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#1 Ally Jayce Talis (Arcane, Jayce/Viktor)
Title: #1 Ally Jayce Talis
Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends
Characters: Jayce/Viktor
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count: 4,543
Additional Tags: Humor, Pining, Misunderstandings
Summary: When Jayce discovers that Viktor likes men, he wants Viktor to know he has his full support. Viktor wants more than that from Jayce, but he knows he'll never get it when Jayce is so clearly straight.
Notes: This started as a series of jokes between me and a friend about obnoxiously supportive PFLAG ally Heimerdinger and sort of spiraled from there, so I decided to write her a really stupid fic about it for Christmas. I also got another friend to draw Heimerdinger in an 'I ♥ my gay son' t-shirt, so there's that.
Read on AO3.
Viktor can’t help the swell of triumph that washes over him as he supervises the setup of his new lab—the lab he’ll be sharing with his new partner, Jayce Talis. Newly reinstated after his trouble with the Council, Jayce can’t seem to believe his luck. He’s absently wandering around the room, commenting on the placement of things or pointing out new equipment they might need. Viktor doesn’t mind the chatter. After so long looking for a breakthrough like this, he understands the enthusiasm. Jayce’s open excitement is a far better look on him than the state Viktor found him in only a few days ago.
Once the last of the equipment has been brought in—an extra blackboard, at Viktor’s insistence—and the remainder of Jayce’s research—the parts still intact—have been transferred, Viktor sits back against the edge of his desk and surveys the space. This is where they’ll make miracles happen. Miracles like the one they achieved in Heimerdinger’s lab. The memory of floating, weightless, buoyant with the joy of success, surrounded by the magical blue glow of Jayce’s invention, is enough to make Viktor smile even now.
“What’re you thinking about?” Jayce teases, catching the look on Viktor’s face.
Viktor turns his smile toward Jayce, unembarrassed as he answers, “The future.”
Jayce grins back at him, but whatever response he has to that is forestalled by Professor Heimerdinger shuffling through the door.
“Things coming along smoothly in here, boys?” he asks, peering around the lab. He’d done his best, in the past few days, to try and impart his warnings about magic to them again, but Viktor thinks even he knows what they’ve started here won’t be so easily stopped now that hextech has been proven possible.
“There’s a few things we’d like to get,” Viktor says, going through his mental tally of Jayce’s requests, “but nothing that we can’t live without for a few days.”
“Thank you again for this opportunity, Professor,” Jayce says, eager as ever. Viktor assumes he’s still on edge after his close call with the Council. Or maybe Jayce just genuinely is that forgiving.
“It’s Councillor Medarda you should be thanking,” Heimerdinger says, taking an inquisitive stroll around the room. He comes to a stop in front of Viktor’s desk, peering up at him. “And Viktor here, of course.”
“Of course,” Jayce echoes, turning that earnest look on Viktor. Viktor finds it easier to look away—having such a look directed at him feels akin to looking straight at the sun. Even with the years spent at the Academy, he’s still not used to such direct…sunlight.
“I could hardly have let such an opportunity pass me by,” Viktor says, but it hardly feels like the words encompass everything that happened that night. Meeting Jayce was more than just a simple scientific opportunity.
He watches, amused, as Heimerdinger hops up onto his empty chair and drops something into the mug on his desk that houses his plethora of pens and pencils. Upon seeing what it is, Viktor snorts.
“Can’t have you working in a new lab without one,” Heimerdinger says proudly, and it’s all Viktor can do to keep a straight face.
A small, striped rainbow flag on a wooden stick sits in his pen mug, hanging cheerfully over the edge. Jayce looks at it quizzically, but he’s either polite enough or cautious enough not to ask about it outright.
“Thank you, Professor,” Viktor says with some amusement in his tone, unable to hide it completely. He can’t fault the man for his efforts to make Viktor feel included. Ever since his early days at the Academy, Heimerdinger had gone out of his way to make sure he wasn’t treated any differently for being from Zaun. This was no different than that.
“Well, I’m sure you lads would like the chance to settle in,” Heimerdinger says, hopping down from the chair. “I’ll leave you to it.”
They say their goodbyes, and once Heimerdinger is back out the door, Jayce turns his attention back toward the flag.
“What was all that about?” he asks, bemused, but he’s still smiling, if somewhat inquisitively.
“Heimerdinger…means well,” Viktor says, shaking his head. He plucks the flag from the mug, twirling it between his fingers. “He’s been doing this ever since he found out.”
“Found out what?”
Viktor glances up to see Jayce watching him, still completely earnest. Ah, well. Better that Jayce found out now, from him, than from any of the more salacious rumors about him floating around the school.
“That I prefer men.” He says it casually, unconcerned, but he watches Jayce’s reaction. “This is a Zaunite symbol, of sorts.” A slight wave of the flag between his fingers. “Indicating such things.”
Jayce, for his part, seems to catch on fast, understanding dawning on his face. Then he blushes.
“Oh, I see,” he says, in a way that indicates he does not quite see.
“Is that going to be a problem?” Viktor asks, cool tone hiding his disappointment.
“What? No!” Jayce says quickly. “No, I just— I’m surprised Heimerdinger— I mean, it’s a little—”
“He likes to show his support,” Viktor says, putting Jayce out of his misery before he can keep failing to form a full sentence.
“That’s really swell of him,” Jayce says, and that earnestness is back in full force.
Viktor blinks, turning the flag over in his fingers once more, then puts it back in his pencil cup. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
Working with Jayce is one of the easiest things Viktor’s ever done. He’s smart, he thinks on his feet, he takes all of Viktor’s ideas seriously no matter how crazy they are. Viktor’s never had a better partner. But Jayce has also decided to take after Heimerdinger a little bit.
“What’s this?” Viktor inquires, spotting the new addition to his desk. His plain white mug, the one he actually uses for drinking, has been replaced with a new one painted with rainbow stripes.
Jayce beams at him. “A gift—I hope that’s okay? I found that when I was out shopping the other day, and it made me think of you.”
From anyone else at the Academy, in a best case scenario, Viktor would assume some kind of teasing. But Jayce looks utterly sincere, as he always does, and Viktor’s initial prickle of ire quickly abates.
“It matches Heimerdinger’s gift,” Jayce adds, motioning at the flag still sitting in his pencil cup. Viktor hadn’t bothered removing it, more amused by the decoration than anything.
“That it does,” Viktor replies dryly, and leaves the new mug where he found it.
A few days later, Jayce receives a mug with his family crest carefully hand-painted on the side. Viktor watches Jayce discover it on his desk, casually sipping coffee from his own rainbow-striped mug.
Jayce thinks he’s gotten this ally thing down pretty good. He just wants Viktor to know that he’s got his back no matter what, because Viktor’s his partner and that’s what partners do. He says as much to Caitlyn over one of their catch-up brunches, on a day when she doesn’t have school and he can escape the Academy for a bit.
“So go over what you’ve done, again?” Caitlyn asks around a mouthful of pancake, powdered sugar somehow coating the tip of her nose. “Just so I can, you know, make sure you’re doing it right.”
Jayce doesn’t know what kind of expertise Caitlyn thinks she has, but he goes through his list of supportive actions: the mug he gifted, the pin he wears on his lapel while at work sometimes, the books he borrowed from Heimerdinger on the subject—
“Books?” Caitlyn exclaims, coughing as she chokes on the not particularly well-chewed pancakes. That’s what she gets for talking with her mouth full, Jayce thinks. “About what?”
“One was mostly on Zaun history and customs,” Jayce says, wondering what the big deal is. “The other’s a lot more complicated, about stuff like sex and gender and…stuff.”
Caitlyn wipes her mouth with a napkin, completely missing the sugar on her nose. “I see.”
“It’s pretty interesting, but there’s a lot of theory that kind of goes over my head—why are you laughing?”
“Wondering how one of the smartest men in the city could be such an idiot,” she says, shaking her head.
“Says the girl with sugar on her nose,” Jayce retorts, laughing when Caitlyn squeaks and hastily rubs at it with her hand.
Jayce doesn’t see what the big deal is, anyway. Viktor’s his friend, and it should be totally normal to learn how to support your friends.
Jayce’s loath to admit it, but his conversation with Caitlyn has shaken him a bit. Was he really doing something wrong? He needs some way to show Viktor he’s sincere in his support. Something to tell him he’s got his back. Which is how, after some careful consideration, they end up in Zaun, in a place known as a popular gay bar. Which is a real kind of place that Jayce now knows exists.
“You really didn’t have to do this, you know,” Viktor is saying quietly, still nursing his first drink. Jayce is almost finished with his second. He’s starting to worry that maybe Viktor is right, and he shouldn’t have, at least not without consulting Viktor first. He’d just wanted it to be a surprise, a fun night out they could share together.
“We can go if you want,” he says, trying not to sound disappointed. He’d felt so confident when he’d first come up with the idea after flipping through that book on Zaun he borrowed from Heimerdinger.
Viktor must hear it in his voice anyway, because he quickly says, “No, no. I…appreciate the gesture.”
Jayce smiles at him, and Viktor smiles back.
“I should’ve figured this wasn’t your scene,” Jayce sighs. “Picking up strangers at bars…”
Viktor nearly chokes on his drink. “Were you…expecting me to do that here?”
“Hm?”
“‘Pick someone up.’”
Jayce can practically hear the quotation marks around the words as Viktor says it.
“I mean, if it happened, I wouldn’t stop you,” Jayce says as encouragingly as he can muster.
“I see.”
Not quite sure what Viktor sees, Jayce knocks back the rest of his drink. Before he can suggest buying them another round, an unfamiliar man slides up at his other side, pressing closer than Jayce thinks is strictly polite.
“Hey there, handsome,” the man says, eyeing Jayce up and down. His voice is deep, a little rough. He seems like a good-looking guy, if you like men with face tattoos. “Buy you a drink?”
It takes Jayce a moment to realize the man’s talking to him, and he nearly blurts out that people are supposed to be hitting on Viktor, not him.
“Oh! Oh, no, thank you. That’s real nice, but I’m not—interested.”
The man shrugs, clearly not put out, and slides back down toward the other end of the bar, away from Jayce and Viktor. Jayce turns back to Viktor, amused by the interaction.
“Can you believe that guy actually wanted to buy me a drink?” he says, tipsy enough to feel smug about it rather than modest.
Viktor opens his mouth as if to say something, then closes it without saying a word. He studies his nearly empty glass before draining the rest of his drink in one fell swoop a moment later.
So Jayce isn't into men. Viktor pretty much already knew that, but having it confirmed isn’t exactly fun. Sitting there while Jayce talked about basically setting him up with some random guy had been surprisingly unpleasant. And Viktor knows Jayce is just trying to help; he probably does the same kinds of things for his other friends. Totally normal.
Viktor just doubts that his other friends are nursing infatuations with him while it happens.
Try as Viktor might to ignore it, Jayce remains an intolerable distraction. The knowledge that Jayce has no interest in him does nothing to lessen his own interest. And it doesn’t help that Jayce seems oblivious to his own attractiveness.
Vikor has never seen Jayce working in his forge before, and as soon as he does he almost wishes he never had. The image of Jayce, shirtless and sweating and a little grimy, is going to stay etched into Viktor’s brain forever. How is a man supposed to concentrate on anything when he can conjure up a perfect recollection of Jayce Talis’s sweaty chest heaving with exertion?
“Shit, am I late?” Jayce says when he finally spots Viktor loitering nearby, stopping his hammering at once. His hair is a mess and it doesn’t get any better when he rubs his forehead with the back of a gloved hand. “I’m so sorry, Vik, I lost track of time.”
“Missed the meeting entirely, actually,” Viktor says, doing his best to sound normal. “It’s fine, I handled it. Just stopping by to make sure you hadn’t knocked yourself out with your hammer or something.”
Jayce frowns, setting down his hammer and making his way over to Viktor, who nearly takes a step back in alarm. “It’s not fine, I know you hate talking to potential investors.”
Jayce is standing right in front of him now. Viktor’s starting to wonder if he’s hallucinating how Jayce’s chest seems to be glistening. Maybe the fumes from the furnace are getting to him. He wouldn’t have thought a little bad air would affect him so strongly, given where he grew up.
“I’ll be there for the next one,” Jayce is promising, reaching out and grasping Viktor’s forearm. “I promise, I won’t let you down.”
Viktor smiles. It’s fine. He’s fine. Everything’s fine.
“Viktor, lad, just who I was looking for!”
Viktor looks up from the device he’s carefully taking apart, spotting Heimerdinger entering the lab.
“Yes, who would have guessed you’d find me here,” he says wryly, pushing his goggles up over his forehead. “Can I help you, Professor?”
“I’ve a favor to ask—a favor and a proposition,” Heimerdinger announces, climbing onto the spare chair by Viktor’s desk. “A scholar from Ionia is visiting Piltover, and I was hoping you could show him around the Academy.”
Viktor tries not to show his annoyance. “I’m rather busy, Professor. Perhaps someone else would be more suitable…?”
“He’s also currently very single.” Heimerdinger does something here with his eyebrows that Viktor assumes is meant to be suggestive but just makes Viktor feel ill at ease. Then the meaning of Heimerdinger’s words sink in.
“Oh,” he says with a quiet, disbelieving laugh. “Thank you, Professor, but I’m not exactly looking for…an entanglement at the moment. I did mean it when I said I was busy.”
“Nonsense! Everyone needs to take a break now and again,” Heimerdinger says, gesturing to the empty side of the lab. Then he leans in closer and adds in a lower voice, as if conspiratorially, “And I have it on good authority that scholar Relko is quite handsome.”
Viktor’s gaze follows the gesture to where Jayce would be working if he wasn’t out with Councillor Medarda at the moment. Some kind of meeting, he reminds himself. For work.
And yet…
“I suppose one drink wouldn’t hurt,” Viktor says. He could use the distraction, and it’s not like this Relko will be interested in him anyway.
Heimerdinger claps gleefully and promises to set them up at once.
Jayce frowns as he watches the two men across the lab. It’s bad enough that this Relko is taking up Viktor’s time outside of the lab. Now he has to bother him in the lab too? Viktor is clearly too polite to tell him to leave.
Well, Jayce supposes that, if pressed, he can understand why. The man is attractive enough, with clever eyes and a dash of silver in his dark hair and neatly-trimmed beard. It gives him a distinguished silver fox sort of look—quite literally, as the soft-looking ears on the top of his head mark him as some sort of vulpine Vastaya.
Jayce thoughtfully rubs a hand over his chin as he considers whether he should grow out his beard.
Across the room, Relko leans forward to point out something to Viktor in the papers spread over the table, and as Viktor leans forward as well to look closer, Relko’s tail brushes up against the inside of Viktor’s bare forearm.
Jayce stands up so quickly his chair screeches against the tile, and Relko winces at the sharpness of the sound, long ears twitching. Jayce doesn’t even feel bad, then feels bad about not feeling bad a moment later.
“I need to—to go consult with Heimerdinger about something,” he says, and leaves the room without glancing back. He doesn’t know why, he just knows he needs a moment to compose himself.
With nowhere better to go, Jayce heads for Heimerdinger’s office. The professor is thankfully there, and Jayce apologizes for the interruption.
“No apology needed, my boy, come in,” Heimerdinger says brightly, motioning for Jayce to enter and sit down. “What can I do for you?”
There actually are a few work-related items Jayce needs to speak about, and he welcomes the distraction as he relays the issues. Once he finishes, however, his mind immediately drifts back to Viktor and Relko in the lab.
“Relko’s started visiting the lab,” he adds, before he can stop himself. “It’s…distracting.”
“Yes, I heard Viktor had a few ideas he wanted him to take a look at,” Heimerdinger says as if nothing’s wrong with that at all.
“Relko’s not even an engineer,” Jayce says petulantly, and hates himself at once for even using that tone. Just one more thing that’s Relko’s fault. “If Viktor has new ideas, he should run them by me.”
“Perhaps—”
“Relko’s too old for him anyway,” Jayce goes on, gaining steam now that he’s started. “He’s probably what, a couple centuries, at least? You said he’s a scholar but from what Viktor’s said he sounds more like a historian, so I don’t know why you even introduced them. I doubt he can even keep up with what Viktor’s saying. And his beard—”
“Jayce,” Heimerdinger interrupts more forcefully this time, stopping Jayce in his tracks. “This is awfully narrow-minded of you.”
Jayce stares at Heimerdinger in shock. “What?”
“I’m terribly disappointed, Jayce. To think my star pupil would be so prejudiced against the Vastaya.”
“I—what?” Jayce repeats. “No!”
Heimerdinger squints at him. “No? What has set you against him then? His interest in men? This is most unlike you, Mr. Talis.”
Jayce wishes he could sink into the floor and disappear. “It’s not that either, really. I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He scrubs a hand over his face, horribly embarrassed to have gone off in front of Heimerdinger like that. “I’m sorry.”
Heimerdinger’s expression softens and he sighs. “Very well. I hope I don’t hear any more outbursts like this about our guest.”
“Of course,” Jayce replies, face red. “It won’t happen again.”
Caitlyn kicks her feet as she eats her ice cream sundae and listens to Jayce rant about a visiting Ionian scholar, the former a bribe from him for allowing the latter. He really is a huge idiot, she thinks, and debates telling him the true cause of his problems.
Then he starts quizzing her on whether he should grow a beard and whether it’d look good on him, and she decides against it. He can figure it out on his own.
Something is wrong with Jayce. Viktor just can’t put his finger on exactly what. He’s as friendly as ever, still collaborates well with their work, and yet…something is off. Viktor tries not to worry about it, but they spend too much time together for him not to worry.
“Are you feeling alright?” he eventually asks late one night, past the time Jayce normally packs up and heads out. Viktor’s usually the one who stays late in the lab, but lately Jayce has been beating him in that regard.
“Hm? Oh, I’m fine,” Jayce says, but he doesn’t look over at Viktor when he speaks.
Viktor frowns, picks up his cane, and makes his way over to Jayce.
“It’s late. I’m going home.”
That does get Jayce to look up. “So early?”
“We can’t both end up sleeping in the lab,” Viktor jokes. “And Relko leaves tomorrow morning, so I’d like to be up to see him off.”
A confused look crosses Jayce’s face. “He’s leaving?”
Viktor cocks his head. “He was only ever visiting. Had to leave at some point.”
Jayce sets down his screwdriver, finally giving Viktor his full attention. “Still, that must be rough for you.”
Now Viktor is the one looking confused. “No more than anyone else.”
Viktor would swear that the look on Jayce’s face could be classified as a pout. “Come on, you don’t have to play it cool. I know you two were…”
He trails off. Viktor stares back at him.
“You know.” Jayce gestures vaguely. “Together.”
Vitkor feels a number of mental puzzle pieces falling into place, and yet the image that starts to form only produces more questions. “Together as in…”
Jayce shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Dating? But I guess it must’ve been pretty casual, if he was only going to be here a month.”
Viktor laughs. He can’t help it. Never in a million years would he have guessed Jayce’s weirdness was over him thinking Viktor and Relko were dating. He quickly holds up a hand, stemming any protests from Jayce about his laughter.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. I did go out with him once, at Heimerdinger’s insistence. But just the once. He’s a perfectly pleasant man, but I… We decided to focus on how we could work together.”
“Oh.” Jayce is silent after that. Staring at nothing off to Viktor’s side.
Viktor swallows and says, “Is that why you’ve been acting strange?”
“Of course not,” Jayce says a little too quick. “I mean, I haven’t been acting strange at all.”
Viktor shoots him a pointed look, shifting his grip on his cane and more of his weight to his good leg. Jayce notices immediately and stands up.
Viktor shakes his head. “I’m fine.”
Jayce sits at the edge of his desk anyway, leaving the chair open. “Sit and I’ll tell you the truth.”
Viktor sits down slowly, with clear protest, but he’s sure his curiosity is obvious. Jayce starts playing with the screwdriver on his desk.
“I’m sorry if I came across as acting weird,” he says after taking a breath. “I didn’t like how much time you were spending with Relko. You’re supposed to be my partner.”
“He is very knowledgeable about ancient magics. I was hoping he’d have some insight that could help.”
“Right, I know. It was dumb.” Jayce exhales slowly, running a hand back through his hair. “I don’t know why I did that.”
Viktor, however, is beginning to feel a faint trickle of hope flow back into him. The idea that’s forming is almost too ridiculous to contemplate. Viktor wants to cling to it with both hands.
He sets aside his cane, resting it against the desk. Then he puts a hand on Jayce’s knee. “Can I put forward a hypothesis?”
Jayce has frozen, staring down at Viktor’s hand, but he manages a nod.
“It may have been jealousy.”
“Right, I—”
“Not over a stolen lab partner.”
“What else could it be?”
Viktor stays silent. He’s used to taking what he wants. Getting into the Academy. Saving Jayce’s hextech research. Finding a cure to his sickness. He knows nobody will just hand him things, and he’s used to fighting tooth and nail for what he knows he deserves. But Jayce has to figure this part out himself. He can practically see the gears turning in Jayce’s mind as he stares at Viktor.
“I…Oh.” A flush comes to Jayce’s face. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”
“I would not be so harsh,” Viktor says kindly, a hint of a smile on his lips.
“Still, I’m sorry for being an ass,” Jayce sighs, shoulders slumping. “You don’t deserve to have my problems dumped on you.”
“It’s quite alright. We’re friends, are we not?”
Jayce nods. “Of course, yeah. Friends.”
Viktor waits a moment, hoping for something more, some small inkling that his suspicions are correct and that Jayce will say something. When nothing seems forthcoming, Viktor awkwardly withdraws his hand from Jayce’s knee. Maybe Jayce isn’t ready to say anything yet. Maybe it was nothing serious to begin with.
“Good. That’s good.” Viktor goes to stand and is nearly thrown off balance by Jayce grabbing his arm.
“Shit, wait,” Jayce says. “I’m doing this all wrong.”
Viktor waits, gives Jayce the time he needs to gather himself. Rather than say anything, however, Jayce leans in and kisses him.
It’s unexpected but entirely welcome. Viktor brings both hands up to grip Jayce’s shoulders, kissing him back without hesitation. Jayce doesn’t seem to know what to do with his other hand for a moment, but eventually brings it up to curl lightly around the back of Viktor’s neck. The kiss is gentle, sweet, and as much as Viktor has imagined something like this happening, it doesn’t prepare him for how utterly Jayce’s kiss has disarmed him.
Jayce is the first to pull away, watching Viktor cautiously. “Was that okay?”
“Better than okay,” Viktor manages, dazed. He can’t believe such a chaste kiss could throw him off this much. There was barely even any tongue.
“Would you go out with me?” Jayce blurts out. He’s still cradling the nape of Viktor’s neck. “On a real date.”
Amusement once again tugs at the corners of Viktor’s mouth. “A real date would be preferable to a fake date.”
Jayce laughs, and the relaxed, honest sound of it is a relief to hear.
“On one condition,” Viktor adds, unable to resist.
“Anything,” Jayce says with such earnestness it makes Viktor’s heart ache.
“Kiss me again?”
Jayce doesn’t need asking twice.
When Jayce comes into the lab late the next morning, he’s disappointed to see Viktor isn’t there. His bag is hanging off the corner of his desk, however, so he must be around somewhere. Smiling to himself, Jayce heads to his own desk to unpack his things.
Sitting there in the middle of his workspace is the mug Viktor gave him all those months ago, with the Talis house crest on one side. Rainbow stripes have been painted on, circling the mug from one side of the crest to the other.
Jayce stops when he sees it, picking it up with a laugh. There’s a note on the desk beneath it that reads:
Now we match. -V
Caitlyn makes a face at Jayce. “I can’t believe it took Viktor for you to finally realize. The man looks like an anemic scarecrow.”
“Hey, this stuff is hard, okay! And don’t call him that. I think he actually is anemic.”
“It’s not hard,” Caitlyn scoffs. “I figured out I like girls like, two years ago.”
“Wait, what?”
Caitlyn stirs her spoon through today’s hangout bribe—a strawberry parfait—and sighs. No wonder it took Jayce this long to figure himself out.
Fandom: Arcane: League of Legends
Characters: Jayce/Viktor
Rating: General Audiences
Word Count: 4,543
Additional Tags: Humor, Pining, Misunderstandings
Summary: When Jayce discovers that Viktor likes men, he wants Viktor to know he has his full support. Viktor wants more than that from Jayce, but he knows he'll never get it when Jayce is so clearly straight.
Notes: This started as a series of jokes between me and a friend about obnoxiously supportive PFLAG ally Heimerdinger and sort of spiraled from there, so I decided to write her a really stupid fic about it for Christmas. I also got another friend to draw Heimerdinger in an 'I ♥ my gay son' t-shirt, so there's that.
Read on AO3.
Viktor can’t help the swell of triumph that washes over him as he supervises the setup of his new lab—the lab he’ll be sharing with his new partner, Jayce Talis. Newly reinstated after his trouble with the Council, Jayce can’t seem to believe his luck. He’s absently wandering around the room, commenting on the placement of things or pointing out new equipment they might need. Viktor doesn’t mind the chatter. After so long looking for a breakthrough like this, he understands the enthusiasm. Jayce’s open excitement is a far better look on him than the state Viktor found him in only a few days ago.
Once the last of the equipment has been brought in—an extra blackboard, at Viktor’s insistence—and the remainder of Jayce’s research—the parts still intact—have been transferred, Viktor sits back against the edge of his desk and surveys the space. This is where they’ll make miracles happen. Miracles like the one they achieved in Heimerdinger’s lab. The memory of floating, weightless, buoyant with the joy of success, surrounded by the magical blue glow of Jayce’s invention, is enough to make Viktor smile even now.
“What’re you thinking about?” Jayce teases, catching the look on Viktor’s face.
Viktor turns his smile toward Jayce, unembarrassed as he answers, “The future.”
Jayce grins back at him, but whatever response he has to that is forestalled by Professor Heimerdinger shuffling through the door.
“Things coming along smoothly in here, boys?” he asks, peering around the lab. He’d done his best, in the past few days, to try and impart his warnings about magic to them again, but Viktor thinks even he knows what they’ve started here won’t be so easily stopped now that hextech has been proven possible.
“There’s a few things we’d like to get,” Viktor says, going through his mental tally of Jayce’s requests, “but nothing that we can’t live without for a few days.”
“Thank you again for this opportunity, Professor,” Jayce says, eager as ever. Viktor assumes he’s still on edge after his close call with the Council. Or maybe Jayce just genuinely is that forgiving.
“It’s Councillor Medarda you should be thanking,” Heimerdinger says, taking an inquisitive stroll around the room. He comes to a stop in front of Viktor’s desk, peering up at him. “And Viktor here, of course.”
“Of course,” Jayce echoes, turning that earnest look on Viktor. Viktor finds it easier to look away—having such a look directed at him feels akin to looking straight at the sun. Even with the years spent at the Academy, he’s still not used to such direct…sunlight.
“I could hardly have let such an opportunity pass me by,” Viktor says, but it hardly feels like the words encompass everything that happened that night. Meeting Jayce was more than just a simple scientific opportunity.
He watches, amused, as Heimerdinger hops up onto his empty chair and drops something into the mug on his desk that houses his plethora of pens and pencils. Upon seeing what it is, Viktor snorts.
“Can’t have you working in a new lab without one,” Heimerdinger says proudly, and it’s all Viktor can do to keep a straight face.
A small, striped rainbow flag on a wooden stick sits in his pen mug, hanging cheerfully over the edge. Jayce looks at it quizzically, but he’s either polite enough or cautious enough not to ask about it outright.
“Thank you, Professor,” Viktor says with some amusement in his tone, unable to hide it completely. He can’t fault the man for his efforts to make Viktor feel included. Ever since his early days at the Academy, Heimerdinger had gone out of his way to make sure he wasn’t treated any differently for being from Zaun. This was no different than that.
“Well, I’m sure you lads would like the chance to settle in,” Heimerdinger says, hopping down from the chair. “I’ll leave you to it.”
They say their goodbyes, and once Heimerdinger is back out the door, Jayce turns his attention back toward the flag.
“What was all that about?” he asks, bemused, but he’s still smiling, if somewhat inquisitively.
“Heimerdinger…means well,” Viktor says, shaking his head. He plucks the flag from the mug, twirling it between his fingers. “He’s been doing this ever since he found out.”
“Found out what?”
Viktor glances up to see Jayce watching him, still completely earnest. Ah, well. Better that Jayce found out now, from him, than from any of the more salacious rumors about him floating around the school.
“That I prefer men.” He says it casually, unconcerned, but he watches Jayce’s reaction. “This is a Zaunite symbol, of sorts.” A slight wave of the flag between his fingers. “Indicating such things.”
Jayce, for his part, seems to catch on fast, understanding dawning on his face. Then he blushes.
“Oh, I see,” he says, in a way that indicates he does not quite see.
“Is that going to be a problem?” Viktor asks, cool tone hiding his disappointment.
“What? No!” Jayce says quickly. “No, I just— I’m surprised Heimerdinger— I mean, it’s a little—”
“He likes to show his support,” Viktor says, putting Jayce out of his misery before he can keep failing to form a full sentence.
“That’s really swell of him,” Jayce says, and that earnestness is back in full force.
Viktor blinks, turning the flag over in his fingers once more, then puts it back in his pencil cup. “Yes, I suppose it is.”
Working with Jayce is one of the easiest things Viktor’s ever done. He’s smart, he thinks on his feet, he takes all of Viktor’s ideas seriously no matter how crazy they are. Viktor’s never had a better partner. But Jayce has also decided to take after Heimerdinger a little bit.
“What’s this?” Viktor inquires, spotting the new addition to his desk. His plain white mug, the one he actually uses for drinking, has been replaced with a new one painted with rainbow stripes.
Jayce beams at him. “A gift—I hope that’s okay? I found that when I was out shopping the other day, and it made me think of you.”
From anyone else at the Academy, in a best case scenario, Viktor would assume some kind of teasing. But Jayce looks utterly sincere, as he always does, and Viktor’s initial prickle of ire quickly abates.
“It matches Heimerdinger’s gift,” Jayce adds, motioning at the flag still sitting in his pencil cup. Viktor hadn’t bothered removing it, more amused by the decoration than anything.
“That it does,” Viktor replies dryly, and leaves the new mug where he found it.
A few days later, Jayce receives a mug with his family crest carefully hand-painted on the side. Viktor watches Jayce discover it on his desk, casually sipping coffee from his own rainbow-striped mug.
Jayce thinks he’s gotten this ally thing down pretty good. He just wants Viktor to know that he’s got his back no matter what, because Viktor’s his partner and that’s what partners do. He says as much to Caitlyn over one of their catch-up brunches, on a day when she doesn’t have school and he can escape the Academy for a bit.
“So go over what you’ve done, again?” Caitlyn asks around a mouthful of pancake, powdered sugar somehow coating the tip of her nose. “Just so I can, you know, make sure you’re doing it right.”
Jayce doesn’t know what kind of expertise Caitlyn thinks she has, but he goes through his list of supportive actions: the mug he gifted, the pin he wears on his lapel while at work sometimes, the books he borrowed from Heimerdinger on the subject—
“Books?” Caitlyn exclaims, coughing as she chokes on the not particularly well-chewed pancakes. That’s what she gets for talking with her mouth full, Jayce thinks. “About what?”
“One was mostly on Zaun history and customs,” Jayce says, wondering what the big deal is. “The other’s a lot more complicated, about stuff like sex and gender and…stuff.”
Caitlyn wipes her mouth with a napkin, completely missing the sugar on her nose. “I see.”
“It’s pretty interesting, but there’s a lot of theory that kind of goes over my head—why are you laughing?”
“Wondering how one of the smartest men in the city could be such an idiot,” she says, shaking her head.
“Says the girl with sugar on her nose,” Jayce retorts, laughing when Caitlyn squeaks and hastily rubs at it with her hand.
Jayce doesn’t see what the big deal is, anyway. Viktor’s his friend, and it should be totally normal to learn how to support your friends.
Jayce’s loath to admit it, but his conversation with Caitlyn has shaken him a bit. Was he really doing something wrong? He needs some way to show Viktor he’s sincere in his support. Something to tell him he’s got his back. Which is how, after some careful consideration, they end up in Zaun, in a place known as a popular gay bar. Which is a real kind of place that Jayce now knows exists.
“You really didn’t have to do this, you know,” Viktor is saying quietly, still nursing his first drink. Jayce is almost finished with his second. He’s starting to worry that maybe Viktor is right, and he shouldn’t have, at least not without consulting Viktor first. He’d just wanted it to be a surprise, a fun night out they could share together.
“We can go if you want,” he says, trying not to sound disappointed. He’d felt so confident when he’d first come up with the idea after flipping through that book on Zaun he borrowed from Heimerdinger.
Viktor must hear it in his voice anyway, because he quickly says, “No, no. I…appreciate the gesture.”
Jayce smiles at him, and Viktor smiles back.
“I should’ve figured this wasn’t your scene,” Jayce sighs. “Picking up strangers at bars…”
Viktor nearly chokes on his drink. “Were you…expecting me to do that here?”
“Hm?”
“‘Pick someone up.’”
Jayce can practically hear the quotation marks around the words as Viktor says it.
“I mean, if it happened, I wouldn’t stop you,” Jayce says as encouragingly as he can muster.
“I see.”
Not quite sure what Viktor sees, Jayce knocks back the rest of his drink. Before he can suggest buying them another round, an unfamiliar man slides up at his other side, pressing closer than Jayce thinks is strictly polite.
“Hey there, handsome,” the man says, eyeing Jayce up and down. His voice is deep, a little rough. He seems like a good-looking guy, if you like men with face tattoos. “Buy you a drink?”
It takes Jayce a moment to realize the man’s talking to him, and he nearly blurts out that people are supposed to be hitting on Viktor, not him.
“Oh! Oh, no, thank you. That’s real nice, but I’m not—interested.”
The man shrugs, clearly not put out, and slides back down toward the other end of the bar, away from Jayce and Viktor. Jayce turns back to Viktor, amused by the interaction.
“Can you believe that guy actually wanted to buy me a drink?” he says, tipsy enough to feel smug about it rather than modest.
Viktor opens his mouth as if to say something, then closes it without saying a word. He studies his nearly empty glass before draining the rest of his drink in one fell swoop a moment later.
So Jayce isn't into men. Viktor pretty much already knew that, but having it confirmed isn’t exactly fun. Sitting there while Jayce talked about basically setting him up with some random guy had been surprisingly unpleasant. And Viktor knows Jayce is just trying to help; he probably does the same kinds of things for his other friends. Totally normal.
Viktor just doubts that his other friends are nursing infatuations with him while it happens.
Try as Viktor might to ignore it, Jayce remains an intolerable distraction. The knowledge that Jayce has no interest in him does nothing to lessen his own interest. And it doesn’t help that Jayce seems oblivious to his own attractiveness.
Vikor has never seen Jayce working in his forge before, and as soon as he does he almost wishes he never had. The image of Jayce, shirtless and sweating and a little grimy, is going to stay etched into Viktor’s brain forever. How is a man supposed to concentrate on anything when he can conjure up a perfect recollection of Jayce Talis’s sweaty chest heaving with exertion?
“Shit, am I late?” Jayce says when he finally spots Viktor loitering nearby, stopping his hammering at once. His hair is a mess and it doesn’t get any better when he rubs his forehead with the back of a gloved hand. “I’m so sorry, Vik, I lost track of time.”
“Missed the meeting entirely, actually,” Viktor says, doing his best to sound normal. “It’s fine, I handled it. Just stopping by to make sure you hadn’t knocked yourself out with your hammer or something.”
Jayce frowns, setting down his hammer and making his way over to Viktor, who nearly takes a step back in alarm. “It’s not fine, I know you hate talking to potential investors.”
Jayce is standing right in front of him now. Viktor’s starting to wonder if he’s hallucinating how Jayce’s chest seems to be glistening. Maybe the fumes from the furnace are getting to him. He wouldn’t have thought a little bad air would affect him so strongly, given where he grew up.
“I’ll be there for the next one,” Jayce is promising, reaching out and grasping Viktor’s forearm. “I promise, I won’t let you down.”
Viktor smiles. It’s fine. He’s fine. Everything’s fine.
“Viktor, lad, just who I was looking for!”
Viktor looks up from the device he’s carefully taking apart, spotting Heimerdinger entering the lab.
“Yes, who would have guessed you’d find me here,” he says wryly, pushing his goggles up over his forehead. “Can I help you, Professor?”
“I’ve a favor to ask—a favor and a proposition,” Heimerdinger announces, climbing onto the spare chair by Viktor’s desk. “A scholar from Ionia is visiting Piltover, and I was hoping you could show him around the Academy.”
Viktor tries not to show his annoyance. “I’m rather busy, Professor. Perhaps someone else would be more suitable…?”
“He’s also currently very single.” Heimerdinger does something here with his eyebrows that Viktor assumes is meant to be suggestive but just makes Viktor feel ill at ease. Then the meaning of Heimerdinger’s words sink in.
“Oh,” he says with a quiet, disbelieving laugh. “Thank you, Professor, but I’m not exactly looking for…an entanglement at the moment. I did mean it when I said I was busy.”
“Nonsense! Everyone needs to take a break now and again,” Heimerdinger says, gesturing to the empty side of the lab. Then he leans in closer and adds in a lower voice, as if conspiratorially, “And I have it on good authority that scholar Relko is quite handsome.”
Viktor’s gaze follows the gesture to where Jayce would be working if he wasn’t out with Councillor Medarda at the moment. Some kind of meeting, he reminds himself. For work.
And yet…
“I suppose one drink wouldn’t hurt,” Viktor says. He could use the distraction, and it’s not like this Relko will be interested in him anyway.
Heimerdinger claps gleefully and promises to set them up at once.
Jayce frowns as he watches the two men across the lab. It’s bad enough that this Relko is taking up Viktor’s time outside of the lab. Now he has to bother him in the lab too? Viktor is clearly too polite to tell him to leave.
Well, Jayce supposes that, if pressed, he can understand why. The man is attractive enough, with clever eyes and a dash of silver in his dark hair and neatly-trimmed beard. It gives him a distinguished silver fox sort of look—quite literally, as the soft-looking ears on the top of his head mark him as some sort of vulpine Vastaya.
Jayce thoughtfully rubs a hand over his chin as he considers whether he should grow out his beard.
Across the room, Relko leans forward to point out something to Viktor in the papers spread over the table, and as Viktor leans forward as well to look closer, Relko’s tail brushes up against the inside of Viktor’s bare forearm.
Jayce stands up so quickly his chair screeches against the tile, and Relko winces at the sharpness of the sound, long ears twitching. Jayce doesn’t even feel bad, then feels bad about not feeling bad a moment later.
“I need to—to go consult with Heimerdinger about something,” he says, and leaves the room without glancing back. He doesn’t know why, he just knows he needs a moment to compose himself.
With nowhere better to go, Jayce heads for Heimerdinger’s office. The professor is thankfully there, and Jayce apologizes for the interruption.
“No apology needed, my boy, come in,” Heimerdinger says brightly, motioning for Jayce to enter and sit down. “What can I do for you?”
There actually are a few work-related items Jayce needs to speak about, and he welcomes the distraction as he relays the issues. Once he finishes, however, his mind immediately drifts back to Viktor and Relko in the lab.
“Relko’s started visiting the lab,” he adds, before he can stop himself. “It’s…distracting.”
“Yes, I heard Viktor had a few ideas he wanted him to take a look at,” Heimerdinger says as if nothing’s wrong with that at all.
“Relko’s not even an engineer,” Jayce says petulantly, and hates himself at once for even using that tone. Just one more thing that’s Relko’s fault. “If Viktor has new ideas, he should run them by me.”
“Perhaps—”
“Relko’s too old for him anyway,” Jayce goes on, gaining steam now that he’s started. “He’s probably what, a couple centuries, at least? You said he’s a scholar but from what Viktor’s said he sounds more like a historian, so I don’t know why you even introduced them. I doubt he can even keep up with what Viktor’s saying. And his beard—”
“Jayce,” Heimerdinger interrupts more forcefully this time, stopping Jayce in his tracks. “This is awfully narrow-minded of you.”
Jayce stares at Heimerdinger in shock. “What?”
“I’m terribly disappointed, Jayce. To think my star pupil would be so prejudiced against the Vastaya.”
“I—what?” Jayce repeats. “No!”
Heimerdinger squints at him. “No? What has set you against him then? His interest in men? This is most unlike you, Mr. Talis.”
Jayce wishes he could sink into the floor and disappear. “It’s not that either, really. I… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He scrubs a hand over his face, horribly embarrassed to have gone off in front of Heimerdinger like that. “I’m sorry.”
Heimerdinger’s expression softens and he sighs. “Very well. I hope I don’t hear any more outbursts like this about our guest.”
“Of course,” Jayce replies, face red. “It won’t happen again.”
Caitlyn kicks her feet as she eats her ice cream sundae and listens to Jayce rant about a visiting Ionian scholar, the former a bribe from him for allowing the latter. He really is a huge idiot, she thinks, and debates telling him the true cause of his problems.
Then he starts quizzing her on whether he should grow a beard and whether it’d look good on him, and she decides against it. He can figure it out on his own.
Something is wrong with Jayce. Viktor just can’t put his finger on exactly what. He’s as friendly as ever, still collaborates well with their work, and yet…something is off. Viktor tries not to worry about it, but they spend too much time together for him not to worry.
“Are you feeling alright?” he eventually asks late one night, past the time Jayce normally packs up and heads out. Viktor’s usually the one who stays late in the lab, but lately Jayce has been beating him in that regard.
“Hm? Oh, I’m fine,” Jayce says, but he doesn’t look over at Viktor when he speaks.
Viktor frowns, picks up his cane, and makes his way over to Jayce.
“It’s late. I’m going home.”
That does get Jayce to look up. “So early?”
“We can’t both end up sleeping in the lab,” Viktor jokes. “And Relko leaves tomorrow morning, so I’d like to be up to see him off.”
A confused look crosses Jayce’s face. “He’s leaving?”
Viktor cocks his head. “He was only ever visiting. Had to leave at some point.”
Jayce sets down his screwdriver, finally giving Viktor his full attention. “Still, that must be rough for you.”
Now Viktor is the one looking confused. “No more than anyone else.”
Viktor would swear that the look on Jayce’s face could be classified as a pout. “Come on, you don’t have to play it cool. I know you two were…”
He trails off. Viktor stares back at him.
“You know.” Jayce gestures vaguely. “Together.”
Vitkor feels a number of mental puzzle pieces falling into place, and yet the image that starts to form only produces more questions. “Together as in…”
Jayce shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Dating? But I guess it must’ve been pretty casual, if he was only going to be here a month.”
Viktor laughs. He can’t help it. Never in a million years would he have guessed Jayce’s weirdness was over him thinking Viktor and Relko were dating. He quickly holds up a hand, stemming any protests from Jayce about his laughter.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. I did go out with him once, at Heimerdinger’s insistence. But just the once. He’s a perfectly pleasant man, but I… We decided to focus on how we could work together.”
“Oh.” Jayce is silent after that. Staring at nothing off to Viktor’s side.
Viktor swallows and says, “Is that why you’ve been acting strange?”
“Of course not,” Jayce says a little too quick. “I mean, I haven’t been acting strange at all.”
Viktor shoots him a pointed look, shifting his grip on his cane and more of his weight to his good leg. Jayce notices immediately and stands up.
Viktor shakes his head. “I’m fine.”
Jayce sits at the edge of his desk anyway, leaving the chair open. “Sit and I’ll tell you the truth.”
Viktor sits down slowly, with clear protest, but he’s sure his curiosity is obvious. Jayce starts playing with the screwdriver on his desk.
“I’m sorry if I came across as acting weird,” he says after taking a breath. “I didn’t like how much time you were spending with Relko. You’re supposed to be my partner.”
“He is very knowledgeable about ancient magics. I was hoping he’d have some insight that could help.”
“Right, I know. It was dumb.” Jayce exhales slowly, running a hand back through his hair. “I don’t know why I did that.”
Viktor, however, is beginning to feel a faint trickle of hope flow back into him. The idea that’s forming is almost too ridiculous to contemplate. Viktor wants to cling to it with both hands.
He sets aside his cane, resting it against the desk. Then he puts a hand on Jayce’s knee. “Can I put forward a hypothesis?”
Jayce has frozen, staring down at Viktor’s hand, but he manages a nod.
“It may have been jealousy.”
“Right, I—”
“Not over a stolen lab partner.”
“What else could it be?”
Viktor stays silent. He’s used to taking what he wants. Getting into the Academy. Saving Jayce’s hextech research. Finding a cure to his sickness. He knows nobody will just hand him things, and he’s used to fighting tooth and nail for what he knows he deserves. But Jayce has to figure this part out himself. He can practically see the gears turning in Jayce’s mind as he stares at Viktor.
“I…Oh.” A flush comes to Jayce’s face. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I?”
“I would not be so harsh,” Viktor says kindly, a hint of a smile on his lips.
“Still, I’m sorry for being an ass,” Jayce sighs, shoulders slumping. “You don’t deserve to have my problems dumped on you.”
“It’s quite alright. We’re friends, are we not?”
Jayce nods. “Of course, yeah. Friends.”
Viktor waits a moment, hoping for something more, some small inkling that his suspicions are correct and that Jayce will say something. When nothing seems forthcoming, Viktor awkwardly withdraws his hand from Jayce’s knee. Maybe Jayce isn’t ready to say anything yet. Maybe it was nothing serious to begin with.
“Good. That’s good.” Viktor goes to stand and is nearly thrown off balance by Jayce grabbing his arm.
“Shit, wait,” Jayce says. “I’m doing this all wrong.”
Viktor waits, gives Jayce the time he needs to gather himself. Rather than say anything, however, Jayce leans in and kisses him.
It’s unexpected but entirely welcome. Viktor brings both hands up to grip Jayce’s shoulders, kissing him back without hesitation. Jayce doesn’t seem to know what to do with his other hand for a moment, but eventually brings it up to curl lightly around the back of Viktor’s neck. The kiss is gentle, sweet, and as much as Viktor has imagined something like this happening, it doesn’t prepare him for how utterly Jayce’s kiss has disarmed him.
Jayce is the first to pull away, watching Viktor cautiously. “Was that okay?”
“Better than okay,” Viktor manages, dazed. He can’t believe such a chaste kiss could throw him off this much. There was barely even any tongue.
“Would you go out with me?” Jayce blurts out. He’s still cradling the nape of Viktor’s neck. “On a real date.”
Amusement once again tugs at the corners of Viktor’s mouth. “A real date would be preferable to a fake date.”
Jayce laughs, and the relaxed, honest sound of it is a relief to hear.
“On one condition,” Viktor adds, unable to resist.
“Anything,” Jayce says with such earnestness it makes Viktor’s heart ache.
“Kiss me again?”
Jayce doesn’t need asking twice.
When Jayce comes into the lab late the next morning, he’s disappointed to see Viktor isn’t there. His bag is hanging off the corner of his desk, however, so he must be around somewhere. Smiling to himself, Jayce heads to his own desk to unpack his things.
Sitting there in the middle of his workspace is the mug Viktor gave him all those months ago, with the Talis house crest on one side. Rainbow stripes have been painted on, circling the mug from one side of the crest to the other.
Jayce stops when he sees it, picking it up with a laugh. There’s a note on the desk beneath it that reads:
Now we match. -V
Caitlyn makes a face at Jayce. “I can’t believe it took Viktor for you to finally realize. The man looks like an anemic scarecrow.”
“Hey, this stuff is hard, okay! And don’t call him that. I think he actually is anemic.”
“It’s not hard,” Caitlyn scoffs. “I figured out I like girls like, two years ago.”
“Wait, what?”
Caitlyn stirs her spoon through today’s hangout bribe—a strawberry parfait—and sighs. No wonder it took Jayce this long to figure himself out.