Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

There are a lot of things Viktor hates– poorly written lab documentation, a messy desk, nepotism, shitty coffee, just to name a few. However, none of these things enrage him more than the common enemy of all nerds in a typical college chick flick (which he secretly watches to unwind after a tough day), frat boys. According to Viktor, they’re all braindead hunks of flesh that allow their genitalia to dictate their every move. Glorified robots that wear backwards baseball caps and 5-day old socks. Essentially, they’re everything Viktor absolutely despises in humanity, and they’re playing a mix of 2015 throwbacks and fuckboy music right across from his dorm room after official quiet hours.

A great way to start off his junior fall semester. After working a tutoring shift for the machine design course and 4 hours of reviewing new material already introduced in the first week back in classes, he was, frankly, pooped. And very irritable. Usually, he wouldn’t be the type to go Karen mode and tell off a bunch of probably intoxicated, feebleminded underclassmen, but he was going to do exactly that. He needed to be able to cozy up in his cartoon-robot-decorated twin XL bed and sleep off the annoyance and exhaustion-induced headache so he could wake up on time for his 8:00 AM.

He got up from his newly tidied-up desk, grabbed his cane, and set off on his mission. The dimly lit dorm hallway illuminated the path to the offender’s room. The definitely unwashed carpet’s feel under Viktor’s slippers gave him unwanted thoughts as to what possibly could be in those stains. He just wanted to sleep. As he stood in front of his neighbor’s undecorated door, the cheap paint chipping at the edges, he could feel the vibrations of the bass coming from whatever new high-tech speakers these dudes were abusing the shit out of on a Wednesday night. He knocks on the door and clears his throat– loudly. Viktor hears a thud, a muffled string of curses, hurried footsteps, and the sound of the door creaking open. Viktor was going to tell him off, and leave– a foolproof plan that would allow him to say his piece, avoid unwanted social interaction, and get his beauty sleep. Before he could think of any more new strikingly smart plans, a broad figure emerged from the room.

Viktor, one hand firmly placed on his cane and the other rubbing his temples, furrowed his brow and began, “Listen, I get it’s the start of the semester, but it’s way past midnight, and I just want to wake up for my class in time.”

Viktor hears his neighbor about to start talking, until another deep feminine voice in an annoyed tone says:

“Jayce, this vodka Red Bull isn’t going to finish itself.”

Viktor immediately brings the hand on his temple to his hip, and for the first time, looks up at the asshole he’s come to chew out, who he now identifies as Jayce. His eyes are met with a tall, tan, and well-built figure wearing plaid pajama pants and a too-small t-shirt that absolutely should not say ‘12th Grade Science Competition.’ The man’s eyes are a soft hazel, framed by thick, dark eyebrows, one of which is marked by a subtle slit on the left side. His hair, the same deep brown as his brows, looks slightly disheveled. A few strands slip loose from whatever hairstyle it had previously been in, now rebelliously falling across his forehead. All the profanities that were about to leave Viktor’s mouth left as if they weren’t even there to begin with.

Oh God. He’s hot.

Viktor quickly looks back down, cheeks obviously flushing with heat. He cursed the adrenal glands that triggered this reaction and his Bio 101 professor– knowledge is useless if you can’t do anything to control it. That’s why he was an engineer.

“Vi, I told you to wait– and can you not be rude?,” the gorgeous man annoyedly half-yells, looking back into the red lit room. Viktor feels like the cogs in his mind were malfunctioning– he could practically see the steam coming from the broken parts in his head. The machine that was his mind only knew how to do one thing: replay the way the light hit Jayce’s high cheekbones and chiseled jawline, slightly revealing the freckles littering his face.

Jayce turns his head to face Viktor once more, and speaks with an apologetic tone.

“Sorry about that, she can be pushy. Oh, and I’m sorry about the whole music thing, we’ll turn it dow– hey! Aren’t you the TA for MD 201? I saw you in Professor Reveck’s class.” Jayce looks innocently at Viktor, leaning on the doorframe with his arms crossed. Viktor, distracted, eyed the bicep muscles bulging out of Jayce’s shirt, the warm toned skin of his stomach slightly peeking out of– Fuck, he was supposed to respond.

“Oh, yes! I am.” His eyes snapped back to Jayce’s face as he cleared his throat, surprised by Jayce’s question. He couldn’t risk losing his composure in front of a chad like this, he had an ego and job to maintain.

“I didn’t know you were on the Ethical Human Engineering track. You didn’t strike me as the type– no offense.” Viktor quips, attempting to stuff Jayce’s hotness into the back of his mind and focus on the reality of his neighbor’s identity– a dudebro who just happens to be in the same major as him. Viktor wasn’t impressed, anyone could be in his major. It took a real genius (like him) to succeed though.

Jayce raises an eyebrow at that, lips twitching like he’s holding back a smirk. “No offense taken. You don’t strike me as the type to watch Legally Blonde, but I heard it playing in your room from outside the hallway.”

Viktor glares. That was the day before school started, he needed a pick-me-up before the semester. “It’s a good movie. It empowers women. Don’t you want women to feel empowered, Jayce?” He questions.

“Yeah, I do,” Jayce says, grinning. Viktor felt like he could go blind from looking at this guy’s smile. “Anyways, I heard Professor Reveck is a pain in the ass, so I figure you can help me right?”

Viktor scoffs at the request, turns away from Jayce, and sassily replies, “As if. Just keep the music down.”

Jayce chuckles. “Will do. Goodnight Viktor, see you in recitation.”

The door clicks shut. Viktor’s heart pounds louder with every step he takes back to his dorm. After entering and closing the door, he presses his back against it and lets go of his cane, sliding down to the floor. He fishes for his phone from his pajama pants pocket and immediately goes to text his fellow TA, designated movie buddy, and closest college friend, Sky.

“Do you know a Jayce in our section?”

Three dots appear, then disappear.

“Tall. Handsome. Greek god build. He’s president of Theta Sigma Mu, but also looks like he’d cry while looking at cute puppy videos?” Sky texts back.

“Yeah. That one.”

—

Viktor does see Jayce in recitation.

He walks in 5 minutes late, with his head ducked and hair a mess compared to when he first saw him. He wears a black sweatshirt with big Greek letters embroidered on it and carries a black sports backpack. Jayce shoots Viktor a small smile and wink before sliding into his seat in the second row. A warmth creeps up Viktor’s cheeks at that. He proceeds to avoid Jayce’s gaze for that entire class.

“Then once we do this reduction, we’re left with tan theta multiplied by sin x on the right. Once we plug in the numbers we’ve already calculated, we can get the standard power output of this gear. Any questions?” Viktor lifted his eyes from the student's paper. The student nodded a “no” and thanked him, quickly taking his belongings and exiting the classroom. Viktor immediately began to collect his own materials, seeing as there were no more questions from his students.

Legs aching from standing for the 1 hour and 30 minute duration of the class, he desperately wanted to go back to his dorm to take a well-deserved nap after a grueling 8 AM recitation. While organizing his papers, he noticed a research opportunity flyer from one of the well-known professors he had received in his mail earlier. He gently sat himself down at his desk and shivered, being gently reminded that fall was about to be in full swing, meaning undergraduate research applications were opening up for the year. Oh, and Halloween was coming too. He’d have to do some major scouring of the internet to choose which niche scary movie he and Sky were going to watch this year.

Lost in his thoughts of academics and films, Viktor hadn't noticed one person lingering near his desk.

“Didn’t know you were so popular in the department– being invited to apply for Professor Heimerdinger’s research lab is a feat in itself,” Jayce said, stealing a glance at Viktor’s scattered papers.

Viktor’s back straightens and his cheeks begin to flush. How long was Jayce standing there?

“You were late today,” Viktor says matter-of-factly, pretending to continue studying the pile of papers on his desk. “It’s not good practice to start off the class like this,” he continues, attempting to keep his cool, serious TA act. He enjoyed being seen as a professional, as a true instructor that students respected and looked up to. He couldn’t bear an unbearably unserious– and unfortunately sexy–man messing that up.

“Relax, professor. I got the gist of your lesson, you make gears sound almost fun” Jayce teased, a playful smile on his face as he casually leaned his back against Viktor’s desk. Viktor chose to ignore the closeness between them, opting to close his laptop and stuff his papers in his school bag.

“Lab assignments’s due tonight at 11:59 PM, so I better not hear any music before then,” Viktor retorted, hoping to get this frat dude to worry about anything else other than beer and the next UFC fight. He checked over his desk for any more crumpled papers or loose pens, grabbing his phone after confirming he hadn’t left anything.

“Oh, that’s done! I actually had a question about the bonus part.”

Viktor quirked an eyebrow, eyeing Jayce as if waiting for the punchline. “You? Finished early?” he asked, his tone sarcastic, desperately trying to hide his surprise and the tiniest (molecular level) bit of amazement. Most students were still struggling to finish the second portion of the lab.

Jayce pressed a hand to his chest in mock offense. “Wow, no faith in me. I’m wounded.” His grin quickly turned into a focused expression though, thick brows furrowed and mouth in a straight pensive line, as he placed a paper filled with mathematical equations and scribbles on the desk. “Seriously though, I didn’t quite get how you went from the reduction step to applying it to torque. I kept circling back to the substitution, and I’m not sure if I’m overthinking it.”

The words caught Viktor off guard. Jayce was being serious. Viktor blinked at him, pushing his reading glasses higher on the bridge of his nose before answering. “It’s not… complicated. You’re just treating the sine term like a constant, when it actually shifts the relationship between angular velocity and force. If you write it out cleanly instead of trying to jump steps, it makes sense.”

“Ah, I see…” They stand there in silence for what feels like an eternity to Viktor. He silently watches Jayce’s face scan the work on his paper, almost able to see the cogs turning in his head as he attempts to understand Viktor’s instructions.

Jayce’s eyes flicked over the paper as he began to scribble out an equation in the margins of the paper. “So… if I reorganize it like this, the torque expression lines up with the power reduction. That’s what I was missing?” He looked up at Viktor expectantly, warm brown eyes wide with curiosity.

Viktor felt a small twinge in his heart. He cleared his throat, which had suddenly turned dry, and spoke. “Yeah… yeah. That’s correct.”

Jayce shoots Viktor a cheeky grin as he grabs his work. “You know, you’re pretty good at explaining this stuff.”

Viktor scoffs unseriously, a small smile threatening to creep up on his face. “I get paid to do this, Jayce. I should only hope to be good at it.”

Jayce let out a charismatic chuckle, his semi-deep voice filling the air. “You’re funny, Vik. I gotta hit the gym now– can’t miss a leg day. Expect to see me around more, I’m aiming to be your top student and favorite neighbor this semester,” he teased with a wink as he slung his backpack over his shoulder, making his way to the door.

“It’s Viktor.” Viktor retorted dryly as he quickly turned away from Jayce’s leaving figure. He felt the heat on his cheeks move to his ears.

Viktor couldn’t believe himself. He was blushing, smiling, almost damn-near kicking his feet and curling his hair with his fingers because of this jock. It didn’t matter if he had proven himself to be somewhat smart, or that he almost instantly understood Viktor’s explanation, or that he was able to grasp a new concept twice as quickly as the other students, or that he looked good, really good, while he was looking up at Viktor– anyways. Viktor was well aware of the personal and social implications of being the president of a frat, and he wasn’t going to be swooned by one.

Viktor needed a distraction– a non-Jayce Talis shaped distraction. He dumped the contents of his bag on the desk, messing up all his prior progress, and frantically searched through the array of crumpled diagrams and messy proofs. His fingers finally closed around the flyer, the one he’d shoved into his bag earlier. Bold letters spelled out Professor Heimerdinger’s Research Initiative. Perfect. If he wanted a distraction, what better than throwing himself headfirst into one of the most competitive labs on campus? Viktor smoothed the crumpled page flat against the desk and made up his mind—he was applying.

Chapter Text

Ahhh, this is the life.

Viktor had finally, finally, finished his grueling 2 question problem set for his honors differential equations class. People unfamiliar with higher level math classes never understood the pain of having seemingly “short” homework– a few questions meant each one had at least parts a, b, c, d, e, f, and g, and it took about 2 hours to even begin to understand each question by itself. And he knew he had answered each damn part with precision, so he was finally free to light a calming Bath & Body Works candle (delicately named A Day At The Cafe), take a much-needed steaming hot shower, and cozy up in his bed to drink a toasty hot chocolate while spoiling himself with a 45-minute Youtube video that explained the latest research and findings about black holes.

Fascinating, he thought to himself, as an e-mail notification popped up on the right of his laptop’s screen. The title of it read: [ACTION REQUIRED] - Update to 2025 Research Application. Viktor had stayed true to his mental word and applied to the research position at Heimerdinger’s lab that very Thursday, and now the moment of truth had arrived. 

He set his hot chocolate on his nightstand and braced himself. The screen turned white as it loaded in the email, and the first words read: Congratulations! You have been admitted to Professor Heimerdinger’s 2025 Research Cohort. 

Relief filled Viktor’s body as he exhaled, it was a good day indeed. He thoroughly read the entire email, making sure he knew each and every detail of the logistics by heart so he wouldn’t fuck up when the day came to meet up with the professor. 

Near the bottom, a single line caught his attention: “Please join Professor Heimerdinger in his office in the Department of Science and Engineering building for a brief orientation and introduction to your research partner this Monday evening at 7:00 PM.”

Viktor blinked.

Research partner?

He had assumed it would be a solo project. He leaned back in his bed, picking up his previously abandoned hot chocolate, swirling the last sips of it as his mind wandered. Memories of his past class lab partners made him shudder– too many times had he taken it upon himself to do the damage control because his partners had accidentally blown up their work. It was rare for simple titrations to end in evacuation of the entire building, but if he had a nickel for every time it happened, he’d have two nickels.

But, he knew Heimerdinger was an esteemed professor who always had an eye for picking out fresh, extraordinary talent. Openings for his research lab were rare, and invitation only. It was rumored that only the top 1% of students were even invited to apply. Viktor really had nothing to worry about. Why was his own brain trying to ruin his relaxing Saturday?

“Back to black holes,” he sighed happily as he closed the email and resumed his night of rest and relaxation.

—

Right across the sea of dirty carpet and flimsy doors, was Jayce.

In comparison to a fully relaxed Viktor, Jayce was stressed. 

His goddamn Ethical Engineering of the Human Body and Brain professor decided to assign 100 pages of textbook reading and a so-called “light” 4-page essay. They had to discuss the ethics of fusing a man-made rune-powered orb of magical energy with a dying human body to bring them back to life. As if that could ever happen.

If Jayce wasn’t so stressed and tired, he would chuckle at the absurdity of his homework. 

This was the first time he’d been back in his dorm since 7 AM. His Saturdays were always insanely packed– a full glute and leg day, accompanied with a 1-hour cardio sesh at the gym, sending emails and making calls to coordinate the next events for his fraternity, a pit stop at the frat house to make sure no one had clogged the upstairs sink with protein powder again, rounding up rowdy pledges before they managed to tarnish the frat’s reputation at a sorority party. He was exhausted and needed a drink, preferably a gallon’s worth of White Claws.

The thing is, Jayce is smart. His hectic schedule wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Not a lot of people can write discrete math proofs while being 3 shots deep at a pregame, but Jayce was one of them. He can play hard, but he sure as hell can work hard too.

While working on page 3 of his cursed essay, his phone rang. He groaned, having a sneaking suspicion on who the caller was. His computer was already overheating from the amount of Grammarly and Google Search tabs he had opened, and he had 30 minutes to finish the last page and write out an entire bibliography. He reluctantly picked up.

“Hello-”

“JAYCE, DUDE, YOU GOTTA COME OUT TONIGHT. CAIT’S SORORITY IS THROWING A RAGER AND–.” 

Jayce’s suspicion was correct. Vi’s voice was unmistakable, and it was currently attacking his eardrums through his phone’s speakers.

“Thanks for the invite Vi, but I got some work to finish up. I’m not sure if I can go out tonight.”

He heard Vi let out a dramatic groan. Typical. 

“Dude, you’ve been cooped up in your room doing god knows what for like 2 days. It’s not like you to miss thirsty Thursday and freaky Friday man… not cool.”

Jayce laughed. Only Vi would care so much about missing the weekly holidays of college kids.

He had no idea how he ended up with a friend like this. Well, no–actually, he did. They met during a freshman welcome week party and dared each other to shotgun Four Lokos. The memories and mistakes of that night had bound them together in eternal friendship. It also didn’t hurt that Vi’s freshman year situationship–and now-girlfriend–was Caitlyn Kiramman, one of Jayce’s long-time friends from back home. 

He knew he could finish the essay on time, and he did have some grounds for celebration since he got into the research cohort he applied to. His only real dilemma was a goodnight’s sleep, or a night of cheap vodka seltzers and questionable decisions.

His future self was gonna hate him.

“Fine. Give me 30. Pull up to mine, bring drinks. We’re leaving before you start blasting your shitty speakers in my room again.”

Vi whooped so loudly that Jayce had to yank the phone away from his ear. 

“Aw, did Professor Buzzkill next door scare ya’ that bad last time? Or do ya’ just wanna impress your little goody-two-shoes crush?” Jayce could practically see the shit-eating grin on her face.

“I’ll have you know Viktor is my TA, so yeah, can’t really do fuckshit in front of him unless I wanna kiss any real opportunities with the prof goodbye. And no, I don’t have a crush on him—so shut it.”

“You’re no fun, bro. But I’ll say this–I’m a lesbian, and even I think he’s kinda cute. Thought he’d be right up your alley since you’re such a geek. Y’all can be geeked up together. Awwww, I can see it now!!”

“Vi, let me finish this goddamn essay first. You can talk your shit later. Bye.”

He ended the call, and with a swift motion, chucked his phone onto his bed, chugged the last bit of his sugar-free free Redbull, and began typing faster than ever before. This essay was going to get submitted with minimal spelling errors, and then he was going to get black-out drunk. He knew he was going to get an A anyway, he’d never gotten below an A- on an essay in his life.

Vi’s annoying remarks were sticking with Jayce longer than he’d like, though. He had never really given it much thought whether Viktor was attractive or not. I mean, the guy was just objectively handsome– right? Sharp jawline, dark and thick eyebrows, silky soft brown hair that always looked effortlessly styled, and those moles around his eyes and lips. He was obviously smart as fuck too. Anyone could notice those things about him. Of course, he needed to impress his professor, but there was no harm in wanting to impress his TA too.

Whatever.

He needed some alcohol.