Chapter Text
The clothes, inexplicably, managed to stay on in spite of how their hands flexed under the fabric. Jayce felt Viktor whispering his name into his skin until Jayce’s blood seemed to sing with the vibrating feeling of Viktor’s accent. His mouth was hot and hungry when it crushed against Jayce’s and Jayce was left to wonder how long this liquid heat had been building in Viktor’s slim body.
“Jayce, Jayce!” Viktor moaned, “M-my hips—”
Jayce understood as his leg was shaking from keeping his weight off of Viktor. He shifted his pillows around so they held Viktor’s hips and knee at an incline, allowing his own knees a break. With one hand free, Jayce let his fingers play around the waistband of Viktor’s underwear.
“Viktor,” Jayce trembled.
He was overwhelmed now that he could touch Viktor at his leisure. All the little spots he’d dreamt of mapping—the knobs of his spine, which seemed to fit the shape of his fingers perfectly, the sharp crest of the hipbones, the length of the soft inner part of his arm—were now within his grasp and he could have wept for it.
The taste of his skin was sweet, flowery; Jayce licked and suckled at every soft bit of him until Viktor’s skin had a slick sheen and Jayce’s lips were feeling a little numb. Viktor’s hands were under his shirt in a futile attempt to remove it and his hips bucked up in an attempt to find friction. Jayce could feel a wet spot growing at the crux and his mouth went dry.
“Should I take these off?” Jayce asked, palming at the heated bulge between Viktor’s legs. It grew a little wetter under the motion of his thumb. He wanted to drink down whatever nectar his bloomer would give him.
“Never mind that,” Viktor huffed impatiently. The heat of his breath had sweat beading on Jayce’s temples and Jayce was too enchanted by the red-coal light in Viktor’s eyes to notice that hands were fumbling at his underwear. “Do it like this.”
Jayce strangled back a cry as Viktor’s hand ducked below his underwear and gently pulled his cock out.
“I-Impatient—” Jayce groaned.
Viktor kissed Jayce’s open mouth, biting at his bottom lip. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting? Y-You’d keep me—”
“My apologies,” They had the rest of their lives for leisurely exploration. This was years of desire that had bubbled past the boiling point and allowed for nothing more than this heat-slickened rutting.
Sweat dripped off of Viktor’s trembling upper lip and he made the sweetest noises as Jayce bunched his wet underwear to the side. Jayce’s eyes greedily took in all the details he could manage in a split second— the dark hair there was damp and curling against the sensitive skin, he had to be as long as Jayce but it was slimmer and pink and— before pushing himself up and in, past the hem.
They were a flurry of hands pumping and clothes close to ripping at the seams.
Jayce could hold the both of them in one of his hands, the other rubbing Viktor’s nipples through the grain of his shirt, pushing a thumb along his tongue, stroking up and down his legs. Viktor’s clever fingers were in his underwear, toying with the sticky tips, while his other hand gripped Jayce for dear life. They had both been tempering their breaths and holding back sounds of pleasure until Jayce felt a bit of his shirt rip.
Their throats unstuck in tandem. “ Viktor … Viktor! ” “ Jayce —I’m sorry I—” “To hell with that! Viktor…it’s so good…so…” Jayce kissed him and then desperately licked the salt off of Viktor’s throat so that he could feel Viktor’s cries in his teeth. “J-Jayce! I can’t… breathe —”
Underneath the blankets, their bodies had become overheated and slick as the warmth from their skin and breath created a climate akin to a sauna. The one time Jayce lifted the covers to let in some cool air, Viktor moaned so sweetly at the sensation that Jayce nearly came. The cold prickled his skin, soothed his throat, and he gave a full body shudder.
Viktor lolled, his slim chest rising in a desperate bid for cool air. It would sacrilege not to look.
“You’re… perfect …” Jayce breathed as he looked at Viktor’s pretty body. The lovely slim lines of his stomach and ribs, the way his skin was the same color as the moon, the elegant way he had stretched his limbs out in Jayce’s bed, his fluttering pulse through his skin, Jayce had never seen anything so wonderful in his life. Even better that the hand still thrust into his underwear hadn’t stopped stroking. “ Viktor …we can’t…leave this bed. It’ll… kill me…”
Viktor curled up on himself, seemingly unable to take a compliment at face value. Jayce was torn between staring at the heart wrenching disbelief in Viktor’s amber eyes and the way his nipples tightened to sweet little points.
“Jayce, you’re…so far…” Pulling Jayce’s free arm behind his back, Viktor pulled him back down so that Jayce was practically laying on top of him. “Come back to me…”
Jayce would have melted into him if such a thing were possible.
Their clothes were wet and tight around them.
Viktor moaned and arched as his shirt seemed to cinch him tight at the shoulders and Jayce was able to slide himself ever faster against Viktor’s hips as the fabric of his underwear soaked back to front. In a moment of desperation—needing to be even closer to Viktor—Jayce pushed his free hand down the cleft of Viktor’s backside and rubbed two fingers tentatively across the warmest spot there. It was already slippery…Jayce felt as though he might pass out for how easily his fingers could just…push in…
He waited for permission but his heart nearly stopped when he felt Viktor opening his legs wider, pushing closer to Jayce’s fingers as if he could get them in simply by wiggling his hips. The noises he made were wheedling, pleading— was Viktor begging him? When he was the one who would die for this? The moment they made eye contact, there was no question.
The abject need Jayce felt was reflected in Viktor’s expression and Jayce didn’t hesitate.
He focused hard, drinking in every detail of Viktor’s expression as he eased his longest finger into Viktor. Soft . How fucking wonderful it was to be alive to feel the heat of the man he loved, clenched and throbbing around his skin, while his face was caught up in the throes of ecstasy.
“Oh…gods, Viktor …” He would never tire of the sight. Never .
“D-Don’t—don’t look…” Viktor moaned as he blushed from his hairline all the way down to his chest. Shy…sweet… “It’s not—”
It was enough of a loophole.
Jayce closed his eyes and opened his mouth. If his eyes couldn’t take in Viktor’s pleasure, then he’d taste it. They moved together like the most perfect machine: fitted perfectly together, oiled, and moving in perfect synchrony.
His hand pumped up and down in time with Viktor’s tickling fingertips, and he eased in a second and third finger along with the rhythm. The pleasure was helpless and hot as Viktor’s hips rocked back and forth, chasing the sensations. Any pain dulled to nothingness in comparison to the salty taste of Viktor’s skin.
“Don’t l-let me go—Jayce, don’t let g-go!”
There was the ripping of fabric as Jayce’s back flexed against the constraints of his damp clothing. He would not give, so the seams had to. Cool air rushed along the curve of his back and his hips snapped with renewed energy.
“V! V…I can’t…much longer…”
His fingers never flagged as he chased Viktor’s inner heat but the red-hot, wet friction on his cock was becoming unbearable. He felt the incoming orgasm rising to a boil and he opened his eyes.
The thought of cumming without being able to see Viktor’s face was never an option.
Arching up as close as he could, when his sweet, luminous eyes weren’t rolling back in his head, they were staring at Jayce, brimful with love. His bottom lip trembled in time with the soft squeeze of muscles around Jayce’s fingers and he begged once more:
“Don’t let me go, Jayce.”
“I won’t V. Won’t ever…let you go.”
Viktor broke first with a short, pretty scream as Jayce rubbed hard on his hottest parts. Pushing up on his feet and his shoulders, his slim body curved in a perfect upward arch until the buttons began to pop from his shirt. He couldn’t move Jayce’s body and had to ride himself out in stuttering bursts.
Warm and wet all around him, Jayce abandoned finesse to kiss his bloomer’s open mouth. Crying into each other’s mouth, Jayce wrapped his arms around Viktor’s back and thrust hard until he came hot and thick up Viktor’s hips and stomach. All the while swearing that he wouldn’t let Viktor go.
They held for a moment in that position: Jayce’s arms around Viktor’s waist and back, Viktor’s arms up under Jayce’s, digging his fingers into Jayce’s back. They were coiled so tight together that it felt as though they’d explode outward without the other to hold them together. With the sweat and the heat sticking their skin together, Jayce felt as though they were fusing together into a single glorious being.
Then the hot bloom of the orgasm spilled into their muscles, liquefying them. Jayce nearly collapsed onto Viktor but stopped himself at the final moment, using the last of his strength to roll onto his back and drag Viktor onto his chest.
They both breathed as though they’d pulled each other from the precipice of drowning but Jayce buried his mouth and nose against Viktor’s forehead so that each inhale carried the smell of sex and sweat. Viktor was doing the same and Jayce felt the hot point of Viktor’s tongue flick against his skin.
His clothes had gone slack around his body and Jayce swore he would peel them off, wipe himself and Viktor down with the tattered remnants of them, but it would be sacrilege not to bask in the afterglow.
As the night air cooled his skin, Jayce began to trace the schematics of their most recent invention onto Viktor’s skin. With Viktor’s limbs going slack around him, Jayce felt safe enough to begin the activity that had now dropped several places on his favorite things to do to Viktor: deviling him with intrusive personal questions that he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to.
“Viktor…are you…afraid that I’d leave you? I won’t .” He pushed some of the damp hair away from Viktor’s temple so that he could lean down and kiss him in assurance.
Viktor took a moment to respond. He shifted a little and Jayce had to do some quick calculations to keep from becoming aroused over the hot, wet tackiness that stuck them together at the hips. Their biology was intermingled. He wondered if he were to put something so warm, wanted and full of love into the soil, if the poisons would dissipate and flowers would spiral up in an explosion.
“I grew up in the pre-revolution Zaun, Jayce. I still feel the need to…to claw out my living. I’ve lost so much to time and illness and violence. It’s still hard to reconcile this change with what I’ve always known.” He looked up at Jayce with the sweetest expression of tentative hope. “I believe you when you say you won’t leave me. Please give me time. Many who left…it wasn’t anything we had a choice in.”
Jayce leaned down to kiss Viktor’s head and wrapped his arms and legs a little tighter around the man. “I’ll give you all the time you need. V, we have all the time in the world.”
When Jayce woke, for once Viktor had risen before him. Up all night and most of the early morning, they’d slept well into the afternoon and Jayce’s room was the same bright goldenrod color as Viktor’s eyes. He smiled sleepily—the most movement he was capable of—on seeing that Viktor had stolen most of the covers, which were wrapped around his love-bitten shoulders. Naked to scrutiny, Jayce watched as Viktor leaned down, inspecting the lines of the tattoo on his calf. His fingertips were deliberate as he followed the pink of Vi’s hair into where the scar tissue began and Jayce held his breath as Viktor leaned down.
His lips were tender and loving as he kissed down the entire bolt of scar tissue.
A silent expression of love. He loved the tattoo, the scar, the leg. He loved Jayce, in spite of everything. Jayce closed his eyes so he could bask in the feeling of those lips on the most private part of his body and he let joyous tears slide down his cheeks into his hair.
With all he’d dreamt of for ages coming to fruition, it was nearly impossible to justify leaving the bed.
He delayed his work orders for the week, ordered groceries to be delivered, and emptied a basket to hold the dirty laundry so that he and Viktor could stay in bed for hours at a time. They had all the time in the world and Jayce intended to have the both of them naked for as much of that time as possible.
He’d always thought Viktor looked so elegant in the indigo robes layered over his skin-tight bodysuits but this was before he’d seen Viktor nude. Viktor’s body was perfection and—when Jayce’s body wasn’t pressed flush against it—he often caught himself staring, in complete disbelief over how someone so stunning had conceded to give him a chance.
He thought he’d known of the beauty of mechanics and engineering before, but Viktor’s warm, silky body was a marvel on its own.
The blunt quality of Jayce’s fingers, the thick muscles that roped through his limbs were slim and sophisticated on Viktor. Jayce could spend hours tracing the blue veins under his pale skin, kissing the tattoos that lined his knuckles, dragging his teeth along the fragile bones of Viktor’s feet. When Jayce had finally prepared Viktor wide enough to accommodate him on their fourth day of exile, he found very quickly that the way their bodies fit together deserved every bit of his attention.
“Are you… experimenting on me?” Viktor gasped as his hips shifted in an attempt to get used to the sensations.
“Performing experimentation on a human test subject,” Jayce’s breath was ragged as he nipped at Viktor’s ear, “the academy would have a field day when they find that I’m… ahhh …completely unrepentant.” He tried to ease out slowly when Viktor clenched so tight around him that it made his vision go white at the edges. “ Gods, V!”
“I…didn’t say…you had to stop.” When Viktor wanted something, he couldn’t be pulled away from his pursuit. Judging by the abject desperation in Viktor’s expression, Jayce knew Viktor wouldn’t let him free until he’d run some experiments of his own.
Jayce’s toes curled and he angled his hips so he could hit the spot inside Viktor he’d been toying with for hours on end.
There was enough data to fill several notebooks; the pleasure was so overwhelming that Viktor didn’t let him go for much other than sleep for a full week. Jayce had made a note to apologize to the neighboring apartments for any noises they’d been forced to endure.
They’d been relying on their accumulated goodwill to avoid complaints but their luck couldn’t hold forever. Jayce was digging his fingers into the small of Viktor’s back while Viktor dozed in the afternoon sun, when someone rapped firmly on the door. To keep Viktor from waking, Jayce stumbled from bed and yanked on the first pair of clean trousers he could put his hands on before limping to the entryway.
The worst possible scenario, someone had raised the alarm with Silco and Jayce felt a terrifying swoop of dread on opening the door to find the man standing outside. It was as if he’d been caught with his pants down, in bed with the man’s son . Silco coolly surveyed him, his right eye latching on to a spot on Jayce’s neck. “Talis. I was told you were incapacitated.”
“I-In…a manner of speaking.”
“I see. And Viktor?” He glanced around Jayce to peer into the apartment. It was masterfully done; if anyone else had been sent to check on them, then Jayce would have risen protectively to keep them from seeing Viktor in the state he’d left him. But Silco was the one exception. “I assume you’re there, dear boy?”
“I’m alive and well.” Viktor’s voice was hoarse and Jayce felt blush creeping up his neck as he heard the rustle of sheets. “No need to sound the alarm.”
Silco stared at Jayce for what felt like a eon before he let the tension release, raising his eyebrows as if making clear he thought Viktor could do better. “Vander has had people asking about when the both of you will be taking work again. Can I let him know to expect you back on your feet in the next…two, three days?”
Jayce wanted to die of mortification as Silco caught his expression while he thought of how Viktor had been reclined on the bed for most of their truancy: laughing, smiling, radiating bliss even with his lower back in aching shambles. “I-I’ll be ready by then.” Viktor could rest in their apartment for as long as he liked to recover and Jayce would pick up the slack.
“Excellent. I’ll let him know. Viktor, send word if you need to use Ekko’s board. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
Having secured confirmation that they were alive and that Viktor was not being held hostage, Silco turned to head back to the Drop. Jayce almost felt safe enough to relax when Viktor shouted from inside: “Did you all put money on us?”
Such a thing was something Jayce hadn’t considered and Silco laughed. “I wonder…”
It seemed a small price to pay for Silco to leave them for the remainder of their honeymoon period and Jayce hurried back into the apartment. The rumor mill would be in full swing but he couldn’t bring himself to care when Viktor looked like a work of art in his bed, the sheets draping off of him at the crux of his knees.
“I’ll bet he’s making a fortune off of us.” Viktor grumbled as Jayce ruffled his hair. “On the gods, when the injury took his eye, I think he received minor omniscience as compensation. Really they’re just stealing from Benzo since Vander lets Silco do the books.”
“Don’t move,” Jayce could think of no rebuttal to Viktor’s arguments and instead busied himself with finding paper and pencil.
“I don’t think I could if I tried,” Viktor tried to complain more but his smile gave him away.
“I recall you refusing to let me go. Begged me to stay, in fact.”
“The things you’d do to have me do it again.”
Jayce captured his likeness in charcoal, the dark lines perfect for the sharp contours of Viktor’s face. “I’d do the begging,” Jayce said as he drew Viktor’s lips in an upward curve. “Gods, I should have studied art instead.”
In between their feverish touching, Jayce would fill a quarter of a notebook with Viktor’s form in charcoal. He could trace that lithe body in his sleep—all his dreams were of Viktor’s mouth, his cheekbones, his hips…
It was hard not to keep from frowning a little on the dawn of the day Silco expected their return.
Viktor glanced and then laughed as he tugged his trousers on and reached out a hand for his brace. “Gods, you look as though the world is ending, Jayce.”
“How long do you think we’d have before Silco hunted us down?”
Viktor snorted at the thought before coming over to smooth Jayce’s hair back and try to keep him from suggesting any other ridiculous ploys. “You’re too slow with the buildup. He’d find you before you got my clothes off.” Jayce, baited by the challenge, briefly entertained a fantasy of tearing the clothes off Viktor’s back and Viktor must have caught the unspoken idea in Jayce’s expression, judging by his furious blush. “We only have the three work orders and the check on Ekko’s project. Then we can go to the Fissure.”
“You have clothes there that you don’t care about?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Jayce bit him softly on the palm. “How cruel.” But he liked it. The promise of it hung in the air as they walked down the streets in an obvious post-coital glow. Jayce’s hand was firmly planted on Viktor’s hip and the obvious claim had him so dizzy with joy that he could easily brush off the teasing shouts from the locals on the way.
“Finally bent for the pretty Piltie, eh?” One of the braver teenagers called out to Viktor as they passed.
“What makes you think I didn’t bend him?” Viktor shot back with such cool, assured grace that the kids broke into howls of disbelief. Zaunite, through and through . Though Jayce caught the blush on his pretty ears. “What?”
“You want to try it?” He was deliriously excited by the idea, even more so when Viktor flushed the color of new brick.
“Give me…time to adjust, Jayce.” His accent came out thicker than usual, the offer flustering him and Jayce was charmed.
“I’ll hold you to it. Oh, it’s Heimerdinger.”
Heimerdinger was coming up the road, headed back to Piltover, and he jolted when he saw Jayce and Viktor approaching. His fur puffed up and he glanced furtively back towards the way he’d come before smiling and waving. “Jayce! And Viktor,” his memory was exceptional; that he could remember Viktor after one meeting was impressive, “Good morning to the both of you!”
“Morning professor. Where are you off to?”
“Oh, I…I’m off to do a little research. And the two of you? Going to the bar?”
“I should.” Jayce laughed nervously, “I’m meant to be mentoring Ekko and Claggor for the competition but I’ve been erm…” he thought of Viktor dozing lazily in their bed and felt the heat rippling up from his lower abdomen, “busy with…personal projects. Ekko is fairly confident in his proposal and I have no concerns about his skills but I might drop by this afternoon after my—”
“It’s funny you should bring him up,” Heimerdinger interrupted as he wrung his hands together, “Due to how many youngsters you two have taken on, I wanted to step in. Would you mind terribly if I take over the mentorship of the project he’ll be working on with his lady friend?” There was a shade of desperation to the plea and Jayce was awash in guilt; had Ekko asked Heimerdinger to make this request on his behalf? The boy couldn’t do better than the former dean of the university as his program mentor.
And one less project to focus on would mean more time to spend with Viktor .
“Of course! I’m just glad he’s finally convinced Powder to come on board with competing alongside him. Those two are formidable together. I’m happy to step aside.”
Heimerdinger all but slumped in relief. “I’m so glad you understand, dear boy. Ekko is…not quite feeling himself, I’m afraid. It might be erm… stress from the competition but if he seems unlike himself, don’t hold it against him.” Jayce could empathize with the sleepless nights and the headaches borne of inventing and assured Heimerdinger that he’d actually welcome some typical teenage moodiness from Ekko who was almost always gentle and charismatic, a little ornery at worst.
“I think a little teenage rebellion would suit him,” Viktor joked as well, trying to lighten the mood. “Have him tear through the streets on that hoverboard of his.”
The conversation was winding down but Heimerdinger surprised Jayce once more before they parted ways. “If it’s not too much trouble, Viktor, would you mind accompanying me back to the bridge? I want to erm… discuss something about Miss Young.”
“Is she alright?” Viktor’s concern was immediate and Jayce simply waved him off as he continued along his route, knowing that Viktor would know where to find him.
“She’s healthy, yes, but—”
Hurrying to his appointment, Jayce only stopped when he encountered Powder leading Ekko down one of the alleys to some unknown destination. Heimerdinger hadn’t been lying; while Powder was in a good mood, Ekko seemed completely adrift, a thunderstruck look taking over his expression when he saw Jayce. Jayce made sure to stay friendly and unbothered simply to spare the poor boy from crossing from shock into an outright breakdown.
“Where are you dragging him off to?” Jayce asked, hoping friendly banter with Powder would have Ekko calming down.
“Heya Jayce! All this plotting has put him,” Powder thumbed fondly over her shoulder in Ekko’s direction, “in a funk. So we’re going to get away for a bit. Go see Vi, maybe.” Jayce smiled. Vander and Ekko had both talked about a small shrine Powder had built for her sister—a pale approximation of the real thing, but a tangible comfort nonetheless, just as Jayce had inked his in permanently.
“Good idea. This’ll pass. Every great inventor has had a nervous breakdown at least once or twice so this is as much a right of passage as anything. It’ll be good to get out of your notes.” He was going to reach out to pat Ekko on the shoulder but the boy flinched back before Jayce’s touch could land.
There was something…hard, angry, almost distrustful in Ekko’s gaze and Jayce could understand then why Heimerdinger had looked so nervous. He almost seemed like a different man entirely and Jayce took his hand back.
“I’ll see you both around.”
Powder shot him an apologetic smile as she shuffled Ekko away and Ekko glanced back at him—once, twice—with a furtive expression as though he expected Jayce to attack. Jayce shook his head; it wasn’t the first time a young, competitive scientist had suffered a bout of mania and he wasn’t about to take things personally. Not when his endorphins were still high from what he’d done with Viktor that morning.
He had never enjoyed his work so much and had become so used to Viktor’s presence nearby that he didn’t startle when he felt familiar fingers touch his shoulders.
He turned his jaw so that he could rub the grain of his beard against Viktor’s hand. “Is Sky alright?”
“Sky? Oh! She’s ah…she’s fine.” Viktor sounded distant, his mind elsewhere and Jayce looked up to find his lover staring at him. The look was so tender, so bittersweet that Jayce turned Viktor’s palm up so he could kiss it. “She’s alright. It’s…so dangerous though. The moment you left me, I was filled with so much dread. All I could think of while the professor spoke was…how I wanted to come back to you.”
“Now you know how I’ve felt for years now.” In spite of how it bordered on obsession, Jayce couldn’t hide how pleased he was at the revelation. “I’ll work quick, V, and we can go home.”
In the rosy glow of his excitement, Jayce didn’t notice how quietly anxious Viktor was until they were walking home together and they encountered Powder. Jayce was going to say hello but the words died on his lips when he saw her thunderous expression. A far cry from the bright, delighted girl who’d been leading her partner away in hopes of making him feel better, she radiated hurt with her mouth white and trembling and her arms crossed protectively over her chest.
“Powder,” Viktor had no fear of calling out and she jolted as if she hadn’t noticed their presence at all, “Is everything alright? Did…Ekko say something strange?” Apparently it was a very good guess.
The pain was stark in her eyes—something between righteous fury and devastation—and she curled away from Viktor’s curious gaze. “I don’t want to fucking talk about it. He…he…” Jayce watched helplessly as her eyes flicked to his leg, right where his tattoo was, “If he comes looking, tell him to save it. I don’t want to see him. I don’t want to talk to him. Just all of you leave me alone.”
Viktor nodded in understanding and let her stalk off in a miserable fury. “Poor thing…”
“What in the hell?” Jayce asked him, jarred by the encounter, “We’ve only been out for a few hours and it seems like everyone is falling to pieces.”
Viktor gave a noncommittal hum as they entered the elevator into the fissures and didn’t seem capable of conversation for the rest of the evening. In spite of how they sat next to each other to tend to his plants and how Jayce spoke passionately of Claggor’s botanical–powered air filter, Viktor wasn’t as talkative as normal, only providing the most basic of platitudes by way of response. When they finally managed to cram into Viktor’s single-person bed, Jayce took his time to pet Viktor into a slickened, shivering mess before broaching what was wrong. “You’re not yourself Viktor. Is it Miss Young?” He smoothed Viktor’s hair from his forehead as Viktor shook his head, “Or Ekko and Powder?”
It was a better guess. Viktor made a small noise of discontent as he settled in closer. Kissing Jayce’s inner wrist, he took his time to formulate a response. “What would you do if I…if I changed, Jayce?”
“Changed how?”
“You said that the professor changed abruptly a few years ago—that he was…indifferent to Zaun—indolent—and now he’s driven by his desire for progress. And now Ekko isn’t himself.”
“You think it’s a pattern?” Jayce asked, sitting up slightly as he tried to think of connecting factors. There weren’t many; Ekko and Heimerdinger were completely races, different ages, and in different stratospheres of social class. Their only similarities were a love of scientific discovery and their gentle, patient, inquisitive natures.
“It’s a hypothetical,” Viktor insisted with a shudder as Jayce began to play with his hair, “if I were to change like them, to someone you didn’t recognize, would you still… stay by my side?”
“What kind of question is that?” Jayce grinned down at his lover. “I’d still study you until you inevitably give in and invite me back into your bed,” And when that failed to elicit the laugh he craved to break the tension, Jayce became as sincere as possible, “V…I’ll love you, I’ll stay with you even if you change.”
How could he not promise such a thing when Viktor looked up at him with those large, sweet eyes?
“Even if I didn’t remember you?”
It had a twist of horror building in Jayce’s gut. The thought of waking up to his beloved bloomer and finding no recognition in his face was too terrible to dwell on. But…at least Viktor would still be with him. There’d still be hope.
Jayce held Viktor’s bare body close and kissed every part he could. “You fell for me once, V. I’ll charm you again, as many times as you need. You said it yourself: I’m relentless.” His charm had worked and Viktor snorted a laugh before laying a soft bite on Jayce’s chest. “What if I changed, V?” Even with any sort of change he was confident that his heart would be pulled towards Viktor just as it had on the moment he’d first seen Viktor in front of Benzo’s shop.
The swiftness and vehemence of Viktor’s response surprised Jayce. There was no pause for thought. “I’d wait for you for as long as it took, Jayce.”
The general consensus Jayce had heard through town gossip was that he was the more devoted, the one who was more in love but he was willing to bet that Viktor had fooled everyone. Viktor would wait for him . It was the sweetest admission Viktor could have made and Jayce rolled so Viktor was beneath him.
Viktor laughed and tried, in vain, to push Jayce off as Jayce rubbed his facial hair over Viktor’s sensitive skin. Every kiss, every touch that he layered on Viktor’s slender body brought them further from hypothetical concerns and back to what was tender and tangible.
In the warmth of the greenhouse, Jayce dipped below the covers in pursuit of soothing Viktor with his mouth. Every other issue that was occurring outside could fade into the background when Viktor tasted so good and his cries were so sweet and Jayce had sworn not to let him go.
“V, I’m so happy,” Jayce murmured thickly into the reddened bits of Viktor’s legs where the brace had bitten into his skin, “I’ve never been so happy in all my life.” Viktor would wait for him and Jayce would never let Viktor go . With every passing day, the thought of living made him happy.