wouldn't do for you to get in trouble, would it?"

"Uh…"

Mel tucked the filter between her lips, then took a step closer. "Care to give me a light?"

Still standing next to Jayce in the doorway, Vi was having silent hysterics.

Sevika took a deep breath, then shook herself like a dog. She flicked a flame out of the lighter and held it out toward Mel.

It was, Jayce could admit, a faster recovery than most people made when they'd been stunned by finding themselves in Mel's crosshairs.

Mel leaned close to light the cigarette, drawing smoothly until the cherry glowed brightly. When she straightened again, she let the smoke just curl out of her mouth for a few seconds before blowing the rest of it out. "Thanks for lighting me up—" She reached out to tap the name patch on Sevika's work shirt. "—Sevika."

Sevika grinned. "Anytime, princess," she said in a blatant and only half-successful attempt to recover her usual insouciance. "Anything else I can do to you?"

"What she means," Ekko interrupted, possibly to head off any suggestions that Sevika might make, "is, how can we help you today?"

Mel smiled at Ekko. "Thank you," she said. "I'm here to pick up my friend."

Jayce stopped lurking and squeezed past Vi. "I'm right here. Thanks so much for coming all this way."

She greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. "Nonsense, darling, it's not that long of a drive. But I am famished. Please tell me you've found some decent restaurants to try." She hooked her arm through Jayce's and started to pull him out of the shop. She turned and gave a coy little wave just as they exited through the shop door.

She giggled as soon as the door closed behind her, and stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray built into the top of the trash can there. The filter was ringed with her lipstick; Jayce wondered if Sevika would be tempted to retrieve it.

"You are a cruel, cruel woman," he accused. "But seriously, thanks for coming to get me."

"Mm." She opened her car door and slid smoothly into the driver's seat. "You know how you can thank me?"

Jayce eyed her warily as he got in and put on his seatbelt. "How?"

She glanced back toward the garage as she turned on the car. "Let me be the one to bring you back when it's fixed."

"Cruel," Jayce reiterated, laughing, "and done."

Maybe, he thought, that would give the other mechanics incentive to take some of the heat off Viktor.

Viktor considered the frayed serpentine belt. It really should be replaced, but he knew Anneka couldn't afford that. Not this month, not after her father had taken that fall and sprained his ankle.

Vi walked past, and Viktor reached out to snare her sleeve. "Come look at this," he said. "What can we do to extend its life another thousand miles?"

Vi reached in to test the tension and grimaced. "We can fix the tension and clean out the pulleys, but that's only going to do so much when it's already this gone. You're probably better off talking to Silco about a deferred payment plan."

Viktor sighed. "That is what I was afraid of."

"Sorry, man." Vi clapped his arm and continued on her way. "Customer incoming!" she yelled back. "Not it!"

Viktor glanced toward the other bays and found Ekko balancing tires and Sevika mid-oil change. Damn it. "I've got it," he grumbled, and grabbed a rag to take the worst of the grease off his hands before grabbing his shop cane.

The car that had just pulled up outside the shop was much nicer than anything they usually serviced. Last year's model, tinted windows, flawless gold paint, impeccably detailed. Probably had all the accessory packages, too. He let out a low whistle of appreciation. Maybe he wasn't upset that Vi had maneuvered him into taking the counter for this one. It would be a real pleasure to put his hands on such a gorgeous machine.

The driver got out—a woman whose elegance matched the car's. From the passenger side emerged…

Jayce.

Fuck.

Viktor glanced over at Vi, hoping to quickly plead with her to take the counter anyway, only to see her grinning at him.

He glared back.

Her smirk only grew, and she pointed surreptitiously toward Sevika.

Viktor didn't understand for a moment, too wrapped up in his own panic over Jayce's reappearance, but then he did. That was the woman Vi and Ekko had been teasing Sevika about?

The bells rang, and Viktor realized he'd been too distracted to make a deal with Vi. Which was almost certainly her intent. He scowled at her again for good measure—not that she would be at all disturbed by it—and then faced front again. "Jayce," he managed. "It is good to see you again. And your…" He looked at the woman again, but she had left Jayce's side as soon as they'd entered the shop and was striding confidently across the garage floor despite the heels she was wearing, angled directly toward Sevika's bay.

"Mel's my ride," Jayce said, yanking Viktor's attention back. He was wearing his glasses again, and Viktor's stomach twisted itself into a knot. Jayce came up to the counter and leaned on it. "Viktor, hi."

"Hi," Viktor managed.

"Sevika said I could pick up my car?"

"Ah…" She hadn't said anything to Viktor about it, but when he checked under the counter for the completed orders, there it was. "Yes," Viktor confirmed. "Yes, your repairs are complete."

"Great," Jayce said, and sounded as if he meant it. Then he leaned partway across the counter as if he were about to whisper a secret. Helplessly, Viktor was drawn in as well. "I thought," Jayce said in a low voice, "while I was here, maybe I could pick you up, too."

Viktor froze for a few seconds as his mind raced—surely Jayce had not meant what that sounded like—then forced out a small laugh. "You do seem very strong, yes. I am certain you could, eh, lift me. It is funny—for a moment, I thought you were asking me on a date."

"I am," Jayce said.

Viktor looked at him directly. His cheeks were a very appealing pink, but his gaze was steady behind his glasses. "…Me?"

Jayce reached to take his hand, and Viktor quickly backed up a step. "Don't, my hands are filthy, I will get it all over you."

Jayce stretched out to snare Viktor's hand anyway. "Viktor. I have had dreams of you putting your hands on me, filthy or otherwise. Please. Just say you'll get coffee with me. Or dinner. Or… whatever. Or tell me you're not actually interested and Sevika was just toying with my emotions."

Almost automatically, Viktor looked in Sevika's direction, but she wasn't paying any attention to him or Jayce or anything other than the woman in front of her. Jayce's… friend, it seemed, who was just as captivated by Sevika.

"I— Yes," Viktor said, and turned his gaze back to Jayce. "Yes," he repeated. "I would like to go on a date with you. Very much."

Jayce's eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

Viktor felt a flush climbing the back of his neck, as if he were a child with his first crush. Intolerable, but it refused to be suppressed. "Yes. Coffee would be good."

"Tonight?" Jayce asked hopefully, and then winced. "Sorry, that's pushy, I'm— What day would be best for you?"

"I have no plans tonight," Viktor said. Janna knew he didn't want to have to spend whole days anticipating it and spiraling and imagining where that date might or might not lead.

"Great! Meet at, um… The Fissure? Maybe around eight? My treat, of course."

Viktor was pleasantly surprised that Jayce hadn't suggested the big chain place, with its too-bright lights and aggressively modern design. "Make it eight-thirty," he suggested. "I must go home first, to shower and change."

"Eight-thirty," Jayce repeated, nodding. "At the Fissure. I'm looking forward to it." He took a few steps back, as if he were heading toward the door.

"Jayce?"

"Yeah?"

Viktor held up the key to Jayce's car. "Perhaps you would like to finish paying for the work on your car, so you may drive yourself home?"

"Oh!" Jayce's pretty blush darkened. "Yeah. Oops." He stepped forward again, fishing the wallet from his pocket. "Not sure I need it, though," he joked as he pulled out his credit card. "Kind of feel like I'm floating right now." He peered at Viktor over the rim of his glasses as he handed the card over.

Ridiculous, sweet man. "You will feel much less float-y when you have walked half a mile down the road in Zaunish air," Viktor teased, then glanced toward Sevika's bay. "And I am not sure your ride will be available to pick you up."

Jayce followed his gaze toward where Sevika and Mel were staring intently at each other and laughed, startled. "Yeah," he agreed. "You might be right about that."

Two Years Later:

The shop bells rang. "Hi, everyone!" Jayce called out. Safely hidden under the car he was working on, Viktor allowed himself a dopey, besotted grin.

"Jayce, man, you can't keep hanging around here all the time like this," Ekko said. "It's gotta be—" He paused as Vi gunned the engine she was trying to diagnose. "—an insurance violation or something."

"It's fine, the owners like me," Jayce dismissed.

"Vander likes you," Vi corrected. "Silco barely tolerates you."

"He actively loathed me at the start," Jayce pointed out cheerfully. "I'm wearing him down. Besides, if I stopped coming over here to hang out, who would bring you guys fresh conchas for the breakroom?"

"Yeah, okay, I'm sold," Ekko said immediately.

"Hey babycakes," Sevika said, and banged her fist on the hood of car Viktor was under. "Your Piltie is here."

"I heard," Viktor said.

"Ain'tcha gonna come out and give the rest of us a show?"

"Gross," Vi opined.

"Not interested," Ekko agreed.

"Fine," Sevika sighed. "Aint'cha gonna come out and give me a show?"

"There will be no show," Viktor said firmly. "I have an entire car's worth of grease and oil all over me."

A hand wrapped around Viktor's good ankle, and he had about half a second to wipe the dumb smile from his face before he was hauled out from under the car. He looked up into the shining eyes of his partner. "I really need to invest in a creeper with locking wheels," he said.

"You can't just say you're covered in grease and then not expect me to want to see you," Jayce said.

"You two have some weird-ass kinks," Sevika said.

"Fuck off, 'Vika," Jayce said pleasantly at the same time that Viktor lifted a hand to flip her off. Vi barked out a laugh.

"Flirting aside," Viktor said, "you are not usually here before six. What is the occasion?"

Jayce grinned. "We got it."

That jolted Viktor upright. "We got it?"

"We got it!"

"Wanna let the rest of us in on it?" Vi said.

Viktor gestured impatiently until Jayce grabbed his arm to haul him upright so he could beam dementedly at his friends and co-workers. "We are buying a house," he announced.

Jayce nodded. "I got word about half an hour ago that our offer was accepted."

"What, seriously?" Ekko smiled widely. "That's awesome!"

"Hey, we can have our shop parties at V's place now!" Vi said.

"V and Jayce's place," Jayce corrected, and smirked at Sevika. "You'll have to stop calling me Piltie, now."

"Not a chance," she shot back.

"What about your fancy Piltie job?" Ekko wondered.

"I'm still working out the details with the dean," Jayce admitted, "but it's looking like I'll be able to do most of my research and teaching remotely, and just drive up to the Academy occasionally. And we're tentatively outlining an outreach program here, too. To provide some of the educational and financial assistance that Viktor should've had as a kid." He smiled soppily at Viktor.

Vi scoffed. "That would cost a fortune," she said. "Who've you got willing to fund that?"

"Well… Mel, for one," Jayce said, and shot a sly glance at Sevika. "Of course, she'll have to come down more often to help set that up and oversee things."

"Wipe that smirk off your face before I do it for you," Sevika growled, but it lacked her usual force.

"Let us know when you're moving," Vi said. "We'll get together and grab Jinx and the boys to come help you out. If I ask to borrow Vander's truck, he's gonna insist on coming along and do half the lifting himself."

"Thank you," Viktor said. "As is traditional, we will express our gratitude via pizza and beer."

"The good pizza, from Jericho's," Ekko said.

"Obviously," Viktor sniffed.

Jayce's expression twisted in disgust. "Promise we'll get at least one normal pizza that doesn't have tentacles on it."

"See?" Sevika said. "That right there? That's why you're still a Piltie."

"It's not just me," Jayce defended himself. "My friend Cait's already promised to bring down the stuff I left in Academy storage. She deserves tentacle-free pizza."

"Piltie."

Jayce pouted. "You don't call Mel a Piltie!"

"She didn't have any problems with the tentacles," Sevika said. "She said she enjoyed sampling the… local cuisine."

"Gross," Vi said.

The conversation devolved into bickering between Vi and Sevika, as was common. Viktor ignored them to look at Jayce again. "We are buying a house," he said.

Jayce's eyes lit up. "We're buying a house," he answered, then swooped in to hug Viktor tightly, before Viktor could fend him off.

"Jayce! You are ruining your shirt!"

"Don't care," Jayce said, sing-song. "I'm going to have a home with my partner!" He pulled away just enough to kiss Viktor soundly.

Briefly, Viktor thought about protesting that, too, but unlike the clothes, the grease would come off Jayce with only a little effort. He abandoned himself to the kiss, ignoring the wolf whistle from Vi.

When they separated, they were both breathing hard, and Jayce had a streak down one side of his face and neck from Viktor's hands.

Unsurprisingly, it looked really good on him. If he'd been wearing his glasses, Viktor would have to consider taking the rest of the day off. As it was, Viktor was already looking forward to getting back to Jayce's apartment and messing him up some more.

"We will make a Zaunite of you yet," he promised.

Jayce smiled and kissed him again. "Looking forward to it."