Chapter Text
Jayce sighed and ran a hand through his carefully gelled hair, pulling the strands apart with a grimace at the texture.
Tonight's meeting with the counselors had taken much longer than he expected, and when they were finally released, Jayce wasted no time in making a beeline for the lab. He had promised Viktor he would spend the rest of the night working together on their research as soon as he was done shaking the hands he needed in order to get more funding for them. Though it was starting to feel like he was spending more time begging for money to bring Hextech to life than actually trying to follow through and create the damn thing.
Stretching his neck from side to side and hearing a satisfying crrk pop pop as his neck, Jayce wondered if Viktor would even still be at the lab this late at night. He looked out at the quad next to his path, starlight casting a soft blue glow on the greenery scattered around. Sure, he was used to spending endless days and nights with Viktor pouring over notes and equations in the earlier days of their research, but Jayce’s duties to the council had kept him away for so long recently that he wasn’t so sure anymore.
While Viktor had seemed reinvigorated by their boost in progress following them moving into a proper academy lab, the moment Jayce became the face of Hextech- the Man of Progress- his enthusiasm took a nosedive. The passion and drive Jayce admired about him was still there, but Jayce could also tell when Viktor’s mind wasn’t completely focused. There was tension brewing beneath the surface of their every interaction now, and it made Jayce’s skin crawl.
A sudden burst of inspiration struck and he made the split second decision to duck into the closest dormitory to search for the poor excuse they have for kitchens. Being so late, no one was there to protest as Jayce wandered, finding what he was looking for on the far end of the first floor. His polished shoes made a grating squeak on the marble floor as he walked in and began to heat up some sweetmilk in a kettle.
He knew Viktor preferred his warm, but always drank it cold for convenience in the lab. Maybe giving him a little treat would warm him up to Jayce’s tardiness and they could start off on the right foot. In that moment, he made a resolution to himself to try and spend more of his time back in the lab. Back where he was happiest; making progress with his amazingly smart partner whom he had been woefully neglecting.
Groaning in frustration at his own stupidity, different ways he could apologize to Viktor for his absence began to flick through his head like a slideshow. Sweetmilk would prevent a cold shoulder, but Viktor was not one to hide his distaste or disapproval even when it came to Jayce. Actually, especially when it came to Jayce. And Viktor’s usually endearing bossiness was borderline hostile now; much less like the teasing Jayce had become used to over the years.
If an outsider were to view their relationship, some would say Viktor completely hated Jayce’s guts, but of course they don’t know Viktor like he does. The other scientist was sassy, yes, but he was generally well mannered and respectful to everyone he spoke to.
Where others would see Viktor’s outspokenness as rude or insensitive, Jayce saw that it was his fierce sense of justice and accountability that led him to call out others. He wasn’t afraid of the consequences, willing to risk his own image for the truth. Just more countless reasons Jayce admired and respected Viktor. That and it was absolutely hilarious to hear Viktor’s unfiltered commentary on anything.
When it came to Jayce, however, Viktor’s attitude was relentless. And honestly? Jayce was kind of into it. He smiled softly at the recent memory from a few weeks ago.
He had finally been able to sit down to eat a meager meal amidst sponsor meetings and negotiations for new parts Viktor said he'd need to improve the Hexclaw. A single bite in and he remembers his sandwich turned into a book, his own hurried script staring back at him. Viktor appeared out of nowhere to slam said book in front of him, caring little for the food Jayce had been waiting for, to admonish him for some incorrect calculations and demand he review them. For progress’ sake, of course.
Stragglers from a recent board meeting gasped in surprise and disdain at the outburst, sending warning glares in their direction. But Jayce paid them no mind. His attention was only on Viktor and how he must have really messed up to have him hobble across academy grounds just to yell at him. And also that Viktor happened to look absolutely stunning with the setting afternoon sun creating a halo of soft light behind his lean figure. In that moment, like many others when Viktor's attention is on him, Jayce would honestly do anything Viktor asked.
Maybe that was it; what he needed to do to get back in Viktor’s graces. Jayce may be a little slow on the uptake at times, but he truly was a quick study with subjects he was passionate about. And there was no other thing he was more passionate about than Viktor - or, well, of course Hextech was the thing he was most passionate about, and Viktor wasn’t a thing, let alone his-
The thought of any kind of ownership over Viktor suddenly raised a blazing blush across his cheeks that he physically shook his head to rid himself of. It didn’t work, but he ignored the heat on his cheeks like it did anyway.
But his wealth of knowledge on Viktor was just as extensive, if not more so, than Hextech- a thing of his own invention. Jayce had become all too aware of the glint of satisfaction that shone in his partner’s eyes when a task he requested was completed or Jayce agreed with him on something. Maybe if he stuck around the lab like he used to- made sure every demand, request or suggestion of Viktor’s is heard and followed through- maybe then Jayce could crawl his way back to equal footing between them.
Pouring the steaming sweetmilk into two separate cups, tucking his journals under his arm, and heading back into the hallway, Jayce continued to make his way to the lab. Physical touch may be his own love language, but acts of service were Viktor’s. He could do this. Doing whatever Viktor told him to was easy.
Then why was he suddenly getting nervous?
The blush on his face from earlier had only darkened on his olive skin, and he ducked his head slightly as he walked so the whopping zero people waltzing about the university campus at that hour couldn’t see. Jayce had complete trust in his partner; Viktor would never make him do anything without his consent. Really, it was childish that he was getting flustered at the idea of being at Viktor’s every beck and call. It wasn’t as if it was out of the ordinary for Jayce to listen to Viktor, but this time he would be doing it on purpose and until…well, until he could safely say their dynamic was back on track.
So, if Viktor asked him to stay at the lab into the quiet hours of the morning, Jayce would stay. If Viktor asked him to rewrite all of his notebooks in Noxian, Jayce would write until his hand went numb. As his mind began to wander with menial tasks he could do around the lab to help, they began to shift into different possible scenarios. It started off innocently enough: passing Viktor a wrench, running to the library to grab new books on energy conversion, pushing Viktor’s goggles properly down onto his face before an experiment, rushing over to the chalkboard to review an equation Viktor is stuck on.
But the closer he got to the lab, the less appropriate the thoughts got.
It morphed into gently draping a blanket over Viktor’s back and sweeping his hair out of his face so Jayce would have enough room to steal a kiss on his forehead. He wouldn’t even need to be told to do that one, it was just a small fantasy he held close to his chest. Then covering a lecture for Viktor just to have him criticize Jayce’s inability to teach to his standards while Jayce would simply stand there, taking in Viktor’s heated beauty with a smile. Frustrated Viktor was always so beautiful, almost elegant in his rage. Pissing Viktor off and taking his command literally when Viktor mindlessly throws out his usual “oh shut up why don't you,” then waiting like a sad puppy for permission to speak again.
Patiently obedient. On his knees. Eyes trained on Viktor. Muscles tense with anticipation for his next order.
Jayce’s breath hitched as the image branded his mind like cattle, sending it on its way to the pasture of dirty thoughts Jayce currently held for his partner; a collection which was now much larger than he’d ever admit. Saliva pooled in his mouth imagining Viktor’s eyes- that gorgeous amber color with golden flecks spread throughout- looking down at him with a dominance Jayce recognized from their more dangerous experiments. Confidence and superiority oozing from his pores like ambrosia, and Jayce always wanted to lick it off.
He wasn’t sure when he finally arrived at the lab or how long he had been standing in front of the door motionless, stuck in his own treacherous mind. Suddenly a scalding wave of embarrassment washed over him, which was the actual reason his shirt was now sticking to his skin and totally not being turned on at the thought of being at Viktor’s mercy.
“Gods, Talis, get a grip,” he muttered, collecting himself with a deep breath and pushing the door open.
Soft whirs, clangs, and pings stuttered through the large room that functioned as their lab. It looked much cleaner now than it did in the throes of manufacturing the Hexgates, but evidence of their hard work was still littered across tables and bookshelves.
The workbench Jayce had claimed long ago was situated in the far right corner and covered in an avalanche of books, many of which were long overdue from the academy’s library- but that part didn’t really matter when you’re the creator of Hextech. Viktor’s own workstation was directly across the room from Jayce’s; although it seemed to more recently mirror the other man’s pseudo-bedroom as his personal items crept into the crevasses between test tubes and failed experiments.
And there he was, eyes covered by those adorably dorky safety goggles and hunched over a glowing hexgem. Jayce stared at Viktor’s back and swallowed down the lump of nervousness in his throat. Anything his partner wanted. He could do this.
“Hey V!”
Jayce cringed at the sudden volume of his own greeting and hurriedly closed the gap between them with long strides. Viktor’s shoulders jerked in tandem with a soft snap! at the abrupt interruption.
“Ah, Jayce,” Viktor started slowly, shoulders drooping as he carefully twisted in his chair to reveal the golden metal claws of their newest stabilizer, one of which was hanging limply by a newly broken joint. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Oh, uh, sorry about that,” Stupid! He thought, Why am I so nervous?
“It is fine, I couldn’t get the joint to stay at the necessary angle to catch the rune frequency anyways,” Viktor pointedly looked down at the cups still in Jayce’s hands and jerked his head in acknowledgement. “What are those?”
“For you! I brought some sweetmilk for you, I thought- well, I thought maybe you’d want some since you’ve been here a while,” and at Viktor’s single raised eyebrow Jayce felt himself stutter over his words, “Although I have no idea how long you’ve been in here actually I just thought- well, assumed you were- since-”
“Jayce,” Viktor interrupted with a raised hand and a smirk, “stop that incessant rambling of yours, just-” he waves Jayce over expectantly.
The first demand of the night sent a thrill down Jayce’s spine that caused his jaw to immediately snap shut. With wide eyes he passed the cup of now lukewarm sweetmilk into Viktor’s outstretched hand and watched silently as he took a tentative sip.
“Is it- do you like it? Is it good? I could go get you something else if-” Viktor held up a hand to stop Jayce again and furrowed his brow as he finished his sip.
“Jayce, what is this? Are you alright?”
Realizing he must look ridiculous coming into the lab at a random hour after a few days of neglecting his scientific duties, stuttering about sweetmilk like some nervous teenager, Jayce takes a breath to calm down yet again. It’s just Viktor. His partner. His other half. Nothing about interacting with him should be nerve wracking.
“You’re- Yeah, I’m alright. Sorry, I just wanted to try to do something nice.” He raised a hand to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly, “I know I haven’t been around these past few weeks with that charity event and council meetings, and that merchant deal with Shoola that didn’t really pan out, but after all that I’m just so tired and I realized I’d rather just be here with you-”
“I never thought the golden boy would forgo the attention of Piltover’s finest to be here with little old me,” Viktor said playfully.
“Oh ha ha. And yes with you.” He rolled his eyes and caught Viktor’s glimmering amused stare, startling the butterflies in his stomach. “In- in the lab! Of course.”
Jayce had spent so long keeping his romantic feelings for his partner in check over the years, but living life with his heart on his sleeve, the affection was prone to slip out from time to time. Viktor always took it in stride, but Jayce had always been terrified of potentially ruining the best thing that had ever happened to him; next to their invention of Hextech, of course. He was affectionate with everyone close to him, so being so towards Viktor wasn’t any different on the surface, but it certainly felt different to Jayce. He was his best friend! Plus, no one else made his heart race just from smelling their shampoo or from brushing fingers when passing a wrench.
“Of course,” his partner agreed sarcastically. “Speaking of which, could you please hand me another tank for the handheld blowtorch? Not the blue one, I may have, eh, misplaced a piece earlier.”
He didn’t freeze at the demand this time and instead jumped at the opportunity to help and finally get started working in the lab. As much as he missed being with Viktor specifically, Jayce’s first passion would always be the pursuit of science. Grabbing a blue refill tank and some rubber soled gloves, he came back to Viktor’s workbench to fully take in what the other man was working on.
Viktor thanked him and reached to unscrew the empty tank with a struggle, so Jayce helpfully handed him the gloves as well. Jayce watched intently as Viktor’s delicate fingers woefully disappeared under the fabric and effortlessly replaced the propane tank. So nimble. So distracting.
“So…finally working on that portable rune stabilizer?”
“Hm? Oh, yes,” Viktor’s attention centered on the glowing hexcore and its broken attachment. “I was attempting to expand on your notes from our second stationery design from- ah, could you-” he stuck his forearm out across Jayce’s chest and vaguely gestured to the pile of notebooks to the side.
A spark of adrenaline swooped through Jayce’s stomach when Viktor’s hand haphazardly brushed over his right pec and he struggled to focus when his hand was so close to squeezing and pinching and-
“Oh! Yeah, yep, got it, uh, here,” he reached blindly for the first notebook he could grab and placed it in Viktor’s waiting hand. His partner flipped through a few chunks of pages before sighing and gesturing once again in front of Jayce.
“This is your...sketchbook, Jayce. Give me that red one with the lock over there.”
Embarrassment flared hot on Jayce’s cheeks and he quickly snatched the sketchbook back. His sketchbooks were mostly filled with designs and blueprints for different hextech models, but also very noticeably littered with doodles of Viktor. Very accurate and detailed doodles of Viktor.
Having spent so much time around each other, nearly all of Jayce’s notes on Hextech were intrinsically intertwined with the others' presence. To him, the two were inseparable, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t a little embarrassed that his obsession with Viktor bled so easily into his obsession with Hextech. Although, he has caught a shy blush dust across Viktor’s cheeks at the sight of a few drawings from time to time, and Viktor had never told him to stop, so Jayce never did.
And as he passed the correct book over, he noted Viktor’s nose was ever so slightly pinker than before. It made Jayce’s heart leap into his throat. Maybe he could poke the bear. Couldn’t hurt.
“Sorry Viktor, I wasn’t paying attention,” that seemed to pique the other man’s interest and his partner turned to him with a small pout. Jayce wanted to kiss it off his face.
“Well pay attention, this is a lab not one of your silly little meetings.”
“Yes sir,” he chucked back with a mock salute, “Whatever you say, sir. Getting back to work, sir.” Viktor let out a soft laugh and shook his head, but the blush from before had gotten deeper. Jackpot.
“So eager, Counselor Talis. It is no wonder they wish to keep you all to themselves up there.”
The formal title was meant to be a sarcastic jab from Viktor, he had done it before to mess with him, but it only served to render Jayce completely frozen in place yet again. How on Runeterra he had managed to produce anything while working with such an attractive man he had no idea, but coming together after so long apart seemed to very quickly reignite Jayce’s addiction to anything and everything Viktor.
“They’re definitely trying, especially with them trying to push the armament deal again, but, like Hiemer says, nothing compares to the sweet smell of science! Am I right?” Jayce looked back expecting a cringe at his stolen joke, but Viktor was suddenly more reserved. Viktor’s expression, warm and open just a few seconds ago, was now carefully schooled. Their casual atmosphere had turned icy in an instant.
“...Are they now?” Viktor’s tone was detached as he set his tools down and stared into the depths of Jayce’s soul. Searching.
“Shit, V, wait- I promise it’s not what you’re thinking,” Jayce rushed over and tentatively put his hands out to hover over Viktor’s shoulders. There were times he was more receptive to his touch, but times like these were uncertain. When he made no move to pull away completely, Jayce gripped tight; determined not to let go until Viktor listened. “I said they’re trying, V, I never said I agreed to it yet. I’m still trying to convince Mel to-”
“Yet,” Viktor spat out like the word itself was dipped in venom. “Of course, they just haven’t offered you enough yet. Haven’t sweetened your gilded pot of privilege enough yet. But once they do, our wishes- my wishes- for Hextech to remain neutral will simply fly out the window, no?”
“No!”
Jayce felt like he was very quickly losing control of the situation. He didn’t mean to bring up a sensitive subject like that, especially knowing how Viktor felt about Hextech’s possible use towards weapons. They had been strict in their founding stance against it, but pressures from multiple investors and council members had begun to wear on Jayce’s resolve. He just had a bad habit of wanting to make everyone happy.
“Look, V,” he squeezed Viktor’s shoulders in reassurance and to ground himself, “I can’t tell you how much I don’t want that deal to go through, but I am doing everything I can to convince the other council members to look in a different direction. The agricultural tech advancements should be enough to get them off our backs for at least another year. Then we can-”
“The Jayce I started Hextech with would never entertain the asinine ideas those vultures caw at you. This technology cannot fall into the hands of oppressors, Jayce. I have been trying to tell you this for months.”
“Viktor, please, I-”
“No,” Viktor carefully shrugged Jayce’s hands off his shoulders and shifted his body to face the workbench and picked up a stray wrench; a shield. “You should be walking in there with conviction, Jayce, not compliance. You are the world's greatest innovator. They should be listening to you, not the other way around. That is not what we dreamed for Hextech and you know it.”
Jayce stared at the sudden canyon of space between them and felt a stab of guilt pierce his heart. He clenched his now empty hands. This was the complete opposite of what he wanted to happen tonight and it was all because of his stupid big mouth. But this issue was one that ran deeper than tonight. Ever since they debuted Hextech, all the wrong kinds of people had been trying to get their hands on it. Especially Noxus. Jayce had hoped his position on the council would help him prevent it, but it only put more pressure on him to concede. Viktor was right.
“You’re right,” He had to finally put his foot down. He was doing whatever Viktor wanted anyways, and this was a point of contention between them for months now. It was time for Jayce to make a definitive choice. And choosing Viktor was as easy as breathing.
Jayce’s hand shook as he reached out again, but this time he tentatively took Viktor’s slender hand in his own, replacing the wrench with his larger, well-worn hand. Viktor’s golden eyes caught his in a brief moment of defiance, but softened around the edges when he saw the sincerity practically oozing out of Jayce. Those same eyes flicked down at their entwined hands but made no movement to separate them.
“You’re right, Viktor. I haven’t been doing what I promised. Haven’t been upholding our ideals for Hextech. You’re just as, if not more, important to this operation as I am, and I haven’t been listening to you. I’m sorry. I’m gonna march into the next meeting tomorrow afternoon and tell them no. No questions, no more jumping through their hoops. They want Hextech so much, they can answer to our demands.”
Multiple emotions seemed to bloom and melt over Viktor’s face as he processed what Jayce was declaring. Disbelief, confusion, fear, hope. Before he could lock himself in his own head, Jayce tugged on their hands to bring his attention back up.
“I promise, V, I’m gonna do right by us. I’m sorry it took me so long to grow a spine about it.”
“Truly? You will tell them Hextech is off limits to weapons dealings- anything, in fact, to do with Noxus and their senseless warmongering?”
“Of course,” Jayce’s worried eyes drooped into a pleading stare and his thumb stroked the back of Viktor’s hand absentmindedly. “Anything you want V.”
Anything you want. Forever. Always.
“Anything?”
The innocent question from Viktor caused a storm to surge under Jayce’s ribcage. Of course, anything. That was what he planned coming in here tonight— if he wasn't lying to himself, it was a stance he'd had from day one—and he’d be damned if he didn’t achieve his goal. This was supposed to heal the rift between them, and if telling all of Piltover to bend over and shove it would let Jayce see more of that raw hope in Viktor’s eyes again, then he would do it over and over. Damn, he really had lost his way.
“For you? Always.”
The blush returned to Viktor’s face with a vengeance and he scoffed. Jayce mourned the moment their hands pulled apart, but seeing his partner flustered at his words made a possessive monster burrow into his lungs and squeeze. He wants to see Viktor more flustered. Make those careful hands tremble, those tantalizing lips stumble over words, all because of Jayce.
“You ridiculous man, do not say things you do not mean.” Jayce would have doubled down that second, brought himself to his knees to show how serious he was being, but Viktor pointedly turned back to his workstation and cleared his throat. “But if you do mean it then bring over that stool, we have work to do.”
Jayce’s smile made his cheeks hurt as he settled in next to Viktor.
“Let’s get to it then.”