Archive of Our Own ^beta

He woke up.

He wasn’t meant to, but he did.

It took a moment for reality to catch up to him, to go from the writhing, pushing, gnashing of the arcane to the cold (cold?) floor beneath him. 

It didn’t feel.. right. The arcane had torn parts of him away, added things in. Torn him apart and messily welded him back together.

Suddenly, a gasping, involuntary breath sucked into him, stretching muscles that hadn’t been used in.. however long it had been. He needed to remember to breathe . 

In, out. 

(the air stung. He couldn’t tell if it was the newness or the chill.)

In, and out.

He shouldn’t have to breathe. He shouldn’t be alive.

I should be dead. was his first thought, then, Jayce. nothing more. Just Jayce. A few errant, incoherent questions flew by as his brain woke up, Where is- How- Can I still- 

There was a noise prodding at his skull, familiar, but different. He squeezed his face against the push of his brain, trying to think. 

In, out.

“Viktor !” Jayce yelled, there was a feeling there, Viktor couldn’t quite place it, in the back of his mind he knew he should have been able to, but..

“Jayce- “ he tried, but the words didn’t come out. When he opened his mouth, all that went out was a gust of air. 

“Viktor!” Jayce was closer now, Viktor could hear his footsteps. (his gait was uneven.) “Viktor! Holy shit-“ 

Suddenly there was warmth. Jayce’s hands immediately found Viktor, his shoulder, his face. Viktor didn’t know how Jayce got to him, a blip in consciousness.

In, out.

Viktor slowly blinked his eyes open, re-familiarizing with the movement. Jayce was in the middle of his vision, backed by stars and pieces of metal. There was something important there, but Viktor couldn’t reach it, his mind focused on Jayce. How beautiful he was.

“Holy- Fuck Vik, I thought-“ His face softened, as if Viktor had done something amazing, even though he was just.. breathing. Stuttered and forced. “Oh shit you’re-” 

In, and out.

Jayce was rubbing a thumb over his cheekbone, under his eye. The fact that Viktor could feel it overtook him, it opened the floodgates for all the other feelings, lighting up nerve endings that hadn’t been active in weeks. Viktor groaned. 

Jayce’s eyes roved over his entire body, Viktor watched him (there was something in his eye, it was turning half of his world red). “Okay, okay. So, so you’re-“ Jayce said, lightly touching Viktors skin (he had skin. ) “You’re uh, human? again? At least mostly. That’s uh, that’s good.” Jayce was stuttering, rambling in the way he did when he was nervous. Viktor wanted to reach out, take his pain away.

In, out.

“We need to- get out. Yeah. Find Cait, maybe?” Jayce moved, pulling the blanket trapped under Viktor’s body around him loosely. “Here.” He said, doing something with the fabric that Viktor couldn’t see. “Or Má. She could- help. Probably? Fuck. I don’t know… We- we should-“ 

Jayce stopped, ran a hand over his face (there were scars on his forehead, where did those come from?) “I don’t know how much trouble…” he started, then shook his head. “No. Let’s just start with moving. Yeah.”

In, out.

Jayce wrapped his hands around Viktor’s arms, pulling him up into a seated position. Viktor groaned, shutting his eyes against the wall of pain that hit him. (he’d forgotten what it was to hurt.)

“Ow.” the first word out of Viktor’s mouth. (it felt foreign, everything did.) his head pulsed, his leg throbbed, his back ached. He felt the warmth of Jayce, distantly putting together that he was pulling him in, to his chest. 

In, and out.

Viktor forced his eyes open, determined to look at Jayce. Jayce looked… older. Tired? There was something else there, but Viktors brain felt like syrup, nothing was accessible. 

After a moment (it could have been an hour, a minute, a day. Viktor couldn’t tell the difference.) Viktor managed to force his hand to move, to push it upwards to press a thumb over the wrinkle between Jayce’s eyebrows. An old instinct, foreign in these hands. Jayce’s face relaxed, and he huffed, the breath puffing over Viktor’s face. 

That was good. He- he liked that.

In, out.

There was a darkness, it was pulling, unquenchable, forcing everything in Viktor heavy. He let his hand fall back to his own chest. 

“Vik?” Jayce asked, and Viktor suddenly had something very important to tell him. He had no idea what it was, but he opened his mouth anyway, releasing a completely nonsensical string of words, in both of his languages, none of it making any sense. 

Jayce’s brow clenched again, (no that’s- that’s not good.) and he said something. Viktor couldn’t understand it, his voice faded away as he dropped back into unconsciousness.

~~~

While he was gone, he dreamed.

Well, in a way.

Some of it was real, Viktor was sure of it. But some of it wasn’t. The distinction was difficult.

He dreamed of Jayce carrying him down from the Hexgates, begging a worker to please find Caitlyn Kiramman, please-

He dreamed of being laid in a hospital bed, hooked up to wires and tubes. Oxygen in his nose.

He dreamed of Jayce’s voice, sometimes arguing, sometimes speaking softly.

He dreamed of his mother, calling him Ptáčátko and carding her thin, cold fingers through his hair, over his fevered forehead.

He dreamed of his father, showing him the machinery that he worked with in the mines, taking it apart and explaining every bit. Ruffling his hair and lifting him onto his shoulders.

He dreamed of his parent’s death. His fathers charred, destroyed body, brought up for him and his mother to identify. His mother, sick, coughing up blood, too weak to get out of bed.

He dreamed of Jayce, smiling in the lab, eyes bright, hands expertly running over metal and paper.

He dreamed of many other things, of Rio, of the work in the Academy, of the scientist in the cave, of Sky, of the river of his childhood.

There was a pressure of someone else in the back of his mind, so ingrained that he barely noticed.

He dreamed memories that weren’t his, of younger versions of Ximena, calling him Mijo and speaking to him in a language he didn’t know, but somehow perfectly understood.

He dreamed of a large man that looked like Jayce, laughing warmly and guiding his hands, the hammer within them. (He saw his funeral, too. How he and his mother mourned.)

He dreamed of the arcane, the perfect body he was given. The painless, senseless metal shell, the good that he did. The feel of power running through his veins. 

There was a darkness there, something he couldn’t fully understand. He could only see snippets, people turning into beautiful white and gold, a perfect body he was put in, Jayce’s rejection, his fingers sinking into Jayce’s forehead.

He dreamed of things that definitely weren’t real, of Jayce smiling at him and kissing him giddy, holding him softly, all ranges of romantic things that did not happen in every setting his unconscious brain could conjure. There was one dream he could see clearly, Jayce, with white, shining hair, telling him absolutely everything he wanted to hear for years . Even after every sin he’d committed, every horrible deed, Jayce told him that he loved him.

None of it made any sense. Everything was out of order. The feeling of someone else just.. being there didn’t leave, either. He felt faint emotions from him, glimmers of thoughts.

He was floating, for a while, in his mind, almost to that void, but not quite. The arcane had chewed him up and spit him out, this was just the aftermath.

~~~

The panic of waking up was the main memory Viktor had from the hospital. Waking up, freaking out, Jayce calming him down. 

Everything else passed in a haze. Viktor’s mind was clouded and slow, as he tried to piece it back together. He had all his memories (he guessed he did, but there was no way for him to know if he didn’t.  

Jayce was there. A constant warmth beside him, a buzz in the back of his head. Encouraging him to eat, filling him in on the rebuilding, on their fate. Viktor didn’t respond most of the time, but Jayce spoke enough for the both of them.

He was in the hospital for a while, he eventually got some of his clothes, and people flitted in and out. Mel came in to “assess threat levels”, Enforcers cycling through, Ximena coming in to hug her son and fold Viktor’s hands between hers, Cait coming in to discuss with Jayce in low tones, all saying things that didn’t pierce the thick fog around Viktor’s brain. 

Eventually, (Viktor still had no clue how much time had passed) they were let out. 

It was a house arrest of sorts, Jayce explained, they could stay in Piltover, but they had to stay in the lab where they could be monitored. They couldn’t touch Hextech in any sense of the  word. 

Jayce phrased it like the rules applied to both of them, but Viktor knew it was just for him. 

There were consequences for trying to burn down the world.

~~~

The lab they had been given was new, and bare. Not a trace of their old research. But it was quiet, and it was private (save for the routine checks from Enforcers), and the suite attached was much of the same. 

Unfamiliar. Plain. Cold .

It had been weeks since Viktor had first woken up. It felt like so much more, and so much less. 

Over that time, Viktor had slowly put together what happened to bring them here. Every new recollection made him feel worse. Sick to his stomach. (only a few days into staying in the lab with Jayce, he suddenly remembered how it felt to control , to force yourself into someone’s mind and stay there, change them. He promptly threw up the dinner he had just eaten.)

Jayce wasn’t there now, gone to get food or do something or other, Viktor didn’t remember what. He went over to the full-length mirror in the hall, pulled off the fabric Jayce threw over it when he caught Viktor staring one too many times.

Jayce wasn’t there now. Viktor could stare all he wanted. 

He was essentially back to normal, according to the doctors. His leg was still bad, turning in awkwardly, his back was bad as well, but the screws in his spine fixed any problems that were going to arise. And he wasn’t sick anymore. He was thrown back into the body he had at 27, in terms of health.

His hair was still long. brushing over his shoulders, the unnatural blond seemed to be permanent. Scars adorned his body, everywhere where there had been beautiful golden lines was now just raised, shiny skin. Viktor brushed a finger over the gash on the side of his face, it was almost closed up now, scarring over normally. And of course there was the-

Viktor let go of his cane, let it clatter to the ground as he unbuttoned his shirt, staring at the scar in the middle of his chest. An ugly, jagged line where his chest rebuilt itself after Jayce-

He had to repress a shiver at the memory, quickly rebuttoning his shirt. I deserved it . A statement frequently said both to himself and Jayce. I wish it stuck. He thought privately. It would just upset Jayce to see it.

Maybe this was his punishment, to live again, to get a new body to watch degrade again . To have to relearn every feeling, to have to do it without upsetting people. 

To have to relearn pain.

He’d forgotten what it was to hurt. Most of his time was spent relearning how to breathe through a bad flare, or a cramp, or stepping slightly wrong, or even just sitting upright. Before everything, Viktor had never experienced a day without pain since he learned to walk, it was normal, a part of routine. But now, now that he had been without for so long, it was overwhelming. Nauseating. 

Viktor spent most days in bed, now. It was pathetic, he had been a god . Now he… he wasn’t sure what he was. (out of control.) Jayce laid with him most of the time, staring at the ceiling with him. Sometimes he spoke, rambled endlessly about mundane topics, the woman at the grocery with a horribly ugly hat, the dog he saw on the street, a theory about thermodynamics he thought of. Other times, they would just lay silently, breathing together. Viktor preferred when he spoke, he enjoyed hearing his voice, even when his stories were nonsensical, but he had no room to cast judgement. Viktor would hold Jayce’s hand when he was especially tense (which was happening more and more lately.), feeling the way he would relax, physically and emotionally. It made Jayce happy, so Viktor did it. That was the only reason Viktor did much of anything, these days. The only thing keeping him from just laying in his bed and letting himself rot.

Jayce often wanted to work in the lab, while it was dulled, he still had that spark of passion, that desire to change the world. To help . (Viktor distantly wondered if that was what this was, if he was just a project, something to fulfill Jayce’s undying need to please.)

Viktor followed him when he could, sitting at a desk with a mostly empty journal, drawing different diagrams of boats, like he did as a child. That is, when he was able to do anything at all. Usually, he would just stare out the window, trying to sort through his memories, put them in their proper order. (trying to stop himself from wishing for his godhood back.)

Jayce would turn around from whatever idea on the blackboard and take them back to the apartment whenever Viktor broke his pencil. (he never meant to, but the pain, or the memories would get to be too much and-)

Jayce never followed through with any of his ideas.

~~~

Neither of them slept very much.

Jayce had nightmares, every night they would wake him, and he would find Viktor wherever his nightly haunting would take him (usually the bay window, if he got out of bed at all) and he would stay with him, assuring his mind that Viktor was still alive. Sometimes they’d eventually fall back asleep, but usually they would just lay together, quietly breathing. (Jayce never took his eyes off of him)

So the transition made sense. They were already sleeping with each other more than by themselves, their own beds had really just become a temporary stepping stone to the eventuality that they were going to end up together. So, over lunch one day Jayce proposed the idea that they could just, start out their nights together, remove the middle man. A reasonable plan, Viktor agreed.

Jayce began to join Viktor in his bed every night, and for the next few days, it worked. Jayce fell asleep quickly, hand thrown over Viktor’s chest, who was far slower to slumber. This unlocked a problem.

Viktor wanted . 

He wasn’t unfamiliar with the feeling, he could remember an endless amount of days during the past 8 years where all he could feel was desire, in every form it came in. All for Jayce. He felt it so much that it ached . Twisted in his chest like a hot knife (like a Hextech blast). Viktor spent hours every night, staring at Jayce’s face, cataloguing and re-cataloguing everything that was the same and everything that had changed about him, over and over. A memory exercise. It didn’t make it any easier that Jayce was always touching him. That had been a problem since before, but it was worse, now. Jayce was always there. He was paranoid, scared that Viktor would disappear somewhere, or die suddenly, or turn back into what he was. 

What he was. It was going to haunt Viktor for the rest of his days. There were only a select few people who knew what actually happened, and even fewer that knew it was him. Janna, If Jayce didn’t want him before, he didn’t want him now. For good reason. But Viktor couldn’t banish it. Not anymore.

The convergence of sleeping areas worked fine for a week.

Then.. It was like a switch flipped. Instead of the usual dreamless exhaustion sleep or nightmares, Viktor slipped into.. Something new. 

He knew that he and Jayce were connected, one couldn’t dissolve into the cosmos with someone and come out of it perfectly separated, but he didn’t know that it was to this degree. Viktor fell into Jayce’s memory.

Jayce was back in the ravine, in the Failstate Timeline (as Jayce called it), curled in on himself. He looked terrible. Dirty, thin, and pale, shaking and holding his eyes wide, the bags underneath them bruised purple. Viktor had no idea what form he’d taken, but Jayce looked far too relieved, considering the circumstances. “Viktor?” he gasped, forcing his shaking eyes to focus on the man in front of him “Holy shit- you- you aren’t-”

Viktor was struck with the overwhelming urge that he always had, to make Jayce happy. “Jayce..” he said softly, moving slowly towards him. (Jayce looked almost reverent, which was.. A thought.)

“Are you real?” Jayce whispered, and well. That was the question, wasn’t it? Viktor had no idea if this was a dream, one of Jayces nightmares, or if he was deeper in his mind, if he had those abilities anymore at all. 

“I am, eh.. not sure.” Viktor hummed. He reached out to Jayce, gently resting his hand on the side of his face, unable to stop himself. Immediately, Jayce grabbed his wrist, leaning into his hand like a dog. 

“Vik..” he whined, nuzzling into his palm “Please, I’m- I'm sorry. I-”

Viktor’s chest ached . “No, Jayce. Do not be.” he said softly, “I am the one who-” It all hit him very suddenly exactly what he was doing. He was in Jayce’s mind . “No, no, what am I-” he muttered, yanking his hand back (Jayce let him, loosening his grasp)

“Vik, what-” Jayce started, but Viktor shook his head, quickly, already pulling himself out of his mindscape.

“I am sorry, Jayce” he said, already fading out. He desperately hoped that Jayce would believe it. 

~~~

Viktor awoke suddenly. Gasping and choking on the bile in his mouth. He shot up, not caring about how Jayce’s hand was on his chest. He swore he would never-

“Vik?” Jayce asked blearily, sleep seeping into his voice, “You okay?”

Viktor spat stomach acid on the floor, trying to control his breathing. He could feel an undertone of power, of magic in his veins. Pulling on his hair, he tried to banish it. 

Jayce’s warmth got closer, concern seeped into their shared mindspace “Hey,” he said, as if subduing an animal, “What happened? What-”

Viktor turned to look at him, and the moment he met Jayce’s eyes a new wave of nausea hit him. He shot out of bed, grabbed his cane from against the nightstand as quickly as he could. 

He didn’t return. Jayce didn’t go looking for him.

Viktor didn’t go back to bed for the rest of the week.

~~~

Jayce has been mercifully distant, letting Viktor take the ropes and guide things. But it doesn’t take him long to break. Viktor would sometimes disappear into himself for a little bit, but he always laid down with Jayce at the end of the day, and never truly refused him. This was far out of the ordinary, even for their current situation, and they both knew it.

Jayce corners him after breakfast one day, sitting across from him at the dining table. 

“Okay.” He says, looking torn. Viktor stiffened. “I’ve- I’ve tried to give you your space to- to organize, or figure it out, or whatever, but I can’t do this anymore. What the hell happened? What’s going on with you??”

Viktor stiffens further, squeezing his fists under the table. What a stupid thing to ask. He thinks angrily, standing up from the table. 

Jayce doesn’t stand, but he straightens, leaning on his hands, swaying towards Viktor “Wait! Please, I- I didn’t-” Jayce sounds so desperate that it gives Viktor pause. He stops, standing still, facing away from Jayce. “I’m sorry, please just. Hear me out. Please.”

When Viktor doesn’t move, Jayce sighs (Viktor can practically see how he’s rubbing his hand down his face). “I. I know I have no business telling you how you handle.. Whatever the fuck is going on. But. I know you, Viktor. At least I think I do, and the way you’re acting.. Something happened. I don’t know what, but you won’t tell me, or- or let me help and I-” Jayce groans into his hand. Viktor can feel.. Something coming through from Jayce, something he hasn’t noticed before. “I want to help. God, I do. Not just with whatever’s going on right now, but with everything. All of it. I want to help you but you- you won’t let me !” Viktor almost flinched at the force of Jayce’s tone, but Jayce continued, “You’re hurting, and confused, and really fucking upset, and so am I! And I- I understand that you’re all fucked up from the arcane and the HexCore, and I understand that you need space, but i’ve given you space, I’ve given you so much space to- to- I don’t know, figure it out? I’ve just tried to be there for you whenever you were ready, ready to let me help, to tell me about what’s going on, and you haven’t! And it’s fucking killing me Vik, I mean, you havent said a goddamn word in months , and I feel like I’m going insane, just, talking to the walls! It’s like you aren’t even here!”

Jayce clearly had this speech in his head for weeks, Viktor’s heart twinged at the emotion bleeding into his voice. Viktor tried not to cringe away from it. He itched to run away, to go hide, somewhere away from all of this. Neither of them spoke for a long moment, until Jayce took in a shaking breath, “God, Viktor, just. Fucking- say something ! Talk to me, please .”

There’s another moment of silence. Viktor lets his head drop. “Jayce..” he says softly, voice husky from disuse. 

“Fuck .” Jayce’s voice breaks from behind him, and Viktor can hear him weeping. The flood of pain and relief coming from his partner nearly breaks him.

Lost on anything else to say, Viktor sighed. “I am.. Sorry, Jayce.” he said softly.

Jayce laughs ironically, sucking in another breath, “No, no, don’t- don’t be sorry.” he says, and Viktor can feel his eyes bearing into his back “I just.. I just want my partner back.”

That- that sends a flash of anger through Viktor, stronger than it’s been in a long time. “You say that as if it is just that simple.” he says, lips curling around every word.

“What?” Jayce asks, a little incredulous. Viktors hand tightened around his cane (his leg is on fire. He should really sit down,)

“You act as if it is simple .” he spits, “As if I can, just flip a switch and poof! Just be how I used to be . You say all of these things, but you- you do not know me at all, Jayce Talis. You know a caricature of who I was 2 years ago. You do not  know my wants, my needs, anything about me.” he knows he is not being fair, but now that he’s started, he can’t stop. “You frequently misrepresented what I wanted. You have not known me for a long time. And now, now you just- want me to, what, flip- flip a lever and magically turn back into who I was at 28?” He whirls around to glare at his partner, “After everything that has happened, that is what you want from me?” Viktor’s chest heaves, and Jayce just looks stunned, which somehow angers him more. “What?” he bites, “You had much to say before! Have you nothing to say now?!?”

Everything is still for a moment, then Jayce, Jayce fucking smiles , hiding his face in his hands, and Viktor can’t tell if he’s laughing or crying.

“ Jayce .” Viktor snapped. He hadn’t spoken in months, and the moment he does-

“Fuck- no, no, Viktor-” Jayce says, lifting his head “I’m sorry, that’s- thats just the most you’ve sounded like you in a- a long time.”

That. Takes all of the wind out of him. “Oh.” he says, lamely. Neither of them moved for a moment, until Viktor couldn’t ignore the pain pulsing through his leg anymore. Viktor sat, and Jayce stayed quiet. Leaving it open. “I-” he tried, but it came out as a croak. Jayce handed him his own glass of water, still staying silent. (Viktor was hoping he would say something, cover everything up so that he wouldn’t spill his secrets all over the wood between them.) Viktor sets the glass down, clears his throat, and tries to avoid Jayces earnest gaze. “I do not.. I do not think I know who I am, anymore.” 

It’s embarrassing, how quickly Viktor folds to the will of his partner. Jayce takes a deep breath, rolling the confession over in his mind. “Okay.” he says, reaching a hand out across the table, it only took a moment for Viktor to relent, resting his palm in Jayce’s “So,” he starts “Like you said, you’re not the same scientist you were at 25,” Jayce started rubbing over his knuckles, over the scarring, “You’re not the same as when you first walked out of the lab forever ago.” Viktor tried to retract his hand, but Jayce held fast. “And you’re not that monster anymore, either.” Jayce won’t let go of his hand. “Viktor. You’re not.”

“I know-” Viktor started, but Jayce interrupted 

“Do you?” 

“Yes .” he hissed, meeting Jayce’s gaze with a glare

“Okay, Okay.” Jayce said, rubbing Viktor’s hand in thought. “I think- I think that you are just.. Something new.”

Viktor hummed noncommittally, watching Jayce’s thumb move over his knuckles.

“In my opinion, you’re very similar to how you were before everything went wrong. You’re just a little..” he made a vague hand motion by the side of his head, “Far out there.” When Viktor didn’t respond, he chuckled to himself, “But, y’know, I might be a little biased.”

“Why?” Viktor was pretty sure he knew the reason, but he couldn’t access it. (that was happening less, now)

“Oh well,” Jayce said, face going a little red “You know how I feel about you..”

“Do I?”

“C’mon, Vik, I made that whole speech before we, well, before we thought we were gonna die? Was that not-” Jayce said, looking more awkward by the second.

Viktor was floundering, attempting to process the new reality set in front of him.

“Say something?” Jayce tried after a few moments of silence.

“That was real?” was all Viktor could come up with. He had always assumed that that was just his mind, another fantasy. 

Jayce practically jumps in his seat “Fuck- yes, yes , Vik- God, I didn’t even think about- Yes. It was real. And I meant every word.”

“Jayce..” Viktor said, cringing away from it, “You-”

“No, Viktor, just- just let me say my peace and I’ll- I’ll leave you alone about it forever.” Jayce said, fervently “You have always been the smartest person I’ve ever met, and, and the only one who can understand me fully , follow my train of thought. And you’ve, you’ve always been beautiful, Viktor. I’ve always wanted you, even if I didn’t know it, and-” Jayce pulls on Viktor’s arm as soon as he tries to cover his face “No, don’t- don’t hide from this, I love you, Viktor, I-”

“No, no, Jayce, you can’t-” Viktor said desperately, trying to cork down the feeling rising in him

“I can. And I do.” Jayce replied, simple. As if it was just a basic fact of life.

“After everything I have-”

“I don’t care, Vik.”

“Jayce, I-” Viktor can feel tears building in the corners of his eyes “I hurt you , Jayce, and-”

“I don’t care , Viktor. I don’t.” Jayce replied, moving around the table to kneel in front of Viktor, “I love you, Vik. I always have and I always will.” he puts a hand on his Viktor’s face, wiping a tear the moment it falls, “It doesn’t matter what you do, what you’ve done, nothing will ever change it. I don’t know how you-”

“Jayce.” 

“-feel about me, I- I have an idea but I-”

“Jayce .”

“-I know that you have a lot going-” Viktor doesn’t give Jayce a chance to finish whatever he was going to say, cutting him off with his own mouth.

It was sweet, just slotting their lips together but it felt like something amazing, like the heady mixture of every achievement they ever had combined. It lasted barely 10 seconds before Viktor pulled back, resting his thumbs over Jayce’s cheekbones (he rubbed over the scar on his cheek from the first night Hextech ever worked)

“Oh.” is all Jayce had to say, and oh, this beautiful idiot . And they were kissing again, Jayce was eager, pushing in where he could, where Viktor would let him. He tasted like coffee and fresh fruit, and, Janna, he was so warm , Viktor began to lose himself in it.

Just as quickly as he started it, Viktor pulled back, gasping against the sudden wave of grief that washed over him, the grief he had been pushing back for months overtook him suddenly. 

“Woah, woah- hey-” he said softly, holding his face, studying him “It’s okay, it’s okay,” Viktor slid to the floor to drop his face on Jayce’s shoulder, to hide. Jayce quickly adjusted, rubbing his back like he used to do after he had an especially bad coughing fit, burying his other hand in his hair, despite how greasy it was. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”

Viktor grabbed hard at Jayce’s back, the only thing that was keeping him there . “I’m not going anywhere.” He whispered, as if he could read Viktors mind (he could. He could read Viktor’s mind), and Viktor couldn’t do anything but ache with it.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Jayce repeated, and maybe, just for a moment, Viktor let himself believe it.

FIN.