The Line

Jayce couldn’t stand another second without Viktor. 

All throughout History of Magic he was squirming in his seat, not paying the slightest attention to the ghostly apparition of Professor Binns ( Jayce wasn’t sure why Binns was still here. Shouldn’t he be in the afterlife or something?) and spent every other second glancing up at that clock to see if the period was over. His parchment that was supposed to be for notes was instead covered with doodles of new hextech ideas and sketches of Viktor (some of which Jayce would definitely be cutting out with an exact-o knife later and sticking in his Viktor notebook. Yes he’s pathetic. Shut up.). 

Every once in a while Hermione would glance over at Jayce and frown when she saw that he was doodling instead of paying attention.  Once or twice among these multiple times he would catch Hermione not so subtly lifting an eyebrow at one of the Viktors on his page. One of these times was so obvious that Jayce had to turn over the page, despite not being done with a doodle of a hextech hammer, and start drawing dimensions on the other side. 

But Hermione seems to be the only one in this class to actually pay attention, and she would have to frequently stop her scribbling of notes to toss a glare at Harry and Ron who were busy playing tic tac toe on the corner of a sheet of parchment. 

This continued for the better part of an hour, until finally the bell rang. Jayce shoved his paper in his bag and nearly ran out of the classroom before he remembered about the others. And very patiently (not really) he waited for Harry and Ron to put away their empty sheets of parchment and Hermione to carefully file away her multiple notes in her color-coded folder. Jayce’s foot tapped until his calf hurt, and then switched to bending his leg as he waited. 

Once they finished they began to walk down to the dungeons where supposedly the potions classroom was. Jayce found this a bit funny. There were many empty classrooms in the castle, but for some reason potions was all the way down in the deepest depths of the school?  Back at the Academy they taught potions in the classroom with the largest windows so that the students wouldn’t breath in toxic fumes. 

He turned to tell Viktor this, to complain with him,  but was sadly reminded that Viktor was not here right now. That Jayce would see him in potions. 

“You alright there, mate?” Ron asked. 

Jayce shrugged, his whole heart and soul thanking the melanin in his skin that was hiding his blush. “Yeah, I just wanted to tell Viktor something. I’m not really used to being away from him. Back at the Academy we had almost all the same classes.” He trailed off, thinking of last night's sorting, and how his stomach twisted and his heart sank like a stone when the hat called out the house Viktor would be placed in.

 “Don’t worry about Viktor. He’ll be around,” Ron said, trying to be comforting, but Jayce could hear the underlying skepticism in his tone.

He shrugged, not looking at the others. "Yeah...yeah I know. It's just gonna be weird not having his malnourished ass sitting next to me. We worked so well in the Academy...."

Harry, clearly trying not to laugh, patted Jayce on the shoulder. "Well, lucky for you we're almost at the dungeons."

Jayce tried not to run.

As they descended the stairs into the dungeon, Jayce tried not to trip over his own excitement. A whole hour and a half with Viktor! That and the other hour they would have together with lunch in the library made Jayce giddy with love, only dampened a bit by the walls of the castle getting darker and damper the deeper they descended. The only source of light came from flickering enchanted torches, a stark contrast to the bright hallways and large windows of the Academy. He missed the blue and gold of the gilded banners and the shining tiles.

After several stairs that Jayce knew Viktor most definitely hated to climb down, they reached the classroom. A large round space with shelves along the walls filled with pickled animal parts, stray potion ingredients, old dusty books that seem like they haven't been used since last year, and tables with four seats each that had burners on top to heat up cauldrons. A chalkboard hung in the front of the classroom next to the door, and a table that obviously belonged to the teacher stood a couple feet away from the chalkboard, covered in various papers ready to be passed out and several crystal vials for students to collect samples of their potions.

A couple of students were already seated at the tables. Jayce scanned the room, searching for a certain scrawny someone. Suddenly, a laugh rang through the room, catching Jayce's attention. The familiar cadence of Viktor's voice filled his mind and drew him in. Like a thread connecting them, Jayce found himself being pulled toward it, away from Harry, Ron, and Hermione's chatter.

And sitting at a table in the far right of the classroom, next to Draco malfoy, was Viktor. He was hunched over a piece of paper, his mouth split into a beautiful grin, his quill scribbling down notes that Jyace was sure would be shared with him at lunch. Viktor's cane leaned against the table, and his bag was placed neatly on the floor.

“Viktor!” Jayce called, his voice ringing slightly louder than he intended. A flurry of eyes turned his way, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was that Viktor looked up, confusion melting into a warm smile that lit up his features.

“Jayce!” Viktor’s voice was a comforting balm, his accent thick and adorable with excitement. He gestured to the empty seat across from him. “Come sit!”

Jayce practically floated over, ignoring the whispers that seemed to trail behind him and the disgust that painted Draco's face. “I missed you,” he said, unable to keep the brightness from his voice as he settled into the seat.

Viktor’s expression softened, his pretty eyes crinkling near the ends. "I missed you too. How was History of Magic?"

"Boring." Jayce replied with a dramatic sigh. "I ended up doodling the whole time. I even came up with new dimensions for the hexgates. Though, I'm not sure if it'll work any better than the last model."

Viktor chuckled, sending a wave of warmth through Jayce. No one else could make him feel like this. The only person to ever come close to making him feel this nice was his mother. She had a knack for making everyone feel all warm inside, even if she did become really scary when she got mad. Most people who met Jayce and his mother agreed that he was very much like her in personality. Warm, inviting smile, perky demeanor with an overload of bubbling affection.

Sure, Jayce was the spitting image of his father, but he was the emotional imprint of his mother.

"Hopefully this one doesn't blow up like the last one." Viktor said, a hint of a laugh in his voice.  

"Yeah, hopefully." Jayce said with a grin.

Just then, a tall man with long, black hair, a hooked nose and a permanent sneer stalked in dramatically. He weaved through the tables like a dark shadow and took his place at the head of the class, behind his desk. His dark eyes surveyed the class, landing steelily on Jayce.

Jayce shuddered.

Viktor didn't seem to notice, too absorbed in his delicate strokes of ink that Jayce realized was a drawing of the mechanical intestines of a new scale for the hexgates. Draco's face slowly creeped into a smile, before turning away to face the teacher. A table away Jayce could hear Hermione give out a little warning cough, clearly signaling for Jayce to go back with them. He ignored her.

"Settle down," the teacher commanded, his eyes finally slipping away from Jayce and instead training on Harry, who looked like he very much wanted to leave. Or burn the place down.

"To those of you who were competent to open a letter and read their mail during the holiday, or were of functional brain capacity to pay attention to last night's sorting, we have two new exchange students from Piltover Academy." The teacher drawled, his tone displaying his disdain as if he thought this introduction was below him.

Any eyes that weren't already on Viktor and Jayce immediately traveled to stare at them.

"Please refrain from asking them questions during my class, lest you risk losing more points from your house, Potter." The teacher continued, his sneer widening as he called out Harry who had been trying to get Jayce's attention by waving his quill. Harry's cheeks flushed as he reflected the professor's scowl. "Ten points from Gryffindor."

Harry's face reddened further.

The teacher turned to Viktor and Jayce. "My name is Professor Snape, and I expect that you, along with the rest of the class, will do your very best to pass my class. Although I doubt that most of you will pass my high expectations that come with your O.W.L year. Next year I will not be expecting to see anyone with an O.W.L lower than the passing grade of an 'Exceeds Expectations'. Those of you who do not meet that requirement will no longer be in my class." Snape turned around and used his wand to write 'Draught of Peace' on the chalkboard, and a list of ingredients below.  

"You will have the hour and a half to complete the drought of peace. When done well, it can bring an end to anxiety and stress to the recipient, but when done poorly, can put the recipient into an irreversible coma. You may begin."

Draco immediately turned to Jayce. "What are you doing here, Talis?"

Wow, okay, that was sudden and really hostile for no fucking reason.

Pinche cabròn. 

"Um, I'm sitting here to work with Viktor as my partner. Because I want to work with my friend. Because I enjoy his presence." Jayce said.

Draco opened his mouth to say more but was cut off by Harry appearing by Jayce's side. "What are you doing?" Harry asked accusingly.

Jayce felt a wave of confusion overcome him.

What the fuck?

"Didn't you- you guys are literally a table over- didn't you hear me?"

Harry blinked, his glasses flashing in the light of a burner. "Well, yeah

but-"

"So then you know why I want to sit here." Jayce continued. 

Harry looked from Jayce to Draco, his frown deepening. “Are you sure you don’t want to sit with your house?” He asked. 

“I don’t see why you guys can’t sit with us.” Jayce reasoned, at which Draco made a choking sound in the back of his throat. 

“I will not sit with Potter of all people!” Draco snapped, catching the attention of Snape, who gave a scowl in their direction and slowly made his way to their table. “If you two want to sit together, you can,” Draco continued, not noticing Snape hovering behind him. “But if you think that I-”

“-Will waste your time on matters of no importance, then you are sorely mistaken,” Snape interjected. 

Draco switched his demeanor so fast it gave Jayce whiplash. “Sorry, Professor, I just didn’t want to work with someone whose potions are nothing more than water with a couple of herbs thrown in.”

“Well then I suggest you refrain from speaking to Potter as you might catch his lack of discipline for the refined subject of potion making.” Snape replied, his voice lilting with distaste whenever he said ‘Potter’. He turned to Jayce and Viktor. “And to avoid further …confusion of who will be sitting with whom, I suggest that you two should separate and work individually.”

Jayce’s heart stuttered and his chest filled with dread. No this was not the plan. The plan was to partner up with Viktor and spend the hour and a half working on the potion and whispering to each other over the din of the bubbling flames. He was not supposed to stray from Viktor, not after he had just gotten him back. And once again he felt his mouth going faster than his brain could keep up. 

“No!” He exclaimed, causing the entire class to turn their heads. He swallowed and forced himself to calm down. “No, Professor Snape, there isn’t any confusion. I’ll just partner with Viktor and stay out of your way. Right V?”His gaze snapped towards Viktor who looked very uncomfortable and very much like he wanted to leave. 

“Eh, yes, I- eh, we will stay out of your way. That was the plan originally.” Viktor said in that funny, soft tone he usually reserved for adults. 

The tone seemed to work because Snape’s scowl lessened. “Fine. But one more outburst and I will separate you from your friend. As for you, Talis, Potter, ten points from Gryffindor each for disrupting class time, and an additional twenty from Gryffindor because Granger was too ignorant to stop you both and Weasly is adding in newt's tail instead of newt's eye.” And with that the teacher swept away leaving Jayce’s heartbeat racing and his Gryffindor friends fuming. 

Harry gave him a half-hearted glare. “Thanks for your loyalty Jayce.” He snapped before returning to his table. 

Draco gave an indignant sniff and began to pick up his stuff. “Serves them right.” He gave a curt nod to Viktor. “Hope you're happy, Suh-v-boda.” He then moved over to another group of Slytherins, leaving Viktor and Jayce alone, both just as shocked as the other. Viktor’s mouth was gaping as if he didn’t expect for everyone to just stomp away like that.

They stayed like that until a crack of a burner turning on spooked them, successfully snapping them out of their stupor.

“I guess,”Viktor started, his voice slow and methodical and just a tad bit resentful. “I guess we should begin.”

“Yeah…” Jayce said, not sure why his heart was sinking. “Yeah I guess we should.”

They then began to unwrap the potions ingredients needed, Viktor taking time to precisely measure each cut and sample, while Jayce busied himself in stirring and adding things in the correct order, reading aloud the ingredients he needed Viktor to cut next. They fell into a steady rhythm that Jayce had sorely missed, a rhythm that had been present every day they had worked together in the academy. 

At least some things stayed the same. 

It was strained, though, the silence that stretched between them. Usually it was smooth and comfortable, but now resembled more like a- like a- like whatever the hell Harry had brewing in his cauldron.

“Wow, he is…really struggling, isn’t he.” Jayce whispered to Viktor, using his elbow to gesture to Harry’s not sparking cauldron. 

Viktor looked up from where he was shaving pieces of moonstone and settled his amber eyes on Harry’s crime against humanity. The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly. “Yes. He does seem to be in need of help.” 

“What grade do you think he might get for that?”Jayce chuckled as he stirred the potion until it was a bright blue. 

Viktor paused and titled his head, seeming to consider his options before speaking. “I think it would be a low enough grade to make a TSA agent have a heart attack and die, and then march up from hell and smack him across the face. And then call him a terrorist.”

Jayce let out a quiet giggle. “Oh gods, not the TSA agent. Remember how that one girl cornered you at the airport because she thought you were Russian?”

Viktor rolled his eyes, the smile on his face appearing in earnest now. He sprinkled in some of the shredded moonstone, and the potion turned the proper silver it was supposed to at this stage. “Do not remind me. That was awful. I will never take muggle transportation ever again.” 

They both sniggered, the memory of the TSA agent squawking at Viktor, demanding for a passport, appeared to the forefront of Jayce’s mind. The other boy had the passport readily available and shoved it in her face as politely as possible, revealing to the woman that he was not Russian, despite his vaguely slavic sounding accent, and did, in fact, have a school visa. The woman had eyed Viktor’s battered suitcase and shabby clothes with a load of distrust, but had eventually cleared him and had let him through the gate into the baggage claim of the London airport. Viktor, who had initially still been high on the excitement of having flown on a plane for the first time ever in his life had then been standing a bit more reserved and awkward after the whole ordeal. Jayce had then had the brilliant idea of buying him some British candy and Viktor had very quickly brightened. 

“I missed this…missed you.” Jayce said softly after a good while of comfortable silence. 

Viktor froze, his long slender fingers wrapped tightly around a testing vial. He slowly turned his head to gaze at Jayce, his pretty golden eyes staring up at him with such affection and love that Jayce nearly forgot where he was and almost leaned in to kiss the pale boy. 

“I had missed this too.” Viktor said quietly as he dipped the vial in the potion and corked it. “It has not been the same without you. Especially in the dorms. I had to wake up earlier just so the others wouldn’t ask me questions.”

Jayce looked at the clock. They still had thirty minutes left. Thank the gods. He leaned as closely as he could without it seeming suspicious and took the vial from Viktor’s hands. He turned it over in his palm, watching as the blueish silver of the liquid sloshed around in the crystal.  “I figured.” Was all Jayce said, the impulsive thought of inviting Viktor over to the Gryffindor common rooms to spend a night with him lodged firmly in his mind. He bit his lip and after deciding that was a bad idea on multiple levels, set the vial gently in the holder next to Viktor’s cauldron. 

"Remember last year? All the late nights we spent in our dorm working on that project for the distinguished innovator's competition?" Jayce whispered after another long bout of silence.

Viktor's mouth turned up in a smile again. "I remember you complaining about how tired you were." 

He spared a glance around to see if anyone else was listening, more specifically if Harry and co were listening. But the boy was too busy trying to save his failed potion to provide much of a threat, and Viktor leaned in close to Jayce. "And I remember how warm your arms felt around me during the long winter nights we spent trying to fix the capacitor. Even if they did tend to...wander." Viktor whispered so softly that his voice could have been mistaken for a crackle of the burner.

Jayce felt his face heat up at the memory, his jaw dropping just a tad. Viktor put it in such a way that it sounded downright illicit, when in fact the real reason was that Jayce had his hands wander up and down Viktor's body was because he was trying to see if the other boy was ticklish or not. It turned out that he wasn't, something that disappointed Jayce immensely. "I guess I did get a little...comfortable," He squeaked, his face feeling like it was on fire.

Viktor rolled his eyes playfully, his cheeks tinted red as he rolled out the sheet of parchment he used earlier to take notes. "Comfortable is one way to put it," he muttered, facing away from Jayce as if to regain his composure. Jayce found it cute. He grinned, the opportunity to tease Viktor was too great to pass up. "What? It was pretty cozy, just you and me there. And I think you liked it just as much as I did." He said a bit more confidently than he actually felt.

VIktor arched his brow, his head shaking slightly as he scribbled out a spelling mistake. "Oh really? Are you suggesting that I am a fan of clandestine cuddles? Do you think that I enjoy your constant distractions?" His voice was low and on the verge of a laugh, and his mouth was split into a large smile.

Jayce's face grew incredibly hot and he began to bounce his leg, suddenly feeling the need to run up and down the halls for no reason other than he just wanted to. He was fumbling for words now. "I- I dunno, maybe I wouldn't think that if you hadn't been, um, well, uh, shifting closer and pra-practically draping yourself over me-"

An eruption of laughter cut Jayce off and he nearly short-circuited.

Viktor laughed.

Viktor actually laughed.

Really and fully laughed.

Viktor twisted into himself as he tried to quiet his giggles, a couple of strange looks turned his direction from some of the other students. "O-okay, then I suppose I shou- HAH -should stop doing that since it seems to m-make your face resemble a- wheeze a-"

Jayce reddened further, the flush making his ear feel like hot irons. "A what? A what!?"

But he never found out what his face resembled, because at that moment Snape announced that they should bring up their potions for testing, right after wiping Harry's from his cauldron and giving him a big fat zero.

Viktor stood up, grabbed his vial from the holder and poured another sample of the potion for Jayce. He carefully ripped two sections from the parchment of notes that Jayce then realized had their names, and magically stuck them on the vials. He then hobbled over to the professor's desk and dropped them off. Once he came back he gave a quick nod towards the door, that cute smile still gracing his lips."Do you still want to spend lunch in the library?"

Jayce glanced back at Harry, Ron and Hermione who were staring at him expectantly. "Uh, yeah, yeah of course, I'm just gonna take care of something really quick. But I promise I'll meet you there!"

Like a switch being flipped, Viktor's smile slipped away, and his demeanor closed off a bit. "Oh. Okay." He hoisted up his bag and grabbed his cane. "I will see you there, then." 

Jayce watched him walk away with a pang. 

He took a deep breath and turned to face the trio that was practically glaring holes into his back. “Hey, guys.” He started, trying his best to take a non-offensive tone. “I’m… I’m sorry for what happened earlier- I didn’t mean- I just thought you wouldn’t mind if I sat with him. He’s my closest friend and-“

“It’s alright,” Hermione said quickly, her tone wavering a bit as Viktor walked out of the room, his head bowed slightly. Jayce began to walk after him, and the others followed suit. “But you really have to restrain yourself from creating these sorts of problems. You could get yourself landed in detention.”

“For…wanting to sit with someone from another house?” Jayce asked as he watched Viktor’s cloak disappear behind a corner…

“Listen mate,” Ron said slowly, as if he didn’t want to offend Jayce. “Viktor is in Slytherin house, which is literally the house where every bad witch and wizard is from! You-know-who himself was in Slytherin, so I really think-”

“Whos you-know-who?” Jayce blurted, regretting the question as soon as it came out of his mouth because the look he got was one of utter disbelief and shock.  

“What do you mean ‘who is you-know- who?” Harry gasped, his jaw slack and his hand raising up to brush at his scar. 

Jayce looked at the shocked faces of the people in front of him, heat rushing to his ears. “I mean I have no idea who you’re even talking about.”

“Jayce, are you serious?” Hermione said, her voice growing angry with each syllable. “Didn’t you say you’re a pureblood?” 

“Well yeah, but I don’t see how this is relevant-”

Hermione stopped and wheeled on him. “You’re telling me that you-- a pureblood wizard-- doesn’t know who the most evil wizard of all time is?” 

Something in Jayce’s brain clicked. He picked up his hands to try and placate the hateful glares he was getting from everyone. “Wait- wait, this guy you’re talking about- Did he ever make it out of Europe?”

Ron’s mouth opened, then clicked shut, the realization of Jayce not being British hitting him right over the head. “Oh.”

Jayce let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” 

They stood there awkwardly for a bit. Jayce scratched at his jaw, picking at a bit of dry skin on there that he probably should have left alone. 

Harry glanced down the hall, then back at Jayce. He shifted his weight from one side to the other. “I’ll er, I’ll see you later. You’re- you’re going to sit with Viktor, right?” 

“I am.”

Harry nodded, clearly uncomfortable. “Alright. See you during Defense Against The Dark Arts, then.” With one last long look at Jayce,  Harry, Ron and Hermione left, leaving Jayce standing by himself in the middle of the crowded Hallway of students making a beeline for the Great Hall.

He kept getting shoulder checked by students trying to maneuver around him, most of these shoves being from Slytherins. 

Slytherins. 

Apparently the most evil house out of all of the houses. 

The house that Viktor was in. 

But that couldn’t have been right. Viktor was so kind and he loved helping people, everything he did with Hextech was for the betterment of society as a whole. Sure, he was from the undercity, but that didn’t mean he was evil. And a whole house dedicated to the evil children of the wizarding world seemed like a huge oversight. Because not only was this a stupid idea, but because there was more than one personality trait among the sea of people who attended Hogwart. Some of which kept shoving Jayce around, sure, but he was kinda in the way. 

The earlier excitement of seeing Viktor was now marred by the thought that his best friend- his boyfriend, could be secretly evil. 

Jayce shook his head. 

What the hell was he thinking? There was no way this could be true. This was Viktor he was talking about, the same Viktor who fixed the toys of children after they broke, the same Viktor who helped Powder through her psychotic episodes, the same Viktor who could never hate Mel, even back when she had been dating Jayce and had been a source of jealousy for Viktor, the same Viktor who tried his best to be nice to Caitlyn, despite her mother being on the same council that refused to jail the man who killed his mother. Viktor could never be put in this simple definition of evil. He could never. He was just far too good to be placed here. 

This knowledge soothed away the lump of doubt that had clogged Jayce’s throat and he began to walk toward the Great Hall. He picked up a platter of food for himself, then picked another with larger portions for Viktor. He asked where the library was. He got an answer from Ginny, she scribbled directions on a napkin. She took a pen out of her bun creating her dark red hair to pool around her shoulders . He walked to the Library chewing on a piece of bread as he did so. He searched around the dark shelves and quiet safety of the books and found Viktor hunched over a leather bound tome. He smiled. He sat down next to him, placing the plates down as quietly as possible. He brushed a bit of hair from Viktor’s brow, reveling in how skin touched skin and how the softness of Viktor’s hair was present and here. . 

Viktor looked up, his golden eyes lighting up when he saw Jayce. 

“You’re late.” 

Jayce shrugged. “Sorry, they took a while to cool off.” Jayce lied. 

Viktor chuckled softly as he flipped a page, the old yellowed paper wrinkled with age and use from thousands of people before him. “They did seem a bit…miffed.”

“I mean we did just lose, uh, what is it? …Thirty house points? Wait, no, Ron lost ten, so that makes forty.”

Viktor grimaced. “No wonder.” He muttered as he flipped the page, a couple of incredibly detailed illustrations of runes catching Jayce´ s eye. 

He pulled up a chair and took a bite out of the sandwich on his plate. “What’cha looking at?” He mumbled around his sandwich. 

Viktor spared a glance at Jayce, his smile creeping up on his face as he grew more excited. “Well, I searched for several  books on runes, since we need further research on your acceleration rune, and I found this one that describes them in great detail. Notes and pictures and everything.” 

Jayce leaned in to get a better look. The sketch of the rune was watercolor and colored pencil, the soft blue of the stone was accented with a bluish white, each stroke clearly made by someone who had dedicated their entire life to this craft. The rune symbol was two parallel lines with two dots on either side. On the other page, there was a detailed description of the rune and its properties. 

“The levitation rune is a complicated rune used to create levitation of not just matter but other things such as ideas. For example if you use the levitation run on a person, then they will levitate. But if that same person uses that levitation rune on their mind it will send them into a mindset of clarity and ‘higher’ thinking. This is extremely dangerous, however, as consistent use of the rune of the mind can lead to the user becoming fixed in a permanent state of empty-headedness and dazed demeanor….” 

Jayce reread that last line again, confusion clouding his mind as this new information clicked through the gears in his mind. “You… you can use runes of your mind?” 

“Yes,” Viktor said, his eyes lit up with excitement. “Yes, and it can affect your mind as well through consistent use.”

“But doesn’t this seem… dangerous?” Jayce muttered as he ran his finger down the illustration of the levitation rune, a strange sensation of eyes on the back of his head tugged at his stomach. Viktor shook his head. 

“Not if it is in a closed system, such as the runestones. So it is perfectly safe for us to experiment upon. See?” He said as he turned to a bookmarked page. 

“The use of runes on the human and non-human mind can be incredibly unstable and dangerous if it is not put into a closed system such as a runestone or if it is used consistently and often. This closed system creates a vessel for its magical power to ruminate and flow without creating high-power explosions and corruption. These vessels are created by carving the rune into a variation of  a moonstone, specifically a moonstone found in magical springs of rejuvenation….”

Jayce sat back in his chair and watched as Viktor greedily crammed nearly the entire half of the sandwich in his mouth.“Oh, okay. I guess this makes sense.” He said as he looked over his shoulder to see Harry quickly pulling an upside-down book to his face, as if to hide it. He frowned. 

Viktor didn’t seem to notice the people staring at them behind them. 

Who was Jayce kidding, he totally did. This kid was such a light sleeper that he would wake up at the slightest noise outside of Jayce’s snoring at night. It probably came from living in the undercity. That was somewhere not even the peacekeepers wanted to spend too much time in, only the most experienced peacekeepers dared to police that area, and even then, most of them never came back outside of a box. 

“So,” Viktor said, as he pulled out the blueprints for the hexgates. “We have everything drawn and figured out with the base and general idea of the hexgates. All the schematics have been figured out, and I have finally found the right runes for the outer ring… the only problem is…..”

“Making the original model big enough to sustain the hexgates.” Jayce finished, bringing a slice of tomato to his mouth and biting into it. 

“Now we could upscale the whole thing-”

“We can’t, the gems can’t sustain all of that compressions, remember?”

Viktor chewed on his lip, deep in thought, but very handsomely so. “Compression…” he mumbled as he grabbed a spare piece sheet of blueprint paper and a stick of chalk. He began to draw delicate lines. “Compression,” he repeated as he started to draw a modified version of their original device. 

Jayce leaned over as closely as he could without it seeming too close. He wiped his hands on his napkin, comprehension drawing as he watched Viktor draw several exhaust pipes around the base or a much sturdier structure than was originally created. “You’re adding tubing for the compression to be released!” Jayce exclaimed, beaming as his eyes scanned over the blueprints, already adding a few tweaks to Viktor’s design. 

Viktor’s smile reappeared on his face, he nodded fervently.”Yes- yes, but that still doesn’t address the instability in the actual gem.”

Jayce held out his hand, a silent ask for the chalk. A silent request to add to Viktor’s sketch. 

Viktor’s eye flicked up to Jayce’s, his mouth tilted in a smile. He held out the chalk and after a moment of hesitation, he took it. 

He began to draw out dimensions for a stabilizing ring with space for runes that he would figure out later. Viktor watched over his shoulder with rapt interest. Every once in a while he’d nod and mutter something to himself. 

With a couple more stokes of the chalk Jayce finalized the draft, labeling the parts and the theoretical sizes, figuring that he would work out how big they would actually be once they found what runes worked for the stabilizing ring. He sat back in his chair to admire his work, eating the last bits of his sandwich as he did so.

“It’s good.” Viktor said after a long pause. 

Jayce looked at Viktor, not really paying attention to what he had just said, his mind was more directed in looking at the way Viktor’s pretty golden eyes scanned across the papers, his eyelashes so long that they cast a shadow on his eyes. And when he smiled the mole on his upper lip moved with it. “Yeah.” He said, absent-misdedly. 

“So,”Viktor sighed, rolling up the blueprints and handing them to Jayce, probably so he could further define the dimensions with numbers that actually made sense. “I guess we should address them.”

Oh crap. He noticed Harry and co. 

Viktor turned to the table where Harry, Ron and Hermione were pretending not to eavesdrop. “Are you here to study as well?” He asked them cooly. 

Ron reddened, Harry looked panicked, only Hermione had the good grace to look ashamed. 

“Viktor!” She exclaimed, dropping her book that was thankfully, right-side up. “We- um- you see we’re just-”

“It’s alright,” Viktor said with a slight hint of resignation, like he couldn’t believe he was doing this yet again. Though his tone wasn’t unkind. “You were curious as to what we were up to.” He picked up his book on runes and handed it to Hermione, who grabbed it as if by force of habit. Harry and Ron leaned over her shoulder to read it. “There is a lot of good that can come from runes.” He continued, using that wonderfully excited expression that only came up when he was talking about hextech. 

“Oh!” Hermione gasped, matching Viktor’s excitement.. “I’ve read this one before, It’s really informative about the nature of runes.”

Viktor instantly brightened even more. “I know!” He said with glee as he pulled up a chair from Harry’s table and sat down, surprising Ron so badly he nearly knocked over a jar of ink. “Chapter twenty-five is my favorite, it really delves into the effects of runes!”

“Ohhhh I love that chapter! Its fascinating how runes can affect people and the world, especially that excerpt on the mind that you and Jayce were talking about. Its incredible how magic can affect one’s mind.” Hermione said very fast. 

A shot of jealousy went through Jayce even though he knew it was beyond laughable that Viktor would ever like Hermione. Not that she lacked any traits worthy of crushing on, she was very pretty, her dark skin contrasted very nicely with the cream of their uniform shirt, she had long lashes and her curls, while a bit wild, were very well-taken care of. Not only that but there was the added perk that she was incredibly intelligent. No, Viktor wouldn’t ever be into Hermione because he was Jayce’s, and was very happily Jayce’s. 

But that still didn’t stop a coil of jealousy from wrapping around Jayce’s stomach as he watched Viktor’s adorable grin widen as he continued to talk rapidly with Hermione.

“This is fun!” Hermione and Viktor said in unison as they finished talking about a certain passage of the book, both of their chest rising rapidly as they were both out of breath. 

Harry and Ron looked at the pair with equally shocked expressions. Ron looked a hell of a lot more jealous than Harry. 

“Well, if you two are done yapping your hearts out,” Ron said loudly, “we should clean up, lunch is almost over.”

Viktor’s smiled melted off and instantly Jayce felt wrong for being jealous, because Viktor was making a new friend! Jayce had made friends with Ron, Harry and Hermione, why couldn’t Viktor?

Shame ran through him as he watched Viktor stand up and turn back to Jayce’s table. 

He clutched the blueprints in his hand and began to help Viktor put away the book and pick up the plates. Viktor cast him a small smile. “How about you sit with us, during dinner?” Jayce asked.

“What?” Harry blurted. 

Viktor looked away. “No- no I would not want to intrude-”

Ignoring his better judgement Jayce grabbed Viktor’s arm, turning him so that he was facing Jayce. His honey-colored eyes peered up at him with hurt. “You’re my friend, Viktor.” He said, nearly cringing at the lie Viktor was so obviously more than just his friend. But appearances had to be kept in particular company. "You wouldn't be intruding. Right guys?" Jayce asked, looking back at the trio for steady reassurance.

Hermione was the only one to look enthusiastic about this as she had just succeeded in making a friend with similar intellect and demeanor. Harry and Ron looked skeptical at best, their glances going towards the green on Viktor's robes and the red on Jayce's. 

“Er, I suppose…” Harry said, looking very unsure. 

“Oh of course it’s all right!” Hermione beamed, her gaze lingering for a bit too long on Viktor’s face to have just been a friendly glance. Jayce didn’t like the way she was smiling at him either. “This is what the hat was talking about when it mentioned bridging the gaps between the houses! We can mend that inter-house rivalry!” She chirped happily. 

“Well then it’s settled then,” Viktor said, packing away the rune book in his bag that had several patches of his favorite bands and singers like Nirvana, The Cardigans, Frank Sinatra for some reason, and a Russian lady called Katya Lel along with slogans that were clearly handmade by Jinx, Jayce’s favorite of which said ‘This Machine Kills Fascists!’ in bright blue and pink letters. He looked up at Jayce, picking up his cane as he did so. “See you then?” 

Jayce smiled. “See you then.”