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“Come with me tonight.”
Jayce snorted, not looking up from the rune he was carving. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious.”
Jayce gave a dismissive chuckle. In his peripheral vision, he saw Viktor perch on the work table, taking his weight off his right leg.
“Jayce.”
Something hard hooked under his chin and forced his head up and to the side.
Viktor was holding Jayce’s face still with the handle of his cane and wearing the adorable little smirk that turned Jayce’s insides to jelly.
“Please come with me,” Viktor said, lowering the cane.
The event in question was the latest in the seemingly endless string of galas, dinners, and meetings that Viktor was invited to. Technically Jayce was frequently invited as well, either by name or implication, but he was more than happy to have Viktor handle that side of the Hextech operation. Jayce had spent many years being mistaken for Professor Heimerdinger’s bodyguard or valet, the possibility of him being an academic completely discounted the second people heard his undercity accent and saw his tattoos poking out from the cuff of his sleeve or the collar of his shirt. He had no desire to repeat the experience with Viktor. At least when he was working for Heimerdinger he was an assistant, but now he was ostensibly Viktor’s partner and he would much rather be in the lab advancing their discoveries and fine-tuning their inventions than justifying his existence to a room of sneering Pilties.
Jayce sighed and shook his head. “They don’t want me, Viktor. They want their Man of Progress. Not the hulking undercity lunk.”
“You’re not a lunk.” Viktor rolled his eyes. “And I don’t care what they want.”
“You should!” Jayce said, getting exasperated. “I thought you were going tonight to shore up support for funding the next phase of Hextech. If it’s just a social engagement then I could use your help with getting this prototype ready to test.”
“Jayce, you’re smarter than all of them combined,” Viktor pressed. “If these people start seeing my partner for the genius that he is, that only makes Hextech look like a more solid investment.”
“But they don’t see me, ” Jayce insisted. “They all just want to talk to you and,” he grimaced, “touch my arms.” Jayce gave an involuntary shudder.
He knew he was a tactile person. He was always touching his friends and family. It seemed like he had a hand on Viktor’s shoulder or back more often than not in the lab. But strangers - especially strangers who were looking at him like the Pilties at those galas and dinners did - gave him the creeps.
“You know those people are flirting with you, right?” Viktor asked. “Some of them are very attractive. You could be having quite a lot of sex.”
Jayce shuddered again and felt himself blush. “I don’t want that,” he muttered.
Jayce was no stranger to sex. Growing up surrounded by brothels, it was impossible to be. And he knew that other people generally found him attractive. When Professor Heimerdinger had first discovered him working at the water filtration plant and brought him to the Academy, Jayce had mistaken some of the interest he received as genuine interest in him as a person and a scientist. Though the resulting nights were physically enjoyable, he had been hurt when it turned out that his sexual partners had just wanted to know what a sump rat was like in bed. He hadn’t sought intimacy in Piltover since.
Well, not physical intimacy at least. He glanced at Viktor’s slender fingers spread on the work table. Their relationship was unlike anything Jayce had experienced before. For the first time in his life, Jayce was in constant dialogue with someone who was his intellectual equal. Someone who thought outside of the box like he did, but in a different direction from the box, which allowed them to iterate off of each other’s ideas. Viktor and Jayce shared a passion and a drive. It was what Jayce had heard at Viktor’s trial before the Council when he had defended his pursuit of magic. It was what Jayce had seen in Viktor’s notes and what had driven him to the blown out shell of Viktor’s lab that fateful night. Jayce had a strong suspicion what direction that passion would go in when Viktor was deprived of his life’s work. Fortunately Jayce had arrived in time.
Over the six years that followed, through the low of every failed experiment to the high of finishing the Hexgates, Jayce and Viktor had only gotten closer and closer. There was the casual intimacy of working side by side, day in and day out, but there were also deep personal conversations that they fell into while waiting on the results of an experiment or sharing a drink or a meal after a long day in the lab. Jayce was comfortable with Viktor in a way he had never been with anyone else from Piltover, and with precious few people from Zaun. If he thought about their relationship beyond that, he froze up. What they had, their friendship, their work, it was perfect. Looking for anything beyond that was just asking for trouble. And Jayce reminded himself of that again and again. Often at night when Viktor’s cheekbones and fingers and laugh filled his thoughts. Or in the lab when he felt the warmth of Viktor’s shoulder against his own or when he put his hand on Viktor’s arm and could watch a frown of concentration turn into a smile.
Viktor rested the bottom of the cane back on the floor and used it to shift more of his weight onto the work table. “Do you mind me touching you?” he asked.
Jayce looked up at him quickly, needing to understand the intent behind the question, even though it wouldn’t change his answer. “You know I don’t.”
Viktor’s expression was gentle. Caring perhaps?
“Then I can make sure that no one else touches you at this evening’s gala,” he said.
Viktor sounded certain. Jayce was treated to the mental image of Viktor rapping some unsuspecting dignitary on the knuckles with his cane, and had to quickly school his expression.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” he said, grateful to have come up with the objection.
“You have a perfectly serviceable tuxedo from when the Hexgates opened,” Viktor reminded him.
“I look ridiculous in that penguin suit.”
Viktor muttered something under his breath that could have been “ridiculously attractive,” but quickly cleared his throat and said, “All those assholes aren’t feeling your biceps because you look ridiculous, Jayce.”
Jayce sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He leaned back in his seat and looked up at Viktor. “You really think it will help get us funding if I go?”
“I do,” Viktor said, all confidence.
“Fine,” Jayce said, blowing out a deep breath. “But you have to help me with the bowtie.”
The woman was standing too close to him.
“And I understand that you used to be Councilor Heimerdinger’s assistant. Working with Viktor must be quite the step up.” She gave a throaty chuckle.
Jayce glanced over his shoulder. Viktor was only a few steps away, but had his back to Jayce while he spoke with a few merchants.
“Um yeah,” Jayce managed, turning back to the woman. “The work is very important to me.”
She was going to touch him, he could tell. She looked like she wanted to eat him with a spoon. Jayce swallowed as she shifted closer.
“I hope Viktor gives you some time off from all the work,” she purred.
And then Jayce felt an arm thread through the crook of his elbow. He looked down to see Viktor at his side.
“Actually,” Viktor said, eyes blazing, “It’s not my place to give my partner anything. It was due to Jayce’s groundbreaking work in crystallography that he was able to see the flaw in my assumptions about the hex crystals and show me where I had gone wrong. Without him there would be no Hexgates, no Hextech. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to work with and learn from him.”
Viktor looked up at him and Jayce’s heart stopped. The smile on Viktor’s face was beyond fond. It was … admiring? Something … something else?
Jayce thought the woman might be saying something but he couldn’t look away from Viktor and that smile.
“Viktor,” he murmured.
Viktor squeezed his arm and looked like he was about to say something, but then seemed to stop himself with a small shake of his head. Viktor glanced to the side and released Jayce’s arm.
“I suppose that was enough for Lady Philandra,” he said.
Jayce blinked, deeply wishing that Viktor would take his arm again.
“Careful though,” Viktor continued with a wry grin, “next time I might have to kiss you.”
Jayce was certain his eyes bulged out of his head and the rest of the ballroom fell away.
“Um I - uh, I mean -”
“Come on,” Viktor patted his arm then turned towards another part of the room. “It looks like Councilor Shoola is free. We should speak with her.”
Jayce trailed after him, trying to keep from tripping over his own feet.
Viktor carried the entire conversation with Shoola while Jayce insisted to himself that Viktor had just been joking. There was nothing to think about. There was nothing to obsess over. Viktor was kidding around about keeping people from coming on to Jayce. That was all.
He managed to get a hold of himself by the time they were approached by the head of the printing guild and actually contributed to the conversation, earning him a pleased smile from Viktor.
He had been joking. It was a joke. Let it go.
“The process of stabilizing the crystals was really Jayce’s idea,” Viktor said to a pair of skeptical-looking physics professors, “and he’s much better at explaining it than I am.” Viktor gave Jayce an encouraging smile and squeezed his arm. “Go ahead, Jayce. I’m going to get a drink.”
Jayce couldn’t help but notice that Viktor was leaning heavily on his cane and moving slowly. It was hardly surprising: they had been on their feet all night. Viktor’s leg was probably hurting badly. Jayce watched his partner take a seat on a bar stool with a look of relief before one of the physicists cleared his throat.
“Sorry,” Jayce said, pulling his attention back to the people in front of him. “Stabilizing the crystals?”
The physicists glanced at each other. “Perhaps we should wait to speak with Viktor about it.”
Jayce took a breath. This was why Viktor wanted him here.
“I’m happy to explain.” Jayce put a neutral expression on his face. “You see we had to start with the fundamental crystal lattice and find a way to remove irregularities without diminishing the arcane energy. We hypothesized that a uniform lattice would reduce the volatility.”
Watching the physicists’ expressions go from annoyed to skeptical to interested to enthusiastic while he talked almost made wearing the tuxedo worth it. He had even attracted a small crowd, all of whom were listening to him intently. When he finished answering all of their questions, he quickly excused himself and went directly to the bar, where Viktor was still sitting.
Viktor was sipping a drink and there was another tumbler of whiskey at his elbow.
“Someone sitting here?” Jayce asked, fighting the urge to put his hand on Viktor’s back.
“You are, I hope,” Viktor replied. “I figured I could pre-order you a drink so it would be ready when you pulled yourself away.”
“Thanks.” Jayce picked up the drink and clinked it lightly against Viktor’s glass, then took a sip. It was ridiculously smooth. He would never get used to Piltovian liquor.
“You doing alright?” he asked.
Viktor nodded. “Glad to be sitting down, but fine.” He took another swig of his drink. “You handled that group well.”
“You could hear from over here?” Jayce frowned.
“Not every word, but enough. And I could see the body language.”
Jayce grinned and gently bumped Viktor’s shoulder with his own. “You proud of me?”
Viktor snorted delicately. “Something like that,” he muttered.
Jayce’s success in the prior conversation combined with the liquor which he downed quickly made him bold. If Viktor could joke, so could he. “Come on, V. Not that long ago you were talking about kissing me.”
Viktor’s glass thunked down on the bar as he turned to Jayce, his expression unreadable. “Jayce, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
Viktor was so beautiful. He was so, so beautiful. And Jayce could show him just how “uncomfortable” he was.
Jayce brought his hand to Viktor’s cheek and leaned forward. He paused inches from Viktor’s face, giving him the opportunity to pull away. Instead Viktor closed his eyes and brought their lips together.
There was the familiar smell of Viktor’s soap and the taste of whiskey and the soft warmth of Viktor’s lips and tongue. And he was kissing Viktor! He was kissing Viktor! It was like floating around Heimerdinger’s lab all over again: shocking and miraculous and perfect.
When they broke apart Viktor was smiling.
“I think we may have solved the problem of people flirting with you at these functions,” he said, running his hand down Jayce’s arm.
“That’s convenient,” Jayce grinned, “because I think I just got more interested in attending them.”
“Oh, so you’d like to stick around?” Viktor’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “I’m sure there are plenty of people here who you could dazzle with your intellect.”
“Don’t be an ass.” Jayce couldn’t stop smiling. “Let’s get out of here.”
Viktor took his hand and they left together.