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Chapter Text

Viktor's only confusion upon waking was why. One moment he was staring into Jayce's eyes for what he'd thought would be the final time, power swirling around them as they were torn apart into the finest motes of stardust; one with the arcane and with the universe, and with each other. It was more than he expected, far more than he deserved, and a fitting enough end all things considered. The arcane, nothing, then this. He was instantly aware, pushing himself up to his knees and soaking in the sights and sounds around him; people shouting, wind whistling through broken walls and roof with how high they were above the city. The HexGates, without the pleasant hum of energy and the rush of ozone scent when an airship was directed to its destination.

The broken HexGates, then.

His second realization was that absolutely nothing hurt; his body whole and hale, if not precisely human. The hands he looked down upon were myriad purples and gold; the form he had loved dearly until Jayce had said there was beauty in what he had been. His third realization was that he felt the wind on every part of his naked body, reconstituted from the matter that he was not that which he carried. That answered… some questions, not all, and definitely not why. That he could find out later.

The shouting in the distance had faded so, slowly, Viktor stood up to better survey his surroundings outside the… well, the best term for where he was would be a crater in what had been the HexGate control room. Noxus must have retreated, there had been industrial noise, voices, but no explosions, no guns, and there were none of the ascended nearby - or what would be left of them. Had they also returned from the arcane? Had… where was Jayce?

~!~

Being torn apart, atom by atom, molecule by molecule, was not an experience Jayce could have ever imagined going through, but as it happened, with the weight of Viktor’s forehead against his, and hand on his arm, it was one that felt like freedom.  Freedom and benediction, all at once.  He did deserve to die after what he’d done, they’d done, after all.  

Which is why the sharp, agonizing inhale of fresh air felt like fire burning through him.  

Jayce muffled a shout into his arm, into the all-too-familiar arcane rot near the gem embedded in his wrist and sucked in another breath, exhaling a shaky sob.  There was shouting that was getting louder by the second and he grunted, forcing himself up, planting both of his hands into the cratered stone beneath him.  

He threw his head back and forced his eyes open, blinking against the bright sunlight.  He managed one breath, then another, the fire in his lungs slowly receding, even as the pain his leg made itself apparent, and his lack of clothing shortly thereafter.  Jayce swallowed and turned his head enough to see that he was tower that had once housed the Hexgates.  He blinked a few times more and the rest of the shapes around him began to solidify.  

There was a whisper of Viktor’s voice in the back of his mind, but whether that was a holdover from the future he’d gone to, or their last moments together, Jayce shook himself and looked around, properly, meeting the eyes of two people standing on the edge of the enormous crater that probably hadn’t been there a few seconds ago.  “Blankets,” he snapped at them, his voice a rough growl.  

That, at least, sent them scurrying, and Jayce was able to turn his attention to the rest of the crater.  There was a body, a familiar body, a body he’d once put a hole in the chest of, lying too still and serene, and Jayce would have climbed to his feet, had his leg not abruptly reminded him of the wound that had never properly healed.  Instead, he started to crawl towards Viktor’s body, his chest heaving.  Had he come back without Viktor?  After everything, had he died?  

He crawled forward, ignoring the increasing pain radiating out from his leg, even as the sound of shouting grew around the edges of the crater.  “Viktor,” he breathed, but there was still no movement.  He pressed his fingers tighter into the stone beneath him and forced himself to crawl forward.  “Viktor,” he managed, loud enough to silence some of the voices in the room.  Still no movement.  Jayce forced himself to breathe, even though he wanted nothing more than to collapse, to fall and let himself die at last if he was going to be alone again.  

He took another breath to try and call Viktor’s name, only to watch as Viktor abruptly pushed himself upright.  Jayce stared in shock, his mouth dropping open, before he shoved himself up onto his feet, ignoring the violent lance of pain down his entire side, and fumbled forward.  He needed to see Viktor’s eyes.  Not the Hexcore, not the Machine Herald, Viktor, it had to be Viktor now, didn’t it?  It’d been them at the end, he’d seen it, he’d felt it.  

“Vik, Viktor!” 

~!~

Viktor froze upon hearing Jayce's voice. He'd knelt, then stood, then stepped forward to the edge of what had been the control room without looking behind, his only thought moving forward, discovering, finding out what had happened. Where was answered, what was, well, himself. How and why were mysteries. His breath caught in his chest and he found himself too afraid to turn around. Fear was not an emotion he had felt since he'd emerged from the hexcore, but it was an old, familiar friend. At least now he was, should be, strong enough to face it. Still, he didn't turn around, still shying away, but he looked over his shoulder with an expression of trepidation plain on his face.

Jayce was wild-eyed, disheveled, but there wasn't madness there now, or anger. Instead he saw his own emotions mirrored; confusion, disbelief, and behind it all a little fear although likely not for the same reasons as his.

"Jayce," he whispered, barely audible even to himself but Viktor only had to convince himself that Jayce was real, no one else. 

Despite the disarray around them, what could only be described as an impact crater, Jayce had no new marks on his body; some that Viktor didn't know, never had the opportunity to see, but no blood, no immediate injury. The rune in his wrist glowed uncannily bright, casting Jayce's warm skin in cool shades of blue. Viktor was caught frozen again, staring at him; beautiful, strong Jayce shaking, panting, afraid. Of him, or for him?

The rhythmic thud of boots on the stairs told him they would soon be interrupted, and all his instincts told him to be wary of whoever was coming. They couldn't be shut out, the doors long since blasted open in the battle. Viktor glanced to them, hanging off their brass hinges, then back to Jayce. Words left him, if he'd ever had them. All of this was his fault, after all.


"Jayce, I…" he stammered, looking away, looking down. Debris and detritus lay strewn across the pocked stone floor, but one piece in particular caught his eye - a common thing, but one that pulled at his heart. Viktor knelt smoothly and picked up the little gear, stained slightly with what looked like rust but proved instead to be the blurry red of arcane rot. It wasn't his; the one he'd carried in his pocket since the night they met, truly met, could be anywhere by now, but it had been special only by the moment that made it so. If anyone would understand, it would be the man who must be the other half of his soul, if such things existed. If he still had a soul, after all of this.

Viktor turned and held his inhuman hand out to Jayce, gear pinched between thumb and forefinger gently. 

~!~

The shouting on the edge of the crater, the call of his name by more than one person, none of it mattered, because Viktor was there, he was standing there, looking at him, the mix of fear and trepidation making him stutter to a stop, especially when he realized what Viktor was holding out to him.  The familiar reminder made his heart ache, and it was in that moment that his body gave out on him, sending him crashing to his knees again, shouting through the pain of his leg and side that was enough to have his head swimming in pain.  

Jayce fumbled, grabbing for Viktor’s hand, wrapping both of his hands around it and the gear, a broken sob of pain and heartbreak escaping him.  Viktor was here.  The Viktor that he’d killed, not the Machine Herald that had wanted to ascend them all, it was Viktor.  Viktor who looked afraid, and scared, and worried, and a thousand other things that Jayce wanted to soothe, but everything hurt too much to do anything more than cradle Viktor’s hand closer, the notches of the gear biting into his palm.  

His tongue felt too big for his mouth, and his vision was starting to swim harder and harder, Viktor’s image going blurry, his fingers starting to slip around Viktor’s hand.  “Viktor, Viktor, please, please don’t…” There was more shouting beyond them, and Jayce was aware of boots moving closer, and the gear slipping out of Viktor’s fingertips and into his as he pitched forward, the pain and exhaustion catching up with him in a violent rush.  

Jayce fell forward, and didn’t feel the strong arms catch him, or the shouted orders for him to be released.  Viktor was here, but he was going to leave again, he didn’t have a reason to stay, Jayce had never given him a reason to stay, not after what he’d done.  Why would he?  Jayce had killed him, had tried to kill him, again and again, he’d be better off far away where he could be safe and… 

The world went black all over again.  

~!~

Viktor pitched forward to try and catch Jayce, or more likely break his fall; the bigger man would topple him easily, but as he did so several of the enforcers at the door trained their guns on him. The weapons weren't standard issue, still new and shiny and their power cores glowed very faintly blue - hexgems, robbed of much of their power by the core's destruction, but not all of it until they wound down like batteries. At low power they were still lethal, and one cosmic second chance was improbable, a second would not come. So his leap for Jayce instead became dropping to his knees, hands raised in surrender, but his eyes were still locked on the man crumpled before him. 

Jayce's broad shoulders rose and fell in steady, if slow, breaths. Alive. Beautifully, painfully alive. He wanted nothing more than to touch him again, Jayce's large hand engulfing his as they walked to the lab, or an excited hug that erred toward too tight for comfort when they solved another runic equation. Not touching him, not reaching out, took all of Viktor's not inconsiderable willpower. The hand Jayce had touched still tingled, perhaps it was his imagination, but Viktor would cling to that feeling until he had it again.

Enforcers surrounded him, roughly forcing his hands behind his back as those wicked guns that should never have existed poked mere inches from his face, jumpy fingers on triggers just looking for an excuse. They blocked his view of the others swarming Jayce. Trying to lean around and see was rewarded with the stock of a rifle cracking against his cheek, the mere shock of which  startled him into complacency. Finally he saw Jayce once they'd hauled him to his feet, half guiding and half dragging him down the ruined and poorly patched stairs. Down, ahead of them, was Jayce carried by several burly men whose uniforms bore the white arm band of enforcer medics. That gave him peace, for a moment, at least.

He was held with HexTech weapons trained on him in a room he didn't recognize until he watched the patch of light from one high window move slowly across the room, up the wall, then fade into nothingness while his mind swirled with questions. How. Why. Where is Jayce? On a loop, interspersed with closing his eyes and seeing the swirling galaxies of the arcane. The final question was the only one he managed to verbalize, met only with a disgusted huff from one of his guards - not that he'd expected an answer. Not after everything. Viktor wanted to scream even though he felt almost eerily calm, the same sort of calm he felt when he'd been told he would die, and soon. Not so much calm as… blank. But still, he felt. Fear, and calm, and cold. He felt cold. That nearly made him smile until a guard snapped at him for it, and he schooled his face. They would not know what it meant. Jayce would have understood.

They came for him at the changing of guards in the wee hours; pulled a bag over his head and bound him more thoroughly with chains that made his body ache to carry. Stumbling hallways, then a coach, then a train of some sort, his bare feet dragged over the metal floor until he was pushed down and told to stay. So stay he did, not sure if he was waking or sleeping. The bag over his head was pure darkness which his mind's eye filled with nebulae and sparkes of blue and gold; the gold turned into Jayce's warm eyes until he shook his head to clear his thoughts. Immediately the cocking click of rifles reverberated in the train car.

After what felt like hours the train shuddered to a halt and he was half-helped, half dragged again. Metal grate, stone floor scraping his toes, jeering, haunting yells from near and far. The creak of a gate before he was pushed. No, kicked; a boot in his back that had him pitching forward. A hand had grabbed the bag over his head as he fell, not that it would do him any good. Stillwater was a cruel place at its best, and there were levels of darkness and solitude here that were too cruel for any living thing. The only light left along with the retreating enforcers.

~!~

Exposure.  

That’s what they said he was suffering from, what had made him feel like every breath was pain, and after they had to break and graft the bone in his leg for the fourth time, Jayce had growled at them to stop bothering, and to just get him a brace.  He’d make a better one as soon as he could stand upright for more than a handful of minutes, but he didn’t need to tell them that.  He might never run again, but he would be able to walk, and that would be enough.  

His mother had been the most painful visit (she’d buried him, mourned him, and yet here he was, and all he could think about was Viktor, who they refused to answer any questions about), but they’d hugged and he’d cried in her arms.  For what, exactly, he didn’t know anymore, but it felt so good to be held for a few seconds, to relax and sag into her arms that he didn’t question it.  

Then he remembered that Viktor was nowhere to be found and no one was telling him where.  

Not even Cait, when she’d stepped in for a brief moment to check on him.  Her eyes had been haunted, and even when he’d teased her about the eye patch, it had garnered him barely a twitch of a smile.  There was something there, something dark hidden under all of that pain that he suspected wasn’t just about Vi, or about the war that they had fought.  There was something darker that she was carrying, he recognized it.  But at least she’d told him that his seat at the Council was still there, if he wanted it, and though he had no intention of keeping it, being a Councilor would give him the chance to know where Viktor had been put.  

It was also why he dragged himself out of bed a full two weeks before the doctors were recommending, shoving his injured leg into the ill-fitting brace over the clothes that they had brought him.  They seemed like clothes from a lifetime ago, but Jayce managed to put them on, to cut his hair so it was long, but kempt.  He kept the beard for the same reason.  He was not the same, and he wouldn’t ever be the same.  He wasn’t going to pretend otherwise.  

He made his way up to the Council chamber, his foot clanking with every single step.  There were new eyes at the table, ones that he recognized.  Sevika was a welcome sight, and Jayce nodded to her, clearly surprising her, before he limped his way to his seat and sank into his chair, the rest of the room startled into silence.  Jayce heaved an exhausted breath and looked around at all of them.  

“Debrief me,” he ordered, his voice soft.  “And I’ll try to explain what happened in the other place we all went to, when Viktor and I tried to end it all.”  

~!~

At first, Viktor was certain they'd forgotten about him entirely. In the dark it was nearly impossible to tell hours from days, or minutes, and only the fact that he could now see somewhat in the dark kept the frazzled remains of his sanity intact. It wasn't much; shapes and outlines mostly, but more than he would have been able to see before…. Everything. Distant, muffled sounds like the foghorn of a ship reached him occasionally but not with a pattern he could discern to tell time. All he could do was sit, and think, so he did. At first it was trying to fill in gaps, of which there were any; his time as more god than man felt like a fever dream too distant to touch, and for that he was thankful. It came back to him when he pressed at the back of his mind, memories flowing in snippets of sound and flashes of color, a jigsaw puzzle he wasn't sure he wanted to see back together. As he placed the pieces carefully in his mind, it still felt like a haze, like everything he'd seen through that time was covered in a shroud of golden light, obscuring faces, details, motives - his, or the hexcore's, he couldn't be sure.

The arcane had cradled him, held him close and whispered two lies to every truth, but the truths were too beautiful to deny. He could be great, he could be powerful. No, he had thought then, I only need to be good enough to spark change, to be remembered. Now he would be remembered, but for those things he barely could envision when he had walked past good deeds and embraced something greater and far more terrible. But…. hadn't it been beautiful, in the end?

Now when he closed his eyes he no longer saw galaxies, merely a deeper blackness as the cold seeped into his bones. Slowly he left his careful, meditative posture to instead lean back against the wall, legs splayed in front of him, then from there he slumped, then lay on his side unmoving for what felt like aeons as he thought. Why. How. Where was Jayce. Hopefully somewhere much warmer. Any initial delight at feeling such sensations as cold had fled him quickly when he realized how he struggled to warm himself from inside, much as he had before the change when he was nearly skin and bones. The organic, metallic flesh of his body felt cold both from within and to the touch; feet like blocks of ice, the dank cold creeping up his extremities. They hadn't given him clothes, perhaps they thought he didn't need them - a nicer idea than it being an intentional slight.

He heard footsteps first, then saw the bobbing shadow that lightened until it became the beam of a lantern. Quickly he sat up from his stupor, scrambling to the gate of his cell.

"Jayce?" he asked, ragged hope in his hoarse voice.

The answer came in the form of an enforcer turning the final round of the stairs, lantern in one hand and a tray in the other. He said nothing, just unceremoniously dropped the tray by the door slot and kicked it through to Viktor's side before turning away. One the tray was a clay cup of water, and a sickly looking meal of fish and something that purported to be vegetables. It was cold. Viktor ate it anyway, ravenous in ways he could not quantify and in which the meal did not satiate. Had it only been a day? Hours? He'd always been one to lose track of time when his mind was working, but that skewed toward uncounted hours on end, days, not the shortening of time. Had they perhaps been seeing how long he could go without food? If anyone had checked on him, Viktor wasn't sure he'd have noticed if his mind had been elsewhere trying to unravel what it didn't want to remember.

~!~

By the time the Council meeting was finished, Jayce was wrung dry and exhausted.  He’d explained everything he could, and gotten caught up on not only what had happened after the battle, and how it had finished, but the following six months.  Zaun had achieved its freedom, two members of the Council were from Zaun, and they were continuing to move forward, away from Hextech and toward a future they could support together.  

They had refused to answer his questions about Viktor, and Caitlyn had refused to meet his eye, even as she sat in her mother’s former seat, well-within range to meet his eyes.  Mel’s empty seat was now occupied by Ekko, and it made him more relieved than he expected at the sight of him, healthy and doing well by the looks of things.  

He watched them file out, one by one, until only he and Cait were left, and he looked at her, waiting her out.  “Where is he?”  

Caitlyn scoffed.  “Jayce, he is a danger-” 

“Where,” Jayce repeated.  “Is he?  He isn’t in the hospital.  I checked the records.  Where is he?”  

Caitlyn tipped her chin up.  “Stillwater, with the other criminals.”  

A chill ran down his spine as Jayce thought about all the time that had passed since they’d returned.  All of that time, and Viktor hadn’t been in the hospital, healing like him, he’d been in Stillwater, locked up and alone.  Bile rose in his throat and he forced it down as he stood, locking his knees as he swayed in place, reaching for the cane that was ill-fitting, just like his brace.  He’d have time to make a new one, eventually.  

“Jayce, you cannot go see him!  You don’t know that he won’t try to do it again!”  

Jayce thought of the hard press of their foreheads together, the fearful way that Viktor had looked at him, the way that he deserved after how he’d killed Viktor.  He tightened his hand on his cane.  “He won’t do it again,” he told her.  “And besides, you all spent over an hour debating the Arcane rot problem.  If you want me to solve it, I’m going to need him to help me.”  

Caitlyn scowled.  “He would never help us.”  

Jayce laughed sadly and tossed his hair out of his face.  “All he ever wanted was to help people.  And all we ever did was get in his fucking way.”  He heaved in a breath and started to walk around the geared table.  “You going to tell me why neither of the Zaunite Councilors can look you in the eye?”  

She stiffened, clenching her hands into fists.  “It was war,” she whispered.  “You were, you weren’t there, Jayce.  You were gone, Mel Medarda was gone and…” 

Jayce thought of the body of the child that he’d killed with the Mercury Hammer and stared down at the floor for a long moment.  “Committing an atrocity, even with the best of intentions, is still an atrocity, Cait.  Rationalize it to yourself all you like, but it still is.  But at least be brave enough to admit to yourself.”  

“You weren’t there!” Caitlyn snapped.  

“Can you take it back?  What you did?”  Jayce asked her, looking over his shoulder at her.  “Can you undo it?”  

Caitlyn grit her teeth together.  “I’ll send the authorization for your visit to Stillwater.  He cannot leave.”  

Jayce stared at her and nodded once.  “He will be leaving with me,” he told her, and ignored her shout of protest as he made his way to the door.  

–

The trip down to the darkest, and deepest cells of Stillwater was agonizing, and Jayce’s heart was pounding his throat.  They’d brought Viktor down here?  He shivered and tightened his hand on his cane as the elevator, at last, came to a stop and the guard led the way to a cell in the corner with no light.  Jayce glared at the guard and waited for the nearby torch to be lit and the cell unlocked, before he stepped in.  

“If you die-” 

“Lock it behind me then,” Jayce snapped, and turned his full attention to where Viktor was leaning back against the stone wall.  He looked emaciated, more than usual, the material of his body no longer shining with gold and vibrant colors, instead dull and dark, and if it weren’t for the soft breaths escaping, his mouth, Jayce wouldn’t have assumed he was still alive.  There was no comfort here, in a cell like this, but that was going to change right now.  

“Viktor,” Jayce breathed, stepping closer to him, kneeling slowly, carefully, wincing through the pain of the brace, before he was kneeling next to Viktor, reaching out to take his hand, squeezing it carefully.  “Viktor, can you hear me?”  

~!~

Viktor hadn’t really internalized the sounds of what was happening around him until his icy cold hand was enveloped in searing warmth that woke him from his stupor. Light, little as it was and blocked by the man leaning over him, blinded him after so long in the dark that he only cracked his eyes open briefly before pressing them firmly shut again. He didn’t have to hear Jayce’s words to know it was him; he had a presence, a familiar scent, and a warmth that was unmistakable. 

“You know… saying it louder and slower does not help to understand, and I am still fluent,” he said wryly, though his words came out more as a gasp than the lighthearted teasing he had aimed for. Nothing was alright and acting otherwise could hardly help, but he wanted to reassure Jayce that he was himself, again. What better way to do that then be his worst. 

Even so, Viktor squeezed Jayce’s hand back with all of his meager strength and tried to smile. “I knew you would come,” he whispered, “but I feared….”

A part of him had started to believe Jayce hadn’t understood what he’d tried to say when they’d awoken. Viktor had cursed himself over and over for not shouting the first thing that came into his mind; I love you, I’m sorry. 

But he hadn’t thought to then, and again now, even as he tried to say the words they tangled up in his chest until all he could do was gasp in a breath and hold it for what felt like aeons. “Jayce,” he said instead, wistful and breathy and almost like a prayer. 

Chapter Text

Relief at the familiar scathing snark brought tears to his eyes and Jayce laughed, unable to keep from grinning as Viktor teased him back in the way that only he ever really dared.  But then, that, and Viktor mentioning his fear had him realizing several things in startlingly quick succession.  

First, that Viktor was still bare.  They’d thrown him into the cell without any clothing on him, probably to make sure that his lack of humanity remained on display.  

Second, that Viktor thought he was still angry, and anger had been the emotion furthest from his mind it felt almost unfathomable.  

Third, he was not going to leave Viktor in Stillwater for a single second longer, and he didn’t give a damn who got in his way, he was not going to let it happen.  

Jayce leaned in and pressed their foreheads together, feeling Viktor’s breath ghost over his face and smiled at him, refusing to let go of his hand for another determined squeeze.  “I’m here,” he whispered, and repeated it softly as he pulled his hand away and yanked his jacket off in quick tugs.  “I’m here, and I’m getting you out of here.”  

If he had expected Viktor’s body to be heavy, instead it was nearly the opposite.  He was sturdier than before, that much was easy to feel as he lifted Viktor into a proper sitting position, wrapping his jacket around Viktor’s shoulders.  The jacket dwarfed him, still, and the part of him that thrilled at the sight was something he shoved into a corner of his mind to ignore.  Shifting with a grunt, Jayce got his good leg braced under him, and when Viktor looked up at him, again with that same confused and almost-scared look, he swept Viktor up and into his arms.  It took two tugs and a little extra shifting to make sure Viktor’s body was as covered as it could be, before Jayce turned to the guard standing outside the cell.  

“Sir, I can’t-” 

“May I remind you that I am a Councilor, and I am remanding him to my own custody, and we’ll be staying under house arrest at my house until we both feel up to speaking to the Council.”  Jayce drew himself up to his full height and glared at the guard until he stepped forward, fumbling with the keys as he unlocked the door.  Jayce didn’t wait for him as he strode up the hallway and to the elevator, hitting a button as he kept Viktor cradled against him.  

“Sadly,” Jayce said softly, breathing into Viktor’s hair.  “Our lab has been dismantled, like the Hexgates are.  But my townhouse is more than big enough for the both of us, and there is no share of extra rooms we can turn into a lab if we want.”  He kept his nose pressed to Viktor’s temple and breathed out slow, even as he stepped into the elevator and twisted himself into a position to hit the button to bring them up and out.  

He didn’t wait for permission from the guard at the front desk, merely leveling her with the same look he had the guard, and strode past them, Viktor still wrapped in his arms as he stepped into the transport.  Jayce ignored the steadily increasing spears of pain running from his knee up to his hip, reminding him that this brace was not designed for him and did not fit him, before he allowed himself to sit and keep Viktor cradled in his lap.  At least no one else was sharing the transport, save the guard who always manned the car.  

“One thing at a time,” Jayce whispered, both for himself, and for Viktor.  “A shower, a warm bed, and sleep for both of us.  Then we can figure the rest out.”  He could step down from the Council, and he and Viktor could maybe, maybe talk.  Without the heartache, without the agony, and maybe without the pervasive knowledge that Viktor would be walking away from him again, before he would be able to brace his heart for the pain.  

But that was a problem for tomorrow.  Today, would be a shower, a bed, and then sleep.  

~!~

Leaving Stillwater was every sensation of arrival in opposite. Warmth enveloped him at Jayce’s touch and he couldn’t wrap his mind around that enough to give more than passing thought to the other man’s struggle to lift him, the soft silk lining of Jayce’s coat slid across his cold body, slickly smooth and warm from Jayce’s body that ran nearly as hot as his own forge. 

Distantly he heard shouting, sharp commands barked at Jayce to stop, but there was an edge of fear to them. All bark and no bite, they wouldn’t put their hands on a councilman; especially not the one who had stopped the Noxian invasion. Stopped the Machine Herald. That thought twisted at his heart, and he buried his face against Jayce’s chest as much for comfort as to hide from the unbearable light that grew stronger and brighter until outside it was blinding in comparison to his cell. He brought his still bound hands up to clasp Jayce’s shoulder and the glint of sunlight off the golden accents of his own flesh, dull as they were, made him wince. 

They hadn’t gotten the chains off. A pang of anxiety filled him for an instant, fear of being stuck this way, bound and vulnerable, until his logical mind turned back to Jayce. Jayce with his forge and his tools, his strength and diligence. Chains would be quick work for him. The filtered light of the transport cable car was… better, as his eyes began to adjust. 

“Counselor Talis, I think you have committed a crime,” he said weakly, and was instantly rewarded with Jayce’s arms holding him a little tighter. 

Every second of warmth seemed to revive him a little more, ground him in this reality he’d been so suddenly thrown into then robbed of in Stillwater. The cold dark, soundless, sightless, empty, had been the stark opposite of the arcane. Grounded rather than floating, limiting instead of limitless. If he’d had concerns about what he was now before going into Stillwater, he didn’t anymore. Viktor was certain that he was very little more than a man, one susceptible to cold, hunger, and loneliness yet again. That his body did not cry out in pain was the only difference besides the visual. Of course there would be more, but he needed a lab for that - a lab that no longer existed. 

“Ximena?” Viktor asked weakly, at the mention of the townhouse. It had never been entirely clear whether she lived at House Talis proper near the forgeworks or with Jayce, just that she spent a lot of time there and whenever he managed to pull Viktor away from the lab, it was because Jayce’s mom had tutted something about Viktor being too thin and already had supper in the works. 

He’d said it without thinking, then let out a little sigh. The chance she wanted to see him, wanted to even know he was alive, were very slim. He had touched her mind within the arcane as well. Few had stood out in the bright points of lights as individuals, but her will was singular and he remembered the softness and familiarity of it. 

Viktor took a slow, steadying breath to calm his nerves. His analytical brain was moving too swiftly for his current manacled state of weakness, undress, and exhaustion. He tipped his head back against Jayce’s arm, squinting at the light that was still too much. Forcing himself to bear it quickly helped him acclimate, and Jayce’s worried face came into clearer focus - stress lines running deep in tanned skin that was rough and dry, but his trimmed beard and hair said he was beginning to take care of himself, to come back to himself. 

~!~

“I’d do far more than commit a crime for you,” Jayce teased, though it fell flat a few moments later when the rattle of chains reminded him of Viktor’s still bound hands. He’d get rid of those as soon as they were home. Simple joint, would be easy enough to alter and remove, and then he could move onto the rest of his plan. Odds were that the Council, that Cait already had been alerted to what he had done, but that wasn’t going to stop him. 

Jayce hiked Viktor closer and made sure as much of him as covered as possible before he strode out of the cable car. His leg protested the pace, loudly, but getting Viktor into his home and safe from prying eyes meant far more. Thankfully, it wasn’t far, and people were busy focusing on rebuilding efforts and themselves, than him. A blessing. 

“My mother lives in House Talis. Near the forgeworks,” Jayce explained, keeping his voice low as he turned a corner and moved past two people who gave them odd looks, but returned to their work. “She always tried to make sure we, you especially, were well fed whenever she could, which is why she was always at the townhouse.” His heart ached, thinking of his Mom, who had mourned him, had buried him, and had been grieving him, when he’d returned. 

Turning onto his street at last, Jayce sighed in relief. He glanced down at Viktor and found himself being watched, even studied, and cleared his throat. “Almost there,” he said, slowing down his pace to catch his breath, making his way carefully up the stairs, and switching his hold on Viktor to open the door and shut it behind him, then locking it. Another twisting of a hidden mechanism pulled strong bolts behind the door into place and he nodded. 

“Let’s get these cuffs off,” Jayce said, carrying Viktor to his office, which was filled with all of his old trappings as Councilor, but tucked away in the corner, there was a set of tools that he’d always kept on hand. A ‘just in case’ that had been bound to come in handy. He carefully set Viktor down on the plush couch and pressed their foreheads together again, before limped his way to where he kept the tools, picking them up, making his way back. 

A quick survey of the room had him grabbing another chair to drag it closer to the couch, almost falling into it, before he reached for the chains on Viktor’s hands. “I can’t believe they didn’t…” he shook his head angrily and carefully wrapped Viktor’s hands in his. “Can I get these off of you, Viktor?” 

~!~

Viktor watched Jayce move with keenly knowing eyes; the step and hitch, hissing breath as he told himself yes it could take the weight, it just hurt, but it could take it. Jayce’s shoulders and back tight as he flinched. The pain radiated, he knew that all too well. It was evident in every new line on Jayce’s handsome face. Back before everything had fallen apart, Viktor had teased him mercilessly about his youthful features as they aged from their twenties into their thirties and Jayce could have still been mistaken for an Academy student if his face hadn’t been on every airship billboard in Piltover. Now he looked more a man instead of a boy; not a bad change by far, only sad that it had come to pass by way of pain and sorrow.

”Stupid question,” Viktor said, leaning forward slightly so his hands were more in Jayce’s lap, easy to work on without Jayce having to shift and put any more pressure on his angered injuries. “They’re on my ankles too, but those are less… detrimental.”

He watched Jayce work with shaking hands, wanting to offer his help but it would be no use. Once his hands were free, he could likely manage his ankles himself after watching how Jayce managed it. Hearing that Ximena lives gave him peace; knowing that he had harmed people, remembering the emotionless haze of it and conviction that it was correct to do so, was one thing. If he had awoken and known he’d hurt the one person in Piltover other than Jayce who always saw him as an equal, Viktor wasn’t sure he could handle it.

”Jayce,” he said, low and soothing as his partner’s normally deft hands fumbled with his tools, “Stop. This does not hurt me, you… you are clearly hurting. It can wait. I can wait for you.”

~!~

Of course it was a stupid question, but Viktor’s familiar snapping made something relax in his shoulders and Jayce glanced up at him with a sad smile. “You’ve had every choice and dignity taken from you since you returned. I’m not going to take more,” he said, taking a deep breath to force his hands to still. He hadn’t even noticed the cuffs on his ankles. 

At the order to stop, however, he froze, and looked up at Viktor worriedly, before swallowing hard. “I’m going to be in pain for a while. Forever, probably. Four surgeries on your leg in a week with a poor prognosis, and leaving the hospital early against recommendation will do that.” He fingered the chains carefully, looking at the joints and twisting them, before he at last found the weak point. 

“But if I marched into Stillwater to get you out, you think I’m going to let you keep these on for a moment longer?” Jayce lifted Viktor’s hands again and carefully began to dismantle the joint. “You know me better than that, Viktor.” A pop and the sound of a spring snapping made him smile, and he turned the cuff sideways in his hand. Another pop, and the first cuff popped open, and Jayce carefully removed Viktor’s hand, before moving to the second. 

After a few minutes tinkering and steadily working his way through the mechanism, Jayce glanced up at Viktor and smiled faintly. “I could uh. Use your help designing a brace that fits, though. I know you designed your own, back then. This one doesn’t fit well.” Another satisfying click and the second cuff fell from Viktor’s wrist and he sighed in satisfaction. “There we go.” 

~!~

“When in doubt, ask the expert,” Viktor replied tiredly. He rolled his shoulders and spread his arms wide, stretching as he hadn’t been able to in… how long? “It was weeks then, that I was there. I think I fell into, eh, a sort of meditation like before in the commune.”

Immediately upon saying it he cringed, pulling a face and looking away from Jayce. It wasn’t fair to bring that up. He’d meant nothing by it, he meditated often then - feeling the hearts and minds of the people he had touched, basking in their joy and thankfulness and care for each other - but that was how Jayce had found him. How Jayce had killed him.

He cleared his throat. “Tomorrow we will make the brace, you still know what strength of steel to use I will just need your measurements and where the defects are in the bone to account for strap pressures,” he said, trying to breeze over the awkwardness, “you likely should have an inner brace as I had. One for pressure, one for support, and something to wear to bed.”

If only he could heal one more person, he would. Jayce would not be a bad soul to be tangled up with forever. When they had become one with the arcane he had felt it; a pure presence burning bright in the back of his mind, the light of the sun condensed into the heart of a man - a feeling he could spend the rest of his life chasing again.

”There’s… there is nothing worse than waking because you rolled over and twisted your leg, we will prevent that from the start,” he continued.

~!~

Jayce flinched at the reminder of the commune, at the reminder of what he’d done when Viktor had only been meditating, healing people, helping people, and he’d… he’d… 

He carefully shifted the chair down to the end of the couch, lifting Viktor’s feet into his lap, carefully examining the cuffs as Viktor rambled about the brace that they would make for him, nodding slowly.  While he was definitely the more prone to rambling one of the two of them, especially to hide, Viktor had picked up a few of his habits over the years, and it made him smile, even as he bent down to begin to undo the other set of cuffs.  

“I’m glad you had a way to escape where you were, and that it helped,” Jayce managed, carefully adjusting Viktor’s leg out of habit as he always had when tightening his brace, before he tensed, realizing that he likely didn’t have to account for the injury any longer.  He sighed and turned his attention back to the lock.  “I got out of the hospital yesterday, and then had my meeting with the Council today.  Had been demanding someone tell me where you were, but no one would until then.”  

Now that the adrenaline rush of rescuing Viktor was fading, the exhaustion and pain was starting to catch up with him, and Jayce shook his head, forcing himself to focus as he managed to get one of the ankle cuffs off of Viktor, before looking at his desk.  He took a moment to carefully massage the spot where the cuff had been, rotating the ankle to test its strength, before he forced himself to his feet with another pained grunt.  

Maybe it should have been weird, the purple, almost metallic structure instead of skin with a hum behind it that he could feel, rather than hear or see.  But it wasn’t.  It was still Viktor, and it still felt like the Viktor he’d held before they’d both been ripped apart and put back together by the Arcane.  The same Viktor that he had killed, without remorse, because he’d thought it was the right thing to do.  

Jayce shuffled through the papers on his desk, before he found the ones he wanted, grabbing them and a few blank pages as well as a pencil, before shuffling back over to Viktor, depositing them in his lap.  “Not sure I’ll be able to move tomorrow, but I can order the steel, and the rest of the parts we’ll need.  Those have the sketches of my leg, and sizing.  Should be what we need.”  He swallowed and sat back down with a slump, into the chair and carefully picked up Viktor’s ankle again.  

“Was falling down a cliff, and my leg was hit by the Mercury Hammer,” he said, his eyes far away as he started to tinker and work.  “Knew it shattered some of the bone, but I set what I could, took it apart to make a brace, and…” Jayce swallowed and shook his head, refocusing on the lock in front of him.  Small things, one at a time.  Two more twists, some pressure, and the cuff sprang free and Jayce sighed in relief, taking the cuffs away, throwing them to the other corner of his office, rattling against a table.  

“Give, give me a few minutes, and we’ll go to my rooms, shower, and rest.  Mom’ll bring food in the morning, she’s already promised to do so,” Jayce said, looking up at Viktor.  He looked down at where Viktor’s ankle was still in his lap.  There would be nothing stopping Viktor from leaving now, if he wanted to leave.  Maybe he would wake up in the morning and Viktor would be gone.  He’d deserve that, and Viktor would… wouldn’t have to be near the man who killed him.  

~!~

Viktor watched Jayce work and limp and talk with a bemused adoration, for a little while he could almost pretend things were as they once were. Almost. His new biomechanical flesh, dark and varied purple against Jayce’s warm gold, would be a constant reminder. He wiggled his toes and flexed his ankle, the twinge of pain from where the shackle had cut in was fading quickly. Pain was short lived it seemed in this form, it had been at the commune, too. 

“I’m glad it was not your hammer, that yours fixed you,” Viktor said eventually, “the weapon you brought back was something else, and Jayce…”

The other man didn’t respond fully to his name, his shoulders twitched while he looked down at Viktor’s bare leg but that was all. Viktor struggled awkwardly to sit up without pulling his leg away from Jayce’s grasp. The room spun, his body still strangely weak in ways he couldn’t quantify. Hunger was part of it. Thirst. Exhaustion. He needed food, water, sleep, but something else, something more. The sensation of being plugged into the power cells in his chamber was one thing he could never forget, a frisson of power and light and warmth that made everything feel better, that made him stronger. There were no more power cells, no more HexTech to feed off of. He would have to make do. 

“Jayce, look at me,” he said, slumping over himself so he could reach for Jayce’s hands. Patiently he waited for the other man to comply, before he tried to summon a smile - it was tired and small but when had it ever been anything but? “It didn’t hurt, Jayce. I simply was and then I was not, I felt nothing.”

~!~

Jayce flinched and stared down at where Viktor was holding onto his hands, those words echoing in his mind, over and over again.  It hadn’t hurt?  Jayce turned Viktor’s hands over in his palms, staring down at the articulated biomechanical marvel.  “Don’t lie to me,” he said, his voice low, unable to look up at Viktor.  “Don’t, don’t lie to me and pretend-” he choked off the words and tried to breathe through the tears that were threatening all over again.  

“Don’t protect me from what I did to you,” Jayce said instead.  His shoulders hunched as he slowly flexed Viktor’s fingers, one after another, watching the components move within his hand, studying them absently.  “Even if you can’t feel the same way you could before, even if it was like you said before, you were, and then weren’t… I don’t believe that you felt nothing.  Even if that something was betrayal and anger at me.”  

Jayce swallowed and tapped his finger along Viktor’s wrist, where the cuffs had been.  “I’m sorry, Viktor.  I’m so sorry.  I know it isn’t enough, that it won’t ever be enough, but, I am.  I failed you, and everyone else.”  He swallowed and lifted Viktor’s fingertips to his cheek, exhaling roughly, before lowering Viktor’s hand back into his lap.  “Do you need help going to my room?  It’s just upstairs.”  He gestured.  “Or will you leave, now?”  

If Viktor did leave, he deserved it.  Hell, he’d probably be hauled off to Stillwater in his place, left to rot until the world forgot who Jayce Talis had ever been, and it would be for the best.  But he’d gotten Viktor out of Stillwater, and that was something.  Even if it wasn’t enough, never would be enough, it was something.  

“I understand if you don’t want to stay after what I did.”  He’d been the worst kind of partner and friend, and had let his fear get the better of him, and he’d chased it all the way to the Commune, to Viktor, with a smoking hole in his chest, a single gear slipping from his fingertips.  Which was a reminder, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out the gear Viktor had given him, those first moments back, holding it out to him.  It’d given him more comfort than he’d ever been able to describe, sitting in the hospital, waiting, begging, pleading for someone to tell him what had happened to Viktor.  

~!~

Viktor stared at him, mouth agape as his shock turned slowly into disgust. Not at Jayce, never at Jayce, but about the assumption at its very core. Leave? And go where. He could not hide like this, what kind of life would lurking in the shadows be? Maybe he could live in another country, another continent, that had never heard of the Machine Herald, but how would he get there? 

“Jayce…. Idiot,” he huffed, reaching for Jayce’s hand to curl his warm, scarred fingers back around the gear. Viktor had long fingers but narrow hands and both of his still failed to fully engulf Jayce’s fist. 

“Where would I go without my partner?” Viktor asked softly, “why would I go. I have nothing left now but you, and, well, you’re really all I cared about anyway. The rest… it comes with you.”

Viktor leaned forward farther, tipping their heads together so their breath mingled. His own were steady and slow despite his heightened emotions, but Jayce’s were ragged and shuddering as he did his best not to break down. 

“I’m not lying but neither is it the full truth, I felt many things, in my mind. I meant only that you didn’t hurt me, neither my true death nor…. Nor what you did were slow enough to feel,” Viktor murmured, “I was waking up as if from a dream, from the minds of my people, not unaware but also not fully awake. There wasn’t time to be afraid, Jayce, I saw you and thought finally, you found me, I can show you-“

He sighed and shook his head. This was not going to make anything better. He had never been any good at consolation. “I was trying to good, to right my wrongs, but what I wanted was to do it with you. We have one more chance to do things right.”

~!~

Viktor calling him an idiot made his heart ache in the best ways.  The reminder that unlike the Council, unlike everyone else, Viktor didn’t expect him to be right, and would always tell him if he was wrong.  Ending up so far away from Viktor was what caused this in the first place, and he had a second chance to make sure he didn’t make that mistake again.  

“I have one more chance to let my partner show me what he was trying to tell me all along,” Jayce corrected, keeping his voice soft, closing his eyes as he leaned against Viktor, breathing slowing after a few minutes of carefully timed breaths.  “No more forgetting to do good,” he promised, brushing their noses together with a faint, small smile.  The rest he could… maybe learn to accept.  Someday.  Maybe.  

It would be an easier promise to make than one to keep, but after he got Viktor some form of exoneration from the Council, he would happily retire his seat to someone from Zaun, so they would have more even numbers on the Council.  Exactly as it should have been all along, and he would return to the lab with Viktor, and they’d figure out how to be happy from there.  

Jayce took a deep breath, and opened his eyes to look at Viktor again, managing another smile that felt almost familiar.  “Come on, then.  I have no doubt I’ll be hauled in front of the Council tomorrow, but we can rest tonight, and get you in some clothes that aren’t my jacket.”  He carefully moved the pile of papers off of Viktor’s lap, and onto the chair behind him.  “And a shower for both of us, and food from Mom that I have left over in my room, if we can manage that much.”  

Whether or not he’d be able to fall asleep, lying next to Viktor, with the nightmares that liked to plague him, would remain to be seen, but they’d figure it out, as best they could.  They always did.  

~!~

Viktor slowly, carefully, stood up. He’d expected to be unsteady, to wobble if not topple but his legs held him well and evenly without a hint of pain even though he felt weak and lightheaded. Watching Jayce struggle to his feet struck to his heart as surely as any blow; strong and confident Jayce, reduced. Broken. If only he could heal one more person. He grabbed onto Jayce’s arm to anchor him a little then slipped underneath it. No matter what tensile strength his new limbs held, Viktor was still dwarfed by Jayce’s bulk and lifting or even dragging him would be impossible - to act as a crutch, however, was quite doable. 

“You eat, I will manage until morning, I’m not… well, I am hungry but it won’t hurt me to hunger, I don’t think,” he said, looking up at Jayce. Viktor had one arm around Jayce’s waist and his other hand clutched the jacket closed around his body. 

He knew the way to Jayce’s room, he’d sat on the end of the bed talking through runic math with him once when Jayce had falling ill and been more mad at the lost work than lost health. What progress they made with Jayce feverish and tired was negligible, but it had progressed their relationship. Jayce had listened to him rant about the density rune not behaving to spec for a tirade so long he ran out of breath and started coughing, smiling broadly at him the whole time. When Viktor stopped and asked if he was even listening, all Jayce had to say was “You’re so pretty when you’re angry.” He hadn’t remembered in the morning, but Viktor had stopped curtailing his rants thereafter to see that dopey smile again. 

The bedroom door hung open and the large bed was unmade, blankets a tangled mess. It looked so soft, Viktor wanted nothing more than to fall face first into it and never move again. His first try at walking since being dragged to Stillwater was exhausting. 

~!~

“I starved for so long, I forgot what hunger was…” Jayce mumbled as they shuffled forward, step after step towards his bedroom.  “Might not eat the food, so you’re welcome to it.”  He didn’t tell Viktor that he’d barely been able to eat a meal a day since he’d woken up, all of his nutrients had come from synthetics until he’d been able to force himself to eat small amounts.  

At the very least, Viktor pressed up against him like this felt better than he ever could have remembered.  Having him close, hearing his panted, soft breaths, as they made their way forward, it was everything.  Once they were in the doorway, Jayce grabbed for the spare cane he’d kept from the hospital by the door, and gave Viktor a nudge toward the bed.  

“You know where the clothes are.  Gonna use the bathroom and then we can take the brace off.”  He gave Viktor a small smile and nod, shuffling carefully toward the bathroom, washing his face off of the sweat of exertion and exhaustion of the day.  He pushed his hair up and out of his face, taking the time to let it heat up, before he washed his hands and face once more.  That would have to be good enough for the moment.  

He took care of the rest, carefully, slowly, and managed to pull his shirt off.  He wasn’t going to wear one to bed.  Jayce wanted to feel the softness of sheets that were his, since last night he’d barely registered them before passing out.  He shuffled out of the room and knocked on the doorframe to let Viktor know he was approaching.  

“Can you help me take the brace off?  I can sleep with it on, but I know it isn’t advised until I have one actually set up to do that,” Jayce asked, sitting down on one side of the bed with a relieved groan.  To be off his feet after the day he’d had sounded like heaven.  

~!~

Viktor had dug through Jayce’s closet, looking on the off chance he’d left something of his here, upon a time. In the end he managed to find one of his button-up dress shirts but nothing else, so he gave up and on a pair of Jayce’s athletic shorts, the only item of clothing he could find with a draw string so it wouldn’t just fall back off of him. Somehow he felt more exposed like this than wrapped in Jayce’s jacket, more alien and inhuman, but Jayce didn’t seem to care. His weary smile was genuine as he collapsed on the bed. 

Viktor knelt easily before him, still wondering at the ease of movement. A few months in the commune wasn’t enough to erase the sense memories of over three decades of pain and difficulty. 

“I think you are tired enough that you won’t move and injure it further,” Viktor said as he helped un-strap the ill fitting brace from Jayce’s leg. When he needed support, the brace had been Viktor’s own design, made by his own hands and Jayce’s forge skills. It was still a part of him; the golden and silver patterns on his right leg were different than the other, a memory of the metal he wore like a second skin to give himself freedom. The rounded medallion joint at the knee now looked like a birthmark of silver spreading into his skin, there was a divot in it that he thought was perhaps the remnant of the Talis hammer badge on the bolt. 

“Tomorrow we will fix this problem,” he said, setting the brace aside, “if we cannot fix your leg. Piltover is… well, pinnacle medical technology but not experience. I know of people in Zaun you should see.”

~!~

Jayce sighed in relief as the brace was put to the side, flexing his leg carefully, slowly, breathing in deep through the repeated lance of pain shooting up and down the length of the leg.  The surgery scars were still bright red and raised, something that he’d been reassured would fade with time, but right now, were a reminder of what had happened to him, where he’d been trapped for months on end.  

“Tomorrow,” he agreed, his words half-slurred with exhaustion.  Viktor looked more comfortable than he had all day, and he managed a tired smile and nod as he leaned back in the bed and lifted his leg up onto the pillow that Viktor pushed into place easily.  He exhaled slowly and held out his hand for Viktor, turning to look up at him.  

“I’ll meet with whoever you recommend,” Jayce agreed.  “Might not be able to fix it, and that’s okay.  Feels right, in a way.  Never really understood how impossibly strong you were, before.  Now I’m starting to.”  He mumbled the last few words into the pillow and forced one eye open and flexed his fingers, trying to beckon Viktor closer.  The gear was tucked back into his pocket, the familiar weight and the sight of his friend, his partner, his Viktor, all right there, were enough to make him ready to fall asleep and sleep well for the first time since they’d come back.  

~!~

“You shouldn’t have to feel pain to understand me; you always did, even when we had barely met,” Viktor said as he crawled into the bed and sat cross legged beside Jayce, looking down at him, “you never pushed, or assumed, you let me struggle when I needed to and supported when I did not.”

Jayce watched him through sleep-heavy eyelids and finally the harsh lines etched in his face began to fade into as much relaxation as he could manage. Had they given him nothing for the pain? Or more likely, Jayce had refused to take it for much the same reasons Viktor himself often had resisted. 

He sat and watched, humming softly to himself - an old lullaby from the Undercity, from where his people had come from before they settled in Zaun long before the city sank. Years had passed since he’d heard it played or sung, but he remembered it. Jayce fell into a fitful sleep, twitching until his movements clearly hurt before his body relaxed again in a steady dance of tense, flinch, sigh, relax. 

Carefully, Viktor rested a hand on Jayce’s chest to feel his warmth, and the frantic thump of his heartbeat. Under his touch it began to slow to something more befitting a restful sleep. His presence still brought peace, if only to one man now rather than dozens. Viktor smiled to himself and weighed his options. Jayce wanted him to stay, so surely he would not protest his presence however he wanted to give it. Slowly so as not to wake him, Viktor lowered himself down to lay at his side, palm still pressed over Jayce’s strong, steady heart. 

Chapter Text

Jayce hadn’t been able to get more than a handful of hours of sleep at the best since he had been thrown into the alternate future, all of them fitful and not truly restful.  (He didn’t count the hours of drugged rest the hospital had forced on him, clouding his mind.  He’d stopped taking those drugs the moment he could.)  However, when he woke, his mind clear, and his pain on a very tolerable level after all of what he’d done yesterday, he opened his eyes with a wide grin.  

A grin that grew even wider when he saw Viktor resting next to him, with a hand that had clearly been on his heart.  He relaxed back into the pillows and gave a small stretch, flexing his toes again.  His leg absolutely hurt, and he was feeling it in his hip and in his back, but as long as he took it easy today, it wouldn’t get worse.  Viktor was still watching him with that same careful look and Jayce chuckled, reaching up to touch Viktor’s hand, giving it a small squeeze.  

The sound of someone puttering around in the house made him turn toward the cracked open door and he snorted.  “Sounds like Mom is already here, and probably making us breakfast, knowing her.”  His stomach rumbled, loudly, reminding him of just how hungry he was, and he squeezed Viktor’s hand again.  “Food?  Think we both need it desperately, now.”  He licked his lips.  “And water.”  

He shuddered at the memory of constant dripping that had never fallen in the same pattern, but had echoed, constantly in the background of his mind made him tense, but he clenched his eyes shut, breathed in deep, and forced himself to remember where he was, even as his leg throbbed more and more pointedly.  “What do you think?  I know Mom would love to see you, to know that you’re okay as well.”  

~!~

Viktor nibbled at his lower lip nervously and pulled a face. “I uhmmm, there is not enough of my clothing here and I do not want to frighten your mom,” he said sheepishly, and he could feel heat in his cheeks. That surprised him and he brought his fingers up to touch the warm rush of… was it even blood anymore? He needed to examine himself in a lab, sooner rather than later. 

“All I could find of yours that I could wear was this,” he said, shrugging. Even on him Jayce’s athletic shorts were basically underwear, and he felt a sudden need to be covered. 

This new body did not disgust him, if he had to express his feelings about it he was… enamored, perhaps. Ecstatic and relieved to feel no pain, to stand on his own two feet and have both hands free, to run and leap and simply be in ways he never could. To others he sparked fear, his inhumanity reminding them of what had happened, what could have been. 

“Perhaps you should go down and bring food back?” Viktor said, “and let her know I am, eh, indisposed.”

~!~

Jayce bit down the instinctual protest that his Mom wouldn’t care, she loved Viktor, and had regularly made a point to tell him. He lifted his eyes to Viktor’s cheeks that had gained the faintest sheen of gold, his heart twisting in his chest at the awed look on Viktor’s face. It had been a long time since he’d been so viscerally twisted by the urge to kiss Viktor, and he had to fight to hold himself back. 

“We’ll get you clothes today. I can ask for my mother to pick up that along with what we need from the forge,” he said, and forced himself upright, slow and careful. Jayce looked back at Viktor and reached out to touch his leg, curling his hand carefully over his calf. “You don’t frighten me. You couldn’t. And my Mom has a stronger constitution than you’d expect, having lost a few fingers.” He smiled and gave Viktor’s leg a squeeze. “But at your speed, Viktor.” 

Jayce reached for the brace and pulled it on, groaning as he tugged it into place and tightened it with a few twists before he looked back at Viktor curled up on his bed. He took a step towards him before he shook his head and gave Viktor a small smile. The temptation was there, and he could remember, back before everything had happened, how they’d been working their way towards something. But now, who knew if they’d ever make it back there again. 

“Enjoy your resting, I’ll bring back food for us,” Jayce promised, making his way carefully around the bed, before heading to the door. He looked at Viktor once more, memorizing the sight of him in his bed before he ducked out of the room and made his way down the kitchen. The sight of his Mom, and her big smile made him sag in relief as he held out his arms and wrapped them around her tightly. 

“How are you doing?” Ximena asked, leaning back to study him. “You’ve been overdoing it. How is Viktor?” 

Jayce blinked, his eyes widening as he stared at her. “You… you know Viktor is here?” Her knowing look had him flushing. “You came to my room to check on me, didn’t you?” 

“I came to your room to check on you,” Ximena said, smiling. “Now, breakfast? I’ve made enough for you, Viktor, and Caitlyn.” 

Jayce’s head snapped up, horror flooding through him. “Caitlyn’s here?” 

Ximena frowned. “Should I not-“ 

The sound of thundering footsteps had Jayce spinning around, and the sound of metal twisting was the only warning he had before one of the supports broke, and sent him crashing to the ground. “F-fuck,” he panted, tears springing to his eyes. Metal was digging into his skin and it was sending fresh waves of agony through him. “Mom, Mom, get Cait, they can’t, they can’t…” 

~!~

Unfortunately for them, Cait was the one giving the orders. Ximena couldn’t have known, wouldn’t have thought she shouldn’t mention Viktor to her son’s longtime best friend. She had kept her calm, mentioned she had to step out for a moment but would be back soon for breakfast. Now she stood in the door as a squad of six enforcers stomped their way up the stairs, rifles at the ready. 

Above was the sound of a door being flung open hard enough to slam into the wall, and Viktor’s startled yelp followed immediately by the thud that could only be him falling, or being dragged, out of bed. The sounds of a scuffle were over quickly, Viktor didn’t resist. He could be fast but he was cornered, and once latched onto he was easy enough to restrain. 

He let his arms be bent behind his back and walked with the guards, his heart twisting in his chest. Of course it was too good to be true that he could stay here with Jayce and live a quiet life, start up a lab and find new mysteries to unravel. Without HexTech the world needed something else, something that could right the wrongs he had done. Being locked up in Stillwater would rob him of that opportunity and so much more. 

“Jayce?” He called trying to crane his head to see into the kitchen as he was marched past. Ximena was crouched by Jayce, arm around his shoulders, but she looked up at his voice. “Jayce! What did she do to you?”

Caitlyn blanched at that and Viktor was almost certain she was going to slap him, but she clenched her jaw and simply stepped aside to let the enforcers pass. The sun was low in the sky painting the morning in oranges and pinks, and Viktor stared up at the cloudless sky trying to bask in it before he was thrown back into the darkened pit below Stillwater. 

~!~

Ximena hushed her son and combed his hair out of his face, taking only an instant to make sure he wasn’t actively bleeding on the floor, even as he cried out Viktor’s name again and again, before she stood up in a rush and strode to the door, where Caitlyn Kiramman was standing, overseeing the Enforcers carrying Viktor out of the house, still dressed in the clothing he had worn to bed.  

“Councilor Kiramman,” she said, her voice firm and pleasant, watching as she stiffened and turned around.  “A word.”  Behind Caitlyn, she could see Viktor being shoved into a carriage with high bars on the windows, black, for criminals.  

“Mrs. Talis, I do not have time-” 

“You will make time, Councilor,” Ximena said, her voice firming.  Jayce shouted Viktor’s name behind her again, and she gestured to the sitting room beside them.  “It will only be a moment, and then you can be on your way.”  At the very least that had her attention, and she stepped into the room. Ximena closed the door behind them, turning to face the tall woman.  

“Mrs. Talis-” 

Ximena cleared her throat and stared down the woman who had taken advantage of her less than an hour ago.  “I will make several things clear, Councilor, and leave you to proceed as you will.”  

Caitlyn stiffened.  “What things?”  

“First, you must put Viktor into a humane situation if he will be in Stillwater.  Food, a bed, clothing.  He spent the entire night here, in the city, and did nothing more than get what seemed to be some much-needed rest.  I’m sure that aligns with what you know of the timeframe he arrived here.”  That had her tightening her lips, but Ximena only smiled and continued.  “Second, if you do not want to end up arresting another Councilor for the most ill-advised jailbreak possible, you must allow Jayce visitation to Viktor.”  

“He used his position as Councilor to remove Viktor the second he found out he was in Stillwater!” Caitlyn snapped.  “Viktor is dangerous, and Jayce exposed the entire city to a repeat of his attack!” 

Ximena raised her eyebrows and smiled faintly.  “Reminds me of when another young Enforcer used Jayce’s name on his very first day as Councilor to release someone else from prison, doesn’t it?”  

Caitlyn pressed her lips together.  “It is not the same.”  

“You kept him locked in the dark, naked, and alone.  Did you truly expect Jayce to do anything else when he saw Viktor at last?  After begging to hear a word, anything at all about him for weeks?” Ximena asked softly.  “If you ask me, you should have anticipated this.”  

Caitlyn scowled.  “His visitation will require two guards, and he will be monitored at all times.  But he will be allowed to visit when he likes.”  She paused.  “I will ensure he is given better accommodation.”

Ximena smiled and inclined her head.  “Thank you Councilor.”  When Caitlyn made her way to the door and opened it, she cleared her throat once more.  “A final thing.”  She paused and waited for Caitlyn Kiramman’s eye to meet hers.  “If you ever take advantage of my hospitality and care for you to hurt either of those boys ever again, Caitlyn, you will regret it, and that is a promise,” she said with a smile.  “I don’t take too kindly to being manipulated.”  

“Understood,” Caitlyn said, nodding once, stepping out of her sitting room and through the front door.  

Ximena sighed and let out a rough breath, turning to make her way back to the kitchen, where Jayce had pulled himself back into one of the chairs, sweating and red faced with tears.  He had clearly twisted the metal out of alignment.  “Oh dear one.  Come here.”  She reached out and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight around his shoulders as he sobbed.  

~!~

The guards spoke about Viktor as if he weren’t even there or couldn’t understand. Or more likely, he thought after a while, that he was not human and thus worth no such considerations. He was cold again; winter was coming to Piltover. They had disappeared not long after midsummer and even after all he had experienced, the missing time confused him to the core more than anything else. The enforcers had heavy woolen coats with fur at the wrists and throat, and he was still wearing shorts. At least he wasn’t naked this time, they were perhaps staring a little bit less. 

When the transport arrived at Stillwater he was relieved to be walked rather than dragged to his new cell - not the deep dank hole in the earth for criminals they wished to disappear, but a normal level for normal people. The hoots and jeers from other inmates as he passed made him want to cringe in on himself. Feeling seen was never a comfort to him, Viktor wanted to fade into the background when anything other than his science was involved and even then Jayce’s shadow was a comforting place to be - it allowed him to get more work done. 

The new cell held a mattress in one corner, no covers or pillows but it was not a stone floor, a clay pitcher and wash basin which Pilties no doubt thought primitive but was still standard in Undercity homes. Folded beneath the washbasin was a well-worn grey jumpsuit bearing the cell number across the chest and back. Never in his life would Viktor have thought he’d be thankful for such a thing, but it was some protection against the cold, and the staring eyes across the hall. It covered him from wrist to ankle, but was much too big. Most clothes not made for him were; hanging loose on his delicate frame and making him look emaciated even when he was not. 

Viktor rolled up the sleeves so they weren’t falling over his hand and then thought better of it, tugging them over his fingertips for warmth. His mind's eye flashed to lying beside Jayce’s forge-like heat in the warm light of dawn, and he bit his lower lip to keep it from wobbling. Crying would not help him here, but it was good to know he was capable. There had been no time to process, to understand what had happened and what he was now in this body without power. In Jayce’s arms with his assurance that they would figure it out, he’d started to believe he could - just the two of them back in a lab, doing what they did best, together. 

There was no way Jayce would be allowed to take him home a second time, unless he came in swinging his hammer. 

~!~

Later, much later, Jayce owed his mother the biggest thank you ever given. She’d just barely kept him from storming down to Stillwater all over again, and forced him to sit and listen, while she explained. He hadn’t wanted to, hadn’t wanted to wait, to let Viktor fester down there, had been terrified that he’d lose the ability to see Viktor at all. 

But it made sense. It made a worrying amount of sense. 

(He would deal with his anger toward Caitlyn another day, because if he dealt with it now, he knew he’d regret it.) 

Which was why he was standing here, in a stationary shop outside the Academy, purchasing a simple notebook, pencils, and a bladeless sharpener. Prisoners held in the normal levels of Stillwater were allowed visits, and gifts, as long as nothing metallic or dangerous was given. Which is why he was here purchasing stationary, and his mother was organizing warm clothes for Viktor. Proper ones, from their life before Piltover. 

The Council had held a meeting earlier that day to discuss his breaking Viktor out of Stillwater, but it had gone much better than he’d expected. They hadn’t been able to accuse him of attempting to run when he’d simply taken Viktor to his house, his very well known, public address in the center of Piltover. When he’d explained the inhumane conditions Viktor had been put into, and how, after that, could they really have blamed Viktor for attacking them again, he’d seen more than one face on the Council blanch, before he reminded them that Viktor had done nothing but sleep. 

Which was the other reason he was standing here. Viktor was still the other half of Hextech, and if they wanted him to find a way to solve the Arcane Rot problem, he was going to need Viktor’s help while he did it. From inside Stillwater. 

That had been enough to mollify the Council for the time being, at least. Sevika had surprised him by being one of his bigger advocates, making him wonder if she’d known Viktor, before. But he hadn’t been able to dwell on it as the Council turned to other matters. Matters that he’d barely been able to focus on, due to the still-broken brace he was wearing, but that was all right. 

—

Finishing his purchases and making his way down to the family forge felt like a betrayal of Viktor, but his Mom was right. He wasn’t going to be of any use to his partner if he didn’t get his head out of his ass. And that meant making a brace for his leg that would actually give him the support he needed. 

Jayce took a deep breath of the familiar heat and let some of the tension fall out of his shoulders. He was self-aware enough that he knew his mother urging him down here hadn’t been merely about Viktor. Maybe spending a few hours pounding metal would distract him enough to get through the rest of the day. 

~!~

Viktor sat cross-legged on the miserable prison mattress, back against the wall and head turned away from the door to the broader expanse of the back wall. It had been scratched over the years by whatever implements its former occupants could manage; crude drawings and foul messages galore, but it was at least a little entertaining if not insulting to the reader's mother. It was dark, dry stone and while not slate it would serve the purpose of blackboard well enough if he could get his hands on some chalk, or anything to scratch the surface enough that he could see his markings over the old. 

Or perhaps he didn't need any sort of implement. Viktor leaned forward and brushed his fingertips over the stone, half expecting it to spark like tinder, but no such luck. The level to which he was organic and that which he was some sort of metal was conflicting, baffling, and he desperately needed his lab. His heart beat, he could feel it, he flushed with embarrassment, and warmth, but how could a heart made not of muscle beat? These things hadn't bothered him as the Herald; he'd had a higher calling at the time, the Hexcore had whispered in his mind and he had cared little for himself as a person, only the collective. He should have known then that things weren't right. Jayce would have noticed, if he hadn't turned his back on him. Perhaps that had been the power whispering to him as well, knowing Jayce would be its foil.

He'd need a real lab to test everything, but there was data he could record now and figure out later. A little more pressure with the tip of his finger dug the angled edge of what should have been a fingernail but was now merely decoration into the stone deep enough to scratch it like a scrap of metal would, leaving behind a lighter streak that half disappeared when he rubbed at it with his sleeve. That would do. It triggered the first spark of hope in him since the enforcers had returned.

His experiments, such as they were, could only be minimal; he waited until the distant clock in the guard post chimed its quarter hour and counted his heartbeat until it chimed a second time. Then again while he paced, a third time and fourth time while doing pushups, because the third time he realized he didn't quite know how to do them properly and had to figure out how to move his body in the unfamiliar motion first. Jayce would have thought that was hilarious. He recorded the end results, reduced them to a minute, and considered next steps. Breathing, tensile strength, writing down an estimate of how long his hair had grown between his hexcore emergence and his death, as his body seemed to be close to what it was then, how many days he'd gone without food prior before Jayce had found him. His stomach rumbled, and he dearly wished he'd gone downstairs with Jayce, seen Ximena, and had even a bite of her amazing cooking before he was taken away.

What exactly he was trying to prove, he did no. There was no thesis to his research, only a desire to understand; a pure science. At the heart of it, perhaps, was hoping he could prove with hard data that he was not a monster. Whether that meant proving it to himself or others, he could not quite say.

~!~

As much as he wanted to race back to Stillwater to see Viktor, Jayce had to admit that he did see the wisdom of waiting a day and not doing anything particularly suspicious before he went the next day.  If he also took the time to stand under scalding water for over an hour, washing grime, grief, and what had felt like the end of the world off of him.  By the time he stepped out of the water, he felt much less on edge and could breathe easier.  They had a plan, and Viktor wasn’t being kept in the bowels of Stillwater anymore.  They could work with this, he and Viktor could work with this.  

The next morning, Jayce gathered up the gifts that he and his mother had for Viktor and sent advanced notice that he would be arriving at the prison to visit Viktor for two hours prior to his daily Council meeting.  The warm clothes would hopefully help if he was cold, and the cloak could act as a blanket or a pillow for some sort of comfort, but Jayce knew Viktor would appreciate his favorite pencils and as much paper as he could stuff into the box without looking suspicious.  

He took his time eating breakfast, and actually managed to read through a handful of reports for their agenda later that day before he made his way to the Stillwater transport.  The guards were clearly suspicious, but Jayce waved cheerily to them and sat down, not drawing any further attention to himself as they went down.  He did the same, one guard after another, presenting the box with the items without being asked, waiting patiently while they rifled through it.  There was some grumbling, but an exchange of a few gold hexes smoothed the process along as he followed the guards.  

There wasn’t any metal beyond the brass buttons on the jacket, and the silver and sapphire of the clasp on the heavy cloak (Jayce tried to pretend he didn’t know it was in navy, the same navy as House Talis, a clear declaration of love from his mother), so there was nothing to truly object to, and if he needed to, Viktor could use the sapphire to barter for other things in the prison.  When the guards stepped in front of the cell, Jayce nearly dropped the box in his hurry to approach.  He’d been told that he wouldn’t be allowed to go in, but he could give Viktor the gifts, and that was enough.  

“Viktor,” he breathed, relieved, at least, to see him sitting upright on a small bed, and the sight of a washing basin, and most importantly, in clothes.  Clearly not warm enough ones, but still clothes.  Jayce managed his first real smile since Viktor had been taken and shifted his weight on the new brace that was holding up admirably.  

~!~

Viktor's eyes shot open and he nearly tripped over the too-long trouser legs of the prison jumpsuit as he tumbled out of bed in his hurry to reach the gate. He hadn't just been meditating, it was an experiment, the results of which could be found another time - there'd be no more intentional lowering of his heart rate while Jayce was around.

"They let you in!" he exclaimed, a little incredulous, but it was Jayce, in the flesh and standing tall again on both legs. The brace looked to be a near copy of the one Jayce had helped him construct which wasn't exactly how Viktor would have done it, knowing Jayce's injuries, but it was serviceable and clearly mitigating his pain. 

"How much did you have to pay for this privilege?" Viktor asked incredulously. Instinctively he reached for Jayce then pulled back, grasping on to the upright bars of the gate instead as the guards were watching from the end of the hall. "Whatever it is I am probably worth less per ounce on the metal markets, I have been trying to figure out my substance."

He stepped slightly to the side so Jayce could see past him and gestured at the wall; though it was very dark and he had forgotten that his eyesight was enhanced beyond even the best of humanity's. "I have so much data to share with you, and if you can take some samples back to the lab… or, your new idea for a lab, there are tests I need you to run. I also need you to help take samples they will not give me anything sharper than a spoon."

~!~

Something tight and worried in his chest relaxed the second Viktor rushed forward and grabbed at the bars of the cell that he was in.  Jayce put the box down and reached out, making sure that his hands were visible to his guards before he wrapped his hands around Viktor’s and leaned in to press his head against them.  “I’m here.  And besides a few gold hexes to the guard at the front to keep his grumbling about your gifts to a minimum, and I expect a few to the guards here since they’ll be stuck here while we chat, it didn’t cost me anything.”  

Jayce let the smile grow on his face and gave Viktor’s hands another squeeze.  “We have time,” he soothed, his voice soft.  “I’ve got two hours before my Council meeting, and I’ve brought you a notebook, paper, and your favorite type of pencils.  I’ll be visiting tomorrow, and every day after that, until the Council understands you aren’t a threat.”  He gestured to the box.  “So, we have time, you can walk me through all of the data, and I can get to work on setting up a lab for us, and run whatever tests you want.”  

He glanced at the guards.  “Samples might be hard, I don’t have anything sharp on me, per the visitation agreement.  But we can work our way there.”  Jayce reached into the box and pulled out the notebook, pencils, and stack of paper and offered it to Viktor, smiling at him.  “The rest of what’s in there is a present from my Mom, who saw us both sleeping yesterday morning, by the way.  She was the one who let Caitlyn in.”  He shook his head.  

“Anyways.  Mom wasn’t sure if you still got as cold as you used to, so she had a whole set of clothing made for you.  From, from where she lived before Piltover, the winters there.  It should keep you as warm as you want to be, even here,” Jayce grinned and left the box up against the bars, moving to the other end of the room, ignoring the jeering of the other prisoners (he knew they’d quiet down when they received the blankets and pillows that his Mom was donating), took the rickety wooden chair from another corner and brought it over to where Viktor was, sitting himself down, and pulling his own notebook out of his jacket.  

“The cloak should be especially warm,” he continued, gesturing for him to take what he needed out of the box.  Jayce kept his hands carefully visible so he couldn’t be accused of passing any messages to Viktor and looked up at his partner with a smile, pencil poised for note-taking.  “Shall we begin?” 

~!~

"Shortly, yes," Viktor replied as he unboxed the clothes slowly, movements hindered by reaching through the bars to do so. The clothes were soft and warm, expertly woven wools lined in cotton so fine it felt like silk. Even after HexTech, Viktor had never owned anything so fine, it had simply never occurred to him. When he'd come up from Zaun, the Academy uniforms were such a stark difference as to feel heavenly and he'd never felt any urge to improve upon that. Even as a professor, Academy White marked him with an identity other than 'cripple' and 'foreigner' that he wore as a badge of honor. Now he was neither teacher nor cripple, and foreigner was rather moot when he was no longer even human.

He turned his back to Jayce, stepping out of view of anyone in the hall but Jayce was near enough to see the entire cell, and stripped out of his prison jumpsuit in favor of his new clothes. They added little bulk to his body but still he instantly felt warmer, meager body heat contained within the garments and multiplied on the longer he wore them. I was a rich gift, but one given in such pure kind-hearted care that he felt… overcome. He'd been feeling more, the longer he was awake, alive, after their return. His first moments had been cool and clinical, but today he felt younger, less weighed down by all that happened unless he forced himself to think on it.

Viktor stood at the bars, looking down at Jayce, and dutifully relayed every aspect of what he'd tried to discover about himself in the preceding day. Samples would be best, to look at his flesh under a microscope and compare it to metals and animals alike, but that could wait and he doubted Jayce would be particularly willing to carve anything off of him even if he could sneak in a knife. 

"Oh, one thing you can test!" he said brightly, interrupting a drawn out explanation of how he had tried to force his heart rate lower into something like hibernation, as he had coincidentally done in the deep cells. Reaching up he plucked a few of the hairs that had turned white, growing from where the arcane patterns faded up his cheeks and jaw to his hairline. "These grow more slowly than the rest, it might give you an idea of what I am made of, to start with. I fear the answer is I am something new entirely, and we will never know, but eh, you know how I feel about non-answers."

Viktor glanced down at the notebook on Jayce's lap, resting on the firm metal of his brace. Ah, that he could help with too. "Next time, bring me your measurements as well, I have an idea in my mind that may work even better than that," he said, nodding to the brace, "I am something of an expert, and there are things you must do, exercises, so the muscles do not rely on the support too much and degrade. I will sketch them out for you, and you must do them every day; they're the only reason I could still walk, at the end."

~!~

Jayce carefully took the hairs from Viktor, tucking them into the notebook.  The guards were clearly bored, leaning against the wall, barely watching them, and he smiled, flipping to the back pages of his notebook.  “I’ll see what I can do about getting a lab set up and do some testing on those to see what they come back as.  Might be good if you can measure the speed of growth over the next couple of days, if not longer.”  He jotted down a few more notes, humming to himself, as well as a few things that he could test when he found moments to do so.  

When Viktor mentioned his brace, Jayce looked up at him and grinned.  “Here, already wrote down my measurements.  I was sure that you’d have improvements that you wanted to make.”  He held up the piece of paper until he got a grunt from one of the guards, before he offered it through the bars to Viktor.  It’d felt so good to sit here and toss ideas back and forth with him, even if it was about what Viktor himself now was instead of Hextech.  At least it showed him that they were still themselves, and it would take work to get back to where they had been before.  

“I’ll come back tomorrow, maybe a little bit earlier, I’m not sure what time the Council is planning to meet.”  Jayce made a face.  “We’re meeting every day this week, and after it’s over, we’ll go back to meetings every other day, and you and I can really dig into the research.  They’ve also given me a problem that we need to figure out, but I need to gather more information on it first, but I think we can figure it out together.”  He gave Viktor a smile and took in the sight of him, wrapped in wools that were clearly dyed House Talis colors, and didn’t bother keeping his pleased smile to himself.  

“They won’t let me bring food, something about the risk of Shimmer embedded in it being too much, but know that my Mom is desperate to make all of your favorites for you again, and that she has demanded you come to see her for dinner when you are free again,” Jayce continued, watching as Viktor paced across the cell, studying his measurements and muttering to himself.  When his pocketwatch went off a few seconds later, reminding him of his obligation, he sighed.  “Duty, unfortunately calls.  I’ll be glad when I finally resign and hand the seat off to someone else.”  

~!~

Viktor stopped his pacing and gave him an incredulous look. "Whyever would you do that?" he asked, in that very particular tone he used to inform Jayce of his displeasure without telling him explicitly that he was an idiot, "You're the most qualified one of the lot of them, outside of maybe the Zaunites. You're the bridge between the undercity and the elites who wouldn't know a real day's work if it bit them on the ass, you're integral. And we won't be getting the good gossip from Caitlyn anymore; I must be entertained if I'm going to be living here."

The prospect of being stuck in Stillwater for the now dubiously extensive rest of his life was one Viktor did not want to think too hard on right now, focusing on his new research direction; himself, and Jayce's new physical needs. Those came first, then they would figure out how to replace HexTech with something benign and controlled. He already had a few ideas, had been thinking about it from the day the council had floated the idea of weaponizing his life's work. Their life's work.

"Tomorrow when you come, see if you can bring me some chalk," Viktor said, approaching the bars again for a proper farewell, "and an eraser."

He gestured behind him at the far wall, "I am blessed with a very large blackboard, and I intend to use it."

There were many other things he could have asked for, things he wanted, that Jayce would go through hell or high water to bring him, but that could wait. The last thing he wanted to do was get Jayce in trouble, prevent them from meeting. Until Viktor had emerged from the hexcore, the longest they had spent apart was a matter of days and that only because Viktor's spinal surgery had kept him in the hospital a little longer than average and Jayce hadn't been his emergency contact. Even in the commune, what he had thought of most was that Jayce needed to see what he'd done; no anger at his partner's actions, at taking away his own choice, could outweigh wanting to show him everything.

He reached through the bars, offering Jayce his hand. They weren't supposed to touch, but Viktor needed to feel his warmth. He'd seen Jayce's expression this morning; fondness mixed with uncertainty, an edge of desire. That look had once led to a kiss, a few times late in the lab when they were exhausted and both had their guard down. Viktor had then been afraid, giving in easily to long-held desires but unwilling to indulge in more with a death sentence hanging over his head; Jayce had not deserved that. Perhaps there would be a death sentence over him now, but he had doubts about the Council's ability to end his life without a HexTech powered weapon. All that stood between them now was the gulf of sorrow, guilt, and iron bars.

Chapter Text

Jayce swallowed down the flood of disappointment as Viktor reminded him of how he was needed on the Council and in the chambers.  Perhaps he’d been foolish to assume that his place was in the lab with Viktor, not rubbing elbows constantly with people who only wanted to use him and use his work, and had forced them to the brink of war and beyond.  Instead, he forced a smile to his face, one that softened and became a real one as Viktor walked closer, because he would never be upset at Viktor if he could prevent it.

“I’ll make sure to do everything in my power to entertain you,” Jayce added.  “I’ll see what I can do to get caught up on the latest gossip, I’m sure that there’s plenty of it while we are rebuilding everything.”  

At the mention of chalk, Jayce perked up and he nodded.  “I can definitely bring chalk and erasers.  They won’t let me bring you anything metallic, at least for now, but things like chalk, or more paper, that I can bring any time you need it.”  He relaxed at Viktor’s mention of the blackboard behind him and nodded, thinking about how much he’d missed seeing Viktor’s handwriting scribbled across chalkboards, only to be continued in notebooks or anything that he would have handy.  

Viktor’s hand through the bars made his heart trip over in his chest before he had a chance to school his expression.  A handshake after everything was horrifically impersonal, even though he knew it wasn’t what Viktor wanted… probably.  He wasn’t sure.  They’d never talked about things, about the few brief, desperate kisses when they’d been exhausted and tired and had never seen the light of day.  Jayce had hoped that they knew, that they had both known, what it was, but then everything had fallen apart, and not stopped.  

The guards had straightened up, but neither of them looked angry, so Jayce stepped forward and wrapped both of his hands around Viktor’s, squeezing it between his palms.  He wanted to pull Viktor close and into a hug, but that probably wouldn’t go over well, so instead, he held tight onto Viktor’s hands until his pocketwatch chimed again and he forced himself to meet Viktor’s eyes with a smile.  

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Viktor,” Jayce promised, squeezing one final time, before he pulled his hands away.  

~!~

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Viktor said softly, “please, try to rest; do not worry about me. I am… safe, in a manner of speaking.” Stillwater would definitely not be including him in exercise time or group meals, he doubted the door would open again until he was let free, or worse. 

He stood at the bars and watched Jayce go until his partner turned the corner out of sight. The sudden feeling of emptiness in his chest hurt more than it had a right to, especially since Jayce was a man of his word - if he said he’d return tomorrow, then he would. 

There was no telling when sunset happened even on the higher levels of the prison, but the depths of night were noticeable purely due to how cold it became. This time of year it was enough for a thin film of ice to form on the water in his wash basin. Ximena’s fur-lined cloak was a gift behind compare. Viktor took off his boots, though they’d hardly be any dirtier than the rest of his new clothes, and curled up on the mattress wrapped in its new warmth, hood up to keep what little body heat he created inside. 

It reminded him immediately of the robes he had worn in the commune; Jayce’s throw blanket turned to better use. It too had been Talis colors and provided him comfort where there otherwise was none, until he had moved beyond the need for such things entirely. 

Slowly the noises of the prison faded into nothing more than faint snores and unintelligible chatter from the distant guard station, and Viktor was left to his thoughts. With Jayce’s measurements he had also been given the points of damage, breaks both old and new, pins in the bone, as distances between ankle and knee, knee to hip. The brace he was wearing was almost certainly putting pressure on many sore points, as well as not being quite devised for the purpose. Viktor’s brace was to straighten and support, keep his toes from turning on and his foot from dropping on its own and tripping him up. Jayce needed something different; weight mitigation mostly, the stirrup of the brace only needed to be enough to support, not stabilize the foot - there was nothing wrong with his joints, thankfully, but there would be if he kept an uneven, pained gait. 

He worked through the night and by morning’s light he had full schematics prepared in miniature both for the full supportive brace and for inner pieces made of leather to be worn beneath his clothes to provide pressure and keep swelling down. As he wore them the heat and skin oils would form and harden them like a second skin. Hopefully it would help him to sleep in peace. Those should be made first, worn with his current brace until the proper one could be made; but he knew Jayce well enough to know it would be a matter of days if not hours before the work was done. 

~!~

Making his way to the Council chambers, the only thing on Jayce’s mind was Viktor, and how soon he could get a lab space set up for them both.  Thankfully, bequeathing everything to his mother had meant that he had control of his finances almost immediately, but getting Viktor’s back from the Council and the city would be a far greater challenge.  Not that Jayce couldn’t buy anything that they might have wanted, but it was Viktor’s money, and if he wanted to spend it funding different projects in the Undercity, he deserved to be able to do so.  

At least, now that he hadn’t tried to break Viktor out, or even bring Viktor up, the Council meeting went much more reasonably, and focused on the rebuilding efforts.  Despite wanting to be quiet to catch up and listen, Jayce found himself offering repeated recommendations and suggestions for better ventilation options, as well a rousing debate with Caitlyn about how the ventilation systems needed to be removed from Kiramman control.  

It ended with Sevika pointing out that Jinx wouldn’t have needed to ventilate the Gray into Piltover if they hadn’t been turned off when tensions had escalated, and Jayce had felt his vision go more than a little red at the edges.  Caitlyn had willingly let the Gray back into the Lanes, and places that it had been pushed back from?  She was also not meeting his eyes, even as they moved onto another topic, this time about dock improvements in Zaun, and Jayce refocused enough to pay attention to the blueprints and to make suggestions.  

The rest of the meeting flew by, and by the time Jayce finished with it, his leg was aching, and he wished that Viktor had given him those sketches so he could stretch himself out and lighten the pain.  Instead, he left the Council meeting (after accepting well-wishes that he didn’t want or need), and turned around to try to find them a lab space.  It was clear, very quickly, and after two inquiries, apparent, that they weren’t going to be able to get a space of their own, too many had been displaced during the battle and it would take more time to build up again.  

Which left him here, staring at his townhouse, considering the visitors wing far more than he had earlier that day.  It took some sketching of the internals, and some estimations, but he had the feeling that he could have three of the rooms gutted and turned into a lab for them, it would just take him time.  But now his leg was heavily protesting the repeated climbs up the stairs, and Jayce managed to make it to the kitchen to force some food down his mouth, his stomach threatening to turn at it, before he took a deep breath and made his way back to his bedroom. 

Which was when he realized that the sheets and the blankets had been torn off the bed, likely by the Enforcers who had ripped Viktor out of his bed and into Stillwater.  Jayce blinked at it twice more before he turned and strode to his study, settling behind his desk with his foot lifted onto a small stool.  There was plenty of work for him to catch up on, and he wasn’t going to be able to sleep if he tried now.  

–

Jayce didn't remember watching the first of the sun’s rays come through the window before he’d leaned forward and didn’t remember anything else until there was a knock on his study door and he was staring at his mother, giving him a pitying look.  He kept his head down, straightened his desk and made his way to go take a shower, before heading over to Stillwater, glad that the chalk he’d requested to be delivered, and erasers, had arrived.  

This time, he didn’t receive any side glances, even though he knew his limp was more pronounced from how he’d slept, but he’d be fine, and by the time he’d made it to Viktor’s cell and dragged his chair over, Jayce was smiling at the sight of Viktor.  

“Good morning, Viktor.”  He winced and adjusted his leg, stretching it out and pointing his toes.  “How’d you sleep?  A little warmer, I hope?” 

~!~

Viktor looked down at him and raised an eyebrow. "Better than you, apparently," he said dryly, before sitting down in front of Jayce. A higher vantage point felt wrong somehow after years of looking up at him, both when they were standing and then in Viktor's usual position in a rolling stool he'd taken to propelling himself around the lab on with his crutch. There was a non-zero chance some of his swift deterioration had to do with just how much he relied on it versus forcing himself to walk, but now he delighted himself in repeatedly sitting down crosslegged to look at his notes and then hop up easily to pace around while he thought.

"Do you recall how you would find me in the morning and chastise me for staying all night with no sleep?" Viktor asked, leaning back on his hands comfortably, "If not, I can do my best dramatic reenactment, I was subjected to so many of them."

Jayce's smile widened and he was rewarded with a tired approximation of the laugh his needling used to get him daily. The smile seemed new on Jayce's bearded face, unfamiliar in a way but no less precious, and Viktor had to admit the beard definitely suited him. Jayce's shyness from the other day came to mind and told him that he should say as much.

"You know, I am surprised you never had a beard before with how often we spent days in the lab, it would have made things easier. It looks very handsome on you," Viktor said thoughtfully, "I thought about it for convenience's sake before, but I wouldn't manage anything nearly as aesthetic…. Do people take you more seriously now, have you noticed? Another thing we should study, for science, of course."

He watched Jayce's face long enough to see his response to being called handsome, before he started flipping through one of the notebooks Jayce had given him; he'd drawn simple sketches of the exercises Jayce should start doing for his leg along with the schematics for his brace. As much as he'd like to tease Jayce into giving him that pathetic needy expression again, their time was limited.

~!~

“I wouldn’t mind seeing your attempt at that speech,” Jayce offered, smiling as he pushed the promised chalk and erasers through the cage doors for Viktor to have, watching him light up in delight.  He knew that he could spend the rest of his life trying to make Viktor smile like that as often as he could.  “But I got distracted digging into things from the Council.”  He pushed his fingers through his hair.  “I can’t talk about it yet, but I found out something that made me really upset, and I’m trying to do my best to fix it.  In fact, if you have any recommendations on how to improve the Zaun ventilation, I’d love those.  I’m working on theory, without having seen any of what there is.”  

Viktor’s compliment about his beard made him squirm and Jayce felt his face flush, even as he reached up to touch it and run his fingers over it.  “I never thought about it,” he offered.  “It makes me come off more stern, I think.  People respond to that, even if I don’t want them to.”  He rubbed his hand over it and his eyes fluttered shut for a brief moment.  “I didn’t really have a choice in growing it, and ever since I was… I was well.”  He shrugged. Ever since, it’s just… been there.  They cleaned it up for me in the hospital, but they didn’t shave it.”  Knowing that Viktor liked it, though, maybe he would leave it.  

He took the notebook from Viktor with the stretches and studied them, nodding as he flipped through them.  “I don’t have much information in the way of a lab.  With all of the, ah, mess the Noxians made in the city, there’s not much in the way of space to purchase at the moment, and the cleanup efforts are extensive.”  Jayce gave Viktor a smile.  “I think I’m just going to gut the west wing of the townhouse, and we can make it a lab for us.  It’ll take some time, but this way the space is ours, and we don’t need to adhere to university rules, and I can build whatever we both need for accessibility reasons.”  He paused and shrugged ruefully.  “More for me, than you, this time.” 

Jayce flipped through the notebook again and chatted through a few other experiments that he could run, rubbing at the different aches along his leg that were starting to become more persistent points of pain.  “I should be able to get most of the updates made to the brace that you recommended, without too much issue.”  He winced when one determined rub pulled at his wrist, which was still infected with the Arcane, but it hadn’t been getting worse, and that was good enough.  He shifted and settled back in his chair.  

“Which reminds me.  I promised you gossip.  So, do you happen to know who Sevika is?  She’s on the Council for Zaun and I adore her,” Jayce said, feeling a much more real smile come to his face at the mention of her.  

~!~

Viktor looked up at Jayce with a dead stare. "Do I know who Sevika is? You do realise not every undercity dweller knows each other, right? There's nearly three quarter million of us, and that's all I ever heard once I came topside 'oh my maid is from down there, do you know her?', 'oh the janitor is from the Lanes, you guys must go way back'," Viktor replied, falling into the familiar cadence of ranting to Jayce until he watched the other man blanch at his apparent misstep, then he chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Of course I know Sevika, she was Silco's right hand man, er, woman, and before that she was a regular at The Last Drop. My parents would dump me there in the morning on their way to work if there was unrest in the fissures, knew I'd be safe, enough. Haven't seen her in years."

While Jayce talked, Viktor turned part of his attention back to his notebooks. It had been years since he'd been overly familiar with all the twists and turns of the undercity, but he'd learned a lot during his time in the commune. There were other means, besides technology, to do what needed to be done. Carefully he sketched out the form of the lilies that they had propagated on the edges of his domain, with careful diagrams of the difference in leaf shape between the mutated and non-mutated version of the plants. One was simply pretty, the other was means to give Zaun cleaner air, and better soil.

"Have Sevika's people find these, if any are left. Unfortunately they need a bit of watering, but even if they've gone to seed, the seeds should germinate," he said, "The ones with the serrated leaves survive on a sort of chemosynthesis, catching particulate matter on their petals and absorbing it into their system. In turn, they convert it to nitrogen and potassium so composting them enriches the soil…."

He trailed off for a moment, looking between the sheet of paper Jayce now held, and the man himself. "I uhm, do not suggest you go yourself. The majority of them were… at my commune," he said, "Have them brought to the lab. I have a series of tests I would like you to run that I was not able to at the time, perhaps we could synthesize their effect but if not there is no harm in growing them in every fertile crack in Zaun until the air clears. By then, well, I would hope it is enough that those cracks bear fruit - how to leech the heavy metals from the soil, however, is a task for another day."

~!~

Despite the fact that he was sitting in Stillwater, with an aching leg, a sore heart, and a past that he was doing his best not to think too hard about, Jayce threw his head back and laughed as Viktor got himself worked up and into a proper rant.  He grinned and settled back into his chair, relief sweeping over him at one more reminder that Viktor was still Viktor, that he was still there, he hadn’t been lost in the sweeping neutrality of the Machine Herald.  

When Viktor started sketching something, Jayce turned his attention to it, even as he started to jot a few more notes down and tilted his head, studying it as Viktor handed him page after page, studying the images, nodding as Viktor described what the flowers themselves did.  “Sevika can work with the Firelights, I bet that they would be willing to go diving for any of these still alive in the Commune.  They should be able to find them, if they still exist and we can grow more, and yeah, see if we can duplicate and synthesize it.”  He bit down and made some notes.  “I’ll have to see if I can get my hands on greenhouse materials, the back of the townhouse has a place where we can grow them and test out hybrids and see if we can grow them fast and make more seeds and get their cycle moving faster.”  

It felt good to be useful, and this was something he could do, get the messages from Viktor to people in Zaun who could make a difference.  “If there’s anything else that you need them to look into, let me know, and I’ll work on the engineering.  I’ve already told Caitlyn that if she doesn’t agree to release the Kiramman air filtering schematics to the public, I’ll release them, since I have copies from when we set up the Hexgates.”  Jayce pushed his fingers through his hair and huffed.  “And find time to get myself a haircut.”  He glanced up at Viktor.  

“Long hair suits you far more than it suits me,” he said, his eyes trailing down the hair framing Viktor’s face.  “Yours looks beautiful.  Though I do miss the worked-in-the-lab bedhead.”  He offered another easy smile and flipped the pages in his notebook, humming as he made another note.  “You need me to bring anything else?  Like I said, no metal, but I can bring almost anything else for you.”  

Even though it had been through a haze of pained agony and a haunted promise, he could remember the parts of the Commune that he’d walked through.  The greenhouses, the small, but sturdy structured homes, the gardens, the quiet laughter and sense of togetherness with the people.  He could bring some peace of that to Viktor.  And buy more notebooks.  He might single-handedly keep the business around the corner thriving buying notebooks.  

~!~

It was Viktor's turn to look sheepish at the compliment, and he ran a hand through his hair roughly to rumple it. "There you go, both," he replied, smiling brightly at Jayce, pleased they had touched on difficult subjects without lapsing into silence, or returning that terrible haunted look to Jayce's eyes. He knew it was easier for him with that space between Viktor that was, the herald in several forms, and the Viktor that was now. Jayce was simply Jayce, past present and looking toward the future.

"Do they not let me have metal because they fear I use it like other inmates would, or do they think I'm going to make a hexclaw out of it?" he asked, "Idiots. I'm from the undercity. I was always more likely to shank them than use Piltover technology, or perhaps hit them with a stick."

Their time together was wrapping up, Viktor hadn't kept track of minutes or hours but he could feel it in the way Jayce shifted to eye the guard post at the end of the hall, and the weight coming back onto his shoulders even as they still chatted. He scooted closer to the bars, abandoning his comfortable posture to kneel more upright so he and Jayce were very nearly face to face. Closer, but not nearly close enough. Last night when he tried to sleep after long hours of sketching out Jayce's brace, all Viktor could think about was the one night spent in Jayce's bed and how he had felt warm and safe in ways he had never before imagined.

"I don't think any of the equipment I would like will pass muster, and food is out, so… not really, no," he said after thinking it over, "Gloves, perhaps? Not for warmth, for covering my hands. I do not like the way the guards look at me."

Even if he had the opportunity to cut his hair now, he wouldn't have. Above all, he agreed with Jayce that it was an improvement, but it hid where the arcane patterns crept over neck and jaw. What he found beautiful had never been quite what others did, except maybe when his tastes came to Jayce. When, if, he was released he could pass well enough if he kept his shirts buttoned up to the throat and wore gloves. Well enough to those who weren't looking closely, at least. 

"What I would really like is for you to sleep, Jayce," he said, reaching through the bars with both hands, offering up himself in exchange for Jayce's forge-like heat, "Go to Ximena, have supper, sleep well and then make your brace. How many times did you tell me that I can't light myself on fire to keep others warm? Take your own advice, for a little while. You're no good to me half-dead, I can tell when the lights aren't quite on behind those pretty eyes."

~!~

“Gloves I can get,” Jayce promised and was reaching for Viktor’s hands before he had even thought a moment of it, tangling their fingers together to take a shaky deep breath, holding onto him, shuffling closer to him, even though it hurt, it was worth it to be just a little bit closer to him.  “Okay,” he whispered hoarsely, holding onto Viktor’s hands.  There weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything, but he would figure it out, he would make it work, and he would get Viktor free as soon as he could.  

“I went back home and I could see where they’d ripped you out of bed while you were resting,” Jayce admitted softly, pressing his forehead to Viktor’s fingertips, the slight chill to his skin enough to make him smile.  He knew that Viktor was here, he was safe.  “Couldn’t sleep there afterward.”  He pulled back after a few seconds and met Viktor’s eyes.  “I will get sleep tonight though, I promise.”  

Which was the exact moment that he clocked that Viktor had called him pretty and he felt himself flush and bit down his cheek and chuckled, shaking his head.  “I’m no good to anyone half-dead, not just you, I can tell you that.”  How many times had Caitlyn and Mel made similar comments?  He huffed, pushing his hands through his hair as he leaned in and pressed his forehead against Viktor’s fingers again.  

“Your body temperature is about eight to twelve degrees cooler than normal,” Jayce said, almost without thinking about it, and met Viktor’s eyes with a shy smile right as his alarm went off, making him sigh, and pull back.  “I’ll be back tomorrow, right around the same time.  I need to find a contractor for the work for our lab, but I should be able to get that started.  And get you gloves.”  He squeezed Viktor’s hands once more and then stood slowly, reluctantly letting go, glancing at the guards who were waiting for them, giving them a nod.  He looked back to Viktor and barely stopped himself from leaning in to pull Viktor close and into his arms again.  “Take care of yourself too, okay?  That’s the only way I can be okay.”  

With that final order, Jayce made his way out of Stillwater, slipping a couple of gold hexes into the hands of the guards.  Not for any particular reason, but if they continued to ignore the two of them clinging to each other through the bars of the cell it would be very appreciated.  He glanced back and found Viktor watching him as he turned the corner for the elevator to the main desk and transport car.  

Caitlyn was missing from this Council meeting, and Jayce wished that he could have been surprised, but that had always been her habit, even when she was young, so he didn’t let it bother him, and they were able to get through their agenda much quicker than he expected.  His mother was waiting for him at home, with a stern look, and Jayce gave her a sheepish smile as he obeyed the order and sat down to eat with her.  

“Now, rather than being a stubborn man,” Ximena started.  “Tell me what you need and what I can do to help.”  

Jayce let out a breath.  “Okay.  I need a lot of things.  We need to start building a greenhouse in the backyard, we’re going to gut the entire west wing of the townhouse to make a lab for Viktor and I so we don’t need to worry about people interfering with any work we decide to do.  And I need more materials to make a better brace for myself.”  He turned the sketches Viktor had given him.  “Viktor had more than a few recommendations.”  

Ximena snorted.  “I’m sure that he did.  Now, you go take care of those stretches and take yourself to bed.  I sorted your bedroom for you, and brought a plant into your room to brighten it up.  You’re dead on your feet.  I’ll handle these and bring it here, and you can come to the forge when you wake up.”  

Saluting his mother with a tired chuckle, Jayce dragged himself to his bedroom and got his brace off, clutching the stretches Viktor had recommended in his hand.  It took twenty minutes of stretching, the pain increasing in a good way as he did, before he finally fell into bed with a loud groan, burying his face in the pillow.  A familiar scent curled around him and Jayce sagged immediately into it, grabbing the pillow to hug it to his chest.  He yawned and buried his face into the pillow and closed his eyes, flexing his fingers as he remembered the feel of Viktor’s fingers twined with his.  

~!~

What Jayce had said to him about his body temperature stayed with Viktor as he sat through the night and mulled over the mysteries of his new self. Back in the commune he hadn’t remembered being cold, he could feel the wind on his skin and knew it for a chill but he didn’t feel it. If anything he’d been warm for once after a lifetime of being chilled; too thin and frail to keep insulated, or active enough for warmth, with toes and fingers always stiff and cold. After emerging from the hexcore he’d felt nothing for a while, mentally disconnected from his physical body, but he remembered being hugged by children in the commune and told that he was warm. It had been a passing thought to him then, that machines tend to run hot. 

He looked down at his hands; there was no way now to tell if his circulation was poor, no veins visible and only a heartbeat to tell him he had circulation at all. By pressing his fingertips to his face he could tell that his hands were colder than the rest of him. That was new, but not new as of his resurrection, new as of this round of imprisonment. Was he becoming more human, or was something wrong?

Either way, it was likely best he did not tell Jayce about it until he was able to form a hypothesis and think through a few possibilities. The man had enough on his plate as it was and they only had a scant few hours per day to work on it together, and now Jayce had fewer friends on the outside with Mel gone and Caitlyn turned adversary. For all that he was warm and outgoing to everyone he met, Jayce kept his circle of true friends very small. 

Eventually after staring at his notes until the words meant nothing, Viktor was able to settle into restful, dreamless sleep while wrapped tightly in the fur lined cloak Ximena had gifted him. He didn’t wake for the breakfast tray shoved through the low gap in the gate, or for the hall lights turning up to their daytime luminance.

~!~

Waking up to the sight of the plant, in his bed, actually feeling like he’d slept a decent amount had Jayce sagging in relief with a happy sigh, leaning into the pillows as he stretched again.  His leg ached, maybe worse than the day before, but after running around on a bad brace, it wasn’t surprising.  He’d build a better version today, and that should help with things.  He yawned into his arm and frowned at where the Acceleration shard was buried in his skin, touching the area around it.  It looked more aggravated, the fractals of Arcane shining brighter than it had the past few days, strange.  

He flexed his hands a few more times, but there was no pain, so he shrugged, made sure the wounds on his leg were clean (the same fractals on his arm, shining around his ankle and on the back of his calf, but they didn’t hurt, were only shining brighter), and got himself ready for the day.  Jayce managed to force a few bites of food into himself, and water, writing down a few additional notes, before he did the stretches Viktor had recommended and walked into a flurry of activity in his sitting room.  

His mother was there, directing a veritable mob of people, startling a laugh from him.  Jayce left her to her organizing, claiming the materials for his brace, as well as the perfectly fitted (according to her) set of gloves for Viktor, and orders to buy his partner a present before he went down to the prison for the morning. 

Ears flushing like a fresh academy grad, Jayce went to go do what he’d been ordered, taking the time to read through the schematics repeatedly until he understood what he was building for himself, then adjusting two of the gear placements, before he went to work.  He could already use most of what he’d built, there were just different jointings, and much more padding.  By the time it was done, and it was edging into mid-morning, when Jayce slipped the brace on, he almost sighed in relief and then looked down at his leg.  

The pain was still there, but it was much, much more mitigated.  He took a step and found it to be the same, a grin growing on his face.  “Expert indeed,” Jayce muttered to himself, nodding again.  He stored the notes away with a few more notations from himself on materials and build time, before he made his way down to the prison, pausing in front of a small shop right by it.  There was an abundance of flowers and plants for sale, and before he could think the better of it, he had two potted plants (that specifically did not require much light), and a bouquet of flowers the same gold as Viktor’s eyes.  

When he got to Viktor’s cell, Jayce hoped that Viktor wouldn’t mind the plants, or flowers, and was about to call out to him, when he realized Viktor was sleeping, still curled up on his bed, in his cloak.  He sank into his chair and spent a few long moments staring at Viktor, loathe to wake him up. But after a few minutes, he cleared his throat.  It was probably creepier if he watched Viktor sleep, wasn’t it?  

“You planning to sleep through our entire visit?”  Jayce teased, raising his voice a fraction.  “I see how it is, and after I brought you more presents, too.”  

~!~

This new form had no more groggy waking; Jayce’s voice summoned him from the depths of his stupor immediately, his eyes blinked open and he sat up quickly with a little grin slowly spreading across his face. His long hair was in some approximation of the bedhead Jayce had said he’d liked, and Viktor didn’t bother to fix it - he simply scrambled out of bed and crossed the room in a couple of paces to stand inches from the door. 

“I need my beauty sleep, how else will I charm the guards to escape,” he said, giving Jayce a lopsided smirk before his gaze fell on the new brace and his eyes widened. Viktor quickly crouched down and reached through the bars to touch the expertly crafted metal and hum his approval while examining it. This time Jayce had worked filigree into the metal pieces as he had with Viktor’s, making a necessity into a thing of beauty and high craftsmanship. If he had to wear it daily, it should be emblematic of the skill of house Talis. 

“When I changed the first time,” Viktor began in a low voice, “I did not set aside my brace, I never thought to… it was such a part of me that it did not cross my mind not to include it.”

His fingertips brushed over the metal, finding the reinforced knee joint which held the same adjustable bolt as his with the Talis stamp on its head. “I have silver here, on my knee,” he said, then smirked up at Jayce to lighten the mood, “I’d show you but I’d have to take my pants off and I’m not giving the rest of the hall a free show so you can stroke your ego over the Talis forge stamp. We charge for that sort of thing in the Undercity.”

~!~

Viktor was so gorgeous, it made his heart ache. Different, yet not at all at the same time. Kneeling in front of him, in a way that he never would have been able to before, stroking his fingers over the metal that made up the brace, with his hair mussed and a happy smile on his face, he was beautiful. 

Of course, when Viktor lowered his voice and began to speak, stroking over the metal, his heart tripped over and out of his chest and into Viktor’s hands all over again, he was sure of it. Especially when he realized that Viktor was telling him there was a bolt, a part of the brace, embedded into his leg. He chuckled and wrapped his hand around Viktor’s and gave it a squeeze, gesturing to the plants beside them. 

“Well, I’m always one to love a show, as you well know.” He teased, and it felt so good to tease Viktor back. Like they’d never been apart, like all of the weight between them wasn’t holding them back from being what they had always been. “And I have a few notes on how we can look at mass manufacturing them, there’s plenty of people that need this sort of thing in both Zaun and Piltover.”

He glanced shyly at the plants again. “But I brought your gloves!” Jayce pulled them out of his jacket and reached between the bars to rest them on Viktor’s leg. “Mom helped me get them, and I thought your cell could use some color. They don’t need a lot of light and water, but I can always get you new ones if those are being stubborn.” Jayce reached out to take the bouquet of flowers into his hands and offered it to Viktor. 

“These are the same shade of your eyes, and I thought maybe you’d like them.” 

~!~

Viktor's expression of delighted confusion at the bouquet was impossible to hide. He had learned, eventually, to school his face to an extent but that was all forgotten around Jayce, always. There was nothing he could not show Jayce; about his work, about himself, even his feelings were an open book - just one that Jayce struggled to read. He held the bouquet up to his face and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes, and for a moment he was no longer in Stillwater; he was within the sense memory of many summers ago when he'd admitted to Jayce that he'd never been out of the city. Never seen a field, or a forest, except from the high tower of the HexGates. When he had first come to Piltover, the high open sky had seemed oppressive in a way until he learned to embrace it. Jayce had immediately dragged him bodily from the lab to a coach and driven them out of the city to a game park where nature was allowed to run wild. A broad field had been filled with deep golden flowers with dark centers. They'd wandered aimlessly through it until Viktor had to sit, hunched at a height where the flowers almost hid him from sight. Jayce hadn't stopped grinning the whole time with the sort of infectious joy Viktor could not resist, even as he grumbled about time lost to their research.

"I do like them," was all he said, however, but Jayce would understand. He always did. 

Viktor looked around, thinking, before he hopped up and stuck the flowers into the wash pitcher. There was no way they'd let him have a vase, something that could be broken as a weapon, but he'd found the water given to him at meals was enough, and he didn't need to wash nearly as much as he had in his old body. Flowers needed the hydration more than he did. The potted plants he left just inside the gate where they would get the most light. Stillwater had shafts cut in the stone to allow some measure of daylight, but only at certain hours on certain floors.

The gloves he set aside for later. Jayce did not find his new body disturbing, he found it as fascinating and beautiful as Viktor did. In a way it was something they both created, though the why and the how were best left in the back of their minds, now. He sat back  down, leaning against the bars, and reached through to set his hand on Jayce's good leg. Holding hands would mean Jayce leaning down uncomfortably, but this was enough.

"If you can get me out, I would like to go to the woods. We had said we'd go back, but never did. I'd also like to see mountains, but eh, that sounds very far from a lab and I do have my priorities," he said, "I would be equally complete with a proper blackboard and some of your mother's tea; you're shit at making it."

~!~

Watching Viktor’s reaction to the flowers, Jayce resolved to bring a new bundle down to Viktor every single day.  And perhaps soft clay would be an acceptable material for him to give Viktor, so he could put them in vases, as well.  But he deserved flowers, just like he deserved not to be trapped in Stillwater.  

“I will get you out,” Jayce promised, his voice soft.  “It won’t be today, and it might not be tomorrow, Viktor, but you will not be trapped in here forever.  It will take a bit of time for the Council to understand you aren’t dangerous, like I already know.  But when we do, we’ll take an entire weekend and go to the woods.”  He grinned at Viktor’s mention of the mountains and moved his leg further into Viktor’s hand, reassuring him with the touch as much as he could.  “There’s some places we can go where you can see mountains, without going too far away, so you don’t have to be without the lab.”  

How many times had they both expressed how much they wanted to travel with the Hexgates?  How they’d wanted, again and again, to go see the places across the world that they had been connected to?  How they’d promised each other that they would, again and again, only to find something else in the lab that drew their required attention.  Jayce wasn’t going to let them miss this opportunity again.  He refused.  

At the mention of the blackboard, Jayce chuckled.  “That might be a little harder to get down here, so give me a couple of days, but I think I can figure out how to make that happen.”  He grinned at Viktor and bit down on his lip briefly.  “I think you’re going to have to survive without my mother’s tea until she has the chance to make it for you herself, or she’ll never forgive me.  There are some things she holds sacred, and her tea is one of them.”  

With that said, he pulled out his notebook and looked up at the wide variety of chalk drawings on the back wall.  “Why don’t you walk me through what you’ve got up on your makeshift blackboard there, and I can tell you more about my mother whipping a dozen or more contractors into shape to get started on our lab?”  

Chapter Text

One Week Later

~!~

Viktor listened to Jayce’s drawn out explanation of the workmen, Ximena’s influence, and how their lab would definitely have more of a homey touch this time around because Mrs. Talis had few expectations that either of them would leave it to sleep properly in a bed. A proper sofa that could fit one or both of them comfortably featured very prominently in the plans. 

Despite his excitement to see Jayce, Viktor felt his eyelids drooping by the time Jayce had to leave for the council and instead of any of the work he planned to do, he slept. This time he dreamed; muddled visions of the arcane, his split vision as the herald when he’d seen both through his own eyes and through eternity at the same time. Everything was painted in shades of gold that dropped and ran like blood. Jayce was there, and then the mood lightened - the gold became bright comfort with him, a warm shade of honey like that of their eyes coming led - and he slept peacefully. Again he awoke only when Jayce arrived to bring him new flowers. 

The arcane dreams came stronger and heavier, and he struggled not to let them effect his waking mind. Looking at Jayce, with his neatly trimmed beard, occasionally he saw the wild man overlaid atop him for instant, wide eyed and angry, gone as quickly as it came. 

He was colder. Jayce commented on it, Viktor shrugged him off, and on the next visit he wore his gloves. The cold did not spring from the damp stone of Stillwater, it came from within and while he didn’t have the energy to pace and think it over, lying in bed while his mind wandered was an old practice. Automatons and clockwork things created heat as they moved, the friction of gears and motors, was he not something like that, now? Flesh and blood sure, but flesh made of something more like metal. He was beginning to feel like a cold steam engine whose coals had gone out, slow to rise and slow to warm. In the commune he’d never felt like this, at the first sign of what felt like human weakness he had retreated to meditate with the power of the HexCells flowing into him until he was strong again. Those power cells no longer existed, and there would not be enough time now to make a substitute. 

~!~

Jayce nearly stumbled coming out of the cable cart to Stillwater and ignored the looks from the guards that might have been worry on anyone else.  He took a second to steady himself and took a breath that was noticeably shallower than it had been a few days ago and shook his head.  He didn’t have time to be sick, nor did he have time to go the doctor like his mother kept insisting.  After being damn near trapped in the hospital for weeks, the last thing he wanted to do was go back. 

But today was the day he made Viktor talk to him.  

Something was wrong, and he wasn’t going to ignore it, or trust that Viktor would handle it himself like last time.  That had led them… nowhere good.  So they were going to talk today.  About why Viktor was wearing his gloves constantly now, and why the calculations on the blackboard hadn’t changed in days, and why Viktor was nearly falling asleep during all of their conversations after an hour or so.  

Jayce shuffled into the elevator and leaned heavier on the cane that he had brought with himself, grunting as his leg gave a throb of pain, his wrist echoing that same pain.  And he would tell Viktor that they needed to try to find an answer for the Arcane Rot sooner rather than later, because he had a feeling he was suffering from it himself.  He breathed in deep and covered his mouth as it elicited a coughing fit, and nearly sagged in relief at the sight of Viktor’s cell, and the familiar worn chair outside of it.  

Jayce made his way forward, and cleared his throat.  “Rise and shine, Viktor.  We’ve got to talk,” he called as soon as he got to the edge of the cell, waiting for the familiar lurch upward of Viktor’s form.  But this time, Viktor remained curled up on the bed.  Fear threatened to choke him, but Jayce did his best to stay calm, raising his voice, even as his eyes darted down to the untouched food tray.  

“Viktor, can you hear me?” Still no movement, and Jayce lurched upright again, and even the guards were moving closer, clearly concerned.  “Viktor!  Can you hear me?”  Nothing, not even a shift of his form, and now the panic was threatening to choke him.  “Open the doors,” he ordered.  

One of the guards moved forward, but the other yanked him back, frowning.  “It could be a trick.”  

Jayce didn’t have time for this.  “I don’t care if you lock the door behind me to keep us in there, but open it and let me in!  Something is wrong, and if the prisoner dies when I could have helped him, none of us are going to be treated kindly by the Council!” 

That was enough to spur them into movement, and Jayce was shoving himself into the cell the second the door was cracked open.  He heard it shut and lock behind him, but he didn’t care about that.  He maneuvered carefully around the plants that had been steadily taking over the cell and to Viktor’s bedside, sitting on the edge and reached out to carefully help Viktor uncurl from the cocoon that he was in under his cloak.  

“Viktor, answer me, please,” Jayce said, reaching for his hand, grabbing it and leaning in close.  “Viktor, come on,” he begged.  “Please.”  

~!~

Viktor was pale and still, the purples of his visible neck and hands had faded toward grey and the shimmering undertones were gone entirely. His eyes were closed, mostly, but through the visible sliver his pupils were opalescent silver with no spark of gold to be seen. He was dead weight, moving only with the unstoppable force that was Jayce’s worry and panic shaking his arm. 

Jayce grabbed onto him tightly, and Viktor’s cool fingertips brushed against the rune embedded into the flesh of his wrist, and twitched. A spark of purple ran up the back of his hand, disappearing beneath the heavy woolen tunic sleeve until it reappeared in the goldwork of his neck, the lustre of it returning, seeping in from the edge where it touched on the arteries in his neck. Slowly his color returned, eyes moving under closed lids like he was asleep, before Viktor awoke with a gasp - his first breath in a long while, panting and shaking as he looked around, wild-eyed. 

This was not the casual return of awareness as before, he’d been woken from a sleep like death that left him disoriented and still very weak. 

“Why are you in my cell?” He asked, squinting up at Jayce, “am I getting out?”

~!~

“Viktor,” Jayce breathed in relief, wrapping his arms tightly around his partner, hugging him tightly, burying his face in Viktor’s neck where the cloak was bunched up.  “You weren’t answering when I called, Viktor, you didn’t even move.  I made them let me in here so I could…” he didn’t want to think about how he would have reacted if he’d found Viktor dead.  Jayce clenched his eyes shut and breathed, forced himself to breathe, and to hold onto Viktor, almost afraid to let him go in case he went back to lying so still.  

He shook his head to rid himself of the memory of a Viktor who had been still and meditating, and he’d… 

“You weren’t waking up,” Jayce repeated, well-aware that he sounded more than a little broken.  “You weren’t waking up Viktor, and something is wrong.”  

~!~

Viktor nodded slightly, awareness still creeping back into every facet of his body slowly. “Yes, I uhm… I noticed,” he said, as he flexed his un-gloved hand repeatedly. It tingled where he had touched Jayce, like a slight electric shock. 

“Breathe, Jayce,” Viktor murmured, reaching up to touch his face, stroking his still-cold fingers over the arch of his cheekbone and the coarseness of his beard. He’d imagined it to be soft, and was almost disappointed. “I’m alive.”

What exactly had happened after Jayce had shot him was a blur seen through the eyes of others on the ground, he didn’t know what he looked like then, but he could imagine it was something not dissimilar to this; cold and unmoving, a marionette with its strings cut. 

“I am here and you are not rid of me that easily, partner,” he teased, but there was a stern note to his voice, demanding Jayce’s attention, to let Viktor ground him back in this reality and not whatever he was seeing in his mind’s eye. “You cannot get out of making me this lab.”

~!~

Jayce relaxed a fraction, breathing out slowly at the reassurance that Viktor was alive and pulled himself back enough to look Viktor in the eyes and smile weakly, nodding.  “I have no plans of getting out of it, trust me.  I never want to be rid of you.”  It felt too raw, too honest, but if he didn’t say it now, he didn’t know when he was going to be brave enough to do it.  

He turned his head to the side and coughed, covering his mouth as he lost himself to a heavy coughing fit, putting his full weight on his leg, making him hiss in pain.  Jayce took another moment to breathe, to settle himself before he turned back to Viktor and his ungloved hand, before he turned his attention to the guards outside the cell, managing to give them a small smile.  

“I’m going to stay in here for a few minutes to make sure he’s okay,” he said, lifting himself up and out of the cloying memories of the past.  “If you need to report that I’ve been in to visit him, that’s perfectly fine, but I’ll leave the same way I have in the past, and he won’t try to escape.”  That managed to calm them both down and they retreated to their seats at the other end of the hallway, leaving them to what they were doing.  

“Guessing that since I wasn’t begging to drag you out of here, they don’t care,” Jayce said weakly, turning his full attention back to Viktor.  “Something woke you up though, and I don’t think it was me shaking you.  What was it?  Do you know?”  

~!~

Viktor shrugged. He had his theories, but they were purely that. “I am… more human than I was, but less than I was before that. Food is not enough for me, before I would-“ he cut himself off; Jayce had seen first hand how he fed as the machine herald, plugged in directly to the arcane power cells while he communed with power beyond any of their understanding. 

“It’s not enough,” he finished, “I felt better the day I spent home with you, but not entirely. I should not be cold just because I am metallic, I was not before, I believe… I’m shutting down with no connection to the arcane, what we do about that, ehm, I don’t know. The enforcers aren’t about to let me lick their remaining hexgems if they even know how to get them out of their guns.”

Carefully, he sat up until he was of a height with Jayce crouching at his bedside. Earnest, beautiful Jayce who looked torn between relief and terror, with a side of reliving their worst moment. Still he was ready to do what they did best and attack the problem head on, together. 

“Your acceleration gem, it…. Accelerates,” Viktor said, smirking a little, “you touched me with it. That’s all I can thing of, I’m a little… muddled.”

~!~

The toxic cocktail of panic, fear, and sorrow was one that Jayce was intimately familiar with, and the only thing keeping him from falling into it again was the steady and calm explanation Viktor gave him, and the unspoken promise that they would figure it out together.  

Jayce looked down at his arm, where the acceleration gem and the infection around it were mostly covered by his long sleeves.  Taking a deep breath, he looked up at Viktor and shoved his sleeve up, unbuttoning the cuff to expose the extent of the infection.  “It’s gotten worse since we came back.  Being embedded in my skin, I don’t think it’s doing my body any favors.”  He held it out to his friend.  “But if it helps, at all.  Please.  I want to help you, I need to help you, any way I can.”  

Staring down at his arm though, a thought niggled at the back of his mind and Jayce lifted his chin up to look at Viktor curiously.  “You need a connection to the arcane,” he repeated, growing more intent by the second.  “If this is Arcane Rot, like I suspect it is from…” he hesitated and didn’t glance over his shoulder, but gestured to the guards with his hand so Viktor understood.  “From where I got dragged to by the Anomaly.  My leg has it, too.”  

Jayce turned his head and coughed and pushed his wrist at Viktor.  “See if it helps.  Or at least some more observations we can make.”  He reached, stretching, and picked up one of Viktor’s pencils and a blank sheet of paper.  “Tell me what you feel when you touch it.”  

~!~

Viktor reached out and pressed two fingertips to the rune in Jayce’s wrist and tipped his head back and forth as he made a considering little noise of concentration. “Well, you’re warm,” he said, meeting his partner’s eyes, “I think you have a fever, Jayce, you look terrible.”

A little banter never hurt, and Jayce’s expression softened. Viktor closed his eyes and focused on his body as he had been practicing before he became to weak to control it. He forced his breathing to slow, dragging his heart beat down with it and ignoring all of the input from his nerves; the warmth of his clothes, the cold air of the cell on his face, stiffness from having lain unmoving for unknown hours. 

The gem had its own presence, a beacon on his mind’s eye neither like nor unlike the power cells he’d been used to. From it flowed a spreading tangle of strands of power that he could not begin to comprehend. He pulled at one until it began to unravel; Jayce’s breath hitched in and the muscles of his arm flexed beneath Viktor’s hand so he backed off slightly before drawing on another in his mind’s eye, visualizing it unspooling from where it had wound into Jayce’s flesh like a parasite until Jayce made a noise that was painfully close to a whimper.

Viktor’s eyes shot open and he snatched his hand away, but where he had touched Jayce his own skin was no longer so cold, warmth filling out the purple of his flesh like a blush. 

“The rune is not your problem, I don’t think,” Viktor said thoughtfully, “it would not cause the rot, but the rot could feed on it… as could I. Perhaps do not compare me to a magical fungus before the Council.”

~!~

“Mom has been trying to get me to go back to the hospital, but I don’t want them to stop me from coming to visit,” Jayce admitted, even as he relaxed into the hold of Viktor’s hands, watching him go into what must have been a trance or meditation like state.  He breathed out slowly as he watched, wondering if this is what he would have seen if he had waited to talk to Viktor before he’d attacked.  

He leaned in closer, pressing his forehead against Viktor’s shoulder and watched as he stroked over the gem and then pressed two of his fingers to it, wrenching a gasp from him.  There was something being pulled on, deep in his chest, buried in his arm, and he felt when Viktor suddenly reached in and plucked at it, making it burn, but also reducing some of the pain.  He bit down the whimper when Viktor did it again, the pain receding steadily under the touch of his fingertips.  

But then Viktor’s hand was being yanked away, and Jayce almost swayed into him, wanting to feel that touch again.  He nodded tiredly against Viktor’s shoulder, and slowly, carefully forced himself upright and managed a chuckle at Viktor’s joke.  “I won’t call you a magical fungus in front of the Council,” he promised, his words not quite coming out as clear as he would have liked them.  

“So the rot is feeding on the gem,” Jayce said with a sigh, looking down at it.  Which didn’t bode well for his leg, if it came down to it, but the gem he could probably get surgically removed, no matter how much he didn’t want to, especially if Viktor could use it.  Instead, he held out his wrist again, putting it down in Viktor’s lap.  

“Better recharge as much as possible then.  I’m not going to let you starve when I could have given you this,” Jayce said, giving Viktor a smile.  “Need us both at our best to try to figure this out.”  

~!~

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Viktor replied, “more than this is hurting you.”

He stroked his fingertips up and down the skin of Jayce’s wrist, feeling the slightly raised edges of the arcane swirls. It wasn’t entirely unlike the silvery lines that bled into the skin of his own face, but those felt smooth and soft whereas Jayce’s rot felt rough and very simply wrong beneath his touch. He wanted to see his leg, to know how much more there was, then realised he probably could - and in a way that wouldn’t have Jayce undressing and the enforcers barging in. 

Meditation was still new to him, something he’d given no thought to until his time as the herald and now without his pure connection to the arcane it did not come so naturally. His was a mind always at work; he’d always told himself it was pain that kept him up all night but more often than not, his thoughts wouldn’t let him rest and he did his best work when more than a little sleep deprived to lower his inhibitions. 

He took Jayce’s hand in both of his and closed his eyes again, breathing slower and slower until he had very nearly stopped and could see before him again the golden threads of the arcane weaving through his own body, reaching for Jayce, and meeting similar threads of sickly color woven into and through Jayce’s body. Close to the runic gem they were a pure bright blue but faded into tones of puce and angry red the further away they threaded. The entirety of his leg was woven through, arcane eating at flesh and bone and hampering what recovery he had already managed. It spread through his veins like a poison, wrapped around his heart and lungs - a small strangulating vine felling a great tree. 

Viktor pulled back and gasped in a breath, panting for a moment as he reoriented himself, then shook his head to clear it. Jayce was watching him with that mix of fearful angst and awe again, and his heart twisted. He knew what Jayce’s thoughts kept rolling back to, his own did so too in the arcane dreams that had pulled him down of late, or when he was about to fall asleep and jerked back awake in fear. How it had looked from Jayce’s perspective, he didn’t want to know. 

“I… I need to figure this out,” Viktor said, stroking his thumb over the gem, “Soon. Now. Send a messenger to the council, you need to stay here.”

~!~

Watching Viktor work had always been awe inspiring, whether he was ranting about equations and professors who liked to meddle when they shouldn’t have, and he had always been captivating, and right now, like this, it was no exception.  Jayce watched his breathing slow, his features smoothing out until he was relaxed, meditating, and forcing away the memories that brought up as he continued to watch Viktor do whatever it was that he did.  

The gold undertones to his skin were lighting up steadily, one after another, crawling up his arms, through his chest, and to his neck, and Jayce watched, even as his arm pulsed faintly in pain.  Maybe it would be his turn to help Viktor, rather than hurt him.  That would be a good change.  He would like that.  

When Viktor snapped back and his chest heaved in a breath, Jayce was there to steady him, and he managed a smile, and held him carefully in place to make sure neither of them overbalanced and tipped out of the bed.  He blinked and stared at Viktor and then down at the gem he was stroking over.  The words didn’t register at first, but the underlying tone of seriousness had him looking over his shoulder at the two guards.  Digging into his pocket with his free hand, Jayce pointedly cleared his throat and tossed the pouch of gold he’d brought with him at the guard who had unlocked the cell.  

“Please send a messenger to the Council immediately, and let them know I won’t be attending the meeting today.  I need to stay here.  You can tell them it has to do with the Arcane Rot problem if they persist.”  His mother would worry, but he could bribe another guard to send a message to her as well if he needed to and he turned back to Viktor, forcing down the growing sense of fear.  He was with Viktor.  They would figure it out.  

With the guard behind him scrambling, Jayce turned his full attention back to Viktor and gave a wry smile.  “I’m guessing that you need to see my leg, hm?”  

~!~

Viktor gave him a look of deep consideration. “Purely out of scientific curiosity and because you have nice legs, yes,” he replied, glancing down at Jayce’s leg, “but the rot is through your entire body, it makes little difference where I start only that… I think the extremities is not the correct choice.”

He couldn’t fully explain it, but it felt right; pushing those sickly tendrils of magic away from the light and life at the centre of Jayce’s body, freeing his heart and lungs from its vicious grasp. 

Scooting backward, Viktor positioned himself at the head of the narrow bed, back against the wall with legs slightly spread, and beckoned for Jayce to join him. The flush on Jayce’s face spoke volumes, and despite everything Viktor was holding back a snicker as Jayce made himself comfortable, his back to Viktor’s front and his head tucked beneath Viktor’s chin. They had rarely ever been this close; they had shared space and touch but this was a gentle intimacy that had never been quite their style. 

“This will hurt again,” Viktor said as rested a hand on Jayce’s chest, fingertips slipping between the buttons to touch his feverish skin, “so… do what you need to, for that.”

His free hand squeezed Jayce’s shoulder encouragingly, before he pressed his fingertips to Jayce’s forehead. When he focused with his eyes closed, Jayce still had the touch of his machine fingers visible, indelibly marked with whorls of power that looked halfway between tunes and fingerprints. He should tell him, but maybe not today. Knowing Jayce he would excitedly let it slip and then Caitlyn would throw them both in prison in fear that Jayce was being controlled. 

Falling into a trance was easier this time, Jayce’s body weight pressing him down comfortably; he felt secure in a way he hadn’t before. His hand now blazed with gold where it connected to Jayce’s chest in his mind’s eye, and the sickly red tendrils retreated from it, pushed away back toward their source. The longer it took, the more Jayce squirmed, letting out muffled groans between gritted teeth. Viktor persisted until the rot was no longer touching his heart, his lungs - he knew what it felt like to suffocate in your own body and he would not wish it on his worst enemy. How long it had taken was a mystery to him, but the small sunlit squares in the hall outside had definitely shifted.

“Shhh, I’m done,” Viktor said when he’d snapped back to awareness, breaths coming quick and shallow again incongruent with his calm words as he stroked Jayce’s bearded cheek. “For now, at least. It will require more, but I… you would be best to take pain mitigation first, and if I take too much strength it will be obvious and those men with hexgems will likely shoot me.”

~!~

Hearing that the rot was in his entire body jolted Jayce into action in a way that nothing else could, and even as he settled back against Viktor’s chest, keeping his breathing steady as Viktor’s hand carefully unbuttoned his shirt to touch his chest.  It was almost agony, to be this close to him, to be touching like this, pressed close like this, and have it only happening because he was being killed by something he couldn’t see.  

Then Viktor’s hand was warming up, and Jayce’s mouth fell open in a gasp, before the searing pain hit him and he tensed enough that he barely managed to keep himself still, digging his fingers into Viktor’s thighs.  He cursed, forcing himself to breathe even as that pain that wrapped around his heart and was made worse with every breath and every beat of his heart at last started to fade, even as the pain kept up.  

Eventually, though, Jayce became aware of the cell around them again, and Viktor’s soothing voice in his ear, making him relax and lean back against him a little heavier.  “Not gonna let anyone shoot you,” he slurred, breathing in deep, only to find that the blockage that had been there was gloriously absent, making him sag in happy relief, before he decided to let himself rest in Viktor’s arms for a few moments longer.  

That was excuse for why it took so long for him to process what Viktor had said, and his eyes snapped open, his mind racing.  “Viktor, say that again?” he asked, keeping his voice a low murmur, blinking as he stared at the calculations written on the blackboard.  “Did you just imply you got stronger… by removing the arcane rot in my body?”  

~!~

Viktor’s steely arms tightened around him as Jayce tensed in sudden realization. He was still gently petting Jayce’s chest through his slightly unbuttoned shirt and figured he may as well continue to do so for as long as possible, until Jayce pulled away from him and had to leave. In the throes of pain he’d latched onto Viktor’s thighs enough to be borderline painful; something he had yet to feel in this body. It excited him with things to research and wonderment again at what he was, now, and what he could endure. Being resistant to pain was a strange twist of fate for his final form. 

“I told you, I had my theories,” he said, tipping Jayce’s head back so he could look down on him, “did not want to give any false hope, but it does make sense, yes? The anomaly was absorbed within us, after I wielded it, the rot comes from such a thing.”

The hand he had firmly on Jayce’s chin released him, to hold up where his partner could see it. The gold was bright again, refracting what little light came into the cell and they could see again the power within him, what passed for and flowed as blood in his veins, glinting beneath his strange skin. 

“I don’t know what I could do with such power, and there is much to learn about myself before I attempt anything,” he said, cautious - not that he thought Jayce would ever hurt him again, or allow it, but his thoughts had leapt directly to healing, to saving, to fixing the agonies of people like him. Best to keep that line of thought inside for a while, until he knew more. 

“I must find a way to quantify the intake, I was… trying,” he said, gesturing at the scribbles on the wall, “to figure out my rate of decline but it became exponential too swiftly to complete.”

~!~

“And before that,” Jayce said, following the calculations that Viktor had gestured to, making a note of them.  “I was carried by the anomaly and taken to another world, so it’s touched me repeatedly, more than once.  Before we absorbed it.”  Rather like how Viktor had touched the Hexcore and Jayce tilted his head a fraction, continuing to stare at the calculations, his mind racing as he took them in.  

At the mention of using the power, Jayce let out a soft sigh and let himself focus on the gentle way Viktor was still petting him, making him aware all over again how intimate this position was.  The guards would have a field day passing this information to the Councilors, he had no doubt.  But that was a problem for later.  

“I have an idea,” Jayce said, reaching up to wrap his hand around Viktor’s, where he was pressed to his heart.  “My leg is still infected, right?”  When Viktor nodded and tapped a finger against his heart, he exhaled and nodded.  “I think I have a really good idea to convince the Council how you can help us rebuild, and maybe get you your freedom.”  

He lifted his leg with a pained grunt and gestured to it. “They won’t believe what you can do without proof. We’ll use my leg as proof that you can absorb the arcane rot. There’s some places where it’s beginning to cause a lot of problems, and while the flowers will work long term, short term, the problem is getting worse, not better.” Jayce lowered his leg again. “If we show them you can help with it, and that it’ll keep you alive at the same time, I bet they’ll be willing to negotiate your stay here.” 

It was… a more sound plan than any of his previous proposals to the council. A decided improvement. Jayce tipped his head back and looked at Viktor with a shy smile. “You’d be able to help me pick the plants to put into your greenhouse.”

~!~

Viktor’s brow furrowed as he looked down at him; “you don’t have a greenhouse.”

Jayce’s slowly spreading grin told him everything he needed to know about that, and he shook his head, muttering in his first language about idiot men as he shifted a bit to be more comfortable. 

“You have a point, but if I do as you are asking you will not walk out of here, I fear,” Viktor said, “and as much as I would enjoy you staying exactly where you are while you talk physics to me, they will make you leave by dusk. I propose a counter offer.”

He waited for Jayce’s attention to be laser focused on him before he continued. “I think you also desperately want to be free of your pain sooner than later, which I understand, as you can imagine,” he said, smiling slightly, “but I do have uhm, a health fear of being shot. So, I will focus on your wrist and see if perhaps we can make the arcane stop leaching from the rune and you can show them this. I will be well enough to ensure I’m awake when you come tomorrow, and we proceed from there. Taking too much also will muddle my results, I can feel my strength and I can observe its half-life.”

~!~

Jayce knew damn well that he was blushing at the comment about staying right where he was (and he would examine exactly how much he enjoyed being wrapped up in Viktor’s arms like this at a later date, especially with those now-warm fingers pressed against his chest), but he grinned up at Viktor.  “I’ll remember that,” he offered quietly, only to get distracted by Viktor’s counter-offer, humming.  

His heart jumped under Viktor’s hand at the mention of his fear of being shot and he reached up and carefully wrapped his hand around Viktor’s and pulled it out of his shirt, to press a kiss against his palm.  An apology and acknowledgment without words, all at one time, before he put Viktor’s hand back where it had been.  

“A sound plan,” Jayce agreed.  “We’ll use my wrist to show them what’s possible then.”  After he turned and pressed his face against Viktor’s arm for a brief moment, relaxing into the touch, he continued.  “I know there’s several areas in Zaun that are eager for any way to combat the rot, and Sevika mentioned something about Ekko needing it more than the rest.  Haven’t had a chance to see him since I’ve been back yet, but we’ll figure it out.”  He chuckled.  “Need to get to know him properly outside of the one time I did meet him, so it’ll be nice to talk to him in better circumstances.”  

As much as he didn’t love the idea of Viktor running at low power levels that could result in the scene they’d had today, at the very least, they knew enough to be able to wake him if it happened.  “Sounds like we have our marching orders,” Jayce breathed, but he didn’t make any move to shift out of Viktor’s arms.  He wasn’t going to move until he had to, and there was at least a little longer til dusk.  

“Thank you, Viktor.”  For saving him again, for everything, like always.  A thousand thank yous he could never repay his partner for.  

Chapter Text

Viktor took Jayce’s hand in both of his, marveling out how it dwarfed his own. They were not terribly far off in height, but Jayce was simply massive and even now in this new form, Viktor looked fragile in comparison. In reality he was much less so, now, in his old body he would not have been comfortable for long with Jayce’s weight sagging against his chest. 

Opening up his mind for the third time was even easier. With his thumbs pressed over the rune stone he allowed it to pull him in quickly, opening his eyes to that astral plane writ small where there was only the man he was connected to. He’d already poked at some of the rot here, it was unspooling in response, gold creeping in from Viktor’s influence and blue from the rune until the suffused the sickly rot entirely, burning it out from within. Jayce whimpered and thrashed in his embrace, clearly doing his best not to be loud, to draw attention, or to possibly hurt Viktor. The latter was unlikely. 

When he finally detached from Jayce, letting his partner’s hand drop down to his lap, Viktor was a strange combination of alert and elated, and ungodly tired. Jayce was heaving deep breaths and shuddering, though he now felt like his usual level of warm, not feverish. 

“You are… “ Viktor began and trailed off, there was no way to say stronger than he’d expected without it coming across like an insult. “You will sleep well tonight.”

It was nearly night now, this level of Stillwater no longer getting sunlight from the setting sun. In the darkness of his cell, they could both still see that Jayce’s wrist was clean and unblemished besides the runestone embedded neatly in his skin. Now healed, it reminded Viktor of the bolts he’d had in his spine - willing augments, more than something forced upon him. Jayce could even adopt a new leather bracelet if he wished, to cover the stone that sat nearly flush with his skin. 

~!~

Jayce chuckled and turned into Viktor.  “Not until you’re there with me,” he whispered.  But he could hear the guard making noise outside the cell and let himself linger in Viktor’s arms for a few seconds longer before he started to lever himself upright.  A few deep breaths showed that his lungs weren’t threatening to seize with every single breath he took, and had him grinning.  Part of him was still aching after what Viktor had done, but knowing that it would keep him alive for that much longer was worth any sort of pain.  

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Viktor,” Jayce said, standing up and making his way over to the door.  The guard had his weapon primed, but not pointed at Viktor, since he hadn’t moved since Jayce had stood up.  He stepped out of the cell and watched as it was closed on Viktor once more, meeting golden eyes watching him and offered a small wave.  Not even the derisive snort from the guard could dampen his mood after having spent the entire day here.  He’d have to explain what happened to the Council, in detail, tomorrow, but for now, he was feeling better than he had before, and they’d found a way to keep Viktor alive.  

With that in mind, Jayce went home, and despite his tiredness, spent a few minutes eating, and jotting down notes for the case that he was going to present to the Council the following day.  Hearing that Viktor was dying would galvanize them, there was no point in making a spectacle of him in prison if he was dead, and he could use that.  It would have been easier with Mel there, but the Zaunite members of the Council had been swayed favorably toward Viktor in the past, so maybe he could count on that again.  

Once he’d finished, Jayce managed to get himself to bed, wincing as he took the brace off, cleaned himself up as best he could, and climbed into bed.  (He ignored the fact that he left one half of the bed open, because that half already belonged to someone else and he was doing his best not to think too hard about it.)  Tomorrow he could refine his arguments, present them to Viktor, and then pitch to the Council and see what they wanted from there.  

~!~

Viktor did not want to appear as well as he was; what arcane power he had leeched from Jayce’s wounds had lit a fire in his chest. He felt warm again, enough so that he wasn’t huddled under his cloak anymore and was pacing in front of his makeshift blackboard counting his heartbeats and evaluating his strength every time the clock at the guard post chimed. All of this would have been made far easier by the possession of a stopwatch or, better yet, Jayce timing things for him and writing down the results. Still, he made some progress although towards what, he couldn't quite say.

In the interest of not being too suddenly lucid, he took a lot of naps which turned into meditation. There was nothing around him that touched upon the arcane; only himself, and an empty void of cold stone. The lives of those around him were faint pinpoints of light but no longer something he felt he could reach out to; whether that was a power issue, or a permanent change, he couldn't determine, but there was simply no power here to draw on. Stillwater was old, built back during the early days of Piltover, before Zaun sank and the high city was rebuilt, a time when magic was not such a distant memory. Perhaps it was intentional that there was nothing here; the prison had done a very solid job of sapping his life and will. Another question, for another day.

Despite his improvement Viktor slept early and through breakfast, but Jayce's uneven footsteps woke him before he'd even approached the bars. He was out of bed and already talking as Jayce approached, giving the barebones rundown of what he'd been able to glean the night before, flipping through his notebook for where he'd copied down the highlights for Jayce to take. They'd have so much to go over today if they wanted to have time to heal Jayce any further; Viktor had doubts that the Council would allow their visitation to extend a second time in a row. Or, he doubted a majority vote would fall in his favor.

~!~

Sleeping a full night with only a few nightmares felt incredible, and Jayce woke early to reassure his mother that he was feeling better, work on his proposal and iron out more of the details, before eating breakfast and getting ready to go for the day.  A quick stop to look at the work on their lab had him grinning as he watched one of the double blackboards be installed, and the new bay window facing the greenhouse be assembled.  They had both gone up far quicker than he expected, but that was the magic of his mother, he supposed.  

Acquiring another bouquet of flowers, tucking them against his chest as he made his way to the cable car, the last thing he stopped to acquire was a strong dose of pain medication, gesturing to his leg as reasoning.  The apothecary had been happy to give him a few different things to try, ordering him to record his reactions to them, and the familiarity to Viktor made him fight down a grin, and he promised to take notes so he could find something that worked well.  For now, he had something for his pain, and he took one of the regular doses as he climbed the cable car that would take him down to Stillwater.  

The walk to Viktor’s cell was familiar now, and the guards did nothing more than glance at him, clearly bored, rolling their eyes.  Jayce made a point to offer them both small purses and gave them his best Man of Progress smile before making his way over to where Viktor was already talking a mile a minute about his notes.  Jayce pulled out the flowers and traded them for the notes that Viktor was pushing at him, and he flipped through him as he settled into the chair with a hum.  

“I have permission to use another lab over the weekend, so I should be able to look at those hair samples you gave me, and if we’re lucky, you’ll be able to come along with me,” Jayce said, flipping through another set of notes, grabbing a pencil from his pocket, scribbling a few more things in them.  “Also I brought my proposal about you for the Council, if you wanted to look it over.”  He grinned at Viktor.  “How are you feeling today, by the way?”  

~!~

A thrill shot through him at the prospect of accompanying Jayce, but he didn't want to get his hopes up too high only to be shot down. "I am feeling…" he glanced towards the guard station, but they were hardly paying any attention, "Well enough, there are more detailed answers in the book. I will more than survive for, at my best estimation, several weeks before I need your services once more."

Something about towering over Jayce simply did not feel right, so Viktor took his more usual spot cross-legged on the floor, smiling up at him. In truth he felt a little terrible, still cold in his extremities but warm enough at his core, but he had decades of experience in raising his tolerance to discomfort so his own perceptions were a little skewed. How Jayce was holding up with no such experience, he hadn't the faintest clue. Jayce possessed a great deal of strength both physical and emotional, but his will was far more malleable - both by his own learning, and by the influence of others. With how he was standing up the Council now, however, perhaps that was changing.

"Tell the Council what you have to, but the guards won't corroborate, or can't," he said in a low tone that didn't carry, "I pretended to sleep so that I wasn't miraculously healed, I figured that would not serve me particularly well as a skillset to argue my release. Were you able to rest?"

Jayce looked a bit better to him, but there was a haunted, wild look in the depths of his eyes that never quite seemed to go away and gave Viktor pause whenever he saw it - as if when Jayce dropped his focus, slipped out of his people-pleasing bright attitude, he was somewhere else entirely rather than just working on his latest invention in his head. Where that somewhere else was could not possibly be good. Still, today the dark circles under his eyes were a bit better and his smile came more easily.

~!~

“That’s fine,” Jayce said, pushing his hair back and out of his face.  It might have been shorter now, but he hadn’t wanted to cut it all off, return to his old haircut, it didn’t feel right yet.  He handed Viktor the proposal notes.  “That fits rather well with what I’m planning to say, and I’ll keep to that.”  He flipped through the rest of what Viktor had handed him, skimming them briefly, making a note to dive deeper into them later, after he was home for the evening.  

At the mention of rest, Jayce gave Viktor another small smile and nodded.  “Some nightmares, but they’re not going to go away for a long while I think.”  He shrugged.  “Nothing I can do about it, other than keep working and keep pushing forward on the things I want to accomplish.”  He jotted down a note for himself on one of Viktor’s pages, making a quick notation before combing through the rest of it.  He looked to where the guards were pointedly ignoring them, playing cards together, and smiled faintly.  

“The nightmares are pretty bad,” Jayce admitted, fidgeting with the pencil.  “I’ve woken up a few times and wrenched my knee badly.  Fallen out of bed.”  He shrugged.  “It’s like the eating.  Starve for months and, well.  Getting back into eating what would have been my old regular amounts is far harder than I expected.”  He looked up at Viktor and then back down at the notebook.  “Sorry, probably shouldn’t talk about that, considering what it led to.”  He sighed and tossed his head and looked up at Viktor.  “Anyway.  My wrist feels better, and there’s virtually no pain now, other than the scarring tissue around the gemstone.”  He pushed his sleeve up to show Viktor through the bars.  

~!~

Viktor took Jayce's hand in his and ran the fingers of his other over the veins in Jayce's wrist, watched the tendons flex under his touch. No mark remained of the rot, only the gem.

"I have nightmares too," he said softly, gripping Jayce's wrist tighter so he couldn't pull away. It went without saying that, mostly, their nightmares were each other - or at least caused by each other. Their subconscious minds trying to process the fact that they could hurt each other so desperately and then still return to this. Their conscious minds also had a bit of struggle left to go through. "Not always, sometimes I am simply… not aware. I think it happens more if I feel better, but am fading, on the edge of power but my body knows I'm in danger. I don't know, you know how I was before - magic is a science, we thought, but this may be understood with science… It's really not by the books. Much more esoteric."

He traced his fingers over the lines in Jayce's palm, finding the few scars he knew well there; some from the forge long before they'd ever met, a few from lab accidents, one from the atrocity of a Progress Day dinner they cooked where Jayce tried so show off and ended up slicing his thumb so badly he needed stitches.

"You can talk about it, Jayce," Viktor said eventually, "If it helps. I told you, it didn't hurt; and I'm here now. You already made your amends, I need to figure out mine."

Apologising for what his potential future self had done didn't seem right, Viktor was a little too proud for that and also judgemental of his other version's actions, but that didn't mean he wasn't sorry. Seeing the haunted look in Jayce's eyes day after day made him want to do anything to  fix it.

~!~

Jayce nodded and turned his hand over so he could hold onto Viktor’s hand, only to find Viktor doing the same to him, making him smile, and listened to him say that it was okay to talk about it.  He swallowed hard and shuddered, glad that Viktor didn’t let go.  “There’s parts I can’t… not here,” he managed.  “Maybe when we’re in the greenhouse together.”  A new beginning in a new place that was made for Viktor and the life that he wanted to try to live now.  

Taking a deep breath, Jayce told him about the easier part.  “Before I spoke with you through Salo, the anomaly formed.  It swallowed me, and it sent me to a future.”  He closed his eyes and held onto Viktor’s hands.  “Everyone was gone.  Ascended, I think it was.  More than half-rotted by Arcane.  I thought they were all dead, but when I started making my way toward what was left of Piltover and the Hexgates, I fell.”  He flinched, dropping his hand to his knee.  

“The Mercury Hammer hit my leg on the way down.  Shattered my knee and snapped my shin in four places, based on the scans I’ve seen since.”  His hand was trembling, but Viktor held him tighter.  “I fell so far, Viktor.  Down a ravine in the Fissures.  I was trapped there for…” he shook his head.  “Months.  Starving.  My leg got infected, and then worse.  I kept seeing you, the, the that one we saw, together.  Who explained things to us.  I was, was hallucinating.  I took apart the hammer to make the brace and climbed out.  I…” he swallowed and opened his eyes, looking up at Viktor.  “It all became so twisted in my head, Viktor.  It still is.  I, I know better, but it’s still…” he shuddered.  “I’m sorry.”  

~!~

“Why are you apologising to me?” Viktor asked quietly and for once his tone was not teasing, but simply gentle and earnest, “I too see somewhere else when I close my eyes at night, it’s not the same but… I understand, at least a little. You were trapped in another time, I was trapped at the end in my own mind. One leaves physical scars, the other, eh, I was always a bit of a mad scientist so I’ll be alright.”

Viktor pressed the palm of his right hand flat over the rune stone in Jayce’s wrist, the lines on his hand and his gold-tipped finger aligned with the tendon in Jayce’s arm that flexed under his hand. Gripping each other’s wrists like this looked correct in a way that Viktor could not quite quantify. This was the hand that had first connected to the hexcore, to magic, and there was more gold there than on the other. Even without meditating he could feel the rune like a second heartbeat and he hoped Jayce experienced the same comfort it brought. 

“The other me explained some things, mind to mind,” Viktor said eventually, “not enough, in my opinion, but then we had mere seconds. We can solve any problem that we put our minds to, Jayce; that includes your body, and your heart.”

He lapsed back into silence for a while with the look of consideration that Jayce knew to associate with deep thought and problem solving. “I still don’t think you should resign from the Council, but after your proposal you should take a sabbatical,” he said, “a few weeks, a month, you need time to be yourself again. Is this self-serving because I want you in the lab with me? Mmm, maybe, but not entirely.”

~!~

Jayce wanted to scoff at Viktor’s question about his apology, because his fingers burned with the sense memory of that other Hammer, the one that was buried deep in the Talis vaults that only he and his mother had access to, powering up, pointing it at Viktor, meditating peacefully before he’d pulled the trigger-

Viktor’s fingers curling around his forearm wrenched him back to the present, and Jayce relaxed, holding Viktor’s arm in the same pose, the tension seeping out of him in slow waves, and he nodded.  They were together, and they weren’t going to forget it this time, and it felt good to have the physical reminder here, that he could look at.  

Hearing Viktor talk about the problem of his body and heart made him smile, and Jayce nodded slowly.  It wouldn’t be that simple, or that easy.  He’d seen enough these past few weeks, the aftermath of what had happened to Piltover, to know that the path forward was far from an easy one, but if they could walk it together, maybe they could manage it.  Save his mother, there was no one else he wanted to be near to see him struggle through all of this, but he had responsibilities and people who counted on him.  

“A sabbatical, huh?” Jayce let out a huff and shook his head.  “Maybe.  I don’t even know if they’d allow it, especially now that Councilor Medarda is gone.”  But the thought of being in the lab with Viktor was enough to pull him in, because it was what he wanted, more than anything.  The sinking feeling that even if he went back, it would pull him away from Viktor again, that it would become Important sat in the back of his mind.  That’s when everything had started to fall apart and he wouldn’t let it happen again.  

Jayce opened his mouth to say that, to force the words out of his mouth, but they got choked in his throat and he looked away from Viktor, staring down at the dark, dank ground of Stillwater between them.  Viktor was right about people needing him there, especially the people of Zaun, and he couldn’t give up that chance to continue to change their world for the better.  He would find a way to do both.  He would.  

“I do know Councilors get vacation time, if nothing else,” Jayce said, managing a more real smile a few minutes later.  “Maybe I’ll just take a vacation and hide away in the lab with you, and we can get fat on my mother’s cooking while we stay up all night doing research.”  

~!~

“You can get fat,” Viktor corrected, “I don’t think that is possible for me anymore, but that is another thing we can study, I suppose. Food is less necessity than it was, but I do need water…”

He trailed off, clearly thinking deeply for a moment. Jayce was used to his sudden, long pauses. Some problems needed to be talked through, some he needed to stare into the void about until the answer came to him on its own. Now, with his meditation, its quite possible the void did stare back, a little, if the answer had something to do with the arcane. This time, however, it was more trivial.

”When we figure out how to measure my level of power, on which I have some thoughts, we’ll have to do baseline tests wherein I eat normally and do not touch the rot for a week or two, and vice versa,” Viktor said, “It will tell us a lot about how this body works, and what I am. Which means so as not to offend your mother, you will have to eat my meals for the duration.”

A part of him was still concerned about meeting Ximena face to face once more. Knowing from Jayce that she still cared for him and harbored no ill will was one thing, coming to her as he was now and hoping for the same gentle mothering she once provided scared him a little - but he held onto that spark of fear, because it wasn’t like it had been, that fear of being othered by those in Piltover, it was just a base, negative, human emotion. The kind of emotion the herald had not had, could not identify, and aimed at someone other than Jayce. A great deal of his musings had been focused on Jayce, and if he truly felt anything for anyone but him - he still wasn’t sure.

”Also, Jayce, I want you to know we are even now,” he said, “My sickness, your rot… We hid them from each other. No more hiding things, we’re partners in every sense, and we are in this together.”

Even as he said it he knew there were a few things he must hold back from Jayce, for now; suspicions about himself, and his power, that might trigger the feral fear lingering in Jayce’s eyes. Once he had the means to study himself, he would be honest for good or ill - right now, his priority was getting free, healing Jayce, and only then could they move forward.

~!~

Jayce scribbled down a couple of notes and couldn’t help the chuckle that broke free when Viktor explained he’d have to eat his meals for the duration of their test.  “I’m sure I’ll survive,” he teased, flipping a page in his notebook, before adding a few more.  It would be good to know what their limits were, as long as he didn’t think too much, and as long as he himself wasn’t involved in the test, it should be perfectly fine.  

Viktor mentioning them being even had him flushing, and he nodded readily enough.  “We’re in this together,” he agreed, looking down at the notebook, before he sighed and finished the smaller, private journal he’d had tucked away in his jacket, rubbing a thumb over the cover of it, before he looked up at Viktor.  His partner had asked him to be honest, and he would do it, even if it hurt.  

“I don’t know if I… or we can fix this,” Jayce said, gesturing to his own head.  “I’ve done some casual research on, on illnesses that can be triggered by extreme isolation, extended hyper-awareness, and starvation.”  He handed the small notebook to Viktor through the bars and gestured to it.  “I recorded as much as I could remember before we… you know.  Blipped.  And then after.  How often I was having those episodes, with one world laid over another.  My sleeping patterns, now that I’m out of the hospital.”  Jayce fidgeted and felt his leg throb in absent reminder, making him shift uncomfortably.  “They’re less now.  But they still, they still happen, sometimes.”  

The follow through of that thought, that he wasn’t entirely sure Viktor was safe with him, because of this, wasn’t one he could say.  He wanted to, wanted to be honest with Viktor, open with him, but this was too big and had the potential to hurt too much.  “They scare me,” he offered, glancing up at Viktor.  “I was terrified, for so long, going back there, even if I’m not, is…” he shook his head, shrugging helplessly.  It wasn’t good, but he didn’t know how to describe it any further.  

~!~

Viktor said nothing at first, brows furrowed in concentration as he flipped through the pages of the little notebook. These were not the neat annotations of Jayce’s scientific process, this was the frazzled ramblings of a man who had to get his thoughts out of his head and onto paper in the vain hope that it could maybe, possibly, take the weight off of him. There were sketches too, messier than the blueprints Jayce turned into works of art, of what he saw. Viktor had seen a hint of his episodes; moments where Jayce’s eyes widened and he flinched involuntarily at stimulus that shouldn’t cause this, or no stimulus at all. There were sketches of him in the margins as well; some were clearly Jayce trying to calm himself, others were his visions. He had seen Viktor dead more than once, in multiple forms.

Seeing those sketches juxtaposed with somewhat orderly lists of if Jayce lost time to his flashbacks, how often they happened, where, and when was somehow more disturbing than the drawings themselves. He wondered if Jayce had forgotten about those sketches when he handed it over.

"May I keep this?” He asked, “For now, to study.” He had no intention of giving it back, lest Jayce look at it clearer-headed and realize what he’d given Viktor.

"There may be someone in the Undercity to see about this; people there suffer hardships you only now can imagine, and they deal with it in ways other than shimmer,” Viktor replied, “Does it ground you, being with me?”

He didn’t wait for a reply beyond a shaky nod before he continued. The sketches gave him enough information about Jayce’s fears to guess where some of the truth lay. Honesty in layers and fragments, not unlike his own.

"I am safe with you,” Viktor said, confident as ever, “You cannot hurt me now in a way that matters, to me. I may look fragile, but I am not. If you wake up stark raving mad, I can handle myself, and eventually you will wake up in peace and safety enough that it will end. Though no doubt it’ll take years.”

~!~

Jayce covered up his mouth to prevent the relieved sob that threatened, in, and managed a nod through gathering tears.  The guards couldn’t see him, but Viktor could, and Viktor understood.  He always did, and it meant everything.  His fingers flexed with the urge to crawl into Viktor’s arms, to feel him, heart beating and so blessedly alive, not with a crater of a hole in his chest that had been put there by him.  

“I know you can handle yourself,” Jayce said, his voice only a little hoarse as he wiped at his eyes.  He fidgeted and picked at the skin of his hand, before he forced them to still.  At the very least, Viktor had said implied that it would take years of them waking up together in peace and safety for him to heal, and the reassurance that they would have that, that they could have that, had some of the panic that had been growing, fading.  

Jayce took another deep breath, and then another, managing a weak smile for Viktor.  “You’re the most important person in my life, Viktor.”  He huffed.  “I trust you.  If you think I can get there, I believe you, whether that’s with help from someone from Zaun, or otherwise.”  It had always been easier to trust Viktor than it had been to trust himself.  Especially when things got exhaustively heavy.  Viktor would take care of them both, even if he had to yell more than a little to do it.  

He rolled his shoulders and tried to stretch, glancing at Viktor in the cell, wishing that they could curl up together again.  Jayce winced as the tight, infected skin of his leg pulled, and breathed through the pain, staring at it.  “Legs not getting worse, but not getting better, either.”  Jayce smiled.  “Was nice to sleep without coughing though, so that was taken care of.”  

~!~

Viktor grinned at that. “Yes, a sentiment I can definitely echo,” he replied, “the first breath feels like heaven.”

When he had first woken he wasn’t aware of his inhumanity, but only his lack of pain. That it came with being unable to feel the good as well as the bad had been what broke him, had him seeking anything to feel. The minds of others and their adoration were a fair substitute for the warmth of another. Now he could feel the heat of Jayce’s skin in his hand, though perhaps fainter than it should have been, fainter than it was yesterday, and a little distant - his new body took sensory input in unfamiliar ways. 

“You have always been the most important person to me, Jayce. We never spoke of my past outside of anecdotes and I preferred it so, I still do,” he said softly, “Zaun was not a kind place for a little broken boy, my parents saw that from the start and dedicated themselves to getting me out, getting me topside where they thought I belonged. I told you once I had a scholarship to the academy, that was… Not entirely true.”

That got Jayce’s attention turned back on him with intensity. “Through smugglers my parents bought me a uniform, I started attending classes at the start of term and the Pilties were afraid of looking intolerant and questioning me,” Viktor continued, “I could not go back to the Undercity as I came in under reasonable pretenses, if I came to the bridge again saying I was a student and they checked my name, I would be found out. If I came down looking too posh, with my ailments, I could easily have been killed. My parents took all the love in their hearts and sent me away to never see them again. That was the cost of my life here.”

“I was found out, Heimerdinger employed me to finish my studies, but those in my class hated me. I was lonely, with no true friends,” he said softly, “I told myself I didn’t need them, I could achieve what I had to without distractions. Then, I met you and I was never alone for the rest of my life. It was always, and only, you.”

Viktor’s voice quavered with emotion, near to tears with the discomfort of being so open, even to Jayce. That he could still cry was of note for another time. He smiled at Jayce and stood up, tugging him by the hand and taking a step back so that Jayce would approach the bars. Then he rested his hands on either side of Jayce’s face and tipped their heads together. They could not quite fit, but their foreheads touched between the bars and he could feel the heat of Jayce’s breath on his face. At this point they were long past any illusions of the guards or other inmates thinking these were social calls, and what his partner needed would always be more important than propriety. Viktor slid one hand to the nape of Jayce’s neck and pulled him as close as possible for a slow, lingering kiss. 

~!~

Viktor had never… had never opened up like this before, and Jayce couldn’t help but stare as it was all laid out for him, piece by piece, until Viktor finished it with meeting him, and his heart turned over in his chest hard.  He mouthed Viktor’s name, only to find himself hauled to his feet, pulling him closer to the bars until they were standing, a little awkwardly, with their foreheads pressed together.  But, with the exception of the day before, it was the closest they’d been since Viktor had been incarcerated, and Jayce reached out to grab at his clothing, pulling him as close as they could get.  

But then Viktor’s hand was on the back of his neck, pulling him closer still, and then their lips were sliding together, and Jayce let his eyes fall shut to lean into the kiss.  

It was nothing like the shy, tentative kisses they’d shared, back when they’d known there was something there, between them, between the fourth and fifth cups of coffee, and being too exhausted to see straight, but hadn’t been able to make the move to more.  Jayce slid his hands to Viktor’s waist and pressed back into the kiss, relief making him near melt as Viktor didn’t try to pull back and distract him, just let him stay close, foreheads pressed together.  

Jayce didn’t know if it was his imagination that a blue-tinged spark jumped between their lips, but it made him smile into the kiss before they both pulled back, breathing softly.  His arms tightened around the bars, and he wanted to pull them from the ground, melt into Viktor’s arms, and kiss him until he didn’t need air to breathe any longer.  He lifted his eyes slowly to Viktor, and kept his hands on Viktor’s waist, not willing to let go of him yet.  

“My last thought was that I wished I’d done that before we finished containing the acceleration rune,” Jayce whispered, watching him.  “That that would have been the last thing I ever felt, and I wouldn’t have been sad, because it was you, and I was where I belonged.  With you.”  

~!~

“Better late than never,” Viktor replied, still so close that their lips brushed as he spoke. He could feel his cheeks flushed brightly, and some part of him thought it was ridiculous how he was a grown man, and at this point no longer even human by some measures, and yet he could feel so undone by a decidedly chaste kiss. Were they not in Stillwater it would have been rather less chaste, but that was neither here nor there. 

“Get me out of here, Jayce, and I will ensure it is the first thing you feel in the morning and the last at night,” Viktor replied, then pulled a face Jayce was too close to see at how pathetically sappy that sounded. He was a man of reason and science and mushy romance was not precisely his style.

“You know… I have never kissed a man with a beard before,” he said, and brushed his thumb over the edge of Jayce’s jaw, all that he could reach without letting go of his neck. “It’s rather pleasant, but I do think it requires further data to properly compare to other options.”

Jayce’s pocket watch would chime soon with the alarm for him to leave, that was why Viktor had acted on his long standing impulse when he did, but he didn’t want to let go yet. Even through his clothes he could feel the warmth of Jayce’s hands on his waist, holding him tightly - he didn’t want Jayce to let go either. 

~!~

Jayce’s heart was threatening to beat out of his chest, and he was sure that Viktor could hear it, or could feel it, with how closely they were pressed together.  The thought of being able to do this first thing in the morning, and when he fell asleep was… was a heaven he hadn’t dared dream of.  But here Viktor was, offering it like it was nothing, still close, and Jayce could lean in just enough to kiss him again, simply because he wanted to.  

Viktor complimenting his beard had him flushing and he twisted his head just enough to press a kiss to Viktor’s thumb, grinning happily at him.  “Always happy to do my best to provide a complete data set,” he breathed, tucking his fingers into the folds of the pants that Viktor was wearing.  He couldn’t touch skin, not like this, but it was enough to feel Viktor, alive and smiling, pressed as close as they could get.  

Of course, that was when he immediately became aware of the chatter and cursing behind them and after a few seconds of listening, he broke into chuckles and leaned in to kiss Viktor again.  “It seems that we have been the subject of more than a few wagers.”  Jayce hummed and rested their foreheads together, breathing in slowly, sharing the space, even with the bars between them.  He could have remained there for hours (pointedly ignoring the growing pain in his leg), but when his alarm went off, Jayce bit down a whine, and kissed Viktor hard, a promise, and pulled back just enough to meet his eyes.  

“I am going to get you out of here,” he promised, his voice soft and fierce.  “I am going to get you free, Viktor, and after we finish building the lab, and run all the tests you want to run on yourself, we are going to spend a weekend getting lost in a cabin in the woods.”  Jayce rubbed their noses together and exhaled hard.  “Kiss me again for luck?” 

Chapter Text

(And then they made out enough that the convicts across the hall went 'ewwwwwww')

Morning came not just with breakfast, but a guard rattling the gates of Viktor's cell to wake him because they required his signature on some paperwork. Those papers turned out to be a commutation of the death penalty, which he hadn't known had been hanging over his head to begin with and desperately hoped Jayce wasn't aware of, which required him to sign where it said he understood that this did not mean he was found innocent of his crimes, nor had he been pardoned, but he was being re-sentenced. What to, exactly, did not seem to be information anyone thought he should know.

The guards on his wing had slowly begun to treat him… better. Kindly was not a word to apply to anyone who worked in Stillwater, but they at the very least had begun treating him like a person rather than a monster, a horror, or merely a machine without feelings. He'd been dehumanized before; anyone who grew up in Zaun knew what that was like, but then it had filled him with righteous anger and now it simply made him sad because they were right to be afraid, to abhor him for what he'd done, or could do, and simply for what he was. Looking back now he was reasonably sure the man who had emerged from the Hexcore was mostly just an arcane construct, less a person, but now he felt like he was that herald and his old self combined - a man in a body that no longer betrayed his will to live, move, and breathe. What answers they could find in the lab would hopefully quantify that to not just him, but the world.

Having not been there long, he had little to pack; one set of clothes and his cloak, both worn, and a small stack of notebooks. The pencils he tucked into his pockets, the chalk beneath the mattress in hopes his cell's next occupant may find some use for it, or solace in something to do. The only sticking point was the four little potted plants Jayce had brought him to brighten up his life; they deserved a commuted sentence as well. Greenhouse arrest, as it were. 

That was how he ended up carrying them stacked carefully on the notebooks in his arms as he was marched with an enforcer's hand on each elbow up through Stillwater and out - finally, blessedly out - into the courtyard to await his transport off the island. It was all a little anticlimactic; the day was dark and threatening to rain, there was no warm sunlight on his face or friends here to meet him as they would be for others. He stood there under the watchful eye of the courtyard guards, waiting, he assumed, for Jayce - but truthfully that was only a logical assumption, based on evidence, and he could be getting transferred anywhere.

~!~

The final vote, the vote that would decide Viktor’s fate, after he had explained to the Council that not only could Viktor help with the Arcane rot, that he was harmless and powered down, compared to what he had been, had taken place that morning, at dawn.  Jayce had been forced (though his suggestion for him to do so had earned a lot of respect from the Council) to sit out of the vote, and he’d watched tersely as it had passed… barely.  

After that, he’d squirmed through the remainder of the meeting that had run long, and then longer, knowing that Viktor was getting released, and discharged.  By the time he finally got free, and made his excuses, Viktor was likely waiting for him, and Jayce barely remembered to buy a bouquet of flowers (and an umbrella, because it did look like it would rain), before he was racing to the courtyard that he hoped Viktor hadn’t been waiting too long in.  

Jayce nearly stumbled as he hurried into the courtyard off the transport, his heart pounding, grinning wide and excited as he stopped in front of Viktor, panting a little, his leg aching, but it was worth it, so very worth it to see Viktor outside the Stillwater cell.  He turned his attention to the guards beside him and gave them a winning smile.  “You may officially consider him released into my custody.  Do you have anything I need to sign for it?”  

One of the guards handed him a sheet of paper, and Jayce skimmed it, confirming that it was the agreement the Council had passed before he signed it, and watched as they turned to leave and head back to Stillwater.  Jayce turned back to Viktor and took a step closer to him, reaching out to touch his hand gently, where he was carefully balancing his plants and notebooks.  

“You’re free,” he said, his voice soft.  “I can tell you all about what the Council has approved on the way back, but do you want me to carry anything for you?”  

~!~

Viktor’s face had lit up in a grin upon seeing Jayce which had yet to fade, and he leaned into Jayce’s touch, falling into his orbit as he had long habituated himself to do. 

“Books or plants,” he said, shrugging so the whole stack of goods he carried moved. Jayce took the plants off the top, so Viktor shifted the notebooks under one arm and rested the other hand on Jayce’s shoulder. It was an instinctual movement born of when he’d wandered from his desk without his crutch and stood too long to get back easily, or if they simply both needed to stand - he had not been above weaponising his weakness to touch his partner. Now, however, he could move with ease and put no weight on his grip, it was purely comfort, and that more for Jayce than himself. 

They sat in the back of the cable car, as far as possible from the enforcer driver for as much privacy as they could manage. Viktor leaned his head on Jayce’s shoulder - their height difference was such that he had always made a comfortable pillow. 

“Tell me the details, cause I doubt they’re letting me roam free in case I encounter a teaspoon and try to bring it to life,” Viktor scoffed, “wouldn’t let me have any metal…. The cell door was steel, Jayce!”

~!~

Viktor was happy. 

His chest tightened and Jayce kept careful hold of the plants he’d been given, or he was going to pull Viktor into his arms and kiss him until both of them needed air. Once they were settled into the cable car, and Viktor had leaned against his shoulder, he sighed in relief and turned to nuzzle into his hair, grinning at Viktor’s indignation. 

“They likely weren’t thinking about that,” he admitted, and huffed out a laugh. “But you’re released on essentially house arrest. That house being mine, of course.” (And Jayce was pretending that didn’t send a possessive little thrill through him.) “That includes a handful of what I’ll call community service provisions. You’ll be helping to figure out how to cure the arcane Rot through the options we’ve discovered, yourself included, and you’ll work with me on some of the engineering redesigns that we’re doing in Zaun.” 

Jayce closed his eyes and let himself be lulled into the rocking of the car. “If you travel anywhere other than the house to do these things, you must be with me. You must not attack anyone, or attempt to do what you did before-“ he cleared his throat and forced himself past the stumbling pain of those words, breathing deep. “Nor are you allowed to carry any weapon at any time during your commuted sentence.” 

He took a deep breath and pressed closer to Viktor. “There’s other small stuff. Like presenting our Arcane Rot research to the Council monthly, and assisting in the decommissioning of the existing HexTech.” Jayce paused and hummed. “Your official sentence by tribunal at our return was permanently altered, though if you break any of the terms, it is subject to reinstatement.” He growled in annoyance. “They demanded that contingency. Bastards.” 

Jayce shrugged. “That’s the majority of it. Was a lot of debating and arguing, but in the end, they need our help with the arcane Rot and they know it.” 

~!~

”They do realise I have never used a weapon in my life, right?” Viktor asked, scoffing at the very idea. The HexClaw perhaps counted as a weapon but mostly its use, when he used it, was to manipulate runes to the desired effect. Oh, and he’d whacked Jayce with his cane a fair few times until he’d had to swap it out for the larger, less aerodynamic crutch. Not exactly the standard war criminal.

The strictures were less than he might have expected, though he was not surprised at all to hear there was a provision to reinstate the death penalty should he disobey. That both scared him, and didn’t, because he was pretty certain the only means to kill him permanently would be total obliteration - the likes of which only the Mercury Hammer could provide, and Jayce would never comply. Since he wouldn’t comply, what they would try then is what scared him. Testing his hypothesis was impossible, but Viktor was reasonable certain that even if they did something as drastic as beheading him, he’d simply bleed out into stasis until connected to the arcane. Best the council never know the details; ideally they just think him a strangely coloured human. In most aspects, he was.

“Did their provisions account for an end to this sentence?” Viktor asked, “Eventually the rot will be gone, if it grows back it will be very slow, and the progress of implementable innovations for Zaun will slow, and dry up. If I fail to quantify my usefulness on a monthly basis, what then?”

Wanting to tit for tat about how much he had to atone for, how much each death was worth, was not a road he really wanted to go down - and the council would not like his opinions on the matter. Even at the end, when he had lost himself, he had not wanted to kill anyone. The final evolution that would have ascended Piltover was not voluntary, on the part of the innocents or truly of Viktor himself, but until that point he had ascended only the willing. Even now, he did not consider it wrong. If someone like his herald self had approached sick, dying, utterly human Viktor and offered him the choice; he too would have taken it gladly.

So in the end he was sorry for the pain he caused, the distress, the lives lost against the Noxian invasion, but not for his commune, his dear followers. An understanding he would never be able to impart to Jayce, it fell too close to blaming him for what came after.

~!~

“I don’t know that there is a world where they trust you without me present, at least for the time being,” Jayce said, feeling out the words as he thought about what was in the proposal. “And the projects we are talking about are years and years in the making.” He looked down at the plants in his lap and tapped the edge of their pots, scraping at it with his nail. 

“I can’t ask for anything more, not yet,” he hesitated. “But I think in a year or two, I can bring up a clause about ending your sentence and having that added to the proposal.” 

The cable car jumped beneath them and Jayce jolted upright, realizing they were almost back to the mainland. “But in the meantime, I don’t… I don’t know about you, Viktor. But there are always people that need help, or teaching. And I’d like to continue to try to do that for them. To do good. In both Zaun and Piltover, and that, that would be enough for the Council.” 

Viktor had promised to wake up with him every day and go to sleep with him every night, but if that wasn’t what he wanted, or didn’t sound like a dream he wanted to pursue, Jayce promised himself they would figure it out. He wasn’t going to let them take Viktor away again. Not ever. 

~!~

Viktor shrugged. “I will never teach at the Academy again even if they asked me to,” he said, “in Zaun, hmm, possibly. In that case I would prefer to live there, but also I prefer your house over anything currently available down there. That does circle back to us needing to fix their infrastructure problems. One day at a time, I guess.”

He still thought Jayce was being a little naive about the council’s plans for him, but they could have that discussion another time. They were allowed to celebrate successes where they could find them, even if they weren’t exactly the outcome they wanted. The cable car locked into place at the mainland train depot and the door was opened up from the outside by an enforcer who blanched and did a double take at Viktor, with his purple hands and neck showing where his shirt was slightly unbuttoned. It was a more visceral version of the looks he’d gotten when he was crippled, as if what he had might somehow be catching. So he did what any self-respecting person would do; scrunched up his face and hissed at the man like a cat. The enforcer stumbled back, wide-eyed, and Viktor snickered, then sobered when he glanced at Jayce.

”I take it there are no particular provisions about not doing that?” He asked innocently, as he picked up his notebooks and stepped down out of the car before offering Jayce his hand. Trams and coaches had always been a chore with his bad leg. The motor coach with house Talis’s logo on the door was waiting just across the way and Viktor was immediately thankful for Jayce’s councilor salary and the luxuries it provided - currently in the form of removing him from prying eyes.

~!~

Jayce carefully balanced the plants as he stepped out of the tram and took Viktor’s hand for balance, giving him a grateful smile, squeezing his hand happily before they made it over to the coach and he put the plants down in the back, climbing in with a relieved sigh, stretching his foot out, before he gave Viktor a grin.  “I suspect if you make it a consistent habit, you might get some looks, but no, feel free to hiss at anyone and everyone you like.”  

The motor coach lurched forward once Viktor was sitting in the seat beside him, and Jayce shifted to rest his head against Viktor’s shoulder this time, his eyes fluttering shut.  It felt like he’d been trying to get Viktor free for months, and now, to have him here, it didn’t quite feel real.  “Fair warning.  Mom will probably be at the townhouse, since she’s been overseeing the projects I haven't had time to.  But she wants to see you, and make you some of her tea, since you admitted to missing it.”  

Jayce took a deep, relaxed breath, and nuzzled lightly into Viktor’s shoulder, savoring how it felt to have him there, the two of them sitting side by side.  “She wants to see you, but understands if you aren’t comfortable with it.  She’ll be in the sitting room, so if you want to head straight to my room, or our lab, you can do that.  I have some clothing for you in my…” he hesitated.  “Our room, if you would like, too.”  

~!~

Viktor heard that hesitation and huffed. He had always been the one pushing Jayce further in their research, and for all his big personality and bluster, Jayce wanted and needed near constant reassurance. Still, it did get funny at times. 

“No, I’m going to sleep on the couch,” Viktor said dryly, but there was kindness behind his teasing, “what did you think kissing you good morning and goodnight meant? Idiot.”

He took Jayce’s hand in his and gave it a squeeze to drive home again that yes, he was joking. 

“I want to see Ximena, I just didn’t want to disturb her, I’m no longer exactly the man she cared about,” Viktor said, “knowing that in a theoretical sense and seeing me in person are two different things. I would like to shower and put on fresh clothes before I inflict myself on your mother, there wasn’t enough water to bathe in prison.”

Luckily for him his new body seemed more primed to spend days on end in a lab and not offend everyone around him, but he still felt grimy after how long he'd been in Stillwater. Heading towards Jayce’s lovely gilded townhouse filled with every Piltovian amenity wearing the same set of clothes he’d had for months, with greasy hair made him feel very much the Undercity dweller again. 

~!~

Jayce relaxed again, letting out a relieved chuckle when Viktor took his hand and teased him, exactly like he always did.  He tangled their fingers together and turned to look at Viktor properly before grinning and nodding, leaning up to kiss his cheek.  “Give my mom a little more credit, she did raise me, after all.”  

He looked out the window, but they still had a little bit longer to get home.  “But showering beforehand sounds like a great idea, you’re welcome to the en suite, obviously, and we can go shopping for what you want for soaps and shampoos, but you’ll have to use mine for the moment.”  Jayce lit up with a grin.  “That’ll let me make you some Sweetmilk for while you bathe, too.  I know that’s your favorite, and it has been too long since you had it last.  Perfect for relaxing.” 

If he also wanted the chance to pamper Viktor, to take care of him like he hadn’t been able to in Stillwater, well, he was going to take care of it.  Especially because he had no doubt that Viktor was going to want to go right to work afterward in the lab that was almost done, just the final furniture choices waiting for them both.  They’d be able to settle in, start running the battery of tests that Viktor had wanted to do, and work on the Rot problem, and maybe even heal his leg a bit to make sure Viktor was properly energized.  

“I’m sorry that it took me so long to get you out of there,” Jayce murmured, swaying when the car turned into his neighborhood.  “But I wanted to make sure I got you out before Spring hits, and we did that, so I can take you to the woods again, right when everything starts blooming.”  If he was also planning a picnic, well.  He could keep a small secret like that from Viktor, it was fine.  

~!~

“I think we will have to see what the council says about that,” Viktor grumbled; while he was all for disobeying rules that he saw as stupid, when his death sentence was on the line he was more likely to toe it. By the time nature began to bloom, perhaps the council would have a bit more trust in him. Right now it was bitterly cold and he had neither will nor reason to run off to the woods. 

The decision to free Viktor seemed to have been kept hush-hush; there were reporters or onlookers outside Jayce’s home when the coach pulled up. Maybe they were outside Talis house proper, but more likely it hadn’t been public knowledge and would grow in telling only slowly. Not many were privy to the information that Viktor and the Machine Herald were one and the same. Those down in Zaun might know more, but were also unlikely to claim him as their own. 

Ximena opened the door for them. Viktor gave her a soft smile before Jayce dutifully ran interference, shepherding his mother away until he followed Viktor upstairs towards the master bedroom. Now that he was here, he felt a little lost - Jayce was a grounding presence, always filling a room with his light, even now that he still looked haunted. Viktor watched his expression slip a little, looking between him and the bed. 

“No one’s taking me away; if they try, I’ll fight them next time. I don’t really know how, but I’ll do it,” Viktor said, “we just need to play their game for now, and figure out how to move forward. You said there were clothes?”

The best way to redirect Jayce was to put him to task, so he did, before heading into the en suite bathroom and leaving the door open. There was a huge clawfoot tub big enough for a man like Jayce to soak in that he remembered seeing before and thinking would feel heavenly but too much of a hassle to get in and out of without all of his braces on - so he had opted for the easier standing shower instead. Now he set the taps to filling with water hot enough to be uncomfortable on human skin, but his power had faded enough that everything felt a little bit dull.  

Viktor shed the fine clothes he was wearing and nudged them into a pile on the floor. They had served him well and earned a bit of respite in the laundry. 

~!~

Jayce made sure that Viktor was all set with getting his bath ready, before he flushed when he realized Viktor had started stripping and hurried downstairs to go get him the promised Sweetmilk.  He barely managed to ignore the knowing grin and look from his mother as he got the drink ready and brought it back up to his room, shutting the door behind him.  He headed for the open bathroom door before he realized, abruptly, that he and Viktor would have privacy for the first time since they’d both come back, and his cheeks went red, almost immediately, making him groan under his breath as he made his way into the bathroom.  

He took a moment to shed his coat, leaving him in just the vest and shirt, before he slipped into the bathroom as well.  Viktor had climbed into the tub and was reclining against the edge, his body on display, and Jayce bit down on his lip and ordered himself to focus, even though he wanted to trace every single line of the organic wiring, and the gold that it was shot through with.  

“You’re beautiful,” he breathed, which immediately drew Viktor’s attention and he flushed, clearing his throat as he approached.  “Here, sweetmilk.”  Jayce lifted his eyes up to Viktor’s collarbones, which were safe, at least, and managed a grin for him, before he pulled over the small chair from the corner of the bathroom and sat down on it.  “I tried to remember how you used to make it, but it’s been a little while, so if it’s wrong, just tell me, and I’ll go remake it.”  

~!~

Viktor startled slightly at Jayce’s approach and sat up to reach for the steaming mug. This simple action that now felt natural to him would have been a struggle of pulling himself up by his arms, now he simple wished to move and he could with a quiet strength that he hoped he would never take for granted. He stayed sitting more upright, leaning forward a bit and resting the mug on his knees where they just barely breached the water. 

“I’m glad you think so,” Viktor said, then sipped at his sweetmilk in silence for a while to give Jayce time to talk himself down from the bright flush that coloured not just his cheeks but down his neck as well. A dozen sarcastic comments died on his lips; Viktor didn’t need to tease him about this, not right now. Jayce was earnest and open and trying not to stare, as much with lust as with scientific curiosity. The hot water flushed his new body a more saturated purple, and made it clear how much more gold was hiding in plain sight, woven through him. His new biomechanical body was still anatomical, you could trace the lines of muscle writ new in warm, harder flesh that was caught somewhere between human and metal, it smoothed all together in a way that was not quite like skin, but close enough. He’d thought it rather funny that he still had a navel. 

“You’re allowed to look, Jayce,” he said as he leaned over and set his nearly empty mug on the tile beside the tub. Viktor turned so that Jayce could see his back, the golden circles dotting down his spine where he had been able to connect to the power cells, but they were originally something left over from his old body. Something Jayce had made for him, when he needed his spine surgically strengthened. 

~!~

Jayce nodded and swallowed hard, reaching out to trail a finger along one of the lines of gold in Viktor’s collarbone, tracing the biomechanical skin beneath it, a breath shuddering out of him as he did.  He kept his touch light, careful, as he chased the flashes of gold under his skin, to the base of his neck, and then up and over his shoulder, shifting to look at Viktor’s back, breathing slow and deep.  Viktor was here, he was alive, they were both safe, and they were moving on from what had happened.  

“You’ve always been beautiful,” Jayce said, his voice soft, even as he traced lower, around the golden circles on Viktor’s spine.  He wanted to press his lips to them, to kiss and worship the soft parts of his skin, the ones that he knew just as well as Viktor did.  “Hasn’t changed now.  Won’t ever change.”  He swallowed and cleared his throat, wanting to keep touching, but not wanting to impose.  

“Probably feels wonderful in that bath, too,” Jayce said, returning to the gentle stroking of Viktor’s shoulder, admiring the slope of it, imagining leaning in to press his mouth to the streaks of gold.  “I know that I prefer baths now, especially with my leg.  Not the easiest thing to do, especially with the slip risk, but I do prefer it.”  It was an easy admission to make, and one he suspected that Viktor would understand.  

Another few minutes of stroking, and Jayce hummed.  “The gold is part of your circulatory system.  It pulses in a faint off-rhythm with your heart,” he observed, watching as another shoot of it.  “The gold is probably brighter when you’re stronger, too.  It would explain why you were getting colder when you didn’t have as much power.”  

~!~

Viktor watched Jayce’s gently exploration as best he could, first over his shoulder and then he relaxed more when the other man’s attention focused on his shoulders and arms. There was a look of wonder on his face that Viktor couldn’t help but smile at; he’d made the connection between the gold and whatever blood he now had before, but he’d thought of his marks more as leylines, reflecting his physical heartbeat. The only way to tell was to cut him, and Jayce would likely be unwilling to try. 

“It does feel wonderful. Join me,” he said, grabbing Jayce’s wrist, “I’m not taking up much space, and you walked all over Piltover today on your leg. The water helps, so it will soothe you a little and I can touch your mind and see… if we need to do any maintenance.”

Viktor was pretty sure expressing it as a need, and a study, would have more immediate results than simply asking him to join. Jayce was flustered and quite possibly aroused, neither of which would be solved by him lingering and pining.

~!~

Jayce tensed when Viktor grabbed his wrist and invited him onto the bath, blushing darkly as he cleared his throat, his whole body tensing before he relaxed and stared at Viktor’s hand around his wrist. He swallowed hard and exhaled roughly, his body reminding him that he would like having Viktor in his arms all too much. But maybe addressing the rot would hurt enough that he wouldn’t be rutting up against  Viktor like an animal in heat because he was desperate to be close to Viktor. 

“If you’re sure,” he hedged, and watched Viktor give him a look and chuckled, standing up carefully. It took him much longer than he liked to get his brace and clothes off, flushing as he undid the bandages around his leg that was still red and puffy and with rot-streaks through all of it. “It hadn’t been worse, and I don’t think you’ve seen my back yet, either.” Jayce turned a fraction and gestured to his shoulder and the wound there, before he waited for Viktor to move forward in the tub. 

He grabbed the bar by the side of the bath and stepped in carefully, settling back against the edge of the tub, sighing in relief, putting his legs on either side of Viktor. “Is, this okay?” He asked, well aware of his vulnerability with his legs spread, completely naked. Jayce gave Viktor a shy smile. “I wouldn’t mind taking a chance to hold you, if you want.” 

~!~

Viktor had sat up on the far side of the tub, giving Jayce the most amount of room possible to get situated in the tub. It was a big tub but he was a big man and he took up most of it, even sitting much further out of the water than Viktor had. They had been very close before, always in each other’s space; touching, hugging, ruffling each other’s hair, but always with their clothes on. Viktor had not liked to show his body once he began to deteriorate and Jayce had no reason to do so, it had simply never come up, but neither of them had any reason to be body shy now - except maybe that Jayce was trying very, very hard not to be aroused. Viktor decided to pretend not to notice, as much as he’d like to do the opposite, they were not quite there yet. The haunted look in his eyes and how it kept going far away when he was silent for too long needed to fade a little first. 

Jayce’s bad leg was mottled with the fractal spiral of arcane rot, more thickly around his fresher surgical scars. Carefully, Viktor lifted it up by the ankle and set Jayce’s foot on his knee, before running his hands up and down his calf. 

“I don’t think I should pull on this now, i think you should take some form of pain med, or get very drunk,” Viktor said, before gently putting his leg back into the warm water. Then he slid back into the hot himself and leaned against Jayce, back to front, and after a moment took both of Jayce’s hands off the rim of the tub and wrapped himself in Jayce’s warm arms. 

~!~

Jayce sternly ordered himself to focus on the science, on the fact that his leg was a mottled mess of surgical scars, scar tissue and arcane rot.  Viktor was holding his leg carefully, as though his leg didn’t weigh a lot more than he should have been able to lift so easily, and nodded.  “I have a medication I can take.  I visited an apothecary after that first time, they gave me some recommendations.  It’s helped with the pain overall, I just don’t take it as consistently as I should.”  

He didn’t try to stop the shiver that ran up his spine as Viktor rubbed up and down his calf, feeling out the muscle and likely the extent of the rot before his leg was gently lowered back into the water.  Jayce sighed in relief at the warmth, and grinned into Viktor’s neck as he was situated to Viktor’s liking, with the man pressed back against him.  

Jayce carefully traced the skin that he could feel under his fingertips in curiosity, chasing the different strands and nooks and valleys and hummed as he did, letting himself relax and savor the water that was washing steadily over both of them.  He could have spent hours upon hours holding Viktor like this, and hell, he wanted to.  Could lay Viktor out on his front and carefully trace all the lines of his back, and then his front as well, kiss every single speck of gold, and then the rest, until Viktor had melted into a relaxed puddle like he deserved.  

Looking down at Viktor’s legs, it was easy to see the bands of what had once been his leg brace, and he traced over the lines of it with his eyes, wanting to touch, but also not wanting to have Viktor move his arms.  “Would you like me to wash your hair?” he offered as Viktor settled back against his chest.  Viktor had done so much to take care of and comfort him over the past few weeks, he deserved the same.  “I’d like to.”  

~!~

 Viktor sighed contentedly and closed his eyes. Jayce’s touch was warm and soothing and now that his own body was physically warmed, from the outside, he felt more sensitive and responsive to Jayce’s touch. 

“Where was this when I struggling to sit up in the shower without my back brace,” he said, “there were days I couldn’t manage to raise my arms that long and I’d not done it in days, so I rinsed my hair in the sink.”

Looking back on it now, Viktor had needed far more help than he’d ever accepted - accepting it felt like giving in, like weakness, and if he did it himself then he was still alright. Still strong. Suffering unduly had all been for nothing in the end. This time, he would change that. He would accept care in the spirit it was given, whether from Jayce or Ximena, and give to Jayce the sort of help he’d wished to have when his leg troubled him. 

Viktor slid down to submerge himself for a moment, wetting his hair, rubbing his face clean, then pushed himself back up and brushed the wet hair out of his face for Jayce to take care of. It was nearly past his shoulders now and he should cut it, determine a terminal length and keep it there, but the fact that it did grow helped assure him that he was alive, not purely a construct, constructs did not experience organic cell death, they simply broke down. Hair hair grew, so that meant his body processed nutrients, lived and regenerated. He had to eat those nutrients, so that meant his organs still worked, after a fashion. The cloying taste of sweetmilk was still on his tongue, and before Jayce could get started with the shampoo he leaned over to reach his mug and tip back the dregs of it before it cooled completely. 

~!~

Jayce paused for a moment, the shampoo in his hand, before he sighed and leaned forward to press a kiss to Viktor’s shoulder, nuzzling into the bare skin there, before he poured the shampoo in his hands.  “I wanted to offer, back then.  I thought about it.  Helping you however you wanted and needed, but you were so determined to prove to everyone how strong you were.  Even when you didn’t need to.  I already knew how strong you were, but I wasn’t going to make you think otherwise.”  

He carefully slid his fingers into Viktor’s hair and began to lather it up, working the shampoo into his hair steadily, stroking gently at the strands, before alternating to rubbing at Viktor’s scalp.  Jayce took his time, until it was good and properly lathered up, and then began the massage anew, rubbing at Viktor’s temples, stroking gently and softly, combing through the full length of his hair.  He’d gotten at least some practice in in washing his longer hair before he’d trimmed it back, and he knew what would feel good, and how long Viktor had been without this sort of comfort had him determined to make him feel as loved as he could.  

“Your hair is longer,” Jayce said softly, measuring it out with his fingers.  “Think it grew quite a bit while you were in Stillwater.  Something we’ll have to document and keep an eye on.  Do you like it this length?”  He dug his fingers in deep to Viktor’s hair again, massaging steadily with a hum.  “I do,” he admitted softly.  “But it’s your hair.  You can do whatever you want with it.”  

~!~

Jayce’s strong hands felt amazing rubbing at his scalp, and Viktor realized no one had ever done this for him before, or at least he’d been so young he didn’t remember. The sort of lovers he’d had, both as a teen in the Undercity and then far fewer once he came to the Academy, were not the type to give this sort of attention - just a swift exchange of sexual needs without much thought to the broader realm of physical need. 

“I never thought about it before, I cut it when it began to annoy me or hung in my face too much while I was working,” Viktor replied, “but now it is long enough to tuck behind my ears, so not annoying.”

“I think… I don’t like it touching my shoulders, so a little shorter, but I would prefer it hide my neck and cheeks,” he said after thinking about it for a little while longer, “you are used to looking at me but to others, I’m…. Disturbing.”

So he would keep it, somewhat, for now and not only because it was Jayce’s preference, though that did play a part.  He had always wanted to be the person Jayce looked at with desire, and every little bit helped. Jayce tipped his head back to rinse, fingertips running gentle circular patterns on his scalp, and Viktor let out a little contented groan at being so warm and relaxed. 

~!~

“We can do that,” Jayce said, his voice soft as he carefully rinsed out Viktor’s hair.  The groan he let out had his body jolting with the reminder that not only were they in the bath together, they were naked together, and he had Viktor’s body pressed up against him, warm and inviting, groaning. “Mom used to cut my hair, and could shorten it for you, that way you don’t need to worry about finding another option.”  He let out a rough breath and ordered himself to focus, pouring more water through Viktor’s hair, making sure it was fully rinsed out.  

“You aren’t disturbing.  You are different, and no one from Piltover likes different, as you were so fond of once saying,” Jayce corrected, pulling Viktor back into his arms, pressing a kiss to the curve of his neck.  Even knowing that Viktor could likely feel how much he was affected by those low groans, offering him comfort was far more important.  He wrapped one arm around Viktor and kept him cuddled close, his lips pressed to his neck, while his other hand reached down to trace the outline of the brace on his thigh.  

Jayce closed his eyes and pressed his face closer to Viktor’s skin, letting himself explore by touch, the larger bands broken up by the bands of metal that had once been the brace on Viktor’s body.  “Beautiful,” he repeated, and he felt another thrum through all of Viktor’s body in response to the word, and smiled, despite himself.  Beautiful and maybe the tiniest bit his, just like he belonged to Viktor in turn.  

~!~

Viktor relaxed and let Jayce hold him, seeing what he would do, how he would explore. The answer was gentle, almost tentative, but with an edge of possessiveness that was more in line with Jayce’s more carnal interest that he could feel pressed against his back. Would that they had done this earlier too, so much time… not wasted, exactly, but it could have been better spent. 

He didn’t know exactly how his new body worked, whether he was just not yet aroused, or needed to have more power to be, or direct stimulation. Part of him was tempted to find out, to move Jayce’s hand off his thigh and between his legs - but no, he shouldn’t, not til Jayce’s nerves weren’t still so raw. Not til that fear in his eyes faded. Unless, of course, Jayce decided to take the lead, which was doubtful. He would make an exception for that possibility. 

“This is a different sort of different than being disabled,” Viktor pointed out, “anywhere but Piltover I could probably pretend to be some strange Vastaya, and no one would question it. Here they know too much of the arcane, and HexTech.”

~!~

It would have been easy, maybe even expected, for him to let things go a certain way, especially with the two of them naked in a bath, but as much as his body might have wanted it, Jayce wanted to stay right where he was and feel Viktor, alive and breathing against him.  So instead, he started tracing muscle groups and muttering the ones that he knew under his breath, making it to Viktor’s knee, and then up and over his hip, over his stomach, to his chest, to settle against his heart again, smiling in satisfaction.  

“You’re right, but on the same token, the number of people who knew that you were what you were, or even knew you in this form-” he paused and gave Viktor a squeeze and a loving kiss to the back of his neck, smiling against the warm skin there.  “-are few and far between, and those of us that do know, aren’t about to say anything.  That doesn’t mean you suddenly have to start strutting around with your shirt off, but as time goes on and you continue to be you, there will be less of that.”  

Jayce shifted his leg, flexing it, and his foot, lifting it out of the water to scowl at it.  The infection hadn’t gotten worse since Viktor’s very first treatment, but he hated seeing it, and what it reminded him of.  He shook his head and looked at the acceleration gem instead, smiling at it.  

“As much as I don’t want to leave the bath,” he said, when the relaxed silence had grown.  “If you were to get up and get dressed, I could show you the lab.  There might even be a few spots for your new favorite plants,” Jayce teased.  

Chapter Text

Viktor made a miserable little noise. As much as he wanted to see the lab, he was comfortable. “I need to see your mother, so she doesn’t think I’m avoiding her,” Viktor said as he begrudgingly began to extricate himself from Jayce’s embrace to climb out of the tub. Water sluiced more easily off of him, his new body retaining less except for his hair which he toweled off quickly before the rest of his body. 

Then he offered Jayce both hands to help lever him up without too much weight on his bad leg. Viktor for all his strength was still very lightweight, so he had to push up as Jayce leaned on him and it was still a close thing - but far sturdier than Viktor had ever been before, even in his youth. Jayce standing in front of him, beautiful and naked and soaking wet, was definitely fantasy-adjacent for… more of their acquaintanceship than he would like to admit. Even with all his new scars, and the arcane rot fractals, he was everything Viktor had always both envied and desired. His gaze roamed over Jayce’s body and when he looked back up, Jayce was blushing furiously. Viktor just smirked and handed him the towel. 

Jayce could redress as he was, his clothes were still clean, Viktor was left waiting for directions to wherever his new clothes were. It felt like a waste, his old clothes had been fine but what had happened to his belongings was a mystery best left not thought about. Jayce had always been after him to buy himself nice new things once they had HexTech money, but Viktor funneled much of it into Zaunite causes, and didn’t really know what to do with the rest. Things like shopping and tailors merely took time away from the lab. The only thing he did regularly splurge on were books. 

Viktor stayed while Jayce dressed and put his brace back on, ready to lend a stabilizing hand but Jayce was more than capable - learning quickly through necessity as Viktor once had. That left him still exposed, but no longer as self conscious about it as he may have once been. 

~!~

Jayce finished getting himself sorted and turned towards Viktor, who was standing bare in the towel, and abruptly realized that he hadn’t grabbed his clothes from the closet like he’d meant to.  “Viktor, you didn’t have to stand there,” he mumbled to himself, even as he pulled the wardrobe doors open and reached for the suit with the high collar he suspected Viktor would prefer, and laid it out on the bed, along with a package of underwear for him.  

He turned to look at Viktor, about to step back into the bathroom to clean up and give Viktor a few moments of privacy to dress, but instead, Jayce paused, and took a chance to look at Viktor the same way he’d been looked at in the bathroom.  He knew his face was red, but it was worth it for the faint smirk on Viktor’s face as he cleared his throat and stepped toward the other dresser and began to rearrange it.  

“I’ll make some room in these drawers, I didn’t think about it earlier, but there’s already room in the wardrobe for your things, unless you want a dresser of your own, of course, we don’t need to share everything,” Jayce said, talking through the small things they could do to make the room more comfortable for both of them as Viktor got dressed in slow and steady movements.  He picked up the clothes that Viktor had put off to the side and left them in the hamper that would be sent out later that day.  “We also have another coat for you downstairs, a proper wool overcoat and gloves, so don’t worry too much, but we’ll have these back tomorrow.”  

~!~

Viktor thought he very much did have to stand there, but chose not to voice that particular idea. The new clothes were a similar style to what he was used to wearing, just a little finer, a bit more well-cut - more like Jayce's clothes always were. Jayce was not exactly vain, but he was appearance-conscious and knew what looked good on him, and what did not. Even after an all-nighter in the lab, somehow he managed to look put together and immaculate while Viktor looked more like he'd zapped himself with a hexgem. Some of that might have been the nervous habit of running his hands through his hair.

"I'm not supposed to leave, in any case," Viktor replied, "Unless we are meant to go out tomorrow and seek out rot. I would prefer to prioritize you, and then I think afterwards, hmm… you will probably need to rest, at least a day."

"I don't need much space in your drawers, this is quite enough."

The new clothes were immediately warm, soft enough that he could feel their fine quality even now that his sensitivity was dying down a bit as his skin cooled off from the heat of the bath. He did not miss that they were, mostly, in house Talis colours. For all intents and purposes he was a ward of their house now, but he liked to think of it as having a deeper meaning. Jayce was watching him expectantly now that he was dressed, and looked far less like he was going to panic from doing his best not to stare. Viktor sat on the edge of the bed and shook his head, smiling up at him.

"I really don't need to be coddled. I know you're trying to make me comfortable, but Jayce… I am well, physically, you aren’t,” he said, “what was it you always said to me; I can’t help people if I don’t help myself?”

~!~

He was not going to think about how right Viktor looked in House Talis colors, he was not, he was going to think about other things, like all of the experiments they needed to run now that Viktor was here, and he could see the lab.  Much safer topics to think about, much less worry.  

When Viktor sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled at him, Jayce wanted to lean down and kiss him, and he was tempted, but he couldn’t let himself get too distracted.  At the mention of coddling Viktor, he frowned, and sat down on the side of the bed next to him, reaching out to take his hand, tangling their fingers together with a pleased sigh.  

“I’m not trying to coddle you,” Jayce corrected, stretching his leg out so his knee didn’t begin to ache.  “I’m… I care about you.  And you didn’t… didn’t always let me show that the ways that I wanted to, and that’s okay, I don’t want to do things you don’t want, but.”  He shrugged a little and flushed.  “I want to make sure you have a reason to stay.  You’ve said you will, and I believe you, but I can’t, can’t always remember that the way I should.”  

Jayce lifted Viktor’s hand and kissed the back of it, smiling at the faint lines of gold there, pressing a second, and then third kiss to his hand, before lowering it between them.  “I know you’re much better off than me physically, and I can, I can slow down now.  Now that you’re not trapped in Stillwater.”  He nodded firmly and squeezed Viktor’s hand.  It would help to have Viktor here, it always helped to have him here.  “And we’re done with the daily Council meetings, we’re going back to every other day, next week.”  

He just couldn’t quite keep the voice in the back of his mind quiet.  The one that told him one day he wouldn’t be enough and Viktor would leave, just like he’d left before, to go really help people, while Jayce floundered on the Council and did nothing.  But he’d said he would stay, that he was going to stay, and he reminded himself of that again, looking down at their hands, taking a deep breath.

“Ready to see my Mom?” Jayce asked.  

~!~

"Jayce, focus on yourself, for once in your life," Viktor said, tugging Jayce's hand to get him to stand. They had so much to do, to get started on, and the spectre of a renewed sentence over Viktor's head was good motivation. Besides that, pure curiosity drove him. But first, tea, and Ximena's hospitality.

He wanted to say something snarky about why he left, or how he wouldn't do it again, but there was no way to do so that didn't poke fun at Jayce at his lowest. Maybe they would get there, eventually, but right now bringing resurrection and murder would do them no good. That very thought was enough to give Viktor pause. Bringing magic to the world was one thing, but their lofty goals had been less so at their core; to make life easier, to help the unfortunate, to boost trade and industry, and where they had ended was so esoteric as to be unrecognisable from the start. He was starting to think that was very much the nature of magic, whether wild or cultivated.

Whatever Ximena was cooking smelled absolutely delicious; spicy and welcoming, and the kitchen was warm from the oven's heat. Cookies were already cooling on a rack on the counter. Viktor had long since surmised that Ximena turned to food in the same way Jayce turned to the forge when she needed to relax or work through something. Which this was, he didn't know. Hopefully relaxation, but he did not want to discount her trauma. The joy of a son returned didn't undo six months of grieving his death; death presumed at Viktor's own hands. Therein lay the crux of his avoidance - not just his altered appearance, but what he had made her bear.

~!~

“Everyone else is much easier to care about,” Jayce said, well aware that he was pouting, at least a little, with the words.  Viktor was right, but hell if he wanted to admit it, especially when it involved him needing to take a break, or take it easy.  It felt like if he stopped or slowed down, things would start falling apart if he wasn’t desperately trying to keep them together.  

At the very least, despite it all, the scent of his mother’s cooking at him relaxing as they made their way toward the kitchen.  The workers were all gone for the day, and now it was just them, and Viktor was clearly more nervous than he was willing to admit.  But he knew his Mom, and knew that she was going to surprise Viktor.  He stepped into the kitchen and cleared his throat, watching as his Mom pulled another fresh tray of cookies out of the oven, something already simmering on the stove that smelled delicious.  

“There you boys are!”  Ximena turned to Viktor and beamed at the sight of him.  “And those fit perfectly, I did suspect they would, after Jayce told me the others had been loose on you, there’s nothing more frustrating than ill-fitting clothes.”  She reached out and gave Jayce a shove toward the table.  “Set the table now, Jayce.”  

Once he’d moved a few steps away, she turned her full attention to Viktor.  “Now my boy.  Are you alright with hugs?  Or are you still adjusting?”  

“Mom!” Jayce protested, even as she gave him another shove and turned her full attention to Viktor.  He made his way to the cabinets and carefully pulled down three soup bowls, and reached for the bread knife beside the fresh bread and began cutting them thick slices to go along with the soup.  Once that was done, he brought the full bowls to the table, and laid out spoons, as well as water for each of them, and small plates for the fresh bread, trying not to obviously spy on Viktor and his mother, too much.  

~!~

Viktor just stared at her for long enough she probably thought he was losing it, before he nodded tightly and let himself be enveloped in the type of familial warmth that had for too long been lacking in his life. He had tried, truly tried, to keep her at arm's length once he knew he was dying, but Ximena had weaseled her way back in quickly, though her hugs had gotten a bit more tentative by the end with how obviously frail he'd become - he'd hated that, then, but she had only been trying to help in whatever way she could. There were no bad memories or mixed feelings here, they'd had no falling out or arguments; between Viktor and Jayce there were many pitfalls of mistakes and trauma, but any worries about Ximena hating him were unfounded, entirely. Still he had to wonder, did she know that it had been him? Of course, she had to; Jayce's mom was as smart as him if not smarter.

Now that he stood straight, Viktor was a little bit taller than her and his chin rested easily on her shoulder as she held him close and he carefully returned her hug. The room began to blur slightly and he had one of his many questions about his new self answered; yes, he could cry.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, not wanting Jayce to overhear, "I didn't mean to take him from you, I didn't want any of this to happen."

~!~

Ximena gave him a tighter hug and pulled back to tug him down and kiss his cheek.  “Hush.  You brought him back.  That is what matters.”  She gave his cheek a firm pat and smiled at him, before wrapping him up in another hug to whisper quietly in his ear.  “And I know my Jayce well enough to know that he would not have ever been the same without you, so it is just as well that you two were together wherever you went.”  

With one more pointed squeeze to him, Ximena stepped back and nodded firmly.  “You are one of my sons, and you were always terrible at allowing me to spoil you, so you shall have to forgive my overindulgence of this now.  I have your favorite tea, cookies, and a soup that I remember was a favorite of yours in the winter months.”  

Jayce chuckled from the other side of the kitchen where he was putting the cookies into a container that was already half-full.  “Well, if we had any doubts who the favorite child is, now we know.”  He caught Viktor’s eyes and smiled, gesturing to one of the chairs at the table.  

“Don’t say that like I didn’t make your favorites for a full week when you returned!” Ximena said, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head, turning to Viktor.  “I am expecting you to force this one to slow down now that you are here.  He does not know the meaning of rest and relaxation.”  

Jayce laughed.  “You say that like Viktor isn’t as bad, if not worse than I am!”  He slid into his seat and watched his mother do the same after putting in another batch of cookies.  

Ximena huffed.  “Well, someone has to take care of you when I am not here to do so.”  She turned her attention to Viktor.  “I will still be coming over a few days a week to handle the contractors for the greenhouse and secondary greenhouse Jayce has had us begin planning, but it should only be for a few hours.  I figured you would both want your privacy and will be heading home after dinner.”  

~!~

Viktor was so overwhelmed all he could do was nod in agreement with Ximena’s remarks. It wasn’t that he has expected her ire, exactly, but more that he thought he deserved it so receiving nothing but love and care in return was enough to make his head spin. He listened to Jayce and his mom bicker as they sat down to dinner and for the first time since they’d woken up atop the ruined HexGates he was starting to realising that everything might just be alright, for once. He could really live here, continue his work, make a legacy where his name wasn’t a footnote, without the proverbial death sentence looming over his head - just a literal one, which bothered him much less. 

Ximena had said something to him, and he blinked at her stupidly for a moment trying to catch up on what he’d heard. “Oh, yes, we would, I think,” he replied, glancing over at Jayce who immediately blushed upon meeting his eyes, “but I do want you here, don’t stay away because of me, thinking I need time. I do, but that doesn’t mean time alone.”

He’d had quite enough of that, and after months being connected to the members of his commune in ways words could not begin to express he felt utterly, terribly alone unless Jayce’s exuberant presence was actively distracting him. Surprisingly he found his appetite once he’d forced down a few bites of food; it wasn’t a bodily need that ached at the lack, it was discovered once he began. Although that may not have been new, he’d always skipped meals in the lab and thought little of it. Ximena was beaming at him when he reached across the table to ladle himself a second helping of stew. 

~!~

Ximena shared a look with Jayce and reached out to squeeze Viktor’s arm.  “Understood.  I’d be happy to come over more regularly, and if there’s anything you need, I’m more than happy to procure it for the both of you.  You each need rest, in your way, and I want to make sure that you get it.”  She gave Viktor’s arm another firm pat and returned to her soup with a pleased hum.  

“Have you decided what’s going to go in the second greenhouse yet?” Ximena asked, turning her attention to Jayce with a raised eyebrow.  “I know that the first one is already being set up, but the second one doesn’t have any additional plans.”  

“I think so,” Jayce said, glancing at Viktor.  “There’s a plant found in the Undercity, that eats the bad air particulates that Viktor discovered, but we need to be able to synthesize what it is doing, so the best thing to do is to create a test environment for it to study.  That’s what we’re going to do in the second greenhouse, but I wanted Viktor to help design it in the most effective way.”  

Ximena nodded and pulled out a small notebook, making a few quick notations.  “Understood, I’ll make sure the irrigation system is set up like you recommended, that’s easy enough.  Is there anything else that you’re going to want?  I know you said you’ll be ordering more lab equipment as you identify what you need, but what about the prosthetics?”  

Jayce flushed and glanced over at Viktor.  “I’ve asked for a portion of the Talis forge to focus on making prosthetics and braces for those who need it.  We’re expanding to accommodate it, especially with all the required rebuilding, but we’re in the best position to be able to mass-create things that could help people.  Right now we’re establishing the processes, but I was hoping you and I could work together on designs.  You’re the expert, after all.”  

~!~

“Yes, I am basically one large prosthetic at this point,” Viktor said in a wry tone, gallows humor was always his preferred method of dealing with his problems - most of which, historically, had to do with his body’s myriad betrayals. “There are some experts down in Zaun you may want to tap; off the top of my head I don’t’ know names, but they’re going to be the market, and if you try to sell them Piltie-looking arms and legs it’ll go nowhere.”

He reached for and started nibbling at a second thick slice of bread, finding himself suddenly ravenous now that his body had recognized the meal for what it was and began to properly respond. Hopefully, with regular eating, he would have an appetite.

”I’ll need to see the specs before I have a list of needs, familiarize with the project,” he continued, once his mouth wasn’t full, “Jayce can help me with that tonight, and… maybe you can come for dinner tomorrow? I can’t cook, and it’s rude to invite you to do it, so Jayce that is now your problem.”

He knew well and good that Ximena would end up doing the cooking; Jayce wasn’t hopeless in the kitchen, but neither did he have her touch. Back in the HexTech lab, it was coffee and sandwiches unless Jayce had brought in leftovers from visiting Talis house.

~!~

Jayce snorted and shook his head at Viktor, reaching out to squeeze his hand briefly, even as he finished his second bowl of soup with a happy sigh.  “We can ask Sevika for the names of who to go to as experts in Zaun, she’s the one who has been the biggest supporter of the initiative, so I have already received several lectures on how to make sure they aren’t Piltie-looking arms.”  He rolled his eyes and snorted.  “Whatever that means.”  

Ximena picked up her bowl and brought it to the sink, humming as she started to spoon the rest of the soup into a container, after topping up Viktor’s bowl with a pleased smile, and pushing the butter tray toward him for the bread that he was nibbling on.  “I would be happy to come over for dinner tomorrow, dears.  And Jayce can take care of the grocery run and prep, and I’ll see what I can do about making you a few meals so you both aren’t starving in my absence.”  

“We wouldn’t starve!” Jayce protested with a huff, glaring at his mother good naturedly.  He leaned back in his seat with a happy sigh, the activity and emotional toll of the day starting to wear him down.  He muffled a large yawn into his arm and stretched out his leg with a sigh, blinking slowly as his mother came to get his plate and cups.  “Mom I can-” 

“You look dead on your feet, and with your leg, that’s one thing you can’t afford,” Ximena teased gently, kissing the top of his head.  “I’ve got it.  Talk specifications and tools that we will need with Viktor.”  She combed some of his hair off his forehead and dropped another kiss on the faint scars there.  “You both need time to rest.  Take it.”  

Jayce’s eyes fluttered shut and he smiled, watching as his Mom moved over to the other side of the table to give Viktor the same top of head kiss, before returning to the dishes.  He stretched his good leg out and bumped it against Viktor’s with a happy sigh.  “Should go get the notes for you to read, because I’m going to crash soon, and I have a feeling you’re not going to be able to sleep for a while yet.”  He should, but he was comfortable, and full, and warm, and Viktor and his mother were here, and he didn’t want to move.  

~!~

Viktor had blushed brightly at Ximena’s sweet, motherly gestures. He didn’t know why it flustered him, but then he’d always felt uncomfortable with being fussed over even when it didn’t err towards pity. 

“I could sleep,” Viktor replied, “I can meditate if I need to, first. In fact you should take your pain medication, a lot of it, so I can see about that rot, after that you’ll sleep like the dead.”

He might not, however, if he pulled all of that arcane into himself but he had a feeling he was still able to enter the sort of low power meditation that he’d accessed before in the commune. It wasn’t quite sleep, but it would do until he was tired enough to rest. 

“As much as it pains me to say, the lab can wait til morning,” Viktor said, holding up a hand to forestall any protests or teasing from Jayce, “I need you able to be on your feet all day to get work done.”

~!~

Jayce winced as he thought about the pain, but he nodded.  “That sounds like a good idea, and it will let me sleep off most of the exhaustion.”  He yawned again and muffled it with his hand, before he flicked Viktor off with a laugh at the lab comment and being on his feet all day.  

Ximena left the two of them to discuss the rest of their evening and finished boxing up their bread and food, before giving both of them tight hugs and wishing them a good night.  They were still gently bickering in the kitchen by the time she left, and she grinned.  Far better to have the sound of the both of them in the house than the echoing loneliness that had seemed so pervasive for months.  

“You’re a harsh taskmaster,” he teased, leaning into the hug from his Mom before he managed to force himself to his feet when the front door closed behind her.  Jayce stretched and sagged, gripping onto the back of the chair.  He should have brought the cane downstairs with him, but he wasn’t the best at remembering it when he needed it, so Jayce looked up at Viktor with a sheepish smile.  

“Forgot my cane.  Can you lend me your arm a bit while we head to the bedroom?”  Jayce asked, giving Viktor a smile.  It still felt like a weakness, asking for help, but it was Viktor.  Viktor would always understand, and wouldn’t mind helping him if he could.

~!~

Viktor was immediately on his feet and offering Jayce his hand even though the table was a sturdier means of standing. He was a perfect height to slip under Jayce’s arm, wrap it around his shoulders, and take some of his weight for the walk upstairs. 

“I’m hoping,” Viktor said, “that if we remove all of the rot and you’re left with just the damage, you won’t always need the cane. How I was when we first met; I had it for long days, but I could walk without it.”

The arcane rot was most likely in the bone at both the natural breaks and surgical, keeping it from fully healing. Limbs were probably different, but Viktor remembered the day he had first woken up and realised the pain in his spine had faded to a dull, persistent ache that he could mostly ignore - the pins in his vertabrae only proving problematic in cold weather thereafter. If Jayce could get to that point, perhaps a brace and a cane could be interchangeable, one or the other rather than both. Best not to get his hopes up too high, yet. 

Viktor deposited Jayce on the bed and dug around in the bathroom for the various glass bottles of pills, examining their labels. The more out of his head he could be for this, the better, so he chose the strongest stuff - one he remembered hating for it making the room spin while he giggled like a loon. Of course, Jayce was twice his size at least so the effect may be minimized. He brought two pills and a glass of water to the bedside table, before he took off his jacket and vest to get more comfortable. There were likely sleep clothes somewhere, but also the idea of stripping down and being pressed against all of Jayce’s hot, warm skin was remarkably appealing. 

~!~

The juxtaposition of something that had done in the past, with him helping Viktor to his room (always under the guise of finishing a debate they were in the middle of - that Viktor always allowed when he deemed himself needing it), didn’t escape his notice, but perhaps they had both learned that it was okay to ask for him.  At least from each other.  

Jayce hummed and thought about the medical records that he had spent far too many hours pouring over, especially after he’d realized what was not going away.  “I think it could.  It depends on how deep the rot is, and I can’t see that, you can.  But if it’s what is preventing the bone from growing back the way it needs to, then yeah, getting rid of it should enable me to walk with the brace in the future.”  He took off his clothes and the brace, carefully, sitting on the edge of the bed, before he climbed in, wearing enough to keep himself modest, but so Viktor had access to the full length of his leg.  

Like this, though, he could see that the rot was starting to spread up his thigh, and Jayce sat up, studying the markings that appeared to be growing along his veins.  Viktor was puttering around in his bathroom, and Jayce gave him a brief smile when he stepped out with a cup of water and pills in his hand.  He took the water and the pills and downed them quickly, before gesturing to his leg.  

“Look,” Jayce murmured, tracing the markings.  “It’s getting worse again.  Crawling up my thigh, following my bloodstream.  That means it is in the bone.”  The rot was artificially smooth against his fingertips, but even still, he stroked over it, curious at the fractals that were embedded in his skin now.  

~!~

Viktor sat cross legged beside Jayce, his expression rather blank but studious as his eyes roved over Jayce’s body. He was examining the rot, yes, but also the many new but small scars that had yet to fade, and comparing his musculature to how it had been the past. Nearly the same, surprisingly, just far leaner than he had been; also muscle and no fat. He’d starved but not enough to degrade his strength, other than his leg. 

“Once those hit, I’ll pull it out,” Viktor said, “to the core, all of it, and the pills won’t be enough.”

He rested his hand on Jayce’s calf, feeling the heat not just of him but emanating from the infection-like magic that his body was responding to with no ability to fight it off - resulting in a low grade fever that wouldn’t go away until he was clear. 

“I will be… not quite present, I think,” Viktor said, “if you need me to stop, push me away until I break contact. Tell me when you start to feel dizzy, and I’ll begin.”

~!~

With a grunt, Jayce pushed himself up so they were relatively the same height and reached up with his free hand to cup the back of Viktor’s neck, pulling him in for a soft kiss, exhaling against his lips before leaning in again.  “I trust you,” he whispered, pulling back to look at Viktor’s eyes.  “It’ll be fine.”  

Settling back on the bed, Jayce took a deep breath and forced himself to relax as much as he could.  “It’s okay if it hurts, especially if it fixes the issue.”  He reached out and touched Viktor’s knee, breathing in deep and slow.  “And I won’t need you to stop.  I’d rather it hurt and have it fixed, so we’ll make it work.”  He leaned back in bed and stared at the ceiling, making quiet observations for another few minutes, until the world began to spin unpleasantly.  

“Dizzy,” Jayce breathed, keeping his eyes clenched shut.  He lifted his hand to Viktor’s leg again, grounding himself as the dizziness started to get more and more intense.  It was almost a struggle to keep breathing, but Viktor was here, Viktor wouldn’t let anything happen to him.  Viktor would keep him safe, and he could wait and let him do the world that he needed to.  It was fine, it was all fine.  

The dizziness only got worse and Jayce dug his fingers into Viktor’s leg, trying to keep himself grounded as his mind started to spin.  The pain would come soon, and the spinning would stop.  

~!~

Viktor waited until Jayce’s clenched jaw relaxed, all of his muscles giving in to the double dose of medication. Slipping into a trance this time was easy, every time more natural, quicker, and Viktor was surrounded by darkness, distant stars, and pinpoints of light for the souls of the few people who were within his sensory range. Jayce was the brightest gold, the outline of him mottled and twisted by the rot that had crept up not just his leg but to the wounds on his back as well - or perhaps started in both places before reaching out to touch in the middle. 

He dug his fingers into Jayce’s thigh, feeling the firm flesh in his physical form and watching the effervescent hands of his astral form slip into the magic that imbued Jayce’s body. There he tugged at the strands of fractals, trying to untangle and unravel them, pulling here and there until the bits of red and green turned gold and then disappeared. It wasn’t quite enough, it would take hours. Days. To go about it like this. Days of extended agony, or…. One very terrible moment. 

Jayce would forgive him, he’d understand, as he always did. In this state Viktor could not think particularly empathetically about it, too concerned with the extent of the rot. A living, well Jayce was more important than temporary comfort. Viktor reached in deeper with all of his being, wrapping his mind and magic around the rot and pulled. Jayce’s frantic cry broke through to him even in his meditative state but he could not let go, not now, there was no stopping it. 

Suddenly the body beneath his hands moved, not in the physical world but the inner self he held onto with his mind; Jayce sitting up and taking form beyond the outlines of his limbs, a rune, and rot. 

Viktor froze, and felt distantly Jayce’s body thrashing under his hands. Alive. Unconscious? It was very hard to tell. 

“I don’t think you’re supposed to be here,” Viktor said, voice and astral body shifting into something less arcane and more familiar although he looked like himself now - longer bi-colored hair and here all of his body was crafted in gold. 

Chapter Text

Jayce kept his eyes clenched, to try to force himself to think about being anywhere other than here, where he was, and at first it was easy.  Viktor’s fingers dug into his thigh, but that was fine, he would manage, and he bit down a groan as the grip got stronger, and he felt the same sort of heated pull he had felt Viktor do with his chest last time.  Jayce tried to take a breath, but it felt heavy, and he was starting to feel like he was floating away from his body, even if he focused on Viktor’s hands that were digging further and further into his thigh.  

Viktor was going to break the skin at this rate, and Jayce knew that it would be okay, that he would only be doing it if things were dangerous and something was wrong.  He clenched one of his hands into the sheets and tried to breathe and reach for the shining gold that he could feel in the back of his mind.  It was like that place they’d been, in the Arcane together, before they’d died.  

Jayce breathed in deep, and felt the pain of Viktor’s grip start to fade, and instead that golden light was getting stronger, and then another breath, he coughed, his whole body tensed, and then he was floating, staring at… 

Jayce looked at his hands, that same strange variety of colors and Viktor floating across from him, and he grinned, because here his leg didn’t hurt at all.  Or he couldn’t feel it, maybe.  “I think it was hurting too much, and I didn’t want to, so I came here.”  He shrugged.  “It doesn’t hurt here, so of course I came here where you were.  I always want to be with you where you are.  You take good care of me, and of everyone else.”  

~!~

"It may not hurt here but I think the drugs definitely work here," Viktor said, teasing, and Jayce didn't seem to notice his tone, just nodding enthusiastically as floated over and latched on to Viktor. It was an odd feeling to be hugged in one dimension by the man who was twitching and whining under his hands in another. The rot was stubborn, and deep, so he was thankful that Jayce was loopy enough not to feel what he was doing anymore. They shouldn't have waited this long, should have worked on it in Stillwater, but neither of them wanted to have an audience for putting Jayce in such distress and Viktor was concerned that he would not be able to hide this level of power intake.

Slowly but surely he was able to draw out the rot, straightening out the strands of arcane power feeding on his partner and weave them into something more like his own golden light until it absorbed into him, brightening his own presence to an almost blinding degree. Viktor could feel a ghost of it still beneath his hands, the flesh had been so thoroughly infused with magic that Jayce's leg may carry the echoes of the arcane patterns on his skin, but they would be only surface scars to fade in time - unnoticed by most, when he was dressed.

Viktor released Jayce's leg but kept his meditative focus, wanting Jayce to wake up before he left it. That they could still meet like this was astounding, he had so many questions. Did it require physical contact, power leaching, or was it because they had become one within the arcane in that instant that was nothing to them and months in the real world? Pain hadn't driven Jayce here last time, so perhaps the drugs helped? Somehow he didn't think he'd convince Jayce to try any substances for science. He hadn't changed that much.

Jayce's astral form was still clinging to his and Viktor smiled down at him. "You can wake up now, I'm done," he said, "I want to see how you manage it, let your mind tell your body what to do."

~!~

At least here Viktor didn’t mind if he clung and cuddled, and let himself drift and feel connected to Viktor, stroking over the blindingly bright filaments of his hair. “I have to go,” he agreed, pouting, even as he wrapped his arms tight around Viktor and nuzzled into the gold-bright light of him that was so breathtakingly beautiful. 

“Want to stay here, little bit longer,” Jayce mumbled, even though he knew he couldn’t, that he needed to go back, that he was being pulled back. “You’re so beautiful and gentle, and kind, and I knew that, I knew it, I’ve always known it, I never should have forgot it. You’ve always been like this, see?” 

Jayce lifted up one of Viktor’s shining gold arms and kissed the back of his hand, then his palm. “Just like this. I forgot, I don’t know how, you shine so bright and beautiful like this.” He sighed and gave Viktor one more hug, before he drifted back towards Viktor’s hands, and followed the threads back. He could feel the hurt that was threatening, and he didn’t want to go back, but he had to. 

“Do you hurt here, too?” Jayce asked, settling back into the form of his body. “I don’t, not really. Miss it. Was nice not to hurt after everything.” He yawned and settled back into his body the rest of the way, the pain growing louder and louder…

Jayce snapped his eyes open with a gasp, his whole body aching, nausea rising up in his throat. “F-fuck!” He bucked against Viktor’s hold, trembling as he sucked in a weak breath, and then another, realizing that his cheeks were wet with tears, and his throat was hoarse, likely from his shouting. He held onto Viktor’s thigh and tried to breathe. “Viktor? What… what happened?”

~!~

Viktor snapped out of his meditation immediately upon hearing Jayce’s voice aloud rather than in his head. Slowly he relaxed his grip on Jayce’s leg, seeing the bright red marks left by his fingers which would definitely result in deep, aching bruises - but the rot was gone. He’d been successful in that. Left behind were faint swirls in the shape of magic, a little lighter than Jayce’s skin like very old scars. Viktor thought they were beautiful. 

“Ah, you fainted from the pain,” Viktor replied, deciding in the moment that Jayce’s little visit to the astral plane could stay his secret for now. Not only would Jayce demand to know the details and be embarrassed, but the last thing he wanted to do was ignite the trauma anew over what had first brought him there. 

“But it does have the benefit of somewhat clearing your head,” Viktor continued, “don’t try to sit up, then the room will spin again, but you seem rather lucid all things considered.”

He wasn’t being quite as empathic as he should have been, logically he knew that. Filled as he was with burgeoning power, Viktor was distracted from everything but the thrum of energy flowing through him. This was what he’d felt in the commune after every time his people brought him power cells to absorb; it wasn’t quite so pure, the rot was something he had to process into pure arcane energy, a refining process that was definitely not lossless. 

Gently Viktor rubbed his hand over the bruise starting to form on Jayce’s thigh, then his calf, buying himself a little time to think before he had to speak again. There was no way to be sure besides trying, and he wouldn’t, but he could sense the pain, now much lessened, in the still-healing bones of Jayce’s leg. They could heal well now, he would never walk without pain but he would walk steadily, but they could heal. If he made them. He was strong enough to do it, but… that was a term of his release, no ascension, though he didn’t think a spot of healing counted. 

Viktor would not make that choice for Jayce, however, and neither should he mention it. That haunted look in Jayce’s eyes whenever he slowed down enough to let it through was not always melancholy at what had happened between them; it was also fear, of what Viktor had once become. 

~!~

Fainted? Was that what had happened? It didn’t entirely feel like it, but Viktor had been here the whole time, so he must be right. At least the infection in his leg looked greatly reduced or even gone, when he peeked his eye open to look at it. Jayce pointed and curled his toes, testing his extremities, but other than the deep aching pain of the bruise in his thigh, seemed like his leg was fine. 

“Yeah,” Jayce agreed, when he realized, belatedly, that Viktor was probably waiting for a response of some kind. The massage on his leg and calf was helping with the aching muscles, at least, and he sighed, closing his eyes before shifting under Viktor’s hands to curl closer to him. He wrapped one possessive hand over Viktor’s thigh and tried to relax. 

There were so many questions that he wanted to answer, now, and about how much that had helped Viktor, if it had helped and charged him at all. Jayce traced onto the gold lines that he could see when he cracked his eyes open, dragging his fingers along them before he yawned again. Talking felt like too much, everything felt like too much, he just wanted to stay here, with Viktor. 

Shifting and settling pointedly into the blankets once more, Jayce managed to focus himself long enough to mumble, “Sleep, Viktor?”

~!~ Two Weeks Later ~!~

Despite seeing evidence of Viktor’s willingness to help, in the form of Jayce’s healed leg and several samples, both biological and inert, the Council was still loath to send him on any actual missions - arguing first that healing Jayce was clearly similar to what he’d done in the undercity commune (which both Jayce himself and Sevika as the main Zaun representative dissented on), and that his ability to pull rot out of metal samples showed again an affinity for assimilating metal. Viktor found that to be the most idiotic of sticking points, as he hadn’t assimilated anything, or brought any metal to life, he had given metal to the living; a very important distinction, in his mind.

As a result he’d been stuck at Jayce’s townhome, which wasn’t precisely a fate worse than death, especially given now that he had both the conservatory greenhouse where he could sit and work in sunlit warmth despite the season, and the large glass house that had taken up most of the unused garden for research into the chemosynthesizing plants. The lab housed, for now, mostly experiments as to his own nature and composition; his boundless curiosity dampened there by a creeping anxiety over Jayce knowing, or realizing, too much. Trust was a solid thing, but brittle; theirs had been shattered and put back together by Jayce’s great act of sacrifice. The cracks were still there, and would take some time to heal; time wherein Viktor did not seem too powerful. So in that effort, he let his powers wane, taking enough but not too much - when he gorged himself on the arcane his eyes turned back to silvery opalescence and it was clear without words that Jayce preferred the honey-gold.

Frustrations aside; Viktor was relatively certain this was the most rest, and the most progress, he’d made in his entire scientific career. Not being constrained by physical limitations, able to stand on his feet, pace while he thought, and not be distracted by pain made the process so much clearer, faster. This was the mind that had helped Jayce solve HexTech in one night, before ill health and exhaustion slowed him down. 

Every night, he would lie next to Jayce until he was deeply asleep. Some nights he would stay there, tired himself, or meditate and seek answers to the internal parts of himself; others he would sneak out of bed and back to the lab, to surprise Jayce with new progress in the morning. Still, he endeavored to keep his promise; always there when Jayce woke up to greet him with a smile and a gentle kiss on the forehead before he began to prattle on about his discoveries - it was the best way to kickstart Jayce into his energetic mode.

He’d actually slept deeply the night before, having helped Jayce with the non-forging aspects of fabrication yesterday on some prototype prosthetics. He may be strong now, unnaturally so, but his new muscles were still not actually used to work, even transformed they remembered his sedentary tendencies. Even so he awoke before Jayce, senses heightened by his change heard the door below creak up and click shut. Any trepidation about that was soothed near immediately by the familiar noises of someone puttering around in the kitchen.

Viktor hauled himself out of bed, careful not to disturb Jayce, and wrapped himself in a warm housecoat before heading downstairs to see what was for breakfast. He’d become much more casual around Ximena over the last few weeks, less afraid his inhuman nature would frighten her, less concerned about covering all of it up. She took every opportunity she could to call him a handsome young man.

~!~

The last few weeks had been blissful, and though Jayce was very well aware that Viktor was starting to go a bit stir-crazy at being unable to leave the house, he didn’t make a secret of the fact that it was a relief to have him this close, constantly.  It was soothing something that had been hurt for a lot longer than he’d maybe been willing to admit, and he’d managed to slow down from the Council too, working shorter days, and focusing on his time with Viktor in the lab.  It was nice, wonderful even.  The best part was waking up with Viktor and going to sleep with him every night.  

Which was why, when Jayce woke up, and reached across the bed for where Viktor’s form should be, and found nothing but neatly made sheets - he panicked.  

A part of him, far detached from the terrifying haze that settled over his vision, knew that Viktor probably wasn’t far, but he wasn’t here, and had he ever been here at all?  Jayce heaved in a breath, clenched his fingers in his sheets, his mind spinning.  Had he imagined it all?  A happily ever after with Viktor that he would never have been lucky enough to have after what he’d done, and pain made men do desperate things.  

Jayce threw himself out of bed, ignoring the twinge of pain in his leg, he was well-versed with its agony, it didn’t matter.  He’d built a fantasy world for himself where Viktor could, could have cared about him, would have held him so gently and so carefully, taking care of him the same way that Jayce had always wanted to do for him.  He was breathing harder, his heart was pounding and his vision was swimming, and fuck, he had to get out, he had to get away.  

Catching sight of his reflection in the mirror, at the image of the man who had killed his best friend, and the man who meant everything had Jayce scrambling for his razor.  It was quick and dirty, but his clean-shaven face shimmered in the mirror, and it was like watching the moment all over again where he’d lifted the hammer and Viktor had opened his eyes, Viktor had watched, hadn’t stopped him, hadn’t done anything.  Jayce threw his fist into the mirror and watched the image shatter at last, his shoulders shaking.  

He’d killed his best friend, and then he’d imagined a world where they had lived been living together, happy together, and it was a lie, all of it was a lie.  Jayce shoved the door to his bedroom open and stumbled to the front door, slamming himself against it as he stumbled, clawing for the doorknob with his injured hand.  He had to get out, he had to get away, away from the dream that seemed to overlay his vision, just like the timeline that had been destroyed, both of them flickering in front of him.  

Visions of twisted and decaying metallic bodies jumped and flickered in his mind’s eye and Jayce shook his head, clenching his aching hand tight to his chest.  There was nowhere that he could go, nowhere that he could run to, but he had to get away, had, had to… 

His hand slipped against the brass doorknob and he lost his balance, falling against it with a pained grunt.  

~!~ 

Viktor heard the heavy thud of Jayce getting out of bed and smiled slightly to himself; he was beauty and grace when he wanted to be but he never really wanted to crawl out of bed and let the day begin - even when they had exciting projects ongoing in the lab. Ximena was making him more eggs after not taking no for an answer over whether or not he was full - one of these days he’d have to tell her that he was unlikely to gain any weight or fill out no matter how much food she stuffed into him, but he rather liked the fussing. It reminded him of his very early childhood; sitting at the table in his pajamas while his parents talked about things he didn’t understand. 

The sound of shattering glass, however, had him on his feet immediately, worried. Jayce had started to be lax about his brace, taking it off to shower and hobbling around unsteadily in the bathroom; but he’d gone to sleep with it on. The answer to that confusion came with the clamor of Jayce stumbling down the stairs, too fast and heavy to not be wearing it, just as Viktor made it to the foyer still with toast in hand. 

A trail of blood dripped down the stairs and smeared over the doorknob, crimson handprints beside it as Jayce tried to pull himself back to his feet, fumbling inelegantly, wild-eyed. He looked up and Viktor froze, not just at the sight of his clean shaven face, bloodied where he’d nicked his jaw, but the look in his eyes that he’d only seen once, right before he saw nothing for a long time. 

"Jayce?” He said, tentative. There was no way Jayce could truly injure him, not without any HexTech on hand, but that didn’t assuage all his fears. “Jayce, are you with me? Do you see me?” 

His manic gaze was piercing right through him, back toward the kitchen, toward Ximena who’d been hot on his heels as he leapt up to investigate. She could be hurt, easily, so Viktor stayed planted where he was and held a hand out to try to gesture to her to stay put. 

~!~

“Viktor, what is going on?  He’s hurt, we have to go-” She hurried forward, only to pause at the more emphatic gesture from Viktor to stop, to not rush forward to where Jayce was mumbling, hunched in on himself.  

Jayce’s eyes flickered between his Mom, his Mom was here, how was she here, had she joined the commune, had she seen him hurt Viktor?  His hurt hand clenched around the handle of a hammer that wasn’t there, and he backed up, pressing his back tighter against the door, trembling.  Viktor’s image flickered, and it was the Herald again, wrapped in that blue robe, sightless eyes, lips forming a word that had never managed to break free and a hole in his chest, a hole that Jayce had put there, had put there to stop him.  

“No, no, fuck, please,” Jayce sank down, digging his hands into his hair, pulling at it, bright sparks of pain across his scalp helping him focus, even as the image in front of him blurred again, but the Herald was walking closer and maybe it hadn’t been enough?  Of course he’d failed in keeping his promise, because he wanted, he’d wanted a happily ever after, maybe the Herald had trapped him in this world where he imagined everything was okay.  

“I can’t do it again, don’t make me do it again, I can’t, please, please,” Jayce begged, pulling harder at his hair, his hand throbbing with every motion.  He didn’t have his hammer, he didn’t have anything, and this time he’d be caught, he’d be stopped and everyone would turn into those arcane rotted corpses that were still, somehow alive, and all of them tied to the Herald and what he’d done to them.  

Jayce stared at his mother and she looked so real, so achingly real and pulled at his hair tighter, trying to force the fake image to go away.  “I’m sorry,” he sobbed, staring at her.  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I couldn’t, I thought I’d…” The words were cotton in his mouth and the blurriness was getting worse, and he lifted his eyes back to the Herald and the black soulless eyes that stared at him, the disappointment palpable in them.  It hurt, everything hurt, it had been hurting for so long, all he wanted was for the hurt to stop, but it never would, because he’d failed.  He’d failed everyone.  He should have been stronger.  

~!~

Viktor stared at him in frozen horror, not knowing what to do. Jayce was a man who needed reassurance, but in a casual way - Jayce had supported him physically throughout their partnership and Viktor repaid him not just in labor but in quiet compliments and praise that made him relax, and focus. This was on another level entirely. Jayce was not here, somewhere far darker held onto his mind.   

Very slowly, Viktor moved to stand in front of his slumped form and kneel, telegraphing all of his movements as he reached for Jayce’s hand. He was holding too tightly to his hair to urge him to let go, and Viktor would not use his strength to force it. Instead he wrapped his long fingers around Jayce’s wrist so that his fingertips pressed against the runestone, trying to connect that way - but this was no out of body experience to reach him through the astral realm, Jayce was far too painfully present for that. 

The blood from his hand had run down his face and dripped onto his bare chest, making the tableau all the more alarming. 

“Jayce, no one wants to make you do anything. Don’t be sorry,” he said softly, not knowing what words to say, “I’m here, we’re going to have breakfast with your mom then go back to bed, sleep it off, alright? Don’t be sorry, you’ve done nothing wrong.”

~!~

Jayce shuddered at the gentle touch to his wrist that was so soft and gentle, at the quietly reassuring words that sounded like comfort and home, and he wanted to bury into them and never leave.  Viktor never would have talked to him like that, would have comforted him like that, because he’d hurt him, he’d killed him, and all those other people that he’d been helping, he killed them too, and… 

And he was so tired.  

Jayce turned and pressed his face into Viktor’s hand, because even if this was a dream from the Herald, or something he’d conjured up in his mind during one of his delusions, wouldn’t it be better to pretend?  To remember a world where his Mom was alive and looked happy, and Viktor was here, and careful with him, and… 

He could still see the hole in the Herald’s, in Viktor’s chest, could see the way he’d faded, going still and dead, the gear rattling along the floor, the gear Viktor had been… 

The gear that… 

Jayce frowned and blinked harder.  

The gear that was in his pocket.  

The gear that Viktor had given him when they’d come back.  

When they’d woken up, alive, and hurt, and here.  

Here.  His house.  Where Viktor lived.  Because he’d been released from Stillwater.  

Where Viktor was alive.  Where Viktor could cure the arcane rot.  

Where, where Viktor was… 

Jayce heaved in a desperate breath and released his hair with his good hand to grab at the robe Viktor was wearing, hauling him in close, relief flooding through him.  It hadn’t been a dream.  It, it hadn’t been an impossible dream.  

“Viktor,” Jayce gasped.  “Viktor.”  

~!~

Viktor tumbled into him with a little oof at Jayce basically headbutting him in the stomach with the force of his hug. At first Jayce was holding him far too tightly to kneel down to his level, but as Viktor wriggled a bit in his arms he managed it, returning the hug and swaying them both side to side a little until Jayce’s gasping sobs faded into just hitched breathing. 

Jayce’s head was comfortably tucked beneath Viktor’s chin, but he’d become all too aware of how much blood was smeared in his hair, and now on Viktor’s neck as Jayce burrowed into him. A lot of blood. Hands would do that when not cut deep, but still it was disturbing. Coming from the Undercity, he had seen violence and pain, even death, but never much in the way of blood outside of the occasional quickly remedied lab accident. They’d have a first aid kit in the lab, although at this point Jayce mostly needed a shower. 

“Jayce, can you talk to me?” He asked, reaching up with one hand to let Jayce’s hair, “can you get up? We need to fix your hand or you won’t be allowed in the lab.”

~!~

Jayce trembled, breathing in deep, keeping his fingers tangled in the robe that Viktor was wearing.  It wasn’t the blanket that had become the robe for the Herald, it was the one his mother had gifted Viktor.  The robe in House Talis colors that Viktor preferred to wear in the morning for breakfast before he changed for the day.  He let out a shaky breath and forced his fingers to relax and let go of his hair, his hand still carefully held by Viktor.  

He shook his head a little and tipped his head back to look up at Viktor and managed a nod.  “Think so,” he mumbled, but his mouth still felt full of cotton and stuffy.  He wrinkled his nose and frowned, looking up over Viktor at the sound of soft heels.  Jayce watched her kneel down carefully and offer him a cup and shuddered.  They were treating him so gently, so carefully.  

“It’s just water.  But it’ll help,” Ximena said, her voice soft.  “Then Viktor can take you to one of the guest rooms while I go get the first aid kit.”  She brought the cup up to his lips and let him take a few sips before letting him breathe, before a few more, watching him sag in relief.  “There, better, sweetheart?”  

Jayce cleared his throat.  “Yeah.”  

“Okay.  You and Viktor focus on getting to the guest room nearest the staircase,” Ximena gestured to Viktor pointedly, which would take Jayce away from the trail of blood.  “I am going to go get the first aid kit, and we can take a look at your hand.  Okay?”  

Jayce managed a tired nod and watched his Mom walk away, heading toward the lab, where the first aid kit was.  His hand throbbed, aching, reminding him of just how hard he’d thrown that punch into the face of the man who’d killed his best friend who was so much more than a best friend.  “Will need help to stand up, I think,” he mumbled.  “Sorry.”  He focused on his hand and forced himself to loosen the grip he had on the fabric, glad that Viktor didn’t try to move away immediately.  

~!~

Viktor kept his grip on Jayce’s wrist, and slipped his other arm beneath Jayce’s to try and help pull him to his feet. This was where his newfound strength failed him; strength of muscle was of little use when Jayce outweighed him by nearly his whole body weight, but with Jayce rocking forward they had enough momentum to help him stumble to his feet. This way, he could support him; Jayce the unstoppable force bearing down on Viktor’s immovable object.

He let Jayce lean on him heavily for a long moment before slowly guiding him down the hall, still with his arm around him tightly. Now that he was clean-shaven he looked so young again; the beard matured him, it fit with the newfound seriousness in his expression, the trauma behind his eyes. Without it, he looked very much a scared boy. Thankfully for them both, his mother was already there to help. 

The guestroom on the first floor was sparsely furnished. Whenever Viktor had stayed over in the past, they had usually stayed up all night working, talking, or really doing nothing at all in each other’s presence. The room was really a repurposed office, most accommodations being on the second floor, and Viktor hadn’t realised until quite a while into their friendship that Jayce had furnished it such just so he wouldn’t have to navigate any stairs. It served the same purpose now as Jayce limped there; even with the brace on over his sleep pants he wasn’t quite ready to run if his life wasn’t on the line. 

By the time they got there, Ximena was already standing next to the bed with the first aid kit open. Viktor deposited Jayce on the end of the bed and then sat down next to him, holding his injured hand in both of his own. 

~!~

“My goodness, quite a number you did on yourself,” Ximena said softly, carefully rinsing it with water, keeping a towel underneath Jayce’s hand to catch the worst of it.  “Don’t worry, we’ll get you taken care of.”  Moving quickly, she removed the few pieces of glass that she could see and rinsed them again, making sure it ran clean before giving Viktor a nod.  

Jayce stared down at his hands between Viktor’s as his Mom cleaned them slow and careful and felt the exhaustion creeping up and over him, so he let himself slump a little, pressing his nose into Viktor’s collarbone, inhaling slowly as he felt the quiet pulse of his heartbeat under his skin.  “Sorry,” he murmured.  “Punched the mirror.”  

Ximena looked up at Viktor and smiled, carefully pulling out disinfectant.  “Deep breath, hold on tight to Viktor now love, this is going to sting a little.”  She carefully poured it, a little at a time, and smiled at his hiss.  “You never did like this part, and you were always scraping yourself up with every experiment you did.”  She flexed his fingers carefully and watched his face, but there was no additional wince of pain.  “Looks like nothing is broken.  We’ll call a doctor in if it starts swelling badly.”  

“Okay,” Jayce mumbled, grumbling as his Mom rinsed the wounds again and then began to wrap them, carefully.  He let out a rough breath as he thought of the mess he must have made of their room, trembling hard.  “Can I go outside?  Hard… hard to breathe.”  

“The sun will be just the thing,” Ximena said.  “I’m sure Viktor can take you out to the greenhouse while I clean up in here love.  If you give me a few, I can even bring breakfast out.”  She gestured up to their rooms, and mimicked cleaning as she packed up the first aid kit. 

“Breakfast,” Jayce said, looking up at Viktor, guilt making him squirm.  That’s why Viktor hadn’t been there, he hadn’t been gone, there had just been… his mother.  And breakfast.  And Viktor would have wanted to see her.  “Okay.”  It was too hard to think about anything else, it all still felt worryingly fuzzy, but Viktor was here, and so was his Mom.  

“I’ll step out and pick up more bandages, he’ll need to keep his hand wrapped for a few days, and we’ll have to make sure I didn’t miss anything in the cuts,” Ximena said to Viktor as Jayce’s eyes started to droop.  “Get him outside.  The sun really will do him good.  Being inside and cold is the worst thing for him right now.”  She hurried out of the room, eyeing the smears of blood on the staircase with a sigh, hurrying back into the kitchen to make sure there was nothing burning before she made her way upstairs to deal with the broken mirror.  

Chapter Text

Viktor didn’t push him to get up immediately after Ximena left. He sat there a while just holding Jayce’s hand, before dipping a clean corner of the towel Ximena had brought into the bowl of water and gently wiping the blood off of Jayce’s cheek and chest. A full shower would be best, especially for how much he’d gotten into his hair, but he needed to calm down and eat before they managed that. 

“I’m sorry, Jayce,” Viktor said quietly, “you were so tired I thought you’d sleep through my going down for breakfast… I do that a lot actually, leave in the morning for the lab and come back to wake you.”

He hadn’t forgotten his promise to kiss him morning and night, nor had he intended to break it, but he hadn’t thought this would be the result. On a good day maybe it wouldn’t have been, but there was no telling what would be a good day, or a bad one. They’d gone to bed in good spirits. 

“It hasn’t been an issue yet, didn’t think it would be,” he said, “let’s get outside, relax, then I’ll help you even out that shave; you did a terrible job.”

~!~

“Sorry,” Jayce murmured.  “Didn’t mean to…” he gestured to the room and general issue of what he’d dragged all three of them through.  He sighed and reached out to squeeze Viktor’s hand with his good hand.  “You didn’t do anything wrong,” Jayce said, firming his voice to get the full sentence out, a small frustrated growl escaping as he pushed himself to his feet and swayed, before Viktor steadied him.  

“I know you leave to, to work.  Or do other things.  You, you shouldn’t have to… to coddle me.”  Even as he spat out the words, Jayce was aware that he needed it, Viktor guiding him to the conservatory slowly and steadily.  Stepping into the sunshine made him relax the tenseness out of his shoulders and he tipped his head up and into the sunshine immediately, stopping on the small patio to bask in it for several long seconds.  

No one born in Piltover understood how much they took the sun and sunshine for granted.  How it felt to live without it, for months, how it felt to see it gone from the world.  A tear streaked down his cheeks, one after another, and he eventually followed Viktor’s nudging to one of the garden benches, sinking down onto it with a sigh.  

Jayce reached up to rub at his jaw and frowned at the absence of the beard that he’d had, and frowned, staring at a wall of ivy as he thought about it.  “I couldn’t… look at him in the mirror.  The one who, who did that to you.  Hate him, so much, for not being stronger.  For not trusting you more.”  He swallowed.  “I tried to do the right thing, and hurt us both so much.”  He shook his head.  

~!~

“Jayce…” Viktor said softly as he leaned his head on his shoulder, “I told you; it didn’t hurt, and I’m here now. If it helps to hear it, then I forgive you.”

He squeezed Jayce’s uninjured hand tighter. The glass of the conservatory concentrated the meager warmth of the winter sun to make them feel a world apart from the outside among the greenery. 

“You did trust me, Jayce, you just trusted a version of me who had been through what you’ve been through and more. I don’t blame you, that you was kind of an idiot,” he teased, “reckless Jayce who forgot his brain in the lab, which isn’t my favorite Jayce but it is close.”

“It still scares me if I think about it, so I try not to, but being scared and being angry or blaming are very different,” Viktor said, “I’ve always been, eh, practical? Pragmatic? Both, I guess. This is no different. If I need to coddle you until you’re better so that we can get back in the lab, so be it; it’ll be what ends in the most good.”

~!~

Jayce sighed and pressed his nose to Viktor’s hair and inhaled slowly, letting him hold on as tight as he dared.  Viktor’s pushing to get him back into the lab made him smile, at least, and he fought down a tired grin, nodding.  “I know you’ve forgiven me, and that you… you just don’t think about it, but I’m trying to figure out how to forgive myself for being… so foolish.”  He sighed and shook his head.  

He gave Viktor a small squeeze of his hand.  “Least I have you here now to tell me when I’m being stupid.”  Jayce managed a more real-feeling smile and took another slow inhale of the sweet air of the conservatory.  At least out here, the air didn’t feel suffocating, and Viktor was here, and hadn’t moved away from him.  

“Think if I take it easy today, I’ll be back in the lab tomorrow,” Jayce murmured.  “Or maybe I can come and do some reading, while you work?”  Either that or falling asleep on the couch that they had put in the lab for the precise reason of being able to pass out on when they were exhausted.  That felt far more preferable, but he wasn’t going to admit to going to the lab to take a nap.  Viktor would never let him live it down.  

His stomach rumbled, reminding him that he was hungry and it was first thing in the morning.  At least his Mom would be bringing them something to eat, when she finished cleaning up the bandages and towel that he’d gotten bloody.  Which was a reminder that he would need to take a shower sooner rather than later.  At least his mind felt less foggy, now, and he could think about things, and what had happened.  

A few long minutes of contemplative and relaxing silence made inspiration strike, and Jayce blinked, the idea gaining traction the more he thought about it.  He could even order it made today and sent here, no one would think anything of it.  “The gear is what pulled me out of it.  What made me remember where I was,” he said, gesturing to where it was pressed deep in his pocket with his bad hand.  “Think if I wear it, against my skin, it’ll help if I… get stuck, again.  It’ll remind me of where I am.  When I am.  A necklace.  With your gear.  So I don’t forget again.”  

~!~

“We can put it on a chain, I’m sure your mother won’t mind going out to buy one,” Viktor said, smiling at him, “it’s a good idea. Mine was… I had it in my pocket since the night we first cracked HexTech, it’s a good reminder.”

He wondered if it was still where he’d left it. Jayce had told him that the new zaunite government had blocked off the commune area and the gorge that ran to it; not that such a thing would discourage particularly inventive and determined people, but there was a chance much of it was still there. Of course he’d never be allowed to go check. Maybe Jayce could send someone; it would be fitting if they both had their reminders. 

“I have some work that I could manage to do from bed,” Viktor said after a moment’s thought, “schematics. Don’t need to be actual size on the board. So, perhaps we get you cleaned up and neither of us go to the lab.”

Jayce stiffened at that and Viktor leaned forward to be in his line of sight so he could see the sincerity of his expression. “Trust me; I’ll get done what I need to, progress waits for no man, even the man of progress,” he teased, “and I think it’s best if we go back and start over. I’m interested to compare between beard and no beard; so we can spend the morning curled up in bed, kissing, for science. Of course.”

Ximena picked that moment to make her reappearance, Viktor looked up at hearing the door to the conservatory open and blushed brightly. Luckily whatever he had that passed for blood seemed to be pinkish-gold and it wasn’t so obvious to anyone but Jayce, but surely she had heard his terrible flirting. It wasn’t Viktor’s fault her son couldn’t take a hint. 

~!~

Jayce nodded weakly and squeezed Viktor’s hand and promised to himself that he would ask Ekko to see if he could find the small gear that would have been left on the floor, the several inches from Viktor’s fingertips where it had fallen.  If he had his, then Viktor should have his.  It was only right that they both had them.  Maybe it wouldn’t be there, but… but maybe it would, and maybe he wanted to think about Viktor with a matching gear, just like this.  

When Viktor mentioned working from bed, he huffed and narrowed his eyes at him, because he knew that Viktor needed to be kept busy or he was going to truly go stir crazy, but then he flushed at the mention of kissing, nodding.  That Viktor even still wanted to kiss him, after everything.  “Of course,” he agreed, glancing at his Mom who was clearly hiding her smile as she approached them with two separate breakfast trays, mugs of tea on both of them.

“You are both looking much better,” she said, offering one tray to Viktor, and then another to Jayce, smiling at him, leaning in to kiss Jayce’s forehead.  “Take your time, and I can make more if you need it.”  Ximena gave them a wink.  “You two enjoy your time out here, and let me know if you need anything.”  She paused and gave Viktor’s shoulder a squeeze, before heading back inside.  

Jayce looked down at the tray with more food than he thought he could eat, even when his stomach grumbled.  He shifted a little and leaned back against the glass wall of the conservatory and picked up the mug and took a slow sip of it, sighing at the warmth of it that rushed down to his belly.  “You’re gorgeous when you blush.” He said, glancing over at Viktor.  “I can tell, barely.  Might like it almost as much as you like mine, for that matter.”  

~!~

“It makes you wonder though, doesn’t it?” Viktor asked as he nabbed an extra piece of toast off of Jayce’s tray - he never ate more than one of them, and good wheat had always been a luxury in the Undercity.

“What my blood is made of, I mean. It’s not blue, not red,” he said, between mouthfuls of toast he was using to scoop up scrambled eggs, “you have no idea how long I’ve spent staring in my mouth when I brush my teeth, why is it still pink? The easiest answer, I guess, is ehh, it’s magic, don’t question it. But that’s kind of all we do, or we wouldn’t be scientists of any kind.”

Breakfast began to disappear remarkably fast once the two of them found their appetites, and Jayce took Viktor’s sausages in exchange for the toast, earning him a rude gesture while Viktor sipped his tea. Ximena always made the spice blend perfect and impossible to replicate, but he swore it woke him up better than coffee. 

“Your mom thinks we’re a lot more than we are,” Viktor mused, looking sidelong at Jayce, “but, I also got that impression before… all of this. What have you said to her?”

~!~

“Maybe if you get a papercut, we can solve the mystery,” Jayce said with a smile and a nudge of their shoulders together.  “I know it’s going to eat you alive until you figure it out, so when you decide to do those tests, leave me out of it unless you’re planning a papercut.”  He took a deep gulp of his tea and sighed happily, only for Viktor to come out and ask him a question that had him squirming.  

Jayce hummed and stroked the side of the mug with his thumb and stared down at the warm liquid.  He could remember the nigh-endless and sleepless nights that he’d spent waiting for Viktor to wake up after the Hexcore when he’d ignored anyone and everyone, except for his mother, who had barged her way in.  Who he’d told the story to, sobbing and crying in the one time he’d allowed himself to explain it all, and after Viktor had left, who had seen him lose his way, even more so.  

“Mom would say,” Jayce started softly.  “That I give my whole self, when I am in a relationship with someone.  Everything I am, I throw that into the relationship, because that’s the only way I know how to, to do that.”  He shrugged.  “She recognized before I did that I’d given you that, when I hadn’t done anything more than casual first dates the entire time we were working on the Hexgates.”  

Jayce leaned against Viktor’s shoulder and stared at their trays, still tapping at the edge of the mug, drawing patterns, runes, all over it.  “I’ve told her that you saved my life.  That, other than her, you’re the only one who has believed in, and supported me, no matter how much I fuck up.  That when we are working together, that I know there’s no one else I ever want to work with.”  He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly.  “After you woke up, and left, she was the one who held me when I spiraled and fell apart.  She was the one…the only one, I think, who understood that you being my partner meant a thousand things all at once.”  

He shrugged weakly.  “When the Council was debating exiling you as a part of your sentence, I told her I don’t want to picture a life without you in it, when you were in Stillwater.”  Jayce could tell that she’d understood he wasn’t using the correct words, but it was close enough.  “I wanted her to know that if you were exiled, or forced to leave Piltover… I’d be going with you.  If, if you wanted that, of course.”  

~!~

Viktor sighed heavily and rested his head back on Jayce’s shoulder. They’d never really talked about their relationship; they were partners, and that covered everything even when they had started to sneak tentative kisses and gentle touches that Viktor longed for but shied away from as he got sicker. 

“I wanted to kiss you, that first night. They’d made us stand around and explain our process until it was dawn by the time we walked back to the dorm hall, my room was closer than home for you,” Viktor said, “hours on my feet after my cane broke in the door. You saw me struggling and helped without comment, or pity, or any thought really beyond that you wanted to, talking the whole time about how we’d be partners…”

“You do realise that anyone who’d been working on something so glorious and then years later brought in a second; they would call them assistant, they would put their name second on published papers,” Viktor continued, “you remembered that your dream was HexTech and while it became mine, all I wanted was to make a difference, and be someone. Viktor and Jayce Talis on all publications. Easy way to get around my lack of surnames, just imply yours. That was the second time I wanted to kiss you, but eh, I wanted even more not to be the one to ruin what we had.”

Viktor straightened up and pressed a kiss to Jayce’s mostly-smooth cheek. They really would have to sort out his shave. “We’re both idiots but maybe you a little more than me,” he said, “It’s better we do this now, anyway. By the time we got our heads out of our asses and started exploring what we were; I was already to the point of illness where I had no energy or desire.”

~!~

“I remember that I thought about kissing you that first night when we were floating together. You smiled so wide, and you are captivating when you smile like that,” Jayce said, smiling at Viktor. He moved his tray to the side of the bench and then did the same with Viktor’s. It was clear they’d had their chances, but now, now they were being given a second one, and he wasn’t going to waste it. They weren’t going to waste it. 

Jayce pressed his nose to the arcane scarring on the side of Viktor’s face, kissing it softly. “I liked when people assumed your last name was mine. I didn’t realize it until after we’d published, when people mistakenly called you Viktor Talis and you corrected them, how much I did like it.” He chuckled and tipped Viktor’s chin toward him, kissing him soft and slow, savoring the closeness, before he let go. 

Jayce reached out and tangled their fingers together, holding onto Viktor’s hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb in slow and steady strokes. “I’m glad we’re figuring it out now, too,” he said, keeping his voice low in case his mother decided to bustle out into the conservatory again. “But I was curious if that had been one of your tests you were performing on yourself. Whether physical desire was a thing for you, or not.” 

It didn’t matter, at least not as much as it might have, before. If Viktor didn’t, it would be one more thing for them to figure out. When he didn’t feel ready to fall asleep right where he was from warm food and better company. Jayce reached up and tucked Viktor’s hair behind his ear, smiling at him. 

“I’ll tell you a secret, and then we can go lay down, maybe?” Jayce yawned and nodded. His body was starting to broadcast to him that going to sleep was going to become necessary, very soon. “Always loved it when you would swear in Zaunish. You sounded and looked a particular way whenever you did, and you were so…” Jayce gave a shrug and blushed. “Uh, well, hot.”

~!~

"Mmm, its because my voice is deeper in my native language; its a fissure-level dialect of what was originally spoken by Demacian immigrants back before Zaun even sank and Piltover was founded,” Viktor explained, “But yes, we can go sleep.” Jayce had learned more about Viktor’s past, his family and people, since their return than he had in the nearly decade they’d worked together.

Their breakfast dishes would be just fine where they were for now, even if Ximena weren’t hovering around to take care of them. Sometimes he felt a little guilty that she spent so much time in Jayce’s townhouse cleaning up after the two of them, but it was the way in which she showed love, so he wasn’t going to stop her - though he did try to offer help as much as he could.

”I hadn’t performed any of that manner of experiment yet. I think I do, but I have to want it,” Viktor murmured, “and be energized. Most of all, I uhm, wanted you to help me with those experiments. It’s hardly a good understanding if I do it on my own.”

~!~

“Demacian immigrants,” Jayce repeated, nodding tiredly. He still needed to shower, however briefly, before they fell into bed. He stood up carefully with Viktor’s help and nodded, giving him a small smile, before he leaned in for another kiss. “I look forward to helping with those particular experiments.” 

Taking Viktor’s hand, Jayce made his way inside at a slow and steady shuffle. He smiled at his Mom when she gestured to his room and then hurried off toward the kitchen. “See you later, Mom!” He called after her and let Viktor lead him to the bathroom. 

The mirror was entirely gone from the bathroom, and his hand throbbed at the reminder, but Jayce slowly stripped off his pajamas, and wrapped his hand, before stepping into the scalding spray to get rid of the last of the blood in his hair and on him. Washing his hair was awkward with one hand, but at least he got it, and managed to stumble out of the shower. 

Viktor was waiting with a towel, and Jayce sagged into it in relief, balancing against Viktor as he got himself mostly dry and slipped on sleepwear with a bigger yawn, taking a moment to fish the gear out his old clothes and stuff it into his pockets again. “Rest,” he grumbled, shuffling toward the haven of the freshly made bed. He fell into the bed with a happy sigh and held out a hand for Viktor, pouting at him. 

~!~

Viktor had abandoned his bloodied housecoat in the laundry. Luckily he had another though not in Talis colors, but a creamy gold that Ximena had said complimented his skin - she seemed to think his tendency to stay in pajamas these days was adorable, and he was not about to correct her that it was about getting used to his body and the feeling of clothes on his strange new flesh. He’d prefer she keep thinking him cute. 

He crawled into bed next to Jayce in just his underwear and wrapped himself around the larger man, nose pressed against the back of Jayce’s neck and their legs tangled together. They often fell asleep like this; Viktor holding Jayce for his comfort, rather than Jayce clinging onto him. Having Viktor at his back seemed to calm him out of stressful dreams, and Viktor found the warmth of Jayce in his arms helped him sleep more easily into the meditative state he’d begun calling “low power mode” in his head, for how he seemed to burn through his arcane absorption slower that way. 

Jayce’s breathing hadn’t slowed into sleep yet, so he began soothingly rubbing a hand up and down his chest. “If you rest up well enough, maybe you can help me with those experiments,” he said teasingly, pressing a kiss to the back of Jayce’s neck. 

~!~

Jayce sighed happily and wiggled back into Viktor’s arms a fraction, letting the tension fall out of his shoulders with every breath that he took.  The fuzz that was still lingering at the edges of his vision was finally starting to fade, and the steady heartbeat of Viktor behind him was enough of a reminder that he was safe, that Viktor was safe, and that no one was going to come to get them while they slept.  He yawned and smiled as Viktor started to gently stroke his skin, making him hum at the gentle touch.  

“Don’t plan on letting anyone else help you,” Jayce said, smiling as he closed his eyes.  “Going to have to…” he yawned, nuzzling into the pillow that smelled like Viktor.  Exactly what he’d needed.  “Fix up the shave first, I think.”  That thought was enough to carry him off to sleep, sinking into the weightless arms of comfort that Viktor didn’t hesitate to offer.  

–

When he woke up later, the sun was shining through the window and Jayce made a grumpy noise, turning over and burying his face in the pillow, reaching out for Viktor.  His fingers brushed across a familiar thigh and he hummed, because that meant Viktor was sitting up and reading in bed, so he shifted and wrapped his arm around Viktor’s thighs and cuddled into his side, yawning.  

“How long have I been sleeping?” he mumbled.  

~!~

Viktor immediately buried one hand in Jayce’s hair and began petting him, while he continued flipping through his book with the other - it was a novel, for once, not his own or Jayce’s notes. Ximena had implored him to spend an hour or two every day on pursuits that were not labor or great works of the mind, and having quite literally worked himself to death, Viktor was willing to listen - if only because he now required much less sleep and had figured out how to paint the arcane gold into equations around him in his meditative state. 

“It’s lunch time, your mom peeked in a little while ago to see if we’d be coming down. She went out, brought you this,” Viktor leaned away from to the bedside table, then handed him a silver rope chain long enough to hold the little cog against Jayce’s sternum, near his heart. “She also went to some noodle shop or other that you like? I don’t remember having noodles in the lab, but then I was probably eating while working.”

Viktor hesitated before he imparted the rest of the news. “A messenger came from the Council, they want use to inspect some rot in the garden of some prissy noble’s house as if Zaun isn’t rife with it,” he said derisively, “when you return to Council, I want you to tell them that for every trivial cleansing of the city up here, I want equal time in Zaun or I’ll just, ehm, oops this Piltie rot is just too much for me, I need to start smaller.”

~!~

Jayce let out a quiet rumble that he wouldn’t admit to being a purr as Viktor started to pet his hair, making him melt into a puddle sagging against him.  His brain went fuzzy again, but this time in the best ways, in the ones that screamed comfort, and home, and Viktor and it took far more effort than it should have to hear the rest of what Viktor was saying and to take the chain that was being offered to him.  

A few moments of fumbling with the chain and the cog had it draped around his neck and pressed against his chest, and Jayce sighed in relief.  He pressed it tight against his skin and nodded happily.  “You’ve had those noodles, but it was probably during working sessions, so I’m not surprised you don’t remember them.”  His stomach let out a louder rumble and Jayce huffed.  The nice thing about the past few weeks had been the return of his appetite, his body no longer having to act like it was constantly starving.  

He fiddled with the cog against his chest as he thought about the Council’s request, stroking a finger along the golden lines on Viktor’s opposite thigh.  Jayce pressed a kiss to Viktor’s side where he could reach and kept up the gentle stroking.  “They’re afraid of you starting another commune if you go down to Zaun,” he offered up.  “But I can probably convince them to give you equal time.”  Jayce tapped one of the larger golden pieces.  “Or Sevika can, who would be better, they’re all still afraid of her.”  He buried the smile against Viktor’s skin.  “I’ll talk to her.  We won’t be able to start far in, but we can make sure we’re doing work in Zaun.”  

If he also had an errand for the Firelights that he wanted to talk to Ekko about?  Well, that was a small surprise that Jayce was going to keep to himself.  Especially since he wasn’t sure that he could even find Viktor’s gear.  But if he could, well.  It’d be a nice surprise, and there was a part of him that desperately wanted them to have their matching gears.  

Jayce stretched and flexed his leg with a sigh, slumping over Viktor properly, looking up at the book he was reading, squinting at the title.  “What are you reading?” 

~!~

Viktor held up the book so he could see the cover. “Something your mom suggested,” he said, less interested in that conversation than what Jayce had said prior. 

“If my presence starts a movement, that just reflects on the council being inefficient at their jobs. People would rather follow a machine herald and grow vegetables than listen to anything they’ve got to say,” he said, still petting through Jayce’s hair, “you can’t leave me there, so I won’t… go back to it, but I can’t guarantee there won’t be Zaunites who want that. The rot is pervasive, it’s in their flesh like it was in yours. Healing the people is non-negotiable, and to their understanding it’s eh, kind of the same thing as I did before.”

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jayce’s bare shoulder, where the slightly lightened whorls left by arcane rot were starting to fade. Like this they were beautiful, every curve following a specific sequence, there was a number sequence to predict the swirls, different colors and depths could be calculated in their growth by math. Fascinating, if perhaps a little terrifying as well. 

“If people would rather follow me because I’m giving them more than the council, the council needs to work harder, I don’t need to stop,” he said, “I was never trying to supplant their governance.”

~!~

Jayce hummed and leaned into the touch, tracing runes idly on Viktor’s leg as he listened, his thoughts tangling all up and around Viktor, his commune, what he’d done, been doing, and what Jayce had done in return, destroying it all.  “They’re getting better with advocates.  And Sevika is nothing if not an excellent advocate.  Ekko, too.”  He traced another rune, and then another.  

“I think you are one person, and you cannot do it all, all at once.  Creating a synthesized cure is still the best option we have, and if you are the face of that cure, as you should be, the people there will follow you, regardless of what the Council does or does not do,” Jayce reasoned, humming softly to himself.  “If I’ve learned anything, it is that people follow hope, and you offered that to them, and will continue to offer that to them.  That can be dangerous, in the attention it attracts, but it doesn’t mean stop.”  

Viktor’s hands tracing along his back had him shivering, his eyes fluttering shut as he savored the touch, certain parts of his back far more sensitive than they’d been in the past.  Jayce chuckled and let out a rough breath, kissing Viktor’s thigh again.  “So let’s start with removing the rot here, and in Zaun.  Test the gains of power that you get in return, and keep testing them, as you work your way up to healing people.  In the meantime, we can keep working on synthetic versions, too.”  

Jayce glanced up at Viktor and smiled.  “And maybe we can talk to a few people in Zaun about those prosthetics?  Going down there would give us that chance, too.”  

~!~

“I don’t know that it can be synthesized; magic is wielding not vaccinated for,” Viktor said, still busying himself with petting Jayce; all that smooth tanned skin under his hands was answering one of his somewhat pertinent question - yes he could feel desire, in his head at least. “And I would rather get the rot out of bodies than infrastructure; the council would feel differently if they were Piltovan.”

“You are my case study for success,” he said, tipping Jayce’s face up away from his side so their eyes could meet, “there’s no need to tell the council it empowers me; I can hide it, unless anyone is staring longingly into my eyes to see the change. Realistically that’s just you. And right now I’m staring down at possibly the worst shave you’ve ever had; including that one time you and Mel got so drunk at the gala you couldn’t make it home, passed out on my rug, and did it blind in the lab the next day.”

He’d never seen Jayce hungover before, or since if he had to think on it. Apparently he’d learned his lesson. “I’ll do it, if you’re a little out of it still,” Viktor offered, “then we can get going.”

~!~

“We can still try, but you’re right,” Jayce said with a huff, but he nodded, acknowledging the point.  “We’ll tell the Council it’s for structural damage, and you can work with people.  We’ll have to keep that as quiet as we possibly can.  The second they realize that you’re helping people like that again, they won’t stop to listen to me before trying to throw you in Stillwater, and we both go on the run.” If he had, very specifically, two packed bags stashed in the front hall closet behind a false board, just in case of this eventuality, with money, fake identification, and clothing for every season in them, well.  That was just him being pragmatic, like Viktor.  

Jayce smiled up at him and reached up to stroke Viktor’s cheek, wanting to pull him down for a kiss before he laughed, heartily at the memory and shook his head.  “You’re going to have to do it.  I’d need a mirror and being around a mirror isn’t a good idea for me right now.”  He lowered his hand and pushed himself up and into a sitting position with a grunt.  “If it’s lunch, we can likely get a note to Sevika prior to the Council meeting his afternoon, and she can tell them about you doing equal repair work in Zaun.”  

He didn’t quite feel as steady as he’d like, and Jayce attributed that to the combination of his hand aching fiercely now that he’d become properly aware of it again, and the exhaustion from the attack earlier.  “I won’t be going to the meeting today, it’s not a good idea.  I don’t feel…” he tilted his hand.  “Bit like my head is screwed on wrong.  But the visions are gone for now, and I just feel tired.”  Jayce paused and snorted.  “And my hand hurts.”  

Jayce pushed himself into a sitting position, and when the world didn’t swim in front of him, he nodded to Viktor, pressing his fingers to the gear at his chest.  “So, shaving, sending a note to the Council, then work, for us.”  

~!~

Viktor ushered Jayce into the bathroom and sat him on the chair that had been placed there to help him more easily dress and undress now that he had his brace to deal with. For all that he’d made fun of him, Jayce’s shave wasn’t that bad - but Viktor knew the man well enough to know how he valued his appearance and the patchy shave paired with the wildness still in his eyes didn’t sell “well adjusted council member tasked with corralling the machine herald”.

“I don’t think I’ll ever have to do this again for myself,” Viktor commented as he carefully lathered Jayce’s face, “months in Stillwater and no need. I’ve thought maybe I can use my power to look more human…maybe then.” He didn’t want to bring up his older, alternate self who had clearly figured that out, or taken a different path. 

Shaving someone else wasn’t quite the same as doing it yourself; both easier and harder, with every move mirrored, so Viktor took his time. Jayce relaxed under his ministrations, always so happy to accept acts of care, not just to give them. Piltover didn’t deserve Jayce, not with how they treated him after all he’d done for them. 

When he was finished, Viktor ran the tap until it was as hot as it could go before wetting a hand towel and wringing it out. He crouched down again in front of Jayce and pressed the warm towel to his face and neck, soothing the angry skin and few nicks from the first time around. Once he released him, Viktor leaned in and give him a quick peck of a kiss on the nose and smirked. “There’s my Man of Progress.”